talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-30--Obama Calls For Nixing The Filibuster If It’s Blocking Measures To Expand Voting Rights

As former President Obama made a passionate case for honoring the legacy of the late Rep. John Lewis ( D-GA @ @ @ @ @ , he said that the Senate filibuster should be eliminated if it stands in the @ @ @ @ @ the right to vote .
“ If all of this takes eliminating the filibuster , @ @ @ @ @ in order to secure the God-given rights of every American , then that ’ s @ @ @ @ @ ” Obama said .
Obama has called for filibuster reform in the past .
But @ @ @ @ @ outright get rid of the tool — which allows 41 senators to block passage of @ @ @ @ @ — has gained prominence in Democratic circles , as they contemplate a world in which @ @ @ @ @ and both chambers in 2020 , but Senate Republicans stymie all aspects of their legislative @ @

As former President Obama made a passionate case for honoring the legacy of the late Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) by expanding voting rights, he said that the Senate filibuster should be eliminated if it stands in the way of measures that protect the right to vote.
“If all of this takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that’s what we should do,” Obama said.
Obama has called for filibuster reform in the past. But the debate over whether to outright get rid of the tool — which allows 41 senators to block passage of legislation favored by a majority — has gained prominence in Democratic circles, as they contemplate a world in which they win the White House and both chambers in 2020, but Senate Republicans stymie all aspects of their legislative agenda.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-30--HHS Downplays COVID Testing Bottlenecks

HHS Downplays COVID Testing Bottlenecks

For weeks , COVID-19 testing in the United States has been complicated for many by a single factor : the time it takes to get a result .
Though the sample collection aspect of testing is widely available , it can take up to two weeks in some cases for people to learn the results of their test if it ’ s being processed by the nation ’ s commercial laboratories .
That delay has led some to ask what the purpose of testing is at all , if the results aren ’ t available in time for patients to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quarantine .
But Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir told reporters on Thursday that concerns over the issue were exaggerated , and that such cases were likely to be “ outliers.
” Half of the country ’ s testing is done in hospitals with in-house laboratories or using relatively instantaneous point-of-care tests , Giroir said .
He went on to argue that criticism saying that some testing takes between 10 and 14 days is inaccurate .
“ The thought of it being routinely 10 to 14 days is just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sends a bad public health message that goes against the goals we all have , ” Giroir said .
Rapid point of care tests remain broadly unavailable to the general public , though Giroir discussed an initiative by which HHS is supplying nursing homes with the testing equipment .
Tests that have gone through commercial labs — by which the samples are sent to centralized facilities for the results — have encountered bottlenecks since mid-June , as the laboratories struggle to accommodate tens of thousands of test requests each day .
That problem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pooling ” tests — meaning that groups of samples would be tested together .
If a positive COVID-19 test emerged , only then would the samples be tested individually .
Giroir added that last week , 45 percent of commercial labs completed tests within three days , and that over the past week , the rate of tests completed within three days was up to 56 percent .
It ’ s not clear how long it took to test the other half of samples .
“ Testing will not control an outbreak when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , what will control the outbreak is personal responsibility , ” he added .

For weeks, COVID-19 testing in the United States has been complicated for many by a single factor: the time it takes to get a result.
Though the sample collection aspect of testing is widely available, it can take up to two weeks in some cases for people to learn the results of their test if it’s being processed by the nation’s commercial laboratories. That delay has led some to ask what the purpose of testing is at all, if the results aren’t available in time for patients to make decisions about whether or not to quarantine.
But Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir told reporters on Thursday that concerns over the issue were exaggerated, and that such cases were likely to be “outliers.”
Half of the country’s testing is done in hospitals with in-house laboratories or using relatively instantaneous point-of-care tests, Giroir said. He went on to argue that criticism saying that some testing takes between 10 and 14 days is inaccurate.
“The thought of it being routinely 10 to 14 days is just not true, and I think it sends a bad public health message that goes against the goals we all have,” Giroir said.
Rapid point of care tests remain broadly unavailable to the general public, though Giroir discussed an initiative by which HHS is supplying nursing homes with the testing equipment.
Tests that have gone through commercial labs — by which the samples are sent to centralized facilities for the results — have encountered bottlenecks since mid-June, as the laboratories struggle to accommodate tens of thousands of test requests each day.
That problem led Dr. Anthony Fauci to suggest “pooling” tests — meaning that groups of samples would be tested together. If a positive COVID-19 test emerged, only then would the samples be tested individually.
Giroir added that last week, 45 percent of commercial labs completed tests within three days, and that over the past week, the rate of tests completed within three days was up to 56 percent.
It’s not clear how long it took to test the other half of samples.
“Testing will not control an outbreak when you have 70k new infections a day, what will control the outbreak is personal responsibility,” he added.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-30--McConnell And McCarthy Say No Way To Election Delay: ‘We Should Go Forward’

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy ( R-CA ) rejected an idea floated by Trump to delay the November presidential election , saying Thursday that it should go forward as planned .
“ Never in the history of the federal elections have we ever not held an election and we should go forward with our election , ” McCarthy told reporters when asked about the proposition of a delay during a press conference .
The remarks follow a Thursday morning tweet by the President that suggested delaying the election due to the baseless assertion that widespread mail-in voting will lead to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump does not have the authority to move an election and bide more time to win favor from his diminishing base .
Federal law sets Election Day as “ the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November.
” If Trump or any of his GOP allies in the Senate wanted to change this law , they would need to go through the Democratic House .
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-KY ) has already made clear in a statement confirmed by his communications director , David Popp , that November ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In an interview with WNKYTV , a local NBC and CBS affiliate in Kentucky scheduled to air in full Thursday evening , the GOP senator will cite past crises that have taken place during an election .
CNN correspondent Manu Raju tweeted after Trump ’ s suggestion Thursday that even close Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham ( R-SC ) had said when asked about a potential delay : “ I don ’ t think that ’ s a particularly good idea.
” Before Trump ’ s tweet on Thursday , Democrats had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ try to delay the election or deem its results illegitimate .
Trump has made a routine of railing against mail-in voting , making claims that bristle against the wisdom of experts , by saying that ballots will be reprinted , robbed from mailboxes and cause widespread fraud .
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday , Democratic leaders asked Attorney General William Barr whether he believed that claims of election fraud were legitimate .
Barr , who has repeatedly sided with the President and politicized the Justice Department to favor Trump and many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while he doesn ’ t not advocate for “ wholesale ” mail-in voting he has “ no reason to think ” that the upcoming election will be “ rigged .
”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) rejected an idea floated by Trump to delay the November presidential election, saying Thursday that it should go forward as planned.
“Never in the history of the federal elections have we ever not held an election and we should go forward with our election,” McCarthy told reporters when asked about the proposition of a delay during a press conference.
The remarks follow a Thursday morning tweet by the President that suggested delaying the election due to the baseless assertion that widespread mail-in voting will lead to a “fraudulent” election.
But Trump does not have the authority to move an election and bide more time to win favor from his diminishing base.
Federal law sets Election Day as “the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November.” If Trump or any of his GOP allies in the Senate wanted to change this law, they would need to go through the Democratic House.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has already made clear in a statement confirmed by his communications director, David Popp, that November’s election date is set in stone. In an interview with WNKYTV, a local NBC and CBS affiliate in Kentucky scheduled to air in full Thursday evening, the GOP senator will cite past crises that have taken place during an election.
CNN correspondent Manu Raju tweeted after Trump’s suggestion Thursday that even close Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had said when asked about a potential delay: “I don’t think that’s a particularly good idea.”
Before Trump’s tweet on Thursday, Democrats had expressed growing concern that the President will try to delay the election or deem its results illegitimate.
Trump has made a routine of railing against mail-in voting, making claims that bristle against the wisdom of experts, by saying that ballots will be reprinted, robbed from mailboxes and cause widespread fraud.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Democratic leaders asked Attorney General William Barr whether he believed that claims of election fraud were legitimate. Barr, who has repeatedly sided with the President and politicized the Justice Department to favor Trump and many of his allies, said that that while he doesn’t not advocate for “wholesale” mail-in voting he has “no reason to think” that the upcoming election will be “rigged.”


