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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Sam Levin (now), Joan E Greve, Jessica Glenza and Martin Belam (earlier)

Trump formally renominated by Republicans as convention gets under way – as it happened

Donald Trump at the Republican national convention site on 24 August.
Donald Trump at the Republican national convention site on 24 August. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

Summary

Here are some key links from the day so far. My colleague Joan E Greve will be continuing our live coverage of the Republican national convention, which you can follow here:

Follow the RNC below:

Updated

Jerry Falwell Jr is now claiming that the reports of his resignation from Liberty University are false:

The powerful Christian leader and close Trump ally who has been caught in a number of recent scandals told Politico this evening, “I have not resigned. How did those reports get out? I don’t know. I have not resigned. I will be on indefinite leave.”

A Liberty University spokesperson did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s inquiry this evening.

Trump’s latest misleading attack on Joe Biden claims that the Democratic nominee would “lock down the Country again” and “close it all down”, when in reality Biden said he would shut down the US if scientists recommended it. In the interview over the weekend, Biden said he would “be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives, because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus”.

Michael Cohen releases anti-Trump ad

Michael Cohen, the president’s former lawyer and longtime fixer, is featured in a Democratic group’s anti-Trump ad, just released:

In 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for lying to Congress and facilitating illegal payments to silence two women who alleged affairs with Trump. Here’s an excerpt from Cohen’s remarks in the ad with American Bridge, a Democratic group:

I was president Trump’s righthand man, fixer and confidante. I was complicit in helping conceal the real Donald Trump. I was part of creating an illusion. Later this week he’s going to stand up and blatantly lie to you. I’m here to tell you he can’t be trusted, and you shouldn’t believe a word he utters ... If he says something is huge, it’s probably small. If he says something will work, it probably won’t. If he says he cares about you and his family, he certainly does not.”

Cohen is soon releasing a book about his time as Trump’s fixer. The Trump administration had tried to block its release.

Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, repeatedly shook hands and kissed cheeks at the president’s event in North Carolina today, raising concerns about the Trump team’s coronavirus safety protocols. Meadows was not wearing a mask:

Wisconsin deploys national guard to protests

Wisconsin officials have deployed the national guard to Kenosha amid protests over police violence surrounding footage that appeared to show an officer shooting an unarmed man in the back seven times, reportedly in front of his three children.

The shooting of Jacob Blake in the city of 40 miles south of Milwaukee has reignited national outrage over police abuses against Black Americans. Tony Evers, the state’s Democratic governor, said 125 members of the national guard would be in Kenosha by Monday evening, tasked with “guarding infrastructure and making sure our firefighters and others involved are protected”. County authorities also said there would be an 8pm curfew in the region, raising concerns about a potential clampdown on protests.

The civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said Blake’s three young sons had been in the car. Crump, who has represented the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, said on Twitter, “They saw a cop shoot their father. They will be traumatized forever. We cannot let officers violate their duty to PROTECT us. Our kids deserve better!!”

Updated

Jerry Falwell Jr resigning from Liberty University

Jerry Falwell Jr, a powerful evangelical leader and a close Trump ally, has agreed to resign as president and chancellor of Liberty University, according to multiple reports.

The resignation news comes after Falwell was suspended as head of the conservative evangelical university after he shared a photo of himself with his pants unzipped while aboard a yacht. That photo from Falwell, who is one of the most influential voices on on the religious right in the US, appeared to conflict with Liberty University’s strict dress code, which forbids skirts shorter than two inches above the knees and bars male students from sporting shorts in class.

Over the weekend, Falwell attracted additional controversy when he released a statement alleging his wife’s ex-lover tried to blackmail them by contacting the media with “false claims” about their relationship.

Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, will address the Republican national convention in pre-taped remarks from Jerusalem this week, violating a longstanding tradition that the country’s top diplomat avoid partisan politics, CNN has confirmed:

Pompeo’s speech comes one month after he sent a cable to state department employees stating that “presidential and political appointees and career SES (Senior Executive Service) are subject to significant restrictions on their political activity; they may not engage in any partisan political activity in concert with a partisan campaign, political party, or partisan political group, even on personal time and outside of the federal workplace”, CNN noted.

Updated

Michael Steele, the former chair of the Republican National Committee, has joined the Lincoln Project, the anti-Trump GOP group that has been pouring money into ads targeting the president:

The news comes one day after George Conway, the husband to top Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway, announced he was stepping down from the Lincoln Project.

“I get my role as a former national chairman. I get it, but I’m an American. I get my role as a former party leader. I’m still an American,” Steele said in an interview today. “These things matter to me more than aligning myself with a party that has clearly decided it would rather be sycophantic than principled.”

More from our past coverage of the Lincoln Project:

Hi all – Sam Levin in Los Angeles here, continuing our live coverage on this busy Monday.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be regularly tested for coronavirus as they do more in-person campaign events in the final weeks before the election, the campaign has announced.

“For the entirety of this outbreak, Joe Biden has lived his values, modeling and strongly encouraging responsible behavior to keep Americans safe while proposing the kind of desperately needed national strategy for defeating this pandemic that Donald Trump still has not provided,” campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. “This announcement is another step demonstrating Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s commitment to turn the page on Trump’s catastrophic mismanagement during the worst public health crisis in 100 years.”

Reporters following Biden’s campaign have had their temperatures taken, worn masks and have faced questions about symptoms, Bloomberg noted.

