Kamala Harris says ‘the American people deserve better’ – as it happened

1.59am BST

This blog is closing shortly. You can read our full story here:

Related: Trump repeats lies and attacks Kamala Harris’s racial identity at panel of Black journalists

Updated at 2.00am BST

1.47am BST

Meanwhile here is our full story on Trump’s comments about his running mate, JD Vance, earlier today.

Donald Trump has said that vice presidential picks have “virtually no impact” on elections when asked about JD Vance’s fitness for office, in an apparent attempt to downplay his running mate’s role on the Republican ticket.

Trump made the comments during a combative interview at the annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in Chicago. Asked by the Fox News journalist Harris Faulkner whether Vance would be ready to take over “on day one, if he has to be”, Trump avoided answering directly and instead downplayed the significance of the Vance’s role.

“I’ve always had great respect for him … but I will say this, and I think this is well documented historically, the vice-president, in terms of the election, does not have any impact. I mean, virtually no impact,” Trump said.

Related: Trump says running mates have ‘virtually no impact’ in apparent JD Vance snub

1.38am BST

Here is video of Harris’s response to Trump’s interview earlier today:

1.32am BST

“I say to the incredible members of Sigma Gamma Ro Sorority inc, there is so much at stake in this moment. The election is in 97 days. And once again, our nation is counting on you,” she says, “Because when we organise, mountains move, when we organise, nations change, and when we vote, we make history.”

“So let us continue to fight with faith, with optimism, and with hope,” she says.

She ends her speech.

1.29am BST

“In the states where the majority of black women live, every state except Virginia has an abortion ban,” Harris says.

She promises to sign abortion protections into law – to loud cheers.

Updated at 1.30am BST

1.27am BST

Harris addresses Trump interview: 'It was the same old show'

“This afternoon Donald Trump spoke at the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists’ and it was the same old show: the divisiveness and the disrespect. And let me just say, the American people deserve better,” she says.

“A leader who tells the truth. Who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. Who understands our differences do not divide us.”

1.25am BST

Harris repeats her campaign messaging on fighting hidden fees, rent increases, and protecting healthcare.

“We are not going back,” she says, repeating a key Harris 2024 catchphrase.

1.22am BST

“Our nation needs you,” she says.

1.21am BST

Harris starts speaking

Harris takes to the stage in Houston at the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.’s 60th International Biennial Boulé. She’s smiling, she’s laughing, and she says she’s speaking “as a proud member of the divine nine.”

“I believe in the promise of America. And aren’t so many of us empirical evidence of the promise of America,” she says.

“Greater service brings greater progress,” she says. She starts listing the achievements of the sorority which, she says, “helped elect Joe Biden as the president of the United States and me as the first woman Vice President of the United States”.

Updated at 1.21am BST

1.16am BST

As we wait for Harris to speak at the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.’s 60th International Biennial Boulé, here is a brief look at how Harris’s candidacy has shone a spotlight on the power of Black US sororities and fraternities.

Harris is herself a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. The country’s nine most prominent Greek letter organisations are called the “Divine Nine”. Altogether, the US’s Black sororities and fraternities have more than two million members in the US.

“Their voter engagement programs reach millions every four years. More, each organization controls a hefty operating budget and their combined revenue would exceed $150 million, according to public records,” the New York Times reported earlier this week.

“Greek letter organizations who have worked in the trenches, some for over 100 years, never received any kind of publicity, any kind of notoriety,” Representative Frederica S. Wilson of Florida, who is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, told the New York Times earlier this week. Once Ms. Harris ran for president, in 2020, she said, that changed. “The A.K.A.s shouted to the highest hills, ‘That’s our soror! That’s our sister!’”

Updated at 1.17am BST

1.07am BST

Trump repeats totally false claims that the 2020 was “rigged” by the Democrats.

1.05am BST

Trump meanwhile repeats another of his catchphrases, “Drill, baby, drill”. As his speech crosses the one hour mark, the people behind him are getting fidgety, chatting among themselves and looking bored.

12.59am BST

Arizona senator Mark Kelly, among the names tipped to be Harris’s running mate, has addressed Trumps’ comments about Harris, telling reporters they are, “the comments of a desperate, scared old man who is, over the last week especially, is having his butt kicked by an experienced prosecutor.”

“I think he’s worried, and she’s going to continue to do this, and she’s going to win the election in November, and she’s going to be our next president. And you know, his, his comments are not unexpected from him,” Kelly said, per CNN.

12.56am BST

Harris to speak in Houston

Kamala Harris will be speaking at a black sorority event in Houston shortly. She will be taking to the stage hours after Donald Trump’s interview at the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual convention shocked the audience and ended up being cut short, apparently by his team. He claimed that he has been the “best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln”, adding that a “Black job” is “anybody that has a job ”.

Updated at 1.01am BST

12.55am BST

New York Magazine has done a deep dive on Trump’s obsession with Hannibal Lecter. TLDR: nobody has managed to make sense of it. If you want to try, here are the theories.

12.51am BST

Trump repeats racist assertions about immigrants from “Asia, Africa, the Middle East”.

He is again referring to Hannibal Lecter, the fictional cannibal.

“Why does he keep mentioning Hannibal Lecter,” Trump says, and again repeats that Hannibal Lecter would like to have you for dinner.

