West Virginia Official Debunks Trump’s Tale Of Postal Worker ’Selling Ballots’

President Donald Trump has claimed that a postal worker in West Virginia was “selling” voting ballots. But West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, a Republican, has refuted the president’s claim — and a postal worker who did plead guilty to attempted election fraud in that state, according to the Associated Press, wasn’t selling them.

During the raucous, chaotic presidential debate on Tuesday night, Trump referred to the case of Thomas Cooper — a postal worker who, AP notes, “pleaded guilty, in July, to attempted election fraud and injury to the mail after changing five ballot requests from Democrat to Republican. He also altered three other ballot applications by circling the word ‘Republican’ in a different color ink than what was used on the forms, Secretary of State Mac Warner said in a written statement.”

Cooper, according to AP, did admit to an illegal act, but Trump mischaracterized his actions. No ballots were sold, and Warner said that the attempted fraud was a “unique circumstance where a postal carrier altered absentee ballot applications, not ballots.” Continue reading.

Carl Bernstein Warns That Trump’s COVID-19 Diagnosis Creates National Security Threat

The CNN political analyst listed the threats looming after the president announced he had contracted the coronavirus.

Carl Bernstein said early Friday that the United States is “in the midst of a national security crisis” following President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis. The CNN political analyst listed several threats that could intensify, including Russian exploitation, cyber-manipulation of the markets and domestic unrest.

“This is DEFCON 1 in terms of the health of the people in the United States, in terms of our political health, in terms of our stability,” he told CNN host Don Lemon. 

Trump tweeted overnight that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus, after confirmation that White House aide Hope Hicks had tested positive. Continue reading.

Trump condemns white supremacist groups 48 hours after debate

The fallout of the debate comments was swift.

President Donald Trump condemned white supremacist groups Thursday, two days after he came under fire for his comments on the issue during a debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

“I condemn the KKK. I condemn all white supremacists. I condemn the Proud Boys. I don’t know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but I condemn that,” Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “But [Biden] should condemn also Antifa. Antifa is a horrible group of people.”

During the first presidential debate Tuesday night, moderator Chris Wallace asked Trump if he would denounce white supremacist groups. Trump responded, “sure.” When Wallace followed up and invited Trump to voice his condemnation, the president told the far-right group Proud Boys to “stand down and stand by.” Continue reading.

Kushner Biz Won $850 Million In U.S.-Backed Loans At Special Terms: Report

Kushner Companies pay no principal on the Freddie Mac-backed loans for a decade, WNYC and ProPublica reported.

The Kushner family real estate company, partly owned by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, was granted $850 million in government-backed loans with “unusually good terms,” New York Public Radio and ProPublica reported.

The loans backed by the government-sponsored Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. — known as Freddie Mac — granted last year to Kushner Companies made it possible for the business to purchase thousands of apartments in Maryland and Virginia in its largest deal in a decade, according to the joint investigation by WNYC and ProPublica.

Jared Kushner gave up running the company after father-in-law President Donald Trump gave him a job as White House adviser. But he remains a key stakeholder in the company, and has made millions of dollars from the business, including from operations linked to the Freddie Mac-backed deals, according to his financial disclosure filings. Continue reading.

As debate commission considers rule changes, Trump signals he’ll reject them

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President Trump and his top aides signaled Thursday that they would reject any changes to the presidential debate format, as members of the commission in charge of the matchups zeroed in on potential adjustments aimed at avoiding a repeat of Tuesday’s chaotic faceoff between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.

The changes — which could be announced as early as this weekend — would be aimed at reining in behavior like Trump’s on Tuesday and making the debate more orderly. But the looming dispute with the Trump camp casts a cloud of uncertainty over the remaining debates, including Wednesday’s session between the vice-presidential nominees.

