USPS chief Louis DeJoy says he won't restore mail-sorting machines ahead of election – live

That’s it from me this week. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he does not intend to restore mail sorting machines that have been removed from some USPS locations. Testifying before the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee, DeJoy argued the machines that had been removed were “not needed.” However, DeJoy acknowledged that some of the operational changes he has implemented have caused delays in mail delivery.
• A federal judge denied Trump’s request for a stay of the subpoena for his tax returns. The president’s lawyers now reportedly intend to go to the 2nd circuit court of appeals to try to get a stay of the subpoena issued by Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance. The federal judge’s decision comes a month after the supreme court ruled that the president was not exempt from grand jury requests.
• Steve Bannon dismissed the federal charges against him as a “political hit job.” The former Trump adviser, who was arrested yesterday for allegedly using money from his anti-immigrant group We Build the Wall for personal expenses, said on his podcast today, “I’m not going to back down. This is a political hit job. … I’m going to continue to fight.”
• Attorney general William Barr said he was “vehemently opposed” to a pardon of whistleblower Edward Snowden. Trump floated the idea of a pardon for Snowden last week, saying, “It seems to be a split decision that many people think that he should be somehow treated differently … and I’m going to take a very good look at it.”
• The Golden State Killer was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Judge Michael Bowman said Joseph James DeAngelo “deserves no mercy” after pleading guilty to 13 murder charges and 13 kidnapping-related charges.

Lois will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Steve Bannon dismissed the federal charges against him as a “political hit job,” a day after he was arrested on a yacht off the coast of Connecticut.

The former Trump adviser was released on bail yesterday after pleading not guilty to fraud charges, stemming from allegations that he used money from his anti-immigrant group We Build the Wall on personal expenses.

“I’m not going to back down. This is a political hit job,” Bannon said today on his podcast War Room.

“I’m in this for the long haul,” Bannon added. “I’m in this for the fight. I’m going to continue to fight.”

After the charges were announced yesterday, Trump attempted to distance himself from his former adviser, saying he knew “nothing about the project.”

“I haven’t been dealing with him for a long period of time,” the president said.

Joseph James DeAngelo, better known as the Golden State Killer, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, four decades after he terrorized the suburbs of Sacramento and stalked neighborhoods in southern California, breaking into homes to rape and torture women and girls, and killing couples and young women in their beds.

His crimes left a trail of destruction that has haunted survivors and their families. The sentencing – which took place in Sacramento on Friday, on the 40th anniversary of two of the murders – follows three days of testimony from dozens of women and men who survived DeAngelo’s crimes, as well as family members of those who did not.

Judge Michael Bowman said he was “moved by all their courage, their grace, their strength.”

“All qualities you lack,” he said, addressing DeAngelo. “Are you capable of comprehending the pain and anguish you’ve caused?”

The defendant “deserves no mercy”, Bowman said before the sentencing, which was met with applause.

Phil Scott, the Republican governor of Vermont, said he would not be voting for Trump in November’s presidential election.

“I have not decided, at this point, whether to cast a vote for former Vice President Biden, but it’s something that I would consider,” Scott said.

Scott has previously said he did not vote for Trump in 2016, and amid the Senate impeachment trial earlier this year, the Republican governor said Trump “should not be in office.”

Scott’s announcement may have something to do with the fact that he is facing reelection this year in his liberal-leaning state.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he does not intend to restore mail sorting machines that have been removed from some USPS locations. Testifying before the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee, DeJoy argued the machines that had been removed were “not needed.” However, DeJoy acknowledged that some of the operational changes he has implemented have caused delays in mail delivery.
• A federal judge denied Trump’s request for a stay of the subpoena for his tax returns. The president now has six days to convince an appeals court to grant a stay of the subpoena issued by Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance. The judge’s decision comes a month after the supreme court ruled that the president was not exempt from such grand jury requests.
• Attorney general William Barr said he was “vehemently opposed” to a pardon of whistleblower Edward Snowden. Trump floated the idea of a pardon for Snowden last week, saying, “It seems to be a split decision that many people think that he should be somehow treated differently … and I’m going to take a very good look at it.”

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Addressing the 2020 Council for National Policy Meeting, Trump predicted that the nation will not know the winner of the presidential election for weeks or even months after Nov. 3.

“You’ll never have an election count on Nov. 3,” the president said. “In my opinion, you wouldn’t be able to know the results of this election maybe weeks, months. Maybe never. I don’t think you’ll know two weeks later. I don’t think you’ll know four weeks later.”

A number of election officials have warned that the much higher number of mail-in ballots this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, could cause a delay in the reporting of results.

The president also once again attacked mail-in voting, accusing states that are automatically sending ballots to registered voters of causing a “very serious problem for our great democracy.”

Just to reiterate: despite the president’s allegations, voter fraud is very rare, and mail-in voting has been a staple of US election systems for decades.

Attorney general William Barr said he is “vehemently opposed” to a pardon of whistleblower Edward Snowden, even though Trump floated the idea last week.

“He was a traitor and the information he provided our adversaries greatly hurt the safety of the American people,” Barr told the AP.

Snowden was charged under the Espionage Act in 2013 for disclosing classified information about US surveillance programs.

“He was peddling it around like a commercial merchant,” Barr said. “We can’t tolerate that.”

But on Saturday, Trump said he would “look at” the issue. “There are many, many people — it seems to be a split decision that many people think that he should be somehow treated differently, and other people think he did very bad things,” Trump said. “And I’m going to take a very good look at it.”

Snowden has been living in Russia since he leaked the information in order to avoid US prosecution.

A federal judge has denied Trump’s request for a stay of the Manhattan district attorney’s subpoena for his financial records, including his tax returns.

The president now has six days to convince an appeals court to grant the stay, but he is quickly running out of options to avoid giving Manhattan DA Cy Vance the requested records.

US district judge Victor Marrero rejected Trump’s challenge to the subpoena yesterday, after the supreme court ruled last month that the president was not exempt from such grand jury requests.

The president’s legal team has argued the subpoena should be dismissed because they say it is political motivated, but Vance has insisted he needs the records for a “complex financial investigation” of the Trump Organization.