Eduardo Munoz/Reuters A relief group climbs up the side of a hill as they help near Bat Cave, North Carolina, on Thursday. Jeffrey Collins/AP Len Frisbee dumps a wheelbarrow of dirt as he helps with cleanup in Hot Springs, North Carolina, on Tuesday. Gerald Herbert/AP Meta Gatschenberger surveys the remains of her collapsed house in Boone, North Carolina, on Saturday, September 28. Jonathan Drake/Reuters Floodwaters are seen in Asheville in this image released by the North Carolina Department of Transportation on Saturday. Marco Bello/Reuters In pictures: Hurricane Helene unleashes its fury Prev NextBut Vance’s remedy to the so-called weird weather is counterintuitive.

As Election Day draws nearer, the Republican presidential nominee has made false claim after false claim on a dizzying variety of subjects. FEMA and migrants: Trump falsely claimed of the Federal Emergency Management Agency: “They have no money. Trump’s opponents and the election: In Reading, Trump falsely claimed of his election opponents: “They are cheatin’ dogs, I will tell you that.” In Scranton, he falsely claimed, “Their first meeting is: ‘How do we cheat?’” This is all nonsense. Trump’s border wall: Trump repeated his false claim that “I built over 500 miles of wall” on the southern border. Military equipment surrendered to the Taliban: Trump repeated his false claim that “we gave $85 billion worth” of US military equipment to the Taliban.

Minnesota Vikings safety Camryn Bynum celebrates after a play during a game against the New York Jets in London on Sunday, October 6. The Broncos beat the Las Vegas Raiders 34-18. Cooper Neill/Getty Images New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers walks off the field after his team's loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London on October 6. Christian Petersen/Getty Images Denver Broncos cornerback Tremon Smith celebrates as a field goal attempt by New York Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein misses in the fourth quarter in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on September 29. Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold throws the ball to tight end Johnny Mundt in Minneapolis on Sunday, September 22. The arrival of Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets in 2023 was meant to be a game-changer for the hapless franchise.

Brad Penner/USA Today Sports/Reuters Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills celebrates an interception during the second quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Orchard Park, New York, on Monday, September 23. Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold throws the ball to tight end Johnny Mundt in Minneapolis on Sunday, September 22. Caroline Brehman/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott celebrates after a touchdown during the Cowboys' 33-17 victory over the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland on September 8. Ken Blaze/USA Today Sports/Reuters Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. breaks a tackle from Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker K.J. David Banks/USA Today Sports/Reuters Rhamondre Stevenson of the New England Patriots runs the ball against Cincinnati Bengals defenders in Cincinnati on September 8.

CNN —Long before the outer bands of Hurricane Milton lashed the Florida coast, a political battle over the massive storm was already raging. This time, partly because Trump pushed so hard to exploit last week’s Hurricane Helene for his political gain, the sparring has started early. A storm of this size could give Trump a political openingTrump has repeatedly shown there’s no situation he will not try to leverage for political gain. “I’ve had storms under both President Trump and President Biden, and I’ve worked well with both of them. Unlike Harris, Biden had kinder words for DeSantis, saying on Tuesday that the governor had been “cooperative.”“I said no, ‘You’re doing a great job, it’s all being done well, we thank you for it,’” Biden said.

They want to see her more, and we’re engaging with that and want to continue to do that” before Election Day, a Harris campaign aide said. Even if voters miss her appearances when they air, they may still catch viral moments that are replayed in their social media feeds, the campaign aide said. When Stern asked whether therapy might be an antidote to the stress she faces on the trail, she said, laughing: “This is my form of therapy right now, Howard.”“With me? "And Congress has shown no inclination to move in your direction," her interviewer, Bill Whitaker, saidStill, Harris campaign officials say they’re delighted by how she’s performed in these less scripted settings. “It’s been great,” another senior Harris campaign aide said.

The relationship between Trump and Putin has long been a source of controversy. AdvertisementWith only a month to go before the presidential election, Donald Trump's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again come under the spotlight. In a forthcoming book, journalist Bob Woodward says that the former president and Putin have a closer friendship than previously known. The Ukraine war has already roiled markets for food, oil, gas, and other products, and wider conflict could have an even more devastating impact. If Russian President Vladimir Putin is victorious in Ukraine, it may embolden Chinese leader Xi Jinping to invade Taiwan.

