Latest on 2020 election and SCOTUS battle

Boston’s historic Fenway Park hasn’t hosted spectators for baseball games in recent months due to the coronavirus pandemic, but for two days in October, the city’s residents will be able to visit the ballpark while casting their vote in the US presidential election.

The Boston City Election Commission on Thursday approved the use of the Boston Red Sox home as an early voting location on Oct. 17 and 18.

Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and Nationals Park in Washington, DC, have also been approved as voting venues. The NBA says the league has 21 team facilities set to host voting-related activities.

Former United States National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Thursday that President Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power after Election Day is "very disappointing." 

"Really this is something that our founders feared," McMaster said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "We all have to demand that our leaders restore confidence in our democratic principles and institutions and processes. Of course, it's the administration who has responsibility to secure the election process. There's been a lot of work done within that administration to do it after the lessons of the 2016 election."

On Wednesday, Trump was asked whether he would not commit to a peaceful transition of power and he said, "Well, we're going to have to see what happens."

The retired United States Army lieutenant general went on to echo America's most senior general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, who told Congress in a letter released in August that the military will not play a role in November's election and won't help settle any disputes if the results are contested.

"Those who suggest that the military would have any role in transition, they are being equally irresponsible," McMaster said. "The military should have nothing to do with partisan politics and nothing to do with even any talk about a transition between administrations."

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday tweeted he will issue a proclamation activating around 300 state National Guard members ahead of Tuesday's first presidential debate in Cleveland. 

The guard members will assist Cleveland police to "ensure a safe and secure environment for those attending Tuesday’s presidential debate," DeWine said in the tweet. 

During a news briefing, DeWine said, "Last night Cleveland officials sent a formal request for us to make available our National Guard and we are granting that. In the past, when we've been asked for help by any of our cities, we've been able to supply the National Guard." 

Read the governor's tweet:

President Trump will sign a series of executive orders on health care Thursday as part of an announcement about his larger health care vision for the country, according to administration officials who conducted a call with reporters Thursday afternoon.

According to Azar, the executive actions will address individuals with preexisting conditions and surprise medical billing.

“The President is declaring that it is the policy of the United States to provide protections to ensure that Americans with preexisting conditions are protected regardless of whether the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, and its protections of preexisting conditions invalidated,” Azar said.

Some context: Today's announcements on executive actions still don't offer comprehensive details of a long-promised health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. The President has promised since 2017 that his plan would be released soon, but the administration has blown through a number of self-imposed deadlines to produce a plan. 

The latest deadline set by the White House is less than two months before the 2020 election, but there is virtually no chance the legislation will be approved by Congress and ready for Trump to sign before Nov. 3.

Trump's attempts to replace the Affordable Care Act while in office go back to 2017, when efforts to pass a Republican health care bill backed by the White House fell apart. GOP lawmakers have shied away from tackling the issue since then.

Still, the President has repeatedly promised to unveil a new health care bill.

In an interview with Fox News this July, Trump said he would be signing a "full and complete health care plan" within two weeks. And in an Aug. 3 press briefing, Trump said his health care plan would most likely be released before the end of the month.

And at an ABC town hall last week, Trump said that his health care plan is "all ready."

"We're going to be doing a health care plan very strongly and protect people with pre-existing conditions," he said. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters last week that an Obamacare-alternative health care plan will be rolled out sometime "before the election."

President Trump said he’s not sure November’s election will be honest with unsolicited ballots, again casting doubt as to whether he would accept the results of the election.

Asked if the election results would only be legitimate if he wins, Trump did not answer, instead saying “we have to be very careful with the ballots,” calling mail-in voting a scam.

 “We want to make sure the elections is honest, and I’m not sure that it can be, I don’t know that it can be with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots, they’re unsolicited, millions being sent to everybody,” Trump added.

His claims about unsolicited ballots are not accurate.

Facts First: While some sources estimate there will be around 80 million ballots submitted by mail this year, the President is wrong to suggest that they are all somehow unsolicited. In 41 of 50 states, voters have to request their ballot by mail before being sent one, with only a handful of states automatically sending mail-in ballots to all registered voters.

Trump also criticized Hillary Clinton for telling Joe Biden not to accept the results of the election. Of course, Clinton is not running for president this year and Trump is.

His comments about an “honest election” come one day after he refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power should he lose the election. "Well, we're going to have to see what happens," Trump said at a Wednesday news conference.

Earlier on Thursday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany did not explicitly say Trump would accept the results of the election, only saying Trump would “accept the results of a free and fair election.” However the President himself continues to cast doubt on whether he will view this election as “free and fair.”

Watch the moment:

The US Attorney’s Office removed its initial news release regarding an investigation into “discarded” ballots in Pennsylvania and issued a new one that changed some of the facts. The new release said seven of the ballots were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump. 

