10 things you need to know today: August 4, 2020

President Trump on Monday tweeted criticism of Dr. Deborah Birx, who is coordinating the White House's coronavirus response, saying she "took the bait & hit us. Pathetic!" after Birx, responding to criticism from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), warned of a "new phase" of widespread coronavirus. Trump said at a Monday evening White House news conference that he had spoken to Birx and told her the United States was "doing very well" fighting COVID-19. Top U.S. infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday backed up Birx's warning. "The reason why [Birx is] saying it's a new phase is because throughout the country, when you have community spread, it's much more difficult to get your arms around that and contain," Fauci said. [USA Today, The Washington Post]

Isaias regained hurricane status on Monday as it headed up the South Carolina coast on the way to landfall in southern North Carolina early Tuesday. Isaias was downgraded again to a tropical storm after coming ashore. It brought strong winds and heavy rain, but threatened to do the most damage with its storm surge, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Armstrong in Wilmington, North Carolina. By late Monday, Isaias' 9.9-foot tide was the third highest on record in the area, surpassed only by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Isaias, the first named hurricane of the Atlantic season, was forecast to continue north and bring tropical storm conditions to the mid-Atlantic coast and the Northeast. Many in Charleston chose to stay home through the strong winds and heavy rains rather than evacuate and risk exposure to COVID-19, which many perceived as the bigger threat. [Post and Courier, National Hurricane Center]

Congressional Democrats and White House negotiators said Monday they were making progress toward an agreement on a new round of coronavirus relief. "There are a lot of issues that are still outstanding," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. "But I think there is a desire to get something done as soon as we can." Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who along with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows met with leading Democrats on Capitol Hill, said there had been "a little bit of progress" on Monday. House Democrats passed a $3 trillion plan, but Senate Republicans are proposing a $1 trillion package. Meadows rejected the idea of a bigger plan, and White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said Trump "is always considering executive action in the absence of congressional leadership." [Reuters]

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's office suggested in a court filing Monday that it is investigating President Trump and his company, The Trump Organization, for possible bank and insurance fraud. The filing was made in response to a lawsuit by Trump's attorneys, who have argued prosecutors were acting in "bad faith" by issuing a "wildly overbroad" subpoena seeking Trump's personal and corporate tax returns from Trump's accountants. In the filing, prosecutors argued the subpoena wasn't too broad, since that notion is based on the "false premise" that the inquiry is limited to "hush-money" payments made by the president's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in 2016. The filing claimed "there were public allegations of possible criminal activity" at the company "dating back over a decade." [The New York Times]

President Trump on Monday doubled down on his threat to ban TikTok, but said he would accept an acquisition of the Chinese social media app by Microsoft provided it happened quickly. Analysts believe his threats are a negotiation tactic to force TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to fully divest its U.S. operations. "I don't mind" if a large American company buys TikTok, Trump said. "It'll close down on Sept. 15 unless Microsoft or somebody else is able to buy it and work out a deal." Microsoft has confirmed it is having ongoing talks with ByteDance about a deal. The Trump administration has scrutinized TikTok lately because of concerns that ByteDance is providing American users' data to the Chinese government. [Bloomberg]

Former President Barack Obama released his first batch of 2020 endorsements on Monday, backing 118 candidates in 17 states to help Democrats hold onto a House majority and regain control of the Senate. Obama also announced his support for Democrats running for the state legislature in Texas, hoping to help them win a majority ahead of 2020 redistricting. "Our country's future hangs on this election," Obama said in a statement. The former president has made it a priority to back candidates whom the National Democratic Redistricting Committee has labeled key to the redistricting process. Obama avoided endorsements in key Senate races in Republican states, like Texas and Kentucky, where his support is less useful. In races at the national level, Obama endorsed 52 Democratic House candidates and five for the Senate in battleground states. [The New York Times]

President Trump on Monday said he had the power to block mail-in voting, although he stopped short of saying he would do so. "I have the right to do it," he said, contradicting lawmakers from both parties. "We haven't got there yet, but we'll see what happens." Trump was expressing displeasure with Nevada state lawmakers for voting to automatically send mail-in ballots to all voters. Trump, who in April said mail-in voting "doesn't work out well for Republicans," claimed on Twitter Monday morning that the lawmakers conducted an "illegal late night coup." Trump said he plans to have a lawsuit blocking the Nevada bill filed on Tuesday. Experts say voter fraud is rare, especially when there are proper safety measures in place. [Politico]

President Trump's unsupported attacks against mail-in voting as "rigged" and "fraudulent" are discouraging his supporters from planning to cast ballots this way, threatening Republican turnout around the country, The Washington Post reported Monday, citing polls and Republican leaders. Several surveys have shown that Republicans are far less likely than Democrats to trust mail-in voting, a practice that is expected to be critical in November as the states continue to limit public events due to the risk of coronavirus exposure. Republicans in numerous states are reaching out to their voters to assure them that mail-in voting is safe and secure. "It is a problem," said one Republican strategist in North Carolina. "The president has oversimplified the issue to criticize the method of voting, rather than the way it's done. The details matter." [The Washington Post]

The Census Bureau confirmed Monday that it is ending counting efforts for the 2020 census a month early, on Sept. 30. The decision affects everything from door-to-door to online, phone, and mail collection of census forms. The move is part of a push to "accelerate the completion of data collection and apportionment counts by our statutory deadline of December 31, 2020, as required by law and directed by the Secretary of Commerce," which oversees the bureau, Director Steven Dillingham said in a statement posted on the bureau's website. About four households out of 10 nationwide have yet to be counted. Democrats in Congress have expressed concern that the White House is pushing for stopping the count early to benefit Republicans when House seats are reapportioned and voting districts are redrawn. [NPR]

Spain's former king, Juan Carlos, has left his home country and gone to the Dominican Republic as Spanish and Swiss prosecutors investigate bribery allegations involving a high-speed rail contract. Juan Carlos decided to move out of Spain to help his son, Felipe, rule without distraction, according to a palace statement. King Felipe expressed "heartfelt respect and gratitude" for his father's decision, and he emphasized the "historical importance" of his father's legacy. Juan Carlos, 82, is widely credited with helping to lead Spain to democracy after Francisco Franco's long dictatorship. The former king's public image has been tainted in recent years by financial scandal, and he abdicated in 2014. [CNN, Reuters]