Weekly Roundup: August 21st

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2020

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The head of the United States Postal Service testified before the Senate today about controversial changes that good governance watchdogs say undermine election infrastructure. Louis DeJoy denied he was responsible for most changes, that he now says won't be implemented until after the election.

Steve Bannon, who oversaw President Trump's 2016 election effort, was arrested on fraud charges tied to a $27 million "build the wall" crowd-funding effort. And bipartisan Senate investigators released a final report detailing Russia's extensive contacts with that campaign.

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This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, voting reporter Miles Parks, congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell, and justice correspondent Ryan Lucas.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Brian from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
0:05.0	Two of my three kids are taking a nap, which is giving me an opportunity to clean my car.
0:12.0	The time of this recording is...
0:15.0	127 pm on Friday, August 21st.
0:19.0	Things may have changed by the time you hear this, but one thing won't have changed.
0:25.0	The next time I say no snacks in the car, I'm gonna mean it.
0:34.0	Oh, every time you try to have a no snacks in the car policy, it lasts like a very short period of time,
0:41.0	and then it's like, yes, I'll give you the fruit snacks. Just be quiet!
0:45.0	Goldfish just tastes better in the car, okay? That's just a fact.
0:48.0	It's true. I feel him so deeply on the naps thing. It's the only time you can get anything done.
0:53.0	Oh, yes. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamra Keith. I cover the White House.
0:59.0	I'm Kelsey Snell, I cover Congress.
1:01.0	And I'm Miles Parks. I cover voting.
1:03.0	Here is a name that you've been hearing a lot, and you're about to hear a whole lot more.
1:08.0	Lewis DeJoy, he is the Postmaster General, and he was called before a Senate panel today.
1:14.0	He has announced that he will suspend the controversial changes at the U.S. Postal Service that had been in place
1:21.0	until after the November election. Miles, what were those changes? And where do things stand now?
1:29.0	So, honestly, after this hearing, it's even more unclear what the changes specifically imposed by DeJoy were.
1:37.0	Going into this, we had thought that it involved cutting over time. We had heard from
1:41.0	post-to-workers across the country, postal unions, media reports that involved cutting over time.
1:47.0	And it involved the removal of these high-speed mail processing machines.
1:53.0	And then there was also basically a change in policy on when late mail would be delivered,
	...

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