Live reporting on coronavirus in the US continues in Thursday’s blog:
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The Supreme Court temporarily blocked House Democrats from accessing grand jury material from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The solicitor general filed a request earlier this month to halt a federal appeals court’s order to turn over the material, which the court granted today. The justices set a June 1 deadline to file briefs to determine whether the case should undergo a full review.
- Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, may be released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence at home, per reports. Cohen would be one of many prisoners being released due to coronavirus concerns.
- Democrats criticized Trump for threatening to withhold funding from Michigan and Nevada over their efforts to expand vote by mail. Nevada’s Democratic governor said the threat was “inappropriate and dangerous” as states seek safe voting options in the middle of a global pandemic.
- Black Americans are dying of coronavirus at a rate three times higher than that of white Americans, according to a new report. More than 20,000 African Americans have already died from the virus.
- Trump suggested holding the next G7 summit in person, despite previously announcing that it would take place virtually. It would be very difficult to reschedule the meeting now, and it’s very unclear world leaders would agree to travel to the US as the country’s number of coronavirus cases continues to climb.
- Secretary of state Mike Pompeo dismissed claims that the state department inspector general was fired in retaliation for investigations he had launched. “It’s patently false,” Pompeo said of the accusations. The firing of Steve Linick has sparked concern that the Trump administration is trying to suppress government oversight.
The majority of Americans are worried about reopening causing a spike in infections.
According to a poll from the Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Centre at the University of Chicago, about 54 % of respondents were “very or extremely worried” about reopening causing more infections, and 29 % were “somewhat worried” about the risk.
Overall, more than half the respondents said that the restrictions in their area were about right to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The Guardian’s Kari Paul reports:
Apple and Google have released long-awaited smartphone technology to automatically notify people if they might have been exposed to the coronavirus.
The companies had announced the unprecedented collaboration to leverage their technology to help trace and contain the spread of coronavirus last month, and say 22 countries and several US states are already planning to build voluntary phone apps using their software.
The software relies on Bluetooth wireless technology to detect when someone who downloaded the app has spent time near another app user who later tests positive for the virus.
Many governments have already tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to roll out their own phone apps to fight the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of those apps have encountered technical problems on Apple and Android phones and haven’t been widely adopted. They often use GPS to track people’s location, which Apple and Google are omitting from their new tool because of privacy and accuracy concerns.
The Sanders campaign, seeking unity, has asked surrogates to refrain from attacking Biden, the Washington Post reports.
From the Post:
The Vermont senator’s campaign has told some supporters picked to represent him this year to sign agreements barring attacks on other candidates or party leaders, combative confrontations on social media or talking to reporters without approval.
The move, which carried a threat of being removed as a delegate, has the effect of blunting one of the most powerful if divisive tools of Sanders’s movement — its unrestrained online presence and tendency to stoke controversy through other media, which has at times spiraled into abuse of his opponents, perceived and real.
“Refrain from making negative statements about other candidates, party leaders, Campaigns, Campaign staffers, supporters, news organizations or journalists. This Campaign is about the issues and finding solutions to America’s problems,” said the social media policy sent to some delegates. “Our job is to differentiate the senator from his opponents on the issues — not through personal attacks.”
“Do your best to avoid online arguments or confrontations,” the policy said. “If engaging in an adversarial conversation, be respectful when addressing opposing viewpoints or commenting on the opposition.”
The agreements angered some Sanders delegates, and the campaign is now working with delegates to adjust its demands.
The Senate is debating the next phase of coronavirus relief.
Republicans have largely rejected the Democrats proposal for a rescue package, claiming that it costs too much. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dismissed the Democrats’ bill dismissed as a “totally unserious effort.”
But even within the the GOP, there seems to be disagreement about how best to help states weather the pandemic.
GOP v GOP: Rick Scott on the floor about to block for the second time John Kennedy’s effort to give states and cities more flexibility to use their existing money for operational expenses beyond coronavirus expenses
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 20, 2020
Joe Biden assailed Donald Trump in a pair of virtual events in Wisconsin, calling him “a destroyer of everything he touches.”
“All he’s ever done is hollow out what really matters and then slap a gold sign on a flimsy foundation,” Biden said during the virtual rally in the battleground state.
“Donald Trump claimed he would fight for the forgotten man, the working class,” the former vice president continued. “But as soon as he got into office, he forgot them.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Biden held a virtual roundtable with Wisconsin congressman Ron Kind and community advocates who spoke about the challenges facing rural Americans during the epidemic.
During the back and forth, Biden, referring to federal funding to combat the economic fallout from the virus, said: “Not one more penny should go to a Fortune 500 company. Period. Period. They don’t need it.”
“Among the speakers at the “rally” was Wisconsin senator Tammy Baldwin, who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential nominee after she won re-election in 2018. Biden called her a “true champion for Wisconsin, a true leader.”
Biden has been ramping up his virtual campaign schedule in recent weeks. Earlier events have been riddled with technical glitches - and the occasional honking duck. By contrast, Wednesday’s events went smoothly.
