Trump stunned by ‘beautiful’ supporter; Harris in plagiarism row

Donald Trump has lashed out at “political correctness” while commenting on a female supporter as Kamala Harris is hit with new accusations.

Former US president Donald Trump paused during his rally in Arizona to comment on a “beautiful” female supporter while taking shots at political correctness.

The former president was discussing his crowd sizes at rallies when a woman in the audience shouted it was “Because we love you!”

The crowd erupted in applause as Mr rump scanned the venue, looking for the woman.

“Where is that woman? Stand up! Look at her. Wow! I would say — that’s beautiful,” Mr Trump said.

Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Findlay Toyota Centre in Prescott Valley, Arizona. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

“Is she your wife? You know what? I would say she’s a beautiful woman but if I did say that — my political career, you’re not allowed to say that. So I’m not allowed to call you a beautiful woman.”

Mr Trump turned away as if he were finished before whispering “But she is!”

“It’s crazy what’s gone on! You have to be politically correct, nowadays.”

It came as Vice President Kamala Harris was hit with allegations of plagiarism after numerous passages from her 2009 book Smart on Crime were discovered to closely resemble wording from other sources.

Ms Harris, then San Francisco’s district attorney, wrote the book promoting a reform-minded approach to prosecuting crimes.

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo published the allegations and credited an investigation by Austrian “plagiarism hunter” Stefan Weber, The New York Post reports.

According to the Post, five side-by-side passages indicate that Ms Harris may have lifted wording from sources including an Associated Press article from 2008, a Wikipedia article from 2008 and a Bureau of Justice Assistance report from 2000.

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WHITE HOUSE IN REVOLT

The mud-slinging and finger-pointing has begun among White House and Harris campaign staffers as Donald Trump inched ahead in the final weeks of the US presidential election.

“Increasingly fraught” tensions between the teams of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris boiled to the surface as the vice president’s media blitz failed to stop Mr Trump from taking a narrow 0.4 point lead in the swing states, according to the RCP polling average.

It comes as Ms Harris agreed to sit for her first interview with Fox News of the campaign in a move to peel away Republican voters in the exceedingly tight race, which Ms Harris leads in the national polling average of just 1.7 points.

The Harris campaign team, made up of many former Biden campaign staffers before he was ousted, say the White House hasn’t co-ordinated the president’s schedule or messaging to align with the vice president.

The Biden team, meanwhile, are still upset the president was pushed out of the race and into a supporting role of the Democratic ticket’s campaign, according to 10 people familiar with the situation.

“They’re too much in their feelings,” one close Harris ally told Axios. “The White House is lacking someone in the room thinking first and foremost about how things would affect the campaign.”

Mr Biden has held several high-profile events during Ms Harris’ campaign appearances, with the latest impromptu press conference on Saturday interrupting a Harris event in Michigan, impacting its live coverage.

Some of the president’s statements have also directly contradicted Ms Harris’s primary appeal to voters that she is a change candidate.

Kamala Harris in North Carolina for a campaign event. Picture: AFP

Joe Biden travelled to Florida on the same day to survey Hurricane damage. Picture: AFP

“We’re singing from the same song sheet. She helped pass all the laws. She’s a major player in everything we’ve done,” Mr Biden said.

The notable time Mr Biden distanced himself from Ms Harris was over her criticism of Florida governor Ron DeSantis in the lead-up to Hurricane Milton, with the president saying he was “gracious” and “cooperative”.

While the White House denied any bad blood, the Harris campaign did not respond to the report. Much of the upset comes from staffers who transitioned from the White House to the Harris campaign who feel “they’ve been labelled as disloyal by Biden’s team for leaving or even considering it”, according to Axios writer Alex Thompson.

They all want Ms Harris to beat Mr Trump, but the “sore feelings” remain nonetheless.

“Everyone from the president on down knows how important the election is, and we always anticipated a number of staff would want to transition from the administration to the campaign for the final stretch,” a White House official added.

Donald Trump, polling better than he ever did in 2016 or 2020, campaigned in deep-Blue California in a push to win the national popular vote. Picture: AP Photo

TRUMP, HARRIS TARGET PENNSYLVANIA

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are both campaigning in the battleground state of Pennsylvania this week as the clock ticks on the US election, with the Democrat also targeting male Black voters who are drifting to the Republican.

Just over three weeks before voting day on November 5, local time, vice president Harris and former president Trump remain neck-and-neck in the polls, with both candidates increasingly believing the election will be won or lost in blue-collar Pennsylvania.

Harris will be holding a rally in Erie, the northernmost county in the state and a bellwether in US presidential elections since 2008, while Trump holds a town hall in Oaks on the outskirts of Philadelphia.

It marks the start of a week-long blitz of the three battleground Rust Belt states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin this week by Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.

RACE NECK AND NECK

A series of recent polls showed Harris marginally ahead or even with Trump in the national vote, which effectively puts her behind in the race for the US electoral college system. Democrats generally need a lead of three or more points in the national vote to win in the electoral college, which favours Republicans.

They remain more or less even in the seven battleground states where the election is likely to be decided — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Harris, 59, went on the offensive at the weekend, releasing her medical records and challenging Trump — who is at 78 the oldest presidential nominee in US history — to do the same.

Trump responded on social media, saying it was “very important that Kamala Harris pass a test on Cognitive Stamina and Agility” calling her “slow and lethargic in answering even the easiest of questions.”

– With AFP

Originally published as Trump stunned by ‘beautiful’ supporter; Harris in plagiarism row