Trump news - live: Trump claims he invented the word ‘caravans’ at Ohio rally for JD Vance

Donald Trump claimed that he invented the word “caravans” to describe groups of migrants as he dubbed them “murderers and rapers” in a rally speech in Ohio.

The former president appeared to recount a previous conversation, saying that “you won’t take these horrible convicts and other people that you released into our country illegally and you put them in caravans”.

“I came up with that term by the way,” Mr Trump claimed. “That was my term and fake news and lots of other terms we came up with.”

“Crooked Hillary, we came up with a lot of terms,” he added.

“The way Trump casually refers to immigrants as murderers and rapists isn’t new but remains notable,” journalist Aaron Rupar tweeted.

“They don’t want to have these people,” Mr Trump said, referring to migrants. “Many of them are murderers, rapers.”

Key points

• Trump claims supporters threatened with jail for refusing to denounce him

• Did Trump compare JD Vance to Kim Jong-un?

• Trump under fire for QAnon display at Ohio rally: ‘He has gone completely insane’

• WATCH: Marjorie Taylor Green threatens for defund education to stop teachers from ‘brainwashing’ students

• Is Trump fans’ ‘weird’ one-finger salute at rally a QAnon tribute?

Classified documents at Mar-a-Lago raise concerns, Biden says

04:45 , Maroosha Muzaffar

President Joe Biden said on Sunday that the discovery of top-secret documents at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate raised concerns that sensitive data was compromised and called it “irresponsible.”

Mr Biden said that when he heard about classified documents taken from the White House, he wondered how “anyone could be that irresponsible. And I thought, what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods?”

Protester expelled from Trump’s Ohio rally after waving banner blaming him for factory closure

04:20 , Maroosha Muzaffar

A man was walked out of Donald Trump’s rally in Youngstown, Ohio on Saturday after unfurling a banner which blamed the former president for the closure of a major manufacturing centre.

Read the full story by John Bowden here:

Protester expelled from Trump’s Ohio rally after waving banner

Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor tells crowd to ‘put your right hand in the air'

04:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Matt Gaetz says he’s ‘glad to be in a room where I’m one of the oldest people’ at Texas Youth Summit

03:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump says supporters are threatened with jail for refusing to denounce him as he warns they are a ‘sleeping giant’

02:00 , Andrew Feinberg and John Bowden

Former president Donald Trump on Saturday levelled new, outlandish accusations at the Biden administration by claiming that federal authorities are now threatening his supporters with decades in prison unless they agree to say negative things about him.

Mr Trump made the bizarre claim not ten minutes into a subdued, rambling speech to an under-capacity crowd at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio. Ostensibly a rally in support of Ohio Senate candidate JD Vance, Mr Trump’s remarks were instead peppered with what is now a familiar litany of grievances, grudges, and complaints about the myriad investigations into his conduct by federal and state prosecutors in Washington, DC, Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere.

The twice-impeached ex-president accused those prosecutors and the House January 6 select committee of showing “no shame, no morals, no conscience and absolutely no respect for the citizens of our country” by daring to look into whether he broke any number of US laws by trying to overturn the 2020 election or retaining classified documents at his Florida beach club long after his term in the White House was over.

Read more:

Trump claims his supporters are threatened with jail for refusing to denounce him

Donald Trump helped release drug prisoners. Now he wants to execute them

Monday 19 September 2022 00:45 , Josh Marcus and Alex Woodward

Donald Trump changed Tanesha Bannister’s life.

In 2004, Ms Bannister, then a 28-year-old single mother, was sentenced to life in prison for selling drugs. She was one of the many predominantly Black Americans given the then-100 times more stringent punishment for selling crack as opposed to powder cocaine.

A troubled family history and a lack of opportunities led Ms Bannister to start selling drugs when she was just 16.

“I was exposed to drug use,” Ms Bannister, now a business owner and criminal justice reform advocate in South Carolina, told The Independent. “I felt like it was a better way for me to provide for myself and my family was to get into the drug game. That’s how it all started.”

After she served 14 years in prison, then-president Trump signed the bipartisan First Step Act, which shortened some federal prison sentences, gave judges alternatives to mandatory minimum penalties, and retroactively applied 2010’s Fair Sentencing Act to eliminate the racial disparities in cocaine sentencing. The act freed thousands from prison.