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-30--Pompeo Refuses To Say Trump Doesn’t Have Power To Delay The Elections

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday did not reject the notion of President Donald Trump somehow going through with his suggestion to delay the 2020 election , even though a president does not have the authority to do so .
Sen. Tim Kaine ( D-VA ) brought up Trump ’ s tweet during Pompeo ’ s Senate hearing on the 2021 budget .
“ Senator , I ’ m not going enter a legal judgment on that on the fly this morning , ” the secretary of state replied .
Pompeo offered another nonresponse when Kaine tried asking again @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Department of Justice and others will make that legal determination , ” Pompeo said .
“ We all should want–I know you do too , Senator Kaine–want to make sure we have an election that everyone is confident in.
” “ Are you indifferent to the date of the election ?
” Kaine asked .
“ It should happen lawfully , ” the Trump official said .
Neither the President nor the Justice Department can determine the date of the presidential elections ; only Congress would be able to postpone the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Trump ’ s astonishing suggestion , which he based on the false claim that mail-in voting leads to voter fraud , may be less about literally changing the election date and more about riling up his base with the baseless notion that him losing to Democratic rival Joe Biden means the election was “ rigged .
”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday did not reject the notion of President Donald Trump somehow going through with his suggestion to delay the 2020 election, even though a president does not have the authority to do so.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) brought up Trump’s tweet during Pompeo’s Senate hearing on the 2021 budget.
“Can a president delay the November presidential election, Mr. Secretary?” the Virginia Democrat asked Pompeo.
“Senator, I’m not going enter a legal judgment on that on the fly this morning,” the secretary of state replied.
Pompeo offered another nonresponse when Kaine tried asking again.
“Senator, in the end, the Department of Justice and others will make that legal determination,” Pompeo said. “We all should want–I know you do too, Senator Kaine–want to make sure we have an election that everyone is confident in.”
“Are you indifferent to the date of the election?” Kaine asked.
“It should happen lawfully,” the Trump official said.
Neither the President nor the Justice Department can determine the date of the presidential elections; only Congress would be able to postpone the election if it so chooses.
However, Trump’s astonishing suggestion, which he based on the false claim that mail-in voting leads to voter fraud, may be less about literally changing the election date and more about riling up his base with the baseless notion that him losing to Democratic rival Joe Biden means the election was “rigged.”
Watch Pompeo below:


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-30--Full Appeals Court To Rehear Dispute Over Flynn Judge’s Handling Of His Case

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C .
Circuit will reconsider an order from a panel of its judges that sought to block Michael Flynn ’ s judge from probing the reasons the Justice Department wants Flynn ’ s case dropped .
The announcement of the so-called en banc hearing means that the remarkable dispute over the DOJ ’ s dismissal request will rage on for at least a few more weeks .
And it will allow the full D.C .
Circuit — often dubbed the second most powerful court in the country — to wade into the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can ’ t do in the face of evidence that the Department of Justice has suspect motivations for its prosecutorial decisions .
The D.C .
Circuit will hear oral arguments on the matter on August 11 .
In the meantime , the order from a three-judge appellate panel that Flynn ’ s case immediately be dismissed has been reversed .
Flynn and his judge , U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan , have been engaged in an extraordinary battle over whether Sullivan has the authority to hold off on granting the DOJ request that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Justice Department announced it was dropping its prosecution — where Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russia contacts — in May .
Rather than immediately grant the request , Sullivan invited outside parties to weigh in on what he should do .
One of those so called “ friends of the court ” ( or “ amici ” ) is a retired judge who Sullivan appointed to oppose the dismissal request .
The former judge , John Gleeson , has since advised Sullivan that it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and that the DOJ engaged in prosecutorial misconduct in finding pretextual excuses for wanting Flynn ’ s case dropped .
The process Sullivan laid out for considering this advice was interrupted when Flynn asked the D.C .
Circuit to intervene in Sullivan ’ s handling of the matter .
By a 2-1 vote , a three judge panel sided with Flynn — who has been backed by the Justice Department in the dispute — and ordered Sullivan to dismiss the case , prompting Sullivan to turn to the full circuit court .
Such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s proceedings is usually only granted in very rare circumstances .
One of the arguments Sullivan has made is that it ’ s too early in the process for the appeals court to get involved , since Sullivan has not said one way or the other whether he will grant or deny the DOJ dismissal request .
In its order Thursday , the D.C .
Circuit hinted that it was particularly interested in that argument .
“ The parties should be prepared to address whether there are ‘ no other adequate means to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the order said , citing a 2004 Supreme Court case the centered around whether an appeals court could intervene in a district court ’ s proceedings .
Two of the three judges on the appeals court panel that sided with Flynn were Republican appointees .
The full D.C. appeals court bench is made up of Democratic appointees .
One of the Republican appointees — a President Trump-nominated judge had previously worked in Trump ’ s White House — sat out of the decision to hear the dispute en banc .

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will reconsider an order from a panel of its judges that sought to block Michael Flynn’s judge from probing the reasons the Justice Department wants Flynn’s case dropped.
The announcement of the so-called en banc hearing means that the remarkable dispute over the DOJ’s dismissal request will rage on for at least a few more weeks. And it will allow the full D.C. Circuit — often dubbed the second most powerful court in the country — to wade into the thorny issue of what judges can and can’t do in the face of evidence that the Department of Justice has suspect motivations for its prosecutorial decisions.
The D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments on the matter on August 11. In the meantime, the order from a three-judge appellate panel that Flynn’s case immediately be dismissed has been reversed.
Flynn and his judge, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, have been engaged in an extraordinary battle over whether Sullivan has the authority to hold off on granting the DOJ request that Flynn’s case be dismissed.
The Justice Department announced it was dropping its prosecution — where Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russia contacts — in May. Rather than immediately grant the request, Sullivan invited outside parties to weigh in on what he should do.
One of those so called “friends of the court” (or “amici”) is a retired judge who Sullivan appointed to oppose the dismissal request. The former judge, John Gleeson, has since advised Sullivan that it’s in his power to deny the request and that the DOJ engaged in prosecutorial misconduct in finding pretextual excuses for wanting Flynn’s case dropped.
The process Sullivan laid out for considering this advice was interrupted when Flynn asked the D.C. Circuit to intervene in Sullivan’s handling of the matter. By a 2-1 vote, a three judge panel sided with Flynn — who has been backed by the Justice Department in the dispute — and ordered Sullivan to dismiss the case, prompting Sullivan to turn to the full circuit court.
Such an intervention in a lower court’s proceedings is usually only granted in very rare circumstances. One of the arguments Sullivan has made is that it’s too early in the process for the appeals court to get involved, since Sullivan has not said one way or the other whether he will grant or deny the DOJ dismissal request.
In its order Thursday, the D.C. Circuit hinted that it was particularly interested in that argument.
“The parties should be prepared to address whether there are ‘no other adequate means to attain the relief’ desired,” the order said, citing a 2004 Supreme Court case the centered around whether an appeals court could intervene in a district court’s proceedings.
Two of the three judges on the appeals court panel that sided with Flynn were Republican appointees. The full D.C. appeals court bench is made up of Democratic appointees. One of the Republican appointees — a President Trump-nominated judge had previously worked in Trump’s White House — sat out of the decision to hear the dispute en banc.
Read the order below:


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-30--Trump Can’t Legally Change The Election Day — But He Can Try To Undermine The Results

