memeorandum: Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Thursday became the highest-ranking House Republican to condemn the QAnon conspiracy theory, calling it “dangerous lunacy … (Marisa Fernandez/Axios)

3:45 PM ET, August 20, 2020

Top Items:

Leaders Of ‘We Build The Wall’ Online Fundraising Campaign Charged With Defrauding Hundreds Of Thousands Of Donors — Brian Kolfage, Stephen Bannon, and Two Others Alleged to Have Funneled Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars From the Organization to Kolfage; All Four Defendants Allegedly Profited From Their Roles in the Scheme

Edmund H. Mahony / Hartford Courant:

Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon was on billionaire's yacht off Connecticut shore when federal agents arrested him early Thursday — Stephen K. Bannon, former top advisor to President Donald Trump, was arrested while on a yacht off Westbrook early Thursday, law enforcement sources said.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, Vox, The Daily Caller and Wall Street Journal, more at Mediagazer »

Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:

Stephen Bannon, three others charged with defrauding donors to online fundraising campaign for border wall — Federal prosecutors in New York on Thursday unsealed criminal charges against Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump's former chief strategist, and three other men they alleged defrauded hundreds …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Raw Story and The Week

New York Times:

Steve Bannon Is Charged With Fraud in ‘We Build the Wall’ Campaign — Mr. Bannon and three others are accused in a scheme to use funds raised for construction to pay for personal expenses. — Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump's former top adviser, was charged on Thursday in New York …

Discussion: Politico, National Review, Task & Purpose, Raw Story, Mediaite, Law & Crime, The US Sun, Spectator USA and The Gateway Pundit

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon arrested on charges of defrauding donors in fundraising scheme — Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has been arrested after being charged with defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors through their campaign “We Build the Wall.”

Discussion: TheBlaze

Shane Savitsky / Axios:

Steve Bannon arrested and charged with fraud — Former Trump administration chief strategist Steve Bannon was charged on Thursday with fraud by federal prosecutors in New York and taken into custody. — The state of play: Bannon, along with three others, allegedly defrauded donors …

Discussion: Redstate, HillReporter.com, The American Independent, National Review and NPR

NBC New York:
Former Trump Campaign Boss Steve Bannon Indicted for Fraud in NY

Discussion: JONATHAN TURLEY, Raw Story and The Post Millennial

Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:
Bannon Grifter Indictment: More Steel Bracelets for Team Trump

Discussion: Eschaton

Fox News:
Steve Bannon, ‘We Build The Wall’ organizers arrested, charged with defrauding donors

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Hill, Reuters, The Gateway Pundit, One America News Network and IJR

Corinne Ramey / Wall Street Journal:
Steve Bannon Charged in Alleged Border Wall Fundraising Scheme

Discussion: Townhall

Philip Bump / Washington Post: Each of the three people who led Trump's 2016 campaign has now faced criminal charges

NBC News:
Ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon arrested on charges of defrauding donors to ‘Build the Wall’ campaign

Discussion: Rolling Stone and The Cain Gang

CNN:
Steve Bannon, three others charged with fraud in border wall fundraising campaign

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog and The US Sun

Aaron Gordon / VICE:

USPS Headquarters Tells Managers Not to Reconnect Mail Sorting Machines, Emails Show — “We are not to reconnect any machines that have previously been disconnected.” — Aaron Gordon — Shortly after USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy issued a public statement saying he wanted to …

Discussion: The Hill, Snopes.com, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, The Post Millennial, WisconsinWatch.org and TheGrio

Los Angeles Times:

‘Like Armageddon’: Rotting food, dead animals and chaos at postal facilities amid cutbacks — Six weeks ago, U.S. Postal Service workers in the high desert town of Tehachapi, Calif., began to notice crates of mail sitting in the post office in the early morning that should have been shipped out for delivery the night before.

Mila Mimica / KGW-TV:
Seven USPS mail sorting machines dismantled in Portland

Discussion: WOOD-TV

Orion Rummler / Axios:

Hunter Biden slated to speak at final night of DNC — Hunter Biden is scheduled to speak at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, during the curtain-raiser to his father's high-profile acceptance speech as the Democratic nominee. — Why it matters: Trump and his allies …

Discussion: Politico

Daniella Genovese / Fox News:
DNC speakers: What to know about Michael Bloomberg

Discussion: Politico and Sean Hannity

Matthew Choi / Politico:
Hunter Biden to talk at Democratic convention

Discussion: Fox News and The Hill

Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:
Tara Reade speaks out on Democratic convention, says party ‘complicit’ in ‘gaslighting’ survivors

Discussion: Townhall, The Post Millennial and New York Post

Mike Allen / Axios:
Scoop: Jon Meacham to speak on Democratic convention's last night

Discussion: Penguin Random House and The Hill

New York Times:

Trump Must Turn Over Tax Returns to D.A., Judge Rules — A federal judge rejected the president's argument that a subpoena seeking eight years of his tax returns was ‘wildly overbroad.’ — A federal judge on Thursday rejected President Trump's latest effort to block the Manhattan district attorney …