On Sunday, Biden’s deputy campaign manager said he had not yet been tested:

Updated

Today so far

That’s it from me for now. I will be back tonight to cover the first night of the Republican National Convention.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Trump formally received the Republican nomination for president. Addressing the few hundred delegates who gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina, to renominate him, the president said Democrats are “using Covid” to try to rig the election, even though there is no evidence of that.
  • Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general, testified before the House oversight committee. Shortly before the hearing adjourned, Democratic congresswoman Katie Porter grilled DeJoy on basic details of the US Postal Service, such as the cost of a postcard stamp. DeJoy said he did not know how much it cost to mail a postcard. “I’ll submit that I know very little about postage stamps,” DeJoy said.
  • The attorney general of New York asked a court to enforce a subpoena against the Trump Organization, in an investigation into whether the president’s business overvalued certain assets for favorable loan terms.
  • California Governor Gavin Newsom described the wildfires raging across the state as “historic.” California currently has 7,002 fires burning across more than 1.4 million acres. For the latest updates on the wildfires, follow the Guardian’s live blog.
  • Joe Biden called for an investigation into the shooting of Jacob Blake, an African American man who appears to have been shot in the back several times by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

My west coast colleague, Sam Levin, will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Progressive groups are already seeking to capitalize on the postmaster general’s failure to answer basic questions about the US Postal Service.

Democratic congresswoman Katie Porter asked Louis DeJoy if he knew how much it costs to a mail a postcard. He did not.

“I’ll submit that I know very little about postage stamps,” DeJoy said.

After the uncomfortable exchange, the progressive group Public Citizen tweeted a video of Porter’s questioning.

“The Postmaster General does not know the cost of mailing a postcard,” Public Citizen said in the tweet. “You can literally google it.”

The House hearing with the postmaster general has now adjourned, wrapping up about six hours of questioning over recent operational changes at the US Postal Service.

Surprisingly, some of the newsiest moments of the hearing came as it was nearing its conclusion, with Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Katie Porter grilling Louis DeJoy on his handling of USPS.

Ocasio-Cortez pushed DeJoy to commit to handing over his calendars to the House oversight committee, which the postmaster general refused to agree to.

Porter put DeJoy on the spot by posing basic questions about the postal service, asking him how much a postcard stamp costs and how many people voted by mail in the last election.

DeJoy was unable to answer. “I’ll submit that I know very little about postage stamps,” the postmaster general said.

Porter told DeJoy, “I’m concerned about your understanding of this agency.”

Postmaster general: 'I know very little about postage stamps'

The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:

Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general, admitted Monday that he did not know how much it cost to send a postcard in the United States.

DeJoy was asked about the postage by Rep. Katie Porter, a California Democrat, who had warned the postmaster general he should come to the hearing having done his homework.

“I don’t know, ma’am,” said DeJoy, who had no prior experience working at USPS before he was selected to be the agency’s top official. “I don’t.”

It costs 35 cents to send a postcard in the United States - information easily available on the USPS website.

Asked how much it would cost to send a greeting card, DeJoy said, “I’ll submit that I know very little about postage stamps.”

Porter then quizzed DeJoy on the weight limit for priority mail, which he correctly said was 70 lbs. He was unable to tell Porter the starting rate for priority mail. DeJoy also said he was unable to say how many people voted by mail in the last election.

The exchange came at the end of a lengthy hearing on Monday during which DeJoy was repeatedly pressed over delays with mail delivery, which could complicate mail-in voting for the November elections.

“I’m glad you know the price of a stamp, but I’m concerned about your understanding of this agency,” Porter said. “I’m concerned about it because you started taking very decisive action when you became postmaster general.”

This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Jessica Glenza.

Speaking to MSNBC moments ago, House speaker Nancy Pelosi said Republicans were apathetic about passing another coronavirus relief bill.

Pelosi insisted Democrats were working to keep the pressure on their Republican colleagues to try to get another relief bill passed after negotiations with the White House stalled.

“We have kept the pressure on,” Pelosi said. “They have been receiving overwhelming advocacy from the American people. ... They just simply don’t seem to care.”

Negotiations between congressional Democratic leadership and the White House came to a halt earlier this month, after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the overall cost of the relief package.

Republican party nominates Trump for another term

Today’s news was dominated by President Trump’s formal nomination for another term in office by Republican party delegates.

Trump gave a long, unscripted speech in North Carolina after the formal nomination. In it, he sought to sew doubt in the legitimacy of the presidential election in November.

Here’s a bit more detail on what happened today...

  • Trump said Democrats are “using Covid” to try to rig the election, a claim for which there is no evidence. He also criticized mail-in voting and made a series of other claims...
  • He lauded his work to lower prescription drug prices (experts described Trump’s order as “mostly symbolic”); said his administration worked to protect people with “pre-existing conditions” (actually, his administration is working to overturn those protections through a lawsuit against “Obamacare”); and criticized governors’ preparedness for Covid-19 (the Trump administration’s decision not to oversee logistics was widely blamed with causing competition amongst states).

Also today...

  • New York State Attorney General asked a court to enforce a subpoena against the Trump Organization, in an investigation into whether the president’s business overvalued certain assets for favorable loan terms.
  • A poll from the AP found just 31% of Americans approve of Trump’s leadership during the pandemic.
  • And, one fun thing, Showtime released a trailer for its new miniseries The Comey Rule, based on the memoirs of former FBI director James Comey.

Postmaster general Louis DeJoy continued to defend his leadership at the United States Postal Service amid questioning from Congressional Democrats about nationwide delays in mail service.

DeJoy is a major Republican donor without postal service experience who took over as postmaster general in June. Since he took up the post, Americans have experienced mail delays and mail volumes have fallen.

“While we have had temporary service declines, which should not have happened, we are fixing this,” DeJoy told the chair of the committee, New York Democrat Carolyn Maloney, when pressed on newly obtained documents. DeJoy also said the postal service has the capacity to deliver mail-in ballots this fall, and delivering them in a timely way is a priority for the agency.

