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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Lois Beckett in San Francisco (now) and Joan E Greve in Washington and Martin Pengelly in New York (earlier)

Coronavirus: US reaches one million confirmed cases – as it happened

Live reporting on the coronavirus in the US continues on Wednesday’s blog:

Evening summary

A relatively quiet evening in US political news as we wrap up here. You can continue following our global coronavirus liveblog throughout the evening.

  • The US has confirmed more than 1 million cases of coronavirus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins. The US now accounts for about a third of all coronavirus cases reported from around the world.
  • Trump is expected to sign an executive order aimed at keeping meat plants open. The planned order comes as some plants have closed after workers tested positive for coronavirus, raising concerns about a meat shortage in the country. But experts expressed concern that the order could jeopardize the health of plant workers
  • Dr. Anthony Fauci said he’s been “told” that everyone in the United States who needs a coronavirus test will be able to get one by the end of May. But many people, including Fauci himself, remain skeptical that testing can ramp up that quickly.
  • Trump dodged a question about whether he received repeated warnings on the threat of coronavirus in his Presidential Daily Briefing. The Washington Post reported the PDB included warnings about the virus in January and February, even as the president publicly downplayed the seriousness of the health threat.
  • Hillary Clinton officially endorsed Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. The endorsement is unsurprising, considering Biden has won the backing of nearly every other prominent Democrat, but it is still noteworthy after Biden considered challenging Clinton for the presidential nomination in 2016.
  • Andrew Yang is suing New York’s state board of elections over the effective cancellation of its presidential primary, Politico reported.
  • More than half of Democrats are concerned that not all eligible Americans will be able to cast a vote in the 2020 presidential elections, and that the election may not be fair, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.
  • The vice president was criticized for not wearing a mask during a visit to the Mayo Clinic facilities in Minnesota, even though the clinic requires all visitors to cover their faces. Pence claimed he didn’t have to wear a mask because he’s regularly tested for the virus, but health experts have questioned that argument, noting the vice president could get a false negative result or contract the virus in between tests.

Andrew Yang files lawsuit over cancelled NY Democratic primary

Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the New York Board of Elections, which effectively cancelled the state’s June presidential primary, Politico reports.

Daily Show honors “heroes” who helped US reach 1 million cases

Three US children with Covid-19 have rare inflammatory syndrome

Three children infected with the coronavirus in the United States are being treated for a rare inflammatory syndrome that appears similar to one that has raised concerns by doctors in Britain, Italy and Spain, Reuters reports.

All three children, who range in age from 6 months to 8 years, have undergone treatment at the same hospital in New York.

Italian and British medical experts have already been investigating a possible link between the coronavirus pandemic and clusters of severe inflammatory disease among infants arriving in hospitals with high fevers and swollen arteries.

The three New York cases follow a similar report involving a child with coronavirus at Stanford University in California.

The pattern of this syndrome in children in some ways follows what is happening with some adult Covid-19 patients, who get very sick, begin to recover, and then have a secondary immune response, a pediatric rheumatologist and immunologist told Reuters.

Updated

Trump said US could conduct 5m tests a day ‘very soon’. Really?

At a White House event earlier today, Trump responded to a question about a Harvard study recommending that the United States be able to conduct 5m tests a day by saying that could happen “very soon”.

A number of journalists, including CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang, explained why that claim sounds unrealistic.

Updated

Iranian scientist in Ice detention tests positive for Covid-19

An Iranian scientist who has been pleading for weeks to be released from a US immigration jail due to his fragile health has contracted Covid-19, according to his family and attorneys.

Dr Sirous Asgari, a materials science and engineering professor who spoke out in March about the unsanitary and “inhumane” conditions in detention, was placed in an isolation cell this week inside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) jail in Louisiana. His lawyers learned on Tuesday that his Covid-19 test was positive.

He and his family are calling for his release to a medical facility where he can receive proper care.

But Ice told Asgari’s lawyers he would only be released to a hospital if he was struggling to breathe, his attorneys said. Bryan Cox, an Ice spokesman, said there were two confirmed Covid-19 cases at Winn but declined to answer specific questions about Asgari.

“It makes sense to send me to the hospital as soon as possible. I don’t trust them at all,” Asgari said in a phone call with the Guardian on Tuesday, amid repeated coughing fits.

Asgari’s story sparked international outrage after he spoke about his fears of Covid-19 spreading inside crowded Ice facilities with substandard cleaning practices and a lack of supplies. The professor, who has a history of respiratory problems, was exonerated in a US sanctions trial last year, but Ice has refused to release him or allow him to return to Iran. Iran’s foreign minister recently called for his release, as have some US lawmakers and human rights groups.

Read the full story here:

Updated

Poll: 70% of Americans support allowing any voter to vote by mail

A new Pew Research Center survey found that 70% of Americans are at least “somewhat” in favor of allowing any voter to vote by mail if they want to, as two-thirds say they believe that it’s likely that coronavirus will disrupt Americans’ ability to vote.

Though Trump has pushed back against efforts to expand vote by mail during the Covid-19 crisis, claiming it would lead to voter fraud and a higher Democratic turnout, the policy still has strong overall support among voters.