The President doesn ’ t have the authority to change the date of Election Day .
But words never fail our commander in chief .
So on Thursday morning , he suggested doing just that .
Later in the day , he pinned the message at the top of his Twitter profile .
Lawyers and reporters — and politicians and election officials on both sides of the aisle — were quick to point out that what Trump suggested wasn ’ t his choice to make .
In 1845 , Congress decided that Election Day would be the first Tuesday after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump wants to change that , he has to convince Congress — a likely impossible task .
And the January Inauguration Day was enshrined in the 20th Amendment to the Constitution in 1933 .
“ No , ” Ellen Weintraub , a commissioner on the Federal Election Commission , told the President on Twitter .
“ You don ’ t have the power to move the election .
Nor should it be moved.
” “ His supposed justification for floating this constitutional coup has no basis , ” Wendy Weiser , vice president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Brennan Center , told TPM .
“ There is no problem with the integrity of American elections , ” she added , despite Trump ’ s “ years-long campaign to try to discredit and undermine the American election system.
” But that ’ s not to say Trump ’ s tweet doesn ’ t have a political effect .
For one thing , it came just a few minutes after the Commerce Department announced that the United States had experienced the worst drop in GDP in its 70-year recorded history last quarter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ morning ’ s top story , until the President ’ s tweet .
But , perhaps just as important , the tweet was part Trump ’ s mounting rhetorical campaign against voting by mail .
Around the country , the Republican Party has mounted a legal and public opinion war against voting by mail .
Attorney General Bill Barr , testifying before Congress Tuesday , admitted that he had no evidence to support one oft-repeated administration claim : that foreign countries could manufacture counterfeit mail-in-ballots .
The White House has thrown up other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fundraiser Louis DeJoy was made postmaster general .
As TPM has reported , the U.S .
Postal Service is now facing a long list of new mandates from DeJoy that , in the end , may add even more chaos and bureaucratic obstacles to the pandemic-engulfed election season .
On Wednesday , Trump tweeted a news report about potential election-year failures of the the USPS .
In several states around the country , Trump ’ s anti-vote-by-mail campaign has led to severely lopsided registration numbers .
In Florida , for example , around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ requested a mail-in ballot .
That presents a problem for Trump ’ s party , one compounded by his dismal polling : In states like Ohio , which Trump won easily in 2020 , Joe Biden is polling neck-and-neck with the President .
Michael McDonald , a professor of political science at the University of Florida , told TPM Trump could try to sow chaos to “ disrupt ” Democratic turnout .
“ If you create that chaos by affecting the Post Office and limiting its operations — or , also , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can against the expansion of mail balloting — then maybe that will suppress some of these Democratic votes that are clearly going to be cast by mail.
” But beyond Trump ’ s war on mail-in voting , McDonald noted , his tweet appeared to be furthering another mission : Inciting his supporters with claims that Democrats would “ steal ” the presidency .
“ It ’ s rhetoric about trying to drum up support for Trump , ” McDonald said .
“ It ’ s , ‘ The Democrats are trying to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you as a Republican — a good , loyal , Trump-supporter — need to go out and show your support for Trump . '
” “ It ’ s a campaign messaging tactic to try to make Republicans outraged , ” he added .
“ The only conceivable goal of these statements is to sow chaos and to try to undermine faith in the election outcome , ” Weiser , of the Brennan Center , observed .
“ Whether he actually thinks he could have a constitutional coup of some sort — whether @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the streets or in some other way , I don ’ t know — there ’ s no other logical explanation for this course of action , other than to key up an attempt to try to discredit the elections.
” Trump has an administration full of enablers ready to advance that sort of rhetoric .
Asked Tuesday if the President could move the election date , Barr said simply , “ I haven ’ t looked into that question , under the Constitution.
” On Thursday , during Senate testimony following Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mike Pompeo refused to say that Trump didn ’ t have the right to change the election day .
“ In the end , the Department of Justice and others will make that legal determination , ” he said .

The President doesn’t have the authority to change the date of Election Day. But words never fail our commander in chief. So on Thursday morning, he suggested doing just that. Later in the day, he pinned the message at the top of his Twitter profile.
With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote??? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020
Lawyers and reporters — and politicians and election officials on both sides of the aisle — were quick to point out that what Trump suggested wasn’t his choice to make.
In 1845, Congress decided that Election Day would be the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. If Trump wants to change that, he has to convince Congress — a likely impossible task. And the January Inauguration Day was enshrined in the 20th Amendment to the Constitution in 1933.
“No,” Ellen Weintraub, a commissioner on the Federal Election Commission, told the President on Twitter. “You don’t have the power to move the election. Nor should it be moved.”
“His supposed justification for floating this constitutional coup has no basis,” Wendy Weiser, vice president of the Democracy Program at NYU’s Brennan Center, told TPM.
“There is no problem with the integrity of American elections,” she added, despite Trump’s “years-long campaign to try to discredit and undermine the American election system.”
But that’s not to say Trump’s tweet doesn’t have a political effect.
For one thing, it came just a few minutes after the Commerce Department announced that the United States had experienced the worst drop in GDP in its 70-year recorded history last quarter — which was sure to be the morning’s top story, until the President’s tweet.
But, perhaps just as important, the tweet was part Trump’s mounting rhetorical campaign against voting by mail.
Around the country, the Republican Party has mounted a legal and public opinion war against voting by mail. Attorney General Bill Barr, testifying before Congress Tuesday, admitted that he had no evidence to support one oft-repeated administration claim: that foreign countries could manufacture counterfeit mail-in-ballots.
The White House has thrown up other hurdles. In May, the Republican fundraiser Louis DeJoy was made postmaster general. As TPM has reported, the U.S. Postal Service is now facing a long list of new mandates from DeJoy that, in the end, may add even more chaos and bureaucratic obstacles to the pandemic-engulfed election season.
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted a news report about potential election-year failures of the the USPS.
In several states around the country, Trump’s anti-vote-by-mail campaign has led to severely lopsided registration numbers.
In Florida, for example, around a half-million more Democrats than Republicans have requested a mail-in ballot. That presents a problem for Trump’s party, one compounded by his dismal polling: In states like Ohio, which Trump won easily in 2020, Joe Biden is polling neck-and-neck with the President.
Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at the University of Florida, told TPM Trump could try to sow chaos to “disrupt” Democratic turnout.
“If you create that chaos by affecting the Post Office and limiting its operations — or, also, the RNC is litigating as much as it can against the expansion of mail balloting — then maybe that will suppress some of these Democratic votes that are clearly going to be cast by mail.”
But beyond Trump’s war on mail-in voting, McDonald noted, his tweet appeared to be furthering another mission: Inciting his supporters with claims that Democrats would “steal” the presidency.
“It’s rhetoric about trying to drum up support for Trump,” McDonald said. “It’s, ‘The Democrats are trying to steal the election, so therefore, you as a Republican — a good, loyal, Trump-supporter — need to go out and show your support for Trump.'”
“It’s a campaign messaging tactic to try to make Republicans outraged,” he added.
“The only conceivable goal of these statements is to sow chaos and to try to undermine faith in the election outcome,” Weiser, of the Brennan Center, observed.
“Whether he actually thinks he could have a constitutional coup of some sort — whether it be in the courts or in the streets or in some other way, I don’t know — there’s no other logical explanation for this course of action, other than to key up an attempt to try to discredit the elections.”
Trump has an administration full of enablers ready to advance that sort of rhetoric.
Asked Tuesday if the President could move the election date, Barr said simply, “I haven’t looked into that question, under the Constitution.”
On Thursday, during Senate testimony following Trump’s tweet, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to say that Trump didn’t have the right to change the election day.
“In the end, the Department of Justice and others will make that legal determination,” he said.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-31--Report: FBI Concealed Copies Of Key Docs In Russia Probe Out Of Fear Trump Would End It

The FBI reportedly stashed away crucial documents in its Russia-Trump campaign investigation , including FBI Director James Comey ’ s @ @ @ @ @ President Donald Trump , out of fear that Trump would shut down the probe .
@ @ @ @ @ FBI took several steps to shield the documents under then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe ’ @ @ @ @ @ Comey in 2017 .
McCabe reportedly had investigators stash Comey ’ s memos in the @ @ @ @ @ , SENTINEL , where they couldn ’ t be scrubbed in the event that Trump @ @ @ @ @ he eventually did ) .
Additionally , FBI agents hid at least three copies of @ @ @ @ @ in “ remote locations around the Bureau , ” in CNN ’ s words .

