Live reporting on US politics and the coronavirus continues in Saturday’s blog:
Kari Paul here, signing off for the night. Here are the top stories of the evening.
- The White House will not allow the CDC to testify at next week’s hearing of the Committee on Education and Labor about how to safely reopen schools.
- The supreme court voted Friday to expedite a court case compelling Donald Trump to release his tax returns, meaning the next development will come sooner than the standard 25 days.
- The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, characterized the foremost human rights priorities of the Trump administration as the protection of “private property” and “religious freedom” concerning human rights advocates.
- Cloudflare experienced a major outage Friday afternoon causing a number of websites to temporarily go offline.
- Following a year-long investigation US customs and border protection has fired four employees and suspended 38 without pay over their activity in a Facebook group revealed in 2019.
- New reports from the Louisville Courier Journal revealed Breonna Taylor was alive for at least 5 minutes and received no medical attention for 20 minutes after she was shot by police in March.
- A judge on Friday ruled the Trump administration cannot block a California program that caps carbon emissions from the transportation sector.
Have a safe weekend!
Updated
The White House will not allow the CDC to testify at next week’s hearing fo the Committee on Education and Labor about how to safely reopen schools.
Virginia representative Bobby Scott joined other lawmakers Friday in speaking out against the Trump administration’s efforts to block theCDC from appearing before the committee.
“It is alarming that the Trump Administration is preventing the CDC from appearing before the [committee] at a time when its expertise and guidance is so critical to the health and safety of students, parents, and educators,” he said.
The Trump administration has been staunchly anti-fact in its approach to reopen schools, saying Thursday “science should not stand in the way” of schools fully reopening for the upcoming academic year. It appears to also be blocking the CDC from publicly sharing data about the impact of Covid-19, including the availability of hospital beds.
A judge on Friday ruled the Trump administration cannot block a California program that caps carbon emissions from the transportation sector.
The cap and trade program aims to improve air quality and allows California companies to trade emissions credits with companies in Quebec. The administration sued to block it, saying it intrudes on the federal government’s foreign policy authority – particularly its withdrawal from environmental treaty the Paris agreement.
A spokesperson for California Attorney General Xavier Becerra told the Hill the program has existed since 2012 and has “only strengthened from our collaboration with Quebec.”
“California has long been a leader in fighting climate change for the sake of protecting public health, our natural resources, our economy, and indeed our planet,” the spokesperson added.
Federal investigators were skeptical of reports of contact between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence officials early in the Russia investigation, recently declassified documents revealed.
Republican representative Lindsey Graham released documents Friday that add more context to the years-long probe into Russian election interference.
They include a 57-page interview with a source for Christopher Steele, who compiled a controversial research dossier against then-candidate Trump and an annotated version of a related New York Times story.
Graham seems to suggest the documents support the argument the investigation of Trump was politically motivated.
Republicans have repeatedly challenged the Steele dossier and claimed it was a “hit job” funded in part by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. But opponents argue unverified information from that dossier were not included in the investigation.
Breonna Taylor was alive after police shot her inside her apartment in March, new reports stated on Friday.
The Kentucky woman’s death has attracted international attention amidst the growing movement against police violence in recent months.
Taylor was sleeping in her apartment after midnight on 13 March when three police officers fired more than 20 bullets into her apartment, striking her five times.
Police had been serving a no-knock search warrant in a narcotics investigation and mistakenly targeted Taylor’s apartment. The incident has been deemed an accident and none of the officers involved have faced any charges.
In a heartbreaking account published by the Louisville Courier Journal on Friday, Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker said she laid alive on the ground for at least five minutes before dying. Police did not come to help her, Walker said.
The Jefferson County coroner has disputed that Taylor was alive after being shot, saying she “likely died within a minute of being shot and couldn’t have been saved”, according to the Journal.
Official accounts of the incident confirm Taylor received no medical attention for at least 20 minutes after she was shot.
US Customs and Border Protection announced Friday it has fired four employees and suspended 38 without pay due to inappropriate social media activity.
A Los Angeles Times report revealed in 2019 a secret Facebook group called “I’m 10-15” with more than 9,500 members. In it, many posts mocked lawmakers and and shared disrespectful content about migrants, joking about their deaths.
CBP said another 33 employees were disciplined with reprimands or counseling. Of 138 cases investigated, 63 were found unsubstantiated. Six cases remained open to investigation as of Wednesday.
