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Thursday's Mini-Report, 9.17.20

Today's edition of quick hits.

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Today's edition of quick hits:

* An important ruling this afternoon: "A federal judge in Washington state on Thursday granted a request from 14 states to temporarily block operational changes within the U.S. Postal Service that have been blamed for a slowdown in mail delivery, saying that President Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy are 'involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service' that could disrupt the 2020 election."

* Speaking of USPS: "Nearly 10,000 pages of emails, memos and other private documents offered new details about the agency’s struggles and the pro-Trump figures to whom it turned for advice."

* Quite a revelation: "The White House scrapped an effort to send hundreds of millions of cloth masks to every U.S. household in April, choosing instead to distribute those masks to nonprofits and state and federal agencies, according to an internal email from a senior Trump administration official obtained by NBC News."

* Hurricane Sally, "which slammed Florida and Alabama as a powerful Category 2 storm, left heavy flooding, destroyed buildings, 500,000 homes and businesses without power, and at least one person dead.... Sally, which has since been downgraded to a tropical depression, deluged parts of Pensacola on the Florida Panhandle with nearly 30 inches of rain, causing some streets to look like rivers with whitecaps at times."

* DHS: "House Democrats are slamming Chad Wolf for defying a subpoena for testimony, alleging a dereliction of duty by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief to inform Congress and the public about threats to the U.S."

* Trump's newest accuser: "Former model Amy Dorris alleged in a new interview that President Donald Trump sexually assaulted her at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York in 1997 by forcing his tongue down her throat and groping her body."

* New details from the Lafayette Square scandal: "For the evening in early June when law enforcement forcibly dispersed a crowd of protesters from Lafayette Square, federal and military officials tried to obtain a sound cannon or devices that are known as heat rays, a whistleblower says."

* A diplomatic mess: "In defiance of overwhelming opposition, the United States is preparing to declare that all international sanctions against Iran have been restored. Few countries believe the move is legal, and such action could provoke a credibility crisis at the United Nations."

* A welcome reversal: "The Trump administration has agreed to provide in-person briefings on threats to the November election to key members of Congress, backing down from a decision last month to provide that information only in writing."

* Something to watch on Capitol Hill: "Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are quietly working to convince GOP leadership to sign off on a long-shot bid to oust Nancy Pelosi from the speakership, according to multiple sources, which would represent a major affront to the California Democrat if they follow through with the plan."

See you tomorrow.