Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Summary
From me and Joan E Greve:
- Donald Trump, speaking to a rally crowd of mostly unmasked supporters packed into an airport hangar in Michigan, amped up racist rhetoric. He used a racist term for the coronavirus, spoke about the threat to white suburbs, and said Joe Biden, by admitting refugees, plans to “flood” the state with people Syria and Yemen.
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Trump claimed the US is “rounding the final turn” in its coronavirus crisis as the country’s death toll nears 200,000. The president said during a White House press conference today, “We’re rounding the final turn, and a lot of good things are happening.” In reality, at least 191,536 Americans have already died from the virus, representing a far higher death toll than any other country in the world.
- Trump insisted he did not lie to the American people about coronavirus, after journalist Bob Woodard revealed that the president admitted to downplaying the pandemic back in March. During his press conference today, Trump again said he was only trying to keep the public calm, but Woodward reports in his new book that the president acknowledged coronavirus was deadly and airborne back in February, as he publicly dismissed concerns about the virus.
- Joe Biden said Donald Trump “seems to have no conception of what constitutes national security”. In an interview with CNN, the Democratic presidential nominee commented on revelations in Bob Woodward’s upcoming book. Biden expressed concern that Trump revealed the existence of a classified nuclear weapons system in interviews with Woodward.
- Another 884,000 Americans filed first-time claims for unemployment last week. The latest numbers from the labor department, which are nearly identical to the figures from a week before, indicate the US job market is losing steam six months after the start of the pandemic.
- The Republican “skinny” coronavirus relief bill failed to pass the Senate. As expected, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell failed to secure the 60 votes necessary to advance the legislation, leaving no current path forward for a relief package.
- The Los Angeles Times has endorsed Joe Biden for president, noting, “nothing less than the health of our constitutional democracy is at stake”.The newspaper has endorsed the Democratic nominees in all recent elections: choosing Obama in 2008 and Clinton in 2016. California is a reliably blue state.But this year, the Times editorial board writes, the “presidential election confronts voters with the most consequential choice they have faced in decades”.
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Microsoft warned that hackers from Russia, China and Iran have launched unsuccessful attacks on people associated with both major presidential campaigns. “The activity we are announcing today makes clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts targeting the 2020 election as had been anticipated,” Microsoft said in a statement.
- House speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s efforts to downplay the pandemic show his “contempt” for Americans’ health. The Democratic speaker said the president’s comments to Woodward about trying to downplay the seriousness of coronavirus “showed his contempt – contempt for the American people and their health, contempt for science, contempt for any real effort to crush the virus, contempt for his supporters, their children, their parents.”
Updated
A New York Times correspondent was kicked out of the Trump rally.
First for me: Trump campaign tracked me down from pics i tweeted and escorted me out.
— Kathy Gray (@michpoligal) September 10, 2020
Gray earlier posted pictures of the rally crowd, many of whom were unmasked.
Donald Trump, speaking to a crowd of mostly unmasked supporters packed into an airport hangar, has amped up the racism.
In addition to using a racist term for the coronavirus and making his usual vow to “protect” the suburbs, Trump criticized his opponent Joe Biden’s plan to admit more refugees, saying, “He’s promised to flood your state with refugees from terrorist hotspots like Syria and Yemen.”
There is a significant population of Syrian and Yemeni Americans living in Michigan, many of whom live in Dearbon – just 30 minutes away from Freeland, where Trump is speaking.
Updated
Donald Trump is holding a rally in Michigan tonight.
As has become common practice amid the pandemic, Trump supporters have been packed into an event held in an airport hangar. Here’s the scene:
What pandemic? pic.twitter.com/vHY0t4H37o
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) September 10, 2020
"Macho Man" is playing as Trump arrives in Michigan.
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) September 10, 2020
Macho, macho man
I gotta be a macho man
Macho, macho man (yeah, yeah)
I gotta be a macho
Body, body, it's so hot, my body
Body, love to pop my body
Body, love to please my body
Body, don't you tease my body
The scene here in Freeland, Michigan just before Trump takes the stage pic.twitter.com/GyExW645hO
— Jill Colvin (@colvinj) September 10, 2020
Updated
The Afghan government and the Taliban will open peace talks on Saturday, trying to reach a power-sharing deal as American troops leave the country after nearly two decades.
The negotiations to try to end the long civil war were agreed as part of a withdrawal deal that the US signed with the Taliban in February, but have stalled for months over details of a promised prisoner exchange.
After several mass releases of Taliban fighters, the final stumbling block had been six insurgent prisoners held for killing French, Australian and American citizens. Those governments had objected to the men’s release, but agreed a compromise that will see them held under house arrest in Doha. On Thursday they were flown to Qatar, and the start of talks was announced.
The Taliban delegation is headed by the group’s deputy leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who a decade ago was jailed by Pakistani authorities for trying to open peace talks with Afghan authorities. He was released in 2018.
Religious scholar Mawlawi Abdul Hakim Haqqani will also take a senior role in negotiating on behalf of the Taliban and is thought to carry weight with fighters on the ground.
The Afghan government delegation is led by Abdullah Abdullah, who for several years served as “CEO” in a government of national unity under president Ashraf Ghani. His team is a mix of government and opposition figures, with former intelligence chief Masoom Stanekzai serving as chief negotiator.
Any progress is likely to be slow, as the two sides attempt to bridge the gap between the Taliban’s vision of Islamist rule and the democratic system enshrined in the current constitution.
Federal judges block Trump admin from excluding undocumented immigrants from census totals for allocating House seats
A panel of three federal judges blocked the Trump administration on Thursday from excluding undocumented immigrants from the census totals used to determine how many seats in Congress each state gets.
Trump acted unlawfully in July when he ordered the Commerce Department to produce data that would allow him to exclude undocumented immigrants from the count, the panel said. Federal law is clear that only a single data source – the census count of total population – can be used to apportion the 435 seats in the US House among states, the judges wrote. The decennial census does not ask about citizenship status and by requesting a second set of data outside of the decennial census, Trump ran afoul of the law.
“Congress mandated that the president use a specific set of numbers – those produced by the decennial census itself – for purposes of the reapportionment,” the panel wrote. “By deviating from that mandate, the presidential memorandum exceeds the authority of the president.” The three judges who issued the unanimous ruling were US district judge Jesse Furman, an appointee of Barack Obama and appellate judges Peter Hall and Richard Wesley, George W Bush appointees.
The decision, which is likely to be appealed to the US supreme court, is a major legal win for the civil rights and immigration groups, as well as nearly two dozen states and several cities, that challenged the law. The federal government has long included immigrants, regardless of their legal status, in the apportionment count and excluding them was understood as an unmistakable effort to preserve political power for white Americans.
“This is a huge victory for voting rights and for immigrants’ rights. President Trump has tried and failed yet again to weaponize the census against immigrant communities,” said Dale Ho, the director of the Voting Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped represent some of the plaintiffs. “The law is clear – every person counts in the census.”
The ruling is the latest development in an ongoing legal battle over the 2020 census. The US supreme court blocked an effort to add a citizenship question to the decennial survey last year and there are ongoing legal challenges seeking to force the Trump administration to extend the deadline for counting Americans.
Updated
Unprecedented wildfires and rushed evacuations in Oregon have wreaked havoc on the state’s incarcerated population, with thousands now packed into a single overcrowded prison that was already a major Covid-19 hotspot.
