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Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday publicly urged the Trump campaign to take down a TV ad that uses his words out of context and without permission, emphasizing that he does not wish to get involved in politics. The Trump campaign ad, released Saturday, includes a clip of Fauci speaking during an interview with conservative Fox News host Mark Levin in late March. In the interview, Levin asked Fauci about the administration’s coordinated coronavirus response. In his answer, Fauci noted that he is “one of many people on a team” and spoke at length about the long hours that he and others in the administration have been putting in to fight the pandemic. “There’s a whole group of us that are doing that,” Fauci said. “It’s every single day. So I can’t imagine that under any circumstances, that anybody could be doing more. I mean, obviously, we’re fighting a formidable enemy, this virus.” Even though Fauci did not mention Trump in his answer, the Trump campaign clip is edited to make it appear as if the nation’s top infectious-disease expert is praising the president’s leadership during the crisis. Fauci said in a statement to CNN on Sunday that “the comments attributed to me without my permission in the GOP campaign ad were taken out of context.” Read more by clicking the link in our bio.

President Trump’s comparisons in October of the coronavirus to the flu and admonitions not to fear it were “appalling” to those who have lost family members.

In the homestretch of the 2020 campaign, there has been little good news for President Trump. And that is showing up as an ominous turn for him in the polls as Biden consolidates support. What had been a steady national lead for Biden in the high single digits during the late summer has expanded to 12 points in early October, according to a Washington Post polling average. A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday fits with the trend, putting Biden at 54 percent nationally and Trump at 42, a 12-point lead that is similar to the 10-point advantage Biden held in a September survey. While key battleground-state polls have shown a somewhat closer contest, the trajectory has been clear. Four years ago, voters who decided in the presidential campaign’s waning days broke decisively for Trump, a political newcomer, delivering him a shock victory. This year, evidence suggests there are few who have yet to make up their minds. But many of those who had been on the fence appear to be coming down on Biden’s side. Read more by clicking the link in our bio.

Harper Wulms was 2 the first time she met Priscilla — a turkey with a rare condition that’s similar to the one she has. Harper, now 5, was born with symbrachydactyly, a congenital hand abnormality. Harper’s right hand is disproportionately small and is missing one finger. Her parents call it her “lucky hand.” The toddler tottered over to the turkey, her mother recalled, and the moment Harper understood the similarity between them, she smiled. The bond between Harper and Priscilla perfectly captures the reason Jamie Wallace-Griner started her animal sanctuary, Safe in Austin. Priscilla is one of more than 150 animals with a background of abuse, neglect or special needs that Wallace-Griner has rescued and cared for at her sanctuary. Beyond saving animals that, in most cases, would otherwise be euthanized, Safe in Austin also serves as a haven for people and animals with disabilities, special needs, mental health challenges and traumatic past experiences. Wallace-Griner was inspired to open an animal sanctuary upon witnessing the immense impact a service dog named Angel had on her autistic son, Jackson. Initially, friends of friends with special needs children would request to visit the sanctuary. As word got out, more people asked to come, and bonds continued to form between visitors and animals. Read more by clicking the link in our bio.

Normally, state troopers accompany Pennsylvania’s second lady whenever she leaves the house. But on Sunday, when Gisele Barreto Fetterman realized it was her last chance to get golden kiwis on sale at her neighborhood grocery store, she decided to run out for a few minutes on her own. While she waited in line, she said, a woman recognized her as the wife of Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) and began yelling insults at her, including racist slurs. “She said, ‘There’s that n-word that Fetterman married. You don’t belong here. No one wants you here. You don’t belong here,’” Fetterman, who was born in Brazil, said in an interview with The Washington Post. Upset and shaken, Fetterman managed to film the woman accosting her again outside her car. She posted a video of the abuse to Twitter Sunday night, along with a description of what happened. Go to the link in our bio to read more.

Tony Green, on dismissing, denying, contracting and spreading the coronavirus: "There’s no relief. This virus, I can’t escape it. It’s torn up our family. It’s all over my Facebook. It’s the election. It’s Trump. It’s what I keep thinking about. How many people would have gotten sick if I’d never hosted that weekend? One? Maybe two? The grief comes in waves, but that guilt just sits." Go to the link in our bio to read more. (Photo by Allison V. Smith for The Washington Post)

Maya Rudolph and Beck Bennett returned to "Saturday Night Live" as Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Vice President Pence on Oct. 10.

