Today in one sentence: Nancy Pelosi recalled the House from summer recess to vote on legislation to block changes at the Postal Service that could disenfranchise voters who use mail-in ballots; Postmaster General Louis DeJoy agreed to testify at an "urgent" hearing before the House Oversight Committee; at least six states are preparing to sue the Trump administration to prevent operational changes and funding lapses to the U.S. Postal Service that could affect voting in the 2020 presidential election; and Trump suggested that the FDA should approve an untested experimental coronavirus treatment.

  • 😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”

  • Global: Total confirmed cases: ~21,767,000; deaths: ~777,000

  • U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~5,423,000; deaths: ~171,000

  • Source: Johns Hopkins University

  • 🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election. A state-by-state guide to everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News)

  • 📺 Democratic Convention. This year’s Democratic National Convention, which was originally set to take place in Milwaukee, will instead be held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic. The convention kicks-off today and will run through Thursday. Tonight’s theme, “We the People,” starts at 9 p.m. Eastern and will feature Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders, as well as other party leaders. Watch live on DemConvention.com, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, Amazon Prime Video, Microsoft Bing, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku TV – or via broadcast television. (Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)

1/ Nancy Pelosi recalled the House from summer recess to vote on legislation to block changes at the Postal Service that could disenfranchise voters who use mail-in ballots. The House was not scheduled to return until Sept. 14, but will vote Saturday on a $25 billion bill to fund the Postal Service and “prohibit the Postal Service from dialing back levels of service it had in place” on Jan. 1 until the pandemic ends. The Postal Service is expected to receive as many as 80 million mail-in ballots cast by Americans who are worried about voting in-person because of the coronavirus. Trump, meanwhile, attacked the Postal Service, declaring that the agency “has been failing for many decades” and asserting that Democrats “don’t have a clue.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Axios / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)

  • [Analysis] Tracing Trump’s Postal Service obsession, from “loser” to “scam” to “rigged election.” (Washington Post)

  • [Context] Postal crisis ripples across nation as election looms. Trump’s furious objection to mail-in balloting and a new Trump-allied postmaster general are raising fears about the election and the Postal Service. (New York Times)

2/ Postmaster General Louis DeJoy agreed to testify at an “urgent” hearing before the House Oversight Committee next Monday about changes to the U.S. Postal Service. Trump, meanwhile, denied that his administration was attempting to slow down the mail or that he’s “tampering” with the election, arguing that DeJoy is trying “to make the post office great again,” which he claimed is “one of the disasters of the world.” And, speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump claimed “I have encouraged everybody to speed up the mail, not slow the mail.” Trump later tweeted “SAVE THE POST OFFICE!” after wondering aloud on Twitter “Why is Congress scheduled to meet [DeJoy] during the Republican Convention, rather than now, while the Dems are having their Convention.” Last week, Trump admitted that he opposed additional funding for the Postal Service and election security because they would help facilitate voting by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic. On Saturday, Trump continued his attacks on mail-in voting during a press conference, claiming without evidence that voting by mail will make the U.S. a “laughingstock.” (Axios / Politico / NBC News)

3/ At least six states are preparing to sue the Trump administration to prevent operational changes and funding lapses to the U.S. Postal Service that could affect voting in the 2020 presidential election. Attorneys general in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Washington, and North Carolina are in discussions about how best to approach the suit. New York is reportedly also considering action. The states are expected to announce the lawsuit early this week. Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said the cohort is working “to determine what Trump and U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy are doing, whether they have already violated or are likely to violate any laws, and what tools we have at our disposal to put a stop to President Trump’s ongoing attack on our Postal Service and our democracy.” (Washington Post / New York Times)

4/ Trump suggested that the FDA should approve an untested experimental coronavirus treatment. Despite no public data or peer-reviewed research showing that the experimental botanical extract, oleandrin, has ever been tested in animals or humans for its efficacy against COVID-19, Trump said the extract should be marketed as a dietary supplement or approved as a drug to cure COVID-19. Oleandrin was promoted to Trump during an Oval Office meeting in July by HUD Secretary Ben Carson and MyPillow.com CEO Mike Lindell — a prominent Trump donor who recently took a financial stake in the company that develops the extract. (Axios)

