Monday morning news - September 7, 2020

White House, Trump campaign push back against Atlantic report » The White House and the Trump campaign are pushing back hard against an anonymously sourced report that accused President Trump of disparaging U.S. troops.

The Atlantic report claimed that the president referred to fallen and captured U.S. service members as “losers.”

But Trump campaign communications director Erin Perrine told Fox News… 

PERRINE: It’s really clear that The Atlantic sources are lying. There are 10 on-the-record sources that are publicly available now for everybody to see that prove this wrong. There are White House emails that prove that this story is false. And you have eight people of the 10 that have gone on the record with direct firsthand knowledge. 

Trump’s presidential rival Joe Biden quickly jumped on the report. He told reporters if the story is true, it affirms—his words—“that Donald Trump is not fit” to be president.  

BIDEN: President Trump has demonstrated he has no sense of service, no loyalty to any cause other than himself. 

President Trump said the report is a “hoax.” 

But Democrats note that the president once mocked the military service of the late Senator John McCain. At an event in 2015, he questioned why the former prisoner of war was considered a hero because he was captured. Trump said, “I like people who weren’t captured.” 

Pelosi, Mnuchin agree on plan to avoid government shutdown » The Trump administration and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have informally agreed to a stopgap deal to avoid a government shutdown at the end of this month. 

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that they’ve settled on a continuing resolution—or “CR” for short. 

MNUCHIN: The speaker and I have agreed, we both don’t want to see a government shutdown. So we’ve agreed that we are going to do a clean CR.

That will extend current funding levels temporarily, avoiding unwanted drama for both sides ahead of the November election.  

The deal is separate from negotiations on a new coronavirus relief bill. Democrats and Republicans remain far apart on the framework of a new economic aid package. 

Russia publishes vaccine results » The maker of Russia’s coronavirus vaccine published a report over the weekend insisting the drug appears to be safe and effective. 

Experts around the world expressed skepticism last month after Russia approved a COVID-19 vaccine while sharing very little information about how the drug was tested. 

The new report claimed all 40 participants in the second phase trials developed antibodies to the coronavirus within three weeks. But the researchers noted that they followed the participants for only 42 days, the sample size was small, and they used no placebo or control vaccine. Part of the trial included only men, and most of the participants were in their 20s and 30s. 

Russian health authorities said last week that they are starting double-blind, placebo-controlled advanced trials of the vaccine on 40,000 participants.

Dozens arrested as violent Portland protests continue » Violent protests have continued over the weekend in Portland. 

Police declared a riot on Saturday as some protesters threw molotov cocktails, fireworks and other objects. Police said some of the protesters threw fire bombs at officers.

According to a police statement, a commercial grade firework struck a sergeant, burning through his glove and injuring his hand while rioters hit several state troopers with rocks. 

One demonstrator suffered injuries when his clothes caught fire.

Officers used tear gas to disperse the crowd and arrested at least 59 people. 

Tenet tops box office, welcomes moviegoers back to theaters » Christopher Nolan’s new sci-fi action flick welcomed many movie lovers back to theaters—earning about $20 million domestically over the holiday weekend. 

TRAILER: All I have for you is a word: Tenet. It will open the right doors, some of the wrong ones too. 

Globally, Tenet has already grossed almost $150 million in ticket sales.  

The movie opened in about 2,800 theaters in the United States. That’s roughly half the total number of theaters in the country. Many locations remain shuttered, including in major cities like New York, LA, and Seattle. 

Big league Hall of Famer Lou Brock dies » Big league Hall of Famer Lou Brock has died. 

The speedy outfielder was a 6-time All-Star who helped lead the St. Louis Cardinals to three pennants and two World Series titles in the 1960s. 

He retired in 1979 with more than 3,000 hits. And for years he held the record for most stolen bases in a season and most steals all-time until Rickey Henderson broke both records. 

Brock lost a leg from diabetes in recent years and was diagnosed with cancer in 2017. He was 81 years old.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci) President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Friday, Sept. 4, 2020, in Washington. 

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