Evening Summary
That’s all from me, Kari Paul, for today. Here are the top news stories to be aware of as you go into the evening.
- The US death toll has surpassed 75,000 people, making it more than twice the second highest death toll in the UK of 30,000 deaths.
- On Thursday, senator and former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren joined New York City officials in calling for better protections of frontline workers, including sick pay and protection for whistleblowers.
- In a vote of 49 to 45 on Thursday, the Senate failed to override a veto from Donald Trump of a war powers resolution limiting his authority to use military force in Iran which was proposed in response to Trump’s killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
- After being tapped today by Republican representative Kevin McCarthy to chair a new China task force, top GOP lawmaker Mike McCaul disclosed hundreds of thousands of dollars of family holdings in a major Chinese tech company that has been linked to censorship and surveillance.
- A 1996 court document obtained by The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, California indicates former Senate staffer Tara Reade told her ex-husband she was sexually harassed while working for Joe Biden in 1993. It is the first physical corroboration of Reade’s accusations.
- Outbreaks of coronavirus around the United States have been linked to people flying from New York City, a report from the New York Times today showed.
Outbreaks of coronavirus around the United States have been linked to people flying from New York City, a report from the New York Times today showed.
“We now have enough data to feel pretty confident that New York was the primary gateway for the rest of the country,” said Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health.
Some 72% of the cases in Minnesota, 78% of cases in Wisconsin, and 100% of cases in Iowa are genetically similar to those of New York City, implying that it was spread from that hotspot.
New York’s failure to act quickly meant the virus was spread far and wide before it could be contained, the report showed:
By mid-March, when President Trump restricted travel from Europe, the restrictions were essentially pointless, the data suggest, as the disease was already spreading widely within the country.
A 1996 court document obtained by The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, California indicates former Senate staffer Tara Reade told her ex-husband she was sexually harassed while working for Joe Biden in 1993.
She did not specifically accuse Biden of the harassment, according to the document, nor did she make any mention of sexual assault.
The document comes from Reade’s then-husband Theodore Dronen, who at the time was contesting a restraining order Reade had filed against him days after he filed for divorce.
Drone wrote that Reade told him of “a problem she was having at work regarding sexual harassment, in U.S. Senator Joe Biden’s office.”
The filing marks the only known written record corroborating Reade’s account of sexual harassment by Biden.
According to the document, Reade told Dronen she had “eventually struck a deal with the chief of staff of the Senator’s office and left her position.”
“It was obvious that this event had a very traumatic effect on (Reade), and that she is still sensitive and effected (sic) by it today,” Dronen wrote.
Read the full report here.
Wearing a mask in public to stop the spread of coronavirus, a precaution that is the official recommendation of the Centers of Disease control and prevention, has suddenly become a political statement in our strange times.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they’re wearing a mask when leaving home, 76% to 59%, according to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
From the Associated Press:
While not yet as loaded as a “Make America Great Again” hat, the mask is increasingly a visual shorthand for the debate pitting those willing to follow health officials’ guidance and cover their faces against those who feel it violates their freedom or buys into a threat they think is overblown.
Inconsistent messaging from various government officials and health departments have contributed to the conflict over whether to wear a mask. Health officials initially said wearing masks was unnecessary, but weeks later the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began recommending wearing cloth masks in crowded public situations.
For weeks Donald Trump has refused to wear a mask, even while touring a mask factory that requires the use of masks. “I don’t think that I’m going to be doing it,” he said of the mask recommendation, when it was first announced.
After being tapped today by Republican representative Kevin McCarthy to chair a new China task force, top GOP lawmaker Mike McCaul disclosed hundreds of thousands of dollars of family holdings in a major Chinese tech company that has been linked to censorship and surveillance.
The lawmaker disclosed ties to Tencent Holdings under Congressional ethics rules. The company owns Chinese social media platforms WeChat and QQ and signed a deal in Marchto collaborate with Huawei, a firm that has essentially been blacklisted by the Trump administration over security concerns.
“Companies like Tencent and Huawei are espionage operations for the Chinese Communist party, masquerading as telecom companies for the 21st century,” Republican Senator Ted Cruz said previously.
McCaul’s wife has purchased shares in the company as recent as late February, the disclosure revealed. An attorney for McCaul said that the lawmaker is not the owner of the shares.
“Congressman McCaul did not purchase any shares in China’s Tencent Holdings or any other Chinese company,” the attorney said. “Congressman McCaul’s wife has assets she solely owns and a third party manager made the purchase without her direction.”
The ties to Tencent have called into question McCaul’s ability to impartially lead a panel focused on scrutinizing China.
In a statement, McCaul described his mission in being on the task force as developing “new and enduring policy solutions that, among others, enhance our economic strength and create jobs, protect our national security, rethink our supply chains and grow our competitive edge in technology.”
Officials say at least 138 employees at a meat packing plant in Hanford, California have tested positive for coronavirus.
The company, which employs about 900 workers at two plants in Hanford and Vernon, is continuing to operate, according to the LA Times.
The meat industry is facing scrutiny as more Covid-19 outbreaks emerge from factories where employees work long hours in close contact with one another, putting them at higher risk for infection.
Relatives of workers are calling on the plant to close due to the high number of cases, the LA Times reported.
In a vote of 49 to 45 on Thursday, the Senate failed to override a veto from Donald Trump of a war powers resolution limiting his authority to use military force in Iran.
The bill was introduced by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine in February, and later passed in the House in March and came as a response to Trump killing Iranian general Qassem Soleimani without Congressional approval, leading to escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
Trump vetoed the bill Wednesday night, calling it a “very insulting resolution” introduced by Democrats “as part of a strategy to win an election on November 3 by dividing the Republican Party.”
