memeorandum: CDC's credibility is eroded by internal blunders and external attacks as coronavirus vaccine campaigns loom (Washington Post)

11:50 AM ET, September 28, 2020

Top Items:

LONG-CONCEALED RECORDS SHOW TRUMP'S CHRONIC LOSSES AND YEARS OF TAX AVOIDANCE — The Times obtained Donald Trump's tax information extending over more than two decades, revealing struggling properties, vast write-offs, an audit battle and hundreds of millions in debt coming due.

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, CNBC, Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Fox News, National Review, NBC News, Politico, Mediaite, Townhall, The Bulwark, Raw Story, Political Wire, Breitbart, Forbes, HuffPost, WTOP, The Week, America's Voice, POLITICUSUSA, Law & Crime, The Gateway Pundit, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, The Root, Daily Kos, OpsLens, New York Post, Twitchy, Reason, Outside the Beltway, Bulwark+, CBS Boston, The Hill, Gizmodo, Foreign Policy, The Message Box, Balloon Juice, Washington Monthly, American Prospect, Redstate, IJR, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Caller, Althouse, Axios, Vox, Washington Times, Slate, NPR, Wall Street Journal, Deadline, Variety, TMZ.com, Blue Virginia, TheStreet, The Daily Beast, Vanity Fair, Mother Jones, One America News Network, WCCO | CBS Minnesota, myfox8.com, Bloomberg, Reuters, Patterico's Pontifications, NBC4 Washington, The Mahablog, Breaking911, CANNONFIRE and Eschaton

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

18 Revelations From a Trove of Trump Tax Records — Times reporters have obtained decades of tax information the president has hidden from public view. Here are some of the key findings. — The New York Times has obtained tax-return data for President Trump and his companies that covers more than two decades.

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:

Trump's Taxes Show He's a National Security Threat — What trade-offs would a president with this level of indebtedness be willing to make to save face? — In a tour de force of hard won reporting, the New York Times has put numerical clothing on what we've known about President Donald Trump …

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, Townhall, Raw Story, The Guardian, OpsLens, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite and FOX 2

Zach Montellaro / Politico:
Nearly 1 million Americans have already voted

Discussion: OpsLens, WTOP and The Hill

Jason Easley / POLITICUSUSA:
Ivanka Trump Could Be Going Down Thanks To Her Dad's Tax Fraud

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, The Guardian, The Week, Law & Crime and Reuters

David Corn / Mother Jones:
Why Donald Trump's Tax Returns Matter

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Moderate Voice, Raw Story and America's Voice

Jill Colvin / Associated Press:
Trump's tax revelation could tarnish image that fueled rise

Discussion: Breitbart, Reuters, Washington Post, Raw Story, Forbes, POLITICUSUSA, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Kos and The Week

New York Times:
Charting an Empire: A Timeline of Trump's Finances

Discussion: The Week, Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Guardian, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

NBC News:
With Supreme Court pick, Trump is once again on the wrong side of public opinion

Discussion: New York Times, Breitbart and Washington Post

Dean Baquet / New York Times:
An Editor's Note on the Trump Tax Investigation

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Week, CNN, Politico, The Hill, Breitbart, IJR, Redstate, The Guardian and Axios, more at Mediagazer »

Brett Clarkson / Sun-Sentinel:

Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale hospitalized after he was armed and threatening to harm himself, Fort Lauderdale police say — FORT LAUDERDALE — A tense situation unfolded at a home owned by Brad Parscale, the former campaign manager for President Donald Trump's reelection campaign …

Michelle Solomon / WPLG-TV:

Former Trump campaign manager, Brad Parscale, armed, barricades self in Fort Lauderdale home, police called — FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Former campaign manager for Donald Trump, Brad Parscale, who was replaced by the President less than four month until November's vote was reportedly armed …

Discussion: Townhall, OpsLens, POLITICUSUSA, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

CNN:
Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale hospitalized following reported suicide attempt

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Washington Post and CBS Miami

New York Times:
Brad Parscale, Ex-Campaign Manager for Trump, Is Hospitalized in Florida

Discussion: Bloomberg

Monica Alba / NBC News:

Redfield voices alarm over influence of Trump's new coronavirus task force adviser — WASHINGTON — The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has grown increasingly concerned that President Donald Trump, pushed by a new member of his coronavirus task force …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Hill, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, CNBC, Raw Story, The Week and Political Wire

Washington Post: CDC's credibility is eroded by internal blunders and external attacks as coronavirus vaccine campaigns loom

Washington Post:

Trump suggested naming his daughter Ivanka as his running mate in 2016, according to new book by Rick Gates — As Donald Trump's top campaign aides began a discussion in June 2016 about who the presumptive Republican presidential nominee should select as his running mate, the candidate piped up with an idea.