Multiple posts referred to representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and representative Veronica Escobar as “hoes” and one doctored image posted depicted Ocasio-Cortez performing a sex act on Donald Trump.
Escobar, a Texas Democrat, previously said on Twitter that the investigation should have addressed why other group members didn’t report the activity. She said the posts mocked “vulnerable people dehumanized by a broken system” and that Facebook is a “cesspool”.
Updated
A large chunk of the internet was down on Friday afternoon due to problems with internet infrastructure firm Cloudflare’s service.
The outage began around 2.15pm PST and lasted for 25 minutes before some connections were restored. Cloudflare confirmed the outage in a tweet, saying “regions may be experiencing issues with some Cloudflare services” and that it was investigating the issue.
Websites experiencing issues included Discord, Feedly, Politico, Shopify and League of Legends. It appears Google servers may have also been affected.
Updated
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, characterized the foremost human rights priorities of the Trump administration as the protection of “private property” and “religious freedom”.
Human rights groups quickly criticized the implication that human rights exist in a hierarchy, and the suggestion that some are more important than others. The Trump administration’s own human rights record has been under scrutiny for horrific violations, including putting children in cages, responding to peaceful protests with brutality and attacking the free press.
More from the Guardian’s Julian Borger in Washington:
Pompeo, launching a draft report by a Commission on Unalienable Rights he established a year ago, also claimed that a proliferation of human rights asserted by different US and international institutions had the effect of diluting those rights he viewed as the most important.
“Many are worth defending in light of our founding; others aren’t,” Pompeo said at a launch ceremony in Philadelphia. He did not specify which rights he thought were superfluous, but the state department during his tenure has been aggressive in opposing references to reproductive and gender rights in UN and other multilateral documents.
In the report launched on Thursday, the authors – a mix of academics and activists – said they could not agree on the application of human rights standards to issues like “abortion, affirmative action, and capital punishment, to name a few”.
Updated
The supreme court voted Friday to expedite a court case compelling Donald Trump to release his tax returns.
The ruling is the latest development in Trump’s fight against a subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney for eight years of tax returns. Last week the court ruled Trump does not have broad immunity from such a subpoena but that he can still challenge it on other grounds.
The order passed Friday will allow the judgment to be issued more quickly than the standard 25 days. Trump’s lawyer said the team plans to file an amended complaint to raise new challenges to the state grand jury subpoena, a move the district attorney has called “a delay tactic”.
Updated
Hello readers, Kari Paul here on the west coast taking over the blog for the evening. Stay tuned for updates.
Updated
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Kari Paul, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, unveiled the statewide plan for reopening schools. The plan would prevent most of the state’s 10,000 schools from resuming in-person instruction this fall because a majority of counties are included on the Newsom administration’s coronavirus monitoring list, as cases continue to rise in California.
- The US again broke its record for the number of new coronavirus cases reported in one day. The country reported more than 77,000 new cases yesterday, and a poll out this morning indicates Trump is losing support because of the alarming trend. The Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 38% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, down from 46% in May and 51% in March.
- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been receiving treatment for a recurrence of cancer. The 87-year-old justice said she is “encouraged by the success of my current treatment” and intends to remain on the court.
- Trump is reportedly weighing an executive order banning undocumented people from being counted in the 2020 census. Such a policy could prevent areas with high numbers of undocumented residents from getting proper funding and representation in the government. However, it’s unclear how the policy would be implemented, considering the supreme court already blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the census.
- The defense secretary, Mark Esper, effectively banned the display of the Confederate flag at military bases. Esper issued a memo on the display of flags at military bases, which included a list of acceptable flags to display. The Confederate flag was notably omitted from the list.
Kari will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
In his Fox News Sunday interview, Trump reiterated his false claim that the Joe Biden-Bernie Sanders unity document calls for defunding the police.
Fox News anchor Chris Wallace corrected Trump in the interview, which is set to air Sunday. The president responded to Wallace’s correction by demanding that an aide fetch a copy of the document.
The president made a similar claim during his blatantly political speech in the Rose Garden earlier this week.
Trump said on Tuesday, “The Biden-Sanders agenda is the most extreme platform of any major party nominee, by far, in American history. ... They now want to abolish our police departments. They want to abolish our prisons, I guess.”
But Biden has repeatedly said he does not support the movement to defund the police, and Politifact gave Trump’s claim a rating of “Pants on Fire.”
Trump’s interview comes as his campaign seeks to paint Biden as an extreme liberal, but polls show voters view Biden as more of a moderate than the president.
