Recap on Final Debate Between Donald Trump and Joe Biden

The Story

What a night that was.

I assume you're talking about the debate?

What else? Yesterday, President Trump and former VP Joe Biden faced off in the first 2020 presidential debate in Cleveland, OH. And the moderator had a tough job dealing with interruptions (hope you got some sleep, Chris Wallace). But after a plea for the candidates – Trump, specifically – to behave, we somehow got through all the main topics and then some. Here's what they had to say:

Read the source article at theSkimm

Third-Degree Murder Charge Dismissed for Cop in George Floyd's Death

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota judge has dismissed a third-degree murder charge filed against the former Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee against George Floyd’s neck, saying there was not enough probable cause for that count to proceed to trial. The more serious second-degree murder charge against Derek Chauvin remains.

Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill’s ruling, dated Wednesday and made public Thursday, found probable cause for Chauvin to be tried on one count of unintentional second-degree murder and one count of second-degree manslaughter. Cahill also found probable cause to move forward with the aiding and abetting counts against three other former officers, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao.

Read the source article at Associated Press News

Supreme Court Reinstated Ban on Curb-Side Voting in Alabama

A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated a state-ordered ban on curbside voting in Alabama, despite claims from disabled and at-risk voters that making them vote inside polling places puts them in danger of contracting the coronavirus.

The justices split, 5-3, in the case, with Chief Justice John Roberts aligning with his fellow conservative court members to stay a lower-court injunction that lifted the prohibition on drive-through voting that was issued by Alabama’s secretary of state.

All three of the shorthanded high court’s remaining liberals indicated they would have allowed curbside voting in counties that wanted to permit it.

Read the source article at Politics, Policy, Political News

Emails Threatening Florida Voters Link to Overseas Servers

Washington — Dozens of voters in a heavily Democratic county in Florida and across several states reported receiving emails on Tuesday purporting to come from a right-wing group threatening to "come after" them unless they vote for President Trump.

But an examination of the messages, which are now under investigation by state and federal authorities, shows they were sent via servers located overseas, raising questions about their origin amid concerns about voter intimidation just two weeks before Election Day.

Democratic voters in Alachua County, Florida, began receiving the email on Tuesday morning, and voters in Alaska and Arizona also reported receiving the message. Early voting began in Florida on Monday. The emails appeared to come from the right-wing group The Proud Boys, and showed a "from" address of info@officialproudboys.com. The Proud Boys has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights advocacy group.

Read the source article at CBS News

Judge Hears DOJ Request Representing Trump in Rape Defamation Lawsuit

(CNN)A federal judge is set to decide whether to accept the Justice Department's argument that President Donald Trump acted in his official capacity when denying a rape claim made by a longtime magazine columnist, after planned oral arguments to discuss the matter were thwarted Wednesday when a department lawyer was barred from entering the courthouse due to New York's coronavirus-related restrictions.

The former columnist, E. Jean Carroll, has accused Trump of raping her in a dressing room at a luxury Manhattan department store in the 1990s and is suing him for defamation.

The Justice Department is seeking to replace the President as the defendant in the case and has argued in court filings that Trump's response to Carroll's claims was an effort to preserve his ability to perform the duties of the presidency.

Read the source article at cnn.com

NTSB Ruled Boat Owners Faulted in Fire Killing 34 People

LOS ANGELES — One of the deadliest accidents in recent U.S. maritime history was the fault of owners of a Southern California dive boat whose lack of oversight resulted in a fire that swept through the vessel and killed 34 people in their bunks below deck, federal safety officials ruled Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said the Conception's captain failed to post a roving night watchman aboard the vessel, which allowed the fire to quickly spread and trap the 33 passengers and one crew member. The NTSB also faulted the Coast Guard for not enforcing that requirement and recommended it develop a program to ensure boats with overnight passengers actually have the watchman.

Read the source article at NBC News

Family of 18-Wheeler Driver Killed in Fire Files Suit

Family of 18-Wheeler Driver Killed in Fire Files Suit

(Houston, TX) Houston attorneys Benny Agosto, Jr. and Angelina Wike of Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against L & B Transport, LLC, Total Chemical Services, Inc., and Reagent Chemical & Research, Inc. on behalf of the family of Jose Flores who was killed in a horrific fire that engulfed the cabin of the 18-wheeler he was driving near downtown Beaumont on Interstate 10 in the early morning hours of October 10, 2020. Mr. Flores, 57, is survived by his wife and three children who live in Alvin, Texas.

The catastrophic incident occurred on Saturday October 10, 2020 at approximately 4:47 a.m. while Mr. Flores was operating an 18-wheeler vehicle owned by Total Chemical Service, Inc. While investigation is ongoing, it was reported that the 18-wheeler vehicle flipped over onto the driver’s side and the hazardous chemicals being hauled by the 18-wheeler began leaking. The cabin then burst into flames trapping Mr. Flores in the cabin fire. Tragically, despite an off-duty Beaumont police officer’s attempts to free Mr. Flores, he was unable to be rescued from the fire and lost his life at the scene of the incident.

The lawsuit asserts allegations against the Defendants for failure to monitor, repair and/or maintain the brake system on the 18-wheeler vehicle, failing to replace hazardous parts and/or materials on the tractor and/or trailer, failure to properly maintain, monitor and/or repair the 18-wheeler, and for failure to permit Mr. Flores appropriate breaks and instead requiring him to work approximately seven or more straight days such that Mr. Flores was overworked and fatigued at the time of the incident.

A Temporary Restraining Order was filed on October 19, 2020 and has since been granted by a Harris County District Court judge to preserve the 18-wheeler and any evidence in the vehicle involved in the incident so that a team of investigators can perform the necessary inspections.

Please click here for a copy of the press release and here for a copy of the Plaintiffs' Original Petition.