DeJoy also but distanced himself from the decisions to remove street mail boxes and mail facility sorting machines. He said again he would not restore the equipment, even after he announced earlier this month he was pausing changes until after the election.

“I did not direct the removal of blue collection boxes or mail processing equipment,” he said.

DeJoy offered few details on what analyses, if any, USPS had done before implementing a program to try and get trucks to run on time. He also did not explain exactly what the agency was doing to facilitate that. While DeJoy noted mail volume was declining, he also offered no details on who made the decision to move sorting machines or the justification for doing so.

During Donald Trump’s address to the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, he referred to Barack Obama, and initial reports indicated someone in the crowd responded by shouting: “Monkey”.

The Lincoln Project quickly tweeted about it, causing a stir on Twitter. However, closer listening of the video indicates the crowd member actually shouted “spygate.”

Someone else then seems to yell, “Sleepy Joe!” Trump responds to that insult toward Joe Biden by sarcastically saying, “Let’s be nice.” The president continues for another moment, then chuckles, points into the audience and says: “That can only happen in North Carolina.”

“Spygate” refers to the president’s baseless claim that the Obama administration “spied” on his 2016 campaign while looking for evidence of collusion with Russia.

This post has been updated.

Updated

More on lawsuits facing the Trump organization – New York state Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit investigating whether Trump inflated the valuations of certain assets.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James asked a court Monday, Aug. 24, 2020 to enforce subpoenas into an investigation into whether President Donald Trump and his businesses inflated assets on financial statements.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James asked a court Monday, Aug. 24, 2020 to enforce subpoenas into an investigation into whether President Donald Trump and his businesses inflated assets on financial statements. Photograph: Richard Drew/AP

Here’s more from the Associated Press:

New York’s Democratic attorney general asked a court Monday to enforce subpoenas into an investigation into whether President Donald Trump and his businesses inflated assets on financial statements.

Attorney General Letitia James filed a petition in state trial court in New York City naming the Trump Organization, an umbrella group for the Republican president’s holdings, as a respondent along with other business entities. The filing also named Eric Trump and Seven Springs, a New York estate owned by the Trump family.

The attorney general’s office is investigating whether the Trump Organization and the president improperly inflated the value of assets to secure loans and obtain economic and tax benefits. Investigators are looking into whether the Trump Organization and its agents improperly inflated the value of the Seven Springs north of the city.

In the court filings, the attorney general’s office wrote that “information regarding the valuation of Seven Springs is significant” to the office’s investigation.

Emails seeking comment were sent to lawyers for the Trump Organization and Eric Trump.

The investigation was launched in March 2019 after Trump’s longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen told Congress that Trump had inflated the value of his assets to obtain more favorable terms for loans and insurance coverage.

As Trump was giving his speech, prominent Republican and former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake called on Republicans with misgivings to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. He said it is “not enough” for people with misgivings to simply vote third-party.

Flake is the most prominent of a long list of Republicans backing Biden.

Trump concludes his first speech at the Republican National Convention with another attempt to undermine confidence in the results of the upcoming November election:

“This is the most important election in the history of our country, don’t let them take it away from you,” Trump said referring to the Democrats.

President Donald Trump speaks during the first day of the Republican National Convention.
President Donald Trump speaks during the first day of the Republican National Convention. Photograph: Chris Carlson/AP

Before he ended, he had touched on a drug pricing executive order experts describe as “mostly symbolic”. Trump claimed it would cut drug prices by “50, 60 or 70%”. He used that to describe low drug prices as the only reason he likes “socialism”. Then said America would never be a “socialist” country.

Trump then said he will “fully fund” law enforcement and hire more police and promote “school choice”

He also claimed his administration protected insurance coverage for “pre-existing conditions,” or sick people who before the Obama administration were regularly denied private health insurance coverage. In fact, his administration is suing to overturn the Affordable Care Act, which would end these protections.

Trump is now arguing Democrats are, “using Covid to steal an election.” He continued: “They’re using Covid to defraud the American people, all of the people, of a fair and free election, and they can’t do that.”

He is some reaction to how this speech is going so far:

President Trump is now seeding doubt about the outcome of the upcoming presidential election. He also said Democrats would need to be, “stealing millions of votes,” to win.

The only way they can take this election away from us is – this is a rigged election,” said Trump. “We’re going to win this election, we’re going to win this election.”

Republicans nominate Trump for second term

A crowd at the Republican national convention is chanting “Four more years!” as Trump gives a characteristically wide-ranging speech. Republican delegates formally nominated Trump for another term, Monday.

He has already praised what his administration “achieved” in response to the coronavirus pandemic, criticized CNN for failing to air the Republican delegate roll call, and said he “would not take the word ‘God’ out of the pledge of allegiance”.

President Donald Trump speaks on stage as he visits the Republican National Committee convention site, Monday.
Donald Trump speaks on stage as he visits the Republican National Committee convention site, Monday. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

Updated

President Trump is now speaking about his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic at the Republican National Convention.

He said his administration has “achieved” a lot in terms of the pandemic, and that governors were “totally ill-prepared” to confront the pandemic.

Governors that were totally ill-prepared,” said Trump. “Nobody wants to say that.”

When Covid-19 reached the United States in March and April, Trump told governors they would need to secure their own supplies to counter the pandemic, including ventilators. That lead to a run on the supplies as states, institutions and the federal government all competed for supplies.

Trump also said vaccines would be “pouring out years ahead of... a more traditional administration.”

Manhattan DA holds off on Trump subpoena

Cyrus Vance Jr will not enforce his subpoena against Mazars, for Donald Trump’s financial records, until two days after an appeals court has ruled on the president’s attempt for a stay on the order, Courthouse News reports.

