Daily Archives: April 24, 2020

Some Democrats are bothered nominee is an older white man and they solidly back Biden in November – Pew Research Center

Posted: April 24, 2020 at 2:56 pm

Democrats presumptive presidential nominee for 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden, at a September 2019 debate in Houston with then-candidates Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has the backing of the overwhelming majority of Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters in the November general election contest against Donald Trump.

But after a primary campaign that saw the most diverse group of candidates in the partys history including six women, several black, Hispanic and Asian candidates and the first openly gay contender 41% of Democratic registered voters say they are bothered that the likely Democratic nominee for the 2020 election is a white man in his 70s. About six-in-ten Democratic voters (59%) say this does not bother them, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand Democrats attitudes about the outcome of the 2020 presidential primary contests. We surveyed 4,917 U.S. adults April 7-12, 2020. In this analysis, we look at the 2,349 respondents who are Democratic or Democratic-leaning registered voters and who took the survey after Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential campaign (April 8-12). Everyone who took part in the survey is a member of Pew Research Centers American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATPs methodology. Here are the questions asked for this report, along with responses, and its methodology.

Democratic voters who are bothered that the likely nominee is an older white man are more liberal, more educated, younger and more likely to be white than those who are not bothered, according to the survey, which was conducted just after Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential campaign.

Democratic voters with a postgraduate degree are the only educational group in which a majority (58%) say they are bothered the likely Democratic nominee is a white man in his 70s. In contrast, 76% those with no college experience and 59% of those with some college experience are not bothered by this.

More than six-in-ten Democratic voters 50 and older (65%) say it does not bother them that the likely Democratic nominee is a white man in his 70s, while those under age 50 are more divided in their views (47% say this bothers them, 52% say it does not).

These views also differ by race and ethnicity. About seven-in-ten black (72%) and Hispanic (70%) Democrats say they are not bothered the likely nominee is a white man in his 70s. By comparison, white Democrats are divided on this question: 49% say they are bothered and 51% say they are not.

Perhaps not surprisingly, these views are associated with which candidate voters backed on the eve of the first primaries and caucuses.

Nearly eight-in-ten of those who said in a January survey that Biden was their first choice for the Democratic presidential nomination (79%) now say the likely Democratic nominee being a white man in his 70s does not bother them. A narrower majority of those who backed Sen. Bernie Sanders in January (58%) say the same.

However, about six-in-ten Democratic voters who supported other candidates in January now say they are bothered that the likely Democratic nominee is an older white man. Voters who preferred Sen. Elizabeth Warren are particularly likely to hold this view: Nearly three-quarters (73%) say this, as do 57% of those who backed Pete Buttigieg and 52% of those who supported other candidates at the beginning of the year.

Democratic registered voters who are bothered the likely nominee is an older white man are slightly more likely than those who are not bothered by it to say they would vote for Biden in the November general election contest against Trump (89% vs. 83%). And they are especially likely to have a negative evaluation of the president: Nearly all in this group (97%) say they disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job in office, including nine-in-ten who strongly disapprove. Among Democratic voters who are not bothered the presumptive nominee is an older white man, 85% disapprove, including 72% who do so strongly.

Note: Here are the questions asked for this report, along with responses, and its methodology.

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Coronavirus Was All But Ignored in First Three Democrat Debates of the Year | – CNSNews.com

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Sen. Bernie Sanders makes a point to former Vice President Joe Biden during the Feb. 19 debate in Las Vegas. (Photo by Mark Ralson/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) The first three Democrat presidential debates held this year on Jan. 14, Feb. 7, and Feb. 19 contained a single, passing reference to the coronavirus outbreak that had emerged in China weeks earlier and was starting to spread.

That sole reference came from former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, during the Feb. 7 debate in Manchester, N.H., who said, The next president is going to face challenges from global health security, like what were seeing coming out of China.

None of the other candidates raised the issue, and neither did the ABC News moderators. The word coronavirus was not mentioned. (Neither was COVID-19, although the World Health Organization only came up with that name for the disease on Feb. 11.)

Apart from Buttigiegs comment, China did come up during the Feb. 7 debate, but in the context of climate change (Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Amy Klobuchar) and its mistreatment of Muslim Uighurs (Sanders).

By Feb. 7, China was reporting more than 34,500 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 700 deaths, while 288 cases were reported in 24 other countries including 12 in the United States along with the first death outside China, in the Philippines.

That debate came five days after U.S. travel restrictions, barring entry to any non-U.S. national who has visited China in the previous 14 days, came into effect. It also came eight days after the WHO had declared the outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern.