Traffic flows east Tuesday along Interstate 4 as residents continue to follow evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Milton. A motorist drives past broken utility poles downed by strong wind gusts as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Florida, on Wednesday, October 9. Chris O'Meara/AP David Jalving throws outdoor furniture into his father's pool in Fort Myers to prepare for Hurricane Milton. Julio Cortez/AP A man clears debris left by Hurricane Helene from his home in Treasure Island, Florida, on Monday. Marta Lavandier/AP A man in Progreso boards up an apartment building to protect it from Hurricane Milton on Monday.

Like the presidential contest, the Senate race offers deep contrasts in a state that’s been divided neatly in half for years. We want to have a lawfully run election,” Lake said. In 2022, Lake challenged her loss to Hobbs, taking it all the way through the Arizona legal system. “It’s going to be a tight race,” Lake acknowledged. In 2018, Gallego rallied alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in Phoenix, saying facetiously: “President Trump is going to build a wall.

It’s not unusual for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to have to respond to rumors surrounding any given natural disaster. This week, President Joe Biden requested a memorandum from his team on the federal government’s digital response, including how officials were remediating misinformation, a senior administration official told CNN. “The contours of this misinformation are unlike anything we’ve seen before,” a senior administration official told CNN. CNN previously reported that there were 30 midair near-collisions involving noncommercial flights in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Saturday, September 28. FEMA personnel on the ground receive threatsThe snowballing of false information on the heels of Hurricane Helene has also directly affected those on the ground.

Hurricane Milton makes its way toward Florida. Hurricane Milton plows toward FloridaFlorida is, once again, bracing for a direct hit as Hurricane Milton approaches the state and the window to evacuate closes. A storm surge of up to 15 feet is forecast along a stretch of the coast that includes Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota. Florida is especially vulnerable to storm surge because “it doesn’t take much to push water over land that would be dry,” said Cody Fritz, the Storm Surge Unit Team Lead at the National Hurricane Center. “Where?”Follow our live blog for the latest forecasts and information about Hurricane Milton.

Hurricane Milton leaves a trail of destruction in Florida. Milton sweeps through Florida after a destructive landfallFlorida communities are waking up to destruction left by Hurricane Milton as the storm tore through the state — the second major hurricane to hit in two weeks. More Hurricane Milton coverage:Milton intensified at one of the fastest rates in recorded history. ➡️ An NBC News poll found Harris and Trump voters see their candidates representing “change” but in very different ways. The iconic Tropicana casino was imploded to make way for a proposed $1.5 billion stadium to house the Oakland Athletics ahead of the team’s planned move to Sin City in 2028.

Later Wednesday, the White House said Biden had spoken by phone with officials in Florida in advance of Hurricane Milton making landfall. Harris’ visible role on the storm response comes as Hurricane Helene and now Milton have become part of the 2024 campaign, with less than four weeks to go before Election Day. She’s been making statements on issues that don’t typically fall under the purview of her official role as vice president. Her campaign has been consumed in recent days by the latest hurricane as it is working to evacuate staff, pause voter outreach across Florida and keep an eye on potential early voting ramifications following Hurricane Helene in a battleground state like North Carolina. It’s looking like the storm of the century,” Biden said during the briefing.

Washington CNN —Republicans are fighting a war against misinformation to keep their constituents safe as they brace for Hurricane Milton to make landfall in Florida, including being willing to point the finger at members of their own party — and their presidential nominee. Greene has stood by her comments, posting a meme and link to a Gateway Pundit article she says backs up her claims. “Former President Trump told us that the people in Springfield are eating dogs and cats, alright? He likewise said that FEMA money, our emergency money, instead of helping the people that are being hit by the hurricane is being used to help illegals,” he said at an event in Utah earlier this week. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who challenged Trump in this cycle’s Republican presidential primary, also warned residents in the path of a hurricane to ignore online misinformation.

Hurricane Milton barreled into Florida's west coast Wednesday. AdvertisementHurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm. FEMA insisted Monday it had the "capacity to manage multiple simultaneous disasters," including Helene and Milton. As for FEMA funding, Criswell noted during the briefing that there is currently $11 billion in its Disaster Relief Fund and said she's evaluating whether it will be necessary to ask Congress for more. Advertisement"The funding is there to support Helene and Milton," Criswell said.

Harris advisers often publicly dismiss the polls, acknowledging that the race is close and will remain so leading up to Election Day. Others want to focus on mobilizing men and men of color to turn out – a demographic that remains a point of concern among Harris campaign officials. And I am running like the underdog because I am the underdog in this race,” Harris told donors at a fundraiser in late September. “When Black voters are getting inundated by anti-Harris mail, anti-Harris ads, the face-to-face conversations matter even more,” the operative said. Harris campaign surrogates have told CNN that there is also still a lot to do to shore up support among Latinos in the final weeks before Election Day.

