Updated evening summary
We’re closing down our live US politics coverage for today, but you can follow updates from the Democratic National Convention on our DNC liveblog for the next few hours. Tonight’s events will include speeches from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former first lady Michelle Obama.
Meanwhile, an updated summary of today’s news, from myself and Joanie Greve:
- Postmaster General Louis DeJoy agreed to testify before the House oversight committee next Monday. The hearing is expected to be quite contentious, as Democratic members of the panel grill DeJoy on his handling of the US Postal Service in the final months before November’s presidential election.
- The House will vote on legislation regarding USPS on Saturday. House speaker Nancy Pelosi announced yesterday that she would call members back into session to vote on congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s bill, which would prohibit changes to USPS operations before the election. More than a dozen states are expected to sue the Trump administration over the treatment of the postal service, Maryland’s attorney general said.
-
A former senior member of the Trump administration endorsed Joe Biden in the presidential race. Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff to former homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, said in a video announcing his endorsement, “Given what I have experienced in the administration, I have to support Joe Biden for president.” The endorsement makes Taylor one of the most senior members of the Trump administration to publicly back Biden’s campaign. Activists criticized Taylor for not reckoning with his own complicity in separating kids from families.
- The Trump administration finalized its plan to allow oil drilling in the Arctic national wildlife refuge – which environmental advocates call the nation’s “last great wilderness”.
- A major North Carolina university opened for in-person classes and then abruptly cancelled them, after coronavirus cases began to spread among students, including at least one cluster of cases in a fraternity house.
Updated
Former DHS official: Trump wanted border wall spikes more damaging to human flesh
My colleague Joan Greve wrote earlier about the former Trump Department of Homeland Security official who endorsed Joe Biden for president, saying that “What we saw week in and week out, for me, after two and a half years in that administration, was terrifying.”
Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff to former homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, announced his endorsement in a video produced by the group Republican Voters Against Trump.
He also elaborated on some of his experiences in the administration in a Washington Post op-ed:
One day in February 2019, when congressional leaders were waiting for an answer from the White House on a pending deal to avoid a second government shutdown, the president demanded a DHS phone briefing to discuss the color of the wall. He was particularly interested in the merits of using spray paint and how the steel structure should be coated. Episodes like this occurred almost weekly.
Top DHS officials were regularly diverted from dealing with genuine security threats by the chore of responding to these inappropriate and often absurd executive requests, at all hours of the day and night. One morning it might be a demand to shut off congressionally appropriated funds to a foreign ally that had angered him, and that evening it might be a request to sharpen the spikes atop the border wall so they’d be more damaging to human flesh (“How much would that cost us?”).
See Adam Serwer’s 2018 essay on the Trump administration: “The cruelty is the point.”
But activists also had questions for Taylor about his own complicity in the administration’s separation of migrant children from their families, which Taylor criticized in his piece denouncing Trump.
You can't just rewrite recent, highly-on-social-media history. Miles Taylor is directly complicit in the separation of children from their families. If you want to actually engage in reconciliation for that, it's available to you, Mr. Taylor. But this ain't it. https://t.co/PBROOln7na
— Jess Morales Rocketto (@JessLivMo) August 18, 2020
Updated
Nurse practitioner discovers Iowa underreporting COVID cases on state website
New from the Associated Press:
A state agency says it is working to fix a data error on Iowa’s coronavirus website that lowers the number of new confirmed cases and therefore downplays the severity of the current outbreak, just as schools are deciding whether to reopen.
The glitch means the Iowa Department of Public Health has inadvertently been reporting fewer new infections and a smaller percentage of daily positive tests than is truly the case, according to Dana Jones, an Iowa City nurse practitioner who uncovered the problem. It’s particularly significant because school districts are relying on state data to determine whether they will offer in-person instruction when school resumes in the coming days and weeks.
“It’s just horrifying. We have no idea what’s going on, really,” said Jones.
Report: University cancels in-person classes less than 2 hours before tuition deadline
An independent weekly in North Carolina is highlighting an interesting detail about the abrupt cancellation of in-person classes at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, the state’s flagship university, which had started on-campus instruction this month.
The cutoff for fall tuition cancelation was 5 p.m. The email calling off in-person classes went out around 3:45. https://t.co/MJ1ZEB5ZEh
— Sarah Edwards (@eddy_sarah) August 17, 2020
A union that represents some of the university’s staff said in a statement responding to the sudden reversal that administration officials “gambled that they could contain a spread until tuition bills were locked in and lost miserably”, the News and Observer reported.
The union had previously sued the university on behalf of housekeepers, professors and other staff, the paper reported.
Updated
Fact-checking Trump’s claims about New Zealand’s “big surge” in coronavirus cases
Donald Trump called out New Zealand for its recent Covid-19 outbreak today, saying the places the world hailed as a success story is now facing a “big surge” in cases.
On Monday Auckland recorded 9 new cases of the virus, while the US recorded just under 42,000.
More on Trump’s claims about New Zealand, versus the reality:
California governor gives update on fire tornadoes, expected rolling blackouts
As a record-setting heat wave descends on California, the state contends with wildfires that threaten to spiral out of control, rolling blackouts to protect against additional blazes and a pandemic whose toll continues to rise.
Over the weekend, intense lightning storms and fire tornadoes struck areas across the state, igniting brush fires and prompting state regulators to warn of rolling blackouts just as many children resume distance learning and huge segments of the population work from home.
“We failed to predict and plan for these shortages, and that’s unacceptable. I have taken responsibility as your governor to immediately address this issue, to move forward and ensure it simply never happens again,” Newsom said at Monday’s presser, adding that the state has launched an investigation into what went wrong with the energy forecast.
Newsom said that parents who are worried about how the power outages will impact their children’s distance learning should know the situation is “very temporary”.
Meantime, California coronavirus metrics show signs of improvement.
Since 3 August, the state has added five new counties to the state’s monitoring list, based on health metrics that worry public health experts, which means 42 of the state’s 58 counties are now on notice. The San Diego metro area may be removed from the list tomorrow, Newsom said.
