Summary
Kari Paul, signing out for the night. Here is the news of the last few hours to know:
- A rift between new Trump appointee Scott Atlas and long-serving public health officials including Anthony Fauci is becoming more clear after Fauci criticized Atlas publicly on Monday.
- The US will end census counting on 5 October, defying a ruling from a judge who declared operations should extend into November.
- An anonymous grand juror in the Breonna Taylor case has sued to unseal court transcripts.
Updated
Anonymous grand juror in Breonna Taylor case sues to unseal court transcripts
A juror from the closed trial of three police officers accused of shooting and killing Breonna Taylor has filed a lawsuit requesting transcripts from the trial be published and that jurors be able speak publicly about the case.
“The full story and absolute truth of how this matter was handled from beginning to end is now an issue of great public interest and has become a large part of the discussion of public trust throughout the country,” the attorney for the juror wrote in the court filing.
The verdict of the grand jury trial led to protests in Kentucky and across the US. None of the three officers were indicted for killing Taylor, an unarmed black woman, in her sleep. One officer, Brett Hankison, was indicted on three counts of wanton endangerment related to shots that misfired and hit neighbors’ walls.
The filing specifically cites responses from attorney general Daniel Cameron, on whom attorneys for Taylor’s family have also called to release the transcripts and audio recordings.
“What we also want is for you to quit dodging the question. You were asked at the press conference (Wednesday): Did you make a recommendation” to the grand jury, Louisville attorney Lonita Baker asked. “You refused to answer. Answer the question: Did you even present any charges regarding Breonna Taylor to the grand jury?”
Updated
Trump administration to end Census early, defying federal judge
The US will end census counting operations several weeks early, commerce secretary Wilbur Ross announced on Monday, against an order from a federal judge.
Ross said the “target date” for ending all counting efforts for the 2020 census is now 5 October, despite a judge ordering the Trump administration to extend counting through 31 October.
The move is the latest in an ongoing battle over the census, which is used to allocate seats in Congress. Critics say the Trump administration is seeking to exclude undocumented immigrants from the survey to advantage Republicans in upcoming elections. The Trump administration said it will appeal the original decision from the judge.
White House coronavirus taskforce rift emerges
A rift is deepening between longtime US health officials coordinating the coronavirus response and Scott Atlas, a doctor and conservative commentator recently brought onto the team by Donald Trump.
In an interview on Monday, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious director, Anthony Fauci, said he is concerned the president’s new task force pick is spreading misinformation and implied he does not work with the other health officials.
The interview comes after Fauci was noticeably absent from the president’s Covid briefing, as was the response coordinator, Deborah Birx. Present instead was Atlas, a conservative commentator whose views are more aligned with Trump’s and who praised the president’s coronavirus response.
Earlier this month, a group of 98 medical experts including immunologists and infectious disease physicians signed a letter condemning “the falsehoods and misrepresentations of science recently fostered by Dr Scott Atlas”.
Fauci said he shared these concerns regarding Atlas spreading misleading and incorrect information.
“Well yeah, I’m concerned that sometimes things are said that are really taken either out of context or actually incorrect,” Fauci said.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, Robert Redfield, has also expressed concerns about Atlas, and was overheard on a phone call saying “everything he says is false” which he later confirmed was about Atlas.
Specifically he is concerned Atlas is feeding misinformation to Trump about the concept of herd immunity – that if enough people are infected with coronavirus the numbers will stabilize – and young people’s susceptibility to the virus. Atlas is also against severe lockdowns and mask usage. These views ware at odds with those backed by science and promoted by the likes of Fauci and Birx.
Fauci also noted in a CNN interview that as the 2020 presidential election approaches, the coronavirus response has received less attention. “We’re meeting now on an average of one and at the most two times a week,” Fauci said.
Updated
Family of unarmed man killed by Maryland police receives record settlement
Prince George’s county, Maryland, has reached a $20m settlement with the family of William Green, a 43-year-old black man who was fatally shot by police while handcuffed during an arrest earlier this year.
Cpl Michael A Owen Jr, who is also black, was fired from the department the day after the shooting and charged with second-degree murder. He is currently awaiting trial.
The $20m settlement was announced in a press conference Monday morning by Angela Alsobrooks, the county executive for Prince George’s county. “I am deeply sorry for your loss,’’ Alsobrooks told Green’s mother at Monday’s news conference.
Updated
Fauci implies Atlas is not working with the coronavirus taskforce
Anthony Fauci, the doctor and immunologist who serves as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases, had some criticisms for doctor Scott Atlas in an interview on Monday, implying the president’s new task force pick does not work with health officials.
I interviewed Dr. Anthony Fauci earlier today and asked if the WH coronavirus task force is working together, or against each other, in light of the Dr. Scott Atlas issues. "Most are working together. I think you know who the outlier is," Fauci told me.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 28, 2020
In an interview with Brian Stelter at CNN, Fauci said “most are working together” on solutions to the coronavirus pandemic, except one person.
“I think you know who the outlier is,” he said.
Fauci was noticeably absent on Monday at Trump’s coronavirus briefing, as was the response coordinator, Deborah Birx. Present instead was Atlas, a conservative commentator whose views are more aligned with Trump’s and who has been criticized for his past promotion of inaccurate medical information.
A group of 98 medical experts including immunologists and infectious disease physicians signed a letter condemning “the falsehoods and misrepresentations of science recently fostered by Dr. Scott Atlas”.
Fauci said he shared these concerns regarding Atlas spreading misleading and incorrect information.
“Well yeah, I’m concerned that sometimes things are said that are really taken either out of context or actually incorrect,” Fauci said when asked by CNN if he was worried Atlas was sharing misleading information.
Updated
Top lawyer on Mueller inquiry claims Trump tried to impede the investigation
Andrew Weismann, a key lawyer on the special counsel that investigated Russian interference in the 2016 elections, said Donald Trump tried to interfere with the inquiry.
In his new book, Weismann talks about his experience on Robert Muller’s team. He said in an interview with the Today show on Monday that while he believes the probe uncovered a lot of key information, it fell short in some regards. He made it clear that he would have subpoenaed the president for his tax returns.