The appeals hearing is on 1 September. Trump’s lawyers are fighting over every inch of legal ground. Vance, who wants eight years of Trump’s records in connection with an investigation of payments to two women who say they had affairs with him, says he’ll wait until 5pm on 3 September to move.

The same reporter, meanwhile, has added another tantalising tweet. Watching that one, to see what appears on the docket.

DoJ: Stelter wrong on Barr-Murdoch meeting

On Saturday, the Guardian reported on a nugget from a new book by CNN media reporter Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of the Truth.

Stelter reports that at a meeting in New York in October 2019, attorney general William Barr told Rupert Murdoch to “muzzle” Andrew Napolitano, a Fox News analyst who had become critical of Donald Trump.

The full story is here:

On Saturday night, Kerri Kupec, Barr’s spokeswoman at the Department of Justice, said Stelter’s story was “false”, adding: “A basic fact-check would have revealed that, but Brian Stelter did not reach out to us before publishing.”

Stelter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. If he does, we will update.

In the meantime, here’s Lloyd Green’s review of the book, which is out on Tuesday:

Updated

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called for a “full and transparent” investigation of police who shot a black man who appeared to be walking away from them in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The victim has been identified as Jacob Blake, is a 29-year-old father whose three children were in the car he was attempting to get into when he was shot. Blake is in serious condition in the hospital. The shooting has already sparked protests in Kenosha.

Showtime just released a trailer for a forthcoming mini-series dramatization of former FBI director James Comey’s memoir, called The Comey Rule.

The cable channel moved the release of the mini-series up to September. The network had planned to air the drama after the November election.

A poll released today by the Associated Press finds a minority of Americans approve of Donald Trump’s leadership on the coronavirus, but that approval is driven by division.

“[Trump’s] support continues to be driven overwhelmingly by Republicans, with 79% approving of his job performance compared with just 5% of Democrats,” the AP reported.

While the Republican National Convention holds a series of events today in Washington DC and Charlotte, North Carolina, let’s not forget about Jacksonville, Florida.

When Covid-19 caused officials in Charlotte, North Carolina to institute social distancing requirements Trump balked, and began an effort to move the convention to Florida.

But soon cases of Covid-19 began to balloon in Florida. The state has been one of the worst hit in the country. Eventually, Trump gave up his push to have a full-scale convention in the state, conceding it was “not the right time”.

Well, now we have some evidence of how history repeats itself. Almost 100 years ago, Florida officials expressed “concern” and “regret” about lack of public health funding. A similar story has taken place over the last decade, as Florida slashed local public health funding under Republican leadership.

Today, Florida has had more than 600,000 cases, more than 10,000 deaths, and testing is falling off even as positivity rates remain high at more than 13%, according to Johns Hopkins University.

DeJoy has taken today’s hearing as an opportunity to distance himself from recent controveries at the postal service. Here’s reporting from The Guardian’s voting rights reporter Sam Levine, who is following the hearings closely:

And as a short recap, here is some of Sam’s reporting from last week, when DeJoy appeared at a Senate hearing:

America’s postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, conceded on Friday he had implemented recent changes that led to mail delays at the United States Postal Service (USPS) but said he would not reverse the decision to remove mail equipment ahead of the election.

DeJoy, a major Republican donor without prior USPS experience, made his first appearance before Congress amid widespread scrutiny over the mail delays and his management of the agency since taking over in June.

The House Oversight and Reform committee hearing on mail delays is now underway. Postmaster general Louis DeJoy is warning in prepared remarks that Americans should request a mail-in ballot at least 15 days in advance of election day, Nov. 3, and return it at least a week before the election.

DeJoy said his remarks, “should in no way be misconstrued to imply that we lack confidence in our ability to deliver those ballots,” DeJoy told the House panel in prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press. “We can, and will, handle the volume of Election Mail we receive.”

The pre-election warning “has nothing to do with recent operational initiatives or concerns about delayed mail,” DeJoy said, and is merely intended to help ensure that ballots will be delivered on time and counted.

“While we will do whatever we can to deliver ballots even when they are mailed at the last second, it should also be obvious to fair-minded election officials that urging voters to mail back their ballot at least a week before the deadline is a simple and straightforward step to ensure that ballots are delivered on time and, most importantly, counted under state law,” he said.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy arrives at a hearing before the House Oversight Committee in the Rayburn Building titled “Protecting the Timely Delivery of Mail, Medicine, and Mail-in Ballots”.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy arrives at a hearing before the House Oversight Committee in the Rayburn Building titled “Protecting the Timely Delivery of Mail, Medicine, and Mail-in Ballots”. Photograph: Michael A McCoy/Getty Images

CBS released a poll this Sunday, ahead of the Republican National Convention, finding 57% of Republicans thought 170,000 American coronavirus deaths was “acceptable”. Only 10% of Democrats felt the same.

Here is a little more from the pollsters:

For most Republicans, America is a nation where the economy is still fairly good, where the effort to handle the coronavirus is going at least somewhat well and the president is doing a very good job on it. For them, the virus elicits less concern in the first place. They believe the 170,000 fatalities is an overstated count and one which, for many, can so far be considered acceptable.

Postmaster general Louis DeJoy is expected to testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee at 10am ET. Here is a link to the livestream of the hearing in case you want to follow along.

Here is an early look inside the Republican National Convention, where it seems not all delegates are wearing masks in spite of a Charlotte, North Carolina city ordinance.