Newsom said the state’s positivity rate for people who have been tested for Covid is at 6.5%, down from 7 weeks ago, and is “stabilizing” and “moving broadly in the right direction”. Admissions to hospitals and ICUs both declined over the past two weeks, by 21% and 16% respectively.
Updated
Another politically charged Trump appointment at the Census bureau
The Trump administration has made another rare political appointment to the census bureau, naming Ben Overholt, a statistician at the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to be its deputy director for data.
Donald Trump also recently instructed the bureau to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census data used to determine how many US House seats each state gets, a move that is likely to be unconstitutional (the constitution says the census must count all “persons”). The bureau announced earlier this month it is shortening the time to respond to the census, a move that will likely result in an undercount of immigrant, poor and minority communities.
Overholt’s appointment, first reported by NPR, comes at a time when the Bureau is under severe scrutiny and faces accusations of political interference. The Bureau is overwhelmingly staffed by career employees, and the Trump administration installed two political appointees earlier this year there that appear to have little qualification. Democrats in Congress have called for the removal of those employees.
In 2017, Kris Kobach, an anti-immigrant politician from Kansas, attempted to get Overholt detailed to Trump’s voter fraud commission, noting Overholt had done an analysis for Kobach after seeing him on TV. Kobach told officials in Vice-President Mike Pence’s office he wanted the request to have Overholt detailed to the commission elevated to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Christy McCormick, a commissioner on the Election Assistance Commission, also praised Overholt in an email to Pence’s office: “When I was at DOJ, we had numerous conversations that make me pretty confident he is conservative (and Christian, too).”
Overholt has served as a statistician at the EEOC since 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, he worked in the voting section at the Justice Department for five years and served in the US army for nearly 14 years. He has a PhD and MS in Applied Statistics and Research Methods from the University of North Colorado.
The Bureau said in a statement Overholt would ensure “2020 Census data products are of the highest quality”.
Updated
Trump confirms he will give his GOP convention speech at the White House
In Wisconsin, President Trump confirms he will give his GOP Convention speech from the White House next Thursday.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) August 17, 2020
The Office of Special Counsel said last week that Trump could give the speech from the White House, but said there might be issues for White House employees involved in the event because of the Hatch Act, which sets limits on the political activities of federal employees while on the job. Trump has repeatedly ignored these legal limits.
Better air circulation or doors that lock against a school shooter? Pick one.
A reporter for New York magazine has an extremely grim anecdote from a conversation with a friend who is a teacher in the United States preparing to resume classroom instruction during a pandemic:
Just heard from a teacher friend prepping for the school year: they've been told they can't leave classroom doors open to promote better air circulation, because that would circumvent the school's automatic locking system that's in place for active shooter situations.
— Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) August 17, 2020
Trump about to begin another airport speech, this one in Wisconsin
The president is currently in an airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, about to give yet another speech in the airport. (He previously spoke in airports in Minneapolis and Mankato, Minnesota, earlier today.)
The White House pool reporter notes that, currently, “People are crowded into the hangar, cheering and waving signs. They are close and not all are wearing masks.”
Updated
Major university cancels in-person classes after 130 cases of Covid-19 among students
New from the Associated Press: a major university started in-person classes, then cancelled them after 130 confirmed coronavirus cases among students, including a cluster of cases at a fraternity house.
North Carolina’s flagship university canceled in-person classes for undergraduates just a week into the fall semester Monday as the school and other campuses around the U.S. scrambled to deal with coronavirus clusters linked in some cases to student housing, off-campus parties and packed bars.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said it will switch to remote learning on Wednesday and make arrangements for students who want to leave campus housing.
“We have emphasized that if we were faced with the need to change plans — take an off-ramp — we would not hesitate to do so, but we have not taken this decision lightly,” it said in a statement after reporting 130 confirmed infections among students and five among employees over the past week.
UNC said the clusters were discovered in dorms, a fraternity house and other student housing.
Read the full story.
Updated
More than a dozen states expected to sue Trump administration over post office cuts
Reuters has a new development in the intense battle to ensure America’s postal service has the resources it needs to deliver Americans’ ballots on time in this fall’s presidential election:
More than a dozen states as early as this week are expected to sue the Trump administration over cuts at the United States Postal Service they say could delay mail-in ballots in the November elections, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said on Monday.
Frosh said anywhere between 15 to 20 Democratic attorneys general are reviewing legal arguments, and he expects that the states involved will join in one, or possibly several, lawsuits.
Full story here.
Justice Department announces espionage charges against man who served in CIA decades ago
This is Lois Beckett, picking up today’s live politics coverage from our West Coast office.
The Justice Department announced that Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 67, a former CIA officer, was arrested on Aug. 14, on a charge that he conspired with a relative of his to communicate classified information to Chinese intelligence officials.
Ma joined the CIA in 1982 and left the agency in 1989. He lated worked for an FBI field office as as contract linguist tasked with reviewing and translating Chinese language documents.
The Los Angeles Times has additional details on the case:
“Ma left the FBI in 2010. It is not clear why the FBI waited until January 2019 to conduct its sting operation,” the Times’ Del Quenten Wilber writes. “But the affidavit suggested the FBI had been tracking Ma’s activities for years, likely while he was still at the bureau.”
The Los Angeles Times also noted than an alleged conspirator of Ma’s, his 85-year-old relative, also a former CIA officer, was not charged in the case because of a “debilitating cognitive disease.”
Today so far
I’m turning the blog over to my west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, for the next few hours, but I will be back for the start of the Democratic convention tonight.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Postmaster General Louis DeJoy agreed to testify before the House oversight committee next Monday. The hearing is expected to be quite contentious, as Democratic members of the panel grill DeJoy on his handling of the US Postal Service in the final months before November’s presidential election.
- The House will vote on legislation regarding USPS on Saturday. House speaker Nancy Pelosi announced yesterday that she would call members back into session to vote on congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s bill, which would prohibit changes to USPS operations before the election.
-
A former senior member of the Trump administration endorsed Joe Biden in the presidential race. Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff to former homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, said in a video announcing his endorsement, “Given what I have experienced in the administration, I have to support Joe Biden for president.” The endorsement makes Taylor one of the most senior members of the Trump administration to publicly back Biden’s campaign.
