Politico's Playbook, which has published numerous scoops from inside the COVID-19 stimulus negotiations, reports the latest from Capitol Hill:
The big picture: "There are a set of policy areas where stumbling blocks remain. Democrats want new money for the Postal Service, new money for elections and nearly $1 trillion for state and local governments. Republicans seem open to USPS money to address operational shortfalls, but they are a hard no on money going to a new mail-in balloting system."
After pausing their multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to review their strategy, the Trump campaign plans to launch new ads on Monday depicting Joe Biden as a puppet "controlled by the radical left," according to two senior campaign officials.
Why it matters: The Trump campaign's most recent internal polls show the "puppet of the left" attack on Biden is beginning to resonate with voters, per two sources briefed on the polling. And it sets the campaign up to attack Biden's vice presidential selection.
Joe Biden's process for selecting a running mate highlights a fundamental difference between his campaign and the president's re-election effort: Biden is deliberative, while President Trump goes with his gut.
Why it matters: The way Biden is searching for a vice president suggests a careful and methodical approach, the opposite of Trump's style. But it also reveals a strong fear of the consequences of making the wrong choice.
President Trump on Sunday called for the federal government to seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man convicted for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, after a federal appeals court tossed his sentence this week.
The big picture: The Trump administration has rebooted federal executions after a nearly two-decade lapse. The Justice Department scheduled two more executions on Friday.
White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx said Sunday on CNN that the U.S. has shifted into a new phase of the coronavirus pandemic, as infections have spread further into rural areas than in March and April.
In the next episode of “Axios on HBO,” President Trump discusses his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the upcoming election and much more with national political correspondent Jonathan Swan.
Catch the full interview on Monday, Aug. 3, at 11pm ET/PT on all HBO platforms.
Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Sunday he believes Trump is "trying to put a cloud over the election" because he doesn't plan to leave office if he loses.
The big picture: Clyburn told "CNN's State of the Union" that "the American people had better wake up" to Trump, who he said has taken on strongman tactics. Clyburn compared Trump to Mussolini and said Russian President Vladimir Putin is akin to Hitler.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the standoff on the next coronavirus stimulus package to ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.
Why it matters: Enhanced unemployment insurance expired for tens of millions of Americans on July 31, while those in talks to secure the next coronavirus stimulus package have made it clear that a deal is a long way off.
Millions of kids are about to head back to school, but students, teachers, administrators and parents still don't have a clear picture of how it's going to work.
The big picture: Even the best-laid plans for in-person classes will likely be full of holes because the coronavirus will make even the simplest, most intuitive routines extremely difficult — or impossible. And schools will be trying to figure out new structures basically on the fly, with everyone's health on the line.
The U.S. Mint released this week the official images of the upcoming George H.W. Bush presidential $1 coin and the Barbara Bush first spouse gold coin.
The big picture: The presidential coin was designed by artist Elana Hagler and sculpted by Mint chief engraver Joseph Menna. The first spouse coin was designed by Benjamin Sowards and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill. The reverse of the late first lady's coin, on sale from Aug. 20, honors her "passionate advocacy for family literacy," per a Mint statement.
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Saturday called on President Trump and Congress to work on an emergency housing program after enhanced federal unemployment benefits and an evictions moratorium expired.
Why it matters: A large number of monthly rent and mortgage payments were due Saturday, as the new month began.
The vote on renominating President Trump will be held in private this month with no media present because of coronavirus "restrictions and limitations" in place in North Carolina, a Republican National Convention spokesperson told AP Saturday.
The big picture: The vote is due to take place at the convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Aug. 24. When Trump announced on July 23 that he canceled plans to hold the convention in Jacksonville, Florida, over COVID-19 concerns, he said he'd give an acceptance speech "in a different form."
President Trump called out Anthony Fauci Saturday in a comment retweeting a video of the NIAID director explaining why coronavirus cases have been surging in the U.S.
Driving the news: In the video of Friday's testimony, Fauci explained that while European countries shut 95% of their economies, the U.S. "functionally shut down only about 50%." Trump responded, "Wrong! We have more cases because we have tested far more than any other country, 60,000,000.
