Monday, Aug. 31

• President Donald Trump declined to condemn Kyle Rittenhouse when asked if he would do so at a White House press conference. Rittenhouse is a protester who allegedly killed two people and injured a third with a semiautomatic rifle at a protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

· A top United States envoy to Venezuela told Reuters that Trump plans to tighten oil sanctions on the country as part of a campaign against left-leaning Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose 2018 re-election is contested by many Western nations.

· David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said the United States has begun to establish a new bilateral economic dialogue with Taiwan, the goal of which is to strengthen ties with Taipei in response to growing tensions with China.

· House Democrats released a White House document showing that senior Trump administration officials in June privately warned certain states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas, about the risk of serious coronavirus outbreaks while those same officials publicly dismissed concerns about the severity of the pandemic. “Rather than being straight with the American people and creating a national plan to fix the problem, the president and his enablers kept these alarming reports private,” Rep. Jim Clyburn said.

Tuesday, Sept. 1

· Trump visited Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the uprising for Jacob Blake, against the wishes of local officials and Blake’s family. “I am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing,” Gov. Tony Evers said. Justin Blake, the victim’s uncle, said, “We don’t need more pain and division from a president set on advancing his campaign at the expense of our city.” Trump then used the visit as an opportunity to call the protesters domestic terrorists and deny that systemic racism exists in the U.S.

· Following another request from Trump’s lawyers, a federal appeals court temporarily blocked Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. from obtaining Trump’s tax returns as the president’s lawyers continue to fight Vance’s subpoena seeking the records.

· Trump suggested Americans should illegally vote twice in the upcoming November election and threatened to cut off funding to cities where protesters are speaking out against police violence. He tried to walk back the voting claim on Thursday.

· The Trump administration said it would not work with other nations to develop and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine because it does not want to be constrained by multinational health care groups like the World Health Organization.

· Trump said the U.S. needs a cut of the sale of social media platform TikTok’s U.S. assets or else the service will be shut down entirely.

Wednesday, Sept. 2

· The Centers for Disease Control issued a directive to halt evictions of some renters in the U.S. through the end of 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

· The Congressional Budget Office said the federal budget deficit will hit $3.3 trillion in the 2020 fiscal year, triple the shortfall recorded in 2019, and the first time since World War II that U.S. debt exceeded the size of its economy.

· The Trump administration announced it will not pay the over $60 million owed in back dues to WHO and will use the money instead to pay debts it owes to the United Nations.

· The State Department announced that it will now require Chinese diplomats to secure State Department approval before visiting U.S. universities to hold cultural events with more than 50 people. The move is considered a response to Beijing’s restrictions on American diplomats in China and is part of a U.S. campaign against alleged Chinese influence and espionage operations.

Thursday, Sept. 3

· The CDC instructed states to get ready to distribute a potential coronavirus vaccine by Nov. 1, two days before the presidential election.

· The U.S. suspended some of its financial aid to Ethiopia due to talks with Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan about the construction of a massive dam on the Blue Nile River going poorly.

· Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced sanctions on international criminal law prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides in retaliation for a probe into U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan. The International Criminal Court condemned the sanctions as “unprecedented” and “serious attacks” against the rule of law.

Friday, Sept. 4

• The Atlantic reported Trump referred to U.S. marines buried in a cemetery near Paris as “losers.” Although the Associated Press verified the claim, and Trump has made other well-documented disparaging remarks toward the military, Trump denied he said this.
• Vice President Mike Pence said the White House reached a deal with Congress to ensure the government is funded past Sept. 30, averting the threat of an end of term government shutdown.

· The U.S. blacklisted four individuals who it claims helped Venezuelan President Maduro prevent free and fair parliamentary elections last December.

· Trump directed the executive branch’s budget office to cut any anti-racism and diversity training programs for federal agencies, which he called “divisive, anti-American propaganda.” The cuts target in particular any training that mentions white privilege and critical race theory.

Saturday, Sept. 5

· A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the Census Bureau and the Commerce Department, which prevents the census from winding down operations early as directed by the Trump administration.

Sunday, Sept. 6

· Rep. Val Demings condemned Trump for his order to crack down on federal anti-racism training. “We need a commander-in-chief who clearly understands and wants to address racism in all systems,” Demings said. “Until we get to that point, we will continue to see the problems and be plagued by the problems that we’re seeing every day right now.”