Evening summary
We’re wrapping up our live US politics coverage for this evening, but you can continue to read our live global coverage on our coronavirus blog.
Some updated key moments from today:
- The White House shockingly claimed the US has been “a leader” in the global fight against coronavirus, as dozens of states report increases in new cases. “I think the world is looking at us as a leader in Covid-19,” press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a White House briefing. The US has struggled to get its number of new infections under control, and the European Union chose not to include the US as a country approved for nonessential travel as it starts to open its borders.
- Bubba Wallace, the only top black driver in Nascar, responded to Trump’s critical tweet about him. “Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE. ... Even when it’s hate from the POTUS,” Wallace said. The message comes after the president suggested Wallace should apologize for raising concerns about a noose discovered in his garage, even though Wallace was not the one who reported the incident.
- Trump also criticized two sports teams preparing to change their names. Many critics have said the two team names for Washington’s football team and Cleveland’s baseball team are offensive to Native Americans, and the teams’ management recently announced they are launching reviews to reconsider the names. Trump opposed the change
- The supreme court ruled states can punish “faithless electors,” members of the electoral college who try to vote for a candidate who did not win their state. The court still has five outstanding cases, including one involving Trump’s financial records.
- A judge ordered the Dakota Access pipeline to be shut down until a more thorough environmental review can be completed. The federal judge’s ruling marks a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, who have been protesting against the pipeline for years.
- Atlanta’s mayor announced she had tested positive for COVID-19, despite not showing any symptoms, and despite precautions, she said.
- Immigrations and Customs Enforcement announced that international students could not enter or remain in the US if they were attending schools whose classes were entirely online in the fall semester, a decision with wide implications both for students and for public and private schools across the country.
- A senior GOP senator said he would not attend the Republican National Convention in Florida this August because of the risk of coronavirus.
- The announcement of criminal charges against the white woman who called the police on a black birdwatcher in Central Park prompted a debate among Americans over whether even the least sympathetic offenders should be subject to the country’s violent criminal justice system.
International students can’t remain in US for online-only college classes
The US government will not allow international students enrolled in schools that are fully online during the fall semester to enter or stay in the United States, Immigrations and Custom Enforcement announced on Monday.
“Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status,” ICE announced in a statement.
ICE announces that foreign students attending colleges that go online-only either have to transfer to a school offering in-person instruction or leave the country... pic.twitter.com/lB1Y8yMuyX
— Erica L. Green (@EricaLG) July 6, 2020
The announcement has much broad implications for students and for American colleges and universities themselves, which often depend on tuition paid by international students to help subsidize the education of American students, as New York Times reporter Caitlin Dickerson noted.
Bad news for families that sacrificed for their kids to be educated in the US. This Spring, I interviewed some who sold homes and skipped meals to pay tuition. International students pay top dollar, which can help subsidize schooling for Americans. https://t.co/VtTjBTLbT9 https://t.co/NMEIEPZqum
— Caitlin Dickerson (@itscaitlinhd) July 6, 2020
Some observers suggested the announcement might be a way for the Trump administration to pressure schools to remain open classes, or at least partially open, during the fall semester.
trump administration is trying to force schools to open in the fall by threatening the removal of international students https://t.co/SDsn5Hhh9J
— Kevin Lee (@justkevworks) July 6, 2020
Updated
Should Amy Cooper be criminally charged?
Amy Cooper, the white woman who called the police on a black birdwatcher in New York’s Central Park today, has been criminally charged with with filing a false report, a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.
The announcement of criminal charges against Cooper, who had already been fired by her employer for what was widely condemned as a racist, dangerous act, has sparked debate. It comes at a moment when nationwide protests against police violence have prompted many more Americans to think more seriously about the value of supporting the complete abolition of police and prisons, even for the least sympathetic offenders.
For abolitionists and potential abolitionists, the charges against Cooper present a useful, and challenging, test case, Josie Duffy Rice, a former lawyer and the president of The Appeal, a news site that covers the impact of the legal system on vulnerable people, wrote on Twitter.
amy cooper did something horrible, I believe she is a racist, and I believe she should face consequences for what she did. I do not believe those consequences should be criminal charges, because I do not think this system has the legitimacy or value to address her wrongdoing.