My colleague Sam Levine has a more in-depth look at the survey results, including the finding that less than half of Democrats are confident that November’s election will be fair and accurate.

Another interesting finding: while there is a clear partisan divide on voting by mail, with about half of Republicans aligning with Trump in their opposition to the policy, Republican support or opposition to mail voting varies a great deal across different states.

“In states where vote by mail is already widely used, nearly 70% of Republicans support expanding vote by mail,” Sam explained. “Even in states where mail-in voting is not widely used, 40% of Republicans support expanding it.”

Aaron Blake at the Washington Post also highlighted this finding as an important survey finding. As Blake put it: “The [Republicans] with the most experience with this method are quite happy with it.”

Read Sam’s full story on the survey results here:

Fauci: I’m being “told” everyone can get a test by the end of May

How soon will every American who needs a coronavirus test be able to get one?

Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper, Dr. Anthony Fauci said this afternoon that he’s being told that testing will ramp up very soon, but that “I’m always the skeptic in the group,” referring to the White House’s coronavirus task force.

Fauci said he is being “told” that tests will “hopefully” be widely available “as we get to the end of May and the beginning of June.”

Is $1,200 enough? Trump administration considering another payment

Lois Beckett here in San Francisco picking up this evening’s live political news coverage. For Americans worried about paying their bills, an update from the White House, which is “studying very carefully” the possibility of more direct cash support from the government.

Speaking to reporters at the White House today, one of Trump’s economic advisers was asked if Americans need to receive something more than the one-time $1,200 individual stimulus checks to make it through the pandemic.

“That’s something we’re studying very carefully,” Hassett said.

Updated

Today so far

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • The US has confirmed more than 1 million cases of coronavirus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins. The US now accounts for about a third of all coronavirus cases reported from around the world.
  • Trump is expected to sign an executive order aimed at keeping meat plants open. The planned order comes as some plants have closed after workers tested positive for coronavirus, raising concerns about a meat shortage in the country. But experts expressed concern that the order could jeopardize the health of plant workers.
  • Trump dodged a question about whether he received repeated warnings on the threat of coronavirus in his Presidential Daily Briefing. The Washington Post reported the PDB included warnings about the virus in January and February, even as the president publicly downplayed the seriousness of the health threat.
  • Hillary Clinton officially endorsed Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. The endorsement is unsurprising, considering Biden has won the backing of nearly every other prominent Democrat, but it is still noteworthy after Biden considered challenging Clinton for the presidential nomination in 2016.
  • The vice president was criticized for not wearing a mask during a visit to the Mayo Clinic facilities in Minnesota, even though the clinic requires all visitors to cover their faces. Pence claimed he didn’t have to wear a mask because he’s regularly tested for the virus, but health experts have questioned that argument, noting the vice president could get a false negative result or contract the virus in between tests.

Lois will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Vice President Mike Pence defended his decision not to wear a mask during a visit to the Mayo Clinic facilities in Minnesota, even though the clinic requires all visitors to cover their faces.

“As vice president of the United States, I’m tested for the coronavirus on a regular basis, and everyone who is around me is tested for the coronavirus,” Pence told reporters, according to a pool report.

“And since I don’t have the coronavirus, I thought it’d be a good opportunity for me to be here, to be able to speak to these researchers, these incredible healthcare personnel and look them in the eye and say thank you.”

As the blog has previously noted, Pence could have contracted the virus in between tests, so the guidance on face coverings would almost certainly still apply to him. The coronavirus test is also not infallible, so it’s still possible he could be an asymptomatic carrier.

And to reiterate, the Mayo Clinic requires all visitors to wear masks, so at a minimum, Pence was ignoring the requests of his hosts while visiting clinic employees and patients. Reporters who were traveling with Pence said he appeared to be the only one at the clinic not covering his face.

Restrictions on access to the Capitol have been extended through May 16, according to a new statement from the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms.

The statement said Capitol tours would be canceled until at least May 16, and access to the House and Senate office buildings will be limited to members, staffers, credentialed press and official business vistors.

“We are taking this temporary action out of concern for the health and safety of congressional employees as well as the public,” the statement said.

Access to the Capitol was first limited in early March, and it seems likely the restrictions will need to be extended again, considering the rising number of coronavirus cases in the Washington metropolitan area.

Trump said he felt optimistic about the development of a coronavirus vaccine, but he then dubiously argued the virus would “go away” regardless.

“But I think what happens is, it’s going to go away. This is going to go away,” Trump said during a White House event with small business owners. “And whether it comes back in a modified form in the fall, we’ll be able to handle it. We’ll be able to put out spurts. And we’re very prepared to handle it.”

The comments sounded eerily similar to Trump’s confident claims about coronavirus earlier this year, as the virus wreaked havoc in China’s Wuhan region. “It’s going to disappear,” Trump said in late February. “One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”

Of course, even countries that have been able to limit the spread of coronavirus have still needed to keep many restrictions in place to prevent a resurgence of the virus, so it is not at all accurate to say the virus went away.

