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Coronavirus US live: Trump claims to take hydroxychloroquine and threatens to withdraw US from WHO Coronavirus US live: Mike Pence says he is not taking hydroxychloroquine
(32 minutes later)
President claimed to be taking anti-malarial drug despite FDA warnings, while Mike Pence said in a Fox News interview that he is not taking itPresident claimed to be taking anti-malarial drug despite FDA warnings, while Mike Pence said in a Fox News interview that he is not taking it
Trump has arrived on Capitol Hill, where the president will participate in the Senate Republican policy lunch.
Deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement, “President Trump will attend the Senate GOP Policy Lunch in the Hart Office Building to thank senators for their work during this unprecedented crisis, discuss the progress safely opening up America again, and explore the path to economic prosperity for all Americans.”
Vice President Mike Pence was on Capitol Hill earlier today to meet with Republican congressional leaders to discuss the next coronavirus relief package, but House minority leader Kevin McCarthy left the meeting saying, “I don’t see the need right now.”
According to the Fox News reporter who interviewed the vice president, Mike Pence said he was not taking hydroxychloroquine because his doctor had not recommended it.
But Pence added that he “wouldn’t hesitate” to use hydroxychloroquine, even though there has been little evidence that the anti-malaria drug is an effective treatment against coronavirus.
In a memo last night, Trump’s physician, Dr Sean Conley, said of the president’s use of the drug, “After numerous discussions he and I had regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks.”
Vice President Mike Pence said that he is not taking hydroxychloroquine during a Fox News interview at the NASA headquarters in Washington.Vice President Mike Pence said that he is not taking hydroxychloroquine during a Fox News interview at the NASA headquarters in Washington.
The vice president had dodged questions earlier in the day about whether he, like Trump, was using the anti-malaria drug, which the president has touted as a potential coronavirus treatment.The vice president had dodged questions earlier in the day about whether he, like Trump, was using the anti-malaria drug, which the president has touted as a potential coronavirus treatment.
But again, the evidence for hydroxychloroquine’s effectiveness is very scant, and the Food and Drug Administration has said it should not be used to treat coronavirus outside a hospital setting.But again, the evidence for hydroxychloroquine’s effectiveness is very scant, and the Food and Drug Administration has said it should not be used to treat coronavirus outside a hospital setting.
Global carbon dioxide emissions dropped 17% last month, according to a new study, as lockdowns imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses and severely limited travel around the world.Global carbon dioxide emissions dropped 17% last month, according to a new study, as lockdowns imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses and severely limited travel around the world.
Fiona Harvey reports:Fiona Harvey reports:
But even though environmental advocates have been pushing to reduce emissions for years, experts said the drop was unlikely to last long after the coronavirus crisis concludes.But even though environmental advocates have been pushing to reduce emissions for years, experts said the drop was unlikely to last long after the coronavirus crisis concludes.
Carbon emissions similarly decreased by 1.5% for a year during the financial crisis, but emissions then shot back up as if the drop had never occurred.Carbon emissions similarly decreased by 1.5% for a year during the financial crisis, but emissions then shot back up as if the drop had never occurred.
Trump said his team was “going after Virginia” during a speech at the White House, which was ostensibly focused on providing financial relief to farmers and ranchers.Trump said his team was “going after Virginia” during a speech at the White House, which was ostensibly focused on providing financial relief to farmers and ranchers.
“We’re going after Virginia, with your crazy governor, we’re going after Virginia,” Trump told the farmers who were present for his remarks.“We’re going after Virginia, with your crazy governor, we’re going after Virginia,” Trump told the farmers who were present for his remarks.
The president then made a reference to gun rights, saying, “They want to take your Second Amendment away. You’ll have nobody guarding your potatoes.”The president then made a reference to gun rights, saying, “They want to take your Second Amendment away. You’ll have nobody guarding your potatoes.”
Trump attracted scrutiny last month when he tweeted about Virginia’s stay-at-home order, saying, “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” Trump sent similar tweets about Michigan and Minnesota, both of which also have Democratic governors.Trump attracted scrutiny last month when he tweeted about Virginia’s stay-at-home order, saying, “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” Trump sent similar tweets about Michigan and Minnesota, both of which also have Democratic governors.
