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ABC news reports that Harris will not agree to debate Trump on Fox on 4 September – citing a campaign official, Selina Wang, ABC’s senior White House correspondent, says that the campaign says “future debates are contingent on Trump showing up to @ABC debate on Sept 10th”.

The Cook Political Report, an elections analysis newsletter, has shifted its ratings for Arizona, Georgia and Nevada towards Harris –from “Leans Republican” to “Toss-up” – the Hill reports:

All three states had been considered “lean Republican” in early July, while President Biden was still in the race and falling further behind Trump both on the national level and in the key battleground states. But with polls showing Harris getting back within the margin of error of Trump, or in some cases slightly ahead, the three swing states have been moved to be a “toss Up.”

‘For the first time in a long time, Democrats are united and energized, while Republicans are on their heels. Unforced errors from both Trump and his vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance have shifted the media spotlight from Biden’s age to Trump’s liabilities,’ Cook Editor-in-Chief Amy Walter wrote in a post explaining the decision.

‘In other words, the presidential contest has moved from one that was Trump’s to lose to a much more competitive contest,’ she continued.

“Do not pretend to be something that you’re not,” Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Wednesday as he campaigned in Michigan. “I’d be ashamed if I was saying that I lied about my military service like you did.”

Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating high school, serving four years as a combat correspondent, a type of military journalist, and deploying to Iraq in that capacity in 2005.

Neither Trump nor Harris has served in the US military. Trump received a series of deferments during Vietnam, including one attained with a physician’s letter stating that he suffered from bone spurs in his feet.

The Harris campaign statement said Walz “would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country” and “thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. It’s the American way.”

Republicans have also questioned Walz’s military record by saying he didn’t serve in a combat zone. AP has looked into it:

Earlier this week Harris’ campaign circulated on X a 2018 clip of Walz speaking out against gun violence, and saying, “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.” That comment suggests that Walz portrayed himself as someone who spent time in a combat zone.

According to the Nebraska Army National Guard, Walz enlisted in April 1981 — just two days after his 17th birthday — and entered service as an infantryman, completing a 12-week Army infantry basic training course before graduating from high school.

While attending the University of Houston in 1985, he was reclassified as a field artillery cannoneer as a member of the Texas Army National Guard, later serving as an instructor with the Arkansas Army National Guard.

In 1987, Walz returned to Nebraska’s Guard detachment, continuing field artillery assignments while he completed a college degree. By 1996, he transferred to the Minnesota Army National Guard. In 2003, he deployed to Italy in a support position of active military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But he was not in a combat zone himself.

And going back to Trump’s press conference earlier, in which he said the crowd at his speech on 6 January 2020 was comparable to the crowd that gathered for Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.

An estimated 50,000 people attended Trump’s speech. About a quarter of a million gathered to hear King speak. Here are photographs:

And from Jonathan Eig, who wrote a biography of King published last year:

Republicans are questioning Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s military record. AP has taken a look:

Walz served a total of 24 years in various units and jobs in the Army National Guard. But it’s his retirement in 2005 that’s prompting criticism from some Republicans who are suggesting he abandoned his team to pursue a campaign for Congress.

As he ramped up for a congressional bid in 2005, Walz’s campaign in March issued a statement saying he still planned to run despite a possible mobilization of Minnesota National Guard soldiers to Iraq. According to the Guard, Walz retired from service in May of that year.

In August 2005, the Department of the Army issued a mobilization order for Walz’s unit. The unit mobilized in October of that year before it deployed to Iraq in March 2006.

There is no evidence that Walz timed his departure with the intent of avoiding deployment. But the fact remains that he left ahead of his unit’s departure. In a statement, the Harris campaign pushed back on GOP characterizations of Walz’s service, and also noted that he advocated for veterans once he was elected to the US House.

After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he chaired Veterans Affairs and was a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform – and as Vice President of the United States he will continue to be a relentless champion for our veterans and military families,” the campaign said.

In diplomacy news: California’s governor flew in for the young bears’ debut. Throngs of media gathered inside the zoo, while the city of San Diego warned of traffic jams ahead of the much-anticipated event on Thursday.

The San Diego zoo rolled out the red carpet for the first public showing of its newest residents: two giant pandas, the first to enter the US in two decades.

For years, the Chinese government has loaned pandas to zoos around the world in a practice called “panda diplomacy”.

The fuzzy ambassadors have long been a symbol of the US-China friendship, ever since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National zoo in Washington DC in 1972. As relations soured between the two countries, China stopped renewing panda loans to US zoos. But last year, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, said he was “ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation” and pledged to reduce tensions between the two countries.

Only four other giant pandas currently reside in the United States, all at the zoo in Atlanta. The Smithsonian’s National zoo will receive a new pair of pandas by the end of the year after its last bears returned to China last November. As part of the loan agreement, US zoos typically pay $1m a year toward China’s wildfire conservation efforts, and all cubs born in the US must return to China by age four.

And a response from the Harris campaign – via MSNBC:

Here is the press pool report from the Harris campaign – Politico’s Eugene Daniels has the honours today – where the Democratic candidate stopped on the tarmac to take questions from journalists. Harris has so far –an that is a short so far – avoided taking many questions from journalists, and has not yet sat down to an extended interview. But she says that she wants to do one before the end of the month. She also said that she is “beyond trying to speculate about how [Trump] thinks”:

The VP walked over to the pool and took a few questions.

On debate with Trump: “Well, I’m glad that he’s finally agreed to a debate on September 10.”

On Republican attacks on Walz record: “Listen, I praise anyone who has presented themselves to serve our country. And I think that we all should.”

On why Trump originally backed out of debate: “I am beyond trying to speculate about how he thinks.”

On being open to more debates: “I am happy to have that conversation about an additional debate, or after September 10, for sure.”

On a sit-down interview : “I’ve talked to my team. I want us to get an interview scheduled before the end of the month.”