A destructive and rapidly spreading fire in Marion county prompted the state to evacuate three prisons on Tuesday, transferring 1,450 people to the Oregon state penitentiary (OSP) in Salem. Evacuees are sleeping on the floor and on emergency beds throughout OSP, including in indoor recreational areas, program rooms and other facilities not typically used for housing.
OSP had more than 2,000 prisoners before the evacuations and has reported at least 143 Covid-19 infections. Authorities admit the cramped conditions at the facility could further spread the virus. Activist are also worried about the impact of smoke on prisoners with respiratory problems.
Family members and advocates told the Guardian problems at the facility were already escalating, with people packed into makeshift sleeping quarters, some struggling to breathe due to smoke, prisoners facing long waits for food, fights breaking out, and continuing confusion and chaos.
The Los Angeles Times has endorsed Joe Biden for president, noting, “nothing less than the health of our constitutional democracy is at stake”.
The newspaper has endorsed the Democratic nominees in all recent elections: choosing Obama in 2008 and Clinton in 2016. California is a reliably blue state.
But this year, the Times editorial board writes, the “presidential election confronts voters with the most consequential choice they have faced in decades, and for many, their lifetimes: between a divisive, authoritarian-leaning incumbent and a seasoned patriot who brings not only five decades of experience, ability and commitment to American values, but also bold ideas at a time of national crisis.”
The endorsement continued: “So stark is the contrast between Donald Trump and Joe Biden that we feel compelled to announce our endorsement of the Democratic nominee a ... before the candidates take part in televised debates.”
“It’s inconceivable that anything that will be said on the debate stage will close the cavernous fitness gap between the two candidates,” the board said.
Beyond being the only viable alternative to Trump this election cycle, the board lauded Biden’s even temperament and his willingness to embrace progressive goals to reform policing, environmental policy and healthcare
Read the endorsement here.
Updated
From Lauren Gambino and David Smith in Washington and Joanna Walters in New York:
Biden has branded Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic “almost criminal” after book revelations that the US president admitted in early February the disease was “deadly stuff” but deliberately played it down.
As the death toll from Covid-19 nears 200,000 in America, the world’s highest, Biden excoriated his opponent in November’s election over the way he did not address the defining crisis of his presidency early and comprehensively.
“He waved the white flag,” Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview scheduled to be aired in full on Thursday afternoon. “He walked away. He didn’t do a damn thing – think about it! And it’s almost criminal.”
Bob Woodward’s new book, Rage, highlights of which were revealed in his newspaper the Washington Post on Wednesday, features 18 interviews with Trump from late 2019 and into the early summer of 2020, covering the start and the peak of the pandemic in the US. Totalling nine hours, the interviews were recorded and are therefore impossible for Trump to deny.
Woodward, a veteran journalist who helped break the Watergate scandal in the 70s that eventually brought down President Richard Nixon, discloses that in early February this year, just as the first infections were emerging in the US, Trump knew the extent of the deadly coronavirus threat.
And the president had been told that it was an airborne disease, and much deadlier than influenza, but he intentionally misled the public by deciding to “play it down”, saying it was under control when it wasn’t and predicting the virus would “disappear”. At the same time he was conceding to Woodward that “this is deadly stuff”.
On 7 February he told Woodward in a phone call: “It goes through the air. That’s always tougher than the touch. You don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”
Joe Biden said Donald Trump “seems to have no conception of what constitutes national security”. In an interview with CNN, the Democratic presidential nominee commented on revelations in Bob Woodward’s upcoming book.
Biden expressed concern that Trump revealed the existence of a classified nuclear weapons system in interviews with Woodward. “This is the guy who said maybe the way to deal with a hurricane is drop a nuclear bomb on them. I mean – seriously, he said it!” Biden said. “I mean, God. Or you know, the problem with the Revolutionary War was they didn’t have enough airports. I mean, I just – it is beyond my comprehension.”
In a roundtable discussion, Kamala Harris also condemned Trump for “reckless disregard of the lives and health and well being” of Americans, after Woodward reported that Trump downplayed the severity of the coronavirus threat.
“There are so many reasons why Joe Biden needs to be elected president of the United States. And if those reasons did not make it clear why, this certainly does,” Harris said.
Updated
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
-
Trump claimed the US is “rounding the final turn” in its coronavirus crisis as the country’s death toll nears 200,000. The president said during a White House press conference today, “We’re rounding the final turn, and a lot of good things are happening.” In reality, at least 191,536 Americans have already died from the virus, representing a far higher death toll than any other country in the world.
- Trump insisted he did not lie to the American people about coronavirus, after journalist Bob Woodard revealed that the president admitted to downplaying the pandemic back in March. During his press conference today, Trump again said he was only trying to keep the public calm, but Woodward reports in his new book that the president acknowledged coronavirus was deadly and airborne back in February, as he publicly dismissed concerns about the virus.
- Another 884,000 Americans filed first-time claims for unemployment last week. The latest numbers from the labor department, which are nearly identical to the figures from a week before, indicate the US job market is losing steam six months after the start of the pandemic.
- The Republican “skinny” coronavirus relief bill failed to pass the Senate. As expected, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell failed to secure the 60 votes necessary to advance the legislation, leaving no current path forward for a relief package.
-
Microsoft warned that hackers from Russia, China and Iran have launched unsuccessful attacks on people associated with both major presidential campaigns. “The activity we are announcing today makes clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts targeting the 2020 election as had been anticipated,” Microsoft said in a statement.
- House speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s efforts to downplay the pandemic show his “contempt” for Americans’ health. The Democratic speaker said the president’s comments to Woodward about trying to downplay the seriousness of coronavirus “showed his contempt -- contempt for the American people and their health, contempt for science, contempt for any real effort to crush the virus, contempt for his supporters, their children, their parents.”
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Less than eight weeks before the November 3 elections, attorneys for the Trump campaign are urging a federal judge in Las Vegas to block a new state law and prevent mail-in ballots from going to all active Nevada voters amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The campaign argues in documents filed earlier this week in a bid to keep its lawsuit alive that it is hurt by the state law passed in July by the Democratic party-led legislature because it forces Republicans to divert resources to “educating Nevada voters on those changes and encouraging them to still vote.”
The Trump campaign argues that sending ballots to nearly 1.7 million active voters in Nevada will impede Republicans’ ability to elect candidates “because the law will ‘confuse’ their voters and ‘create incentive’ to stay away from the polls.”
Mail-in ballots are due to be sent out in the next few weeks, The Associated Press writes.
The 16-page US District Court filing was an answer to Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske’s motion last month to throw out the lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign, Republican National Committee and state Republicans.
Cegavske, also a Republican, opposed the law as unaffordable before it passed. The lawsuit targeted her as the state’s top elections official.
The office of state Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, is defending the law in court.
Nevada argues that the Trump campaign and Republicans don’t have legal standing to take the case to court and have failed to explain how they’d be harmed.
The state also argues that Republicans do not support their “nebulous argument that (the state law) increases the likelihood of voter fraud.”
The Democratic National Committee and state Democrats are seeking to join the lawsuit, and attorneys from around the country on both sides have applied to take part.
Read the Guardian’s special Fight to Vote series here.
During his White House press conference moments ago, Trump acknowledged he had spent much of the past 24 hours watching Fox News.