Updated
On Thursday, senator and former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren joined New York City officials in calling for better protections of frontline workers.
“If these essential workers are willing to get out there and put their own health at risk — sometimes putting their families’ health at risk — then the very least the rest of us can do is make sure that they have some genuine protection,” Warren said during a virtual town hall. “That means both medical protection and it means economic protection.”
Warren joined the lawmakers to push for frontline workers to receive paid sick leave, increased pay and whistleblower protections.
Some @Amazon warehouses closed for deep cleaning after employees tested positive for COVID-19, but that’s not good enough. According to United @ForRespect’s tracker, more than 100 warehouses have reportedly had positive cases. At least 3 workers have died. https://t.co/cvu28kd0uG pic.twitter.com/JPxXHcr4DC
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) May 7, 2020
She specifically cited Amazon’s firing of several whistleblowers who protested frontline conditions in recent weeks, including Chris Smalls, who staged a walk out from a New York City area warehouse to protest lack of protections. A worker from that warehouse has since died from Covid-19.
“One of the things that this Covid-19 crisis has shown us is truly who are the essential workers in our country and, guess what, it turns out it’s not the investment bankers,” Warren said. “It turns out it’s the doctors and nurses — bless them all — but it’s also the people who are mopping the floors in the hospitals, the people who are making deliveries, the people who are stocking the grocery store shelves.”
In some lighter news, US representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has jumped on the bandwagon and started to play Animal Crossing, the Nintendo game that has taken our quarantined nation by storm.
Hi there! Very new to this.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 7, 2020
I would like to visit random people’s islands and leave a doodle or note on their bulletin board.
Can I do that? If so, how?
Should I open my DMs for the first time since the Zuckerberg hearing for the Dodo codes?? https://t.co/pQlm0ES1cM
After it was reported she had joined the app, Ocasio-Cortez opened up her direct messages on Twitter to allow users to give her tips on the game and invite her to their virtual “islands”. She said the process has granted her “faith in humanity” as users took the opportunity to ask her to surprise spouses and loved ones with a virtual visit.
Nurses are protesting the federal government’s failure to protect frontline healthcare workers outside the White House, with lines of 88 pairs of white nurse’s shoes to represent workers who have died on the job.
Right now, @NationalNurses RNs are leaving empty pairs of shoes in front of the White House to represent each nurse who has died from #COVID19 in an incredibly moving and powerful protest this morning during #NursesWeek. pic.twitter.com/HKuXK8YYzQ
— Bonnie Castillo (@NNUBonnie) May 7, 2020
The protest, organized by National Nurses United, comes as nurse appreciation week has fallen in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic in America.
How many of these nurses died … bc our government failed to act, to lead, to protect them,” protesters said, wearing masks and standing six feet apart. “We stand here today, our hearts full of pain, but also with determination and demanding action. It is past time for this president and Congress to act.”
Right now at the White House:
— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) May 7, 2020
Nurses from National Nurses United protest for PPE, with 88 pairs of shoes to represent each nurse who has died from coronavirus.
pic.twitter.com/CjaVs37rRN
US death toll passes 75,000
The US death toll from coronavirus has now surpassed 75,000 people, according to the counter from Johns Hopkins University, marking a grim milestone in the global pandemic.
Deaths in the US are the highest globally, followed by the UK at 30,000 deaths. The proceeding countries with the highest numbers of deaths are Italy with 29,958 and Spain with 26,000.
The death toll is expected to continue to rise as the US begins to reopen, with up to 3,000 deaths a day forecasted.
Updated
Kari Paul here, blogging from the West Coast for the next few hours. Stay tuned for more news.
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Kari Paul, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Tara Reade called on Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race. In Reade’s first on-camera interview since Biden denied her sexual assault allegation last week, the former Senate staffer said of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, “You should not be running on character for the president of the United States.”
-
The justice department filed a motion to drop its criminal case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The president and his allies celebrated the move, while Democrats expressed outrage, noting that Flynn himself pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2017.
- One of the president’s personal valets has tested positive for coronavirus. The White House said Trump and Mike Pence have tested negative since they learned of the valet’s positive result.
- Another 3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. About 33 million Americans have submitted unemployment claims in the past seven weeks, likely foreshadowing some grim numbers for tomorrow’s jobs report.
- The White House is reportedly blocking the release of CDC guidance on reopening businesses. According to reports, the guidance urges businesses to slowly reopen while continuing to observe social distancing, while the president has pushed for a rapid reopening despite fears of a surge in coronavirus cases.
Kari will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports on the latest from California:
Even as deaths attributed to coronavirus climb higher, topping 90 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to California’s governor Gavin Newsom, the state is bracing for a devastating impact to the state budget that will threaten schools and public services.
Just 90 days ago, California projected a budget surplus of $6 billion. It enjoyed 120 consecutive months of job growth and the lowest unemployment rate it saw in many years. It was making measurable progress in paying down pension obligations.
Three months later, said Newsom, the state is facing a shortfall of tens of billions.
Almost $12 billion in unemployment has been released just since March 15. Those job losses will soon trickle down to local governments, making messes out of next year’s budgets and forcing tough decisions.
Every budget around the globe will in some way be impacted by the pandemic, but the losses have outsized impact in a state whose economy is the fifth largest in the world.
“This moment is directly related to COVID-19, not mismanagement. But because of this pandemic, these revenue shortfalls are bigger than even the state of California,” Newsom said. “We’ll get through this. This will be challenging ... But my optimism is conditioned on this: more federal support,” he added.