A little over a fortnight before the New Hampshire debate, a Democratic presidential debate was held in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 14.

There were no references during that debate to the outbreak in China, although China was mentioned, in relation to trade (Biden, Sanders), North Korea (Biden) and the economic threat (Klobuchar).

Although Jan. 14 was early in the context of the outbreak, by then the CDC had issued a travel health notice for Wuhan, established a coronavirus incident management system, and issued an advisory to state and local health departments and health care providers. Thailand had just reported the first confirmed case outside China.

Almost two weeks after the New Hampshire debate, another was held, in Las Vegas, on Feb. 19. None of the candidates raised the coronavirus issue, and neither did the NBC News/MSNBC moderators.

China did come up, but again in connection with climate change (Biden, Buttigieg, and Mike Bloomberg).

By Feb. 19, China was reporting more than 74,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 2,100 deaths, while more than 1,070 cases were confirmed in 26 other countries including 15 in the United States along with eight deaths outside China (in the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, France, and Iran.)

By Feb. 19, the China-related U.S. travel restrictions had been in effect for 17 days.

It never even was a part of their dialogue

During a White House press briefing on Sunday evening, President Trump drew attention to an observation by Fox News Bret Baier that the Feb. 19 debate in Las Vegas had not featured the words coronavirus, virus or COVID-19.

That was February 19, thats way after I closed entrance from China into our country, Trump said.

I just thought that was a very interesting because, you know, you hear these people, some of the people, the Democrats, said oh, this, that. It never even was a part of their dialogue. Now they bring it up because you see what happens now. But they didnt bring it up, he said. But I brought it up.

Coronavirus first featured in a Trump tweet on Jan. 24, when he thanked China for working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. At the time the CDC had reported two confirmed cases in the U.S.

On Jan. 29, the White House announced the formation of the coronavirus task force, and on Jan. 31 Trump declared the outbreak a public health emergency. When he delivered his State of the Union on February 4, Trump said the administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from the coronavirus threat.

After Las Vegas, the next Democratic debate was held on Feb. 25, in Charleston, S.C., and for the first time, the coronavirus situation was brought up by a moderator, CBS News Gayle King. (By then there were 53 COVID-19 cases in the U.S., but no deaths had been attributed to the disease.)

Among the candidates responses, Biden said if he were president he would be putting pressure on China to allow American experts to visit.

Heres the deal, he said. I would be on the phone with China and making it clear, We are going to need to be in your country. You have to be open. You have to be clear. We have to know whats going on. We have to be there with you, and insist on it, and insist, insist, insist.

I could get that done, Biden added. No one up here has ever dealt internationally with any of these world leaders. Im the only one that has.

Eight days before Biden made those remarks, a 25-person WHO-led team of experts, including U.S. scientists from the CDC and NIH, had finally arrived in China on a mission delayed for weeks by the Chinese government. Back on February 7 the New York Times had reported that China had been ignoring both CDC and WHO offers of help for weeks.

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Coronavirus Was All But Ignored in First Three Democrat Debates of the Year | - CNSNews.com

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What Wisconsin Democrats learned from the spring election – Politico

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Editors Note: Morning Score is a free version of POLITICO Pro Campaigns morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the days biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler talked about what he learned from the election in his state two weeks ago, how it can be applied to November and more in a Campaign Pro Q&A.

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The #MeToo movement is fracturing over how to handle Tara Reades allegations of sexual assault against Joe Biden.

More lawsuits looking to expand voter access piled up on Wednesday, highlighting the even more intense legal battle on the horizon ahead of the election.

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Q&A TIME Democrats took home a major victory in Wisconsin when liberal challenger Jill Karofsky defeated incumbent state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly. But the technically nonpartisan election (as you may remember) was one marred in controversy after the last-minute legal battle over if in-person voting shouldve taken place.

Score spoke with Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler about his takeaways from the election, the redistricting fight in his state and more. The full interview is available only for Pros, but heres part of our conversation.

What lessons did you learn from the election? How will they apply ahead of November?

[Absentee voting] went from five to 71 percent. It is totally amazing. Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona and Florida all have no-excuse absentee voting.

And what we learned from April 7 is that we can spend the next six and a half months helping people request and cast absentee ballots for the first time in their lives, and transform an election even if Republicans refuse to change the rules.

It takes hand holding for a lot of folks to navigate the absentee ballot process. But volunteers are motivated, voters are motivated. It's just the work of connecting the dots to help people vote safely. And while I wish that we can all agree to start from principles of public health and enfranchising everyone when it came to setting election rules, if Republicans insist on sticking with the rules we got, we can make them work for Democrats.

