memeorandum: Government watchdog will probe Trump officials' interference at CDC, FDA (Dan Diamond/Politico)

6:10 PM ET, October 19, 2020

Top Items:

Laura Wagner / VICE:

New Yorker Suspends Jeffrey Toobin for Zoom Dick Incident — In a statement to VICE, Jeffrey Toobin apologized for the “embarrassingly stupid mistake.” — Laura Wagner — The New Yorker has suspended reporter Jeffrey Toobin. Sources tell VICE it's because he exposed himself during …

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

EXCLUSIVE: Fox News Passed on Hunter Biden Laptop Story Over Credibility Concerns — Mediaite has learned that Fox News was first approached by Rudy Giuliani to report on a tranche of files alleged to have come from Hunter Biden's unclaimed laptop left at a Delaware computer repair shop …

The Daily Beast:

FBI Examining Hunter's Laptop As Foreign Op, Contradicting Trump's Intel Czar — DNI Ratcliffe said on Monday there was no intel to support Russia being behind Hunter Biden's laptop contents. But investigators are still looking into it. — The FBI is investigating the purloined laptop materials …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, POLITICUSUSA, The Hill, NBC News, Fox News, The Federalist, Twitchy, Washington Times and Political Wire

Margot Cleveland / The Federalist:
The Biden Corruption Scandal Isn't About Hunter, It's About Joe

Discussion: Breitbart, The Post Millennial, Fox News, Townhall, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, The National Pulse and Conservative News Today

Raheem Kassam / The National Pulse:
Presidential Debate Commission Ditches Foreign Policy Focus Following Hunter Biden Laptop Leaks

Discussion: The Federalist, Breitbart, The Post Millennial and Raw Story

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Byron York's Daily Memo: What standard of proof for Hunter Biden laptop story?

Discussion: Breitbart and Fox News

Piers Morgan / Daily Mail:
Despite the best, biased efforts of Facebook, Twitter and the overwhelmingly Trump-hating media to kill the story, Biden now has serious questions to answer …

Discussion: Fox News

Adam Rawnsley / The Daily Beast:
Rudy's ‘Russian Agent’ Pal Booted from Facebook for U.S. Election Interference

Discussion: Axios, NBC News, Electronics Ward News and POLITICUSUSA

Associated Press:

The Latest: Trump says people tired of hearing about COVID — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the 2020 presidential campaign (all times local): — President Donald Trump says people are tired of hearing from Dr. Anthony Fauci “and all these idiots” about the coronavirus.

Discussion: Forbes, The Moderate Voice, WKMG, Washington Post, ABC News, Reuters and One America News Network

Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Trump trashes Fauci and makes baseless coronavirus claims in campaign call

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, TheBlaze and Axios

Jonathan LaPook / CBS News:
Fauci admits administration has restricted his media appearances, says he's not surprised Trump got COVID

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Beast, The Root, Mediaite, Breitbart, Washington Post, Forbes, Conservative News Today, IJR, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze and The Hill

Mario Parker / Bloomberg:
Trump Lumps Fauci Among ‘Idiots’ But Suggests He Won't Fire Him

Discussion: NBC News, CNBC, CNN, Raw Story and The Guardian

New York Times:
2020 Election Live Updates: Trump Dismisses Fauci as a ‘Disaster’ in Call With Campaign Staff

Discussion: Political Wire, The Hill, Florida Politics, IJR, The American Independent, NPR, New York Post, WTOP and Washington Post

Morgan Chalfant / The Hill:
Trump labels Fauci a ‘disaster’ on campaign call

Discussion: NBC News, Townhall, Mother Jones, Washington Post, New York Daily News, CNN, The Daily Caller and The Guardian

Washington Post:
Trump attacks ‘Fauci and these idiots’ in call with campaign staff intended to boost morale as polls show him trailing Biden

Discussion: Politico, Wall Street Journal and WHDH-TV

Marisa Fernandez / Axios:
Trump escalates attacks on Fauci as Election Day nears, COVID cases surge