Public health experts have warned the country could see a second wave of infections starting in the fall, which could coincide with flu season, potentially creating a dangerous burden on the US healthcare system.

Trump is expected to sign an executive order today aimed at keeping meat processing plants open, even though workers at a number of plants have tested positive for coronavirus.

The AP reports:

The order will use the Defense Production Act to classify meat processing as critical infrastructure to keep production plants open. ...

A senior White House official said the administration was working to prevent a situation in which a majority of processing plants shut down for a period of time, which could lead to an 80% drop in the availability of meat in supermarkets.

But some experts warned the order could jeopardize the health of meat plant workers and potentially cause a surge in coronavirus infections in towns with major plants.

A former deputy labor secretary under Barack Obama expressed concern about the order and noted it comes on Workers’ Memorial Day, which is meant to honor workers who have been injured or killed on the job:

Clinton officially endorses Biden

Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, on Tuesday endorsed Joe Biden.

“I want to add my voice to the many who have endorsed you to be our president,” Clinton said, joining him at a virtual town hall on the impact of the coronavirus on women. “Just think of the difference it would make it right now if we had a president who not only listened to the science, put facts over fiction, but brought us together.”

Her support was the latest in a string of high-wattage endorsements from major Democratic leaders as the party’s former vice president makes his case for the White House. Earlier this month, he earned endorsements from his former rivals senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, as well as from former president Barack Obama. On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her support in a video.

Biden, the presumptive Deomcratic nominee, introduced Clinton as “the woman who should be president of the United states right now.”

More than anyone, Clinton knows the importance of Democratic unity when facing Donald Trump. Her narrow loss to Trump has served as a stark reminder to Democrats of the perils of heading into November with a divided party.

Clinton and Biden have known each other for decades, and she pointed to their long friendship – which was at times tested by their competing ambitions – to endorse his character. They were colleagues in the Senate for several years before running against each other in 2008 for the Democratic nomination. They both ended up serving in the Obama’s administration, where they began weekly breakfasts. Tensions percolated again in 2016, when Biden considered running for president.

But on Tuesday, Clinton offered an unconditional and personal endorsement of Biden.

“I’ve been in the lobby of the Senate. I’ve been in the cloakroom and I’ve watched Joe bing people together,” Clinton said. “So for me, this is a moment that we need a leader, a president, like Joe Biden.”

During his event with small business owners, Trump once again falsely claimed that his daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, has created 15 million American jobs.

Trump first made the false claim earlier this month during a call with business leaders, and it immediately attracted the scrutiny of fact-checkers.

For perspective, there were about 152 million Americans employed as of January, before the coronavirus crisis struck, so the president is falsely claiming his daughter created about 10% of all US jobs.

The president appears to be referring to his daughter’s work co-chairing a workforce advisory board, but the Washington Post previously gave Trump three Pinocchios for crediting Ivanka with creating millions of jobs.

Trump is hosting an event for small business owners at the White House, with the handful of guests and reporters spread at least six feet apart in the East Room.

The president is speaking about the Paycheck Protection Program, the small business loan program created by last month’s stimulus package.

The most recent coronavirus relief bill provided additional funding for the program, but some small business owners are already complaining once again about problems trying to apply to the program.

Democratic senator Brian Schatz criticized vice prsident Mike Pence for not wearing a mask during a visit to the Mayo Clinic’s facilities in Minnesota.

The Hawaii Democrat said the vice president was “setting a dangerous example” by not covering his face, even though the clinic requires all visitors to do so.

The Mayo Clinic has now deleted this tweet it sent about how it had informed Mike Pence’s office about the mask requirement before the vice president’s visit to the clinic’s Minnesota facilities.

Judging from footage of the visit, Pence appeared to be the only person not wearing a mask as he interacted with the clinic’s employees and at least one patient.

Mike Pence’s office has dubiously argued the vice president does not need to wear a mask because he is regularly tested for coronavirus.

The vice president faced questions about his lack of mask usage earlier this month after a photo circulated of a mask-less Pence greeting Colorado governor Jared Polis, who was wearing a mask in the picture.

“When the face-covering guidelines were developed, it was with the intention to not only protect yourself, but primarily to protect others from asymptomatic spread,” Pence’s spokesperson previously said in respnose to questions about him not covering his face. “Vice President Pence is negative for Covid-19 and is therefore not asymptomatic.”

However, coronavirus tests are not foolproof, and the vice president could potentially contract the virus in between tests, so the mask guidance should still apply to him.

Updated

Pence criticized for not wearing a mask during Mayo Clinic visit

Vice President Mike Pence was criticized for ignoring mask guidelines when visiting the Mayo Clinic facilities in Minnesota today.

Footage of Pence’s visit showed the vice president not covering his face as he met with the clinic’s employees and at least one patient.

The clinic requires all visitors to wear a mask, sparking questions about why the vice president, who has avoided covering his face for photo opportunities, was allowed to flout the rule.

In a statement, the Mayo Clinic said the vice president’s team was informed of the mask rule before visiting and referred all other questions to Pence’s office.

Updated

The United States accounts for about a third of all coronavirus cases that have been confirmed around the world.