Neither Harris nor Trump outline specific disaster-relief policies on their website. "Disasters are always political," Thomas Birkland, a political scientist at North Carolina State University who studies the politics of national disasters, told Business Insider. When he was president, Trump responded to several hurricanes. "A charitable interpretation would be mixed on crisis management," Birkland told BI about Trump's past responses to natural disasters. Presidents are somewhat limited in their disaster responses — both Kneeland and Birkland told BI that states and local governments lead disaster responses, with the federal government's assistance.

The Democratic National Committee has launched an "informational campaign" that includes bilingual billboards across the city ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’ Univision town hall in Las Vegas on Thursday night. The campaign directs Latino voters and union members to check their registration status and look at options on how to cast their ballots through IWillVote.com and VoyAVotar.com. The majority of U.S. labor unions have endorsed Harris though many union members support Trump. “Nevada’s Latino and union voters have the power to decide who wins the Silver State in November,” DNC spokesperson Marco Frieri said in a statement. Latino voters are a critical voting bloc and can swing outcomes in battleground states across the country including Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

But Pennsylvania stands apart as the state that top strategists for both Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump have circled as the likeliest to tip the election. There are struggling industrial towns where Mr. Trump needs to maximize his vote, and smaller cities booming with Latino immigrants where Ms. Harris aims to make gains. Mr. Trump won the county in 2016 by 19 percentage points, only four years after Mr. Obama carried it narrowly. One X factor is the regional impact of the assassination attempt on Mr. Trump in Butler County. “You guys don’t know what the hell it is,” Mr. Trump said of the tax break.

Baseless conspiracy theories about weather modification and false claims about disaster relief efforts have continued to spread on X in recent days, with misinformation about Hurricane Milton adding to a mountain of false rumors about Hurricane Helene and its aftermath. Greene has not deleted her posts referencing the conspiracy theories. In response to the challenges to Greene’s false claims, her deputy chief of staff, Nick Dyer, defended them, saying that she was actually the victim of conspiracy theories. “So when these people are espousing misinformation and conspiracy theories, then it’s like, ‘Oh, OK, well, maybe it’s true. FEMA is working to slow the spread of hurricane misinformation online.

In today’s edition, politics reporters Matt Dixon and Allan Smith explore why Donald Trump is set to campaign in heavily Democratic states in the final stretch of the 2024 race. Trump plans rallies in solidly Democratic states in the race’s final weeksBy Matt Dixon and Allan SmithGet ready for Donald Trump’s blue state extravaganza. With less than four weeks until Election Day, the Republican presidential nominee is scheduled to hold rallies in staunchly Democratic states he has virtually no chance of winning. President Joe Biden won those states by an average of 20 points in 2020, with his 13-point Colorado win the closest. “Choosing high-impact settings makes it so the media can’t look away and refuse to cover the issues and the solutions President Trump is offering,” a senior Trump campaign adviser said of the strategy.

Vice President Kamala Harris revealed this week that she owns a Glock — a weapon that is restricted for purchase in California amid a court battle over the state’s gun laws. The Harris campaign did not specify where and when she bought the Glock, which model she owns or which storage devices she uses. In 2013, as attorney general, Harris cleared the way for a new provision of the handgun safety law to take effect. Gun-rights advocates denounced Harris for owning a firearm while she was arguing for policies that would restrict which weapons people would be allowed to buy. Michel, a California attorney who is representing the gun-rights advocates suing California over its handgun safety law.

Ron DeSantis and Vice President Kamala Harris over hurricane recovery before he praised him as “gracious” in a news conference Wednesday, a source familiar with the situation said. NBC News first reported Monday that DeSantis refused to take Harris’ call when she reached out about Hurricane Helene’s impact on Florida. A reporter then asked Biden whether DeSantis should be taking Harris’ phone calls. Biden hadn’t been briefed about the dynamic involving Harris and DeSantis, the person familiar with the situation said. “I’ve had storms under both President Trump and President Biden, and I’ve worked well with both of them,” he said.

FEMA for two months had to pause $9 billion meant for communities still recovering from past disasters. In this case, for nearly two months, FEMA hoarded $9 billion to make up for delayed funding from Congress. But Biden-administration officials warn of another shortfall as soon as January, especially after Hurricane Milton slammed into the Tampa area late Wednesday. "So if FEMA delays reimbursements, local governments have to bear those costs, and they may put off recovery efforts. FEMA officials have repeatedly said they have enough resources to respond to Hurricane Helene and now Hurricane Milton but declined to specify how much disaster aid remained available.

