Trump news: Under-fire postmaster general says he has 'no intention' of returning mail sorting machines
Senate committee interrogates US Postal Service chief as GOP prepares for 2020 convention
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump said he would send law enforcement officers to polling locations for this November's presidential election in comments branded "an attack on America" by a former White House ethics chief.
“We're going to have sheriffs, and we're going to have law enforcement, and we're going to have hopefully US attorneys, and we're going to have everybody and attorney generals (sic),” Mr Trump told Fox News after host Sean Hannity asked if he would have "poll watchers".
Meanwhile, his Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said on Friday there was “no intention” to return mail sorting machines that were removed in recent weeks, after it was reported that at least 671 machines were removed in critical voting states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin and Georgia, among others.
The postmaster general said those machines were “not needed”, while adding that he supports vote-by-mail efforts amid the pandemic.
Mr DeJoy, who has overseen sweeping cuts at the agency following his appointment by the president in June, told a US Senate committee he would be voting by mail in fall elections and insisted that the "American people should feel comfortable that the Postal Service will deliver on this election" despite the president's constant threats to undermine the agency.
On Friday, the president and his family held a funeral service for his brother Robert Trump, who died on 16 August. He was 71. The president held a service in the East Room of the White House.
A group of anti-Trump Republicans have meanwhile seized on the arrest of former Trump campaign chief and senior White House adviser Steve Bannon, who has pleaded not guilty to fraud in an an alleged US-Mexico border wall crowdfunding scheme. He is the subject of an advert targeting Fox News views during next week's 2020 Republican National Convention.
GOP officials and the president are preparing for the event following Joe Biden's official nomination as the Democrats' nominee after his party's week-long convention, during which Democrats and several Republicans condemned the current administration and the president's response to the coronavirus pandemic and economic fallout.
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Video: Trump speaking live in Virginia
Here's live video of the president's speech:
Trump says ‘we have the biggest election coming up of our lifetime’
The president attacked his Democratic opponent Joe Biden during a speech at the 2020 Council for National Policy meeting, calling his speech at the Democratic National Convention this week “dark” and divisive.
“China very much wants Joe Biden to win,” he claimed.
So far, much of the speech has been an attack against the Democratic Part.
Very few masks, no social distancing at Trump event
The president is speaking at an event in which the audience does not seem to be complying with CDC guidelines, social distancing or even wearing masks:
‘We think there is a miracle around the corner’: Pence responds to Biden’s criticism over coronavirus pandemic
Louise Hall writes: Vice President Mike Pence has responded to Joe Biden‘s acceptance speech criticism of the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying he believes there is “a miracle around the corner”.
In an interview on CNN on Friday, Mr Pence, the leader of the coronavirus task force, was asked how many Americans would lose their lives due to the pandemic by the end of the year.
“As of this morning, 174,000 have lost their lives to this pandemic”, CNN’s John Berman asked, pointing out around 1000 new recorded deaths across the country on Thursday.
The vice president responded by insisting that the country is close to developing a vaccine before lashing out at Democratic presidential nominee Mr Biden’s criticism of the administration at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday.
“I got a newsflash for Mr Biden,” Mr Pence said. “We think there is a miracle around the corner.”
Trump says he's not trying to 'steal' election
While claiming the "damage" that Democrats will "inflict" will last generations if they win, the president railed against mail-in voting during his speech, while simultaneously saying he wanted Americans to be able to vote in the November election.
Head of Postal Service promises ballots will be delivered on time but refuses to reverse changes causing massive delays
Richard Hall writes: The head of the US postal service said there would be “no issue” with its ability to handle election mail in a tense Congressional hearing called to answer concerns from Democrats over widespread mail delays.
Since his appointment as postmaster general in May, Louis DeJoy has overseen a number of sweeping changes to working practices in the postal service which have caused backlogs across the country.
Those changes came at the same time as Donald Trump began almost daily attacks on the integrity of mail-in ballots, and when the president had admitted to holding up emergency stimulus funding for the post office to limit their use.
