'He's going to take us all down with him.'

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Monday, October 26

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NATIONWIDE FEARS AS DARK WINTER NEARS Preslie Paur breaks down in tears when she thinks of her state’s refusal to mandate face masks. She can’t work at her special education job in Salt Lake City due to an autoimmune disease. Her husband, also a special ed teacher, recently quit because his school district would not allow him to work remotely to protect her and their 5-year-old son, who has asthma. As President Donald Trump downplays the coronavirus pandemic before largely unmasked crowds, the nation is lurching toward what Joe Biden, citing health experts, warned will be a “dark winter” of disease and death. [AP]

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BIDEN BLASTS TRUMP, PENCE FOR 'GIVING UP' ON COVID-19 Vice President Mike Pence forged ahead with campaigning despite a COVID-19 outbreak among his aides. Trump claimed progress as the United States set records for daily infections. “We’re not going to control the pandemic,” White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told CNN. In a statement released by his campaign, Biden seized on those comments, saying Meadows “stunningly admitted this morning that the administration has given up on even trying to control this pandemic, that they’ve given up on their basic duty to protect the American people.” [Reuters]

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'60 MINUTES' AIRS TRUMP ABRUPTLY LEAVING INTERVIEW “60 Minutes” aired footage of Trump abruptly ending an interview with the network after host Lesley Stahl asked a series of questions about his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and his use of social media to govern by tweet and attack his political opponents. The release of the interview concluded an ongoing spat between CBS and the White House that grew last week after Trump said he had left a sit-down with Stahl he called “fake” and “biased.” He later released the footage himself, turning the interview into a headline-grabbing event before it even aired. [HuffPost]

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HARRIS: THE FIRST FEMALE VP WOULD 'CHANGE THE FUTURE'

During a “60 Minutes” interview with Nora O'Donnell, Sen. Kamala Harris said of being the first woman of color as vice president: "It helps change the perception of who can do what, because that is still part of the battle after all.” Harris, who is Black and South Asian American, would be the first woman leader in the White House if she and Democratic nominee Joe Biden win the election on Nov. 3. Harris was the first woman and first Black person to become the district attorney of San Francisco and California’s attorney general. [HuffPost]

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GOP GOV FAULTS TRUMP'S 'CONFUSING' MESSAGES ABOUT MASKS Margaret Brennan, host of CBS’ “Face the Nation,” asked Arkansas’ Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson Sunday whether Trump’s reluctance to endorse mask-wearing enthusiastically hurt the governor’s ability to persuade his state to practice virus mitigation measures. “Well, it makes it confusing,” Hutchinson said. Trump has “made it very clear that wearing a mask is important. I saw him wear a mask going into the polls yesterday. But obviously, with the rallies, there is confusing messages there.” Hutchinson said the president must be “truthful and realistic” about the crisis. [HuffPost]

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CONTROVERSIAL COAL BARON DIES Coal magnate Robert Murray died at his home in Ohio aged 80 less than a week after announcing his retirement as board chairman of major U.S. coal operator, American Consolidated Natural Resource Holdings Inc. Public reports recently stated Murray applied for black lung benefits with the U.S. Department of Labor. The application said Murray was heavily dependent on oxygen. Murray had fought federal mine safety regulations for years, with his company filing an unsuccessful lawsuit in 2014 over regulations to cut the amount of coal dust in coal mines to reduce the incidence of black lung disease. [AP]

WHAT'S BREWING

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SENATE TO RAM THROUGH BARRETT'S CONFIRMATION TODAY The Senate voted Sunday in a rare weekend session to advance Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, setting up a final vote to confirm Trump’s pick today, a little over a month since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The vote to limit debate on Barrett’s nomination was 51-48, with all Democrats opposed. GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also voted not to advance the nomination, citing the upcoming election -- though Murkowski said she will ultimately vote to confirm Barrett, calling her qualified for the job. [HuffPost]

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'60 MINUTES' REVEALS WHAT WAS REALLY IN TRUMP'S HEALTH CARE PLAN BOOK Footage aired on Sunday night’s “60 Minutes” showed White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany ceremoniously giving reporter Lesley Stahl a massive book that she said contained the health care plan Trump has been promising for more than five years ― since he first launched his campaign. But after reviewing the book, Stahl said it didn’t actually include Trump’s “comprehensive health plan." It was filled with executive orders and congressional initiatives, but no plan. [HuffPost]

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MARY TRUMP: HE KNOWS HE'S IN GRIM SHAPE Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist and the niece of the president, painted a grim image of what she believes is going on in her uncle’s head as he trails in the polls ahead of the election. “My theory about the way Donald has run his campaign is that he knows he’s in desperate shape, so he’s going to burn it all down ... because that’s where he succeeds,” she said. “He knows that he’s losing – he’ll deny it mightily – and at some level, he understands what’s at stake. If he loses, he’s probably going to prison. So, if he’s going down, he’s going to take us all down with him.” [HuffPost]

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BOOKER SLAMS 'RACIST' GOP CANDIDATE Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Sunday slammed North Carolina Republican congressional candidate Madison Cawthorn after Cawthorn attacked his Democratic opponent with what appeared to be a racist smear that also accused Booker of aiming “to ruin white males.” “It just really personally saddens me that somebody who is so clearly racist is a nominee of a major party, and I think it’s a disrespect of the entire community,” Booker told HuffPost. “It’s really unfortunate.” [HuffPost]

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BLACK WOMAN SHOT BY OFFICER SEEKS JUSTICE FROM HOSPITAL A Black woman who was shot and wounded inside a vehicle by a police officer who also fatally shot her 19-year-old boyfriend over the weekend told about 200 people gathered at an emotional rally in suburban Chicago that she’s fighting “to be strong” for her son. The protest in Waukegan took place less than a day after Police Chief Wayne Walles announced the firing of the officer who fatally shot Marcellis Stinnette, a Black man, and wounded Tafara Williams, 20. Walles added in a brief statement that the male officer had committed “multiple policy and procedure violations.” [AP]

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SPAIN DECLARES NATIONAL STATE OF EMERGENCY Spain declared a second nationwide state of emergency and ordered an overnight curfew across the country in hopes of stemming a resurgence in coronavirus infections, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said. The Socialist leader told the nation in a televised address that the extraordinary measure will go into effect on Sunday night. [AP]

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