Discussion: TheGrio and POLITICUSUSA

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Judge tosses Trump's attempt to block subpoena from Manhattan prosecutors for financial docs

Discussion: ABC News, Associated Press, The Hill, Reuters and POLITICUSUSA

Christopher J. Sprigman / New Republic:
A Constitutional Weapon for Biden to Vanquish Trump's Army of Judges

Discussion: Raw Story

Brian Stelter / Vanity Fair:

“Hannity Has Said to Me More Than Once, 'He's Crazy'”: Fox News Staffers Feel Trapped in the Trump Cult — Inside the network staffers are cringing, and even Trump's “shadow chief of staff” has his doubts. “If you were hearing what I'm hearing, you'd be vaping too,” Sean Hannity told a colleague during Trump's early days.

Discussion: Redstate, Raw Story and The Week

Adm. Steve Abbot / Defending Democracy Together:

A STATEMENT BY FORMER REPUBLICAN NATIONAL SECURITY OFFICIALS — We are former national security officials who served during the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and/or Donald Trump, or as Republican Members of Congress.

Discussion: Foreign Policy, POLITICUSUSA and The Hill

David E. Sanger / New York Times: Top Republican National Security Officials Say They Will Vote for Biden

Hanna Trudo / The Daily Beast: Controversial GOP Foreign Policy Hand John Negroponte Endorses Biden

Victoria McGrane Globe / The Boston Globe:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorses Joe Kennedy in race against Ed Markey — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is endorsing Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III in his primary challenge to incumbent Senator Edward J. Markey, a boost for the challenger in what polls suggest is a neck-and-neck race.

Discussion: Washington Post, Axios, Sean Hannity, The Daily Caller, Roll Call, Mediaite and Twitchy

Laura Olson / Morning Call:

Joe Biden leads Donald Trump narrowly among Pennsylvania voters in new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll — As Democrat Joe Biden formally accepts his party's presidential nomination, a new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll shows him with a narrow lead over Republican President Donald Trump …

The Daily Beast:

Putin Critic Alexey Navalny Allegedly Poisoned by Toxin in His Tea — The Russian anti-corruption activist was rushed to the hospital in an unconscious state on Thursday morning, according to his press secretary. — MOSCOW—Vladimir Putin's nemesis, corruption fighter Aleksey Navalny …

Discussion: One America News Network, The Daily Caller and New York Post

New York Times:
Aleksei Navalny Hospitalized in Russia in Suspected Poisoning

Discussion: NBC News, Breitbart, Associated Press, CNN and Foreign Policy

Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal:

Troubled Covid-19 Data System Returning to CDC — Trump administration says hospitals will soon report new cases to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after rocky shift to Health and Human Services drew criticism — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is reversing course …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Ryan Lizza / Politico:

Obama torches Trump like American democracy depends on it — Barack Obama went high. — On the third night of the Democratic convention — a word that seems increasingly absurd to describe what is really just two hours of nightly programming from the DNC — the former president delivered …

Discussion: Reuters, New York Magazine, Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Moderate Voice, New York Times, CNN, CBS News, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, Political Wire, NBC News, Axios, Politico, MSNBC and NBC News

Marisa Fernandez / Axios:

GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy tests positive for coronavirus — Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said Thursday that he tested positive for the coronavirus, and is “strictly following the direction of our medical experts” by quarantining, local ABC affiliate WBRZ reports. — The big picture …

Discussion: WBRZ, Politico and Associated Press

Lyft:

Rideshare operations are being suspended in California — At 11:59PM PT today our rideshare operations in California will be suspended. This is not something we wanted to do, as we know millions of Californians depend on Lyft for daily, essential trips. We're personally reaching out to riders …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Associated Press, Bloomberg, TheBlaze, The Verge, KNSD-TV, Mashable, The Week, Fortune, UPI, VentureBeat and CBS San Francisco, more at Techmeme »

Jeremy B. White / Politico:
Uber and Lyft threaten to take their cars and go home

Discussion: One America News Network, New York Times and The Verge

Aaron Katersky / ABC News:

Prosecutors looking to reinstate indictment against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for mortgage fraud — The case was initially dismissed due to its similarity to the federal charges — The Manhattan District Attorney's office fought Thursday to reinstate the indictment …

Discussion: Raw Story

Courier-Journal:

US Senate report says Russian investor in Braidy Industries' mill is a proxy for the Kremlin — A Russian company that has invested in Braidy Industries' planned aluminum rolling mill in Eastern Kentucky was identified as a proxy of the Kremlin in a new report the Senate Intelligence Committee released this week.

Discussion: Raw Story

Richard Salame / The Intercept:

Trump Comes Up Empty When Pressed for Evidence of Election Fraud in Court — President Donald Trump's campaign, ordered by a federal court judge in Pennsylvania to back up its claims of fraud in the state's vote-by-mail system, has documented only a handful of cases of election fraud in recent years …

Discussion: Raw Story