White House warns supreme court has allowed Texas to deny women abortions in emergenciesAt the ongoing White House press briefing, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the supreme court has effectively allowed Texas to deny women abortions even in emergencies, by refusing to take up a Biden administration lawsuit against the state today.
“Today we saw the supreme court decision and what it means that women in Texas could still be denied critical emergency medical care, because of the state’s dangerous and extreme abortion bans,” Jean-Pierre said. “We have seen and have heard the horrific stories of women being denied the care they need because of these laws.”
Jean-Pierre also noted that a Georgia court had allowed the state’s abortion ban to go back into effect, and said:
All of these laws were made possible when the former president handicapped three Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v Wade. They are creating chaos and confusion for women and doctors.
The administration has been clear that all patients, including women experiencing pregnancy loss and other pregnancy related emergency, must be able to access the emergency medical care they need, and that is required by federal law. The stories we hear of women being denied care they need in emergency situation (are) completely unacceptable.
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Key events
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Trump’s event in Florida is so far running 30 minutes late. We will bring you any important lines from those remarks on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks by Hamas when they begin.
ShareUpdated at 18.32 EDT
Oliver Milman
A slew of falsehoods about Hurricane Helene, including claims of funds diverted from storm survivors to migrants and even that Democrats somehow directed the hurricane itself, have hampered the response to one of the deadliest hurricanes to ever hit the US, the nation’s top emergency official has warned.
Misinformation spread by Donald Trump, his supporters and others about the hurricane has shrouded the recovery effort for communities shattered by Helene, which tore through five states causing at least 227 deaths and tens of billions of dollars of damage. Many places, such as in western North Carolina, are still without a water supply, navigable roads or vital supplies.
“It’s frankly disappointing we are having to deal with this narrative, the fact there are a few leaders having a hard time telling the difference between fact and fiction is creating an impedance to our ability to actually get people the help they need,” Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), told MSNBC on Monday.
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Here is the press pool report – by the Guardian’s own David Smith – on Kamala Harris’s comments earlier on Governor Ron DeSantis not taking her calls about Hurricane Milton.
Harris said:
Moments of crisis, if nothing else, should really be the moment that anyone who calls themselves a leader says they’re going to put politics aside and put the people first.
People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games at this moment, in these crisis situations – these are the height of emergency situations – it is utterly irresponsible and it is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.”
Earlier VPOTUS said she had just come off the phone with Fema Administrator Deanne Criswell. She commented on remarks made by Trump.
And I cannot stress enough to all the folks in Florida in the Tampa area, please listen to evacuation orders. Please listen to your local officials because I know a lot of folks out there have survived these hurricanes before; this one is going to be very, very serious and I urge you to grab whatever you need.
The other point I’d make is there’s a lot of misinformation being pushed out there by the former president about what is available, particularly for the survivors of Helene. First of all, it’s extraordinarily irresponsible. It’s about him, it’s not about you. The reality is Fema has so many resources that are available to those who desperately need them.”
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Updated at 18.37 EDT
Edward Helmore
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida is reportedly refusing calls about storm recovery from Kamala Harris, more than a week after Hurricane Helene hit the state and two days before intensifying Hurricane Milton is expected to hit the south-west of the state.
Citing a DeSantis aide, NBC News reported on Monday that the Republican governor was dodging the Democratic presidential nominee’s calls because they “seemed political”.
“Kamala was trying to reach out, and we didn’t answer,” the DeSantis aide told the outlet. DeSantis does not appear to have spoken to Joe Biden, either, to the aide’s knowledge.
The Florida governor has, however, been in touch with the Fema director, Deanne Criswell.
Last week, DeSantis said Biden had called him, but he was flying at the time so could not take the call. A source familiar with the planning for Biden’s trip to north Florida to survey Helene’s damage said that the Biden team had invited DeSantis to the event but their schedules conflicted.
The response to Hurricane Helene has become an intense political issue one month before the presidential election. The White House and local Democratic leaders have appealed for an end to misinformation about the storm and the response to it.
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Summary
As we wait for Trump to begin delivering his remarks on the October 7 Hamas attack in Florida, here is where things stand:
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both attended events today in recognition of the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack against Israel.
