Minnesotans now have their first shot at signing up for a COVID-19 vaccine trial — with Bloomington-based HealthPartners announcing Wednesday that it is recruiting up to 1,500 adults for AstraZeneca’s Phase III study.
HealthPartners is the fifth site in the trial to start recruiting participants, who would receive either the experimental vaccine or a non-medicating saline injection for comparison in two doses, and would then commit to a series of nine checkup visits over two years.
Earlier, smaller trials showed evidence of safety and immunity, said Dr. Charlene McEvoy, a HealthPartners pulmonologist and lead researcher for the local site.
“What we don’t know is, does it work well in everyone? Is it well tolerated across the board?” McEvoy said. “The biggest question is, how long does that immunity last?”
HealthPartners’ selection as one of 62 U.S. trial locations reflects the providers’ history of clinical research, but also a bittersweet reminder that COVID-19 has spread broadly in Minnesota. Trials generally only recruit in states where there is enough virus activity to prove that an experimental vaccine works.
Minnesota as of Tuesday had recorded 76,355 lab-confirmed infections with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and 1,823 deaths. Despite some signs of viral activity leveling off in early August, the state has seen its confirmed infection rate double from 6 new cases per day per 100,000 people on June 16 to 12 cases now.
No Minnesota sites were selected by Moderna or Pfizer for their Phase III COVID-19 vaccine trials. Minneapolis-based Allina Health is pursuing participation in a vaccine trial by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson later this year.
The AstraZeneca experimental vaccine, developed by researchers at Oxford University in England, seeks to boost both production of antibodies in response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and of T-cells that help the body adapt and respond to infections.
McEvoy said the earlier safety studies showed some potential for mild side effects such as aches or mild fever — akin to what some people experience each year with seasonal flu shots. People interested in volunteering can go to the HealthPartners website for recruitment information, but McEvoy said the trial is particularly interested in people at higher daily risk of exposure to the virus. That includes people with close contact jobs such as waiters.
The trial also is seeking minorities because of the higher rate of severe COVID-19 and deaths among people who are Black, Hispanic and American Indian. Another goal is for a quarter of enrollees to be 65 or older, because age has proved to be an independent risk factor for severe COVID-19 outcomes.
People in the trial who test positive for COVID-19 would participate in remote monitoring to see when symptoms develop and if they are severe, McEvoy said. They would receive take-home monitoring equipment for their temperature, breathing rate, heart rate and oxygen level.
“Maybe the vaccine won’t prevent illness but it will make it much less severe” in some people, she said.
McEvoy added that some experimental vaccines might prove more effective in certain populations than others. HealthPartners is seeking to complete recruitment in eight weeks. AstraZeneca’s goal is to have initial safety and effectiveness results by the end of the year or early 2021.
The trial is blinded, meaning neither participants or researchers know who has received the experimental vaccine or the placebo. Participants would receive up to $1,000 to compensate for travel time and other expenses related to required clinical visits, which would include regular blood draws to check for antibody levels and indications that the vaccine is working.
Two L.A. cops who shot black bicyclist Dijon Kizzee 20 times after pulling him over for an unspecified vehicle violation have been placed on desk duty.
Kizzee, 29, was shot dead on Monday at 3.16pm. He was riding his bike when the two cops – who have not been named – spotted him riding his bike, made a U-turn then tried to pull him over, allegedly for an unspecified vehicle violation.
The cops say he punched one of them then tried to run away and, while fleeing, dropped a handgun. They shot him 20 times and he was declared dead at the scene.
Video footage taken before and after the shooting reveal some of what happened. Kizzee was filmed running with a bundle of clothing in his hands. He was then filmed lying on the ground after being shot multiple times. At that point, four cops approached him and handcuffed him while residents in surrounding houses screamed ‘how are you going to handcuff a dead man?’ and ‘Black Lives Matter’.
After two days of protests, the LA County Sheriff’s Office still has not revealed why he was stopped by police, or what the officers’ names are.
They have also not offered any explanation for why he was shot 20 times, or if he tried to reach for his own weapon.
Two of the four cops filmed in the video have been taken off the streets but it’s unclear what – if anything – has happened to the other two.
The video then cuts to both of the officers aiming their firearms at the downed suspect having seemingly just shot him
The man jumped off of his bike and began running northbound toward 109th Place, when deputies briefly lost sight of him
Kizzee was found shortly afterwards a few blocks away, where Dean says the officers attempted to make contact with him once again.
As they approached, Dean said the man, who was clutching items of clothing in his hands, punched one of the officers in the face and then dropped the items he was carrying.
‘The deputies noticed that inside the clothing items that he dropped was a black semi-automatic handgun,’ Dean said during a Monday conference.
The two officers then both opened fire on the man, striking him several times and rendering him motionless in the street.
Dean was unable to confirm how many times the man was hit and where, as ‘we have not been able to move the body yet as we were waiting for the coroner’s office,’ he said early Monday evening.
Kizzee was pronounced dead at the scene. No deputies were injured during the incident.
The two officers who shot Kizzee have been removed from the field as the investigation continues, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said on Tuesday.
Protesters at a makeshift memorial on Tuesday evening at the spot where Kizzee, a black man, was killed by Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputies
Demonstrators gathered at a makeshift memorial at the site of the shooting in Los Angeles for a second night in a row on Tuesday evening
man holds a sign stating ‘How Many More?’ at a makeshift memorial on September 1
People participate in a protest in front of the Westmont Sheriff Station following the death of Dijon Kizzee on Tuesday evening
Protesters march towards the South Los Angeles Sheriffs’ Station on September 1
Kizzee’s family say his death is the latest in a string of unwarranted and unlawful killings of black Americans by police. He is shown (right) with a woman believed to be his ex-girlfriend
Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney who represents Kizzee’s family and the families of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Jacob Blake, said Kizzee was shot more than 20 times.
According to Mr Crump, his body was left on the street for several hours.
‘They say he ran, dropped clothes and handgun,’ he tweeted. ‘He didn’t pick it up, but cops shot him in the back 20+ times then left him for hours.’
Deja, a woman who witnessed the shooting, told AFP that she yelled ‘don’t shoot him, don’t shoot him’ as the deputies tried to stop Kizzee.
‘They were trying to grab and take his stuff away from him and then finally when it failed, he turned around to run and they tased him in the back of his leg,’ said Deja, who would only give her first name.
‘He turned around and then they shot him.’
Deja said she didn’t see Kizzee holding a gun and added that deputies handcuffed him after the shooting. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Kizzee’s aunt Fletcher Fair told reporters she believes her nephew’s race was a factor in the shooting.
‘They (police) don’t kill any other race but us and this don’t make any sense,’ she told a press conference.Why us? You have Asians … Hispanics even don’t get killed as much as we do. It’s just us and we’re tired,’ she said.
Soon after the deadly confrontation, more than 100 people gathered at the scene demanding answers.
A small crowd gathered again Tuesday evening at the site of the shooting and peacefully marched, along with a caravan of cars, to the sheriff’s station nearby as a police helicopter hovered overhead.
Some of the protesters carried a banner that read ‘Stop Killer Cops.’
