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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Lois Beckett in San Francisco (now) and Joan E Greve in Washington (earlier)

'Sharpiegate' controversy deepens as inspector general reportedly launches inquiry – as it happened

Wilbur Ross reportedly threatened firings at Noaa after the agency contradicted the president’s false claim that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama.
Wilbur Ross reportedly threatened firings at Noaa after the agency contradicted the president’s false claim that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP

Summary

We’re closing down our live politics coverage for tonight.

Here’s an updated recap of the day’s events:

  • Trump’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, reportedly threatened firings at a government agency that contradicted the president’s false claim about Hurricane Dorian potentially hitting Alabama. Amid calls for his resignation, Ross’ Commerce Department denied the report. The department’s inspector general is now reportedly launching an inquiry into the incident.
  • At a rally in North Carolina, Trump quipped that he might need an extra term as president because he would otherwise be out of office before the 2026 World Cup. “We told you he’s a dictator, we told you,” Trump said, impersonating his critics. “I’m only kidding,” he said.
  • Trump dismissed Afghanistan peace talks as “dead” after he scrapped a secret (and controversial) plan to meet with Taliban leaders at Camp David.
  • The president cautioned that the United States must be “very careful” about allowing Bahamians affected by Hurricane Dorian into the country, echoing concerns voiced by a senior immigration official earlier today.
  • Democratic officials called on Mitch McConnell to take up a bill expanding background checks that has already passed the House. McConnell said he would talk to Trump Tuesday about what he would support.
  • The US government chose to extract a high-level source in the Russian government in 2017 over concerns that Trump or his administration may compromise the source’s identity, CNN reported.
  • Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, predicted over the weekend that the president’s family would become “a dynasty that will last for decades”.

The US secretary of commerce, Wilbur Ross, is facing calls for his resignation after it was reported that he had threatened to fire senior staff at a federal agency unless they sided publicly with Donald Trump in the rumbling dispute dubbed “Sharpiegate”.

The New York Times, citing three anonymous officials, reported that Ross had called Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), last Friday and warned that heads would roll unless the agency’s disagreement with the US president over the path of Hurricane Dorian was smoothed over.

Trump’s comment about needing an extra term came as he was discussing the World Cup.

Trump told his supporters at a rally in North Carolina that he might need an extra term as president, then mocked the idea that news headlines tomorrow will announce that he said he wants an extra term.

“We told you he’s a dictator, we told you,” Trump said, impersonating his critics.

“I’m only kidding,” he said. “I’m only kidding.”

Just as a Republican congressional candidate had started to speak, Trump paused the rally for several minutes and repeatedly said “thank you” to a doctor presumably assisting an audience member who was unwell.

Then the president quipped, “I guess Dan’s speech wasn’t so good,” referring to Dan Bishop, a Republican congressional candidate the president had flown to North Carolina to support.

Congressional candidate Dan Bishop started to speak after Trump, but as stopped speaking as members of the crowd started calling for a doctor to help someone in the audience who is unwell. President Trump also echoed their calls for a doctor.

“Four more years!” Trump supporters are chanting as the President speaks in North Carolina to support Republican Congressional candidate Dan Bishop in advance of a special election tomorrow.

Trump’s speech revisited familiar themes: the idea that the news media and the Democratic party are both enemies that he has to fight, the strength of the economy, the necessity of building a wall on the United States’ border with Mexico, and the supposed dangers of “sanctuary city” policies.

“The state should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not for criminal aliens,” Trump said.

The Commerce Department’s inspector general is now looking int a statement NOAA put out last week in the midst of a controversy over President Trump’s hurricane tweet, the New York Times is reporting.

Earlier, the Commerce Department made a statement denying that commerce secretary Wilbur Ross threatened to fire NOAA officials, as the Times had reported.

I’m still listening to 2020 Democratic candidate and Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan’s newly-launched “policy album” on Spotify. On track 7 now. There is no music, there are not even any sound effects. It’s just Ryan’s voice, for “track” after “track.”

Why.

Update: I could not force myself to listen to this entire “album.”

I stopped after “Track 8: Gun Control,” in which Ryan described himself as a “leader” on gun violence prevention (he is not), but did not mention his previous A rating from the National Rifle Association, or his decision in 2017 to give roughly $20,000, the amount he received in political contributions from the NRA, to gun control groups.

