HOW REALITY-TV FAME HANDED TRUMP A $427 MILLION LIFELINE  —  Tax records show that “The Apprentice” rescued Donald J. Trump, bringing him new sources of cash and a myth that would propel him to the White House.  —  From the back seat of a stretch limousine heading to meet the first contestants …

Trump camp seeks extra debate rule: Third party inspectors to look for electronic devices in candidates' ears  —  Biden campaign asking for two breaks during the 90 minute commercial free showdown  —  Top Trump campaign advisers preview first presidential debate

Trump Secretly Mocks His Christian Supporters  —  One day in 2015, Donald Trump beckoned Michael Cohen, his longtime confidant and personal attorney, into his office.  Trump was brandishing a printout of an article about an Atlanta-based megachurch pastor trying to raise $60 million from his flock to buy a private jet.

Schumer Refuses to Meet With Amy Coney Barrett, Calls Process ‘Illegitimate’  —  BARRETT, SPURNED  —  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he doesn't plan to meet with Amy Coney Barrett, Trump's Supreme Court nominee officially announced Saturday.

Electoral College Rating Changes: Ohio and Iowa Move to Toss Up  —  In mid-June, we moved both Iowa and Ohio from Likely Republican to Lean Republican.  At the time, we noted that while the polls were looking shaky for Pres. Trump, they were also catching him at what could be his lowest point of the cycle.

Trump's Pennsylvania problem  —  With the first general election presidential debate set for Tuesday night, state polls are coming thick and fast.  And perhaps none of them speak to how much President Trump has his work cut out for him than Pennsylvania.  —  Two new polls released Monday …

The art of diversion  —  On Sunday, the New York Times obtained Trump's tax returns, which revealed that he paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017.  But wait, look over there!  —  Project Veritas, an organization run by right-wing polemicist James O'Keefe, claims it has …

Trump — not Biden — is being underestimated going into the debate  —  In 2016, during one of her first prep sessions for the presidential debates with Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton listened to a litany of attacks from Philippe Reines, a longtime aide who was playing the role of Trump …

Analysis: Question of how Donald Trump's Scottish resorts are financed even more urgent  —  The revelatory reporting by the New York Times into Donald Trump's taxes shines a light on an area of the US president's finances that has long been shrouded in mystery, and with mere weeks to go until …

Behind the White House Effort to Pressure the C.D.C. on School Openings  —  Documents and interviews show how senior officials sought to play down the risks of sending children back to the classroom, alarming public health experts.  —  WASHINGTON — Top White House officials pressured …

Trump Has Sold Off America's Credibility for His Personal Gain  —  From China to Ukraine, this president has acted at odds with American foreign policy.  Imagine what he could do with four more years.  —  Lt. Col. Vindman served on the National Security Council.

Postal Service workers quietly resist DeJoy's changes with eye on election  —  Many USPS employees see recent cost-cutting changes that have slowed mail delivery as violating the spirit, if not the letter, of the law.  —  This summer, as controversial new procedures at the U.S. Postal Service snarled …

Brooklyn Voters Receive Absentee Ballot Envelopes With Wrong Voter Names And Addresses  —  The New York City Board of Elections has mailed out nearly half a million absentee ballots ahead of Election Day this November, as many New Yorkers are opting to vote by mail during the pandemic.

They wanted disruption in 2016.  Now they're Trump defectors  —  Shawna Jensen's moment of reckoning came in March, as she sat in her suburban Fort Worth, Texas, living room next to her fireplace.  Her laptop was open to a Zoom happy hour with five girlfriends.  She sucked in a breath, gripping her glass of red wine.

Grand jury proceedings in Breonna Taylor case will be released following judge's order, Kentucky attorney general says  —  Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Monday night that he will release the recording of the grand jury proceedings in the case of Breonna Taylor to the court on Wednesday.

Ohio could be Biden's best shot at keeping Trump from contesting the 2020 election  —  Typically, presidential elections are fought and won in the so-called tipping-point states — places such as Wisconsin or Pennsylvania that statisticians  —  consider most likely to put one candidate …

Barr's Justice Department serves up talking points for Trump  —  The prosecution of Michael Flynn.  A Senate investigation into the provenance of the Steele Dossier.  The nascent federal probe of discarded absentee ballots in Pennsylvania.  —  In recent days, the Justice Department …

Senate Democrats want to avoid Kavanaugh 2.0  —  Senate Democrats say they want to avoid a replay of the bitter fighting that characterized Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's 2018 Senate confirmation hearings, which centrist former Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) …

Immigrants Say They Were Pressured Into Unneeded Surgeries  —  Immigrants detained at an ICE-contracted center in Georgia said they had invasive gynecology procedures that they later learned might have been unnecessary.  —  Wendy Dowe was startled awake early one morning in January 2019 …

Meet a Secret Trump Voter  —  'Being a lesbian who's voting for Trump is like coming out of the closet again.'  —  Chris is a registered Democrat in her 50s who lives in Manhattan.  She's well-educated, well-traveled and well-informed.  She has voted for candidates of both parties …

Jill Biden Is the Candidate Now, and Everyone Knows It  —  Yesterday, Joe Biden once again called a “lid” before most people in the country clock in for work.  That's become a pattern over the last month, with him taking off nearly half the days that a candidate would normally be campaigning their tail off.

Media Gunning For Scott Atlas Because He Keeps Exposing Coronavirus Lies  —  ‘Everything he says is false,’ NBC News quoted CDC Director Robert Redfield as saying of Atlas.  That's just not true, top epidemiologists told The Federalist.  —  Centers for Disease Control Director …

‘He just lies’: Florida's senior voters suddenly are in play  —  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida seniors, long an unflinching bloc of reliable GOP votes, are suddenly in play as President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus has his reelection campaign on the defensive.

‘To Represent All Mississippians’: Hyde-Smith Ad Uses Russian, Canadian Footage  —  Canadian, Russian, South African and Ukrainian models appear in U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith's first 2020 campaign ad for her Mississippi campaigns—but no Mississippians.  Instead, the ad uses stock footage …

‘Deeply unpatriotic’: Mary Trump slams the president for not paying taxes for years … WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's niece, Mary Trump, say the topic of her uncle not paying income taxes for 10 of the last 15 years must be “hammered on” during the first general election debate Tuesday night.

A Military 1st: A Supercarrier Is Named After An African American Sailor  —  FROM NORTH CAROLINA PUBLIC RADIO - WUNC  —  Military names can echo down through the ages, a fact underlined by the current fight in Washington, D.C., between President Trump and Congress, which has voted to strip …