- The Trump administration finalized its plan to allow oil drilling in the Arctic national wildlife refuge – which environment advocates call the nation’s “last great wilderness”.
- The Democratic convention will start in just a few hours. Tonight’s events will include speeches from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former first lady Michelle Obama.
Lois will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
Trump unsurprisingly attacked several prominent Democrats during his second mini-rally of the day in Minnesota.
The president attacked Joe Biden as “the puppet of leftwing extremists” and sarcastically described vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris as a “beauty”.
Trump also suggested (with no basis) that House speaker Nancy Pelosi does not love America.
"Look at Nancy Pelosi ... look at the homeless problem in San Francisco ... she has no clue & I must tell you this. Does she love our country? I don't think so" -- a central theme of Trump's campaign seems to be that prominent Democratic women actually hate America pic.twitter.com/BX7a23I6KG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 17, 2020
Updated
Former senior Trump administration official endorses Biden
A former top member of the Trump administration has endorsed Joe Biden in the presidential election.
Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff to former homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, announced his endorsement in a video produced by the group Republican Voters Against Trump.
NEW: Testimonial ad from Trump's Former DHS Chief of Staff @MilesTaylorUSA, declaring his support for Joe Biden and describing Trump's presidency as "terrifying" and "actively doing damage to our security."
— Republican Voters Against Trump (@RVAT2020) August 17, 2020
WATCH & go to https://t.co/Nz2NiSCquN for more. pic.twitter.com/iChqOdIIew
“What we saw week in and week out, for me, after two and a half years in that administration, was terrifying,” Taylor says in the video.
Taylor said Trump showed little interest in important matters of national security and sought to “exploit” the department of homeland security for his own personal gain.
“Given what I have experienced in the administration, I have to support Joe Biden for president and even though I am not a Democrat, even though I disagree on key issues, I’m confident that Joe Biden will protect the country and I’m confident that he won’t make the same mistakes as this President.”
The endorsement makes Taylor one of the most senior members of the Trump administration to publicly back Biden’s bid for the White House.
Trump: economic crisis is 'God testing me'
During his second mini-rally of the day, Trump suggested that the country’s financial struggles due to the coronavirus pandemic are God’s way of testing him.
Trump wonders if the coronavirus might be God's way of punishing him for being a narcissist pic.twitter.com/vuPOiQsKcW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 17, 2020
“We built the greatest economy in the history of the world, and now I have to do it again,” Trump told a small crowd at an airport in Minnesota.
The president went on to say, “You know what that is? That’s right. That’s God testing me.”
Trump frequently claims that he built the strongest economy in history before the pandemic, but fact-checkers have found that assertion to be false.
The president’s odd claim that the struggling economy is part of a divine test also seems to downplay the suffering of millions of Americans who remain unemployed because of the crisis.
Updated
The Guardian’s Sam Levine has more analysis of that new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll:
Joe Biden’s supporters appear much more likely to vote by mail than Trump supporters. Nearly half of Biden supporters said they planned to vote by mail, while just 11% of Trump supporters did the same.
That finding underscores how Trump’s attacks on vote by mail - including efforts to slow the mail and limit the use of drop boxes - could be more likely to harm Biden.
Trump has already started sowing doubts about the election results, and the poll reflects a deep partisan divide in election confidence.
73% of Republicans said they are not confident mail-in ballots will be counted accurately, while 65% of Democrats said they were confident in the mail-in vote total.
Those attitudes could come into play in the days after the election when state election officials are still counting ballots. Experts are worried that Trump could appear to be leading and claim victory on election night only as more ballots are counted in the days after the election.
Trump said he has approved Iowa’s federal disaster declaration after last week’s devastating derecho.
“Just approved (and fast) the FULL Emergency Declaration for the Great State of Iowa. They got hit hard by record setting winds,” the president said in a tweet.
Just approved (and fast) the FULL Emergency Declaration for the Great State of Iowa. They got hit hard by record setting winds. Thank you to @SenJoniErnst, @ChuckGrassley, and Governor Kim Reynolds.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2020
Trump also intends to visit Iowa tomorrow, a White House official told the Des Moines Register.
The Register reports:
The president will visit Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, a White House official confirmed to the Des Moines Register Monday afternoon.
The president had originally floated the idea of making a ‘surprise’ visit to Iowa on Monday.
‘I want to see the people. I love the people of Iowa. They’ve been very loyal,’ Trump said.
But, a few hours later, White House staff said they were unable to work it into his schedule, chief of staff Mark Meadows said Monday afternoon.
Trump is visiting Minnesota and Wisconsin today to deliver remarks on jobs, providing some in-person counterprogramming to the Democratic virtual convention, which starts tonight.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
Ron Stroman, who stepped down as the second in command at the US Postal Service in June, said the agency needed to be more transparent about the reasoning for recent changes, which includes reports of mail-sorting machines being removed from post office facilities.
“Recent actions like the removal of these machines aren’t necessarily out of line with USPS operations/processes, but what does raise cause for concern is the lack of transparency from USPS in communicating to stakeholders the reasoning behind, or the data to back up, these decisions—not to mention the speed with which the changes have been made in recent weeks,” he wrote in an email.
Trump and Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general, have said the measures are necessary to cut costs for the cash-strapped agency.
But Stroman said USPS needed to be clearer about what justified the changes amid a pandemic and just months before a presidential election.
“It could be legitimate, but it is hard to know for certain,” Stroman said of the changes.
“While ideally USPS would be working in partnership with state and local election officials — as USPS historically did in the past — to ensure the integrity of the election, this is another reminder of why it’s so important for us to drive home the message to voters that the best way to ensure their mail in ballots are counted — regardless of any of these changes — is to request and send back their ballots as early as possible.”
The House intends to vote Saturday on legislation related to the US Postal Service, House majority leader Steny Hoyer confirmed today.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi released a “Dear Colleague” letter last night lambasting the president’s “campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters.”
