Senate Holds Hearings For Trump SCOTUS Nominee – The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings this week on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court. Barrett was nominated by President Trump after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal icon on the Court. Barrett was grilled by Democratic senators who sought to tie her to President Trump’s positions on Obamacare and other issues but failed to land significant punches. Ironically, Barrett used what is known as the Ginsburg Doctrine – refusing to give concrete answers about issues that could come up at the Supreme Court – to sidestep Democrats’ questions on a host of issues that they tried using to make her appear extreme.
Trump, Biden Hold Competing Town Halls – President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden held separate town halls on Thursday evening, with both events taking place at the same time. The town halls came after the second presidential debate, which had been scheduled to take place on Thursday, was canceled over President Trump’s refusal to participate in it because it was to be held remotely.
Twitter Blocks Sharing Of Anti-Biden Story – Twitter came under fire and a threat from GOP senators of being subpoenaed after the company blocked the sharing of a link directing readers to a New York Post story that contained bombshell revelations about Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s dealings with a Ukrainian gas company. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said his company was wrong for blocking the story and changed Twitter’s policy of not sharing stories that contain documents that were obtained via hacking.
C-SPAN Anchor Suspended – CNN anchor Steve Scully, who was to be the moderator of the since-canceled second presidential debate, was placed on indefinite leave by C-SPAN after admitting he lied about his Twitter account getting hacked. Scully tweeted to former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, asking if he should respond to criticisms leveled at him from President Trump, who accused him of being pro-Biden. Scully said he didn’t send the tweet and that his account was hacked. An investigation determined that Scully had lied and he admitted to it on Thursday.
Stimulus Bill Likely Dead Before Election – Another stimulus bill being fought over in Congress is unlikely to be passed and signed into law before the November 3rd elections. Democrats want a $2+ trillion bill to help Americans weather the financial storm caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but Republican leaders want a smaller bill, at around $1.8 trillion. President Trump has said he wants the bill to be even bigger than his Republican counterparts want, but Republicans wary of Trump’s dimming reelection prospects are not willing to go along with the president.
Hackers Accessed Election Systems – The FBI and DHS said that hackers possibly linked to nation-states accessed election systems in the United States and in some cases there were unauthorized accesses to election support systems. The agencies said there is no evidence so far that the integrity of elections data was compromised and that “it does not appear these targets are being selected because of their proximity to elections information.”