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| Coronavirus US live: Trump rages as White House cases bring Covid-19 closer | Coronavirus US live: Trump rages as White House cases bring Covid-19 closer |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| President tweets about Russia, Michael Flynn and Obama after an outbreak of cases in the White House sends some staff into quarantine | President tweets about Russia, Michael Flynn and Obama after an outbreak of cases in the White House sends some staff into quarantine |
| Bloomberg is reporting that Ezra Cohen, a former Trump intelligence aide who left the White House amid controversy in 2017, is returning to the administration as a top official at the Defense Department. | |
| According to the report, which cites three sources with knowledge of the situation, Cohen, has been named deputy assistant to the secretary of Defense for counter-narcotics and global threats. His first day was Monday. | |
| As a refresher on who Cohen is, and why he left, Bloomberg explains: | |
| The position does not require Senate confirmation and has not been formally announced. | |
| Read the full story on his re-hiring here. | |
| Politico is reporting that the House stimulus bill being prepared by Democrats who hold the chamber could be out as early as this evening. | |
| That doesn’t mean new checks are coming to American households hammered by spiraling unemployment – the bill hasn’t got a chance in hell of passing because, for one, the White House has been saying for weeks it won’t play ball. Trump aides including treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin spent Sunday pushing their own priorities, including a payroll tax cut (eg, cutting Social Security and Medicare) and concessions tied to hardline policy priorities on immigration, which Democrats … are not very likely to entertain. | |
| But it’ll be interesting to see what’s in the Democratic bill nonetheless. Here’s more from Politico’s morning Playbook: | |
| That’s a definite non-starter with Trump and Republicans, who do not, to put it lightly, like measures meant to make voting easier and to restrict voter suppression. Oh no. | |
| Politico continues: | |
| Here’s our business editor, Dominic Rushe, on the economic crisis: | |
| Trump is tweeting this morning. | |
| To begin, he re-tweeted himself re-tweeting a supporter whose Twitter bio describes himself as a “political animal” who has been “RT’d by @realDonaldTrump.” Trump added: “OBAMAGATE.” | |
| Trump has been tweeting this phrase throughout the weekend, sharing memes and posts from rightwing talking heads claiming an anti-Trump conspiracy involving Barack Obama. This preoccupation with amplifying a baseless conspiracy about his predecessor comes as the US death toll nears 80,000. | |
| He continued with the conspiracy-minded theme in a Tweet moments later in which he framed his re-election as a battle between himself and a “rigged media” vowing: “WE WILL WIN AGAIN.” | |
| Former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, penned an op-ed in The Washington Post this morning titled: “How the White House coronavirus response presents us with a false choice.” The editorial gives us a preview of how Biden intends to make testing – and the White House’s access to it – a major issue on the campaign trail. | |
| In the op-ed, Biden accuses Trump of attempting to “split the country into dueling camps, casting Democrats as doomsayers hoping to keep America grounded and Republicans as freedom fighters trying to liberate the economy.” | |
| The editorial from Biden comes as the Trump re-election campaign is expected to unload a new series of attacks on their opponent after holding back due to the coronavirus pandemic. | |
| Biden has been careful yet pointed in his criticism of Trump’s handling of the virus. But in recent weeks, the Democrat, who is waging a battle for the presidency from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, has stepped up his denunciations of the president’s response, blaming him for not taking preliminary measures that might have mitigated the virus’s deadly toll. | |
| Read the editorial here. And read more about Biden’s home-brewed presidential campaign – and the technical challenges that come with it – below. | |
| The head of a coronavirus research institute whose funding was cut by the Trump administration has spoken of his concern that the US could be ill-prepared for future virus outbreaks. | The head of a coronavirus research institute whose funding was cut by the Trump administration has spoken of his concern that the US could be ill-prepared for future virus outbreaks. |
