theguardian--2020-10-25--Trump aide admits 'we're not going to control pandemic' as Pence staff test positive

Donald Trump ’ s White House chief of staff made an unusually candid admission on Sunday – that the administration does not intend to contain the coronavirus crisis .
“ We ’ re not going to control the pandemic , ” Mark Meadows said , bluntly .
The former hard-right congressman from North Carolina made the revealing remark as confirmed cases of Covid-19 reached new peaks and hospitalisations rose rapidly in 38 states .
The contagion also continues to ravage the White House itself , with the chief of staff to Mike Pence and four others in the vice-president ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Meadows repeatedly sidestepped questions about the administration ’ s responsibility for combatting spread of the virus .
Instead , in a contentious interview with CNN ’ s State of the Union , he highlighted what he called “ mitigating ” factors , including the search for a vaccine and new therapeutics that could bring down the death rate .
Even so , the number of deaths in the US is back up at about 1,000 a day .
Asked why the administration was not going to control the pandemic , Meadows replied : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Despite Pence being exposed to the disease , he planned to continue an aggressive campaign schedule in the final nine days of the race .
Pence spoke at a rally in Kinston , North Carolina , on Sunday , where he did not address the positive cases in his entourage .
He will be in Hibbing , Minnesota , on Monday before returning to events in North Carolina on Tuesday .
Such unbroken travel plans amounted to a breach of the recommendations of the Trump administration ’ s own public health agency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Prevention ( CDC ) .
They would require the vice-president to be in quarantine for 14 days and always to wear a mask around other people .
Pence has frequently been seen maskless in public .
Such blatant disregard for the administration ’ s own health standards is doubly awkward given that Pence has led the White House coronavirus taskforce since late February .
Dr Anthony Fauci , the most senior public health expert on the taskforce , said on Friday meetings had dwindled and Trump had not attended one in months .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ required to follow the quarantine rule because he is deemed “ essential personnel ” .
Asked why electioneering was classed “ essential ” , Meadows said the vice president continued to do his official work in between campaign stops .
Saskia Popescu , an infectious disease expert at George Mason University in Virginia , called Pence ’ s decision to travel “ grossly negligent ” .
“ It ’ s just an insult to everybody who has been working in public health and public health response , ” she said .
Chris Christie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jersey who contracted the virus earlier this month after helping Trump with debate prep , was also critical .
Speaking to ABC ’ s This Week , he said : “ I think everybody has to put the health of the people they are going to be in touch with first .
I ’ m a little bit surprised.
” Trump left the White House on Sunday for a rally in New Hampshire .
He was photographed not wearing a mask .
The latest data from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland puts the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US at more than 8.5m , with almost 225,000 deaths .
Hotspots have been identified in 36 states .
The count of new cases reached all-time highs on Friday and Saturday , with more than 83,000 recorded each day .
Authoritative forecasters predict the US may see more than 300,000 deaths by the end of the year .
Yet Trump continues to insist falsely that the crisis is past its worst .
At a rally in Florida on Friday , he said : “ We are entering the final turn and approaching the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” On Saturday in North Carolina , Trump mocked media coverage of the pandemic , telling supporters : “ Turn on the television , Covid , Covid , Covid , Covid , Covid , Covid .
By the way , on 4 November you won ’ t hear about it anymore.
” Despite Trump ’ s desire to wish the crisis away , the dramatic surge in infections across huge swaths of the country days before the election is causing the president inevitable political damage .
On Sunday a new poll from CBS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marginally ahead in Florida and neck-and-neck in North Carolina and Georgia .
Asked if Trump should be worried , Christie said : “ Of course he should … Any president who is in the midst of a crisis like this that is not abating before an election but is increasing – that ’ s a problem .
This has been the single toughest issue for Donald Trump in his four years and it may be determinant for the election.
” With his back against the wall , Trump has placing increasing hope in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine .
But Fauci warned that any vaccine was unlikely to reach most of the American people until the spring at the earliest .
Speaking to the BBC ’ s Andrew Marr on Sunday , Fauci said : “ When you talk about vaccinating a substantial proportion of the population , so that you can have a significant impact on the dynamics of the outbreak , that very likely will not be until the second or third quarter of the year.
” Pence has repeatedly found himself in an uncomfortable position , balancing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ handling of the pandemic .
How he has responded to being exposed to a confirmed positive case stands in contrast to how the Democratic vice-presidential nominee , Kamala Harris , reacted when a close aide and a member of her campaign plane ’ s charter crew tested positive for the virus earlier this month .
She took several days off the campaign trail citing her desire to act out of an abundance of caution .

Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff made an unusually candid admission on Sunday – that the administration does not intend to contain the coronavirus crisis.
“We’re not going to control the pandemic,” Mark Meadows said, bluntly.
The former hard-right congressman from North Carolina made the revealing remark as confirmed cases of Covid-19 reached new peaks and hospitalisations rose rapidly in 38 states. The contagion also continues to ravage the White House itself, with the chief of staff to Mike Pence and four others in the vice-president’s inner circle having tested positive.
Meadows repeatedly sidestepped questions about the administration’s responsibility for combatting spread of the virus. Instead, in a contentious interview with CNN’s State of the Union, he highlighted what he called “mitigating” factors, including the search for a vaccine and new therapeutics that could bring down the death rate.
Even so, the number of deaths in the US is back up at about 1,000 a day.
Asked why the administration was not going to control the pandemic, Meadows replied: “Because it is a contagious virus.”
Turn on the television, Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid. On 4 November you won’t hear about it any more Donald Trump
Despite Pence being exposed to the disease, he planned to continue an aggressive campaign schedule in the final nine days of the race. Pence spoke at a rally in Kinston, North Carolina, on Sunday, where he did not address the positive cases in his entourage. He will be in Hibbing, Minnesota, on Monday before returning to events in North Carolina on Tuesday.
Such unbroken travel plans amounted to a breach of the recommendations of the Trump administration’s own public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They would require the vice-president to be in quarantine for 14 days and always to wear a mask around other people. Pence has frequently been seen maskless in public.
Such blatant disregard for the administration’s own health standards is doubly awkward given that Pence has led the White House coronavirus taskforce since late February. Dr Anthony Fauci, the most senior public health expert on the taskforce, said on Friday meetings had dwindled and Trump had not attended one in months.
The White House said Pence was not required to follow the quarantine rule because he is deemed “essential personnel”. Asked why electioneering was classed “essential”, Meadows said the vice-president continued to do his official work in between campaign stops.
Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease expert at George Mason University in Virginia, called Pence’s decision to travel “grossly negligent”.
“It’s just an insult to everybody who has been working in public health and public health response,” she said.
Donald Trump leaves the White House on Sunday. Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Chris Christie, the former Republican governor of New Jersey who contracted the virus earlier this month after helping Trump with debate prep, was also critical. Speaking to ABC’s This Week, he said: “I think everybody has to put the health of the people they are going to be in touch with first. I’m a little bit surprised.”
Trump left the White House on Sunday for a rally in New Hampshire. He was photographed not wearing a mask.
The latest data from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland puts the total number of confirmed cases in the US at more than 8.5m, with almost 225,000 deaths. Hotspots have been identified in 36 states.
The count of new cases reached all-time highs on Friday and Saturday, with more than 83,000 recorded each day. Authoritative forecasters predict the US may see more than 300,000 deaths by the end of the year.
Yet Trump continues to insist falsely that the crisis is past its worst. At a rally in Florida on Friday, he said: “We are entering the final turn and approaching the light at the end of the tunnel.”
On Saturday in North Carolina, Trump mocked media coverage of the pandemic, telling supporters: “Turn on the television, Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid. By the way, on 4 November you won’t hear about it any more.”
Despite Trump’s desire to wish the crisis away, the dramatic surge in infections across huge swaths of the country days before the election is causing the president inevitable political damage. On Sunday a new poll from CBS News put his Democratic challenger Joe Biden marginally ahead in Florida and neck-and-neck in North Carolina and Georgia.
Asked if Trump should be worried, Christie said: “Of course he should … Any president who is in the midst of a crisis like this that is not abating before an election but is increasing – that’s a problem. This has been the single toughest issue for Donald Trump in his four years and it may be determinant for the election.”
Mike Pence speaks in Tallahassee, Florida on Saturday. Photograph: Steve Cannon/AP
With his back against the wall, Trump has placing increasing hope in the rapid roll-out of a coronavirus vaccine. But Fauci warned that any vaccine was unlikely to reach most of the American people until the spring at the earliest.
Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr on Sunday, Fauci said: “When you talk about vaccinating a substantial proportion of the population, so that you can have a significant impact on the dynamics of the outbreak, that very likely will not be until the second or third quarter of the year.”
Pence has repeatedly found himself in an uncomfortable position, balancing political concerns with the administration’s handling of the pandemic.
How he has responded to being exposed to a confirmed positive case stands in contrast to how the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, reacted when a close aide and a member of her campaign plane’s charter crew tested positive for the virus earlier this month. She took several days off the campaign trail citing her desire to act out of an abundance of caution.