He says it makes sense to mention Lecter because “insane people” are coming into the US. (I cannot make sense of this).

Updated at 12.52am BST

12.48am BST

Trump is talking about Nancy Pelosi now, and the 6 January insurrection. “The fake news is trying to delete everything,” he says. But that the “internet is wonderful in some ways, we have a copy of every single article”.

12.44am BST

Harris to speak in Texas

We will soon be turning to Kamala Harris’s speech in Texas.

Updated at 12.53am BST

12.42am BST

Trump is again talking about what he says is Harris’s record on immigration. He repeats a string of false and unsubstantiated claims.

12.41am BST

Trump did not say outright that he would debate Harris. He appeared to signal that he might – “challenge accepted” – but technically he old agreed to compare records.

Here is exactly what he said:

In one of the most phony moments of her speech last night Kamala Harris bragged “I would proudly put my record against Donald Trump any day of the week”...

Well Kamala lets go, Challenge accepted. Let’s compare our record point by point. I can’t believe I’m doing it.

On Wednesday Harris challenged Trump to “say it to my face”.

12.39am BST

Fox has now totally cut away from the speech.

12.38am BST

Fox news is still playing footage of the speech in the background, but talking over it, which is interesting. One theory could be that they have noticed viewership drops after a certain period of Trump speaking.

12.34am BST

Trump now says he will stop paying attention to the teleprompter and starts gently mocking his speech writers.

“The sun will rise. The moon will set. The oceans will glisten” he says, as an example of what they write.

But I’m not sure the people here want to hear that, he says. He moves on to talking about UFC fighter Dana White, who has admitted to hitting his wife. Then he talks about the border in Mexico, the border wall.

12.31am BST

Trump is still speaking however, and appears to say that he will debate Harris after all. “Let’s compare our record point for point”, he says.

"I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he says. “Two weeks ago I was talking about Biden.”

Updated at 12.37am BST

12.28am BST

Now Trump says that San Francisco was one of the greatest cities in the world (but Harris destroyed it).

And then Fox cuts away from the speech.

12.27am BST

“We are not going to let the Democrats turn the US into a communist San Francisco colony,” Trump says.

12.26am BST

Trump turns now to electric cars, which he says the Democrats want. “So you can go 15 minutes before charging it back up,” he scoffs. “Would anyone like to keep red meat,” he says? “Raise your hand”.

“Democrats want to get rid of red meat” he says – so you should get rid of your cows. This is not remotely true.

12.24am BST

Trump is now ranting about “illegal aliens” and saying Harris wants taxpayer-funded free health care for immigrants.

From PolitiFact : Harris has supported giving immigrants who are in the country illegally access to health coverage through her 2019 Medicare for All plan, but she hasn’t said it would be free for them or that it would be funded by taxpayers.

12.20am BST

“No matter how much Kamala Harris tries to change her image she cannot change this fact,” he says, and then says several things that are not facts, including that Harris “is the most left-wing candidate in history”.

Updated at 12.21am BST

12.19am BST

He again calls Harris a “radical left puppet candidate”.

On the one hand you have Harris, who is “Fake, fake, fake”, he says, and on the other, Trump, who will “Fight, fight, fight”. There is much applause. Trump again claims that many people were turned away from the rally.

12.18am BST

Biden is a “bad 81 and he’s destroying our country”, Trump says. Biden is a “phony radical left” and Harris is a “real phony left”.

Trump uses the phrase “border czar” several times, referring to Harris.

Harris was never given the portfolio of border czar, Alan Bersin, who embraced the label as a special representative for border affairs under Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton has told Reuters. “This was not the job assigned to VP Harris,” he said.

12.15am BST

The Fox news chryon as Trump speaks is Trump: Everything about Kamala’s rollout was fake.

Updated at 12.16am BST

12.14am BST

“Don’t forget. Four weeks ago she was considered, like, the worst,” he says. He says Harris has had a personality makeover and “all of a sudden she’s considered the new Margaret Thatcher”.

Margaret Thatcher was, infamously, a Conservative British prime minister.

12.13am BST

Trump repeats his well-worn claim that he could have a “nice easy life” but has chosen to do this instead.

12.12am BST

He calls, erroneously, Kamala Harris a “puppet candidate” who was “installed by the democrats”.

12.11am BST

He says that $6m have been raised in a GoFundMe for Comperatore.

He says, that Corey’s wife said, “‘I’d rather have my husband’”.

“Isn’t that good? I know a lot of wives who wouldn’t say that,” he says. He holds a very brief moment of silence. Then says “that’s the most quiet I have ever heard an arena”.

12.09am BST

He is naming the people injured and killed at the rally. He thanks the doctor who attended to Corey Comperatore, who died in the shooting.

He names the people injured.

“They’re doing really well. They’re going to be fine. Not going to be perfect, really, but who is?” he says.

12.07am BST

Trump says he will go back to Butler, the city where the assassination attempt took place. He thanks everyone at Butler Memorial Hospital, he says.

“They saw some pretty bad things.”

12.06am BST

The crowd is chanting “USA! USA!”

He claims that more than 20,000 people weren’t able to get into the stadium. He says “we didn’t need a star”, referring to the singers who have appeared at Kamala Harris’s rallies.

12.03am BST

Trump is on stage in Harrisburg and will begin speaking any moment.