“We did not do a full financial investigation relating to the president,” he said. The comments come after a bombshell New York Times report that showed the president paid just $750 in income taxes the year he won the presidency.
Updated
Hello, Kari Paul here in California, sharing the most important news of the next few hours with you. Stay tuned for updates.
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Kari Paul, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Vice President Mike Pence warned Americans to expect a rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the coming weeks, during Trump’s event on coronavirus testing today. Echoing many health experts, Pence said, “The American people should anticipate that cases will rise in the days ahead.” Moments later, the president insisted the country is “rounding the corner” in its coronavirus crisis, even though the US death toll surpassed 200,000 last week.
- Democrats attacked Trump over his recent tax returns, some of which were obtained by the New York Times. According to the Times, Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes the year that he won the presidency, largely because he reported losing more money than he made.
- Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s debt obligations could represent a national security risk. The Democratic speaker argued the American people were entitled to know to whom Trump owes money. “For me, this is a national security question,” Pelosi said. “The public has a right to know.”
- Trump’s 2016 campaign targeted 3.5 million African Americans to deter them from voting, according to a new investigation from Channel 4 News. Voters targeted for “deterrence” were disproportionately black, according to a Trump campaign database reviewed by Channel 4.
- The Washington Post editorial board endorsed Joe Biden’s presidential bid. “In order to expel the worst president of modern times, many voters might be willing to vote for almost anybody,” the board wrote. “Fortunately, to oust president Trump in 2020, voters do not have to lower their standards.”
Kari will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
After the vice president spoke, Dr Scott Atlas, a senior adviser to the president who has reportedly been criticized by other members of the White House coronavirus task force, delivered brief remarks.
Atlas insisted the country has a handle on the virus, even though the country’s death toll surpassed 200,000 last week.
Trump similarly insisted the US is “rounding the corner” in the coronavirus crisis, moments after Vice President Mike Pence said Americans should expect the number of cases to rise in the weeks ahead.
The president briefly thanked Abbott for its work developing rapid coronavirus tests. He then left the Rose Garden without taking questions.
Pence says Americans should expect cases to rise in the coming weeks
Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the Rose Garden event, claiming the country has “passed through a challenging time” with its coronavirus crisis.
Vice President Mike Pence says "the American people should anticipate that [COVID-19] cases will rise in the days ahead" https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/bDik1bL5tq
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 28, 2020
But Pence added, “The American people should anticipate that cases will rise in the days ahead.”
A number of health experts have warned that the country could see another surge in coronavirus cases as the weather gets colder.
Updated
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves praised the distribution of 150 million rapid coronavirus tests as a “game-changer” in the country’s pandemic response.
Speaking in the Rose Garden, the Republican governor praised Trump for distributing the tests to states.
The department of health and human services announced last month that it had awarded a $760 million contract to Abbott to produce 150 million rapid tests.
Trump laid out plans for how his administration would distribute the 150 million rapid coronavirus tests that the government purchased earlier this year.
The president said 50 million tests would specifically be deployed to protect nursing home residents and vulnerable populations.
Admiral Brett Giroir demonstrates using a self-swab rapid test for COVID-19, which he says delivers results in 15 minutes. The Trump administration announced a plan to distribute 150 million of the tests nationwide https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/BEvs1SryDH
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 28, 2020
Admiral Brett Giroir, an assistant health secretary, demonstrated how the Abbott tests work by doing a self-swab.
Giroir announced 6.5 million rapid tests would be distributed to governors this week.
Updated
Trump delivers update on coronavirus testing strategy
Trump is now holding a Rose Garden event to deliver an update on the country’s coronavirus testing strategy.
According to the list of attendees released by the White House, Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, and Dr Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are not expected to attend the event.
But Dr Scott Atlas, one of the president’s senior advisers who has reportedly been criticized by Redfield for providing Trump with false information on the pandemic, is expected to attend.
Senator Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate finance committee, said he was concerned about how long it is taking the IRS to audit Trump’s taxes.
“The thought that comes to my mind is, how come it’s taking the IRS so long to get the audits done?” Grassley told a Capitol Hill reporter. “I am concerned that the IRS is not getting their work done.”
The president faces an IRS audit over a nearly $73 million tax refund he claimed in 2010. If the IRS does not find in his favor, Trump may owe the government more than $100 million, the New York Times reported.
Trump said back in 2011 that even low-income Americans should have to pay some taxes and that he pays “a lot of tax,” a new CNN report reveals.
The tax information obtained by the New York Times indicates Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes the year that he won the presidency.
Conservative host Sean Hannity asked Trump in a 2011 radio interview, “Now everybody keeps saying down at Occupy Wall Street, the 1% -- which I’m sure you’re a part of -- doesn’t pay any taxes. Do you not pay any taxes? I didn’t know that.”
Trump replied, “No, I pay tax. I pay a lot of tax. I just signed a big fat check recently for a lot of tax. I paid literally, I paid a lot of tax and you know, look, I don’t mind. I’m proud to pay it up. If I owe it, I pay it.”
The future president went on to say, “The amazing thing is that half of the country is paying nothing. Zero. And even if you don’t make a lot, you should have to pay something. Just something to be a part of the game. Half of the country’s paying nothing.”
The information obtained by the Times shoed Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 out of 15 years beginning in 2000.
Florida police have released body camera footage from officers’ interaction with Brad Parscale, the president’s former campaign manager who was involuntarily hospitalized yesterday.
In the video, Parscale’s wife, Candice, can be heard saying he brandished a gun and has multiple firearms in the home.
New: Police just released body camera footage of the incident involving Brad Parscale https://t.co/QBpA7jIjEg
— Tasneem N (@TasneemN) September 28, 2020
One police officer speaks to Parscale on the phone and attempts to convince him to come out of the house without any weapons, but Parscale refuses to do so.
The video then cuts to Parscale walking out of the house shirtless and holding a beer. As Parscale starts speaking to one officer, others yell at him to get on the ground. When he doesn’t, an officer tackles him.
As Parscale is handcuffed on the ground, he repeatedly tells the officers, “I didn’t do anything!”
According to police reports released today, officers confiscated 10 guns from Parscale’s home after his wife said he was suicidal and has been physically abusive.