Pelosi called upon the House to return to session to pass congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s bill that would prohibit changes to USPS’ operations before the election.
“In a time of a pandemic, the Postal Service is Election Central. Americans should not have to choose between their health and their vote,” Pelosi said.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has also called upon majority leader Mitch McConnell to call the Senate back, although McConnell seemed resistant to the idea at a campaign event today.
Postmaster general agrees to testify before House committee
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has agreed to testify before the House oversight committee next Monday, amid questions over his handling of the postal service ahead of November’s presidential election.
“I’m pleased that the Postmaster General will testify voluntarily before the Oversight Committee on Monday about the sweeping operational and organizational changes he has been making to the Postal Service,” committee chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney, said in a statement.
Maloney also noted DeJoy would be expected to turn over documents requested by House Democrats by this Friday.
“The American people want their mail, medicines, and mail-in ballots delivered in a timely way, and they certainly do not want drastic changes and delays in the midst of a global pandemic just months before the election,” Maloney said.
Trump arrived in Minnesota and held a mini-rally at the airport with a handful of supporters.
The president railed against the alleged dangers of a Biden administration, warning (without any basis) that Democrats would confiscate legally owned guns if elected.
Trump seems to think being staunchly pro-guns is a winning issue in suburban Minneapolis. A Republican hasn't won a statewide election in Minnesota in 14 years. pic.twitter.com/ajiZqnlULr
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 17, 2020
“They will be taking away your Second Amendment if they win,” Trump said. “Remember this, I am the only thing standing in the way of your Second Amendment.”
In reality, Biden has said he supports an assault weapons ban and a voluntary gun buyback program, but he not proposed confiscating legally owned firearms.
The president has been holding more of these small campaign events in recent weeks, as the coronavirus pandemic has made his traditional rallies impossible.
This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Amanda Holpuch.
As Trump seeks to cast doubt upon the legitimacy of the 2020 election, a new poll shows American voters have decreasing confidence in the accuracy of the vote count.
According to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 45% of US voters say they are not confident the votes in the presidential election will be counted accurately, up from 34% in 2016.
An equal share of voters, 45%, say they are confident in the vote count, down from 59% in 2016.
The poll comes as the president continues to suggest (without evidence) that ballots cast by mail will be particularly vulnerable to voter fraud, even though voter fraud is actually very rare.
Trump’s baseless claims seem to be having an effect on how Republicans in particular plan to cast their ballots. The poll found that, while 47% of Joe Biden’s supporters say they plan to vote by mail, only 11% of Trump voters say the same.
Afternoon summary
- The Trump administration finalized its plan to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – which environment advocates call the nation’s “last great wilderness”.
- Cardi B told Joe Biden her priority for the November 2020 election is to get “Trump out” in a wide-ranging interview between the artist and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
- Donald Trump called into Fox News this morning to discuss the postal service, the November election and his brother Robert’s death on Saturday. Trump said of Robert: “There was not an ounce of jealousy. he’d go around talking about how great this is for the country and it’s so incredible. He was my biggest fan.”
- The Democratic National Convention (DNC) convention committee announced four celebrities would help emcee the convention this week: Eva Longoria, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kerry Washington and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
That’s it for the morning. I’m now handing the blog over to Joan Greve, who will be leading coverage through tonight’s Democratic National Convention.
The Guardian’s voting rights reporter, Sam Levine, has responded to the president’s leading question about how voting drop boxes are used.
Donald Trump, who votes by mail, has falsely claimed that absentee voting will lead to “massive fraud and abuse” and said last week he is undermining the postal service to make it more difficult to vote by mail.
In Ohio, which has no-excuse absentee voting, ballots from drop boxes must be collected once daily by both a Republican and Democratic member from the board of elections. https://t.co/lMysMWZhph https://t.co/jqtotP78C2
— Sam Levine (@srl) August 17, 2020
A new Latino Decisions poll shows Latino support for Joe Biden has inched up since May, increasing from 61% to 66% this month.
The poll found 24% of Latinos support Trump and that since May, their disapproval of his handling of coronavirus increased from 56% to 70% in August.
Most people surveyed (64%) said they had not received contact from either political party.
New Latino Decisions poll finds nationally Latinos back Biden by 66%, Trump 24%. In May Biden was at 61%
— Laura Barrón-López (@lbarronlopez) August 17, 2020
Latinos in battlegrounds
Arizona: 63% Biden, 29% Trump
Fla: 55% Biden, 41% Trump
NC: 61% Biden, 24% Trump
PA: 59% Biden, 28% Trump
Conducted Aug 7-15 for Somos, UnidosUS
The Guardian’s Francisco Navas and Lauren Gambino reported on the Biden campaign’s outreach to Latinos yesterday:
Chuck Rocha, the architect of Sanders’ ambitious Latino outreach strategy, is now applying some of the tactics used to win Hispanics voters in primary contests from Iowa to California, to help Biden beat Trump in November.
After Biden won the primary, Rocha founded Nuestro Pac, a Democratic Super Pac that will target Latino voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
“Part of our work is spreading the message that Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden agree 75% to 80% of the time,” Rocha said.
The Biden campaign recently made other high-profile hires including Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the granddaughter of civil rights hero Cesar Chavez, and Matt Barreto, the founder of Latino Decisions, a top Democratic polling firm. The campaign has also hired Republican strategist Ana Navarro.
Biden’s platform aimed at Hispanic voters – “Todos con Biden” – focuses on healthcare, education and reversing Trump’s anti-immigration agenda. Biden has promised to reinstate the Daca program of rights and protections for undocumented young people, and send a bill to Congress “on day one” that would create a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US.
The Guardian’s Emily Holden has more on the Trump administration’s decision to allow oil drilling in in the Arctic national wildlife refuge.
The 19-million-acre refuge in north-east Alaska, known as ANWR, is a wellspring for wildlife. The move will open up the 1.6 million-acre coastal plane, where polar bears and foxes reside and to or through which millions of migratory birds fly. The porcupine caribou herd is critically important to the indigenous Gwich’in people, many of whom make their homes on or near its migration route.
