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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Trump shares video of Iraq's prime minister visiting the White House
President Donald Trump welcomed Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, to the White House on Thursday.
The pair met to further discuss the months-long negotiations between the US and Iraq about American troops in the country.
"We will be discussing military," Mr Trump said. "We're also involved in many oil projects and oil development within their country. And I think we've had a very, very good relationship since we started. We're down to a very small number of soldiers in Iraq now."
In honour of the visit, Mr Trump shared a video on his Twitter page.
President heads to Biden's hometown hours before the challenger accepts the Democratic nomination
Donald Trump has left the White House for Scranton, Pennsylvania – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's hometown.
The president has scheduled the trip on the same day Mr Biden will accept the nomination for president during the Democratic National Convention.
He will visit at building products company in Old Forge, Pennsylvania – which is just outside Scranton – and "deliver remarks on a half century of Joe Biden failing America," said a Trump campaign statement.
Majority of Americans say they're 'embarrassed' by US coronavirus response as disapproval over Trump's handling hits record high
The majority of Americans are embarrassed by the United States' response to the coronavirus pandemic as disapproval over President Donald Trump's handling of the crisis reached a new high in a poll published this week.
In the CNN poll conducted by SSRS, 68 per cent of respondents said they felt embarrassed by "the way the United States has responded to the coronavirus outbreak", compared to just 28 per cent who said they were proud by the country's handling of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, 62 per cent of those surveyed said the president could be doing more to contain the Covid-19 outbreak, which has already killed over 165,000 Americans since the pandemic began earlier this year.
Chris Riotta reports:
Who is far-right Republican candidate Laura Loomer?
Andrew Naughtie has details on a rising star among far-right Republicans:
Top Republican national security officials say they will vote for Biden
More than 70 former national security officials have penned a letter announcing they will be voting for Joe Biden in the November presidential election.
The letter, which was signed by officials who worked under both Democrat and Republican administrations, was released just hours before Mr Biden is expected to accept the nomination for Democratic presidential candidate.
It included 10 reasons why they thought Donald Trump has failed America and why they would be unable to vote for him come November.
These points included how Mr Trump has "gravely damaged America's role as a world leader", been "unfit to lead during a national crisis", and has "solicited foreign influence and undermined confidence in our presidential elections".
"While some of us hold policy positions that differ from those of Joe Biden and his party, the time to debate those policy differences will come later," the new letter said. "For now, it is imperative that we stop Trump's assault on our nation's values and institutions and reinstate the moral foundations of our democracy."
Those who signed the letter include former officials from the Reagan administration, George Bush administration, and George W Bush administration. Former mid-level officials from the Trump administration officials also signed the letter.
Video shows Trump Jr backing Bannon's crowdfunding campaign as father scrambles to distance himself
Donald Trump Jr praised the "We Build the Wall" crowdfunding campaign in a clip that has resurfaced following the arrest of its founder Brian Kolfage - as the White House attempts to distance his father from the group.
On Thursday, Kolfage was arrested and indicted along with three others, including former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering while raising money for the campaign to build the US-Mexico border wall.
Bannon, Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea have been accused of funnelling "hundreds of thousands of dollars" from the online fundraising campaign to Kolfage.
James Crump reports:
BREAKING: Trump claims Biden 'abandoned Scranton' when family moved 50 years ago
Mocking the designated Democratic presidential nominee in his hometown, Donald Trump told a rally crowd that Joe Biden "abandoned Scranton" then "sold out" America during a half century in Washington.
"Joe Biden is no friend of Pennsylvania," the president said on a sun-drenched stage in the key swing state, where he trails the former vice president in nearly every poll by a statistically significant margin.
Follow the story as it unfolds.
WATCH: Trump claims Biden 'abandoned Scranton' when family moved 50 years ago
Trump attack's Kamala Harris's prosecutorial record during campaign rally
At his campaign rally in Pennsylvania today, Donald Trump attacked newly-minted VP candidate Kamala Harris over her prosecutorial record in "deadly sanctuary cities".
"As district attorney in San Francisco, Kamala put a drug dealing illegal alien into a job and jobs program instead of into prison. Four months later the illegal alien robbed a 29-year-old woman, mowed her down in an SUV, fracturing her skull and ruining her life. We believe our country should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans not for a criminal alien," Trump said.
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