Trump admits that he watched Fox News all night last night and then some more this morning pic.twitter.com/ORuXQRptJf
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 10, 2020
“I watch some of the shows,” the president said. “I watch Liz MacDonald, she’s fantastic. Fox Business. I watched Lou Dobbs last night. Sean Hannity last night, Tucker last night, Laura. I watched ‘Fox & Friends’ in the morning.”
The admission was noteworthy considering another 1,206 Americans died of coronavirus yesterday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Trump also said last night (during a Fox News interview) that he probably wouldn’t read Bob Woodward’s new book because, “I don’t have time.”
Trump claims US is 'rounding the final turn' as Fauci urges Americans to 'hunker down'
Trump wrapped up his press conference after taking just a few questions, including one from an employee of the conservative website Newsmax that was not about the coronavirus pandemic.
Asked why he spoke to Bob Woodward 18 times for his new book, Trump replied, “I did it out of curiosity.” The president said he wondered whether someone like Woodward, who is best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning work uncovering the Watergate scandal, “can write good.”
Despite the country’s mounting coronavirus death toll, Trump sent an upbeat message that the crisis was coming to a close in the US. “We’re rounding the final turn,” Trump said.
In comparison, Dr Anthony Fauci said earlier today, “We need to hunker down and get through this fall and winter, because it’s not going to be easy.”
Trump also insisted Woodward should have released the tapes of their conversations sooner if he was concerned, echoing recent criticisms of the legendary journalist.
The president said, “If Bob Woodward thought what I said was bad, then he should have immediately, right after I said it, gone out to the authorities so they can prepare and let them know.”
A Washington Post reporter replied, “Bob Woodward is not the president.”
Updated
Trump again tried to deflect responsibility for the country’s climbing coronavirus death toll by blaming China for the pandemic, but the president expressed confidence that the US was in the final stretch of its crisis.
“We’re rounding the final turn, and a lot of good things are happening,” Trump said.
"We're rounding the final turn" -- Trump on the coronavirus pic.twitter.com/HAClFPSGfr
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 10, 2020
The president boasted about the “phenomenal job” his administration has done responding to the pandemic, even though the US death toll is far higher than that of any other country.
Trump also continued to insist he downplayed the pandemic because he was trying to inspire calm in the country.
The president said, “I don’t want to jump up and down and start screaming, ‘Death! Death!’”
Trump: 'I didn't lie' to the American people
Trump denied that he lied to the American people about the seriousness of coronavirus, despite admitting to Bob Woodward that he intentionally downplayed the pandemic.
Asked by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl about his comments, Trump lashed out against the reporter for asking a “terrible question.”
“I didn’t lie,” Trump said.
But the president told Woodward in February that coronavirus was “deadly” and airborne, as he publicly downplayed the threat of the virus.
During his White House press conference, Trump launched into a political attack against Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
The president claimed Biden was “perfectly happy” to endanger Americans’ lives for political gain.
But it was Trump who told Bob Woodward in March that he was purposefully trying to downplay the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump claims US is 'rounding the corner' as death toll nears 200,000
Trump claimed the US is “rounding the corner” in the coronavirus crisis, even as the country’s death toll continues to climb toward 200,000.
According to Johns Hopkins University, at least 191,536 Americans have already died from the virus.
The president also favorably compared the US coronavirus response to that of European countries, even though the US continues to far outpace its European allies in terms of the daily death toll.
Thursday update
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) September 10, 2020
New covid-19 deaths, yesterday:
Spain: 34
Italy: 14
Japan: 16
Canada: 2
UK: 8
Germany: 1
United States: 1,209
Population of countries above: 420 million
Population of United States: 328 million
Trump holds White House press conference
Trump is now holding a press conference at the White House, amid ongoing fallout from the president’s comments to Bob Woodward about the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump opened the press conference by boasting about his administration’s response to the pandemic, even though the US has lost more than 190,000 Americans to the virus, representing a far higher death toll than any other country in the world.
The president warned that, if elected in November, Joe Biden would “shut down the entire country,” but the Democratic nominee has said he does not think that will be necessary.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
Wisconsin’s supreme court voted along partisan lines Thursday to block election officials in the state from sending out mail-in ballots to voters until it resolves an ongoing legal dispute over whether third parties can appear on the ballot.
The 4-3 ruling threatens to add confusion and uncertainty in Wisconsin, a key battleground state in this year’s presidential election that Trump narrowly won in 2016 by just under 23,000 votes.
The pause comes just one week ahead of a state deadline to send a ballot to voters who have requested one so far (voters can still request a ballot until late October).
The court made the decision as it considers a lawsuit from Howie Hawkins, a Green Party candidate, who is seeking to get on the ballot.
Meagan Wolfe, the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said Thursday that some local election officials may have already begun to issue ballots, though it’s not clear how many are the case. In Dane County, home of Madison, printed ballots were being delivered to municipalities on Thursday and Friday to send out to voters.
The state supreme court asked the Wisconsin Election Commission to provide it with information by 5 p.m. Thursday about who had requested and received an absentee ballot, according to The Associated Press. More than 1 million people so far have requested a mail-in ballot in the state.
The potential delay in mailing out ballots comes as election officials and the United States Postal Service have warned voters to return their ballots as soon as possible to ensure they are counted. Wisconsin, like many other states, requires ballots to arrive by election night in order to be counted.
Updated
Microsoft: Russian, Chinese and Iranian hackers targeting presidential campaigns
Microsoft warned that hackers from Russia, China and Iran have launched unsuccessful attacks on people associated with both major presidential campaigns.
“The activity we are announcing today makes clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts targeting the 2020 election as had been anticipated,” the company said in a statement.
Microsoft noted the Russian group Strontium, which was identified in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, has targeted US-based consultants serving both Republicans and Democrats.
“Many of Strontium’s targets in this campaign, which has affected more than 200 organizations in total, are directly or indirectly affiliated with the upcoming U.S. election as well as political and policy-related organizations in Europe,” Microsoft said.
The company also noted the China-based group Zirconium “appears to have indirectly and unsuccessfully targeted the Joe Biden for President campaign through non-campaign email accounts belonging to people affiliated with the campaign.” Zirconium also targeted “one prominent individual formerly associated with the Trump Administration.”
According to Microsoft, the Iran-based group Phosphorus has similarly “attempted to log into the accounts of administration officials and Donald J. Trump for President campaign staff.”
Microsoft pledged to continue working to prevent such attacks, but the company also called on Congress to allocate more money to bolster election security.
“We encourage Congress to move forward with additional funding to the states and provide them with what they need to protect the vote and ultimately our democracy,” Microsoft said.
Programming note: the president’s press conference has been pushed back by half an hour, to 3:30 pm ET.
Will be doing a News Conference live from the White House at 3:30 P.M. Eastern.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2020
Trump will certainly be pressed on his efforts to downplay the coronavirus pandemic, which he acknowledged in a March interview with Bob Woodward.
'I saved his ass,' Trump said of MBS after Khashoggi murder
More details continue to emerge about Bob Woodward’s new book, “Rage,” and the 18 interviews that Trump did with the legendary journalist.
During one of his conversations with Woodward, the US president boasted about providing cover to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to Business Insider.
“I saved his ass,” Trump said of MBS in January. “I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.”
The president noted MBS’ frequent denials of involvement in Khashoggi’s murder, despite the widespread consensus that the crown prince ordered the killing of the journalist.
“He will always say that he didn’t do it,” Trump said. “He says that to everybody, and frankly I’m happy that he says that. But he will say that to you, he will say that to Congress, and he will say that to everybody. He’s never said he did it.”