Updated

The US Air Force is officially announcing a review of where it places air crews during overnight stop overs, following questions about stop overs at a Trump-owned luxury resort in Scotland, the New York Times’ Eric Lipton reports.

Tim Ryan, a Democratic congressman from Ohio and 2020 presidential primary contender, has released a “policy album” on Spotify with ten “tracks.”

1. Intro
2. Education
3. Climate Change
4. Regenerative Agriculture
5. Healthcare
6. College Affordability
7. New Industrial Policy
8. Gun Control
9. Immigration
10. Outro

I am listening to these “tracks,” and I will let you know if I hear any music, or anything other than Tim Ryan talking which is....not an album.

Track 2, education, includes Ryan talking about the way that childhood trauma affects kids’ brains and their ability to learn.

Ryan, who is married to an elementary school teacher, also says that he wants a salad bar and a garden in every school in America.

The Commerce Department is denying a New York Times report that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatened to fire top employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last week in the midst of the “Sharpiegate” controversy.

Ross’s threat to fire officials at NOAA, which is a division of the Commerce Department, came after the agency’s Birmingham office publicly contradicted President Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama, the Times reported, citing “three people familiar with the discussion.”

Meanwhile, citing the New York Times report, the Sierra Club is calling on Ross to resign.

“This shameless abuse of power could have devastating results now and in the future, demonstrating that Ross is unfit to continue in the cabinet and that he does not care that he is supposed to represent the American public above Trump’s fragile ego,” Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in a statement, The Hill reported.

What gun control measures might President Trump actually support? Republican Congressional leaders will discuss this with him tomorrow, NBC News reports:

This is Lois Beckett in our west coast office picking up our live politics coverage.

Donald Trump is en route to a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where he is expected to speak after 7pm Eastern Time.

If you need a brief break from American political news today, I recommend my colleague Vivian Ho’s feature on the Internet’s obsession with “chonky cats”, and the subsequent anxiety about the health of these Insta-famous feline chonk stars. Should all the chonky cats really be on diets?

Watching my colleague factcheck the chonkiness of the cats she was profiling was a master class in journalistic excellence. As Vivian put it:

Updated

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Trump dismissed Afghanistan peace talks as “dead” after he scrapped a secret (and controversial) plan to meet with Taliban leaders at Camp David.
  • The president cautioned that the United States must be “very careful” about allowing Bahamians affected by Hurricane Dorian into the country, echoing concerns voiced by a senior immigration official earlier today.
  • Those two comments came as part of Trump’s “chopper talk” before departing for North Carolina, where he is holding a campaign rally for the special congressional race happening there tomorrow.
  • Trump’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, reportedly threatened firings at a government agency that contradicted the president’s false claim about Hurricane Dorian potentially hitting Alabama.
  • Democratic officials called on Mitch McConnell to take up a bill expanding background checks that has already passed the House.
  • The US government chose to extract a high-level source in the Russian government in 2017 over concerns that Trump or his administration may compromise the source’s identity, CNN reported.
  • Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, predicted over the weekend that the president’s family would become “a dynasty that will last for decades”.

Lois will have more on the news of the day, so stay tuned.

Updated

The husband of Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate, appears to be seeking a divorce.

Sarah Palin and her husband Todd wave as they leave the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in 2008.
Sarah Palin and her husband Todd wave as they leave the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in 2008. Photograph: Ted S Warren/AP

The AP reports:

The papers, which provide only initials, were filed Friday by TMP against SLP. Todd Palin’s middle name is Mitchell and Sarah Palin’s middle name is Louise.

The documents say the couple married on 29 August 1988 – the same as the Palins. Birthdates for the two also correspond.

The documents say the couple has a minor child identified as TPVP who was born 18 April 2008. The Palins’ youngest child, Trig Paxson Van Palin, was born that day.

Palin ran alongside the late senator John McCain in 2008, but the pair lost to Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The former Alaska governor later became one of Trump’s first major endorsers in 2016.

Trump on canceling Taliban talks: 'I took my own advice'

More from that “chopper talk” a bit ago: Trump waved away reports that officials like Mike Pence and John Bolton had advised him against holding Taliban peace talks at Camp David.

