‘This is our Agincourt’: Trump’s campaigners are pounding the streets of a crucial election battleground
They’re calling Pittsburgh and its surrounding area “ground zero” in this election and we joined a crack team of Trump troops on manoeuvres in this crucial battleground territory.
It’s 9am in a packed hotel room outside the city and the Mighty American Strike Force is mustering.
“You are in the arena,” an organiser tells them. “If you’re British,” nodding to us, “this is our Agincourt.”
The Mighty American Strike Force gathers in a hotel room
This is arguably the most important county in the most important swing state.
Pennsylvania looks like the tightest race after Kamala Harris lost her lead here a few days ago and it has the greatest number of electoral college votes, 19 of them.
US election latest: Harris and Trump make late bid to woo voters
So, unless there is a big upset somewhere, whoever wins here wins the White House.
A Trump supporter told campaigners anyone who didn’t think the US had “fallen off a cliff” since Joe Biden was elected is “an idiot”
This has been Democrat country for decades, working-class industrial heartlands where the unions help deliver a Democrat vote and now more progressive liberals have reinforced the party’s urban strongholds.
But the Trump campaign sees an opening here and is out to exploit it.
Michael Hildreth talks to Pennsylvania voters
Church minister Michael Hildreth has driven for two days from Texas with his son to campaign in this crucial battleground state.
We join them and fellow campaigner Stacie, also from Texas, as they drive out into enemy territory, the Democrat suburbs, on the hunt for votes.
“Tensions are high,” he tells us. “This time, there’s hostility.”
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Battle to win votes in swing states
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The first voter he speaks to on the porch of his house says he’s a “Kamala guy”.
The second says he never votes.
Pennsylvania is arguably the most important county in the most important swing state
But he and Stacie find potential recruits as they pound the pavements nearby.
“It’s Trump and Vance,” says one man. “Closed borders, economic freedom, inflation, less crime, a businessman who knows how to run a business.”
“Anybody who doesn’t think this country has fallen off a cliff in the last four years is an idiot,” another Trump supporter tells us.
The economy and affordability motivates most people in the Pittsburgh suburb
As we pause for breath, I ask Michael what made him drive all this way to help Trump win here.
For him, it’s about ending America’s wars overseas.
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“The left-wing people are psychopaths. I’m not saying every single person who’s a Democrat is,” he says.
“But the people in power, they’re all about the money. And people will die. People have already died.
“Hundreds of thousands have died in Ukraine. And we’re going to see maybe millions upon millions dying if we don’t stop this war.”
Whoever wins in Pennsylvania likely wins the White House
He is a preacher and a pacifist and believes Trump will end the Ukraine conflict and not let others happen, so his son is never drafted to fight for other people in far-off foreign countries.
Many voters they encounter have more mundane concerns, though.
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It’s the economy and affordability that motivates most people we find in the quiet sunny streets of this Pittsburgh suburb.
The Trump camp thinks it has a chance because of that: if it can make its mark here and elsewhere in this all important state, the former president will return to the White House.
Former US president Joe Biden has prostate cancer, his office has said.
The statement said Mr Biden, who left the White House in January, is reviewing options for treatment with his physicians.
It read: “Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.
“On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.
“The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
File pic: Reuters
According to Cancer Research UK, a Gleason score of 9 means the cancerous cells “look very abnormal” and the disease is “likely to grow quickly”.
A source familiar with Mr Biden and his family’s thinking has told Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, that the former president is considering “multiple treatment options” – including hormone treatment for the cancer.
They added he is at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and that as of now, it is unclear where the former president will be treated.
Mr Biden, 82, was the oldest person to ever serve as president, with concerns about his health raised regularly during his campaign for re-election last year.
After a poor debate against Donald Trump in June, he withdrew from the 2024 election and endorsed his vice president Kamala Harris.
In February 2023, he had a skin lesion removed from his chest that was a basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer.
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A Mexican navy ship has hit the Brooklyn Bridge during a promotional tour in New York City.
The New York Fire Department said authorities were responding to injuries but had no details about how many people might have been hurt or whether they were on the vessel or on the bridge.
Sky’s US partner network NBC News reports that at least three people were seriously injured in the incident.
The Mexican navy said in a post on X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy training vessel, was damaged in the accident, which has prevented it from continuing its voyage.
Eyewitness video of the collision posted online showed the mast of the ship, which was flying a large Mexican flag, scraping the underneath of the bridge.
Pic: AP
The vessel then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore.
The Mexican navy said the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance.
The Cuauhtemoc is about 297ft long and 40ft wide, according to the Mexican navy. It sailed for the first time in 1982.
Pic: AP
Each year, it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets’ training.
It left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on 6 April with 277 people onboard, the navy said at the time.
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One person has died in a bomb explosion near a reproductive health clinic in California, authorities have said.
The incident took place in Palm Springs, a city two hours east of Los Angeles, and is being investigated as a possible car explosion.
The city’s mayor Ron DeHarte said one person died in the blast, adding that the bomb was “either in or near” a vehicle. The deceased’s identity is not known, Palm Springs police said.
Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Centers clinic, told the Associated Press his facility was damaged but all staff were safe and accounted for.
The explosion damaged the office space where the practice conducts patient consultations, but the IVF lab and stored embryos were unharmed, he added.
“I really have no clue what happened,” he said. “Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients.”
Debris covers the ground after the explosion. Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
In a statement posted on Facebook the clinic said it was “heartbroken” to learn someone died in the explosion and added: “Our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected.”
It continued: “Our mission has always been to help build families, and in times like these, we are reminded of just how fragile and precious life is.
“In the face of this tragedy, we remain committed to creating hope – because we believe that healing begins with community, compassion, and care.
The clinic will be fully operational on Monday, it added.
“This moment has shaken us – but it has not stopped us. We will continue to serve with strength, love, and the hope that brings new life into the world,” the statement concluded.
Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
The Palm Springs city government said in a post on Facebook that the explosion happened on North Indian Canyon Drive, near East Tachevah Drive, before 11am local time (6pm GMT).
A burned-out car can be seen in a parking lot behind the building in aerial footage.
The blast caved in the clinic’s roof and blew debris across four lanes of the road.
Another person said he was inside a cannabis dispensary nearby when he felt a massive explosion.
Nima Tabrizi said: “The building just shook, and we go outside and there’s massive cloud smoke.”
Investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are travelling to the scene to help assess what happened.
California governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the explosion, his press office said.
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