The FBI reportedly stashed away crucial documents in its Russia-Trump campaign investigation, including FBI Director James Comey’s memos on his conversations with President Donald Trump, out of fear that Trump would shut down the probe.
According to CNN, the FBI took several steps to shield the documents under then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s leadership after Trump fired Comey in 2017.
McCabe reportedly had investigators stash Comey’s memos in the agency’s software system, SENTINEL, where they couldn’t be scrubbed in the event that Trump ousted McCabe too (which he eventually did).
Additionally, FBI agents hid at least three copies of the memos and other documents in “remote locations around the Bureau,” in CNN’s words.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-31--Duckworth Confirms She Was Interviewed For Biden VP Slot

Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth ( D ) confirmed Thursday that she has been interviewed by Joe Biden ’ s team as a potential vice presidential pick on the Democratic ticket .
“ I have been interviewed , yes , I ’ m on Team Biden , ” Duckworth told the Washington Post during an interview Thursday , adding , “ But it really doesn ’ t matter what position I play as long as we get Joe Biden elected.
” The Post reported that a source with familiarity about the VP selection process confirmed that the senator had talks with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vet his potential picks .
Duckworth made clear during the Post interview that she has frequently been in contact with Biden , saying she ’ s “ always loved interacting with Vice President Biden.
” As a military veteran who received a Purple Heart , Duckworth noted in her interview with the Post that Biden was “ a military family member.
” She added that the Democratic presidential nominee and his wife “ have been wonderful for our military men and women throughout their careers.
” “ A war hero would make a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Illinois Governor J.B.Pritzker ( D ) who has made no secret of his support for the senator told Yahoo News in a podcast interview that aired Thursday .
In spite of her military background , Duckworth fought off attacks from President Trump and Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier this month , calling them “ self-serving insecure men ” after they questioned her patriotism .
The challenge was prompted when she suggested conducting a “ national dialogue ” about the removal of statues of historical figures who have roots in slavery @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggest that Duckworth was among the Democrats who hated America and called the veteran who lost both of her legs in Iraq in 2004 after a helicopter she was co-piloting was shot down a “ coward.
” Biden defended Duckworth at that time , calling attacks from Trump and his allies “ disgusting ” and “ sickening.
” He said that taking shots at Duckworth was a “ reflection of the depravity of what ’ s going on in the White House right now.
” Biden has said he will decide on a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has committed to selecting a woman and Duckworth is one of about a dozen he ’ s considering for the job .

Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth (D) confirmed Thursday that she has been interviewed by Joe Biden’s team as a potential vice presidential pick on the Democratic ticket.
“I have been interviewed, yes, I’m on Team Biden,” Duckworth told the Washington Post during an interview Thursday, adding, “But it really doesn’t matter what position I play as long as we get Joe Biden elected.”
The Post reported that a source with familiarity about the VP selection process confirmed that the senator had talks with a panel that Biden brought together to vet his potential picks. Duckworth made clear during the Post interview that she has frequently been in contact with Biden, saying she’s “always loved interacting with Vice President Biden.”
As a military veteran who received a Purple Heart, Duckworth noted in her interview with the Post that Biden was “a military family member.” She added that the Democratic presidential nominee and his wife “have been wonderful for our military men and women throughout their careers.”
“A war hero would make a terrific vice president of the United States,” Illinois Governor J.B.Pritzker (D) who has made no secret of his support for the senator told Yahoo News in a podcast interview that aired Thursday.
In spite of her military background, Duckworth fought off attacks from President Trump and Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier this month, calling them “self-serving insecure men” after they questioned her patriotism. The challenge was prompted when she suggested conducting a “national dialogue” about the removal of statues of historical figures who have roots in slavery.
Carlson went so far as to suggest that Duckworth was among the Democrats who hated America and called the veteran who lost both of her legs in Iraq in 2004 after a helicopter she was co-piloting was shot down a “coward.”
Biden defended Duckworth at that time, calling attacks from Trump and his allies “disgusting” and “sickening.” He said that taking shots at Duckworth was a “reflection of the depravity of what’s going on in the White House right now.”
Biden has said he will decide on a running mate by next week. He has committed to selecting a woman and Duckworth is one of about a dozen he’s considering for the job.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-31--Trump Admin Moves To Speed Up 2020 Census Count, Raising Alarms About Accuracy

The Census Bureau is preparing to wind down certain decennial census operations a month earlier than planned , NPR reported Thursday , amid growing signs that the White House is pushing for a rushed count at the risk of undermining the decennial census ’ accuracy .
After the coronavirus outbreak scrambled the launch of the census this spring , the Bureau had reworked its operational timeline to give itself until the end of October to finish its data collection activities .
To accommodate the need for this extra time , Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in April requested that Congress postpone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when the Bureau is required to deliver the data for congressional apportionment and redistricting .
Those deadlines are normally Dec. 31 and March 31 , respectively .
But with the announcement that President Trump wants undocumented immigrants excluded from apportionment data , it appears the administration is now walking away from that request — presumably because the delay would let a Joe Biden administration reverse Trump ’ s apportionment policy , which stands to reduce political representation for immigrant-rich states .
The extensions were absent from Senate Republicans ’ recent coronavirus legislation , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the delays in their proposal .
The new report that a key step in the census process is being cut short by a month is another indication that the administration is laying a groundwork for keeping the Bureau on the usual timeline of finishing by the end of the year , despite the many ways the pandemic has slowed down the counting operations .
The Census Bureau has publicly remained coy on the state of the extension request to Congress and its own Trump-appointed director claimed to lawmakers this week he was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , internally , employees are being told that the in-person data collection from households will end on Sept. 30 , instead of Oct. 31 , according to the NPR report .
The administration has not explicitly admitted that the count is being sped up so the Bureau can deliver the apportionment data by the end of the year , but that is widely believed to be the goal .
Regardless , former Census officials , redistricting experts , civil rights advocates and lawmakers are all ringing the alarm about the impact these machinations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ count .
“ The big question is whether we ’ re going to have a census good enough to release , ” former Census Director Kenneth Prewitt , who lead the Bureau between 1998 and 2001 , told TPM .
The coronavirus outbreak posed steep challenges to the 2020 census , which had already been facing obstacles with confusion wrought by the citizenship question fight and other controversies about this year ’ s count .
Many of the activities the Bureau had planned to encourage census participation and to count people who might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around the kinds of in-person interactions that must be limited due the outbreak .
For households that don ’ t respond to the census on their own , the Bureau typically sends in-person enumerators to try to get them counted , as part of a process known as nonresponse follow up .
In large swaths of the country , self-response rates are still well behind what they were at the end of the 2010 census .
In some places , “ it ’ s like five or 10 points less than what it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re going to need much more nonresponse follow up , which really paints a stark picture of the disproportionate impact of shortchanging the nonresponse follow up operations , ” said Steven Romalewski , the director of CUNY Mapping Service who has been tracking census response rates .
There ’ s much that ’ s still unclear about what the newly-reported cutbacks mean for various census operations .
As of now , the Bureau hasn ’ t answered questions about whether Americans will still be able to respond to the census themselves through Oct. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ publicized after the timeline was reworked for the pandemic .
“ It would really undermine confidence in the Census Bureau if it were to change the date so abruptly , ” said Terri Anne Lowenthal , a consultant who is a well-regarded expert on the census .
The Bureau issued a statement after the NPR report acknowledging it was “ currently evaluating our operations to enable the Census Bureau to provide this data in the most expeditious manner.
” However it has not publicly confirmed that the timeline for data collection has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Oct. 31 end date were scrubbed from the Census website over the course of the week .
Another big question is what it has planned for work that happens after data collection wraps , which usually lasts about five months , according to Lowenthal .
If the Trump administration insist on the apportionment data being delivered by Dec. 31 , then the Bureau will have only two to three months instead .
“ Not only is the administration forcing the Census Bureau to rush data collection , it is forcing the Bureau @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s done after that to review , improve , process and tabulate the data , ” Lowenthal said .
Noting the way the pandemic has displaced people across the country , she called those operations , “ more important than ever .
”

