memeorandum: Portsmouth community leaders asking for Police Chief Angela Greene to resign immediately after felony charges against Sen. Louise Lucas, 13 others (Nana-Séntuo Bonsu/WTKR-TV)

2:55 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, Vox 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: Politico, 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: Spectator USA, Task & Purpose, Raw Story, Mediaite, Law & Crime, The US Sun and IJR

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

NBC New York:

Former Trump Campaign Boss Steve Bannon Indicted for Fraud in NY — What to Know — Former Trump campaign CEO and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is among four people indicted for fraud in New York — Federal prosecutors allege key figures behind the “We Build the Wall” …

Discussion: JONATHAN TURLEY, Raw Story and The Post Millennial

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, National Review, The American Independent, NPR and HillReporter.com

Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:

Bannon Grifter Indictment: More Steel Bracelets for Team Trump — All this winning makes my wrists hurt! — Oh, what a summer it's been for those salt-of-the-earth, God-fearing, Second Amendment-protecting, border-defending members of President Trump's circle of trusted advisers.

Discussion: Eschaton

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

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

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: 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: POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, The Post Millennial, WisconsinWatch.org, TheGrio and The Daily Caller

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

Discussion: WOOD-TV

Zachary Basu / Axios:

Judge throws out Trump's effort to block subpoena for financial records — A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit from President Trump that sought to block Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's subpoena for his financial records. — Why it matters: The Supreme Court ruled …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, Associated Press, One America News Network and Raw Story

New York Times:
Trump Must Turn Over Tax Returns to D.A., Judge Rules

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

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

Andrew Stiles / Washington Free Beacon: In Dark and Divisive Speech, Obama Seeks to Turn Back Clock on America

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Obama's Convention Speech Is the First Time I Have Seen Him Scared

Discussion: Townhall, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, CNN, NPR and The Root

Stephen Collinson / CNN:
Obama issues a dire warning about American democracy in stunning rebuke of Trump

Discussion: CBS News, Axios, Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Week, MinnPost, American Greatness and Washington Post

Kyle Sammin / The Federalist:

Kamala Harris Nod Tells Blue-Collar Workers Democrats Are Done With Them — Harris is now the voice of a new, aloof, wealthier liberalism that seeks only to manage the decline of America's economic might. — In the presidential election of 2016, voters in each of the major parties …

Discussion: The Salmon of Knowledge

Richard Wolffe / The Guardian:
Obama returned to torment Trump in ways that only a member of the Oval Office club can

Discussion: NBC News, Reason, POLITICUSUSA, IJR and Raw Story

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner: What will NeverTrumpers do if Biden and Harris win?

Ann Coulter:
The Jared Kushner Achievement Award Goes to ... Kamala!

Discussion: Townhall

Roger Kimball / Spectator USA:
For the Democrats' sake, I hope the DNC viewership is low

Discussion: American Greatness

Marisa Schultz / Fox News:
Obama to say Trump ‘never’ took presidency seriously, Clinton to call president ‘dangerous’ in DNC speeches

Discussion: Vox, Vanity Fair, Breitbart and The Daily Beast

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: The Week and Raw Story

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: Axios, Roll Call, The Daily Caller, 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 …

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

New York Times:
The Trump Campaign Accepted Russian Help to Win in 2016. Case Closed.

Discussion: DCReport.org, Washington Post, Raw Story and Sputnik News

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

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: Bloomberg, KNSD-TV, Mashable, TechCrunch, The Verge, Fortune, VentureBeat, UPI 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

Nana-Séntuo Bonsu / WTKR-TV:

Portsmouth community leaders asking for Police Chief Angela Greene to resign immediately after felony charges against Sen. Louise Lucas, 13 others — PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Community members in Portsmouth have some questions. “Why is it that they are attacking our leaders?”

Ganesh Setty / CNN: Virginia state senator turns herself in to face charges in connection with the dismantling of a Confederate monument

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