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Former personal attorney to President Trump Michael Cohen and CNN's Don Lemon discuss President Trump's unwillingness to say he would accept the election results and the peaceful transfer of power should Joe Biden win the presidency in November. #CNN #News

The Justice Department said that it is investigating "potential issues with mail-in ballots" in the swing state of Pennsylvania and, in a highly unusual disclosure, revealed that several ballots marked for President Donald Trump were "discarded." US Attorney David Freed said a preliminary inquiry determined that nine "military ballots were discarded" and that seven of them "were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump." The incident occurred in Luzerne County, a swing county in northeastern Pennsylvania that is home to Wilkes-Barre. Trump flipped the county in 2016 after years of narrow Democratic wins. The statement was highly unusual because it highlighted the fact that the ballots were marked for Trump -- which immediately raised suspicions that the Justice Department was trying to furnish material that Trump could promote for political gain. Indeed, Trump and other White House aides used the information, even before it was made public, to attack mail-in voting. Election officials go to extraordinary lengths to protect ballot secrecy. It's unclear how investigators figured out who the votes were for, and why they made that information public. Additionally, the Justice Department typically does not comment about ongoing investigations, though there are rules allowing it when there is a public interest at stake, like election integrity. The federal probe was apparently triggered by a request from Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, a Republican who announced Tuesday that federal investigators were assisting with an election issue. Freed, also a Republican, was appointed by Trump in 2017. A spokesperson for Salavantis told CNN that the nine affected ballots are for the general election. Many military and overseas ballots were sent out last weekend. #2020Election #CNN #AC360

CNN's Erin Burnett rolls the tape of President Trump casting doubt on the fairness of the 2020 election should Joe Biden end up winning the presidency, and says that while some lawmakers say Trump isn't serious, some of the president's supporters seem to think he is. #2020Election #Trump #CNN

President Donald Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful presidential transition Wednesday comes as Republicans across the country are taking concrete steps that threaten to undermine the integrity of the election, particularly in key battleground states. Trump's comments about the transition were only the latest instance where he's actively sought to sow doubt into the legitimacy of the election. But beyond Trump's rhetoric, his campaign and Republicans at the state and local level are moving to make it more difficult for voters to cast a ballot, more difficult for states to count votes and more likely that tallies will be challenged in the courts -- with a particular focus on mail-in voting, which is being dramatically scaled up this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Those efforts, along with Trump's repeated baseless claims that the election will be rigged, threaten to eat away at the public's confidence in the outcome, regardless of whether Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden is declared the winner. They come amid a contentious fight over filling the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in a situation where Trump could be picking the person who decides his electoral fate. "I spent 38 years as a Republican lawyer going into precincts looking for evidence of fraud. There are, to be sure, isolated cases, but nothing like the widespread fraud that would somehow invalidate an election or cause anyone to doubt the peaceful transfer of power," Ben Ginsberg, who helped litigate the 2000 election on George W. Bush's behalf, told CNN's John King on Thursday. "So what's different about this is a president of the United States going right at one of the pillars of the democracy without the evidence that you have got to have to make that case." #2020Election #CNN #Trump

Misleading content shared by Trump and his team is often defended as humor. But his supporters aren't always in on the joke. When CNN's Donie O'Sullivan went to a Trump rally in Bemidji, Minnesota, grievances against social media platforms Twitter and Facebook were a common refrain. Many of the President's supporters told CNN that they felt the platforms' fact-checking processes were biased against conservative viewpoints. Others discussed social media posts that contained manipulated media as if they were real. "Like when Joe Biden fell asleep during a live interview on television," one supporter recalled, describing a video that went viral only a few weeks prior to the rally. The video — which appears to show Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden sleeping as a TV news anchor repeats, "Wake up!" — was shared on Twitter by White House social media director Dan Scavino. But the video was fake. It was achieved by splicing together real footage of a 2011 interview between journalist Leyla Santiago, now of CNN, and entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte with footage of Biden looking down, his eyes appearing at least partially closed, to make it appear as if he were snoozing. An audio track of loud snoring was placed on the video to complete the effect. When the video was fact-checked by news outlets, including CNN, and eventually labeled as "manipulated media" by Twitter, prominent Trump supporters complained that it was an obvious joke and a meme. Asked last week why Trump shares fake videos and baseless conspiracy theories about Biden, Tim Murtaugh, Trump campaign communications director, invoked a meme defense. "You call it a fake video. What it is is an internet meme," he said. "Those are very frequently done to make a political point." The joke was lost on Chris, the Trump supporter in Bemidji, who apparently believed the video was real footage. He acknowledged, "I missed that one," when he was shown how the video had been manipulated. But the fact the video was faked didn't change his impression of Biden because he believed something like that could happen, Chris said. Chris said he did not want to share his last name. The dissemination of misleading videos about Biden by the Trump campaign in an effort to make the Democratic presidential nominee seem confused or senile has happened repeatedly. #2020Election #CNN #DonieOSullivan

