Day 1359: "Unlikely."
Today in one sentence: House Democrats introduced legislation to create a bipartisan commission to review whether Trump and future presidents are capable of carrying out their duties; the White House is preparing a $1.8 trillion coronavirus relief offer despite Mitch McConnell indicating that a stimulus deal was "unlikely" before the election; Trump's tax records show that more than $21 million in unusual payments were routed from a Las Vegas hotel Trump owns with Phil Ruffin through other Trump companies and paid out in cash; Trump received a $21.1 million tax break for preserving the forest around his New York mansion after a 2016 appraisal valued the estate at more than double the value assessed by three other counties; Dr. Sean Conley reported that Trump "has completed his course of therapy for COVID-19," and he expects Trump to "return to public engagements" on Saturday; Trump will host an event on Saturday at the White House; and Trump will receive a “medical evaluation” during Tucker Carlson Tonight by Dr. Marc Siegel, a Fox News contributor.
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🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State.
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ℹ️ Voter Guides: FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal
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📺 Next debate: Second Presidential Debate. Thursday, October 15, 2020 (maybe???)
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🖥 Daily Election Live Blogs: New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / CNN
1/ House Democrats introduced legislation to create a bipartisan commission to review whether Trump and future presidents are capable of carrying out their duties. The legislation would allow Congress to intervene under the 25th Amendment and remove the president from executive duties. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the measure “is not about President Trump,” but suggested that Trump needs to disclose more about his health after his COVID-19 diagnosis. Pelosi also noted Trump’s “strange tweet” halting talks on new coronavirus aid and his subsequent effort to reverse course. Trump responded on Twitter, claiming that “Crazy Nancy is the one who should be under observation,” adding: “They don’t call her Crazy for nothing!” Trump also retweeted Republican allies who baselessly said he “wouldn’t put it past Speaker Pelosi to stage a coup.” While the 25th amendment does allow Pelosi to create a panel to review Trump or any other president’s health and fitness for office, the House will not be able to remove Trump from office without the consent of Pence and members of his cabinet. (NBC News / The Guardian / Associated Press)
2/ The White House is preparing a $1.8 trillion coronavirus relief offer despite Mitch McConnell indicating that a stimulus deal was “unlikely” before the election. Trump, tweeting that “Covid Relief Negotiations are moving along. Go Big,” is reportedly “desperate” for a deal, but has “zero leverage” to force Senate leadership to support the bill crafted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin before Trump abruptly ended negotiations Tuesday, Pelosi had been pursuing a $2.2 trillion boost to the economy – a scaled-back version of the Democrats’ earlier $3.5 trillion legislation. Trump, meanwhile, told Rush Limbaugh that he wants an even bigger stimulus than what Democrats have offered so far. Shortly after, however, the White House communications director, Alyssa Farah, told reporters the administration wants a package below $2 trillion. (Axios / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Bloomberg / Politico)
3/ Trump’s tax records show that more than $21 million in unusual payments were routed from a Las Vegas hotel Trump owns with Phil Ruffin through other Trump companies and paid out in cash. Most of the money flowed through a company called Trump Las Vegas Sales and Marketing that had little previous income, no clear business purpose, and no employees. It was characterized as a business expense. Seven weeks before the 2016 election, the Trump-Ruffin partnership borrowed $30 million from City National Bank in Los Angeles. On Oct. 28, Trump contributed $10 million to his campaign. (New York Times)
4/ Trump received a $21.1 million tax break for preserving the forest around his New York mansion after a 2016 appraisal valued the estate at $56.5 million — more than double the value assessed by the three Westchester county towns that each contained a piece of the property. New York Attorney General Letitia James is now investigating whether the Trump Organization improperly inflated the value of Seven Springs as part of the conservation easement on the property. The investigation also scrutinizes valuations, tax burdens, and conservation easements at Trump’s holdings in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City. Eric Trump sat for a deposition in the case on Monday. (Washington Post)
5/ Dr. Sean Conley reported that Trump “has completed his course of therapy for COVID-19,” and he expects Trump to “return to public engagements” on Saturday. Dr. Conley, who has previously acknowledged providing the public with a positive view of Trump’s condition to satisfy the administration, did not say when Trump’s last negative coronavirus test occurred before his diagnosis. Shortly after Dr. Conley’s memo, Trump’s campaign called for the second presidential debate to take place as originally scheduled. The Commission on Presidential Debates, meanwhile, canceled the second debate between Trump and Biden altogether after Trump declined to do a virtual debate despite concerns over his COVID-19 diagnosis. (New York Times / CNN)
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😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
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Global: Total confirmed cases: ~36,712,000; deaths: ~1,065,000
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U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,649,000; deaths: ~214,000
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Source: Johns Hopkins University
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💻 COVID-19 Live Blogs: New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / CNBC
6/ Trump will host his first in-person event since testing positive for the coronavirus on Saturday at the White House. Trump is expected to address the crowd from the balcony of the White House. (ABC News / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
7/ Trump will receive a “medical evaluation” during Tucker Carlson Tonight by Dr. Marc Siegel, a Fox News contributor. Dr. Siegel will also conduct an interview, but it’s not clear if either the “evaluation” or interview will occur live on-air or will be pre-taped from earlier in the day. Since being released from Walter Reed hospital, Trump has done two phone interviews, first with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo Thursday morning, then with Fox News Sean Hannity Thursday night. (Fox News / Mediaite / Daily Beast)
- Trump, coughing, told Sean Hannity he’s healthy and ready to hold rallies. Doctors and public health experts, meanwhile, called the move “reckless.” Later, Trump held what his campaign called a “radio rally,” in which he dialed in to Rush Limbaugh’s show for two hours.(CNN / NPR / Associated Press)
8/ Trump and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows are pushing the FDA to grant emergency authorization for the promising but unproven COVID-19 therapy that Trump received. Trump has repeatedly suggested in videos on Twitter that the Regeneron drug is a “cure” that would soon be broadly available while claiming that he himself had granted the drugs an emergency use authorization, which is not true. (Washington Post / CBS News)
9/ The Justice Department’s review into the origins of the Russia investigation will not be released until after the election. Trump criticized Attorney General William Barr after being told that the results of U.S. Attorney John Durham’s report about alleged abuses by the Obama administration and intelligence community will not result in any indictments or a public report before Nov. 3. Trump, speaking with Rush Limbaugh, complained that Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray were not moving fast enough, saying, “They want to get more, more, more. They keep getting more. I said, ‘you don’t need any more.’” (Axios / CNBC)
10/ Judge Amy Coney Barrett failed to disclose two seminars she gave that was hosted by anti-abortion student groups on her Senate paperwork. In April 2013, Barrett gave a small hour-long seminar “for students on changes to law and life for women after Roe v. Wade” entitled “Being a Woman After Roe.” And in November 2013, Barrett spoke to Jus Vitae, the law school’s Right to Life club at the University of Notre Dame, on “The Supreme Court’s Abortion Jurisprudence.” (CNN)
11/ Twitter will temporarily slow the way information flows on its platform ahead of the Nov. 3 election, including imposing new warnings on lies, restricting premature declarations of victory, and blocking calls for polling violence and other disruptions. (Washington Post / New York Times)
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