The Census Bureau is preparing to wind down certain decennial census operations a month earlier than planned, NPR reported Thursday, amid growing signs that the White House is pushing for a rushed count at the risk of undermining the decennial census’ accuracy.
After the coronavirus outbreak scrambled the launch of the census this spring, the Bureau had reworked its operational timeline to give itself until the end of October to finish its data collection activities. To accommodate the need for this extra time, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in April requested that Congress postpone by four months the statutory deadlines for when the Bureau is required to deliver the data for congressional apportionment and redistricting. Those deadlines are normally Dec. 31 and March 31, respectively.
But with the announcement that President Trump wants undocumented immigrants excluded from apportionment data, it appears the administration is now walking away from that request — presumably because the delay would let a Joe Biden administration reverse Trump’s apportionment policy, which stands to reduce political representation for immigrant-rich states. The extensions were absent from Senate Republicans’ recent coronavirus legislation, even though House Democrats had already agreed to the delays in their proposal.
The new report that a key step in the census process is being cut short by a month is another indication that the administration is laying a groundwork for keeping the Bureau on the usual timeline of finishing by the end of the year, despite the many ways the pandemic has slowed down the counting operations.
The Census Bureau has publicly remained coy on the state of the extension request to Congress and its own Trump-appointed director claimed to lawmakers this week he was not involved in those negotiations. But, internally, employees are being told that the in-person data collection from households will end on Sept. 30, instead of Oct. 31, according to the NPR report.
The administration has not explicitly admitted that the count is being sped up so the Bureau can deliver the apportionment data by the end of the year, but that is widely believed to be the goal.
Regardless, former Census officials, redistricting experts, civil rights advocates and lawmakers are all ringing the alarm about the impact these machinations will have on the accuracy of the count.
“The big question is whether we’re going to have a census good enough to release,” former Census Director Kenneth Prewitt, who lead the Bureau between 1998 and 2001, told TPM.
The coronavirus outbreak posed steep challenges to the 2020 census, which had already been facing obstacles with confusion wrought by the citizenship question fight and other controversies about this year’s count.
Many of the activities the Bureau had planned to encourage census participation and to count people who might not respond on their own are built around the kinds of in-person interactions that must be limited due the outbreak.
For households that don’t respond to the census on their own, the Bureau typically sends in-person enumerators to try to get them counted, as part of a process known as nonresponse follow up. In large swaths of the country, self-response rates are still well behind what they were at the end of the 2010 census.
In some places, “it’s like five or 10 points less than what it was in 2010, so they’re going to need much more nonresponse follow up, which really paints a stark picture of the disproportionate impact of shortchanging the nonresponse follow up operations,” said Steven Romalewski, the director of CUNY Mapping Service who has been tracking census response rates.
There’s much that’s still unclear about what the newly-reported cutbacks mean for various census operations.
As of now, the Bureau hasn’t answered questions about whether Americans will still be able to respond to the census themselves through Oct. 31, a date that was widely publicized after the timeline was reworked for the pandemic.
“It would really undermine confidence in the Census Bureau if it were to change the date so abruptly,” said Terri Anne Lowenthal, a consultant who is a well-regarded expert on the census.
The Bureau issued a statement after the NPR report acknowledging it was “currently evaluating our operations to enable the Census Bureau to provide this data in the most expeditious manner.” However it has not publicly confirmed that the timeline for data collection has been expedited, even as several references to the Oct. 31 end date were scrubbed from the Census website over the course of the week.
Another big question is what it has planned for work that happens after data collection wraps, which usually lasts about five months, according to Lowenthal. If the Trump administration insist on the apportionment data being delivered by Dec. 31, then the Bureau will have only two to three months instead.
“Not only is the administration forcing the Census Bureau to rush data collection, it is forcing the Bureau to rush the critical work that’s done after that to review, improve, process and tabulate the data,” Lowenthal said.
Noting the way the pandemic has displaced people across the country, she called those operations, “more important than ever.”


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-31--James Murdoch Resigns From News Corp Board Over Editorial ‘Disagreements’

James Murdoch , son of octogenarian media mogul Rupert Murdoch , announced his abrupt resignation from the board of News @ @ @ @ @ terse resignation letter , James Murdoch cited “ disagreements over certain editorial content published by @ @ @ @ @ outlets and certain other strategic decisions.
” As CNN ’ s Brian Stelter noted , @ @ @ @ @ with 21st Century Fox , where he was CEO , at least in part over @ @ @ @ @ .
Fox News is currently housed under the Fox Corporation , a separate business entity @ @ @ @ @ move quickly drew comparisons to the HBO series “ Succession , ” which focuses on @ @ @ @ @ .

James Murdoch, son of octogenarian media mogul Rupert Murdoch, announced his abrupt resignation from the board of News Corporation Friday.
In a terse resignation letter, James Murdoch cited “disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company’s news outlets and certain other strategic decisions.”
As CNN’s Brian Stelter noted, Murdoch had previously parted ways with 21st Century Fox, where he was CEO, at least in part over Fox News’ editorial approach.
Fox News is currently housed under the Fox Corporation, a separate business entity from News Corp.
James Murdoch already left 21st Century Fox, partly due to his disgust with Fox News. Now he's breaking off ties with the family's other company, News Corp. A big moment in Murdochworld. But: he's still very much connected to the empire through the Murdoch Family Trust. — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 31, 2020
The move quickly drew comparisons to the HBO series “Succession,” which focuses on an insular family-controlled media empire.
Read the resignation letter below:


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-31--How Many People in the U.S. Are Hospitalized With COVID-19? Who Knows?

This story first appeared at ProPublica .
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom .
Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox .
In mid-July , the Trump administration instructed hospitals to change the way they reported data on their coronavirus patients , promising the new approach would provide better , more up-to-the-minute information about the virus ’ s toll and allow resources and supplies to be quickly dispatched across the country .
Instead , the move has created widespread confusion , leaving some states in the dark about their hospitals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and , at least temporarily , removing this information from public view .
As a result , it has been unclear how many people are in hospitals being treated for COVID-19 at a time when the number of infected patients nationally has been soaring .
Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have been seen as a key metric of both the coronavirus ’ s toll and the health care system ’ s ability to deal with it .
Since early in the pandemic , hospitals had been reporting data on COVID-19 patients to the U.S. Centers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ National Healthcare Safety Network , which traditionally tracks hospital-acquired infections .
In a memo dated July 10 , the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told hospitals to abruptly change course — to stop reporting their data to the CDC and instead to submit it to HHS through a new portal run by a company called TeleTracking .
The change took effect within days .
Vice President Mike Pence said the administration would continue releasing the data publicly , as the CDC had done .
Almost immediately , the CDC pulled its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it under pressure a couple days later .
Meanwhile the website for the administration ’ s new portal promised to update numbers on a daily basis , but , as of Friday morning , the site hadn ’ t been updated since July 23 .
( HHS is posting some data daily on a different federal website but not representative estimates for each state . )
“ The most pernicious portion of it is that at the state level and at the regional level we lost our situational awareness , ” said Dave @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Association .
“ At the end of this , we may have a fantastic data product out of HHS .
I will not beat them up for trying to do something positive about the data , but the rollout of this has been absolutely a catastrophe.
” The Missouri Hospital Association had taken the daily data submitted by its hospitals to the CDC and created a state dashboard .
The transition knocked that offline .
The dashboard came back online this week , but Dillon said in a follow-up email , “ the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ability to know that everyone is reporting the same data , in the correct way , for tracking and comparison purposes at the state level.
” Other states , including Idaho and South Carolina , also experienced temporary information blackouts .
And The COVID Tracking Project , which has been following the pandemic ’ s toll across the country based on state data , noted issues with its figures .
“ These problems mean that our hospitalization data — a crucial metric of the COVID-19 pandemic — is , for now , unreliable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do not think that either the state-level hospitalization data or the new federal data is reliable in isolation , ” according to a blog post Tuesday on the group ’ s website .
Making matters more complicated , the administration has changed the information that it is requiring hospitals to report , adding many elements , such as the age range of admitted COVID-19 patients , and removing others .
As of this week , for instance , HHS told hospitals to stop reporting the total number of deaths they ’ ve had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of COVID-19 deaths and the total number of COVID-19 admissions .
( Hospitals still report daily figures , just not historical ones . )
“ Massachusetts hospitals are continuing to navigate the dramatic increase of daily data requirements , ” the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association said in a newsletter on Monday .
“ MHA and other state health officials continue to raise concerns about the administrative burden and questionable usefulness of some of the data.
” “ Hospitals across the country were given little time to adjust to the unnecessary and seismic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Health and Human Services , which fundamentally shift both the volume of data and the platforms through which data is submitted , ” the association ’ s CEO , Steve Walsh , said in the newsletter .
A number of state websites also noted problems with hospital data .
For days , the Texas Department of State Health Services included a note on its dashboard that it was “ reporting incomplete hospitalization numbers … due to a transition in reporting to comply with new federal requirements.
” That came just as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hospitalizations .
A spokesperson for HHS acknowledged some bumps in the transition but said in an email : “ We are pleased with the progress we have made during this transition and the actionable data it is providing .
We have had some states and hospital associations report difficulty with the new collection system .
When HHS identifies errors in the data submissions , we work directly with the state or hospital association to quickly resolve them .
“ Our objective with this new approach is to collaborate with the states and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transparency is to acknowledge when we find discrepancies in the data and correct them.
” Last week , HHS noted , 93 % of its prioritized list of hospitals , excluding psychiatric , rehabilitation and religious nonmedical facilities , reported data at least once during the week .
( The guidance to hospitals asks them to report every day . )
Asked about the lack of timely data on its public website , HHS said it will update the site to “ make it clear that the estimates are only updated weekly.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each day on healthdata.gov with aggregate information on hospitalizations by state .
But unlike the prior releases from CDC , which provided estimates on hospital capacity based on the responses , this file only gives totals for the hospitals that reported data .
It ’ s unclear which hospitals did not report , how large they are , or whether the reported data is representative .
It ’ s also unclear if it ’ s accurate .
New York state , for instance , reported that fewer than 600 people were currently hospitalized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Federal data released the same day pegged the number of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations at around 1,800 .
Louisiana says more than 1,500 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 .
The federal data puts the figure at fewer than 700 .
Nationally , The COVID Tracking Project reports that more than 56,000 people were hospitalized around the country with the virus , as of Thursday .
The data released by HHS on Friday puts the figure at more than 70,000 .
NPR reported this week that it had found irregularities in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ award the contract to manage the hospital data .
Among other things , HHS directly contacted TeleTracking about the contract and the agency used a process that is more often used for innovative scientific research , NPR reported .
An HHS spokesperson told NPR that the contract process it used is a “ common mechanism … for areas of research interest , ” and said that the system used by the CDC was “ fraught with challenges.
” Ryan Panchadsaram , co-founder of the tracking website CovidExitStrategy.org , has been critical of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Without real-time accurate monitoring , you can ’ t make quick and fast and accurate decisions in a crisis , ” he said in an interview .
“ This is just so important .
This indicator that ’ s gone shows how the health system in a state is doing.
” Dillon of the Missouri Hospital Association said the administration could have handled this differently .
For big technology projects , he noted , there is often a well-publicized transition with information sessions , an educational program and , perhaps , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one in parallel .
This “ was extremely abrupt , ” he said .
“ That is not akin to anything you would expect from HHS about how you would implement a program .
”