Emerging at the top of the Supreme Court steps on Thursday, President Donald Trump heard something he doesn't often hear -- at least directed toward him: booing. "Vote him out," crowds began chanting when Trump appeared before the flag-draped coffin containing the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last week after a long bout with cancer. With his face concealed behind a mask -- another rarity for the President, who does not often wear one in public -- Trump glanced over to where the crowd had gathered nearby. His wife, first lady Melania Trump, looked straight ahead. The chants grew louder as the Trumps stood before the coffin, framed by massive Corinthian columns. After a few moments standing silently, the pair returned to their limousine and drove back to the White House. Outside the Oval Office, Trump was seen in animated conversation with top aides, including chief of staff Mark Meadows. #Trump #CNN #News

President Donald Trump would not commit to providing a peaceful transition of power after Election Day, lending further fuel to concerns he may not relinquish his office should he lose in November. "Well, we're going to have to see what happens," Trump said when asked whether he'd commit to a peaceful transition, one of the cornerstones of American democracy. Trump has previously refused to say whether he would accept the election results, echoing his sentiments from 2016. And he has joked -- he says -- about staying in office well past the constitutionally bound two terms. But his refusal to guarantee a violence-free transition went further and is likely to alarm his opponents, already on edge given his deployment of federal law enforcement to quell protests in American cities. His reluctance to commit to a peaceful transition was rooted in what he said were concerns about ballots, extending his false assertion that widespread mail-in voting is rife with fraud. "You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster," Trump said at a press briefing at the White House, presumably referring to mail-in ballots, which he has baselessly claimed will lead to voter fraud. "(G)et rid of the ballots and you'll have a very ... there won't be a transfer, frankly. There'll be a continuation," he added, saying "the ballots are out of control." Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican who has stood at odds with the President in the past, slammed Trump's comments. "Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus," Romney tweeted. "Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable." Trump has previously said his rival Joe Biden would only prevail in November if the election is "rigged," and suggested earlier in the day it was likely the results of the election would be contested all the way to the Supreme Court. National polls currently show Trump trailing Biden, though surveys of electoral battleground states are tighter. #CNN #News

Unearthed video from 2016 in a CBS News interview with Amy Coney Barrett shows her warning of Supreme Court appointments that "could dramatically flip the balance of power in the court." #CNN #News

In this week's edition of "Unfiltered from Home," host SE Cupp examines how some Democrats' attempt to "otherize" Amy Coney Barrett's Catholicism could backfire if she is chosen to replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg as a Supreme Court Justice. #SECupp #CNN #News

Cindy McCain, widow of 2008 Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, says that she is endorsing 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden over President Donald Trump because of his character and integrity. #2020Elections #CNN #News

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) responds to President Donald Trump making a racially divisive attack against her at a campaign rally in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. He also denigrated the Minnesota congresswoman in her home state last month as "a horrible woman who hates our country" and insinuated that she may not have won her recent primary election. "Let's check the mail-in vote," Trump told the crowd, adding. "Where are the people that would vote for her?" Last summer, in a series of racist tweets, Trump told Omar and the other members of the "Squad" who have been outspoken against his policies -- Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib -- to "go back" to their supposed home countries, though they were born in the United States and Omar is a naturalized citizen. Following his tweets, Trump's supporters at a campaign rally in North Carolina chanted "send her back," which was directed at Omar, as the President stood silently. He later claimed to disavow the chants. Trump has also promoted false smears against Omar and questioned her patriotism, highlighting some of her controversial comments on issues including Israel, law enforcement and the September 11th terrorist attacks. Trump, who has his own history of pushing anti-Semitic tropes, criticized Omar for tweets last year that were widely condemned as anti-Semitic, which she later apologized for. #CNN #News

Dr. Anthony Fauci responds to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) after the senator accuses him of contributing to an economic lockdown due to Fauci's coronavirus mitigation recommendations. #Fauci #CNN #News

The daughter of a Trump supporter who died from coronavirus tells CNN's Don Lemon what she talked about with her father right before he went to the hospital. #CNN #News

CNN's Chris Cuomo talks to former FBI Chief of Counterespionage Section Peter Strzok about the threat of Russia meddling in the 2020 election. #CNN #News

CNN's Anderson Cooper shows all the times President Donald Trump has contradicted himself on who is affected by the coronavirus and how serious the pandemic is. #CNN #News

CNN's Erin Burnett fact checks the White House claim that President Trump is kept up at night by every coronavirus death. #CNN #News

CNN's Jim Sciutto talks to former National Security Council adviser for European and Russian affairs Fiona Hill about Russian interference in US elections. #CNN #News

CNN's Christiane Amanpour talks with former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch about the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the fight for equality. #CNN #News

CNN's Erin Burnett talks to business leaders about how they are using their platforms to encourage civic engagement. #CNN #News

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks with Dr. Fauci about the US coronavirus pandemic response as the country approaches 200,000 deaths. #CNN #News

A panel of experts discuss the legacy of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the looming political battle to fill her vacant seat. #CNN #News

Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia is looking to highlight her conservative voting record in a new ad that compares her to Attila the Hun. #CNN #News

CNN's Erin Burnett shows Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) his own words from 2016 about a filling Supreme Court vacancy during an election year. #CNN #News

With two months left before the election, Brianna Keilar pressed White House deputy communications director and deputy press secretary Brian Morgenstern on when President Trump will release his health reform plan that would replace Obamacare. #CNN #News

CNN's John King and David Axelrod discuss the latest electorate map and how Trump is moving to make the Supreme Court vacancy a central issue in his campaign. #CNN #News