House committee chairs sent out a letter Friday requesting information from four battleground states about their preparedness for November’s elections.
Continue reading “House Dems Launch Probe Into Voting Preparedness In Four Battleground States”
Postal Workers Union President Accuses Trump Of Holding USPS ‘Hostage’ To Suppress Votes
President of the American Postal Workers Union Mark Dimondstein on Thursday called it “truly shameful” that President Donald Trump would “hold the post office hostage,” amid the coronavirus pandemic in an attempt to suppress and discourage Americans from voting.
“The cat’s out of the bag,” Dimondstein told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, referring to revelations earlier this week that — by his own admission — Trump said blocking a Democratic proposal for $25 billion of much-needed additional funding to the U.S. Postal Service would prevent widespread mail-in voting.
You’ve Got (No) Mail!
For anyone watching from a distance, this sabotage of the US Postal Service thing is for real. There’s really no question. We know this to be true from too many different directions, not the least of which is the President telling us it’s true. Some of the changes are things corporate lobbyist friends have likely wanted to do for ages – a different vision of managerial efficiency, sloughing off non-economic services. But even when that is taken into account these changes are being done in a way that – at a minimum – maximizes near-term disruption.
If that weren’t enough we are clearly seeing widespread delays in many parts of the country. If causing delays is not the goal then, given the impending election, you’d think there would be some course correction. But that’s not happening. It’s full speed ahead. There’s no course correction or adjustment because nothing is going wrong. This is the plan.
Manhattan DA: We’re Investigating Trump For More Than Michael Cohen
The Manhattan District Attorney all but confirmed on Friday that it is investigating President Trump for more than the 2016 hush money scheme involving Michael Cohen.
Continue reading “Manhattan DA: We’re Investigating Trump For More Than Michael Cohen”
PA Asks For Extra Time To Count Mail Ballots After USPS Issues Warning
The United States Postal Service warned election officials in Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state in the 2020 election, that ballots cast according to state deadlines may still “not be returned by mail in time to be counted.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported the letter, dated July 29, on Thursday. In response to the USPS warning, state election officials have asked the state’s supreme court to allow them to count ballots received up to three days after Election Day — as long as there’s no evidence they were actually mailed late.
Continue reading “PA Asks For Extra Time To Count Mail Ballots After USPS Issues Warning”
Trump-Appointed Judge Demands Campaign Produce Evidence Of Voter Fraud
A Trump-appointed federal judge demanded that the President’s campaign put up or shut up by Friday in regards to evidence that mail-in voting is rife with fraud.
Continue reading “Trump-Appointed Judge Demands Campaign Produce Evidence Of Voter Fraud”
Kushner Panders To Trump’s New Racist Birther Crusade Against Harris
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner refused to say on Friday whether or not the Trump campaign accepts that Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris is an eligible candidate for vice president following remarks by President Donald Trump on Thursday that she may not “meet the requirements.”
The President had claimed during a news conference on Thursday that he had heard a rumor that Harris — a U.S.-born citizen — may not have been born in the United States.
During a CBS interview on Friday morning, Kushner, who is also the President’s son-in-law, would not formally reject the racist conspiracy that Trump appeared to encourage the day before.
Do you accept that @KamalaHarris is a qualified candidate? — @AnthonyMasonCBS
"I personally have no reason to believe she's not but again my focus for the last 24 hours has been on the historic peace deal" — @jaredkushner
"She was born in Oakland, CA" — Mason
"Yeah" — Kushner pic.twitter.com/rqV7zK4t4z
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) August 14, 2020
“He just said that he had no idea whether that’s right or wrong,” Kushner said when asked during a CBS interview whether the Trump campaign accepted Harris’ candidacy as legitimate.
When asked on Thursday about Harris’ eligibility to serve as vice president, Trump appeared to defer to a Newsweek op-ed by the conservative lawyer John Eastman who suggested, with regard to Harris, whose parents hail from Jamaica and India, that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t grant birthright citizenship.
“I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements,” Trump said, adding he had “no idea” if the claim was correct.
Trump called the claims peddled by the theory “very serious” and said that he held Eastman, the op-ed’s author, in high esteem, calling him a “very highly qualified and very talented lawyer.”
When CBS News anchor Anthony Mason pressed Kushner on the matter Friday, Kushner said that he “personally had no reason” to believe that Harris was ineligible, without outright rejecting the claim as false.
The false and racist theory is reminiscent of a line of attack used by the President to discredit his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, who Trump suggested was born in Kenya, when in fact Obama was born in Hawaii.
Perhaps even more problematic than the theory itself, which a Trump campaign legal adviser and many Trump followers posted to social media following the op-ed’s publication, is the President and his staff’s refusal to denounce the claims as false.
Kushner told Mason that the President had said he had “no idea” about whether or not the theory was true, which Kushner said he didn’t see “as promoting it.”
But in 2008, the now late-Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) who vied for the presidency against then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, did not hesitate to publicly reject false claims amid growing anti-Arab prejudice around the country, when suggestions emerged that his opponent was “Arab.” McCain defended Obama even as crowds booed at a town hall meeting in Minnesota calling the Democratic candidate a “liar” and a “terrorist.”
“I want to fight, and I will fight,” McCain said at the time. “But I will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments, and I will respect him.”
McCain’s refusal in that moment to leverage a racist tactic to support his presidential bid is a far-cry from the race-baiting campaign that Trump made a hallmark of mobilizing his base in 2016 and appears to have relaunched as he advances falsehood regarding Kamala Harris in the 2020 election.
Sen. Ron Johnson: My Biden Probe Will ‘Certainly’ Help Trump Win
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said this week that his investigation into Vice President Joe Biden “would certainly help Donald Trump win reelection,” as the probe continues to face down widespread allegations that it is laundering Russian disinformation.
Continue reading “Sen. Ron Johnson: My Biden Probe Will ‘Certainly’ Help Trump Win”
Let’s Chat
This week David and Kate and I talk Biden, Harris, the upcoming debates as well as the House GOP’s new QAnon Caucus. Watch after the jump.
Barr Says Durham Probe Timing Will Be Dictated By ‘Developments In The Case’
Attorney General Bill Barr delivered his most solid prediction yet on incoming developments from the Durham probe a day after he said they were trying to get parts of the investigation wrapped before Election Day.
Continue reading “Barr Says Durham Probe Timing Will Be Dictated By ‘Developments In The Case’”