With little more than three weeks remaining until Election Day, President Trump is in a race against the clock as he continues to trail former vice president Joe Biden by double digits, his standing driven down by distrust on the issue of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. The president has not managed to close the gap with Biden during a tumultuous period of events that included the first presidential debate, the debate between Vice President Pence and Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) and Trump’s hospitalization after testing positive for the novel coronavirus. In fact, the race has changed little over a period of months, with voters seemingly impervious to the flood of news and controversies. Biden is favored by 54 percent of likely voters, with Trump favored by 42 percent. Libertarian Party nominee Jo Jorgensen receives 2 percent support, and Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins is at 1 percent. Biden’s lead among registered voters is also 12 points, consistent with Post-ABC polls taken in recent months. Go to the link in our bio to read more.

Senate Republicans and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi raised intense objections Saturday to a new $1.8 trillion economic relief proposal from the Trump administration, greatly dimming prospects for a coronavirus relief deal before the election.⁠ ⁠ On a conference call Saturday morning with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, multiple GOP senators denounced the proposal, attacking the price tag as too big, questioning the overall direction and criticizing individual proposals, according to several people who participated in the call or were briefed on its content.⁠ ⁠ The opposition was so fierce that Meadows told the group at one point, “You all will have to come to my funeral” because he would have to take their message back to President Trump. ⁠ ⁠ Read the full story, click the link in our bio.

A group of lawyers is offering advice to military and National Guard members who worry they may be given unlawful orders if deployed during protests or disputes over next month’s elections.⁠ ⁠ The Orders Project was formed in response to the use of force against protesters this summer in Lafayette Square, two of the founders said in an interview Friday.⁠ ⁠ The legal group anticipates that military personnel might find themselves in the same position this fall, and they may question whether orders they receive are legal.⁠ ⁠ Read the full story, click the link in our bio.

Unleashing some of his harshest criticism of President Trump in the last week, Joe Biden blasted President Trump on Friday for “his reckless personal conduct” since he tested positive for the coronavirus last Friday. If Trump couldn’t protect himself, how could he be trusted to protect the country? Biden told supporters in Nevada. Biden, who has held an increasing number of in-person campaign events in recent weeks, gave his remarks at a drive-in rally in the parking lot of a Las Vegas technical school. There, most attendees stayed in their cars, many of which were decked out in Biden-Harris signs. Instead of applauding, drivers honked their car horns to show their enthusiasm. Biden, who wore a disposable surgical mask and kept it on throughout his half-hour speech, slammed Trump for his irresponsible behavior. “His reckless personal conduct since his diagnosis” — here cars interrupted with honks — “and the destabilizing effect it’s having in our government is unconscionable,” Biden said, raising his voice. “He didn’t take the necessary precautions to protect himself or others, and the longer Donald Trump is president, the more reckless he gets. How can we trust him to protect this country?” He also criticized Trump and Republicans for their inaction on an additional stimulus package. “Things are getting worse and worse and worse. As people struggled and suffered, what did they focus on? If this wasn’t so serious, you’d think I was making this up — what they focused on is more tax cuts for the wealthy. Not a joke,” Biden said. Read more by clicking the link in our bio.

Via @coveringpotus: President Trump said he was “not in the greatest of shape” last week and suggested he might not have survived if not for the experimental therapeutic antibody drug he took.“People are going to get immediately better like I did. I mean, I feel better now than I did two weeks ago. It’s crazy,” Trump told Rush Limbaugh on his talk-radio show. “And I recovered immediately, almost immediately. I might not have recovered at all from covid.” Trump, claiming as he has this week that he’s working to get the drug available to all covid-19 patients even though it’s still in controlled clinical trials, hinted again that he didn’t think he was going to make it. “I don’t know that I would have, I don’t know, that I, you know, I was not in the greatest of shape,” he said. “A day later, I was fine, maybe perfect, but I was fine. But a couple of days later, and now I’m free, you know, I feel perfect.” Trump said he asked his doctors how bad it was for him, and they told him, “You could have been very bad. You were going into a very bad phase.” Read more by clicking the link in our bio.