Prisoners and advocates told the Guardian that some infected inmates are in isolation without medical care or adequate food, cut off from family and attorneys
More than 3,200 prisoners in California have contracted Covid-19 and at least 16 inmates have died, in a public health catastrophe that advocates say was both predictable and preventable.
Inmates and advocates told the Guardian that at six prisons and jails with rapidly escalating outbreaks, basic protocols to prevent the virus from spreading are being ignored, and that they fear imminent mass fatalities and hospitalizations. Interviews with prisoners, their families and attorneys, along with internal records, reveal that:
- Some prisoners sick with coronavirus have complained that they aren’t getting enough food and water while quarantined, and that they don’t have access to doctors, temperature checks, basic medicine, phone calls, regular showers, outdoor time or sanitary supplies.
- Inmates have reported being reprimanded for wearing face coverings. At least one inmate was formally disciplined for trying to use bleach to help clean a prison.
- In one facility, prisoners assigned to make masks for others allegedly contracted Covid-19 in the process.
- Some prisoners with Covid-19 have been unable to talk to loved ones, who have been left uncertain if their relatives are still alive.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, will be released from federal prison, a person familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. Due to coronavirus concerns, Cohen is expected to serve the remainder of his sentence from home.
The Journal reports:
He is among more than 2,500 federal inmates who have been placed on home confinement in recent weeks as prison officials try to identify those who are at high risk for the disease and low risk for re-offending.
Updated
Trump said he would finish his preventative hydroxychloroquine regime “in a day or two.”
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he’s been taking the anti-malaria drug as a preventative measure, despite a lack of evidence that it is effective when taken in this way. Although the FDA’s emergency authorization for the drug allowed for it to be used as a treatment — rather than a prophylactic — for Covid-19, in hospital settings and clinical trials, researchers are studying whether hydroxychloroquine can be used to ward off disease.
But that research is in its early stages, and some specialists worry that the president’s politicizing of the drug by repeatedly touting it without evidence will interfere with legitimate science.
“The virus is not Democrat or Republican, and hydroxychloroquine is not Democrat or Republican, and I’m just hopeful that people would allow us to finish our scientific work,” William O’Neill, an interventional cardiologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, who is studying hydroxychloroquine as a prophylactic in health care workers, told the New York Times.
“The worst thing in the world that would happen,” he added, “is that at the end of this epidemic, in late September, we don’t have a cure or a preventive because we let politics interfere with the scientific process.”
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
The Trump campaign is continuing to defend the president’s on Michigan’s mail-in balloting, even after the president deleted an earlier tweet incorrectly saying the state was mailing ballots to all registered voters. Trump later revised it to correctly say the state was mailing absentee ballot applications to all voters, which the campaign said was illegal.
.@realDonaldTrump is correct. There is no statutory authority for the secretary of state in Michigan to send absentee ballot applications to all voters. Existing case law in Michigan supports that conclusion as well. https://t.co/Ku6bwIPnYl
— Tim Murtaugh - Download the Trump 2020 app today! (@TimMurtaugh) May 20, 2020
The effort to send absentee ballot applications could be met with a legal challenge, the Detroit Free Press reported on Tuesday. In 2008, the Michigan court of appeals ruled that a local clerk could not automatically send voters over 60 an absentee ballot application, a ruling that could be used to challenge the state’s decision.
Updated
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
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The Supreme Court temporarily blocked House Democrats from accessing grand jury material from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The solicitor general filed a request earlier this month to halt a federal appeals court’s order to turn over the material, which the court granted today. The justices set a June 1 deadline to file briefs to determine whether the case should undergo a full review.
- Democrats criticized Trump for threatening to withhold funding from Michigan and Nevada over their efforts to expand vote by mail. Nevada’s Democratic governor said the threat was “inappropriate and dangerous” as states seek safe voting options in the middle of a global pandemic.
- Black Americans are dying of coronavirus at a rate three times higher than that of white Americans, according to a new report. More than 20,000 African Americans have already died from the virus.
- Trump suggested holding the next G7 summit in person, despite previously announcing that it would take place virtually. It would be very difficult to reschedule the meeting now, and it’s very unclear world leaders would agree to travel to the US as the country’s number of coronavirus cases continues to climb.
- Secretary of state Mike Pompeo dismissed claims that the state department inspector general was fired in retalation for investigations he had launched. “It’s patently false,” Pompeo said of the accusations. The firing of Steve Linick has sparked concern that the Trump administration is trying to suppress government oversight.
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Trump appeared to slightly back down from his threat to withhold funding from Michigan and Nevada over their efforts to expand vote by mail.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump did not specify which federal funds he would withhold, adding that he did not think the move would ultimately be necessary.