It comes amid renewed demonstrations on the issue since the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
US President Donald Trump visited the city on Tuesday and blamed ‘domestic terror’ for the violence which he declared ‘anti-American’, making no reference to the underlying cause of the demonstrations or to Mr Blake.
Soon after arriving in the city, a visit made over the objections of state and local leaders, President Trump toured the burnt remains of a block besieged by violence and fire.
With the scent of smoke still in the air, he spoke to the owners of a century-old store that had been destroyed and continued to link the violence to the Democrats, blaming those in charge of Kenosha and Wisconsin while raising apocalyptic warnings if their party should capture the White House.
A Los Angeles Metro transit bus displays a hashtag “NoMoreNames” on a street near the South Los Angeles Sheriffs’ Station on Tuesday evening
A man who identifies himself as the uncle of Dijon Kizzee, Lamont, grieves at a makeshift memorial where Kizzee, a 29-year-old Black man, was killed by Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputies in South Los Angeles on September 1
Alaska voters ousted five members of the state House of Representatives in Republican primaries last month after national groups dropped about $200,000 in spending against several incumbents from their own party.
The outside spending from established Republican groups against their own incumbents would be unusual in most states. But nothing is unusual in Alaska’s unique brand of politics, in a state where coalitions have controlled either the House or Senate for the majority of the past decade and where voters elected an independent governor in 2014.
The 2018 midterm elections handed Republicans a clear majority in both the state Senate, where they control 13 of 20 seats, and the state House, where they won 23 of 40 seats.
But an internecine feud, spurred in part by deep budget cuts proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R), caused a leadership logjam that dragged on for more than a month, grinding the legislature to a halt as backroom negotiations stalled. Democrats eventually peeled off enough votes to elect state Rep. Bryce Edgmon, a Democrat-turned-independent, as Speaker, with the support of eight Republicans.
Enter the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) and GOPAC, a group that recruits, trains and supports state legislative candidates. Together, the two national committees used Alaska-based groups with innocuous-sounding names to spend heavily against several Republican members of the coalition government.
“We stand with the majority of the House Republicans who want to elect a Republican speaker,” David Avella, who runs GOPAC, told The Hill. “We don’t play very often in primaries. We tend to stay out of those. But Alaska presented a situation where we were part of building a Republican majority only to have Republicans team up with Democrats.”
The RSLC spent more than $175,000 against the wayward Republicans, campaign finance filings show.
After the final votes from the Aug. 18 primary were tallied on Monday, three Republicans who were initially a part of the coalition that elected Edgmon — state Reps. Gabrielle LeDoux, Chuck Kopp and Jennifer Johnston — had lost their primaries. A fourth, Tammie Wilson, resigned in January. A fifth, Gary Knopp, was killed in a plane crash in July.
Two other Republicans who had not been a part of the minority, Mark Neuman and Sharon Jackson, also lost their bids for renomination. Two Republican state senators, John Coghill and Cathy Giessel, the Senate president, also lost to challengers.
But one target of national Republicans, state Rep. David Eastman, survived. Eastman had drawn ire for insisting on a purity test for membership in the Republican conference, a bridge too far for some members who ended up joining the coalition.
Spending $170,000 may not be much in the grand scheme of ever-more-expensive American politics. But Republican primaries in a tiny electorate like Alaska can hinge on a few hundred votes; fewer than 1,000 Republicans voted in LeDoux’s primary, in which she won just 305 votes. Eastman won his bid for renomination by just 169 votes, according to the latest tally.
The results almost certainly mean the end of the coalition, a Republican Speaker next year and a smoother path for Dunleavy’s agenda in 2021 — assuming Democrats do not ride a massive wave back to the majority in November.
The video was reportedly recorded Monday, meaning Pelosi was seemingly in violation of local coronavirus-related restrictions. San Francisco hair salons and barber shops reopened for business outdoors only on Tuesday.
Pelosi spokesperson Drew Hammill defended the speaker’s salon visit and said she “complied with the rules as presented to her by this establishment.”
“The Speaker always wears a mask and complies with local COVID requirements,” Hammill said in a statement to POLITICO. “This business offered for the Speaker to come in on Monday and told her they were allowed by the city to have one customer at a time in the business.”
Still, the president and his conservative media allies were intent on promoting the footage. In another tweet Wednesday, Trump used the video to again mock Pelosi for Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy’s failed Democratic primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey.
“The Beauty Parlor owner must really dislike Crazy Nancy Pelosi. Turning her in, on tape, is a really big deal. She probably treats him like she treats everyone else,” Trump wrote. “And she strongly supported a Kennedy who just lost in, of all places, Massachusetts!”
Trump also retweeted a version of the video shared online by his reelection campaign, as well as a message arguing that if “Nancy Pelosi can get her hair done in person — you can vote in person.”
Meanwhile, Fox News host Sean Hannity derided the speaker in a tweet as “PAMPERED PELOSI,” and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows invoked the salon visit during an interview Wednesday morning on “Fox & Friends.”
Meadows, who is at an impasse with Pelosi in talks for a new round of coronavirus relief, accused her of hypocrisy and said the incident was representative of “typical Washington, D.C.”
“Whether it’s in San Francisco with her going into a salon or in the privacy of a negotiating room, it’s time that she get serious about helping the American people,” he said.
Mr Kennedy, 39, is currently serving his fourth term in Congress and was seen as a favourite when he announced he would run for the seat in September last year.
He was supported by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and delivered the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in 2018.
But neither his record nor his family’s legacy were enough to ensure victory against Mr Markey, a political veteran who co-authored the Green New Deal with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Image copyright Zach Gibson/Getty Images
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Senator Edward Markey has been a fixture of Massachusetts politics for more than four decades
“Our movement is fuelled by young people who are not afraid to raise their voices or make enemies,” Mr Markey wrote on Twitter after Tuesday’s primary.
“Tonight’s victory is a tribute to those young people and to their vision.”
The Kennedy name still opens a lot of doors in Massachusetts, but it is no longer a golden ticket at the ballot box.
That is the lesson learned the hard way by Joe Kennedy, whose bid to unseat Ed Markey came up well short.
Mr Kennedy boasted a famous surname and the reputation as a rising star among Democrats, but Mr Markey had the backing of the party’s liberal wing and a particularly valuable endorsement from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He worked with the New York congresswoman to sponsor the Green New Deal climate plan in Congress, which earned him the enthusiastic support of environmental activists.
Younger voters in particular backed Mr Markey by a significant margin, suggesting those who did not live through the golden years of the Kennedy clan may view the family not as a trusted political name, but rather the embodiment of establishment privilege and power.
Mr Markey’s victory could also be a testament to the power of incumbency, as another congressional veteran, Richard Neal – chair of the powerful House Ways and Means committee – held off a strong challenge by younger liberal challenger Alex Morse.
Politicians who are generally well liked and not out-of-step with their constituents can be difficult to unseat.
Who are the Kennedys?
The Kennedy political dynasty is often referred to as the closest thing to a royal family in the US. However, their story has been as tragic as it has been illustrious – giving rise to theories about there being a “Kennedy curse”.
The family’s political career began with PJ Kennedy, who was elected to public office in 1884, 35 years after the family first immigrated from Ireland.