theguardian--2020-10-25--Nearly 60 million Americans cast early vote as record-shattering turnout expected

Their enthusiasm reflected in post boxes stuffed with mail-in ballots and by hours-long queues at voting sites across the country , by early Sunday almost 60 million Americans had cast a vote in the presidential election , even as the candidates scrambled to deliver their closing message more than a week before election day , 3 November .
The vast numbers of early voters in the most consequential election in generations is fuelling what promises to be record-shattering turnout .
Not since 1908 have more than 65 % of eligible US voters actually exercised that right .
Behind the eye-popping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are so engaged , so early .
Democrats hold a sizeable advantage in the early returns .
The reason , analysts believe , is simply Donald Trump , and by extension his handling of the coronavirus pandemic that has infected 8.5 million people and killed 224,000 .
“ The pandemic is part of it , particularly for older voters , ” said Dr Larry Sabato , founder and director of the University of Virginia ’ s Center for Politics .
“ I ’ m pushing 70 myself , and it has to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re kind of vulnerable .
“ But to me , that doesn ’ t explain the lines .
People really have bought into the understanding that if this isn ’ t the most important election we ’ ve ever had , it ’ s one of several .
People are determined to express themselves and we all know why : Donald Trump .
That includes his base : the cult is going to support the cult leader .
But there are more , maybe quite a bit more , who want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s the way people put it .
If you don ’ t like the word I ’ m sorry – that ’ s just the way it is.
” More than one third of the votes already returned come from the three most populous states , California , Texas and Florida , according to the US Elections project , an independent data analysis by the University of Florida .
California is staunchly Democrat , and its 55 electoral college votes are all but a lock for former vice-president Joe Biden .
The race @ @ @ @ @ @ @ closer , but leaning strongly Republican .
That leaves the swing state of Florida and its 29 electoral college votes as a glittering prize .
So far , from 5.3m mail-in and in-person votes recorded , representing almost 40 % of 14 million registered voters , Democrats hold an advantage of more than 7 % , or around 400,000 votes .
“ It is our most mega , mega state , ” Sabato said .
“ I like to put it that way , and there ’ s no way practically for Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president voted in Florida on Saturday .
“ If he loses there it will be obvious he ’ s going to lose , ” Sabato said .
“ If Biden loses Florida , though , it is not the end for him .
He has quite a number of other paths .
[ But ] the problem with losing Florida is it is an indication that you ’ re likely not to do well in other states – we ’ re talking about Georgia , North Carolina , even parts of the midwest.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ appears to be amplified nationally , at least in the 19 states that release party affiliations with their statistics .
In those states , registered Democrats have sent in more than 13m votes to Republicans ’ 7.4m , with 6m votes from minor or no party affiliates making up the remainder .
Across all states , the University of Florida reports , votes cast early amount to more than 42 % of those from the entire 2016 election .
In some places the figure is even higher , such as Hays county , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ several hundred more than the total four years ago .
Sabato cautioned Republicans not to rely on the tradition of Democrats ’ early voting advantages being wiped out when their own supporters turn out on election day .
Trump “ sure can win in the swing states ” , he said , “ Trump people who weren ’ t registered or didn ’ t vote the last time , they have spent four years identifying them .
That ’ s been the hidden campaign that people haven ’ t talked about .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chance when you put all your chips on the election day vote .
Suppose there ’ s a hurricane barreling toward Florida .
Almost certainly there will be really bad weather in at least a couple of swing states , you know , lots of things happen in life , and maybe the spike up in coronavirus will keep a lot of those older Republicans away on the day.
” Michael McDonald , a professor of political science who maintains the University of Florida database , told the Guardian ’ s Fight to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ handed Democrats a clear advantage , noting that the party ’ s supporters had not only submitted significantly larger numbers of ballot requests , but were also returning them at a higher rate than Republicans .
Like Sabato , however , McDonald also urged caution .
“ The irony here is Democrats are actually doing Republicans a favour , ” he said .
“ It should benefit Republicans who are trying to vote on election day that the Democrats have done them this favour of not standing in line in front of them @ @

Their enthusiasm reflected in post boxes stuffed with mail-in ballots and by hours-long queues at voting sites across the country, by early Sunday almost 60 million Americans had cast a vote in the presidential election, even as the candidates scrambled to deliver their closing message more than a week before election day, 3 November.
The vast numbers of early voters in the most consequential election in generations is fuelling what promises to be record-shattering turnout. Not since 1908 have more than 65% of eligible US voters actually exercised that right.
Behind the eye-popping headline figures lie clues to why voters are so engaged, so early. Democrats hold a sizeable advantage in the early returns. The reason, analysts believe, is simply Donald Trump, and by extension his handling of the coronavirus pandemic that has infected 8.5 million people and killed 224,000.
“The pandemic is part of it, particularly for older voters,” said Dr Larry Sabato, founder and director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “I’m pushing 70 myself, and it has to be a part of your calculations, we’re kind of vulnerable.
“But to me, that doesn’t explain the lines. People really have bought into the understanding that if this isn’t the most important election we’ve ever had, it’s one of several. People are determined to express themselves and we all know why: Donald Trump. That includes his base: the cult is going to support the cult leader. But there are more, maybe quite a bit more, who want to end this nightmare. And that’s the way people put it. If you don’t like the word I’m sorry – that’s just the way it is.”
The US may face its biggest ever ballot brawl this November. Sign up to our weekly email Fight to Vote to stay informed on election integrity and voting rights.
More than one-third of the votes already returned come from the three most populous states, California, Texas and Florida, according to the US Elections project, an independent data analysis by the University of Florida.
California is staunchly Democrat, and its 55 electoral college votes are all but a lock for former vice-president Joe Biden. The race for the 38 votes in Texas is closer, but leaning strongly Republican.
That leaves the swing state of Florida and its 29 electoral college votes as a glittering prize. So far, from 5.3m mail-in and in-person votes recorded, representing almost 40% of 14 million registered voters, Democrats hold an advantage of more than 7%, or around 400,000 votes.
“It is our most mega, mega state,” Sabato said. “I like to put it that way, and there’s no way practically for Trump to get elected without Florida.”
The president voted in Florida on Saturday.
“If he loses there it will be obvious he’s going to lose,” Sabato said. “If Biden loses Florida, though, it is not the end for him. He has quite a number of other paths. [But] the problem with losing Florida is it is an indication that you’re likely not to do well in other states – we’re talking about Georgia, North Carolina, even parts of the midwest.”
The Democrats’ lead in Florida appears to be amplified nationally, at least in the 19 states that release party affiliations with their statistics. In those states, registered Democrats have sent in more than 13m votes to Republicans’ 7.4m, with 6m votes from minor or no party affiliates making up the remainder.
Across all states, the University of Florida reports, votes cast early amount to more than 42% of those from the entire 2016 election. In some places the figure is even higher, such as Hays county, Texas, where 73,277 early votes are several hundred more than the total four years ago.
Sabato cautioned Republicans not to rely on the tradition of Democrats’ early voting advantages being wiped out when their own supporters turn out on election day.
Trump “sure can win in the swing states”, he said, “Trump people who weren’t registered or didn’t vote the last time, they have spent four years identifying them. That’s been the hidden campaign that people haven’t talked about.
“But you’re taking a tremendous chance when you put all your chips on the election day vote. Suppose there’s a hurricane barreling toward Florida. Almost certainly there will be really bad weather in at least a couple of swing states, you know, lots of things happen in life, and maybe the spike up in coronavirus will keep a lot of those older Republicans away on the day.”
Michael McDonald, a professor of political science who maintains the University of Florida database, told the Guardian’s Fight to Vote project extraordinarily brisk early voting had handed Democrats a clear advantage, noting that the party’s supporters had not only submitted significantly larger numbers of ballot requests, but were also returning them at a higher rate than Republicans.
Like Sabato, however, McDonald also urged caution.
“The irony here is Democrats are actually doing Republicans a favour,” he said. “It should benefit Republicans who are trying to vote on election day that the Democrats have done them this favour of not standing in line in front of them.”


theguardian--2020-10-26--'Just like propaganda': the three men enabling Trump's voter fraud lies

