US News Roundup: Defiant Trump in risky COVID-19 gambit weeks before U.S. election; Pence, Harris to clash in VP debate amid White House virus outbreak and more

Cellphones in hand, 'Army for Trump' readies poll watching operation Republicans are mobilizing thousands of volunteers to watch early voting sites and ballot drop boxes leading up to November's election, part of an effort to find evidence to back up President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated complaints about widespread voter fraud.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

2020 U.S. ELECTION: What you need to know right now

-As questions persist over President Trump's health, the vice-presidential debate, for once, takes a starring role in election season. Masks, plexiglass, social distancing and COVID-19 tests also feature. -The GOP is mobilizing an 'Army for Trump' - thousands of volunteers armed with their cellphones tasked with monitoring early voting sites and ballot drop boxes on the hunt for evidence to back up Trump's unsubstantiated claims of rampant voter fraud.

Pence, Harris to clash in VP debate amid White House virus outbreak

Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic challenger Kamala Harris will square off on Wednesday in their only debate, as President Donald Trump's coronavirus diagnosis and the ongoing pandemic continue to roil the U.S. presidential contest. The televised clash comes at a precarious moment for the Trump-Pence re-election campaign, less than a week after the president announced he had contracted COVID-19 amid a White House outbreak that has infected numerous high-profile Republicans.

U.S. agency shows no sign of quick action on Trump social media petition

The Federal Communications Commission has given no indication it will move quickly on an effort by President Donald Trump to narrow the ability of social media companies to remove objectionable content and require new transparency rules. The Republican president in May directed the U.S. Commerce Department to file the petition after Twitter Inc warned readers to fact-check his posts about unsubstantiated claims of fraud in mail-in voting.

Defiant Trump in risky COVID-19 gambit weeks before U.S. election

With polls showing him trailing Democrat Joe Biden with less than a month to go before the U.S. election, President Donald Trump appears to be re-embracing the risky strategy of playing down the coronavirus despite signs it could further diminish his re-election chances. Far from being chastened by his bout with COVID-19, Trump has returned to minimizing the danger from a virus that has already killed more than 210,000 fellow Americans, calling on supporters to be "not afraid of Covid" and "get out there."

Trump faces backlash for removing mask on return to White House

U.S. President Donald Trump faced a fresh backlash on Tuesday for removing his mask when he returned to the White House and urging Americans not to fear the COVID-19 disease that has killed more than 209,000 people in the country and put him in hospital. Trump arrived at the White House on Monday in a made-for-television spectacle in which he descended from his Marine One helicopter wearing a white surgical mask only to remove it as he posed, saluting and waving, on the mansion's South Portico.

Exclusive: OxyContin maker Purdue nears guilty plea agreement in U.S. criminal probe - sources

Purdue Pharma LP, the OxyContin maker controlled by members of the wealthy Sackler family, is nearing an agreement to plead guilty to criminal charges as part of a broader deal to resolve U.S. Justice Department probes into its alleged role in fueling the nation's opioid crisis, six people familiar with the matter said. Purdue lawyers and federal prosecutors are brokering a plea deal that could be unveiled as soon as within the next two weeks and include billions of dollars of financial penalties, four of the people said. They stressed that talks are fluid and that some of the terms could change as discussions continue.

Cellphones in hand, 'Army for Trump' readies a poll-watching operation

Republicans are mobilizing thousands of volunteers to watch early voting sites and ballot drop boxes leading up to November's election, part of an effort to find evidence to back up President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated complaints about widespread voter fraud. Across key battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Florida and Wisconsin, Republican poll watchers will be searching for irregularities, especially with regard to mail-in ballots whose use is surging amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to more than 20 officials involved in the effort. They declined to say how many volunteers have signed up so far; the campaign earlier this year said its goal was to recruit 50,000 monitors nationwide. Stuck at White House, Trump seeks ways to recharge re-election bid

U.S. President Donald Trump, under coronavirus quarantine in the White House and restricted from traveling, is grasping for ways to put a spark back in his struggling re-election bid and mount a big comeback with four weeks left until Election Day. Trump, who is still contagious, has been looking for options on how to get his message out and cut into Democrat Joe Biden's lead in battleground states where the Nov. 3 election will be decided, advisers said. Tribes slam EPA move to give Oklahoma control of environmental rules

Oklahoma tribal nations slammed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent granting of authority to the state over environmental issues on vast tracts of land recognized by the Supreme Court as "Indian country." EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on Oct. 1 approved Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt's request to give the state, not tribal nations, such authority even on lands inside historical tribal reservation boundaries. In a letter to Stitt, he said a 2005 federal law allows states to seek oversight of tribal lands from the agency. Fauci says White House COVID-19 infections could have been prevented

Top U.S. infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose advocacy of public health guidelines to fight the coronavirus has conflicted with President Donald Trump's downplaying of the pandemic, said on Tuesday the recent rash of infections at the White House could have been prevented. Several close aides to Trump and senior Republican politicians have tested positive for the coronavirus since the Republican president announced on Friday that he and first lady Melania Trump had contracted the virus.