12.01am BST

Trump’s address will be his first in Pennsylvania since the assassination attempt there three weeks (yes, just three weeks) ago. It is happening indoors at the state capital’s New Holland Arena.

11.56pm BST

We’re expecting Trump to speak at a rally in Pennsylvania any moment –he appears to be running an hour late.

11.55pm BST

Biden aides have expressed some worry to one another about how his lingering frustrations might surface, AP reports.

Some pointed to his comments in the early hours of Tuesday morning, when a reporter asked Biden about his legacy with regard to LGBTQ Americans. The president harked back to to his 2011 comments supporting same-sex marriage that caught then-President Barack Obama off guard. It came off as a subtle dig at the former president, who in recent weeks was among those working behind the scenes to push Biden toward the exits.

11.53pm BST

Biden and Harris’s regular lunches with Harris on Wednesdays have “taken on a new dimension” as the balance of power in their relationship has shifted, AP reports.

11.49pm BST

Biden has tasked aides with finding additional actions he can take before 20 January 2025, to secure his legacy, AP reports. What those actions might be remains a work in progress.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged that Biden and the White House are still “recalibrating” after his decision.

“We are trying to figure out what the next six months are going to look like,” she said. “Just give us a beat.”

11.45pm BST

Ten days since ending his reelection campaign, Biden still is coming to terms with the political whiplash that he and the country have experienced, the AP reports.

”Privately, the Democratic president is smarting over those who orchestrated the abrupt end of his 50-year political career and processing a mixture of emotions — bitterness and regret among them, but also relief at not having to run a gruelling race against Republican Donald Trump. Nor will Biden have to confront the risk of what his potential loss might have done do his legacy and the country.”

11.30pm BST

The parties involved in Lahaina wildfire lawsuits against the state of Hawaii, Maui County and utilities are close to a global settlement of claims that will be worth a little over $4 billion, Governor Josh Green told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Green said he’s hoping to finalise the details in coming days, perhaps as soon as Aug. 6, which would be two days before the one-year anniversary of the fire that killed 102 people and wiped out historic Lahaina.

“If that could happen, it would be great. I humbly invite all the parties to finalize the agreement,” Green said in an interview at his office. “It appears that we are almost there, and we only have a very tiny holdout remaining.”

He said all the plaintiffs and defendants have agreed to the global settlement number but final details are pending.

More than 600 lawsuits have been filed over the deaths and destruction caused by the fires. In the spring, a judge appointed mediators and ordered all parties to participate in settlement talks.

11.26pm BST

Conservative news outlet The Bulwark reports that several Trump campaign staffers and advisers say that Kellyanne Conway, former senior counsellor to Trump, is leaking negative stories about JD Vance to the press:

In interviews with The Bulwark , twenty Trump campaign staffers, allies, confidants, and advisers were quick to shoot down any notion that Trump was turning his back on Vance or was displeased with him amid his rocky rollout . But more than a dozen of those sources volunteered without prompting that they believed Conway, who initially opposed the selection of Vance, was undermining him through leaks to the press expressing doubts about his readiness and the campaign’s vetting.

Updated at 11.27pm BST

11.17pm BST

Three men accused of being involved in the 9/11 terrorist attack – including the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon – have agreed to plea deals at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

“The Convening Authority for Military Commissions, Susan Escallier, has entered into pre-trial agreements with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi, three of the co-accused in the 9/11 case,” the Pentagon said in a short statement.

The New York Times reported that the three will plead guilty to conspiracy charges in exchange for a life sentence rather than a death-penalty trial.

The men have been in US custody since 2003 and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is widely seen as the chief plotter of the terror attacks.

Related: Three accused 9/11 plotters plead guilty in Guantánamo Bay deal – prosecutors

11.14pm BST

Hello, this is Helen Sullivan taking you through the next few hours of US politics news.

New York Magazine reports that among the images being projected to audiences at his rally in Pennsylvania is a screenshot of a Business Insider article that says “California’s Kamala Harris becomes first Indian-American US senator”:

11.08pm BST

Today so far

Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:

• Donald Trump’s interview at the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual convention shocked the audience and ended up being cut short, apparently by his team. He claimed that he has been the “best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln”, adding that a “Black job” is “anybody that has a job ”.

• Trump also questioned Kamala Harris’s ethnicity, saying: “She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black.”

• Harris’s campaign team has released the following statement in response to Trump’s interview: “The hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power and inflict his harmful Project 2025 agenda on the American people.”

• Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, responded while at the podium in the daily media briefing to Donald Trump’s comments about Harris’s racial identity. Jean-Pierre, speaking in real time in the west wing in Washington DC while Trump was being quizzed by three political journalists in Chicago, called his words “repulsive”.

• More than 100 venture capitalists including ent repreneur Mark Cuban and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman threw their support behind Harris today, in a counterweight to tech billionaires backing Trump. Among the venture capitalists lining up behind Harris are investor Chris Sacca, Katie Stanton of Moxxie, Eva Ho of Fika Ventures and Rebecca Kaden of Union Square Ventures.

• In a new poll out today, about eight in 10 Democrats say they would be very or somewhat satisfied if Harris became the Democratic nominee for president. The survey from the AP-Norc Center for Public Affairs Research was conducted after Joe Biden withdrew from the race , the Associated Press reports.

• The United Auto Workers union has endorsed Harris for president. In a statement released on Wednesday, the UAW president Shawn Fain said: “Our job in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris to build on her proven track record of delivering for the working class … .”

