Obama expected to denounce Trump’s ‘cynical moves’ on mail-in voting – US politics live

During a gaggle with reporters White House counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said she didn’t know about Trump’s call to boycott Goodyear. But she did say that Trump would hold a briefing at 5 p.m. ET today.

According to a White House pool report the exchange with reporters and Conway went like this:

Why is the president calling for a boycott of Goodyear? It’s an Ohio company, in a battleground state?. Seems like a particularly bad idea for him?


I don’t know what you’re talking about. You can ask about the president at 5 o’clock, he’ll be briefing. I think he’s done plenty for companies in Ohio and elsewhere, far more than Joe Bidne ever did, creating a job.

The Supreme Court has set a date for when it will hear oral arguments in an Obamacare repeal case. It will be the morning after the November elections, adding to what was already slated to be a chaotic week in the United States.

Supreme Court's election season oral arguments include big LGBT rights/religion case the day after the election and Obamacare the following week. Whether or not the election will be decided by then remains to be seen pic.twitter.com/6tn5EBn4El

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Democratic convention live: second night begins with Jill Biden to speak

Ocasio-Cortez, like so many progressives, traces her political awakening to Sanders 2016 presidential campaign, where she worked as an organizer. A self-described democratic socialist, Ocasio-Cortez was elected to Congress in 2018, unseating the fourth-ranking House Democrat.

Since her shocking victory, she has helped organize and raise money for progressive challengers around the country, including Jamaal Bowman who won the Democratic primary this year, knocking off a 16-term incumbent in a deep-blue New York district.

Many progressives were furious that Ocasio-Cortez, widely viewed as the leader of a next generation of Democrats, was only allotted one minute to speak, while ample time was devoted on Monday night to Republican defectors, including former Ohio John Kasich, a staunch opponent of abortion.

Yet her invitation was a testament to influence within the party, rare for a first-term member of Congress.

Ocasio-Cortez, who endorsed Sanders in the primary, giving his campaign a much needed jolt in the uncertain days after the senator’s heart attack, has been critical of Biden’s establishment-minded approach to governing. In an interview last year, she mused that in another country, they would not belong to the same party.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s nominating speech for Bernie Sanders was a virtual passing of the torch. Sanders briefly led the primary contest earlier this year before falling impossibly behind Biden as fear of the coronavirus began to spread across the US.

Sanders, who nearly eked out a victory in the Iowa caucuses, and then went on to win primary contests in New Hampshire, and Nevada before sweeping California on Super Tuesday, is expected to receive around 1,000 delegates.

In the same way Sanders popularized Medicare for all, she has championed the Green New Deal – both turning the issue into a rallying cry for young Democrats and an easy line of attack for Republicans. Climate is one of the key areas in which Biden has moved left, and she was included in the Biden-Sanders unity taskforces, created to forge a policy consensus between the often-warning progressive and moderate wings of the Democrtic party.

Addressing his supporters on Monday, Sanders said their movement had “moved this country in a bold new direction” but he was unequivocal in his endorsement of Biden, warning that the stakes were too high to stay home.

“The future of our democracy is at stake,” he said.


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Cardi B interviews Joe Biden and tells him ‘Trump out’ is election priority

  • Rapper and Biden talk politics in wide-ranging Elle interview
  • Democratic nominee fails to respond to Medicare for All query

In a wide-ranging interview released on Monday, Cardi B told Joe Biden her priority for the election in November is to get “Trump out”.

Related: Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's WAP should be celebrated, not scolded | Dream McClinton

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US politics: virtual Democratic convention to start amid coronavirus crisis – live updates

  • Pelosi recalls House early to fight postal service election ‘sabotage’
  • Sanders says Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting a ‘crisis for democracy’
  • Virtual Democratic convention to kick off with emphasis on unity
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Eva Longoria, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kerry Washington and Julia Louis-Dreyfus will help em...

No Covid-19 stimulus package progress as Trump makes more false claims – live

  • Another 1.18m Americans file for unemployment
  • Deutsche Bank gave Trump records to New York prosecutors - report
  • Trump claims Covid-19 will ‘go away’ as Fauci warns long road ahead
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Joe Biden made clear this morning that Se...

Trump signs executive order to exclude undocumented people from census – live

Donald Trump “cannot imprison Michael Cohen for writing a book”, the American Civil Liberties Union said, as the organization filed suit against the federal government.

Related: ACLU says Trump sent Michael Cohen back to prison 'for writing a book'

Joe Biden promised to give a raise to childcare workers, who he said are “too often underpaid, unseen, and undervalued.”

The Democratic candidate noted 40% of childcare workers are still on SNAP or Medicaid, calling that figure “unacceptable.”

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Healthcare is Trump’s Achilles heel. Republicans don’t get it | Lloyd Green

Five million Americans have lost their health insurance in a pandemic - yet Republicans are still trying to end Obamacare

Like Moloch, the ancient pagan god, Donald Trump is ever ready to demand that Americans sacrifice themselves for his greater good. He commanded that states open up early, and then this happened: Arizona, Florida, and Texas are looking like Wuhan redux. Come this fall, the president also expects that parents will put their children in harm’s way for the sake of his...

California rolls back reopening plans as coronavirus cases climb – live

Jerome Powell, the new chair of the Federal Reserve, is slated to tell Congress tomorrow that the battle with Covid-19 and its economic fallout will be long and hard-fought.

“The path forward for the economy is extraordinarily uncertain and will depend in large part on our success in containing the virus.” He adds: It’s “hard to capture in words” the lives upended.

On Monday the House passed in a vote of 234-179 the most significant expansion of the Affordable Care Act since its inception in 2010.

The vote for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act was largely symbolic as it is unlikely to pass in the Senate. Even if it did, Donald Trump would immediately veto it, the White House said on Monday.

The hours of debate before the vote allowed Democrats to point out, again and again, that the Trump administration is seeking to invalidate the ACA in a lawsuit before the Supreme Court that was initiated by a group of Republican attorneys general who contend the entire law is unconstitutional.

“As lives are shattered by the coronavirus, the protections of the Affordable Care Act are more important now, more than ever,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Noting that both Trump and congressional Republicans promise to preserve the law’s protections for people with preexisting medical conditions, she said: “Oh really? Then why are you in the United States Supreme Court to overturn them?”

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Covid-19 survivors could lose health insurance if Trump wins bid to repeal Obamacare

  • ACA prevents denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions
  • Abolition could mean Covid-19 victims could be turned down

Millions of Americans who have survived Covid-19 or face future infections could lose their insurance or be barred from getting coverage should the Trump administration successfully repeal Obamacare.

The Trump administration asked the supreme court late Thursday to overturn the Affordable Care Act – a move that, if successful, would bring a permanent end to the health insurance reform law popularly known as Obamacare.

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Trump administration asks supreme court to axe Obamacare

Democrats call legal push amid coronavirus crisis an ‘act of unfathomable cruelty’

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The Trump administration has asked the US supreme court to invalidate the Obamacare lawthat added millions to the healthcare safety net but has been at the centre of political controversy.

The government advocate, Noel Francisco, argued in a filing late on Thursday that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), one of Ba...