Trump 2016 campaign 'targeted 3.5m black Americans to deter them from voting'
Donald Trump’s 2016 US presidential election campaign has been accused of actively seeking to deter 3.5 million black Americans in battleground states from voting by deliberately targeting them with negative Hillary Clinton ads on Facebook.
The secret effort concentrated on 16 swing states, several narrowly won by Trump after the black Democratic vote collapsed.
The claims have come from an investigation by Channel 4 News, which was leaked a copy of a vast election database it says was used by the Trump campaign in 2016.
Comprising the records of 198 million Americans, and containing details about their domestic and economic status acquired from market research firms, the investigation claimed voters were segmented into eight categories.
One was marked “deterrence”. Those placed in the special category – voters thought likely to vote for Clinton or not at all – were disproportionately black.
According to the investigation, the Trump campaign’s goal was to dissuade them from backing the Democrat entirely, by targeting them with “dark adverts” on their Facebook feeds, which heavily attacked Clinton and, in some cases, argued she lacked sympathy with African Americans.
The effort is said to have been devised in part by Cambridge Analytica, the notorious election consultant that ceased trading last year following revelations that it used dirty tricks to help win elections around the world and had gained unauthorised access to tens of millions of Facebook profiles.
Updated
The Monmouth poll also found American voters are divided on whether or not Trump should be allowed to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s supreme court seat before the election.
According to the poll, 47% of voters say the Senate should immediately consider a supreme court nominee, and 49% say the nomination should be put on hold until after the election.
In comparison, when Republicans blocked Barack Obama from filling Antonin Scalia’s seat in 2016, 57% of voters said the Senate should consider Obama’s nomination, and 39% said the process should be put on hold.
Monmouth’s numbers are a little bit closer than some other recent polls that have been taken since Ginsburg’s death earlier this month.
According to an average of 12 recent polls, 52% of respondents have said the Senate should wait to advance the nomination, while 39% have said the seat should be filled now.
A new poll shows Joe Biden’s national advantage over Trump has slightly narrowed since earlier this month.
According to the new Monmouth University poll, Biden has a 5-point lead over Trump among US likely voters, 50%-45%. In comparison, Biden had a 7-point lead with likely voters earlier this month, 51%-44%.
NATIONAL POLL: #2020GeneralElection matchup for president:
— MonmouthPoll (@MonmouthPoll) September 28, 2020
REGISTERED VOTERS:
50% @JoeBiden
44% @realDonaldTrump
2% Jo @Jorgensen4POTUS
1% @HowieHawkins
LIKELY VOTERS:
50% Biden
45% Trump
1% Jorgensen
1% Hawkinshttps://t.co/YookYZyigh pic.twitter.com/9g2YtkFQcn
Because of how the electoral college votes are distributed, Biden likely needs to win the national popular vote by at least 5 points to guarantee a victory, according to polling expert Nate Silver.
But it should be noted the Monmouth poll shows a narrower national race than other recent polls have indicated. According to the FiveThirtyEight average of national polls, Biden currently leads by 7 points.
Updated
In comparison to Trump paying $750 in federal income taxes in 2017, Joe and Jill Biden paid $3.7 million in 2017 taxes, according to the tax returns previously released by the Democratic nominee.
While on the subject of taxes: Joe and Jill Biden paid $3.7 million and $1.5 million in taxes for 2017 and 2018. Effective tax rates were ~33%. (Source: Biden’s released tax returns)
— Bo Erickson CBS (@BoKnowsNews) September 28, 2020
Biden will likely mention that number during tomorrow’s presidential debate, given his campaign message in recent weeks has been that Trump is out of touch with average Americans.
Another judge orders halt to postal service cuts
A federal judge in Philadelphia today joined others in ordering a halt to recent Postal Service cuts that critics say are causing mail delays and threatening the integrity of the presidential election.
Six states and the District of Columbia presented “compelling evidence” from the US Postal Service itself that shows “a pronounced increase in mail delays across the country” since July, the judge found, and The Associated Press reported.
“In a pandemic, states are even more reliant on the mail, especially when it comes to administering elections,” US district judge Gerald McHugh wrote in granting a preliminary injunction.
Postal Service officials have previously said they would consider their legal options as injunctions were issued.
Spokesperson David Partenheimer said the agency did not have an immediate response.
Postal Service officials say new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy never ordered a slowdown or overtime ban.
However, their lawyers conceded in court last week that local managers may have interpreted the guidance from Washington, DC, that way.
Because of that lack of clarity, McHugh said, a national injunction that echoes three others issued this month was necessary.
“This is a major victory and confirms for every senior who has not received their timely shipment of prescription drugs and every voter who needs the reliable delivery of their mail-in ballots that Postmaster General DeJoy was making false promises,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a lead plaintiff, said in a statement today.
While service began rebounding toward the end of summer, no Postal Service region was meeting the agency’s target of delivering more than 95% of first-class mail within five days, according to data obtained this month by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Shapiro was joined in the Philadelphia case by attorneys general in California, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina and the District of Columbia. Federal judges in Washington state and New York issued similar orders this month.
In the former case, which involved several presidential election battleground states, US district judge Stanley Bastian said the state officials had made a “strong showing” that the Trump administration was using the Postal Service “as a tool in partisan politics.”
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Democrats attacked Trump over his recent tax returns, some of which were obtained by the New York Times. According to the Times, Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes the year that he won the presidency, largely because he reported losing more money than he made.
- Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s debt obligations could represent a national security risk. The Democratic speaker argued the American people were entitled to know to whom Trump owes money. “For me, this is a national security question,” Pelosi said. “The public has a right to know.”
- The Washington Post editorial board endorsed Joe Biden’s presidential bid. “In order to expel the worst president of modern times, many voters might be willing to vote for almost anybody,” the board wrote. “Fortunately, to oust president Trump in 2020, voters do not have to lower their standards.”
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Tests for Covid-19 that show on-the-spot results in 15 to 30 minutes are about to be rolled out across the world, potentially saving many thousands of lives and slowing the pandemic in both poor and rich countries.