One night in late February 2017 , Hans von Spakovsky , a lawyer at the Heritage Foundation , a conservative thinktank in Washington DC , fired off an email .
The White House was creating a commission to investigate voter fraud , an issue von Spakovsky had long pursued .
But he was concerned the Trump administration was considering Democrats and moderate Republicans for the panel , and “ astonished ” no one had bothered to consult with him or J Christian Adams , a friend and fellow conservative lawyer .
“ There are only a handful of real experts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and not a single one of them ( including Christian and me ) have been called other than Kris Kobach , secretary of state of Kansas .
And we are told that some consider him too ‘ controversial ’ to be on the commission , ” he wrote .
“ If they are picking mainstream Republican officials and/or academics to man this commission it will be an abject failure because there aren ’ t any that know anything about this or who have paid any attention to this issue over the years.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jeff Sessions , then US attorney general .
A few months later , Kobach , von Spakovsky and Adams were appointed to Donald Trump ’ s commission .
It seemed inevitable .
For years , all three men had used their positions both inside and outside of government to peddle the myth that American elections are vulnerable to fraud .
Though this idea has been debunked repeatedly , and despite the ultimate failure of Trump ’ s commission , these men continued to promote the idea that widespread voter fraud justified stricter voting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this going on for the last few decades , ” said Richard Hasen , a law professor and election expert at the University of California , Irvine .
“ These ideas have moved from the fringes to the center of many Republican arguments about reasons for making it harder to vote.
” Now the myth of voter fraud is dominating the election .
Trump has questioned the legitimacy of the vote , falsely suggesting it will be “ rigged ” against him and his campaign has floated using the idea of a fraudulent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ popular vote in key states , according to the Atlantic .
Despite the pandemic , the president and his campaign have litigated to restrict mail-in voting and expand the use of poll watchers , citing the potential for tampering .
State Republicans have followed suit .
Texas ’ s governor , Greg Abbott , limited each county to only one place where voters could return their mail-in ballots .
South Carolina Republicans successfully fought to preserve a witness requirement for absentee ballots .
Alabama Republicans have pointed to the potential for fraud to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wisconsin , a conservative group is urging the state supreme court to order the swift removal of more than 130,000 people from the voter rolls , citing the need to prevent fraud .
Von Spakovsky and Adams have been right in the mix .
Von Spakovsky has quietly met and consulted with Republican election officials across the country , according to ProPublica .
Adams has loudly hyped the dangers of voting by mail , earning Trump ’ s attention .
The hysteria over voter fraud has reached an alarming pitch .
And this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be possible without the work of these three men .
Kobach , von Spakovsky and Adams worked in the justice department in the George W Bush administration at a time when pursuing claims of voter fraud was a priority .
Since leaving , a core part of their strategy has been to distort statistics to depict voter fraud as a widespread problem .
As Kansas ’ top election official , Kobach found a remarkably effective way to do this .
He oversaw Interstate Crosscheck , a consortium of dozens of states that agreed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ registered in more than one state .
The system matched voters by their first name , last name , date of birth , and partial social security number .
One academic study found that more than 99 % of the people the system flagged as duplicates were actually distinct voters .
It was also more likely to flag eligible voters than ineligible ones .
In 2013 , Virginia officials used Crosscheck to remove nearly 39,000 voters from the state ’ s rolls , but one local registrar reported that 17 % of voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some voters turned up at the polls to find they weren ’ t registered .
Kansas agreed to end the Crosscheck program last year .
“ There has been an extreme element on the right who have pushed a false narrative of widespread fraud for a long time .
The idea that voter lists are bloated with ineligible voters has been a key element of that false narrative , ” said David Becker , the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research , and an expert in election administration .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ data to make similar claims .
In 2016 and 2017 , the organization published a report alleging thousands of non-citizens had cast votes in Virginia .
It even included the personal information of some of those accused , who turned out to be citizens and sued Pilf for voter intimidation .
Pilf eventually apologized , but internal emails showed the group was at least aware of a possible mistake before publication .
“ We still have the opportunity to convert pushback into official confusion to justify our call for top-down overhaul , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote in one email in response to concerns .
“ The fog of war favors the aggressor here.
” This year , the group released a report attempting to prove mail-in voting was vulnerable to fraud .
Pilf initially claimed that around 1m mail-in ballots were undeliverable in 2018 , but corrected the number after ProPublica revealed it was inflated and the organization had “ doubled the official government numbers ” .
The report also claimed that 28.3m mail-in ballots had gone “ missing ” between 2012 and 2018 .
But experts told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the voter decided not to return .
Trump still touted media coverage of the study in a tweet , saying : “ Don ’ t allow RIGGED ELECTIONS !
” Adams declined to be interviewed for this story .
“ We don ’ t make claims about voter fraud , ” he wrote in an e-mail .
“ We point out vulnerabilities in the system .
You have us mixed up with someone else .
You are also exaggerating the so-called ‘ error ’ that ProPublica wrote about , it was a fraction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s what you are paid to do , be ridiculous.
” At the Heritage Foundation , von Spakovsky has touted a database that purports to show nearly 1,300 examples of “ proven ” instances of voter fraud .
But the database is extremely misleading , containing cases going back decades and voters who made mistakes .
( Von Spakovsky said in an email that the database is “ thoroughly sourced and backed up by detailed references to government documents and media reports.
” ) “ You use the word ‘ widespread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only criteria worth considering .
That is absurd , ” he wrote in an email .
“ The Heritage Foundation Election Fraud Database demonstrates that there are many ways to engage in election fraud and that it occurs often enough that we should be concerned about it and should try to address it.
” Conservative media has helped widely disseminate these lies nonetheless .
Kobach authored a 2018 op-ed in Breitbart News claiming “ proof ” that out of state voters had swung the 2016 election in New Hampshire .
His smoking gun @ @ @ @ @ @ @ used an out-of-state license to register on election day .
Adams cited the data in his own op-ed .
But at the time , New Hampshire did not require voters to have an in-state driver ’ s license to vote .
The state ’ s top election official quickly rebuked Kobach .
Nonetheless , state Republicans passed a law tightening residency requirements linked to voting .
“ It ’ s the same thing over and over and over – say it , say it , say it – and push it out there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ professor at Rutgers University-Camden who studies accusations of voter fraud .
“ It functions just like propaganda.
” Armed with their misleading data , these men have influenced and shaped laws making it harder to vote .
While at the justice department , von Spakovsky “ was just looking for stuff so that he could push voter ID ” , said Joe Rich , a former head of the department ’ s voting section who clashed with von Spakovsky .
In 2005 , Georgia submitted a new voter ID law for approval to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , von Spakovsky anonymously published a law review article advocating for voter ID laws , which career employees believe should have led von Spakovsky to recuse himself from the case .
Instead , von Spakovsky privately emailed with an attorney on the justice department team reviewing the law , fed him “ arguments and analysis ” and advised him to password protect documents from other attorneys .
The career attorneys recommended against approving the measure , noting it would impede the voting access for African Americans , but were overruled by supervisors at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Spakovsky ’ s feedback , according to the Nation .
A federal judge would later block the law , which reduced the number of acceptable forms of voter ID from 17 to six , noting that the acceptable forms of ID had fees associated with them , which amounted to a poll tax .
A revised version of the law went into effect a few years later .
“ He ’ s been the moving force behind photo IDs , ” John Lewis , the civil rights icon who died earlier this year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about von Spakovsky .
“ It ’ s like he goes to bed dreaming about this , and gets up in the morning wondering , ‘ What can I do today to make it more difficult for people to vote ?
’ “ When you pull back the covers , peel back the onion , he ’ s the one who ’ s gotten the Republican legislatures , and the Republican party , to go along with this – even though there is no voter fraud to speak of .
He ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is no sickness.
” Von Spakovsky defended his work at the justice department .
“ Fighting against election fraud ensures that every American who votes has confidence that his or her vote was counted , ” he said .
“ I joined the civil rights division of the Department of Justice to enforce the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws in order to help safeguard our elections .
Our job was to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans – and that ’ s what I did.
” In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kansas secretary of state , and leveraged his new position to advocate for voting restrictions too .
The Kansas legislature passed a 2011 law that required people to prove their citizenship when they register to vote – one of the most severe restrictions in the country .
Around the same time , bills cropped up around the country seeking to require voters to show a form of specific photo identification at the polls .
Many of the laws appeared to be copies of each other – this was not a coincidence .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Council ( Alec ) , a consortium of conservative politicians and business groups founded in 1973 that offers a library of “ copycat ” model bills .
In their 2011 or 2012 legislative sessions , voter ID bills passed in Alabama , Kansas , Mississippi , New Hampshire , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , South Carolina , Tennessee , Texas , Virginia and Wisconsin .
Republicans have pointed to these measures as deterrents to voter fraud , but in some cases , openly admitted they hoped the new laws would boost their political @ @ @ @ @ @ @ want everybody to vote , ” Paul Weyrich , conservative activist and Alec founder , said in 1980 .
“ As a matter of fact , our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.
” In April of 2012 , Alec eliminated its Task Force on Public Safety and Elections , which created policies on voter ID and elections , and removed the voter ID bill from its library .
But recently , the group created a new group focused on election issues , and both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Alec gatherings in recent years .
Behind Adams , von Spakovsky , Kobach is a circle of wealthy conservative donors , sharing close ties and a revolving door of staff and consultants .
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation , a conservative group in Wisconsin , and DonorsTrust , known as a “ dark money ATM ” of the Koch network , have helped funnel millions to the organizations shaping restrictive voting laws and helping the myth of voter fraud proliferate , according to OpenSecrets data .
The Bradley Foundation ’ s funding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bradley Impact Fund , ramped up their spending on voting issues since the leadup to the 2016 election .
Included in their recipients were Pilf , where Adams is president , and the Heritage Foundation , where von Spakovsky works , according to tax records analyzed by OpenSecrets .
Neither organization has disclosed what , if any , amount of that went to programs von Spakovsky is involved in .
The Bradley Foundation didn ’ t stop there .
It gave millions to Alec , and influential groups like Judicial Watch and Wisconsin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) , which tried to force Wisconsin to purge more than 200,000 voters from the rolls last year .
Meanwhile , millions in contributions from DonorsTrust and other prominent conservative donors have passed to Alec and the Heritage Foundation over the past decade , according to OpenSecrets data .
Despite the deep pockets pushing their agenda , von Spakovsky , Adams and Kobach have suffered stinging defeats in court where their claims have crumbled under scrutiny .
In 2016 , the American Civil Liberties Union sued Kobach over Kansas ’ proof of citizenship @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2016 at least 35,000 people had been unfairly blocked from voting because of it , about half of whom were under 30 .
The 2018 trial was a chance for Kobach and von Spakovsky , hired as an expert witness , to show a federal judge and the public the evidence behind their claims .
Instead , it went terribly .
When von Spakovsky was called to testify , he conceded that his work was not peer reviewed and his conclusions about the prevalence of fraud were based on incomplete or misleading data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a George W Bush appointee , said she gave “ little weight ” to von Spakovsky ’ s opinion on the case , which she said was based on “ misleading ” and “ unsupported ” examples of non-citizen voter registration .
“ His myriad misleading statements , coupled with his publicly stated preordained opinions about this subject matter , convinces the court that Mr von Spakovsky testified as an advocate and not as an objective expert witness.
” Asked why the public should still consider him a credible expert after the case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ saying “ the public should discount the unfounded conclusions of a biased judge who refused to accept evidence that disagreed with her preconceived notions.
” In the same case , Kobach provided data that showed just 129 non-citizens had attempted to register since 1999 .
When Robinson examined the data she concluded that just 67 non-citizens had registered to vote in the state since then .
She also took aim at Kobach ’ s strategy arguing that the scant evidence of voter fraud amounted to the “ tip of the iceberg ” .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ an icicle , largely created by confusion and administrative error , ” she said .
Starting in 2013 , Adams and other conservative lawyers began sending letters to US counties warning them of likely ineligible voters on the rolls and threatening legal action .
Many counties were small , rural ones that could not afford long legal battles and were likely to settle , according to Mother Jones .
In 2017 , Pilf sent warning letters to 248 jurisdictions warning of potential ineligible voters on the rolls .
But experts say the methodology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is misleading .
“ It ’ s been pointed out many times how their data analyses are wrong , ” said Becker , the election administration expert .
“ It seems like they just hope no one will notice.
” In 2018 , a federal court noticed .
In the first Pilf case that went to a full trial , the judge said the group had relied on a “ misleading ” methodology to accuse Broward county , a Democratic stronghold in Florida , of having inaccurate voter rolls .
“ They use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deflated voter-eligible population number , leading to a misleading result , ” US district judge Beth Bloom wrote in her opinion .
Stuart Naifeh , a lawyer at Demos , a civil rights thinktank that has opposed many of Pilf ’ s purge efforts , speculated Pilf had ulterior motives .
“ They may be more interested in pursuing the communications impact of coming into a county and saying ‘ this county has dirty voter rolls ’ than in any actual policy change , ” he said .
Allegations that voter rolls are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be used as justification for measures that make it harder to vote .
Though their claims have been debunked over and over , von Spakovsky , Adams and Kobach have managed to linger as go-to experts for Republicans on voter fraud at the highest levels of federal government .
“ Von Spakovsky has had 15 years to put up or shut up and he hasn ’ t done either one , ” said Bob Kengle , who worked in the justice department ’ s voting section when von Spakovsky was there and often @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never been an essential part of their work .
By manipulating data , filing bad-faith lawsuits and unifying Republicans around a politically convenient myth , they ’ ve paved the way for voting restrictions as recently as this spring .
This year , Ben Ginsberg , considered a top Republican election lawyer , wrote that it was time for his party to admit voter fraud was not a serious problem .
“ The truth is that after decades of looking for illegal voting , there ’ s no proof of widespread fraud , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ op-ed .
“ Republicans need to take a hard look before advocating laws that actually do limit the franchise of otherwise qualified voters.
” But with a president willing to spread misinformation about voting in service of re-election , the chances seem unlikely .
“ The only way we ’ re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged , ” Trump said in August .
“ The only way they ’ re going to win is that way , and we can ’ t let that happen.
” Data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ OpenSecrets.org .
OpenSecrets researcher Anna Massoglia contributed to this report .