For questions regarding the lawsuit, please contact Benny Agosto, Jr. at bagosto@awtxlaw.com, Angelina Wike at awike@awtxlaw.com, or Madison Kauffman at mkauffman@awtxlaw.com or 713-222-7211.

Madison Kauffman

Marketing Director

Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner

800 Commerce | Houston, TX 77002

713-222-7211 | 1-800-870-9584 | 713-225-0827 (Fax)

mkauffman@awtxlaw.com | www.abrahamwatkins.com

This email is intended as a private communication with the individual or entity to which it is addressed. This communication may contain information that is proprietary, privileged or confidential or otherwise legally exempt from disclosure. If you are not the named addressee, you are not authorized to read, print, retain copy or disseminate this message or any part of it. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail and delete all copies of the message.

President Trump Demands AG William Barr Investigate Hunter Biden

“We have got to get the attorney general to act. He’s got to act and he’s got to act fast," Trump said on “Fox & Friends,” citing a New York Post report about Hunter Biden’s business dealings. Trump called on Barr to “appoint somebody” to handle the matter.

"This is major corruption and this has to be known about before the election,” Trump said.

Trump’s remarks represented an extraordinary effort by the president to push a member of his Cabinet to investigate the family of his political opponent, as he explicitly invoked the election as reason to do so. They came after a group of House Republicans asked Barr to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations about Hunter Biden made in the Post last week.

Read the source article at The Hill

Trump Campaign Tells Group Stop Using Him for Marijuana Legalization

JACKSON, Miss. — President Donald Trump’s campaign is telling a Mississippi group to stop saying that Trump supports a ballot measure that would legalize medical marijuana in the state.

Mississippians for Compassionate Care is a group promoting Initiative 65. It paid for a letter signed by several prominent Republicans, and the outside of the envelope said: “Join President Trump and 3 out of 4 Mississippi Republicans who support medical marijuana.”

The letter said: “President Trump Supports Medical Marijuana ... and allowing states to decide on that issue.”

Read the source article at NBC News

Judge Rules Breonna Taylor Grand Juror Can Speak About Proceedings

(CNN)The Breonna Taylor grand jury was not given an opportunity to consider homicide charges in the case against police officers who served a no-knock warrant at her home the night she was killed, an anonymous member of the panel said Tuesday.

The statement came shortly after a Kentucky judge ruled the grand juror may speak publicly about the case presented by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

"The grand jury did not have homicide offenses explained to them," the anonymous grand juror wrote in a statement issued by attorney Kevin Glogower. "The grand jury never heard about those laws. Self-defense or justification was never explained either."

Read the source article at cnn.com

Process Reinstated for Tossing Ballots with Mismatched Signatures

A federal appeals court reinstated Texas's procedures for rejecting ballots with signatures that don't appear to match those on record with elections officials, temporarily blocking a district judge's ruling that the process is unconstitutional.

A three-judge panel for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed an injunction against the mismatched-signatures procedure while a legal challenge plays out.

"Because Texas’s strong interest in safeguarding the integrity of its elections from voter fraud far outweighs any burden the state’s voting procedures place on the right to vote, we stay the injunction pending appeal," Judge Jerry Smith, a Reagan appointee, wrote in the unanimous panel's decision.

Read the source article at The Hill

Federal Judge Halts Trump's Food Stamp Cutbacks for 700,000 Americans

A federal judge struck down a Trump administration rule that would have reduced food stamp benefits to nearly 700,000 people.

In her Sunday ruling, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell wrote that implementing the change "radically and abruptly alters decades of regulatory practice, leaving States scrambling and exponentially increasing food insecurity for tens of thousands of Americans."

In December, the Department of Agriculture formalized a proposal for work requirements for recipients of food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, that would have disqualified an estimated 688,000 people from food benefits.

Read the source article at NBC News

DOJ Announced Six Russian Officers Charged for Hacking, Malware Operations

The Justice Department Monday announced an indictment against six Russia GRU officers charged with engaging in a series of hacking and malware deployment operations to attack other countries' infrastructure, elections and other actions designed to further Russia's interests.

The indictment specifically accuses the six alleged hackers of engaging in computer intrusions "intended to support Russian government efforts to undermine, retaliate against or otherwise destabilize" Ukraine, Georgia, elections in France, the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games and international efforts to hold Russia accountable for its use of the nerve agent Novichok on foreign soil.

Read the source article at abcnews.go.com

Trump Campaign Adviser Indicates He'll Tone it Down Next Debate

Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller signaled Sunday that President Donald Trump will take a less combative tack toward Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden during their televised debate this week.

“When you talk about style and you talk about approach, I do think that President Trump is going to give Joe Biden a little bit more room to explain himself on some of these issues,” Miller said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

Miller specifically mentioned dubious allegations against the Biden family detailed in recent New York Post reports and Biden’s refusal to articulate a firm position on expanding the Supreme Court as topics on which Trump would seek to pin down his opponent.

Read the source article at Politics, Policy, Political News

Pelosi Chastises Trump for Promoting 'Fear Tactics' at Campaign Rallies

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chastised President Trump for promoting “fear tactics” during his campaign rallies, calling his Saturday appearance in Michigan “so irresponsible.”

“The president has to realize that the words of the president of the United States weigh a ton,” Pelosi told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “And in our political dialogue, to inject fear tactics into it, especially a woman governor and her family, is so irresponsible.”

The speaker criticized Trump for calling for his supporters to “get your governor to open up your state, okay? And get your schools open” during his rally in Western Michigan in reference to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D).

His comment prompted the crowd to chant “lock her up,” a chant used during his 2016 rallies against Hillary Clinton, leading the president to respond on Saturday saying, “Lock ‘em all up.”

Read the source article at The Hill