More from the Guardian’s Mario Koran on California’s approach to reopening schools:
New guidance handed down by California creates for the first time a statewide approach to reopening schools as cases across the state continue to surge.
Until now, counties have been allowed a wider degree of discretion in how to move forward, which has created an uneven patchwork of plans.
That was seen this week when the state’s two largest school districts in Los Angeles and San Diego announced they’d open the school year with online classes only. Meanwhile, education officials in Orange county, between the two, recommended that students return to school with in-person instruction, without the use of masks.
The recommendations endorsed by the Orange County officials made the case that masks can lead to anxiety, depression and even learning disabilities — a claim, one doctor told me, that was not backed by any evidence that he was aware of.
An educational consultant told EdSource that governor Gavin Newsom made the decision to support school staff and insulate district officials from angry parents who want schools to reopen for in-person classes. Newsom’s move effectively takes that decision out of the hands of county school officials.
Fox News Sunday has released a teaser of Chris Wallace’s interview with Trump, and it features the president arguing with the news anchor about an easily verifiable fact.
Wallace noted the recent increase in shootings in many cities, and he asked Trump why he thinks such violence is on the rise now.
The president replied, “I explain it very simply by saying they’re Democrat-run cities. They’re liberally run. They’re stupidly run.”
NEW: Chris and President Trump sit down to discuss the recent spike in violence in major cities across the country. Tune in Sunday to catch the full interview. #FoxNewsSunday pic.twitter.com/r7hwgyVhKM
— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) July 17, 2020
Wallace responded by noting that many cities have long been run by Democratic mayors, so that doesn’t explain the recent alarming trend.
“They’ve run them poorly. It was always bad, but now it’s gotten totally out of control,” Trump said. The president then made a false claim about Joe Biden, saying of his election opponent, “It’s really because they want to defund the police, and Biden wants to defund the police.”
“No, sir, he does not,” Wallace interjected.
But Trump stood by his false claim, incorrectly saying that a unity platform endorsed by both Biden and Bernie Sanders embraces calls to defund the police.
In reality, Biden has repeatedly said he does not support the movement to defund the police and has instead called for reforming departments.
When Wallace tried to explain this to Trump, the president responded by ordering an off-screen aide to get him the document. “Let’s go! Get me the charter, please!” Trump says.
So make sure to watch the interview on Sunday because, if that teaser is any indication, it was clearly eventful.
More from the Guardian’s Mario Koran on California’s approach to reopening schools:
California’s plan to reopen schools, new today, includes requirements for personal protective equipment, physical distancing, distance learning and guidance for what should happen if students get sick.
Schools would not be able to reopen for in-person instruction until the counties they’re located in have been off a statewide monitoring list for 14 days, based on stable case rates.
Masks will be required for students in third grade and older; for students in second grade and younger, masks or face shields (which can be less intimidating to youngsters) will be strongly recommended.
Staff must maintain six feet of distance between each other and students, and each day would begin with checks for symptoms. If 5% of students at a school are sick, it would force a school closure.
Distance learning, which saw a disastrous rollout this spring, will also have new requirements: connectivity and devices for all kids, a requirement of daily live interaction with teachers and others students, assignments that are comparable to in-person classwork and lessons adapted for English learners and special education students.
Newsom blocks in-person instruction for most California schools this fall
The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports from California:
California governor Gavin Newsom has released guidelines on the safe reopening of schools, tying reopening plans to county health metrics.
NEW 📍Governor Newsom outlined CA’s #COVID19 Plan for schools:
— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) July 17, 2020
📊Safe in-person school based on local health data
😷Mask requirements
↔️ Physical distancing & other adaptations
🧪Regular testing & dedicated contact tracing
💻Rigorous distance learning
➡️https://t.co/snYe5vmHg6 pic.twitter.com/TvkIe3PH0B
Schools in counties that are on the state’s monitoring lists, as determined by case rates and community spread, will not be allowed to reopen for in-person classes this fall.
With 31 of California’s 58 counties now on the watch list, including the state’s most populous areas, that would mean most of the state’s 10,000 schools would start the school year without in person instruction.
Tensions are reportedly rising within Fox News, as the network attracts more criticism for its coverage of the recent protests against racism and police brutality.
Despite complaints from some of their black colleagues, Fox’s on-air talent has continued to disparage the Black Lives Matter movement and warn America is “under attack.” Host Tucker Carlson’s top writer was also recently forced out over past racist and sexist posts online.