President Joe Biden has postponed his overseas trip this week due to Hurricane Milton, according to two sources familiar with the planning. Biden was scheduled to depart for Berlin on Thursday and then travel to Angola in Southern Africa, returning to the U.S. on Oct. 15. "Given the projected trajectory and strength of Hurricane Milton, President Biden is postponing his upcoming trip to Germany and Angola in order to oversee preparations for and the response to Hurricane Milton, in addition to the ongoing response to the impacts of Hurricane Helene across the Southeast," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. Residents there are still reeling from the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene last month. Criswell will be in Florida providing guidance and coordinating disaster response to Milton, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday.

“To date, GSA has entered into an MOU with the Harris transition team outlining the terms for space and services, and is prepared to provide services to the Trump transition team once an MOU is executed and services are accepted,” a GSA spokesperson said. The Harris team has also submitted its ethics plan; the Trump team has not. The federal transition coordinator, a White House spokesperson told CNN, is “actively working” with the former president’s transition team to complete its MOU. Inside Biden administration preparationsThe Biden administration began preparing for this transition in 2023, starting with the appointment of a federal transition coordinator, a senior career official who serves as the main liaison between the candidates and eventual president-elect. “We were waiting for the phone calls [from the Trump team], waiting for people to show up, and they never did.

In today's big story, we got our first interest-rate cut, but it doesn't feel like it for many consumers . We finally got an interest-rate cut, but borrowing costs are still high. First off, last month's interest-rate cut wasn't going to provide immediate relief. Yes, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has gone up 47 basis points since the Fed cut rates , writes BI's Matthew Fox. So the Fed cut rates but borrowing costs went up?

In today’s edition, senior White House reporter Peter Nicholas looks at where Kamala Harris' campaign thinks it can pick up support with the vice president's media blitz this week. Plus, senior political editor Mark Murray breaks down how Harris and Trump voters think "change" means very different things this election. They want to see her more, and we’re engaging with that and want to continue to do that,” a Harris campaign aide said. One of the sources described the Keystone State as a “problem spot” for the Harris campaign. Read more → Follow live updates from the campaign trail →That’s all from the Politics Desk for now.

No matter who voters choose, whether it is former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris , Liwag doesn't expect a meaningful shake-up in the outlook for defense stocks. Still, the analyst notes that even cases where an administration cuts defense spending, stocks can still carve out gains. During the Obama administration, the defense budget fell 3.3%, but defense stocks gained 2.1%. The defense stocks Morgan Stanley covers have outperformed the S & P 500 since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Liwag said. "Historically, the conventional wisdom has been that Republicans are positive for defense spending and defense stocks, while Democrats are negative," Harned said.

Trump and the Republican Party have made “an unprecedented lean in and targeting of African American men,” Belcher said. Yes, it’s absolutely smart on their side.”But, he said, recent polling shows a shift among Black voters in the last month and a half toward Harris' campaign. “We want to make sure that Black men are showing up to vote in numbers that we haven’t seen since Obama. So victory and success for us will be record numbers of Black men showing up to vote in November.”He said there has been an Obama-like energy with Harris. Has anyone ever heard of Barack Hussein Obama?” Trump said as the Scranton crowd lit up with boos.

Additional disruptions from Hurricane Milton complicate the data collection for October's jobs report. To stimulate hiring, the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates in September, and the jobs report will strongly inform its path forward. "I wouldn't expect these events to materially change how Americans view the economy before the election," DeAntonio said. For example, it noted in its release last week Hurricane Francine, which hit Louisiana in early September, "had no discernible effect" on the employment data it collected. Any effects from the hurricanes could lead to an October jobs report that shows a more pessimistic view of the economy than underlying conditions would suggest.

That law, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), requires that states allow eligible Americans who live overseas to vote in federal elections. Heckel pointed out that the suit was filed two weeks after counties Pennsylvania began mailing ballots to military and overseas voters "and baselessly challenges Pennsylvania law, which provides clear procedures for processing applications by overseas voters." The lawsuits come as former President Donald Trump and his allies have begun to sow doubts about overseas voting. Last month, Trump claimed on Truth Social that Democrats would use overseas voting laws to "cheat," a baseless theory Elon Musk also shared on X last week. “Traditionally, we think of overseas voters as military voters who might skew Republican.