This story first appeared at ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
In mid-July, the Trump administration instructed hospitals to change the way they reported data on their coronavirus patients, promising the new approach would provide better, more up-to-the-minute information about the virus’s toll and allow resources and supplies to be quickly dispatched across the country.
Instead, the move has created widespread confusion, leaving some states in the dark about their hospitals’ remaining bed and intensive care capacity and, at least temporarily, removing this information from public view. As a result, it has been unclear how many people are in hospitals being treated for COVID-19 at a time when the number of infected patients nationally has been soaring.
Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have been seen as a key metric of both the coronavirus’s toll and the health care system’s ability to deal with it.
Since early in the pandemic, hospitals had been reporting data on COVID-19 patients to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through its National Healthcare Safety Network, which traditionally tracks hospital-acquired infections.
In a memo dated July 10, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told hospitals to abruptly change course — to stop reporting their data to the CDC and instead to submit it to HHS through a new portal run by a company called TeleTracking. The change took effect within days. Vice President Mike Pence said the administration would continue releasing the data publicly, as the CDC had done.
Almost immediately, the CDC pulled its historical data offline, only to repost it under pressure a couple days later. Meanwhile the website for the administration’s new portal promised to update numbers on a daily basis, but, as of Friday morning, the site hadn’t been updated since July 23. (HHS is posting some data daily on a different federal website but not representative estimates for each state.)
“The most pernicious portion of it is that at the state level and at the regional level we lost our situational awareness,” said Dave Dillon, spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association. “At the end of this, we may have a fantastic data product out of HHS. I will not beat them up for trying to do something positive about the data, but the rollout of this has been absolutely a catastrophe.”
The Missouri Hospital Association had taken the daily data submitted by its hospitals to the CDC and created a state dashboard. The transition knocked that offline. The dashboard came back online this week, but Dillon said in a follow-up email, “the data is only as good as our ability to know that everyone is reporting the same data, in the correct way, for tracking and comparison purposes at the state level.”
Other states, including Idaho and South Carolina, also experienced temporary information blackouts. And The COVID Tracking Project, which has been following the pandemic’s toll across the country based on state data, noted issues with its figures. “These problems mean that our hospitalization data — a crucial metric of the COVID-19 pandemic — is, for now, unreliable, and likely an undercount. We do not think that either the state-level hospitalization data or the new federal data is reliable in isolation,” according to a blog post Tuesday on the group’s website.
Making matters more complicated, the administration has changed the information that it is requiring hospitals to report, adding many elements, such as the age range of admitted COVID-19 patients, and removing others. As of this week, for instance, HHS told hospitals to stop reporting the total number of deaths they’ve had since Jan. 1, the total number of COVID-19 deaths and the total number of COVID-19 admissions. (Hospitals still report daily figures, just not historical ones.)
“Massachusetts hospitals are continuing to navigate the dramatic increase of daily data requirements,” the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association said in a newsletter on Monday. “MHA and other state health officials continue to raise concerns about the administrative burden and questionable usefulness of some of the data.”
“Hospitals across the country were given little time to adjust to the unnecessary and seismic changes put forth by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which fundamentally shift both the volume of data and the platforms through which data is submitted,” the association’s CEO, Steve Walsh, said in the newsletter.
A number of state websites also noted problems with hospital data. For days, the Texas Department of State Health Services included a note on its dashboard that it was “reporting incomplete hospitalization numbers … due to a transition in reporting to comply with new federal requirements.” That came just as the state was experiencing a peak in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
California likewise noted problems.
A spokesperson for HHS acknowledged some bumps in the transition but said in an email: “We are pleased with the progress we have made during this transition and the actionable data it is providing. We have had some states and hospital associations report difficulty with the new collection system. When HHS identifies errors in the data submissions, we work directly with the state or hospital association to quickly resolve them.
“Our objective with this new approach is to collaborate with the states and the healthcare system. The goal of full transparency is to acknowledge when we find discrepancies in the data and correct them.”
Last week, HHS noted, 93% of its prioritized list of hospitals, excluding psychiatric, rehabilitation and religious nonmedical facilities, reported data at least once during the week. (The guidance to hospitals asks them to report every day.)
Asked about the lack of timely data on its public website, HHS said it will update the site to “make it clear that the estimates are only updated weekly.” HHS is now posting a date file each day on healthdata.gov with aggregate information on hospitalizations by state.
But unlike the prior releases from CDC, which provided estimates on hospital capacity based on the responses, this file only gives totals for the hospitals that reported data. It’s unclear which hospitals did not report, how large they are, or whether the reported data is representative.
It’s also unclear if it’s accurate. New York state, for instance, reported that fewer than 600 people were currently hospitalized with COVID-19, as of Friday. Federal data released the same day pegged the number of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations at around 1,800.
Louisiana says more than 1,500 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. The federal data puts the figure at fewer than 700.
Nationally, The COVID Tracking Project reports that more than 56,000 people were hospitalized around the country with the virus, as of Thursday.
The data released by HHS on Friday puts the figure at more than 70,000.
NPR reported this week that it had found irregularities in the process used by the Trump administration to award the contract to manage the hospital data. Among other things, HHS directly contacted TeleTracking about the contract and the agency used a process that is more often used for innovative scientific research, NPR reported.
An HHS spokesperson told NPR that the contract process it used is a “common mechanism … for areas of research interest,” and said that the system used by the CDC was “fraught with challenges.”
Ryan Panchadsaram, co-founder of the tracking website CovidExitStrategy.org, has been critical of the problems created by the hospital data changeover.
“Without real-time accurate monitoring, you can’t make quick and fast and accurate decisions in a crisis,” he said in an interview. “This is just so important. This indicator that’s gone shows how the health system in a state is doing.”
Dillon of the Missouri Hospital Association said the administration could have handled this differently. For big technology projects, he noted, there is often a well-publicized transition with information sessions, an educational program and, perhaps, running the old system and the new one in parallel.
This “was extremely abrupt,” he said. “That is not akin to anything you would expect from HHS about how you would implement a program.”