— josie duffy rice (@jduffyrice) July 6, 2020
We all believe that the racist NYPD would have potentially killed Christian Cooper had they shown up in time. And yet we still look to them for justice. I don’t trust that system. Ever. Why do we believe this racist, violent system can be the solution to racism and violence?
— josie duffy rice (@jduffyrice) July 6, 2020
Black and Latino neighborhoods struggle with testing disparities
While people nationwide complain about appointments being overbooked or waiting hours to be seen, getting a coronavirus test can be even harder in America’s poorer, Hispanic and Black neighborhoods, far from middle-class areas where most chain pharmacies and urgent care clinics offering tests are found, the Associated Press reports.
Among the troubling examples the Associated Press found:
- In Arizona, the free drive-up testing June 27 drew nearly 1,000 people and was just the second big event of its kind in the heavily Latino neighborhood of Maryvale. The first event, held June 20, drew criticism when much larger crowds than expected showed up, and some people waited for as long as 13 hours
- When Florida officials were slow to roll out testing in the migrant community of Immokalee, the nonprofit Coalition of Immokalee Workers called on the international aid group Doctors Without Borders for help.
Sen. Chuck Grassley will skip GOP convention because of coronavirus
For the first time in 40 years, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley will not attend the Republican National Convention, citing his concerns about coronavirus, the Des Moines Register reported.
“I’m not going to go because of the virus situation,” the 86-year-old told reporters.
Trump is scheduled to be officially nominated as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate at a convention in Jacksonville, Florida on August 24 - 27.
California did compliance checks at 6,000+ bars and restaurants
California is ramping up enforcement actions across as coronavirus case numbers, hospitalizations and admissions to ICUs continue to climb, governor Gavin Newsom said Monday.
Officials from the Alcohol and Beverage Control have paid more than 6,000 in-person visits to bars and restaurants to check if they’re complying with safety protocols; 441,000 businesses have been contacted, with most correcting deficiencies on the spot, Newsom said in a press conference.
A survivor of violence on how she became a police abolitionist
Derecka Purnell, a lawyer and Guardian columnist, has a in-depth piece out today on her journey to becoming an abolitionist.
“When people dismiss abolitionists for not caring about victims or safety, they tend to forget that we are those victims, those survivors of violence,” Purnell writes.
“‘Police abolition’ initially repulsed me. The idea seemed white and utopic. I’d seen too much sexual violence and buried too many friends to consider getting rid of police in St. Louis, let alone the nation.”
But Michael Brown’s killing marked a turning point for her.
Atlanta mayor tests postive for COVID-19
Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has tested positive for coronavirus, but has no symptoms, she tweeted on Monday evening.
COVID-19 has literally hit home. I have had NO symptoms and have tested positive.
— Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) July 6, 2020
Bottoms has been publicly discussed as a potential vice presidential running mate for Democrat Joe Biden. Just this weekend, she was dealing with the aftermath of the shooting death of an eight-year-old girl over the Fourth of July weekend.
“We’ve taken all of the precautions that you can possibly take ... I have no idea where and when we were exposed,” the mayor told MSNBC.
Keisha Lance Bottoms on testing positive for COVID: "It leaves me for a loss of words, because I think it really speaks to how contagious this virus is. And we've taken all of the precautions that you can possibly take ... I have no idea where and when we were exposed." @MSNBC
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 6, 2020
Updated
In California, patients travel hundreds of miles for care as cases rise
With the exception of a few “bad actors,” governor Gavin Newsom thanked California residents for largely complying with orders to wear masks and physically distance over the holiday weekend.
But the overall numbers are not good: as of Monday, California public health officials are monitoring 23 of the state’s 58 counties, up from 19 countries on Thursday — regions whose infections and surge capacity have health officials worried.
That includes rural and dust-swept Imperial County, where a surge is bursting hospital capacity. In recent weeks, some officials have had to move out some 500 patients to neighboring counties with more capacity, transporting them as far away as the Bay area, 500 miles north.
