10 things you need to know today: September 8, 2020

1. Trump pledges loyalty to workers, Biden gets union endorsements

President Trump pledged his "undying loyalty to the American worker" during a Labor Day news conference on Monday. Trump used the occasion to take a jab at his rival in the November presidential election, saying that Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), would "destroy the country and would destroy this economy." Biden, vowing to be the strongest labor president ever, was in Pennsylvania for an AFL-CIO virtual town hall with union President Richard Trumka. He picked up three endorsements from organized labor on the holiday. Harris started a Labor Day visit to the critical swing state of Wisconsin by meeting with the family of Jacob Blake, the unarmed Black man who was left partially paralyzed when he was shot in the back by a white police officer.

The Associated Press

2. Trump open to investigation of DeJoy fundraising allegations

President Trump on Monday said he was open to an investigation of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's past fundraising for political campaigns, following reports that he pressured former employees to donate to Republican candidates and later had them reimbursed. "Sure, sure, let the investigations go," Trump said in a Labor Day news conference at the White House. The Washington Post reported that when DeJoy was CEO of New Breed Logistics, he and aides urged employees to make campaign contributions, then reimbursed them with bonuses, which would violate campaign finance laws. Monty Hagler, a DeJoy spokesman, said DeJoy did not think any employees had felt that they were being strongarmed into making donations, and believed that "he has always followed campaign fundraising laws and regulations."

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The Washington Post The New York Times

3. Russian opposition leader out of medically induced coma

Doctors in Berlin said Monday that they had pulled Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny out of a medically induced coma. Navalny's doctors said he was responsive as he continued treatment for his poisoning with a military-grade nerve agent, although his long-term prognosis was not yet clear. "It remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning," the doctors said in a statement. Navalny was flown to Germany on Aug. 22 after briefly being treated in Russia after he fell in on a flight from Siberia to Moscow. German Army specialists said he had been poisoned with a substance in the Novichok family of toxins developed by the Soviet Union. Similar nerve agents were used to poison another Kremlin opponent, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, who was poisoned in the United Kingdom along with his daughter in March 2018.

The New York Times

4. Trump says Pentagon leaders not 'in love' with him

President Trump on Monday accused U.S. military leaders of pushing wars to increase profits for the defense industry. "I'm not saying the military's in love with me," Trump said at a White House news conference. "The soldiers are, the top people in the Pentagon probably aren't because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy." The attack came after news reports that Trump had described fallen service members as "losers" and "suckers," which Trump denies. Former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump's Democratic opponent in the November election, told union members on Monday that referring to U.S. soldiers in those terms was "downright un-American."

CNN The New York Times

5. Hope for coronavirus relief deal dim as lawmakers return to Washington

Lawmakers begin returning to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a short session before the November election, with dim prospects for a deal on a new coronavirus relief package. Senators reconvene Tuesday, followed by House members next week. Talks between Democrats and the White House stalled last month, and Democrats and Republicans remain far apart on how much to spend in the package. House Democrats initially proposed a $3 trillion-plus package, while Senate Republicans' proposal would have cost around $1 trillion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has since said Democrats would accept a $2.2 trillion package. President Trump said Sunday that Democrats "don't want to make a deal because they think that if the country does as badly as possible ... that's good for the Democrats." Trump said he was "taking the high road" be refusing to meet with Democrats.

The Associated Press

6. Saudi court releases final verdicts in Khashoggi murder

A court in Saudi Arabia on Monday issued final verdicts in the killing of the dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi, sentencing five of the eight defendants to 20 years in prison, two to 17 years, and one to 10 years. Saudi authorities did not release the names of the people convicted. Khashoggi's siblings and one of his sons said months ago that they had forgiven his killers. Their statements effectively took the death penalty off the table for the defendants. The men were convicted in December of playing roles in killing and dismembering Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. Five were initially sentenced to death. Khashoggi had fled his home country during the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and had criticized him in columns he wrote for The Washington Post.

The New York Times

7. Duterte pardons U.S. Marine who killed transgender woman in Philippines

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday issued a pardon for a U.S. Marine convicted for the 2014 killing of Jennifer Laude, a transgender woman. The pardon came unexpectedly as a court was considering the appeal of a decision to release the Marine, Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton, before the end of his sentence. Duterte's decision effectively rendered the appeal moot, angering human rights and LGBTQ activists. Pemberton met Laude in a bar as Marines were in the country for joint military exercises. After she was found dead in a motel room, Pemberton, then 19, reportedly admitted to choking the 26-year-old Laude after discovering she was transgender. He claimed he was acting in self-defense, but police investigators called the killing a hate crime. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but had been ordered release four years early for good behavior.

The Washington Post

8. White House reportedly eyeing VA Secretary Wilkie as next defense secretary

White House officials are in talks with Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie about stepping in as defense secretary should President Trump fire existing Defense Secretary Mark Esper, NBC News reports. Esper recently broke with Trump on a handful of issues including renaming military bases that are named for Confederate leaders and invoking the Insurrection Act to send federal troops to cities experiencing protests. Now, tensions are especially high between Trump and Esper, NBC News reports, as the president faces backlash for allegedly calling U.S. veterans "losers" and "suckers." Officials told NBC News "there are no plans to replace Secretary Esper." Last month, when asked about the issue, Trump said: "I consider firing everybody. At some point, at some point, that's what happens."

NBC News

9. Record heat fuels severe fire threat in California, Oregon

Much of the West continued to face a severe fire threat on Tuesday as record-breaking heat fueled fires that already have burned more than two million acres in California, the most ever burned in a single wildfire season in the state. The fires still burning include the second-, third-, and fourth-largest fires on record in California. The explosive Creek Fire in the Sierra National Forest, first detected Friday about 290 miles north of Los Angeles, had scorched more than 78,000 acres by Monday afternoon. The most extreme fire danger was forecast for northwest Oregon, where very strong winds, low humidity, and unusually dry land surface created "a volatile environment supportive of rapidly spreading fires exhibiting extreme behavior," according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.

The Washington Post

10. Influential opposition leader disappears in Belarus

Maria Kolesnikova, a key opposition leader in Belarus, reportedly has disappeared in Minsk after another weekend of mass protests demanding the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko, who claimed re-election in a vote critics say was fraudulent. Kolesnikova was last seen being forced into a vehicle by plainclothes men, independent Belarusian news outlet Tut.By reported. Kolesnikova's press representative, Gleb German, told ABC News that Kolesnikova's associates had "no contact" with her on Monday, and her team did not know where she was. Two other leaders of the opposition's Coordination Council, Anton Ronenkov and Ivan Kravstov, also were missing. The country's Ministry of Internal Affairs said it had no knowledge of the alleged disappearances. Ukrainian media reported that Kolesnikova was taken to the Ukrainian border, where she refused to leave and tore up her passport to avoid being deported.

ABC News The Guardian