In a triumph for a global initiative to get vital drugs and vaccines to fight the virus, 120m rapid antigen tests from two companies will be supplied to low- and middle-income countries for $5 (£3.90) each or even less.
The tests, which look like a pregnancy test, with two blue lines displayed for positive, are read by a health worker. One test has received emergency approval from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the other is expected to get it shortly.
The quick and easy but high-quality tests will allow mass screening of health workers, who are dying in disproportionate numbers in low income countries.
In her MSNBC interview, House speaker Nancy Pelosi also criticized Senate Republicans for moving forward with the supreme court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett weeks before the presidential election.
Echoing other Democrats, Pelosi warned Americans that the Affordable Care Act could be on the chopping block if Barrett is confirmed.
“This is kitchen-table concerns,” Pelosi said. “Whether it’s health or financial health, they’re out to get you.”
Joe Biden sent a similar warning yesterday, during a speech in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
“It’s no mystery about what’s happening here. President Trump was trying to throw out the Affordable Care Act. He’s been trying to do it for the last four years,” Biden said.
“This is about your healthcare. This is about whether or not the ACA will exist. This is about whether or not preexisting conditions will be continued to be covered.”
Pelosi argues Trump's debt burden is a 'national security question'
House speaker Nancy Pelosi argued Trump’s debts could represent a national security risk, after the New York Times reported on the president’s tax returns.
Speaking to MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell, Pelosi said it was crucial that the American people know to whom Trump owes money because those parties could have leverage over the US president.
“For me, this is a national security question,” Pelosi said. “The public has a right to know” the details of Trump’s debt obligations, the Democratic speaker added.
Florida police confiscated 10 guns from the home of Brad Parscale, the president’s former campaign manager who was involuntarily hospitalized last night after his wife said he was suicidal.
The Miami Herald reports:
Brad Parscale, 44, was involuntarily hospitalized under Florida’s Baker Act by officers and taken to Broward Health Medical Center Sunday after barricading himself in the $2.4 million home he shares in Fort Lauderdale’s Seven Isles with his wife, Candice. In reports released Monday, police documented a tense scene in which Parscale — after possibly firing a shot inside his house — refused to leave and was ultimately tackled by SWAT officers outside the home when he emerged shirtless with a beer in his hand.
‘I initiated a double leg take down,’ wrote Sgt. Matthew Moceri, one of the responding officers, noting that the 6-foot-8-inch Parscale towered over him and ignored his commands to get down. ...
Officers say they were first called to the Parscale home around 3:36 p.m. Sunday by a neighbor who’d encountered Candice Parscale. When they arrived, police said the two women were in a parked car outside the couple’s home. Officers said Parscale’s wife told them the couple had been arguing and her husband had pulled out a handgun and loaded it.
Officers also wrote in their reports that Parscale’s wife told them he had post-traumatic stress disorder and had become violent in recent weeks. She showed them bruises on her arms from an argument two days prior, they said. Police say they took photos of injuries.
Parscale managed Trump’s reelection campaign until July, when he was demoted as the president struggled to catch up to Joe Biden in the polls.
Morale at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is at an all-time low, according to veterans of the health agency.
The Washington Post reports:
Career staff members remain proud of the expertise, talent and professionalism that the agency can bring to bear in a crisis. But they see the agency’s situation clearly. One veteran researcher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record, said Friday that morale is at an all-time low.
According to the Post, some CDC staffers have doubts that Robert Redfield is the right person to lead the agency amid a global pandemic, but they fear who the Trump administration would replace him with.
Inside the CDC, staffers acknowledge Redfield’s limitations as a leader but are fearful that, if he is ousted or quits, the White House will install someone of a more distinctly political or ideological bent — such as Scott Atlas, a Stanford University neuroradiologist and Trump pandemic adviser. Atlas, who has said pandemic fears are overblown, has become a Trump favorite and has publicly criticized Redfield in recent days. Atlas has no experience in public health but attends all meetings of the White House coronavirus task force.
Moving to replace Redfield with someone such as Atlas would further erode morale and probably lead to resignations, staffers say.
The Post report comes as administration officials have been criticized for attempting to interfere in key CDC reports on coronavirus to paint a rosier picture about the pandemic.
Trump called the White House press pool to the South Lawn to watch him inspect the Endurance electric pickup truck, which was constructed at the Lordstown, Ohio, plant that GM sold in 2019.
Senior trade adviser Peter Navarro and Ohio’s Republican senator, Rob Portman, were also present for the inspection.
As the brief event concluded, reporters shouted questions at the president. Trump ignored a question about the New York Times’ tax returns story, but he did respond when a reporter asked whether he was looking forward to tomorrow’s debate.
“Yeah I am,” Trump said. “I am looking very forward to the debate.”
Trump attacked the “Fake News Media” for reporting on his tax returns days before the first presidential debate and weeks before election day.
“The Fake News Media, just like Election time 2016, is bringing up my Taxes & all sorts of other nonsense with illegally obtained information & only bad intent. I paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation & tax credits,” Trump said in a tweet thread.
The Fake News Media, just like Election time 2016, is bringing up my Taxes & all sorts of other nonsense with illegally obtained information & only bad intent. I paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation & tax credits.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 28, 2020
The president also claimed that he has “little debt compared to the value of assets.” But here is what the Times reported about Trump’s financial status:
As the president wages a re-election campaign that polls say he is in danger of losing, his finances are under stress, beset by losses and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt coming due that he has personally guaranteed. Also hanging over him is a decade-long audit battle with the Internal Revenue Service over the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund that he claimed, and received, after declaring huge losses. An adverse ruling could cost him more than $100 million.
The tax returns that Mr. Trump has long fought to keep private tell a story fundamentally different from the one he has sold to the American public. His reports to the I.R.S. portray a businessman who takes in hundreds of millions of dollars a year yet racks up chronic losses that he aggressively employs to avoid paying taxes. Now, with his financial challenges mounting, the records show that he depends more and more on making money from businesses that put him in potential and often direct conflict of interest with his job as president.
Joe Biden has called a lid, meaning the Democratic nominee does not plan to make any public appearances for the rest of the day.