Then, in every year from 1947 to 2011, there was at least one Kennedy serving in federal elective office – with the most well-known, John F Kennedy (known as JFK), elected president in 1960. At 43, he was the youngest president in the country’s history. He was assassinated in 1963.
JFK’s brother, Robert (or Bobby) Kennedy, was also a prominent Democrat. In 1968 he was the front-runner to be the Democratic presidential candidate, but shortly after the California primary he was, like his brother, shot dead.
Media captionThe top-secret JFK files and Kennedy’s killer
JFK’s son, John F Kennedy Jr, was a prominent lawyer and magazine founder, but he died tragically too. When he was 39, he accidentally flew his plane into the Atlantic, killing himself, his wife Carolyn and her older sister Lauren. Michael LeMoyne Kennedy, one of Bobby Kennedy’s 11 children, died at the age of 39 in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado. Another son of Bobby’s, David, died of a drug overdose at 28.
A third son of Bobby’s, Robert F Kennedy Jr, is a prominent lawyer specialising in Environmental Law. However, he has become increasingly controversial in recent years for his vocal support for a widely debunked belief that vaccinations cause autism.
Although the family’s most famous members have been politicians, others are known for their prominent work in business, entertainment and public service. Maria Shriver, niece of John F Kennedy, is now a prominent journalist and author, and served as first lady of California when her ex-husband, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, was governor of the state.
World Health Organization Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned against what he describes as “vaccine nationalism.”
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
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Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
World Health Organization Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned against what he describes as “vaccine nationalism.”
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
The Trump administration says the U.S. will not participate in a global push to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, in part because the effort is led by the World Health Organization, which the White House describes as “corrupt” and has accused of initially aiding China in covering up the scope of the pandemic.
By refusing to take part, the U.S. is effectively cutting itself off from the more than 170 countries in discussions to join the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility, or COVAX. The initiative is “aimed at working with vaccine manufacturers to provide countries worldwide equitable access to safe and effective vaccines” and is co-led by the WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the vaccine alliance GAVI.
At best, it’ll likely be months before a U.S. vaccine for the SARS-CoV-2 virus will be authorized for widespread distribution. The coronavirus has infected well over 6 million Americans and killed nearly 185,000. Nearly 858,000 people worldwide have died from COVID-19.
“The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.
“This President will spare no expense to ensure that any new vaccine maintains our own FDA’s gold standard for safety and efficacy, is thoroughly tested, and saves lives,” he said.
Trump initially praised the WHO for its response to the pandemic, but as COVID-19 spread in the U.S., he became increasingly critical, ramping up his ire for the United Nations body and suggesting it was in league with Beijing to obscure the extent of the crisis.
WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned against what he describes as “vaccine nationalism,” in which countries shun international cooperation and instead decide to go it alone when it comes to developing prophylactic drugs for COVID-19.
Speaking last month, Tedros said that such nationalism had “exacerbated the pandemic and contributed to the total failure of the global supply chain” because of hoarding by some countries that led to shortages of protective gear in the early days of the pandemic.
“A vaccine developed in one country may need to be filled in vials with stoppers that are produced in another, using materials for the high-grade glass that is only available from yet another country,” Tedros said.
Nancy Pelosi has been photographed in a San Francisco hair salon without a face covering, breaking the city’s coronavirus prevention rules.
Security camera footage, which was obtained by Fox News, shows the Democratic House speaker without a mask on her face as she walked through the salon.
Salons in San Francisco have been closed during the coronavirus pandemic, with limited outdoor operations beginning only on Tuesday. The footage, showing Pelosi walking through the eSalon with a face mask around her neck, was filmed during an appointment on Monday.
Pelosi has regularly told US citizens to wear masks and follow the guidelines intended to limit the spread of coronavirus.
The salon’s owner, Erica Kious, said one of her hairstylists who rented a chair at the business had opened it especially for Pelosi’s appointment.
“It was a slap in the face that she went in, you know, that she feels that she can just go and get her stuff done while no one else can go in, and I can’t work,” Kious told Fox News.
“We have been shut down for so long, not just me, but most of the small businesses and I just can’t – it’s a feeling – a feeling of being deflated, helpless and honestly beaten down,” she added.
Kious said that according to her interpretation of the coronavirus safety precautions blow-drying hair was prohibited for salons.
She added: “I have been fighting for six months for a business that took me 12 years to build to reopen,” she said. “I am a single mom, I have two small children, and I have no income.
“We’re supposed to look up to this woman, right? It is just disturbing.”
A spokesman for Pelosi, Drew Hammill, responded that the Californian congresswoman had not realised she was breaking her home city’s virus prevention rules.
“This business offered for the speaker to come in on Monday and told her they were allowed by the city to have one customer at a time in the business,” he said, adding: “The speaker complied with the rules as presented to her by this establishment.”
Donald Trump weighed in on Wednesday morning.
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Crazy Nancy Pelosi is being decimated for having a beauty parlor opened, when all others are closed, and for not wearing a Mask – despite constantly lecturing everyone else. We will almost certainly take back the House, and send Nancy packing!
Reaction and analysis from Fox News contributor Robert Wolf.
The Joe Biden campaign is pushing ahead with a major swing-state ad blitz addressing the rioting that’s gripped many U.S. cities head-on and blaming President Trump for the violence, casting the Democratic nominee as a calming force who will “lower the temperature” of the national discourse.
The ad is titled “Be Not Afraid,” a quote from Pope John Paul II, and is adapted from a speech Biden gave Monday in Pittsburgh. It will air on major cable news networks as well as stations in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
“Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. It’s lawlessness, plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted,” Biden says as stark images of burnt-out cars and buildings flash on the screen. “Fires are burning and we have a president who fans the flames. He can’t stop the violence because for years he’s fomented it.”
The Biden campaign said the ad is part of a $45 million broadcast and digital ad buy just this week — a staggering sum of money for even a presidential campaign to drop. It comes as the Biden campaign has begun to emphasize its condemnations of rioting and violence in recent days after Republicans have hammered the message for weeks and harshly criticized the Biden campaign for the lack of attention paid to the unrest at the Democratic National Convention (DNC).
Trump allies have challenged the sincerity of the tone change by the Biden campaign. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign has noted that the nominee has condemned the violence on several occasions throughout the summer, even to the point of backlash from some on the left.
Biden has certainly mentioned the rioting — perpetrated almost exclusively by far-left actors — far less on the virtual campaign trail than Trump, who has made it perhaps the top talking point of his campaign. But he has occasionally condemned the violence with statements as early as May 31 in the wake of George Floyd’s death in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department.
“As predicted, Joe Biden today failed to condemn the left-wing mobs burning, looting, and terrorizing American cities,” Trump campaign Communications Director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement Monday after Biden used a speech in Pittsburgh to denounce rioters and looters as well as accuse Trump of fueling the tensions. “He failed to apologize for his campaign staff donating to a fund which bailed violent criminals out of jail in Minneapolis.”
Biden Rapid Response Director Andrew Bates shot back: “How can anyone take Trump seriously when he refuses to condemn someone who shot protestors on tape — killing two — and is currently in custody? There is one candidate for president who unequivocally condemns violence, and that candidate is Joe Biden.”