“This is our nation’s last great wilderness,” said Adam Kolton, the executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League. “Nowhere else in the five-nation circle polar north do you have such abundant and diverse wildlife.”
The lease sales will set off legal battles. Environmental groups and tribes argue that the administration’s assessment of environmental risks was flawed.
The announcement comes as Democrats open their virtual convention, in which Biden’s climate plan will be a central focus. Trump, meanwhile, has been touting his “energy dominance” agenda, rolling back methane standards for the oil and gas industry last week.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham’s Democratic rival in South Carolina’s senate race has now out-raised the incumbent for two consecutive quarters.
Former South Carolina Democratic party chairman Jaime Harrison faces an uphill battle in the Republican stronghold state. The fundraising figures, however, coupled with the racial equity protests and pandemic this year has led Cook Political Report to forecast the race from “likely” to “lean” Republican.
The national climate around race has created a more favorable climate for Democrats, pollsters say, as has anger with the government response to Covid-19.
Jessica Taylor at Cook Political Report, wrote: “While there are still large hurdles that remain for Harrison to become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from South Carolina since 1998, it’s clear this race is becoming more competitive, and Graham faces an incredibly strong challenge. In the races in our Likely Republican column, this is also the one some national Republicans view as the more competitive.”
Eva Longoria, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kerry Washington and Julia Louis-Dreyfus will help emcee the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the convention committee announced today.
Each of the celebrities are anchoring one night of the convention. Each night has a theme.
Longoria’s theme for Monday is We the People, Ross’s for Tuesday is Leadership Matters, Washington’s for Wednesday is A More Perfect Union and Louis-Dreyfus’s for Thursday is America’s Promise.
The time has finally come! ...Join me live at the 2020 Democratic National Convention to welcome Joe Biden and Kamala Harris!
— Eva Longoria Baston (@EvaLongoria) August 17, 2020
Watch it Live: https://t.co/GIf7neWRVo#DemConvention pic.twitter.com/Tddyl7Nlzo
“This week, Americans will hear from people from all walks of life who are coming together to support Joe Biden’s vision for a more just, more democratic nation,” said Stephanie Cutter, 2020 DNC program executive, in a statement. “The voices we’re including are the perfect messengers to lift up our theme of unity and help us engage with more Americans than ever before.”
Cardi B told Joe Biden her priority for the November 2020 election is to get “Trump out” in a wide-ranging interview between the artist and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Biden said his daughter, a Cardi B fan, called him “Joey B” when she was growing-up so he and Cardi “may be related” at the beginning of a video chat interview for Elle magazine.
Biden asked Cardi B what her main interest was in the 2020 election. Cardi B said: “I have a whole list of things that I want our next president to do for us. But first, I just want Trump out.”
Cardi B said she wants more clarity from the country’s leader on how to stop the spread of coronavirus and to more accurately describe the situation. Trump has repeatedly lied about the coronavirus response and its spread and has consistently downplayed its severity.
“It’s so sad that a pandemic had to happen so people could open their eyes and see what type of person they are dealing with,” she said.
Three times, Cardi B mentioned her support for Medicare for All, which would expand the government-run healthcare program to all Americans. Biden did not respond to the references and has stopped short of supporting the program after it gained prominence in the progressive wing of the Democratic party.
Biden’s campaign platform on healthcare is to expand Medicare access and auto-enrolling millions of low-income people in a government health insurance program at no cost to them.
But in response to Cardi’s multiple mentions of people who are struggling to pay for healthcare, child care and college, Biden said: “One of the things that I admire about you is that you keep talking about what I call equity – decency, fairness, and treating people with respect.”
It's the remix! Presenting Cardi B and Joey B—the collaboration you didn’t see coming. In an exclusive interview for our September issue, @iamcardib sits down with @joebiden to discuss Medicare, free college tuition, and the fight for racial justice. https://t.co/fn1haGKZPK pic.twitter.com/tvT4sQRpo6
— ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) August 17, 2020
Cardi B also asked Biden about racial equity. “I feel like Black people, we’re not asking for sympathy, we’re not asking for charity – we are just asking for equality.”
Biden responded by talking about how much has changed since he was young and how that comes down to the action of the people, especially young people.
“The reason I’m so optimistic is because of your generation,” Biden said. “You’re the smartest, the best educated, the least prejudiced, and the most engaged generation in history. And you’re going to change things. I really mean it! I’m not trying to be nice.”
He said Trump was promoting “hatred, prejudice, racism,” but that it is not a winning strategy. “This is all about the game of making people hate each other. Because that’s how he wins, by dividing us. Your generation is changing it.”
Updated
Trump administration allows oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Donald Trump’s administration approved oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge this morning.
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt told the WSJ the administration’s approval of an oil leasing program would allow auctions to begin “right around the end of the year.”
Trump administration finalizes its plan to allow oil drilling in the vast, pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge pic.twitter.com/ZY7Tu1D4Y5
— Oliver Milman (@olliemilman) August 17, 2020
The WSJ reports:
The refuge, often known by its acronym ANWR, is nearly the size of South Carolina, nestled between the Arctic Ocean to the north and Canada’s Yukon to the east. Congress approved protections for it in 1980, and its expansive tundra, mountains and coastal plain are still nearly void of people and roads.
Investors question its value, however, as a source of oil, especially in an era of lower crude prices and tepid demand. The industry is glutted with supply world-wide, pushing companies of all sizes to plan deep spending cuts.
The reserves in ANWR are uncertain and drilling there appears unpopular with the public. Combined with the sheer expense of entering Arctic wilderness for the first time, it might all chase away several of the major companies that could afford such a capital outlay.
Updated
Donald Trump called into Fox News this morning. He discussed things including the postal service, foreign relations and the death of his brother.
Trump said he was going to make the post office “great again,” but did not identify how he would do that. Instead, he spoke about Amazon and how they use the postal system to send products they sell. He did not announce plans to address his concerns about Amazon, either.
Trump was asked about concerns that he won’t leave office if he loses the November election.
“The first thing I think of is crooked Hillary Clinton,” Trump said. He then repeatedly criticized Clinton and did not address the initial question.