The global total of confirmed coronavirus cases stands at 3,083,467, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The US has confirmed 1,002,498 cases.

The US has confirmed far more cases than any other country in the world. Spain has confirmed 232,128 cases, and Italy has confirmed 201,505 cases. No other country has confirmed more than 200,000 cases.

US confirmed coronavirus cases pass one million mark

The US has reached the milestone of one million confirmed coronavirus cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The US death toll is now over 57,000.

Updated

Judges press Trump admin over subpoena fight involving Don McGahn

Then-White House Counsel Don McGahn speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland, February 22, 2018.
Then-White House Counsel Don McGahn speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland, February 22, 2018. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

US appeals court judges earlier today appeared skeptical about broad arguments made by the Trump administration that the House of Representatives cannot sue to enforce a subpoena demanding testimony of a former senior White House official.

Holding arguments by phone because of the coronavirus pandemic, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit considered whether a House committee can sue in an effort to obtain testimony from former White House Counsel Donald McGahn, Reuters writes.

The nine judges heard the case alongside another dispute between the House and the Trump administration over Donald Trump’s announcement that he would spend $8.1 billion for a wall on the US-Mexico border despite the fact Congress had appropriated only $1.375 billion.

Although the panel appeared generally sympathetic to the House’s arguments, some judges seemed concerned about opening the door to the House suing over all manner of issues, including policy disputes and military conflicts.

Judge Judith Rogers appeared skeptical of the notion that courts cannot intervene when the executive branch and Congress are at odds. “Are you of the view there can be no role for the courts in terms of preserving the separation of powers?” she asked Hashim Mooppan, a Justice Department lawyer arguing for the Trump administration.

Judge David Tatel, referencing separate cases now at the Supreme Court concerning the House’s effort to obtain Trump’s financial records, questioned whether the Justice Department’s arguments are consistent.

The Justice Department has said Trump can sue to block a subpoena but the House cannot sue to enforce one.

A divided three-judge panel of the court ruled for Trump in February, saying the court had no place in settling the closely watched dispute between the executive and legislative branches of the US government.

The House judiciary committee had sought testimony from McGahn, who left his post in October 2018, about Trump’s efforts to impede former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that documented Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

McGahn declined to testify before the committee after the Trump administration advised him to defy the subpoena.

Updated

Today so far

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Trump is expected to sign an exectuvie order on keeping meat plants open. The executive order comes as a number of plants have had to close because workers have tested positive for coronavirus, which has raised concerns about a potential meat shortage.
  • The president dodged a question about whether he received repeated warnings about the threat of coronavirus starting in January. Trump was asked about a Washington Post report that his Presidential Daily Briefing included multiple warnings on the virus in January and February. The president responded by saying he “would have to check” the dates of the warnings he received.
  • Hillary Clinton is expected to endorse Joe Biden later today. Clinton confirmed she would appear as a special guest for Biden’s virtual town hall later today, and the endorsement was widely expected considering Biden has won the endorsement of virtually every other prominent Democrat.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Cuomo briefing summary

The Guardian’s Kenya Evelyn reports on New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s daily coronavirus briefing:

Governor Cuomo confirmed that while the number of new cases in the state dropped to under 1,000, an additional 335 New Yorkers died from the coronavirus Monday.

“This number is basically reducing, but not at a tremendous rate,” he said. “The only thing that is tremendous is the number of New Yorkers that pass away.”

The governor announced the formation of an advisory board of business leaders and health experts who are working with state officials to develop a repening plan. Cuomo unveiled a set of data points the state is using to guide its efforts.

“If a hospital system in an area exceeds 70% capacity or the rate of transmission of the virus hits 1.1, those are danger signs,” he said, likening upstate New York to states in the Midwest and West.

As protests to reopen the economy gain traction, the governor cautioned against getting “pushed politically into a situation” because “there are protesters in front of the capitol.”

“No, we’re not going to do that,” he said. “That’s not how we make decisions.”

Cuomo then pleaded for reopening measures to be based on facts, insisting “emotions can’t drive a reopening process.”

“Separate the emotion from the logic,” he said. “We want to reopen, but we want to do it without infecting more people or overwhelming the hospital system.”

“I know how much we want this to be over. But this is not over,” he added.

The briefing took a turn, however, when Cuomo went on to chastise national and global organizations for what he called a delayed response to a virus that first appeared in December.

The governor specifically took aim at the US intelligence community and global health organizations and NGOs, as well as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

“Where was everyone? Who was supposed to blow the bugle and didn’t?” he asked. However, Cuomo told Axios last night that he regretted not raising the alarm sooner himself.

On tracking and testing Covid-19 cases, Cuomo said the state needs at least 30 tracers for every 100,000 residents. The need, he said, exposed “fundamental issues” in governmental institutions that will require long-term, structural change.

“We need better systems,” he said. “We have to do a better job at our basic public health system.”

Joe Biden confirmed Hillary Clinton would appear at his virtual event later today, which was originally supposed to focus on the impact of coronavirus on women.

Clinton is expected to endorse Biden, an unsurprising development considering Biden has won the endorsement of nearly every other prominent Democrat since becoming the presumptive nominee.