Moving forward will require a historic level of partnership between states and federal governments, he said. While the CARES Act has been profoundly beneficial, the enormity of the moment demands even more support.
“This is bigger than all of us and we really need the fed government to do more and help us through this moment. We punch above our weight in this state. We’ll come back stronger than ever. Because we know a lot more than we did before this crisis,” Newsom said.
The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports on the latest from California:
Coronavirus hasn’t impacted each California region uniformly, and counties will be able to apply for reopening variances, or some customization of the plans, provided certain conditions are met, governor Gavin Newsom said today.
“These counties that want to move deeper into the second phase [of reopening] have to do so with concurrence with their hospital systems, board of supervisors. We’re interested in argument and will try to provide some flexibility. But it’s a health-first frame,” Newsom said.
Among the conditions: health officials must attest that they’ve had no more than one case per 10,000 people in the last 14 days, no deaths in the past two weeks, and that they could handle a surge in hospitalizations from coronavirus.
They must also be able to conduct 1.5 tests for every 1,000 residents, have 15 contact tracers, or “disease detectives” per 1,000 residents, can support homeless residents, and skilled nursing facilities must have a two week supply of personal protective equipment on hand.
“If they can’t meet the guidelines, we aren’t able to accommodate that and will enforce in a thoughtful and judicious way. But we’re confident the vast majority of people will work with us,” Newsom said.
Newsom’s remarks come just after state regulators descended on two rural, California counties to shut down pubs, restaurants and salons that had opened, in defiance of Newsom’s statewide order. Additional details for reopening will be released next week, on Tuesday.
The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports on the latest from California:
The path toward reopening California is coming into focus, as governor Gavin Newsom today announced guidelines that businesses will have to follow as they move toward reopening.
NEW: Today CA released guidance for some lower risk industries to begin re-opening.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) May 7, 2020
Starting TOMORROW places like:
-clothing stores
-bookstores
-florists
-sporting goods
Along with manufacturing and logistics associated can start to re-open.
LEARN MORE: https://t.co/xtXFwVeWc2 pic.twitter.com/raiY8W21r9
Starting tomorrow, retailers that sell books, clothing, toys and flowers will be able to reopen for curbside pickup, so long as they adhere to physical distancing guidelines, have hands-free ways to pay for goods, and have adequate personal protective equipment.
Manufacturers will also have to make changes, possibly closing breakrooms and moving them to open-air rooms.
Moving further into the second phase of reopening, shopping malls, outdoor museums and dine-in restaurants will be able to open their doors, so long as the counties looking to reopen do so in partnership with hospital systems and public health officials.
Newsom expressed particular reservation at the notion of reopening nail salons, stating that they played a part in spreading the earliest recorded cases of coronavirus cases.
Tara Reade addressed questions about her views on Russia during an interview with former Fox New host Megyn Kelly.
Reade, who has accused Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her when she was a young Senate staffer, expressed frustration about people “talking about things that have nothing to do with 1993.”
Reade specifically cited allegations that she was a Russian agent, which were tied to a Medium post she wrote in 2018 praising Vladimir Putin. “That incites people,” Reade said of the allegations. “I got a death threat from that because they thought I was being a traitor to America. These are serious things.”
Vox explains more on those accusations:
[C]ritics pointed to that now-deleted 2018 Medium post in which Reade called Putin ‘a compassionate, caring, visionary leader’ and said, ‘To President Putin, I say keep your eyes to the beautiful future and maybe, just maybe America will come to see Russia as I do, with eyes of love.’
In the same post, she wrote that she left government work in her 20s in part because ‘I love Russia with all my heart’ and ‘I could not stand to watch the deception and xenophobia that came from my own American government.’
Reade told Vox that when she wrote the praise of Putin, she had ‘watched a bunch of Noam Chomsky’ and was working on a novel set in Russia. She says she no longer feels the same way about Putin since learning more about domestic violence in Russia.
But ‘this conversation isn’t about Russia,’ she told Vox. ‘Joe Biden wasn’t asking me about my feelings about Russia when he had his hands where they weren’t supposed to be.’
In her interview with Tara Reade, Megyn Kelly noted that Joe Biden has said an accuser should be treated with “the presumption that at least the essence of what she is talking about is real.”
Kelly asked Reade if she thought Biden had treated her with that presumption. She said no and went on to criticize his surrogates for siding with the former vice president in the matter.
“It’s been stunning actually how some of his surrogates with the blue checks ... have been saying really horrible things about me and to me on social media,” Reade said.
The former Senate staffer added that she has been hacked and received a death threat since accusing Biden of sexual assault.
“Every person that maybe has a gripe against me -- an ex-boyfriend or an ex-landlord or whatever it is -- has been able to have a platform rather than me,” Reade said.
Reade calls on Biden to withdraw from presidential race
Tara Reade, who has accused Joe Biden of sexual assault, called on the presumtive Democratic nominee to drop out of the presidential race.
Reade sat with former Fox News host Megyn Kelly for her first on-camera interview since Biden denied her allegation last week.
MK EXCLUSIVE: #TaraReade responds to #JoeBiden; calls for him to drop out pic.twitter.com/jxHAUYaWVU
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) May 7, 2020
Kelly released the first clip from the interview, in which she asked Reade if she thought Biden should drop out. “I wish he would,” Reade said. “He won’t, but I wish he would.”
Asked what she would like to say to Biden, Reade replied, “I want to say, you and I were there, Joe Biden. Please step forward and be held accountable. You should not be running on character for the president of the United States.”
