Key Democratic figures call on Graham Platner to ‘immediately’ withdraw from Senate race – US politics live

Maine’s party leadership calls for Platner to withdraw after after sexual assault allegation emerges

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

Maine’s Democratic party leadership has called for US Senate candidate Graham Platner to withdraw from the race, as the scandal-hit Marine veteran loses support from his previously most vocal backers.

Trump’s latest attempt to delay payment of a $5.8m judgment for defaming a magazine columnist whom a jury determined he sexually abused has been emphatically rejected by a federal court judge. More here.

Trump rang the bell of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) from the White House to mark the first trading day for Trump accounts, a government initiative that provides children with a $1,000 investment account. It is the first joint opening of the exchanges, and the first time the bell had been rung at the White House. More here.

National guard soldiers on patrol in Memphis shot and killed a man that authorities in the Tennessee city said turned and pulled a gun on the troops during a chase. The shooting took place at about 4am on Sunday as the soldiers responded to a report of gunfire. The Tennessee national guard was deployed controversially by the state’s governor, Bill Lee, in October to support the federal push by Donald Trump, his fellow Republican, to tackle perceived crime surges in Democratic-run cities. More here.

Continue reading...