One night in late February 2017, Hans von Spakovsky, a lawyer at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank in Washington DC, fired off an email.
The White House was creating a commission to investigate voter fraud, an issue von Spakovsky had long pursued. But he was concerned the Trump administration was considering Democrats and moderate Republicans for the panel, and “astonished” no one had bothered to consult with him or J Christian Adams, a friend and fellow conservative lawyer.
“There are only a handful of real experts on the conservative side on this issue and not a single one of them (including Christian and me) have been called other than Kris Kobach, secretary of state of Kansas. And we are told that some consider him too ‘controversial’ to be on the commission,” he wrote. “If they are picking mainstream Republican officials and/or academics to man this commission it will be an abject failure because there aren’t any that know anything about this or who have paid any attention to this issue over the years.”
The email eventually made its way to Jeff Sessions, then US attorney general. A few months later, Kobach, von Spakovsky and Adams were appointed to Donald Trump’s commission.
Armed with their misleading data, these men have influenced and shaped laws making it harder to vote.
It seemed inevitable. For years, all three men had used their positions both inside and outside of government to peddle the myth that American elections are vulnerable to fraud. Though this idea has been debunked repeatedly, and despite the ultimate failure of Trump’s commission, these men continued to promote the idea that widespread voter fraud justified stricter voting regulations.
“We’ve seen this going on for the last few decades,” said Richard Hasen, a law professor and election expert at the University of California, Irvine. “These ideas have moved from the fringes to the center of many Republican arguments about reasons for making it harder to vote.”
Now the myth of voter fraud is dominating the election. Trump has questioned the legitimacy of the vote, falsely suggesting it will be “rigged” against him and his campaign has floated using the idea of a fraudulent election as the basis for overriding the popular vote in key states, according to the Atlantic. Despite the pandemic, the president and his campaign have litigated to restrict mail-in voting and expand the use of poll watchers, citing the potential for tampering.
State Republicans have followed suit. Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, limited each county to only one place where voters could return their mail-in ballots. South Carolina Republicans successfully fought to preserve a witness requirement for absentee ballots. Alabama Republicans have pointed to the potential for fraud to justify mail-in ballot restrictions. And in Wisconsin, a conservative group is urging the state supreme court to order the swift removal of more than 130,000 people from the voter rolls, citing the need to prevent fraud.
Von Spakovsky and Adams have been right in the mix. Von Spakovsky has quietly met and consulted with Republican election officials across the country, according to ProPublica. Adams has loudly hyped the dangers of voting by mail, earning Trump’s attention.
The hysteria over voter fraud has reached an alarming pitch. And this dangerous moment in US democracy would not be possible without the work of these three men.
Creating false evidence
Kobach, von Spakovsky and Adams worked in the justice department in the George W Bush administration at a time when pursuing claims of voter fraud was a priority. Since leaving, a core part of their strategy has been to distort statistics to depict voter fraud as a widespread problem.
As Kansas’s top election official, Kobach found a remarkably effective way to do this. He oversaw Interstate Crosscheck, a consortium of dozens of states that agreed to share voter data to find people registered in more than one state. The system matched voters by their first name, last name, date of birth and partial social security number.
One academic study found that more than 99% of the people the system flagged as duplicates were actually distinct voters. It was also more likely to flag eligible voters than ineligible ones. In 2013, Virginia officials used Crosscheck to remove nearly 39,000 voters from the state’s rolls, but one local registrar reported that 17% of voters in his county were wrongfully flagged and some voters turned up at the polls to find they weren’t registered.
Kansas agreed to end the Crosscheck program last year.
“There has been an extreme element on the right who have pushed a false narrative of widespread fraud for a long time. The idea that voter lists are bloated with ineligible voters has been a key element of that false narrative,” said David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, and an expert in election administration.
Under Adams, Pilf has used questionable data to make similar claims. In 2016 and 2017, the organization published a report alleging thousands of non-citizens had cast votes in Virginia. It even included the personal information of some of those accused, who turned out to be citizens and sued Pilf for voter intimidation. Pilf eventually apologized, but internal emails showed the group was at least aware of a possible mistake before publication.
“We still have the opportunity to convert pushback into official confusion to justify our call for top-down overhaul,” Logan Churchwell, a Pilf spokesman, wrote in one email in response to concerns. “The fog of war favors the aggressor here.”
There has been an extreme element on the right who have pushed a false narrative of widespread fraud for a long time David Becker
This year, the group released a report attempting to prove mail-in voting was vulnerable to fraud. Pilf initially claimed that about 1m mail-in ballots were undeliverable in 2018, but corrected the number after ProPublica revealed it was inflated and the organization had “doubled the official government numbers”. The report also claimed that 28.3m mail-in ballots had gone “missing” between 2012 and 2018. But experts told ProPublica that those were probably ballots that the voter decided not to return.
Trump still touted media coverage of the study in a tweet, saying: “Don’t allow RIGGED ELECTIONS!”
Adams declined to be interviewed for this story. “We don’t make claims about voter fraud,” he wrote in an email. “We point out vulnerabilities in the system. You have us mixed up with someone else. You are also exaggerating the so-called ‘error’ that ProPublica wrote about, it was a fraction that appeared on one document. But that’s what you are paid to do, be ridiculous.”
At the Heritage Foundation, von Spakovsky has touted a database that purports to show nearly 1,300 examples of “proven” instances of voter fraud. But the database is extremely misleading, containing cases going back decades and voters who made mistakes. (Von Spakovsky said in an email that the database is “thoroughly sourced and backed up by detailed references to government documents and media reports”.)
“You use the word ‘widespread’ fraud as if that is the only criteria [sic] worth considering. That is absurd,” he wrote in an email. “The Heritage Foundation Election Fraud Database demonstrates that there are many ways to engage in election fraud and that it occurs often enough that we should be concerned about it and should try to address it.”
Conservative media have helped widely disseminate these lies nonetheless. Kobach authored a 2018 op-ed in Breitbart News claiming “proof” that out of state voters had swung the 2016 election in New Hampshire. His smoking gun was state data showing that some voters used an out-of-state license to register on election day. Adams cited the data in his own op-ed.
But at the time, New Hampshire did not require voters to have an in-state driver’s license to vote. The state’s top election official quickly rebuked Kobach. Nonetheless, state Republicans passed a law tightening residency requirements linked to voting.
“It’s the same thing over and over and over – say it, say it, say it – and push it out there,” said Lorraine Minnite, a professor at Rutgers University-Camden who studies accusations of voter fraud. “It functions just like propaganda.”
(Kobach did not respond to several written questions for this story.)
Creating laws
Armed with their misleading data, these men have influenced and shaped laws making it harder to vote.
While at the justice department, von Spakovsky “was just looking for stuff so that he could push voter ID”, said Joe Rich, a former head of the department’s voting section who clashed with von Spakovsky.
In 2005, Georgia submitted a new voter ID law for approval to the department. Around the same time, von Spakovsky anonymously published a law review article advocating for voter ID laws, which career employees believe should have led von Spakovsky to recuse himself from the case.
Instead, von Spakovsky privately emailed with an attorney on the justice department team reviewing the law, fed him “arguments and analysis” and advised him to password protect documents from other attorneys. The career attorneys recommended against approving the measure, noting it would impede the voting access for African Americans, but were overruled by supervisors at the justice department with help from von Spakovsky’s feedback, according to the Nation.
