Today’s edition of quick hits:
* D.C.: “In an extraordinary step, the Washington, D.C., Department of Health has released an open letter appealing to all White House staff and anyone who attended a Sept. 26 event in the Rose Garden to seek medical advice and take a COVID-19 test.”
* Pandemic: “President Donald Trump and other White House insiders infected with COVID-19 carried the virus across the country in a matter of days, potentially exposing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people as they went about their business, a USA TODAY investigation found.”
* Census: “A panel of three appellate judges on Wednesday upheld a lower court order allowing the 2020 head count of every U.S. resident to continue through October. But the panel struck down a provision that had suspended a year-end deadline for submitting figures used to decide how many congressional seats each state gets. Hours after Wednesday’s ruling, the Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put an immediate hold on the injunction while it appeals.”
* I don’t imagine Trump will like this: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., plans to introduce legislation Friday that would create a ‘Commission on Presidential Capacity,’ which would be involved in presidential transfer of power procedures under the 25th Amendment.”
* Assistant Marine Commandant Gen. Gary Thomas: The Marine Corps’ No. 2 officer has tested positive for Covid-19, the service announced on Wednesday, the second four-star officer to be affected by the virus this week.”
* These folks just don’t think the rules apply to them: “White House chief of staff Mark Meadows hosted a lavish wedding for his daughter in Atlanta this May, despite a statewide order and city of Atlanta guidelines that banned gatherings of more than 10 people to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.”
* Online tactics: “Facebook said Thursday that it has taken down hundreds of fake accounts created by a marketing company that worked with the young conservative group Turning Point USA to invade the comments sections of mainstream publishers and denigrate Democratic politicians.” * Bert Mizusawa: “A retired major general who served as a 2016 campaign adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump was quietly installed in a senior advisory role at the CIA earlier this year. The move is spurring discussion among some former agency officials, who say the arrangement is highly unusual.” * Jemele Hill had quite an observation in response to today’s news out of Michigan: “I don’t know who needs to hear this but just imagine the reaction if it would have been discovered that anyone connected to Black Lives Matter was plotting to kidnap a United States Governor.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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