Trump reportedly calls Egypt's president his 'favorite dictator' – as it happened

That’s all for today, thanks for following along with our live coverage. Some links and key events from the day:

• A Taliban negotiating team reportedly arrived in Russia just days after Trump said potential peace talks with the group were “dead”.
• Democratic presidential candidates criticized the lack of debate questions on abortion.
• Joe Biden said in Houston that he would release his medical records before the first vote of the primaries.
• The Democratic National Committee announced that the fourth primary debate would take place on 15 October (with the possibility for a second night) in Westerville, Ohio.
• Trump reportedly referred to Egypt’s authoritarian leader, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, as his “favorite dictator” during last month’s G-7 summit.
• Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior adviser, told donors at a fundraising event last month that she got her moral compass from her father.
• The climate activist Greta Thunberg held a protest at the White House, where she and other young environmental advocates called for immediate action to address climate change.
• House Democrats are pushing to have Jeff Sessions testify in the House judiciary committee’s ongoing impeachment probe of Trump.
• Rights groups sued the Trump administration to stop the release of citizenship data that could be used to benefit the GOP in redistricting.
• Harvard University received nearly $9m in donations from the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before his 2008 guilty plea to sex charges.

The US government considered using fentanyl for executions, according to a Reuters report out today:

The US Department of Justice examined using fentanyl in lethal injections despite the fact that it was an untested use of the powerful, addictive opioid fueling a national crisis of overdose fatalities, the agency reported:

The department revealed it had contemplated using the drug in a court filing last month, which has not been previously reported.

In the end, it decided against adopting the drug for executions. Attorney General William Barr announced in July his department instead would use pentobarbital, a barbiturate, when it resumes federal executions later this year, ending a de facto moratorium on the punishment put in place by the administration of US President Barack Obama.

But the special consideration given to the possibilities of fentanyl, even as federal agents were focused on seizing illegal imports of the synthetic opioid, show how much has changed since the federal government last carried out an execution nearly 20 years ago.

Many pharmaceutical companies have since put tight controls on their distribution channels to stop their drugs being used in executions.

The president is talking about vaping again:

Trump said earlier this week that his administration will propose banning thousands of flavors used in e-cigarettes to combat a recent surge in underage vaping.

Here’s what you need to know about the recent concerns about the dangers of vaping, from the Guardian’s health editor:

Rights groups have filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration from collecting government records for the production of data concerning the citizenship status of every person living in the country, NPR is reporting:

The lawsuit from Latinx advocacy groups is the first legal challenge to the president’s executive order in July seeking citizenship data. There have been growing concerns that the citizenship records would be used by state redistricting officials to redraw voting districts in a way that gives the GOP advantages in future elections.

Here’s the complaint:

The case follows a protracted legal battle surrounding Trump’s effort to put a citizenship question on the 2020 Census.

There has been ongoing scrutiny today of the Trump administration’s widely criticized effort to effectively end asylum at the US-Mexico border for nearly all migrants:

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting head of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, told the AP today that the Supreme Court’s decision to allow sweeping regulations to take effect while litigation continued was a big win for the government: “There’s no underselling it.”

The policy is considered the most significant change to asylum policy since its establishment in 1980. More from the AP:

The new policy will deny asylum to nearly all migrants arriving at the southern border who aren’t from Mexico because it disallows anyone who passes through another country without first seeking and failing to obtain asylum there. While officials say it’s a crucial effort to help ease strain on the system, it’s also a potentially potent deterrent.

The rule falls most heavily on Central Americans, mainly Hondurans and Guatemalans, because they account for most people arrested or stopped at the border.

Juan Carlos Perla, 36, said Friday that many asylum seekers from his native El Salvador have returned, including cousins who have stayed with him in a rented two-room house with donated furniture on the distant outskirts of Tijuana.

“People know that they aren’t going to be allowed in. They’re desperate. Many don’t like it here. Life here isn’t easy,” he said.

But it’s also an enormous setback for other asylum seekers, including many Africans, Haitians and Cubans who try to enter the United States via Mexico.