Read more:

Donald Trump helped release drug prisoners. Now he wants to execute them

Trump says death penalty for drug dealers and human traffickers is ‘very humane’

Sunday 18 September 2022 23:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump said that the death penalty for drug dealers and human traffickers is “very humane” during a speech in Youngstown, Ohio.

Speaking on Saturday, the former president said that “much of the crime wave is caused by drug dealers who during the course of their lives, will kill an average of 500 American citizens not to mention the destruction of millions of American families who are so devastated by drugs”.

“It’s an invasion of crime,” he added. “And remember much of the crime that we talk about is caused by drugs. And I’m calling for the death penalty for drug dealers and human traffickers.”

The suggestion was met with cheers from the crowd.

Mr Trump claimed that the new policy would “reduce drug distribution and crime in our country by much more than 75 per cent. That’s in one day”.

Read more:

Trump says death penalty for drug dealers and human traffickers is ‘very humane’

Trump claims CNN changed background to Biden speech from red to pink ‘to make it look better’

Sunday 18 September 2022 22:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump claimed CNN changed the background to a speech by President Joe Biden from red to pink “to make it look better” during a bizarre rally speech in Ohio.

“I watched Biden the other day,” he said before claiming CNN changed the lighting on Mr Biden’s 1 September speech in which he shared his worries for US democracy against a deep red background. Mr Trump claimed the broadcaster – a frequent target of his over the years – had changed the background from red to pink “to make it look better”.

Speaking in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mr Biden had warned, “as I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault. We do ourselves no favour to pretend otherwise”

He used the word “democracy” more than 30 times in the speech.

Read more:

Trump claims CNN changed background to Biden speech ‘to make it look better’

Bill Clinton says GOP wins elections by finding something to ‘scare the living daylights’ out of swing voters

Sunday 18 September 2022 22:00 , Eric Garcia

Former president Bill Clinton said that Republicans perform well in midterm elections because they typically find a way to scare swing voters.

The former president appeared on Fareed Zakaria: GPS where the host asked him about whether Democrats could buck the normal trend where the president’s party loses control of at least one chamber of Congress in the midterm election.

“We could hold both these houses, but we have to say the right things, and we have to note, the Republicans always close well,” he said. “Why? Because they find some new way to scare the living daylights about something.”

Mr Clinton pointed to how Republicans advertised “critical race theory” being taught in schools, even though it was not, which helped deliver them win the governorship in Virginia a year after President Joe Biden won the commonwealth by double digits.

“That’s what they did in 2021, when they made critical race theory sound worse than smallpox and it wasn’t being taught in any public schools in America,” he said. “But they didn’t care, they just scare people.”

Read more:

Clinton: GOP wins by finding something to ‘scare the living daylights’ out of voters

Trump claims he invented the word ‘caravans’ to describe groups of migrants as he dubs them ‘murderers and rapers’

Sunday 18 September 2022 21:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump claimed that he invented the word “caravans” to describe groups of migrants as he dubbed them “murderers and rapers” in a rally speech in Ohio.

The former president appeared to recount a previous conversation, saying that “you won’t take these horrible convicts and other people that you released into our country illegally and you put them in caravans”.

“I came up with that term by the way,” Mr Trump claimed. “That was my term and fake news and lots of other terms we came up with.”

“Crooked Hillary, we came up with a lot of terms,” he added.

“The way Trump casually refers to immigrants as murderers and rapists isn’t new but remains notable,” journalist Aaron Rupar tweeted.

“They don’t want to have these people,” Mr Trump said, referring to migrants. “Many of them are murderers, rapers.”

Trump claims he invented the word ‘caravans’ to describe groups of migrants

Trump under fire for QAnon display at Ohio rally: ‘He has gone completely insane’

Sunday 18 September 2022 20:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump has come under fire for his descent into the QAnon conspiracy theory movement during his Youngstown, Ohio rally in support of Republican Senate candidate JD Vance.

“This is the week when Trump became Qanon. This isn’t a political statement; it just is, however disturbing. Week began with images of Trump on Truth Social wearing a Q pin and promoting their slogans; it ends with Q music and the Q ‘one’ sign by crowd at his rally,” CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem tweeted on Saturday.

