Top Stories

  • President Donald Trump and his Republican allies opened their national convention with dark and ominous warnings about how Democrats will govern if they are victorious in the November elections, along with praise for how Trump has steered the country through the coronavirus pandemic and promises of economic revitalization in the near future. Minutes after securing the party’s nomination for a second time, the president baselessly accused Democrats of “trying to steal the election” from the GOP “just like they did last time, with spying.” (The Washington Post)
  • Two current senior Trump administration officials are said to have anonymously signed on to an effort among current and former Trump administration officials to elect his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden. According to the person familiar with the project called the Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform, one of those anonymous officials plans to reveal their identity closer to the election and lose their job as a result. (Politico)
  • The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a state Supreme Court judge to order Eric Trump to answer questions under oath and to compel the Trump Organization to hand over documents as part of its inquiry into whether the company overstated assets in order to secure loans and tax benefits. The request came after Eric Trump, the president’s son and an executive vice president of the company, pulled out of an interview with the attorney general’s office last month and the Trump Organization refused last week to comply with seven subpoenas related to the investigation. (The New York Times)

Chart Review

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

08/25/2020
Republican National Convention
Trump campaign manager participates in Politico online event 9:00 am
The Hill hosts online event on the battle for Congress 11:00 am
Reuters event with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore 12:00 pm
Mayors participate in The Hill’s online event on affordable housing 1:00 pm
Brookings Institution hosts online event on expanding broadband and inequality 2:00 pm
08/26/2020
Republican National Convention
NRSC executive director participates in Politico online event 9:00 am
The Hill hosts online event on the 2020 election 11:00 am
Fiscal Note hosts online event on diversity, equity, and inclusion in public and government affairs 11:00 am
Rep. Burgess participates in The Hill’s online event on COVID-19 1:00 pm
Brookings Institution hosts online event on mail and the 2020 election 2:00 pm
08/27/2020
Republican National Convention
Politico hosts online event on the state of the race in North Carolina 9:00 am
The Hill hosts online event on the agenda for 2020 and beyond 11:00 am
Leader McCarthy participates in Axios event on ‘The Future of Employability’ 12:30 pm
View full calendar

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2020

In N.C. Senate Race, Tillis’ Struggles With GOP Base Have Cunningham Seeking Votes in ‘Unlikely Places’
Eli Yokley, Morning Consult

As North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis faces former state Sen. Cal Cunningham (D) in a tough re-election race, polling shows the Republican incumbent underperforming President Donald Trump’s standing in the battleground state, indicating a missing piece of the coalition he’ll need to win re-election in November: unity in his party’s base. It’s a gap his Democratic rival is planning to use to his advantage as he seeks to unseat one of the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbents in a race that could tip control of the chamber.

Trump’s Scare Tactics Aren’t Working on Women in the Suburbs
Michael Kruse, Politico

A few years back, in the middle of the day in the middle of a week in the spring, in the parking garage of an upscale mall in Charlotte half an hour south from her house here in the suburbs, Susan Sandler was attacked. A young Black man in a hoodie hit her in the side of the head as she walked to her car.

Biden Wants Black Voter Turnout Similar to Obama’s. He’ll Need Black Men.
Astead W. Herndon, The New York Times

Long before the coronavirus pandemic, the economic downturn and the recent protests over racial inequality, the Black men of Milwaukee’s North Side had experience with crises converging all at once. In one ZIP code of mostly Black residents — 53206 — more than half of the children live in poverty.

Trump convention blurs official business and politics
Aamer Madhani et al., The Associated Press

Plenty of presidents have walked right up to the line separating official business from politics — or even stepped over it. President Donald Trump has blown past it with a bulldozer, and his planned Republican convention speech from the White House lawn this week might be the latest and most blatant example yet. Down in the polls and facing the headwinds of a coronavirus-battered economy, Trump made the case that the White House is the easiest location for the Secret Service and law enforcement to secure for his acceptance speech after Republicans were forced to scale back their convention because of the pandemic.

Why Trump’s Approval Ratings on the Economy Remain Durable
Jim Tankersley, The New York Times

It is an enduring political question amid a pandemic recession, double-digit unemployment and a recovery that appears to be slowing: Why does President Trump continue to get higher marks on economic issues in polls than his predecessors Barack Obama, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush enjoyed when they stood for re-election? Mr. Trump’s relative strength on the economy, and whether Joseph R. Biden Jr. can cut into it over the next 10 weeks, are among the crucial dynamics in battleground states in the Midwest and the Sun Belt that are expected to decide the election.

Trump Praises Erdoğan in RNC Panel With Hostage Held by Turkey
Scott Bixby, The Daily Beast

During a question-and-answer session with Americans who had once been held captive by foreign governments, President Donald Trump on Monday night told a pastor who had been held in Turkey that while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan may have kept him in bondage for nearly two years, the strongman “was very good” to Trump himself.

‘He’s going to be unleashed’: Republican DOJ appointees urge against Trump second term
Natasha Korecki, Politico

A group of onetime Republican presidential appointees who served as senior ethics or Justice Department aides are endorsing Joe Biden for president, warning that Donald Trump has “weaponized” the executive branch and is putting in peril the legitimacy of the U.S. Justice Department. “I think a lot of us are extremely alarmed, frankly, at the threat of autocracy,” Donald B. Ayer, former deputy attorney general during the George H.W. Bush administration, said in an interview with POLITICO.

Biden Campaign Hopping Mad at CBS and ABC for Gifting Trump Bonus Airtime
Lloyd Grove and Justin Baragona, The Daily Beast

When two of the major broadcast networks—CBS and ABC—broke into their regular programming Monday to carry live portions of President Donald Trump’s largely false musings after his official nomination, departing from their announced policy of giving only a hour of daily airtime to each party’s political convention, the Biden-Harris campaign was not amused. Indeed, operatives for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were fuming Monday about a perceived lack of fairness in which the nation’s major television outlets permitted Trump—in an ominous echo of the 2016 campaign in which the former reality-TV star received an estimated $2 billion of free airtime—to manipulate the media to his advantage.

Networks’ Challenge: Covering a Live Convention When Falsehoods Fly
Michael M. Grynbaum, The New York Times

Television’s ability to handle a Trump-centric Republican National Convention faced an early test on Monday, when the president delivered a kickoff speech in Charlotte, N.C., that was filled with false claims about the integrity of mail-in voting and the policy positions of his Democratic opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr. Broadcasters were already bracing for a week of tough editorial decisions.

As Dems push mail-in voting, Black and Latino voters wary
Zach Montellaro, Politico

Democrats’ push to promote mail-in voting this fall could be undermined by an important fact: Some of their key constituencies don’t trust it. Black and Latino voters consistently voice more discomfort and uncertainty about voting by mail, even as a majority of Democrats overall say they plan to cast absentee ballots this fall, according to polling and focus groups.

Cohen Tells Trump Voters in RNC Ad: He Thinks You’re a Bunch of Gullible Fools
Tom Sykes, The Daily Beast

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, has recorded a series of anti-Trump ads that are scheduled to run during the Republican National Convention.

White House & Administration

Trump Keeps Promoting a Drug Order That No One Has Seen
Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Margot Sanger-Katz, The New York Times

President Trump has made his executive order tying prescription drug prices in the United States to the prices paid in Europe and other developed nations — and the ensuing war that has broken out with the pharmaceutical industry — a centerpiece of his campaign for re-election. The problem: No such executive order has been released.

F.D.A. ‘Grossly Misrepresented’ Blood Plasma Data, Scientists Say
Katie Thomas and Sheri Fink, The New York Times

At a news conference on Sunday announcing the emergency approval of blood plasma for hospitalized Covid-19 patients, President Trump and two of his top health officials cited the same statistic: that the treatment had reduced deaths by 35 percent. Mr. Trump called it a “tremendous” number. His health and human services secretary, Alex M. Azar II, a former pharmaceutical executive, said, “I don’t want you to gloss over this number.”

TikTok sues Trump administration over U.S. ban, calls it an election ploy
Echo Wang and Jonathan Stempel, Reuters

TikTok and one of its employees on Monday separately sued U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration over his executive order banning transactions in the United States with the popular short-form video-sharing app, calling it a pretext to fuel anti-China rhetoric as he seeks re-election. Culver City, California-based TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd rejected what they called the White House’s position that it was a national security threat, saying they had taken “extraordinary measures to protect the privacy and security of TikTok’s U.S. user data.”

Shortened census schedule cuts data review time
Michael Macagnone, Roll Call

The Census Bureau has halved the time it has for combing through data from 2020 census results in a verification process that weeds out duplicate responses and finds people who never responded — a step experts say is key to an accurate count. Under pressure from the Trump administration to end the count early, the agency will conclude all enumeration efforts on Sept. 30, and then comb through data before wrapping up the whole process by Dec. 31 — half the time the agency originally anticipated after delaying its initial schedule because of the pandemic.

Senate

Filibuster fight looms if Democrats retake Senate
Jordain Carney, The Hill

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is facing competing pressure points as he weighs one of the biggest questions he’ll face if Democrats win back the majority: Whether or not to nuke the filibuster. Democrats—increasingly within striking distance of regaining the Senate — are plotting an ambitious agenda if they have control of Congress and the White House for the first time since 2010.

Senator Chris Murphy Is Worried We’re Seeing Democracy’s Last Stand
David Marchese, The New York Times

Before 2012, Chris Murphy was a relatively unheralded Democratic representative from Connecticut. Then, in December of that year, Sandy Hook happened.

House

Pelosi to voters: Ignore Trump
Scott Wong, The Hill

As the GOP convention kicked off Monday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered a message to American voters: ignore President Trump. “One thing I will say to the American people: Do not pay any attention to Donald Trump,” Pelosi said during an appearance on MSNBC.