Trump was also asked about his brother Robert, who died on Saturday in New York City. Trump said of Robert: “He was my friend. I guess they say best friend, and that’s true.”
Trump then talked about how sibling relationships can be filled with jealousy and competition. “There was not an ounce of jealousy. he’d go around talking about how great this is for the country and it’s so incredible,” Trump said. “He was my biggest fan.”
Trump then lied about China’s ability to stop the spread of, presumably, the coronavirus. He described it as “the plague.”
Trump said: “He [Robert Trump] was so angry with China, because of what happened where the plague came in and they shouldn’t have allowed it to happen and they could have stopped it.”
I’ve got to be honest, I did not have “Cardi B in conversation with Joe Biden for Elle magazine” down on my list of things to expect today, but here we are. It’s a pretty long chat, and as you’d imagine, Cardi B is very straight-up and candid in her questions:
Cardi B: I have a whole list of things that I want our next president to do for us. But first, I just want Trump out. His mouth gets us in trouble so much. I don’t want to be lied to. I want a president to tell me what the steps are for us to get better, to tell me, “This is why it is taking so long, this is why other countries are doing better than ours.” Tell me the truth, the hard-core truth.
And also what I want is free Medicare. Of course, I think we need free college. And I want Black people to stop getting killed and no justice for it. I’m tired of it. I’m sick of it. I just want laws that are fair to Black citizens and that are fair for cops, too.
Joe Biden: There’s no reason why we can’t have all of that. Presidents have to take responsibility. I understand one of your favorite presidents is Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt said the American people can take anything if you tell them the truth. Sometimes the truth is hard. But right now, we’re in a position where we have an opportunity to make so much progress. The American public has had the blinders taken off.
You can watch the whole thing on YouTube.
Or read it here: Elle – Cardi B in conversation with Joe Biden
That’s it from me today – I’m handing over to Amanda Holpuch, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning.
Axios have a good short snap here looking at Kamala Harris’ identity, and how, rather than just being Black or just being white, with her mixed heritage she “embodies the far more layered and complicated reality of this increasingly diverse country.”
What she calls her Indian heritage is more intimate, private and familial. Her Black identity is more community and more political. This is true of all of us. People have very complex dimensions to their identity.
Pew Research estimates America’s multiracial population stands at 6.9%, and the Census Bureau estimates that will triple by 2060.
Read it here: Axios – Kamala Harris inspires new race conversation
Politico have more on a court case involving Edward Snowden – who this week has been embroiled in speculation that Trump may offer him a pardon.
Last December a court ruled that the government is entitled to the proceeds of his book Permanent Record and Snowden’s profits from his speeches, given that they are made off the back of his leak of classified NSA information.
Court filings have revealed that tallies up to $1.2 million.
Read more here: Politico – Edward Snowden raked in over $1.2 million in speaking fees, agent says
Updated
I mentioned earlier that Death Valley appears to have recorded the planet’s highest ever reliably measured temperature. We have a piece from Art Cullen, editor of the Storm Lake Times in north-west Iowa, looking at the new extremes of weather that the nation faces.
Extreme weather is the new normal. Last year, the villages of Hamburg and Pacific Junction, Iowa, were washed down the Missouri River from epic floods that scoured tens of thousands of acres. This year, the Great Plains are burning up from drought. Western Iowa was steeped in severe drought when those straight-line winds barreled through the weak stalks. A multi-decade drought is under way in the Central Plains and the south-west. Wildfires are spreading from Arizona to California, and are burning ridges north of Los Angeles not licked by flames since 1968.
Read it here: Art Cullen – Extreme weather just devastated 10m acres in the midwest. Expect more of this
US to take further action to increase restrictions on Chinese tech firm Huawei
Reuters are reporting that the Trump administration is set to announce it will further tighten restrictions on Huawei. The move is aimed at cracking down on the Chinese company’s access to commercially available chips, officials briefed on the matter said.
The US commerce department actions will expand restrictions announced in May aimed at preventing the Chinese telecommunications giant from obtaining semiconductors without a special license - including chips made by foreign firms that have been developed or produced with US software or technology.
Reuters say that the administration will also add 38 Huawei affiliates in 21 countries to the US government’s economic blacklist, raising the total to 152 affiliates since Huawei was first added in May 2019.
“Huawei and its affiliates have worked through third parties to harness US technology in a manner that undermines US national security and foreign policy interests,” commerce secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement to Reuters, adding: “this multi-pronged action demonstrates our continuing commitment to impede Huawei’s ability to do so.”
With US-China relations at their worst in decades, Washington is pushing governments around to world to squeeze Huawei out, arguing it would hand over data to the Chinese government for spying. While in Europe last week, secretary of state Mike Pompeo repeatedly spoke about keeping Huawei out of US allies’ 5G networks. Huawei denies it spies for China.
The new actions, effective immediately, should prevent Huawei’s attempts to circumvent U.S. export controls, the sources said.
Ross has been speaking about the move this morning on Fox Business, where he has described the move as “closing loopholes” to prevent Huawei getting access to US technology.
Pompeo has also commented on the move:
Today, we dealt a direct blow to Huawei and the repressive Chinese Communist Party by further limiting Huawei’s ability to acquire U.S. technology and compromise the integrity of the world’s networks and Americans’ private information.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) August 17, 2020
Updated
Jake Bittle has been looking for us today at how Trump’s new head of the Postal Service became the most important election official.
Since taking office in June, DeJoy has executed sweeping changes at the struggling US Postal Service, shaking up agency leadership and rolling out policies that have led to delays in mail delivery. These changes, which DeJoy has said are designed to cut down on labor costs, have angered advocates and Democratic politicians, who have accused him of trying to tamper with the election just weeks before millions of Americans start casting their ballots through the mail. Now, the controversial logistics executive and Trump mega-donor arguably has more power than any other official in the country to affect the outcome of this year’s presidential election.