Author Kurt Eichenwald added that “this week, Trump posted QAnon memes, played QAnon theme music at his rally, and stood by as the crowd raises their fingers in the QAnon salute. This is the GOP’s supposed leader. Every Republican needs to be asked about it - and don’t let them walk away. ‘Do you support QAnon?’”

“He has gone full QAnon, and that cult knows it. Trump has always been mentally ill, but this is a whole new level. He has gone completely insane,” he tweeted.

The author went on to lay out a lot of the bizarre theories within the movement.

Read more:

Trump under fire for QAnon display at Ohio rally: ‘He has gone completely insane’

The Wire creator blasts Trump supporters’ bizarre one-fingered salute

Sunday 18 September 2022 19:45 , Gustaf Kilander

WATCH: Marjorie Taylor Green threatens for defund education to stop teachers from ‘brainwashing’ students

Sunday 18 September 2022 19:00 , Gustaf Kilander

WATCH: Donald Trump compares his own Senate candidate to Kim Jong-un in bizarre rally speech

Sunday 18 September 2022 18:15 , Gustaf Kilander

WATCH: Trump claims his supporters are jailed for refusing to say bad things about him

Sunday 18 September 2022 17:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Is Trump fans’ ‘weird’ one-finger salute at rally a QAnon tribute?

Sunday 18 September 2022 16:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump’s supporters raised their fingers in a bizarre straight-arm salute as the former president spoke at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio to boost Republican Senate nominee JD Vance.

As dramatic music played in the background, Mr Trump delved further into the depths of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory.

Mr Trump spoke about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the issue of “fake news”, and Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Watchdog Media Matters noted that the song played at the rally appeared to have been released under the name Wwg1wga, which is the QAnon slogan. It stands for “where we go one, we go all”.

Media Matters researcher Alex Kaplan tweeted on Saturday that “Trump this summer used the song in a campaign-style video he posted on Rumble and Truth Social”.

“As they did when Trump previously used the song, QAnon figures are claiming the use of the song brings some kind of legitimacy for them,” he added.

Read more:

What’s behind Trump fans’ ‘weird’ one-finger salute at rally

Democrats and GOP neck and neck in new poll as Biden rating rises and Trump’s goes down

Sunday 18 September 2022 15:58 , Eric Garcia

A new NBC News poll shows that voters are evenly split about whether they want Democrats or Republicans to control Congress while President Joe Biden’s approval rating inched up and former president Donald Trump’s took a dip.

Republican consulting firm Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research Associates surveyed 1,000 registered voters between 9 September and 13 September. The poll had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

Mr Biden’s approval rating moved up three points since August to 45 per cent, his highest approval rating since October of last year. His approval rating moved down three points to 52 per cent.

Mr Biden’s polling improvement comes after a streak of policy victories. Last month, Mr Biden signed legislation to support the manufacturing of semiconductors in the United States as well as the Inflation Reduction Act, the United States’ single largest investment in combating climate change that would also allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

In addition, last month, Mr Biden announced his plan to give up to $10,000 worth of student debt relief for people making up to $125,000, with Pell Grant recipients receiving up to $20,000 in debt cancellation. That likely contributed to his approval rating among 18-to-34-year-olds jumping from 36 to 48 per cent.

Read more:

Democrats and GOP neck and neck in new poll as Biden rating rises and Trump’s drops

Trump claims supporters threatened with jail for refusing to denounce him

Sunday 18 September 2022 15:15 , Oliver O’Connell

Former president Donald Trump on Saturday levelled new, outlandish accusations at the Biden administration by claiming that federal authorities are now threatening his supporters with decades in prison unless they agree to say negative things about him.

Mr Trump made the bizarre claim not ten minutes into a subdued, rambling speech to an under-capacity crowd at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio.

Andrew Feinberg reports.

Trump claims his supporters are threatened with jail for refusing to denounce him

Trump under fire for QAnon display at Ohio rally: 'He has gone completely insane’

Sunday 18 September 2022 14:36 , Gustaf Kilander

Marjorie Taylor Greene threatens to defund Education Department

Sunday 18 September 2022 14:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Marjorie Taylor Greene has threatened to “defund” the Department of Education to prevent teachers from “brainwashing” American children.