What programs are Wisconsin Democrats standing up?

Were using every tactic that doesnt involve getting within six feet of a voter. That means sending people postage-paid envelopes for absentee ballot request forms and voter registration forms. It means texting people to walk them through the process. It means working through people's personal social networks to make sure we're in touch with folks who don't respond to messages from volunteers they havent met.

What kind of changes are you making at the Wisconsin Democratic Partys headquarters? (Or virtual headquarters, in this case?)

At the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, weve been singing from the hymnal of year-round organizing since the spring of 2017. We started building neighborhood teams And now those teams are organizing their communities virtually. Despite the usual reluctance to spend until the final stretch of an election, we've been pouring resources and time into building a field apparatus that operates year round in our state. I thought that was a good investment in the old electoral environment but it is a spectacular investment now.

Im going to try to do Q&As more regularly. If someone comes to mind that you think will be an interesting person to talk to, email me. Dont just pitch me your bosses and clients!

#METOO MOVEMENT Prominent figureheads of the #MeToo movement are grappling with Reades allegations of sexual assault against Biden, which he denies. After making it more socially acceptable for sexual assault survivors to come forward and helping bring down dozens of powerful men, the #MeToo movement is facing a new challenge: how to grapple with the allegations against Biden without tearing itself apart. Celebrity #MeToo activists have publicly fought over Reades claims, POLITICOs Holly Otterbein and Marc Caputo wrote.

More from Holly and Alex: Supporters of President Trump, who has been accused of sexual assault and misconduct by multiple women, have seized on Biden and other Democrats past comments about believing womens accusations as proof of hypocrisy. And victims worry that what they see as the botched handling of Reades allegations by fellow activists, the media and politicians has threatened one of the movements hardest-fought gains.

The debate is complicated by another factor: Some worry about the prospect of inadvertently advancing the political fortunes of a president who has been accused of assault himself, and is deeply loathed by feminists and Democrats.

DELEGATE HUNTING Our Revolution, the nonprofit founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders, is now activating to convince voters to still back Sanders in the remaining states so that he can continue to win delegates. In the absence of an active Bernie campaign, we are pushing folks to vote for the delegates, Paco Fabian, the groups director of campaigns, told CNBCs Brian Schwartz.

STAFFING UP Biden said he intends to name the advisers guiding him in his vice presidential search by May 1 on the Tuesday night edition of The Late Late Show with James Corden. (Sorry folks, I was already asleep by the time it aired.)

Multiple Democratic operatives said that the Biden campaign has a hiring freeze to CBS News Bo Erickson, Musadiq Bidar and Nicole Sganga. The Biden campaign told CBS that they are building onto all aspects of the campaign, especially digital, and have begun to hire additional people.

BATTLEGROUND BONANZA Three new swing-state polls out on Wednesday all showed Biden leading President Donald Trump:

Florida: Biden led Trump, 46 percent to 42 percent, in a Quinnipiac University poll (April 16-20; 1,385 registered voters; +/- 2.6 percentage points).

Michigan: Biden led Trump, 49 percent to 41 percent, in a Fox News poll (April 18-21; 801 registered voters; +/- 3.5 percentage points).

Pennsylvania: Biden led Trump, 50 percent to 42 percent, in a Fox News poll (April 18-21; 803 registered voters; +/- 3.5 percentage points).

THE PROCESS More lawsuits were filed on Wednesday over voter access, and dont expect these to slow down anytime soon. The toplines for the lawsuits, plus other updates from across the country:

Kentucky: The states June 23 primary will have a significant expansion of mail-in voting, Secretary of State Michael Adams said on Tuesday, per the Lexington Herald-Leaders Jack Brammer. More: Adams, a Republican who has staunchly opposed efforts to expand voting by mail in Kentucky, said he and Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, are working on a plan for conducting the election during the COVID-19 pandemic and have a self-imposed deadline of this week to reach an agreement.

Massachusetts: Secretary of State Bill Galvin said he is working on a legislative package that would expand mail voting in the state, but warned that he doesnt think every voter should automatically be mailed a ballot, The Boston Globes Matt Stout and Victoria McGrane reported.

Nevada: True the Vote, a right-leaning group, filed a lawsuit opposing Secretary of State Barbara Cegavskes plan to have a functionally all-mail primary election, per The Nevada Independents Riley Snyder. A second lawsuit previously filed by Democrats, which looks to make changes to add more in-person polling places and allow for ballot collecting, has made for some strange bedfellows, The Independents Michelle Rindels wrote.

