memeorandum: With no debate, will Trump and Biden face off in town halls on separate networks? (Jeremy Barr/Washington Post)

9:30 PM ET, October 12, 2020

Top Items:

Dr. Fauci: The Trump Campaign Is ‘In Effect, Harassing Me’ — The nation's top infectious disease expert says there is “not a chance” he quits the task force. But he's openly angry with how he's being politicized. … The nation's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci demanded …

Discussion: Political Wire, Alternet.org, TheBlaze, The Hill, Mediaite, The Week, ABC7 and Slate

Lara Seligman / Politico:

Top general did not give his consent to be used in Trump political ad — President Donald Trump's campaign is running an online political ad that uses an image of his vice president, his Pentagon chief and his most senior military adviser watching the raid on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from the Situation Room on Oct. 29, 2019.

Discussion: NPR, The Hill, Mediaite, New York Times and CNN

Paul LeBlanc / CNN:
Fauci says Trump campaign should take down ad featuring him

Discussion: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Axios, Slate, The Hill, The Wrap, Snopes.com, IJR, Raw Story, The Week, Duluth News Tribune, The American Independent, Washington Post, Mediaite, Vanity Fair, Boing Boing and Outside the Beltway

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Trump launches multimillion-dollar ad campaign aimed at winning back seniors

Discussion: New York Times, The Hill, CBS News, Fox News, Daily Kos and Florida Politics

USA Today:

Naked Republican hypocrisy is destroying trust in Supreme Court: Reagan, Bush lawyers — Republicans are using a deeply unfair process to confirm Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Build faith in democracy by letting the people decide. — When a vacancy on the Supreme Court arose nine months ahead …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, NPR and The Atlantic

WRAL-TV:

Poll: Supreme Court process more important in NC's Senate race than Cunningham's affair — RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina voters don't seem to mind that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham had an affair - he's even gained ground among male voters - according to the results of a WRAL News poll released Monday.

Tyler Olson / Fox News:

Schumer says Democrats won't give GOP quorum to advance Barrett nomination — Schumer called the Barrett confirmation effort ‘illegitimate, dangerous and unpopular’ — Barrett ‘completely capable’ to be on the high court: Keisha Russell — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer …

Discussion: Townhall, The American Independent, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Breitbart, LifeNews.com, Politico, Conservative News Today, The Daily Caller, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, TheBlaze, Raw Story, NPR and UPI

Maria Arias / Axios:
Mark Meadows refuses to wear mask while talking to reporters in Capitol

Discussion: Politico, Slate, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, One America News Network, The Week and Reuters, more at Mediagazer »

Axios:
Klobuchar: There's no “secret, clever, procedural way to stop” Barrett confirmation

Discussion: ABC News, Conservative News Today, VICE, Al Jazeera, Fox News, Political Wire and Mediaite

Joshua Holland / Alternet.org: Here's the truth behind the Republicans' big lie about ‘court-packing’

Libby Cathey / ABC News:
Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court confirmation hearing live updates

Discussion: Reuters, CBS News, The Hill, FiveThirtyEight, USA Today, New York Post, Washington Times, Forbes, Redstate, Fox News, IJR, Townhall and CBS Los Angeles

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:
Media Freak Out Over Mike Lee Following CDC's Coronavirus Guidelines

Discussion: NPR, Politico, IJR, Raw Story, Mic, The Week, Breitbart, The Wrap, Mediaite, Slate and Axios

Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Trump tests negative for coronavirus, ‘not infectious to others,’ White House physician says

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Breitbart, CNN, Bloomberg, Forbes, Al Jazeera, The Daily Caller, The Hill, TheBlaze, Washington Times, Mediaite, IJR, Raw Story, Associated Press, Deadline, Duluth News Tribune and WOWK-TV

Charles Creitz / Fox News:
Packing the Supreme Court would ‘do considerable violence to the institution’: Jonathan Turley

Discussion: Breitbart

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

As Trump Flouts Safety Protocols, News Outlets Balk at Close Coverage — Newspapers and networks are wary of exposing their staff members to the president and his aides, saying they do not have assurance that basic precautions will be taken to protect reporters' health.

