President Donald Trump has said his younger brother and “best friend”, Robert Trump, died on Saturday night. Robert died at age 71, three years younger than the president, while in a New York hospital. He had been reportedly hospitalised in the intensive care unit for several days in June, but details of his illness have not been released.
Mr Trump said in an emotional statement: “It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight.
“He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace.”
But while the president grieves, his threats to mail-in ballots and steep cuts to the US Postal Service (USPS) saw protesters gathering outside the agency’s chief’s home on Saturday.
Around 100 people marched to the home of the postmaster general Louis DeJoy, a Trump ally and top donor to his campaign.
During Mr DeJoy’s first weeks as USPS chief, he imposed sweeping cuts to overtime pay and sought the removal of mail-sorting machines even as post offices brace for a surge in election-related mail.
The row over mail-in voting, made worse by the president’s insistence that it will lead to mass voter fraud, continues.
Farmer who voted for Trump in 2016 to speak at DNC after 180-degree turn
A dairy and soybean farmer from Pennsylvania who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 has turned his back on the president and will speak on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at the party’s convention this week.
Rick Telesz was a registered Democrat but voted for Mr Trump as he believed the president would “look after the working man”. He now regrets that vote and accused Mr Trump of conning him.
“He’s a hell of a salesman. And a tremendous con man. He conned me,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Kamala Harris is a ‘socialist’, claims Trump
President Donald Trump has claimed that Kamala Harris is “the most liberal person in Congress” and a “socialist” in a Sunday morning interview with former Fox News commentator Eric Bolling.
Continuing his attacks on presidential candidate Joe Biden’s nominee for vice president, Mr Trump told Mr Bolling during the pre-recorded interview that his opponent had been “brought over” to the far-left.
“She is super liberal,” he insisted on Mr Bolling’s America This Week programme. “I have actually heard that she is the most liberal person in Congress. More liberal than Bernie Sanders… Kamala’s a socialist.”
Mr Trump added the Senator Harris was “really going to be running” Mr Biden’s campaign and that she “is a disaster”.
He continued, saying: “She’s not a person that’s liked. I think people will fall out of love with her very quickly.”
Ms Harris is the first black woman to appear on a major party’s presidential ballot and has been on the receiving end of attacks by the president ever since her nomination was announced last week.
Mr Trump on Thursday called her a “mad woman” in a bizarre rant, in which he also claimed again that the US economy was so strong pre-coronavirus that not even George Washington would have been able to defeat him.
Trump appoints new coronavirus advisor following tensions with Fauci
The president enlisted a new coronavirus task force advisor, Scott Atlas, amid tensions between him and doctor Anthony Fauci, as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
Mr Atlas is a healthcare policy expert at the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University. According to the Associated Press, he has no expertise in public health or infectious diseases, but has previously criticised coronavirus lockdowns and campaigned for children to return to school.
During Mr Trump’s pandemic briefings this past week, Mr Atlas was the sole doctor to share his stage.
But public health experts say the new addition is “just a mouthpiece for his agenda” and raised concerns the president was sidelining other doctors, including Mr Fauci.
Biden leads Trump by 9 points, new poll says
President Donald Trump continues to trail Democratic presumptive presidential candidate Joe Biden nationally, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
According to the poll, Mr Biden holds a 9 point lead over the sitting president, 50 per cent to 41 per cent. The candidate also lead the president by double digits on topics relating to the coronavirus pandemic, race relations, health care, immigration, and uniting the country.
One area Mr Trump has a lead over his challenger is the economy, with voters saying they trusted him more than Mr Biden.
The poll also showed that Kamala Harris, Mr Biden’s pick for vice president, has a higher net approval rating than either of the candidates, which could work in favour of the Biden campaign.
Although the poll shows Mr Trump could face challenges in the coming months leading up to the election, it was not over for the president. Mr Biden’s approval dropped from 11 points to 9 points based on a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll from the last month. This decline could show the Trump campaign gaining ground over the challenger.
Trump supporters attempt to break record for largest boat parade in history
Around 2,000 pro-Trump boaters drove their “Trumptillas” from the Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Clearwater Beach, Florida, to break 2014 Guinness World Record for boat parades.
The event’s organisers, Conservative Grounds, said they needed more than 1,180 boats to break the record.
“In honour of the 45th President Donald J Trump, we will beat the world record in this name,” said the organisation in a statement on their website.
It is not immediately clear exactly how many boats participated in the parade, but Cliff Gehart, one of the organisers, told FOX 13 that over 1,600 people paid and registered to participate.
He estimated there were nearly 2,000 boats in the parade. The actual number will be determined by Guinness officials once they have reviewed footage of the event.
Boat parades have become increasingly popular among Trump fans in recent weeks, as they have been unable to attend the president’s campaign rallies in large numbers to show their support due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Trump acknowledged “the boaters” during his press conference on Saturday night, adding that they were a big part of his “silent majority”.
Trump keen on meeting with Putin before November election — report
US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in Osaka, 2019 (Reuters)
Donald Trump is eyeing a meeting with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin ahead of the presidential elections in November, it has been reported.
According to NBC News, four people familiar with the discussions said times and locations for a Trump-Putin summit are being discussed, and may take place as soon as next month in New York.
The meeting would be aimed at announcing progress towards a new nuclear arms control agreement between the two countries. It would also be an opportunity for the US president to show he’s able to negotiate agreements in a bid for re-election.
One of the people who spoke to the broadcaster was quoted as saying: “He wants it to show his deal-maker abilities. It’s just a big stage.”
It comes after Mr Trump on Saturday said he probably would not participate in Mr Putin’s call for a summit of world leaders to discuss Iran.