Pennsylvania: A lawsuit backed by Priorities USA seeks to require the state to provide prepaid postage for ballots, count ballots that are received after 8 p.m. on Election Day if they were late because of a mail delay, allow for people to designate a third party to assist in collecting and submitting ballots (this is sometimes known as ballot harvesting) and give voters time to cure ballots. The Philadelphia Inquirers Jonathan Tamari has more.

Separately, Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, announced that his states Department of State would mail postcards to 4.2 million primary voters in the state telling them about the states postponed primary and urging them to apply for a mail-in ballot. The governors office said that 462,000 voters have applied for a mail-in ballot and 140,000 have applied for an absentee ballot.

South Carolina: The DCCC and the South Carolina Democratic Party are suing to expand voting by mail in the state. The case seeks to effectively make South Carolina a no-excuse absentee ballot state in the midst of the pandemic and also urg[es] the South Carolina Supreme Court to determine that COVID-19 severely threatens the administration of elections and every residents constitutional right to free and open elections. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and ACLU filed a similar suit. The States Emma Dumain has more on both.

THE HEAD COUNT The Census Bureau is scrambling to adapt to the coronavirus, but officials worry that the digital-focused efforts will miss certain populations. Local officials warn that millions could still slip through the cracks. Spotify may not reach the hardest to count parts of the U.S. population. Those are the people in-person canvassers normally try to cajole to fill out census forms in person or online, POLITICOs Maya King and Danielle Muoio reported.

And at least some Democrats are worried about the downstream effects on redistricting. We have a large concern that there will be a significant undercount in the census, unless the deadline is pushed further back, Matt Liebman, president of the Voter Protection Project, told them. If the current rate of participation holds, we feel that there will be a negative electoral impact for the Democratic Party heading into redistricting.

FIRST IN SCORE WEB WARS Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff is rolling out a series of digital ads highlighting his endorsement from Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights icon, ahead of the June Senate primary. Ive known Jon for many, many years. He will fight for our values, Lewis says in a 15-second clip, one of four videos from Ossoffs campaign. Theyre also releasing 10-second and 30-second ads, and 1:45 spot featuring a snippet of conversation between the two.

POLL POSITIONS The Fox News poll in Michigan also shows Democratic Sen. Gary Peters leading Republican John James, 46 percent to 36 percent (April 18-21; 801 registered voters; +/- 3.5 percentage points).

ON THE AIRWAVES Arizona Sen. Martha McSally is launching a new TV ad on the coronavirus response from Congress. The minute-long spot features news clips about the Senates legislative response, and several shots of McSally in a mask doing relief work in her state.

THE HOUSE MAP Mark Piterski, who recently retired as an Army brigadier general and is Deputy Commissioner for Veterans Affairs in New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphys administration, wont challenge Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer in NJ-05 after all. He said he was running as an independent on Tuesday, and then had an about-face on Wednesday and said he wouldnt run, per the New Jersey Globes David Wildstein.

Republican Shay Stautz ended his bid to challenge Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick in AZ-02, per the Arizona Republics Yvonne Wingett Sanchez.

Republican Eric Esshaki filed to run in MI-11 ahead of Tuesdays deadline, which he sued to delay, according to Michigan officials who appealed a federal judges ruling extending the filing period and reducing the number of signatures required. The state is appealing the judges ruling to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and said in its filing that Esshaki submitted roughly 1,200 signatures, more than the initially required 1,000, according to the Detroit News Beth LeBlanc.

WHAT ABOUT US? The American Association of Political Consultants appealed a lower courts decision to toss the trade groups challenge to the Small Business Associations rules that exclude businesses primarily engaged in political activity from receiving loans from the CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program.

TECH TALK A lot of you are going to be sending (or receiving) a heck of a lot more texts from campaigns. On that front, the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group, an organization that includes a slew of the top tech companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook and more published a best practices guide for campaign texting. Some of the recommendations include senders obtaining written consent, including clear opt-out instructions and more.

FIRST IN SCORE ENDORSEMENT CORNER The Democratic grassroots group Indivisible is rolling out its latest group of endorsements, which is a mix of battleground incumbents, open-seat candidates and challengers in safer Republican seats. The list: Chris Bubser (CA-08), Rep. Harley Rouda (CA-48), E. Thomasina Marsili (IN-08), Hank Linderman (KY-02), Cynthia Wallace (NC-09), Sri Kulkarni (TX-22) and Julie Oliver (TX-25). The group also backed Rep. Ben Ray Lujns bid for the Senate in New Mexico.

