The Kenosha Shooting Suspect Was In The Front Row Of A Trump Rally In January  —  The law-enforcement obsessed 17-year-old who was charged with shooting and killing two people and injuring another in Kenosha during protests for Jacob Blake appeared in the front row at a Donald Trump rally in January.

POLITICO Playbook: More than 100 Bush-McCain-Romney alums go for Biden  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  IT'S THURSDAY, and President DONALD TRUMP will close the Republican convention this evening from the White House.  And, as the GOP seeks to rally around TRUMP 68 DAYS before Election Day, here's what the world looks like:

Over 100 Ex-Staff Members for John McCain Endorse Joe Biden  —  The group endorsement of Mr. Biden is the latest effort from anti-Trump Republicans to lure conservatives and moderates away from the president, who often clashed with the former Arizona senator.

Trump had public meltdown over missed phone call from Putin, former No 10 aide says  —  ‘If Putin wants a call with me you just put him through,’ US president yelled according to Theresa May's former chief of staff  —  Donald Trump exploded with anger at one of his most senior aides …

Room rentals, resort fees and furniture removal: How Trump's company charged the U.S. government more than $900,000  —  The Secret Service had asked for a room close to the president.  But Mar-a-Lago said it was too late.  The room was booked.  Would agents like a room across the street from the president, instead?

China Secretly Built A Vast New Infrastructure To Imprison Muslims  —  China rounded up so many Muslims in Xinjiang that there wasn't enough space to hold them.  Then the government started building.  —  Copy … China has secretly built scores of massive new prison and internment camps …

Covid-19 Live Updates: C.D.C. Director Walks Back New Testing Guidelines After Outcry; Website Remains Unchanged  —  Dr. Robert R. Redfield now says that “testing may be considered” for anyone exposed to the coronavirus.  But guidelines issued this week remain unchanged on the C.D.C. website.

We Need to Talk About the GOP's ‘Black Friends’  —  The Republican National Convention has been all about using Black people to convince white people it's OK to vote for a bigot.  —  In between the lies and the fear mongering and the stories about having intimate conversations with Jesus …

3 takeaways from the third night of the Republican National Convention  —  The Republican National Convention held its third of four prime-time sessions on Wednesday night, with Vice President Pence headlining and a younger generation of lesser-known Republicans featured on the undercard.

New Hot-Mic Video: What Trump Told His Lawyer When He Didn't Know a Camera Was Rolling  —  For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones' newsletters.  —  On December 10, 2015, Donald Trump took time off from campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination …

Turmoil consumes Chamber of Commerce as it backs Democrats  —  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is poised to endorse nearly two dozen freshmen House Democrats for reelection, triggering a revolt within the right-leaning organization and drawing fierce pushback from the group's powerful GOP donors.

“QAnon Is Batshit Crazy”: Lindsey Graham Talks TikTok, Online Conspiracies, and Why He's Sticking With Trump  —  The South Carolina senator, facing a tough reelection fight, recalls warning Trump not to shut down TikTok after getting calls from Hannity, Petraeus, and his niece …

Wisconsin authorities say there was knife in Jacob Blake's vehicle  —  Blake admitted he had a knife in his possession, which was found in the driver's side floorboard, police say.  —  Jacob Blake, the man wounded by a police officer In Kenosha, Wis., on Sunday, had a knife in his car …

Is Kenosha a Warning for the Biden Campaign?  —  Listening to swing state voters in Arizona and North Carolina.  —  On Wednesday night I remotely conducted two focus groups, one in North Carolina and one in Arizona.  —  The demographics of the groups were the same.  Both consisted of 2016 Trump voters.

Why This Pro-Life Conservative Is Voting for Biden  —  Since I announced publicly that I will be voting for Joe Biden in November, I've received a few communications from puzzled readers.  “How can you, a supposedly pro-life woman, support someone who believes in killing babies?”

Melania Trump's Ex-BFF Tells (Almost) All An insider's account of falling out with the First Lady.  —  Excerpted from Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship With the First Lady, by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff  —  I'd heard Melania Trump speak before.  But I'd never heard her sound like this.

2 George W. Bush Cabinet secretaries endorse Biden  —  Former Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and former Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, who both served in the George W. Bush administration, endorsed Joe Biden on Thursday.  —  Why it matters: They join the more than 225 Bush …

Iowa counties can't set up drop box systems for absentee ballots, secretary of state says  —  The Iowa Secretary of State's Office says county auditors cannot set up drop boxes to accept absentee ballots this fall — something several auditors say they did during this year's primary election.

States of Play: North Carolina  —  Dear Readers: In the next installment of our States of Play series — in which we are taking an in-depth look at the key states that will decide the presidential election — we look at North Carolina, a state that both parties have made serious attempts at winning since 2008.

Trump says election workers, not USPS, could lead to 2020 miscount  —  WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is shifting his focus from the U.S. Postal Service in his concerns about potential fraud in mail-in voting, claiming problems with mailed ballots lie with local elections officials who are “going to count them wrong.”