10.49pm BST

The US was not aware of or involved in the apparent killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, says the US representative to the UN , Robert Wood.

Wood calls on UN security council members with direct influence over Iran to increase pressure on the country to “stop escalating its proxy conflict against Israel”.

Every member of this council should call on Iran to stop arming, advising and financing terrorist groups and to rein in the actions of proxies and partners who threaten regional peace and security.

Follow more live updates on the situation here:

Related: Middle East crisis live: US ‘not aware of or involved in’ killing of Hamas leader, US ambassador tells UN council

Updated at 11.21pm BST

10.16pm BST

JD Vance chimes in ...

JD Vance has responded to Donald Trump’s chaotic NABJ interview:

Updated at 10.54pm BST

9.50pm BST

United Auto Workers union endorses Harris for president

The United Auto Workers union has endorsed Kamala Harris for president.

In a statement released on Wednesday, UAW president Shawn Fain said:

Our job in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris to build on her proven track record of delivering for the working class …

We stand at a crossroads in this country. We can put a billionaire back in office who stands against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed.

This campaign is bringing together people from all walks of life, building a movement that can defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box. For our one million active and retired members, the choice is clear: We will elect Kamala Harris to be our next President this November.”

Updated at 10.21pm BST

9.31pm BST

Here is video of Donald Trump questioning Kamala Harris’s ethnicity during his interview at the NABJ conference in Chicago:

Throughout the years, Trump has also questioned the birth origins of Barack Obama , Ted Cruz and Nikki Haley .

Updated at 10.19pm BST

9.06pm BST

Harris campaign responds to Trump NABJ interview: 'A taste of chaos and division'

Kamala Harris’s campaign team has released the following statement in response to Donald Trump’s combative NABJ interview:

The hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power and inflict his harmful Project 2025 agenda on the American people.

Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency – while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in. Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us.

Today’s tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s Maga rallies this entire campaign. It’s also exactly what the American people will see from across the debate stage as vice-president Harris offers a vision of opportunity and freedom for all Americans. All Donald Trump needs to do is stop playing games and actually show up to the debate on September 10.

Updated at 9.18pm BST

8.47pm BST

When asked by Fox News journalist Harris Faulkner whether JD Vance would be ready for day one, Donald Trump said:

I’ve always had great respect for him … but I will say this, and I think this is well-documented historically, the vice-president in terms of the election, does not have any impact. I mean, virtually no impact.

You’re voting for the president, and you can have a vice-president who’s outstanding in every way. And I think JD is, I think that all of them would have been but, but you’re not voting that way. You’re voting for the president. You’re voting for me.

Updated at 8.48pm BST

8.28pm BST

Trump's remarks on Harris at NABJ "repulsive" – White House

Karine Jean-Pierre , the White House press secretary, responded while at the podium in the daily media briefing to Donald Trump ’s comments about Kamala Harris’s identity at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention.

Jean-Pierre, speaking in real time in the west wing in Washington DC while Trump was being quizzed by three political journalists in Chicago, called his words “repulsive”.

The former president said that he didn’t know Harris was Black until a few years ago when she “happened to turn Black”.

Jean-Pierre said: “It’s insulting, and no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify.” Jean-Pierre is the first Black and first openly LGBTQ+ American to serve as White House press secretary.

She continued, of Harris: “Only she can speak to her experience.”

Harris grew up in Berkeley, California, near San Francisco; her mother was an immigrant from India and her father immigrated to the US from Jamaica.

“I think it’s insulting for anybody, it doesn’t matter if it’s a former leader, a former president, it is insulting,” Jean-Pierre said, adding: “She is the vice-president of the United States. Kamala Harris. We have to put some respect on her name. Period.”

Updated at 8.39pm BST

8.09pm BST

Summary of Trump's NABJ interview

Donald Trump’s NABJ interview shocked the audience and ended up being cut short, apparently by his team. Here are some of the things the former president claimed in the heated Q&A:

• He claimed that he has been the “best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln”, adding that a “Black job” is “anybody that has a job ”.

• He questioned Kamala Harris’s ethnicity, saying: “She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black.”

• He refused to condemn the white police officer who shot and killed 36-year-old Sonya Massey, a Black woman, in her home in Illinois, saying: “Sometimes very bad decisions are made. They’re not made from an evil standpoint.”

• He repeated the abortion lie that Democrats are allowing abortions in the ninth month, saying: “They’re allowing the death of the baby after the baby is born.”

• In response to what he would do on his first day in office, he said that he would “close the border” and “drill, baby, drill”.

• Throughout the interview, which appeared to have been ended by his team after 40 minutes, Trump’s responses drew multiple gasps and shouts from the crowd.

Updated at 8.35pm BST

7.58pm BST

Trump hits out at Black journalists and repeatedly lies in heated interview before Q&A is cut short

The interview with Donald Trump at the NABJ conference is now over, with Trump giving a few fist pumps and shaking hands with the interviewers before walking off stage.

The interview, which lasted around 40 minutes, got off to a rocky start, with Trump accusing interviewers of asking “rude” questions and calling their networks “fake news” before blaming the conference’s speakers for his lateness.