The initial release had said all nine were cast for Trump.

“Two of the discarded ballots had been resealed inside their appropriate envelopes by Luzerne elections staff prior to recovery by the FBI and the contents of those 2 ballots are unknown,” the new statement said.

Reached by CNN’s Kelly Mena, the US Attorney’s Office acknowledged that there was a new release, but had no further comment on the investigation.

The Luzerne District Attorney’s office tells CNN the ballots were general election ballots.

This post has been updated with new details on the US Attorney’s Office investigation into “discarded” ballots in Pennsylvania.

The US Senate on Thursday agreed unanimously to state the obvious – that the chamber is committed to the orderly and peaceful transition of power – even if President Trump has declined to do just that.

A day after Trump appeared to call into question a bedrock democratic principle, the chamber passed, by unanimous consent, a resolution that “reaffirms its commitment to the orderly and peaceful transfer of power called for in the Constitution of the United States; and intends that there should be no disruptions by the President or any person in power to overturn the will of the people of the US."

The resolution, offered by Sen. Joe Manchin, comes after Republicans were deluged by questions throughout the day Thursday about Trump’s comments. Most Republicans expressed little worry about them, repeatedly telling reporters the transition, if Trump were to lose in November, would be the same as it has been for centuries.

Trump’s comments were enough to draw a rare tweet from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell related to comments made by the President.

“The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th,” McConnell tweeted. “There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792.”

Asked if he took Trump seriously, McConnell responded: “That’s what my tweet was about. I think it pretty well sums up what I feel about it.”

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows refused to explicitly say President Trump would accept the results of November’s election, instead saying, “we have a history of a peaceful transition of power” after fair elections.

He later added that the White House is prepared for the peaceful transition of power but cited Hillary Clinton telling Joe Biden not to concede the election so “we just need to make sure we’re clear on both sides.”

Meadows said that President Trump's presidency has been about upholding the rule of law and “he’s consistent with that as it applies to the November 3rd election.”

The chief of staff went on to criticize judges in certain states who he claimed are making “adjustments to election laws without ever having been elected and also railed against “unsolicited ballots,” which he called a “perversion of the electoral process.”

“Bluntly, is that we are continuing to see a perversion of the electoral process with mail-in ballots that are unsolicited, that continue to go out with process in North Carolina. What they've done in North Carolina over the last 48 hours is, it may not be criminal, but it’s certainly in my opinion, unethical of the way they are trying to make a consent decree to change the laws of the legislature there,” he said.

Facts First: While some sources estimate there will be around 80 million ballots submitted by mail this year, the President is wrong to suggest that they are all somehow unsolicited. In 41 of 50 states, voters have to request their ballot by mail before being sent one, with only a handful of states automatically sending mail-in ballots to all registered voters.

The Pennsylvania Republican Party is pushing back against the explosive report from The Atlantic that said the GOP-run legislature is already strategizing how to overturn the statewide results if Trump loses.

The scheme — if it were to happen — could look like this: If Biden is certified as the winner in Pennsylvania, the Democratic governor will follow proper procedure and approve a pro-Biden slate of electors for the Electoral College.

But, according to The Atlantic, GOP lawmakers have explored what powers the state legislature has to declare that the results were tainted and instead appoint a pro-Trump slate of electors. In this extreme and unprecedented scenario, Congress would have to decide which slate reflected the will of the people.

The Atlantic quoted Pennsylvania GOP chair Lawrence Tabas, who said this scheme “is one of the available legal options set forth in the Constitution” and that he had “mentioned it” to the Trump campaign and hopes “they’re thinking about it.” Tabas is correct that the US Constitution gives state legislatures the power to regulate how electors are chosen, though legal scholars aren’t sure if they can change the rules mid-election.

In an emailed statement to CNN, Vonne Andring, executive director of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, said Tabas was asked about these extreme election scenarios and responded “with facts.” Andring criticized the article, saying, “The Atlantic used that interview to spin an out of context, pre-emptive farce.” In the statement, Andring did not definitively rule out using the legislature to overturn the statewide results. 

“As the Chairman said, all of us want a swift, accurate result,” Andring said.

The statement also noted that Republicans, who control the legislature, recently passed a bill that would speed up ballot-processing. That provision has bipartisan support, but the bill has other measures that are opposed Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, like banning new dropboxes and easing rules on partisan poll-watchers.

In response to the reporting about post-election maneuvering in Pennsylvania, CNN election law analyst Rick Hasen wrote a column saying these efforts were a “pre-emptive attack on the vote-count.” He condemned efforts like the one in Pennsylvania as “part of a play to grab power if the election is close enough.”