Those events provoked suspicion among some Democrats that Mr DeJoy, a major Trump donor, was engaged in an effort to sabotage the postal service ahead of an election in which record numbers are expected to vote by mail due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr DeJoy rejected as “outrageous” the suggestion that he was intentionally slowing mail-in ballots and insisted the changes he has overseen were “routine”.
"As we head into the election season, I want to assure this committee and the American public that the Postal Service is fully capable and committed to delivering the nation’s election mail securely and on-time. This sacred duty is my number one priority between now and Election Day," he said.
Analysis: Did Joe Biden and the Democrats finally show they have what it takes to beat Donald Trump?
Andrew Buncombe writes: Joe Biden saved the very best until last.
After four evenings of live streamed speeches, of videos showing Joe Biden as a young man, as a father, and as a vice president, after four days of earnest seriousness, with the occasional joke, without doubt the most thrilling part of the Democratic National Convention played out in a parking lot in Delaware.
Having concluded the speech in which he formally accepted the Democrats’ nomination for president, a solid, seemingly heartfelt address, he and his wife Jill donned their face masks and stood to watch the fireworks from the car park of the Chase Centre in Wilmington, from where he had delivered his words. Soon, he was joined by Kamala Harris, and her husband Doug Emhoff and together they waved and smiled and even danced a little bit.
The sheer joy of the moment – laughter, relaxed smiles, people driving their vehicles and waving flags, albeit at a safe distance – at a time when the pandemic has left the nation anxious and fearful, was a huge success.
Biden must be hoping that for him too, life has saved the best until last. Or at least that part of life devoted to politics and public service.
ICYMI: Trump says he'll send police to polling stations to monitor voter fraud
Andrew Naughtie writes: During a freewheeling phone-in interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Thursday evening, Donald Trump declared that he will be unleashing the full force of law enforcement to monitor this November’s election.
He made the comments during a discussion about widespread postal voting, which he once again claimed will allow Democrats to steal the election.
“It’s a fraudulent election. Everybody knows it. You don’t even have to know politics to know it. Fifty-one million ballots are going to be indiscriminately be sent out to people who didn’t even ask for them! People are just going to say hey, I got a ballot, that’s great, let me vote. And it’s a terrible thing. They’re trying to steal the election.”
Mr Hannity agreed, then recited a long list of cases of voter fraud, most of which did not relate to postal ballots.
He then pivoted to in-person voting, asking whether Mr Trump would have “poll watchers” to check that voters have been identified and to ensure every ballot is “a real vote from a real American”.
Joe Biden ‘hit a home run’ with powerful DNC speech, Fox News hosts say
Andrew Naughtie writes: Joe Biden’s speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination last night went down a storm with the party faithful – and even drew praise from Republican commentators not known for praising the other side.
Fox News’s Chris Wallace, who recently interviewed Donald Trump in an encounter that many considered disastrous for the president, concluded that after such a successful turn, Mr Trump’s attempts to frame Mr Biden as a senile joke were clearly unlikely to work.
“Yes, Biden was reading from a teleprompter, and a prepared speech, but I thought he blew a hole, a big hole in that characterisation.”
Referring to the line that “character is on the ballot”, Mr Wallace waxed on.
“He talked about a different path for the country. Not in a deep programmatic sense, but he did talk about plans, from the virus and the economy, for climate change and race and foreign policy. And he talked about what a united America can do to accomplish all of those things.
Republican Voters Against Trump releases new attack ad
Alex Woodward writes: In a 30-second advert to air on Fox News during the 2020 Republican National Convention, a conservative political group opposed to Donald Trump's re-election has targeted former White House adviser Steve Bannon's arrest on fraud charges related to a US-Mexico border wall scheme.
"The Border Wall Scam" from Republican Voters Against Trump depicts how "Trump's friends and advisers took advantage of his base's support for a border wall only to create a culture of anger and hate throughout the country and defraud their own supporters", the organisation said in a statement.
A voice speaks over news clips from the arrest and charges against Mr Bannon, who pleaded not guilty to wire fraud and money laundering on Thursday after his early morning arrest. Mr Bannon and three other men are accused of defrauding donors who contributed to a privately funded border wall project that raised $25m.
It also cuts together footage from law enforcement firing tear gas into crowds of protesters outside the White House.
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