CODA LEDE OF THE DAY: Nine South Dakota [state] senators set the stage on Tuesday for their investigation into whether Senate leadership was intoxicated at the Capitol during the final hours of the 2020 legislative session. From the Sioux Fall Argus Leader.

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House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats call on Trump to resume WHO funding | TheHill – The Hill

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Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee Thursday called on President TrumpDonald John TrumpNew Mexico governor extends stay-at-home order: 'We're not ready to ease up' Coronavirus culture war over reopening economy hits Capitol Hill Challenge China and the WHObut not while the pandemic rages MORE to resume funding for the World Health Organization (WHO), calling his policy misguided and a distraction from the administrations own response.

In a letter sent to Trump, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Eliot EngelEliot Lance EngelHouse Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats call on Trump to resume WHO funding The Hill's Campaign Report: Florida in play as Biden takes lead in poll Liberal group backs challenger to Engel in Democratic primary MORE (D-N.Y.), and 25 Democratic colleagues criticized the president's funding freeze and ending support in the middle of a crisis.

President Trump last week announced a 60- to 90-day halt in funding for the WHO, slamming the organization and claiming that it has a China-leaning bias. The president also criticized the health body for failing to condemn Beijing for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Democrats letter acknowledged shortcomings of the WHO, saying the organization is not perfect, but they cautioned against hobbling an organization at the helm of the global virus response.

This policy is profoundly misguided and appears to be an effort to scapegoat the WHO in order to deflect attention from your administrations mismanaged and politicized response to the pandemic, the Democrats wrote.

Halting funding to the WHO at this time is like cutting funding to the fire department in the middle of a blaze. Retreating from global health institutions at this time will only hinder our ability to fight the Coronavirus, thus putting our national security and American lives at risk," the letter said.

The letter was also sent to Secretary of State Mike PompeoMichael (Mike) Richard PompeoChallenge China and the WHObut not while the pandemic rages Export bans on medical supplies can be lethal Trump escalates WHO fight by redirecting funds to other groups MORE and acting U.S. Agency for International Development Director John Barsa.

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House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats call on Trump to resume WHO funding | TheHill - The Hill

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Democrats Are Insulting American People by Repeatedly Saying ‘Next Time’ on Real Covid-19 Relief – Common Dreams

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Democrats Are Insulting American People by Repeatedly Saying 'Next Time' on Real Covid-19 Relief - Common Dreams

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Polling Shows Oregon Democrats Don’t Trust President Trump’s Timing to Reopen the State, While Republicans Don’t Trust Gov. Kate Brown – Willamette…

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New polling from Portland firm DHM Research shows most Oregonians are looking to public health expertsnot elected officialsto decide when to reopen the state. But that's not true of the state's Republicans, who said they trusted President Donald Trump more than any other authority.

That gulf is displayed in the suspicion respondents displayed toward leaders of the opposing party. Democrats deeply distrust President Trump to tell them when to reopen Oregon, while Republicans distrustthe governor nearly as strongly.

Sixty-eight percent of Oregon Republicans said they had "high" or "very high" trust in Trump's timing to reopen the state, more than the percentage who trusted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (56percent) or the Oregon Health Authority (44percent). Just 21 percent said they trusted Brown.

Support among Democrats for Brown's judgment was slightly less solid. Fifty-eight percent trust her timing for reopening the stateless than the share who trust the Oregon Health Authority (74percent) or theCDC (70percent). But Democrats' distrust of Trump is so complete it borders on absurd: Just 6 percent of Democratic respondents said they'd rely on his timing to reopen Oregon.

Independents and nonaffiliated voters were skeptical of everyone, but expressed greater trust for health officials than politicians.

Among the other findings in today's polling results: Most Oregonians don't expect to visit a salon or barber shop for another two months, board an airplane for another five months, or attend a sporting event for another six months. (The Portland Trail Blazers would typically open their season in seven months.)

Fifty-eight percent of respondents said the availability of widespread COVID-19 tests was an important condition for returning to normal activities.

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Polling Shows Oregon Democrats Don't Trust President Trump's Timing to Reopen the State, While Republicans Don't Trust Gov. Kate Brown - Willamette...

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NSA Web Shell Advisory and Mitigation Tools Published on GitHub – Computer Business Review

Posted: at 2:55 pm

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Administrators should not assume that a modification is authentic simply because it appears to have occurred during a maintenance period.