In addition to multiple tangents on how he is allegedly persecuted by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and a supposedly “weaponized” justice system, Trump refused to condemn the January 6 insurrectionists, continued to espouse the lie that Democrats are “executing” babies after birth, and vowed to close the borders on his first day in office if he becomes president.

Throughout the interview, Trump’s responses drew multiple gasps and shouts from the crowd.

He also defended JD Vance’s comments about “childless cat ladies” said he “didn’t know [Harris] was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black,” and described a “Black job” as “anybody that has a job”.

The interview was cut short after Trump’s team apparently asked interviewers to end the Q&A. ABC’s Rachel Scott told the audience: “I think we have to leave it there, by the Trump team. That is the last word.” Trump reacted with a bemused expression before getting off the stage.

Updated at 8.32pm BST

7.50pm BST

In response to a question on what he would do on his first day as president if he wins, Donald Trump responded:

I close the border. And I do two things, because I can do a lot of things. I close the border. And we don’t want people coming. We want people to come in … but they have to be vetted. They have to be checked. They have to come in legally …

And I drill. Drill, baby, drill. I bring energy way down. I bring interest rates down. I bring inflation way down. So people can buy bacon again, so people can buy a ham sandwich again, so that people can go to a restaurant and afford it because right now people can’t buy food.

Updated at 7.55pm BST

7.44pm BST

One of the next questions asked of Donald Trump is whether he believes the Republican party is getting “too judgy about people’s lives ”.

In response, Trump touted several false statements, saying that Democrats are “radical on abortion because they’re allowing abortion in the ninth month. They’re allowing the death of the baby after the baby is born.”

Trump’s lie was swiftly fact-checked on the spot, with the interviewers saying: “That’s illegal in all 50 states.”

He nevertheless continued with the false statement about abortions, saying: “Most Republicans believe in the exception, but they don’t want to see an abortion in the ninth month or the eighth month.”

Updated at 7.54pm BST

7.37pm BST

We are more than 15 minutes into the NABJ interview with Donald Trump, and the former president has already butted heads multiple times with the interviewers.

In addition to frequently interrupting them, Trump has blamed the conferences’s speakers for his lateness, accused the interviewers’ questions of being “rude” and their networks, including ABC, of being “fake news”.

At one point, when one of the interviewers told Trump she would like to move on to other questions following his tangent on his alleged political persecution, Trump replied: “You’re the one that held me up 35 minutes.”

Updated at 7.47pm BST

7.33pm BST

Donald Trump was asked about Sonya Massey, the 36-year-old Black woman who was shot and killed in her home by a white police officer in Illinois on 6 July .

Specifically, the question was about Trump’s previous comments on police officers needing to have immunity and why someone like the officer, who has been charged with murder in the case of Sonya Massey’s killing, should get immunity.

Trump responded:

I don’t know the exact case, but I saw something, and it didn’t look, it didn’t look good to me. It didn’t look good to me …

I’m saying if I felt, or if a group of people would feel, that somebody was being unfairly prosecuted because the person did a good job … or made a mistake, an innocent mistake, there’s a big difference between being a bad person and making an innocent mistake. But if somebody made an innocent mistake, I would want to help that person …

Sometimes very bad decisions are made. They’re not made from an evil standpoint.

Trump then went on a tangent of being “prosecuted because I’m a political opponent of two people that have weaponized our justice system”.

Updated at 7.41pm BST

7.25pm BST

In response to what Donald Trump’s message is today and why he chose to appear at the conference, Trump touted his typical anti-immigration rhetoric, saying:

My message is to stop people from invading our country that are taking, frankly, a lot of problems with it. But one of the big problems, and a lot of the journalists in this room, I know, and I have great respect for a lot of the journalists in this room are Black … They’re coming in, and they’re coming in, they’re invading. It’s an invasion of millions of people … The first group of people, the Black population, is affected most by that and Kamala is allowing it to happen.

Trump was also asked what a “Black job” is, to which he said:

A Black job is anybody that has a job. That’s what it is.

Updated at 7.33pm BST

7.21pm BST

In response to a question on whether he believes Kamala Harris is only on the ticket because she is a Black woman, Donald Trump said:

So I’ve known her a long time indirectly and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know. Is she Indian or is she Black?

Updated at 7.34pm BST

7.19pm BST

In response to a question on why Black voters should trust Donald Trump following his track record of inappropriate comments towards Black communities, Trump said:

First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question so horrible manner. First question, you don’t even say hello. How are you? Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network, a terrible network, and I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in history. I love the Black population of this country …

I think it’s a very rude introduction. I don’t know exactly why you would do something like that.

I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln.

Updated at 7.34pm BST

7.16pm BST

Donald Trump has just walked on stage.

The interviewers also said that the interview will be live-fact-checked live.

Updated at 7.35pm BST

7.15pm BST

The NABJ interview with Donald Trump is about to begin.

Interviewers Kadia Goba of Semafor, Rachel Scott of ABC News and Harris Faulkner of Fox News have just walked on stage.

7.13pm BST

Donald Trump has fired off another post on Truth Social, blaming the conference’s speakers for his lateness:

I’ve been waiting for a half hour. The speaker equipment at the NABJ is not working properly. Don’t blame me for being late.