The early lid means Americans won’t hear Biden address the New York Times’ story on Trump’s tax returns until tomorrow’s debate.
In recent weeks, Biden has sought to cast the presidential election as a race between Scranton, where he was born, and Park Avenue.
Biden will likely use the revelations about Trump paying almost no federal income taxes in recent years to again make the argument that the president is out of touch with average Americans.
The main super PAC supporting Democratic Senate candidates has placed a seven-figure ad buy in South Carolina, as polls indicate Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is locked in a close race with Jaime Harrison.
Senate Majority PAC will spend $6.5 million in South Carolina, marking the first time the group has bought airtime in the state this election cycle.
The first ad released by SMP attacks Graham for taking money from special interest groups and blocking efforts to lower drug prices.
The substantial investment indicates Democrats believe Harrison has a legitimate path to victory in the traditionally Republican state.
According to a YouGov poll released yesterday, Graham’s advantage in the race has narrowed to just 1 point, 45%-44%, representing a virtual tie.
The White House press secretary dismissed the New York Times story on Trump’s tax returns as a “hit piece” that was meant to hurt the president’s credibility before the first debate tomorrow.
Like Donald Trump Jr, WH Press Sec. Kayleigh McEnany is also going with the "just before a debate" angle:
— The Recount (@therecount) September 28, 2020
"We've seen this play out before, where there was a hit piece about the president's taxes just before a debate." pic.twitter.com/x67puLPIiu
“We’ve seen this play out before, where there was a hit piece about the president’s taxes just before a debate,” Kayleigh McEnany said.
“This is the same playbook they tried in 2016, the same playbook that the American people rejected.”
The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, justified his father paying almost nothing in federal income taxes in recent years by saying he merely took advantage of existing tax law.
“It’s ridiculous. My father’s paid tens of millions of taxes,” Trump told Fox News. “That’s the reality. People don’t understand what goes into a business.”
What looks like a coronavirus vaccine setback here, for at least one company, anyway. Reuters report that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has put a hold on Inovio’s plans to start final trials of its coronavirus vaccine. The agency seeks more information, including details on a delivery device used to inject genetic material into cells.
Inovio’s shares fell 33% before the opening bell this morning. The company was expecting to start the trial this month. The company said on the FDA’s “partial clinical hold” was not due to any side effects in its early-stage study of the vaccine.
Inovio said it would answer the FDA’s questions this month, after which the agency would have 30 days to decide whether the trial should proceed.
The company planned to administer the vaccine to study participants through a battery-operated device called Cellectra. It has received $71 million in funding from the US Department of Defense to scale up manufacturing of Cellectra.
Inovio’s development timeline is already lagging behind those of rivals such as Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, all of which have begun late-stage studies of their coronavirus vaccine candidates.
Washington Post editorial board endorses Joe Biden for president
The editorial board at Washington Post have this morning published their endorsement of Joe Biden for president. The piece opens “In order to expel the worst president of modern times, many voters might be willing to vote for almost anybody. Fortunately, to oust president Trump in 2020, voters do not have to lower their standards.”
They go on to write:
In contrast to Trump’s narcissism, Biden is deeply empathetic; you can’t imagine him dismissing wounded or fallen soldiers as “losers.” To Trump’s cynicism, Biden brings faith — religious faith, yes, but also faith in American values and potential.
In place of Trump’s belittling and demonizing of opponents and allies alike, Biden offers a deep commitment to finding common ground in service to making government work for the greatest number. He has demonstrated that commitment in reaching across the aisle to Republicans, and also — most recently — in bringing unity to the Democratic Party without compromising his own fundamental convictions.
They describe Trump’s description of Biden as a socialist as a “preposterous slander”, and state that the president has “few accomplishments in his first term and no agenda for his second”. In contrast, they posit that Biden’s “competence and honor are more important in this cycle than any particular stand on any particular issue.”
If he takes the oath in the midst of the pandemic’s second wave, as is quite possible, with the economy in a tailspin, we can be confident Biden will rise to the occasion. Why? Because when President Barack Obama and he took office in 2009, the nation was in a similarly frightening tailspin. Mr. Obama trusted his vice president to work with Congress to deliver a bipartisan recovery package and then to help administer it.
Read it here: Washington Post – Joe Biden for president
And that’s it from me this morning, Joan Greve will be here presently…
Speaking of Amy Coney Barrett, we also have this piece today from Jill Filipovic. It did not go without notice that on Sunday the press pool following the president reported that he went golfing, while the press pool following Joe Biden reported that he attended mass. Filipovic argues that Democrats aren’t anti-Catholic bigots for questioning her:
It’s hard to argue that Barrett’s conservative views are required by her faith, and therefore opposing them is tantamount to religious discrimination.
Catholics, like people of every faith in the world, pick and choose which tenets of the faith to adhere to; the faith itself also shifts and changes (for example: abortion, now an animating issue for many Church leaders, has not been a top priority for the Church for most of its history, nor considered murder). This is one reason why Catholic Americans are just as likely as Americans generally to use contraception and have abortions, even though both are formally prohibited by the faith. It’s why a great many Catholic women do not in fact submit to their husbands. It’s why some Catholics identify as LGBT, and are not chaste as the Church demands. It’s why the overwhelming majority of Catholics have sex before marriage.
Questioning Barrett’s views – which, yes, may be influenced by her Catholic faith – is not akin to opposing Catholicism or religious faith, or persecuting her for her religion. It’s about opposing a reactionary brand of conservatism that seeks to undermine important progress toward women’s rights, LGBT rights, and racial equality.
Read it here: Jill Filipovic – Democrats aren’t anti-Catholic bigots for questioning Amy Coney Barrett
We are repeatedly being told that there is a lot at stake in this election, and with Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court, reproductive rights have been moved to the forefront of the campaign. Will Samson, a former Republican operative whose research on changes to American Evangelicalism is published in the New Evangelical Social Engagement, writes for us today about anti-abortion Republicans who cannot face voting for Trump this time around:
During the last election, the desire to overturn Roe v Wade had some holding their noses and voting for Trump. Four years later, the problems of standing with such a deeply immoral president, a string of horrific policy actions and a small but significant change in the voting patterns of religious conservatives all may be combining to hasten the diminishment of the movement even as it reaches a coveted milestone.
