Robert Tait

The revelation regarding how Robert F Kennedy Jr was asked if he would be vice-president under Donald Trump is contained in a Times story exploring the rapprochement between two men who had previously been at loggerheads – and explaining how Kennedy, a former Democrat, came to abandon his presidential effort and endorse Trump as the Republican nominee for president.

The timing of the call by Calley Means – just after Trump had been wounded by a would-be assassin – appeared to be inspired by the fact that Kennedy’s father, Robert F Kennedy, and his uncle, President John F Kennedy, had both been killed by assassins, and the assumption that he would identify with Trump’s plight.

It is unclear whether Trump was genuinely considering choosing Kennedy as his running mate at that stage. Days later, at the Republican national convention in Milwaukee, he announced JD Vance as the vice-presidential nominee.

But as recently as April – at a time when he was lambasting Kennedy as “a radical left Democrat” – Trump was apparently also considering him as his vice-president and musing about he liked the sound of a “Trump-Kennedy” ticket. His campaign even conducted internal polling on its potential electability, according to the Times.

RFK Jr was asked if he would join Trump ticket hours after assassination attempt

Robert Tait

Robert F Kennedy Jr was asked if he would be vice-president under Donald Trump hours after the former president survived an assassination attempt in July, it has been revealed.

The startling proposal was made as part of a frantic bid to reach out to Kennedy, who was staging an independent bid for the presidency, in the name of “national unity” following the failed attempt by a lone gunman, Thomas Crooks, to kill Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on 13 July.

Kennedy reportedly rejected the suggestion from Calley Means, an entrepreneur who sometimes advised him on chronic diseases and was acting as an intermediary, according to the New York Times.

But he later called Means back to say he would be prepared to talk to Trump.

George Chidi

Introducing Kamala Harris to a crowd in Pittsburgh on Monday, Joe Biden described the accomplishments of his administration in Pennsylvania, from investments in clean energy to infrastructure money.

Biden noted that his administration required project labor agreements that respected labor rights and required American products, while reminding listeners that Donald Trump appointed union busting officials to the National Labor Relations Board. Biden said:

Wall Street didn’t build America. The middle class built America and unions built the middle class.

The appearance of Biden and Harris together provides an image of how the two may campaign in the waning days of the election. Biden described Harris as having “the backbone of a ramrod and the moral compass of a saint”.

Biden is the first sitting president to walk a union picket line, supporting the United Auto Workers in their dispute with major car manufacturers in September 2023.

George Chidi

Kamala Harris, at a rally in Pittsburgh on Monday, voiced support for the Protecting the Right to Organize (Pro) act, a broad basket of labor reforms that would spur union organizing.

Kenny Cooper, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union, introduced Joe Biden and Harris, noting that the passage of the Butch Lewis Act by Harris’s tie-breaking vote saved the benefits of 2 million union members.

“They were only tied up for one reason,” he said. “We couldn’t find a Republican senator.”

Harris also cast the tie-breaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, which the United Steelworkers (USW) international president, David McCall, said in comments had been “revolutionizing the cement, chemical, glass and steel sectors along with other traditional core industries”.

Harris spent the morning in Detroit, hailing the virtues of union organizing – the five-day work week, sick leave, vacation time and other benefits – with labor leaders at Northwestern high school. She said:

We celebrate unions because unions helped build America, and unions helped build America’s middle class. When union wages go up, everybody’s wages go up.

Good morning US politics readers. Joe Biden joined Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh on Monday for their first joint appearance on the presidential campaign trail since he ended his re-election bid in July and endorsed her.

The pair appeared at a rally to mark Labor Day with a tribute to union workers in Pittsburgh in the vital swing state of Pennsylvania. “We are so proud to be the most pro-union administration in American history,” Harris said.

Trade unions are a key Democratic constituency and Harris on Monday pledged to oppose the pending purchase of US Steel by Nippon Steel, arguing that the iconic Pennsylvania steel company should remain in the hands of American owners. Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, also opposes the Nippon Steel deal and has said he will block it if president.

Here’s what else we’re watching:

• The House and Senate are out this week.

• Biden is back in Washington DC after having spent the last two weeks holidaying in California and at his home in Delaware. He will head to Wisconsin on Thursday and Michigan on Friday.

• Harris will be in New Hampshire on Wednesday and then travel to Pittsburgh on Thursday.

• The Harris campaign has released “Focused”, part of a $370m ad buy running through election day.

• Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor, will testify publicly before Congress next week about nursing home deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic.