State attorneys general sue Trump administration over Postal Service changes

The attorneys general of Pennsylvania and Washington are leading a group of 20 states in a pair of lawsuits to stop service changes at the U.S. Postal Service ahead of the election, despite the postmaster general's pledge to hold off on cost-cutting measures as the states prepared their lawsuits Tuesday, reports CBS News campaign reporter Zak Hudak."I will not let my foot off the gas so long as the postal officials continue to violate the law through the procedural steps that are here," said Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who today announced he would be suing President Trump.The lawsuits come after a series of moves by USPS to cut overtime for carriers, and remove ballot-sorting machines -- all as the country gears up for a massive influx of votes cast by mail for the November election. Shapiro said no Republican state attorneys general have yet signed on.Joe Biden's history with the Democratic conventions is a long one, CBS News campaign reporter Bo Erickson reports, in a look back at how the former vice president used the quadrennial gatherings to chart the course of his long career in politics. "It's an uncomfortable conversation to have, but voters deserve to be able to assess Joe Biden's capabilities by seeing him and listening to him in his own words, especially as compared to just a few years ago," Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told CBS News, in a statement.Biden said he has not taken a test to measure his cognitive ability, shrugging off the suggestion as President Trump and his campaign continue to question his mental fitness for office."No, I haven't taken a test. Come on, man," Biden told CBS News correspondent Errol Barnett, earlier this month.Addressing a crowd of over 900 gathered in Yuma, Arizona, at a campaign rally that defied CDC guidelines, President Trump bashed his Democratic opponent, baselessly alleging that if Joe Biden wins in November, there will be "a giant jail break for MS-13 and vicious criminal gangs." The president called 2020 "the most consequential" election year in history. The protesters were marching through St. Louis' well-to-do Central West End neighborhood toward the mayor's home to demand her resignation amid nationwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality.The McCloskeys were each charged with "unlawful use of a weapon," CBS affiliate KMOV-TV reported.They have also gained many supporters, especially among gun rights activists and Republicans who have sought to portray the GOP as the party of "law and order."In July, the couple appeared at a virtual Trump campaign event, where they were interviewed by Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr. and former Fox News personality who now hosts a web series for the campaign.A nearly 1,000-page report released by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday documented a broad set of links and interactions between Russian government operatives and members of the 2016 Trump campaign, CBS News intelligence and national security reporter Olivia Gazis and senior news editor Stefan Becket report, adding new details and dimensions to the account laid out last year by special counsel Robert Mueller and raising counterintelligence concerns about certain Russian efforts that may have persisted into the 2020 election season.Tuesday's report was the committee's final, and long-awaited, chapter in its more than three-year investigation into Russia's 2016 election interference, marking the conclusion of what was held up as the last and arguably only bipartisan congressional investigation into the matter. The report labeled Kilimnik a "Russian intelligence officer," and said Manafort, for reasons the committee could not determine, sought on numerous occasions to "secretly share internal Campaign information with Kilimnik." It also said the committee obtained "some information" linking Kilimnik to Russian intelligence services' efforts to hack and leak information to damage Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.The Trump campaign declared in a statement the report showed "no collusion" while decrying the "Russia Collusion Hoax" as "the greatest political scandal in the history of this country," Sganga reports.In the latest episode of "The Debrief with Major Garrett," CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett explores party switchers and their impact on presidential elections. Meanwhile, enthusiasm for voting is "relatively high" for August ahead of an election according to the polling.Speaking Tuesday at a hearing marking the latest legal showdown between Republicans and Democrats over the coming election, CBS News campaign reporter Alex Tin says an attorney for Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs acknowledged that she agreed with Democratic Party attorneys suing her office that a rule over unsigned ballots is unconstitutional and should be changed. This comes as the USPS Postmaster General has announced that he will delay making changes to the Postal Service after the backlash over changes he planned that could delay the delivery of mail-in ballots this year.The League of Women Voters of Michigan and other voting rights advocates are asking the Michigan Supreme Court to reconsider its decision not to hear a case challenging Michigan's deadline for absentee ballots, according to CBS News campaign reporter Adam Brewster.Michigan requires absentee ballots to be turned in by 8 p.m. local time on Election Day in order to be counted, but advocates are asking for the court to change that deadline to allow ballots postmarked on Election Day to be counted.Michigan's Supreme Court declined to take the case last month, but plaintiffs argue that the recent USPS letter sent to Michigan and more than 40 other states warning that ballots may not arrive in time to be counted means the court should reconsider."USPS's letter and the recent operational changes also make clearer that the received-by deadline violates the Purity of Elections Clause and Equal Protection Clause," the filing says. That's what courts are for."Democrats are denouncing Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske after the elected Republican late Monday asked the state's governor for an "emergency regulation" to allow the tracking of "any individual engaged in ballot harvesting." CBS News campaign reporter Alex Tin says Cegavske's request comes after the state's Democratic-led legislature passed a sweeping set of election changes over the coronavirus pandemic, which the secretary blasted, saying it "gave in to partisan interests and gutted an enduring state law that served to protect the integrity of elections."Republicans, including President Trump's campaign, are currently in court suing Cegavske over the recently passed law, including over the so-called "ballot harvesting" provision.