“I took my own advice,” Trump said of scrapping the secret plan. “We had a meeting scheduled. It was my idea, and it was my idea to terminate it. I didn’t even ... I didn’t discuss it with anybody else.”

Trump added he had unilaterally decided to cancel the talks after an American soldier was killed by a Taliban suicide bomb last week. He declared the peace talks to be now “dead.”

The president has often bristled at any suggestion that a member of his administration, even the vice president, may know better than him. But it would be pretty remarkable if he consulted with no one before canceling the unprecedented talks.

Updated

Eight Democratic presidential candidates, including Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren, appeared in a video for the gun-control group Giffords.

The group is launching a video series it’s calling the Gun Safety President campaign to highlight candidates’ stances on the issue.

“We can continue with the corrupt leadership of Donald Trump, who has taken millions from the NRA while opposing gun safety policies — or we can forge a new path and elect a gun safety president who’s willing to stand up to the gun lobby and protect our kids and communities from gun violence,” said former representative Gabby Giffords, the group’s namesake who was shot at a constituent event in 2011.

The video was released the same day that Democratic lawmakers held an event calling on the Senate to pass a bill expanding background checks to all gun purchases.

Commerce secretary reportedly threatened firings for contradicting Trump's false hurricane claim

Just when we thought we could put Sharpiegate behind us, a report has emerged that Trump’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, threatened firings at the NOAA after the agency contradicted the president’s false claim that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama.

The New York Times reports:

That threat led to an unusual, unsigned statement later that Friday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration disavowing the office’s own position that Alabama was not at risk. The reversal caused widespread anger within the agency and drew criticism from the scientific community that NOAA, a division of the Commerce Department, had been bent to political purposes. ...

Mr. Ross phoned Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator of NOAA, from Greece where the secretary was traveling for meetings and instructed Dr. Jacobs to fix the agency’s perceived contradiction of the president.

Dr. Jacobs objected to the demand and was told that the political staff at NOAA would be fired if the situation was not fixed, according to the three individuals, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the episode.

Trump warns US must be 'very careful' about admitting Bahamians affected by hurricane

More from Trump’s “chopper talk” before leaving for his North Carolina rally: the president warned that the US must be “very careful” about allowing Bahamians affected by Hurricane Dorian into the country.

“We have to be very careful,” Trump said. “Everyone needs totally proper documentation...I don’t want to allow people who weren’t supposed to be in the Bahamas to come into the United States, including some very bad people.”

Trump’s acting Customs and Border Patrol chief, Mark Morgan, was vague earlier today when asked about admitting Bahamians into the country. He said the administration would work to expedite humanitarian entry requests from those affected by the hurricane but seemed hesitant about granting Bahamians Temporary Protected Status.

Morgan’s comments came after dozens of Bahamians were reportedly kicked off a Florida-bound ferry because they didn’t have proper visas to visit the United States.

Democrats say Trump offered assurances he would pass the 'strongest possible bill'

The Democratic lawmakers’ gun-control event has just ended, and they concluded by emphasizing it was the responsibility of Mitch McConnell and Trump to act.

“Our first job is to get Leader McConnell to put this on the floor,” Schumer said.

Asked why he was confident that Congress could pass gun legislation now when it’s failed so many times before, Schumer replied that it was “a different era.” “Never have we had 93 percent of American people for background checks,” the Senate minority leader said of the strong public support for HR8.

Schumer added that Trump has been “all over the lot” when it comes to whether he would support expanding background checks. “But the pressure is not going away,” Schumer said.

Nancy Pelosi said Trump was initially enthusiastic about calling the Senate back to pass HR8, but she now fears that was just an attempt to “defang” the pressure around gun control after the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.

But the House speaker stressed: “We’re not going to let the subject be changed or diminished in any way.”

Schumer noted that Trump initially told him he wanted the “strongest possible bill” after those mass shootings, a sentiment the president also apparently shared with senator Sherrod Brown.

Veronica Escobar, the Democratic congresswoman who represents El Paso, said at the gun-control event that her constituents have asked her why leaders like Mitch McConnell have not “felt our pain.”

Escobar angrily pointed out that the background checks bill, HR8, could have prevented another shooting in her home state, in Odessa, Texas.

Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat of Michigan, noted that it has been over six months since the House passed HR8, yet the Senate has not acted.

