Exclusive: Russian state hackers suspected in targeting Biden campaign firm – sources

WASHINGTON – Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) recently alerted one of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s main election campaign advisory firms that it had been targeted by suspected Russian state-backed hackers, according to three people briefed on the matter.

The hacking attempts targeted staff at Washington-based SKDKnickerbocker, a campaign strategy and communications firm working with Biden and other prominent Democrats, over the past two months, the sources said. 

A person familiar with SKDK’s response to the attempts said the hackers failed to gain access to the firm’s networks. “They are well-defended, so there has been no breach,” the person said. Continue reading.

Trump says he didn’t want to spark panic. But he’s running on fear.

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“I don’t want people to be frightened. I don’t want to create panic.” 

— President Trump, explaining why he misled Americans about the coronavirus, Sept. 9, 2020

Bob Woodward’s first book on Trump was called “Fear.” But now the president is trying to rebut his own words in Woodward’s new book, “Rage,” by suggesting that he was trying to keep the nation calm by not revealing how much he knew about the dangerous nature of the novel coronavirus.

“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said in a Feb. 7 call with Woodward. “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”

Speaking to reporters for weeks afterward, however, Trump repeatedly played down the threat, suggesting that it was not much more dangerous than the seasonal flu. Continue reading.

Trump’s Troop Withdrawal Is a ‘Disingenuous’ Election Year Ploy, Officials Say

President Donald Trump’s Iraq drawdown is for domestic political consumption and likely will not accurately represent the number of troops coming home, two administration officials tell The Daily Beast.

On Wednesday morning, the general in charge of U.S. forces in the Mideast and Central Asia, Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, announced that U.S. troop levels in Iraq will drop by October to 3,000 from 5,200. A long-telegraphed decline in Afghanistan force levels is likely to follow before the election. 

But a U.S. official with knowledge of Mideast operations told The Daily Beast that the figures were misleading, at best.  Continue reading.

In the Know: September 11, 2020

Days Until the Election: 53

DFL Action Center
53 Days OUT – Let’s get to work!
If you’d like to help the DFL Party fight for criminal justice reform, better schools, wages, our environment, and health care, click here to get more involved there are events happening in your area!

DFL Headquarters Office Hours 
Looking to buy yard signs or Biden-Harris merchandise? Stop by the DFL Headquarters on 255 East Plato Blvd in St Paul, we are now open to the public from 12:00-5:00 PM Monday-Friday. Click here to see our new shirts, signs, and stickers!

DFL Pop Up Shop
The DFL Party is traveling across Minnesota to distribute yard signs, buttons, t-shirts, and other campaign merchandise!  For more information on when we will be in your city, follow this link!

2020 Election
Microsoft warns of ‘unsuccessful attacks’ on campaigns from Russian, China, Iran, ABC News

Continue reading “In the Know: September 11, 2020”

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: September 10, 2020

September 10, 2020

Updates from the Governor

Governor Tim Walz announced today that Minnesota has received a $22 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program for the Highway 14: Nicollet to New Ulm Mobility and Safety Improvement Project. The state also received a $15 million BUILD grant for the Highway 10 Rum River Bridge Replacement and Intersection Improvements project.

Governor Walz’s advocacy in completing the final expansion of Highway 14—the 12 miles of two-lane traffic between Nicollet and New Ulm—spans back to his time in Congress and the death of his neighbor in Mankato.

Also today, Governor Walz signed a proclamation to increase awareness of mental health issues and suicide prevention, especially among veterans. The proclamation, in partnership with the President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS), is part of a national effort to prevent veterans’ suicide. More than 30 Governors signed similar proclamations to participate in the challenge to eliminate veteran death by suicide. View the full proclamation here.

Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: September 10, 2020”

Trump Attacked Generals as Weak and Too Focused on Allies, Woodward’s Book Says

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The journalist Bob Woodward’s “Rage,” which will be released next week, recounts tense conflicts between the president and his senior leaders.

President Trump denigrated senior American military officials when he told his trade adviser, Peter Navarro, during a meeting in 2017 that his top generals were weak and overly concerned with their relationships with allies, according to a new book by the journalist Bob Woodward.

And in a discussion with Mr. Woodward, Mr. Trump called the United States military “suckers” for paying extensive costs to protect South Korea.

“We’re defending you, we’re allowing you to exist,” Mr. Trump said of South Korea, to a stunned Mr. Woodward. Continue reading.

Exclusive: White House orders end to COVID-19 airport screenings for international travelers

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on Monday will stop conducting enhanced screening of passengers on inbound international flights for COVID-19, Yahoo News has learned. 

The screening operations have been held at select airports since January, when the first cases of the disease began to emerge from Wuhan, China. Since March, incoming international flights from select high-risk countries, including much of Europe, China and Iran, among other regions, have been funneled through 15 designated airports in the United States.

As of Monday, however, international flights will no longer be funneled into select airports for screening purposes and all screenings will come to a halt, according to communications and sources. All screenings and rerouting of select international flights will cease at exactly 12:01 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 14. Continue reading.

Postal Service to Tap Republican Lobbyist to Quell Mounting Scrutiny

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Facing multiple investigations and calls for his ouster, the postmaster general turned to a G.O.P. lobbyist viewed as adept at reaching out to Democrats.

WASHINGTON — Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, moving to defend himself and top postal officials against suggestions that they are trying to help President Trump win re-election by sabotaging mail-in voting, told colleagues on Wednesday that he planned to hire a veteran Republican lobbyist to work with Congress.

Facing calls for his ouster by Democrats and a flurry of investigations on Capitol Hill, Mr. DeJoy informed postal officials that he had selected Peter Pastre, a former Republican congressional aide and insurance lobbyist, to act as a liaison for the agency with Congress and state and local governments, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The move came as the Postal Service was facing mounting political and operational crises. Mr. Trump has raised concerns about the security of voting by mail, and the independent quasi-governmental agency has struggled to overcome a delivery slowdown and a dire financial forecast — all while Democrats accuse Mr. DeJoy and the agency’s Republican-majority governing board of doing the president’s bidding. Continue reading.

Emails show HHS official trying to muzzle Fauci

Emails obtained by POLITICO show a top aide at the department dictating what the nation’s top infections disease expert should say during media interviews.

A Trump administration appointee at the Department of Health and Human Services is trying to prevent Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, from speaking about the risks that coronavirus poses to children.

Emails obtained by POLITICO show Paul Alexander — a senior adviser to Michael Caputo, HHS’s assistant secretary for public affairs — instructing press officers and others at the National Institutes of Health about what Fauci should say during media interviews. The Trump adviser weighed in on Fauci’s planned responses to outlets including Bloomberg News, BuzzFeed, Huffington Post and the science journal Cell.

Alexander’s lengthy messages, some sent as recently as this week, are couched as scientific arguments. But they often contradict mainstream science while promoting political positions taken by the Trump administration on hot-button issues ranging from the use of convalescent plasma to school reopening. Continue reading.