Donald Trump has dubbed his Democratic opponent Joe Biden as someone with a “racism problem” in an attack advert aimed at undermining the presidential candidate’s support among Black Americans.
The US president had, hours earlier, called Kamala Harris “nasty” after she became the first Black and South Asian woman to appear on a mainstream party’s presidential ticket. His attacks against both Mr Biden and Ms Harris come despite Mr Trump having donated to the Democratic vice presidential candidate’s bids to become California’s attorney general between 2011 and 2013.
The president has meanwhile endorsed a far-right QAnon-supporting congressional candidate in Georgia following her win in the state's Republican primary on Tuesday. Progressive congresswoman Ilhan Omar, whom the president and his allies have frequently targeted, also handily defeated her well-funded Democratic primary challenger.
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In-person learning at Georgia's Woodstock High School has been suspended as of 12 August, with a tentative reopening date for 31 August, after the school found 14 positive Covid-19 cases.
"As a result of the confirmed cases, 289 students and staff are under quarantine and, should the pending tests prove positive, the total would significantly increase," the school announced.
After an image of crowded hallways went viral, Georgia's North Paulding High School is moving to a hybrid scheduled next week. At least 35 cases of coronavirus have been identified.
in a joint statement to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer signalled that Democrats, who have already passed relief legislation that Senate Republicans refused to take up, are through compromising following an "overture" from the White House to make clear that Donald Trump's administration is "not budging from their position concerning the size and scope of a legislative package."
The president signed a series of executive orders that are nowhere near the kinds of relief that Democrats say is sorely needed as millions of Americans lose unemployment benefits and risk evictions. The president has falsely claimed that Americans won't be evicted during the crisis, but moratoriums on evictions have been lifted and court dockets are beginning to fill across the US.
Mnuchin also claimed that extended unemployment benefits (dropping from $600 a week that Congress approved and has since expired) would be available to states in coming days, but states argue that they can't be expected to pick up the tab in the middle of a crisis that has also impacted their reserves.
“Repeatedly, we have made clear to the Administration that we are willing to come down $1 trillion if they will come up $1 trillion," the statement says. "However, it is clear that the Administration still does not grasp the magnitude of the problems that American families are facing. "
The Democrats are "willing to resume negotiations once they start to take this process seriously."
"The lives and livelihoods of the American people as well as the life of our democracy are at stake," they said.
The president will return for a 5.30pm briefing, he announced.
He pointed to a "great expert" who will join the press conference – likely his new adviser Scott Atlas, who the president introduced during a Monday briefing for the first time.
As CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports, Dr Atlas – unlike top White House infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci, who has repeatedly refuted the president – has echoed the president's demands to reopen schools and sports while dismissing lockdown efforts despite warnings from health officials.
As Donald Trump and administration officials argue to send children back to school full time despite the coronavirus pandemic and warnings of the risks for surges in infections, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said students and families shouldn't be "held captive to other people's fears or agendas."
The president, in pushing for full-time reopenings at schools at a White House event on Wednesay, said that "the concept of every other day seems ... very strange."
He also mocked Joe Biden as another panelist discussed better education outcomes from in-person learning compared to online-only courses.
"So if you're a presidential candidate and you're sitting in a basement and you're looking at a computer, that's not a good thing?" the president said.
Donald Trump has spent many, many minutes at his rallies and at the White House rambling complaints about toilets and household appliances.
Now the Department of Energy is proposing a rollback to a 1990s law that sets a maximum gallons-per-minute flowrate from shower heads.
During a trip to Whirlpool facility in Ohio this month, he said: “You turn on the shower if you’re like me, you can’t wash your beautiful hair properly ... You waste 20 minutes longer. 'Please come out.' The water – it drips, right?”
The rule change "would lead to the waste of enormous amounts of water and energy, and increase greenhouse gas emissions," Bloomberg reports, quoting environmental group the Appliance Standards Awareness Project.
Donald Trump's interest in holding intelligence briefings has declined from 4.1 a month in March 2017 to near zero since 1 July, according to the Huffington Post.
His briefing on Monday was the first in August and first since 22 July, a month in which he had only three briefings on his agenda.
The slow-down followed reports that his administration has ignored intelligence that Russian-backed operatives paid Taliban-linked militia to kill US troops in Afghanistan.
Lawyers for Kanye West have argued that signatures from Mickey Mouse and Bernie Sanders must be proven to be fake or else should be accepted on the nomination papers to qualify the rapper for the presidential ballot in Wisconsin.
Justin Vallejo reports:
"I think [voters are] going to blame the Congress because they saw Congress absent from their job most of the last several months," she said. "Voting virtually, they're not here when they do show up. I mean, some of them are on TV more than they're in the negotiating room or in the hearing room."
Washington chief John T Bennett reports:
Kanye West with White House senior adviser Jared Kushner last weekend, according to a new report, after launching a presidential campaign that he has openly indicated was aimed at siphoning votes from Joe Biden.
The artist announced a presidential campaign earlier this year that has faced significant legal battles amid reports of seemingly-identical signatures on petitions which West created for his name to appear on state ballots in the November election.
He has received help from GOP operatives, and he reportedly “expressed comfort” with his campaign undermining the former vice president’s bid for the White House in a recent interview with Forbes.
Chris Riotta has more:
Donald Trump again mourned the deaths of “all the birds” that are allegedly killed by wind turbines each year, but failed to mention the 160,000 people who’ve died from Covid-19.