Dayton mayor demands up-or down vote on background checks bill

Nancy Pelosi took the podium at the gun-control event, echoing Chuck Schumer’s demand that the Senate take up HR8, which would expand background checks to all gun sales.

The House speaker then introduced the Democrats’ star guest, Dayton mayor Nan Whaley.

Just a month after the tragic shooting in her city, Whaley listed the other shootings that have taken place across America since February. She then called on the Senate to take an up-or-down vote on the background checks bill.

Before handing the microphone to senator Sherrod Brown, Whaley emphasized how many Americans support expanding background checks. “I don’t know anything that 9 out of 10 Americans agree on except HR8,” Whaley said.

Schumer addresses Trump directly, calling on Senate to pass background checks bill

Democratic officials have started their event calling on the Senate to take up HR8, a bill that would enforce background checks for all gun purchases.

“Enough is enough,” said Chuck Schumer, arguing that passing HR8 should be the first order of business in the Senate now that lawmakers have returned to Capitol Hill after the August recess.

The Senate minority leader then directly called on Trump to back the bill, noting that Mitch McConnell has said he will not act until he has the president’s approval.

“President Trump, this bill is common sense,” Schumer said. “The time to act is now.”

Trump dismisses Afghanistan peace talks as 'dead'

Chopper talk strikes again! Leaving the White House to travel to North Carolina for his campaign rally, Trump said peace talks with the Taliban were “dead” after the secret Camp David plan fell apart.

The president specifically cited the recent death of an American solider in Afghanistan as a reason to distrust the Taliban.

Pence slams 'Fake News' after Taliban peace talks report

The vice president has similarly slammed the media for reporting that he, along with Trump’s national security adviser, opposed the president’s secret plan to hold peace talks with the Taliban at Camp David.

A Washington Post reporter noted that the tweet was unusual for Pence, who generally avoids specifically calling out the media:

But NBC News’ report on Pence’s opposition to the proposal did note that the vice president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Updated

Memo to United Nations: It’s just two weeks to the UN General Assembly at that body’s HQ in New York - the annual spectacle featuring world leaders doing sideline deals and taking it in turns to pontificate publicly in front of a weird green marble block.

UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, has installed a sobering reminder, as kids worldwide return to school after the summer, of the devastating scale of child deaths in conflict zones in 2018 - 3,758 backpacks stood in rows reminiscent of a cemetery, each one representing the loss of a young life to war.

The piece of political art was installed yesterday and runs through tomorrow, after which the backpacks will be used by children.

“Unicef backpacks have always been a symbol of hope and childhood possibility,” said the agency’s Henrietta Fore in a media release.

“In just two weeks, world leaders gathering at the UN General Assembly will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This installation should remind them of the stakes.”

According to the 2019 Annual Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, more than 12,000 children were killed or maimed in conflict zones last year – the highest total since the UN started reporting the numbers. These only count verified incidents – the actual numbers are likely to be much higher, Unicef estimates, with more than a quarter of the total being killed.

Fall-out is ongoing today from Donald Trump’s revelation this weekend that he had been planning to talk to Taliban leaders face to face (oh, and as an apparent afterthought, also Afghanistan’s president Ashraf Ghani) at Camp David in a hitherto secret meeting - that was then canceled. So it will remain to be seen how that all plays at the UNGA. Afghan children have suffered terribly during the long conflict there.

Thousands of Unicef school backpacks are laid out in an installation on the north lawn of the United Nations to illustrate the scale of child deaths in world conflicts in 2018
Thousands of Unicef school backpacks are laid out in an installation on the north lawn of the United Nations to illustrate the scale of child deaths in world conflicts in 2018 Photograph: Craig Ruttle/AP

Updated

Here’s Donald (again)…

The president is back online, with a tweeted repudiation of stories about how the plan to invite the Taliban to Camp David came about and fell apart, and therefore yet another taste of his oft-tweeted repudiation of the American mainstream press. Viz:

As we noted earlier, NBC News reported today that Vice-President Mike Pence and national security adviser John Bolton, two key administration figures, were against the idea of inviting the Taliban for peace talks on US soil, particularly in the week of the anniversary of the attacks of 11 September 2001, in which the Taliban was complicit.