Updated at 7.35pm BST

7.11pm BST

There are reports emerging that Donald Trump’s interview at the NABJ is more than an hour late because he is at odds over the debate’s live fact-checking, HuffPost’s Philip Lewis reports:

Updated at 7.36pm BST

6.57pm BST

Before his interview at the NABJ, Donald Trump attacked Kamala Harris’s physical absence at the conference, writing on Truth Social:

They told me and Crazy Kamala Harris that you could not do this Event with ZOOM — It is not allowed or acceptable! She declined, and I am getting ready to land in Chicago in order to be there. Now I am told that she is doing the Event on ZOOM. WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?

Harris’s campaign has also released a statement on Trump’s appearance at the event, saying:

We know Donald Trump is going to lie about his record and the real harm he’s caused Black communities at NABJ – and he must be called out.

Updated at 7.39pm BST

6.38pm BST

Interim summary

Hello, US politics blog readers, we are waiting for Trump to speak at the National Association of Black Journalists convention and also waiting for the press briefing at the White House, both of which are running behind schedule. But stick with us and we’ll bring you the developments. A short summary of events meanwhile:

• Donald Trump is about to be interviewed by three prominent political journalists at the NABJ convention in Chicago.

• In a new poll out today , about eight in 10 Democrats say they would be very or somewhat satisfied if Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee for president. Between the dire debate performance and his withdrawal from re-election, Joe Biden’s result in a similar poll was four in 10 Dems.

• Trump said that if his Democratic rival, Harris, beats him to the presidency in November’s election , she will struggle to deal with foreign leaders on the world stage. He said: “I think they would walk all over her. She will be so easy for them, she will be like a play toy.”

• Speculation is mounting about Kamala Harris ’s choice of running mate. There are mixed opinions on whether Harris picking Pennsylvania to introduce her choice of running mate means that the governor of that state, Josh Shapiro , is the frontrunner in the veep stakes .

• Kamala Harris is going to appear at a campaign event in Philadelphia next Tuesday with her choice of running mate for the Democratic ticket to contest the presidential election campaign this November. Harris has not yet named her vice-presidential choice and it’s not yet been made clear exactly when she will, but her campaign, Harris for President, has confirmed that she and the relevant person will stump together in the Pennsylvania city on 6 August.

Meanwhile, you can follow events in the Middle East via our separate, global live blog, here .

Updated at 6.47pm BST

6.28pm BST

Donald Trump’s imminent appearance at an NABJ event has received backlash from many attendees, especially as the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee for US president, will not be featured at this year’s conference.

Multiple news sources have reported that the conference declined to have Harris appear virtually, which was initially offered by the campaign because she has campaign commitments on an intense schedule because her new presidential campaign is only 10 days old, and she is due to attend the funeral of the late congresswoman, Sheila Jackson Lee, in Houston, Texas. Lee died last weekend after suffering from cancer.

The NABJ has not publicly confirmed if it refused to allow Harris to virtually participate, but said that it was working with Harris’s team to schedule another so-called fireside chat at a later time. Trump has predicted on social media that she will find a way to show up at last minute so as not to be bested by him.

The event is running late. We’ve been staring at empty chairs on stage for almost half an hour but a voice over said it will start shortly … meanwhile, more music.

Updated at 6.50pm BST

6.10pm BST

Upbeat funk music is playing at the nearly packed ballroom where Donald Trump is expected to address a conference of Black journalists ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Trump’s panel at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is set to begin in approximately 10 minutes. The panel will be moderated by three Black journalists: Rachel Scott, a senior congressional correspondent for ABC News; Harris Faulkner, a newscaster and television host for Fox News; and Kadia Goba, a politics reporter for Semafor.

Some have questioned the inclusion of Faulkner as a moderator, accusing the Fox News journalist of being biased in favor of Trump.

Here’s one comment:

And another:

Updated at 6.18pm BST

6.07pm BST

Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign has issued a statement about Donald Trump appearing on stage at the NABJ convention, where he is about to be interviewed by three political journalists in a few minutes, and we have a live feed of the event at the top of this blog.

5.48pm BST

On the theme of Donald Trump attending the NABJ convention and Kamala Harris not doing so, there’s this from a journalist whom the former president has dissed in the past, April Ryan.

Updated at 5.50pm BST

5.45pm BST

Donald Trump and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) have a tense history over his treatment of Black women journalists.

In 2018, NABJ condemned Trump for repeatedly using words such as “stupid,” “loser” and “nasty” to describe Black women journalists, including, most prominently, Yamiche Alcindor of NBC News, who is attending the convention, where Trump is appearing to be questioned by journalists at the top of the hour, Abby Phillip of CNN and April Ryan of The Grio, the Associated Press reports.

“The most powerful man in the free world is verbally abusing journalists. His dismissive comments toward journalists April Ryan, Abby Phillip and Yamiche Alcindor are appalling, irresponsible, and should be denounced,” said then-NABJ President Sarah Glover.

When Trump told Alcindor “don’t be threatening” during a 2020 press conference, then-NABJ president Dorothy Tucker condemned the remarks as “not only unnecessary but demeaning and inappropriate.”

Former presidents George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have all attended NABJ. Joe Biden attended remotely in 2020.

5.27pm BST

Donald Trump will be interviewed at 1pm ET (12pm central time) today, at the NABJ convention in Chicago, by three reporters: Kadia Goba of Semafor, Rachel Scott of ABC News and Harris Faulkner of Fox News.

Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee and first Black woman to hold her office, is not currently scheduled to address the convention, the Associated Press writes.