As of 4 July, there have been 260,155 positive cases and 6,331 deaths attributed to the coronavirus in California. More than 5,400 new cases were added over the weekend, according to public health data.
Hospitalizations have risen 50% in the last 7 days, Newsom said. While the state is averaging north of 100,000 tests a day, the positivity rate is also climbing. Two weeks ago the positivity rate was 4.9%. The seven-day average now tops 7%.
Despite red-flag numbers, Newsom said many counties could safely continue plans to reopen, so long as efforts are paired with guidelines and enforcement.
Updated
Axios: Trump is treating the election ‘like a race war’
“The ugly reality of this election is that in some instances it’s going to look like a race war,” Axios chief political correspondent Jonathan Swan said in a podcast interview today.
Many other journalists have been referring euphemistically to Trump and Fox News Host Tucker Carlson’s “culture war” rhetoric, but Swan put it more bluntly.
“The battlegrounds are President Trump pitting himself against the Black Lives Matter racial justice movement,” Swan said. “It’s really that simple.”
Listen to the full interview here, and read the accompanying piece looking at the parallels between Trump and Tucker Carlson’s election rhetoric.
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- The White House shockingly claimed the US has been “a leader” in the global fight against coronavirus, as dozens of states report increases in new cases. “I think the world is looking at us as a leader in Covid-19,” press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a White House briefing. The US has struggled to get its number of new infections under control, and the European Union chose not to include the US as a country approved for nonessential travel as it starts to open its borders.
- Bubba Wallace, the only top black driver in Nascar, responded to Trump’s critical tweet about him. “Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE. ... Even when it’s hate from the POTUS,” Wallace said. The message comes after the president suggested Wallace should apologize for raising concerns about a noose discovered in his garage, even though Wallace was not the one who reported the incident.
- Trump waded further into culture war issues by criticizing two sports teams preparing to change their names. Many critics have said the two team names for Washington’s football team and Cleveland’s baseball team are offensive to Native Americans, and the teams’ management recently announced they are launching reviews to reconsider the names.
- The supreme court ruled states can punish “faithless electors,” members of the electoral college who try to vote for a candidate who did not win their state. The court still has five outstanding cases, including one involving Trump’s financial records.
- A judge ordered the Dakota Access pipeline to be shut down until a more thorough environmental review can be completed. The federal judge’s ruling marks a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, who have been protesting against the pipeline for years.
Lois will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Nascar issued a statement in support of Bubba Wallace, the black driver who was criticized in a tweet from the president this morning.
#WeStandWithBubba https://t.co/Jhg3SPycGT
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 6, 2020
“We are proud to have Bubba Wallace in the NASCAR family and we commend his courage and leadership,” the statement reads.
“NASCAR continues to stand tall with Bubba, our competitors and everyone who makes our sport welcoming and inclusive for all racing fans.”
In his tweet, Trump also criticized Nascar for banning the Confederate flag at its races. During her briefing today, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dodged questions about the tweet and refused to take a stance on displaying the Confederate flag.
Echoing her closing comments during the White House briefing, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany shamed journalists for not asking questions about recent increases in gun violence.
Multiple shootings in multiple Democrat-run cities such as New York and Chicago. Tragic loss of life.
— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) July 6, 2020
But not one question during the briefing... pic.twitter.com/krdPbmyr1w
However, one journalist present for the briefing noted that several of those in the room were not allowed to ask questions before McEnany wrapped up the briefing after about 22 minutes.
Several of us in the room, who had not been able to ask questions, still had our hands patiently raised when the briefing ended at the 22-minute mark. https://t.co/TvXAl3bwrJ
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) July 6, 2020
Journalists pressed McEnany on Trump’s comments criticizing Nascar for banning the Confederate flag at its races, but she repeatedly dodged those questions and refused to take a stance on the issue.
Trump is still tweeting away, now insisting schools must reopen in the fall, despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus once in-person classes resume.
“SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!” the president tweeted moments ago.
SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020
Trump is holding an event at the White House tomorrow on reopening schools, where he will likely trumpet this message again.