As web shell attacks continue to be a persistent threat the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) have released a detailed advisory and a host of detection tools on GitHub.

Web shells are tools that hackers deploy into compromised public-facing or internal server that give them significant access and allow them to remotely execute arbitrary commands. They are a powerful tool in a hackers arsenal, one that can deploy an array of payloads or even move between device within networks.

The NSA warned that: Attackers often create web shells by adding or modifying a file in an existing web application. Web shells provide attackers with persistent access to a compromised network using communication channels disguised to blend in with legitimate traffic. Web shell malware is a long-standing, pervasive threat that continues to evade many security tools

A common misconception they are trying to dispel is that hackers only target internet-facing systems with web shell attacks, but the truth is that attackers are regularly using web shells to compromise internal content management systems or network device management interfaces.

In fact these types of internal systems can be even more susceptible to attack as they may be the last system to be patched.

In order to help IT teams mitigate these types of attacks the NSA and ASD have released a seventeen page advisory with mitigating actions that can help detect and prevent web shell attacks.

Web shell attacks are tricky to detect at first as they designed to appear as normal web files, and hackers obfuscate them further by employing encryption and encoding techniques.

One of the best ways to detect web shell malware is to have a verified version of all web applications in use. These can then be then used to authenticate production applications and can be crucial in routing out any discrepancies.

However the advisory warns that while using this mitigation approach administrators should be wary of trusting times stamps as, some attackers use a technique known as timestomping to alter created and modified times in order to add legitimacy to web shell files.

They added: Administrators should not assume that a modification is authentic simply because it appears to have occurred during a maintenance period.

The joint advisory warns that web shells could be simply part of a larger attack and that organisations need to quickly figure out how the attackers gained access to the network.

Packet capture (PCAP) and network flow data can help to determine if the web shell was being used to pivot within the network, and to where. If such a pivot is cleaned up without discovering the full extent of the intrusion and evicting the attacker, that access may be regained through other channels either immediately or at a later time, they warn.

To further help security teams the NSA has released a dedicated GitHub repository that contains an array of tools that can be used to block and detect web shell attacks.

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NSA Web Shell Advisory and Mitigation Tools Published on GitHub - Computer Business Review

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Odisha to invoke NSA for attacks against doctors and healthcare personnel – Economic Times

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Bhubanesar: Odisha will invoke the National Security Act (NSA) for attacks against and dishonour of any doctor and healthcare personnel.

Prompted by attacks on health care professionals in Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere and the refusal to allow the burial of two doctors in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik promised to honour doctors and healthcare professionals who caught the virus and died doing their duty as martyrs.

In a recorded video released to the media, Patnaik also announced that families of any government doctor, healthcare and other personal who succumbed to Covid-19 would receive his or her salary until the date of retirement.

In the absence of any cure or vaccine those fighting the Covid19 war for us, doctors and healthcare professionals are taking a huge risk by putting themselves in the front. We have a rich tradition of honoring our brave hearts who fight for the country and acknowledge their supreme sacrifice. In the same spirit we propose to recognize and honor the valiant work being done by our Covid warriors, said Patnaik.

They will awarded belatedly on national days. A detailed scheme of awards is to follow. The Government of India had already announced Rs 50 lakh insurance cover for all doctors.

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Odisha to invoke NSA for attacks against doctors and healthcare personnel - Economic Times

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CIA, FBI and NSA justified in view Putin aimed to help Trump: report – Sydney Morning Herald

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Washington: The US Senate Intelligence Committee concurred with spy agencies' findings that Russia sought to boost now-President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, according to a declassified bipartisan report.

Vladimir Putin tried to help Donald Trump win in 2016.Credit:AP

The report found that the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation had coherent and well-constructed grounds to conclude that Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed to undercut Trump's 2016 rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump, who has consistently bristled at suggestions that foreign interference helped his upset 2016 victory, has sought to discredit the intelligence agencies' findings as the politically charged work of a "deep state." Russia has denied that it was behind any efforts to meddle in US elections.

The Senate report - the fourth of five chapters so far released - found that the CIA and FBI had high confidence in their findings that Russia was trying to boost Trump's chances, while the NSA was only moderately confident on that point.

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CIA, FBI and NSA justified in view Putin aimed to help Trump: report - Sydney Morning Herald

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The reach of cyberattacks related to Covid-19 – Politico

Posted: at 2:54 pm

With help from Eric Geller, Martin Matishak and Laurens Cerulus

Editors Note: Morning Cybersecurity is a free version of POLITICO Pro Cybersecuritys morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the days biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.

