memeorandum: Don't blame “Congress” for GOP ending $600 unemployment benefit (Eric Boehlert/PRESS RUN)

3:25 PM ET, August 3, 2020

Top Items:

D.A. Is Investigating Trump and His Company Over Fraud, Filing Suggests — The office of the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., made the disclosure in a new court filing arguing Mr. Trump should turn over his tax returns. — The Manhattan district attorney's office suggested on Monday …

Discussion: Axios, Daily Kos, POLITICUSUSA and Raw Story

Tom Winter / NBC News:
Trump Org under investigation for ‘insurance and bank fraud,’ filing suggests

Discussion: Politico

Larry Neumeister / Associated Press:
Prosecutor seeking Trump's taxes cites probe of his business

Discussion: The US Sun

Washington Post:

As Trump leans into attacks on mail voting, GOP officials confront signs of Republican turnout crisis — President Trump's unfounded attacks on mail balloting are discouraging his own supporters from embracing the practice, according to polls and Republican leaders across the country …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Raw Story, Balloon Juice and Outside the Beltway

Jesse McKinley / New York Times:

Why the Botched N.Y.C. Primary Has Become the November Nightmare — Nearly six weeks later, two congressional races remain undecided, and officials are trading blame over the mishandling of tens of thousands of mail-in ballots. — Election officials in New York City widely distributed mail …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Quint Forgey / Politico:

Trump threatens lawsuit to block mail-in voting in Nevada — President Donald Trump threatened legal action Monday after Nevada's Legislature passed a bill to mail ballots to all active voters, suggesting the measure would make it impossible for Republicans to win there in November's general election.

Discussion: Reuters, Associated Press, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit, KRNV, The US Sun, The Hill and POLITICUSUSA

David Siders / Politico:

Trump campaign nears point of no return — Time is running out on Donald Trump. — While there are still 92 days until Election Day, the president has as little as half as much time to begin closing the gap with Joe Biden, according to interviews with nearly two dozen Republican and Democratic Party officials and strategists.

Discussion: Raw Story

Judd Legum / Popular Information:
Trump goes postal

Discussion: Mother Jones

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

These Conservatives Have a Laser Focus: ‘Owning the Libs’ — On The Federalist and in Fox News appearances, some of President Trump's supporters don't really defend him. They attack the critics. — When President Trump ran for office four years ago, a conservative writer …

Discussion: Twitchy

Ed Yong / The Atlantic:

How the Pandemic Defeated America — Editor's Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. — Image above: A masked worker cleans a New York City subway entrance. — How did it come to this?

Discussion: Mother Jones and Raw Story

Cristina Cabrera / Talking Points Memo:
Trump Attacks Birx After She Issues Stark New Warning On COVID-19

Discussion: Redstate, Politico and Balloon Juice

Betsy Klein / CNN:
Trump criticizes Birx for the first time after she issues coronavirus warnings

Discussion: ABC News, IJR, Mother Jones, Axios and The Daily Caller

Stephen Collinson / CNN:
No signs Trump has a plan as experts say the pandemic enters new phase

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Fox News, The National Interest, Raw Story and Washington Post

Washington Post:
Trump says he's examining executive orders on stopping evictions, other issues if he can't reach deal with Democrats

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, Daily Kos, KOIN-TV, Gothamist, POLITICUSUSA, New York Times and KRON4

Domenico Montanaro / NPR:

2020 Electoral Map Ratings: Trump Slides, Biden Advantage Expands Over 270 Votes — Loading... It's hard to believe that the hole President Trump dug for himself could get deeper, but it has. — A record and widening majority of Americans disapprove of the job he's doing when it comes …

Discussion: Althouse

Alex Leary / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Says U.S. Should Get Slice of TikTok Sale Price — President says he told Microsoft's Nadella that U.S. should get a cut 'because we're making it possible for this deal to happen' — WASHINGTON—President Trump confirmed Monday he is open to a deal in which Microsoft Corp. MSFT 5.62% …

New York Times:

Trump Reverses Course on TikTok, Opening Door to Microsoft Bid — The president said he did not object to a potential acquisition of the Chinese-owned app, retreating from comments about banning the service. — WASHINGTON — President Trump gave the go-ahead for Microsoft to pursue …

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Wrap, IJR, Investor's Business Daily, The Official Microsoft Blog and Breitbart, more at Techmeme »

Reuters:
Exclusive: Trump gives Microsoft 45 days to clinch TikTok deal

Discussion: Axios, Washington Post, The Hill, New York Post, Breitbart, Vanity Fair, Reason, CNBC and National Review, more at Techmeme »

Jon Hilsenrath / Wall Street Journal:

Homicide Spike Hits Most Large U.S. Cities — Journal analysis shows double-digit increases in 36 of 50 biggest cities amid pandemic, though other types of violent crime fell — A sharp rise in homicides this year is hitting large U.S. cities across the country, signaling …

Discussion: Power Line, National Review, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller and CANNONFIRE

CBS News:

Biden increases Texas staff and resources in bid to win Lone Star state — Everything's bigger in Texas — including, as of Monday, Joe Biden's campaign staff. — On Monday the Biden campaign announced a slate of staff hires aimed at flipping the historically conservative Lone Star state …

Discussion: Raw Story

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Revolutionary Communist Party leader backs Biden

Discussion: Breitbart

Elizabeth Drew / New York Times:

Let's Scrap the Presidential Debates — They've become unrevealing quip contests. — Ms. Drew is a journalist based in Washington. — Nervous managers of the scheduled 2020 presidential debates are shuffling the logistics and locations to deal with the threat of the coronavirus.

