9/24/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 24, 2020

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SEPTEMBER 23, 2020
President Trump Holds News Conference
President Trump declines to say if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election, saying, “We’ll have to see what happens.” He also says he is awarding $200 million of CARES Act funding for vaccine distribution.
Trump Holds News Conference At White House | NBC News
Sep. 23, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a discussion with state attorneys general on social media abuses in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 23, 2020.Trump Says 2020 US Presidential Election Could End Up in Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday stated that he thinks the 2020 US presidential election will end up in the Supreme Court, suggesting that it is important to immediately fill the vacancy left after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death.


Sep. 24 - "I think this will end up in the Supreme Court," Trump told reporters. "And I think it's important we have nine justices."

The White House said Trump will announce his candidate for a Supreme Court justice on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. EST (9:00 p.m. GMT).

The 87-year-old Ginsburg, one of the nine judges on the Supreme Court and a liberal supported by Democrats and Republicans, died on 18 September of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer. Before her passing, the Supreme Court had a 5-4 conservative majority, but some justices, like John Roberts have often ruled in agreement with more liberal justices.The move by Trump and the Republicans to fill the vacancy just six weeks before the 3 November presidential election is being contested by Democrats, who note that former US President Barack Obama did not fill a vacancy left with the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016 before the presidential election.

Trump, who won the 2016 race, now faces, as his opponen

t, Obama’s former vice president, Joe Biden.     source from Sputnik
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POLITICO-Harvard poll: Pandemic fallout, racial reckoning are deeply personal to 2020 voters
A rapid approval of a coronavirus vaccine would do little to boost Trump's political fortunes, the poll also indicates.


Sep. 24 - It’s the economy, again. But it’s also the coronavirus pandemic, the upheaval it's brought to kids’ education and a nationwide reckoning on racial discrimination that’s top of mind for likely voters, according to a new POLITICO-Harvard poll gauging their attitudes heading into the presidential election.

While the economy is typically a top voter issue in presidential elections, it’s taken on new urgency with millions out of work because of the pandemic. The new poll shows that unlike some past elections, issues that are deeply personal to Americans' everyday lives, rather than policy debates that can be more abstract, rank among the most important priorities that will influence voters.     more
Meet The Press Broadcast (Full) - September 20th, 2020 | Meet The Press | NBC News
Sep 20, 2020
Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) talk about her role on the court and the fight to replace her. Andrea Mitchell and NPR's Nina Totenberg recall the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. HHS Sec. Alex Azar talks about the government response to coronavirus as the covid-19 death toll passes
Trump slammed for latest ‘frightening’ press conference: ‘The most sickening briefing we ever have witnessed’

Sep. 24 - On Wednesday, President Donald Trump gave a new press conference, during which he refused to commit to a peaceful post-election transition of power and ducked out early as he was questioned about the Breonna Taylor grand jury decision.


The president’s performance drew outrage on social media — particularly his refusal to promise he would peacefully honor the upcoming election.     more details

9/23/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 23, 2020

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Trump suggested that Biden's smooth face was due to a little nip-and-tuck and mocked the Democrat for wearing a mask, even laughing about how he let's it 'hang down on his ear' 

President Donald Trump again mocked Joe Biden for wearing a mask and asked a crowd in Pittsburgh why the Democrat would spend 'all that money on the plastic surgery' to cover up his face. 'He feels good about the mask,' Trump riffed. 'I wonder in the debate, it will be him and I the stage, is he going to walk in with a mask?'

Donald Trump mocks Biden for wearing a mask and wonders why he spent 'all that money on the PLASTIC SURGERY' if he's going to cover his face

Sep. 24 - President Donald Trump again mocked Joe Biden for wearing a mask and asked a crowd in Pittsburgh why the Democrat would spend 'all that money on the plastic surgery' to cover up his face. 
'He feels good about the mask,' Trump riffed. 'I wonder in the debate, it will be him and I the stage, is he going to walk in with a mask?'
SEPTEMBER 22, 2020
Senator Romney on Supreme Court Vacancy
Sen. Mitt Romney spoke briefly with the press from Capitol Hill about his decision to support a vote on the next Supreme Court nominee to fill the seat vacated after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from cancer. Citing historical and Constitutional precedent as his reasons in supporting a vote, the senator said that he recognizes “that we may have a court that has more of a conservative bent than it’s had over the last few decades, but my liberal friends, over many decades, have gotten used to the idea of having a liberal court, and that’s not written in the stars.”