Coronavirus-themed cyberattacks show no sign of slowing, as federal agencies and companies explore whos vulnerable and whos responsible.

MC exclusive: An examination of cyber-related sanctions and indictments showed disparities across U.S. administrations and nations.

The NSA and an Australian spy agency warned about a kind of attack thats on the rise.

A message from Global Strategy Group:

What do Americans expect from corporate leaders as they respond to COVID-19? Who do they trust most? How and whether companies respond will have a lasting impact on their reputationand their bottom line. Download the full report here.

HAPPY THURSDAY and welcome to Morning Cybersecurity! Russian Doll was great but your MC host isnt sure what to make of this. Send your thoughts, feedback and especially tips to [emailprotected]. Be sure to follow @POLITICOPro and @MorningCybersec. Full team info below.

POLITICO Pro is here to help you navigate these unprecedented times. Check out our new Covid-19 Coverage Roundup, which provides a daily summary of top Covid-19 news coverage from across all 16 federal policy verticals as well as premium content, such as DataPoint graphics. Please sign up at our settings page to receive this unique roundup sent directly to your inbox every weekday afternoon.

Sign up for POLITICO Nightly: Coronavirus Special Edition, your daily update on how the illness is affecting politics, markets, public health and more.

EVER-EXPANDING Months into the Covid-19 crisis, were still learning more each day about the scope and innovation in coronavirus-themed attacks via the government agencies and tech companies fighting off the hackers.

IBM on pace and vulnerabilities: IBM says it has seen a 6,000 percent increase in Covid-19 spam from mid-March to mid-April. It also released a study today that suggests small-business owners and consumers could be the most vulnerable to scams where cyber criminals masquerade as the government. More than a third of those polled by IBM and Morning Consult said they expect emails from the IRS, despite years of the IRS and others warning that the agency wouldnt email anyone about their tax filings; over half said they would click on links or attachments in emails about stimulus checks. And just 14 percent of small-business owners said they felt very knowledgeable about relief loans. Palo Alto Networks also provided some figures on coronavirus-related scams Wednesday.

DOJ on takedowns, Google on nation-state hacking: DOJ said Wednesday that law enforcement, cybersecurity companies and website operators have taken down hundreds of domains that were using the coronavirus crisis for fraud. Not coincidentally, some of the ones identified by the FBI mimicked the IRS relief payment portal. And, according to Google, federal employees have been targets themselves of coronavirus-themed phishing campaigns orchestrated by hackers backed by other nations; in total, more than a dozen such hacking groups have launched attacks that use Covid-19.

FireEye on Vietnam: Hackers linked to the Vietnamese government have been spear-phishing Chinese government agencies in an apparent effort to understand Beijings handling of the coronavirus pandemic, FireEye researchers said Wednesday. The malicious emails went to China's Ministry of Emergency Management and the municipal government in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, according to FireEye, which attributed the activity to the Vietnam-linked group APT32. While targeting of East Asia is consistent with the activity weve previously reported on APT32, the researchers wrote, this incident, and other publicly reported intrusions, are part of a global increase in cyber espionage related to the crisis, carried out by states desperately seeking solutions and nonpublic information.

The spear-phishing campaign, which seems to have begun in early January, uses virus-related lures to entice victims into opening the infected attachments, which then deploy the Metaljack malware payload. FireEye spotted the same malware and command-and-control server in a phishing campaign in December likely targeting Southeast Asian countries.

The first malicious email that FireEye caught was dated Jan. 6, one week before Thailand reported the first infection outside China. Vietnam was [very] quick to respond to early reports of the disease, Reuters reporter Jack Stubbs pointed out. Maybe now we have an idea why. Vietnam has reported fewer than 300 coronavirus cases and no deaths.

FIRST IN MC: CYBER SANCTIONS AND INDICTMENTS The Trump administration in its first term has been far more aggressive in issuing cyber-related sanctions and indictments against China, Iran, North Korea and Russia than the Obama administration in its second term, according to an analysis and infographic out today from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. President Donald Trump has issued 106 indictments and 110 sanctions, compared to 28 and five, respectively, from President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2016, the think tank found.

Across both administrations, the number of sanctions and indictments are applied inconsistently across nations. While North Korea is behind larger and more destructive attacks than Iran, North Korea has endured six total indictments and sanctions to Irans 30, the analysis and infographic concluded. Authors Trevor Logan and Pavak Patel explained that might be because North Korean hackers are more closely affiliated with their governments, whereas Iranian hackers arent exclusively loyal and therefore easier to name.

