Monday, Aug. 24

· Chinese social media platform TikTok sued President Donald Trump’s administration for his executive order attempting to ban the use of the popular app in the United States ostensibly due to perceived threats to private user information. TikTok, in a statement, said it has “taken extraordinary measures to protect the privacy and security of TikTok's U.S. user data.”

· New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a court to enforce subpoenas in an investigation into whether Trump and his businesses inflated assets on financial statements, which James’ lawyers described as part of her “ongoing confidential civil investigation into potential fraud or illegality.”

· Over a dozen environmental groups, one of which represents northeast Alaskan tribal villages, sued the Trump administration in two lawsuits over a plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.

· Postmaster General Louis DeJoy appeared before a House panel investigating recent delays in deliveries and his orders to decommission expensive, fully functioning mail-sorting machines across the country. DeJoy assured Congress that his stripping down of the postal service’s capabilities would not affect mail-in voting for the 2020 presidential election, but could not answer basic questions about the service he runs like how much a postcard costs to send.

Tuesday, Aug. 25

· Senate Democrats unveiled a $400 billion plan to address climate change with the goal of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, though it has no chance of passing in the Republican-controlled Senate.

· New Trump administration regulatory changes went into effect that restrict and delay asylum seekers from legally working in the U.S. Refugee advocates have called this move “an attempt to make the lives of persecuted people more difficult,” according to Al Jazeera.

· The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Chinese citizen Taotao Zhang, who it accused of trafficking fentanyl to the U.S., and blacklisted Hong Kong-based Allyrise Technology Group, for which Zhang is the director.

· House Reps. Denver Riggleman and Tom Malinowski introduced a resolution condemning the conspiracy theory QAnon, which posits that Trump is on a secret quest to take down political leaders who are embroiled in a deep state Satanist pedophile sex trafficking cabal, less than a week after Trump said he “appreciates” support from QAnon adherents, who make up an increasing portion of his base.

Wednesday, Aug. 26

· The U.S. blacklisted 24 Chinese companies and targeted individuals it claims had a “role in helping the Chinese military construct and militarize the internationally condemned artificial islands in the South China Sea.”

· In a sudden reversal, the Centers for Disease Control decided close contacts of people diagnosed with COVID-19 do not need to be tested if they do not have symptoms. Public health officials across the country were ordered by high-level members of the Trump administration to go ahead with the changes, though states like California and New York have elected to ignore it and continue to ramp up testing.

· The federal government executed Lezmond Mitchell via lethal injection. Mitchell was part of the Navajo Nation and the execution went against the wishes of its tribal government, whose approval the U.S. government legally should have sought.

· White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows dismissed accusations that Trump administration officials were in violation of the Hatch Act, a federal law that prohibits executive branch civil service employees from engaging in certain political activities, by speaking at the Republican National Convention. “What [the Hatch Act is] really designed to do,” Meadows said, “is to make sure people like myself and others do not use their political position to try to convince other federal employees that they need to vote one way, need to register one way or need to campaign in one way.”

Thursday, Aug. 27

· The U.S. economy shrank at an annual rate of about 32 percent during the April to June quarter, the sharpest quarterly drop on record according to a government estimate.

· District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered a halt to the planned federal execution of Keith Dwayne Nelson, arguing the law requires the government get a prescription for the lethal injection drug pentobarbital before it uses the drug to kill Nelson. Nelson was executed Saturday anyway, the fifth federal execution since July.

Friday, Aug. 28

· Republican Sen. Rand Paul called on the FBI to investigate and arrest Black Lives Matter protestors who surrounded him and other Republicans outside the White House after Trump’s nomination acceptance speech to demand Paul acknowledge police shooting victim Breonna Taylor, who was killed in Kentucky, which he represents. Paul referred to the group as a “crazed mob.”

· The House Foreign Affairs Committee launched contempt proceedings against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for his repeated refusal to turn over documents in the House impeachment inquiry last fall and in another subpoena for State Department documents that were refused to the House committee despite previously being handed over to a Republican-led Senate panel targeting Joe Biden.

Saturday, Aug. 29

· The Office of the Director of National Intelligence scaled back its election security briefings to Congress, telling House and Senate intelligence committees that it will provide only written briefings from now on. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe indicated Congress leaking information was the reason for ending in-person briefings.

Sunday, Aug. 30

· Chief of Staff Mark Meadows blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the impasse on a new coronavirus relief bill when she refused the White House’s proposed $1.3 trillion relief package, which Pelosi said “continues to disregard the needs” of Americans. Pelosi’s package is at least $2.2 trillion and offers more direct relief to individual citizens.