Discussion: Breitbart, National Review, Ballotpedia, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Althouse, Viking Pundit and Twitchy

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

How white supremacy infected Christianity and the Republican Party — Robert P. Jones, chief executive and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), is fast becoming the leading expert in the values, votes and mind-set of White Christians. His work has explained how loss …

The Boston Globe:

Amid rise in COVID-19 cases, experts urge rollback of reopening in Mass. — A Northeastern University epidemiologist is advocating for a return to Phase 2 of the state's plan. — Daily counts of new COVID-19 cases continued to tick upward in Massachusetts over the weekend …

Nikki Haley:

A Day Of Reckoning Is Coming With The National Debt — I'm often asked about America's biggest challenges. — On the world stage, communist China tops the list. Closer to home, the coronavirus pandemic is the most urgent issue. But there's also a massive fiscal challenge that we face …

Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:

The Blind Oracle of Noonan — The wistful, naïve pronouncements of the speechwriter-turned-columnist. — Good news! All of us who are worried about President Trump and the future of the Republican party can pack it up. Peggy Noonan, our cherished Reaganic oracle …

Discussion: Twitchy

Houston Chronicle:

Thousands of Texans are getting rapid-result COVID tests. The state isn't counting them. — The government's official data on the coronavirus outbreak is startling: More than 4.6 million cases in the U.S. More than 440,000 in Texas. More than 70,000 in Harris County.

Discussion: Washington Post

Sahil Kapur / NBC News:

Democrats warn GOP: Don't fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2020 or we'll retaliate — WASHINGTON — Democrats are warning Republicans not to fill a possible Supreme Court vacancy this year after denying President Barack Obama the chance in 2016, saying it would embolden a push on the left …

Discussion: The Hill, Law & Crime, Associated Press and Althouse

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

How Trump's corruption may doom any attempt at an ‘October surprise’ — When the full story of Donald Trump's presidency is written, one Machiavellian lesson to be drawn will surely run as follows: If you spend much of your tenure openly subverting the nation's interests to your own …

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story, The Federalist, Talking Points Memo and Eschaton

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

House committee subpoenas 4 top Pompeo aides — A top House Democrat has subpoenaed four senior aides to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, accusing them of resisting interviews in an investigation of President Donald Trump's firing of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick.

Discussion: Associated Press, Townhall and Reuters

Matthew Phelan / New Republic:

Inside the Project Veritas Plan to Steal the Election — James O'Keefe had big plans for 2020. The founder of Project Veritas, the conspiratorial right-wing group that specializes in Fox News-friendly “stings” intended to expose supposed liberal bias and corruption in American society …

Matthew Haag / New York Times:

One-Third of New York's Small Businesses May Be Gone Forever — Small-business owners said they have exhausted federal and local assistance and see no end in sight after months of sharp revenue drops. Now, many are closing their shops and restaurants for good.

Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:

Why Stuart Stevens Wants to Defeat Donald Trump — Many Republicans have joined the Never Trump camp, but few have previously been more important to the Party than Stuart Stevens. After working on George W. Bush's two Presidential campaigns and serving as a consultant for several major …

Daniel McGraw / The Bulwark:

‘The Craziness Is Exhausting People’ — How Trump could lose the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. — With just over 90 days left until the election, it's worth taking a close look at the political trends in one of the regions most important to the outcome of the 2016 election and potentially …

Discussion: Raw Story

Eric Boehlert / PRESS RUN:

Don't blame “Congress” for GOP ending $600 unemployment benefit — Stop the Both Sides nonsense … Subscribe to PRESS RUN — Purposefully allowing emergency, $600-a-week unemployment payments to expire on July 31, Trump and Republicans are creating chaos and looming poverty for tens …

Kirby Wilson / Tampa Bay Times:

Journalist tests positive for coronavirus after covering President Trump's visit to Tampa Bay — The press member was in the same room as President Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and Gov. Ron DeSantis. — BELLEAIR — A member of the press who covered President Donald Trump's trip …

Discussion: Raw Story

Simon D. Schuster / mcfn.org:

Campaign To Recall Whitmer Is In Flames Amid Allegations Of Embezzlement — Volunteers have left, alleging founder Chad Baase spent committee funds gambling, but Baase is determined to move forward. — Michigan Campaign Finance Network — With all the drama of a soap opera …