| EcoHealth Alliance, a US group which studies coronaviruses in China, had its grant terminated at the end of April by the National Institutes of Health. The group has worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology to research potential new viruses, and it seems EcoHealth Alliance may have suffered with input from false information peddled by the right. | EcoHealth Alliance, a US group which studies coronaviruses in China, had its grant terminated at the end of April by the National Institutes of Health. The group has worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology to research potential new viruses, and it seems EcoHealth Alliance may have suffered with input from false information peddled by the right. |
| “I’m really concerned about where this leaves us,” Peter Daszak, director of EcoHealth Alliance, told USA Today. | “I’m really concerned about where this leaves us,” Peter Daszak, director of EcoHealth Alliance, told USA Today. |
| In the weeks before the funding was cut, prominent Trump cheerleader and Republican congressman Matt Gaetz falsely claimed the government had granted money directly to the Wuhan Institute, which the Trump administration and its supporters have sought, without offering evidence, to tie to the origins of the outbreak. | In the weeks before the funding was cut, prominent Trump cheerleader and Republican congressman Matt Gaetz falsely claimed the government had granted money directly to the Wuhan Institute, which the Trump administration and its supporters have sought, without offering evidence, to tie to the origins of the outbreak. |
| While EcoHealth worked with the Wuhan Institute, which is widely respected for its research, the government had not given money to the Wuhan Institute. | While EcoHealth worked with the Wuhan Institute, which is widely respected for its research, the government had not given money to the Wuhan Institute. |
| This is what our world affairs editor, Julian Borger, wrote on the Institute recently: | This is what our world affairs editor, Julian Borger, wrote on the Institute recently: |
| Daszak told USA Today: “Once we’ve overcome Covid-19, what about Covid-20? What about Covid-21? Who is going to go out and find those? Our grant was specifically designed to locate where these viruses are and to stop them from harming Americans.” | Daszak told USA Today: “Once we’ve overcome Covid-19, what about Covid-20? What about Covid-21? Who is going to go out and find those? Our grant was specifically designed to locate where these viruses are and to stop them from harming Americans.” |
| On Sunday night CBS News’ 60 Minutes ran an interview with Daszak and the epidemiologist Maureen Miller, who has worked with EcoHealth and the Wuhan Institute, on Sunday night. Both seemed baffled by the funding cut. | On Sunday night CBS News’ 60 Minutes ran an interview with Daszak and the epidemiologist Maureen Miller, who has worked with EcoHealth and the Wuhan Institute, on Sunday night. Both seemed baffled by the funding cut. |
| “I was shocked. I was really, really surprised,” Miller said. “It stops the research that’s essential to understanding where pandemics like the one we’re going through, where they start.” | “I was shocked. I was really, really surprised,” Miller said. “It stops the research that’s essential to understanding where pandemics like the one we’re going through, where they start.” |
| The interview upset Donald Trump: | The interview upset Donald Trump: |
| There are a lot of reports around about Mike Pence, negative tests, Dr Fauci, self-isolation or not, and possible new White House guidelines for those who work in the inner sanctums. Sanctums? Sanctae? I think sanctums. Evidently I haven’t Googled it. | There are a lot of reports around about Mike Pence, negative tests, Dr Fauci, self-isolation or not, and possible new White House guidelines for those who work in the inner sanctums. Sanctums? Sanctae? I think sanctums. Evidently I haven’t Googled it. |
| It’s not surprising this should be so, given that as Bloomberg News reports here, a senior general tested positive for Covid-19 at the White House on Saturday, shortly before meeting the president and his national security team. According to Bloomberg: | It’s not surprising this should be so, given that as Bloomberg News reports here, a senior general tested positive for Covid-19 at the White House on Saturday, shortly before meeting the president and his national security team. According to Bloomberg: |
| For further reading, two interesting tweets, one from ABC News and one from CNN: | For further reading, two interesting tweets, one from ABC News and one from CNN: |
| Stelter and Diamond get to the heart of the matter, of course. | Stelter and Diamond get to the heart of the matter, of course. |
