Read Time: 5 Minutes
Protests/Racial & Social Issues
- Former NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall shared an emotional video of him facing the security guards who called the police on him while he and his family were trying to move into their new home in Florida: “There was no threat for you to call the cops. This is what we’re seeing every single day. This is what we’re seeing every single day. I got two kids in the car right now.”
- Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden condemned violence in Portland, Oregon after police said one person was fatally shot amid clashes between Black Lives Matter protesters and counterprotesters.
“I condemn this violence unequivocally. I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right. And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same,” Biden said in a statement Sunday.
- President Trump and Portland, Oregon Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) traded jabs over who was responsible for the rise in violence in the city between Black Lives Matter protesters and counterprotesters.
Wheeler placed the blame on Trump during a press conference, Trump fired back on Twitter while the press conference was ongoing, and Wheeler responded to the tweets.
“Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence?” Wheeler said. “It’s you who have created the hate and the division. It’s you who have not found a way to say the names of Black people people killed by police officers even as people in law enforcement have, and it’s you who claimed that white supremacists are good people.”
“He has an opportunity to uplift us and bring us together and help us move through this difficult situation in our nation’s history, and instead he chooses to play petty politics and divide us. That’s my reaction,” Wheeler said. “So I’m going to do the work I need to do here in my local community with my local officials to take accountability for what’s happening on our streets.”
“I’d appreciate either the president support us or he stay the hell out of the way,” the mayor added.
Trump tweeted a response almost immediately.
“Ted Wheeler, the wacky Radical Left Do Nothing Democrat Mayor of Portland, who has watched great death and destruction of his City during his tenure, thinks this lawless situation should go on forever. Wrong! Portland will never recover with a fool for a Mayor,” Trump tweeted.
“He tried mixing with the Agitators and Anarchists and they mocked him. He would like to blame me and the Federal Government for going in, but he hasn’t seen anything yet,” the president added.
“We have only been there with a small group to defend our U.S. Courthouse, because he couldn’t do it,” Trump continued, seemingly referring to when the Trump administration sent federal law enforcement officials to Portland amid protests.
“The people of Portland, like all other cities & parts of our great Country, want Law & Order. The Radical Left Democrat Mayors, like the dummy running Portland, or the guy right now in his basement unwilling to lead or even speak out against crime, will never be able to do it!” Trump said.
- President Trump will visit Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday following days of unrest in the city in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Trump “will meet with law enforcement and survey damage from recent riots,” a White House spokesperson told reporters
- Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) urged President Trump on Sunday to “reconsider” his plans to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin which has been rocked by unrest for the past several nights following the shooting of Jacob Blake by police.
In a letter to the White House, the governor warned that Trump’s presence could “hinder” the state’s attempts to heal after a video of Kenosha police shooting Blake seven times in the back sparked a week of protests that in some cases descended into violence.
Trump Administration
- Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Sunday defended his announcement that in-person election security briefings to Congress will end, saying the move was necessary to prevent leaks.
- Former White House counsel Don McGahn raised concerns about the security clearance of the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, in a memo to then-White House chief of staff John Kelly in early 2018, according to a new book.
In a memo, McGahn reportedly warned Kelly that Kushner should not receive a top-level security clearance. “The information you were briefed on one week ago and subsequently relayed to me, raises serious additional concerns about whether this individual ought to retain a top security clearance until such issues can be investigated and resolved,” the memo reportedly stated.
The memo is the most direct evidence yet reported pointing to significant security issues raised during Kushner’s FBI background check. It had previously been reported that McGahn’s office had recommended against Kushner receiving a top-secret clearance and that Kelly had authored a memo noting at the time that he had been “ordered” by President Trump to override that recommendation and grant the clearance to Kushner anyway.
- Former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is launching a hedge fund named Exegis Capital that aims to bet on financial services stocks.
- U.S. Defense officials said two Russian planes conducted an “unsafe” intercept of a U.S. bomber over international waters Friday.
- Energy industry owners and operators are growing increasingly nervous about new rules proposed by the Trump administration in an effort to limit foreign threats to the grid.
The rules, proposed by an executive order to protect the bulk power system signed by President Trump in March, could severely restrict the ability for grid equipment and other critical technology to be manufactured in countries deemed threats
Presidential Campaign
- Joe Biden (D) will campaign in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday to deliver remarks that will serve as his first major campaign address following this month’s Democratic National Convention (DNC) and marks a return to the campaign trail after the coronavirus shuttered in-person events months ago.
- Joe Biden pledged that he would re-launch “PREDICT,” a program launched after the 2005 H1N1 virus that was designed to help detect and combat potential pandemic threats like Covid-19 if elected.
- Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Sunday that he didn’t know the naturalization ceremony that he conducted last week would be featured during the Republican National Convention.
Sources: ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Forbes, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, MSNBC, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post
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