The debate over the NABJ’s invite reflects how many journalists are still grappling with how to approach Trump nearly a decade after his first presidential run.

Some group members argued journalists should allow newsmakers to be heard, while others pointed to Trump’s demeaning of prominent Black journalists while president and his frequent attacks on the free press, including labeling reporters “the enemy of the people” .

Updated at 5.44pm BST

5.14pm BST

Donald Trump’s invitation to address the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention today has sparked an intense debate.

Journalism organizations for people of color traditionally invite presidential candidates to address their summer gatherings during election years, the Associated Press writes.

But Trump’s acceptance of the NABJ’s invitation has led at least one high-profile group member, Karen Attiah, to step down as a convention co-chair and others to argue their convention may become a platform for Trump to make false claims or be seen as winning the NABJ’s endorsement.

She wished the journalists who are going to interview Trump luck, and added, on X that: “While my decision was influenced by a variety of factors, I was not involved or consulted with in any way with the decision to platform Trump in such a format.”

Updated at 5.45pm BST

5.02pm BST

Trump to be interviewed at NABJ convention

Journalists at the annual conference of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) began trickling in to the Hilton hotel in downtown Chicago this morning for a 12pm CT/1pm ET panel – featuring Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

He will be quizzed by the prominent political reporters Kadia Goba of Semafor, Rachel Scott of ABC News and Harris Faulkner of Fox News.

Press credentials for the much-discussed event have been tight, with several Secret Service agents monitoring the ballroom where the conversation with Trump will take place.

Others Secret Service agents have been spotted walking throughout the hotel.

Trump’s latest appearance comes only weeks after a 20-year-old gunman attempted to assassinate the former president at a Pennsylvania campaign rally. In the immediate aftermath, the Secret Service chief, Kimberly Cheatle, stepped down after calls from both parties to quit.

Updated at 6.01pm BST

4.45pm BST

Among the venture capitalists lining up behind Kamala Harris are, in addition to Mark Cuban and Reid Hoffman, investor Chris Sacca, Katie Stanton of Moxxie, Eva Ho of Fika Ventures and Rebecca Kaden of Union Square Ventures.

They all signed an open letter today, pledging to vote for Harris in the 5 November presidential election, Reuters reports.

The letter comes after Trump drew support from other wealthy, high-profile Silicon Valley venture capitalists and investors.

Elon Musk , the billionaire CEO of Tesla, publicly endorsed Trump for the first time after the 13 July assassination attempt on the former president.

Entrepreneur and investor David Sacks, the former chief operating officer of PayPal and a close friend of Musk, has also hosted fundraisers for Trump.

You can read Carole Cadwallader ’s analysis piece for the Observer (the Guardian’s sister paper) here .

Updated at 4.50pm BST

4.26pm BST

More than 100 venture capitalists including enterpreneur Mark Cuban and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman threw their support behind Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris today, in a counterweight to tech billionaires backing Republican rival Donald Trump.

In a public petition posted online, according to Reuters, the group said:

We spend our days looking for, investing in and supporting entrepreneurs who are building the future. We are pro-business, pro-American dream, pro-entrepreneurship, and pro-technological progress. We also believe in democracy as the backbone of our nation. We believe that strong, trustworthy institutions are a feature, not a bug, and that our industry – and every other industry – would collapse without them.

Updated at 4.32pm BST

3.53pm BST

Poll shows Harris bounce

In a new poll out today, about eight in 10 Democrats say they would be very or somewhat satisfied if Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee for president.

The survey from the AP-Norc Center for Public Affairs Research was conducted after Joe Biden withdrew from the race , the Associated Press reports.

In a separate AP-Norc poll, taken before Biden dropped out but after his debate against the Republican former president Donald Trump , only about four in 10 Democrats said they were somewhat or very satisfied that Biden was the Democratic party’s likely nominee for president.

The rapidly changing views among Democrats in such a short timespan underscore how swiftly the party has coalesced behind Harris as its standard bearer.

Gary Hines, a Democratic voter from Philadelphia who wasn’t particularly impressed by Harris’s first presidential bid in 2019, told the Associated Press:

She’s up to the task, can do the work, has proven that she’s running a strong campaign so far and maybe on a bigger level, she’s somebody that can beat Donald Trump.

Updated at 3.59pm BST

3.28pm BST

Trump insults Harris as 'play toy' for world leaders

Donald Trump was on another very personal tear into Kamala Harris last night, as Fox News aired an interview with the former president and current Republican nominee for the White House.

On the segment on the rightwing cable channel’s The Ingraham Angle, with host Laura Ingraham, Trump said that if his Democratic rival beats him to the presidency in November’s election she will struggle to deal with foreign leaders on the world stage.

Trump said: “I think they would walk all over her. She will be so easy for them, she will be like a play toy.”

He added, of foreign leaders: “They look at her and they say, I would believe, ‘We got so lucky,’ and they are going to walk all over her. I don’t want to say as to why but a lot of people understand it.”

Fox reported it straight. But the Washington Post ’s headline says: “Trump suggests Harris would struggle with world leaders based on her appearance”, adding that “a campaign spokeswoman denied he was talking about her race or gender”.

Here’s a reminder of Donald Trump with world leaders in 2018. He threw candies in the direction of then German leader Angela Merkel .