The individual Bates was referring to is facing homicide charges for a shooting in Kenosha, Wis., though his lawyers maintain his actions were in self-defense.
Murtaugh in a tweet reacting to the ad buy said the tens of millions in spending by the Biden campaign are necessary because voters “have seen the weakness, seen him calling them ‘peaceful protesters’ while blaming police.”
In a departure from many of its other ads, the new Biden spot on the riots does not mention the coronavirus pandemic. It could be a signal of more focus on the unrest from both campaigns down the stretch as many have noted Americans’ revulsion to the looting, arson and other crime that takes place during the riots, which often happen at night stemming from protests against police brutality and racism.
“[Trump’s] failure to call on his own supporters to stop acting as an armed militia in this country shows how weak he is,” Biden says in the ad, a reference to the individual facing homicide charges, whose self-defense claim Trump seemed to back this week, as well as caravans of Trump supporters, which Trump has encouraged, that have entered cities like Portland during riots. An apparent Trump supporter was shot over the weekend in Portland.
“If I were president my language would be less divisive,” Biden says in closing the ad. “I’d be looking to lower the temperature in this country, not raise it. Donald Trump is determined to instill fear in America because Donald Trump adds fuel to every fire. This is not who we are. I believe we’ll be guided by the words of Pope John Paul II, words drawn from the Scripture: Be not afraid.”
It was the first time in Massachusetts history that a member of the Kennedy family lost an election in the state.
“See, even a Kennedy isn’t safe in the new Radical Left Democrat Party,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. “Taxes up big, no 2A. Biden has completely lost control. Pelosi strongly backed the loser!”
With about three-quarters of ballots tallied late Tuesday night, Markey won 54 percent of the vote to Kennedy’s 46 percent.
Markey, who is 74, is perhaps best known for his work to advance “Green New Deal” legislation alongside Ocasio-Cortez.
It was the senator’s ties to his party’s progressive wing that energized support for him among young liberals and propelled his candidacy past the 39-year-old Kennedy.
But Trump’s assertion Tuesday ignores the fact that Kennedy also ran a significantly progressive campaign. The congressman has expressed support for the Green New Deal and “Medicare for All.”
In addition to the Kennedys, the president has previously reveled in the defeats of other political dynasties.
Trump memorably vanquished former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the 2016 Republican presidential primary before his unexpected victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the general election.
In 2018, Trump equated his wins over Bush and Clinton to his battle against former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
“I’ve had to beat 17 very talented people including the Bush Dynasty,” he tweeted, “then I had to beat the Clinton Dynasty, and now I have to beat a phony Witch Hunt and all of the dishonest people covered in the IG Report … nd never forget the Fake News Media. It never ends!”
Tom Gram, the owner of Rode’s Camera Shop, is accusing President Donald Trump of using his destroyed Kenosha, Wisconsin, business for political gain, TMJ4 reported Tuesday night.
Gram said he declined to do a photo op with Trump and was then surprised to see the president speaking with the former owner of the business.
Trump called John Rode III, who now owns only the property the business is on, the “owner” of the shop.
Rode praised Trump’s response to the protests that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
When President Donald Trump visited Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday to tour sites affected by civil unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, he surveyed Rode’s Camera Shop.
Standing next to him was a man the White House, and president, identified as the owner of the destroyed store, John Rode III.
But another man, Tom Gram, told the local outlet TMJ4 that he’s actually owned the 109-year-old store for eight years — and had declined to join Trump’s photo op.
Gram is accusing Trump of using his shop for political gain and replacing him with the shop’s former owner.
“I think everything he does turns into a circus, and I just didn’t want to be involved in it,” Gram told TMJ4.
The store, which opened in 1911, was destroyed last week, Kenosha News reported. The storefront windows were smashed, and the building was looted and set on fire.
TMJ4 reported that Rode did still own the property the shop was located on.
Gram told TMJ4 that neither Trump nor Rode should have used his destroyed business for a political message.
“I think he needs to bring this country together rather than divide it,” Gram said.
Trump again repeated that he deployed the National Guard when it was the Wisconsin governor
During the tour, Rode praised Trump’s response to the protests in the city.
“I just appreciate President Trump coming today — everybody here does,” Rode said. “We’re so thankful we got the federal troops here. Once they got here things did calm down quite a bit.”
Trump said: “A day earlier would have saved his store.”
Trump added that governors and mayors needed to call for federal help when protests erupted. Last week, after Gov. Tony Evers already deployed the National Guard in Kenosha, Trump said the governor should activate them.
“Governor should call in the National Guard in Wisconsin,” Trump tweeted last Tuesday, a day after the Guard was already activated. “It is ready, willing, and more than able. End problem FAST!”
The Guard was activated to mounting protests after Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot seven times by a white police officer last Sunday. Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down.
The political conventions over, Joe Biden now leads Donald Trump in the race for the White House by 50%-43%, the new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds. That seven-point advantage has narrowed from the 12-point edge he held in June.
As Labor Day looms, launching the campaign’s final sprint, the survey finds significant skepticism about whether the election itself can be trusted. If their candidate loses, one in four voters say they aren’t prepared to accept the outcome as fair and accurate – a signal of potential trouble ahead for a nation already engulfed in a deadly pandemic and riven over issues of racial justice.
“I’m definitely worried about it,” said Curtis Saffi, 38, an independent from Hampton, Georgia, who plans to vote for Biden. “Whether it’s the post office or someone meddling in our elections, you really don’t know.”
In all, 28% of the former vice president’s supporters say they aren’t prepared to accept a Trump victory as fairly won; 19% of President Trump’s supporters say they aren’t prepared to accept a Biden victory as legitimate.
What’s more, an overwhelming 83% of Republicans say they are at least somewhat concerned that mail-in voting will lead to voter fraud; 62% are very concerned. That’s an assertion Trump has been hammering without offering evidence, and one that’s disputed by election experts and academic studies.
“It will be 100% botched for sure,” predicted David Brockman, 38, a Trump supporter from Columbus, Indiana, who was among those polled. “I have no doubt.”
Only a third of Democrats are concerned about mail-in voting being open to fraud.
The poll of 1,000 registered voters, taken Friday through Monday by landline and cell phone, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 points.
Suspicion over the count may be fueled by a divide over just how Americans plan to cast their ballots. Republicans are more than twice as likely as Democrats to say they’ll vote in person and on Election Day, 56% compared with 26%. Democrats are more than twice as likely as Republicans to plan to vote absentee or by mail, 47% compared with 21%.
For many, a referendum on the incumbent
Trump defines the contest.
Among the president’s supporters, 83% say they are voting for him; just 11% are voting against his opponent.
“I love him to death because he’s not a politician,” said Greg Hogue, 60, from Aldo, Texas.”He sticks foot in mouth, but you know what? He can get through all the bullcrap.” Watching the Republican convention last week “solidified” his support of Trump, Hogue said.
Among Biden backers, 59% say they are voting for him but one in three, 33%, say they are voting against his opponent. In follow-up phone interviews, some described the dangers of a second Trump term in grave terms.
“I think there’s just something about Trump’s rhetoric that is incredibly anti-democratic and worrying, beyond just the policies,” said Antonio Gonzalez, 31, a Democrat from Portland, Oregon. “I genuinely worry about what would happen with four more years of him in office.”
