Mattis told Coats, “The president has no moral compass,” to which the director of national intelligence replied, “True. To him, a lie is not a lie. It’s just what he thinks. He doesn’t know the difference between the truth and a lie.” https://t.co/jFlKYDPObA
— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) September 9, 2020
In a March conversation with Bob Woodward, President Trump admitted to downplaying the severity of the coronavirus.
— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) September 10, 2020
"I wanted to always play it down," Trump told Woodward on March 19. "I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic." https://t.co/PAQpQzzIRd
The White House denied President Trump intentionally misled Americans about the severity of the coronavirus after recorded interviews for a new book by Bob Woodward revealed that Trump knew early on how deadly and contagious the virus was https://t.co/ker843YxS2 pic.twitter.com/kgewmbLhzy
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 10, 2020
Woodward recorded the 18 conversations with the President’s permission. https://t.co/9CzPQroFMm
— David P Gelles (@gelles) September 10, 2020
NEW: For weeks leading up to the publication of Bob Woodward’s latest book “Rage,” West Wing aides were chatting about how damaging some of President Donald Trump’s quotes would be. https://t.co/uaTm0txdyO
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) September 10, 2020
Former DNI Dan Coats could not shake his "deep suspicions" that Vladimir Putin "had something" on Trump, seeing "no other explanation" for the president's behavior, according to Bob Woodward's new book "Rage." https://t.co/m74NgJB7E3
— Axios (@axios) September 10, 2020
IMPORTANT: Trump lied to you in recent weeks to get you to send your kids back to school because he thinks it helps his re-election. While he said on secret tape in Feb that he knew COVID hurt the young, he recently lied that your kids were immune so you’d send them to school.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) September 10, 2020
Carl Bernstein: Woodward's Trump tapes "smoking gun" of "homicidal negligence" https://t.co/fn4utyqClD pic.twitter.com/k2ktVCT5vK
— The Hill (@thehill) September 10, 2020
Historians will remember Woodward’s tapes as being as significant as the Nixon tapes. We’ve all been numbed by one political shock after another. But history’s perspective will be withering, and Trump will likely shoulder the blame for at least 100,000 American deaths.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) September 10, 2020
Imagine if in Feb. Trump had called all the governors and told them what he told Woodward. That's the difference between a few thousand dead and 200,000 lives lost
— Jennifer "A man is not a plan" Rubin 🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@JRubinBlogger) September 9, 2020
Wow.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) September 9, 2020
"At one point, Trump moaned that the investigations were hindering his abilities as president. 'Putin said to me in a meeting, he said, it’s a shame, because I know it’s very hard for you to make a deal with us. I said, you’re right,' Trump said." https://t.co/a6Z7b59zO7
Trump wanted to prove how smart he was to Woodward, so he told him the stuff he'd heard from experts. I don't think it means he believed it. I think he had no idea what to believe or do or say and just bluffed and we knew that already.
— Dan Froomkin (PressWatchers.org) (@froomkin) September 9, 2020
Woodward defends sitting on Trump interview https://t.co/3aoA0q8bQP pic.twitter.com/bNOQBdaL4l
— The Hill (@thehill) September 10, 2020
Should Bob Woodward have reported Trump’s virus revelations sooner instead of saving them for his book? Here’s how he defends his decision, and my view. … My column here https://t.co/YtZIgT8YQF
— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) September 9, 2020
QAnon is sure to go numerologically beserk over the fact that Trump gave 17 interviews to Bob Woodward, retweeted Nobel Prize fantasy 17 times, and that Kyle Rittenhouse is 17….Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet.
