Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • A5

POLITICS Trump loses another round on his taxes A federal appeals court said Friday it step in right away to delay New York effort to get President Donald tax records, potentially leav- ing the Supreme Court as his most promising option to block subpoena. The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied request to immediately put Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance subpoena on hold while Trump appeals to try to get it invalidated. The appeals court said it would hold a hearing on the request for a delay, but not until Sept. 1.

After winning a lower- court ruling, office had agreed not to enforce the sub- poena before Aug. 28. Barr opposes any Snowden pardon Attorney General William Barr said he would be to any attempt to par- don former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, after the president suggested he might consider it. comments were made in an interview with the AP days after Trump said he would whether to pardon Snowden, who was charged under the Espionage Act in 2013 with disclosing details of highly classified government surveillance programs. was a traitor, and the informa- tion he provided our adver- saries greatly hurt the safety of the American Barr said.

was peddling it around like a commercial mer- chant. We tolerate Snowden remains in Russia to avoid prosecution. U.S., U.N. Security Council clash over Iran The Trump administration ran into immediate opposition after its top diplomat officially informed the United Nations it is demanding the restoration of all U.N. sanctions on Iran, with allies and foes declar- ing the U.S.

action illegal and doomed to failure. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Thursday that the U.S. has the legal right to U.N. sanctions even though Presi- dent Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers that was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.

Russia and China, along with European allies Britain, France and Germany, who often disagree, are united in declaring the U.S. action on grounds that you withdraw from a deal and then use the resolution that endorsed it to reimpose sanctions. Planes break rules on surveillance The use of National Guard reconnaissance planes in four U.S. cities to monitor wide- spread protests earlier this year violate rules against the military collecting intelli- gence on Americans, a Pen- tagon report has concluded. The investigation by the Air Force inspector general found that the planes were used to gather information about crowd size, crowd flows and fires but they did not monitor individuals.

The probe was ordered by Defense Secretary Mark Esper in response to questions within the depart- ment and from Congress about whether the military illegally conducted surveillance of U.S. citizens during the unrest after the death of George Floyd. The investigation reviewed seven flights by the aircraft in Min- nesota, Arizona, California and Washington, D.C. Lawsuit filed to block more early voting Conservative leaders and two GOP candidates have filed suit to block Texas Gov. Greg order that added six days of early voting for the November election as a pandemic-inspired safety measure.

The extension, they argued, must be struck down as a violation of the Texas Con- stitution and state law. NEWS SERVICES BRIEFLY Site is preparing for any situation where president may cast doubt on results. By MIKE ISAAC and SHEERA FRENKEL New York Times SAN FRANCISCO Face- book spent years preparing to ward off any tampering on its site before presidential election. Now the social network is getting ready in case President Don- ald Trump interferes once the vote is over. Employees at the Silicon Valley company are laying out contingency plans and walk- ing through post-election sce- narios that include attempts by Trump or his campaign to use the platform to delegiti- mize the results, people with knowledge of plans said.

Facebook is preparing steps to take should Trump wrongly claim on the site that he won another four-year term, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Face- book is also working through how it might act if Trump tries to invalidate the results by declaring that the Postal Service lost mail-in ballots or that other groups meddled with the vote, the people said. Mark Zuckerberg, Face- chief executive, and some of his lieutenants have started holding daily meetings about minimizing how the platform can be used to dis- pute the election, the people said. They have discussed a to shut off politi- cal advertising after Elec- tion Day since the ads, which Facebook does not police for truthfulness, could be used to spread misinformation, the people said. The preparations under- score how rising concerns over the integrity of the November election have reached social media compa- nies, whose sites can be used to amplify lies, conspiracy theories and inflammatory messages.

YouTube and Twit- ter have also discussed plans for action if the post-election period becomes complicated, according to disinformation and political researchers who have advised the firms. The tech companies have spent the past few years work- ing to avoid a repeat of the 2016 election, when Russian opera- tives used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to inflame the American electorate with divisive messages. While the firms have since clamped down on foreign meddling, they are reckoning with a surge of domestic interfer- ence, such as from right-wing conspiracy group QAnon and Trump himself. In recent weeks, Trump, who uses social media as a megaphone, has sharpened his comments about the elec- tion. He has questioned the legitimacy of mail-in vot- ing, suggested that mail-in ballots would not be counted and avoided answer- ing whether he would step down if he lost.

Alex Stamos, director of Stanford Inter- net Observatory and a for- mer Facebook executive, said Facebook, Twitter and YouTube faced a singular situation where they to potentially treat the presi- dent as a bad who could undermine the democratic process. have experience with that in the United Stamos added. Facebook may be in an especially difficult position because Zuckerberg has said the social network stands for free speech. Unlike Twitter, which has flagged tweets for being factually inaccurate and glorifying vio- lence, Facebook has said that posts are news- worthy and that the public has the right to see them. In an interview with the New York Times this month, Zuckerberg said of the elec- tion that people should be for the fact that a high likelihood that it takes days or weeks to count this and nothing wrong or illegitimate about Judd Deere, a White House spokesman, said, Trump will continue to work to ensure the security and integrity of our Google, which owns You- Tube, confirmed that it was holding conversations on post-election strategy but declined to elaborate.

Jes- sica Herrera-Flanigan, Twit- vice president of public policy, said the company was evolving its policies to ter identify, understand and mitigate threats to the public conversation, both before or after an Facebook wary of post-election Trump ANNA MONEYMAKER New York Times President Donald Trump addressed the Council for National Policy, a conservative organization, in Arlington, on Friday. By AARON BLAKE Washington Post Democrats wrapped up their 2020 national conven- tion on Thursday, with Joe Biden officially accepting the nomination. Below, some takeaways. 1. virus pitch If there was any doubt about what chief cam- paign strategy would be, his acceptance speech probably erased it.