The research and design consultant was “heartened” by Biden’s performance at the Democratic convention, he said. “He did a good job really articulating himself as a candidate and what he stood for,” which Gonzalez called particularly important given Trump’s depiction beforehand of Biden as “incoherent.”
The competing conventions, both revamped on the fly because of COVID-19, had almost precisely the same impact in energizing partisans. Two-thirds of Democrats and two-thirds of Republicans said the conventions made them more likely to support their party’s nominees.
But the Democratic convention fared somewhat better in persuading independents. By a narrow two points, 33%-31%, independents said watching the conventions made them more likely rather than less likely to support Biden. But by nine points, 38%-29%, they said they made them less likely rather than more likely to support Trump.
By some measures, Biden’s situation is similar to that of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton four years ago. In a USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll taken in August 2016, Clinton led Trump by seven points. (That ballot test included third-party candidates; Biden now leads Trump by five points in a ballot that includes third-party options.)
In that election, Clinton won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College to Trump.
“I’d say Biden is no better off at this point,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk Political Research Center, though he added that there are significant differences between the two contests. “Hillary was more polarizing and less likable than Biden in terms of the favorable/unfavorable ratings. However, Clinton had more enthusiasm than Biden does today, which makes the analysis a bit dicey.”
A divide over protests and violence
The nation is more fraught than it was four years ago. The death toll among Americans from the coronavirus is climbing toward 200,000, and thousands of protesters have taken to the street to protest police treatment of Blacks. Some cities have seen looting and arson.
About half of those surveyed, 49%, said police shootings of Blacks reflected individual actions and misdeeds, while 41% said they reflected systemic racism in American society. But there was a sharp partisan split: 83% of Republicans saw individual misdeeds; 73% of Democrats saw systemic racism.
A solid majority of Americans, 57%, said peaceful demonstrations should continue, even though violence has followed in some cities. Thirty-six percent said peaceful demonstrations should stop for now, because violence has followed in some cities.
On this, too, partisanship opened a deep divide. More than three-fourths of Democrats said the peaceful demonstrations should continue. Nearly six in 10 Republicans said they should stop.
“We need to get this situated – the violence, the looting, the rioting,” said Brockman, the Trump voter from Indiana. “I mean, we’re going to be in a civil war within the next six months if something doesn’t happen.”
But Dana Carbonell, 35, a Democrat from Weehawken, N.J., supported the demonstrations, though not the violence. “I mean, the only way that change has happened in this country is by people taking it to the streets and making their voice be heard,” she said.
In their interviews, Carbonell and Brockman were in accord on one thing. “Honestly, it’s really important,” he said of the November election. She agreed. “One way or another, it’s going to define our time,” she said.
A boisterous Trump supporter wearing a MAGA hat in downtown Kenosha called police to drive him home Tuesday after getting into a fight with a crowd of protesters who ordered him to ‘get the f**k out of the park,’ hours after the president left town.
The fight broke out at 5:30pm in Civic Center Park, across from the county courthouse.
A former U.S. Marine named David, who refused to give his last name because he fears he’ll be targeted, was at the park earlier in the day leading chants among scores of Trump supporters who were facing off against Black Lives Matter protesters during the president’s visit.
He described them as ‘the true criminals’ in America.
A Trump fan in a white MAGA cap shoved by a Black Lives Matter protester, then threw a punch
The two men brawled in front of the cameras on Tuesday evening after Trump’s visit
Trump fan squared off against protesters in downtown Kenosha
David’s side went home, but he stuck around and got into a heated argument with the remaining protesters in a spectacle that played out before news crews in town covering Trump.
David was shoved by a Black Lives Matter protester, then threw a punch.
He then got clocked in the face, thrown to the ground and pummeled by protesters who kicked him while he was down.
Some demonstrators intervened to stop the fight, then protected David as others chased him down the street while heckling him.
‘Keep f**k’g walking, go home,’ one shouted on a megaphone.
‘Walk faster, go home. F**k you. F**k Donald Trump.’
David got into a heated argument with the remaining protesters in a spectacle that played out before news crews
David ended up with cuts and bruises after the encounter on Tuesday evening
David was escorted out of the park in central Kenosha after the scrap on Tuesday
Trump supporters argue with BLM supporters downtown Kenosha after days of trouble
Black Lives Matter supporters were out in force on Tuesday, ahead of Trump’s visit
Police then drove David home following the scuffle in Kenosha
David, his hat off, eye swollen and neck bleeding, rounded a corner where he spoke with reporters.
‘I was trying to have a conversation with them,’ he said.
‘You can obviously see from the way they’re chanting and the things they say that they were just looking to beat up any white guy with a MAGA hat.
‘These are Maoist terrorists,’ he added.
‘They are not Americans. They are not liberals. They are Maoists, and they will attack you, they will hurt you, they want to burn down this United States. Even if Joe Biden wins, they will not stop. Don’t you understand me?’
A medic came to treat his eye, telling him to see a doctor. Then another Black Lives Matter protester approached.
David said he felt threatened and called Kenosha police to escort him home.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he surveys riot damage in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday
President Donald Trump walks through burned out buildings Tuesday during his trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin
President Trump surveys damage in Kenosha, Wisconsin Tuesday, in the aftermath of the Sunday police shooting of Jacob Blake
President Donald Trump toured the violence-ravaged Kenosha Tuesday and called rioters ‘domestic terrorists’ while praising police, who he argued shouldn’t be demonized for ‘choking.’
Trump didn’t mention Jacob Blake by name during his scripted remarks.
Blake, a black man, was shot seven times in the back by a white cop in front of his three young children a week ago Sunday afternoon, leaving the father-of-six paralyzed from the waist down. The incident sparked several nights of protests and then violence in the Wisconsin city.
Trump arrived Tuesday afternoon and walked through the rubble that had once been a camera store and an office furniture shop, before giving remarks at a roundtable on ‘Wisconsin Community Safety.’
‘These are not peaceful protests but domestic terror,’ Trump said, seated alongside Attorney General Bill Barr, acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and local officials including Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth.
Beth has been scrutinized in the wake of police shooting Blake for statements he’s made about black people in the past.
‘The vast and overwhelming majority of police officers are honorable, courageous and devoted public servants,’ Trump said. ‘They’re incredible, yet many politicians ignore their sacrifice and ignore the African-American, Hispanic-American victims,’ the president continued, speaking of crime victims of color, not those who have been unarmed and shot by officers, which have inspired weeks of Black Lives Matter protests.
When asked specifically about Blake being shot Trump responded, ‘I feel terrible for anybody who goes through that.’ He added that it’s a ‘complicated subject.’
The U.S. announced Tuesday that it would not join an international coalition to find and distribute a Covid-19 vaccine worldwide due to the group’s association with the World Health Organization, the latest sign of the Trump administration withdrawing the country from the international health community’s response to the pandemic over political concerns.
Researching vaccine to novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV. Close-up shot of a scientist preparing glass … [+] slide.
getty
KEY FACTS
Covax is co-led by the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, which aims to purchase 2 billion doses of potential Covid-19 shots from several vaccine makers by the end of 2021 and distribute them worldwide.
