memeorandum: Trump is too much of a threat for anyone to ‘abstain’ from voting (Jonathan Capehart/Washington Post)

6:30 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: NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Vox, New York Post, The Daily Caller and Wall Street Journal, more at Mediagazer »

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: National Review, Washington Post, The American Independent, Daily Kos, The US Sun, Spectator USA, The Gateway Pundit, Task & Purpose, Law & Crime, IJR, The Daily Caller and Raw Story

Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:

The “Narcissism and Ego” That Led to Steve Bannon's Arrest — On Thursday, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York charged Steve Bannon—a top strategist on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, and one of his key White House advisers before being fired, in 2017—with fraud.

Discussion: Raw Story

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

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, JONATHAN TURLEY, Breitbart, NBC Connecticut, Raw Story and The Post Millennial

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
Bannon's indictment confirms that the American right is made up of con artists

Discussion: Raw Story, The Mahablog, Politico and Mother Jones

Washington Post:
Steve Bannon charged with defrauding donors in private effort to raise money for Trump's border wall

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed News, Political Flare, Axios, Politico, Raw Story, Mother Jones, Forbes, Mediaite, The Guardian, Outside the Beltway and The Week

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:
The ‘We Build The Wall’ Huckster Is Accused of Duping Donors. Turns Out, He Planned To Sell Their Data Too.

Discussion: Fox News and Reuters

Shane Savitsky / Axios:
Steve Bannon pleads not guilty to fraud charges

Discussion: Reuters, HillReporter.com, Rolling Stone, Redstate, NPR, The American Independent and UPI

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

Discussion: National Review and Eschaton

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon arrested on charges of defrauding donors in fundraising scheme

Discussion: CNN and TheBlaze

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

Aaron Gordon / VICE:

USPS Warns Employees Not to Speak to Press — Memos obtained by Motherboard warn USPS employees that nosy customers could be sneaky reporters. — Aaron Gordon — Memos are trickling down the United States Postal Service bureaucracy warning employees that they should not speak to the press …

Discussion: Raw Story

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Dems say evidence shows DeJoy was picked to lead Postal Service after ‘highly irregular’ process

Discussion: New York Times and The Hill

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: Washington Post, Axios, Foreign Policy, POLITICUSUSA and The Hill

David E. Sanger / New York Times:

Top Republican National Security Officials Say They Will Vote for Biden — In a letter released hours before Joe Biden is set to deliver his nomination acceptance speech, over 70 senior officials called President Trump “unfit to lead” and outlined their support for his opponent.

Tim Reid / Reuters:
Former Republican CIA, FBI heads and national security officials to back Biden

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Times:

The Republican Embrace of QAnon Goes Far Beyond Trump — As the president all but endorses the internet-driven conspiracy theory, it is shifting from the fringes of the internet to become an offline political movement. — Late last month, as the Texas Republican Party was shifting into campaign mode …

Discussion: Raw Story, National Review, The Daily Caller, Forbes and Axios

Ben Kesslen / NBC News:
Trump's QAnon embrace draws GOP backlash

Discussion: Washington Post, The Bulwark and HillReporter.com

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

Discussion: Townhall, The Hill and The Daily Caller

Jared Holt / Right Wing Watch:
Texas QAnon Supporter Used Car to Attack Strangers She Believed Were ‘Pedophiles’

Discussion: New York Times

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.

Matthew Choi / Politico:

Hunter Biden to talk at Democratic convention — Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and a favorite punching bag of Republicans, plans to speak on Thursday during the last night of the Democratic National Convention. — Hunter Biden has been a common focal point …

Discussion: Reuters, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, The Hill, Breitbart, Fox News and Daily Kos

Adam Carlson / People.com:
Stephen and Ayesha Curry Say 'We're Voting for Joe Biden' and Will Appear with Their Kids at DNC

Discussion: Mercury News

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

Discussion: Axios, Townhall, New York Post, The Post Millennial and The Hill

Washington Post:
Trump says Biden, who was a child when his family left Pennsylvania, ‘abandoned’ the state

Discussion: The Hill

Orion Rummler / Axios:
Hunter Biden slated to speak at final night of DNC

Discussion: The Hill, Twitchy and Politico

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

Carla Marinucci / Politico:
Kamala Harris is now California's best shot at the White House. Where does that leave Newsom?

Discussion: Axios, Fox News, Breitbart and The Hill

Reuters:
Biden to accept Democratic nomination, lay out vision for post-Trump America

Discussion: Politico and The Daily Caller

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: Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, Forbes, The Hill, Axios, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Roll Call, Sean Hannity, New York Post and Twitchy

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Pelosi endorses Kennedy over Markey in tight Massachusetts Senate primary

Discussion: Fox News and Associated Press

NBC News:

Trump cabinet officials voted in 2018 White House meeting to separate migrant children, say officials — WASHINGTON — In early May 2018, after weeks of phone calls and private meetings, 11 of the president's most senior advisers were called to the White House Situation Room where they were asked …

Discussion: The Week and Mediaite

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, Political Flare, HillReporter.com, Raw Story and The Week

Chicago Tribune:

Citing threats, Mayor Lori Lightfoot defends ban on protesters on her block: ‘I have a right to make sure that my home is secure’ — Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended the Chicago Police Department's ban on protesters being able to demonstrate on the block where she lives, telling reporters Thursday …

Discussion: NBC Chicago

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, Associated Press, Reuters and The Daily Caller

Politico:

Falwell's use of yacht comes under scrutiny — Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. has repeatedly used a 164-foot yacht owned by NASCAR mogul Rick Hendrick for family vacations after the university committed to a lucrative sponsorship deal with Hendrick Motorsports …

Discussion: Raw Story

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: Jacobin, Bloomberg, CNN, TechCrunch, Reason, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, Washington Free Beacon, Associated Press, TheGrio, KNSD-TV, VentureBeat, CBS San Francisco, The Verge, Mashable, The Week, Fortune and UPI, more at Techmeme »

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

Discussion: Wired and New York Times

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: Talking Points Memo, Vanity Fair, DCReport.org, TheGrio, Mother Jones, Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA

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 …

Discussion: New York Times, TheBlaze and PoliticsPA

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

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