A federal judge would later block the law, which reduced the number of acceptable forms of voter ID from 17 to six, noting that the acceptable forms of ID had fees associated with them, which amounted to a poll tax. A revised version of the law went into effect a few years later.
“He’s been the moving force behind photo IDs,” John Lewis, the civil rights icon who died earlier this year, told the New Yorker in 2012 about von Spakovsky. “It’s like he goes to bed dreaming about this, and gets up in the morning wondering, ‘What can I do today to make it more difficult for people to vote?’
Armed with their misleading data, these men have influenced and shaped laws making it harder to vote
“When you pull back the covers, peel back the onion, he’s the one who’s gotten the Republican legislatures, and the Republican party, to go along with this – even though there is no voter fraud to speak of. He’s trying to create a cure where there is no sickness.”
Von Spakovsky defended his work at the justice department.
“Fighting against election fraud ensures that every American who votes has confidence that his or her vote was counted,” he said. “I joined the civil rights division of the Department of Justice to enforce the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws in order to help safeguard our elections. Our job was to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans – and that’s what I did.”
In 2010, meanwhile, Kobach was elected Kansas secretary of state, and leveraged his new position to advocate for voting restrictions too. The Kansas legislature passed a 2011 law that required people to prove their citizenship when they register to vote – one of the most severe restrictions in the country.
Around the same time, bills cropped up around the country seeking to require voters to show a form of specific photo identification at the polls. Many of the laws appeared to be copies of each other – this was not a coincidence. They were written by the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), a consortium of conservative politicians and business groups founded in 1973 that offers a library of “copycat” model bills.
In their 2011 or 2012 legislative sessions, voter ID bills passed in Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Republicans have pointed to these measures as deterrents to voter fraud, but in some cases, openly admitted they hoped the new laws would boost their political fortunes. “I don’t want everybody to vote,” Paul Weyrich, conservative activist and Alec founder, said in 1980. “As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
In April of 2012, Alec eliminated its Task Force on Public Safety and Elections, which created policies on voter ID and elections, and removed the voter ID bill from its library. But recently, the group created a new group focused on election issues, and both von Spakovsky and Adams have spoken at Alec gatherings in recent years.
Deep pockets
Behind Adams, von Spakovsky, Kobach is a circle of wealthy conservative donors, sharing close ties and a revolving door of staff and consultants.
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a conservative group in Wisconsin, and DonorsTrust, known as a “dark money ATM” of the Koch network, have helped funnel millions to the organizations shaping restrictive voting laws and helping the myth of voter fraud proliferate, according to OpenSecrets data.
Data was provided through a research partnership with OpenSecrets.org. OpenSecrets researcher Anna Massoglia contributed to this report. Illustration: Guardian Design/The Guardian
The Bradley Foundation’s funding, and an allied fund, the Bradley Impact Fund, ramped up their spending on voting issues since the leadup to the 2016 election. Included in their recipients were Pilf, where Adams is president, and the Heritage Foundation, where von Spakovsky works, according to tax records analyzed by OpenSecrets. Neither organization has disclosed what, if any, amount of that went to programs von Spakovsky is involved in.
The Bradley Foundation didn’t stop there. It gave millions to Alec, and influential groups like Judicial Watch and Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (Will), which tried to force Wisconsin to purge more than 200,000 voters from the rolls last year. Meanwhile, millions in contributions from DonorsTrust and other prominent conservative donors have passed to Alec and the Heritage Foundation over the past decade, according to OpenSecrets data.
Judges rule against them
Despite the deep pockets pushing their agenda, von Spakovsky, Adams and Kobach have suffered stinging defeats in court where their claims have crumbled under scrutiny.
In 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union sued Kobach over Kansas’s proof of citizenship requirement, estimating that between 2013 and 2016 at least 35,000 people had been unfairly blocked from voting because of it, about half of whom were under 30.
The 2018 trial was a chance for Kobach and von Spakovsky, hired as an expert witness, to show a federal judge and the public the evidence behind their claims. Instead, it went terribly. When von Spakovsky was called to testify, he conceded that his work was not peer-reviewed and his conclusions about the prevalence of fraud were based on incomplete or misleading data.
It’s been pointed out many times how their data analyses are wrong. It seems like they just hope no one will notice Becker
US district judge Julie Robinson, a George W Bush appointee, said she gave “little weight” to von Spakovsky’s opinion on the case, which she said was based on “misleading” and “unsupported” examples of non-citizen voter registration.
“His myriad misleading statements, coupled with his publicly stated preordained opinions about this subject matter, convinces the court that Mr von Spakovsky testified as an advocate and not as an objective expert witness.”
Asked why the public should still consider him a credible expert after the case, von Spakovsky defended his work, saying “the public should discount the unfounded conclusions of a biased judge who refused to accept evidence that disagreed with her preconceived notions.”
In the same case, Kobach provided data that showed just 129 non-citizens had attempted to register since 1999. When Robinson examined the data she concluded that just 67 non-citizens had registered to vote in the state since then. She also took aim at Kobach’s strategy arguing that the scant evidence of voter fraud amounted to the “tip of the iceberg”. “There is no iceberg; only an icicle, largely created by confusion and administrative error,” she said.
Starting in 2013, Adams and other conservative lawyers began sending letters to US counties warning them of likely ineligible voters on the rolls and threatening legal action. Many counties were small, rural ones that could not afford long legal battles and were likely to settle, according to Mother Jones. In 2017, Pilf sent warning letters to 248 jurisdictions warning of potential ineligible voters on the rolls.
But experts say the methodology the group uses to make these allegations is misleading.
“It’s been pointed out many times how their data analyses are wrong,” said Becker, the election administration expert. “It seems like they just hope no one will notice.”
In 2018, a federal court noticed. In the first Pilf case that went to a full trial, the judge said the group had relied on a “misleading” methodology to accuse Broward county, a Democratic stronghold in Florida, of having inaccurate voter rolls. “They use an inflated voter registration number and a deflated voter-eligible population number, leading to a misleading result,” US district judge Beth Bloom wrote in her opinion.
Stuart Naifeh, a lawyer at Demos, a civil rights thinktank that has opposed many of Pilf’s purge efforts, speculated Pilf had ulterior motives.
“They may be more interested in pursuing the communications impact of coming into a county and saying ‘this county has dirty voter rolls’ than in any actual policy change,” he said. Allegations that voter rolls are inaccurate, he added, can then be used as justification for measures that make it harder to vote.
Voting restrictions persist
Though their claims have been debunked over and over, von Spakovsky, Adams and Kobach have managed to linger as go-to experts for Republicans on voter fraud at the highest levels of federal government.
“Von Spakovsky has had 15 years to put up or shut up and he hasn’t done either one,” said Bob Kengle, who worked in the justice department’s voting section when von Spakovsky was there and often disagreed with him.
But proof has never been an essential part of their work. By manipulating data, filing bad-faith lawsuits and unifying Republicans around a politically convenient myth, they have paved the way for voting restrictions as recently as this spring.
This year, Ben Ginsberg, considered a top Republican election lawyer, wrote that it was time for his party to admit voter fraud was not a serious problem. “The truth is that after decades of looking for illegal voting, there’s no proof of widespread fraud,” he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. “Republicans need to take a hard look before advocating laws that actually do limit the franchise of otherwise qualified voters.”
But with a president willing to spread misinformation about voting in service of re-election, the chances seem unlikely.
“The only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged,” Trump said in August. “The only way they’re going to win is that way, and we can’t let that happen.”
Data was provided through a research partnership with OpenSecrets.org. OpenSecrets researcher Anna Massoglia contributed to this report.


