White House chief of staff Mark Meadows lays traps to find suspected leakers  —  President Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has told several White House staffers he's fed specific nuggets of information to suspected leakers to see if they pass them on to reporters — a trap that would confirm his suspicions.

Virus outbreak reshapes presidential race in Sun Belt — CBS News Battleground Tracker poll  —  The coronavirus outbreak is reshaping the presidential race in three key Sun Belt states.  Joe Biden is now leading President Trump by six points in Florida, and the two are tied in Arizona …

Joe Biden builds lead over Donald Trump in reliably red Texas, as voters sour on handling of virus  —  Amid rollbacks of state's COVID-19 reopenings, Gov. Greg Abbott's luster also dims.  In past 7 days, 82% of Texans wore a mask, a new DMN-UT-Tyler poll finds.

While America Looks Away, Autocrats Crack Down on Digital News Sites  —  Independent journalism is on the defensive, from Hungary to Malaysia.  —  Like many American media types, I spent a lot of time last week reading heated arguments about free speech.  I was wondering if I, too …

White House seeks to discredit Fauci amid coronavirus surge  —  The White House is seeking to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, as it works to marginalize him and his dire warnings about the shortcomings in the U.S. coronavirus response.

Trump's Health Officials Warn More Will Die as Covid Cases Rise  —  They struck a sober note on Sunday's news programs, strongly urging the vast majority of people in hard-hit cities and states to wear masks and avoid large gatherings.  —  Two of the Trump administration's top health officials …

New York City Without Coronavirus Deaths Four Months After First Report  —  New York City health officials reported zero deaths related to the novel coronavirus four months after the state's first official death was recorded on March 11.  —  According to initial data reported by the NYC Department …

Woj Suspended By ESPN … At press time, we were unable to determine the length of the suspension for the NBA insider as it's being held close to the vest.  —  After sending the email, Wojnarowski wrote the following apology:  —  ESPN issued the following statement: “This is completely unacceptable behavior and we do not condone it.

Gingrich to Trump: Be More Aggressive ‘Than Nixon or Reagan’  —  He may be the most optimistic American abroad, and when reached by phone Friday from Rome, the former speaker of the House offers an increasingly rare message to stateside Republicans resigning themselves to an ugly November:

Parscale hits a rough patch as Trump's campaign manager  —  Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale had an unusual cameo in the president's first television ad of the year: Sandwiched among images of Trump and Vice President Pence, the bearded Parscale appears twice, taking a selfie with supporters and hugging girls in red ball caps.

Anne Applebaum: how my old friends paved the way for Trump and Brexit  —  In a powerful new book, the journalist and historian reveals how her former friends and colleagues became agents of populism  —  Anne Applebaum can look at the wreck of democratic politics and understand it with a completeness few contemporary writers can match.

Disney World Opens Its Gates, With Virus Numbers Rising  —  Thousands of giddy visitors streamed into the Florida resort on Saturday, as Disney tried to prove it can safely operate at a highly dangerous time.  —  LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, a Magic Kingdom hair salon …

Long delays in getting test results hobble coronavirus response  —  Test results for the novel coronavirus are taking so long to come back that experts say the results across the United States are often proving useless in the campaign to control the deadly disease.

As Confederate monuments fall, don't forget Bree Newsome's athletic act of protest in 2015  —  It was, quite literally, the most athletic activist feat during an era in which we have come to celebrate the notion of athlete activism, whatever that is.  —  But Bree Newsome Bass chuckled …

37-year-old Port Clinton war vet dies from COVID-19 complications on Fourth of July  —  Richard Rose in April posted on Facebook that he would not wear a mask.  He passed away due to COVID-19 three months later.  —  PORT CLINTON, Ohio (WOIO) - Richard Rose was only 37 years old when he died …

Trump rips private Texas border wall built by his supporters  —  HOUSTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday criticized a privately built border wall in South Texas that's showing signs of erosion months after going up, saying it was “only done to make me look bad,” …

What Donald Trump's ‘Access Hollywood’ Weekend Says About 2020  —  On a Friday, the world heard vulgar audio of Mr. Trump boasting about forcing himself on women.  By Sunday night, the episode that was supposed to doom him had begun to recede.  —  Donald J. Trump, down and unwilling to get out, saw only one way back up: Go lower.

Mitch Albom: Anti-Semitic posts — and tepid reactions — should enrage us  —  These days, you can lose your job for a tweet.  You can lose it for a retweet, or a spouse's tweet.  If your message is considered racist or hateful, it can bring an onslaught of condemnation …

‘Ashamed’ Trump 2016 Voters Explain Why They're Ditching The President  —  Republicans who voted for Trump say they are “riddled with guilt” in the spot set to air on Fox News.  —  Republicans who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 explain why they are turning their backs on the president this November in a critical new ad.

The inside story of how California failed mass coronavirus testing  —  The disease investigators arrived at the apartment in street clothes, carrying their gowns, gloves and face shields in Whole Foods bags.  They didn't knock on the door.  —  Instead, they called the resident …

Fact check: Trump campaign accused of T-shirt design with similarity to Nazi eagle  —  The claim: Trump campaign shirts feature imperial eagle, a Nazi symbol  —  President Donald Trump's campaign website recently unveiled a T-shirt that has come under fire because of design similarities between its logo and a Nazi symbol.