The right-wing lawmaker from Georgia made the bizarre threat as she warmed up the crowd at the Donald Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Saturday night.

Graeme Massie reports.

Marjorie Taylor Greene threatens to defund Education Department

Amid special master process DoJ appeals ruling on seized Trump Mar-a-Lago papers

Sunday 18 September 2022 13:30 , Oliver O'Connell

The Department of Justice on Friday appealed a federal judge’s ruling restricting it from using classified documents seized at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

In an evening filing, the DOJ asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for a partial stay of a lower court ruling barring investigators from using the materials they seized in an August FBI search of the former president’s home until a court-appointed special master could review the documents.

Josh Marcus has the details.

DOJ appeals ruling preventing it from using Trump’s seized Mar-a-Lago documents

Report: Matt Gaetz wanted Trump to give him pre-emptive pardon over sex investigation

Sunday 18 September 2022 12:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Matt Gaetz told a former White House staffer that he was hoping to get a pre-emptive pardon from then-President Donald Trump concerning an investigation into him by the Department of Justice, a report has said.

The allegation came in testimony given to the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, The Washington Post reported.

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

Gaetz wanted Trump to give him pre-emptive pardon over sex investigation, report says

Migrants sent to Kamala Harris’ residence for second time this week

Sunday 18 September 2022 12:00 , Oliver O'Connell

A group of migrants have been sent by bus from Texas and dropped off outside the vice president’s residence in Washington, DC for the second time this week.

A further 50 migrants were driven to the Naval Observatory, where Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff live, in northwest Washington on Saturday morning.

Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, DC.

Migrants sent to VP’s residence from Texas for second time this week

DeSantis hammered in Florida newspapers for migrant ‘political stunt’

Sunday 18 September 2022 11:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Ron DeSantis is getting slammed in Florida newspapers for his political stunt flying migrants to the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard.

“The governor likes to pander to communities like mine, traumatized by political persecution and violence,” Maria Corina Vegas, deputy state director of the American Business Immigration Coalition, told The Miami Herald. “This is a new low, even for this governor.”

Mr DeSantis flew the refugees from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard using taxpayer funds to boost his potential 2024 presidential campaign, critics told the Orlando Sentinel.

Gustaf Kilander reports.

DeSantis hammered in Florida newspapers for ‘political stunt’

Ted Cruz forced to admit trafficking migrants to Martha’s Vineyard is illegal

Sunday 18 September 2022 10:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Ted Cruz was forced to admit by Sean Hannity that the transportation of undocumented migrants from Florida to Martha’s Vineyard by Ron DeSantis was likely illegal.

The Florida governor has been widely criticised for flying two planeloads of Venezuelans to the upscale island, where Barack Obama has a $12m home, as part of a Republican immigration publicity stunt.

Mr Cruz, a US Senator from Texas, cast doubt on the legality of the move when he appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show.

Graeme Massie reports.

Ted Cruz forced to admit trafficking migrants to Martha’s Vineyard is illegal

Ted Cruz says half a million migrants should be sent to DC

Sunday 18 September 2022 09:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Ted Cruz has called for half a million undocumented migrants to be sent to Washington DC as part of a Republican attempt to punish Democratic-supporting areas of the country over immigration policy.

The Canadian-born US senator has thrown his support behind Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florid Governor Ron DeSantis for their widely-criticized immigration publicity stunts.

Ted Cruz says half a million migrants should be sent to DC

Trump shares nasty body-shaming photo of Chris Christie

Sunday 18 September 2022 08:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Former President Donald Trump has continued using his custom-built Twitter knockoff Truth Social to bully his political detractors, this time taking aim at former Republican governor of New Jersey Chris Christie.

Mr Trump’s account posted an image of a man leaning over a buffet counter with his back to the camera, along with a caption needling Mr Christie.

Graig Graziosi reports.

Trump shares nasty body-shaming photo after Chris Christie criticises him

Phony document lands on court docket in Trump search case

Sunday 18 September 2022 06:00 , Oliver O'Connell

When a government document mysteriously appeared earlier this week in the highest profile case in the federal court system, it had the hallmarks of another explosive storyline in the Justice Department’s investigation into classified records stored at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate.