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, IJR, The Hill, The Week and Raw Story

Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg:
Trump Considered Daughter Ivanka as 2016 Running Mate, Book Says

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Guardian

Steve Peoples / Associated Press:

Pandemic overwhelms Trump's message in critical N. Carolina — WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump is fighting to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, howling with unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud and warning that violent mobs are infiltrating the suburbs.

Discussion: The Dispatch, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Associated Press, ABC News, OpsLens, Blue Virginia and IJR

Michael Kruse / Politico: ‘The Women Around Him Are Accessories to His Brand’

Juan Williams / The Hill:

Trump's Supreme Court power grab — One of the first questions at Tuesday night's presidential debate is sure to be about the far-right's frantic rush to get a Trump nominee added to the Supreme Court with the election little more than a month away. — But there is a bigger question.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and The Week

Richard Blumenthal / National Review:
Amy Coney Barrett Is an Exceptional Nominee for the Supreme Court

Discussion: American Prospect, Hartford Courant, Florida Politics, Reuters, The Nation, CNN, The Daily Beast and The Week

Wall Street Journal: The Importance of Amy Coney Barrett

Joy Pullmann / The Federalist:
The Left Hates Amy Coney Barrett Because She Disproves All Their Lies About Women

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Beast and Washington Post

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

If Race Comes Down to Omaha, Poll Shows Biden Has an Edge — Nebraska's Second Congressional District could play a decisive role in a very close election. — In a close race, the presidential election could be decided by an unlikely spot: Nebraska's Second Congressional District, including Omaha and most of its suburbs.

Discussion: Political Wire

Washington Post:

Joe Biden for president — In order to expel the worst president of modern times, many voters might be willing to vote for almost anybody. — Fortunately, to oust President Trump in 2020, voters do not have to lower their standards. The Democratic nominee, former vice president Joe Biden …

Discussion: Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, Political Wire, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Politico, UnHerd and The Hill

Hilary Sargent / The Informant:

Christopher Cantwell guilty of extortion and threats — After a four-day trial, the neo-Nazi podcaster was found guilty on two charges. He now faces a maximum sentence of 22 years. — CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE — Christopher Cantwell, the neo-Nazi podcaster charged by federal prosecutors …

Alec MacGillis / New Yorker:

The Students Left Behind by Remote Learning — The desire to protect children may put their long-term well-being at stake. — This article is a collaboration between The New Yorker and ProPublica. — Shemar, a twelve-year-old from East Baltimore, is good at math, and Karen Ngosso …

USA Today:

Trump wants to run on his record. We hope he does. It's been a disaster for America. — Trump's historically, mind-bogglingly bad record is on the ballot. He has destroyed lives and livelihoods, weakened America and risked our democracy. — At some point during the debates …

Discussion: Informed Comment

Sharyn Alfonsi / CBS News:

Why a private section of the border wall is allegedly failing — 60 Minutes reports on the construction firm that earned billions of dollars in government contracts after working with a conservative fundraising campaign accused of fraud to build sections of the border wall on private land that engineers say will likely fail.

Discussion: Law & Crime and Political Wire

Miranda Devine / New York Post:

Project Veritas uncovers ‘ballot harvesting fraud’ in Minnesota — A ballot-harvesting racket in Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar's Minneapolis district — where paid workers illegally gather absentee ballots from elderly Somali immigrants — has been busted by undercover news organization Project Veritas.

Project Veritas:
Ilhan Omar Connected Cash-For-Ballots Voter Fraud Scheme Corrupts Elections: 'There Here Are All Absentee Ballots...Look...My Car Is Full..." ‘Money Is The King Of Everything’

Discussion: The National Pulse, israpundit.org, Louder With Crowder, Breitbart, Townhall, The Gateway Pundit and Power Line

Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:

Democratic super PAC jumps into South Carolina race against Lindsey Graham — The main super PAC supporting the election of Democrats to the Senate is preparing to invest millions in South Carolina — a fresh signal that Democrats see the race against Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) as winnable.

Discussion: The Hill and Political Wire

Politico:

Pelosi begins mustering Democrats for possible House decision on presidency — Speaker Nancy Pelosi has begun mobilizing Democrats for the possibility that neither Joe Biden nor President Donald Trump will win an outright Electoral College victory, a once-in-a-century phenomenon that would send …