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-31--ICYMI: Your TPM Weekend News Roundup

ICYMI: Your TPM Weekend News Roundup

Trump Plants Seeds Of Doubt On The Election • As is often the case these days , it started with a tweet .
President Trump on Thursday escalated his war against mail-in voting by floating a delay to Election Day 2020 .
• Trump doesn ’ t actually have the power to move the election ; only Congress can do so .
But the threat still serves a purpose for Trump , allowing him to undermine the results if things don ’ t go his way in November .
• State elections officials on both sides of the aisle quickly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ balloon .
• Top Republicans similarly said no way .
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy both rejected the idea .
• In a press briefing at the end of the day Thursday , Trump doubled down on his bogus argument for an election delay .
• Finally , on Friday , Trump switched gears .
Maybe the election should actually be moved up , he told reporters .
So which is it ?
Your guess is as good as ours .
• Rep. Louie Gohmert ( R-TX @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a mask on Capitol Hill , tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday .
• Gohmert had made a number of questionable claims about the coronavirus , among them that health care workers in Germany were using a “ mist ” to kill the virus .
( They weren ’ t . )
• After testing positive , Gohmert put a new spin on his diagnosis .
He claimed it ’ s possible he actually got the virus from wearing a mask .
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ( D-CA ) responded to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in congressional buildings .
• Bill Barr ’ s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday touched on a range of topics , including the federal law enforcement crackdown in Portland ; the ouster of the U.S. attorney in Manhattan ; and mail-in voting .
• House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler ( D-NY ) pressed Barr on whether discussions around a nationwide law enforcement “ surge ” ever centered around Trump ’ s reelection prospects .
Barr said he selected cities for the operation for “ neutral ” reasons .
• Barr @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there is systemic racism in America ’ s police departments .
• The attorney general later went all in on his bogus claims about mail-in voting , saying that it ’ s ripe for fraud .
• Read TPM ’ s full coverage of the Barr hearing here .
Is this feature useful ?
Let us know .

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talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-31--Trump Admin Sidelines CDC To Give Pentagon ‘Unprecedented’ Role In Vaccine Distribution

The Trump Administration is moving to give the Department of Defense control over logistics in distributing the COVID-19 vaccine , a move that infectious disease experts describe as “ unprecedented.
” “ The DOD is handling all the logistics of getting the vaccines to the right place at the right time in the right condition , ” one Trump administration official told reporters on Thursday , saying that the “ great , vast resources of the Department of Defense ” would help get the job done .
The move , first reported by Politico , came as part of Operation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s effort to put the gas on the development and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine .
But experts expressed shock at the decision to take away the CDC ’ s longtime role as distributor of vaccines in past outbreaks and move that responsibility to the Pentagon .
“ It ’ s totally unprecedented , ” Dr. Susan Hassig , an epidemiologist at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in charge of the epidemiology program , told TPM .
“ When we developed the H1N1 vaccine , they were the entity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to all the different municipalities and areas of the U.S. that needed it.
” Hassig added that the CDC is the only federal agency with connections to all local public health departments , “ who are the on-the-ground coordinators for public health interventions.
” Dr. Tom Frieden , CDC director under President Obama , expressed skepticism about the move in a Friday tweet saying that “ DOD has zero experience sending vaccines to doctors in the US.
” Trump administration officials briefing reporters about the move on Thursday described the plan as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and DOD .
Under the approach , the CDC will be tasked with tracking patients and those vaccinated , communications around the vaccine , and dealing with the states .
The DOD will handle logistics , an official said , incorporating some IT structures that the CDC has operated for vaccinations in the past while adding new ones .
“ It ’ s not just the logistics of distribution , it ’ s the logistics of manufacturing , the logistics of preparing for manufacturing as well , ” the official said , adding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into a kit .
Hassig , the Tulane epidemiologist , said that the DOD could conceivably be used for assembling vaccination kits .
But , she added , the broader picture of the military taking the lead over a civilian public health agency came as a shock .
“ Does the Pentagon have connections with every single health department around the country ?
” Hassig asked .
Another administration official on the call said that the Trump administration was looking to the military to take over because it “ excel [ s ] @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that will be distributed to inoculate the U.S. population from COVID-19 have yet to be decided , with key characteristics of the vaccines like dosage , storage temperature , and effectiveness across different age groups still unknown .
The official argued that the military can plan for any scenario , making it a perfect fit to manage a naturally uncertain situation .
“ I hope the American public can be reassured — I don ’ t see how we can work out the details more than we have been , ” the official @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Trump administration “ to address all of those different contingencies based on the vaccine as we learn which vaccine works best for which type of person.
” “ There ’ s not an Operation Warp Speed Team , a CDC team — we are one U.S. Government , one team , ” the official added later on in the call .
To Gary Slutkin , a former WHO epidemiologist who fought AIDS outbreaks in Africa , the decision to cast the Pentagon in a lead role also came as a surprise .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ useful in the past for helping combat epidemics in countries that lack basic infrastructure , by sending hospital ships or building airfields .
But in the U.S. , he said , the situation is different .
“ We have airplanes and trucks and cars and we have hospitals and even Walgreens and CVS , so it doesn ’ t make a lot of sense , ” he said .
“ It raises a lot of questions as to why are people other than health people handling a health problem ?
”

The Trump Administration is moving to give the Department of Defense control over logistics in distributing the COVID-19 vaccine, a move that infectious disease experts describe as “unprecedented.”
“The DOD is handling all the logistics of getting the vaccines to the right place at the right time in the right condition,” one Trump administration official told reporters on Thursday, saying that the “great, vast resources of the Department of Defense” would help get the job done.
The move, first reported by Politico, came as part of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s effort to put the gas on the development and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine.
But experts expressed shock at the decision to take away the CDC’s longtime role as distributor of vaccines in past outbreaks and move that responsibility to the Pentagon.
“It’s totally unprecedented,” Dr. Susan Hassig, an epidemiologist at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in charge of the epidemiology program, told TPM. “When we developed the H1N1 vaccine, they were the entity that took care of getting it out to all the different municipalities and areas of the U.S. that needed it.”
Hassig added that the CDC is the only federal agency with connections to all local public health departments, “who are the on-the-ground coordinators for public health interventions.”
Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC director under President Obama, expressed skepticism about the move in a Friday tweet saying that “DOD has zero experience sending vaccines to doctors in the US.”
Distributing a vaccine will be complex. During the H1N1 pandemic, an unheralded success was delivery of vaccines through the robust infrastructure of the Vaccines For Children program. DOD has zero experience sending vaccines to doctors in the US. https://t.co/xojdkGgCz9 — Dr. Tom Frieden (@DrTomFrieden) July 31, 2020
Trump administration officials briefing reporters about the move on Thursday described the plan as a “hybrid” operation between the CDC and DOD.
Under the approach, the CDC will be tasked with tracking patients and those vaccinated, communications around the vaccine, and dealing with the states.
The DOD will handle logistics, an official said, incorporating some IT structures that the CDC has operated for vaccinations in the past while adding new ones.
“It’s not just the logistics of distribution, it’s the logistics of manufacturing, the logistics of preparing for manufacturing as well,” the official said, adding that the Pentagon will help assemble vaccines into a kit.
Hassig, the Tulane epidemiologist, said that the DOD could conceivably be used for assembling vaccination kits. But, she added, the broader picture of the military taking the lead over a civilian public health agency came as a shock.
“Does the Pentagon have connections with every single health department around the country?” Hassig asked.
Another administration official on the call said that the Trump administration was looking to the military to take over because it “excel[s] at operational planning.”
The final vaccines that will be distributed to inoculate the U.S. population from COVID-19 have yet to be decided, with key characteristics of the vaccines like dosage, storage temperature, and effectiveness across different age groups still unknown.
The official argued that the military can plan for any scenario, making it a perfect fit to manage a naturally uncertain situation.
“I hope the American public can be reassured — I don’t see how we can work out the details more than we have been,” the official said, adding that it would allow the Trump administration “to address all of those different contingencies based on the vaccine as we learn which vaccine works best for which type of person.”
“There’s not an Operation Warp Speed Team, a CDC team — we are one U.S. Government, one team,” the official added later on in the call.
To Gary Slutkin, a former WHO epidemiologist who fought AIDS outbreaks in Africa, the decision to cast the Pentagon in a lead role also came as a surprise.
Slutkin said that the military had proven useful in the past for helping combat epidemics in countries that lack basic infrastructure, by sending hospital ships or building airfields. But in the U.S., he said, the situation is different.
“We have airplanes and trucks and cars and we have hospitals and even Walgreens and CVS, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense,” he said. “It raises a lot of questions as to why are people other than health people handling a health problem?”