Christianity Today recently reported that the executive director for Ohio Right to Life resigned rather than support Trump in 2020. According to Stephanie Ranade Krider: “Nothing about his words or actions are kind or gentle or faithful or full of self-control.” I understand her sentiment. As someone activated into the pro-life movement while a student at Liberty University in the 1980s, I believed our work should affirm the value of each human being made in the image of God. Trump’s foul-mouthed debasement of his opponents is in stark contrast to that value.
Read it here: Will Samson – Meet the anti-abortion Republicans defecting from Trump and voting Biden this year
Martin Pengelly has a little more on that story that a forthcoming book by Donald Trump’s former campaign deputy Rick Gates claims that the president wanted Ivanka Trump as his running mate in 2016.
Ivanka has not served in elected office but is widely thought to have political ambitions of her own, possibly in the 2024 presidential race.
Gates says Trump was serious about making his then 34-year-old daughter his potential vice-president, returning to the theme and even carrying out public polling.
“All heads turned toward her, and she just looked surprised,” he reportedly writes of when Trump raised the idea to a group of aides. “We all knew Trump well enough to keep our mouths shut and not laugh. He went on: ‘She’s bright, she’s smart, she’s beautiful, and the people would love her!”’
Read it here: Donald Trump wanted daughter Ivanka to be running mate in 2016, book says
Kentucky state Rep. Willner to propose change to riot laws after colleague charged following Louisville protests
Kentucky state Rep. Lisa Willner, a Louisville Democrat, has said she will propose changing Kentucky’s legal definition of rioting after Democratic state Rep. Attica Scott was charged with the felony while participating in Louisville protests for racial justice.
Associated Press report that Willner she plans to file a new bill request today that would redefine the criminal charge.
Scott, the state’s only Black woman representative, was arrested and charged Thursday night with first-degree rioting, unlawful assembly and failure to disperse. Scott has called the charges “ludicrous” and said she was arrested by officers who surrounded her as she walked with her daughter to the sanctuary of a church.
Kentucky law defines a riot as a public disturbance involving five or more people “which by tumultuous and violent conduct creates grave danger of damage or injury to property or persons or substantially obstructs law enforcement or other government function.”
The law defines first-degree rioting as knowingly participating in a riot that causes injury to a person who is not rioting, or causes substantial property damage.
Willner said what happened to Scott while she was seeking sanctuary “cannot happen again.”
Meanwhile, a man who authorities accuse of requesting $30,000 to shoot police officers in Louisville in a live Facebook social media video while he was brandishing a gun has been arrested.
Federal and local authorities executed a search warrant on Cortez Lamont Edwards’s home on Sunday. An investigation revealed that Edwards was a convicted felon, and he has been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. If convicted, Edwards could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
As so often is the case, the 2020 US presidential election outcome will hinge on who can capture a handful of battleground states that will swing the Electoral College votes one way or another.
We’ve got a little interactive that has launched this morning that allows you to plot a path to victory for either Donald Trump or Joe Biden. Or, if you are feeling less optimistic, you can worry yourself by working out how the guy you don’t want to win can still end up in the White House if they manage to nab somewhere like New Hampshire or Michigan.
Try it here: Build your own US election: plot a path to victory for Biden or Trump
David Remnick at New Yorker magazine won’t be the only writer today asking the question – will anybody actually care about Trump’s taxes? He writes:
Readers inclined to think of Trump as a liar and threat to national well-being will doubtless relish every detail in the Times report, not least because it confirms, with documentary evidence, what so many have always suspected: that Trump is a shady and conniving operator whose practices betray contempt for everyone from his contractors and employees to the federal government. Are there undecided voters in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin, and beyond who will come upon this new information and finally say to themselves, “This is too much. No more,” and not vote for Trump? It’s hard to know.
Remnick ponders whether the danger for Trump is that the revelations are too easily made personal for voters in a way that, say, revelations in a Bob Woodward or John Bolton book about shenanigans in DC just aren’t.
It is hard to imagine, though, that every Trumpist — or, more importantly, every undecided voter in the swing states — will relish hearing that he paid, while in office, seven hundred and fifty dollars in federal income taxes. That is a stark number. How many teachers, nurses, grocery clerks, farmers, factory workers, bus drivers, truck drivers, and countless others will find that acceptable? How many will fail to compare it to their own tax bill?
Read it here: New Yorker – Donald Trump barely pays any taxes: will anyone care?
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Trump 'should do 360 years' in prison over taxes says his estranged former lawyer Michael Cohen
Donald Trump’s estranged former lawyer Michael Cohen had his say on Trump’s taxes last night in a phone interview with MSNBC. Cohen said:
I want to say in 2016 and 2017, while he paid $750, I paid in excess of $3 million in taxes to the IRS, and that’s verifiable. So if I went to jail for 36 months on tax evasion, which probably should have been tax omission, Donald Trump should do 360 years, based upon the numbers.
Cohen recently published Disloyal, his memoir of his time as Donald Trump’s fixer. It was greeted by a White House statement calling him a “disgraced felon and disbarred lawyer”.
Cohen was convicted of lying to Congress in order to protect Trump over his links to Russia and payments to women which may have violated campaign finance law. He was also convicted of lying to a financial institution and tax fraud and is currently serving his three-year sentence – at home in New York because of the coronavirus.
The polls have been looking good for Joe Biden, with him nationally ahead by seven or eight points, and with a lead in several key swing states. However, the polls didn’t predict a Donald Trump Electoral College victory in 2016, and Tom McCarthy reports for us today: can we trust them this time around?
Asking people what they think is, among other things, an expression of faith that what the American people think matters – a notion that can seem even more worthwhile amid Trump’s demand to “get rid of the ballots” in November.
Pollsters across the country have made adjustments to address their mistakes of 2016 and are working hard to capture an accurate snapshot of 2020. The picture is not simple. While some key state polls were off in 2016, the national polls in aggregate were right on target, showing Clinton three points ahead at the end; she won the popular vote by two points but lost in the electoral college.
