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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Beau Biden: Moving tributes to Joe Biden's son during final night of DNC 2020The final night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention features tributes to Beau Biden, the presidential nominee's son who died following a brain cancer diagnosis in 2015.
Joseph "Beau" Biden III, an Iraq War veteran and Delaware attorney general, was 46.
"He's the one who wanted me to stay engaged," Joe Biden said in a video that introduced Thursday's prime-time event. "He was worried that I would not continue to fight for the things I'm passionate about, and I'm trying to keep that promise."
Under Barack Obama's administration, then-vice president Biden launched a "Cancer Moonshot" program aimed at ending cancer.
Beau Biden had experience a stroke in 2010 and was treated three years later at MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas, where doctors removed a lesion from his brain.
Alex Woodward reports.
'It was a big F'ing deal' - Senator Tammy Baldwin, of Wisconsin
"I worked with Joe Biden and Barack Obama to make sure kids, and grandkids if they're dependent, can stay on their parent's health insurance until they're 26. We got that done, and yes it was a big f'ing deal," she said.
"That's the America we will be with Joe Biden and Kamala in the White House."
Trump claims 'something is wrong' with Joe Biden and compares himself to a chess grandmaster
"If you are not at the top of your game, it's not going to be a pretty picture. It's like: chess masters. And if you are not a great chess master, you're gonna have a problem," Trump said on Fox News during the Democratic convention.
WATCH: John Legend and Common perform 'Glory' from movie Selma at DNC 2020
'They have a coward in chief' - Senator Tammy Duckworth makes pitch to military families
"Joe Biden understands these sacrifices because he's made them himself. When his son Beau deployed to Iraq, his burden was also shouldered by his family. Joe knows the fear military families live because he's felt that dread of never knowing if your deployed loved one is safe," she said.
"That's the kind of leader our service members deserve, one who understands the risks they face and who would actually protect them by doing his job as commander in chief."
She added: "Instead, they have a coward in chief who won't stand up to Vladimir Putin, read his daily intelligence briefings or even publicly admonish adversaries for reportedly putting bounties on our troops' heads."
Nothing magic about Mini Mike speech at Dem convention, Trump says
Fresh off his Fox News interview the president is live-tweeting the Democratic convention, and he wasn't happy with Michael Bloomberg's speech just now.
Who is Hunter Biden and could he impact his father's campaign?
On the speaking schedule tonight is Joe Biden's son Hunter, who has so far been relatively quiet during the campaign following some messy dealings in Ukraine.
Who is he? The Independent's Alex Woodward took a look at the controversial background of the lesser-known son.
ICYMI: Trump claims 'something is wrong' with Joe Biden and compares himself to a chess grandmaster
Donald Trump, counter-programming the Democratic National Convention, told Fox News "something is wrong with Joe Biden" that leaves the party's soon-to-be presidential nominee unable to "fight back" against leftist forces.
"They've forced him to support things that no one ever would have thought," the president told Sean Hannity of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. "And he's not in a position to fight back. ... Something's going on. I assume we'll be able to find out ... sooner rather than later.
A few minutes later, the 74-year-old Mr Trump compared himself to a world-class chess player, contending Mr Biden lacks the mental capacity at 77 to stand up to the world's harshest leaders, like Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
"If you are not at the top of your game, it's not going to be a pretty picture," he said. "It's like: chess masters. And if you are not a great chess master, you're gonna have a problem."
Mr Hannity, without providing any medical evidence or an expert to speak to his observation, made this claim about Mr Biden: "He seems frail to me."
John T Bennett reports.
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