The WHO announced last week that Covax plans to work with vaccine manufacturers to provide countries worldwide equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, once they are licensed and approved, and that 172 countries are engaged in discussions to potentially participate.
“The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China,” said Judd Deere, a spokesman for the White House.
According to the Washington Post, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar had “interest in exploring some type of role in Covax… but there was resistance in some corners of the government and a belief that the U.S. has enough coronavirus vaccine candidates in advanced clinical trials that it can go it alone.”
Key Background:
After initially praising both China and the WHO at the pandemic’s outset, President Donald Trump sharply reversed course. In early April, Trump blasted the World Health Organization, saying they “called it wrong” on the virus, that the WHO was “very China-centric” in its approach, and froze U.S. funding to the organization. “They should have known and they probably did know,” Trump said of World Health Organization officials, suggesting the group had gone along with China’s efforts to downplay the severity of the outbreak. In July, the administration sent a letter signaling its intent to withdraw from the WHO. “When the U.S. says it is not going to participate in any sort of multilateral effort to secure vaccines, it’s a real blow,” said Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Center at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. “The behavior of countries when it comes to vaccines in this pandemic will have political repercussions beyond public health.”
Crucial Quote:
“Equal access to a COVID-19 vaccine is the key to beating the virus and paving the way for recovery from the pandemic,” said Stefan Löfven, the prime minister of Sweden. “This cannot be a race with a few winners, and the COVAX Facility is an important part of the solution – making sure all countries can benefit from access to the world’s largest portfolio of candidates and fair and equitable distribution of vaccine doses.”
Trump’s payroll tax deferral starts today. It’s mostly hype and few employers are likely to … [+] participate given IRS Notice 2020-65. Congress is unlikely to forgive the tax, meaning that it likely won’t lead to a defunding of the Social Security Trust Fund either.
Getty Images
[Updated at 7:06pm to include information on UPS’ announcement that it will not defer employee payroll taxes]
It took 20 days from President Trump signing an executive memorandum to defer certain payroll tax obligations for Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to issue Notice 2020-65 and provide guidance to employers on the how to execute the payroll tax holiday. Treasury’s guidance also came just two business days before the deferral period was set to start on September 1, leaving absurdly little time for employers to potentially reconfigure payroll systems and implement the change.
To add insult to injury, the guidance itself wasn’t attractive. It clarified that the short deferral of the tax was not an elimination of the tax and would leave employers on the hook for repaying the tax in early 2021. It also articulated that the deferral would only be for a few short months, which would likely reduce employee wages in 2021 as companies double employees payroll taxes. The net result is that the odds of many employers participating is low, which should be music to the ears of those worried about Trump’s initiative defunding Social Security. Simply put, it is highly unlikely that the payroll tax deferral will impact the Social Security trust fund.
President Trump had been enamored with a payroll tax cut for months. Before Republicans unveiled the HEALS Act, he even indicated that a payroll tax cut was a red-line issue for the next bill, telling Chris Wallace during an interview that he “would consider not signing it if we don’t have a payroll tax cut.” However, there was strong, bipartisan opposition to the plan with high-ranking Senate Republicans publicly voicing their concerns. “I’m not a fan of that,” said John Thune (R-South Dakota), the second-ranking senator, speaking of a payroll tax cut. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) also spoke against the provision, arguing that the extra money wouldn’t reach voters quickly. State officials hae been equally bearish. Zach Conine, the Nevada state treasurer, called the tax holiday “fiscal malfeasance disguised as a stimulus plan,” according to The New York Times. “American need real help now,” Mr. Conine added. “Delayed taxes don’t help the unemployed.”
The resistance was appropriate given that a payroll tax holiday is considered an ineffective policy tool that isn’t well suited for the current coronavirus crisis. A temporary payroll tax cut might be an effective tool when trying to stimulate consumer demand during a normal slowdown; however, the current economic malaise isn’t caused by a financial recession, but rather a health crisis and fear of coronavirus. It also does little to benefit the millions who are unemployed and, therefore, do not pay any payroll taxes. Finally, a payroll tax deferral is regressive and “gives the biggest breaks to those with the biggest paychecks, and delivers nothing to those who have lost their pay,” explained Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, professors at The University of Michigan.
The White House eventually walked back its red-line and a payroll tax deferral wasn’t included in the Senate HEALS Act proposal. However, with Congressional negotiations stalled, Trump issued four executive actions on August 8, including one directing the Treasury to defer payroll taxes. “This will mean bigger paychecks for working families,” Trump claimed during a press conference unveiling the executive actions. Trump said he would forgive the delayed payroll taxes if re-elected and make the payroll tax holiday permanent. “If I win, I may extend and terminate” the tax, he stated (Note: Trump doesn’t have the power to unilaterally forgive the delayed payroll taxes. That would require Congressional approval and action).
Companies Skeptical And Stuck In A Holding Pattern Awaiting Treasury’s Guidance
Companies and organizations were not overly enthusiastic about a payroll tax deferral and had many questions for Treasury after Trump announced the initiative. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) sent a letter requesting guidance on myriad aspects of Trump’s memorandum, including more detail on whether employees would be able to opt-in, how income cut-offs would be calculated, what the repayment date would be, and clarification on how employees would pay the deferred taxes.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with over 30 other organizations, also sent a letter stating its opposition to the plan. “Many of our members consider it unfair to employees to make a decision that would force a big tax bill on them next year. It would also be unworkable to implement a system where employees make this decision,” the Chamber’s letter stated. “Therefore, many of our members will likely decline to implement deferral, choosing instead to continue to withhold and remit to the government the payroll taxes required by law.”
Payroll experts advised Congress and Treasury that the type of action Trump was advocating would require at least six months of programming changes. Large companies, like Walmart, Macy’s, and Procter & Gamble, said they needed more details from the IRS before deciding whether to implement the deferral. “The lack of concrete guidance on the most basic of implementation issues presents an untenable situation, making it basically impossible for employers to implement this EO and leaving little choice but for those employers to continue remitting payroll taxes to the Treasury,” said Caroline Harris, chief tax policy counsel at the Chamber of Commerce. As the AICPA letter indicated, employers were worried about many items, but perhaps one of the biggest sources was whether they would be on the hook if they stopped withholding taxes from employees’ paychecks without any guarantee that Congress would forgive the payments, which was an especially acute risk for companies with high turnover.
Treasury And IRS Finally Issue Guidance (IRS Notice 2020-65)
Two business days before the payroll tax deferral was scheduled to commence, the IRS and Treasury finally issued guidance for employers, which provided some clarification, but also left many questions unanswered. What became clear from Notice 2020-65 was that employers are indeed responsible for withholding and paying back any deferred taxes, putting them at significant risk if they cannot collect those funds from employees. It also confirmed that there is no payroll tax cut or elimination of payroll taxes. Instead, payroll taxes are simply being postponed for four months, due in early 2021 instead of between September 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020.
Moreover, the deferral is structured in a way that could necessitate employers to double payroll tax withholding on employees starting in January, 2021. The guidance only gives employers four months – between January and April 2021 – to pay back deferred payroll taxes without interest or penalties, making it increasingly unattractive for them to implement. “If this were a suspension of the payroll tax so that employees were not forced to pay it back later, implementation would be less challenging. But under a simple deferral, employees would be stuck with a large tax bill in 2021,” the letter from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce stated.