Biden told reporters Thursday that he is open to changes following a debate in which Trump repeatedly cut him off and talked over him. Trump campaign officials told reporters that Biden’s team had proposed several alterations, including allowing the moderator to mute candidates’ microphones; having more questions addressed directly to each candidate; adding opening and closing statements; and limiting the “free discussion” period, which devolved into inaudible crosstalk during Tuesday’s debate. Continue reading.

Conservative operatives face felony charges in connection with robocalls seeking to mislead voters

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Two right-wing operatives infamous for inventing outlandish conspiracy theories face felony charges in Michigan for allegedly intimidating voters with inaccurate robocalls that discouraged residents in urban areas from casting their ballots by mail.

Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman were charged with four felonies of intimidating voters, conspiring to violate election law and using a computer to commit a crime, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday. Thousands of residents from at least five states received the robocall aimed at discouraging absentee voting at a time when many Americans are expected to vote by mail rather than in person during the coronavirus pandemic.

Each charge against the pair carries a five- or seven-year sentence if they are convicted in Michigan — adding up to a maximum 12 years as some sentences for the charges would be concurrent. Wohl and Burkman, who live in Los Angeles and Arlington, Va., respectively, have not yet been arraigned, Nessel’s office said, adding that it is “too early to say if formal extradition will be necessary or if they will present themselves here voluntarily in the very near future.” Continue reading.

In Profane Rant, Melania Trump Takes Aim at Migrant Children and Critics

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WASHINGTON — The first lady, Melania Trump, delivered a profanity-laced rant about Christmas decorations at the White House and mocked the plight of migrant children who were separated from their parents at the border in 2018 during a conversation secretly taped by a former aide and close confidante.

“I’m working like a — my ass off at Christmas stuff,” Mrs. Trump laments to the former aide, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who has just published a tell-all book, in a recording that was first broadcast on CNN on Thursday night. Mrs. Trump continued, “You know, who gives a fuck about Christmas stuff and decoration?”

Later in the conversation, which occurred in July 2018, the first lady complained about the criticism leveled at President Trump and his administration that summer for separating families in a crackdown on illegal immigration. Continue reading.

Trump is the “single largest driver” of coronavirus misinformation in the world: study

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President Donald Trump is responsible for nearly 38% of coronavirus misinformation in traditional media around the world, according to a new study by researchers at Cornell University.

The study looked at what the World Health Organization has termed the “infodemic” of misinformation about the new coronavirus across 38 million traditional media articles published between Jan. 1 and May 26 in English-language media around the world.

“We found that media mentions of U.S. President Donald Trump within the context of COVID-19 misinformation made up by far the largest share of the infodemic,” the study said, noting that Trump mentions comprised 37.9% of the overall misinformation conversation. Continue reading.

House approves $2.2T COVID-19 relief bill as White House talks stall

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House Democrats on Thursday approved a massive, $2.2 trillion package of coronavirus relief, lending political cover to party centrists in tough races while putting fresh pressure on Senate Republicans to move another round of emergency aid before the coming elections.

The vote arrived only after last-ditch negotiations between Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday failed to yield a bipartisan agreement — and it sent a signal that the prospects for such a deal before Nov. 3 have dimmed considerably.

The bill was approved by a tally of 214 to 207, but to secure passage, Pelosi and her leadership team had to stave off a late revolt from a surprisingly large number of centrists who were furious that Pelosi had staged a vote on a bill with no chance of becoming law. Continue reading.

Trump ‘is aiding and abetting Putin’s efforts’: HR McMaster

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During an appearance on MSNBC this Thursday, former National Security advisor to President Trump, H.R. McMaster, was asked if President Trump is posing a greater threat to the 2020 election than Vladimir Putin.

McMaster said that he agrees Trump is “aiding an abetting Putin’s efforts” by not directly “calling out Putin for what he’s doing.”

The retired lieutenant general also addressed what many say is President Trump’s refusal to directly condemn white supremacist groups, saying he “missed a huge opportunity” and that it should be “super easy to condemn white supremacists.” Continue reading.