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Nashville Public Radio, Political Wire and Associated Press

David Siders / Politico:

The hidden factors that could produce a surprise Trump victory — By almost every measure that political operatives, academics and handicappers use to forecast elections, the likely outcome is that Joe Biden will win the White House. — Yet two weeks before Election Day …

Discussion: USA Today, Breitbart, The Guardian, The Gateway Pundit, Townhall, Real Clear Politics, Associated Press, Washington Post, KXAN-TV and No More Mister Nice Blog

Associated Press:

2016 sequel? Trump's old attacks failing to land on Biden — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump stood before a crowd in a state that had once been firmly in his grasp. There were fewer than three weeks left in the campaign, one reshaped by a virus that has killed more than 215,000 Americans …

Discussion: Fox News, New York Times, ABC News, Forbes, Daily Kos, Raw Story and Florida Politics

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

The latest outbreak of GOP panic about Trump contains a key tell — With President Trump trailing by large margins in national polls and by smaller but meaningful ones in states he must win, Republicans are frantically sending up flares. In comments to news organizations …

Discussion: New York Times, Vanity Fair, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Commentary Magazine and The American Independent

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
How Fox News may be continuing to undermine Trump's reelection hopes

Discussion: Raw Story

CNN:
What if there's no winner on November 4?

Discussion: Political Wire and Roll Call

Andrew Romano / Yahoo News:

Yahoo News/YouGov poll: The tide turns against Trump as Biden surges to his largest-ever lead among likely voters — With only two weeks left until Election Day, Joe Biden's lead over President Trump has widened to 11 percentage points — Biden's biggest margin among likely voters in any Yahoo News/YouGov poll to date.

Sarah Longwell / The Atlantic:

Why People Who Hate Trump Stick With Him — President Donald Trump is losing to former Vice President Joe Biden by more than 10 percentage points in both the Real Clear Politics and FiveThirtyEight national polling averages. This historically large margin suggests that something amazing has happened …

Discussion: Politico, The Dispatch, The Hill, Los Angeles Times and Althouse

Scott Rasmussen / Political IQ:

“Never Trumpers” are key to Biden's Lead in the polls — A new PoliticalIQ.com national survey shows that so-called “Never Trumpers” are the key to former Vice President Joe Biden's lead in the polls. — The survey offered voters a choice between 4 presidential candidates with equal skills and temperaments.

Discussion: CNBC and Just The News

Washington Post:

U.S. charges Russian intelligence officers in several high-profile cyberattacks — The United States on Monday unsealed criminal charges against six Russian intelligence officers in connection with some of the world's most damaging cyberattacks, including disruption of Ukraine's power grid …

Discussion: Electronics Ward News and Engadget

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal: U.S. Charges Six Russian Intelligence Officers With Hacking

Eric Tucker / Associated Press:
6 Russian military officers charged in vast hacking campaign

Discussion: NPR, ABC News, Politico, Bloomberg, Denver Post, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, One America News Network and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

U.S. Department of Justice:
Six Russian GRU Officers Charged in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Destructive Malware and Other Disruptive Actions in Cyberspace

Discussion: Fox News, Talking Points Memo, UPI, Mediaite, The Verge, The Daily Beast and The Week, more at Techmeme »

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:
U.S. Charges Russian Intelligence Officers in Major Cyberattacks

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Electronics Ward News

Josh Dzieza / The Verge:

Inside the empty promises and empty buildings of Wisconn Valley. — THE 8TH WONDER OF THE WORLD* — *wonder not guaranteed — HOPES WERE HIGH — among the employees who joined Foxconn's Wisconsin project in the summer of 2018. In June, President Donald Trump had broken ground …

Discussion: The Hill, Balloon Juice and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Washington Post:

Trump's den of dissent: Inside the White House task force as coronavirus surges — As summer faded into autumn and the novel coronavirus continued to ravage the nation unabated, Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist whose commentary on Fox News led President Trump to recruit him to the White House …

Discussion: New York Times, The Mahablog, Vanity Fair, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, The Guardian, The Week, The Hill, The American Independent, Daily Kos, NBC News and CNBC

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook PM: Trump's closing message: Fauci is a dope — “'People are tired of Covid. People are saying, “Whatever, just leave us alone. ” People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots,' Trump said on the call, which included press. 'He's been here for, like, 500 years.

