Border Patrol and US Marshals are sending more reinforcements to Portland.
The New York Times got its hands on a memo prepared by the FBI Counterterrorism Mission Center shows that officials were overreacting to the protests early on: A memo from the deputy director of the F.B.I., dated June 2, demanded an immediate mobilization as protests gathered after George Floyd’s death while in police custody a week earlier. David L. Bowdich, the F.B.I.’s No. 2, declared the situation “a national crisis,” and wrote that in addition to investigating “violent protesters, instigators” and “inciters,” bureau leaders should collect information with “robust social media exploitation teams” and examine what appeared to be “highly organized behavior.”
As for expansion of this effort the Times piece has this detail: The department also sent a tactical team to stand by in Seattle last week, hours after department officials told the mayor there no such deployment would occur. After pushback from those local officials, the administration told the Seattle government on Tuesday the team had left the city.
The Washington Post reports on this questions: “Trump’s shortcomings have perplexed even some of his most loyal allies, who increasingly have wondered why the president has not at least pantomimed a sense of command over the crisis or conveyed compassion for the millions of Americans hurt by it.”
The answer: “People close to Trump, many speaking on the condition of anonymity to share candid discussions and impressions, say the president’s inability to wholly address the crisis is due to his almost pathological unwillingness to admit error; a positive feedback loop of overly rosy assessments and data from advisers and Fox News; and a penchant for magical thinking that prevented him from fully engaging with the pandemic.”
One strategy advisors are deploying against Trump’s inaction: senior advisers began presenting Trump with maps and data showing spikes in coronavirus cases among “our people” in Republican states, a senior administration official said. They also shared projections predicting that virus surges could soon hit politically important states in the Midwest — including Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the official said.
Barr testified before the House this week.
DHS and Oregon reached a deal to remove the unmarked federal troops by Thursday: While Mr. Trump has used images of tactical agents cracking down on protesters in his campaign videos, there was an increasing sense in the administration that the violent scenes of unrest linked to federal agents in Portland could risk becoming a liability, an administration official said.
Trump has been targeting suburban voters in recent days. He tweeted this week to stoke fears about low income people moving in due to Democratic housing policy: Mr. Trump said on Twitter that “people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream” would “no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low income housing built in your neighborhood.” The president was referring to the administration’s decision last week to roll back an Obama-era program intended to combat racial segregation in suburban housing. The program expanded provisions in the Fair Housing Act to encourage diversification and “foster inclusive communities.”
On Thursday Trump tweeted: With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???
On Trump’s contribution to the stimulus bill: Rather than push for a comprehensive plan that could win support from both Democrats and Republicans, Mr. Trump first embraced big-ticket items that Senate Republicans did not want and that would do little to help millions of struggling workers and businesses. That included a payroll tax cut and an expanded tax break for business lunches, along with $1.75 billion to rebuild the F.B.I.’s headquarters in Washington.
There is growing concern about the postal service and the election: President Trump’s years long assault on the Postal Service and his increasingly dire warnings about the dangers of voting by mail are colliding as the presidential campaign enters its final months.
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Trump’s Job Approval: 41.2%
COVID-19 Cases / Deaths: 4,542,579 / 152,870