On the next episode of “Axios on HBO,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Axios national political correspondent Jonathan Swan talk about Trump’s presidency, the upcoming election and the future of the Republican Party.
Catch the full interview and much more on Monday, Oct. 26 at 11:16 p.m. ET/PT on all HBO platforms.
Americans have cast more than 58.6 million ballots in the 2020 presidential election, surpassing the total early-vote count for 2016 with 9 days left until Election Day, according to an AP tally.
Why it matters: The election is already underway, as many states have expanded early and mail-in voting options because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In her first week on the job,Amy Coney Barrett may be deciding which votes to count in the presidential election. By her third week, she’ll be deciding the fate of the Affordable Care Act.
Where it stands: The Senate votes on Barrett’s nomination tomorrow. If she’s confirmed, Chief Justice John Roberts is expected to swear her in at the Supreme Court within hours, an administration official tells Axios.
The Biden campaign is rebuffing persistent pleas from Texas Democrats to spend at least $10 million in the Lone Star state, several people familiar with the talks tellAxios.
Why it matters: If Texas — which has 38 electoral votes and is steadily getting more blue, but hasn't backed a Democrat for president since 1976 — flipped to the Biden column, it would be game over. But the RealClearPolitics polling average stubbornly hovers at +2.6 for Trump — and Team Biden appears more focused on closer targets.
A luxe election-night watch party at the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue is being planned for President Trump's donors, friends and advisers — but Trump's hand in it is minimal because he's "very superstitious" — people familiar with the plans tell Axios.
The big picture: This "mecca for all things MAGA," as one adviser described it, is one of three hubs where they say Trumpworld will watch returns. The others are the war room at campaign HQ in Rosslyn, Virginia, and the White House residence, where Trump and the first lady will gather close family and advisers before heading to the hotel later that night, the sources said.
If President Trump wins re-election,he'll move to immediately fire FBI Director Christopher Wray and also expects to replace CIA Director Gina Haspel and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, two people who've discussed these officials' fates with the president tell Axios.
The big picture: The list of planned replacements is much longer, but these are Trump's priorities, starting with Wray.
The Senate voted 51-48 on Sunday to advance the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, setting up a final confirmation vote for Monday.
Why it matters: It's now virtually inevitable that the Senate will vote to confirm President Trump's third Supreme Court nominee before the election, which is just nine days away.
Hillary Clinton tells Kara Swisher for her New York Times Opinion podcast, "Sway," that most Republicans "have been cowards, spineless enablers" of President Trump.
"Most Republicans are going to want to close the page," Clinton says. "They want to see him gone as much as we do, but they can't say it publicly."
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Sunday announced a new state of emergency that imposes a curfew in an effort to combat a rising number of coronavirus cases.
Driving the news: The mandate comes less than a week after Spain became the first nation in Western Europe to exceed 1 million COVID-19 cases.
Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) believes that the Republican Party's endorsement of a candidate who supports the QAnon conspiracy theory and its misinformation shows the GOP has "lost our way," he told NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday.
Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said "the short answer is yes" when asked whether Vice President Mike Pence is putting others at risk by continuing to campaign after several aides tested positive for COVID-19, stressing that the White House needs to be "very explicit about the risks that they're taking."
Why it matters: The New York Times reports that at least five members of Pence's inner circle, including his chief of staff Marc Short and outside adviser Marty Obst, have tested positive for the virus. Pence tested negative on Sunday morning, according to the VP's office, and he'll continue to travel for the final stretch of the 2020 campaign.
The New Hampshire Union Leader, the conservative-leaning Manchester-based newspaper, endorsed Joe Biden for president on Sunday.
Why it matters: It's the first time the paper has endorsed a Democrat for president in over 100 years, after it broke from more than a century of backing Republicans to endorse libertarian Gary Johnson over President Trump in 2016.
Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, tested positive for the coronavirus Saturday and is quarantining, according to a White House statement.
Why it matters: Short is Pence's closest aide, and was one of the most powerful forces on the White House coronavirus task force. Pence and second lady Karen Pence tested negative for the virus on Sunday morning, according to the vice president's office.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that she believes it's "extremely important" that Joe Biden offer Sen. Bernie Sanders and other progressive leaders Cabinet positions if he's elected president.
The big picture: Ocasio-Cortez was pressed repeatedly on policy differences between her and the more moderate Biden, including her opposition to fracking and support for Medicare for All. She responded that it would be a "privilege" and a "luxury" to be able to lobby a Biden administration on progressive issues, insisting that the focus right now should be on winning the White House.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called President Trump "delusional" on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday for predicting Republicans will win the majority in the House of Representatives.
Why it matters: It's not clear who is telling Trump the GOP has a shot at winning back the House, but most congressional Republicans privately acknowledge that remaining in the minority is a foregone conclusion, Axios' Alayna Treene reports. The real question is how many seats they lose.
A majority of Americans say they will accept the U.S. election result, even if the candidate they support loses, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows.
Why it matters: There are heightened concerns of post-election violence this year, prompting officials in some cities and states to take unusual measures to prepare.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows defended Vice President Pence's decision to continue traveling and campaigning despite his exposure to staff who have tested positive for COVID-19, saying Sunday that Pence is exempt from CDC guidelines because he is "essential personnel."
Why it matters: CDC guidelines call for people who have been exposed to the virus to quarantine for 14 days. Meadows said on CNN's "State of the Union" that Pence will wear a mask when he travels and argued that "he's not just campaigning," pointing to the Israel-Sudan normalization agreement announced by the White House last week.
As the 2020 presidential campaign draws to a close, President Trump and Joe Biden have focused little on some of the most sweeping trends that will outlive the fights of the moment.
Why it matters: Both have engaged on some issues, like climate change and China, on their own terms, and Biden has addressed themes like economic inequality that work to his advantage. But others have gone largely unmentioned — a missed opportunity to address big shifts that are changing the country.
"Saturday Night Live" sent up Friday's presidential debate with plenty of microphone mute button jokes, as Alec Baldwin and Jim Carrey returned to duel as President Trump and Joe Biden in the latest cold open.
Highlights: Maya Rudolph as the moderator, NBC's Kristen Welker, noted, "Tonight, we have a mute button, because it was that or tranquilizer darts and the President has a very high tolerance for those after his COVD treatment." And Kate McKinnon, spoofing President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani over a scene in the new "Borat" movie, exclaimed: "It's not what it looks like! My microphone was stuck."
Singer Adele hosted "SNL" and H.E.R. was the musical guest.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with more details from the show.
An outbreak of COVID-19 has struck the White House — including the president himself — just weeks before the 2020 election.
Why it matters: If the president can get infected, anyone can. And the scramble to figure out the scope of this outbreak is a high-profile, high-stakes microcosm of America's larger failures to contain the virus and to stand up a contact-tracing system that can respond to new cases before they have a chance to become outbreaks.
Lawyers for the Lincoln Project said Saturday they're "ready to defend against any frivolous lawsuit" from White House senior advisers Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner after they threatened legal action over two billboards in New York City.
Driving the news: A lawyer for President Trump's elder daughter and son-in-law said in a letter to the group of anti-Trump Republicans they would sue if the "false, malicious and defamatory" billboards in Times Square relating to the COVID-19 pandemic were not taken down.