On another topic, Trump told reporters that he had “very little contact” with his valet who tested positive for coronavirus.
“I’ve had very little contact, personal contact, with this gentleman. Know who he is, good person, but I’ve had very little contact, Mike has had very little contact with him,” Trump said, referencing the vice president.
However, reports have indicated that the valet delivered the president’s meals, which would indicate they were in frequent contact with each other.
Trump noted that he and Mike Pence have both tested negative since they learned of the valet’s test result.
But the president interestingly questioned the value of coronavirus tests in light of the news. “It just shows you the fallacy – what I’ve been saying, testing is not a perfect art. No matter what you do, testing is not a perfect art,” Trump said.
Public health experts have emphasized that widespread testing and tracing are crucial to safely reopening the economy.
Trump claimed that Michael Flynn had been “targeted” by the Obama administration, even though the former national security adviser pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
"What they did, what the Obama administration did, is unprecedented ... and I hope a lot of people will pay a big price because they are dishonest, crooked people. They are scum." -- Trump is now coming perilously close to calling Obama "scum" and calling for his prosecution pic.twitter.com/tAE889kimp
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 7, 2020
“He was targeted by the Obama administration, and he was targeted in order to try to take down a president,” Trump said moments ago in the Oval Office.
The president expressed a desire for retribution against government officials who handled Flynn’s case. “I hope a lot of people are going to pay a big price because they’re dishonest, crooked people,” Trump said. “They’re scum. They’re human scum.”
As a reminder, the president himself acknowledged in 2017 that Flynn had lied to the vice president and the FBI about his interactions with the Russian ambassador to the US.
It’s important to note that it’s unclear how the federal judge overseeing Michael Flynn’s case will react to the justice department’s motion to drop the case.
My big question is whether Judge Sullivan will agree to DOJ's motion. This is the same judge who in 2018 hinted he may sentence Flynn with jail time, more than the prosecution was calling for at the time. Sentencing was delayed to give Flynn time to consider further cooperation.
— Julia E. Ainsley (@JuliaEAinsley) May 7, 2020
In 2018, Judge Emmet Sullivan delayed Flynn’s sentencing to give the former official more time to cooperate with federal investigations, rather than agreeing to the relatively lenient sentence recommended by the prosecution.
“If you want to postpone this, and come back at some later point ... that’s fine with me,” Sullivan said at the time.
“I have to caution you that the sentence imposed today may not be the same sentence you would get after cooperation ends,” Sullivan said. “I cannot assure you that if you proceed today, you will not receive a sentence of incarceration.”
The chairman of the House judiciary committee, Jerry Nadler, said he intended to call the attorney general to testify about the decision to drop Michael Flynn’s case.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 emergency, I worked with DOJ to postpone our scheduled hearing with AG Barr as attentions and resources appropriately went to responding to the pandemic. But rest assured, we are going to reschedule that hearing, ASAP, and demand answers! 2/2 https://t.co/OywQR41khM
— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) May 7, 2020
Attorney general William Barr was scheduled to appear before the committee on March 31, but that hearing was indefinitely delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee lambasted the decision to drop Michael Flynn’s case, the panel’s top Republican celebrated the news.
Flynn case dropped! Justice for the General.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) May 7, 2020
Now it’s time to hold someone accountable. https://t.co/SP69HYbsY9
Congressman Jim Jordan, who has been one of the president’s most ardent defenders during the Russia investigation and the impeachment inquiry, “Justice for the General.”
The Ohio Republican added, “Now it’s time to hold someone accountable.” But given that Democrats control the House, Republicans are unlikely to be able to pursue any kind of investigation of the FBI over their handling of the case.
Congressman Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House judiciary committee, said the justice department’s decision to drop Michael Flynn’s criminal case was “outrageous.”
This is outrageous!
— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) May 7, 2020
Flynn PLEADED GUILTY to lying to investigators. The evidence against him is overwhelming. Now, a politicized DOJ is dropping the case.
The decision to overrule the special counsel is without precedent and warrants an immediate explanation.
1/2 https://t.co/MxRyWkCMPw
“Flynn PLEADED GUILTY to lying to investigators. The evidence against him is overwhelming. Now, a politicized DOJ is dropping the case,” Nadler said in a tweet.
The New York Democrat added that the decision “warrants an immediate explanation,” hinting at a possible congressional investigation.
Updated
Despite Trump’s claim today that Michael Flynn is an “innocent man,” the president himself said in 2017 that his former national security adviser had lied to the vice president and the FBI, as seen in this tweet from the time.
I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2017
Flynn initially pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, but he later tried tried to revoke the guilty plea, part of a larger strategy by his new legal team to take a more confrontational stance toward the government.
The White House was reportedly informed of the justice department’s decision to drop the criminal case against Michael Flynn earlier this morning.
Moments ago in the Oval Office, Trump celebrated the decision to abandon the case against his former national security adviser.
“He was an innocent man,” Trump said, according to the Guardian’s David Smith, who’s on White House pool duty today. “Now in my book he’s an even greater warrior.”
As a reminder, Flynn himself pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2017. But Trump said of the government officials who pursued the case, “They’re human scum.”
The AP has more on the justice department’s filing that it is dropping the criminal case against Michael Flynn:
In court documents being filed Thursday, the Justice Department said it is dropping the case ‘after a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information.’ The documents were obtained by The Associated Press.
The Justice Department said it had concluded that Flynn’s interview by the FBI was ‘untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn’ and that the interview on January 24, 2017 was ‘conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.’