The Supreme court upheld a ruling that will prevent abortions from being performed in some emergency circumstances in Texas. The court also rejected an attempt by an Alabama fertility clinic to avoid a wrongful death lawsuit that was at the center of a state high court ruling earlier this year that led to IVF access being briefly curtailed in the state
The Harris campaign launched a week-long media blitz, beginning yesterday with an appearance on the podcast Call Her Daddy, that will include appearances with Howard Stern, Stephen Colbert and The View this week.
Florida is bracing for Hurricane Milton to make landfall. The state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, has declined to speak with Harris or Joe Biden, but says the federal government has fulfilled his requests for aid.
A report by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget suggests that both the Harris and Trump campaigns are making promises that will increase US debt, but that Trump’s proposals are more expensive.
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Updated at 18.07 EDT
Richard Luscombe
Donald Trump will speak shortly in Miami at a commemoration for the victims and hostages of the 7 October Hamas attacks.
It’s a relatively small affair, some 350 or so seats are laid out in rows in the ballroom at the Trump National golf resort in Doral. Supporters, some wearing red yamakas in the style of Trump’s traditional Maga (Make America great again) caps, passed memorials to those killed or taken hostage a year ago. Rows of candles accompanied pictures of the victims on a table. And outside the resort, in pouring rain, a man help up a sign that said “Thank you Trump for supporting Israel”.
The former president is expected to turn the event into an attack on Kamala Harris, whom he has called “weak” over Israel. In recent days he has called for Israel to bomb nuclear facilities in Iran in retaliation for that country’s missile attack on Israel last week.
Earlier Monday, Trump visited Ohel Chabad Lubavitch in Queens, New York, before flying to Florida.
Jewish supporters of Donald Trump are gathering at his golf resort in Doral, Miami, where the former president will shortly give remarks on the anniversary of the Hamas Oct 7 attacks. Will be interesting to hear what he has to say… a year ago he called Hamas “very smart” pic.twitter.com/xe4E96Q1nT
— Richard Luscombe (@richlusc) October 7, 2024Share
Updated at 17.56 EDT
In response to reports that Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, will not respond to her calls regarding hurricanes Helene and Milton, Kamala Harris tells reporters: “People are in desperate need of support right now, and playing political games at this moment … is just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship.”
Reporter: There are reports that DeSantis is ignoring your calls..
Kamala Harris: Playing political games at this moment…It’s utterly irresponsible and it is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do pic.twitter.com/lySDD98xO9
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 7, 2024Share
Updated at 17.37 EDT
Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, delivered remarks on Hurricane Milton’s impending landfall this afternoon. Although DeSantis has declined calls with Biden and Harris, he told reporters that Fema and the Biden administration have fulfilled his requests for aid.
“We have gotten what we need from the feds. We have been working constructively with all of the local communities,” he said, before criticizing a reporter’s question about declining calls with the Biden administration. “Some of these questions are just trying to create some sort of political angle.”
DeSantis: “We have made a pre-landfall declaration request from FEMA for support & the federal government has approved a portion of our request for pre-landfall items. And we expect the remaining parts of our request subsequent to landfall for debris and individual assistance,…
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 7, 2024
‘YOUR PUBLICATION WILL TWIST ANYTHING THAT’S DONE (…) THAT’S HOW YOU GET YOUR CLICKS!’: Gov. Ron DeSantis spats with reporter after being questioned about Kamala Harris phone call and “politics”
“Some of these questions are just trying to create some sort of political angle.”… pic.twitter.com/rRKBGMX4Eg
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) October 7, 2024Share
Updated at 17.26 EDT
Speaking on the Call Her Daddy podcast yesterday, Kamala Harris hit back at Republicans’ remarks about her lack of biological children.
The Guardian’s Edward Helmore writes:
Kamala Harris hit back at the Republican Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s comments that the vice-president and Democratic White House nominee “doesn’t have anything keeping her humble” because she does not have children of her own.
“I don’t think she understands that there are a whole lot of women out here who, one, are not aspiring to be humble,” Harris told the Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper in a taped interview released on Sunday.
Sanders, a deputy White House press secretary during Donald Trump’s presidency, told a rally crowd in September that her “kids keep me humble.
“Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble,” Sanders said.