Daniell Zoellner reports:
Kanye West, who has unsuccessfully attempted to get his name on the presidential ballot in several states, has reportedly met with Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.
Following an inquiry into the meeting from The New York Times, the rapper said on Twitter: "I’m willing to do a live interview with the New York Time about my meeting with Jared."
He said they discussed the black empowerment book PowerNomics and its author Claud Anderson.
Donald Trump's recent racist dogwhistle attacks against low-income housing and warnings that Fair Housing Act policies will lead to an "invasion" of America's suburbs don't align with what today' suburbs actually look like.
The president has instead invoked a previous generation's "white flight" away from majority-black urban centers into suburban neighbourhoods.
Today's "suburban housewives," according to recent polls, reveal that 66 per cent of suburban women disapproved of the president's term in office, while 58 per cent "strongly disapproved", according to a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. Polls overall show that women voters overwhelmingly support Joe Biden.
House Oversight chair introduces bill to reverse US Postal Service changes
The chairwoman of the House of Representatives oversight committee, Carolyn Maloney, has introduced a bill which aims to roll-back structural changes recently introduced at the US Postal Service (USPSS) by a Trump-backed postmaster, reports CNN.
The bill comes amid concerns that president Trump and postmaster general Louis DeJoy are seeking to undermine confidence in the USPSS, which is expected to process more mail-ballots than ever before on 3 November.
“Our Postal Service should not become an instrument of partisan politics, but instead must be protected as a neutral, independent entity that focuses on one thing and one thing only—delivering the mail," Ms Maloney said.
According to CNN, the proposed bill would block USPS from introducing any operational changes until pandemic has ended.
Biden-Harris due to debut
In a Twitter post, the presumptive Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, said he picked Kamala Harris as his running mate because the pair would "inherit multiple crises, a nation divided, and a world in disarray", if they defeat Donald Trump on 3 November.
"That's exactly why I picked her: She's ready to lead on day one," he added.
The duo are set to appear in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday in their first appearance of the 2020 presidential election campaign.
And that, says Democrat strategist Karen Finney, will be usual.
"We won't get the visual, but you can already feel the energy and excitement," said Ms Finney, in reference to campaigning amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
Trump-backed candidate calls Pelosi a 'b****'
A Republican candidate and far-right QAnon conspiracy theorist branded Nancy Pelosi a “b***h” in her victory speech after winning the Republican nomination for Georgia.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a businesswoman whose racist views did not stop Donald Trump's endorsement on Wednesday, beat neurosurgeon, John Cowan, in the 14th congressional district race, securing 57 per cent of the vote.
Addressing her supporters in a victory speech, later posted on social media, Ms Green criticised the Democrat House speaker Ms Pelosi, whom she also labelled “anti-American”.
Matt Mathers reports:
2020 mail voting numbers could break record
At least three-quarters of all American voters will be eligible to receive a ballot in the mail for the 2020 election – the most in US history, according to a Times analysis.
If recent election trends hold and turnout increases, as experts predict, roughly 80 million mail ballots will flood election offices this fall, more than double the number that were returned in 2016.
The rapid and seismic shift in how Americans will vote is because of the coronavirus pandemic. Concerns about the potential for virus transmission at polling places have forced many states to make adjustments on the fly that – despite Donald Trump’s protests – will make mail voting in America more accessible this fall than ever before.
Trump approval at eight per cent
A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll published on Wednesday showed 19 per cent of Black voters saying the United States was headed in the wrong direction.
Meanwhile, only 8 per cent of voters said they approved of Donald Trump as president, according to Politico.
That comes after other polls have shown the incumbent trailing his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, in national polling.
Has Biden's VP pick damaged Trump's chances?
Throughout his re-election bid, Donald Trump has cast himself as the “law and order” candidate – despite violent clashes erupting under his administration in cities across the country.
By choosing Ms Harris - a former prosecutor - as his running mate, Mr Biden has potentially undermined Trump’s biggest goal: to position himself as the only leader capable of restoring justice and peace to the country.
Chris Riotta has more:
Kamala Harris posts first video after becoming Biden's VP
The California senator shared her first campaign video on Twitter on Wednesday since becoming Joe Biden's vice presidential candidate.
The clip, which tells a personal story about her upbringing and rise through Democratic party ranks, centres on why she's ready "to get to work".
She says in the video: "Growing up, whenever I got upset about something my mother would look me in the eye and ask: So what are you going to do about it?"
Mnuchin tells Democrats 'let's do this', on coronavirus aid
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he “can’t speculate” whether or not negotiators will agree on the latest coronavirus stimulus package, days after talks between top Congressional Democrats and Trump Administration officials stalled.
“I can’t speculate. If the Democrats are willing to be reasonable, there is a compromise. If the Democrats are focused on politics and don't want to do anything that's going to succeed for the President, there won't be a deal,” said Mr Mnuchin during an appearance on Fox Business on Wednesday.
"Let's do this", he told Democrats. “This will be the fifth bill, we can always come back later in the year, or in January, and do a sixth bill, we don't need to do everything at once… Our view is, let's spend a little over a trillion dollars on areas of the economy that are going to be very impactful now, that we can agree on.
Both sides have clashed over how much the latest package could cost, with Democrats saying Republicans needed to acknowledge the scope of the Covid-19 crisis.
