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The Independent UK

World

Samuel Lovett, Oliver O'Connell

Trump news – live: White House backpedals on attack on Fauci as president's niece calls on him to resign in first TV interview

President Donald Trump has falsely claimed that “more white people” are dying at the hands of police than Black Americans, further stoking racial tension and divisions in the country.

During a CBS News interview, Mr Trump was asked why Black people were still dying as a result of police brutality, to which he replied: “And so are white people. So are white people. What a terrible question to ask. So are white people. More white people by the way.” Analysis in 2018 found that African Americans are 3.5 times as likely to be killed by police compared to white people.

The president also said that General Michael Flynn would be welcome back at the White House. Flynn has been in the throes of the legal system for three years after being fire for lying to the vice president one month into his role as national security adviser.

The president’s comments were made as the US continues to flounder in its fight against Covid-19. A total of 67,417 new cases were reported on Tuesday, the country's highest single-day jump in cases since the pandemic began.

Follow the latest updates below:

2020-07-15T18:01:36.000Z

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Anti-Trump ad defends Dr Fauci as White House disavows attacks on coronavirus adviser

Bitter animosity against adviser has been emanating from inside Trump administration in recent days

2020-07-15T17:45:28.000Z

President Pence?

Has an incumbent vice president or running mate ever been so front and centre in a political ad before?

2020-07-15T17:27:02.000Z

Abolish

As John T Bennett wrote in his analysis of the Rose Garden press conference, the president said 'abolish' 15 times in 62 minutes.

He followed that up today with a tweet.

2020-07-15T17:08:28.000Z

"Donald Trump is losing. And he knows it."

The Independent's Washington Bureau Chief John T Bennett gives his analysis of the president's "Rose Garden rant".

Mr Trump, after five years of surreal moments, found a way to somehow deliver 62 of the most surreal minutes since he rode that escalator in Trump Tower to announce his candidacy in 2015.

He rambled. He bounced from topic to topic at a pace more scattershot and rapid than usual. Taking notes was virtually impossible as the president's cadence got faster and faster as he leapt from Biden allegation to grievance then to something else.

Analysis: Trump is losing. His Rose Garden rant shows he knows it

President said 'abolish' 15 times in 62 minutes to make hyperbolic claims about Joe Biden's policy proposals

2020-07-15T16:39:02.000Z

Trump protests Iran executions

The tweet was also posted in Persian.

2020-07-15T16:29:28.000Z

Law enforcement meeting remarks

Both the president and Attorney General William Barr addressed the assembled reporters following their law enforcement meeting.

Mr Barr called the MS-13 gang that originated in Central America a "death cult" that violently terrorises people. He says he briefed the president on actions the department of justice will be taking, including seeking the death penalty for an MS-13 gang member.

Said Trump: “They're sick. They're deranged. And we're taking care of it.”

The president also said that he will be having a very “exciting” news conference next week on the cities that he says are “out of control” and “like war zones”.

2020-07-15T16:17:28.000Z

More response on the Navarro op-ed

When the White House pool was called to the Oval Office regarding the law enforcement meeting, reporters asked about the Peter Navarro op-ed criticising Dr Anthony Fauci.

Q: Are you OK with the op-ed Peter Navarro wrote on Dr. Fauci?
Trump: "I get along very well with Dr. Fauci."

Q: Are you OK with the op-ed Peter Navarro wrote?
Trump: "That's Peter Navarro, but I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci."

CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang shed more light on Twitter.

2020-07-15T15:58:28.000Z

More on this morning's law enforcement briefing

From Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere via the pool report:

Today, President Donald J Trump will receive an update on the progress that Department of Justice and United States law enforcement agencies have made in their effort to dismantle, defeat, and destroy MS-13 in the United States. President Trump’s Administration has undertaken serious efforts to bring the violent criminals of MS-13 to justice.

As early as February 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13773 to direct a whole-of-government approach to dismantle transnational criminal organizations and restore safety in American communities. Under the direction of President Trump in October 2017, the Department of Justice designated MS-13 as a priority for their Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces. On August 16, 2019, Attorney General Barr created “Joint Task Force Vulcan” to lead DOJ and US law enforcement agencies in their efforts to destroy the MS-13.

2020-07-15T15:43:11.000Z

One full Scaramucci

According to a report in Intelligencer, Kanye West has dropped his 2020 presidential run.

Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, whose time in that role was famously brief, tweeted: "According to my calculations @kanyewest ’s presidential aspirations lasted one full Scaramucci".

Kanye announced his run on the Fourth of July.

Kanye West 'drops out' of 2020 presidential race

‘He’s out,’ member of West’s campaign team alleges

2020-07-15T15:26:11.000Z

Today's schedule

Today the president will receive a law enforcement briefing at 11am in the Oval Office, before departing the White House from the South Lawn in Marine One at 1pm.

He will fly Air Force One to Atlanta, arriving just before 3pm to will deliver remarks at the UPS Hapeville Airport Hub — 'Rebuilding America's Infrastructure: Faster, Better, Stronger'.

A fleeting visit, the president will depart Atlanta at 4.25pm, arriving back on the South Lawn of the White House at 6.15pm.

2020-07-15T15:07:11.000Z

Mitch McConnell says he has "total" faith in Dr Fauci

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is in Shelby County, Kentucky, today, discussing the next stimulus package and urging people to wear masks.

Asked about his level of faith in Dr Anthony Fauci, he responded: "Total".

2020-07-15T14:48:43.000Z

At least one other Trump was watching the Mary Trump interview

2020-07-15T14:32:43.000Z

Mary Trump speaks

We covered the some of the most startling excerpts from the Mary Trump book Too Much and Never Enough when they were released ahead of publication, but following a court ruling that Donald Trump's niece could promote her book in person, she made her first television appearance this morning.

Speaking to George Stephanopoulos on ABC's Good Morning America, Ms Trump, a clinical psychologist, was candid in her assessment of the president.

“He is utterly incapable of leading this country, and it’s dangerous to allow him to do so.”

She labelled the family as "dysfunctional" and her grandfather, Fred, as a "sociopath", who turned his children and wife into "pawns to be used to his own ends".

The book says that this relationship explains much of her uncle's behaviour today.

The White House has said that book is full of "falsehoods" and "absurd allegations".

2020-07-15T14:17:43.000Z

Ivanka tweets support for Goya, may have violated ethics law

First daughter and presidential adviser Ivanka Trump tweeted her support for Goya Foods late on Tuesday as the company faced a boycott after the CEO voiced his support for Donald Trump.

Unfortunately for Ivanka, the tweet may have violated federal ethics laws which state that "an employee's position or title should not be used to coerce; to endorse any product, service or enterprise; or to give the appearance of governmental sanction".

Indeed, Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, laid out how it broke the rules in an extensive Twitter thread.

The Goya tweet has also reminded people of the time Kellyanne Conway promoted Ivanka's clothing line in a 2017 appearance on Fox News. Ms Conway was warned that she may have violated federal laws, but it was argued she had done so "inadvertently".

2020-07-15T13:58:43.000Z

Trump would welcome Flynn back to White House

While retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn was on national security adviser for the first month of the Trump administration before being fired for lying to the vice president, Donald Trump told CBS News that he would welcome him back to the White House.

"I would. I think he's a great gentleman," he told CBS News' Catherine Herridge in an interview on Tuesday.

"He's a great — he's been in the military for many, many decades, actually. Highly respected. What General Flynn went through is so unfair."

Mr Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI, but his sentencing was delayed when he agreed to cooperate with the Mueller investigation.

2020-07-15T13:43:43.000Z

John T Bennett, our Washington Bureau Chief, provides a rundown of the president's rambling 52 minute campaign-style speech in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday evening.

Trump turns Hong Kong announcement into campaign-style attack on Joe Biden

President spoke for 52 minutes in Rose Garden before taking a question

Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he signed an executive order ending Hong Kong‘s favoured trading status after a new Chinese law his administration says vastly erodes Hong Kong’s autonomy. But he appeared to use the policy announcement as a mechanism to hammer his 2020 general election foe in yet another surreal scene at the White House under the 45th president, a former reality television host.

He also signed bipartisan legislation slapping sanctions on China over its Hong Kong policy. But the Hong Kong-China policy news was almost immediately obliterated by what happened next.

What transpired in the steamy Rose Garden was a campaign event – paid for by the American taxpayer, not Mr Trump’s political donors via his campaign organisation – as a clearly aggrieved and frustrated president pivoted to hard line rhetoric and appearing to understand the uphill fight he has to win a second term.

2020-07-15T13:24:43.000Z

White House distances itself from Navarro op-ed

The White House appears to be distancing itself from an op-ed by Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro published overnight by USA Today.

In the article, ‘Anthony Fauci has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on’, Mr Navarro lists a number of occasions in the early days of the spread of Covid-19 in which he and Dr Fauci disagreed on policy or advice to the public.

He closes with the line: “So when you ask me whether I listen to Dr. Fauci’s advice, my answer is: only with skepticism and caution.”

This morning Alyssa Farah, White House director of strategic communications, tweeted: “The Peter Navarro op-ed didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes and is the opinion of Peter alone. @realDonaldTrump values the expertise of the medical professionals advising his Administration.”

2020-07-15T12:56:59.150Z

Experimental US vaccine safe and triggers immune response, early results suggest

One of those Trump tweets just mentioned - in which he declares there is "Great News on Vaccines!" - appears to be a reference to a promising US study on an experimental vaccine candidate.

On Tuesday, researchers reported the findings from the first 45 healthy adults who received Moderna Inc’s vaccine candidate in March.

Those early volunteers developed neutralising antibodies – which are key to blocking infection – at levels comparable to those found in people who survived Covid-19, the research team reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Zoe Tidman has more on this story:

US coronavirus vaccine is safe and triggers immune response, early results show

2020-07-15T12:44:15.460Z

Trump begins day with flurry of tweets

The president has logged on. Donald Trump has begun the day with a scattergun flurry of tweets about Joe Biden, Goya Foods, his approval rating in the Republican party, Fox News, vaccines and the New York Times.

2020-07-15T12:08:00.370Z

UK acting like 'junior partner' of US, says China

China's ambassador to the UK has accused Britain of behaving like a "junior partner" of the United States over the decision to ban Huawei from its 5G network.

Liu Xiaoming said: "Britain can only be Great Britain when you have an independent foreign policy rather than... [when] you are just a junior partner of the United States.

"Look at what happened with Huawei. Look at what their secretary of state is saying after the decision made by the UK government. Everybody understands what the reason is behind the UK decision.

"[If] the UK wants to build a global Britain, to still exert a global influence, you really have to think deeply what kind of role you are going to play."

Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said yesterday that the UK government's U-turn over Huawei was "welcome news". Donald Trump's administration had piled pressure on Britain over the issue.

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