Updated at 3.31pm BST

3.08pm BST

VP pick rumors mount as Harris expected to announce choice within days

There are mixed opinions on whether Kamala Harris picking Pennsylvania to introduce her choice of running mate means that the governor of that state, Josh Shapiro , is the frontrunner in the veep stakes .

Politico points out that “a Harris campaign aide cautioned against reading too much into the first city chosen for the tour”. The outlet also linked to a post on X that details what they described as “a long history of running mate rollouts not matching up to the states where they hail from”.

But that list doesn’t include a situation in which a presidential nominee presents their new running mate in a state led by someone who’s just been passed over for the job, as would be the case if Shapiro’s not chosen and then has to watch Harris introduce a rival in Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press says “the location of the first stop suggests … Shapiro has moved to the top of a short list of running mates, and that the Harris campaign had decided the state that Democrats won back from Republicans in 2020 is a must-win once again”.

It then adds that the Harris campaign last night issued a “strong reminder” that she has “made no decision on a running mate” at this point.

Updated at 3.26pm BST

2.40pm BST

Heightened tension in the Middle East after Hamas leader killed – follow the global blog

The Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated early this morning in Iran, the Palestinian militant group and Tehran said, drawing threats of revenge on Israel in a region already shaken by the war in Gaza and a deepening conflict in Lebanon.

The Guardian’s team in London is live-blogging all the news surrounding this event and you can follow the developments as they happen, here .

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh, hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president, and said it was investigating. He had been taking part in internationally brokered indirect talks on reaching a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, Reuters reports.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei , said Israel had provided the grounds for “harsh punishment for itself” and it was Tehran’s duty to avenge the Hamas leader’s death as it had occurred in the Iranian capital. Iranian forces had already made strikes directly on Israel earlier in the Gaza war.

There was no comment nor claim of responsibility from Israel.

The Guardian’s global affairs live blog will have the news on this topic all day. Our full report is here .

Updated at 2.43pm BST

2.34pm BST

The event for Kamala Harris and her soon-to-be-named running mate next Tuesday in Philadelphia will mark the start of a lightning tour for the pair through the seven swing states that are expected to decide the election this November.

After Pennsylvania they will travel to somewhere to be confirmed in western Wisconsin; Detroit in Michigan; North Carolina’s capital, Raleigh; Savannah in Georgia; Phoenix, the capital of Arizona; and Las Vegas in Nevada, Politico reports this morning. It’s not clear if that’s the sequence of travel.

Harris, currently US president Joe Biden’s vice-president, can expect to be confirmed as the Democratic nominee for president next month at the party’s convention, to be held in Chicago, and her choice of running mate will also be confirmed.

Updated at 2.38pm BST

2.19pm BST

Harris and vice-presidential pick will make first joint appearance in Pennsylvania, 6 August

Kamala Harris is going to appear at a campaign event in Philadelphia next Tuesday with her choice of running mate for the Democratic ticket to fight the presidential election campaign this November.

Harris has not yet named her vice-presidential choice and it’s not yet been made clear exactly when she will, but her campaign, Harris for President, has confirmed that she and the relevant person will stump together in the Pennsylvania city on 6 August.

She has not yet been confirmed as the presidential nominee for the Democrats, that formal step requires a vote at the party’s national convention next month, but her position is presumed.

Updated at 2.20pm BST

2.05pm BST

Harris to make first appearance with running mate next Tuesday

Good morning, US politics blog readers, the US presidential race has moved into another gear since Joe Biden withdrew from his re-election campaign and endorsed his vice-president, Kamala Harris , to replace him at the top of the Democratic ticket.

There’s big buzz today and a lot more excitement to come in the next few days and before the Democratic national convention in Chicago next month, with the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, throwing his weight around as well. You can follow developments here, as they happen.

Here’s what’s afoot:

• The Harris for President campaign has announced that Kamala Harris and her running mate – who has yet to be confirmed – will appear together in their first joint event next Tuesday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of the seven crucial swing states. This follows news yesterday when various sources were saying she’d announce her VP pick in the next six or seven days . That firmed up overnight.

• The pair will follow the event in Philly with a whizz through six more swing states within four days, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.

• Pundits are opining that the announcement about Pennsylvania doesn’t necessarily point to that state’s governor, Democrat Josh Shapiro , as the shoo-in for the ticket, so that leaves “ the veep stakes ” still a live action sport.

• Kamala Harris spoke at the best-attended and most enthusiastic Democratic campaign rally of the race so far, last night in Atlanta, Georgia. Donald Trump will speak in the same arena this weekend. She taunted him about his apparent cold feet over debating her, with the line : “If you got something to say, say it to my face.”

• Donald Trump said in a Fox interview that aired last night that a President Harris would struggle on the world stage and that she would “be like a play toy” for foreign leaders.

• About eight out of 10 Democrats say they would be very or somewhat satisfied if Harris is confirmed as the Democratic nominee for president. The survey from the AP-Norc Center for Public Affairs Research was conducted after Biden withdrew from the race. After his dire debate performance against Trump last month, a poll from the same firm asking the same about him returned the result that only four in 10 Democrats were would be happy with him as the party’s nominee.

• Trump is due to appear on a panel in an unexpected venue today – the annual conference of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), which is being held in Chicago. We have one of our staffers there, Gloria Oladipo , and will bring you blog updates and a news report. Kamala Harris was not scheduled to attend and has not changed her plans since Trump popped up.