theguardian--2020-10-26--Democrats hold Senate floor overnight to protest Amy Coney Barrett confirmation – live

Footage of US president Donald Trump abruptly walking out of a CBS 60 Minutes interview has been released by the network , in a row that has been rumbling since the interview was taped on Tuesday .
Trump had already posted clips on his own social media , in an effort to show how he had been mistreated by interviewer Lesley Stahl .
He had called the segment “ fake ” and “ biased ” in advance .
Trump had told Stahl “ you brought up a lot of subjects that were inappropriately brought up ” .
She replied : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m going to ask you tough questions.
” It was after a question about whether his use of social media and name-calling was “ turning people off ” that Trump bought the recording to an end .
He answered : “ No , I think I wouldn ’ t be here if I didn ’ t have social media .
The media is fake .
And frankly , if I didn ’ t have social media , I ’ d have no way of getting out my voice.
” A few moments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : “ I think we have enough of an interview here , Hope .
OK ?
That ’ s enough .
Let ’ s go.
” Trump also tweeted during the week complaining that Stahl had not been wearing a mask in the White House .
CBS said that Stahl wore a mask at all times except during and for a few moments after the interview , and had tested negative for the coronavirus before arriving to interview the president .
For many , though , the clips did not give the impression @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that he had been treated unfairly by CBS .
Jon Favreau , former speechwriter for Barack Obama , said that Trump came across as “ weak and pathetic ” and “ a whiny , aggrieved baby ” .
“ He ’ s no longer even pretending to fight for his supporters against liberals , immigrants , the media , elites , the establishment .
Donald Trump is fighting for Donald Trump .
That ’ s it.
” And Amy Siskind , who wrote a book on Trump ’ s first year in office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was lie and obfuscate , and when he was called on it he got up and sulked out.
” There was also criticism in some quarters that Stahl had in fact avoided some of the more difficult questions she could have asked the president about his finances , the treatment of immigrant children separated from their parents at the US border by his administration , and the number of people involved in his campaign who have subsequently been charged with crimes .
A CNN fact check of the president ’ s contribution showed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ misleading claims during the course of the interview .
In another segment of the CBS 60 Minutes special ahead of the election , Democratic vice president nominee Kamala Harris went on record to say that she believes Trump is racist .
Asked “ Do you think the president is racist ?
” by host Norah O ’ Donnell , the California senator replied : Yes , I do , You can look at a pattern that goes back to him questioning the identity of the first Black president of the United States .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ there were peaceful protesters , And on the other side , neo-Nazis and he talks about fine people on either side .
Calling Mexicans rapists and criminals .
His first order of business was to institute a Muslim ban .
It all speaks for itself .

Joan E Greve (now), Martin Belam and Tom McCarthy (earlier)