| As our chief reporter Ed Pilkington noted on Sunday: “News that three core members of the US pandemic task force were having to go into some degree of self-isolation could not come at a worse time for Donald Trump. The president is trying to project an image of confidence and resolution as he encourages states to reopen their economies, while his administration is proving unable to keep the virus at bay even within the White House.” | As our chief reporter Ed Pilkington noted on Sunday: “News that three core members of the US pandemic task force were having to go into some degree of self-isolation could not come at a worse time for Donald Trump. The president is trying to project an image of confidence and resolution as he encourages states to reopen their economies, while his administration is proving unable to keep the virus at bay even within the White House.” |
| Trump, by the by, didn’t just tweet about Russia and Michael Flynn and Barack Obama on Sunday. He also mentioned Mother’s Day a couple of times, boasted about the coronavirus response, and attacked the media. Stelter was among his targets, as it happens, as was Chuck Todd of NBC and the whole of CBS 60 Minutes. | Trump, by the by, didn’t just tweet about Russia and Michael Flynn and Barack Obama on Sunday. He also mentioned Mother’s Day a couple of times, boasted about the coronavirus response, and attacked the media. Stelter was among his targets, as it happens, as was Chuck Todd of NBC and the whole of CBS 60 Minutes. |
| More from Pence. This is from Mike Allen of Axios, formerly of Politico and a pillar of Washington political journalism and/or gossip, which are of course in many forms basically the very same thing: | More from Pence. This is from Mike Allen of Axios, formerly of Politico and a pillar of Washington political journalism and/or gossip, which are of course in many forms basically the very same thing: |
| On masks, Pence says “some people do wear masks” and “I think we’ll listen very carefully to the White House physician’s office”. | On masks, Pence says “some people do wear masks” and “I think we’ll listen very carefully to the White House physician’s office”. |
| So that’s not a yes. | So that’s not a yes. |
| Pence, remember, toured the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota without a mask, against clinic policy, and got into whole lot of bother about it. In Arizona, Trump then one-upped him by touring a factory that was making masks and didn’t wear a mask. He also did so to the sound of Live and Let Die, thus proving my theory that we are in fact living in the Matrix but it isn’t being controlled by the Wachowskis – it’s being programmed by Armando Iannucci. | Pence, remember, toured the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota without a mask, against clinic policy, and got into whole lot of bother about it. In Arizona, Trump then one-upped him by touring a factory that was making masks and didn’t wear a mask. He also did so to the sound of Live and Let Die, thus proving my theory that we are in fact living in the Matrix but it isn’t being controlled by the Wachowskis – it’s being programmed by Armando Iannucci. |
| On Flynn. The retired general, remember, was fired as Trump’s national security adviser for lying to Pence about conversations with Russians, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with Russians (as Trump acknowledged) and co-operated with special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation of lots of conversations about and with Russians before changing his mind and seeking to withdraw his plea. | On Flynn. The retired general, remember, was fired as Trump’s national security adviser for lying to Pence about conversations with Russians, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with Russians (as Trump acknowledged) and co-operated with special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation of lots of conversations about and with Russians before changing his mind and seeking to withdraw his plea. |
| All that, and last week the justice department said it would drop the case against him, prompting Trump’s Sunday Twitter tear-up. | All that, and last week the justice department said it would drop the case against him, prompting Trump’s Sunday Twitter tear-up. |
| Pence: | Pence: |
| An update on whether Mike Pence is self-isolating or not, via the New York Times: | An update on whether Mike Pence is self-isolating or not, via the New York Times: |
| …and welcome to another day of coverage of the coronavirus, and the politics around it, in the US. I always start with the numbers from Johns Hopkins University: | …and welcome to another day of coverage of the coronavirus, and the politics around it, in the US. I always start with the numbers from Johns Hopkins University: |
| US cases: 1,329,631 | US cases: 1,329,631 |
| US deaths: 79,523 | US deaths: 79,523 |
| New York cases: 335,395 | New York cases: 335,395 |
| New York deaths: 26,641 | New York deaths: 26,641 |
| As always, New York is singled out because it is by far the state worst hit. But others have it bad (New Jersey has more than 9,000 deaths, Massachusetts nearly 5,000, Michigan around 4,500) and many are having it worse, with confirmed cases increasing even as most attempt some degree of economic reopening. | As always, New York is singled out because it is by far the state worst hit. But others have it bad (New Jersey has more than 9,000 deaths, Massachusetts nearly 5,000, Michigan around 4,500) and many are having it worse, with confirmed cases increasing even as most attempt some degree of economic reopening. |