China more often faces indictments than sanctions. Logan and Patel wrote that may indicate that the United States is reluctant to issue sanctions against malicious Chinese actors due to the fear of escalation or economic retaliation against American companies. In contrast, the relative weakness of the Iranian, North Korean, and Russian economies means that Washington can act more freely without fear of blowback.

MALWARE IN A HALF SHELL The NSA and its Australian counterpart on Wednesday issued guidelines for detecting and defending against so-called shell malware, a tactic hackers are increasingly using in their operations. Web shells provide attackers with persistent access to a compromised network using communication channels disguised to blend in with legitimate traffic, the notice from NSA and the Australian Signals Directorate explained. The intelligence organizations suggested a defense-in-depth approach using multiple detection capabilities as the best way to both uncover and prevent the malware from wreaking havoc on systems, as well as tips on how to recover from such an attack. A critical focus once a web shell is discovered should be on how far the attacker penetrated within the network.

A message from Global Strategy Group:

New research from Global Strategy Group reveals the opportunities and risks facing corporate leaders as they respond to COVID-19.

A majority of Americans expect the private sector to play a major role, and people trust corporate leadership more than the White House.

But CEOs need to buck the existing perception that they are too focused on their bottom line and not enough on their employees.

Americans trust corporations in this moment and corporations can and must deliver. Companies will be defined later by what they do now, and the reputational costs could be high.

Download the full report today.

WHOS ZOOMING WHO Zoom announced stronger encryption and an array of additional security measures for version 5.0 of the video conferencing platform it rolled out on Wednesday. From our network to our feature set to our user experience, everything is being put through rigorous scrutiny, said Oded Gal, chief product officer of the company.

CZECHS TO WORLD: STOP ATTACKING HOSPITALS From our friends at POLITICO Europes Cyber Insights: The Czech Republic wants all countries around the world to pledge not to launch cyberattacks on hospitals and medical facilities. Thats according to its written feedback on a draft report on international norms for cybersecurity from the U.N.s Open-ended Working Group.

The rising number of cyberattacks on medical facilities worldwide reinforce the need for coordinated global action to protect [the] public health care sector from malicious ICT activities, the Czech proposal reads. Specifically, it wants the OEWG to endorse the idea to add medical services and medical facilities to a list of things that states are barred from attacking, as laid out in the U.N.s landmark 2015 deal on cyber norms.

Czech hospitals have been the targets of cyberattacks in the past month, and last week its government warned of more attacks, prompting the U.S. to threaten hackers with consequences.

Russias feedback for the draft said the application of international humanitarian law should be applied only in the context of a military conflict while currently the ICTs [information and communications technologies] do not fit the definition of a weapon. Moscow also slammed the mention of political attribution of cyberattacks, adding the report artificially exaggerated the importance of having NGOs and civil rights groups engage with the U.N. OEWG.

Member states feedback on the OEWGs draft report can be found here. Heres security researcher Lukasz Olejniks Twitter thread analyzing the papers.

TWEET OF THE DAY Only sharing this because of the good dog.

Alston & Bird announced a Women in Cyber network co-directed by partners Kim Peretti, co-leader of Alston & Birds cybersecurity preparedness and response team, and Amy Mushahwar, member of the firms privacy and data security and cybersecurity preparedness and response teams. Associates Emily Poole and Alysa Austin will support them.

The networks advisory board includes Jeannie McCarver, senior vice president for cybersecurity at U.S. Bank; Tracey Scraba, chief privacy officer at CVS Health; and Jennifer Martin, global cybersecurity counsel at Verizon Media.

Motherboard: Researchers revealed some iPhone zero day exploits.

ZDNet: Security researcher identifies new APT group mentioned in 2017 Shadow Brokers leak.

NBC News: The leaked data on employees of the World Health Organization and others was likely from previous breaches.

Kaspersky released a survey on corporate security and employee privacy.

The Voting Village's Jake Braun and Synack's Mark Kuhr talked election security.

Good news about the number of ransomware attacks on governments, health care providers and educational organizations in the first quarter, via Emsisoft.

Thats all for today.

Stay in touch with the whole team: Eric Geller ([emailprotected], @ericgeller); Bob King ([emailprotected], @bkingdc); Martin Matishak ([emailprotected], @martinmatishak); and Tim Starks ([emailprotected], @timstarks).

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The reach of cyberattacks related to Covid-19 - Politico

Posted in NSA | Comments Off on The reach of cyberattacks related to Covid-19 – Politico