Trump initially proceeded with the plan, before surprising the world by announcing its abandonment on Sunday.

Secretary of state Mike Pompeo spent Sunday morning defending the peace effort in Afghanistan on the talk shows, but said all such talks were off the table for now.

On Monday, Trump duly had his own say, denying he overruled “the VP and various advisers on a potential Camp David meeting with the Taliban”.

Trump also called “much of the media … simply an arm of the Democrat party” and, of course, heralded his own leadership of a country in no way facing or worried about recession…

Trump then saluted the efforts of US troops in Afghanistan, where they have been fighting since late 2001, and in there response to the death of an American soldier in Kabul last week, in a car bomb explosion.

We have been serving as policemen in Afghanistan, and that was not meant to be the job of our Great Soldiers, the finest on earth. Over the last four days, we have been hitting our Enemy harder than at any time in the last ten years!

Here’s world affairs editor Julian Borger’s more considered take on the affair of the Taliban talks that weren’t…

Updated

Morgan’s press briefing has concluded. The acting Customs and Border Patrol chief touched on a variety of topics, from the possibility of offering Bahamians Temporary Protected Status to immigration apprehension numbers last month.

He repeatedly echoed Trump’s talking points, such as arguing for the necessity of a border wall and slamming judges who have blocked some of his policies.

Morgan clarified that there hasn’t been any “formal grant” of Temporary Protected Status for all Bahamians affected by Hurricane Dorian.

He has instead emphasized that CBP would work to expedite Bahamians’ visa requests for humanitarian reasons.

On another note, Morgan appeared to dodge a question about whether he agrees with Trump’s reported preference to paint the wall black.

Morgan said Bahamians struggling with the effects of Hurricane Dorian would be allowed into the United States on “humanitarian reasons,” but he stressed he would continue to observe US policies about denying entry to those with criminal histories, for example.

The comments came after dozens of Bahamians were kicked off a Florida-bound ferry because they did not have visas to travel to the US.

Morgan appears open to allowing more Bahamians entry to the country, but he also seems to be giving himself a lot of wiggle room to block some people from doing so.

Morgan was asked about the US offering Temporary Protected Status to Bahamian residents who are grappling with the effects of Hurricane Dorian.

The acting CBP chief said he would consider such a measure, but he emphasized the agency would not turn a “blind eye” to immigration procedures in reaction to the disaster.

He added, “We would not support returning people to a place it’s not safe to be.”

Morgan emphasizes the importance of a 'wall system'

This is interesting. In addition to repeating Trump’s false claim that the border wall is already being built, Morgan keeps emphasizing the importance of a “wall system.”

He has specifically cited improved lighting and access roads along the border as a means of enhancing immigration enforcement.

But Trump has repeatedly promised he would build a physical wall along the southern border. Could this signal a shift?

Morgan deflected questions about concerns over how the border wall will be paid for, including by deflecting funds for dozens of military construction projects.

Morgan said that wall funding was a “political” issue and thus did not concern him, although he noted he had confidence in the secretary of defense. He said Mark Esper would not approve diverting funds unless he thought it was in the country’s best interest.

He also argued that the southern border represented a national security crisis, justifying the use of the diverted funds.

Morgan echoes Trump's call for a wall

Trump’s acting CBP commissioner echoed the president’s demands for a wall along the US-Mexico border, claiming experts have backed up the effectiveness of such a measure.

“It works,” Morgan said of a wall. “The experts say it works. The experts have asked for this.”

He also commended the Trump administration’s work on the issue and called for Congress to act to close immigration “loopholes.” In short, Morgan is following through on a key reason why Trump appointed him, as an Axios reporter noted.

Morgan noted the number of August apprehensions represented a 56-percent decrease since the 144,255 apprehensions in May.

Morgan has taken the podium at the White House and is addressing the “unprecedented crisis at the southern border.”

He noted that Customs and Border Patrol apprehended 64,000 undocumented migrants at the US-Mexico border last month.

The acting commissioner of Customs and Border Patrol, Mark Morgan, will soon speak at a White House press briefing. (Morgan was originally scheduled to take the podium at 12:30 p.m. E.T., but that was pushed back to 1.)

Morgan will likely be asked about his agency’s decision not to change travel protocols for Bahamian visitors to the United States as the country recovers from Hurricane Dorian. Dozens of Bahamians were kicked off a Florida-bound ferry last night after it was announced they would still need a visa to travel to the US.

Morgan defended the policy in a pair of tweets yesterday:

Discussion intensifies over whether Trump's family will become a political 'dynasty'

Discussion has intensified recently around a core question in TrumpWorld: which of the president’s children, if any, will prove to be his political successor?

Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, predicted over the weekend that the president’s family would become “a dynasty that will last for decades.”

Obviously, the president’s eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, has a head start as the only one of his children serving as a senior White House adviser.

But more recently, Donald Trump Jr has built a loyal following of his own as the president’s eldest son goes around the country to enthusiastically campaign for Republican candidates.

The Atlantic reports:

By November 2018, Don had appeared at more than 70 campaign events across 17 states—and powerful Republicans were abuzz. ... Notably, many of these Republicans seemed less enthusiastic about his sister. ...

None of this newfound excitement about Don seemed to rub off on the president, however. People close to Trump told me he remained enchanted by the idea of Ivanka as the inheritor of his political legacy. ...

On a steamy June evening, Trump officially launched his bid for reelection with a raucous rally in Orlando. This time, Ivanka and Jared sat in the audience, while Don—the president’s most skilled warm-up act—strutted across the stage to fervid applause. ... While no one knew when Donald Trump would exit the White House, it was clear what he would leave behind when he did: an angry, paranoid scrap of the country eager to buy what he was hawking—and an heir who knew how to keep the con alive.

Trump is still attracting criticism for planning and then scrapping secret peace talks with the Taliban at Camp David, a proposal that even divided his closest advisers.

The vice president, Mike Pence, was among those who opposed the idea. NBC News reports:

The idea raised Sept. 1 during a Situation Room meeting with the president was vehemently opposed by national security adviser John Bolton, even as officials at the State Department argued it could move the parties closer to an agreement, officials said.

Bolton had an ally in Vice President Mike Pence, who also made the case against a meeting at Camp David, a location Trump suggested, officials said. Bolton and Pence were in Warsaw together around the time of the internal discussions. ...

Among the concerns of administration officials who opposed the meeting was that it might take place around the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the officials and people familiar with the matter said. Pence argued at one point that such a meeting could send the wrong message to members of the U.S. military who have fought — and been killed by — the Taliban for years, one senior administration official said.

Pence has usually fallen in step with the president’s way of thinking, so his opposition in this case is notable. But what may be more notable is that Trump overruled Pence — siding instead with his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo — before ultimately canceling the proposed talks.

Trump has just wrapped up a ceremony to award the Medal of Valor and Heroic Commendations to officers and civilians who aided victims in the El Paso and Dayton shootings.

The event comes just hours before Democratic leaders will hold an event to call on the Senate to pass a bill expanding background checks.

Multiple officials from cities that have experienced shootings, including the mayor of Dayton and the congresswoman who represents El Paso, are expected to participate.

Trump left the event without taking any questions from reporters.

Valerie Plame, the former CIA officer whose identity was famously leaked in 2003, has released the first ad for her congressional campaign in New Mexico.

Plame announced back in May that she would run as a Democrat to succeed Ben Ray Luján, the House Democrat who is forgoing re-election to run for the Senate.

Plame’s outing as a CIA official touched off a scandal in George W. Bush’s administration that ultimately resulted in the conviction of Scooter Libby, a former top aide to Dick Cheney. Libby was pardoned by Trump last year.

It has become quite apparent that Trump’s tweets have affected global markets. And now one of the largest US banks has come up with a system to measure that effect.

CNBC reports:

In an attempt to quantify the impact of Trump’s tweets on the bond market, J.P. Morgan devised a ‘Volfefe Index’ to analyze how the president’s tweets are influencing volatility in U.S. interest rates.

J.P. Morgan found that the index, named after Trump’s infamous and still mysterious ‘covfefe’ tweet, explains a measurable fraction of the moves in implied rate volatility for 2-year and 5-year Treasurys. ...

Out of about 4,000 non-retweets occurring during market hours from 2018 to the present, only 146 moved the market.

The White House had no comment on the creation of the “Volfefe Index,” but Trump, who has previously been very sensitive to criticisms from business leaders, can’t be pleased.