27 Oct 2020 05.12 GMT Summary The Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court. Lawmakers voted along party lines, with Republican Susan Collins of Maine joining united Democrats to vote against Barrett’s confirmation. Barrett, 48, secured a 6-to-3 conservative majority on the nation’s highest court.
Lawmakers voted along party lines, with Republican Susan Collins of Maine joining united Democrats to vote against Barrett’s confirmation. Barrett, 48, secured a 6-to-3 conservative majority on the nation’s highest court. Donald Trump held a celebratory swearing-in ceremony at the White House later tonight. Weeks ago, a White House event celebrating Barrett’s nomination in the Rose Garden has been linked to a coronavirus outbreak that infected Trump and several other aides, lawmakers and campaign staff. This time, most attendees wore masks and kept social distance.
Weeks ago, a White House event celebrating Barrett’s nomination in the Rose Garden has been linked to a coronavirus outbreak that infected Trump and several other aides, lawmakers and campaign staff. This time, most attendees wore masks and kept social distance. Right before the Senate voted on Barrett’s confirmation, the supreme court – short one justice - sided with Republicans to prevent Wisconsin from counting mail-in ballots received after election day. In a 5-3 ruling, the justices on Monday refused to reinstate a lower court order that called for mailed ballots to be counted if they are received up to six days after the 3 November election. A federal appeals court had already put that order on hold.
to prevent Wisconsin from counting mail-in ballots received after election day. In a 5-3 ruling, the justices on Monday refused to reinstate a lower court order that called for mailed ballots to be counted if they are received up to six days after the 3 November election. A federal appeals court had already put that order on hold. The US markets closed sharply down, in apparent response to the surge in coronavirus cases and the dwindling chances of a deal being reached on a relief bill before Election Day.
in apparent response to the surge in coronavirus cases and the dwindling chances of a deal being reached on a relief bill before Election Day. Dr Anthony Fauci said the US is still in its first wave of coronavirus infections, as cases surge in dozens of states. “I look at it more as an elongated — and an exacerbation of — the original first wave,” Fauci told Yahoo Finance today. The US set a single-day record for new cases over the weekend, reporting more than 83,000 cases on Friday.
as cases surge in dozens of states. “I look at it more as an elongated — and an exacerbation of — the original first wave,” Fauci told Yahoo Finance today. The US set a single-day record for new cases over the weekend, reporting more than 83,000 cases on Friday. Joe Biden said Barrett’s “rushed and unprecedented” confirmation “should be a stark reminder to every American that your vote matters.” The former vice president, drew a contrast between his campaign events and the big rallies Trump has been holding, saying he is “not putting on super spreaders.”
My colleague Tom McCarthy will continue to bring you live updates. Follow along with our new blog here: Amy Coney Barrett confirmed as Democrats warn of affront to democracy – live Read more
27 Oct 2020 04.33 GMT Julian Borger The Republican party has become dramatically more illiberal in the past two decades and now more closely resembles ruling parties in autocratic societies than its former center-right equivalents in Europe, according to a new international study. In a significant shift since 2000, the GOP has taken to demonizing and encouraging violence against its opponents, adopting attitudes and tactics comparable to ruling nationalist parties in Hungary, India, Poland and Turkey. The shift has both led to and been driven by the rise of Donald Trump. By contrast the Democratic party has changed little in its attachment to democratic norms, and in that regard has remained similar to center-right and center-left parties in western Europe. Their principal difference is the approach to the economy. The new study, the largest ever of its kind, was carried out by the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, using newly developed methods to measure and quantify the health of the world’s democracies at a time when authoritarianism is on the rise. Republicans closely resemble autocratic parties in Hungary and Turkey – study Read more
27 Oct 2020 04.00 GMT Biden recently said if he’s elected president, he would appoint a special commission to study the US court system and make recommendations to reform it. Amid the Republican rush to appoint Barrett ahead of an election they have a good chance of losing up and down the ballot, many Democrats have urged Biden to commit to adding justices to the court to restore balance between liberals and moderates on the bench. In an interview with 60 Minutes, Biden said “there’s a number of alternatives that go well beyond ‘packing’” the court. “The last thing we need to do is turn the supreme court into just a political football, [that means] whoever has the most votes gets whatever they want,” Biden said. “Presidents come and go. Supreme court justices stay for generations.” The constitution does not specify how many justices there should be on the supreme court, leaving that to Congress to decide. The number of justices has expanded and contracted several times over the years.
Updated at 04.24 GMT
27 Oct 2020 03.54 GMT Joe Biden has issued a statement on the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court, saying that the “rushed and unprecedented” proceedings “should be a stark reminder to every American that your vote matters.” The rushed and unprecedented confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett as Associate Justice to the Supreme Court, in the middle of an ongoing election, should be a stark reminder to every American that your vote matters. https://t.co/NwEi4jyMd1 — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 27, 2020 The Democratic nominee said: Just a few days after Election Day next week, the Supreme Court will hear the case on the Affordable Care Act. While panicked and erratic in mishandling the pandemic, Donald Trump has been crystal clear on one thing — for the past four years, and again just last night on 60 Minutes — he wants to tear down the Affordable Care Act in its entirety and take away your health care and protections for pre-existing conditions. This goal — the goal of the Republican Party for ten years — was a litmus test in selecting this nominee, regardless of the damage done to the U.S. Senate, to Americans’ faith in the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, and to our democracy, and regardless of how the Affordable Care Act has protected hundreds of millions of people before and during the pandemic. But we will not give up. If you want to protect your health care, if you want your voice to be heard in Washington, if you want to say no, this abuse of power doesn’t represent you — then turn out and vote.
Updated at 04.33 GMT
27 Oct 2020 03.48 GMT In Philadelphia, protesters took to the streets after police killed Walter Wallace Jr, a 27-year-old Black man. Police with shields and riot gear attempted to disband a crowd gathered near the police district headquarters. The Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Anna Orso captured a video of officers pushing back at the crowd after some people threw bottles. with a group of dozens still in west Philly, about a block from precinct. Police with shields pushed back crowds as ppl threw bottles pic.twitter.com/wRMEBUGNri — Anna Orso (@anna_orso) October 27, 2020 Walter Wallace Sr told the Inquirer that his son appeared to have been shot 10 times. From the Inquirer: “Why didn’t they use a Taser?” Wallace Sr asked outside a family residence on the block. “His mother was trying to defuse the situation.” Wallace Sr said his son struggled with mental health issues and was on medication. “He has mental issues. Why you have to gun him down?” Read more here.
Updated at 04.26 GMT
27 Oct 2020 03.20 GMT As my colleague Sam Levine has spotted, justice Brett Kavanaugh’s justification in today’s supreme court ruling that blocked a deadline extension to count absentee ballots in Wisconsin doesn’t totally add up. Kavanaugh cites Vermont as an example of a state that “decided not to make changes to their ordinary election rules” due to the pandemic, even though, in fact, the state authorized the secretary of state to automatically mail a ballot to all registered voters this year, in order to make it easier for everyone to vote absentee. Mailing every voter a ballot by 10/1 factored into our decision to stick with an election day receipt deadline instead of postmark. We also authorized ballot processing 30 days out. Those are our VT specific solutions, but other states needs are different. Count. Every. Vote. — Vermont Secretary of State’s Office (@VermontSOS) October 27, 2020 “Mailing every voter a ballot by 10/1 factored into our decision to stick with an election day receipt deadline,” the Vermont secretary of state’s office said.
27 Oct 2020 02.53 GMT Emily Holden Amy Coney Barrett’s addition to the court could leave an indelible mark on how fiercely the US, and perhaps the rest of the world, can fight rising temperatures, even as scientists warn society has just years to take serious action. Barrett, a 48-year-old devout Catholic, has said she does not hold “firm views” on climate change, calling it a “very contentious matter of public debate”. Because her father worked in oil and gas, she has previously recused herself from cases involving Royal Dutch Shell. From deciding the legality of climate regulations for polluters to determining whether oil companies should pay for climate damages, Barrett and five other conservative justices will wield considerable influence. While Barrett’s history of decisions on environmental issues is limited, her appointment to the court by Trump – as his third justice in four years – solidifies a transfer of power from an often progressive or moderate court. “Adding one more conservative justice just gives all the conservative justices more fuel to be more political in what they’re going to do,” said Jean Su, an attorney who directs the energy justice program for the Center for Biological Diversity. Why Amy Coney Barrett's addition to supreme court may undermine climate fight Read more
27 Oct 2020 02.36 GMT Tom McCarthy Prominently sidelined, now, is Chief Justice John Roberts, whose institutionalist instincts led him to cast crossover votes to prevent the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act, to preserve a program protecting young immigrant arrivals and to uphold, on the grounds of precedent, the basic protections conferred by Roe v Wade. It is no longer Roberts’ court, analysts say, because the chief justice has been shuffled to the bottom of the conservative deck, which now stacks high enough on the court, with the arrival of Barrett, to dispatch whatever rulings it pleases on issues from environmental regulations to reproductive rights to voting rights. “She will help to dramatically flip the balance on the court,” said Nan Aron, president of the progressive Alliance for Justice advocacy group, of Barrett. “It will be certain now that the right has captured the federal judiciary, at the supreme court level, and that they are seeking to advance a dangerous agenda.” Every issue of importance to progressive activists, starting with the basic right of every American to vote and extending to the need for regulations that protect employees from dangerous working conditions and consumers from predatory lenders, is on the chopping block with Barrett on the court, analysts say.
The court has recently issued rulings about the status of immigrants, the protection of LGBTQ+ people under anti-discrimination statutes, the ability of a president to come under criminal investigation, and the right to an abortion that could be overturned or subsumed in a churn of cases tailored by conservative activists to appeal to the new bench lineup. Progressive totems on the chopping block as US supreme court veers right Read more
27 Oct 2020 02.19 GMT Tom McCarthy Amy Coney Barrett is a constitutional ‘originalist’ – but what does it mean? As the latest conservative judge to declare herself a constitutional “originalist” during confirmation hearings, Barrett could influence what kinds of arguments hold sway on the court for years to come – and what cases the court hears in the first place.
It has been rare over the course of American history for a particular brand of judicial philosophy to gain such prominence that it catches the public eye. A torrent of judicial appointments by Donald Trump over the last four years, however, including three supreme court nominees espousing “originalism”, has pushed the term into the political discourse. Barrett defined the term for the Senate. “So in English, that means that I interpret the constitution as a law, that I interpret its text as text and I understand it to have the meaning that it had at the time people ratified it,” she said. “So that meaning doesn’t change over time. And it’s not up to me to update it or infuse my own policy views into it.” Aziz Huq, a professor of law at the University of Chicago, said that there is a thriving academic debate about the merits of originalism that is only “loosely connected” with the current political discourse, in which the term is often used on the right as a philosophical fig leaf for a conservative political agenda. “The political discourse of originalism is closely aligned with the policy preferences of the Republican party that has promoted judges who happen to take this perspective,” Huq said. “It purports to be something that is moving outside politics, but it is – in its origins, and in the way that it has been applied in the courts – it is tightly linked to a particular partisan political orientation.” Elected officials and others who have noticed that 86% of Trump’s judicial appointees are white and 75% are men have begun to hear something else in the term: a nostalgic appeal to the exclusive hold on power by white men at the time the constitution was written – a sense reinforced by the president’s repeated personal refusal to disavow white supremacy.
Amy Coney Barrett is a constitutional ‘originalist’ – but what does it mean? Read more


theguardian--2020-10-26--CBS releases footage of Trump walking out of 60 Minutes interview