The U.S. attorney reviewing the Flynn case, Jeff Jensen, recommended the move to Attorney General William Barr last week and formalized the recommendation in a document this week.
The justice department appears to be rebuking the FBI in its own filing, which is a rather remarkable development. It is sure to only intensify accusations from the president’s critics that his administration is politicizing the justice department.
Earlier this afternoon, it was announced that prosecutor Brandon Van Grack had moved to withdraw himself from Michael Flynn’s case.
JUST IN: Prosecutor Brandon VAN GRACK has moved to withdraw from the Flynn case. pic.twitter.com/qoO12enPxL
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 7, 2020
With the news that the justice department intends to drop the criminal case against Flynn, it seems likely that Van Grack, the top prosecutor in the case, disagreed with the department’s decision.
Van Grack worked as one of the top lawyers on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, and he stayed on the Flynn case even after Mueller’s work concluded.
Justice department dropping criminal case against Flynn
The justice department is dropping the criminal case against Michael Flynn, according to a court filing.
Trump has signaled interest in pardoning Flynn, his former national security adviser, in recent weeks, insisting Flynn was unjustly pursued by the FBI.
However, in 2017, Flynn himself pledged guilty to lying to the FBI about his interactions with the Russian ambassador to the US.
Here’s the court filing:
Updated
Donald Trump is receiving the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, in the Oval Office right about now and we’re awaiting any public comments from that meeting - and especially what the president might have to say about the reports that one of his personal valets has tested positive for coronavirus.
Those operating around Trump at the White House apparently don’t routinely wear face masks. One commenter on Twitter compared this to a certain laissez-faire, even macho, attitude in the seventies to not wearing seat belts.
The personal valet to Trump who tested positive for coronavirus serves Trump his meals, among other duties. https://t.co/BgASWrpk1G
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 7, 2020
Re-opening brings “dread” on both sides of Atlantic
As Europe and the US loosen their lockdowns against the coronavirus, health experts are expressing growing dread over what they say is an all-but-certain second wave of deaths and infections that could force governments to clamp back down.
“Were risking a backslide that will be intolerable, said Ian Lipkin of Columbia University’s Center for Infection and Immunity, The Associated Press writes.
Elsewhere, German authorities began drawing up plans in case of a resurgence of the virus. Experts in Italy urged intensified efforts to identify new victims and trace their contacts. And France, which hasn’t yet eased its lockdown, has already worked up a re-confinement plan in the event of a new wave.
“There will be a second wave, but the problem is to which extent. Is it a small wave or a big wave? It’s too early to say,” said Olivier Schwartz, head of the virus unit at France’s Pasteur Institute.
In the US, with about half of the states easing their shutdowns to get their economies restarted and cellphone data showing that people are becoming restless and increasingly leaving home, public health authorities are worried.
Many states have not put in place the robust testing that experts believe is necessary to detect and contain new outbreaks.
And many state governors have pressed ahead before their states met one of the key benchmarks in the Trump administrations guidelines for reopening - a 14-day downward trajectory in new illnesses and infections.
“If we relax these measures without having the proper public health safeguards in place, we can expect many more cases and, unfortunately, more deaths,” said Josh Michaud, associate director of global health policy with the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington.
Cases have continued to rise steadily in places such as Iowa and Missouri since the governors began reopening, while new infections have yo-yoed in Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.
Lipkin said he is most worried about two things: the reopening of bars, where people crowd together and lose their inhibitions, and large gatherings such as sporting events, concerts and plays. The US needs testing and contact tracing resources it doesn’t yet have, Lipkin said.
“It’s clear to me that we are in a critical moment of this fight. We risk complacency and accepting the preventable deaths of 2,000 Americans each day,” epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers, a professor at Johns Hopkins, told a House subcommittee in Washington.
Britain, with over 30,000 dead, the second-highest death toll in the world behind the US, plans to extend its lockdown but has begun recruiting 18,000 people to trace contacts of those infected.
Latest statistics: confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide have almost reached 3.8 million, with 265,000 deaths. The US has 1.2 million confirmed cases and a death toll so far of 73,000, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.
Updated
New York extends moratorium on evictions over non-payment of rent during crisis
New York governor Andrew Cuomo just extended to August 20 a moratorium on evictions, from residential or commercial properties, as a result of non-payment of rent related to the economic and health hardships caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
The state had a ban on such evictions in place until the end of June.
Cuomo said: “People literally are worried about being able to pay rent, related to this Covid situation...we are going to take additional steps.”
He’s banning late payment fees and also going to allow people to use the security deposit as a payment “and they can repay it over a prolonged period of time,” he said.
He said it was difficult to predict the next few months, but an extension of the moratorium was important.
“No-one can be evicted for non-payment of rent because of Covid until August 20th and we’ll see what happens between now and then. I hope it gives families a deep breath,” he said.
Amid sudden, mass unemployment across the US, rent worries are widespread and growing, prompting rent strikes in some places.
Updated
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- One of Trump’s personal valets has reportedly tested positive for coronavirus. A spokesperson for the president confirmed a White House employee, who is a member of the US military, tested positive for the virus, but the aide did not specificy the employee’s role.
- Another 3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. About 33 million Americans have submitted unemployment claims in the past seven weeks, likely foreshadowing some grim numbers for tomorrow’s jobs report.
- The White House is reportedly blocking the release of CDC guidance on reopening the country. According to reports, the guidance outlines a slow reopening of non-essential businesses, while Trump has expressed a desire to quickly reopen the economy despite health concerns.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to temporarily block access to Mueller grand jury material
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block a ruling requiring the justice department to give Congress certain grand jury material from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The Washington Post reports:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in March cleared the way for Congress to access secret evidence from Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in one of a set of separation-of-powers lawsuits between House Democrats and the Trump administration.
