Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday denied consenting to being featured in a new advertisement from the Trump campaign touting the President’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as the country suffers from more than 210,000 fatalities from the infectious disease. Continue reading “Fauci Slams Trump Camp For Taking His Words Out Of Context In Ad Without His Consent”
Whitmer Says Alleged Plot To Kidnap Her Signals ‘Serious Threats’ Heading Into Election
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Sunday said that the alleged kidnapping plot against her demonstrates “serious threats” from domestic terrorists as concerns grow over voter intimidation tactics at polling places on Election Day. Continue reading “Whitmer Says Alleged Plot To Kidnap Her Signals ‘Serious Threats’ Heading Into Election”
Trump Campaigns Off Of Vague WH Doctor Memo To Absurdly Claim COVID Immunity
President Trump attempted to take full advantage of White House physician Dr. Sean Conley’s vague memo issued the night before — which declared Trump as no longer at risk of transmitting COVID-19, but does not address when he last tested negative — during an interview on Fox News on Sunday morning. Continue reading “Trump Campaigns Off Of Vague WH Doctor Memo To Absurdly Claim COVID Immunity”
READ: SCOTUS Nominee’s Opening Statement Set To Focus On Family, Not Personal Views
Judge Amy Coney Barrett will address the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, kicking off her first day of Senate confirmation hearings as President Trump and Senate Republicans push to rush the conservative judge to the Supreme Court. Continue reading “READ: SCOTUS Nominee’s Opening Statement Set To Focus On Family, Not Personal Views”
COVID Strongman Trump Wanted To Wear A Superman Shirt Upon Exiting Walter Reed
President Trump, who has gone out of his way in the past week to portray himself as a strongman who’s defeated COVID-19 amid mixed messaging from the White House on his condition, floated the idea of wearing a Superman shirt after his discharge from Walter Reed last week. Continue reading “COVID Strongman Trump Wanted To Wear A Superman Shirt Upon Exiting Walter Reed”
WH Doctor Memo Says Trump No Longer Contagious, But Leaves Questions Unanswered
White House physician Dr. Sean Conley declared in a memo issued late Saturday that President Trump is no longer at risk of transmitting COVID-19 as he resumes campaign events following his discharge from Walter Reed last week, but fails to address lingering questions regarding Trump’s health condition. Continue reading “WH Doctor Memo Says Trump No Longer Contagious, But Leaves Questions Unanswered”
Graham Says Black People And Immigrants Can Be Successful With A Caveat
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) said Friday that Black people and immigrants can achieve success in his state, they “just need to be conservative, not liberal.”
The comments were made as the Republican senator took aim in a refashioned rhetorical sparring event for his Senate seat against Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison, who is Black.
“I care about everybody,” Graham said. “If you’re a young African American, an immigrant, you can go anywhere in this state, you just need to be conservative, not liberal.”
Graham highlighted Sen. Tim Scott (R) – another South Carolina senator, who is also the only Black Republican senator – as well as former Gov. Nikki Haley, as people of color who rose to success at least in part due to sharing that state’s “values.”
Hours before the event, debate organizers were forced to switch up the debate’s format, offering one-on-one televised interviews with two journalists while abandoning a traditional debate format after Graham refused to take a test for COVID-19 by the request of the Democratic Senate candidate.
Harrison had issued a statement on Thursday saying he would not appear to debate Graham in person if the lawmaker refused to take a COVID-19 test following a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with GOP senators who have since tested positive for coronavirus.
In the statement, Harrison said that he could not “responsibly debate in person” if Graham denied the test and suggested that doing so would put his family, staffers for both candidates and members of the press “at unnecessary risk.”
Graham rejected the request, saying that he had previously tested negative and that the Senate physician had told him further testing was not needed.
COVID-19 concerns were central to Friday’s event following the controversy.
Graham, who is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was asked about potential coronavirus testing ahead of Monday’s scheduled confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
The nomination ceremony at the White House on Sept. 26, has been dubbed a “super-spreader” event by public health experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci who told CBS News Radio that what has emerged as a White House cluster was unsurprising amid a failure among a majority of attendees to mask at the event.
Graham said federal guidelines would impact the hearing’s set up but refused to say that lawmakers involved would be tested ahead of the hearing.
“I’m not going to live my life differently than you have to live yours,” Graham said, in an apparent reference to Americans who work alongside colleagues who have not been tested for the virus according to the Associated Press.
“For those of you who work for a living, you can’t do what Mr. Harrison has demanded tonight,” he added.
Graham has vowed to confirm Trump’s nominee ahead of the election.
“The Senate’s floor schedule will not interrupt the thorough, fair and historically supported confirmation process,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wrote last week. Graham added at the time that senators could attend the hearings remotely.
Prominent Democrats have responded to to McConnell’s decision to plow ahead with the hearing by suggested that McConnell’s move to delay the return of the Senate amid positive COVID-19 tests of at least three GOP senators last week was also reason to delay convening Barrett’s confirmation hearing due to safety concerns.
“No plausible public health or scientific rationale justifies proceeding with Senate Judiciary Committee hearings next week,” the Democratic members of the Judiciary Committe wrote in a letter to Graham on Friday. “We need not proceed in such a reckless and blind fashion.”
Trump Hosts First Public Event Since Discharge From Walter Reed For COVID-19
President Donald Trump on Saturday made his first major public appearance since returning to the White House after being hospitalized for coronavirus last weekend.