US government chose to extract covert source from Russian government over Trump concerns report says

The US government decided to extract a covert source from inside the Russian government in 2017, partly over concerns that Trump or his administration may compromise the source’s identity, according to a CNN report.

CNN reports:

A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy.

The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel.

The disclosure to the Russians by the President, though not about the Russian spy specifically, prompted intelligence officials to renew earlier discussions about the potential risk of exposure, according to the source directly involved in the matter.

Trump quickly lashed out against CNN, although without explicitly referencing the report:

And a former senior CIA official underscored the gravity of the report:

Treasury secretary: Trump's trade war hasn't impacted the economy

Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary who has repeatedly engaged in so-far unsuccessful negotiations with Chinese officials to cool trade tensions, is adopting a “nothing to see here, folks” attitude about the tariffs’ impact on the US economy.

Mnuchin told Fox Business that the Trump administration has “not yet seen any impact on the U.S. economy” stemming from the president’s trade war, adding that there are “no signs” of a looming recession.

The treasury secretary also voiced optimism about the trade talks resuming next month. “They’re coming here. I take that as a sign of good faith that they want to continue to negotiate, and we’re prepared to negotiate,” Mnuchin said of his Chinese counterparts.

But Mnuchin’s cheery tone is somewhat undercut by the administration’s own actions on the trade war. For example, Trump has signed off on billions of dollars in subsidies to farmers affected by China’s retaliatory targeting of US agricultural goods. And yet the president has shown no sign of backing down. Mnuchin will have his work cut out for him next month.

Nearly 9 in 10 Americans support expanding background checks and red-flaw laws

A new poll confirms what has been repeatedly shown in recent years: the overwhelming majority of Americans want tougher gun laws.

According to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, 89 percent of Americans support universal background checks, and 86 percent back red flag laws, which would allow law enforcement to take guns from someone deemed dangerous by a judge.

But what’s more surprising is the support that more strict proposals, like an assault weapons ban, attract. A majority of Americans, 56 percent, say they support a ban on military-style assault weapons, and 52 percent support a mandatory buyback program for assault weapons.

Those policies have notoriously been the third rail for the Democratic Party since a number of House Democrats lost their seats after supporting an assault weapons ban in 1994. The poll may signal that public attitudes on those policies are changing, even if congressional inaction isn’t changing along with them.

The Democratic-controlled House has already passed a bill to expand background checks, but Mitch McConnell has not taken it up for a vote, and Trump has pledged to veto it. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are holding an event late today to call on the Senate to pass the bill, but McConnell will almost certainly remain obstinate unless Trump gives him the go-ahead signal.

Trump denies involvement in government officials staying at his properties

Trump is on a tweeting tear this morning. He has now weighed in on a Politico report that the Air Force is investigating why flights in recent months have refueled at a small airport near Trump’s Scotland resort as government personnel stayed at the property.

He also again denied he had anything to do with the vice president, Mike Pence, staying at his golf club in Ireland. (But Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, previously said Trump made a “suggestion” to stay there during an official government trip.)

Politico has more on the Air Force investigation:

The review comes as additional instances of military personnel staying at Trump properties have been uncovered. The C-17 crew’s overnight stay at Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland earlier this year, first reported by POLITICO on Friday, was not an isolated incident.

In September 2018, on its way back to the U.S. from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a unit of the Maine Air National Guard landed at Prestwick Airport, the airport closest to Trump’s luxury waterfront resort. The crew and their passengers then spent the night at his hotel, according to one person who was present, an Instagram post and a voucher detailing the crew’s itinerary reviewed by POLITICO.

The Air Force did not immediately respond to questions about that September stay, but Air Force Brig. Gen. Ed Thomas, the chief spokesman, told POLITICO in a statement that ‘initial reviews indicate that aircrew transiting through Scotland adhered to all guidance and procedures.’

He acknowledged, however, that U.S. service members ‘lodging at higher-end accommodations, even if within government rates, might be allowable but not advisable. Therefore, we are reviewing all associated guidance.’

Trump’s own stays at his properties, most notably Mar-a-Lago, have previously raised concerns that he is trying to profit off his presidency. And the latest news from the Air Force will certainly only give House Democrats more fuel for their investigations into how Trump’s businesses have benefited from his position.