Mark Sanford, a South Carolina Republican and former governor, is considering taking legal action to appear on the presidential primary ballot:

He said today he was “looking at options”, which could include some kind of legal action against the state Republican party in South Carolina. Sanford announced his bid for president last week. Here’s what he told The State, a South Carolina newspaper:

I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t like that particular angle. It’s just never been my default setting — people see something goes wrong, they sue somebody. I like to look for other ways to resolve issues ...

[But] any number of people have called suggesting [legal action]. I’m listening and I would just say, ‘stay tuned.’”

Mike Pence previously argued that being gay was a “choice” and a “learned behavior”, according to a new report from CNN on the vice president’s anti-LGBT record:

CNN’s investigation comes after the White House claimed that the vice president was not “anti-gay” last week, citing as proof the fact that he was having lunch with the gay Irish prime minister and his partner:

Here’s how Pence previously argued against anti-discrimination proposals:

A Pence spokesperson responded to CNN with a statement saying the vice president “has always opposed discrimination in any form and defends the Constitution’s protection of the rights of all Americans regardless of race, sex or religion”.

Here’s what Pence has been up to today:

Hi all - Sam Levin here in Los Angeles, taking over our live coverage for the rest of the day.

House Democrats are pushing to have Jeff Sessions testify in the House judiciary committee’s ongoing impeachment probe of Trump, the Washington Post has just reported:

A lawyer for the former attorney general told the Post:

I have made clear that Attorney General Sessions will not appear except under compulsion of a congressional subpoena.”

Sessions had a famously rocky relationship with the president, who ended up publicly mocking him and then firing him last year.

There has been no subpoena issued for Sessions so far, according to the Post’s report.

That’s it from me this week. My west coast colleague, Sam Levin, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• The climate activist Greta Thunberg held a protest at the White House, where she and other young environmental advocates called for immediate action to address climate change.
• The Democratic National Committee announced that the fourth primary debate would take place on October 15 (with the possibility for a second night) in Westerville, Ohio.
• Joe Biden pledged that he would release his medical records before primary voting starts. He made the promise just a day after one of his opponents, Julián Castro, appeared to make a crack at the former vice president’s age during last night’s debate.
• Taliban negotiators have reportedly arrived in Russia just days after Trump declared peace talks with the group to be “dead.”
• Trump reportedly referred to Egypt’s authoritarian leader, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, as his “favorite dictator” during last month’s G-7 summit.
• Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior adviser, told donors at a fundraising event last month that she got her moral compass from her father. (Yes. Really.)

Sam will have more on the news of the day. Have a wonderful weekend, live blog readers.

Trump’s appearance at the G-7 summit last month has already been criticized for the president skipping a climate session and making unsubstantiated claims about China reaching out to US officials to discuss trade. And now, a report has emerged that Trump praised Egypt’s authoritarian leader, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, during the trip.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in a loud voice: ‘Where’s my favorite dictator?’ Several people who were in the room at the time said they heard the question.

The witnesses said they believed the president made the comment jokingly, but said his question was met by a stunned silence.

It couldn’t be determined whether Mr. Sisi was present or heard the remark. ...

Even if lighthearted, Mr. Trump’s quip drew attention to an uncomfortable facet of the U.S.-Egypt relationship. ...

The White House hasn’t publicly admonished the Egyptian government for its human-rights record. Egypt has defended its actions, saying it is fighting extremists.

More from Joe Biden’s second day in Houston: the former vice president mocked those who have grilled him about comments from early in his Senate career.

“This is about the future, this is not about the past,” Biden said at a fundraiser, according to a pool report. “I love it when people say in 1972 you said ...” he added to laughs from the crowd.

The comment appeared to reference Linsey Davis’ question from the Democratic debate a day earlier. The ABC News moderator asked Biden about this 1975 quote defending his opposition to federally mandated busing to racially integrate schools: “I don’t feel responsible for the sins of my father and grandfather. I feel responsible for what the situation is today, for the sins of my own generation. And I’ll be damned if I feel responsible to pay for what happened 300 years ago.”

The answer Biden offered in response was described by commentators as everything from “baffling” to “racist.” And for some, it resurfaced a question that has come up repeatedly: has Biden adequately realized the faulty logic in his past ways of thinking about race?

For some, the answer is a resounding “no.” From a Time editor-at-large:

From an MSNBC analyst and former campaign aide to Hillary Clinton:

From a Rolling Stone writer: