2020
Obama delivers a blistering rebuke of Trump in his return to the campaign trail
Dan Merica et al., CNN
Former President Barack Obama delivered an often-incredulous and blistering account of his successor’s first four years in office on Wednesday in Philadelphia, making his most direct attacks on President Donald Trump to date both on substance and on a personal level. The event is Obama’s first stump speech for his former vice president, a welcome sight to Democrats who see the former president as Joe Biden’s most potent character witness and a key factor in encouraging Black men, Latinos and younger voters to turn out and vote.
The Trump Campaign Is Mysteriously Sending Money Back and Forth to State Parties
Lachlan Markay and Sam Stein, The Daily Beast
Through creative accounting and a little-known quirk in campaign finance laws, President Donald Trump and Republican state parties have shuffled around millions of dollars in financial contributions in ways that effectively evade limits on the amount of money top donors can put up to finance the 2020 presidential campaign. His Democratic challenger Joe Biden has done it too, but without constructing the labyrinthine web of transactions that Trump has.
How Trump And The GOP Moved $8.1 Million Of Donor Money Into The President’s Business
Dan Alexander, Forbes
When Donald Trump announced that he was running for president in 2015, he promised he would pay for his own campaign. “I don’t need anybody’s money,” the billionaire said.
‘Not a fair fight’: In Kansas, GOP frustrated as money rolls in for Democrat and Senate race tightens
Annie Gowen, The Washington Post
In any other year, Rep. Roger Marshall would have been a slam dunk to fill this state’s open Senate seat, held by Republicans since 1932. Marshall, 60, is an obstetrician, the first in his family to go to college and a military veteran who served seven years as a captain in the Army Reserve.
How The Bidens Earned $16.7 Million After Leaving The White House
Michela Tindera, Forbes
Joe Biden and his wife Jill earned $22.5 million from 1998 to 2019, a tidy sum that at first glance works out to just over $1 million per year. Except, that’s not quite how it happened. The Bidens have earned three quarters of that money since Joe left his post as vice president in 2017, according to an analysis of their tax returns.
Energized by polls, House Democrats push deeper into GOP territory
Jonathan Easley, The Hill
House Democrats are pushing deeper into Republican territory as they seek to capitalize on President Trump’s polling weakness and a tough overall environment for Republicans with two weeks to go before Election Day. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which has outraised the House GOP campaign arm by more than $57 million this cycle, is up with new ads in districts that Trump won by 10 points or more in 2016 in Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, Michigan, Missouri and Colorado.
White House & Administration
Trump Promised Seniors Drug Discount Cards. They May Be Illegal.
Margot Sanger-Katz and Noah Weiland, The New York Times
A month ago, President Trump surprised much of his own government when he announced in North Carolina that he would soon send $200 discount cards to more than 30 million older Americans to offset the cost of prescription drugs. The promise set off a scramble among health and budget officials unaware that such a policy was being considered.
Potential courtroom showdown in Trump defamation case fizzles
Josh Gerstein, Politico
An expected courtroom showdown over the Justice Department’s move to have the federal government step in for President Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit was a bust on Wednesday, after a government lawyer was denied access to the courthouse because of coronavirus quarantine restrictions. U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan was scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday afternoon in his Lower Manhattan courtroom over the motion to have the government replace Trump as the defendant in a defamation suit that E. Jean Carroll, a New York writer, filed last November, after Trump denied her claims that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.
Trump Envoy Grenell Tried to Secretly Negotiate Maduro Exit
Jennifer Jacobs and Ben Bartenstein, Bloomberg News
An influential Trump administration official secretly met with a representative of Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Mexico City in September to try to negotiate the Venezuelan leader’s peaceful exit from power. Richard Grenell, the former Acting U.S. director of National Intelligence and ambassador to Germany, and Jorge Rodriguez, a Venezuelan politician who is close to Maduro, met in the Mexican capital, according to four people familiar with the matter.
U.S.-Israeli delegation secretly visits Sudan
Barak Ravid, Axios
A joint U.S.-Israeli delegation traveled secretly on Wednesday to Sudan for talks on a possible announcement on “ending the state of belligerence” between the countries that could be released in the next few days, sources briefed on the trip told me. President Trump announced earlier this week he is ready to remove Sudan from the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list once Sudan pays $335 million in compensation to American terror victims.
Huawei Outhustles Trump by Stockpiling Chips Needed for China 5G
Bloomberg News
Huawei Technologies Co. quietly spent months racing to stockpile critical radio chips ahead of Trump administration sanctions, ensuring it can keep supplying Chinese carriers in their $170 billion rollout of 5G technology through at least 2021. Partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. began ramping up output in late 2019 of Huawei’s 7-nanometer Tiangang communications chips, the most crucial element in 5G base stations, people familiar with the matter said.
U.S. judge accepts White House statement as rescinding Trump tweet calling for full declassification of Russia probe
Spencer S. Hsu, The Washington Post
A federal judge on Wednesday accepted a White House statement as rescinding President Trump’s tweets that called for the “total Declassification” of all documents in the government’s investigation of Russia’s intervention in the 2016 U.S. election. But U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton in D.C. chided the president for his carelessness, saying the commander in chief’s words caused confusion on a matter of national security.
An angry Azar floats plans to oust FDA’s Hahn
Aam Cancryn and Dan Diamond, Politico
Infuriated by the FDA’s defiance in a showdown over the Trump administration’s standards for authorizing a coronavirus vaccine, health secretary Alex Azar has spent recent weeks openly plotting the ouster of FDA chief Stephen Hahn. Azar has vented to allies within the Health and Human Services Department about his unhappiness with the top official in charge of the vaccine process, and discussed the prospect of seeking White House permission to remove him, a half-dozen current and former administration officials said.
Government watchdog knocks Postal Service for operational changes
Quint Forgey, Politico
The independent government watchdog for the United States Postal Service has concluded that a sweeping series of operational changes implemented at the agency by President Donald Trump’s postmaster general “negatively impacted the quality and timeliness of mail delivery” across the country. In a report released this week in response to various congressional requests, the USPS Office of Inspector General analyzed the cost-cutting measures Postmaster General Louis DeJoy put in place after assuming control of the agency in June — as well as the nearly six dozen strategies initiated by USPS operations executives to achieve financial targets.
Google, U.S. Government Each Face Challenges in Court Fight
Brent Kendall, The Wall Street Journal
Former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt criticized the government’s antitrust lawsuit against the search giant as misguided and unduly influenced by politics, as antitrust experts said the Justice Department and the company each face pitfalls as they head toward litigation. The fierceness of the battle ahead came into focus Wednesday when Mr. Schmidt offered a full-throated defense of Google.
Congress
Coronavirus Stimulus Vote Could Come After Election Day, Negotiators Say
Kristina Peterson, The Wall Street Journal
White House officials and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened the door to passing a coronavirus relief package after the election, a signal that time and political will has likely run out to enact legislation before then. Mrs. Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday reported more progress on a potential $2 trillion aid agreement.
McCarthy faces pushback from anxious Republicans over interview comments
Juliegrace Brufke and Olivia Beavers, The Hill
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is facing pushback after claiming in a recent interview that he is likely to keep his job as the top Republican in the House even if the GOP conference loses seats in November. Multiple Republican lawmakers, pointing to poll projections that Democrats could gain between five and 15 seats in November, say it’s possible a viable challenger emerges for the top role.
Mitt Romney says he did not vote for Trump in the 2020 election
Manu Raju and Paul LeBlanc, CNN
Sen. Mitt Romney said Wednesday he did not vote for President Donald Trump’s reelection, the latest break between the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee and the leader of his party. The first-term Republican senator, who already voted in Utah, declined to say if he voted for Democratic nominee Joe Biden or wrote in another candidate.
General
Cybersecurity company finds hacker selling info on 186 million U.S. voters
Ken Dilanian, NBC News
A cybersecurity company says it has found a hacker selling personally identifying information of more than 200 million Americans, including the voter registration data of 186 million. The revelation underscored how vulnerable Americans are to email targeting by criminals and foreign adversaries, even as U.S. officials announced that Iran and Russia had obtained voter registration data and email addresses with an eye toward interfering in the 2020 election.
Purdue Pharma agrees to plead guilty to federal criminal charges in settlement over opioid crisis
Meryl Kornfield et al., The Washington Post
The Justice Department announced a historic $8.3 billion settlement Wednesday with OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma, capping a long-running federal investigation into the company that, for critics, became a leading symbol of corporations profiting from America’s deadly addiction to opioid painkillers. As part of the deal — the largest such settlement ever reached with a pharmaceutical company, officials said — Purdue Pharma agreed to plead guilty to three felonies.
Pope Francis, in Shift for Church, Voices Support for Same-Sex Civil Unions
Jason Horowitz, The New York Times
Pope Francis expressed support for same-sex civil unions in remarks made in a documentary that premiered on Wednesday, a significant break from his predecessors that staked out new ground for the church in its recognition of gay people. The remarks, coming from the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, had the potential to shift debates about the legal status of same-sex couples in nations around the globe and unsettle bishops worried that the unions threaten marriage.
Ex-Spy Was Central to Project Veritas Hiring Effort, Testimony Shows
Adam Goldman and Mark Mazetti, The New York Times
A British former spy recruited by Erik Prince, the security contractor close to the Trump administration, played a central role in a secretive effort to hire dozens of operatives for the conservative group Project Veritas, deposition testimony shows. Job applicants traveled to Wyoming in 2017 for interviews with the former intelligence officer, Richard Seddon, as Project Veritas sought to expand its operations early in the Trump administration, according to a lawsuit deposition reviewed by The New York Times.
Rudy Giuliani faces questions after compromising scene in new Borat film
Catherine Shoard, The Guardian
The reputation of Rudy Giuliani could be set for a further blow with the release of highly embarrassing footage in Sacha Baron Cohen’s follow-up to Borat. In the film, released on Friday, the former New York mayor and current personal attorney to Donald Trump is seen reaching into his trousers and apparently touching his genitals while reclining on a bed in the presence of the actor playing Borat’s daughter, who is posing as a TV journalist.
States
North Carolina’s mail-in ballot deadline extension upheld in federal court
Ann E. Marimow, The Washington Post
A divided federal appeals court has upheld North Carolina’s deadline extension for mail-in votes to be counted in the upcoming election, calling the measure a “common sense change” at a time when the U.S. Postal Service is inundated with ballots. In a 12-to-3 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit rejected Republican efforts to block the six-day extension.
Supreme Court blocks curbside voting in Alabama, ending a pandemic election option
Pete Williams, NBC News
The Supreme Court late Wednesday blocked a lower court order allowing voters in Alabama to cast their ballots curbside at polling places that provide that option, ending an option intended to make voting safer and easier during the pandemic. Alabama law does not prohibit that practice, but it doesn’t provide for it, either.
Judge rejects California attorney general’s effort to investigate GOP ballot boxes
John Myers, Los Angeles Times
A Sacramento judge refused Wednesday to order the California Republican Party to disclose information about its ballot drop box program to state officials, rejecting an argument by Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra that the investigation was essential to ensuring ballots are being properly handled. The decision by Judge David I. Brown does not prevent Becerra and Secretary of State Alex Padilla from returning to court over the matter but marks a significant victory for GOP officials who have insisted their ballot collection campaign is following state election law.
How New York’s mis-steps let Covid-19 overwhelm the US
Hannah Kuchler and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Financial Times
New Rochelle’s mayor watched as the National Guard rolled into the commuter hub north of New York City, wearing camouflage that offered no disguise in suburbia. A week after a local lawyer had been diagnosed with coronavirus, a mile-wide containment zone was being drawn around the virus’s first known superspreader event on the US’s east coast.
Advocacy
Cybersecurity Consultant Was Outed for Ties to Moscow, So Why Is He Meeting Top Trump Officials in D.C.?
Michael Weiss and Pierre Vaux, The Daily Beast
A German national accused by counterintelligence officials in Germany of being part of a Russian influence operation traveled to the United States last year and met with a host of U.S. cybersecurity officials from the Department of Homeland Security and public utility companies as well as corporate executives from Amazon and Microsoft—all of whom were seemingly unaware of his controversial status back home. On Nov. 11, 2019, Hans-Wilhelm Dünn, president of the German Cyber-Security Council, a Berlin-based non-governmental association, visited the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C.
Wall Street donors keep their distance from cash-strapped Trump in campaign’s final days
Brian Schwartz, CNBC
Conservatives on Wall Street and in the broader finance community apparently no longer consider President Donald Trump a worthy investment. People in the securities and investment industry pumped $20 million into his 2016 run for president, with most going toward super PACs backing his candidacy, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
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Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
It’s Time for Leaders Who Will Work for American Women. It’s Time for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Susan Molinari, Morning Consult
There’s a crisis we need to talk about. Last month alone, 865,000 women left the workforce — four times the number of men. That number should be a startling wake-up call for this country.
The news media helps Trump avoid the stench of death
John F. Harris and Daniel Lippman, Politico
As President Donald Trump heads into his final sprint to Election Day, nearly every news report notes that he is running behind in the polls. Journalists aren’t shying away from describing his wilder rhetoric as “studded with lies and falsehoods.”
The case for re-electing Donald Trump
Edward Luce, Financial Times
Forget for a moment whether US president Donald Trump should win or lose the November 3 presidential vote. Ask instead what the best case for his re-election would be.
Research Reports and Polling
Large Shares of Voters Plan To Vote a Straight Party Ticket for President, Senate and House
Pew Research Center
In an era of increasing partisanship, split-ticket voting continues to be rare in U.S. politics. With control of the Senate at stake on Nov. 3, just 4% of registered voters in states with a Senate contest say they will support Donald Trump or Joe Biden and a Senate candidate from the opposing party.
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