Footage of the US president abruptly walking out of a CBS 60 Minutes interview has been released by the network , in a row that has been rumbling since the interview was taped on Tuesday .
Donald Trump had already posted clips on his own social media , in an effort to show he had been mistreated by the interviewer , Lesley Stahl .
He had called the segment “ fake ” and “ biased ” in advance .
Trump had told Stahl : “ You brought up a lot of subjects that were inappropriately brought up.
” She replied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m going to ask you tough questions.
” After a question about whether his use of social media and name-calling was “ turning people off ” , Trump brought the recording to an end .
He answered : “ No , I think I wouldn ’ t be here if I didn ’ t have social media .
The media is fake .
And frankly , if I didn ’ t have social media , I ’ d have no way of getting out my voice.
” A few moments later @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : “ I think we have enough of an interview here , Hope .
OK ?
That ’ s enough .
Let ’ s go.
” Trump also tweeted during the week complaining that Stahl had not been wearing a mask in the White House .
CBS said Stahl wore a mask at all times except during and for a few moments after the interview , and had tested negative for coronavirus before arriving to interview the president .
For many , though , the clips did not give the impression that Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had been treated unfairly by CBS .
Jon Favreau , a former speechwriter for Barack Obama , said Trump came across as “ weak and pathetic ” and “ a whiny , aggrieved baby ” .
“ He ’ s no longer even pretending to fight for his supporters against liberals , immigrants , the media , elites , the establishment .
Donald Trump is fighting for Donald Trump .
That ’ s it.
” And Amy Siskind , who wrote a book on Trump ’ s first year in office , said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and obfuscate , and when he was called on it he got up and sulked out.
” There was also criticism in some quarters that Stahl had avoided some of the more difficult questions she could have asked the president about his finances , the treatment of immigrant children separated from their parents at the US border by his administration , and the number of people involved in his campaign who have subsequently been charged with crimes .
A CNN fact check of the president ’ s contribution showed he made at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interview .
In another segment of the CBS 60 Minutes special before the election , the Democratic vice-presidential candidate , Kamala Harris , went on record to say she believed Trump was racist .
Asked : “ Do you think the president is racist ?
” by the host , Norah O ’ Donnell , the California senator replied : “ Yes , I do .
You can look at a pattern that goes back to him questioning the identity of the first black president of the United States .
You can look @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protesters , and on the other side , neo-Nazis , and he talks about fine people on either side .
Calling Mexicans rapists and criminals .
His first order of business was to institute a Muslim ban .
It all speaks for itself .
”

Footage of the US president abruptly walking out of a CBS 60 Minutes interview has been released by the network, in a row that has been rumbling since the interview was taped on Tuesday.
Donald Trump had already posted clips on his own social media, in an effort to show he had been mistreated by the interviewer, Lesley Stahl. He had called the segment “fake” and “biased” in advance.
Asked whether his tweets or name-calling turn people off, President Trump says: “I think I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have social media.”
Moments later, he abruptly ended the interview. https://t.co/I6zv8qogcF pic.twitter.com/JYfPYOWGym — 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 26, 2020
Trump had told Stahl: “You brought up a lot of subjects that were inappropriately brought up.” She replied: “Well, I said, I’m going to ask you tough questions.”
After a question about whether his use of social media and name-calling was “turning people off”, Trump brought the recording to an end. He answered: “No, I think I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have social media. The media is fake. And frankly, if I didn’t have social media, I’d have no way of getting out my voice.”
A few moments later, he told his aide Hope Hicks: “I think we have enough of an interview here, Hope. OK? That’s enough. Let’s go.”
01:08 'No way to talk': Donald Trump walks out of 60 Minutes interview – video
The 60 Minutes interviews with both Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, drew a total of 16.8 million viewers, the biggest audience for the show since an interview two years ago with Stormy Daniels, the adult film actor and producer who claims an affair with Trump in the past, which the president denies, and was paid hush money during the 2016 election, Variety reported.
Trump had also tweeted during the week complaining that Stahl had not been wearing a mask in the White House. CBS said Stahl wore a mask at all times except during and for a few moments after the interview, and had tested negative for coronavirus before arriving to interview the president.
For many, though, the clips did not give the impression that Trump was trying to convey – that he had been treated unfairly by CBS.
Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama, said Trump came across as “weak and pathetic” and “a whiny, aggrieved baby”.
“He’s no longer even pretending to fight for his supporters against liberals, immigrants, the media, elites, the establishment. Donald Trump is fighting for Donald Trump. That’s it.”
And Amy Siskind, who wrote a book on Trump’s first year in office, said: “All he did was lie and obfuscate, and when he was called on it he got up and sulked out.”
There was also criticism in some quarters that Stahl had avoided some of the more difficult questions she could have asked the president about his finances, the treatment of immigrant children separated from their parents at the US border by his administration, and the number of people involved in his campaign who have subsequently been charged with crimes.
When Trump couldn’t name a policy priority, rather than zeroing in on his inability to do so, Stahl changed the subject to “Who is our biggest foreign adversary?” Other than COVID, she didn’t ask him to defend or explain any of his policies or about his personal tax avoidance./3 — Lawrence Glickman (@LarryGlickman) October 26, 2020
A CNN factcheck of the president’s contribution showed he made at least 16 false or misleading claims during the interview.
In another segment of the CBS 60 Minutes special before the election, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, went on record to say she believed Trump was racist.
Asked: “Do you think the president is racist?” by the host, Norah O’Donnell, the California senator replied: “Yes, I do. You can look at a pattern that goes back to him questioning the identity of the first black president of the United States. You can look at Charlottesville, when there were peaceful protesters, and on the other side, neo-Nazis, and he talks about fine people on either side. Calling Mexicans rapists and criminals. His first order of business was to institute a Muslim ban. It all speaks for itself.”


theguardian--2020-10-26--Build your own US election result: plot a win for Biden or Trump

The electoral map has shifted in 2020 , amid new challenges from misinformation to mail-in ballots .
Previously reliable states on both sides are now looking more competitive .
In the interactive graphic below , you decide which way these closer states will vote , and try to pave Joe Biden or Donald Trump ’ s path to victory .
Some states remain very likely to go to Biden or Trump because they were won by large margins in 2016 , or they have voted the same way in several recent elections .
Such states – ranked either a “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for either party , according to the Cook Political Report – have already been coloured in for Biden and Trump in the graphic below .
A majority of 270 electoral votes out of a total of 538 is needed to win , and the remaining states are up to you .
Can you take Biden to victory ?
Or will Trump stay in the White House ?
States already placed in the Biden and Trump camp are those classified as “ solid ” or “ likely ” to go to each candidate according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 9 September 2020 .
The remaining states have been divided into groups using their voting history and expectations in 2020 , to help you decide which way they might go .
Voting history and 2016 margins have been retrieved from the Federal Election Commission .
2020 polling indicates a 14-day rolling average of statewide polls calculated by the Guardian , correct as of the timestamp above .
On any day , we collate any polls published in the last 14 days and take a mean average of their results .
If any company @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 14 days , we average out their polling results in order to give them just one entry .
After this standardization process , we then take a mean average of these daily entries in order to present the polling average .

Helena Robertson, Ashley Kirk and Frank Hulley-Jones

The electoral map has shifted in 2020, amid new challenges from misinformation to mail-in ballots. Previously reliable states on both sides are now looking more competitive.
In the interactive graphic below, you decide which way these closer states will vote, and try to pave Joe Biden or Donald Trump’s path to victory.
Some states remain very likely to go to Biden or Trump because they were won by large margins in 2016, or they have voted the same way in several recent elections. Such states – ranked either a “solid” or “likely” win for either party, according to the Cook Political Report – have already been coloured in for Biden and Trump in the graphic below.
A majority of 270 electoral votes out of a total of 538 is needed to win, and the remaining states are up to you. Can you take Biden to victory? Or will Trump stay in the White House?
Choose which way the key swing states will vote and trace Biden or Trump's potential path to victory. electoral college votes electoral college votes Under your scenario, would win the election! Under your scenario, Nobody would win the election. It's a tie! Under a 269-269 tie, the Constitution states that the House of Representatives decides the President. Each state's delegation casts a single vote with a majority of 26 out of 50 needed to win. This is likely to favour the Republicans, in which case Trump would end up staying in the White House.
Methodology
States already placed in the Biden and Trump camp are those classified as “solid” or “likely” to go to each candidate according to the Cook Political Report as of 9 September 2020. The remaining states have been divided into groups using their voting history and expectations in 2020, to help you decide which way they might go.
Voting history and 2016 margins have been retrieved from the Federal Election Commission.
2020 polling indicates a 14-day rolling average of statewide polls calculated by the Guardian, correct as of the timestamp above. On any day, we collate any polls published in the last 14 days and take a mean average of their results. If any company has conducted multiple polls in the last 14 days, we average out their polling results in order to give them just one entry. After this standardization process, we then take a mean average of these daily entries in order to present the polling average.