Mr Romney, who has clashed fiercely with Mr Trump, was seen as a possible Republican holdoutMr Romney, who has clashed fiercely with Mr Trump, was seen as a possible Republican holdout

Ginsburg Supreme Court: Republicans secure vote for replacement

Republicans have secured the numbers needed to ensure that President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee will face a confirmation vote in the Senate.

Sep. 23 - Senator Mitt Romney of Utah has given the party the 51 backers needed to move forward with voting on Mr Trump's candidate to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Friday.

Democrats argued there should be no confirmation in an election year.

The move guarantees a bitter political battle going into November's vote.

President Trump says he will announce his chosen nominee on Saturday at 17:00 local time (22:00b), and has vowed to pick a woman.

Supreme Court justices are nominated to the bench by the US president, but must be approved by the Senate.
With the death of Justice Ginsburg, a liberal stalwart, Mr Trump has been given the chance to cement a rightward ideological tilt of the nine-member court by replacing her with a conservative.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to hold a confirmation vote before the election in November, but a question mark had hung all week over whether enough Republicans in the chamber would back him...     more



9/22/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 22, 2020

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Lawyers for Manhattan's District Attorney Cyrus Vance (pictured) pointed to the 'mountainous' allegations of misconduct as they argued to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals why a subpoena for President Donald Trump's tax returns should be enforced

DA seeking Trump's taxes cites 'mountain' of allegations

Sep. 22 - NEW YORK (AP) — The Manhattan district attorney's office told a federal appeals court Monday that its quest to gain access to President Donald Trump’s tax returns is supported by “a mountainous record" of public allegations of misconduct.
The president and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. have been battling for more than a year over a subpoena sent to Trump's accounting firm, Mazars USA, seeking eight year's worth of his tax documents.

Attorneys for Trump have argued that Vance, a Democrat, is just trying to smear the president with an overly broad investigation that has no legal basis.

In a filing with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for Vance again declined to reveal exactly why Trump is under investigation, citing grand jury secrecy rules.

But they cited multiple news reports in which Trump or his companies have been accused of overstating the value of his assets when dealing with potential business partners and lenders while minimizing the value of those same assets for tax purposes...     continue to read

Trump news – live: Supreme Court frontrunner joins White House meeting as president pushes for confirmation by election
White House vetting five women to replace Justice Ginsburg’s seat

Sep. 22 - Donald Trump has announced that he intends to name his nominee to the US Supreme Court to replace the late liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Friday or Saturday of this week, as his attorneys face an appellate court hearing over subpoenas for the president’s tax records.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance revealed on Monday that his office has evidence to justify a grand jury probe into allegations of tax and insurance fraud, among other crimes involving the president and his business.
The president told reporters and supporters that the White House is vetting five women to fill a vacant Supreme Court seat following the death of the liberal justice on 18 Septemer.

Reportedly ahead of the pack is Amy Coney Barrett, who met with the president at the White House  on Monday.
“I have one or two that I think — they're all outstanding, but I have one or two that I have in mind,” the president told reporters before he travelled to campaign events in Ohio.

Meanwhile his Republican peers on Capitol Hill appear primed to support any conservative nominee Mr Trump puts forward.

Only two GOP senators saying they still do not believe it is appropriate to fill the vacancy this close to the November election.
Chuck Grassley became the latest Republican to reverse his previous positions about confirming an appointee during an election year, which he opposed in 2018 and 2016.

A Morning Consult survey found that Democratic voters who said the Supreme Court was “very important” in their ballot decision spiked 12 per cent in the days after Justice Ginsburg’s death.     source

President Trump delivers remarks in Ohio — 9/21/2020
SEPTEMBER 21, 2020
President Trump Campaign Remarks in Swanton, Ohio
President Trump delivers remarks at a campaign rally at the Toledo Express Airport in Swanton, Ohio.

