Extensive New Battleground Polling Shows Biden Gaining Ground

Source: Morning Consult

President Donald Trump faces an increasingly daunting electoral map according to new battleground state polling from Morning Consult Political Intelligence. Trump has seen his lead evaporate in certain must-win states, such as Florida and Texas, and he doesn’t hold a lead outside the margin of error in any of the 12 states included in this release.

The polling finds former Vice President Joe Biden has an outright advantage in four states Trump won in 2016: Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He also leads within the margin of error in Florida and Texas, two other states Trump carried over Hillary Clinton.

Political Intelligence is conducting daily surveys with over 4,400 likely U.S. voters across the country. The latest results are based on a 10-day moving average of surveys taken between July 17 – July 26, with between 600 to 3,760 interviews per state, and margins of error ranging from 1.6 to 4 percentage points. The surveys in each state are weighted separately to reflect a representative sample of voters in that state.



Read more: https://morningconsult.com/form/july-presidential-battleground-state-polling/

Congressman Matt Gaetz Files Criminal Referral Against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Source: Office of Congressman Matt Gaetz

Today, U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz (FL-01) filed a criminal referral against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for making materially false statements to Congress while under oath during two joint hearings in Congress on April 10th, 2018 and April 11th, 2018.

During a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and also a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Mr. Zuckerberg repeatedly and categorically denied his company engaged in bias against conservative speech, persons, policies, or politics and also denied that Facebook censored and suppressed content supportive of President Donald Trump and other conservatives.

In June of 2020 however, Project Veritas published the results of an undercover investigation featuring two whistleblowers who worked as Facebook's "content moderators," revealing that the overwhelming majority of content filtered by Facebook's AI program was content in support of President Donald Trump, Republican candidates for office, or conservatism in general.

"Oversight is an essential part of Congress' constitutional authority," Congressman Gaetz states in the letter. "As a member of this body, I question Mr. Zuckerberg's veracity, and challenge his willingness to cooperate with our oversight authority, diverting congressional resources during time-sensitive investigations, and materially impeding our work. Such misrepresentations are not only unfair, they are potentially illegal and fraudulent."

Read more: https://gaetz.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-matt-gaetz-files-criminal-referral-against-facebook-ceo-mark

Read: Barr's opening statement attacking Dems and "bogus" Russia probe

Source: Axios

Attorney General Bill Barr is set to accuse House Judiciary Committee Democrats of trying to discredit him over his investigations into the origins of the FBI's Russia probe when he appears before the panel Tuesday.

Details: In prepared remarks released Monday, Barr states that since he announced his investigation into what he calls "the grave abuses involved in the bogus 'Russiagate' scandal, many of the Democrats on this Committee have attempted to discredit" him by "conjuring up a narrative" that he's simply President Trump's "factotum who disposes of criminal cases according to his instructions."

"Judging from the letter inviting me to this hearing, that appears to be your agenda today," he will add.
What else he's saying: Barr also plans to address protests across the U.S. and the controversial deployment of federal agents in cities where there's been unrest.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/read-bill-barr-opening-statement-house-democrats-5eaee745-0021-40fa-83f2-4a62faeae79e.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onhrs

Joe Biden campaign ad: "Tested"

The 2020 Aspen Security Forum: August 4 - 6, 2020

We are pleased to announce the first-ever digital Aspen Security Forum experience, which will take place from August 4 - 6, 2020.

The 2020 Aspen Security Forum is complimentary to all attendees. To register, please use the below buttons to access the registration form for each day of programming. Note that you will receive a Zoom link for only those days for which you register and that attendees may sign up for as many or as few days of programming as they wish

POLITICO Playbook: Sneak peek at the Dem convention

Source: Politico

Karen Bass walks back Castro comment amid VP vetting

Source: Politico

Rep. Karen Bass on Sunday walked back a years-old characterization of the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, seemingly seeking to defuse an escalating controversy as the California congresswoman contends for a spot on the 2020 Democratic presidential ticket.

In an interview on MSNBC, the five-term House lawmaker and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus addressed her decision to describe Castro as “Comandante en Jefe” in a statement she issued marking his death in 2016.

The Spanish phrase, which translates in English to commander in chief, has been criticized as unduly deferential to the communist strongman who presided over various human rights abuses.

“I have talked to my colleagues in the House about that, and it’s certainly something that I would not say again,” Bass said. “I have always supported the Cuban people, and the relationship that Barack Obama and Biden had in their administration in terms of opening up relations.”



Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/27/karen-bass-castro-comment-vp-vetting-382316

Notre Dame withdraws as presidential debate host site

Source: WNDU News

After consultation with Dr. Mark Fox, St. Joseph County deputy health officer, and with the unanimous support of the Executive Committee of the University’s Board of Trustees, Father Jenkins made what he called “this difficult decision because the necessary health precautions would have greatly diminished the educational value of hosting the debate on our campus.” In a letter earlier today to the Notre Dame community, Father Jenkins said that “the inevitable reduction in student attendance in the debate hall, volunteer opportunities and ancillary educational events undermined the primary benefit of hosting — to provide our students with a meaningful opportunity to engage in the American political process.”

Father Jenkins added: “I am grateful to the many members of the University community who put in countless hours planning for this event, and to the Commission on Presidential Debates leadership for their professionalism and understanding. But in the end, the constraints the coronavirus pandemic put on the event — as understandable and necessary as they are — have led us to withdraw.”

He concluded by saying that “despite this decision, I hope we will all remain attuned to the many important issues facing our nation during this election year — and, please, let’s exercise our right and privilege to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 3.”

Notre Dame has hosted six presidents at commencement ceremonies through the years – more than any university in the nation other than the military academies – but this would have been the University’s first presidential debate.


Read more: https://www.wndu.com/2020/07/27/notre-dame-withdraws-as-presidential-debate-host-site/

BREAKING: Another college bails on hosting Presidential debates

Drugmakers refuse to attend White House meeting after Trump issues executive orders on costs

Source: Politico

A White House meeting with top pharmaceutical executives that President Donald Trump promised for Tuesday is off, five industry sources familiar with discussions told POLITICO. Three said the drug-pricing discussion was canceled because the major drug lobbies, reeling from Friday’s cluster of executive orders on the topic, refused to send any members.

Drugmakers and Trump were slated to discuss an executive order, signed Friday but not yet released, that would order health officials to release a plan linking Medicare payments for certain medicines to lower costs paid abroad. The provision, known as a most-favored-nations rule, has been lambasted by the drug industry and some patient groups that say it would curb innovation and reduce drug access.

Trump said Friday that drugmakers would have a month to present a better option to the rule.

The drug lobbies PhRMA and BIO were reluctant to send representatives from their member companies — many of them multibillion dollar manufacturers of the world’s best-selling medicines and vaccines — after conflicting reports last week about whether the White House would include the rule and little information to date about what the new rule would look like, three people familiar with the discussions said.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/27/drugmakers-trump-meeting-canceled-382847