| Oliver Laughland, our southern bureau chief, has been writing and co-ordinating some fine coverage of such efforts. Here’s his report from Biloxi, Mississippi, and a story about Texas, co-written with Erum Salam there and Nina Lakhani in New York: | Oliver Laughland, our southern bureau chief, has been writing and co-ordinating some fine coverage of such efforts. Here’s his report from Biloxi, Mississippi, and a story about Texas, co-written with Erum Salam there and Nina Lakhani in New York: |
| Politically, the main story of the weekend was an outbreak of cases in the White House and Donald Trump’s reaction. Aides spread across the shows to counsel calm but the New York Times reported that the president was “spooked”, as public health experts including Dr Anthony Fauci went into isolation. | Politically, the main story of the weekend was an outbreak of cases in the White House and Donald Trump’s reaction. Aides spread across the shows to counsel calm but the New York Times reported that the president was “spooked”, as public health experts including Dr Anthony Fauci went into isolation. |
| He may have been – he will likely say he wasn’t, or isn’t – but Trump in part reacted by going on an absolute Twitter tear-up about Russia, Michael Flynn and, most saliently, Barack Obama. Here’s my write-up of what the president would like to call “Obamagate”, as he retweets conspiracy-tinged accounts about his successor’s supposed complicity in “the biggest political crime in American history”: | He may have been – he will likely say he wasn’t, or isn’t – but Trump in part reacted by going on an absolute Twitter tear-up about Russia, Michael Flynn and, most saliently, Barack Obama. Here’s my write-up of what the president would like to call “Obamagate”, as he retweets conspiracy-tinged accounts about his successor’s supposed complicity in “the biggest political crime in American history”: |
| One would imagine that somewhere, Obama himself is laughing. And, as he told alumni of his administration on Friday in remarks that may have had something to do with the president’s mood, getting ready to hit the trail (virtually or otherwise) for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. | One would imagine that somewhere, Obama himself is laughing. And, as he told alumni of his administration on Friday in remarks that may have had something to do with the president’s mood, getting ready to hit the trail (virtually or otherwise) for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. |
| More to come, obviously. | More to come, obviously. |
| One other thing now, which is that on Sunday Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate health committee, expressed strong skepticism about Trump’s predictions for how soon a coronavirus vaccine will be found. Not long after that, it was announced that Alexander himself will be entering self-isolation, after a staffer tested positive for Covid-19. | One other thing now, which is that on Sunday Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate health committee, expressed strong skepticism about Trump’s predictions for how soon a coronavirus vaccine will be found. Not long after that, it was announced that Alexander himself will be entering self-isolation, after a staffer tested positive for Covid-19. |
| So, in fact, in some form, will the vice-president, Mike Pence, who aides said tested negative on Sunday after his press secretary Katie Miller, who is married to Trump policy aide Stephen Miller, tested positive. | So, in fact, in some form, will the vice-president, Mike Pence, who aides said tested negative on Sunday after his press secretary Katie Miller, who is married to Trump policy aide Stephen Miller, tested positive. |
| It all means many things, but here’s two. Alexander will chair a key Senate hearing on Tuesday remotely, just as Fauci and fellow doctors Robert Redfield and Stephen Hahn will testify before him remotely. To the symbolically minded, after so many weeks in lockdown, that may seem symbolic of how Washington has never really got a hold on this crisis. | It all means many things, but here’s two. Alexander will chair a key Senate hearing on Tuesday remotely, just as Fauci and fellow doctors Robert Redfield and Stephen Hahn will testify before him remotely. To the symbolically minded, after so many weeks in lockdown, that may seem symbolic of how Washington has never really got a hold on this crisis. |
| Also, Trump’s scheduled Rose Garden press briefing on testing today at 4pm may seem more timely than ever. | Also, Trump’s scheduled Rose Garden press briefing on testing today at 4pm may seem more timely than ever. |