The room is set and delegates begin to arrive for the first day of the Republican National Convention, Monday in Charlotte, N.C.
The room is set and delegates begin to arrive for the first day of the Republican National Convention, Monday in Charlotte, N.C. Photograph: Travis Dove/AP

Today is the first day of the Republican National Convention, where the party will officially re-nominate Donald Trump as their candidate for president. It will be a contrast with Democrats’ nominating process – in spite of the coronavirus pandemic, Republicans will meet for an in-person roll-call to nominate Trump.

Here’s a report from the AP that looks at the nominating process in Charlotte, North Carolina in greater depth.

Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, delegates will hold an in-person roll-call vote Monday in a Charlotte Convention Center ballroom before attention turns to prime-time programming. Many of the usual trappings are present the signs designating each state, the gift bags with Republican swag but chairs on the ballroom floor have been arranged with lots of space between them and masks are supposed to be worn.

It’s a sharp contrast to the approach of Democrats, who created a roll call via video montage from states across the country to avoid a large-scale gathering last week at their well-received virtual convention.

The GOP convention is a crucial moment for Trump, who is trailing in national and battleground state polls and under intense pressure to turn the race around. Aides hope the convention will give them a chance to recast the story of Trump’s presidency and shift the campaign’s thrust from a referendum on him to a choice between his vision for America’s future and the one presented by Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

“This is a kickoff to many weeks of this heading into Election Day,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday. “I don’t think we’re going to slow down.”

Deputy secretary of state Stephen Biegun to travel to Moscow tomorrow to discuss crisis in Belarus

US deputy secretary of state Stephen Biegun will travel to Moscow on Tuesday to hold talks with senior Russian officials about the crisis in Belarus, Reuters report.

Deputy secretary of state Stephen Biegun, left, speaks as Lithuania’s minister of foreign affairs Linas Linkevicius listens during a press conference today in Vilnius, Lithuania
Deputy secretary of state Stephen Biegun, left, speaks as Lithuania’s minister of foreign affairs Linas Linkevicius listens during a press conference today in Vilnius, Lithuania Photograph: Mindaugas Kulbis/AP

Speaking in Vilnius, Biegun called for Belarus to release all political prisoners. He said Washington had no indication that Russia might intervene militarily in the country which was plunged into chaos after a disputed election earlier this month. Authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, remains in power in the face of mass demonstrations against his government.

Biegun condemned human rights abuses, and said Washington was deeply concerned by what he said was a seriously flawed election.

And that is it from me today in London. I’m handing over to Jessica Glenza, and I will see you again tomorrow morning.

Here’s my colleague Daniel by the way with that list of Republicans who are coming out today in favour of Joe Biden.

Updated

Some news on the health of Dr Anthony Fauci…

There’s a grim look at the headline polling numbers for Donald Trump on the morning of the RNC opening from FiveThirtyEight, who observe that no sitting president was as far behind as Trump going into the conventions. They put Joe Biden ahead nationally by 8 points.

With all the usual caveats around polling numbers and attempting to see into the future, it’s not universally bad news for Trump though.

Since 1968, no incumbent president has trailed by as much as Trump heading into the first convention. However, before we get too carried away, the size of Biden’s pre-convention lead is unlikely to hold. After all, two other presidential contenders led by margins similar to Biden’s: Jimmy Carter in 1976 and George W. Bush in 2000, but by November their leads had all but evaporated.

Since 1968, the final national margin has differed from the pre-convention polling margin by an average of about 5 points. So if we were to apply that to the 2020 electoral environment, we’d be talking about only a 3-point national edge for Biden. That, of course, would increase the possibility that Trump could win the Electoral College even while losing the national popular vote.

Read it here: FiveThirtyEight – No sitting president was as far behind as Trump going into the conventions

As well as Portland and Kenosha, there was also a Black Lives Matter demonstration yesterday and last night in Lafayette over the death of another Black man after a police encounter. Trayford Pellerin was shot and killed Friday night.

Associate Press report that protesters marched through the Louisiana city holding signs and at times blocking traffic following an event at Lafayette City Hall where protesters demanded racial justice.

The event called for demonstrations to remain peaceful, a day after protests ended with fires set on a highway median and police clearing the crowd with smoke canisters.

“No rioting, no burning buildings, no damage to vehicles, no assaulting of people,” community activist Jamal Taylor said during the rally livestreamed on his Facebook page. He said Pellerin’s mother, Michelle Pellerin, told him she wanted her son’s memory respected with peaceful protests.

The video showed what appeared to be 100 to 200 people at the event. Several people then participated in the subsequent march, and images appeared to show at least one person being detained.

A protester appears to be taken into to custody during a demonstration on on Ambassador Caffery Parkway on Sunday, in Lafayette, La.
A protester appears to be taken into to custody during a demonstration on on Ambassador Caffery Parkway on Sunday, in Lafayette, La. Photograph: Brad Bowie/AP

Demonstrators ended up near the gas station where Pellerin was shot.

Police have said Pellerin was carrying a knife and was shot when he tried to enter one convenience store in Lafayette after causing a disturbance at another.

“We understand it was a call for loitering,” said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family with attorney Ron Haley of Baton Rouge.

Ed Pilkington has dived into America’s history of voter suppression with a look at 1981, and how Republicans ‘invented’ the National Ballot Security Task Force.

“Warning” the posters stated in big red letters. “This area is being patrolled by the National Ballot Security Task Force. It is a crime to falsify a ballot.”

Top conservative strategists built it from scratch, inventing a private vigilante squad of 200 off-duty police officers and private security guards. They carried visible firearms, wore armbands bearing the name of the “Task Force”, and were equipped with official-looking walkie-talkies.

The year was 1981, and a bitter race for the New Jersey governor’s seat was approaching. Republican organizers publicly claimed their plan would combat widespread Democratic cheating at the polls. In fact, they had a more sinister intention: suppress the vote in Democratic strongholds where African American and Latino voters were in the majority and the election might be tilted in favor of Republican Tom Kean.