But Clinton remains a favorite target for the president and his allies, and Trump’s reelection campaign has already put out a statement bashing the former Democratic presidential nominee.

“There is no greater concentration of Democrat establishment than Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton together,” said Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale. “President Trump beat her once and now he’ll beat her chosen candidate.”

Trump to sign executive order to keep meat plants open

Trump’s planned executive order on the US food supply will order meat processing plants to stay open, according to a Bloomberg News reporter.

The president announced during his Oval Office pool spray with Florida governor Ron DeSantis that he would sign a new executive order today regarding the country’s food supply chain.

The expected order comes as a number of meat processing plants have been forced to close after workers began testing positive for coronavirus. At least 13 meat and food-processing workers have already died of the virus.

The chairman of Tyson Foods warned Sunday that the country could face a meat shortage because of the closures.

“There will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed,” John Tyson said. “In addition to meat shortages, this is a serious food waste issue. Farmers across the nation simply will not have anywhere to sell their livestock to be processed, when they could have fed the nation.”

Updated

Clinton to reportedly endorse Biden

Hillary Clinton reportedly intends to announce her endorsement of Joe Biden’s presidential campaign during a virtual event this afternoon.

The endorsement would be far from surprising, considering Biden has secured the endorsements of many prominent Democrats since becoming the party’s presumptive nominee earlier this month.

But the expected endorsement is still noteworthy, considering Clinton lost to Trump in 2016 and is still a favorite target for the president and his fans.

Clinton previewed her appearance for Biden in a tweet:

Trump told governors yesterday that they should “seriously consider” reopening schools, according to an audio recording of a teleconference call obtained by CNN.

“Some of you might start thinking about school openings, because a lot of people are wanting to have school openings. It’s not a big subject, young children have done very well in this disaster that we’ve all gone through,” Trump can be heard saying in the recording.

“So a lot of people are thinking about the school openings. And I think it’s something ... they can seriously consider and maybe get going on it.”

A number of states have already announced that schools will not reopen for the remainder of the academic year, and public health experts have warned against relaxing social distancing restrictions too quickly, even as the president pushes for reopening the country.

Alabama governor Kay Ivey said the state would relax some social distancing restrictions starting Thursday, as several states look to start the process of reopening their economies.

Ivey said the state’s stay-at-home order would be allowed to expire Thursday and would be replaced with a “safer-at-home” order that includes slightly relaxed restrictions, which will be in effect until at least May 15.

Retail stores will be allowed to reopen starting Thursday, although the businesses must follow sanitization guidelines and enforce a 50% occupancy limit.

Beaches will also be allowed to reopen, but people will still need to maintain six feet of physical distance and avoid gathering in groups.

Restaurants, bars and breweries will remain limited to takeout and delivery, and churches will not yet be allowed to reopen.

Trump declined to answer a question about the health status of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which remains a matter of intense public speculation.

“I just don’t want to comment on that,” Trump said of Kim during an Oval Office pool spray with Florida governor Ron DeSantis. “I just wish him well.”

But yesterday, Trump was more than willing to indicate that he knew the health status of Kim, even as he declined to share details on what he knows.

“Kim Jong-un? I can’t tell you exactly,” Trump said at his press conference yesterday. “Yes, I do have a very good idea, but I can’t talk about it now. ... You will probably be hearing in the not-too-distant future.”

Trump also dodged a question about whether he was warned in the Presidential Daily Briefing about the threat of coronavirus in January and February.

During an Oval Office pool spray with Florida governor Ron DeSantis, the president said he “would have to check” the dates of the warnings he received.

The Washington Post reported yesterday:

U.S. intelligence agencies issued warnings about the novel coronavirus in more than a dozen classified briefings prepared for President Trump in January and February, months during which he continued to play down the threat, according to current and former U.S. officials.

The repeated warnings were conveyed in issues of the President’s Daily Brief, a sensitive report that is produced before dawn each day and designed to call the president’s attention to the most significant global developments and security threats.

For weeks, the PDB — as the report is known — traced the virus’s spread around the globe, made clear that China was suppressing information about the contagion’s transmissibility and lethal toll, and raised the prospect of dire political and economic consequences.

But the alarms appear to have failed to register with the president, who routinely skips reading the PDB and has at times shown little patience for even the oral summary he takes two or three times per week, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified material.

Trump said he would be signing an executive order today to address “liability problems” in the food supply chain.

The president announced the planned executive order during an Oval Office pool spray with Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

The Republican governor was asked why he was still allowing flights to come in to Florida from Latin America, and DeSantis said he was examining the issue.

Trump replied by suggesting DeSantis would be “cutting off Braxil.” “Well not necessarily,” DeSantis said.

The Senate still plans to reconvene next Monday, majority leader Mitch McConnell’s communications director confirmed in a tweet.

McConnell’s office said the statement the majority leader put out yesterday, announcing plans to reconvene next Monday, was still in effect.

“We will modify routines in ways that are smart and safe, but we will honor our constitutional duty to the American people and conduct critical business in person,” McConnell said in his statement yesterday.