9/21/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 21, 2020

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The Washington Week Bookshelf: “Rage” by Bob Woodward | Washington Week | PBS
19 Sep 2020
Legendary Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward of The Washington Post discusses his new book “Rage.” The book chronicles the Trump presidency behind the scenes, including revelations from over a dozen conversations between Woodward and President Trump, in which the president assessed the COVID-19 pandemic differently in private than he did in publicly informing the American people.
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Trump urged the GOP-run Senate to consider 'without delay' his upcoming nomination to fill the seat vacated by Justice Ginsburg, who died Friday. Since 1869 nine justices have served on the nation's highest court. 'If he holds a vote in 2020, we pack the court in 2021', Kennedy tweeted Sunday. President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to pack the court with new judgeships in 1937 after watching the high court deal setbacks to his New Deal initiatives. That legislation was unpopular with the public and ultimately stalled. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler wrote on Twitter: 'If Sen. McConnell and @SenateGOP were to force through a nominee during the lame-duck session -- before a new Senate and President can take office - then the incoming Senate should immediately move to expand the Supreme Court.' And Sen. Ed Markey tweeted Friday: 'Mitch McConnell set the precedent. No Supreme Court vacancies filled in an election year. Senator Elizabeth Warren, vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, as well as former Rep. Beto O'Rourke had already raised the possibility of adding as many as six seats to the nine-seat court, even before Ginberg's death.

'If he holds a vote in 2020, we pack the court in 2021': Democrats threaten radical move to pack Supreme Court with extra justices if Trump's nomination goes through and they take the White House and the Senate

Sep. 21 - Democrats have threatened to pack the Supreme Court if Donald Trump's nomination gets confirmed following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
   
The president on Saturday urged the GOP-run Senate to consider 'without delay' his upcoming nomination to fill the seat vacated by Justice Ginsburg, who died Friday after a battle with cancer.
 
The move comes just six weeks before the election and has sparked fierce debate, with many Democrats - as well as some Republicans - insisting the seat must not be filled until after the election..     more    
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'President Trump has already made clear that this is about power, pure and simple power,' Joe Biden said Sunday

Joe Biden calls for Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee to be WITHDRAWN if he loses the election in November

Sep. 21 - Former Vice President Joe Biden appealed to Senate Republicans Sunday not to allow President Trump to 'jam' through' a Supreme court pick – and said if he himself wins in November, it should be he who gets to make the selection.   
'This appointment isn't about the past. It's about the future. And the people of this nation are choosing their future right now as they vote,' Biden said in a speech in Philadelphia Sunday.

'To jam this nomination through the Senate is just an exercise in raw political power, and I don't believe the people of this nation will stand for it,' Biden said.

...After heralding the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Biden said the American people would not stand for what he said would be an 'abuse of power'...      more details

9/20/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 20, 2020

https://smashwords2.weebly.com/1.html 

WATCH LIVE ON SEPTEMBER 19 | 6:30PM ET | C-SPAN
President Trump Campaign Rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina
President Trump speaks at a ‘Great American Comeback’ rally in Fayetteville, NC.
LIVE: Trump hosts 'Great American Comeback' event in Fayetteville, NC
Sep. 20, 2020
US presidential election 2020 odds: Donald Trump betting on a comeback against Joe Biden

Sep. 14 - With less than two months to go until America goes to the polls to vote in the US election, the fight between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is only just beginning. 

Now that the conventions are behind us – albeit, events that bear no resemblance to previous versions due to the occasion having to take place virtually as a result of the ongoing pandemic – the next date to circle in the calendar is the televised presidential debates, and they’re already causing quite the stir. Biden has asked for the debates to be fact-checked in real time, while Trump has challenged his opponent to agree to a drugs test beforehand to ensure neither speaker was benefitting from any performance enhancements.

There’s every reason for Trump to head into the final leg of the election campaign with confidence having turned things around in the betting when in the unfamiliar position of not being the favourite to win. On the first day of August, Trump’s chances of re-election were the worst of any incumbent President when his odds of winning four more years were 9/5 (35 per cent implied chance) on Betfair Exchange, while Biden was 4/6 (61 per cent). He’s since completed a remarkable turnaround to put himself back in the mix in a betting sense and was briefly favourite at the start of September, with the odds now settling to leave the pair neck and neck, with Biden marginally in front at odds of evens (50 per cent likelihood of victory), compared to Trump who sits at 11/10 (48 per cent probability).