After beginning with some more high-minded, even Obama-esque comments about what our country is, Biden turned to the corona- virus. current president has failed in his most basic duty to the nation: failed to protect Biden said. my fellow Americans, that is Biden also compared the U.S. response with that of other nations. look around: not this bad in Canada or Europe or Japan or almost anywhere else in the Biden said.

the president keeps tell- ing us, virus is going to He keeps waiting for a miracle. Well, I have news for him: No miracle is a Democratic argument that has been a long time com- ing and perhaps has been saved for late in the campaign. The U.S. is faring worse than virtually any other first-world country, despite claims. Biden also offered plans, albeit general ones.

He called for more testing and medical supplies, but not to rely on for- eign countries like China for them. He called for a mask mandate and to the muzzle off our experts, so the public gets the information they need and deserve hon- est, unvarnished truth. They can handle 2. The stutter emphasis One of the most popu- lar lines of attack on Biden among some on Fox News and among other Trump sup- porters is that his frequent verbal stumbles reflect some kind of mental decline. The Democratic conven- tion went after that head-on in the crucial final hour on Thursday night, playing video of 13-year-old Brayden Har- rington, who has struggled with a stutter like Biden did in his youth.

Brayden stuttered in the video at times while recalling counsel in helping him deal with his own speech problems. Joe Biden, I be talking to you Brayden said, adding: was really amazing to hear that someone like me became vice president. He told me about a book of poems by Yeats he would read aloud to practice. He showed me how he marks up his addresses to make them easier to say out loud. So I did the same thing childhood stutter also featured prominently in the bio video that played before his acceptance speech.

It was touching and a cou- rageous decision by Brayden. It also invited the Trump campaign to confront an uneasy choice: continue going after his verbal slip-ups and perhaps go too far which some including Sarah Sanders and Lara Trump clearly have or scale back one of their chief lines of attack. 3. An emphasis on faith Something that worked was the focus on faith. Most notable was a video played of interaction with a min- ister who asked him about his faith.

Biden talked about the death of his son Beau happen- ing shortly before nine Black churchgoers were killed by a white supremacist in Charles- ton, S.C. those who died were killed by this white suprema- Biden said. for- gave him. They forgave him. The ultimate act of Christian charity.

They forgave Perhaps a more unlikely religious testimonial came from the man who replaced Biden in the Senate, Chris Coons. a man of faith and conscience. be a president for Americans of all faiths, as well as people of conscience who practice no particular he added. 4. The jokes More than a few heads turned when it was announced the host on Thursday night would be Julia Louis-Drey- fus.

Fellow actors hosted the prior three nights, but Dreyfus comes from more of a comedy background than any of them. Louis-Dreyfus encour- aged people to text the word to 30330, which she said be the golf score if he Perhaps the harshest line was when Louis-Dreyfus ref- erenced the scenes in Lafay- ette Square this summer: remember, Joe Biden goes to church so regularly that he even need tear gas and a bunch of federalized troops to help him get Stand-up comedy is hard. even harder without an audience. It certainly was an interesting choice. four big takeaways News Service photos Convention participants came from all walks of life.

At left, NBA player Stephen Curry and his wife, Ayesha, and their two daughters (not in photo) had a humorus conversation about the importance of voting. Julia Louis-Dreyfus served as convention host and tried her hand at stand-up comedy. Below, Brayden Harrington, 13, described how Joe Biden had helped him deal with his stuttering. By JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press NEW YORK If the recent firing of the top federal pros- ecutor in Manhattan was intended to quell criminal investigations into President Donald close asso- ciates, as some have accused, federal prosecutors in New York appear to have missed the memo. arrest of Steve Bannon, former chief strategist, served as a stark reminder that no one who has been within the inner circle is automatically immune from federal scrutiny.

Bannon, 66, and three oth- ers are charged with defraud- ing online donors in the name of helping build the presi- cherished southern border wall. Bannon pleaded not guilty at a hearing Thurs- day in Manhattan. The indictment came just two months after the abrupt dismissal of Geoffrey S. Ber- man, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who had overseen several investigations with tentacles into orbit includ- ing one involving the business dealings of Rudy Giuliani, the personal attorney.

The same office prose- cuted former Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen for campaign finance crimes, as well as two Giuliani associates tied to the investigation that led to impeachment investigation in December. Giuliani himself has not been charged with any crime. unceremonious removal in June fueled con- cerns among Democratic lawmakers that the Justice Department has become politicized under Attorney General William Barr. But the wire fraud and money laundering charges against Bannon the ongoing professional inde- of the Southern District of New York, said Bruce Green, a former pros- ecutor in the office. The Manhattan prosecu- office, known as SDNY, has long been nicknamed the District of New for its independence from Washington politics.

The office, older than the Justice Department itself, has been home to famous mob trials, terrorism prosecu- tions and, increasingly, probes involving allies. shows that the Trump administration cannot fully protect the for- mer associates from federal criminal prosecution simply by firing U.S. attorneys like Geoffrey Berman who honor their responsibility to seek impartial said Green. The prosecution of Bannon once again that SDNY is intent upon continuing its work without being influenced by said Jennifer Rod- gers, another former federal prosecutor in Manhattan. think the public owes a debt of gratitude to Geoff Ber- man for his fortitude in stand- ing up to Bill attempts to take control of Rod- gers added.

doubt we would be seeing this charge today if Barr had circle not immune from federal scrutiny ANALYSIS ZSW A5 Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020 AT DAY, AU 2 2 2 0 2 0 TA I A5.