Welcome back to the second-to-last Monday roundup of Donald Trump campaign news, unless Trump refuses to concede the election in which case we'll probably have to keep it going for another few weeks while he blusters and blows and lists the thousands and thousands of separate groups that all conspired against him to steal an election Vlad Putin already bought fair and square. Or something to that effect.
Trump spent today as he spent yesterday: Lying about emails in front of ever-angrier crowds. Other than that, it was a positively sedate little weekend on the campaign trail. Shall we get right to it?
• Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid made big waves yesterday with a letter to FBI head James Comey accusing Comey accusing Comey of stonewalling the release of "explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government." That pointed accusation took on a new hue with confirmation today that Comey himself pushed the intelligence community to not release information acknowledging Russian attempts to interfere with the upcoming election.
• Computer scientists have found evidence of a Trump email server apparently connected exclusively to a Russian bank. After reporter inquiries the link was severed—only to be re-established under another a new name. No, we’re not quite sure what to make of that one yet.
• The Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and Ohio Democratic parties have filed complaints accusing Trump's campaign of a "coordinated campaign of vigilante voter intimidation" that violates the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Also named in the complaint is Trump ally Roger Stone. The parties are requesting an injunction against Trump-promoted efforts to "monitor" minority polling places.
• At a Colorado rally, Trump encouraged his voters to vote twice just to "make sure it gets in."
• A black Trump supporter was escorted out of a North Carolina Trump rally after he attempted to hand Trump a supportive letter. Trump responded the waving man by asking "Were you paid $1,500 to be here, thug?" and demanding his removal.
• The definitive David Fahrenthold report on Trump's charitable efforts is out, and confirms not just that Trump is a notorious cheapskate, but that he goes to great (and veeery creepy) lengths to pretend to be philanthropic without actually doing anything. (Seriously, the first few paragraphs are a must-read. The man is a lunatic.)
• Trump's various companies have a common history: They’ve "systematically destroyed or hidden thousands of emails, digital records and paper documents" related to lawsuits against them.
• According to tax experts, there does seem to be reason to investigate Trump and his charity for criminal tax evasion.
• Another day, another story of Trump stiffing someone. In this case, he's stiffing the pollster who did his campaign's first polls out of over three quarters of a million dollars. That's right, he hasn't even lost yet and he's backing out of his campaign debts.
• Trump in 1990 told the New York Post he didn't consider adultery "a sin." At the time, tabloids were afire with news of his separation from his first wife and his extravagant treatment of his soon-to-be-second. Fun fact: Evangelical voters love this guy.
• Vice presidential nominee, meanwhile, is getting new press for his state's terrible new "religious freedom" law that is now being used as justification for "religious" child abuse.
• A photo circulating among Trump supporters supposedly showing a non-citizen being arrested for attempting to cast a vote is a photoshopped fake.
• The ACLU has filed a complaint against an Arizona public charter school teacher for allegedly telling a sixth grade student, a Muslim Somali refugee, "I can't wait until Trump is elected. [...] They'll probably take away your visa and deport you. You're going to be the next terrorist, I bet."
• A Trump supporter who chanted "Jew-S-A!" at reporters during a Phoenix rally was condemned by Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, who called his conduct "deplorable."