Solicitor General Noel Francisco told the Supreme Court on Thursday that if it does not put the order on hold, ‘the government will have to disclose those materials on May 11, 2020, which would irrevocably lift their secrecy and possibly frustrate the government’s ability to seek further review.’
Much has happened since Mueller testified to Congress -- including the impeachment and acquittal of Trump over the Ukraine controversy -- but Democrats have said they are still seeking additional information about the special counsel’s investigation.
Rich McHugh, a former supervising producer for NBC News, said he also participated in Megyn Kelly’s interview with Tara Reade.
Just wrapped an exclusive interview with Former Biden Staffer @ReadeAlexandra, who accuses FMR VP Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993. She sits down with @megynkelly for her first on-camera interview since Mr. Biden denied her accusations. Stay tuned... pic.twitter.com/ki8ZwrNCqg
— Rich McHugh (@RichMcHugh) May 7, 2020
The New York Times reported last week that Fox News was the only major news network who had offered to interview Reade on camera about her allegation of sexual assault against Joe Biden.
Once the Times published its piece, Reade said at least two networks -- CNN and CBS -- had reached out about a potential interview.
But the former Senate staffer has apparently rejected all those offers to sit down with Kelly, who is not currently affiliated with a network.
Biden accuser participates in on-camera interview with Megyn Kelly
Megyn Kelly announced she conducted an on-camera interview with Tara Reade, marking Reade’s first on-camera interview since Joe Biden denied her allegation of sexual assault.
MK EXCLUSIVE: Former Biden staffer #TaraReade, who accuses FMR VP #JoeBiden of sexually assaulting her in 1993, sits down w/me in her first on-camera interview since Mr. Biden denied her accusations. Her story & some tough Q’s in a riveting exchange. A ton of news coming ... pic.twitter.com/8bvTntUIm8
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) May 7, 2020
Reade has claimed Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993, when she was working as a staffer in his Senate office.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee denied the claim last week. “I’m saying unequivocally, it never, never happened,” Biden told MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
Kelly previously worked for Fox News and famously grilled Trump on his offensive comments about women during a 2015 Republican primary debate, prompting the then-candidate to later say Kelly had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”
Kelly left Fox for NBC News, but she was removed from her hosting role after making offensive comments about blackface. She left the network last year.
New York's Cuomo slams "absurd argument" of economic reopening vs public safety
Without mentioning Donald Trump or his administration, New York governor Andrew Cuomo moments ago dismissed as “an absurd argument” the notion of weighing an increased death toll from the coronavirus against reopening the US economy.
“People are talking about, we should reopen the economy it’s more important than public health...and that’s the underlying argument and discussion that you hear going on right now...to say we either have to have a strong economy or protect public health, no, that’s a false choice,” Cuomo said at his daily briefing earlier.
He added: “It’s not one or the other, it’s both. We have to reopen, get the economy running and we have to protect public health. This is not a situation where you can go to the American people and say ‘how many lives are you willing to lose to reopen the economy?’...you start to hear what, to me, are these absurd arguments ‘if we reopen people will die but people were going to die anyway’...that is not a justification in my mind.”
This week, the White House pivoted sharply away from emphasizing its own federal guidelines on societal restrictions to focus on reviving America’s devastated economy, fueling anxiety that the president and his top political team have made a political calculation to put his economy-driven re-election chances ahead of saving maximum US lives.
While touring a face mask production line in Arizona on Tuesday, Trump said: “I’m not saying anything is perfect, and yes, will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon.” This followed his own top public health expert, Anthony Fauci warned against premature reopening of the US while asking in an interview: “How many deaths and how much suffering are you willing to accept to get back to what you want to be some form of normality sooner rather than later?”
Cuomo said that with the current stay-at-home order in New York state set to expire on May 15, he is looking at the extent and pace of reopening plans for different regions of the large state.
He said that although the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths in New York is not coming down as fast as was hoped, they are declining steadily and it showed that measures such as social distancing, wearing masks and gloves and hand-cleansing were working.
“In New York the numbers are coming down dramatically, in the rest of the US it’s going up. When [what we are doing] is working, stay the course. We are going through hell, but it’s working so we are going to keep going,” he said.
More than 40 other states are planning to begin reopening in the coming days even though the coronavirus numbers in many are still going up.
Cuomo also praised former presidents Abraham Lincoln, John Adams, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D Roosevelt for what he characterized as their public emphasis on facts and data.
He quoted Lincoln as saying: “Let them know the truth and the country is safe”, a clear dig at the president’s frequently misleading spinning of facts in his public addresses on the coronavirus and his latest penchant for comparing himself to Lincoln - and hosting a town hall-style event last Sunday from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
Updated
House minority leader announces Republican task force to investigate China 'cover-up'
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy also announced the formation of a Republican task force to investigate China’s “cover-up” of coronavirus information.
“We have learned more about Covid and one thing has become very clear: China’s cover-up directly led to this crisis,” McCarthy told reporters today.
“The Communist Party of China hid the seriousness of this disease, led a propaganda campaign blaming the US, used their supplies to exert influence and continue to refuse international experts to investigate what happened.”
.@GOPLeader: "Today I'm announcing the Republican-led China Task Force, and I invite the Democrats to join with us." pic.twitter.com/0kY78qMqAv
— The Hill (@thehill) May 7, 2020
Trump has also sought to blame China for the spread of coronavirus, even though the president repeatedly said earlier this year that he believed Beijing had the virus under control.