The surge in support for Trump has resulted in him overtaking Biden in terms of the volume of money bet on each candidate... continue to read
Ricin Discovered In Mail Intended For White House

Sep. 20 - Federal authorities are investigating after ricin, a deadly toxin, was discovered in mail intended for the White House.
The Secret Service intercepted the envelope which was positively identified with mail meant for the White House, law enforcement sources tell NPR. The ricin never made it to White House grounds, but authorities are still searching for other undiscovered dangerous packages that may be linked to the ricin.

Law enforcement sources also said investigators are narrowing down suspects, but have made no arrests.

Both the White House and Secret Service are declining to comment.

Ricin, a toxin derived from castor seeds, has been previously sent to public officials and politicians, including to President Obama in 2013. A man from Tupelo, Mississippi was sentenced to 25 years in prison in that case.

In 2018, the FBI arrested a Utah man they believed sent castor seeds in two envelopes addressed to the Pentagon.      source

9/19/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 19, 2020

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FBI Director Chris Wray said Russia and its proxies seek to sow 'divisiveness and discord' and 'primarily to denigrate Vice President Biden'

Donald Trump hinted he might fire FBI director Chris Wray after he publicly split from the president on 'antifa' and warned Russia has a 'very active' effort to discredit Joe Biden. Wray testified under oath to Congress Thursday that antifa was 'a movement' and not 'an organization,' contradicting Trump's demand that it be designated a domestic terrorist organization. As he left the White House Friday to head for a campaign rally in Minnesota, Trump was asked if he was considering firing Wray and said: 'We're looking at a lot of different things. I did not like his answer the other day.'
Donald Trump hints at FIRING FBI boss Chris Wray for saying Russia is interfering to hurt Joe Biden and antifa is 'not an organization'

Sep. 19 - Donald Trump hinted he might fire FBI director Chris Wray Friday after he publicly split from the president on 'antifa' and warned Russia has a 'very active' effort to discredit Joe Biden.


Wray testified under oath to Congress Thursday that antifa was 'a movement' and not 'an organization,' contradicting Trump's demand that it be designated a domestic terrorist organization.

As he left the White House Friday to head for a campaign rally in Minnesota, Trump was asked if he was considering firing Wray.

He replied: 'We're looking at a lot of different things. I did not like his answer the other day.'
'I disagreed with him on those very important points,' he said.

'China is the top of the list. The big problem is China and why he doesn't want to say that, that certainly bothers me.

'Antifa is a bad group, they are criminals and anarchists and they are looters and rioters and everything else. I wonder why he is not saying that.'

Trump removed his first FBI director, James Comey, in May 2017, an action which set off the Robert Mueller probe. Only one other FBI director had been fired before, when Bill Clinton removed William Sessions in 1993.

In a White House briefing just before he boarded Marine One, Trump had been asked about both Wray and Dr. Robert Redfield, the CDC director he slapped down on Thursday for saying vaccines will not be available until late next spring at the earliest, forcing the medical expert into a walkback.   continue to read

Biden’s polling lead nears magic number
The former vice president is above or close to majority support in enough states to win the Electoral College.

Sep. 19 - ...“It’s always hard to convince someone who’s made a decision to do something not to do it,” said Schale, the longtime Biden ally. “And I think the other challenge Trump has is he wasn’t an incumbent [in 2016]. There wasn’t a record, and — historically — job approval matters in these things. He’s in the mid-40s in a lot of these states.”

As an incumbent with low approval ratings, Trump has fewer remaining opportunities lefto make the kinds of gains he needs, particularly with voting already underway in a handful of states — and set to begin soon in many others.
“Even if you were talking about a race being 48 [percent] Trump, 46 Biden — you wouldn’t feel bad about Biden’s chances in that scenario because he’s the challenger, and you want the incumbent to be at 50 or above. Especially if there’s not a significant third-party vote this time,” said McHenry. “So, if you’re looking at it from that perspective, really, Trump is running against 50. And whether he’s within 2 or 3 of Biden, you would want to see him making some gains sooner rather than later.

