This piece was originally published in the October 21, 2020 edition of CAP Action’s daily newsletter, the Progress Report. Subscribe to the Progress Report here.
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash
— Elizabeth Warren, ripping apart Mitch McConnell’s refusal to deliver a real stimulus package
Trump’s relentless attempts to strike down the Affordable Care Act during a pandemic are putting millions of Americans like Alicia at risk.
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- A disturbing new report from NBC News details how the Trump administration lost track of the parents of at least 545 immigrant children. The children, who are in federal custody, were separated from their families as part of a 2017 pilot version of the administration’s cruel 2018 family separation push. Lawyers for the ACLU and other groups have since been tasked by a federal judge with locating the parents in question, two-thirds of whom the lawyers now say have been deported to Central America.
- Many parents separated under this earlier program were deported instead of being held in separate custody, which lawyers say makes them difficult to track down. “People ask when we will find all of these families,” said a representative from the ACLU. “Sadly, I can’t give an answer. I just don’t know. But we will not stop looking until we have found every one.”
- Trump walked out of a 60 Minutes interview last night while the cameras were still rolling. Trump and his Chief of Staff have since bizarrely threatened to release footage from the interview before it airs. Then, this afternoon, Trump tweeted pictures of Kayleigh McEnany — who, for all we know, may still have coronavirus — masklessly handing his 60 Minutes interviewer a comically large binder supposedly containing “some of the many things we’ve done for Healthcare.” Fittingly, one of the pictures appears to show a blank piece of paper.
TRUMP’S CLOSING ARGUMENT: As he heads into the home stretch of the election, it’s clear that Trump has one clear message for the American people: He is not a fan of Lesley Stahl.
- In all seriousness, more than 215,000 Americans are dead. Thousands of people have died preventable deaths as a result of Trump’s failure to properly handle the pandemic and his active discouragement of safety measures. And this is how he’s choosing to spend the final two weeks of the campaign. It’s not surprising, but that doesn’t make it any less horrible.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- A member of the grand jury that heard evidence in Breonna Taylor’s killing said Tuesday that the jury did not believe Taylor’s death was justified. The juror, who remains anonymous, said that the jury was not even offered the option of bringing additional charges against the officers who killed Taylor, which resulted in the insufficient wanton endangerment charges announced last month. This comes after a judge ordered jury deliberations to be released to the public amid growing questions about Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s suspected mishandling of the case.
- Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, is expected to plead guilty to federal charges in a massive settlement with the Department of Justice. The charges include conspiracy to defraud the United States and violation of federal anti-kickback laws. Experts say Purdue is largely responsible for sparking the ongoing opioid epidemic that has been linked to nearly half a million deaths in the last two decades.
- While federal charges against an opioid manufacturer are unprecedented, state attorneys general who are familiar with the allegations say this agreement fails to bring Purdue’s leadership to justice. “The federal government had the power here to put the Sacklers in jail, and they didn’t,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement. “Instead, they took fines and penalties that Purdue likely will never fully pay.”
WHAT WE’RE READING (AND WATCHING)
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