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, Political Wire, Deseret News and Electronics Ward News

Politico:

Biden would revamp fraying intel community — President Donald Trump was in the middle of receiving a highly classified briefing on Afghanistan at his New Jersey golf club when he suddenly craved a malted milkshake. — “Does anyone want a malt?” he asked the senior defense …

Discussion: The Hill, CNN, The Week and Breitbart

Martin Matishak / Politico:
Mark Warner keeps his head down on way to the election — and a possible Intel gavel

Discussion: Breitbart

New York Times:

Surprising Results in Initial Virus Testing in N.Y.C. Schools — The absence of outbreaks, if it holds, suggests that the city's efforts to return children to classrooms could serve as an influential model for the nation. — For months, as New York City struggled to start part-time …

Discussion: Gothamist, The Hill and Vox

Jeff Mason / Reuters:

Trump says he will test for COVID-19 before next presidential debate — PHOENIX (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would test for the coronavirus before the next presidential debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden this week. — “Sure I would have no problem with that …

Discussion: The Hill, CNBC, CNN and WHNT-TV

Dan Merica / CNN:
Debate commission to meet Monday to discuss potential rule changes ahead of final contest

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Raw Story, Deadline, Forbes and WTOP, more at Mediagazer »

Eyal Press / New Yorker:

Trump's Labor Secretary Is a Wrecking Ball Aimed at Workers — As Election Day looms, Eugene Scalia, a cunning lawyer committed to dismantling regulation, is weakening one employee protection after another. — On February 24, 2010, during a show at SeaWorld Orlando, a trainer named Dawn Brancheau …

Scott Powers / Florida Politics:

Poll shows Patricia Sigman up 9 over Jason Brodeur in SD 9 — Democrat Patricia Sigman may be on her way to grabbing the open seat long held by Republicans in the Seminole County-based Senate District 9, fresh polling shows. — A new survey conducted by St. Pete Polls finds Sigman leading Republican former …

Peter D. Greenberger / Washington Post:

I ran political advertising for Twitter. It's time for platforms to mute Trump. — Social media platforms should silence the president until the winner of the election is clear — In just the past week, President Trump has retweeted a QAnon conspiracy theory alleging that Joe Biden …

Discussion: Newsbusters, Fox News, Vanity Fair, The Gateway Pundit and Twitchy

Adam Klasfeld / courthousenews.com:

Ghislaine Maxwell Deposition Must Be Public, 2nd Circuit Affirms — MANHATTAN (CN) — A deposition believed to show Ghislaine Maxwell perjuring herself by denying knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking empire must be unsealed, the Second Circuit ruled on Monday.

Charlotte Graham-McLay / The Guardian:

Why New Zealand rejected populist ideas other nations have embraced … Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand's Labour prime minister who was returned to power for a second term with a commanding majority, has often been hailed internationally as a foil to global surges in right-wing movements and the rise …

Discussion: spiked

Christopher Miller / BuzzFeed News:

FEMA Threw Out The Faulty Ventilators Russia Gave The US Without Ever Using Them — As the US was bracing for a major wave of seriously ill coronavirus patients in March, President Donald Trump asked President Vladimir Putin in a phone call for help. In response, Moscow sent 45 ventilators …

Discussion: Political Wire

Tony Schwartz / The Daily Beast:

I Wrote Trump's ‘The Art of the Deal.’ And I'm Terrified of What He'll Do Next. — DESPERATION MODE … Tony Schwartz, who spent 18 months with Trump to ghostwrite “Trump: The Art of the Deal,” writes about how we're entering uncharted territory when it comes to our toxic president.

Discussion: Raw Story