Category: 2020 Election

Facebook takes down Russian operation that recruited U.S. journalists, amid rising concerns about election misinformation

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The social media giant acted against a small network of pages and accounts that directed users to a fake left-leaning news site called Peace Data

Facebook removed a network of fake accounts and pages created by Russian operatives who had recruited U.S. journalists to write articles critical of Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala D. Harris, in an apparent bid to undermine their support among liberal voters.

Facebook said it caught the network of 13 fake accounts and two pages early, before it had a chance to build a large audience — an action that the company said was evidence of its growing effectiveness at targeting foreign disinformation operations ahead of the 2020 election. The takedown emerged as a result of a tip from the FBI and was one of a dozen operations tied to the Russian Internet Research Agency or individuals affiliated with it that Facebook has disrupted since the last presidential election, when IRA-backed pages amassed millions of views on the platform. The pages had about 14,000 followers.

“They’ve gotten better at hiding who they are, but their impact has gotten smaller and smaller,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of security policy, said of the foreign operations. Continue reading.

Support for Trump appears to be slipping in the military. And no wonder.

The weekend warriors in their Army surplus battle rattle, their paintball weapons and gun show specials are getting lots of love from this clown show’s commander in chief.

“GREAT PATRIOTS!” President Trump tweeted, along with a video of the vigilantes flouting the law and causing disorder while cruising the streets of an American city.

Meanwhile, the real defenders of freedom — the men and women of the U.S. military — aren’t getting love from Trump. And they’re sure not giving it. Continue reading.

Federal court blocks release of Trump taxes while case appealed

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A federal appeals court in New York on Tuesday temporarily halted a lower court ruling that would have sped up the disclosure of President Trump‘s tax returns to prosecutors in Manhattan.

The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals allows Trump to continue shielding eight years of corporate and personal tax returns while he appeals the lower court decision.

The 2nd Circuit on Tuesday also scheduled a Sept. 25 hearing over Trump’s claim that the New York grand jury subpoena seeking his tax returns is overbroad and was issued in bad faith. A federal trial judge dismissed those assertions in a lengthy opinion last month. Continue reading.

Trump administration rolls back Obama-era rule aimed at limiting toxic wastewater from coal plants

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Power plant discharge ranks as the largest source of toxic water pollution in the United States

The Trump administration on Monday weakened a 2015 regulation that would have forced coal plants to treat wastewater with more modern, effective methods in order to curb toxic metals such as arsenic and mercury from contaminating lakes, rivers and streams near their facilities.

In a statement, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said that the final rule’s “flexible, phased-in” approach would make it easier for the coal industry to comply while also protecting the environment. Three years ago the Trump administration delayed the Obama-era rule — which the EPA had estimated would keep 1.4 billion pounds of pollutants out of U.S. waterways each year — before replacing it with a scaled-back version.

“Newer, more affordable pollution control technologies and flexibility on the regulation’s phase-in will reduce pollution and save jobs at the same time,” Wheeler said. Continue reading.

Why we still don’t know if Trump is a Russian asset

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As chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Adam Schiff is attempting to meet the Supreme Court’s guidelines for gaining access to Donald Trump’s financial records. In a memorandum to committee members on counterintelligence risks posed by the president’s financial ties, he included this footnote:

Based on the Committee’s review, it does not appear that Special Counsel Mueller issued any grand jury subpoenas to obtain the President’s financial records. The Committee also has reason to believe, based on its oversight work, that the FBI Counterintelligence Division has not investigated counterintelligence risks arising from President Trump’s foreign financial ties.

That points to a question Schiff has been asking since the Mueller probe was completed in March, 2019.  Here’s how he explained it to the Washington Post‘s Philip Bump a few weeks after Mueller wrapped up his work : Continue reading.

Trump retweets video tying BLM, antifa to an assault. Neither group was involved.

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Amid deadly clashes between protesters and counterprotesters, President Trump continued to fan partisan tensions this weekend, calling for federal forces to quell protests and denouncing local Democratic leaders. He also shared misinformation on Twitter, falsely tying Black Lives Matter and antifa to a 2019 crime on the New York City subway, implying that Black people are the same as antifa. Let’s take a look.

The Facts

On Sunday, Trump retweeted this video of a Black man assaulting a White woman on the New York City subway with share text that blamed Black Lives Matter and antifa. However, the video was from October 2019 and had nothing to do with either group. New York police saidthe man in the video was charged in connection to the incident. According to local news reports, he had a long history of arrests related to New York City public transportation.

Trump retweeted the group TDN_NOTICIAS, a Spanish-language account that appears to have an anti-Biden, pro-Trump slant. The video was originally posted by the account “I’m with Groyper.” According to the Anti-Defamation League, “groypers” are associated with the alt-right and supporters of white supremacists. CNN contacted the user and said he “identified himself as an advocate of White people creating their own ‘nations’ for supposed ‘protection’ from racial minorities.” Continue reading.

Leaked memo reveals White House counsel pushed to downgrade Kushner’s clearance over ‘serious’ concerns

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Former White House counsel Don McGahn called for presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner’s security clearance to be downgraded over “serious” concerns in his background check, according to a new book.

President Donald Trump overruled career officials in 2018 to grant Kushner a top-secret security clearance despite concerns raised by intelligence officials and the White House. A memo obtained by Times reporter Michael Schmidt for his new book “Donald Trump v. The United States” shows that McGahn argued that Kushner’s clearance should be downgraded over those concerns, according to an excerpt published by Axios.

“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,” McGahn wrote in a memo to then-White House chief of staff John Kelly following a routine FBI background investigation into Kushner. Continue reading.

Trump’s illuminating defense of Kyle Rittenhouse

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At the start of and throughout his news conference Monday evening, President Trump attacked Joe Biden for condemning violence but not specifically left-wing perpetrators of it.

By the end of the news conference, Trump not only pointedly declined to condemn right-wing violence at the same demonstrations, he voluntarily defended it.

The president offered his first public comments about Kyle Rittenhouse, a supporter who was charged with murder in Kenosha, Wis., as well as other Trump supporters who converged on Portland, Ore., and apparently fired paintball guns and pepper spray at protesters. Continue reading.

New info deepens the mystery around Trump’s unexpected and suspicious hospital visit

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On Saturday, November 16, 2019, President Donald Trump made an unexpected visit to Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. That visit is among the many things that author Michael S. Schmidtdiscusses in the new book, “Donald Trump v. the United States: Inside the Struggle to Stop a President.”

New York Times reporter Gabriel Debenedetti, discussing Schmidt’s book, notes that it “reports the White House wanted Mike Pence ‘on standby to take over the powers of the presidency temporarily if Trump had to undergo a procedure that would have required him to be anesthetized.’ The vice president never had to take this step.”

The fact that Trump’s visit to Walter Reed in November 2019 was unannounced raised questions about the president’s health. But Dr. Sean Conley, Trump’s physician, described the visit as “routine” that month and wrote, in a memo, that it was only kept secret because of “scheduling uncertainties.” And Trump described the visit as a “very routine physical.” Continue reading.

Trump defends Kenosha suspect as acting in self-defense

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President Trump on Monday defended the actions of Kyle Rittenhouse, a teenager accused of killing two protesters in Kenosha, Wis.

“We’re looking at all of it. That was an interesting situation. You saw the same tape as I saw,” the president told reporters during a news conference at the White House.

Trump described Rittenhouse as acting in self-defense, saying he was “very violently attacked” by demonstrators. Continue reading.