.@realDonaldTrump declines to say what federal funding he may withhold from Michigan, says he doesn’t think it will be necessary and says he’s not concerned about the message of threatening to hold back funds while the state is facing flooding disasters. pic.twitter.com/PsAudgltV4
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) May 20, 2020
It’s worth noting that legal experts have said it would almost certainly be unconstitutional for Trump to withhold funds over states’ election practices.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dodged questions this afternoon about which funds Trump was seeking to withhold and how the president thought Michigan officials had violated the law by moving to expand vote by mail.
The Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily block House Democrats from accessing the grand jury material increases the likelihood that the information will not be made public before the November election.
Solicitor General Noel Francisco has argued the House judiciary committee does not have an urgent need to review the material from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, considering Trump was acquitted in an impeachment trial earlier this year.
“The House already has impeached the president, the Senate already has acquitted him, and neither [the committee] nor the House has provided any indication that a second impeachment is imminent,” Francisco wrote.
But a federal appeals court ruled that House members’ need for the material was still relevant. “The committee has repeatedly stated that if the grand jury materials reveal new evidence of impeachable offenses, the committee may recommend new articles of impeachment,” Judge Judith Rogers wrote in the 2-1 decision.
Solicitor general Noel Francisco filed a request with the Supreme Court earlier this month to temporarily block a federal appeals court’s order, which would have allowed House Democrats access to the grand jury material.
Francisco argued it would cause “irreparable harm” to the federal government if House Democrats were allowed to review the grand jury material from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“Once the government discloses the secret grand-jury records, their secrecy will irrevocably be lost,” Francisco wrote. “That is particularly so when, as here, they are disclosed to a congressional committee and its staff.”
Supreme Court blocks House access to Mueller grand jury materials
The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked House Democrats from accessing grand jury material gathered during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
The high court issued a stay on members of the House judiciary committee accessing the material in order to allow a legal challenge to play out.
The justices set a June 1 deadline to file briefs to determine whether the court should take up a full review of the case.
Updated
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany repeatedly dodged questions about why the president claimed something illegal was going on in Michigan, as officials there move to expand vote by mail.
“Illegality and legality of it, that’s a question for the campaign,” McEnany said, referring all queries about the president’s baseless claim to Trump’s reelection campaign.
A New York Times reporter noted that McEnany presented senators with polling information yesterday, but she is now claiming a question about the president’s comments accusing a state official of breaking the law are actually a campaign matter.
The press secretary, who did a polling presentation for GOP senators yesterday, declines to answer a question related to what the president tweeted about absentee ballots, saying it's a campaign question.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) May 20, 2020
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump would like the next G7 summit to happen in person, although it may be delayed beyond its current June date.
“The President really wants to see the G7 happen here in Washington,” McEnany said. “He’d like to see it happen sometime in June, but as to a particular date I don’t have an announcement on that front.”
Trump tweeted earlier today that he was interested in holding the summit in person. The White House announced in March that the June summit would be held virtually, similar to other recent G7 meetings, to limit concerns about world leaders contracting coronavirus, but the president now appears to be reversing that.
Asked about whether G7 leaders would be willing to travel to the US, McEnany said, “I don’t have any information on the response from world leaders, but we certainly hope to see this happen.”
No surprise here: the first question to press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was about the president’s threat to withhold funding from states that are working to expand vote by mail.
Asked what funding Trump was looking to withhold, McEnany dodged the question, saying, “I won’t get into exactly what the funding considerations are.”
McEnany argued the president’s tweet was “meant to alert” senior administration officials, including treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, who was tagged in the tweets, about his concerns concerning funding to Michigan and Nevada.
The press secretary said the president “noted concerns about a lot of fraud that is potentially at play” when absentee voting is expanded, even though voter fraud is actually very rare.
When McEnany was pressed on the fact that Trump himself has cast an absentee ballot before, she said, “The president is, after all, the president. ... He supports mail-in voting for a reason.”
A reporter noted a global pandemic would seem like a valid reason for absentee voting, but McEnany downplayed the likelihood of the pandemic continuing into November, even though public health experts have warned the country could see a second wave of infections later this year.
McEnany holds White House briefing
Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany is now holding a briefing at the White House, where she will almost certainly be asked about the president’s threat to withhold funding from states that are expanding vote by mail.
McEnany began the briefing by boasting that Trump has brought back manufacturing jobs and shored up American supply chains to bolster production of personal protective equipment.
But administration officials privately warned earlier this month that states are still facing a shortage of critical equipment like masks and gowns, according to Politico.
The Lincoln Project has released another ad that is clearly meant to rile up the president, who has previously lashed out against the anti-Trump group.
The latest ad from the group, which is led by former Republicans who are committed to defeating Trump in November, focuses on the president’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale.
This is just another example that @realDonaldTrump is the worst manager America has ever seen. Don, you got conned … by your IT guy. pic.twitter.com/x5i7GRqEYb
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 20, 2020
“Meet Brad Parscale, from dead broke to the man Trump can’t win without,” the ad’s narrator says, going on to details how Parscale has profited off his work for the campaign. “But don’t tell Donald. He’d wonder how Brad can afford so much.”
