The Past 24 Hours or So

Read Time: 5 Minutes

10/12

Coronavirus/COVID-19

• The U.S. reported 46,776 new cases and 464 additional deaths. 14,741 patients are receiving critical care.

• Anthony Fauci, the U.S. says a new Trump campaign ad that features a clip of him discussing coronavirus takes his comments on the matter out of context, adding that he never even signed off on the video being used by the campaign. 

“In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate.”

• President Trump claimed, without evidence, that he is “immune” from COVID-19 following his apparent recovery from the virus, and he defended his decision to deliver a speech to a crowd at the White House on Saturday less than a week after leaving the hospital. 

“It seems like I’m immune,” Trump said on Fox.

Trump said he believes he will be immune for “maybe a long time, maybe a short time, could be a lifetime.”

• A tweet from President Trump claiming that he was now “immune” to COVID-19 after his treatment for the virus last week was tagged by the platform as “misleading” and was hidden because it “violated the Twitter Rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.”

• President Trump has sparked a new wave of criticism over his treatment of members of the military after suggesting he may have caught the coronavirus from Gold Star families, adding to bad blood that already lingered over his alleged “suckers” and “losers” comments about dead soldiers.

• President Trump considered staging his own Clark Kent moment as he exited last week from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center by ripping open a button-down to reveal a Superman t-shirt. Trump shared the idea of appearing frail when he emerged from the facility then exposing the Superman t-shirt underneath his top layer, which he described as a symbol of strength

• Business leaders were infuriated after President Trump this week blocked negotiations on COVID-19 relief, warning that many employers in the industries won’t survive another month without knowing if help is on the way. 

“Millions of jobs and the livelihoods of people who have built their small business for decades are just withering away because our leaders in Washington are prioritizing politics over people,” Chip Rogers, CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, said.

• Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the Trump administration’s policies on coronavirus testing and tracing inadequate as dozens of states report rising COVID-19 cases, saying “in terms of addressing testing, tracing and treatment, what the Trump Administration has offered is wholly insufficient.”

• Sen. Kamala Harris will take part in this week’s Supreme Court hearing remotely from her Senate office, a spokesperson said today, citing Republicans’ response to a recent coronavirus outbreak. 

“Due to Judiciary Committee Republicans’ refusal to take common sense steps to protect members, aides, Capitol complex workers, and members of the media, Senator Harris plans to participate in this week’s hearings remotely from her Senate office in the Hart building,” said Chris Harris, a spokesman for the Democratic senator.

• The NFL postponed Sunday’s game between the Broncos-Patriots after the Patriots reported a positive COVID-19 test on Sunday.

• Arkansas GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson said that large public events, including campaign rallies for President Trump, should not take place without social distancing efforts.

Presidential Campaign

• A federal court of appeals has issued a temporary stay of a lower court’s ruling that had halted the governor of Texas’s efforts to limit counties across the state to one ballot drop-off location.

• President Trump has instructed his campaign advisers to schedule numerous events and get him on the road “every single day” between now and the election as the day draws closer and following his doctor clearing him to hold events after contracting coronavirus.

• The White House is calling for a canceled in-person debate between President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to be rescheduled after the president’s physician said Saturday that Trump was no longer at risk of transmitting COVID-19 to others.

• Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a recent interview that election results in her state will be determined “soon after polls close” later this year. But she also added that results will not be announced before an “artificial deadline set by people with political agendas.”

“We’re gonna get this right,” she said.

Racial & Social Issues

• One person was fatally shot in Denver on Saturday against the backdrop of opposing rallies between far-right and far-left activists. A local TV station reported that a security guard it had hired was being detained in connection with the shooting.Police say it does not appear that the shooter was fueled by any political ideology.

• The Human Rights Campaign unveiled its Congressional Scorecard for the 116th Congress, grading lawmakers on their support for the LGBTQ community less than a month out from Election Day.

Democrats scored better than Republicans, with 227 Democrats receiving perfect scores and no Republicans getting perfect scores from the group. The average score for Democratic senators was 96, while the average score for GOP senators was 1.6.

• The LGBTQ Victory Fund revealed in a new report this week that there is a “historic number” of openly LGBTQ candidates who are on general election ballots this year. Over 30 percent of the LGBTQ candidates running in 2020 also identify as people of color.

• Documents from the Louisville Metro Police Department’s internal investigation into the death of Breonna Taylor reportedly show that even after the case was turned over to the office of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the department worked to gather negative information about Taylor’s boyfriend.

• The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit accusing Yale University of race and national origin discrimination in its college admissions process. It alleges the school uses an “oversized, standardless, intentional use of race” in its process which favors Black and Hispanic students, while harming Asian and white applicants.

• Children’s show “Sesame Street” announced it will air a half-hour special aimed at teaching kids about racism and how to stand up to it. “The Power of We” is set to air Oct. 15 and will be available on HBO Max.

• Police in Portland, Oregon declared a riot as protestors toppled statues and shattered windows in the downtown area during “Indigenous Day of Rage” protests.

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