“If it is essential for doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, truck drivers, grocery-store workers, and many other brave Americans to keep carefully manning their own duty stations, then it is essential for Senators to carefully man ours and support them.”

As House leadership delays members’ planned return to Washington, it’s worth noting a bipartisan pair of senators are pushing to allow remote voting.

Republican senator Rob Portman and Democratic senator Dick Durbin penned a New York Times op-ed voicing support for remote voting, which Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has ruled out.

The two senators wrote:

An essential part of the Senate’s constitutional function, no matter the circumstances, is for senators to cast votes on legislation. We propose allowing remote voting during emergencies on a temporary basis. In times like these, that means updating Senate tradition so senators can follow the guidance of medical experts and adhere to strict social distancing measures. We are at the point where remote voting may be critical for the Senate to be able to govern on behalf of the American people and help lead our country through this crisis.

House Democrats have proposed allowing members to vote by proxy for the duration of the current crisis, but House Republicans have voiced strong opposition to the idea.

House majority leader Steny Hoyer’s announcement that the chamber will not return next week comes just a day after Democratic leadership announced plans to reconvene starting next Monday.

But that announcement was met with immediate pushback, as some House Democrats criticized the planned return as “dangerous” considering the coronavirus situation in Washington.

The Capitol physician also reportedly warned lawmakers that there was a lot of work left to be done before Congress could return to full capacity.

Hoyer said he spoke to the Capitol physician before making the decision to delay members’ return.

House will not return next week, Hoyer says

House majority leader Steny Hoyer has just announced that the chamber will not return to session next week, as previously planned.

The Maryland Democrat said on a call with reporters that he made the decision to delay members’ return last night, after consulting with the House physician and considering the rising number of coronavirus cases in the Washington metropolitan area.

Hoyer said he hopes the House will be able to return soon to consider the next coronavirus relief package. The Senate is still scheduled to return next Monday.

White House says press conference is actually a pool spray

The White House now says press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s tweet about Trump’s press conference with the governor of Florida was actually referring to a pool spray.

It should be noted that a press conference and a pool spray are two very different things. A press conference gives reporters from a number of outlets the chance to question the president on camera, while a pool spray is restricted to the White House press pool that is on duty today.

The confusion over the press conference comes a day after the White House scheduled then canceled then rescheduled its daily briefing on the coronavirus response.

Congressional leaders are signaling there is a long fight ahead to reach a deal on the next coronavirus relief bill.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said yesterday that he wanted to tie new liability protections to additional funding for state and local governments, which Democrats have been pushing for.

In an interview this morning, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer criticized McConnell for trying to link the funding, which governors say is absolutely necessary, to unrelated demands.

“There’s going to be massive layoffs at the state and local level unless we get some money to them quickly,” Schumer said. “And when McConnell says we’ve got to do A, B, C, D, which is irrelevant to getting the people the money they need, that’s wrong.”

The Senate will take up this fight starting next Monday, when the chamber reconvenes for the first time in weeks, despite concerns about the rising number of coronavirus cases in the Washington metropolitan area.

White House announces last-minute Trump press conference

The White House has just announced Trump will be holding a press conference with Florida governor Ron DeSantis at the White House in about an hour.

The press conference did not appear on Trump’s original schedule, which indicated the president’s meeting with the Florida governor would be restricted to an in-house pool.

The last-minute announcement comes a day after the White House scheduled then canceled then rescheduled its briefing on the coronavirus response.

The White House has reportedly been trying to scale back the daily briefings, but the president, who has repeatedly boasted about the ratings the briefing attracts, may be hesitant to decrease their frequency.

Ohio’a vote-by-mail primary is taking place today, providing a reminder that there is in fact still a presidential election going on, even as the country remains focused on limiting the spread of coronavirus.

Ohio was originally set to hold its primary last month, but in-person voting was canceled at the last minute due to concerns about spreading the virus at polling places.

Many other states have since followed Ohio’s example, delaying their presidential primaries and expanding absentee voting options to keep in-person voting to a minimum.

Although Joe Biden is already the presumptive Democratic nominee, Ohio’s handling of the primary could provide clues as to how the country will handle the general election in November, when the US may be seeing another surge in coronavirus cases.

Even Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is suggesting Trump should shorten his White House briefings.

Asked by the Washington Post whether the White House should shorten the briefings, the Republican Senate leader said that was “probably a good idea.”

“Certainly, what the American people are most interested in is the advice from health professionals about how to conduct their daily lives safely,” McConnell added.

Senate majority whip John Thune similarly said the briefings should focus on exerpertise from public health officials like Dr Anthony Fauci.

“I would say for any politician that you know, on a subject like this, you definitely want to give the experts the microphone and the platform as much as possible,” Thune said. “One of the keys of being a good leader is surrounding yourself with people who have the knowledge and expertise and can kind of talk people through what we’re going through.”

The White House is reportedly trying to decrease the frequency of the briefings after Trump’s now-infamous claim about using disinfectants to treat coronavirus. There is currently no briefing on the president’s schedule today, but that’s no guarantee there won’t be one, considering the White House scheduled then canceled then re-scheduled yesterday’s briefing.