In a statement announcing the new ad, the Lincoln Project said, “Apparently, there’s been as little oversight of Trump Pence 2020 as there’s been of the U.S. Emergency Medical Supplies stockpile.”
The ad is clearly meant to drive a wedge between Parscale and the president, who has historically been very sensitive to accusations that his advisers are manipulating him or successfully concealing information from him.
Trump reportedly threatened to sue Parscale late last month as the president saw his polling numbers slump.
The president responded to a previous Lincoln Project ad by unleashing a string of attacks against its leaders, including George Conway, over Twitter, and this ad could spark a similar response.
Updated
A Daily Beast reporter shared a campaign ad being circulated in South Carolina, which simultaneously lambastes vote by mail and explains how voters can remotely cast their ballots.
OMG. This mailer making its way around South Carolina was just passed along to me pic.twitter.com/XLzZPM342n
— Sam Stein (@samstein) May 20, 2020
Such contradictory ads may become more common as the general election approaches, considering a majority of Americans (and a signficant portion of Republicans) support expanding vote by mail, even as the president threatens to withhold states’ funding over the issue.
It should be noted that while Trump corrected his false claim about Michigan sending ballots to registered voters, his new tweet still falsely claims Michigan’s efforts to expand vote by mail are illegal.
Michigan’s efforts are not illegal and are actually quite similar to steps taken by Republican officials in states like Georgia, West Virginia and Nebraska.
In his new tweet, Trump also stood by his threat to withhold funding from Michigan, even though legal experts have said such a move would almost certainly be unconstitutional.
Trump has now sent another tweet correcting his earlier tweet about Michigan’s efforts to expand vote by mail.
The president previously incorrectly said that Michigan’s secretary of state was sending absentee ballots to every registered voter, but the state is actually sending absentee ballot applications to every registered voter.
Michigan sends absentee ballot applications to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020
A number of Michigan lawmakers, including Democratic secretary of state Jocelyn Benson, pointed out Trump’s error immediately, while noting that several Republican states are similarly expanding absentee voting options.
Hi! 👋🏼 I also have a name, it’s Jocelyn Benson. And we sent applications, not ballots. Just like my GOP colleagues in Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska and West Virginia. https://t.co/kBsu4nHvOy
— Jocelyn Benson (@JocelynBenson) May 20, 2020
WHO fears for world's vulnerable if US cuts off funding for good, warns on risks of hydroxychloroquine
The head of emergencies at the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that an end to US funding for the UN health agency would have a “major implication for delivering essential health services to the most vulnerable people in the world.”
The WHO also warned earlier today against prophylactic use of hydroxychloroquine, the antiviral medicine commonly used to treat malaria and lupus but currently, and very controversially, being taken by Donald Trump against his own federal regulators’ guidelines.
The WHO’s Michael Ryan warned that hydroxychloroquine has potential side effects and the WHO advises it be reserved for use in clinical trials only, in relation to coronavirus.
In a briefing today, reported by Reuters and The Associated Press, Ryan responded to questions from reporters about a letter sent by Trump, the US president, threatening an end to funding from the United States, its biggest donor, unless the agency reforms. Trump froze funding to the WHO earlier in the pandemic, claiming the agency was too deferential to China, where the outbreak started.
The latest comments came on a day when a total of 106,000 Covid-19 cases were reported to WHO over a 24-hour period, the most in a single day since the outbreak began.
The world is about to surpass five million confirmed cases, while the US accounts for 1.52 million of those and is approaching the grim milestone of 100,000 US deaths from the disease.
Ryan said the US funding that reaches the WHO emergencies program was “on the order of $100 million a year” and much of it goes to “humanitarian health operations all over the world, in all sorts of fragile and difficult settings.”
Nevada governor calls Trump's funding threat 'inappropriate and dangerous'
Nevada governor Steve Sisolak criticized Trump for threatening to withhold funding from the state as it moves to expand vote by mail.
For the President to threaten federal funding in the midst of a pandemic over a state exercising its authority to run elections in a safe and legal manner is inappropriate and outrageous.
— Governor Sisolak (@GovSisolak) May 20, 2020
Sisolak applauded Nevada as “a national leader in election administration” that was committed to providing safe options for voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“For the President to threaten federal funding in the midst of a pandemic over a state exercising its authority to run elections in a safe and legal manner is inappropriate and outrageous,” Sisolak said.
Trump would likely be unable to freeze Nevada’s funding anyway, but many of the president’s critics expressed alarm about his attempt to financially retaliate against states for their election policies.
Connecticut senator Chris Murphy said the threat underscored why Democrats were concerned during the impeachment trial that Trump would attempt to rig the 2020 election.
This is why so many of us thought it was imperative that Trump be removed from office. We warned that if he got away with using his office to try to rig an election, he would do it again. https://t.co/SQmTfYiJLv
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) May 20, 2020
Trump discussed the next G7 summit with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to a readout from the White House about the two leaders’ phone call today.
“President Trump and President Macron discussed progress on reopening the United States and France, as well as global economies,” deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement. “President Trump expressed that the United States looks forward to convening the G7 soon.”