The Daily Beast reports:
Two people familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast that Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch personally approved what Carlson would say in his defensive Monday remarks addressing the exit of his top writer. Despite demands from Fox News executives that he pre-tape the segment and strike a conciliatory tone, Carlson barely sounded apologetic, knowing he had the full backing of the Murdoch heir.
A rep for Murdoch did not respond to a request for comment. But The Daily Beast spoke to more than a dozen Fox News insiders, who all suggested that behind the scenes there is a growing despair among employees about the network’s role in demonizing and spreading fear about Black Americans in particular.
One employee was especially angry, saying, ‘They created a cell—they created a white supremacist cell inside the top cable network in America, the one that directly influences the president… This is rank racism excused by Murdoch.’
The White House appears to have (at least temporarily) suspended its efforts to block Dr Anthony Fauci from appearing on TV.
PBS NewsHour said the infectious disease expert would appear on its 6 pm ET program tonight for an interview with anchor Judy Woodruff.
TONIGHT: @JudyWoodruff interviews Dr. Anthony Fauci on the continued rise of coronavirus cases in the U.S. and what the federal government needs to do now.
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) July 17, 2020
Watch online or on your local @PBS station at 6 p.m. ET. pic.twitter.com/gvjACBMrXI
Fauci has not appeared on any major US television network in more than a month, even though coronavirus cases have surged in dozens of states since then.
According to CNN, Fauci and other high-profile members of the White House coronavirus task force have been unable to secure permission from the administration to appear on television.
In a series of interviews published earlier this week, the Atlantic asked Fauci, “There’s been some reporting that the Trump administration has tried to cut back on your TV interviews. Isn’t it important at this moment for the nation and the world to hear from you?”
Fauci replied, “I can’t make a comment on that, but I think you know what the answer to that is.”
Well, that’s a new one: the Trump campaign now says the lack of boat parades in support of Joe Biden indicate low levels of enthusiasm for the Democratic candidate, who is leading by double digits in a series of national polls released this week.
The Trump campaign now says the lack of boat parades for Biden shows low enthusiasm for the Democrat, who is leading by double digits in recent national polls. pic.twitter.com/ZKV5x8iDQ3
— Joan Greve (@joanegreve) July 17, 2020
The president’s reelection campaign said in a new press release, “President Trump is beating Biden on the most important factor in this campaign: enthusiasm.
“Whether it’s the President’s historic primary voter turnout, his record-setting boat parades, or the thousands of people who turn out to see the President speak, it’s clear President Trump’s voters will run through a brick wall to vote for him.
“Ain’t nobody running through a brick wall to vote for Joe Biden – and he certainly won’t be having a boat parade any time soon.”
The president and some of his allies have gushed over recent pro-Trump boat parades across the country, a few of which have attracted thousands of participants.
However, the enthusiasm of some of the president’s most ardent supporters does not appear to be translating into wider success with the American electorate.
The RealClearPolitics average of recent national polls shows Biden leading Trump by more than 8 points, and surveys of battleground states indicate the president is in danger of losing several states he carried in 2016.
The press release quickly attracted mockery, with the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project sarcastically saying, “How will Biden recover from this.”
How will Biden recover from this. https://t.co/KK3j0W5Q1l
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 17, 2020
Trump weighs executive order banning undocumented people from being counted in census - report
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
The Trump administration is weighing issuing an executive order that would ban undocumented people from being counted in the census, Politico reported Friday.
Such a move, if executed, would be unprecedented and have severe lasting consequences. The US constitution mandates that the government count all “persons” every 10 years, regardless of their immigration status.
The 2020 census is going on right now and the total from that tally is used to determine how $1.5 trillion in federal funds get allocated as well as how electoral districts get drawn for the next decade. Not counting undocumented persons in the census would put areas where they live at a severe disadvantage when it comes to funding and representation.
The White House declined to comment and the Department of Commerce, which oversees the Census Bureau, did not respond to an inquiry.
It’s unclear how exactly the Trump administration could actually exclude undocumented people from the census. None of the 10 questions on the decennial survey, which goes out to every household, asks about citizenship status. The Trump administration had previously attempted to add a question asking about citizenship to the census, but the US supreme court blocked the question last year.
After the supreme court’s decision, Trump issued an executive order instructing the Census Bureau to use existing records from other federal agencies to try and determine citizenship status. Four states have also agreed to provide the Bureau with driver’s license records.
Updated
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention co-wrote an editorial urging Americans to wear masks.
