Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney is apparently determined to keep grave warnings about Russian election interference from President Trump as not to upset him.
Mulvaney earlier this year told former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen not to bring up her concerns about Russian interference in the 2020 election, and her hopes to organize efforts to combat it, in front of Trump, The New York Times reports. This "wasn't a great subject and should be kept below his level," Mulvaney reportedly said, because Trump sees any discussion of Russian interference as undermining his 2016 election win.
As a result, the Times says, Nielsen gave up on a plan to organize a meeting of Cabinet secretaries to come up with a strategy for preventing interference in 2020, despite the fact that she had become "increasingly concerned" about continued Russian activity. In the past, Nielsen had assembled her own meetings on the issue after growing "so frustrated" with the White House's lack of response. She reportedly began to push for efforts to prevent 2020 election interference last year, although only after it became clear that she was falling out of Trump's favor.
Nielsen was ultimately forced out of the administration in April, reportedly over disagreements with the president on immigration.
This report comes one day after Jared Kushner, President Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, publicly dismissed Russian interference in 2016 as just "a couple of Facebook ads," saying Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation actually had a "much harsher impact on our democracy." Brendan Morrow
The Supreme Court will reveal Thursday morning whether Congress, New York state prosecutors, and ultimately the American public will be able to see what's in the tax documents President Trump has worked so hard to keep secret. But on Wednesday night, the White House finally addressed another, lower-profile accounting of Trump's finances, his annual financial disclosure report, that was supposed to be handed in more than a week ago. The filing, required under federal ethics rules, is the only official document publicly detailing Trump's personal finances.
A White House official told The New York Times that Trump had requested an extension because the report was "complicated" and Trump has "been focused on addressing the coronavirus crisis and other matters." This is Trump's second coronavirus extension: The partial disclosure of his assets, debts, and family business performance was actually due in May, but all White House employees had been given a 45-day extension, until June 29, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vice President Mike Pence filed his disclosure report by that deadline.
Trump's delay follows conversations between ethics officials and his representatives over a draft of the disclosure report, people briefed on the matter tell the Times. The Office of Government Ethics and Trump Organization declined requests for comment on the filing. Peter Weber
It turns out "closing schools was a lot easier than reopening them" during the coronavirus pandemic, Myah Ward and Renuka Rayasam note at Politico. But Johns Hopkins University — which has made checking COVID-19 infection and death data easy with its coronavirus map — is trying to help, launching another site Thursday to help Americans track how different states plan to reopen schools this fall, plus guidelines from health and education agencies and organizations.
According to this new education tracker, run by the Johns Hopkins eSchool+ Initiative, 43 states and territories have released plans for reopening their schools. The site reviews each plan based on 12 criteria, including coronavirus protection measures, academics, and choices offered to students, teachers, and staff.
The goal of the tracker is to give parents, teachers, staff, school district leaders, and policymakers one place where they can access and compare reopening plans, Annette Anderson, deputy director of JHU's Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, tells Politico. "At the end of the day, it's about trying to make sure that when we reopen, that the reopening benefits all." Peter Weber
The Ventura County Sheriff's Department said late Wednesday that actress Naya Rivera is missing and the subject of a search at Lake Piru, northwest of Los Angeles. Rivera, 33, rented a pontoon boat at the reservoir Wednesday afternoon and her 4-year-old son was found alone in the boat, asleep and wearing his life jacket. Rivera's wallet and ID were also in the boat. The son, who got back in the boat after a swim with his mother, "is in good health," said Capt. Eric Buschow of the sheriff's department. The search, suspended Wednesday night, will continue Thursday with divers and air units.
Rivera played Santana, a cheerleader, on 113 episodes of the TV musical comedy Glee, and dated Glee co-star Mark Salling, who killed himself in 2018 after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography. The son is from her marriage to actor Ryan Dorsey. Peter Weber
Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov on Wednesday said reports that Russia paid bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan are a "downright lie," and "no concrete evidence has been presented" to prove the allegations.
The New York Times first reported on the alleged plot in late June. During a virtual discussion with the Center for the National Interest, a think tank in Washington, Antonov said the intelligence sources behind the report are "trying to create an impression that our country is an enemy of the United States."
He also had sharp words for the U.S. government's decision to withdraw from multilateral arms control treaties, saying this left U.S.-Russia relations in a "deplorable state." His country, Antonov added, is "deeply concerned about the United States actions leading to the collapse of strategic stability."
While it's not known if President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have spoken since the Russian bounty story broke, Antonov did reveal that they had five phone calls in late March and April, all of them positive. "Unfortunately, it is not always possible to implement in practice the constructive tone of the presidents' talks," he added. Catherine Garcia
President Trump on Wednesday criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines for reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, then he and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos threatened to withhold federal funds from schools that don't fully reopen in the fall. "The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families," Trump tweeted. Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday afternoon the CDC will issue new guidelines.
"Well, the president said today, we just don't want the guidance to be too tough," Pence said at a coronavirus task force briefing. "That's the reason why next week, the CDC is going to be issuing a new set of tools, five different documents that will be giving even more clarity on the guidance going forward."
There are good social, economic, and societal reasons to send kids back to school — the American Academy of Pediatrics "strongly" advises a return to in-school learning — but only if districts can reasonably minimize the risks for children, teachers, and staff. The steps to make schools adequately safe will cost an extra $1.8 million for an average school district, according to one analysis, and it's not clear Trump and Congress will offer any financial help.
State and local agencies, which fund more than 90 percent of K-12 education, are facing hard choices, as are teachers and parents weighing the risks and benefits of returning or sending their kids into classrooms amid a deadly, in many cases out-of-control coronavirus outbreak. Trump appearing to force federal scientists to water down their guidance probably won't help those decisions.
"Stop making public education a political issue," said Leslie Boggs, National PTA president.
For Trump, getting kids back in school is "about the economy, and it's about his re-election," Politico reports. As Trump's team sees it, children in school means "parents can more easily return to work and juice the economy — something even the president's allies consider a necessity for Trump to win re-election. And with Trump's sagging poll numbers against presumptive 2020 rival Joe Biden, aides also hope the campaign for in-person schooling will play well with the female and suburban voters the president needs to remain in office."
That last gamble is pretty high-stakes, and it's hard to imagine it paying off if the headlines this fall are about schools closing down again as COVID-19 rampages through suburban schools. Peter Weber