Discussion: Political Wire, The Hill and Breitbart, more at Mediagazer »

Grace Panetta / Business Insider:

California Republicans embrace illegal ballot harvesting after Trump and the GOP spent months decrying the practice … The California Republican Party doubled down on its use of unauthorized ballot dropboxes, in violation of state law, shortly before state officials issued cease-and-desist orders compelling them to stop.

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, The Guardian, CBS Los Angeles and CBS San Francisco

Katie Shepherd / Washington Post:

California GOP installed unofficial ballot drop-off boxes. State officials say they're illegal. — The metal boxes have popped up around Southern California in recent weeks, from churches to gun stores to gyms. On the front, an authoritative-looking sign beckons to voters: “Official ballot drop-off box.”

Discussion: Townhall, Daily Kos, OC Vote, Fox News, The American Independent, Newsweek, KTLA, CBS Los Angeles, COURIER, The Daily Caller, Orange County Register, Mic, The Root and Talking Points Memo

Amy Taxin / Associated Press:
California GOP says it owns unofficial ballot drop boxes

Discussion: Slate, Snopes.com, NBC Los Angeles, Axios and CBS Los Angeles

New York Times:

2020 Election Live Updates: ‘Record’ Turnout for Early Voting in Georgia as Biden Campaigns in Ohio — Joe Biden will speak in Toledo and Cincinnati and President Trump, returning to the campaign trail, will travel to Florida. Senate hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett have begun.

Discussion: Washington Post, Breitbart and Daily Kos

Washington Post:
Long lines mark the first day of early voting in Georgia as voters flock to the polls

Discussion: Reuters, COURIER and No More Mister Nice Blog

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Trump Defectors Help Biden Build Leads in Wisconsin and Michigan — NEW YORK TIMES/ — SIENA COLLEGE POLL — Joe Biden leads Donald J. Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin. Mr. Biden's polling leads in both states would currently withstand a 2016-size polling miss. — 2016 Election Result NYT/Siena

Discussion: CNN, Politico, National Review, Daily Kos, Forbes, The Daily Caller, The Hill and Washington Times

Natasha Dado / WDIV-TV:

Eric Trump cancels event at Michigan gun shop after former employee is linked to domestic terror plot against governor — Former employee was fired and would show up to work in tactical gear, gun shop says — DETROIT - Eric Trump has canceled a Michigan based campaign event scheduled …

Discussion: Political Wire

Emma Brown / Washington Post:

Roberta W. McCain, maverick mother of Sen. John McCain, dies — Roberta McCain, an independent-minded oil heiress who was married to one of the Navy's highest-ranking officers and who displayed characteristic pluck when she took to the presidential campaign trail at age 96 on behalf of her son …

Discussion: New York Times, TheBlaze, WSYR, The Hill and The Week

ABC News:
Roberta McCain, John McCain's mother, dies at 108

Discussion: Reuters and NBC Los Angeles

Nick Paumgarten / New Yorker:

Andrew Cuomo, the King of New York — The Governor has been widely praised for his response to COVID. But his critics see a would-be authoritarian obsessed with settling scores. — The difference between doing the job and just appearing to do the job is rarely absolute.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair and Gothamist

Jesse McKinley / New York Times:
How a Feud Between Cuomo and de Blasio Led to a Chaotic Virus Crackdown

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Anna Wilde Mathews / Wall Street Journal:

Covid-19 Reinfection Documented in Nevada Adds to Questions on Virus Immunity — Case of man reinfected with the coronavirus, reported in a Lancet medical journal, joins a number of Covid-19 second-cases world-wide — A Nevada man became the first published case of Covid-19 reinfection in the U.S. …

Laura Bassett / ELLE:

Senator Gary Peters Shares His Abortion Story — He's the first sitting senator in history to do so. — United States Senator Gary Peters, a low-key, moderate Democrat from Michigan, is in a very tight re-election race that — could decide — whether his party wins the Senate.