The document purported to be from the U.S. Treasury Department, claimed that the agency had seized sensitive documents related to last month’s search at Mar-a-Lago and included a warrant ordering CNN to preserve “leaked tax records.”

The document remained late Thursday on the court docket, but it is a clear fabrication. A review of dozens of court records and interviews by The Associated Press suggest the document originated with a serial forger behind bars at a federal prison complex in North Carolina.

Read more:

Phony document lands on court docket in Trump search case

Sunday 18 September 2022 04:59 , Oliver O'Connell

Marjorie Taylor Greene threatens to defund Education Department

Sunday 18 September 2022 04:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Marjorie Taylor Greene has threatened to “defund” the Department of Education to prevent teachers from “brainwashing” American children.

The right-wing lawmaker from Georgia made the bizarre threat as she warmed up the crowd at the Donald Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Saturday night.

Graeme Massie reports.

Marjorie Taylor Greene threatens to defund Education Department

In pictures: Donald Trump holds Save America rally in Youngstown, Ohio

Sunday 18 September 2022 03:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Trump claims supporters threatened with jail for refusing to denounce him

Sunday 18 September 2022 02:41 , Oliver O'Connell

Former president Donald Trump on Saturday levelled new, outlandish accusations at the Biden administration by claiming that federal authorities are now threatening his supporters with decades in prison unless they agree to say negative things about him.

Mr Trump made the bizarre claim not ten minutes into a subdued, rambling speech to an under-capacity crowd at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio.

Trump claims his supporters are threatened with jail for refusing to denounce him

Sunday 18 September 2022 02:27 , Oliver O'Connell

The former president concludes his remarks and does a little dance on the stage to “Hold on I’m Coming” by Sam & Dave.

Sunday 18 September 2022 02:24 , Oliver O'Connell

As Trump moves toward the end of his speech, creepy music has begun to play over his remarks and many in the crowd have raised an arm into the air, extending a finger.

It is cult-like.

And just utterly bizarre.

Sunday 18 September 2022 02:15 , Oliver O'Connell

In an unexpected moment, Trump brought up the infamous allegation of the existence of the “pee tape” of him with Russian sex workers, imagining having to explain it to his wife, Melania.

Sunday 18 September 2022 02:04 , Oliver O'Connell

Is a vote for JD Vance a vote for Kim Jong Un?

Sunday 18 September 2022 01:59 , Oliver O'Connell

A quick reminder of where JD Vance used to stand on Donald Trump.

Sunday 18 September 2022 01:55 , Oliver O'Connell

Trump, referring to a New York Times story about how he injects himself into congressional races, manages to humiliate JD Vance in passing: “JD is kissing my ass, of course he wants my support!”

Sunday 18 September 2022 01:52 , Oliver O'Connell

Commenting on Tim Ryan, former President Trump tells the crowd the Democrat Senate candidate wants to kill them.

Mr Trump also called Mitch McConnell a “disgrace” rounding out a week of criticising the Republican Minority Leader in the Senate. He tells JD Vance to do something about it.

Sunday 18 September 2022 01:49 , Oliver O'Connell

...which seems quite topical given this week’s migrant stunts.

Sunday 18 September 2022 01:47 , Oliver O'Connell

He also added human traffickers to the death penalty list.

Sunday 18 September 2022 01:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Trump reiterates his call for the death penalty for all drug dealers, repeating an anecdote of a conversation he had with President Xi Jinping of China.

This week, experts and the people who were given a reprieve by the former president warned The Independent’s Josh Marcus and Alex Woodward against the dangers of his rhetoric.

Donald Trump helped release drug prisoners. Now he wants to execute them

Sunday 18 September 2022 01:38 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump accuses President Joe Biden of keeping gas prices low ahead of the election.

Sunday 18 September 2022 01:32 , Oliver O'Connell

Back on the topic of immigration, Trump claims he invented the term “caravans” and once again refers to migrants as murderers and rapists.

Sunday 18 September 2022 01:13 , Oliver O'Connell

In a particularly odd moment, former President Trump claims that CNN changed the colour of the lights behind President Biden’s primetime speech to pink from red to make it “look better”...