In a taped interview with Cooper, Harris said there are “a whole lot of women out here who have a lot of love in their life, family in their life and children in their life, and I think it’s really important for women to lift each other up”.
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Updated at 17.09 EDT
The Trump campaign has announced that the former president will be traveling to Coachella, California – a city best known for its music festival – this weekend.
The announcement says that, under Democratic leadership, the “notorious ‘California Dream’ has turned into a nightmare”.
Harris campaign officials appear unconcerned about the rally.
Oh no. This is extremely concerning for our campaign. Please do not go to Coachella, CALIFORNIA 24 days before the election. https://t.co/QJoe3Ysyh4
— Ammar Moussa (@ammarmufasa) October 7, 2024Share
Updated at 17.09 EDT
Donald Trump commemorated the anniversary of 7 October by visiting the grave of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the 20th century and a leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, in Queens, New York, today. Trump was joined by family members of Edan Alexander, an Israeli hostage taken by Hamas one year ago today.
He was also joined by conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro, who shared photos of the event on X:
October 7 was the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. It was an honor to join President Trump in NY today to pay our respects and remember the lives lost in the horrific terrorist attack one year ago today. I had the additional honor of being accompanied by Yael, Adi,… pic.twitter.com/DdcFwnrWYl
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 7, 2024Share
Updated at 17.09 EDT
As more news emerges on preparations for Hurricane Milton, including updates on Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ snub of a phone call from Harris, Fema is trying to dispel disinformation about its response to Hurricane Helene.
Deanne Criswell, who leads Fema, says false claims and conspiracy theories – spread most prominently by Donald Trump – are “demoralizing” aid workers and spreading fear.
Republicans, led by Trump, have spread misinformation since Helene made landfall, including rumors that the federal government was intentionally withholding aid to people in Republican areas, spending all its money to help immigrants, and that it used weather control technology to steer Helene toward Republican voters.
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Updated at 17.10 EDT
Kamala Harris and the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, planted a pomegranate tree outside her residence at the United States Naval Observatory before taking questions from members of the press.
Before doing so, Harris delivered brief remarks:
“We dedicate this tree to the 1,200 innocent souls, in an act of pure evil on October 7, 2023, who were massacred by Hamas terrorists,” Harris said, noting the American civilians who were among the dead and evoking the Jewish mourner’s prayer.
She also noted: “I will always make sure Israel has to defend itself” before adding: “We must work to relieve the immense suffering of innocent Palestinians in Gaza, who have experienced so much pain and loss over the year.”
Join me and the @SecondGentleman as we speak about the horror of Hamas’ October 7, 2023 terrorist attack in Israel and as we dedicate a tree at the Vice President’s Residence to honor the 1,200 innocent people killed in that heinous attack. https://t.co/22fl0rvsXB
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) October 7, 2024
The Trump campaign is already criticizing the event.
Kamala uses her remarks on the one-year anniversary of the worst attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust to play both sides and implicitly criticize Israel’s right to self-defense pic.twitter.com/V3QmRJ5vL5
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 7, 2024Share
Updated at 17.10 EDT
Harris to mark 7 October with memorial tree planting
Kamala Harris, together with the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, will in a few minutes hold a tree-planting ceremony to mark the one-year anniversary of the 7 October attack in Israel.
The vice-president will then deliver remarks at the event held at her residence at the United States Naval Observatory, which is about three miles from the White House in Washington DC.
It’s Harris’s only scheduled public speech today, and we will let you know what she has to say.
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Updated at 17.10 EDT
DeSantis declines to take Harris’s call on Hurricane Milton
As Hurricane Milton churns towards Florida’s west coast, ABC News reports that the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, declined to speak to Kamala Harris.
A nationally prominent conservative, DeSantis mounted a failed campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, and since endorsed Donald Trump. Asked about the episode at the White House press briefing earlier today, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was the governor’s choice to speak to Harris or not:
Ron DeSantis has refused to take a call from VP Harris on Hurricane Milton, source tells @ABC.
White House Press Sec says “If you have POTUS & VP reaching out to offer up assistance…the governor, it’s up to him if he wants to respond to us or not.”
— Selina Wang (@selinawangtv) October 7, 2024
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Updated at 17.10 EDT