In some ways, one could argue that Treasury was doing everything it could to silently sabotage the payroll tax deferral; appeasing Trump by providing guidance and putting the payback burden on employers, but doing it so late in the game and making it so unattractive that the likelihood of many employers opting to implement the deferral would be low.
Treasury Delay Means Payroll Tax Deferral Unlikely To Defund Social Security
After Trump initially announced his payroll deferral memorandum, many sounded the alarms about the end of Social Security, mainly due to Trump’s equivocal remarks about terminating it. The reality is far more subdued and likely means that there will be little or no impact to Social Security funding. Yes, payroll taxes are the primary source of revenue for Social Security; however, for a payroll tax action to materially affect Social Security, it would need to be done at scale, be an elimination of the tax as opposed to a mere deferral of the obligation, and not be coupled with a corresponding action to reimburse the Social Security Trust Fund from other government revenue. None of those conditions appears likely to hold.
Expect Low Opt-In Rates By Employers
With so little time between Treasury’s guidance and the start of the payroll tax deferral period, so many unanswered questions, and so much additional risk, most employers are thinking twice about opting into the program. “Every employer I’ve talked to has said we are not going to do this. It is not good for administrative complexity, and worse, it’s an employee relations disaster, remarked Bill Arnone, the CEO of the National Academy of Social Insurance.
UPS announced that it will not participate in the program and will keep withholding payroll taxes from employee paychecks and remitting them to the government, according to the Wall Street Journal. Other employers, such as Walmart and Target, have not publicly announced their intention. I have yet to see any private employer announce that they will implement the payroll tax deferral, although some may crop up in the next few days.
Only One Entity Has Publicly Opted-In
So far, only one entity – the federal government – has publicly stated that it will defer payroll taxes for its employees; not so coincidentally, it has Trump as its ultimate boss. Initially, the National Finance Center (NFC), a federal government agency division under the United States Department of Agriculture, said in an August 21 memo it will begin deferring Social Security taxes for all employees who are eligible. The NFC processes payments for 600,000 federal employees across 160 agencies. While it does not appear like the NFC will allow employees to opt-out, the total individuals impacted will be lower, given that only those earning less than $4,000 bi-weekly are eligible for the deferral.
Yesterday, sources confirmed that the other three payroll processors used by federal agencies – operated by Defense and Interior Departments and the General Services Administration – would also defer taxes. “ About 60 percent of the 2.1 million executive-branch employees earn less than $100,000 a year, just below the cutoff set by Trump’s order,” according to The Washington Post. The result is that about 1.3 million federal workers will be forced to have their payroll taxes deferred to early 2021.
“The Trump administration’s plan to initiate payroll tax deferrals for civil servants treats the federal workforce as a guinea pig for a bad policy that businesses already rejected as ‘unworkable,’” said Representative Don Beyer (D-Virginia), who represents the largest number of federal employees of any U.S. representative. “This payroll tax deferral does not really put money in workers’ pockets, it simply sets up the members of the federal workforce who can least afford it for a big tax bill that many will not expect,” he added.
Even the federal processors will not be able to implement changes in time for an early September deferral. The NFC, for example, backed off its original intent to execute the payroll tax holiday on the first pay period in September, which would be around September 8. Instead, it is aiming to start the deferral on the second September pay period, which would be between September 18 and 24 for most federal employees. “The federal government will implement an across-the-board payroll tax deferral by all federal payroll providers, so all federal employees who meet the income threshold will see savings,” a senior administration official told Federal News Network. “We want all payroll providers to implement the deferral on the same schedule, so the deferral should be implemented starting with the second paycheck in September.”
It is true that the Social Security trust fund will lose some interest income by receiving tax revenue several months later; however, “the loss would be tiny even if all employers opted to defer,” according to Alan Viard, a resident scholar at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute.
Fact Check: Only Congress Can Implement A Payroll Tax Cut
Trump’s memorandum directed the Treasury department to “explore avenues, including legislation” to forgive the payroll taxes that are being deferred. The reality is quite simple. Trump “does have the authority to postpone the collection of the payroll tax under the Internal Revenue Code, but it’s only the authority to postpone and not forgive.” said Michael Graetz, a professor of tax law at Columbia University and author of The Wolf at the Door: The Menace of Economic Insecurity and How to Fight It. “He doesn’t have the authority to forgive the taxes,” added Graetz. “Only Congress can do that.”
Congress already threw cold water at including a payroll tax cut in the latest coronavirus stimulus proposals; neither the HEROES Act passed by the House of Representatives nor the HEALS Act proposed by the Senate included it. Moreover, Social Security is such a lightning rod issue that members of Congress do not want to touch it. It represents one of the most important financial lifelines in the United States with an estimated 179 million workers were covered under Social Security in 2019, according to the Social Security Administration. Moreover, 21 percent of married couples and 45 percent of unmarried persons rely on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income and 40 percent rely solely on Social Security for retirement income. A Congress that can’t agree on a stimulus bill during a pandemic is not going to vote on or for an unpopular payroll tax cut.
Funding Cut Versus Reimbursement
Finally, even if Congress did approve a cut, it would not automatically amount to a defunding of Social Security. The key issue will come down to whether the Social Security trust gets replenished from other sources. For example, when Obama and Republicans struck a compromise and instituted a temporary payroll tax cut, it did not affect the long-term health of Social Security because revenue that would have normally funded the Social Security Trust Fund was reimbursed out of general government revenue. This kept the trust from losing assets. If Congress and whomever is president in 2020 do vote to forgive the payroll taxes that were deferred, but follow Obama’s model, then the Social Security trust fund would not be affected; only if a reimbursement clause is not included would a cut potentially impair funding for Social Security.
The Upshot
Don’t expect the bluster of Trump’s payroll tax deferral announcement to translate to much real-world impact. Late, convoluted guidance from Treasury increases risk for employers and gives them precious little time to implement changes. Coupled with the fact that Trump’s memo simple defers payroll taxes and doesn’t forgive them, the likelihood is that there will be low employer uptake. That will give Congress, already bearish on payroll tax cuts, even less incentive to consider legislation to forgive the deferred taxes. In other words, the likelihood of the payroll tax holiday defunding Social Security is quite low.
During the court session, Trump’s personal attorney William Consovoy urged the judges to prevent Vance from immediately accessing the documents, which Vance has said he urgently needs to pursue potential criminal activity involving the Trump Organization.
One of the three judges, John Walker Jr., sounded particularly receptive to arguments from Trump’s lawyers that grand jury subpoenas Vance’s office issued are too broad.
“It has the feeling of overbreadth,” said Walker, an appointee — and first cousin — of the late President George H.W. Bush.
Although the Supreme Court issued a ruling in July unanimously rejecting Trump’s claims of absolute immunity from such criminal investigations while in office, Walker stressed that the opinion still endorsed “heightened respect that’s due the president” and called for “necessarily meticulous review.”
Walker also questioned Vance’s need to pursue information from abroad, although Manhattan-based prosecutors have long prized their ability to use New York’s role as a financial nerve center to assert jurisdiction over transactions that span the globe.