The president’s critics accused him of inciting violence against the Democratic leaders, considering some of the participants of anti-shutdown protests have been seen carrying firearms as they demonstrate.The president’s critics accused him of inciting violence against the Democratic leaders, considering some of the participants of anti-shutdown protests have been seen carrying firearms as they demonstrate.
Fed chair Jerome Powell has indicated he still supports Congress approving additional coronavirus relief funds, although his testimony before the Senate banking committee has been a bit more vague than some of his other recent comments.Fed chair Jerome Powell has indicated he still supports Congress approving additional coronavirus relief funds, although his testimony before the Senate banking committee has been a bit more vague than some of his other recent comments.
The central bank chairman told members of the committee, “This is the biggest shock we’ve seen in living memory. The question that looms in the air is is it enough.”The central bank chairman told members of the committee, “This is the biggest shock we’ve seen in living memory. The question that looms in the air is is it enough.”
Powell also said, “My concern has been the risk and possibility of longer-run damage to the economy. ... If we find ourselves in that place, we may have to do more.”Powell also said, “My concern has been the risk and possibility of longer-run damage to the economy. ... If we find ourselves in that place, we may have to do more.”
The chairman was a bit more explicit on the subject of more relief funding last week, when he said, “Additional fiscal support could be costly, but worth it if it helps avoid long-term damage and leaves us with a stronger recovery.”The chairman was a bit more explicit on the subject of more relief funding last week, when he said, “Additional fiscal support could be costly, but worth it if it helps avoid long-term damage and leaves us with a stronger recovery.”
Republican congressional leadership does not appear to have changed their position on the next coronavirus relief bill, after a meeting this morning with the vice president and the treasury secretary.Republican congressional leadership does not appear to have changed their position on the next coronavirus relief bill, after a meeting this morning with the vice president and the treasury secretary.
“I don’t see the need right now,” House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said of another relief package.“I don’t see the need right now,” House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said of another relief package.
House Democrats passed their version of the relief bill last week, but Trump has declared that legislation to be “dead on arrival,” and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has indicated he will slow-walk the next package.House Democrats passed their version of the relief bill last week, but Trump has declared that legislation to be “dead on arrival,” and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has indicated he will slow-walk the next package.
The closure at the US-Canadian border has been extended for another 30 days, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau confirmed this morning.The closure at the US-Canadian border has been extended for another 30 days, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau confirmed this morning.
The announcement means that America’s northern border will be closed to non-essential travel until at least June 21.The announcement means that America’s northern border will be closed to non-essential travel until at least June 21.
Trump administration officials have indicated they would move to extend the closure at the US-Mexican border as well.Trump administration officials have indicated they would move to extend the closure at the US-Mexican border as well.
Michigan govenor Gretchen Whitmer said she has had an “opening conversation” with Joe Biden’s team about potentially joining the Democratic ticket as his running mate.Michigan govenor Gretchen Whitmer said she has had an “opening conversation” with Joe Biden’s team about potentially joining the Democratic ticket as his running mate.
“I’ve had a conversation with some folks,” Whitmer told the “Today” show this morning. “It was just an opening conversation, and it’s not something that I would call a professional formalized vetting.”“I’ve had a conversation with some folks,” Whitmer told the “Today” show this morning. “It was just an opening conversation, and it’s not something that I would call a professional formalized vetting.”
But Whitmer emphasized she was currently focused on her state’s response to coronavirus. Nearly 5,000 people have already died of the virus in Michigan.But Whitmer emphasized she was currently focused on her state’s response to coronavirus. Nearly 5,000 people have already died of the virus in Michigan.
“I am making a little bit of time to stay connected to the campaign, but the most important thing that I have to do right now is be the governor of my home state,” Whitmer said. “That’s all that matters to me in this moment.”“I am making a little bit of time to stay connected to the campaign, but the most important thing that I have to do right now is be the governor of my home state,” Whitmer said. “That’s all that matters to me in this moment.”
Whitmer has been included on virtually every news outlet’s list of Biden’s potential running mates, and the governor appeared on the presumptive nominee’s podcast last month.Whitmer has been included on virtually every news outlet’s list of Biden’s potential running mates, and the governor appeared on the presumptive nominee’s podcast last month.
Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and Fed chairman Jerome Powell are currently virtually testifying before the Senate banking committee about the economic provisions of the coronavirus relief packages.Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and Fed chairman Jerome Powell are currently virtually testifying before the Senate banking committee about the economic provisions of the coronavirus relief packages.
Senator Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the committee, pressed Mnuchin about the risks facing essential workers as the president pushes to reopen the economy.Senator Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the committee, pressed Mnuchin about the risks facing essential workers as the president pushes to reopen the economy.
Mnuchin initially began his comments by thanking essential workers, but Brown replied that thanks were not sufficient to address the risks those Americans are taking on.Mnuchin initially began his comments by thanking essential workers, but Brown replied that thanks were not sufficient to address the risks those Americans are taking on.
“How many workers should give their lives to increase the GDP or the Dow Jones by 1,000 points?” Brown asked Mnuchin.“How many workers should give their lives to increase the GDP or the Dow Jones by 1,000 points?” Brown asked Mnuchin.
The treasury secretary replied, “No workers should give their lives to do that, Mr Senator, and I think your characterization is unfair.”The treasury secretary replied, “No workers should give their lives to do that, Mr Senator, and I think your characterization is unfair.”
The Senate intelligence committee has voted along party lines to approve the nomination of congressman John Ratcliffe as the next director of national intelligence, according to reports.The Senate intelligence committee has voted along party lines to approve the nomination of congressman John Ratcliffe as the next director of national intelligence, according to reports.
As a reminder, Ratcliffe was previously considered for the DNI job last year, but he withdrew from consideration amid concerns about his qualifciations and potential partisan approach to the intelligence role.As a reminder, Ratcliffe was previously considered for the DNI job last year, but he withdrew from consideration amid concerns about his qualifciations and potential partisan approach to the intelligence role.
But Ratcliffe now seems likely to receive approval from Senate Republicans, who expressed some skepticism about his potential nomination last year.But Ratcliffe now seems likely to receive approval from Senate Republicans, who expressed some skepticism about his potential nomination last year.
The president’s appointment of US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell as the acting director of national intelligence may have eased Ratcliffe’s confirmation, considering Grenell also has few intelligence qualifications and is a staunch Trump ally.The president’s appointment of US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell as the acting director of national intelligence may have eased Ratcliffe’s confirmation, considering Grenell also has few intelligence qualifications and is a staunch Trump ally.
Trump is reportedly expected to attend the Senate Republican lunch this afternoon, which did not appear on his initial public schedule for the day.
Vice President Mike Pence was on Capitol Hill this morning meeting with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin about the next coronavirus relief package.
Leaving the meeting to virtually testify before the Senate banking committee, Mnuchin said he and Pence received “a good update” and found the meeting “very helpful.”
Dr Deborah Birx ignored a question about whether she had concerns regarding Trump’s apparent use of hydroxychloroquine.
A reporter greeted Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, as she arrived at the White House this morning.
When the reporter asked Birx about Trump’s disclosure yesterday, Birx said, “Isn’t it great that it’s not going to rain for the next three days?” Okay then.
Again, the Food and Drug Administration has warned against the use of hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment outside of a hospital setting.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany confirmed this morning that Trump is taking hydroxychloroquine, even though the effectiveness of the anti-malaria drug as a potential coronavirus treatment is very unclear.
McEnany was pressed on why the president’s physician was so vague in his memo about the president’s disclosure.
In the memo, Dr Sean Conley said, “After numerous discussions he and I had regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks.”
McEnany claimed the memo was not meant to confirm the president is using the drug and was instead intended to show Conley “agreed with the analysis that the benefit outwighed the risk.”
This is Joan Greve, taking over for Martin Pengelly.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is meeting with Vice President Mike Pence, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy this morning, according to reporters on Capitol Hill.
The four Republican leaders are expected to talk about the next coronavirus relief package, which is currently stalled after House Democrats passed their version of the bill last week.
Trump has declared the House bill “dead on arrival,” and McConnell has seemed comfortable with slow-walking the next relief package.
But with more than 36 million Americans having filed claims for unemployment benefits in the past eight weeks, McConnell (and Trump) may be feeling pressure to act sooner rather than later.