When pressed on the issue by Woodward, Trump added that Saudi Arabia spent billions of dollars on American products. “Bob, they spent $400 billion over a fairly short period of time,” Trump said.
The president has repeatedly blocked congressional efforts to hold MBS accountable for Khashoggi’s murder.
Across the aisle, across the country, across the world.
New York’s Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (erstwhile of the 2020 race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, ultimately won by Joe Biden) has reportedly been handing out Wonder Woman masks to all the female Senators on Capitol Hill.
Here’s a tweet with Gillibrand and Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, writes Joanna Walters.
.@SenGillibrand gave WonderWoman masks to all Women senators. I saw she and @SenatorCollins wearing it today pic.twitter.com/Y6dJkQ7wk3
— Leigh Ann Caldwell (@LACaldwellDC) September 10, 2020
And here’s a member of the public waiting who’s been obliged to seek supplies at a food bank in Los Angeles, as hopes fade for progress in talks on further coronavirus economic relief from the federal government.
Across the ocean, here’s Wonder Woman ‘herself’ depicted as a health worker on a wall in Italy, with a face mask in the colors of the Italian flag.
Updated
Donald Trump to hold press conference at 3pm
A heads-up that the president is planning a news conference at the White House shortly. Yesterday, the briefing was put back from 3pm to 3.30pm ET and it’s rare for these events to start on time, so we’ll see.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton will join Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris at a virtual fund-raising event on Monday, Joanna Walters writes.
“Hey — it’s Hillary. You’re an integral part of this race, which is why Kamala and I want to see you at a very special grassroots fundraising event,” Clinton says in an online flyer.
Clinton notes that she and Harris will “discuss exactly what’s at stake in this race and our party’s plan to fight and win over these next few weeks.”
Proceeds from the event are being earmarked for the Biden Victory Fund, a joint venture of the Biden campaign, the DNC and state Democratic parties, the Washington Post notes.
Hope is fading that there will be agreement in Congress on a further coronavirus economic relief package before the November 3 election.
This leaves tens of millions of Americans in a continued state of income, food, housing and health care anxiety after losing their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic-driven slump, Joanna Walters writes.
BREAKING: “Skinny” coronavirus relief bill fails in Senate. #MTPDaily@kasie: “It does really feel increasingly as though there is very little chance there will be any more aid coming before the election.” pic.twitter.com/rJ2ccvhzNa
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) September 10, 2020
Here’s a glum SpongeBob.
Senate fails to advance the targeted Republican stimulus, with Rand Paul joining all present Democrats in voting against.
— Emily Cochrane (@ESCochrane) September 10, 2020
Live look at stimulus talks: pic.twitter.com/ishWJrRgNi
This piece explores what could happen next, though don’t hold your breath.
Updated
Republicans' 'skinny' relief bill fails in the Senate
As expected, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell failed to secure the 60 votes needed to advance his “skinny” coronavirus relief bill.
In a nearly party-line vote, the final tally was 52 “yes” votes and 47 “no” votes.
Democratic senator Doug Jones, who is facing a difficult reelection bid in Alabama this year, interestingly voted against the legislation.
Republican senator Rand Paul, who has argued against more government spending for relief packages, also voted against the bill.
Despite the blockage of the bill, McConnell is already claiming a messaging victory on the vote, accusing Democrats of playing politics as Americans have lost jobs and income.
Every Senate Democrat just voted against hundreds of billions of dollars of COVID-19 relief. They blocked money for schools, testing, vaccines, unemployment insurance, and the Paycheck Protection Program.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 10, 2020
Their goal is clear: No help for American families before the election.
However, Democrats have criticized McConnell’s legislation as woefully inadequate to address the needs of American families amid the pandemic.
Meanwhile, negotiations between the White House and Democratic congressional leadership remain stalled, so there appears to be no current path forward on the next relief package.
Senator Mitt Romney criticized Trump for downplaying the coronavirus pandemic, as the president admitted to doing during a March conversation with journalist Bob Woodward.
“I think we’re always better leveling with the American public and that maintains credibility -- rather than trying to tell them one thing when we believe another,” the Republican senator told a CNN reporter.
Asked Romney about Trump comments to Woodward downplaying the coronavirus, Romney said: “I think we're always better leveling with the American public and that maintains credibility. - rather than trying to tell them one thing when we believe another.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 10, 2020
Trump, who has frequently mocked Romney for his loss in the 2012 presidential election, once again went on the attack against the Republican lawmaker in a tweet this morning:
Obama is lucky he ran against @MittRomney, a man with very little talent or political skill, as opposed to someone who knows how to fight and win!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2020
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Another 884,000 Americans filed first-time claims for unemployment last week. The latest numbers from the labor department, which are nearly identical to the figures from a week before, indicate the US job market is losing steam six months after the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
- House speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s efforts to downplay the pandemic show his “contempt” for Americans’ health. The Democratic speaker said the president’s comments to Bob Woodward about trying to downplay the seriousness of coronavirus “showed his contempt -- contempt for the American people and their health, contempt for science, contempt for any real effort to crush the virus, contempt for his supporters, their children, their parents.”
- The treasury department sanctioned a pro-Russian Ukrainian who previously met with the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach met with Giuliani late last year, as the president’s lawyer searched for dirt on Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The treasury department identified Derkach as “an active Russian agent” and condemned “his efforts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election.”
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Senior administration official Seema Verma is facing questions over her consultant fees that were paid with taxpayer dollars.
Politico reports:
When Seema Verma, the Trump administration’s top Medicaid official, went to a reporter’s home in November 2018 for a ‘Girl’s Night’ thrown in her honor, taxpayers footed the bill to organize the event: $2,933.
When Verma wrote an op-ed on Fox News’ website that fall, touting President Donald Trump’s changes to Obamacare, taxpayers got charged for one consultant’s price to place it: $977.
And when consultants spent months promoting Verma to win awards like Washingtonian magazine’s ‘Most Powerful Women in Washington’ and appear on high-profile panels, taxpayers got billed for that too: more than $13,000. ...
They are among the revelations included in a sweeping congressional investigation chronicling how Verma spent more than $3.5 million on a range of GOP-connected consultants, who polished her public profile, wrote her speeches and Twitter posts, brokered meetings with high-profile individuals — and even billed taxpayers for connecting Verma with fellow Republicans in Congress.
Critics of the Trump administration pointed to Verma’s expenses as the latest instance of “shameless graft and transparent corruption” among the president’s advisers.
From a University of Texas law professor:
That Seema Verma is still running CMS says everything that needs to be said about how seriously this administration takes shameless graft and transparent corruption from its own appointees—which is to say, not at all:https://t.co/f8PD9LNu3E
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) September 10, 2020
Treasury sanctions pro-Russian Ukrainian who met with Giuliani
The treasury department has announced sanctions against a pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker who previously met with Rudy Giuliani, as the president’s personal lawyer sought to dig up dirt on Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
In a statement, the treasury department said Andriy Derkach was being sanctioned for “his efforts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election.”
“Derkach, a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, has been an active Russian agent for over a decade, maintaining close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services,” the statement says.
“Derkach has directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign interference in an attempt to undermine the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election.”
Giuliani met with Derkach late last year as the president’s personal lawyer searched for potentially damaging information on Biden and his son, Hunter, who has done business in Ukraine.