Trump said in a new tweet that many states are “moving to SAFELY & QUICKLY reopen,” even as public health experts warn against relaxing restrictions too quickly.

Several states have started their phased reopening, allowing some non-essential businesses to start accepting customers again while still enforcing restrictions to limit the spread of coronavirus.

But public health experts are signaling some concerns about those states reopening. A model from the University of Washington, which is often cited by the White House, raised its projected number of coronavirus deaths in the US by early August.

The model now suggests 74,000 Americans will die of the virus by August 4, up from the 67,000 predicted a week ago, in part due to signs of increasing activity among Americans.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases in the US is approaching 1 million, and the country has recorded more than 56,000 deaths from the virus.

Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said loans from the Paycheck Protection Program would be audited if they are worth over $2 million.

Mnuchin’s announcement comes as the small-business loan program has attracted criticism for approving funds for some not-so-small businesses, like Shake Shack and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Mnuchin said he thought it was “outrageous” that the Lakers had been approved for a $4.6 million loan, which the professional basketball team is now returning following intense criticism.

“This was a program designed for small businesses,” Mnuchin said. “It was not a program that was designed for public companies if they had liquidity.”

The treasury secretary added he is encouraged the average loan amount for the program is coming down, indicating more of the money is going to actual small businesses, which account for half of American jobs.

This is Joan Greve, taking over for Martin Pengelly.

Another poll indicates most Americans agree with the current restrictions on non-essential businesses, even as protests against stay-at-home orders have received much attention in recent weeks.

According to the Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, 66% of Americans say their states’ restrictions on restaurants, stores and other businesses are appropriate. Another 16% say their states’ restrictions are not tight enough. Only 17% say the restrictions are too severe.

But Republicans remain more likely than Democrats or independents to say the restrictions go too far. While 27% of Republicans believe the restrictions are too severe, only 8% of Democrats and 17% of independents say the same.

Thousands across the country have attended protests against their states’ stay-at-home orders, ignoring social-distancing guidelines to demand their governors allow businesses to reopen.

The organizers of the anti-stay-at-home movement have billed the protests as a grassroots operation demonstrating the frustration with restrictions on businesses, but the rallies have actually been backed by groups with ties to the Republican party and the Trump administration.

And now in Sean Hannity news, the Fox News host is both threatening the New York Times with legal action over how it reports on him – and sharing a lawyer with Donald Trump again as he does so – and writing a book, due out from Simon & Schuster on 4 August.

Sean Hannity.
Sean Hannity. Photograph: Sean Hannity

The stories at issue are about Hannity, Fox News and the coronavirus. A Times spokeswoman said the paper had “reported fairly and accurately on Mr Hannity. There is no basis for a retraction or an apology.”

Here, meanwhile, is some Guardian reporting on Hannity.

Hannity’s book, meanwhile, is going to be called Live Free or Die, so in my reckoning it’s either going to be a swiftly written screed about American rights, freedoms and how Big Government Is Bad, available at all good airport and Amtrak branches of Hudson News next to the latest Ann Coulter, or an unexpected swerve from the Ian Fleming estate in which Sebastian Faulks and William Boyd bend the knee to their new master and Bond fights evil villain Cuo Mo and his plan to keep New York on socialistic lockdown for the rest of recorded time.

I’m betting on the second, because I like Bond books, even the dodgy non-Fleming ones. The Boyd is actually pretty good. Honest.

Noted small business the Los Angeles Lakers – employers of noted small businessman LeBron James – have returned a loan of around $4.6m they got from the federal government’s coronavirus relief funds.

LeBron James.
LeBron James. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA

It seems staggering that an NBA franchise could gain access to funding meant to save everyday businesses during the shutdown of the US economy, but as the Associated Press reports, we’ve been here before:

The Lakers applied for the loan under the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, a part of the federal government’s $2.2tn stimulus package. The Lakers’ request was granted in the first round of distribution, but after the fund ran out of money in less than two weeks, the team returned its loan, as did several wealthier businesses including Shake Shack and AutoNation.

‘The Lakers qualified for and received a loan under the Payroll Protection Program,’ a statement read. ‘However, once we found out the funds from the program had been depleted, we repaid the loan so that financial support would be directed to those most in need. The Lakers remain completely committed to supporting both our employees and our community.’

It turns out the Lakers, the second-most valuable NBA franchise at $4bn or so, playing in the second-most valuable media market, qualified for small business relief because they only have around 300 employees.

The AP report continues:

The treasury department issued further guidance for the loan program last week, asking companies not to apply for the funds if they don’t need the cash to survive.

The Lakers haven’t furloughed or fired any employees during the coronavirus pandemic, and the franchise doesn’t plan to make any cutbacks. The team’s top executives agreed to defer 20% of their salaries until later this year or early next year.

Earlier this month, James, perhaps the most famous current NBA player, told fans “he had been spending his time at home during the coronavirus outbreak playing basketball with his teenage sons, enjoying time with his young daughter, and binge-watching Netflix hit Tiger King with his wife”.