Read it here: How Trump’s new head of the Postal Service became the most important election official
And a reminder that there may be legal trouble ahead…
They’re citing these two statutes: pic.twitter.com/IRk1DjYkVH
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 17, 2020
Steve Holland at Reuters has been looking at what Trump has planned as his “counter-programming” while the DNC takes up hours of prime-time and political attention.
Trump’s goal, Holland writes, by campaigning this week is to limit the damage to his standing from the DNC. National polls and many in battleground states show him already in deep trouble.
With visits to four states scheduled, he plans to inject himself as often as possible this week into the carefully choreographed Joe Biden plans.
As well as Oshkosh, Trump will travel to Mankato, Minnesota on Monday, Yuma, Arizona, on Tuesday and Biden’s home town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Thursday. Vice president Mike Pence is also out and about.
Trump will push a law-and-order theme in Minnesota, the state where George Floyd’s death gave renewed national impetus to the Black Lives Matter movement.
In Wisconsin, Trump will talk about job growth and trade. In Arizona, the president will emphasize border security and his tough-on-immigration stance.
The main event will be on Thursday in Scranton, the same day Biden is to accept his party’s nomination. An aide said Trump’s speech in Scranton will review “Joe Biden’s four decades in public life” and contrast his record with Trump’s over the past three and a half years.
Some of the Trump campaign events will be held in airport hangars with crowds ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 who will be seated at a socially distant range from each other.
While Trump is traveling, his re-election has arranged for a sweeping digital ad buy that could reach $10 million, a campaign official said.
Trump’s campaign will take over the banner of YouTube for 96 hours starting on Tuesday, and will put ads up on the home pages of the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and FoxNews.com.
The president will be on Fox and Friends in 20 minutes or so.
Will be interviewed on @foxandfriends this morning at 8:00 A.M. Enjoy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2020
He’ll then be in Oshkosh, Wisconsin later today. It is one of the states that he narrowly carried last time, and is seen as a key battleground for 2020.
As David Weigel puts it in the Washington Post today, “For years, the taunt that ‘Hillary never campaigned in Wisconsin’ was shorthand for the Democratic party’s neglect of Midwestern swing voters.”
He’s written an in-depth guide to the seven political states of Wisconsin, and how while the demographics of the state haven’t changed much in the last decade, the politics very much has.
The collapse of Milwaukee city turnout for Democrats four years ago has obsessed the party ever since, with blame focusing on low enthusiasm for Clinton’s campaign and voting restrictions put in place after 2012. Clinton won 188,700 votes in Milwaukee itself, down from 227,810 in Obama’s 2012 run — enough, all by itself, to have flipped the state from blue to red.
Read it here: Washington Post – The seven political states of Wisconsin
The DNC is an opportunity to demonstrate Democratic Party unity, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who for a long time was touted as a possible VP pick, was certainly reading from that script this morning in her TV appearance. Asked why progressives should come around to the Biden/Harris ticket, she said:
Look, we are united, and we’re going to show that this week. We are going to show that in November. Because look at where people are on the big, big issues, for example. Vice president Biden and Kamala Harris, they want to see us expand Social Security. They want to see us cancel a big chunk of student loan debt, and they want to see us expand access to childcare. Where are Donald Trump and Republicans on every one of those issues? No, no, no.
Some progressives have been critical of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Why should they come around now? -@craigmelvin
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 17, 2020
We are united and we’re going to show that this week. We’re going to show that in November. -@SenWarren pic.twitter.com/rgwmiD479z
She also spoke about what she described as the “three crises” gripping America.
“Americans understand that we face three crises right now: the coronavirus, a collapsing economy, and the problem of racial inequality,” says Sen. Elizabeth Warren ahead of the Democratic National Convention. pic.twitter.com/v6vKHGeWCO
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 17, 2020
Portland wasn’t the only city to see disturbances overnight. The Associated Press report that three police officers were injured and 18 people were arrested as a result of a riot in Seattle involving explosives, bottles and rocks, authorities said.
A protest against the Seattle Police Officers Guild erupted into violence just after 10pm Sunday night, claimed the police in a news release. Someone set off a large explosive and attempted to break the window of a police vehicle, the statement said.
Police ordered the crowd to disperse and then people began throwing rocks and bottles at officers, the release stated. Fireworks were also thrown at officers, KIRO-TV reported.
Of the three officers injured, police said one was hospitalized. Blast balls and “OC spray” also known as pepper spray were used to disperse the crowd, police said. The 18 individuals arrested were booked in the King County Jail.
Jared Kushner might have said he will ‘absolutely’ send his children to school despite Covid-19 risks, but Michael Sainato has been in Orlando, Florida for us, looking at the vexed issue of schools reopening there amid a pandemic that continues to grow.
Georgia and Florida recently set records for single-day Covid-19 deaths. State officials in Florida issued a state order that schools must reopen in person in the fall despite surging cases throughout the state. Though some of the state’s largest school districts have received state permission to begin school virtually, large school districts like Orange county in the Orlando, Florida, area are still being forced to reopen school in person after two weeks of virtual learning.
The Orange County Teachers Association has declared an impasse in negotiations with the district over reopening plans and is suing the district to keep virtual learning in place.
“Based on the numbers in Florida it is simply not safe to open,” said Gail Weston McDonald, a middle school teacher outside of Orlando. She has severe asthma and was able to receive a doctor’s note to be approved to work from home. “Sadly the students who will be forced to go to school will be students from lower-income families, putting their lives in danger.”
You can read it here: ‘Who are we willing to sacrifice?’: teachers’ fears grow as US schools plan reopenings
Kasich tells CNN he expects a prominent Republican congressman to declare for Biden today
Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the 2016 Republican candidate for president who has been a vocal critic of Trump, will be speaking at the DNC this week. With Bernie Sanders on the bill this evening, it’s an obvious play to show that the Biden campaign wants to reach out to leftists in their own party, and disillusioned moderate Republicans on the right at the same time. Quite the high-wire act.
For the latter group, Kasich raised the stakes last night on CNN, with this exchange:
BLITZER: "Do you actually foresee a significant number of Republicans voting for Biden in November?"
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) August 17, 2020
KASICH: "Well, you're gonna have a prominent Congressman is gonna come out, and declare, let him do it, I think he's gonna do it tomorrow."