More recently, Derkach has promoted leaked recordings of Biden speaking to Ukrainian leaders while he was vice president, sparking concerns the pro-Russian lawmaker was trying to directly influence the presidential election.
The Guardian’s Edward Helmore reports:
South Dakota governor Kristi Noem has dismissed a report that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally last month was a Covid-19 “super-spreader” event, calling the study “grossly misleading.”
A 63-page report from the IZA Institute of Labor Economics published earlier this month that the rally led to an increase in cases in South Dakota and across the county, while generating associated “public health costs of approximately $12.2 billion.”
“This report isn’t science; it’s fiction,” Noem said in statement. “Under the guise of academic research, this report is nothing short of an attack on those who exercised their personal freedom to attend Sturgis.”
On Wednesday, the Republican governor defended her coronavirus strategy as a “balanced approach” despite facing an increase in infections that has now registered the state with the nation’s second-most coronavirus cases per capita over the last two weeks.
According to Johns Hopkins researchers, the rolling average number of daily new cases reported by South Dakota health officials has increased by 84, an increase of about 56%.
In her comments on the Sturgis report, Noem went on to criticize the media for reporting on “this non-peer-reviewed model, built on incredibly faulty assumptions that do not reflect the actual facts and data here in South Dakota.”
State epidemiologist Dr. Joshua Clayton said the paper is “white paper” which had not been peer-reviewed.
Clayton noted schools opened in South Dakota closely after the Sturgis Rally ended, which could have also played a role in the recent rise of COVID-19 cases in South Dakota.
“At this point, the results do not align with the impacts of the rally among attendees in the state of South Dakota,” said Clayton who added a total of 124 South Dakota residents attended the Sturgis Rally before coming down with the virus.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi just wrapped up her press conference, during which she denounced Senate Republicans’ “skinny” coronavirus relief bill, which will come up for a vote today.
The bill is unlikely to pass, given Republicans need 60 “yea” votes to end debate on the legislation and advance to a general vote on the proposal.
But if Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell can get at least 50 Republicans to support the bill, he can use the legislation as a messaging tool against Democrats.
McConnell has already accused his Democratic colleagues of playing politics as American families suffer.
Speaker Pelosi & Leader Schumer were attacking our new COVID proposal before they’d even read it.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 9, 2020
They’re attacking it over provisions that literally have Democrat cosponsors.
They just don't want Americans getting another cent of bipartisan relief before the November election.
But Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer have argued the bill is woefully inadequate to address the needs of Americans who have lost jobs and income since the start of the pandemic.
While the Republican bill would cost $300 billion, Democrats have called for spending $2.2 trillion on the next relief package.
Trump's comments to Woodward showed 'contempt for the American people and their health'
House speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s admission to Bob Woodward that he intentionally downplayed the coronavirus pandemic was evidence of the president’s “contempt” for Americans’ health.
During her weekly press conference, Pelosi said Trump’s comments “showed his contempt -- contempt for the American people and their health, contempt for science, contempt for any real effort to crush the virus, contempt for his supporters, their children, their parents.”
Pelosi went on to say, “He hid the facts and refused to take the threat seriously, leaving the entire country exposed and unprepared. He didn’t want to cause a panic. Why? Because of the stock market?”
The Democratic speaker said there was a distinction between creating a panic and showing leadership by accurately warning the public about a serious threat.
“Nobody wants to cause a panic,” Pelosi said. “We want to show leadership, show a strategic plan, following the science [and] allocating the resources in order to get the job done. Even now, he refuses to listen to science, which is just a tragedy.”
Updated
House speaker Nancy Pelosi denounced Senate Republicans’ “skinny” coronavirus relief bill, which will come up for a vote today.
Pelosi slams Senate Republicans for their refusal to approve larger funds for coronavirus relief: "Let's not have tokenism when we have a major disaster. Let's not have a 'skinny bill' when we have a massive problem." https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/I8AN3FkE53
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 10, 2020
“Let’s not have tokenism when we have a major disaster. Let’s not have a ‘skinny bill’ when we have a massive problem,” Pelosi said.
The Republican legislation would cost $300 billion, while Democrats have called for spending $2.2 trillion on the next relief package.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi is now holding her weekly press conference, where she will likely be asked about the revelations in Bob Woodward’s new book.
But the Democratic speaker opened her press conference by reflecting on the wildfires ravaging her home state of California.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi on wildfires ravaging West Coast: "It's in the morning, they're waiting for the sun to come up, and it's dark all day."
— ABC News (@ABC) September 10, 2020
"Our thoughts and prayers, of course, are with our firefighters, who are so courageous." https://t.co/v8hcI5rGAp pic.twitter.com/urfLBerOgF
Pelosi said she has received calls from her family and her constituents about the eerie orange skies that have descended upon San Francisco because of the wildfires.
“It’s in the morning, they’re waiting for the sun to come up, and it’s dark all day,” Pelosi said.
The speaker noted 15 people have already died in the fires, including a 1-year-old boy.
“Our thoughts and prayers, of course, are with our firefighters, who are so courageous,” Pelosi said.
Trump is busy trying to stir up panic over recent anti-racism protests, while simultaneously arguing he downplayed the seriousness of coronavirus because he was focused on keeping the American public calm.
The Democrats never even mentioned the words LAW & ORDER at their National Convention. That’s where they are coming from. If I don’t win, America’s Suburbs will be OVERRUN with Low Income Projects, Anarchists, Agitators, Looters and, of course, “Friendly Protesters”.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2020
The president said in a new tweet, “The Democrats never even mentioned the words LAW & ORDER at their National Convention. That’s where they are coming from. If I don’t win, America’s Suburbs will be OVERRUN with Low Income Projects, Anarchists, Agitators, Looters and, of course, ‘Friendly Protesters’.”
In reality, the protests have been mostly peaceful, but the president’s comments underscore how he has not attempted to be a calming force in recent months, despite his claims to the contrary.
According to newly released tapes from Bob Woodward, Trump said of the coronavirus pandemic in March, “I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
CNN will host a town hall with Democratic nominee Joe Biden next week, the network just announced.
Biden will sit down with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper in Scranton, Pennsylvania, next Thursday at 8 pm ET.
.@CNN to host a town hall with @JoeBiden, moderated by @AndersonCooper, on Thursday, September 17th at 8pmET in Scranton, Pennsylvania https://t.co/2avTl641mn pic.twitter.com/p2tIzTd2Af
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) September 10, 2020
The town hall will include a socially-distanced live audience, and it will mark Biden’s first prime time town hall since he accepted the Democratic nomination.
Trump won Pennsylvania by less than 1 point in 2016, and Democrats hope Biden will be able to flip the state in November.
An NBC News/Marist poll released yesterday showed Biden leading by 9 points among likely voters in Pennsylvania, where the Democratic nominee was born.
On a press call organized by the Biden campaign, Kristin Urquiza said revelations that Donald Trump knew the coronavirus was deadly and difficult to contain confirmed what she had believed all along: the president’s inaction led to her father’s death from COVID-19.
“As I said last month at the Democratic National Convention, my dad’s only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump and for that he paid with his life,” Urquiza said. “That betrayal of my father and our country is even more clear now.”
She continued: “If Donald Trump had told the American people in public what he had told Bob Woodward in private, thousands of lives could have been spared, including my dad’s.”
In a series of taped interviews with veteran journalist Bob Woodward, for his book, Rage, Trump explicitly admits that he downplayed the coronavirus pandemic even as the president called the virus “deadly stuff” and “more deadly than even your strenuous flu.”