The mistakes last time, according to a full buffet of postmortem analyses, included: pollsters did not have an eye on educational attainment as a potential fault line in the electorate; they were foiled by an unusual wave of undecided voters breaking for Trump at the last minute; there was too little polling in key swing states to really know what was going on; conclusions extrapolated from that paucity of data were broadcast with far too much certainty; and there might have been some “shy” Trump voters who didn’t want to say they were supporting him.
Of course, one thing they will still struggle to factor in this year is voter behaviour during a pandemic, especially when the view of the American public about the coronavirus outbreak – and the steps they are taking to mitigate it – have become so partisan.
Read it here: US election polls look good for Joe Biden. But can they be trusted?
'Everything he says is false' – CDC director heard criticising Trump coronavirus task force appointee Atlas
Away from taxes for a second, NBC News have a story this morning about an overheard phone call from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Robert Redfield where he appeared to be raising concerns about Dr. Scott Atlas. They report:
Dr Robert Redfield, who leads the CDC, suggested in a conversation with a colleague Friday that Dr Scott Atlas is arming Trump with misleading data about a range of issues, including questioning the efficacy of masks, whether young people are susceptible to the virus and the potential benefits of herd immunity.
“Everything he says is false,” Redfield said during a phone call made in public on a commercial airline and overheard by NBC News.
Redfield acknowledged after the flight from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., that he was speaking about Atlas, a neuroradiologist with no background in infectious diseases or public health. Atlas was brought on to the White House task force in August.
Prior joining the White House team reacting to the pandemic Atlas had been a frequent guest on Fox News where he had pushed to reopen the country, and as NBC News put it, “espoused views that more closely align with Trump’s opinions during the health crisis.”
There were 267 new coronavirus deaths and 37,332 new Covid cases reported in the US yesterday. The country has been averaging around 43,000 new cases per day during the last week, a level which is a 23% increase on where the country stood a fortnight ago.
Read it here: NBC News – Redfield voices alarm over influence of Trump’s new coronavirus task force adviser
I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more from the president about his taxes in the days to come. But it has become one of those truisms that whatever this president does while in office, he will have previously complained on Twitter about his predecessor doing something similar. Tax, it turns out, is no exception.
As night follows day, there is always a tweet...... https://t.co/xW2Ibl9ugy
— Nick Bryant (@NickBryantNY) September 28, 2020
Donald Trump wanted Ivanka Trump to be his VP pick in 2016 claims new book
In among the tax details revealed yesterday, was the claim that on one hand Donald Trump’s companies were writing off losses because they were paying “consultancy fees” on deals, and on the other hand, a consultancy co-owned by Ivanka Trump was profiting from, yes, you’ve guessed it, consultancy fees that seem to be from the same deal.
That’s not the only Ivanka Trump revelation floating around today, as this morning the Washington Post report that a new book will suggest that Donald wanted Ivanka to be his VP pick in 2016. The paper reports that the claim is in a forthcoming book by Trump’s deputy campaign manager Rick Gates. Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger write:
“I think it should be Ivanka. What about Ivanka as my VP?” Trump asked the assembled group. “Ivanka should be vice president,” he added.
In Gates’s telling, Trump’s suggestion of naming to the ticket his then-34-year-old daughter — a fashion and real estate executive who had never held elected office — was no passing fancy.
Instead, he brought up the idea repeatedly over the following weeks, trying to sell his campaign staff on the idea, insisting she would be embraced by the Republican base, Gates writes.
Trump was so taken with the concept of his eldest daughter as his vice president — and so cool to other options, including his eventual selection, then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence — that his team polled the idea twice, according to Gates. It was Ivanka Trump who finally ended the conversation, Gates writes, going to her father to tell him it wasn’t a good idea.
Gates book is set to be published on 13 October.
Read it here: Washington Post – Trump suggested naming his daughter Ivanka as his running mate in 2016, according to new book by Rick Gates
Oregon’s Gov. Kate Brown calls for investigation after video appears to show police assault on a journalist
It’s not just going to be all about Trump’s taxes today. Oregon’s Gov. Kate Brown has asked authorities to review “any alleged incidents” involving their officers after video emerged which appeared to show a physical assault on a journalist in Portland, a city which has seen months of continuous protest for racial justice.
Associated press report that a videos from the demonstration in downtown Portland showed police grabbing a news photographer and pushing him to ground, as he was trying to document them tackling and detaining a person on a sidewalk
In a series of tweets last night, Brown said:
Free speech and free press are two of my core values. I take the use of physical force by law enforcement officers seriously, whether it involves members of the public or the media. I have asked Superintendent Hampton, Sheriff Reese, and Chief Lovell to review any alleged incidents involving officers from each of their agencies during joint operations last night. Journalists and law enforcement officers have difficult jobs to do during these demonstrations, but I do still believe that we can protect free speech and keep the peace. I am committed to continuing to do the hard work to build trust in our communities as we work toward police accountability and racial justice.
I am committed to continuing to do the hard work to build trust in our communities as we work toward police accountability and racial justice.
— Governor Kate Brown (@OregonGovBrown) September 28, 2020
In the incident, freelance photographer John Rudoff was wearing a helmet with “PRESS” stickers affixed to it. He told the Oregonian/Oregon Live on Sunday that he’s “physically OK but am quite annoyed”. One video appears to show an officer push a journalist into a tree, causing the journalist to drop the camera.
Oregon Public Broadcasting Editor Anna Griffin retweeted the video, writing, “I’d also love to hear elected officials explain why a reporter from my organization was subject to violence at the hands of law enforcement when judges have made it very clear this is not acceptable.”
I’d also love to hear elected officials explain why a reporter from my organization was subject to violence at the hands of law enforcement when judges have made it very clear this is not acceptable. https://t.co/yPUkMljGq0
— Anna Griffin (@annargriff) September 27, 2020
Another online video showed an officer apparently deploying a chemical spray in the face of a man who was yelling at police and waving a sign toward them.
Several arrests were made and an unlawful assembly was again declared by the authorities. Sheriff’s spokesperson Chris Liedle told the Oregonian/Oregon Live that anyone who believes officers acted unjustly or excessively can file a complaint with the agency or corresponding review board.