The editorial from Dr Robert Redfield and two other senior CDC officials, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, argues wearing a mask is a “civic duty.”
Wearing a cloth face covering is your civic duty. This is a small sacrifice that can help turn the tide favorably in national and global efforts against #COVID19. https://t.co/We2z27OREZ
— Dr. Robert R. Redfield (@CDCDirector) July 17, 2020
“At this critical juncture when COVID-19 is resurging, broad adoption of cloth face coverings is a civic duty, a small sacrifice reliant on a highly effective low-tech solution that can help turn the tide favorably in national and global efforts against COVID-19,” Redfield and his colleagues wrote.
The CDC director has previously urged Americans, especially younger Americans, to cover their faces in order to limit the spread of the virus.
More than half of US states have issued statewide mask mandates, but a number of states that have recently reported surges in new cases -- including Georgia, Florida and Arizona -- have refused to do so.
More than half of US states have now issued statewide mask requirements to limit the spread of coronavirus, as this NBC News graphic shows.
As of Friday afternoon, more than half the country has issued mask requirements. See if there's a mandate in your state: https://t.co/P1re5nT8Jg (by @savgsm @AnnaLovesTV @d_arkin / graphic by @shallotly & @jiachuanwu) pic.twitter.com/D0Es6p4VHg
— NBC News Graphics (@NBCNewsGraphics) July 17, 2020
Two more governors – Republican Asa Hutchinson in Arkansas and Democrat Jared Polis in Colorado – issued statewide mandates yesterday, as coronavirus cases surge in dozens of states.
However, governors in some of the hardest-hit states are still resisting statewide mask requirements. Georgia, Florida and Arizona – all of which have seen record-high levels of new cases in recent weeks – still do not have statewide mandates.
Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, has also filed a lawsuit against Atlanta’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, over her executive order requiring city residents to wear masks. The Republican governor, who has strongly encourages residents to wear masks, accused the Democratic mayor of overstepping her authority.
Updated
Secret document shows how many states are in 'red zones' for coronavirus
Startling news out of Washington. Up to 18 states are regarded as being in a “red zone” by federal health experts, based on their coronavirus cases, and much of the reopening that is happening in the US is probably going too far and doesn’t include enough measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 such as mask-wearing, social distancing and limiting crowds, especially indoors.
A document prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force but not publicized suggests more than a dozen states should revert to more stringent protective measures, limiting social gatherings to 10 people or fewer, closing bars and gyms and asking residents to wear masks at all times, the DC news nonprofit the Center for Public Integrity has revealed.
The Center obtained the information and further reports:
18 states are in the “red zone” for Covid-19 cases, meaning they had more than 100 new cases per 100,000 population last week. Eleven states are in the “red zone” for test positivity, meaning more than 10 percent of diagnostic test results came back positive.
It includes county-level data and reflects the insistence of the Trump administration that states and counties should take the lead in responding to the coronavirus. The document has been shared within the federal government but does not appear to be posted publicly.
Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said he thought the information and recommendations were mostly good.
“The fact that it’s not public makes no sense to me,” Jha said Thursday. “Why are we hiding this information from the American people? This should be published and updated every day.”
The 18 states that are included in the red zone for cases in the document are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
The 11 states that are in the red zone for test positivity are Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.
As just one high-profile example of a state avoiding mitigation efforts recommended by the task force’s health experts, Georgia appears on both lists, yet governor Brian Kemp is suing Atlanta to stop mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from having a mask mandate for the city.
In May, the World Health Organization recommended that governments make sure test positivity rates were at 5 percent or lower for 14 days before reopening. A Covid-19 tracker from Johns Hopkins University shows that 33 states were above that recommended positivity as of July 16.....
The White House and Kemp did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
Updated
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- The US again broke its record for the number of new coronavirus cases reported in one day. The country reported more than 77,000 new cases yesterday, and a poll out this morning indicates Trump is losing support because of the alarming trend. The Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 38% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, down from 46% in May and 51% in March.
- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been receiving treatment for a recurrence of cancer. The 87-year-old justice said she is “encouraged by the success of my current treatment” and intends to remain on the court.
- Defense secretary Mark Esper effectively banned the display of the Confederate flag at military bases. Esper issued a memo on the display of flags at military bases, which included a list of acceptable flags to display. The Confederate flag is notably omitted from the list.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
As a reminder, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell refused to allow Barack Obama to fill Antonin Scalia’s supreme court seat because the late justice died during an election year.
The Republican leader argued that the winner of the 2016 election, which was still months away, should fill Scalia’s seat, infuriating Democrats.
After winning the election, Trump filled Scalia’s seat with conservative justice Neil Gorsuch.
But when McConnell was asked last year what he would do if a justice died in 2020 before the election, he smiled and replied, “Oh, we’d fill it.”
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has made clear she does not plan to leave the court anytime soon, despite her recurrence of cancer. However, McConnell has already made clear what he would do if she had to step aside.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized earlier this week for treatment of a possible infection, but she said the hospitalization was unrelated to her recurrence of cancer.
Ginsburg was released from the hospital a day after being admitted, but the liberal justice’s health issues have sparked fears among her admirers that she may soon step down from the court.
Conservatives currently have a narrow 5-4 advantage on the supreme court, and if Ginsburg retires, Trump would get the opportunity to fill a third seat.
The news of Ginsburg’s cancer diagnosis will certainly only intensify liberals’ fears, although the 87-year-old justice said she has no intention of stepping down anytime soon.
Ginsburg says she is receiving treatement for cancer recurrance
Supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has announced she is receiving chemotherapy treatment for a recurrence of cancer.
“On May 19, I began a course of chemotherapy (gemcitabine) to treat a recurrence of cancer,” Ginsburg said in a statement released by the court.
“A periodic scan in February followed by a biopsy revealed lesions on my liver. My recent hospitalizations to remove gall stones and treat an infection were unrelated to this recurrence.
“Immunotherapy first essayed proved unsuccessful. The chemotherapy course, however, is yielding positive results. Satisfied that my treatment course is now clear, I am providing this information.”
Ginsburg said she was “encouraged by the success of my current treatment” and would continue to receive chemotherapy on a biweekly basis.
The 87-year-old justice is a four-time cancer survivor, and she announced in a January interview that she was “cancer free.”
Despite her recent health issues, the liberal justice said she has no intention of stepping down from the court in the near future.
“I have often said I would remain a member of the Court as long as I can do the job full steam,” Ginsburg said in the statement. “I remain fully able to do that.”
Jamaal Bowman (finally) declared primary winner in New York
Progressive challenger Jamaal Bowman has officially been declared the winner of his primary race against longtime congressman Eliot Engel in New York.
The Associated Press called the race this morning, more than three weeks after New York held its primaries.
Bowman was already well ahead of Engel in the initial results, but the AP waited to call the race because of the high number of outstanding absentee ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic.
BREAKING: Jamaal Bowman wins Democratic nomination for U.S. House in New York’s 16th congressional district, defeating 16-term U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel. #APracecall at 11:09 a.m. EDT. #Election2020 #NYprimary https://t.co/n6R7Rw3aYT
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) July 17, 2020
In a statement, Bowman celebrated his win as a victory for the progressive, grassroots support that powered his campaign.
“I’m a Black man who was raised by a single mother in a housing project. That story doesn’t usually end in Congress,” Bowman said. “But today, that 11-year old boy who was beaten by police is about to be your next Representative.”
I’m a Black man who was raised by a single mother in a housing project.
— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) July 17, 2020
That story doesn’t usually end in Congress.
But today, that 11-year old boy who was beaten by police is about to be your next Representative. pic.twitter.com/YIkfSecbXD
He added, “The world has changed. Congress needs to change too. But if we can take on entrenched power and wealthy interests here in Westchester and the Bronx, then we can do it all across this country.”
Bowman’s win is also a key victory for progressives in Congress, who are seeking to expand their ranks with this year’s elections.
Esper effectively bans display of Confederate flags at military bases
Defense secretary Mark Esper has issued a memo on the display of flags at military bases. The memo includes a list of acceptable flags to display at bases, and the Confederate flag is notably omitted from the list.
Today I issued a memorandum to the force on the display of flags at @DeptofDefense facilities. With this change in policy, we will further improve the morale, cohesion, and readiness of the force in defense of our great Nation. pic.twitter.com/YQPc3kxf4V
— Dr. Mark T. Esper (@EsperDoD) July 17, 2020
The memo does not explicitly mention the Confederate flag, but it defines the American flag as the “principal flag we are authorized and encouraged to display.”
“Flags are powerful symbols, particularly in the military community for whom flags embody common mission, common histories, and the special, timeless bond of warriors,” Esper said in the memo.
“The flags we fly must accord with the military imperatives of good order and discipline, treating all our people with dignity and respect, and rejecting divisive symbols.”