Defending his comments, Trump said he didn’t want to create panic among the public.
Asked about this justification, Urquiza scoffed. “I’d much rather have dealt with a father who was a little scared versus one that was led to his death.”
Urquiza called Biden the “polar opposite” of Trump, and said his empathy and understanding made him the right leader for this moment.
Also on the call was Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who accused the president of peddling “phony populism”.
“He gaslights the American people about the dangers of a deadly virus while behind closed doors he tells his wealthy cabinet members and Washington insiders the truth about how dangerous it was. He sold the American these lies. [He] betrayed them and people died.”
Asked if the revelations in Woodward’s book had moved any elected Republican officials to speak out against the president, Brown was not optimistic.
“I can’t explain the spinelessness of my colleagues,” he said, adding that history would “look badly” on their silence.
Trump will travel to Freeland, Michigan, today for a campaign event at an airport hangar, which has become the go-to setting for the president’s speeches amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Do you live near or plan to be visiting Saginaw, MI? Please note that the Secret Service has established a “No Drone Zone” today, September 10th.
— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) September 10, 2020
Trump’s visit comes a day after Democratic nominee Joe Biden visited Warren, Michigan, to deliver a speech on the economy.
Reacting to the revelations in Bob Woodward’s new book, Biden also denounced Trump’s efforts to downplay the coronavirus pandemic.
“It was a life-and-death betrayal of the American people,” Biden said. “It’s beyond despicable. It’s a dereliction of duty, a disgrace.”
The back-to-back visits to Michigan come as Biden seeks to flip the swing state, which Trump won by less than 1 point in 2016.
Democrats are understandably skeptical about Trump’s claims that he downplayed the seriousness of coronavirus because he was trying to avoid creating a “panic.”
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in an MSNBC interview this morning that Trump had “an obligation to let people know” coronavirus was deadly and airborne, as the president told Bob Woodward in February.
Sen. Schumer: "This time he said he didn't want to panic people. Really? Is this the same president who's busy panicking America right now? Telling women in the suburbs that your safety is at risk ... he doesn't mind panicking people when it serves his interest." pic.twitter.com/y6kjpxgcHw
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 10, 2020
The New York Democrat argued the president’s response to the pandemic could be summed up in four words: “Trump lied. People died.”
Schumer added, “This time he said he didn’t want to panic people. Really? Is this the same president who’s busy panicking America right now? Telling women in the suburbs that your safety is at risk, when the suburbs are not at any risk at all in that way?”
Schumer went on to say, “He doesn’t mind panicking people when it serves his interest, but what’s worse is he will not tell the truth when it serves his interest and then people are so badly hurt. It’s a despicable incident.”
The Senate leader expressed hope that Woodward’s reporting would shock some of the president’s supporters enough to realize he should not be reelected in November.
Trump is also tweeting this morning about Kim Jong Un, after reports suggested the North Korean leader may be seriously ill.
“Kim Jong Un is in good health. Never underestimate him!” Trump said.
Kim Jong Un is in good health. Never underestimate him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2020
As he was working on his new book, “Rage,” journalist Bob Woodward gained access to 25 “love letters” between Trump and Kim that have not been previously seen.
The letters are filled with deferential and flowery prose between the two leaders, who first met in Singapore in June 2018.
Six months after that first meeting, Kim told Trump in a letter, “Even now I cannot forget that moment of history when I firmly held Your Excellency’s hand at the beautiful and sacred location as the whole world watched with great interest and hope to relive the honor of that day.”
Kim added that another meeting “between myself and Your Excellency” would be “reminiscent of a scene from a fantasy film.”
Trump replied to Kim’s letter, “Like you, I have no doubt that a great result will be accomplished between our two countries, and that the only two leaders who can do it are you and me.”
This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Martin Belam.
Trump continues to insist he downplayed the threat of coronavirus because he wanted to keep the American public “calm.”
The president tweeted moments ago, “Bob Woodward had my quotes for many months. If he thought they were so bad or dangerous, why didn’t he immediately report them in an effort to save lives? Didn’t he have an obligation to do so? No, because he knew they were good and proper answers. Calm, no panic!”
Bob Woodward had my quotes for many months. If he thought they were so bad or dangerous, why didn’t he immediately report them in an effort to save lives? Didn’t he have an obligation to do so? No, because he knew they were good and proper answers. Calm, no panic!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2020
Of course, it’s a bit odd to have a president who’s spent the past few months warning about “violent anarchists” overrunning American cities claim that he was focused on avoiding a public panic.
Woodward has faced some criticism for not disclosing his Trump tapes sooner. A ProPublica reporter suggested it could have changed the behavior of administration officials early in the pandemic:
How differently might Trump's supporters have acted if - this whole time - they knew that he knew COVID was a serious threat? Woodward could have made that happen in February.
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) September 9, 2020
Updated
884,000 Americans filed first-time claims for unemployment last week.
The latest unemployment figures are out. 884,000 people made first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week according to data from the Department of Labor. It was a little higher than anticipated.
It was also slightly up on the 881,000 filings the week before. Six months into the coronavirus pandemic, the latest total is still more than quadruple pre-covid levels.
Here’s how the Bureau of Labor Statistics pictured the long-term job market in the US yesterday.
Some mixed messaging on mail-in and absentee voting coming from the Trump family this week.
On Tuesday, Donald…
Rigged Election! https://t.co/agmPI8kkRV
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 8, 2020
Just now, Eric…
To register to vote, request an absentee, early vote or mail in ballot, simply go to https://t.co/zt3c5Nkwh6! We have made it simple and easy - takes 30 seconds. Let’s #KeepAmericaGreat!!!
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) September 10, 2020
And now again Donald…
Sending out 80 MILLION BALLOTS to people who aren’t even asking for a Ballot is unfair and a total fraud in the making. Look at what’s going on right now!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2020
Updated
Barry Eichengreen, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, has written a stark warning for us this morning that the most dangerous phase of the US Covid-19 crisis may be yet to come.
Mortality is only one aspect of the virus’s toll. Many surviving Covid-19 patients continue to suffer chronic cardiovascular problems and impaired mental function. If 40,000 cases a day is the new normal, then the implications for morbidity – and for human health and economic welfare – are truly dire.
And, like it or not, there is every indication that many Americans, or at least their current leaders, are willing to accept 40,000 new cases and 1,000 deaths a day. They have grown inured to the numbers. They are impatient with lockdowns. They have politicised masks.
This is also a more perilous phase for the economy. In March and April, policymakers pulled out all the stops to staunch the economic bleeding. But there will be less policy support now if the economy again goes south … Congress seems incapable of replicating the bipartisanship that enabled passage of the Cares Act. The $600 weekly supplement to unemployment benefits has been allowed to expire. Divisive rhetoric from Donald Trump and other Republican leaders about “Democrat-led” cities implies that help for state and local governments is not in the cards.
Read it here: Barry Eichengreen – The most dangerous phase of the US Covid-19 crisis may be yet to come
The Senate will be voting today on a new stimulus package to try and help people through the coronavirus pandemic. We know that the Democratic Party isn’t going to back it, with Chuck Schumer repeatedly having called it “emaciated”. There may even be a few on the fringes of the Republican side who don’t back it either, as they still see it as being too generous.