We have a first tweet of the day from the president, and he is attacking the press once again:

We are doing far more, and better, Testing than any other country in the world, and yet the media does nothing but complain. No matter how good a job is done, the same as with the Ventilators, they will never say we are doing a great job, they will only viciously gripe!

As fact checkers have consistently pointed out, the US has not done the most tests per capita while the efficacy and efficiency of US testing is, to put it mildly, at issue. The US is getting better at testing, but public health experts suggest it needs to get much better before the economy can properly reopen.

Access to ventilators has been a constant theme in the outbreak. It has turned out that states such as New York have not needed as many as they thought they would, but the Trump administration’s handling of the federal stockpile has also been a subject of considerable controversy.

Andrew Cuomo: I wish I'd blown the bugle earlier

Andrew Cuomo has said he wishes he had “blown the bugle” about Covid-19 earlier. Speaking to Axios on HBO, the New York governor discussed US reactions to the first news of the outbreak, from China in December.

Andrew Cuomo.
Andrew Cuomo. Photograph: John Minchillo/AP

“When we heard in December that China had a virus problem,” he said, “and China said basically, ‘It was under control, don’t worry,’ we should’ve worried.”

Cuomo added: “I wish someone stood up and blew the bugle. And if no one was going to blow the bugle, I would feel much better if I was a bugle blower last December and January. ... I would feel better sitting here today saying, ‘I blew the bugle about Wuhan province in January.’ I can’t say that.”

Again, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University, New York has confirmed more than 290,000 coronavirus cases and approaching 23,000 deaths. France, Italy and Spain have recorded more deaths but not by much, and New York City alone has the fifth-highest death total in the world, with the UK in fourth.

Cuomo is widely seen to have had a good outbreak, so to speak, with daily briefings of the media much more to the point than the president’s and a grip on governance of his state that has kept it on lockdown and in line while he manages a tricky relationship with the federal government. Still, questions are increasingly being asked about whether such New York’s heavy death toll might have been avoided.

When the US economy will reopen remains the key question but Congress will be back in session for sure on Monday 4 May.

Many people think that’s not a good idea at all, not least because the Senate skews old, to say the least, in a time when a virus is disproportionately killing older Americans. Only 14 of 100 senators are under 50 and 28 are 70 or older, six of those past 80.

Majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Monday he would “modify routines in ways that are smart and safe”. Here’s a look at how the House of Commons is doing it in the UK. And here, from the Welsh Assembly, is a chilling demonstration of the perils of forgetting to mute your mic on Zoom.

The 100 senators and 435 representatives will return to the usual political battles, anyway, looking to add to coronavirus stimulus/rescue efforts under a president who tweeted on Monday: “Why should the people and taxpayers of America be bailing out poorly run states (like Illinois, as example) and cities, in all cases Democrat run and managed, when most of the other states are not looking for bailout help. I am open to discussing anything, but just asking?”

The mechanics of which states bail out which are fascinating. Ask Andrew Cuomo:

Good morning…

…and welcome to another day of coverage of the coronavirus outbreak – and the politics of it under Donald Trump – in the US.

First, as ever, the figures according to Johns Hopkins University:

  • US cases: 988,303
  • US deaths: 56,248
  • New York cases: 291,996
  • New York deaths: 22,668

Other states are badly hit too: there have been more than 6,000 deaths in New Jersey, more than 3,000 in Michigan and Massachusetts, more than 2,000 in Connecticut and more than 1,000 in many others.

Whither Trump, then. On Monday the president first cancelled his daily press briefing, in the aftermath of last week’s disinfectant disaster, then announced it was on again. In the Rose Garden the president seemed a little subdued but also stuck to his usual talking points. Washington bureau chief David Smith’s sketch is here – and true to its distinctly British journalistic form:

His autocratic tendencies are well-known. His sudden absence from public view prompted fierce speculation and rumour. One headline suggested that he was “brain-dead”.

The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s whereabouts remain unknown. But after a lost weekend, Donald Trump bounced back into the spotlight on Monday determined to prove that he is not only healthy but working very, very hard.

This question, by the by – “If an American president loses more Americans over the course of six weeks than died over the entirety of the Vietnam war, does he deserve to be reelected?” – produced more blowback for the questioner than the questioned, on grounds of whether it showed the proper respect. Such are the mechanics of the White House press corps. For the record, around 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam.

Otherwise, at his White House presser Trump also:

  • Announced a plan to increase coronavirus testing, which public health experts say is at nowhere near the level needed if the US economy is to reopen.
  • Blamed China (the subject of this fascinating Politico story about jittery Senate Republicans being told not to defend the president).
  • Refused to take responsibility for more people ingesting disinfectant in the days since his remarks on the subject.

After the briefing, Trump made his usual attacks on the press on Twitter, at one point seeming to conflate them with the coronavirus, “the Invisible Enemy!”

But as of this writing, on Tuesday morning, there is no White House briefing on the schedule for Tuesday, though Trump is set to deliver remarks on small business in the Rose Garden at 3pm.

Elsewhere, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced a death toll in continued decline and started to look towards reopening parts of the state, while states including Texas and Ohio outlined their own plans to reopen.

More to come. Before it does, some further reading:

Updated

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