McCarthy said he tried to create a China task force in coordination with House Democrats, but he claimed Democratic leadership abandoned the plans at the last minute.
“For more than a year I have worked with the leadership of the Democratic Party to put together a bipartisan committee on China with an equal number of Republicans and an equal number of Democrats,” McCarthy said.
“I did get to that agreement, we got to the point to actually name the individuals, so far that one reporter has actually wrote the story, but did not post it yet, before the Democrats pulled back a few months ago. Well, we cannot wait any longer.”
Updated
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy finally named Republican members to the select committee reviewing the coronavirus response.
Minority whip Steve Scalise, Republican conference chairwoman Liz Cheney, congressman Jim Jordan, congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, Jackie Walorski and Mark Green will serve on the select committee.
McCarthy has criticized the committee, which is aimed at ensuring the appropriate distribution of government funds from the coronavirus relief packages, as “Impeachment 2.0,” implying it is meant to dig up dirt against Trump.
Here we go again.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) May 7, 2020
Impeachment round 2.
Democrats never miss a chance to attack the Trump Administration. https://t.co/o8E1giWZdK
Jordan, who was one of the president’s most ardent defenders during the impeachment inquiry, echoed that sentiment in a statement announcing his appointment.
“Thank you Leader McCarthy for the opportunity to work with colleagues to help fight for the truth and push back against this blatant attempt to use the coronavirus pandemic for partisan ends,” Jordan said.
One of the studies being used by the White House reportedly shows that two more weeks of social distancing could help prevent hundreds of thousands of coronavirus infections.
The Daily Beast reports:
The study, which was put together by PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is in the hands of top coronavirus task force officials and people working with the team, sources confirmed to The Daily Beast. It projects that if officials move too quickly and too aggressively to reopen in mid May, individual counties could witness hundreds, if not a thousand-plus, more coronavirus cases reported each day by August 1. Just two weeks more social distancing, the study projects, could reduce infections substantially—with potentially hundreds of thousands of fewer cases if the projections are conservatively expanded out to all 3,000-plus counties across the country.
The report is notable because the president has been expressing support for states starting to ease their social distancing restrictions, and the study specifically warns that such steps could cause significant spread of the virus.
Democratic speaker Nancy Pelosi said she still hopes the House will be able to return next week, despite concerns about reconvening as the Washington region’s number of coronavirus cases continues to climb.
Democratic leaders originally said the House would reconvene this week, but they reversed that decision after a consultation with the attending physician of the Capitol. The Senate returned on Monday.
Pelosi made clear that members would only return “when the sergeant at arms and the Capitol physician say that we can.”
The speaker added, “When we come back, and I’m hoping that’s next week, we’ll have the proxy voting initiative on the floor.”
The House originally planned to vote on a measure allowing members to temporarily vote by proxy last month, but Pelosi backed off from that after Republicans expressed strong opposition to the proposal.
A number of Republican members are still criticizing the idea of allowing proxy voting, but it appears Pelosi intends to move forward anyway.
The president and the vice president are regularly tested for coronavirus using the rapid Abbott Labs test.
Since last month, anyone who is going to be in close contact with Donald Trump or Mike Pence are also required to be tested to limit the risk of them contracting the virus.
Reporters attending White House briefings have also received tests and had their temperatures checked when they arrive.
One of Trump's personal valets tests positive for coronavirus - report
One of Trump’s personal valets has tested positive for coronavirus, according to a report from CNN.
A spokesperson for the president confirmed in a statement that a member of the US military who works at the White House had received a positive test result. According to CNN, the valet is a member of the US Navy.
“We were recently notified by the White House Medical Unit that a member of the United States Military, who works on the White House campus, has tested positive for Coronavirus,” deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said in the statement.
“The President and the Vice President have since tested negative for the virus and they remain in great health.”
According to CNN, the valet started exhibiting symptoms Wednesday morning, and the president was subsequently tested again once the valet’s result came back positive.
Updated
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said the Supreme Court’s decision to throw out the convictions of his two former aides “ends a 6 1/2 year political crusade.”
NEW - @GovChristie responds time SCOTUS decision tossing Bridgegate convictions pic.twitter.com/l1FnWET35E
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) May 7, 2020
“What cannot be undone is the damage that was visited upon all of the people dragged through the mud who had nothing to do with this incident by the prosecutorial misconduct and personal vindictiveness of Paul Fishman,” Christie said in a statement, referring to the US attorney who led the “Bridgegate” investigation.
The former Republican governor also blamed senior leaders at the justice department under Barack Obama for “permitting this misconduct to happen right under their noses.”
Supreme Court throws out 'Bridgegate' convictions
The Supreme Court has unanimously thrown out the convictions of two former New Jersey officials implicated in the “Bridgegate” scandal.
Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni were found guilty of fraud and conspiracy for their roles in creating a massive traffic jam for residents of Fort Lee, New Jersey, whose Democratic mayor refused to endorse then-governor Chris Christie’s 2013 reelection.
Writing for the court, justice Elena Kagan said the scheme had “jeopardized the safety of the town’s residents,” but she concluded that “not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime.”
Updated
At her White House briefing yesterday, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked if the administration would release more detailed guidance on how and when businesses should start reopening.
“In the phased approach there are some recommendations for how, for instance, restaurants should reopen on the distancing that’s required,” McEnany replied. “So I would argue that our phased approach does take that into account.”
Those comments may attract more scrutiny now that reports have emerged of the White House blocking detailed CDC guidance on the reopening of businesses.