Pilkington asks the question – could we see a resurgence of these kinds of tactics in 2020? Trump has already promised “We are going to have sheriffs, we are going to have law enforcement and we are going to have hopefully US attorneys” at the polls.

Read it here: In 1981 a ‘task force’ intimidated voters at the polls. Will Republicans revert to their old tactics?

If you missed it yesterday, the New Yorker had a lengthy interview profile with Joe Biden, which included Evan Osnos visiting Biden out in the house that his opponents have repeatedly dubbed his basement bunker.

Osnos says of Biden’s centrism that it make it difficult for Republican attacks that he stands for socialism to stick, even though he has tacked left as the primary race went on. As he puts it:

To his detractors on the left—especially younger, highly educated, more ideological Democrats who are active online—Biden was a creature of the ancien régime and a cheerleader of the national-security state, with such timid appetites for change that, when he won on Super Tuesday, the price of health-care stocks went up. Liberals were dismayed that the most diverse Presidential field in history had yielded a white man in his eighth decade. It was as if a waiter had returned from the kitchen with news that the specials were gone, and all that was left was oatmeal. (Of course, they always had the option of more rat poison.)

But the piece has some words from former president Barack Obama about what has driven that change in Biden’s policy outlook. Obama says:

If you look at Joe Biden’s goals and Bernie Sanders’s goals, they’re not that different, from a forty-thousand-foot level. They both want to make sure everybody has health care. They want to make sure everybody can get a job that pays a living wage. They want to make sure every child gets a good education. A lot of times, the issue has to do with ‘How do we go about that, and what are the coalitions we need?’. What I think the moment has done is to change some of those calculations, not because necessarily Joe’s changed, but because circumstances have changed.

Oh, and on social media, Biden was very clear. He doesn’t look at it. Perhaps a lesson for us all. “I don’t look at a lot of the comments. I spend the time trying to focus on the trouble people are in right now.”

It’s a good read: The New Yorker – Can Biden’s center hold?

California wildfires death toll rises to at least seven

More news here on the California wildfires, where sadly it seems the death toll is up to seven, as the huge blazes burn on.

Fire crew made progress during the weekend, which saw a welcome break in the unseasonably warm weather and little wind. That allowed firefighters to increase what had been precious little containment.

But the forecast late on Sunday was ominous. The National Weather Service issued a “red flag” warning through Monday afternoon for the drought-stricken area, meaning extreme fire conditions including high temperatures, low humidity, lightning and wind gusts up to 65mph that “may result in dangerous and unpredictable fire behavior”.

Mark Brunton, a battalion chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), said while he was confident firefighters did the most with the time they had to prepare, he was not sure what to expect.

“There’s a lot of potential for things to really go crazy out there,” he said.

Read it here: California wildfires death toll up to seven as huge blazes burn on

Lisa Lerer has been teeing up the RNC for her New York Times readers, and she makes two salient points in today’s On Politics newsletter. The first is that for more than one reason, this is a Republican convention like no other.

The Republican National Convention this week is hosted by the party, but it’s about one man: Donald J. Trump. Breaking with tradition, the president plans to speak every night during prime time. Speakers will include his wife, all of his adult children and some of his closest confidants. The main speeches will still be held before live audiences, potentially flouting public health guidelines in the District of Columbia, where parts of the event will be held. The stakes couldn’t possibly be higher.

She also highlights some of the ethical issues raised by the program.

There’s also no effort to change the narrative around the scandals surrounding his administration. Just last week, the architect of his last campaign was hauled away in handcuffs. And Mr. Trump is definitely raising ethical questions with his convention programming.

Both the president and his wife plan to speak from the White House grounds. The program includes several White House aides, like Kellyanne Conway, as well as secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who is violating a longstanding tradition that the country’s top diplomat avoid partisan politics. Ethics experts have criticized both the decision to stage the speeches at the White House and the involvement of aides like Ms. Conway, arguing that those decisions mix governing with partisan politics.

Which goes to show, that a lot of the polite conventions around American politics are indeed that, polite conventions. And it is very hard to enforce them if the man at the top doesn’t seem to care for them.

Pompeo reassures Netanyahu over US commitment to ensure Isreal retains military advantage in Middle East

Secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been meeting in Jerusalem this morning.

Reuters report that Pompeo reassured Netanyahu that the US will ensure Israel retains a military advantage in the Middle East under any future US arms deals with the United Arab Emirates. A US-brokered deal on normalising relations between Israel and the UAE was announced on 13 August.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Jerusalem ahead of a joint news conference
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Jerusalem ahead of a joint news conference Photograph: Reuters

“The United States has a legal requirement with respect to qualitative military edge. We will continue to honor that,” Pompeo told reporters this morning.

His visit will go on to include Sudan, Bahrain, and the UAE. Pompeo says he will be discussing with them “Iran’s malign influence” and to celebrate the peace accords between Israel and the UAE.

Donald Trump launches 50 point 2nd term agenda called 'Fighting for you!'

If you are looking for a pre-highlights reel of what we can expect from Donald Trump’s speeches at the RNC this week – he is expected to appear to some extent every night – then you can get the gist from last night’s Trump team press release on the “Trump’s 2nd term agenda: fighting for you!”. They say:

Building on the incredible achievements of president Donald J. Trump’s first term in office, the president’s re-election campaign today released a set of core priorities for a second term under the banner of “Fighting for You!” President Trump’s boundless optimism and certainty in America’s greatness is reflected in his second-term goals and stands in stark contrast to the gloomy vision of America projected by Joe Biden and Democrats.