AOC suggests lawmakers subpoena USPS chief’s calendar over possible conflicts of interest
Alex Woodward, The Independent

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has suggested lawmakers subpoena US Postal Service postmaster general Louis DeJoy for his calendars, an effort that could potentially expose conflicts of interest between the agency Donald Trump appointed him to lead and his former business. Mr DeJoy, who entered the role in June, appeared to dismiss the congresswoman’s request for his calendars, saying: “I don’t know. I’ll check with counsel. … I don’t want to set a precedent for my calendar to be submitted every two months.”

General

Jerry Falwell Jr. Says He Has Resigned as Liberty University President
Ian Lovett, The Wall Street Journal

Jerry Falwell Jr. resigned as president of Liberty University late Monday night, following a tumultuous day during which he tussled with the university’s board of trustees over his future at the school. In a phone call to The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Falwell said he had just sent his resignation letter to the board of the Christian school in Virginia.

Manhattan prosecutor agrees to shelve subpoena for Trump tax returns
John Kruzel, The Hill

Manhattan’s top prosecutor on Monday agreed to delay enforcement of a subpoena for eight years of President Trump’s tax returns. Cyrus Vance Jr., the Democratic district attorney for Manhattan, had the legal right as of this Friday to enforce a New York grand jury subpoena to obtain a lengthy financial paper trail that includes Trump’s corporate and personal tax records.

Wife of ex-California congressman sentenced for corruption
Julie Watson, The Associated Press

The wife of former California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter was sentenced Monday in U.S. court to eight months of home confinement after pleading guilty to misusing more than $150,000 in campaign funds in a corruption case that ended her husband’s career. Government attorneys noted Margaret Hunter’s cooperation with the prosecution of her husband in arguing against putting her behind bars and for allowing her to serve the sentence at home. Her confinement was ordered to begin immediately.

Insurer Drops Whistle-Blower Lawyer, Citing High-Profile Work
Maggie Haberman, The New York Times

A lawyer for the government whistle-blower whose concerns about President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine sparked impeachment proceedings has been dropped by his malpractice insurer because his underwriter said it had no “appetite” for his “high-profile” work. The lawyer, Mark S. Zaid, said he learned of the decision not to renew his lawyer’s professional liability coverage through a letter from the insurer, the Hanover Insurance Group, last month.

States

Federal Judge Halts DeSantis Administration’s School Reopening Order in Florida
Matt Taylor, The Daily Beast

On Monday, a federal judge sided with Florida’s teachers’ union and against the embattled administration of GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis and its aggressive push to force schools to reopen despite COVID-19. For weeks, DeSantis and co. have been under fire from parents and teachers over a “brick and mortar” schooling requirement—that IRL schooling be an option for parents at least five days a week.

Kenosha protesters, police clash again after Black man shot
Mike Householder and Tammy Webber, The Associated Press

Anger over the shooting of a Black man by police spilled into the streets of Kenosha for a second night Monday, with police again firing tear gas at hundreds of protesters who defied a curfew, threw bottles and shot fireworks at law enforcement guarding the courthouse. The southeastern Wisconsin city became the nation’s latest flashpoint in a summer of racial unrest after cellphone footage of police shooting Jacob Blake — apparently in the back, as he leaned into his SUV while his three children sat in the vehicle — circulated widely on social media Sunday. The 29-year-old was hospitalized in serious condition.

Advocacy

LeBron James and a Multimillion-Dollar Push for More Poll Workers
Astead W. Herndon, The New York Times

More Than a Vote, a collective of athletes headlined by LeBron James that is fighting to combat voter suppression, will announce a multimillion-dollar initiative to increase the number of poll workers in Black electoral districts ahead of November’s general election. The project, a collaboration with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, aims to recruit young people to serve at polling locations in Black communities in swing states, including Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida and Ohio.

Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives

GOP makes compelling pitch to black voters during first night of RNC 2020
Michael Goodwin, New York Post

Black power has arrived. For the first time in modern memory, both of America’s major political parties are making an all-out push for the votes of African-Americans.

Like the Democrats’, the Republican delegate roll call offered a specific portrait of the party
Philip Bump, The Washington Post

As he flew from D.C. to North Carolina for a not-very-surprising surprise appearance on the first day of the Republican convention, President Trump got mad about what he was watching on TV. Part of the convention is the roll call of delegates in which each state presents its votes for the party nomination.

Four More Years of What Exactly?
Jamelle Bouie, The New York Times

Republicans chose not to produce a platform for their convention, no statement of values or declaration of principle. Instead, the party has approved a resolution to “enthusiastically support” President Trump’s “America-first agenda,” whatever that may be.

Research Reports and Polling

As Stock Market Soars, Voters More Likely to Believe Economy Is Improving
Claire Williams, Morning Consult

As the 2020 general election heats up, key indicators of the stock market are reaching record highs as unemployment remains high and some workers struggle to make ends meet due to the coronavirus pandemic. The economy is usually a major factor in presidential elections, but the connection between the economy and the stock market isn’t always clear.

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