The statement provided no indication as to whether Macron pushed back against the idea of G7 leaders meeting in person, as Trump suggested this morning.
Health experts would almost certainly be opposed to the idea of an in-person meeting that required international travel, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was noncommital about the suggestion earlier today.
Black Americans dying of coronavirus at much higher rate
New figures compiled by the non-partisan APM Research Lab and released on Wednesday under the title Color of Coronavirus provide further evidence of the staggering divide in the Covid-19 death rate between black Americans and the rest of the nation.
Across the country, African Americans have died at a rate of 50.3 per 100,000 people, compared with 20.7 for whites, 22.9 for Latinos and 22.7 for Asian Americans.
More than 20,000 African Americans – about 1 in 2,000 of the entire black population in the US – have died from the disease.
At the level of individual states, the statistics are all the more shocking. Bottom of the league table in terms of racial disparities is Kansas, where black residents are dying at seven times the rate of whites.
“This is a call to action for our county commissioners, our state and our city officials,” the Kansas state representative Gail Finney told local TV channel KWCH12 recently.
Democratic senator Kamala Harris criticized her Republican colleagues on the Senate homeland security committee for pursuing an investigation into Joe Biden’s son in the middle of a pandemic that has claimed more than 90,000 American lives and upended the economy.
Kamala Harris to Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee: "There are literally matters of life and death waiting for our committee's attention, but instead this committee is doing the president's personal bidding ... I urge you to vote against this political sideshow." pic.twitter.com/Zy5Buah4NJ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 20, 2020
“There are literally matters of life and death waiting for our committee’s attention, but instead this committee is doing the president’s personal bidding,” Harris said just before the vote.
“Members of this committee, I urge you to vote against this political sideshow so that we can focus our attention on the pandemic that is threatening the lives and livelihood of the American people.”
The committee ultimately approved the subpoena of a Democratic public relations firm on a party line vote of 8 to 6.
Harris, who suspended her own presidential campaign late last year, is frequently mentioned as a possible running mate to Biden.
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Trump threatened to withhold funding from Michigan and Nevada as the states move to expand vote by mail. Legal experts said the president would almost certainly not be able to carry out a funding freeze, but critics expressed alarm about Trump threatening financial retaliation over election practices, which fall under states’ jurisdiction.
- Trump suggested holding the next G7 summit in person, despite previously announcing that it would take place virtually. It would be very difficult to reschedule the meeting now, and it’s very unclear world leaders would agree to travel to the US as the country’s number of coronavirus cases continues to climb.
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Secretary of state Mike Pompeo dismissed claims that the state department inspector general was fired in retalation for investigations he had launched. “It’s patently false,” Pompeo said of the accusations. The firing of Steve Linick has sparked concern that the Trump administration is trying to suppress government oversight.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi is officially allowing remote voting for 45 days, following last week’s House vote approving vote by proxy during the coronavirus crisis.
“In light of the attached notification by the Sergeant-at-Arms, in consultation with the Office of Attending Physician, that a public health emergency is in effect due to a novel coronavirus, I am hereby designating a ‘covered period’ pursuant to section 1(a) of House Resolution 965,” Pelosi said in a statement.
House Democrats voted last week to temporarily allow vote by proxy, despite opposition from their Republican colleagues.
Senate committee approves subpoena in Biden-related investigation
The Senate homeland security committee has voted along party lines to authorize a subpoena in an investigation related to the business activities of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, which was a key topic during Trump’s impeachment trial.
CNN reports:
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-6 to authorize the subpoena Chairman Ron Johnson requested for Blue Star Strategies, a US public affairs firm that worked with Burisma, the Ukrainian company which hired Biden.
It’s the first subpoena authorized in Johnson’s investigation into Burisma and Hunter Biden that ramped up following the end of the impeachment trial. The Wisconsin Republican has received documents from the State Department and National Archives and says he expects to release a report laying out the committee’s findings in the coming months.
Democrats have said the investigation is purely political and is meant to smear their party’s presumptive presidential nominee in the lead-up to the November election.
A former Ukrainian prosecutor who investigated Burisma said in September that he had seen no evidence that Hunter Biden had violated any laws.
Trudeau noncommital about holding G7 in person
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau was noncommittal when asked about Trump’s suggestion to hold the next G7 summit in person.
“We need to keep meeting as leaders,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. “Whether that’s virtual or in person, we’ll certainly take a look at what the US is proposing as hosts of the G7 to see what kind of measures will be in place to keep people safe, what kind of recommendations the experts are giving in terms of how that might function.”
But it’s unlikely that health experts would endorse having several global leaders gather in a country where the number of coronavirus cases is still on the rise.
The G7 summit was originally set to begin June 10 at Camp David, but the White House said in March that leaders would meet virtually to limit their risk of contracting coronavirus.
The president then said in a tweet this morning that he was considering holding the summit “on the same or similar date, in Washington, D.C., at the legendary Camp David.” “It would be a great sign to all - normalization!” Trump said, even though the country’s death toll is expected to surpass 100,000 in the coming days.