Reports: intel suggests Iran paid bounties to the Taliban for targeting Americans
CNN have reports this morning that US intelligence indicates Iran paid bounties to the Taliban for targeting American troops in Afghanistan.
US intelligence agencies assessed that Iran offered bounties to Taliban fighters for targeting American and coalition troops in Afghanistan, identifying payments linked to at least six attacks carried out by the militant group just last year alone, including a suicide bombing at a US air base in December, CNN has learned.
“Bounties” were paid by a foreign government, identified to CNN as Iran, to the Haqqani network -- a terrorist group that is led by the second highest ranking leader of the Taliban -- for their attack on Bagram Air Base on December 11, which killed two civilians and injured more than 70 others, including four US personnel, according to a Pentagon briefing document reviewed by CNN.
We know from his own words that commander-in-chief Donald Trump has not raised the issue of allegations that Russian bounties were paid to the Taliban directly with Vladimir Putin. I’m not entirely sure we can expect the same restraint on an issue like this when it comes to Iran.
Read it here: CNN – US intelligence indicates Iran paid bounties to Taliban for targeting American troops in Afghanistan
Poll: Biden holds 12 point national lead over Trump among registered voters
Speaking of that Joe Biden enthusiasm gap, there’s some movement on that according to ABC News polling data. Their numbers say that the overall advantage stays with Biden, and enthusiasm deficit about him has eased a little.
The top line? “Biden holds a 12 percentage-point lead over Trump among registered voters, 53-41%, and a similar 10 points among likely voters, 54-44%”. ABC News say:
Beneath that result is an underlying shift: the share of Biden supporters who are very enthusiastic about supporting him has grown from 28% in March to 48% today. He still has a wide deficit on this gauge compared with Trump, with 65% strong enthusiasm, but it’s eased considerably.
There’s also been a positive response to the pick of Kamala Harris. She’s the only one out of Trump, Biden and Mike Pence to be seen favorably overall, and 54% see Harris as qualified to take over as president.
On Covid-19, 59% disapprove of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, and 65% remain very or somewhat worried they may catch the virus
Read it here: ABC News – Election advantage stays with Biden; enthusiasm deficit eases, but remains
It’s a long wait today until the DNC actually gets going – and we’ve got until Thursday to wait for Joe Biden’s big moment.
Niall Stanage has picked out five things to watch over the coming week for The Hill. One of the challenges, he says, is to whip up some enthusiasm for Biden:
Biden has been a national political figure for longer than many voters have been alive. Partisans make a virtue of his familiarity. They say a return to more normal, orthodox leadership could be just what many voters are looking for after the endless controversy and conflict of president Trump’s first term. It’s a plausible argument — and Biden has the polling lead to show for it. But it’s not the full story. Those same polls have often shown that more Trump supporters than Biden supporters are passionate about their preferred candidate.
One of Stanage’s five things though isn’t anything to do with the Democratic Party itself though. He asks: “What will Donald Trump do to take some of the attention away?”
He will not want to cede ground in the publicity war for four days straight. Trump is slated to give public remarks on Monday and Tuesday in three competitive states: Minnesota, Wisconsin and Arizona. There seems a reasonable possibility that he could also offer rolling Twitter commentary on some of the Democratic speeches, especially from his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton and president Obama.
Read it here: The Hill – Five things to watch at the Democratic National Convention
Police declared a riot again in Portland after 81st night of Black Lives Matter protests
A riot was declared in Oregon’s biggest city again last night as protesters demonstrated outside a law enforcement building early Sunday. It was the 81st continunous night of protest.
Earlier, demonstrators had been addressed by the mother of Patrick Kimmons, a 27-year-old man fatally shot by Portland police in 2018. Local media report that Letha Winston has led demonstrations in the city in the past. She told the crowd:
We need to continue to keep marching. We need to continue to keep chanting. We need to continue to keep running. We need to continue to keep screaming. We need to stand tall through it all. Do not ever let anyone discourage you from getting justice.... A change is going to come.
Officers used crowd control munitions to disperse the gathering outside the Penumbra Kelly building. Eleven people were arrested.
In an incident widely spread on social media a man appeared to have been punched and kicked unconscious by demonstrators just blocks away from the peaceful protest.
Multiple videos posted online apparently showed the man sitting in the street next to a truck that he had been driving, which had crashed and come to a stop on a sidewalk. People were crowded around him and he appeared to have been punched at least once and later kicked in the head.
The man was later loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital with serious injuries, Portland police Sgt. Kevin Allen told The Oregonian/Oregon Live. It was unclear what exactly led up to the crash and the confrontation.
Police also claimed, via Twitter, that protesters had thrown “softball size” rocks, glass bottles and other objects at officers. The department also said security cameras had been spray painted and other vandalism occurred. Two police officers were treated at the hospital after being hit by rocks, authorities said.
The actions came after what started as a peaceful protest, with demonstrators chanting “take it to the streets!”
Good morning, welcome to our live coverage of US politics today. Here’s a quick catch-up of where we are, and what can we expect from today.
- There were 516 new coronavirus deaths and just over a further new 42,000 Covid-19 cases reported in the US yesterday. The numbers always dip at the weekend, but it means the rolling 7 day average for new cases remains above 50,000 per day.
- Speaker Nancy Pelosi is recalling the US House of Representatives early from its summer recess in a bid to protect the US Postal Service from efforts to block funding and suppress mail-in voting in November’s election.
- The Death Valley temperature hit 54.4C – extreme weather watchers believe it could be the hottest reading ever reliably recorded on the planet.
- Police declared a riot in Portland again after another night of Black Lives Matter demonstrations
- The virtual Democratic National Convention gets underway later today. The speaking bill for Monday includes Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and New York governor Andrew Cuomo. The main event doesn’t start til 9pm ET - there’s a full schedule here.
- Joe Biden will attend a virtual financing event. Donald Trump is flying to Minnesota and Wisconsin for campaign events.
I’m Martin Belam, and I’ll be with you for the first stint of what is going to be a long and busy day – you can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