Trump criticized for planning (and scrapping) Taliban talks

Trump is taking heat from all sides for announcing he had planned (and then canceled) secret peace talks with the Taliban at Camp David.

Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar accused Trump of treating foreign policy like “some kind of gameshow.” And Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger dismissed the original plan as a horrible idea.

The New York Times has more on how the talks came together ⁠— and fell apart:

On the Friday before Labor Day, President Trump gathered top advisers in the Situation Room to consider what could be among the profound decisions of his presidency — a peace plan with the Taliban after 18 years of grinding, bloody war in Afghanistan.

The meeting brought to a head a bristling conflict dividing his foreign policy team for months, pitting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo against John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, in a battle for the competing instincts of a president who relishes tough talk but promised to wind down America’s endless wars. ...

Mr. Trump made no decision on the spot, but at some point during the meeting the idea was floated to finalize the negotiations in Washington, a prospect that appealed to the president’s penchant for dramatic spectacle. Mr. Trump suggested that he would even invite President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan, whose government has not been party to the talks, and get him to sign on.

In the days that followed, Mr. Trump came up with an even more remarkable idea — he would not only bring the Taliban to Washington, but to Camp David, the crown jewel of the American presidency. The leaders of a rugged militant organization deemed terrorists by the United States would be hosted in the mountain getaway used for presidents, prime ministers and kings just three days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that led to the Afghan war.

Thus began an extraordinary few days of ad hoc diplomatic wrangling that upended the talks in a weekend Twitter storm. On display were all of the characteristic traits of the Trump presidency — the yearning ambition for the grand prize, the endless quest to achieve what no other president has achieved, the willingness to defy convention, the volatile mood swings and the tribal infighting.

Trump attacks John Legend and Chrissy Teigen

The targets of Trump’s ire extend far beyond politics, even stretching to singer John Legend and his wife, model and Twitter favorite Chrissy Teigen.

Trump signed the First Step Act, meant to reform the US criminal justice system, earlier this year at the urging of everyone from Jared Kushner to Kim Kardashian West.

And apparently the president was irritated that a recent special on US prisons, hosted by NBC News anchor Lester Holt, failed to mention Trump’s contribution to improving the system ... except that the program did mention it.

Teigen had a characteristically, ahem, colorful response to the president.

Trump attacks challenger in advance of North Carolina rally

Good morning, live blog readers!

Congress is back in session today, and leadership in both chambers has its hands full with questions surrounding potential gun legislation and impeachment inquiries. But Donald Trump has once again managed to snatch the spotlight by attacking his newest Republican primary challenger before tonight’s campaign rally in North Carolina.

The presidenton Twitter attacked Mark Sanford, less than a day after the former South Carolina governor and congressman announced he would challenge Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. Sanford lost his own congressional primary last year after Trump endorsed his opponent, who went on to lose her general election in the traditionally Republican district.

Trump doesn’t have much to sweat when it comes to his primary challenges. The Republican Party has done basically everything it can to clear the way for Trump’s nomination.

But the president’s attack may say more about his concerns for a certain other Republican candidate. Trump will travel to North Carolina tonight to hold a rally for Dan Bishop, the Republican running in the special congressional race there. Despite Trump winning the GOP-leaning Ninth District by 11 points in 2016, the race has become a toss-up after the 2018 result was thrown out over allegations of election fraud.

Trump cannot afford to lose North Carolina next year, and a defeat in this race could spell trouble. His attacks on his challengers, along with his repeated tweets endorsing Bishop, may signal he is more nervous than he wants to let on.

Nancy Pelosi gestures during a meeting at the G7 parliaments summit in Brest, France.
Nancy Pelosi gestures during a meeting at the G7 parliaments summit in Brest, France. Photograph: David Vincent/AFP/Getty Images

Here’s what else the blog is keeping its eye on:

  • Trump will award the Medal of Valor and Heroic Commendations before leaving for North Carolina.
  • The acting commissioner of Customs and Border Patrol, Mark Morgan, will hold a White House press briefing at 12:30 p.m. E.T.
  • Democratic lawmakers, including Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, will hold an event at at 3 p.m. E.T. to call on the Senate to take up the background checks bill that has already passed the House.

That’s all still coming up, so stay tuned.

Updated

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