There’s scant enough detail, it is a list of 50 bullet points headed by sections like “Jobs”, “Eradicate Covid-19”, “End our reliance on China”, “Defend the police” and “Drain the swamp”.

Key promises include:

  • Create 10 million new jobs in 10 months
  • Cut taxes to boost take-home pay and keep jobs in America
  • No federal contracts for companies who outsource to China
  • Drain the globalist swamp by taking on international organizations that hurt American citizens
  • Fully fund and hire more police and law enforcement officers
  • Prosecute drive-by shootings as acts of domestic terrorism
  • Bring violent extremist groups like Antifa to justice
  • End sanctuary cities to restore our neighborhoods and protect our families
  • Launch Space Force, establish permanent manned presence on the moon and send the first manned mission to Mars
  • Continue to lead the world in access to the cleanest drinking water and cleanest air
  • Stop endless wars and bring our troops home
  • Wipe out global terrorists who threaten to harm Americans

On Covid-19, Trump promises to develop a vaccine by the end of 2020, “return to normal in 2021”, and “hold China fully accountable for allowing the virus to spread around the world”.

There’s not going to be any objections to any of this policy platform at the RNC, who have voted to re-adopt their 2016 policy platform rather than formulate a new one.

In a resolution they say that this is partly due to Covid-19 restrictions on the convention. The party “did not want a small contingent of delegates formulating a new platform without the breadth of perspectives within the ever-growing Republican movement”

They also rather pointedly say:

The media has outrageously misrepresented the implications of the RNC not adopting a new platform in 2020 and continues to engage in misleading advocacy for the failed policies of the Obama-Biden Administration, rather than providing the public with unbiased reporting of facts.

Well, that’s me told.

You can read it all here: Trump campaign announces president trump’s 2nd term agenda: fighting for you!

And the RNC resolution and 2016 policy platform can be found here.

It might be faint, but Daniel Strauss reports for us how there is some hope that Barbara Bollier, a state senator and physician, might just pull off an unlikely win for the Democratic party in deep-red Kansas.

Bollier has proved to be a formidable fundraiser and, in an interview with the Guardian, described how she plans to attract independents and Republicans in Kansas in the general election against an establishment Republican candidate, the US congressman Roger Marshall.

“What I want to highlight is the fact that as a physician, as a current legislator, I am an independent voice and work hard to listen to the people and bring their ideas and needs forward in a bipartisan fashion, cooperating and working together,” Bollier said.

Bollier left the Republican party in 2018. She said she had grown dissatisfied with the party’s opposition to Medicaid expansion and record on balancing budgets. She said that those priorities “are still in place with me but they were not being followed by the Republican leadership in this state”.

Read it here: Meet the Republican-turned-Democrat who could flip a Senate seat in Kansas

The next round of the row over the funding and performance of the United States Postal Service (USPS) will take place in Washington today, as Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testifies to House oversight committee on postal service operations and mail-in voting. As CNN put it:

DeJoy is expected to face pointed questions from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee about the changes implemented since he took over atop the Postal Service in June, which Democrats charge have led to unacceptable delays and put at risk the Postal Service’s handling of mail-in ballots in November.

DeJoy testified before the GOP-led Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Friday, where he was pressed by Democrats and Republican alike about delays in the mail that lawmakers have heard about across the country. But he’s likely to face a far more hostile reception in the House, where 90 Democrats called for DeJoy’s removal last week, including many committee members.

For their part, Democrats are vexed that DeJoy doesn’t intend to reverse cuts that have already been made, and are curious as to what role treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin has played in the saga. The Republicans, on the other hand, have tried to portray the crisis as manufactured by the Democratic party. We’ll have a live video feed of DeJoy’s appearance on the blog later on.

Read it here: CNN – DeJoy back in the hot seat testifying before House panel

Donald K. Sherman, deputy director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), has written an op-ed for NBC this morning: Trump’s 2020 election transition plan is a bit of a mystery. Here’s why that’s alarming

He writes that getting details of the preparations the administration is making this year has been fraught with difficulties.

Trump had a notoriously chaotic transition to start his first term — and that chaos had consequences. A 2017 congressional report found that the “Trump Transition Team consistently ignored advice from the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) - resulting in ethical crises that extended beyond the transition period into the Trump presidency.”

According to CREW’s calculations, Trump’s failure to heed OGE’s advice to divest from his business has led to more than 3,300 conflicts of interest related to the Trump Organization. Obtaining OGE communications about the “critical milestones” for presidential transition in 2021 would reveal whether the Trump administration is following OGE’s guidance this time around.

Read it here: Donald K. Sherman – Trump’s 2020 election transition plan is a bit of a mystery. Here’s why that’s alarming

There’s going to be a lot of focus this week on the fringe elements of the Republican party that increasingly seem to be creeping into the mainstream – the rightwing Republicans who promote QAnon and conspiracy theories about Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter. Adam Gabbatt reports for us:

There are few Republicans willing to condemn Laura Loomer, an Islamophobe and conspiracy theorist, and the other Trump extremists – and those who will go on the record tend to be on their way out of the party.

“I’ve always said we need a big tent party. I just didn’t think it would turn into a carnival tent,” Republican congressman Denver Riggleman, who was defeated by a far-right challenger in his Virginia GOP primary race earlier this year, told the Hill. “Candidates like this really actually hurt our profile, because it overshadows the great work that’s being done by legitimate members.”

But the condemnation is sparse. Republicans in office are well aware of Trump’s vengeance should they speak out against him.

Read it here: Wave of extremist Republicans run for office, many with Trump’s blessing

Former Republican members of congress to launch 'Republicans for Biden' on opening day of RNC

Fox News this morning have an exclusive that former Arizona senator Jeff Flake is joining over two-dozen former Republican members of Congress to launch ‘Republicans for Biden’, on the day that the RNC opens.