The President wore a mask which he removed as he approached the podium — taking a dramatic pause before making his remarks to the cheers of hundreds of supporters who gathered on the South Lawn in spite of warnings from public health officials.
“I’m feeling great,” Trump told the crowd, although the White House has provided little evidence that Trump is no longer contagious amid his recovery from coronavirus.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading infectious diseases expert, cautioned the White House to avoid large gatherings — especially where people are not wearing masks– after a Supreme Court nomination ceremony on Sept. 26 turned into what he called a “super-spreader event” that resulted in a cluster of new cases among its attendees and other White House staffers in recent weeks.
During a Fox News interview on Friday, Trump was also not able to definitively report that he had tested negative for coronavirus which CDC officials have said is key indicator to determine whether or not a person is still contagious.
“I have been retested, and I haven’t even found out numbers or anything yet. But I’ve been retested, and I know I’m at either the bottom of the scale or free,” he said at the time.
Prior to Saturday’s event the President had not appeared publicly since his return less than one week ago from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where he was administered steroids, supplemental oxygen and experimental treatments for COVID-19. Bandages could still be seen on one of his hands on Saturday as he addressed the crowd.
Earlier in the week, the President appeared in highly choreographed White House-produced videos, projecting an image of strength in a clip on Wednesday where he suggested that falling ill with coronavirus for him had been a “blessing from God.”
In his remarks on Saturday President Trump kept with an old and widely disputed narrative that the coronavirus was largely fading saying — “it’s going to disappear, it is disappearing.”
The remarks were delivered to a crowd of largely masked, but not socially-distanced, “Blexit” supporters who are campaigning to convince Black voters to leave the Democratic Party. The highly political address that the White House called a “peaceful protest for law & order” and billed as an official White House event strongly resembled a campaign rally — taking clear aim at the Democratic Party as Trump rebuked Democrats as the enemy in a sweeping condemnation of the “radical, socialist left.”
While the White House remains evasive about what sort of testing is underway to ensure Trump is noninfectious as he ramps up rallies again, Joe Biden’s campaign reported that the Democratic presidential nominee tested negative again on Saturday for COVID-19 after he was potentially exposed to the coronavirus during last month’s presidential debate.
Federal Judge Rejects Trump Camp Lawsuit Targeting PA Ballot Drop Box Use
A federal judge ruled against the Trump campaign in its lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania’s use of ballot drop boxes and other aspects of the state’s voting process.
Continue reading “Federal Judge Rejects Trump Camp Lawsuit Targeting PA Ballot Drop Box Use”
Federal Appeals Court Temporarily Reinstates Ohio Ballot Drop Box Limits
A federal appeals court on Friday agreed to at least temporarily reinstate Ohio’s limit on ballot drop boxes in a move that voting rights advocates say infringes on Ohioans ability to cast their ballots, while it considers whether to make a more permanent ruling on the case.
U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Richard Griffin and Amul Thapar in an order Friday night pushed back on a Thursday decision from a federal judge in Cleveland who struck down the drop box limit as unconstitutional after early voting was already underway.
“Notably, Ohio voters are not required to use a ballot drop box to vote,” they wrote in Friday’s ruling after voting rights advocates brought a lawsuit challenging Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s move to limit ballot drop boxes to one per county saying more would be illegal based on his understanding of state law.
Judges Griffin and Thapar sided with LaRose who said that additional ballot drop boxes could create unnecessary security risks. The court struck down claims that limiting drop off boxes was unconstitutional on the basis of impeding voting rights saying the move caused “at most an inconvenience to a subset of voters.”
“Moreover, the State cannot be faulted for these voters’ choice to not take advantage of the other avenues available to them to cast their ballot,” the judges wrote.
The ruling means that the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections will not be able to go forward with its plans to install ballot drop off boxes at staffed locations in six county libraries, per Cleveland.com.
Friday’s ruling noted that the late stage move was not supported by legal precedent which has not historically favored last minute alterations to election procedure, noting that LaRose decided in August to limit drop boxes.
“We conclude that LaRose has made a strong showing that he is likely to succeed on appeal,” the judges wrote.
In a statement hailing the ruling, LaRose said that voters in the week leading up to the decision had “enthusiastically demonstrated how easy it is to vote in Ohio.”
“The higher court’s opinion only reinforces Ohio’s standing as a leader in accessible and secure voting options.”
Voting rights advocates and some local elections officials had pressed LaRose to allow additional drop boxes, saying more drop off locations would help reduce heavy traffic at their elections office.
LaRose has argued, however that making changes so close to the election could create confusion for voters and provide a platform for parties to challenge the results of the election.
Breaking with her colleagues, circuit Judge Helene White appeared to agree with voting rights advocates who brought the lawsuit saying the drop boxes pose no security concerns.
“The Secretary has not shown that the proposed locations at the libraries staffed by elections officials will undermine the security and order of the election. Nor has the Secretary shown that the plan will lead to voter confusion. Any confusion is a result of the Secretary’s changing positions,” White said.
While Griffin and White were appointed by George W. Bush, Thapar is an an appointee of President Donald Trump.
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee have LaRose’s drop box limit in an effort that has extended to a number of states — especially in battleground areas — to limit mail-in voting. The state’s Democratic Party while not involved in the federal case sued LaRose in state court over the same issue.
Read the Friday order from the appeals court below: