Summary
From me and Joan E Greve:
- Daily coronavirus deaths in the US surpassed 1,000 yesterday for the first time since 2 June. In another coronavirus briefing, Donald Trump, who appeared without his top public health officials, linked the surge in cases to protests, young people at beaches and Mexicans.
- Trump, in a separate briefing, announced a “surge” of federal law enforcement to US cities, including Chicago. He and attorney general William Barr made baseless claims linking protests against police brutality with an uptick in violent crimes. The influences driving short-term ups and downs in crime rates are complex, and similar links made by officials following protests sparked by the police killing of Michael Brown in 2014 were debunked in studies.
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Chicago officials said the city would not see undercover federal law enforcement patrolling and making arrests, as was the case in Portland. But Mayor Lori Lightfoot told Chicagoans to stay alert and report suspicious policing.
- Portland’s city council passed a resolution instructing local police to stop collaborating with federal law enforcement recently deployed to the city. The measure asks Portland police to stop providing or requesting “operational support” from federal officers and stipulates that any local officer who violates the directive will “be subject to discipline” per the resolution.
- Fifteen mayors sent a letter objecting to federal agents being sent to Portland, Oregon. The letter, which was addressed to attorney general William Barr and acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, described the deployment of federal agents to cities without the approval of local leaders as an “abuse of power”.
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The Ohio governor unveiled a statewide mask mandate, as his state grapples with a surge in new cases of coronavirus. Ohio joins 28 other states in requiring masks statewide.
- Florida Republican congressman Ted Yoho apologized for accosting congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the Capitol steps earlier this week. But Yoho denied calling the progressive congresswoman “disgusting” and a “fucking bitch”, as the Hill reported. In response, Ocasio-Cortez accused Yoho of “refusing responsibility” for his actions.
Updated
Protests, crime and echoes of 2014
As the federal government pledges to send federal law enforcement to cities, and Donald Trump and William Barr connect Black Lives Matter protest against police brutality to alleged spikes in violence, here’s some more context to keep in mind: this isn’t the first time people have pointed to an increase in crime following protests against unjust policing.
It happened in 2014, after the police killing of Michael Brown sparked national protests. Police called it “the Ferguson effect” and argued that protesters had made police afraid to do their jobs.
But studies in the years that followed found that the protests didn’t seem to impact policing, and fewer arrests didn’t correlate with increased crime.
Updated
Portland instructs local police to avoid collaboration with federal law enforcement
The Portland city council passed a resolution instructing local police to stop communicating and collaborating with federal law enforcement.
The measure asks Portland police to stop providing or requesting “operational support” from federal officers sent as a result of Donald Trump’s executive order. Any local officer who violates the directive will “be subject to discipline”, per the resolution.
City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said local police were lying to the public and had been working with federal forces. “Though we didn’t bring in the federal people, it is clear the Portland Police Association welcomed their involvement as well as the Portland Police Bureau,” she said at a council meeting.
“Let me be clear, the opening came for 45 to send in this militia squad because of the over-aggressive actions of Portland police,” she said. “We cannot put the blame totally on this federal secret police force.”
Updated
The House voted to remove Confederate monuments from the Capitol, with 72 Republicans joining all the House Democrats to approve the measures.
“It’s time to sweep away the last vestiges of Jim Crow and the dehumanizing of individuals because of the color of their skin that intruded for too long on the sacred spaces of our democracy,” the House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, a Democrat of Maryland, said at a press conference.
Karen Bass, a Democrat of California and the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus told reporters that there was a jail in the Capitol complex, and “maybe that would be a proper location for these statues” of Confederate figures.
Updated
Some highlights from that briefing:
- Trump said he never asked his ambassador to the UK to push the British government to promote his golf course as a venue for the British Open. He couldn’t help but add that the golf resort is “one of the best in the world”. Yesterday the New York Times broke a story that the US ambassador to the UK told colleagues that Trump had asked him to push the British government to promote his property.
- Asked why his public health officials were absent, Trump said they are briefing him so that he can brief the public.
- Asked about his push to reopen schools as cases surge, Trump said “a lot of people are saying” that children don’t transmit the virus. “They don’t bring it home with them. They don’t catch it easily.” A recent study found that while children under 10 seem to transmit the infection less, they still can pass on coronavirus. And older children and teens can spread the virus.
Updated
Donald Trump is speaking again – this time delivering a coronavirus update. Once again, he has appeared at the podium without his top health experts.
He said he sends a “message of support and hope to every senior citizen who has been dealing with the struggle of isolation in what should be the golden years of your life”.
Updated
In Chicago, the increased presence of federal agents will not resemble Portland, where undercover officers made arrests. More than 200 extra agents would “be folded into the current FBI, ATF, DEA and homeland security teams that are already working in Chicago with the Chicago police department and the other local and state law enforcement,” US attorney John Lausch said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.
Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot said that city officials came to a compromise with the federal government and agreed that undercover agents in unmarked vehicles would not patrol the city the way they did in Portland. But, she warned, “that doesn’t mean” Trump “isn’t going to try it here in Chicago”.
“If you see something that doesn’t look right, please don’t hesitate to report it,” she said at a press conference.
Updated
In Portland, hundreds of mothers have attended demonstrations and stood as a human barricade between protesters and federal officers.
It took the killing of George Floyd to get Jane Ullman to finally pay attention to what the police were up to in America. But it was the sinister sight of federal agents in camouflage snatching demonstrators off the streets of Portland that got her out to protest.
The chief financial officer for tech startups in Oregon’s biggest city joined hundreds of other mothers dressed in yellow in a “Wall of Moms”, turning out each evening to stand as a human barricade between protesters and agents dispatched by Donald Trump to aggressively break up Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
Ullman, a mother of two, said it was her first demonstration in support of racial justice.
“As an upper-middle-class white woman in the whitest city in America, I couldn’t stand by any longer,” she said. “I’ve been doing a lot of self-educating since George Floyd. Reading and learning. The feds’ part in it pushed me over the top. I wanted to take action. But it was the ‘Wall of Moms’ that brought me out.”
Ullman was not alone. What began as a small symbolic act of defiance on Saturday grew into the principal demonstration two nights later, as thousands packed the streets and squares outside the county jail and federal courthouse in downtown Portland for one of the largest protests to date.
At the heart of it were hundreds of women dressed in yellow and singing “Hands up, please don’t shoot me” – evidence that not only has Trump’s dispatch of federal agents failed to stop the protests, it has reinvigorated them.
Sending federal agents to cities is not uncommon, the AP reports.
Hundreds of federal agents already have been sent to Kansas City, Missouri, to help quell a record rise in violence after the shooting death of a young boy there. Barr announced a similar surge effort in December for seven cities.
Usually, the Justice Department sends agents under its own umbrella, like agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or the Drug Enforcement Agency. But this surge effort will include at least 100 Department of Homeland Security Investigations officers working in the region who generally conduct drug trafficking and child exploitation investigations.
During a virtual town hall, Joe Biden said that Trump was the first “racist” to be elected president.
“We’ve had racists, and they’ve existed, they’ve tried to get elected president. He’s the first one that has,” Trump’s Democratic challenger said, the Washington Post reports.
The statement is far from true for so, so many reasons, including that former US presidents owned slaves, they waged war and violence against Native Americans, they openly expressed racist views and enacted racist policies ...
This does appear to be the first time that Biden, who has accused the president of stoking racial division, has actually labeled Trump a racist.
Updated
Referring to the police killing of George Floyd, Barr said there was a “terrible event” in Minneapolis but then said as a result of an “extreme” response, “what we have seen then is a significant increase in violent crime in many cities. And this rise is a direct result of the attack on the police forces and the weakening of police forces.”
Again, there’s no proof that this is the case.
Updated
Some more context, from my colleague Abené Clayton: Crime survivors say that more policing isn’t the solution:
Some crime survivors argue that an increased police presence and militarization hasn’t addressed the roots of community violence, such as income inequality, housing instability, and years of unaddressed collective trauma. And while the experiences, political leanings and definitions of justice vary greatly, for many black and brown crime survivors in low-income communities, safety relies less on punitive responses from police and prosecutors and more on breaking cycles of violence.
Tinisch Hollins, a San Francisco native, has lost two brothers – one in 2013 and another in 2017 – to gun violence, and has also experienced various forms of abuse. As the California director of CSSJ she advocates for policies that will support underserved survivors of color for whom services are often unavailable despite them being disparately harmed by both community and police violence. She also said that she’s “infuriated” by the rhetoric around defunding the police and increases in crime.
“Folks push this narrative on behalf of crime victims but there’s a lack of acknowledgement of how the justice system has never done a service to black people,” Hollins said. “We have been harmed by violence in our communities because so much investment has gone into the criminal justice system as a response to public safety and not into healing or restoration.”
Since the 1970s, as tough on crime policies such as the 1994 Crime Bill were implemented throughout the US, local spending on police increased from 6.6% to 7.8% of local budgets, according to a New York Times analysis. Still, nearly 65% of homicides of black and latino people go unsolved, according to an analysis of 22 US cities. These low arrest and adjudication rates also apply to instances of sexual assault and rape.
Again, attorney general William Barr has baselessly linked increases in violent crime with “extreme reaction that has demonized the police”.
The Department of Justice will provide $61m in grants to hire hundreds of police officers across the country, Trump said – a response to calls to “defund the police” and instead invest in education, housing, and mental health care.
Updated
Hi there, it’s Maanvi Singh, blogging from the West Coast.
Trump is baselessly blaming “lawlessness” in cities on “deadly politicians” and “extreme politicians” who he says want to abolish the police. Here’s a fact check, courtesy of my colleague Sam Levin:
If cities defund police, will violence and crime increase?
Abolition groups argue that policing and prison are at their core racist and harmful and make communities less safe. They also point out that the vast majority of police work has nothing to do with responding to or preventing violence, and that police have a terrible track record of solving murders or handling rape and domestic violence.
While there is no contemporary example of defunding in the US, there are studies suggesting that less policing could mean less crime. In 2014 and 2015, New York officers staged a “slowdown” to protest the mayor, arguing that if they did less police work, the city would be less safe. But the opposite turned out to be true. When the officers took a break from “broken windows policing”, meaning targeting low-level offenses, there was a drop in crime. Researchers posited that aggressive policing on the streets for petty matters can ultimately cause social disruption and lead to more crime. Policing that punishes poverty, such as hefty traffic tickets and debts, can also create conditions where crime is more likely. When New York ended “stop and frisk”, crime did not rise.
Trump announces 'surge of federal law enforcement' into cities, including Chicago
Trump is now speaking at the White House on “Combatting Violent Crime in American Cities”, as his administration weathers criticism for sending federal agents to crack down on protests against racism in Portland, Oregon.
“Today I’m announcing a surge of federal law enforcement into American communities plagued by violent crime,” Trump said. “We’ll work every single day to restore public safety.”
“Today I’m announcing a surge of federal law enforcement into American communities plagued by violent crime. We’ll work every single day to restore public safety,” Pres. Trump says at news conference on protests. https://t.co/kYY1XTn2pW pic.twitter.com/jRwQLQBJoz
— ABC News (@ABC) July 22, 2020
Trump then launched into a lengthy description of recent violence in Chicago, accusing the city’s Democratic leaders of failing the city.
“No mother should ever have to cradle her dead child in her arms simply because politicians refused to do what is necessary to secure their neighborhood and to secure their city,” Trump said.
The president then announced he would “immediately surge federal law enforcement to the city of Chicago”, vowing to send “hundreds” of federal agents to the city “to help drive down violent crime”.
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:
- Daily coronavirus deaths in the US surpassed 1,000 yesterday for the first time since June 2. The grim development came one day after Trump acknowledged in a White House briefing that the country’s coronavirus crisis “will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better.” The White House also announced the president would hold another coronavirus briefing today.
- Fifteen mayors sent a letter objecting to federal agents being sent to Portland, Oregon. The letter, which was addressed to attorney general William Barr and acting secretary of the department of homeland security Chad Wolf, described the deployment of federal agents to cities without the approval of local leaders as an “abuse of power.”
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Trump is reportedly expected to announce an expansion of “Operation Legend,” which is aimed at sending federal agents to cities to “combat the disturbing uptick in violence.”
The president is now speaking about violence in cities at the White House. The event comes two days after the president defended the widely criticized actions of federal agents against peaceful protesters in Portland, Oregon, and vowed to send “more federal law enforcement” to other Democratic-controlled cities.
- The Ohio governor unveiled a statewide mask mandate, as his state grapples with a surge in new cases of coronavirus. Ohio joins 28 other states in requiring masks statewide.
- Florida Republican congressman Ted Yoho apologized for accosting congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the Capitol steps earlier this week. But Yoho denied calling the progressive congresswoman “disgusting” and a “fucking bitch,” as the Hill reported. In response, Ocasio-Cortez accused Yoho of “refusing responsibility” for his actions. “This is not an apology,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Republicans are reportedly considering extending coronavirus unemployment benefits at a lower level than the additional $600 per week currently provided.
CNBC reports:
Republicans are considering extending the enhanced unemployment insurance benefit at a reduced level of $400 per month through the rest of the year ...
The GOP, which has not made a final decision on how it will craft unemployment insurance in a bill set to be released this week, previously discussed additional payments of about $200 per week. Democrats want to make the $600 per week sum available at least until next year.
The additional unemployment benefits are currently set to expire at the end of the month, and eviction protections will expire in two days.
Democratic lawmakers have warned there could be a wave of evictions across the country if the additional benefits and protections are not extended.
The moratorium on evictions expires in two days.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 22, 2020
Enhanced unemployment benefits will expire next week.
Over 20 million Americans are still without work.
We don’t have time for this mess the Republicans are in.
We must act on the House-passed HEROES Act now!
California reports daily record in new coronavirus cases
California reported a record-high number of new cases of coronavirus in a single day, with 12,807 cases confirmed yesterday.
That huge figure brings the state’s total number of coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic to 413,576.
Today, CA is reporting a record high number of cases:
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 22, 2020
Single day #: 12,807
7-day average: 9,420
Total: 413,576
Yesterday’s test #: 127,487
Total: 6,664,419
7-day positivity rate: 7.6%
Those are a lot of numbers that tell us one thing: we MUST take this seriously.
WEAR A MASK.
California’s seven-day positivity rate currently stands at 7.6%, as Democratic governor Gavin Newsom noted during his briefing today.
Newsom strongly urged Californians to continue wearing face masks to limit the spread of the virus, and he pledged that the state would distribute more personal protective equipment to frontline workers to protect them as cases surge.
Newsom noted the state has already distrubuted 86.4 million N95 masks and 297 million surgical masks to frontline workers.
Ohio governor Mike DeWine’s statewide mask order comes as the state reports an alarming rise in new cases of coronavirus.
Ohio health officials reported 1,527 new cases from yesterday, marking the state’s second-highest daily case count. The figures bring the state’s total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 78,742.
#Ohio's #COVID19 data for July 22, 2020.
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) July 22, 2020
➡️ More in-depth data can be found at https://t.co/3lWx4IRScb #InThisTogetherOhio#MasksOnOhio pic.twitter.com/sGKMhxmSkT
The number of coronavirus patients in Ohio’s hospitals has also been steadily rising in recent weeks, hitting 1,098 today.
Another 16 Ohioans died of the virus yesterday, bringing the state’s total coronavirus death toll to 3,235.
Ohio governor issues statewide mask mandate
The Republican governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, has issued a statewide mandate to wear masks while out in public.
Beginning tomorrow at 6:00pm, citizens in all Ohio counties will be under a mandatory mask order while out in public. pic.twitter.com/UqLEzT3Mly
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) July 22, 2020
DeWine said the order, which will take effect tomorrow evening, would exempt children under the age of 10 and those who have medical conditions. Ohioans are also not required to wear masks while actively exercising, eating or drinking.
Ohio joins 28 other US states in requiring masks statwide, and DeWine said the state government would start running two commercials to encourage mask usage.
“Wearing masks will make a difference,” DeWine said. “It will determine what our fall looks like. We want kids to go back to school, we want to see sports -- to do that it’s very important that all Ohioans wear a mask.”
A new poll shows the president effectively tied with Joe Biden in Texas, a longtime Republican stronghold that Trump carried by 9 points in 2016.
According to a new Quinnipiac poll, Biden is attracting the support of 45% of Texas’ registered voters, compared to 44% who back Trump.
Despite Democrats’ longtime hopes of flipping the Lone Star State, Texas Republicans remain confident that Trump will win the state in November.
However, if the president is forced to campaign in Texas, it will stretch his resources in the final months leading up to the election, particularly because of the state’s expensive media markets.
And with its 38 electoral votes, Trump cannot afford to risk losing Texas, or his chances of reelection will be virtually nonexistent.
Migrant children held in US hotels, then expelled
The Associated Press has a story today about the Trump administration’s detainment of migrant children.
It is reporting that immigrant children as young as one-years-old are being detained in hotels, sometimes for weeks, before being deported to their home countries, according to documents obtained by the AP.
A private contractor for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is taking children to three Hampton Inn & Suites hotels in Arizona and at the Texas-Mexico border, where they are typically detained for several days, the records show. The hotels have been used nearly 200 times, while more than 10,000 beds for children sit empty at government shelters, AP reports.
Lawyers and advocates say housing unaccompanied migrant children in hotels exposes them to the risk of trauma as they’re places not designed to hold them.
“They’ve created a shadow system in which there’s no accountability for expelling very young children,” Leecia Welch, an attorney at the nonprofit National Center for Youth Law told AP.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser released updated guidance on mask usage, as the nation’s capital reports a rise in the number of new coronavirus cases.
“Basically it says, if you leave home, you should wear a mask,” Bowser said of the new guidance.
6/ Lastly, it's simple: Wear a mask. Save lives. Stop the spread. pic.twitter.com/hLotrKzOGe
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) July 22, 2020
The Democratic mayor’s comments came as city health officials reported 102 new cases from yesterday, marking the highest number of new cases in a single day since June 4.
“We’re all pretty sick of dealing with the pandemic. We’re four months in; people are tired and, in some cases, are letting down their guards,” Bowser said.
“But we all want to get on the other side of this virus, so it is important that we remain vigilant,” she added.
Bowser noted the guidance would include some exceptions for children under the age of three and for when people are eating, drinking or vigorously exercising.
Trump to announce expansion of 'Operation Legend' to Chicago and Albuquerque - reports
Trump is expected to announce the expansion of “Operation Legend” to Chicago and Albuquerque in a White House speech this afternoon, according to reports.
The justice department announced the launch of Operation Legend earlier this month, describing it as “a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative across all federal law enforcement agencies working in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight the sudden surge of violent crime.”
The justice department said at the time that the FBI, the US Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would “surge resources” to Kansas City, Missouri, as part of the initiative.
That effort is now expanding to Chicago and Albuquerque, both of which are also led by Democratic mayors.
The news comes two days after Trump defended the widely criticized actions of federal agents against peaceful protesters in Portland, Oregon, and vowed to send “more federal law enforcement” to other Democratic-controlled cities.
“Because we’re not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore and all of these — Oakland is a mess,” Trump said on Monday. “We’re not going to let this happen in our country. All run by liberal Democrats.”
House Democrats have launched a campaign to encourage mask usage -- with a “Mean Girls” twist.
A number of Democratic lawmakers are wearing pink masks today in homage to the 2004 film’s well-known line, “On Wednesdays, we wear pink.”
Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, who spearheaded the effort, said in a tweet, “I encourage all my colleagues to participate and support wearing masks to help prevent the spread of #COVID19.” She then referenced another line from the movie: “It’s going to be so fetch!”
Excited to launch the #OnWednesdaysWeWearPink masks campaign today. I encourage all my colleagues to participate and support wearing masks to help prevent the spread of #COVID19. It's going to be so fetch! https://t.co/1loEFKi8Po
— Rep. Suzan DelBene (@RepDelBene) July 22, 2020
Many House Democrats sent out their own tweets showing them wearing pink masks, with “Mean Girls” quotes thrown in. Communications staffers on Capitol Hill are clearly having fun with the campaign.
We all need to take responsibility for protecting our communities from COVID-19. The best action you can take yourself? #WearAMask. #OnWednesdaysWeWearPink pic.twitter.com/k4set0Szma
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 22, 2020
I was told that on Wednesdays we wear pink...pink masks that is. #WearAMask pic.twitter.com/9x6gHJUXDU
— James E. Clyburn (@WhipClyburn) July 22, 2020
I’m not a regular mom. I’m a cool mom because I #WearAMask. #OnWednesdaysWeWearPink masks to stop the spread of #COVID19 — retweet if you’re joining @ZoeyCongressdog and me today, tomorrow, and every day to help keep each other safe. pic.twitter.com/vobZ6vXwwc
— Rep. Susan Wild (@RepSusanWild) July 22, 2020
With millions of cases nationwide, we have ALL been personally victimized by #COVID19. Mask up & stop the spread of this pandemic. #OnWednesdaysWeWearPink pic.twitter.com/nkC9k49HBQ
— US Rep. Darren Soto (@RepDarrenSoto) July 22, 2020
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Daily coronavirus deaths in the US surpassed 1,000 yesterday for the first time since June 2. The grim development came one day after Trump acknowledged in a White House briefing that the country’s coronavirus crisis “will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better.” The White House also announced the president would hold another coronavirus briefing today.
- Fifteen mayors sent a letter objecting to federal agents being sent to Portland, Oregon. The letter, which was addressed to attorney general William Barr and acting secretary of the department of homeland security Chad Wolf, described the deployment of federal agents to cities without the approval of local leaders as an “abuse of power.”
- Florida Republican congressman Ted Yoho apologized for accosting congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the Capitol steps earlier this week. But Yoho denied calling the progressive congresswoman “disgusting” and a “fucking bitch,” as the Hill reported. In response, Ocasio-Cortez accused Yoho of “refusing responsibility” for his actions. “This is not an apology,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to the UK and billionaire NFL owner, is reportedly facing accusations that he made racist and sexist comments to staff.
CNN reports:
Johnson, the top envoy since August 2017 to one of the United States’ most important allies, made racist generalizations about Black men and questioned why the Black community celebrates Black History Month, according to exclusive new information shared with CNN by three sources and a diplomat familiar with the complaints to the State Department inspector general.
His comments about women’s looks have been “cringeworthy,” a source with knowledge of the situation said, and two sources said it was a struggle to get him on board for an event for International Women’s Day. ...
Asked about the specific allegations reported by CNN, Johnson did not deny them. He called it an ‘honor of a lifetime’ to serve as ambassador and ‘to lead the talented, diverse team of the U.S. Mission to the United Kingdom.’ Johnson called the team ‘the best in diplomacy’ adding, ‘I greatly value the extraordinary work that each and every member of the team does to strengthen and deepen our vital alliance.’
The news comes one day after the New York Times reported that Johnson has told colleagues Trump asked him to speak to UK officials about hosting the British Open at the Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland.
According to CNN, Johnson’s alleged racist and sexist comments and the British Open request have sparked an investigation by the state department inspector general.
Trump will hold briefing today, the White House confirms
The White House has confirmed Trump will hold another coronavirus briefing today, a day after holding his first such briefing in nearly three months.
In updated guidance on the president’s schedule today, the White House said Trump would hold a press conference at 5.30 pm ET.
— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) July 22, 2020
Trump acknowledged during yesterday’s briefing that the coronavirus crisis “will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better,” but he did not lay out a specific plan for combatting the country’s recent surge in new cases.
The president will likely be pressed on that today, and he will almost certainly face questions about his comments yesterday sending good wishes to Ghislaine Maxwell, who is facing federal charges for her alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of young girls.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said congressman Ted Yoho’s apology was not a true apology because it included “lies” and did not “name any action he did.”
“This is not an apology,” the progressive woman said in a tweet thread. “He didn’t even say my name.”
He didn’t even say my name.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 22, 2020
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said congressman Ted Yoho was “refusing responsibility” for accosting her on the steps of the Capitol earlier this week.
Yoho apologized for his behavior in a floor speech this morning, but Ocasio-Cortez said of Yoho’s apology, “I will not teach my nieces and young people watching that this an apology, and what they should learn to accept.”
Republican responds to calling a colleague “disgusting” & a “f—ing b*tch” w/ “I cannot apologize for my passion” and blaming others.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 22, 2020
I will not teach my nieces and young people watching that this an apology, and what they should learn to accept.
Yoho is refusing responsibility. https://t.co/BKzJa7KUBW
In his floor speech, Yoho apologized for the “the abrupt manner of the conversation I had with my colleague from New York,” but he denied calling Ocasio-Cortez “disgusting” and a “fucking bitch,” as the Hill reported.
“The offensive name-calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues, and if they were construed that way, I apologize for their misunderstanding,” the Florida Republican said.
He went on to describe how he is “passionate” about fighting for those experiencing poverty. “I cannot apologize for my passion or for loving my God, my family and my country,” Yoho said.
Ocasio-Cortez responded to Yoho’s speech in a tweet, saying, “Republican responds to calling a colleague ‘disgusting’ & a ‘f—ing b*tch’ w/ ‘I cannot apologize for my passion’ and blaming others. ... Yoho is refusing responsibility.”
Trump to hold another coronavirus briefing today - report
Trump intends to hold another coronavirus briefing today at 5 pm ET, according to NBC News.
Two White House officials tell me & @carolelee, @realDonaldTrump will hold another Coronavirus briefing today around 5 pm.
— Kristen Welker (@kwelkernbc) July 22, 2020
The briefing did not appear on the president’s initial schedule, although the White House said Trump would deliver remarks on “Combatting Violent Crime in American Cities” this afternoon.
Trump’s briefing yesterday marked his first coronavirus briefing in nearly three months, and White House officials told NBC News that they felt it had gone well.
During the briefing, Trump acknowledged the pandemic “will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better” and strongly urged Americans to wear masks to limit their risk of contracting the virus.
However, the president laid out no strategy for how to reverse the country’s recent alarming rise in new cases, and he once again insisted the virus would one day “disappear.”
Trump also attracted criticism for offering good wishes to Ghislaine Maxwell, who faces federal charges for her alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of young girls.
Georgia senator Kelly Loeffler, a co-owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream and a staunch ally of Donald Trump, says the league’s social justice efforts could exclude some fans.
“I think a lot of people feel that they may not have a place,” Loeffler told ESPN on Tuesday. “They may feel excluded from this sport and other sports that make them feel like American values aren’t at the core of what we’re doing here.”
The WNBA announced players will wear jerseys with the names of women killed by police and in racial violence on their jerseys when the league resumes later this week. They will also wear shirts with the slogan Black Lives Matter during warm-ups. The announcement prompted Loeffler to write to the league’s commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, objecting to the tie-in.
“The statement, ‘Black lives matter,’ is very different than the organization Black Lives Matter,” Loeffler said. “I think we all agree the life of every African American is important. There’s no room for racism in this country, and we have to root it out where it exists. But there’s a political organization called Black Lives Matter that I think is very important to make the distinction between their aim and where we are as a country at this moment.
“The Black Lives Matter political organization advocates things like defunding and abolishing the police, abolishing our military, emptying our prisons, destroying the nuclear family. It promotes violence and antisemitism. To me, this is not what our league stands for.”
Black Lives Matter is a decentralized movement and does not have official policies.
Fifteen mayors sign letter objecting to federal agents in Portland
Fifteen mayors signed on to a letter asking the Trump administration to withdraw federal law enforcement officers from Portland, Oregon, and abandon plans to send federal agents to other Democratic-controlled cities.
The letter, which was dated Monday, was signed by the mayors of Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Tucson, Sacramento, Phoenix and Kansas City, Missiouri.
All extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence needs to be withdrawn from American cities @realDonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/kcdZov4FRF
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) July 22, 2020
The letter was addressed to attorney general William Barr and acting secretary of the department of homeland security Chad Wolf, who has defended the use of federal agents to crack down on protests against racism in Portland.
In the letter, the mayors described Trump’s efforts to send federal agents to US ctities without the approval of local leaders as an “abuse of power.”
“These are tactics we expect from authoritarian regimes -- not our democracy,” the mayors wrote.
“The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked a national uprising and reckoning. The majority of the protests have been peaceful and aimed at improving our communities. Where this is not the case, it still does not justify the use of federal forces.
“Unilaterally deploying these paramilitary-type forces into our cities is wholly inconsistent with our system of democracy and our most basic values.”
Trump will deliver remarks this afternoon on “Combatting Violent Crime in American Cities,” which will likely touch on his plans to send federal agents to other cities beyond Portland.
Updated
New York police officers in riot gear cleared the “Occupy City Hall” encampment early this morning, weeks after the encampment of protesters and homeless people first formed to bring attention to the defund the police movement.
Breaking news overnight – the NYPD moved into City Hall Park in riot gear and cleared out the remaining protesters at the encampment who have been there for weeks. Police say 7 people were arrested and taken into custody. @LindsayTuchman pic.twitter.com/hR7nXwhUR3
— Spectrum News NY1 (@NY1) July 22, 2020
The AP reports:
A line of officers with helmets and shields entered City Hall Park shortly before 4am and forced the remaining people who were camped there out. At least seven people were arrested. Charges were pending.
The encampment in City Hall Park started forming last month following weeks of protests sparked by the May death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The Occupy City Hall protest was part of a national ‘defund the police’ movement seeking to redirect funds from policing to community needs like housing and education.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, had resisted calls to move the protesters out of the park that adjoins the historic building where he works.
Defending the raid, de Blasio said at his press conference today that the encampment was becoming “less and less about protests” and “more and more an area where homeless folks are gathering.”
“It was time to take action,” the Democratic mayor said.
Yoho apologizes for 'abrupt manner' after accosting AOC
Republican congressman Ted Yoho just delivered a floor speech to apologize for accosting congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the Capitol steps earlier this week.
“I rise to apologize for the abrupt manner of the conversation I had with my colleague from New York,” the Florida Republican said. “It is true that we disagree on policies and visions for America, but that does not mean we should be disrespectful.”
“I cannot apologize for my passion” — @RepTedYoho’s “apology” to AOC pic.twitter.com/Bh30Phu8zp
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 22, 2020
But Yoho denied calling the well-known, progressive congresswoman “disgusting” and “a fucking bitch,” as a reporter for the Hill overheard the Republican lawmaker say.
“The offensive name-calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues, and if they were construed that way, I apologize for their misunderstanding,” Yoho said.
Yoho then went on to describe how he is “passionate” about fighting for those experiencing poverty, noting he and his wife were once on food stamps. “I know the face of poverty, and for a time, it was mine,” Yoho said.
His insults to Ocasio-Cortez centered on her recent comments about poverty and policing. Ocasio-Cortez said earlier this month, “Crime is a problem of a diseased society, which neglects its marginalized people … policing is not the solution to crime”.
Yoho closed his floor speech by saying, “I cannot apologize for my passion or for loving my God, my family and my country.”
House majority leader Steny Hoyer, who called on Yoho to apologize yesterday, said his remarks were “appropriate,” but Hoyer added, “Let us treat one another with the respect and dignity that one deserves.”
The British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has announced the closing of secret legal loophole that allowed Harry Dunn’s alleged killer Anne Sacoolas to claim diplomatic immunity.
A lawyer for Dunn’s family welcomed the move as a “huge step” in securing the extradition to the UK of Sacoolas to stand trial.
Sacoolas, the wife of a CIA agent who was working at the US intelligence base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire, was allowed to return to the US days after allegedly driving her car on the wrong side of the road on 27 August and crashing into Dunn on his motorcycle.
In a written statement to parliament, Raab said he and US and UK officials had agreed on new arrangements to prevent family members of staff stationed at the base from claiming immunity from prosecution in future, which took effect on Monday.
He said the US base had agreed to provide mandatory driving training to staff and to improve road signage to remind them to drive on the left.
Raab said: “No family should have to experience what they have gone through and I recognise that these changes will not bring Harry back. However, I hope that the knowledge that the Croughton arrangements have been revised and that a family in their position would now see justice done bring some small measure of comfort.”
On Tuesday, Raab had prompted anger from Dunn’s family by greeting the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, in Downing Street.
The House will vote today on removing the bust of former supreme court chief justice Roger Taney, who wrote the infamous 1857 Dred Scott decision that Americans of African descent could not become citizens, from the Capitol building.
“Today will be a historic day in the Congress of the United States and our country,” House majority leader Steny Hoyer said of this afternoon’s vote.
Congresswoman Karen Bass, the chairwoman of the congressional black caucus, described the vote as one way to honor John Lewis, the longtime congressman and civil rights icon who died last week.
“Personally, as a black lawmaker, the presence of these statues represent an acceptance of white supremacy and racism,” Bass said.