Department of Unusual But Telling Reports: NBC News says the traditional portrait unveiling ceremony, in which presidents welcome their predecessor back to the White House for the unveiling of a painting, ain’t happening this year, in short, as presidential historian Michael Beschloss told NBC, because:
How Trump feels about Obama and how Obama feels about Trump is pretty much known. Neither is keen, to put it lightly, and Trump is currently trying to gin up a scandal, “Obamagate”, which he says is the worst in US political history, although he doesn’t seem sure quite why.
According to NBC, in 2012 Obama told George W Bush: “We may have our differences politically, but the presidency transcends those differences.” Not at the moment, it doesn’t.
Here’s David Smith on how Trump sees Obama:
Fifteen Republican state attorneys general have filed a legal brief telling a federal judge they support the Trump administration’s attempt to drop the case against the former national security adviser.
According to CNN, which said it had obtained a copy of the legal brief, “the Republican attorneys general wrote they believed that Judge Emmet Sullivan’s questioning of the justice department was the court ‘inserting itself’ into ‘prosecutorial discretion’ and politics.
“They urged Sullivan to dismiss the case, ending Flynn’s legal jeopardy. They also asked him to dismiss Flynn’s charge ‘without irrelevant or personal comment’.”
Flynn, a retired general, was fired by Trump for lying to the vice-president about conversations with the Russian ambassador. He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
Obama administration requests to “unmask” him, as an American speaking to surveilled foreign nationals during the investigation of Russian election interference, a routine intelligence practice, are at the heart of Donald Trump’s attempts to create a scandal, so-called “Obamagate”, to ensnare his predecessor and his challenger at the polls this year, former vice-president Joe Biden.
Judge Sullivan has put a hold on attorney general William Barr’s attempt to drop the case against Flynn, and appointed a retired judge, John Gleeson, to argue against the motion to dismiss.
The 15 Republican attorneys general are from the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
In an open letter last week, almost 2,000 former justice department figures condemned the move to drop the case against Flynn.
“Governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics,” they said. “They are autocracies.”
Barr has his own views on that. On Monday, while Senate judiciary chair Lindsey Graham said he wanted to subpoena records from senior Obama administration figures, the attorney general said he expected no criminal investigations would be opened into Barack Obama or Biden.
But Barr also claimed he would never use the “criminal justice system for partisan political ends”. Which as I noted earlier, is the kind of thing which causes comment when you have a record like Barr’s.
In Congress, the Senate banking, housing and urban affairs committee will today hear from treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, about federal stimulus efforts for the cratering US economy.
Short version: Powell wants more spending, Mnuchin doesn’t, and neither do Republicans who control the Senate. The House passed a $3tn bill on Friday but Speaker Nancy Pelosi knows it isn’t going anywhere.
The hearing’s at 10am – Mnuchin, with Vice-President Mike Pence, will also meet Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy on Capitol Hill.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, doesn’t have a briefing on his schedule today. But he will deliver “remarks on supporting our Nation’s Farmers, Ranchers, and Food Supply Chain” at 11am and hold a cabinet meeting at 3pm. Precedent suggests that will give the president ample time to comment to the press should he so desire.
Fox News hosts reacted in differing ways to Trump’s declaration that he is taking hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, to guard against the coronavirus despite the FDA saying that is a bad idea.
Fox News, you’ll remember, enthusiastically joined the president in touting the drug in the early stages of the pandemic, until trial results came back and did not provide the results for which its proponents had been hoping. Safe to say, Trump’s Monday bombshell set off a few explosions.
Anchor Neil Cavuto got out of the gate with a horrified reaction: “This is stunning … A number of studies, those certainly vulnerable in the population have one thing to lose, their lives.”
“I only make this not to make a political point here,” Cavuto added, “but a life-and-death point. Be very, very careful.”
A medical expert was present to say Cavuto’s assessment was correct and the Fox News website published a cautionary story about the drug.
But, unsurprisingly, the opinion hosts who take over in the evenings – Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity – didn’t agree.
Nor did the president, who, entirely presidentially, retweeted a Twitter user whose biography says his “opinions are mine and my stash of lesbian porn proves I’m not homophobic” and who called Cavuto “an asshole”.
