Republican candidate in the US presidential election Donald Trump has urged African-Americans to vote for him, asking them: "what the hell do you have to lose?"
Speaking at a rally in Dimondale, Michigan, an overwhelmingly white suburb, the Mr Trump argued that Democrats, including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, have taken taken the votes of African-Americans for granted.
“Tonight, I’m asking for the vote of every single African-American citizen in this country who wants to see a better future,” Mr Trump told the crowd.
“What do you have to lose by trying something new, like Trump? You’re living in your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 per cent of your youth is unemployed — what the hell do you have to lose?”
He also made a bold prediction: “At the end of four years, I guarantee you that I will get over 95 per cent of the African-American vote. I promise you.”
Most polls show Mr Trump trailing Mrs Clinton significantly among black voters. President Barack Obama won roughly 93 per cent of black voters in his re-election campaign in 2012.
But Mr Trump once again accused Mrs Clinton of “bigotry”, claiming she sees African-Americans “only as votes, not as human beings worthy of a better future”.
The Clinton campaign's Marlon Marshall said: "Donald Trump asks what the African-American community has to lose by voting for him.
“The answer is everything from a man who questions the citizenship of the first African-American president, courts white supremacists, and has been sued for housing discrimination against communities of colour.”
Meanwhile, Clinton has been ordered by a US judge to answer questions in writing from a conservative legal advocacy group about her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.
US District Court Judge Emmet G Sullivan issued the order as part of a long-running public records lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch.
The judge’s decision is only a partial victory for the group, which had sought to question the Democratic presidential nominee in person and under oath.
Republicans have pressed to keep the issue of Mrs Clinton’s email use alive after the FBI closed its investigation last month without recommending criminal charges.
Judicial Watch is among several groups that have sued the government over access to records about Mrs Clinton’s service as the nation’s top diplomat between 2009 and 2013.
The judge said Judicial Watch must submit its questions to Mrs Clinton by October 14 and gave her 30 days to respond.
The timetable could push Mrs Clinton’s answers past the November presidential election unless Judicial Watch sends its questions earlier than mid-October.
In a separate development, another former secretary of state, Colin Powell, said he sent Mrs Clinton a memo about his use of a personal email account for work-related messages after she took over in 2009.
Mr Powell said he emailed the Democratic nominee describing his use of a personal AOL account for unclassified messages while leading the state department under then president George W Bush.
The Republican said he told Mrs Clinton his use of personal email “vastly improved” communications within the department, which at the time did not have an equivalent internal system.
PA