Laura Litvan and Erik Wasson have written a scene-setter for Bloomberg today, saying it is doomed-to-fail, so what comes next? They write:
It isn’t clear whether negotiations might resume, or if lawmakers will leave Washington to wage their November election campaigns without approving a fresh dollop of aid to businesses and workers hurt by the Covid-19 crisis.
McConnell on Wednesday expressed doubt Democrats want any deal, telling reporters they appear more interested in taking their case for a big-ticket relief package to voters. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was more optimistic, saying Republicans are under growing political pressure to get a deal and seeing signs the Trump administration is more open to compromise.
But the two sides seem as far apart as ever. From the Deomcratic point of view there’s a long list of things missing. And worse, there’s this:
Democrats have slammed the bill for “poison pill” provisions that include lawsuit protections for businesses that reopen and a tax break for paying for private-school costs.
They are also wary that this relief effort is just enough to give cover to endangered incumbents in November, allowing them to point at it and say “I did this”.
Senator McConnell didn’t even join the negotiations with Speaker Pelosi, me, and the White House
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 9, 2020
The bill he put forward now is emaciated and fails to meet Americans' needs
He isn’t searching for progress. He seems to be looking for political cover.
We must pass the HEROES Act
Speaker Pelosi & Leader Schumer were attacking our new COVID proposal before they’d even read it.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 9, 2020
They’re attacking it over provisions that literally have Democrat cosponsors.
They just don't want Americans getting another cent of bipartisan relief before the November election.
Read it here: Bloomberg – Doomed-to-fail Senate vote will usher final scene on stimulus
Julian Assange extradition trial held up over coronavirus risk
In London, the extradition trial of Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been held up over the risk of coronavirus. My colleague Ben Quinn reports:
Julian Assange’s extradition case has been paused until Monday so that a member of one of the legal teams can be tested for Covid-19 after potential exposure.
The judge Vanessa Baraitser granted an adjournment at the request of lawyers for the WikiLeaks co-founder and the US government.
“We should not really be here today. Covid would be in the courtroom,” said Edward Fitzgerald QC, who is representing Assange in his struggle to resist extradition to the US, where he could face a prison sentence of up to 175 years if convicted on all charges.
His request for an adjournment was backed by James Lewis QC, acting for the US government, who addressed the Old Bailey via video link.
Read the full report here: Julian Assange hearing paused for lawyer to get Covid test
In another development in US-China relations, Reuters is reporting that a China’s foreign ministry spokesperson has responded to the announcement yesterday that the US has revoked the visas of more than 1,000 Chinese nationals it deems a security risk.
Zhao Lijian described the move as being “naked” political persecution, and racial discrimination that seriously violated human rights.
“China reserves the right to make a further response on this issue” he added.
Yesterday acting head of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said the administration was blocking visas “for certain Chinese graduate students and researchers with ties to China’s military fusion strategy to prevent them from stealing and otherwise appropriating sensitive research.”
Overnight secretary of state Mike Pompeo has been conducting what you might call diplomacy-by-Twitter. He’s just posted a couple of tweets criticising the Iranian government following a recent Amnesty Iran report into the use of torture by the state.
"Human chicken kebabs." That is what Iranian interrogators joked they were making when they painfully strung up peaceful protesters. This is how the regime humiliated and punished its people for exercising their human rights to express themselves and peacefully assemble.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) September 10, 2020
A few hours earlier he was publishing criticism of China over their media censorship.
The Chinese Communist Party complains about a lack of fair and reciprocal treatment with the U.S. At the same time the CCP refused to run Ambassador Branstad’s op-ed in the People’s Daily, while their ambassador is free to publish in any U.S. media outlet.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) September 10, 2020
He has also today urged Southeast Asian countries to stand up to maritime bullying by China, and to reassess business deals with its state firms.
Speaking remotely to foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Pompeo said the region should be confident in the United States and know it can bank on its support.
“Today, I say keep going. Don’t just speak up but act,” Pompeo said. “Reconsider business dealings with the very state-owned enterprises that bully ASEAN coastal states in the South China Sea. Don’t let the Chinese Communist Party walk over us and our people.”
ASEAN has said it does not want to take sides amid friction over a recent spike in military activities by both powers in the South China Sea. Asked about China-US tensions on Tuesday in an interview with Reuters, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said: “We don’t want to get trapped by this rivalry.”
Kamala Harris is also a key component of how Trump is aiming to attack Biden’s run for president. Jeremy Diamond and Kevin Liptak have written for CNN this morning about how the Trump campaign hopes to have it both ways with racial rhetoric.
The Trump strategy on Kamala Harris:
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) September 10, 2020
"We will message to Black men that she was California's top cop and message to suburban women that she wants to defund the police," a Trump political adviser said. "Two different demographics, two different messages." https://t.co/lHW9Azz84l
They quote an adviser saying “He’s always going one step too far” with his racially charged appeals to his base, and say:
There are signs Trump’s efforts are failing to move the needle among the suburban voters Trump believes he is attracting using racially divisive language. Trump experienced almost no post-convention bounce, and his rival Joe Biden is enjoying the steadiest polling lead in history.
Instead of adjusting course, Trump has dug in. He has told advisers that “my people” aren’t looking for a unifying president and has fretted his mostly White conservative supporters are turned off by messaging that even acknowledges underlying concerns about racial injustice or police brutality.
Trump has ignored those topics in favor of advancing a “law and order” mantra he believes is better received among conservatives and railing against any attempt to reckon with the country’s racist history.
Read it here: CNN – Trump campaign hopes to have it both ways with racial rhetoric
Updated
Speaking of the Biden campaign, Axios have a story this morning about the women’s groups fighting disinformation campaigns against VP pick Kamala Harris. Alexi McCammond writes:
They worry that sexist branding of Joe Biden’s running mate by forces supporting President Trump could depress turnout by Black and Latina women who don’t consistently vote but would likely support the Biden-Harris ticket if they did cast a ballot.
The attacks on Harris go well beyond standard fare of criticizing her as “phony” or even as “radical,” veering into misinformation and salacious insinuations that she leveraged her sexuality for professional gain.
McCammond reports that the groups are launching a $10 million ad campaign to support Harris and, conducting weekly polling to monitor if the disinformation sticks. They are aiming to target 5 million voters across the critical states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia. The report also notes that:
More than 11,000 online news articles were flagged by TIME’S UP Now, a group formed in the wake of the #MeToo movement, as using sexist or racist language about Harris in the first two weeks after her announcement.
Read it here: Axios – Women’s groups fight disinformation campaigns against Harris
Russian state hackers suspected of targeting firm working on Biden Campaign – reports
Away from the Woodward book and coronavirus for a minute – although I’m sure there will be plenty more reaction to that to come as the country wakes up – Reuters have this exclusive this morning, that Russian state hackers are suspected of targeting a firm working on the Joe Biden Campaign. Reuters say their sources tell them:
The hacking attempts targeted staff at Washington-based SKDKnickerbocker, a campaign strategy and communications firm working with Biden and other prominent Democrats, over the past two months.
A person familiar with SKDK’s response to the attempts said the hackers failed to gain access to the firm’s networks. “They are well-defended, so there has been no breach”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the allegations as “nonsense”. Moscow has repeatedly denied using hacking to interfere in other countries’ elections.
SKDK managing director Anita Dunn was a White House communications director during the Barack Obama presidency and serves the Biden campaign as a senior advisor.
