Six big city mayors wrote to the Trump administration and Congress on Monday objecting to the unsolicited deployment of federal forces in their cities — which they said was political and reminiscent of authoritarian regimes.
Continue reading “Leading Mayors Call Trump Deployments Reminiscent Of ‘Authoritarian Regimes’”
Duval County Sheriff Mike Williams said safely hosting the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville as planned is no longer an option, claiming Monday that his office was “past the point of no return to execute the event with safety and security.”
Williams told reporters Monday that the hurried time table to ensure safety with “the bits and pieces I have in front of me today is not something I can support.”
The sheriff said his department will be responsible for what happens in the surrounding area of the convention, but given last minute changes and ongoing uncertainty, contracts had yet to be signed that would create the infrastructure necessary to provide security at such a large, high-profile event.
“Any plan requires finances and resources. I don’t have what I need to keep our community safe,” Williams said, adding that next steps remained unclear. “I just know what I have in front of me isn’t going to work.”
The remarks come after ongoing debates about how political conventions should be conducted this summer as some push for in-person conventions to be cancelled in favor of safer virtual ones amid a coronavirus pandemic that continues to ravage the country.
The pandemic has taken a particular toll in the state of Florida where the convention was moved after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) refused to promise a roaring convention if the same size and magnitude as previous years citing public health concerns and a need to follow CDC recommendations that would ensure social distancing and face covering guidelines could be enforced.
An RNC spokesperson released a statement in response to Williams concerns about the viability of the convention saying “Jacksonville has accommodated upwards of 70,000 people for football games and other events, and we are confident in state, local and federal officials to be able to ensure a safe event for our attendees.”
Republican National Convention was scheduled to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, but after the state’s Democratic governor imposed safety-minded restrictions on the mass gathering, the GOP decamped to Florida, moving many of the highest-profile, public-facing events to Jacksonville.
Democrats have drastically downsized their convention in Milwaukee, discouraging members of Congress from traveling to the event and allotting delegates up to two weeks ahead of the event for virtual voting. While Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is still anticipated to deliver a speech in Milwaukee, much of the other programming including music, speeches and other appearances, are slated to take place remotely at various locations around the country.
The DNC swapped out a much larger venue for more humble one as part of an effort to dissuade in-person attendance.
While the RNC has made some concessions – including a cap on attendance that will make for a much more modest event – the committee is boasting indoor and outdoor events involving thousands of participants.
Attendance will be limited to the 2,500 regular RNC delegates for the first three days of the August convention, with total attendance at about 7,000 people, CNN reported.
The fresh wave of concerns further complicates President Donald Trump’s decision to hold an in-person convention in spite of safety issues amid the coronavirus pandemic. The proposal has already been undercut by high-profile Republicans reporting that they will not attend.
Correction: This post initially identified the governor of North Carolina as Ralph Northam. We regret the error.
White House COVID-19 task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci defended himself on Monday after President Donald Trump called him an “alarmist” with regards to the doctor’s warnings about the pandemic as cases surge in multiple states.
A former female Fox Business associate producer and another woman who appeared frequently as a guest on Fox News programs, filed a complaint in New York federal court on Monday alleging sexual misconduct by top Fox News commentators Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Howard Kurtz.
The complaint also addresses a previous rape allegation against former Fox News host Ed Henry, who was fired from the network on July 1 after an internal investigation.
“It is widely documented in the public record that Fox News has not only cultivated and fostered sexual harassment and misconduct, but has consistently accepted and rewarded it,” the complaint alleged. “Nevertheless, Fox News would have the public believe that it is a different place from the Fox News that was run by former disgraced Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes. Unfortunately, it is actually worse.”
The scathing complaint, filed by former associate producer at Fox Business Network Jennifer Eckhart and co-plaintiff Cathy Areu, who was a regular guest on Fox News shows, alleges a history of workplace harassment.
The lawsuit comes after Fox News fired Ed Henry, one of the network’s most prominent anchors, earlier this month after the network conducted an internal investigation.
“In reality, Fox News knew that Mr. Henry had engaged in sexual misconduct as far back as early 2017,” the complaint said. “At that time, when Fox News was conducting a company-wide investigation into issues of sexual harassment, multiple women came forward to complain that Mr. Henry had engaged in sexually inappropriate conduct towards them.”
Eckhart described a relationship with Henry that she said included violent sex and rape, adding that Henry had coerced her into a sexual relationship with promises to advance her career.
Areu alleged in the lawsuit that she had also been a target of Henry’s harassment, alleging that the news anchor sent her sexually explicit messages.
Henry said on Twitter Monday that he will fight the lawsuit with “every fiber of my being.”
I will fight with every fiber of my being. A statement from attorney Cathy Foti: pic.twitter.com/Ha6IqdWkKw
— Ed Henry (@edhenry) July 21, 2020
Areu also described inappropriate exchanges with other top Fox News hosts, including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Howard Kurtz — each of which she said had a damaging impact on her career.