The policy change appears to be Esper’s effort to circumvent Trump, who has expressed opposition to changing the names of Army bases named after Confederate military leaders.
Confederate statues and monuments have come under intensified scrutiny in recent weeks, as protests against racism and police brutality have spread across the country.
Last month, the governor of Mississippi signed a law to change the state flag, the last in the country to feature the Confederate flag.
Updated
Barack Obama offered fond remembrances of the Rev CT Vivian, a civil rights activist who worked alongside Dr Martin Luther King and died at the age of 95 earlier today.
“Today, we’ve lost a founder of modern America, a pioneer who shrunk the gap between reality and our constitutional ideals of equality and freedom,” the former president said in a statement.
Some thoughts on the Reverend C.T. Vivian, a pioneer who pulled America closer to our founding ideals and a friend who I will miss greatly. pic.twitter.com/kDsGhU2BF4
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 17, 2020
Obama said Vivian became “a source of wisdom, advice, and strength” to him during his first presidential campaign in 2008. “I will miss him greatly,” Obama said.
The former president closed his statement on a hopeful note, reflecting on the recent nationwide protests against racism and police brutality in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
“I have to imagine that seeing the largest protest movement in history unfold over his final months gave the Reverend a final dose of hope before his long and well-deserved rest,” Obama said.
Trump said on Wednesday that he would soon issue an announcement about steps the federal government will take to rein in “out of control” cities.
The president said he would make an announcement next week “with the attorney general, the FBI and others concerning our cities, because the left-wing group of people that are running our cities are not doing the job that they’re supposed to be doing, and it’s not a very tough job to do if they knew what they were doing.”
Trump specificlaly cited recent protests against racism and police brutality in Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis, before pivoting to discuss the recent gun violence in Chicago.
“We have other cities that are out of control, they’re like war zones,” Trump said. “And if the city isn’t going to straighten it out, if local politicians or in this case, let’s say this for political reasons, they’re all Democrats. They’re liberal left-wing Democrats. And it’s almost like they think this is going to be this way forever.”
A reporter asked if Trump intended to follow through on his Monday comment that the government would enforce change in the cities “even if we have to go in and take over.” The president deflected that question.
Trump’s comments came as Portland activists warned recent incidents involving federal law enforcement officers using unmarked cars to detain peaceful protesters may foreshadow the federal government’s actions in other cities.
The acting secretary of the department of homeland security, Chad Wolf, visited Portland, Oregon, yesterday and offered a hard-line message about cracking down on “violent extremists.”
As Portland activists expressed alarm about federal law enforcement officers using unmarked cars to detain peaceful protesters, Chad said in a tweet, “Our men and women in uniform are patriots. We will never surrender to violent extremists on my watch.”
Here is what I saw in Portland yesterday. pic.twitter.com/B0xvTTYvIj
— Acting Secretary Chad Wolf (@DHS_Wolf) July 17, 2020
Chad also shared photos of his trip to Portland, which showed messages in graffiti, such as “BLM” and “If not us, who? If not now, when?”
Chad defended the actions of federal law enforcement officers in Portland, saying, “These valiant men and women have defended our institutions of justice against violent anarchists for 48 straight days. We will prevail.”
Oregon activists have warned the alarming incidents in Portland may foreshadow the steps Trump will take against other cities that have seen protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
Portland activists raise alarms about federal law enforcement detaining protesters
Activists in Portland, Oregon, are expressing severe alarm about recent incidents involving federal law enforcement officers using unmarked cars to detain peaceful protesters.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reports:
Federal law enforcement officers have been using unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland and detain protesters since at least July 14. Personal accounts and multiple videos posted online show the officers driving up to people, detaining individuals with no explanation of why they are being arrested, and driving off. ...
Federal officers have charged at least 13 people with crimes related to the protests so far, while others have been arrested and released, including Pettibone. They also left one demonstrator hospitalized with skull fractures after shooting him in the face with so-called ‘less lethal’ munitions July 11.
Authorities have said the federal law enforcement officers are there to defend federal property amid the recent protests against racism and police brutality in response to the police killing of George Floyd.
However, OPB notes:
[I]nterviews conducted by OPB show officers are also detaining people on Portland streets who aren’t near federal property, nor is it clear that all of the people being arrested have engaged in criminal activity. [Two demonstrators] said they think they were targeted by federal officers for simply wearing black clothing in the area of the demonstration.
Portland activists have warned the strategy may indicate how the Trump administration plans to crack down on other cities that have seen protests in recent weeks.
“I think Portland is a test case,” Zakir Khan, a spokesman for the Oregon chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Washington Post. “They want to see what they can get away with before launching into other parts of the country.”
Atlanta mayor accuses Kemp of 'putting politics over people' with mask lawsuit
Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Georgia governor Brian Kemp’s lawsuit over the city’s mask mandate shows he is “putting politics over people.”
Speaking to the Today show this morning, Bottoms said, “This filing of a lawsuit is simply bizarre, quite frankly.” The Democratic mayor noted several other Georgia cities have required residents to wear masks, but the lawsuit is aimed at Atlanta and specifically Bottoms.
“This filing of a lawsuit is simply bizarre, quite frankly.” Atlanta Mayor @KeishaBottoms says about Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s lawsuit against her for violating his ban on making face masks mandatory. pic.twitter.com/xULZgJXH7X
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) July 17, 2020
Bottoms added, “I don’t think it happenstance that this lawsuit came the day after Donald Trump visited Atlanta and I pointed out that he was violating city law by not having on a mask at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.”
Kemp has strongly urged Georgians to wear masks, and the Republican governor even launched a statewide tour to encourage residents to cover their faces and take other precautions to limit their risk of contracting coronavirus. But Kemp said Bottoms’ executive order overstepped her authority.
When specifically asked if she believed Kemp was motivated by politics, Bottoms replied, “I absolutely do. He is putting politics over people.”
Mike Pence is visiting Wisconsin today, marking the vice president’s latest in a series of trips to swing states in recent weeks.
According to the Trump campaign, the vice president will visit Ripon, Wisconsin, to deliver “a major address today where he will outline the dangers of socialism and the extreme Sanders-Biden agenda in the birthplace of the Republican Party.”
Trump has similarly sought to paint Joe Biden as an extreme socialist in an effort to tie him to politicians like Bernie Sanders and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
However, the president’s strategy does not seem to be working, likely in part because voters generally view Biden as more of a centrist than Trump.
According to a Politico/Morning Consult survey released earlier this month, only 17% of registered voters consider Biden to be more liberal than most Democrats, and 23% of voters in that poll said they viewed Biden as a moderate, compared to only 9% who said that of Trump.
The Cook Political Report has shifted the ratings of 20 House races in Democrats’ favor, as a series of national polls released this week showed Trump trailing Joe Biden by double digits.
(Here’s a graphic corrected for #WA03) pic.twitter.com/58FyEjkERG
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) July 17, 2020
Cook’s Dave Wasserman has more on the ratings change:
President Trump’s abysmal polling since the pandemic began is seriously jeopardizing down-ballot GOP fortunes. We may be approaching the point at which dozens of House Republicans will need to decide whether to cut the president loose and run on a ‘check and balance’ message, offering voters insurance against congressional Democrats moving too far left under a potential Biden administration. ...
Republicans began the cycle hoping to pick up 18 seats to win the majority back. Now they’re just trying to avoid a repeat of 2008, when they not only lost the presidency but got swamped by Democrats’ money and lost even more House seats after losing 30 seats and control two years earlier. For the first time this cycle, Democrats have at least as good a chance at gaining House seats as Republicans on a net basis.
So even if Trump can somehow manage to hold on to the White House, it’s looking less and less likely that he will be governing with a Republican-controlled Congress, as he did at the start of his first term.
If Democrats can hold on to the House, it will make it much more difficult for Trump to pass any major legislation after winning reelection.
US again breaks daily coronavirus record as Trump approval drops
Good morning, live blog readers. This is Joan Greve in Washington.
Coronavirus cases in the US continue to break records, and a new poll out this morning indicates Donald Trump is losing support as a result of the alarming trend.
According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, 77,255 new cases were reported in the US yesterday, marking the first time the country’s daily caseload has surpassed 70,000.
The US sets another grim record in its coronavirus caseload: 77,255 new cases reported yesterday. pic.twitter.com/VPdcMsAD70
— Joan Greve (@joanegreve) July 17, 2020
Meanwhile, a new poll out this morning shows Trump’s approval rating on his handling of coronavirus continues to deteriorate.
The Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 38% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, down from 46% in May and 51% in March. Disapproval has simultaneously climbed to 60%, up from 53% in May and 45% in March.
Trump is clearly aware he is in trouble, and his decision this week to shuffle his campaign staff shows he is worried about his re-election bid.
But if the president cannot change some minds on how he has responded to the pandemic, he may not have much of a path to victory.
Updated