Michigan’s Democratic senators criticized Trump for threatening to withhold funding from the state as it seeks to expand vote by mail.
Democratic senator Gary Peters, who is up for reelection this year, said Trump’s threat was “outrageous.” “It’s particularly remarkable given the fact that the president has voted by mail,” Peters said. “So it’s okay for him apparently, it’s just not okay for everyday Americans.”
Michigan’s other Democratic senator, Debbie Stabenow, noted Trump likely does not have a legal option to withhold the state’s funding.
“He can’t do that, number 1,” Stabenow adds. She added, “I don’t know why he’s afraid of people voting. The quickest way to have him lose the vote in Michigan is to try and stop people from exercising their right to vote.”
Trump narrowly carried Michigan in 2016 and will almost certainly need to win the state again in November to secure a second term.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi compared Trump’s tweeting to a child who tracks unwanted things into the family home.
“[Trump] comes in with doggie doo on his shoes and everyone who works with him has that on their shoes too,” Pelosi said during her weekly press conference.
Asked about calling Trump “morbidy obese” earlier this week, Pelosi said, “I gave him a dose of his own medicine.”
The speaker noted that the president’s annual physical indicates he is obese, although he is not severely obese. (Many health experts choose not to use the term “morbidly obese.”)
“I was only quoting what doctors have said about him, so I was being factual in a very sympathetic way,” Pelosi said.
The speaker concluded her press conference by saying she would return to the podium tomorrow. “We have some other things to share with you,” Pelosi mysteriously said.
While secretary of state Mike Pompeo was talking this morning, Politico published the latest in a stream of reports about what state department inspector general Steve Linick had been investigating.
This time it was a senior official under scrutiny for allegedly failing to report workplace bullying.
Pompeo only took two questions on the Linick firing before ending the press conference. Normally, correspondents for foreign news organisations have to wait until the end to try to get their questions in. The wire agencies normally go first, then the major TV networks and major US print media, before others are called on.
Today, with Pompeo under pressure, the order was reversed, with foreign correspondents called on first with questions about Taiwan and Israel-Palestinian issues.
Pelosi says Pompeo should testify about IG
House speaker Nancy Pelosi said secretary of state Mike Pompeo should testify before Congress about the firing of state department inspector general Steve Linick.
During her weekly press conference, Pelosi specifically criticized Pompeo for approving Saudi arms sales last year without congressional authorization, which Linick was investigating when he was dismissed.
“They declared a fake emergency in order to initiate the sales,” Pelosi said of Pompeo’s decision, arguing it had “undermined the will of Congress.”
The Democratic speaker argued the recent firings of several inspectors general demonstrated how Trump and senior administration officials were “undermining truth.”
Updated
Secretary of state Mike Pompeo insisted state department inspector general Steve Linick’s firing could not be retaliation because the secretary of state had no idea what Linick was investigating.
NEW: Sec. Mike Pompeo says he recommended the State Dept. inspector general be fired “and frankly should have done it some time ago.”
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 20, 2020
Pompeo declined to specify a reason, but asserted that the firing "couldn’t possibly have" been retaliatory. https://t.co/XwQswccP65 pic.twitter.com/kICsxUcfla
“Let’s be clear, there are claims that this was for retaliation for some investigation that the inspector general’s office here was engaged in. It’s patently false,” Pompeo said.
“I had no sense of what investigations were taking place inside the inspector general’s office. ... I didn’t have access to that information, so I couldn’t possibly have retaliated. It would have been impossible.”
But Pompeo acknowledged he was aware he was under investigation for approving Saudi arms sales without congressional authorization. Former officials have said it is very unlikely Pompeo was unaware he was under investigation on multiple fronts.
The secretary of state ended the press conference with an attack on the ranking Democrat on the Senate foreign relations Committee, Bob Menendez, whose office Pompeo claimed was behind the leaks about Linick’s investigations.
“I don’t get my ethics guidance from a man who was criminally prosecuted ... in New Jersey federal district court,” Pompeo said. “That’s not someone who I look to for ethics guidance.”
Menendez was acquitted of bribery charges in January 2018. The justice department dropped its case against the senator at the end of January 2018, but in April of that year, he was “severely admonished” by the Senate ethics committee.
Pompeo says claims of IG retaliation are 'patently false'
The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has been answering questions at a State Department press briefing about the firing of the state department inspector general, Steve Linick.
Pompeo was defiant, admitting he had recommended Linick’s be fired from his watchdog role “some time ago”. He would not explain the motives for the dismissal, claiming he did not talk about “personnel matters”, but called “patently false” reports that it was retaliation for Linick’s investigation of Pompeo’s behaviour in office.
Pompeo has been under intense scrutiny since Linick’s abrupt firing on Friday night, on the secretary of state’s recommendation.
Since then, it has emerged that Linick, in his capacity of government watchdog, was investigating Pompeo for his role in circumventing Congress in approving arms sales to the Gulf last summer and his alleged use of a political appointee to run errands for him and his wife, including walking the dog and picking up dry cleaning.