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-31--Huh? Trump Now Says He Wants Election Day Moved Up

So , which is it ?
President Donald Trump stood by his push to change the date of the 2020 election on Friday , but apparently he now wants it moved in the opposite direction .
During a press availability at the White House , Trump rambled on about how absentee ballots are “ actually very good ” while mail-in ballots are “ a disaster , ” even though they ’ re functionally the same thing given that absentee ballots are submitted … by mail .
Regardless , the President claimed voting by mail means Americans are “ never going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an election is ” ( elections officials and experts have not found any indication that mail-in voting systems cause election fraud ) and that it would take too long to count the vote .
“ I wish we would move it up , okay ?
” Trump told reporters .
“ Move it up.
” He also baselessly claimed that Russia and China will “ be able to forge ballots , ” an argument Attorney General Bill Barr has also tried to make while also admitting he did not have evidence to back @ @ @

So, which is it?
President Donald Trump stood by his push to change the date of the 2020 election on Friday, but apparently he now wants it moved in the opposite direction.
During a press availability at the White House, Trump rambled on about how absentee ballots are “actually very good” while mail-in ballots are “a disaster,” even though they’re functionally the same thing given that absentee ballots are submitted … by mail.
Regardless, the President claimed voting by mail means Americans are “never going to know what the real result of an election is” (elections officials and experts have not found any indication that mail-in voting systems cause election fraud) and that it would take too long to count the vote.
“I wish we would move it up, okay?” Trump told reporters. “Move it up.”
He also baselessly claimed that Russia and China will “be able to forge ballots,” an argument Attorney General Bill Barr has also tried to make while also admitting he did not have evidence to back it up.
Watch Trump below:


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-31--Stephen Miller Falsely Claims Voter Identity Is Not Confirmed For Mail-In Ballots

White House senior adviser Stephen Miller spewed some mistruths Friday , calling mail-in ballots a “ catastrophic problem ” as he tried to justify fresh attempts by President Donald Trump to sow doubt about the legitimacy of an election that polls have consistently shown does not favor him .
“ The President brought attention to catastrophic problem of universal mail-in ballots , ” Miller told “ Fox & Friends ” on Friday morning .
“ Nobody who mails in a ballot has their identity confirmed , nobody checks to see if they are even a U.S. Citizen , ” Miller @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be “ happening on a scale of potentially millions of people.
” But Miller ’ s claims just aren ’ t true .
While some states require copies of identification to be sent along with ballots , others require that an elections officials compares the signature on the identification envelope to the one found on the elector ’ s voter registration or other another form in the voter ’ s registration record .
Driver ’ s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers , are also often used checked voter registration system data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an explosive tweet that the President unleashed on Thursday , floating the idea of delaying the November presidential election .
The tweet continued a months-long tirade by the President against what he has warned would be a “ fraudulent ” election if there is widespread mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic .
The tweet was tactical in its distraction from the growing reality that the President has thus far failed to shore up dwindling support from his base — even stepping up his racist rhetoric in a tweet midweek in an appeal to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ messaging about election rigging has also pulled attention away from his failures to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the United States , which has killed at least 152,000 people across the country .
The tweet proposing the delay also overlapped with a damning report just about half an hour earlier from the Commerce Department announcing that the American economy took its worst quarterly plunge ever — shrinking at a 33 % annual rate in its most recent quarter .
Trump has often patted himself on the back by telling reporters that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than that of any of his predecessors , especially on matters of the economy .
“ We ’ re going to have a great third quarter , ” Trump told WRAL on Monday before the report was released later in the week .
While in a press briefing later on Thursday the President tried to walk back the tweet , he seized on the opportunity to expand on an angle that only thinly veils his own anxieties about losing — that a win for Joe Biden will be illegitimate .

White House senior adviser Stephen Miller spewed some mistruths Friday, calling mail-in ballots a “catastrophic problem” as he tried to justify fresh attempts by President Donald Trump to sow doubt about the legitimacy of an election that polls have consistently shown does not favor him.
“The President brought attention to catastrophic problem of universal mail-in ballots,” Miller told “Fox & Friends” on Friday morning.
“Nobody who mails in a ballot has their identity confirmed, nobody checks to see if they are even a U.S. Citizen,” Miller added, warning that voter fraud could be “happening on a scale of potentially millions of people.”
But Miller’s claims just aren’t true. While some states require copies of identification to be sent along with ballots, others require that an elections officials compares the signature on the identification envelope to the one found on the elector’s voter registration or other another form in the voter’s registration record. Driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, are also often used checked voter registration system data.
Miller’s baseless remarks follow an explosive tweet that the President unleashed on Thursday, floating the idea of delaying the November presidential election. The tweet continued a months-long tirade by the President against what he has warned would be a “fraudulent” election if there is widespread mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The tweet was tactical in its distraction from the growing reality that the President has thus far failed to shore up dwindling support from his base — even stepping up his racist rhetoric in a tweet midweek in an appeal to suburban voters. The President’s messaging about election rigging has also pulled attention away from his failures to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the United States, which has killed at least 152,000 people across the country.
The tweet proposing the delay also overlapped with a damning report just about half an hour earlier from the Commerce Department announcing that the American economy took its worst quarterly plunge ever — shrinking at a 33% annual rate in its most recent quarter. Trump has often patted himself on the back by telling reporters that his administration has “done more” than that of any of his predecessors, especially on matters of the economy.
“We’re going to have a great third quarter,” Trump told WRAL on Monday before the report was released later in the week.
While in a press briefing later on Thursday the President tried to walk back the tweet, he seized on the opportunity to expand on an angle that only thinly veils his own anxieties about losing — that a win for Joe Biden will be illegitimate.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-07-31--Dems Subpoena Pompeo In Probe Of Senate GOP Biden-Ukraine Disinfo Campaign

House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Eliot Engel ( D-NY ) issued a subpoena to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday , demanding reams of documents that the State Department has already provided to Senate Republicans who are seeking damaging information about Vice President Joe Biden .
Sens .
Ron Johnson ( R-WI ) and Chuck Grassley ( R-IA ) have been probing long-discredited allegations that Biden abused his position to help his son avoid a Ukrainian investigation .
In so doing , the State Department under Pompeo has replied promptly to the Senate GOPers requests for documents and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is demanding copies of the documents that Pompeo provided to the Senate , as well as “ internal State Department correspondence about responding to Congress.
” In a statement , Engel accused Pompeo of turning the State Department “ into an arm of the Trump campaign and he ’ s not even trying to disguise it.
” “ After trying to stonewall virtually every oversight effort by the Foreign Affairs Committee in the last two years , Mr. Pompeo is more than happy to help Senate Republicans advance their conspiracy theories about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I want to see the full record of what the department has sent to the Senate and I want the American people to see it too.
” Democratic leadership has raised alarm bells over foreign disinformation efforts targeting Congress , claiming that the Johnson-Grassley probe has become a vehicle for Ukrainians to launder disinformation into the U.S. political system .
Rep. Devin Nunes ( R-CA ) refused on Wednesday to say whether he had taken documents from a Ukrainian peddling damaging , unsubstantiated claims against the Democratic candidate .

House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) issued a subpoena to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, demanding reams of documents that the State Department has already provided to Senate Republicans who are seeking damaging information about Vice President Joe Biden.
Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have been probing long-discredited allegations that Biden abused his position to help his son avoid a Ukrainian investigation.
In so doing, the State Department under Pompeo has replied promptly to the Senate GOPers requests for documents and information.
Engel, in the subpoena, is demanding copies of the documents that Pompeo provided to the Senate, as well as “internal State Department correspondence about responding to Congress.”
In a statement, Engel accused Pompeo of turning the State Department “into an arm of the Trump campaign and he’s not even trying to disguise it.”
“After trying to stonewall virtually every oversight effort by the Foreign Affairs Committee in the last two years, Mr. Pompeo is more than happy to help Senate Republicans advance their conspiracy theories about the Bidens,” Engel said. “I want to see the full record of what the department has sent to the Senate and I want the American people to see it too.”
Democratic leadership has raised alarm bells over foreign disinformation efforts targeting Congress, claiming that the Johnson-Grassley probe has become a vehicle for Ukrainians to launder disinformation into the U.S. political system.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) refused on Wednesday to say whether he had taken documents from a Ukrainian peddling damaging, unsubstantiated claims against the Democratic candidate.