Presented by BP.

Good morning, everyone. I'm playbook co-author, Ryan Lizza. It's Thursday, September 5th.

There are 60 days until the election. And here's what's driving the day. We're four days out from

Congress's return to Washington, and we have a pretty good idea of how the three-week dash to fund the

government is going to go.

Next week, Speaker Mike Johnson, will try to move a six-month stopgap.

That also will include legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.

The Senate will then send back a shorter CR running into December without any add-ons.

All right, what happens then?

As our Olivia Beavers and Jordan Carney reported

yesterday, some swing district Republicans blanched at the possibility of a pre-election shutdown on a

GOP conference call. We're now told that Johnson has assured some concerned members that a shutdown

is not on the menu, suggesting that what we are seeing is purely a messaging

and negotiating play. All right, the ABC presidential debate is next Tuesday, and last night

in an interview with Sean Hanney on Fox News, Donald Trump made a new effort to set expectations

for the event. He attacked ABC as, quote, the worst network in terms of fairness. And he also said,

quote, they are the most dishonest network, the meanest, the nastiest. But that is what I was presented

with. I was presented with ABC. This is pretty standard for Trump before any contest. He

generally suggests that the event will be rigged against him as a hedge and excuse

in case he loses. All right, in Los Angeles today, Hunter Biden's trial on criminal tax evasion

is starting. Joining me now to talk about that is national correspondent Betsy Woodruff Swan.

Good morning, Betsy. Good morning, Ryan. Thanks for having me.

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