A Biden campaign official told Fox News the endorsements are a “strong rebuke” of Trump and his administration. An official said:

These former members of Congress cited Trump’s corruption, destruction of democracy, blatant disregard for moral decency, and urgent need to get the country back on course as a reason why they support Biden. These former members of Congress are supporting Joe Biden because they know what’s at stake in this election and that Trump’s failures as president have superseded partisanship

Flake is expected to make a statement later today.

Read it here: Fox News – Jeff Flake joins over two-dozen former GOP members of Congress to launch ‘Republicans for Biden’

There’s been unrest in Portland again, where police declared a riot after a fire set by protestors burned an awning at a police precinct in the city.

Police ordered demonstrators to clear the area, saying that rocks and glass bottles had been thrown at officers, as well as lasers pointed their direction. An unlawful assembly had been declared before the gathering was deemed a riot.

According to local reports, more than 300 protesters had marched to the precinct from a park, chanting several things including the name of Jacob Blake, the man identified as being shot by a police officer in Kenosha on Sunday. The fire was quickly extinguished.

Over the weekend Portland had seen violent clashes at a “Back the blue” counter-protest to the Black Lives Matter movement which has been campaigning for racial justice for 88 consecutive days in Oregon’s largest city.

Back the Blue Protest in Portland yesterday
Back the Blue Protest in Portland yesterday Photograph: Cole Howard/REX/Shutterstock

Here’s a little bit more on that police officer-involved shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which has sparked protests overnight. Local media have identified the man shot as Jacob Blake, who is currently in a “serious condition at a Milwaukee-area hospital”. Reports state:

More than 60 people were gathered following the shooting at the scene with several saying that the Black man was trying to break up a verbal altercation between two women shortly after 5pm

At least a half dozen witnesses said that the man had tried to break up a fight between the two women outside a home at 2805 40th St. and that police had attempted to use a Taser on the man prior to the shooting. Then, they heard at least seven gunshots ring out.

Witnesses said he was unarmed and shot in the back.

In this image made from video, protesters gather near the site of a police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin
In this image made from video, protesters gather near the site of a police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin Photograph: WDJT-TV/AP

Local media are also reporting that a police officer has been injured in the unrest that followed the shooting.

Hours after Blake was shot at close range by a Kenosha Police officer, a different law enforcement officer in Kenosha was reportedly hit with a brick during unrest. Video from the scene shows the officer walking next to a police vehicle when the officer suddenly falls to the ground, and multiple other officers move quickly to aid the downed officer. Shouts of “Officer down!” were heard on the police scanner.

A curfew was declared until 7am.

Updated

We’re up for four days of the Republican national convention. Social media may have already had fun with the sheer number of Trumps appearing on the speaker list, but David Smith in Washington has a proper scene-setter for us this morning, about the Republican task ahead of defending the indefensible.

Organisers of the Republicans’ first virtual national convention face an uphill task, and not only because the Democrats’ technically slick version last week is a tough act to follow. They must pitch Trump to the American public during a pandemic that has ripped 170,000 lives from families and communities. In an era of negative partisanship, they will also seek to whip up fears that Democratic nominee Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris pose an existential threat to the American way of life.

“The problem is what the Democrats did last week, and I think did very effectively, is confirm that this election is a referendum on Donald Trump’s presidency,” said Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican national committee. “Trump now has to beat that narrative back and then give them a reason why it’s a choice election between what he’s done – tax cuts, et cetera – and what Biden will do, and I just don’t get the sense that the voters are going to buy that.”

Read it here: ‘Four days to defend the indefensible’: Republicans seek to sell Trump to the nation again

Good morning and welcome to today’s coverage of US politics on the day that the Republican national convention (RNC) gets under way. Here’s a catch-up on where we are, and a little of what me might see later on.

  • Donald Trump and Mike Pence will be officially nominated for the election this morning. In the evening, RNC speakers include Donald Trump Jr and his partner Kimberly Guilfoyle, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina congressman Tim Scott, Louisiana congressman Steve Scalise, and the St Louis couple who went viral on social media after they pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters, and are now facing charges.
  • Kellyanne Conway has announced that she is to leave the Trump White House at the end of month. The president’s adviser cited the need to focus on her family, who have been embroiled in some social media controversy. Her husband, George Conway, has also announced he is stepping down from his role at the Lincoln Project, which is working to defeat Trump in November.
  • There are protests in Wisconsin after video emerges which appears to show police shooting a black man in the back. Kenosha police said one person was left in a serious condition in hospital after a shooting by officers about 5pm on Sunday, as police were responding to a “domestic incident”.
  • A riot has been declared again in Portland, Oregon. Police used tear gas on a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters after a fire was lit at a police precinct building.
  • Sunday’s figures showed at least 446 new coronavirus deaths and 32,340 new cases of Covid-19 in the US. The total number of cases is now over 5.7m. Iowa, South Dakota and Illinois continue to show rises.
  • Joe Biden and Kamala Harris gave their first joint TV interview last night, pushing back on Republican attack lines that they would defund the police, tax middle classes more, and challenges over Biden’s mental capabilities.
  • Twitter hid another of the president’s tweets for breaking its rules on Covid-19 misinformation by appearing to claim you might get the coronavirus from using mail drop boxes to vote. Overnight Trump has again been promoting hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus cure. The FDA cautions against the use of hydroxychloroquine
  • Secretary of state Mike Pompeo is in Jerusalem today as part of a mini-tour of the region which also takes in Sudan, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. He will meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

You can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com

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