The attempts to infiltrate SKDK were recently flagged to the campaign firm by Microsoft, which identified hackers tied to the Russian government as the likely culprits. The attacks included phishing, a hacking method which seeks to trick users into disclosing passwords, as well as other efforts to infiltrate SKDK’s network.
Time magazine have just pushed their new cover out on social media – and it’s about the nation’s coronavirus death toll, which they label “An American Failure”.
TIME’s new cover: COVID-19 has killed nearly 200,000 Americans. How many more lives will be lost before the U.S. gets it right? https://t.co/fGSXgl0Uj2 pic.twitter.com/8o89XTVZ5V
— TIME (@TIME) September 10, 2020
In an accompanying piece, Alex Fitzpatrick and Elijah Wolfson ask “How Many More Lives Will Be Lost Before the US Gets It Right?”
Although America’s problems were widespread, they start at the top. A complete catalog of President Donald Trump’s failures to address the pandemic will be fodder for history books. There were weeks wasted early on stubbornly clinging to a fantastical belief that the virus would simply “disappear”; testing and contact tracing programs were inadequate; states were encouraged to reopen ahead of his own Administration’s guidelines; and statistics were repeatedly cherry-picked to make the US situation look far better than it was, while undermining scientists who said otherwise. “I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told the journalist Bob Woodward on March 19 in a newly revealed conversation. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
Common-sense solutions like face masks were undercut or ignored. Research shows that wearing a facial covering significantly reduces the spread of Covid-19, and a pre-existing culture of mask wearing in East Asia is often cited as one reason countries in that region were able to control their outbreaks. In the US, Trump did not wear a mask in public until July 11, more than three months after the CDC recommended facial coverings, transforming what ought to have been a scientific issue into a partisan one.
Read it here: Time – COVID-19 has killed nearly 200,000 Americans. How many more lives will be lost before the US gets it right?
If you’ll excuse me a slight navel-gazing industry indulgence here, there will be plenty of journalists yesterday both envious of Bob Woodward for getting his scoop on tape, and also somewhat bewildered that he then sat on the information for months, watching how the president spoke in public about the coronavirus pandemic in a very different fashion.
Media columnist Margaret Sullivan has addressed that in a piece for the Washington Post this morning. She writes:
In fairness, it wasn’t just journalists raising concerns. A reader wrote to me arguing that Woodward’s revelation “could have been helpful in the spring, both explaining the seriousness of the disease to the public, showing the Trump administration’s bungled and inept response, and pushing the Trump administration to do more.” He added, with a touch of cynicism, that he hoped the author’s advance fee made the delay worthwhile.
She’s spoken to Woodward about this, and his response was:
First, he didn’t know what the source of Trump’s information was. It wasn’t until months later — in May — that Woodward learned it came from a high-level intelligence briefing. In February, what Trump told Woodward seemed hard to make sense of — back then, Woodward said, there was no panic over the virus; even toward the final days of that month, Anthony S. Fauci was publicly assuring Americans there was no need to change their daily habits.
Second, Woodward said, “the biggest problem I had, which is always a problem with Trump, is I didn’t know if it was true.”
Trump defends coronavirus response in Fox News interview
Donald Trump took his defense of his actions onto the airwaves last night, with a phone-in interview on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News. Some of the key points that the president made were:
- He told Hannity that he spoke to Bob Woodward because he thought he’d “give it a shot” since Woodward does “constant hit jobs”, citing books he had written on Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
- He repeated his claim that the country could have lost 2 million or 2.5 million people if he hadn’t taken the actions he has.
- He said even one death is no good, and placed the blame firmly with China. “It was China’s fault. They sent this to us.”
- He claimed that Dr. Fauci and Joe Biden were both against the China travel ban when he implemented it.
- He said “nobody had any idea [coronavirus] would be as violent as it turned out to be.”
- Of the national response he said “It’s amazing what we’ve done, we’ve been able to do something especially with the kind of size [of country] we’re dealing with. We’ve done an incredible job.”
- He reiterated that he had wanted to appear calm to the American people, saying “I’m the leader of the country. I can’t be jumping up and down and scaring people. I don’t want to scare people. I want people not to panic.”
- He wanted the economy to now be re-opening faster.
- He was critical of three states specifically for re-opening their economies too slowly: North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan
- And a final word on the book? Trump said he didn’t know if it would be good or bad, but that he almost definitely won’t read it.
Worth noting perhaps that the three states he singled out are all considered to be crucial battleground states for the election. And of the figures that the administration has achieved, the US has the largest number of coronavirus cases in the world, and this morning the total death toll topped 190,000, again more than any other country.
You can watch the segment here: Hannity opens Trump interview defending his Covid response: ‘You Taking It Seriously Was Very Clear Then’
Brian Stelter at CNN has a pretty good summing up of where yesterday’s revelations leave us, and some of the questions left unanswered. In the Reliable Sources email today, Stelter writes:
Trump’s statements to Woodward force us, well, force some of us at least, to wonder: What if? What if Trump had risen to the occasion? What if he had been more forthright with the public about what he was hearing in private? What if the federal government’s early failures regarding testing hadn’t hobbled the initial response to the virus? What if the feds had closed the front door of the house, and all the side doors, in the form of earlier European travel bans, instead of just partially closing the back door from China?
I could go on and on but it’s mightily depressing. What if the president had addressed the nation once, twice, three times and introduced concepts like “social distancing” and “flattening the curve” in February? What if, instead of accusing Democrats of coming up with a “new hoax,” he had partnered with them? What if he had spent less time talking to Woodward? What if someone else had been president?
Good morning. At any other time, the revelation that the US president had deliberately downplayed the threat of a viral pandemic that he knew to be deadly would be the only story in town.
These aren’t normal times though, and that’s just going to be one of the threads in our coverage of US politics today, as the death toll from coronavirus continues to rise, the west coast is suffering catastrophic fires, and there’s 54 days to the election…
- It emerged that in February Donald Trump, in taped interviews with the journalist Bob Woodward, knew that the coronavirus was airborne and deadly, while still downplaying the threat in what he was telling the American public.
- He told Woodward “This is deadly stuff … You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed … It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu”, while days later he told the nation “we have it very much under control in this country” and “It’s a little like the regular flu that we have flu shots for”. He went on to describe the virus as the Democratic party’s “new hoax”.
- Trump has defended his remarks, saying “I’m a cheerleader for this country … and I don’t want people to be frightened. I don’t want to create panic.”
- Joe Biden accused Trump of betraying the country. The Democratic nominee said, “He had the information. He knew how dangerous it was. He failed to do his job on purpose ... It was a life and death betrayal of the American people.”
- 1,176 deaths and 33,201 new coronavirus cases were reported yesterday. That takes the Johns Hopkins University measured total Covid-19 death toll in the US to over 190,000 for the first time, with 6.3 million cases reported in total.
- Large, fast-moving fires ravaged the American west, destroying hundreds of homes in the Pacific north-west and sending a dense plume of smoke that turned skies amber across parts of the region.
- Trump named Republicans Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley among 20 possible future picks for the Supreme Court.
- Whistleblower Brian Murphy claimed that Trump loyalists interfered to downplay Russia election threat.
- It was revealed that vice president Mike Pence is slated to speak next week at fundraiser hosted by QAnon supporters in Montana.
- On the campaign trail, the president will be giving a speech in Freeland, Michigan today. His opponent Joe Biden is attending virtual finance events, and Democratic VP pick Kamala Harris is headed to Florida.
I’ll be with you for the next couple of hours, you can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
