Washington:

Courts, shootings and verbal stumbles have marked this year’s US election campaign, one of the most extraordinary in the country’s history.

Here are five key moments so far for candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as they head towards Election Day on November 5.

Trump is guilty

“Trump is Guilty” splashed onto the world’s front pages. On May 30, the Republican became the first former US president to be convicted of felonies (34 counts, to be exact).

It was revealed that he falsified business records to hide a hush money payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of his 2016 election victory, thus not publicly disclosing their alleged sexual relationship.

During the explosive six-week trial, Daniels shares excruciating details about their apparent one-night stand, including the sex position and Trump’s silky pajamas.

The ordeal takes him off the campaign trail, but massive media attention keeps him in the spotlight, even as his guilt hangs over him.

There is nothing in US law preventing Trump from running for the White House following his guilty verdict, and Republicans are doubling down on their unwavering support for Trump, the party’s standard-bearer who still faces three other criminal cases.

Debate Drama

Democrats’ hopes appear to have been shattered after the party’s presumptive nominee, President Joe Biden, delivered a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump on June 27.

The 81-year-old’s clumsy delivery of his words and the fact that he often appears to forget what he said is raising fears that he is unfit to run for president again.

Biden calls it a “bad night,” but opponents say otherwise; donors are threatening to pull funds if Biden doesn’t step aside.

Post-debate polls show Trump pulling away from Biden, but the White House insists the chances of him pulling out are zero.

Assassination Attempt

Trump’s sun-baked rally in Pennsylvania on July 13 provides the most shocking moment of the campaign so far.

Explosions are heard, Trump touches his ear, sees blood and falls on the stage. Secret Service officers surround him as screams rise from the crowd.

Within seconds, Trump is helped to his feet. “Fight, fight, fight!” He addresses the cheering audience, raising his fist to create one of the most iconic images in US political history.

The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot and killed at the scene by the Secret Service, and Trump survived with a minor scratch to his right ear.

Trump’s base is galvanized. “I took a bullet for democracy,” he told supporters at a later rally.

Biden said ‘Goodbye’

At 1:46 p.m. on Sunday, July 21, the beleaguered President Biden announced in a tweet that he would not seek re-election, leading to intense concerns that he could beat Trump in November.

That makes him the first president since 1968 not to seek re-election, upending the race for the White House.

Kamala Harris, the first black and Asian-American woman to serve as U.S. vice president, has received Biden’s endorsement to replace him in the campaign.

Within two weeks, she had officially secured the Democratic nomination, making her the first black woman to become a major party nominee.

Harris is re-energizing Democrats and delivering immediate results in the polls by rolling back Trump gains, including in swing states that determined the election.

Trump’s Second Fear

Trump’s weekend golf outing in Florida on September 15 was disrupted by gunshots, this time fired by a Secret Service agent who thwarted what the FBI called an apparent assassination attempt.

The Republican candidate was unscathed by the second such scare in two months.

Investigators said the gunman, Ryan Routh, did not shoot at Trump but instead ran away after a security guard opened fire after seeing his rifle pointed at a treeline on the golf course.

Trump attributes his fears of assassination to the allegedly provocative “rhetoric” of Biden and Harris.

Democrats say they condemn political violence, but the incident underscores the instability in US politics just weeks before voters head to the polls.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)