Discussion: Forbes, ABC News, Raw Story, Newsweek, Alternet.org, New York Post, The 19th, Political Wire and Columbia Journalism Review, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:

‘Green tsunami’: Inside Senate Republicans' financial freak-out — In mid-April, senior advisers to a dozen Republican senators gathered on the second floor of the National Republican Senatorial Committee's offices, where NRSC executive director Kevin McLaughlin detailed …

Discussion: The American Independent, Daily Kos and Raw Story

Jeff Zeleny / CNN:
Trump's troubles weighing on Iowa Senate race as Joni Ernst fights for reelection

Discussion: The Message Box, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times and spiked

Bubba / WinRed:

WinRed: Zero to $1,000,000,000 in 15 Months — Today we're proud to report that Republicans raised over $1 Billion on WinRed in its first 15 months since launching. What took ActBlue 12 years to accomplish, WinRed did in a little over a year. — WinRed Lifetime Raised: $1,205,933,469

Zach Montellaro / Politico: GOP raises over $620M through WinRed in third quarter

Washington Post:

Trump's intel chief is undermining U.S. intelligence. He should resign. — Michael Morell, a contributing columnist for the Post, served as deputy director of the CIA from 2010 to 2013 and twice as acting director during that period. Mike Vickers served as undersecretary of defense for intelligence from 2011 to 2015.

Discussion: Raw Story and CNN

David Wallace-Wells / New York Magazine:

The Third Wave of the Pandemic Is Here — When Donald Trump checked into Walter Reed medical center more than a week ago, it appears likely to have marked the beginning of the end stage of his presidency. But it was also a milestone for the pandemic, and not just because COVID-19 had infected …

Max Burns / The Daily Beast:

Will Amy Coney Barrett Finally Explain Her Ties to Anti-Gay Hate Group? — She told Franken in 2017 that she was “generally aware” that the Alliance Defending Freedom had been categorized as a far-right hate group. What does she know about the group now? — BEAST INSIDE

Discussion: Breitbart and Fox News

Jake Offenhartz / Gothamist:

Police Arrest Heshy Tischler As His Backers Swarm Home Of The Jewish Journalist He Targeted — Four days after leading a violent mob against a journalist in clear view of NYPD officers, Heshy Tischler, the right-wing radio host and City Council candidate, was arrested by police outside his Borough Park home on Sunday night.

Discussion: New York Post, NPR, The Daily Caller, ABC News, Fox News, The Hill and CBS New York

Alan Rappeport / New York Times:

Trump Funnels Record Subsidies to Farmers Ahead of Election Day — Despite an extraordinary government bailout, America's agriculture sector remains under severe economic pressure. — WASHINGTON — For the American farmers whom President Trump counts on for support, the government money is flowing faster than ever.

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Jordan Schachtel / The Mass Illusion:

CDC: 85% of COVID-19 patients report ‘always’ or ‘often’ wearing a mask — Americans are wearing masks, but masks aren't working. — 7 hr — An underreported, recently-published CDC study adds to the pile of evidence that cloth masks or other forms of mandated face coverings only contribute negatives to our COVID-19 problem.

Discussion: Big League Politics and The Gateway Pundit

CBS News:

Black man led by rope by White cops on horseback suing for $1 million — Galveston, Texas — A Black man who was led by a rope by two white officers on horseback has sued a southeast Texas city and its police department for $1 million, saying he suffered humiliation and fear during his arrest.

Discussion: KVIA-TV, The Daily Caller, The Root, KHOU-TV and CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

Spectrum News Central NY:

Cuomo: No Interest in Going to D.C. for a Biden Cabinet — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said he has “no interest” in serving in a potential Joe Biden administration as attorney general. — Cuomo, interviewed on NBC's “Today” show earlier in the morning, insisted he wanted to remain in New York.

Discussion: Breitbart, NBC New York, Redstate, Politico and Conservative News Today