David Smith in Washington had this analysis for us of what the Trump tax revelations might mean in the longer term. Will the Democratic party be able to get as much energy around “but his taxes…” as the phrase “but her emails…” reverberated for the Trump campaign in 2016 against Hillary Clinton?
It is tempting to see this as terminal for Trump in the November election against Joe Biden. But we have been here many times before. The same was said after the release of an Access Hollywood tape in October 2016, where Trump was heard bragging about sexual assault.
It is also worth remembering what happened in the first presidential debate against Hillary Clinton. The Democratic candidate suggested that perhaps Trump was not releasing his tax returns because he had paid nothing in federal taxes.
He interrupted and said: “That makes me smart.”
There were howls of outrage and prophecies that Trump must be doomed. Yet perhaps that remark resonated with some voters who reckoned that given the chance, they too would delight in getting around the rules in order to save a few bucks.
Read it here: Will the New York Times taxes report sink Donald Trump?
Other comments from the progressive wing of the Democratic wing of the party have attempted to make the Trump taxes issue not so much about him personally, but about the structure of the US economy and tax regime.
Senator Elizabeth Warren said that Trump was “taking advantage of a broken, corrupt, and unequal system that’s built for people like him to do what he did.”
This is about more than one man's personal tax scams. Donald Trump is a liar, a cheater, and a crooked businessman, yes. But he's also taking advantage of a broken, corrupt, and unequal system that’s built for people like him to do what he did.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) September 28, 2020
Bernie Sanders returned to a consistent theme of which he has provided many examples over the years, that wealthy individuals and corporates love “corporate socialism” for themselves, but prescribe “rugged capitalism for everyone else”.
Shock of shocks! Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed billionaire, received a $72.9 million tax refund from the IRS while not paying a nickel in federal income taxes in 10 out of 15 years.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 27, 2020
Yep. Trump l-o-v-e-s corporate socialism for himself, rugged capitalism for everyone else.
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar also had a very simple comment on the situation go viral. She needed no words to make her point – just the number 750.
https://t.co/RUQxbxIXUE pic.twitter.com/ByWCvCc4n0
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) September 28, 2020
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AOC compares Trump's tax bill to what she had to pay as a bartender – highlights hair hypocrisy
Not unexpectedly, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the Democratic figures who has weighed in on Trump’s taxes overnight, comparing his $750 bill with the taxes she paid in the same years while working as a bartender.
In 2016 & ‘17, I paid thousands of dollars a year in taxes *as a bartender.*
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 28, 2020
Trump paid $750.
He contributed less to funding our communities than waitresses & undocumented immigrants.
Donald Trump has never cared for our country more than he cares for himself. A walking scam. https://t.co/VZChbp8htu
The New York congresswoman also highlighted the hypocrisy of her critics over the amount she spent styling her hair compared to that spent by Donald Trump. She pointed to this part of the New York Times report:
Even while declaring losses, he has managed to enjoy a lavish lifestyle by taking tax deductions on what most people would consider personal expenses, including residences, aircraft and $70,000 in hairstyling for television.
Last year Republicans blasted a firehose of hatred + vitriol my way because I treated myself to a $250 cut & lowlights on my birthday.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 28, 2020
Where’s the criticism of their idol spending $70k on hairstyling?
Oh, it’s nowhere because they’re spineless, misogynistic hypocrites? Got it. https://t.co/xCQGwW7EK5
Biden attack ad over Trump $750 tax bill gains over 1 million views
Here’s that attack ad from Joe Biden over Donald Trump’s taxes which was posted overnight. It seeks to unfavourably compare the $750 which the New York Times claims is what Donald Trump paid in federal taxes in the year he was elected president, with the taxes paid by teachers, firefighters and nurses that same year. It has already had over 1 million views on social media.
Teachers paid $7,239
— Team Joe (Text JOE to 30330) (@TeamJoe) September 28, 2020
Firefighters paid $5,283
Nurses paid $10,216
Donald Trump paid $750 pic.twitter.com/5YE1cbYsBN
Donald Trump has dismissed the whole New York Times story as “fake news”, saying:
It’s fake news. It’s totally fake news. Made up, fake. We went through the same stories, you could have asked me the same questions four years ago, I had to litigate this and had to talk about it. Totally fake news. Actually, I paid tax. And you’ll see that as soon as my tax returns – it’s under audit, they’ve been under audit for a long time, the IRS does not treat me well, they treat me like the Tea Party, like they treated the Tea Party, and they don’t treat me well. They treat me very badly. You have people in the IRS that treat me very, very badly. But they’re under audit. And when they’re not, I would be proud to show you. But that’s just fake news.
Good morning, and welcome to what is no doubt set to be a lively day on the US politics blog following a weekend of bombshell revelations about the president’s finances.
- The New York Times published Trump’s tax returns. The self-proclaimed billionaire paid just $750 in federal income taxes in the year he was elected.
- Overnight senior Democratic figure have sought to press home the revelations, with Joe Biden comparing what Trump paid to the tax paid by teachers, firefighters and nurses in a video which has already gained over one million views on social media.
- Trump has dismissed the New York Times revelation of his tax information as “fake news”. He said he didn’t know the story was going to be published, although his attorney is on record in the NYT piece.
- Trump said overturning Roe v Wade would be ‘possible’ with his nominee Amy Coney Barrett on supreme court. The 1973 ruling made abortion legal in the US.
- Trump stepped up his wild attacks on Joe Biden ahead of tomorrow’s opening debate. Without any evidence, the president accused his rival of using ‘performance enhancing drugs’.
- A judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration order banning video-sharing app TikTok from Apple and Google stores.
- A Kentucky legislator who was arrested during demonstrations over the Breonna Taylor case has accused Louisville police of detaining her and about 20 allies on false pretences.
- The Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times last month told investigators he thought Blake was trying to abduct one of his own children.
- Secretary of state Mike Pompeo is in Greece today as part of a mini-tour which will also see him visit Italy, the Vatican and Croatia.
- The only thing in the president’s diary for today is that Donald Trump is due to give an update on the US coronavirus testing strategy from the White House at 2pm.
I’m Martin Belam – you can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
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