According to the AP, the guidance specifically included advice on how restaurants should space out tables and make use of apps for table waits as they start to look toward reopening.
Good morning, live blog readers. This is Joan Greve, taking over for Joanna Walters.
The report that guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been blocked from release has caused concern that the Trump administration is sidelining health experts to paint a rosier economic picture.
Here’s more from the AP’s report:
The 17-page report by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team, titled ‘Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework,’ was researched and written to help faith leaders, business owners, educators and state and local officials as they begin to reopen.
It was supposed to be published last Friday, but agency scientists were told the guidance ‘would never see the light of day,’ according to a CDC official. ...
The rejected reopening guidance was described by one of the federal officials as a touchstone document that was to be used as a blueprint for other groups inside the CDC who are creating the same type of instructional materials for other facilities.
The guidance contained detailed advice for making site-specific decisions related to reopening schools, restaurants, summer camps, churches, day care centers and other institutions. It had been widely shared within the CDC and included detailed “decision trees,” flow charts to be used by local officials to think through different scenarios.
The AP notes that states can receive additional CDC guidance if they directly reach out to the agency to seek experts’ insight, and it seems likely that many governors will do just that following the publication of this report.
But the White House’s decision to block the guidance’s release, reportedly because it advocated too slow of a reopening, will only intensify questions over whether Trump can be trusted to share the most accurate information as the coronavirus crisis continues to unfold.
The nation’s largest nurses union will line white shoes outside the White House to protest the administration’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tomorrow nurses will be back at the White House to demand action be taken to #ProtectNurses on the front lines of COVID-19.
— Bonnie Castillo (@NNUBonnie) May 6, 2020
Tune in for this special #NursesWeek protest on my Facebook page live at 10 a.m. ET. @MoveOn pic.twitter.com/Y16FKt3tae
The protest comes during nurses appreciation week in the US, and one day after President Trump signed a proclamation lauding nurses for rushing into the pandemic, “undaunted by danger, personal sacrifice”.
The protest is organized by National Nurses United, which represents more than 155,000 nurses. The union also represents hospitals in New York City, one of the hardest hit locations in the country.
Another 3m Americans file for unemployment
The Guardian’s Dominic Rushe and Lauren Aratani report:
Another three million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as the coronavirus pandemic continued to extract its terrible toll on the US jobs market.
Some 33 million jobless Americans have now made claims in the past seven weeks.
The latest figures from the US labor department come ahead of the first official monthly report on the American jobs market since the pandemic triggered lockdowns across the country. In March, the official unemployment rate in the US was 4.4%, close to a 50-year low, but economists predict it could now be as high as 20%, a level unseen since the 1930s Great Depression.
The pace of layoffs has overwhelmed state unemployment systems across the country. Over a million people in North Carolina have now made unemployment insurance benefit claims, equivalent to 20% of the state’s workforce. Some four million have applied in California and the state’s jobless benefits fund is “very close” to running out, governor Gavin Newsom said this week.
Updated
A group of prominent doctors organized by the advocacy group Avaaz have taken out a full page ad in the New York Times today, criticizing social media and tech companies for spreading “viral misinformation” during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube and Pinterest have all worked to link to official sources when people search for common terms around the pandemic, such as “Covid-19” or “hydroxychloroquine”.
However, misinformation has still circulated broadly. Conspiracy theories led some to believe new 5G cellular systems caused the pandemic. Nearly one-third of Americans believe the conspiratorial claim that the virus was developed in a lab in Wuhan, China, surveys show.
“Stories claiming cocaine is a cure, or that COVID-19 was developed as a biological weapon by China or the US, have spread faster than the virus itself,” the group said. “Tech companies have tried to act, taking down certain content when it is flagged, and allowing the World Health Organization to run free ads. But their efforts are far from enough.”
This letter from @Avaaz supported by medical professionals around the world calls for action against the 'global plague' of COVID-19 fake news and its real risk to public health. We need tougher action now against this disinformation virus. @infotagion https://t.co/NALnk2aGJu
— Damian Collins (@DamianCollins) May 7, 2020
Experts said social media companies efforts are “too little too late,” according to previous Guardian reporting. Praising them, “is like praising Philip Morris for putting filters on cigarettes.”
“The tsunami of false and misleading content about the coronavirus is not an isolated outbreak of disinformation, it’s part of a global plague,” the doctors said. “On Facebook, we have seen claims that chlorine dioxide helps people suffering from autism and cancer; that millions of Americans were given a ‘cancer virus’ via the polio shot; that ADHD was ‘invented by big pharma’. The list goes on.”
Trump administration shelves federal health experts' recommendations on safe reopening of US - reports
Good morning, US live blog readers, there is already a lot going on in the world of US politics and the coronavirus crisis today, so stay tuned.
What we know so far:
- The Trump administration has shelved a report prepared by its own federal public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that detailed draft recommendations for how to reopen US society safety - according to numerous reports. The news was first brought to us by The Associated Press. Others are also reporting this out now. The recommendations were reportedly requested by White House task force member Dr Deborah Birx but are understood to be felt to be too cautious by the political leaders, and CDC was told it “would never see the light of day”. The CDC is now reportedly considering issuing the guidelines to individual states.
- Nurses are going to stage a protest outside the White House this morning to throw light on the dozens of their fellows who have died of the coronavirus while working on the health care front lines.
- Donald Trump will meet with Texas governor Greg Abbott in the Oval Office this afternoon and the president and Melania Trump will give remarks later at a prayer event in the White House rose garden.
- The latest unemployment figures are out and they are dire. All the details here.