“I still think that this race can wind up turning on the first debate,” he added. “I’d be hesitant to make any bold predictions about the presidential race until we see what happens there.”     source


Bad Omen: Another Poll Shows Susan Collins Trailing In Maine

Sep. 18 -...Kavanaugh and impeachment were the two biggest votes Collins has taken during Trump’s presidency. She tried to finesse the latter by joining Romney in calling for the Senate to hear testimony from witnesses, but that got lost in the shuffle of the final vote to acquit, which she joined. There was no good option for her: If she had joined Romney as well in voting to remove, her Republican base in Maine would have collapsed.

Both in this poll and in a recent one from Quinnipiac, Collins is running ahead of Trump — just not by enough to actually put her in front of Gideon. Biden leads the president 55/38 in the Times survey and 59/38 in the Quinnipiac poll; Gideon led Collins 54/42(!) in that latter one. That result was an outlier, but note that Gideon has led Collins in every public poll of Maine taken this year, typically by five points or so, which is unsurprising given the margins Biden consistently enjoys over Trump there. Clearly the president is weighing down Collins, not just on culture-war stuff like Kavanaugh or impeachment but on the pandemic too. The Times finds that Maine voters favor Biden 60/35 when asked whether he or Trump would handle COVID best.

What does this mean for the big picture in the Senate? As of this morning FiveThirtyEight’s model sees Democrats as a favorite to have a majority next year:     view source


9/18/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Sep. 18, 2020

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【精華】嘴上說要和平、邊境狂增兵... 陸釋善意印反嗆「被洗腦雙面諜」? 
印前線防彈衣「大陸製造」尷尬了?

17 Sep 2020
Chinese targeting India in US hack net
US justice department charges 5 Chinese nationals for computer hacking

Sep. 18 - The US justice department has charged five Chinese citizens with hacking over a 100 companies and institutions in America and abroad, including the Indian government’s networks, and stealing valuable software data and business intelligence.
 
Deputy US attorney-general Jeffrey Rosen on Wednesday announced three indictments have been unsealed that collectively charge five Chinese nationals with computer hacking and two Malaysian nationals for helping some of those hackers target victims and sell the fruits of their crime.

“The department of justice has used every tool available to disrupt the illegal computer intrusions and cyber attacks by these Chinese citizens. Regrettably, the Chinese Communist Party has chosen a different path — of making China safe for cyber-criminals so long as they attack computers outside China and steal intellectual property helpful to China,” Rosen said.

“In about 2019, the conspirators compromised Government of lndia websites, as well as virtual private networks and database servers supporting the Government of India. The conspirators used VPS PROVIDER servers to connect to an Open VPN network owned by the Government of India,” the indictment said. In the attacks, the conspirators installed “Cobalt Strike” malware on Indian government-protected computers, it added.     source
伊朗否认欲暗杀美大使 特朗普:
若遭袭将千倍奉还!20200916 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际

16 Sep 2020
US Troop Drawdown in Iraq Is Double-Edged Sword for Iran
US force reduction in Iraq reinforces the oft-used narrative that Iran is impervious to American imperialism but conversely undermines the efficacy of Supreme Leader Khamenei’s domestically-driven “Crusader” propaganda.

Sep. 17 - Furious over the targeted killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani by the US military in Bagdad, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei demanded in January that “the Americans’ corruption-stirring presence should come to an end” in Iraq. As it happens, Christmas came early for Khamenei, at least in part.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, announced on September 9 a drawdown of US troops in Iraq from 5,200 to 3,000. This statement comes as President Donald Trump attempts to bolster his November reelection by making good on previous campaign promises to withdraw the military from foreign entanglements.

Ayatollah Khamenei stands to secure a public relations victory from the drawdown. It not only reinforces the oft-used narrative that Iran is impervious to American imperialism but also allows Iranian leadership to flaunt its prowess in asymmetrical tactics and resistance politics.

Conversely, though, a US force reduction in Iraq undermines the efficacy of Khamenei’s domestically-driven “Crusader” propaganda.     more