In a statement, Fox News said Areu’s claims were “false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit.”
“Based on the findings of a comprehensive independent investigation conducted by an outside law firm, including interviews with numerous eyewitnesses, we have determined that all of Cathy Areu’s claims against FOX News, including its management as well as its hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity & Howard Kurtz and its contributor Gianno Caldwell, are false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit,” the network said. “We take all claims of harassment, misconduct and retaliation seriously, promptly investigating them and taking immediate action as needed — in this case, the appropriate action based on our investigation is to defend vigorously against these baseless allegations. Ms. Areu and Jennifer Eckhart can pursue their claims against Ed Henry directly with him, as FOX News already took swift action as soon as it learned of Ms. Eckhart’s claims on June 25 and Mr. Henry is no longer employed by the network.”
A Fox News spokesperson added in a statement, “there were not sexual harassment claims against Ed Henry at FOX News prior to Jennifer Eckhart’s claim on June 25, 2020.”
Areu, who was a frequent guest on Fox News shows, said in the lawsuit that Hannity, on set in 2018, slapped $100 on a desk and urged male members of his staff and crew to take her on a date.
After appearing on Carlson’s show, Areu said Carlson told her that he was staying alone in a Manhattan hotel without his family. Areu said that she had only been featured on his show three times since declining the advance. Areu also described an occasion in 2019 when she said that Kurtz invited her to meet him in the lobby of his hotel and was upset when she declined, telling her, “in sum and in substance, ‘You’re the only woman here who won’t come to my hotel room.’”
In all three instances, according to the lawsuit, Areu said that she suffered damaging consequences in her career and was rarely invited back as a guest on the hosts’ programs.
The complaint demands a trial by jury against Fox News, Ed Henry, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Howard Kurtz.
After returning from vacation, Carlson ended his Monday night program by going after the New York Times, claiming that the publication would be running about where he and his family lived with the intent “to hurt us, to injure my wife and kids so that I will shut up and stop disagreeing with them.”
The Times responded in a tweet late Monday by saying it had no such plans.
.@nytimes does not plan to publish Tucker Carlson's residence, which Carlson was aware of before his broadcast tonight. pic.twitter.com/npg93Cdmbm
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) July 21, 2020
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) pledged on Monday night to pardon St. Louis couple Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who were both charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon earlier that day for pointing their guns at nonviolent Black Lives Matter protesters walking past their home last month.
TPM Reader NM checks in with his take from Portland …
For what it’s worth, here’s some perspective from a non-anarchist, protest-sympathizing, typical-liberal Portlander. I get out to a protest of some sort every couple of years, but I stand with the mellow hippy contingent, and I feel liberal guilt because I’ve only been to one BLM protest since George Floyd was killed. So that should give a sense of where I’m coming from on this.
First, you need to be aware of JoAnn Hardesty, a long time police reform activist and now the first black woman to be elected to our small and very oddly constituted city council. Earlier in her term council voted down her package of mild Police reforms, but since the protests began she has started to make some progress. The unprecedented wave of awareness and support in the city may give Hardesty a unique opportunity to do amazing things to transform policing in Portland. The real possibility of meaningful change, enacted now, not punted until after the election, raises the stakes and the urgency.
Struggling poll numbers spurred President Trump to pivot away from his previous reluctance to wearing a mask in public, according to a CNN report on Monday. Continue reading “Struggling Poll Numbers Pushed Trump To Call Mask-Wearing ‘Patriotic’”
St. Louis’ top prosecutor on Monday charged Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple that aimed their guns at Black Lives Matter protesters in their neighborhood last month, with felony unlawful use of a weapon. Continue reading “St Louis Gun Couple Charged For Aiming Guns At Black Lives Matter Protesters”
The Justice Department said Monday that it would suffer “irreparable injury” if the judge in the Michael Flynn case was allowed to probe the circumstances of its request that the case be dropped.
This TPM Reader who we’ll keep anon even for initials gives what I think is helpful context for the larger situation in Portland …
As a resident who lives 10 blocks from the conflict zone and has long involvement with some of the actors involved I share observations regarding contextual dimensions of current turmoil:
Recent confrontations in downtown Portland and intervention by federal agents capture our attention but obscure broader, extended tensions that shape immediate developments. There have been a series of fatal encounters between Portland police and our minority communities, and these overlie an array of violent responses to people who are mentally ill. These stretch over several years so the George Floyd murder and similar events came not as shocks but as a renewed provocation. This accounts for the persistence and commitment of many Portland protestors. Ironically Portland police and demonstrators have in many respects work out informal “rules of engagement”to reduce property damage, injuries, and arrests only to have federal forces provoke renewed violence, presumably in their effort to dominate the streets.
