Yates, Flournoy Raise Biden at Least $100,000: Campaign Update
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Gives Trump a Tepid Nod: Campaign Update
(Bloomberg) -- Michele Flournoy and Sally Yates, former U.S. officials rumored to be under consideration for spots in a Joe Biden Cabinet, raised at least $100,000 for his campaign. Lady Gaga and John Legend will bring star power to Pennsylvania for the final day of Biden’s campaign. And President Donald Trump is considering hosting a party for hundreds of supporters inside the White House on election night.
There are two days until Election Day and 43 days until the Electoral College meets.
Other Developments:
Flournoy, Yates Each Raise at Least $100,000 for Biden
Two former Obama administration officials rumored to be on the short list for Biden’s cabinet should he win the election each raised at least $100,000 for his campaign.
Michele Flournoy, who served as under secretary of defense for policy under Obama and later cofounded the consulting firm WestExec Advisors, has said she’d be open to the idea of serving as the nation’s first female secretary of Defense.
And Sally Yates was acting attorney general when Trump fired her for refusing to defend his travel ban on people coming from predominantly Muslim countries. She’s been mentioned as a possible candidate for the top job at the Justice Department.
Both appeared on a list the Biden campaign released Saturday of 724 individuals and 93 couples who raised at least $100,000 for the campaign and its joint fundraising committees. The volunteer fundraisers, sometimes referred to as bundlers, raised at least $81.7 million, though the actual amount is most likely far higher.
Both women have been vocal critics of the Trump administration. Flournoy has argued that Trump’s foreign policy has left the U.S. much more isolated in the world. In a speech given during the virtual Democratic National Convention, Yates said Trump had trampled the rule of law while weaponizing the Justice Department to attack his enemies and protect his friends. -- Bill Allison
Biden, Harris Bring Star Power to Pennsylvania
Musician and actress Lady Gaga will accompany Biden to a rally in Pennsylvania for the last day of the presidential race, while his running mate Kamala Harris will appear in the battleground state with singer and producer John Legend.
Both candidates have poured time and money into the fight for Pennsylvania, where polls show Biden ahead. Trump won the state in 2016 and needs to hold it. Trump was in Pennsylvania on Saturday and Biden campaigns there on Sunday. He’ll return to stump around Pittsburgh on Monday, while Harris will be in the eastern part of the state. Their spouses, Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff, are also hitting the campaign trail in Pennsylvania.
Ahead of her appearance, Gaga posted to her 82 million Twitter followers a photo of her on a tractor from when she lived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She also posted a photo of her with Biden with the caption: “He’s a good friend. He’s the President this country needs to bring us back together.” -- Tyler Pager
Trump to Host Party at White House on Election Night (1:59 pm.)
Trump intends to throw an election night party in the East Room of the White House, and his advisers have discussed inviting around 400 people to attend, according to a person familiar with the plans.
The president’s team initially wanted to host an event at the nearby Trump International Hotel, but city rules capping indoor gatherings at 50 people due to the coronavirus pandemic foiled that plans.
The alternative, a large White House party, was reported earlier by the New York Times.
The event raises concerns about another potential virus outbreak at the White House. Health experts, including leading U.S. infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci, said a Sept. 26 ceremony for Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was a super-spreader event. The event was held outdoors but attendees also mingled inside the White House. Several were later infected, including the president and first lady. It’s not clear, however, how the first couple contracted the virus.
The White House didn’t comment. Spokespeople for the Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. -- Mario Parker
Unsupported Allegations as Trump’s Day Gets Under Way (1:00 p.m.)
At his first of five campaign rallies for the day Trump ramped up unsupported allegations against his liberal foes.
He said that if elected, Democrats would put Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota “in charge of immigration” and added that the Justice Department “should be looking at” Omar and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
“Where is our Justice Department?” Trump asked at the rally in Washington, Michigan.
Trump accused Omar of illegal “ballot harvesting.” The charge appeared to be based on videos published by the conservative Project Veritas that cite unnamed sources. Omar’s office has denied that she took part in any activities as described in the video, according to Snopes.com.
The president also said Ocasio-Cortez tried to “steal $2 million out of her campaign,” an apparent reference to accusations from Republicans that she and her allies tried to improperly hide political spending during her 2018 campaign. A conservative group filed a complaint in 2019 with the Federal Election Commission, which hasn’t taken action. A lawyer for Ocasio-Cortez said last year her and her aides didn’t try to hide spending, according to the Associated Press. -- Jordan Fabian
‘Reasonable Chance’ of Quick Winner: Biden Adviser (12:21 p.m.)
Anita Dunn, senior adviser to the Biden campaign, said there’s “a reasonable chance” the presidential election outcome will be known on Nov. 4, suggesting the results from new battleground states in the South will be early and clear.
While noting that she’s “not an oddsmaker,” Dunn said a trend should become clear in the early hours of election night, when Florida, Georgia and North Carolina votes are tallied.
“I think we will get some sort of indicator what kind of night it’s going to be from those three states,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union.” A CNN poll released Sunday showed Biden up in North Carolina by six percentage points. The race in Georgia is essentially tied.
Biden supporter Representative Val Demings of Florida, on the other hand, was less confident that the results will be known quickly.
“We want to make sure that every ballot is counted,” she said. “We may not have total results of the race call on election night. But we have to be patient and make sure every voice is heard, every ballot is counted,” she said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.” -- Jenny Leonard
Pittsburgh Paper Endorses First Republican Since 1972 (10:40 a.m.)
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette endorsed Donald Trump with tepid praise two days before Election Day, making him the first Republican to win the newspaper’s nod in almost 50 years.
The newspaper cited Trump’s economic record and policies on energy and trade as the main reasons for its approval. At the same time, the paper criticized Trump for dividing the country and “bending the truth.”
“We wish that we could be more enthusiastic and we hope the president can become more dignified and statesmanlike,” the editorial board wrote, asking readers to “separate the man from the record.”
While polls have shown Democratic challenger Joe Biden ahead in Pennsylvania, the race is close and both candidates see the state as key to winning the presidency. Biden is spending Sunday courting voters there and Trump has worked to play up Biden’s opposition to some fracking, a key industry there.
Trump had four events in the state on Saturday, and signed a largely symbolic executive order focused on fracking. -- Jenny Leonard
Coming Up:
Biden concentrates on battleground Pennsylvania on Sunday, while Trump visits five states: Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Kamala Harris will be in Georgia and North Carolina, while Mike Pence jets into North Carolina for a church service.
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