"I've seen the various stories that someone was walking my dog to sell arms to my dry cleaner. I mean, it's all just crazy" -- Pompeo wasn't thrilled to answer questions about ousted IG Steve Linick pic.twitter.com/j1EMmpwkHc
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 20, 2020
In the latest episode, NBC News has revealed that he has been using the state department to host dinners for billionaire businessmen, conservative politicians and media figures, the occasional celebrity and a relatively small number of diplomats - just 14% of the total number of guests, according to the NBC report.
The state department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus told NBC the dinners are “a world-class opportunity to discuss the mission of the state department and the complex foreign policy matters facing our exceptional nation.”
Pompeo’s critics say the “Madison dinners” (as they are called, after former secretary of state and president, James Madison) suggest the guest list looked much more like a coterie of potential campaign backers, than a diplomatic salon.
There have been about two dozen Madison dinners, and the guests included the chairman of Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy, who is a significant donor to campaigns against same-sex marriage, and the head of the American Gaming Association, Bill Miller.
Trump suggests hosting G7 in person
Trump has suggested the June G7 summit should take place in person at Camp David, despite previously announcing that it would be a virtual meeting.
“Now that our Country is ‘Transitioning back to Greatness’, I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, D.C., at the legendary Camp David,” Trump wrote in a tweet. “The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to all - normalization!”
The White House announced in March that the June summit between the world leaders would take place via video-teleconference, as other recent meetings have been conducted.
Trump is clearly eager to look ahead to the next stage of reopening the country, but the number of US coronavirus cases and deaths continues to climb. The country’s death toll is expected to hit 100,000 in the coming days.
With that in mind, it’s hard to imagine that world leaders will feel comfortable traveling to the US as it continues to grapple with the crisis.
The Guardian’s Kenya Evelyn reports on Trump’s description of the number of US coronavirus cases as “a badge of honor”:
The president argued yesterday that the number of US cases of coronavirus, which is still climbing, simply means the country is testing more people.
“If we were testing a million people instead of 14 million people, it would have far few cases, right,” Trump rhetorically asked reporters.
President Trump: "So, when we have a lot of cases I don't look at that as a bad thing. I look at that, in a certain respect, as being a good thing because it means our testing is much better...I view it as a badge of honor. Really it's a badge of honor..." pic.twitter.com/fUJJ2gQ2Ry
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 19, 2020
The backlash was swift. Most of the criticism came from former members of Trump’s own party. Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee tweeted he had “no head left to shake”.
Trump: “When we have a lot of cases I don’t look at that as a bad thing because it means our testing is much better. So if we’re testing a million people instead of 14 million people it would have far fewer cases right? It’s a badge of honor.” Folks, I have no head left to shake. pic.twitter.com/7On5izyz4S
— Michael Steele (@MichaelSteele) May 20, 2020
Former primary challenger Joe Walsh insisted that even if the US had the fewest number of cases, “Trump would say the exact same thing.”
Others noted the true “badge of honor” should come from a different data set altogether, as the president has been largely criticized for the US’s slow response to the outbreak, initially resulting in one of the worst testing rates per capita.
If you're looking for Trump's "badge of honor," that would be the number 1,570,583 below pic.twitter.com/oJFDFVAkfB
— Seth Abramson (@🏠) (@SethAbramson) May 20, 2020
Democrats appeared to largely ignore the gaffe, but supporters and prominent liberal voices called out the president’s remarks for their insensitivity.
“A badge of HONOR.” That’s right #TweetyTrump, you have the MOST dead citizens in your country! More than any other! Maybe you should have a parade to celebrate how goodly you’re doing. https://t.co/Qsjg7vrZ0d
— Debra Messing✍🏻 (@DebraMessing) May 20, 2020
The US currently accounts for more than 30% of global coronavirus infections,despite being less than 5 percent the world’s population.
A number of commentators noted that several Republican-led states, including West Virginia, Georgia and Nebraska, have also pushed to expand vote by mail, yet Trump has not threatened to withhold funding from them.
A former senior adviser to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign suggested the president would be much better served by developing effective strategies for vote by mail, which is supported by most Americans.
The most effective, diligent Republican campaign operatives will be developing their own vote-by-mail strategies & programs because they know a) GOP voters want and need that option and b) to defend status-quo voting protocols in a pandemic would be a mistake https://t.co/1GOKCZi8kt
— Kevin Madden (@KevinMaddenDC) May 20, 2020
A Gallup poll released last week showed 64% of Americans, including 40% of Republicans, support allowing all voters to vote by mail or absentee ballot.
The issue will likely become increasingly important as the November general election approaches, considering many public health experts are expecting a second wave of coronavirus cases later this year.
Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a member of the progressive group known as “the Squad,” mocked Trump for incorrectly saying her state was sending absentee ballots to all registered voters.
