Connect with us

Published

on

One hundred days after becoming the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, it was time for Kamala Harris to present her closing argument.

With the White House as her backdrop and tens of thousands of supporters packing the outdoor arena, she set out her stall to the American public.

What she offered was a binary choice; me or him, cohesion or chaos.

“On day one, if elected, Donald Trump will walk in with an enemies list. I will walk in with a to-do list,” she said to huge cheers from the crowd.

The Harris campaign had pointedly picked the Ellipse in Washington DC as the venue for this address. Just beyond the White House’s south lawn, the garden was where Donald Trump spoke on 6 January 2021 before droves of his fans.

Standing in almost the same spot as Ms Harris now was, he made false claims about the election being stolen and urged his supporters to “fight like hell”. At least 2,000 of them, according to the FBI, then stormed the Capitol.

“We know who Donald Trump is, he is the person who stood at this spot four years ago and sent an armed mob to the US Capitol,” Ms Harris said.

More on Donald Trump

There were nods in the speech to reproductive rights, to the economy and immigration. But it is clear that the Harris campaign believes the best way to win over wavering voters in the final week is focusing on the danger, they say, Trump presents to democracy.

“I think she put forward the contrast between the two of them very well,” one man, wearing a camouflage Harris/Walz baseball cap, tells me as he exits the rally.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

What was Kamala Harris’ closing argument?

One of the criticisms levelled at Ms Harris is that she hasn’t defined herself and her policies sufficiently to voters. But some in the crowd bristled at that suggestion.

“I think people will say they don’t know enough about her,” said Mary Laxton, a 70-year-old from the key swing state of Pennsylvania who campaigns for Ms Harris. “But I think for some people, what they really are saying is, ‘I don’t want a woman as president’. I hate to say that, but that’s what I believe.

“She may have started out the gate a little slowly, but she has come on so strong and has been very clear about who she is, what she would do for the US and for all people, especially women.”

👉 Listen to Sky News Daily on your podcast app 👈

Ms Harris tried to draw a direct contrast with Donald Trump, whose own closing rally at Madison Square Garden was criticised for its hate-filled rhetoric and racist undertones. A comedian who appeared on the stage before Mr Trump spoke described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage”.

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Tap here

Ms Harris didn’t address the rumbling controversy over Mr Trump’s rally. But from inside the White House just yards away, President Biden waded in on a campaign video call.

“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage,” he said. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Biden accused of calling Trump supporters ‘garbage’

It recalled comments made by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign in which she described “half” of Mr Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables”.

Mr Biden’s comment was similarly ill-advised. Although he is no longer the nominee, it threatened to overshadow Ms Harris’ big speech. It was also a reminder that with this race teetering on a knife edge, every word and every move from the candidates and their surrogates, has to be measured.

Continue Reading

US

Dad who called 911 for help during break-in killed by Las Vegas police officer

Published

on

By

Dad who called 911 for help during break-in killed by Las Vegas police officer

A 43-year-old man was shot dead by police after calling 911 to report intruders had entered his home in Las Vegas.

Brandon Durham was at home with his 15-year-old daughter when he called the emergency line to report armed intruders were trying to break into his property on 12 November.

Bodycam footage shows Mr Durham struggling with a person over a knife in the moments before he was shot and killed at the scene.

“The loss of life in any type of incident like this is always tragic, and it’s something we take very seriously,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said on Thursday.

The force is investigating the incident.

Mr Durham called 911 to report multiple people were outside shooting at his residence in Las Vegas’ Sunset Park neighbourhood, where he had been staying with his 15-year-old daughter, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reports.

It was one of multiple emergency calls reporting a shooting in the area.

More on Las Vegas

Mr Durham then said someone had managed to get into his home through the front and back doors of the property and he was locking himself in the bathroom, according to a police statement from 14 November, two days after the incident.

Officers reported to the scene at approximately 12:40am and could hear screaming from inside the residence.

One of the officers, Alexander Bookman, kicked open the front door and once inside, saw Mr Durham and another individual, later identified as 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux, struggling over a knife in a doorway.

Mr Bookman ordered them to drop the knife and about two seconds later, the officer fired the gun and Mr Durham appeared to be struck, the bodycam footage shows.

Read more from Sky News:
Londoner, 18, held in Dubai for having sex with 17-year-old British girl
Labour’s pugnacious stalwart who pulled no punches

Both Mr Durham and Mr Boudreaux fell to the ground and the officer fired another five shots. Roughly three seconds are believed to have gone by between the first and last shot, NBC reports.

Attempts were made to save the 43-year-old but he died at the scene.

Ms Boudreaux was taken into custody and is facing charges of home invasion with a deadly weapon; assault with a deadly weapon domestic violence; willful or wanton disregard of safety of persons resulting in death; and child abuse, neglect or endangerment.

Continue Reading

US

Homeless man charged in plot to bomb New York Stock Exchange

Published

on

By

Homeless man charged in plot to bomb New York Stock Exchange

A homeless man has been arrested and charged over a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange.

The 30-year-old man from Florida, Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with attempting to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce, having unveiled some of his plans to undercover agents, according to the FBI.

They began investigating Yener in February based on a tip that he was holding “bomb-making schematics” in a storage unit.

Bomb-making sketches, many watches with timers, electronic circuit boards and other electronics that could be used for building explosive devices were found, the FBI said.

It also said he told undercover FBI agents that he wanted to detonate the bomb the week before Thanksgiving and that the stock exchange in lower Manhattan would be a popular site to target, and that doing so “will wake people up”.

An agent also allegedly recorded him saying: “I feel like Bin Laden.”

Read more:
Google could be forced to sell its Chrome browser
US anaesthetist jailed for 190 years for tampering with IV bags

He described how he hoped the bomb would “reboot” the US government, explaining that it would be “like a small nuke went off,” killing everyone inside the building, according to court documents.

The documents also claim he had rewired two-way radios so that they could work as remote triggers for an explosive device and planned to wear a disguise when planting the explosives.

Yener, who had also searched online for things related to bomb-making since 2017, was sacked from his job at a restaurant in Florida last year after his former supervisor said he threatened to “go Parkland shooter in this place”, the FBI added.

He had his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon and will be detained while he awaits a trial.

Continue Reading

US

Google could be forced to sell its Chrome browser over internet search monopoly claims

Published

on

By

Google could be forced to sell its Chrome browser over internet search monopoly claims

Google must sell its Chrome browser to restore competition in the online search market, US prosecutors have argued.

The proposed breakup has been floated in a 23-page document filed by the US Justice Department.

It also calls for lawmakers to impose restrictions designed to prevent its Android smartphone software from favouring its own search engine.

If the rules were brought in, it would essentially result in Google being highly regulated for 10 years.

Google controls about 90% of the online search market and 95% on smartphones.

Read more:
School smartphone ban will not become law after MP drops proposal
Grieving parents tell Ofcom to ‘step up’ over social media content

Court papers filed on Wednesday expand on an earlier outline for what prosecutors argued would dilute that monopoly.

More on Google

Google called the proposals radical at the time, saying they would harm US consumers and businesses and shake American competitiveness in AI.

The company has said it will appeal.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) and a coalition of states want US District Judge Amit Mehta to end exclusive agreements in which Google pays billions of dollars annually to Apple and other device vendors to be the default search engine on their tablets and smartphones.

Google will have a chance to present its own proposals in December.

A trial on the proposals has been set for April, however President-elect Donald Trump and the DoJ’s next antitrust head could step in.

Continue Reading

Trending