If the bill passes, the Taney bust will be replaced with a bust of Thurgood Marshall, who was the first black supreme court justice. The legislation also calls for states replacing any Confederate statues they still have in the Capitol.
The vote comes as lawmakers have pushed to rid the Capitol of symbols of white supremacy in response to the nationwide protests against racism since the police killing of George Floyd in May.
White House officials held a series of discussions over the past two years on the possibility of resuming US nuclear testing, according to the former national security adviser John Bolton.
“Certainly the subject was discussed,” Bolton, a fierce advocate of testing, told the Guardian. However, there was opposition from some in the administration who felt current computer-based testing of US warheads was sufficient, and no decision was made by the time Bolton left the White House last September.
When the prospect of the first US underground nuclear test in nearly three decades came up at a White House meeting in May, it triggered an outcry from arms control advocates and a Democratic amendment to the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, blocking funding for preparations for a test.
Bolton, who has published a memoir on his time in the Trump White House titled The Room Where It Happened, said the issue was discussed in general terms on a number of occasions while he was national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019.
However, the discussions did not become “operational” as his priority had been to take the US out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.
Joe Biden and Barack Obama sat down for a socially distanced conversation, which will be shared tomorrow on the two Democrats’ social media pages.
The Biden campaign released a one-minute teaser of the two leaders’ discussion, which included some harsh criticism of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
44 + 46
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 22, 2020
7.23.20 pic.twitter.com/ZCQ2SazieH
The beginning of the video shows the former president and former vice president arriving, both of them wearing black face masks.
The prominent display of the masks seemed to be an implicit rebuke of Trump, who spent months refusing to endorse masks as a means of limiting the spread of coronavirus. (However, the president strongly urged Americans to wear masks during his briefing yesterday.)
The snippets of conversation shared in the teaser show Obama and Biden criticizing Trump and comparing his leadership to their own.
“Can you imagine standing up when you were president and saying, ‘It’s not my responsibility. I take no responsibility.’ Literally. Literally,” Biden says.
Obama replies, “Those words didn’t come out of our mouths when we were in office.”
Obama also praises Biden’s long career in government. “If you can connect those struggles to somebody else’s struggles, then you’re going to work hard for it. And that’s always what’s motivated you to get into public service,” Obama says in the teaser.
The former president first endorsed Biden in April, and last month, he participated in a fundraiser with his former second-in-command. The event was Biden’s most successful fundraiser to date, with more than $11 million raised.
Updated
Trump admits pandemic will get worse as daily deaths pass 1,000
Deaths due to Covid-19 surpassed 1,000 on Tuesday for the first time in the US since June 2. The seven-day average for the number of deaths in the country has been slowly rising this month, according to multiple data analyses.
At the White House’s renewed coronavirus daily press briefing yesterday, Donald Trump said that the virus “will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better”, an admission in line with what public health experts have been saying for months. Trump still praised the US response to the pandemic, saying it has been “better than most”.
Public health experts like Dr Anthony Fauci have warned for weeks that the US will see the consequences of ending shutdown orders too soon. As states along the south saw surges in new infections, experts said those states will ultimately see an uptick in deaths.
That fear is becoming a reality as deaths in those states reached almost record-highs on Tuesday. Texas saw 131 deaths while Florida and Arizona both saw 134 deaths – the second highest numbers yet seen for the states. Public health officials said that ICU beds in those states are nearly at capacity with a surge in hospitalizations amid the spikes.
Updated
Good morning, live blog readers, and greetings from Washington.
Donald Trump held his first coronavirus briefing in almost three months yesterday, and he acknowledged that the crisis would probably get worse before it improves.
However, the president’s acknowledgement did not appear to include much of a plan on how the country can try to turn around the recent alarming rise in case numbers.
President Trump says the COVID-19 pandemic “will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better -- something I don’t like saying about things, but that’s the way it is.” https://t.co/oq6Izhk4I5 pic.twitter.com/hgxYJcOSF6
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 21, 2020
As of today, the US has confirmed 3,902,233 cases of coronavirus and reported 142,073 deaths from the virus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins.
Meanwhile, public health experts are warning the country’s hospitals could become even more overwhelmed later this year, when flu season begins.
So even though the president has adopted a more somber tone (at least temporarily) about the pandemic, it’s still unclear what he will actually do to turn things around – and the country is running out of time to figure it out.
Trump does not have a coronavirus briefing on his public schedule today -- or any event related to the pandemic for that matter. Here’s what he will be doing instead:
- The president will participate in a ceremonial swearing-in of the director of the Office of Management and Budget at 12.30 pm ET.
- He will then have lunch with the vice-president and receive his intelligence briefing.
- At 3.15 pm ET, Trump will deliver remarks on “Operation Legend: Combatting Violent Crime in American Cities.”
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