The president also opined: “Fox News is no longer the same. We miss the great Roger Ailes. You have more anti-Trump people, by far, than ever before. Looking for a new outlet!”
That would be the Roger Ailes who was Fox News chairman and CEO but was credibly accused of sexual harassment by a number of women, resigned in disgrace and died in 2017.
To House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who told CNN of Trump’s claim to be taking hydroxychloroquine…
Is the president obese, morbidly or otherwise? Not to President Taft Is Stuck In The Bath levels, obviously (key fact, key fact fans: I’m sort of related to Taft by marriage – sort of). But according to his 2019 physical, he is.
This was how Politico put it last year, after the president’s last full examination: “President Donald Trump gained 4lbs over the last year, according to a new assessment from his doctor, a weight increase that makes him technically obese. But Trump’s doctor, Sean Conley, nonetheless determined that the president ‘remains in very good health overall’ in a memorandum released by the White House.”
According to that assessment, Trump, 73, is 6ft 3in and 243lbs, which is technically obese and sometimes referred to as morbidly obese. Which doesn’t make me, 42, at 6ft 4in and… more than that… feel particularly pleased with myself.
About Dr Conley: he released a memo yesterday about Trump’s claim to be taking a drug which the FDA says you shouldn’t take as a guard against the coronavirus:
Compare that missive and a White House spokeswoman’s confirmation that Trump is taking the drug to what various prominent doctors were telling the US public last night:
“There is no evidence that hydroxychloroquine is effective for the treatment or the prevention of Covid-19. The results to date are not promising.” – Dr Patrice Harris, president of the American Medical Association
People should not infer from Trump’s example “that it’s an approved approach or proven,” because it’s not – Dr David Aronoff, infectious diseases chief at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville
…and welcome to another day of coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in the US and the politics around it, the day after Donald Trump claimed to be taking hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug which the FDA warns should not be taken as a response to the coronavirus threat … as a response to the coronavirus threat, then threatened to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization.
Trump tweeted a letter to the WHO late on Monday night, saying it had 30 days to make “substantive” changes or his funding freeze would become permanent and he would “reconsider our membership”. Early on Tuesday, a WHO spokeswoman had no immediate comment, Reuters said. The Trump administration says the WHO is too close to China, which it blames for the pandemic, and has also started a fight at the world body over the status of Taiwan.
Yes, all that happened. And as it did, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, the number of positive cases of Covid-19 in the US passed 1.5m and the number of deaths passed 90,000.
As Tom McCarthy reported, hydroxychloroquine “is not approved as a treatment for Covid-19 and Trump has not been diagnosed with the disease, to public knowledge.
Where does one go from there? To widespread shocked reaction, for one thing, and to our explainer of what you need to know about the drug for another, and to Fox News hosts, if not all of them, heralding the president’s supposed actions, for one more.
In his testimony before Congress, by the by, Bright warned of “the darkest winter in modern history” lying ahead if the US economy is reopened too soon, testing is not available as widely as possible and of course a vaccine is swiftly found. The virus, he and other public health experts fear, may come back.
But Trump, who dropped his hydroxychloroquine bombshell around a teleconference with governors attempting to manage the pandemic, presses on with his determined attempt to “REOPEN OUR COUNTRY” and thereby “TRANSITION TO GREATNESS”.
All this and more to come of course, including developments in Trump’s other current project, the “Obamagate” pseudoscandal which some cynical souls suggest might just be an attempt to distract from the administration’s handling of the pandemic and the cratering economy.
On Monday night, Senate judiciary chair Lindsey Graham said he wanted to subpoena papers from key Obama administration figures: Clapper, Comey, Brennan and so forth.
Earlier, attorney general William Barr said no criminal investigations would be opened into Barack Obama or Joe Biden’s actions in office towards Michael Flynn, the Trump aide who ended up pleading guilty to lying to the FBI before Barr decided to try to drop the case against him and Trump came up with its “scandal” over routine intelligence practices.
Barr also said he wouldn’t use the “criminal justice system for partisan political ends”. Which is, well, the kind of thing which causes comment when you have a record like William Barr’s.
Oh, and there’s a real scandal brewing at the Department of State, where Trump fired the official watchdog, who was investigating secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who Trump then seemed to throw somewhere near, if not yet right under, the bus.
More to come.