“It just seems to me that it’s really very broad. … You’re asking [about] activity in Europe and Dubai and so forth. You’re a prosecutor in New York — in New York County, specifically,” Walker said.
Vance’s general counsel, Carey Dunne, said it is commonplace for the DA’s office to probe alleged wrongdoing in business dealings worldwide.
“There’s nothing unusual about our office asking about entities out of state or foreign transactions. New York City is a center of worldwide commerce,” Dunne said.”There’s a lot of international financial activity we have jurisdiction over.”
The other two judges on the panel — Clinton appointee Robert Katzmann and Obama appointee Raymond Lohier — gave fewer hints about their views of the substance of the Trump legal team’s arguments.
However, there seemed to be at least some openness among the judges to giving Trump’s lawyers time to fully brief the legal issues before the appeals court on an expedited basis, which could take the better part of a month.
At the conclusion of the roughly 30-minute argument session, Katzmann promised the panel would issue a decision on the president’s stay request by the end of the day.
Walker’s views could ultimately be of little significance on anything besides the timing of the case. Although he was on the panel that decided to grant the stay, he may not be one of the three judges assigned to rule on the merits of Trump’s appeal.
If Trump ultimately fails to win relief from the 2nd Circuit, his lawyers have already indicated they plan to take the dispute to the Supreme Court for a second time. That could leave the justices facing a politically sensitive emergency request from the president with just weeks or even days to go before Election Day.
While such a delay seems like an obvious goal for the president’s lawyers, Consovoy insisted Tuesday that his side is not trying to drag out the proceedings.
“Throughout this case, we have always accepted, and not resisted, expedited review,” he said.
Vance issued a subpoena a year ago for documents held by financial institutions connected to Trump, as well as overseas affiliates. Trump’s team initially claimed the president was exempt from such demands for as long as he remains in office, but that argument struck out in the Supreme Court, which turned aside his claim of “absolute immunity.”
However, the justices ruled that Trump may fight the subpoena on other, largely more conventional grounds, which triggered another, faster-paced round of litigation.
Within days, Trump’s team renewed its argument in federal district court, arguing that the subpoena is an overbroad fishing expedition issued for political purposes. The lower court judge, Victor Marrero, said the new claims had no merit and quickly ruled in Vance’s favor, tossing out Trump’s suit. But the appeals court appears poised to slam the brakes again.
Dunne told the three-judge panel that Consovoy’s new claims about the subpoena had no factual basis and the Trump legal team has presented no evidence to support claims of bad faith, he said. And further delays, he argued, hurt the DA’s ability to pursue potential crimes.
Dunne also stressed, as the DA’s office has repeatedly signaled in court filings in recent weeks, that the office’s investigation is not limited to probing the so-called hush money payments made in 2016 to women who appeared to be considering claiming sexual liaisons with Trump.
“We have tried to spell out, consistent with grand jury secrecy, all along, and I can represent to the court now, that each of the category of documents that was sought is directly relevant to a subject matter of our inquiry and, importantly, virtually all of those subject matters have been previously identified in public reports as examples of possible corporate wrongdoing,” the DA’s office lawyer said.
Dunne said Trump hadn’t shown any impropriety on the part of Vance’s office and that “the burden doesn’t shift to the prosecutor” to justify all aspects of the subpoenas just because Trump objected.
Lohier said he was worried that giving Trump the ability to continue to pursue his complaints would lead to grand juries at all levels being “mired in civil litigation.”
However, Consovoy said challenges to state grand jury proceedings in federal court are and will remain a rarity, but that, as president, Trump has the right to take the issue before federal judges. “I do not think this is the ordinary situation,” Trump’s attorney said.
Reaction from Byron Donalds, Republican congressional candidate in Florida, and Fox News contributor Judy Miller, adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
NPR was strongly criticized Tuesday after it claimed that President Trump had “no evidence” that Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who shot three protesters in Kenosha, Wis. last week, acted out of self-defense.
“You saw the same tape as I saw,” Trump said during a White House press briefing on Monday. “He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like. And he fell, and then they very violently attacked him, and it was something that we’re looking at right now, and it’s under investigation, but I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed but it’s under investigation.”
NPR responded on Tuesday by tweeting: “President Trump declined to condemn the actions of the suspected 17-year-old shooter of 3 [sic] protesters against police brutality in Kenosha — claiming, without evidence, that it appeared the gunman was acting in self-defense.”
Rittenhouse currently faces multiple charges, including murder, for the shootings, which his lawyer says were acts of self-defense. Video footage taken that night shows Rittenhouse running from demonstrators before shooting two of them.
In footage obtained by The New York Times, one of those shot appears to try and attack Rittenhouse with his skateboard. Daily Caller reporter Richie McGinniss has claimed he saw Joseph Rosenbaum, the first shooting victim, pursuing Rittenhouse and trying to grab his gun.
“There is no legitimate argument for @NPR to exist as a taxpayer-funded entity,” Media Research Vice President Dan Gainor tweeted. “It is ridiculously leftist and biased against the right. #DefundNPR“.
“This is poorly done propaganda @NPR You guys realize millions of people have watched multiple videos of the attacks on Kyle and his response? In court that’s called …. ‘evidence,'” Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., tweeted.
NPR did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
This isn’t the first time the outlet, which has received taxpayer-funded grants, has been criticized for its coverage of ongoing unrest. It previously suggested that Portland authorities might be racist in labeling violent demonstrations as “riots.”
The outlet’s headline read: “Police Declare Portland Protests A Riot But This Definition Could Be Rooted In Racism.”
Now, a number of House lawmakers are bracing for demands that they push through an ambitious agenda in a Democratic-controlled Washington or face another wave of primaries. Some of them may retire or, should Joseph R. Biden Jr. win the presidency, accept administration posts rather than seek re-election.
Yet others will surely seek to mimic Mr. Markey, who succeeded by channeling the new activism on the left. First elected to the House in 1976, he has been a fairly reliable liberal vote in the House and the Senate, where he moved in 2013 after John F. Kerry became secretary of state.
Mr. Markey was never known as a progressive warrior and he has cast a handful of votes — including for the 1990s crime bill and the Iraq war — that are out of step with today’s movement to the left.
He has taken a leadership role on issues related to the environment and technology, however, and that linked him to perhaps his most important supporter: Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. Their joint authorship of the Green New Deal offered Mr. Markey access not only to her endorsement but also entree to a new generation of environmental activists. He captured the early support of the Sunrise Movement, the environmental activist group, and built a strong coalition among young progressives.
“If we’re going to have a planet for people in my generation to live on, we need someone like Senator Markey,” said Lindsay Aldworth, 29, who was active with the Sunrise Movement in college and attended a rally for Mr. Markey in New Bedford, Mass., last week.
That enthusiasm frustrated Mr. Kennedy, who was counting on winning votes from young voters. He believes that the state’s many white liberal voters did not hold Mr. Markey to account for some of his previous stances, including his long-ago opposition to the integration of Boston’s public schools, as they did Mr. Biden.
Mr. Kennedy, however, had built his own coalition of support, winning endorsements from a number of voters of color and working-class people across racial lines.
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