— Edward Luce (@EdwardGLuce) September 10, 2020
oh, and…
There was a tremendous amount of news today, but everyone should take time to read this big @owermohle scoop. https://t.co/tDli8zPPyA
— John Bresnahan (@bresreports) September 10, 2020
CNN BREAKING: A whistleblower is alleging that top political appointees at DHS repeatedly instructed career officials to modify intelligence assessments to ensure they matched up with misleading public comments from President Trump https://t.co/DFvOFETend
— Vaughn Sterling (@vplus) September 9, 2020
Yet another story that is both unbelievable and totally believable:
— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) September 9, 2020
Whistle-Blower Says D.H.S. Downplayed Threats From Russia and White Supremacists https://t.co/H7ARmFiiZj
The latest from @ElieNYC — For Trump, Defaming His Rape Accuser Is Part of His Job https://t.co/S0DMku7vn1
— Mkay (@JoyAnnReid) September 10, 2020
AP Exclusive: Pence to attend event hosted by QAnon backers https://t.co/OQ76m9CQoU
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) September 9, 2020
🔥 EXCLUSIVE: Deutsche Bank has retained Robert Kimmitt, an old lawyer friend of AG Barr, to help navigate the political waters in DC — where Trump's bank is under the microscope of lawmakers and criminal investigatorshttps://t.co/4xzQYE1oVW @gregfarrel @StevenArons @business pic.twitter.com/ECZ8Hx5IpG
— David S. Joachim (@davidjoachim) September 9, 2020
NEWS: Trump says Ted Cruz is on his list of judicial appointments if he's re-elected
— Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) September 9, 2020
South Carolina sees its first teacher, a 28-year-old who taught 3rd grade, die from COVID-19 https://t.co/eXTJZ0LfOo
— Jeffrey Collins (@JSCollinsAP) September 10, 2020
But hey…
***
WORLDWIDE
The fires across the West Coast are just the latest examples of the very real ways our changing climate is changing our communities. Protecting our planet is on the ballot. Vote like your life depends on it—because it does. pic.twitter.com/gKGegXWxQu
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) September 10, 2020
The valley where I grew up is on fire. The little town my parents lived & died in has a pop. of ~5,000, and has lost an estimated 1,000 homes to fire. https://t.co/J1egsO1xwF
— Nicole Chung | @nicolechung on Bluesky (@nicolesjchung) September 10, 2020
Our country is on fire and the president offers no ideas—and journalists have been giving him a pass.
— The Nation (@thenation) September 10, 2020
https://t.co/Vd88eyL1dx
“…The US may have come close to nuclear war with North Korea…in 2017…It was so serious that Mattis slept in his clothes to be ready in case there was a North Korean launch and repeatedly went to the Washington National Cathedral to pray.”
— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) September 9, 2020
🚨https://t.co/owa1k6bcr7
Me to a friend on Whatsapp: "Crazy news day. Trump told Woodward that Kim told him all the details about how he murdered his uncle & Trump basically thought it was cool."
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 9, 2020
Friend to me: "Kim as in the leader of North Korea?"
Me: "Yeah. Don't think Kardashian murdered her uncle."
Euro holds gains as traders brace for ECB meeting https://t.co/NuK7jnm1lO pic.twitter.com/KG2fTKW3UP
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 10, 2020
***
BORISHAMBLES BRITAIN
NEW: The EU sees a case for legal action against the U.K. over the proposed internal market bill, according to a draft working paper and analysis seen by Bloomberg https://t.co/K7evsxehOZ
— Alberto Nardelli (@AlbertoNardelli) September 9, 2020
A real Attorney General speaks. https://t.co/Pkjn7EUWws
— The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) September 9, 2020
Brussels has begged London to set out its state aid policy since March during Brexit talks.
— Friend of Deep State 🐋 (@PickardJE) September 9, 2020
today the UK government said it wouldn’t produce a detailed plan until, er, after Brexit….
Brussels says this is “provocative” and “tantamount to taunting us”https://t.co/5HdhjyI3a8 pic.twitter.com/u3ZCHxfngR
You cannot appease loons. And yet every Tory gov't for a decade has tailored policy around the notion you can. No Brexit will ever be hard enough, because no Brexit can ever restore the UK to their romanticised idea of world domination. They'll just find another hill to die on. https://t.co/m4J29CG2gT
— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) September 9, 2020
Nobody needs me to point this stuff out any more, surely? The epic scale of the con & the inevitability of the continuing corruption is now crystal clear to all but the most committed racists/idiots. I would have dearly loved to be wrong about everything but, alas, I wasn’t… https://t.co/OTIXiMx4aj
— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) September 9, 2020
They laughed when I said that upside-down post-imperial mentalities might be at play in Brexit. They're not laughing now. https://t.co/S25sN1pZvW
— Fintan O'Toole (@fotoole) September 9, 2020
Tomorrow's front page: Nicola Sturgeon says independence is the only way to save Scotland from Brexit power grab pic.twitter.com/6HT0sktFtV
— The National (@ScotNational) September 9, 2020
The Good Friday Agreement is the bedrock of peace in Northern Ireland. If the U.K. violates its international agreements & Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be absolutely no chance of a U.S.-U.K. trade agreement passing the Congress. https://t.co/n7E4GHTJcI
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) September 9, 2020
The Overnight Note 