  • White House staffers are still upset with Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger months after he wore a face mask in front of Trump. Several senior officials viewed Pottinger’s mask-wearing as an indication that he was publicly challenging the president. Trump has also reportedly teased Pottinger behind his back for wearing a mask. (Daily Beast)

5/ Trump’s coronavirus task force warned that the spread of COVID-19 in Georgia is “widespread and expanding” under current policies. The task force “strongly recommends” Georgia adopt a statewide mask mandate because “Current mitigation efforts are not having a sufficient impact.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / NBC News)

  • The COVID-19 rate in children have been “steadily increasing” since March, according to updated CDC guidance. “Recent evidence suggests that children likely have the same or higher viral loads in their nasopharynx compared with adults and that children can spread the virus effectively in households and camp settings,” the guidance states. Health experts say children make up more than 7% of all coronavirus cases in the U.S., while comprising about 22% of the country’s population. (CNN)

  • The FDA issued an emergency authorization for the use of a saliva-based test for the coronavirus. The test, known as SalivaDirect, was developed at the Yale School of Public Health and funded by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association. (Wall Street Journal / ESPN)

poll/ 53% of voters are “extremely enthusiastic” about voting in this year’s election. Overall, 50% of registered voters back the Biden-Harris ticket, while 46% say they support Trump and Pence. (CNN)

poll/ Biden and Harris lead Trump and Pence 53% to 41% among registered voters. Among voters who say they are “absolutely certain” to vote, Biden and Harris lead 54% to 43%. (Washington Post)

poll/ 58% of voters who support Joe Biden say their vote is more in opposition to Trump than in support of Biden. 74% of Trump voters say their vote is more in support of Trump than against Biden. Overall, 50% of voters say they would vote for Biden if the election were held today, while 41% back Trump. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Axios)

poll/ 50% of Americans have a favorable view of Biden and 52% see Harris favorably compared to 42% favorability for Trump and 44% for Pence. (ABC News)

poll/ 42% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – a slight improvement since June. (Gallup)

✏️ Notables.

  1. Trump told aides that he’d like to meet with Putin before the November election. Administration officials are considering a possible meeting next month in New York. The aim of a summit would be to announce progress toward a new nuclear arms control agreement between Russia and the U.S. Trump and his team also plan to have him hold more meetings with world leaders in the weeks leading up to the election. (NBC News / Bloomberg)

  2. The Senate Intelligence Committee asked the Justice Department to investigate Stephen Bannon for potentially lying to lawmakers during its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The bipartisan letter also raised concerns about testimony by Trump’s family members and confidants, including Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and Hope Hicks, that appeared to contradict information provided by a former deputy campaign chairman to Robert Mueller. The letter was sent July 19, 2019 and it’s not clear what action the Justice Department took on the referral. (Los Angeles Times)

  3. The Trump administration approved an oil leasing program to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The move will auction off oil and gas rights in the 1.6 million-acre coastal wilderness. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN)

  4. U.S. intelligence agencies assessed that Iran offered bounties to Taliban fighters to target American and coalition troops in Afghanistan. Payments were linked to at least six attacks carried out in the last year alone, including a suicide bombing at a U.S. air base in December. (CNN)

  5. Trump’s younger brother, who unsuccessfully sued his niece to stop the publication of her book calling Donald Trump “the world’s most dangerous man,” died. Robert Trump was 71. Trump said he may hold a memorial service for Robert at the White House this week. In a statement Trump called Robert “not just my brother, he was my best friend.” Speaking to reporters later, Trump portrayed his brother as a lifelong supporter, saying “If I had the number one show, or if I had a big success, and no matter what I did — whether it was real estate deals or anything else — he was right there and in many cases helped with whatever I did. And then when I became president he was one of the most loyal people, there was no jealousy.” (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)