Barr attacks Justice Department staff, compares them to preschoolers  —  (CNN)Attorney General William Barr slammed the hundreds of Justice Department prosecutors working beneath him on Wednesday, equating them to preschoolers, in a defense of his own politically tuned decision making in the Trump administration.

Federal officials stockpiled munitions, sought ‘heat ray’ device before clearing Lafayette Square, whistleblower says  —  Hours before law enforcement forcibly cleared protesters from Lafayette Square in early June amid protests over the police killing of George Floyd, federal officials began …

New Survey Results From KFF/Cook Political Report Survey in AZ, Fl, and NC.  AZ Moves to Lean Dem  —  There are two key geographic battlegrounds for the Electoral College this year.  One is the Midwest that until 2016, had been reliably Democratic.  The other is the fast-growing Sun Belt section …

GOP growing more indifferent with Trump controversies as election nears  —  Washington (CNN)Public health experts reacted with alarm after President Donald Trump held an indoor rally with thousands of maskless supporters at a packed arena in Nevada amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Donald Trump accused of sexual assault by former model Amy Dorris  —  Exclusive: Amy Dorris alleges Trump forced his tongue down her throat and groped her at 1997 US Open  —  A former model has come forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her at the US Open tennis tournament …

Romney says Biden probe ‘not legitimate role of government’  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Mitt Romney is sharply criticizing an investigation by his own party into Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's son, saying it's “not the legitimate role of government” to try and damage political opponents.

A scrapped plan to ship masks to Americans.  A standoff with Amazon amid pressure from Trump.  New documents detail USPS's spring in crisis.  —  Nearly 10,000 pages of emails, memos and other private documents offer new details about the agency's struggles and the pro-Trump figures to whom it turned for advice

COVID-19 emails from Nashville mayor's office show disturbing revelation  —  The coronavirus cases on lower Broadway may have been so low that the mayor's office and the metro health department decided to keep it secret.  Emails between the mayor's senior advisor and the health department reveal only a partial picture.

The Election Needs Oversight  —  Congress should establish a bipartisan commission to monitor voting and ensure that laws and regulations are followed.  —  Mr. Coats served as the director of national intelligence from 2017 to 2019.  —  We hear often that the November election is the most consequential in our lifetime.

Postal Service Stiffed $20 Million Cost of Delivering Trump COVID-19 Mailer  —  “The U.S. Postal Service is a self-funding agency,” said Kevin Kosar, a fellow at American Enterprise Institute.  “By law it should be paid whenever it provides delivery services.”  —  BEAST INSIDE

Jim Carrey to Play Joe Biden on SNL  —  ALRIGHTY THEN  —  NBC announced on Wednesday that actor Jim Carrey will be joining Saturday Night Live to play former Vice President Joe Biden when the show returns to 30 Rockefeller Center for its 46th season on Oct. 3.

'You can't attack a regular voter': Trump faces a retail-campaigning gap  —  President Donald Trump rarely interacts for extended periods with everyday Americans who haven't been pre-screened by the White House or campaign.  He's never been fond of retail politics, like the random visit to a coffee shop or diner.

Freedom Caucus presses McCarthy to launch long-shot bid to oust Pelosi  —  Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are quietly working to convince GOP leadership to sign off on a long-shot bid to oust Nancy Pelosi from the speakership, according to multiple sources …

Review: Woodward's Trump exposé ‘Rage’ reflects the lazy thinking that got us into this mess  —  If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.  —  They spoke 18 times.  Eighteen!

Russian Media Is Rooting for Civil War in America: ‘The Worse, the Better’  —  “It is better to remain neutral, but if we had to choose, then Trump is certainly ours.”  —  BEAST INSIDE  —  There is no shortage of local topics that interest the Kremlin—from the poisoning of an inconvenient dissident …

Barack Obama to release first volume of memoirs after election  —  Former President Obama's memoir will be published in two volumes — with a 768-page Volume 1, “A Promised Land,” out Nov. 17 in 25 languages, publisher Penguin Random House announced Thursday.

How Michael Caputo transformed what the public learned about coronavirus  —  After it became clear in mid-April that his administration's response to Covid-19 was threatening his re-election, President Donald Trump considered a leadership shake-up within a health department whose rivalries …

Yelp data shows 60% of business closures due to the coronavirus pandemic are now permanent  — Yelp on Wednesday released its latest Economic Impact Report, revealing business closures across the U.S. are increasing as a result of the coronavirus.  — As of Aug, 31, 163,735 businesses …

Navalny team says nerve agent was found on hotel room water bottle  —  MOSCOW (Reuters) - The nerve agent used to poison Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detected on an empty water bottle from his hotel room in the Siberian city of Tomsk, suggesting he was poisoned …

Chad Wolf appears ready to defy House subpoena to testify, DHS official says  —  Acting Secy Wolf: DHS needs a confirmed secretary  —  (CNN)Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf appears ready to defy a House subpoena issued last week for him to testify Thursday on threats to the US homeland …

On Rosh Hashanah call, Trump tells American Jews ‘We love your country’ and asks for their vote  —  WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump spent much of his 20-minute call with American Jewish leaders making the case for more American Jews to vote for him.  He closed by repeating a line that has raised their eyebrows before.

The Higher Wages of Growth  —  Before the pandemic, income growth soared and poverty fell to the lowest rate since 1959.  —  By The Editorial Board  —  In case you missed it, and most of the media did, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday that the median household income in 2019 grew a whopping 6.8% …

White House Watch  —  Trump Takes First Lead  —  President Trump has now edged to a one-point lead over Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the latest Rasmussen Reports' weekly White House Watch survey.  While statistically insignificant, it's the first time Trump has been ahead.

The latest crisis: Low-income students are dropping out of college this fall in alarming numbers  —  Many low-income students say they don't have good enough WiFi at home to take online courses.  —  In August, Paige McConnell became the first in her family to go to college — and the first to drop out.

The Big Ten might save its football season, but the myth of college sports has been shattered  —  Here is how important college football is in this country: By Tuesday afternoon, the University of Wisconsin had 2,160 students who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and all classes were being held virtually.

Invisible company owned by Rudy Giuliani got taxpayer-backed PPP money — but where did it go?  —  Giuliani's payroll company got a PPP loan from a Trump-friendly bank — but lists no employees.  Was it fraud?  —  view in app  —  Additional reporting was contributed by Kathleen O'Neill.

Trump blames blue states for the coronavirus death toll — but most recent deaths have been in red states  —  For months, President Trump has been scrambling to deflect criticism for the breadth of the coronavirus pandemic toward whatever target might be available.

Stanley Crouch, Towering Jazz Critic, Dead At 74  —  Stanley Crouch, the lauded and fiery jazz critic, has died.  According to an announcement by his wife, Gloria Nixon-Crouch, Stanley Crouch died at the Calvary Hospital in New York on Wednesday , following nearly a decade of serious health issues.