Washington Post: “Over the past year, public servants across the country have faced similar ordeals. The targets encompass nearly every category of government service: mayors, governors and members of Congress, as well as officials Trump has turned against within his own administration.”

“The dynamic appears to be without precedent: government agencies taking extraordinary measures to protect their people from strains of seething hostility stoked by a sitting president.”

The Daily Beast counts at least 18 people connected to President Trump who “have been locked up, indicted, or arrested since the real-estate mogul announced his candidacy in 2015.”

Washington Post: “In the aftermath of the White House outbreak that put the president in the hospital, his administration could have aggressively used contact tracing and genetic analysis to identify how the virus got into the White House and how far it had spread.”

“Instead, one month later, the Trump administration consistently failed to effectively deploy either technique in response to the superspreader event, leaving not just the president and his staff at risk, but the hundreds of people who were potentially exposed.”

President Trump repeatedly attacked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), at one point taking credit for the FBI thwarting a plot to kidnap her and then immediately downplaying the actual threat that had been posed to Whitmer, CNN reports.

Said Trump: “I mean, we’ll have to see if it’s a problem. Right? People are entitled to say maybe it was a problem, maybe it wasn’t.”

New York Times: “The president’s federal income tax records… show for the first time that, since 2010, his lenders have forgiven about $287 million in debt that he failed to repay. The vast majority was related to the Chicago project.”

“How Mr. Trump found trouble in Chicago, and maneuvered his way out of it, is a case study in doing business the Trump way.”

“When the project encountered problems, he tried to walk away from his huge debts. For most individuals or businesses, that would have been a recipe for ruin. But tax-return data, other records and interviews show that rather than warring with a notoriously litigious and headline-seeking client, lenders cut Mr. Trump slack — exactly what he seemed to have been counting on.”

Washington Post: “Since his first month in office, Trump has used his power to direct millions from U.S. taxpayers — and from his political supporters — into his own businesses. The Washington Post has sought to compile examples of this spending through open records requests and a lawsuit.”

“In all, he has received at least $8.1 million from these two sources since he took office.”

“The president brought taxpayer money to his businesses simply by bringing himself. He’s visited his hotels and clubs more than 280 times now, making them a familiar backdrop for his presidency. And in doing so, he has turned those properties into magnets for GOP events, including glitzy fundraisers for his own reelection campaign, where big donors go to see and be seen.”

“A federal judge on Tuesday rejected an effort by the Department of Justice to have the United States government replace President Trump in a lawsuit in which he is accused of defaming writer E. Jean Carroll after she said he raped her in the mid-1990s,” CNBC reports.

“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is under investigation for potentially violating a federal law that forbids federal employees from engaging in political activity while on duty or while inside federal buildings over his address to the Republican convention in August,” CNN reports.

Playbook: “The White House is actually considering holding a large-scale event on the South Lawn this evening to honor Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. A source told us the guest list is not small.”

The unveiling Barrett’s nomination at the White House turned into a superspreader event for the novel coronovirus with even President Trump getting sick.

Barrett is likely to be confirmed to the Supreme Court in a 7:25 p.m. ET vote.

“The Trump administration-appointed head of a key advisory council on the civil service has resigned over an executive order to strip away protections against political interference in hiring and firing for a large portion of the career federal workforce,” the Washington Post reports.

If President Trump wins re-election, he’ll move to immediately fire FBI Director Christopher Wray and also expects to replace CIA Director Gina Haspel and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Axios reports.

“The list of planned replacements is much longer, but these are Trump’s priorities, starting with Wray.”

“Wray and Haspel are despised and distrusted almost universally in Trump’s inner circle. He would have fired both already, one official said, if not for the political headaches of acting before Nov. 3.”

A personal aide to Vice President Mike Pence — known informally as a “body man” who accompanies the Vice President throughout his day — has also contracted the novel coronavirus, the Washington Post reports.

Pence is regularly in sustained close contact with the aide, who travels with him on Air Force Two and accompanies him for much of his day in the White House complex.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was interviewed on CNN by Jake Tapper:

MEADOWS: So, here’s what we have to do. We’re not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas.

TAPPER: Why aren’t we going to get control of the pandemic?

MEADOWS: Because it is a contagious virus. Just like the flu, it’s contagious.

TAPPER: Yes, but why not make efforts to contain it?

MEADOWS: Well, we are making efforts to contain it.

Anthony Scaramucci: “Mark Meadows just got destroyed on CNN by Jake Tapper. So much so that Trump had someone call into the control room and pull him. Hard to see a guy that once had integrity lie like that.”

Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, tested positive for the coronavirus Saturday and is quarantining, Axios reports.

New York Times: “Mr. Pence’s decision to continue campaigning, despite his proximity to his chief of staff, is certain to raise new questions about how seriously the White House is taking the risks to their own staff members and the public from the pandemic that has killed more than 224,000 people in the United States.”