Tlaib applauded her state for promoting democracy “without jeopardizing people’s health” and accused Trump of “endangering people’s lives” through his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Nah, President Incompetent.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) May 20, 2020
Michigan promotes democracy without jeopardizing people's health. You would rather oppress people and suppress the vote (per usual).
Oh, and endangering people's lives seems to be your approach to a pandemic. We won't be following that method. https://t.co/lFAWhX5uG5
The president is visiting a Ford Motors plant in Michigan tomorrow, and he will almost certainly be asked about his (likely unconstitutional) threat to withhold funding funding from Michigan over the state’s vote by mail policy.
Updated
A number of legal experts pointed out in reaction to Trump’s tweets about Michigan and Nevada that withholding federal funding from states over opposition to a specific policy would almost certainly be unconstitutional.
From a former federal prosecutor:
Federal funds can be withheld only if (1) the funds relate to the specific state policy and (2) the funding source is new (can’t interrupt an already-existing funding stream). https://t.co/dUN3uuCg0s
— Elie Honig (@eliehonig) May 20, 2020
From a University of Texas law professor:
In a single tweet, the President:
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) May 20, 2020
1) Lies (that’s not what MI is doing);
2) Asserts without support that someone else is breaking the law;
3) Threatens action that would itself be unconstitutional; &
4) All in service of an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory about voter fraud. https://t.co/wKoXHStd4U
From a University of Alabama law professor:
States run their own elections. Congress voted the funds to support voting in Covid relief bills. Trump, who has already publicly conceded Republicans can’t win if too many people vote, seems to think his power is limitless & includes controlling elections. https://t.co/uoncNjBHpt
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) May 20, 2020
Michigan secretary of state Jocelyn Benson corrected Trump’s tweet about her state’s vote by mail policies, noting her office only sent ballot applications (not actual ballots) to registered voters.
Hi! 👋🏼 I also have a name, it’s Jocelyn Benson. And we sent applications, not ballots. Just like my GOP colleagues in Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska and West Virginia. https://t.co/kBsu4nHvOy
— Jocelyn Benson (@JocelynBenson) May 20, 2020
Benson said yesterday that the move would ensure that “no Michigander has to choose between their health and their right to vote.”
“We know from the elections that took place this month that during the pandemic Michiganders want to safely vote,” Benson said.
It will be interesting to see how Nevada’s secretary of state reacts to Trump’s threat, considering she is a Republican.
Updated
Trump threatens to withhold funding from Michigan and Nevada over vote by mail
Good morning, this is Joan Greve taking over the blog.
Trump is tweeting away this morning, and a couple tweets in particular are catching the attention of Democrats and legal experts.
The president threatened to withhold funding from Michigan and Nevada, which have moved to expand vote by mail amid concerns that coronavirus could spread at in-person polling places.
Breaking: Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020
State of Nevada “thinks” that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They can’t! If they do, “I think” I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections. @RussVought45 @USTreasury
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020
Voter fraud is actually very rare, and it’s quite unclear what legal mechanism could use to withhold funding from the states, both of which have Democratic governors.
Michigan is key to Trump’s reelection bid, considering he narrowly carried the state in 2016, and the president has repeatedly lashed out against Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer over her stay-at-home order.
Outrage over Trump 'badge of honor' comments
Good morning, US live blog readers, get set for another action-packed day of politics and coronavirus news in America, with all the up-to-the-minute developments.
Here’s what’s moving so far today:
- Outrage is swelling over Donald Trump’s comment yesterday that the US’s 1.52m confirmed cases of coronavirus is good news because it’s a mark of how much testing the US is doing and is, in fact, a “badge of honor”. Harvard Law’s Larry Tribe didn’t hold back, likening it to “calling a trail of corpses a badge of honor for the police department that let the serial murderer run free for months.”
- This as all 50 US states are now in some sort of phased reopening. Connecticut was the last to make a start. Governors are under daily pressure from the president to get business up and running, despite the fact that many states aren’t up to federal guidelines from Trump’s own administration recommending sustained declines in cases and other factors as a prerequisite for opening up. But the US death toll continues to creep up, now surpassing 91,000. Some of rural New York is opening, but not yet the nation’s hotspot New York City, as cases there continue to come down but the authorities warn against complacency.
- Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has a busy day ahead. He has two virtual events in Wisconsin, a state that’s in the news daily in relation to voting and coronavirus issues mixed with fraught politics in the battleground state. Last night, in a virtual town hall Biden summed up many views on the news that Donald Trump is taking hydroxychloroquine to ward off coronavirus despite his own regulators warning of serious risks. “C’mon, man. What’s he doing? What in God’s name is he doing?” Biden said.
- Michigan is enduring a double-whammy. While dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, two dams have burst after days of record rain. The rushing waters have flooded central parts of the states in up to nine feet of water, leading to 10,000 people needed to be evacuated while also trying not to spread the virus. Governor Gretchen Whitmer already had her plate full, with right-wing-backed protests and death threats over quarantine and now entire dwellings being swept away in a crisis she described as “almost unthinkable”.
