Axios

A three-judge federal court in New York on Thursday blocked the Trump administration's push to exclude undocumented immigrants from influencing congressional apportionment as determined by the 2020 Census.

Why it matters: Removing unauthorized immigrants from the census this year would cause California, Texas and Florida to lose at least one House seat they otherwise would have been awarded based on respective population increases, the Pew Research Center found this summer.

Joe Biden's campaign will not run television ads this Friday, the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as first reported by The Hill and confirmed to Axios.

What they're saying: "On September 11th, Vice President Biden will commemorate the anniversary of the attack on our country and will honor the incredible bravery, tragedy, and loss we experienced on that day," Michael Gwin, deputy rapid response director for Biden for President, said per The Hill.

During an in-person campaign stop in Florida, Sen. Kamala Harris addressed the reporting in Bob Woodward's book "Rage," in which he wrote that President Trump said he down-played the severity of the coronavirus in March.

Driving the news: Harris said Thursday that Trump is engaged "in reckless disregard of the lives and health and well being" of the American people, per a pool report from her roundtable at Florida Memorial University. "I find it so outrageous."

Cyberattacks organized in Russia, China and Iran have targeted the 2020 election, President Trump's and former Vice President Joe Biden's campaigns this year, Microsoft said in a blog post on Thursday.

The big picture: The 2020 presidential election is rife with opportunities for foreign actors to sow chaos, since results will likely be delayed due to record mail-in ballots. Protests for racial justice and calls to restructure policing in the U.S. also give Russia an opportunity to spread disinformation.

When the first plane hit, I was in a ride-share van going down the FDR Drive on the East Side of Manhattan.

• The first thing I noticed was paper. The most ordinary, yet extraordinary, stream of glittery paper — photocopies, memos, restaurant menus, the stuff that was always on your desk in the early aughts — falling from the sky in a hideously gorgeous plume.

Beginning next week, the U.S. will no longer require travelers arriving from certain countries to be funneled through 15 major airports to undergo enhanced coronavirus screenings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday.

What they're saying: The CDC said in a statement that it is removing the requirements on Monday due to a better understanding that "symptom-based screening has limited effectiveness because people with COVID-19 may have no symptoms or fever at the time of screening, or only mild symptoms."

Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked Republicans' efforts to pass a slimmed down $500 billion coronavirus relief bill.

Why it matters: The bill was always going to be dead on arrival.

The U.S. Treasury on Thursday added Ukrainian lawmaker Andrii Derkach to its "Specially Designated Nationals" list for alleged efforts to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, including by promoting "false and unsubstantiated" allegations targeting Joe Biden.

The big picture: Derkach has been "an active Russian agent for over a decade," maintaining close ties to Russian intelligence services, according to a statement by the Treasury. The designation will freeze Derkach's assets in the U.S.

With less than three weeks to go before the 2020 U.S. Census ends, cities are anxiously nudging residents to stand up and be counted, but they're bumping up against a tightened deadline, pandemic complications and general confusion.

Why it matters: The once-a-decade count determines how $1.5 trillion in federal funding gets allocated to states, counties and cities to support essential services including public education and public health. It also determines congressional districts and provides the most detailed view of how U.S. demographics are changing.

President Trump tweeted on Thursday that journalist Bob Woodward withheld recordings of Trump saying his strategy was to intentionally downplay the threat of the coronavirus in February and March because "he knew they were good and proper answers."

Driving the news: Woodward has come came under fire for saving the controversial quotes for the release of his book, excerpts of which were published on Wednesday. Critics argue that Woodward should have warned the public sooner, when Trump was claiming at press conferences that the virus would simply "disappear" and was similar to the flu.

The U.S. Postal Service is partnering with the leaders of the four major postal unions on a joint task force to ensure that every voter can have their ballot counted through mail-in voting in the upcoming election, USPS announced in a video on its website.

Why it matters: The commitment follows concerns that the USPS will not be able to handle the expected increase in the volume of mail-in ballots driven by the pandemic. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a longtime Republican fundraiser, has faced scrutiny from Democrats amid President Trump's attacks on mail-in voting.

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, out this week with the best-selling book "Disloyal," on Monday will launch a weekly podcast, "Mea Culpa."

The intrigue: The podcast will look to shine "a light into the dark corners of our current American Apocalypse," according to its description on Apple Podcasts. Cohen, who has previously said he would take a bullet for the president, will set out to "dismantle the Trump legacy." "I'm interviewing someone very special," Cohen texted me.

Go deeper: Hear a trailer.

President Trump, who rails about anonymous sources, is suddenly confronted with an extensive, unsparing, on-the-record account of his thinking about America's virus and race crises — and he's the source. Instead of "Rage," Bob Woodward could have called his book: "Undeniable."

Why it matters: We get a torrent of tweeted and spoken words from Trump — far more public musing, riffing and ranting than from any president, ever. But it's not always clear what to believe, what matters, or what will endure. Now, we can read and hear Trump free-associating for history.

Women’s groups are spending millions in battleground states to ward off gender-based smears against Kamala Harris, as misinformation campaigns and misogynistic memes proliferate.

Why it matters: They worry that sexist branding of Joe Biden's running mate by forces supporting President Trump could depress turnout by Black and Latina women who don't consistently vote but would likely support the Biden-Harris ticket if they did cast a ballot.

The U.S. has revoked more than 1,000 visas of Chinese nationals as of this week under a proclamation by President Trump aimed at student researchers suspected of having links to China's military.

Driving the news: The State Department said in an emailed statement late Wednesday that the policy, which took effect June 1, "safeguards U.S. national security, preventing the theft of American technologies, intellectual property, and information to develop advanced military capabilities" and that it has "broad authority" to revoke visas.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Fox News Wednesday he wouldn't have recommended that Bob Woodward gain the extensive White House access the journalist did for his interviews with President Trump.

Why it matters: Trump has faced criticism following leaks of Woodward's new book "Rage," particularly for his comments during on-the-record interviews earlier this year that his approach to the coronavirus pandemic was to "play it down" to avoid a panic — something Meadows used in defense of the president during his interview.

Former Trump administration Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats spoke out during an interview with the Washington Post Wednesday against his successor's move to end in-person briefings to Congress on election security issues.

What he's saying: Coats told WashPost it's "imperative that the intelligence community keep Congress fully informed about the threats to our elections and share as much information as possible while protecting sources and method."

The White House asked the Department of Justice to intervene in the defense of President Trump's defamation lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, who's accused him of rape, Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday.

Driving the news: Carroll said the DOJ's move to replace Trump's private lawyers in the case shows that he "will do everything possible, including using the full powers of the federal government," to block her. But Barr said the intervention was "a normal application of the law."