It should put a damper on just how much we should expect the next president to accomplish, especially if the divide is between the House and the White House. There’s a big difference in just how divided government becomes, depending on whether the House and the White House are controlled by the same party or different parties. Two words send chills down the spine of any presidents who find the “other” party in control of the House: subpoena power. Both Trump and Joe Biden saw the second halves of their terms (after they lost control of the House) essentially paralyzed by an oppositional House. First, because California House races will determine overall House control, it could take as much as two or three weeks before we know the makeup of Congress in 2025 for sure.

Benjamin Chadwick — a dual citizen of France and the UK — voted in two national elections this year. Emmanuel Macron ran with a centrist campaign, while Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally, campaigned on anti-immigration and nationalist ideals. Related storiesLe Pen became leader of France's right-wing populist "National Front" party in 2011 and renamed it "National Rally" in 2018. AdvertisementIn the lead-up to the UK election on July 4, opinion polls predicted a huge majority for the center-left Labour Party. In France, I feared the National Rally would capitalize on their European victory and take control of the Assembly.

In today’s edition, politics reporter Allan Smith looks at how Elon Musk could help (or hurt) Donald Trump on the campaign trail. Plus, national political correspondent Steve Kornacki breaks down the different paths to victory Kamala Harris and Trump are attempting to chart in Pennsylvania. The disparate images helped paint a picture of both the benefits and the detriments to having Musk in Trump’s corner. Musk’s appearance at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally over the weekend was the culmination of a yearslong rightward drift for the eccentric billionaire, expedited by his purchase of Twitter in 2022. After his appearance in western Pennsylvania, Musk started to offer people $47 if they successfully get a swing-state voter to sign onto a petition backing the First and Second Amendments.

A Trump win would pose risks to economic growth and inflation in Europe, ECB member Joachim Nagel says. Officials in Europe, for their part, are warily eyeing what a Donald Trump win would mean. Nagel's comments come just weeks before the US presidential election and follow previous warnings from ECB members about the potential impact of a Trump win. AdvertisementBack in January, ECB president Christine Lagarde said a Trump win is "clearly a threat" to Europe considering the policies he implemented during his first term in office. She pointed to Trump's tariffs, commitment to NATO, and climate change policies, which she said were misaligned with European interests.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is launching a blitz in Arizona this week, with plans to swamp the battleground state with events and canvassing efforts, all timed around the start of early voting. “All of that, to me, is the type of activity that’s required to win a close race. Campaign officials also say to expect Harris to time events around early voting in many of the battleground states. Those polls also show Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego outperforming Harris in his race against Republican Kari Lake. We know it’s gonna be a close race.

One of the sources described the Keystone State as a "problem spot" for the Harris campaign. And Chris Wyant, a Midwest native who also worked on those presidential campaigns, is now helping Harris in Michigan. These advisers are heavy hitters, having held some of the highest-level positions in previous presidential campaigns. But the Harris campaign insists the additions are not part of any kind of shakeup. Democratic presidential campaigns have tapped such senior advisers to oversee or troubleshoot in specific states in past elections.

Florida gas stations are running out of fuel ahead of Hurricane Milton's landfall. If the storm damages Port Tampa Bay, it could mean long-term trouble for the gas supply chain. AdvertisementA day before Hurricane Milton was expected to make landfall, gas stations in Florida were already running out of fuel. As of 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday, more than 1 out of 5 gas stations in Florida had no gas, according to data from GasBuddy, which tracks gas prices. But lines at gas stations have been long and gas stations are running out quicker than they otherwise would."

Americans living abroad shouldn't owe taxes on the same income in two countries, Donald Trump said. "I support ending the double taxation of overseas Americans," he told The Wall Street Journal. AdvertisementAmericans living abroad shouldn't be taxed twice on the same income by two different countries, Donald Trump said. "I support ending the double taxation of overseas Americans," the former president told The Wall Street Journal in a statement. "Fellow Americans living abroad, your vote is more important than ever," Trump told the Journal.

On Wednesday, Harris' running mate Tim Walz appeared on a "World of Warcraft" Twitch stream. On Wednesday evening, Walz was featured on a "World of Warcraft" Twitch stream. To be sure, this isn't the first time the Harris campaign has attempted to reach out to this demographic. Besides Twitch, Harris' campaign has run ads on the gaming site IGN and during major sporting events like NFL games. AdvertisementRepresentatives for the Harris campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.