However, the administration has been hesitant to offer guidelines on schools reopening, and it’s unclear whether Congress would allocate additional funds to help schools resume in-person instruction.
Harvard University also announced earlier today that it would hold all classes online for the next academic year.
Wallace responds to Trump's critical tweet
Nascar driver Bubba Wallace has responded to Trump’s tweet suggesting he should apologize after a noose was found in his garage.
Wallace, the only top black driver in Nascar, addressed his response “to the next generation and little ones following my foot steps.”
To the next generation and little ones following my foot steps..#LoveWins pic.twitter.com/tVaV3pkdLe
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) July 6, 2020
Wallace urged those looking to him as an example to “keep your head held high and walk proudly on the path you have chosen.”
Wallace concluded the message, “Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE. ... Even when it’s hate from the POTUS.”
Trump tweeted this morning, “Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!”
However, Wallace was not the one to report the incident, and a photo of the door pull rope clearly showed it resembled a noose, although the FBI concluded the rope was there before Wallace was assigned to the garage.
It’s worth noting that Trump criticized Barack Obama in 2013 after the then-president suggested Washington’s football team should change its name.
“President should not be telling the Washington Redskins to change their name-our country has far bigger problems! FOCUS on them,not nonsense,” Trump tweeted at the time.
President should not be telling the Washington Redskins to change their name-our country has far bigger problems! FOCUS on them,not nonsense
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2013
However, now that he is a president dealing with a global pandemic and nationwide protests against police brutality, Trump apparently does consider the name of Washington’s football team to be a presidential matter.
Trump criticizes sports teams for changing their names
The president has now weighed in on the decision by two sports teams to undergo reviews to change their widely criticized names.
“They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct,” Trump said in a tweet. “Indians, like Elizabeth Warren, must be very angry right now!”
They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct. Indians, like Elizabeth Warren, must be very angry right now!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020
The two franchises, particularly Washington’s football team, have long faced calls to change their names, with many critics arguing the current names are offensive to Native Americans.
The Washington team’s management has previously refused to consider a name change, but the national reckoning over racism since the police killing of George Floyd seems to have inspired a shift in opinion.
Trump’s tweet comes hours after he criticized Nascar for banning Confederate flags at its races and suggested black Nascar driver Bubba Wallace should apologize for a noose being found in his garage.
The white woman who called the police on a black man bird-watching in Central Park will face a misdemeanor charge, the Manhattan district attorney announced.
“Today our Office initiated a prosecution of Amy Cooper for Falsely Reporting an Incident in the Third Degree,” Manhattan DA Cy Vance said in a new statement. “We are strongly committed to holding perpetrators of this conduct accountable.”
Cooper was fired from her job after footage of her calling the police on Christian Cooper (no relation) went viral in late May.
Christian Cooper said the confrontation began when he asked Amy Cooper to put a leash on her dog, as is required in the section of Central Park known as the Ramble.
Amy Cooper then accused Christian Cooper of threatening her, even though the man is mostly silent in the video.
“I’m taking a picture and calling the cops,” Amy Cooper says in the video. “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.”
The video prompted outcry and was cited as one of many examples of white Americans using the police to target African Americans who are peacefully going about their lives.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has concluded her briefing, during which she was repeatedly pressed on Trump’s comments about Nascar and the Confederate flag.
McEnany ended the briefing with one of her “scripted walk-offs,” which have become a standard feature of her appearances at the podium.
The press secretary accused journalists of failing to ask questions about the most important issues of the day, such as New York shootings increasing in recent weeks.
Of course, the reason why journalists asked so many questions about Nascar and the Confederate flag is because that’s what the president was tweeting about this morning, as dozens of states grapple with a surge in new cases of coronavirus.
Updated
McEnany claims US is 'a leader' in coronavirus fight despite rise in many states
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany shockingly claimed that foreign leaders consider America to be a leader in the fight against coronavirus.
“I think the world is looking at us as a leader in Covid-19,” McEnany said during the White House briefing.
In reality, the US has failed to lower the number of new infections, and the spread of coronavirus is on the rise in dozens of states.
The European Union also declined to include the US on a list of approved countries for nonessential travel as the EU starts to open its borders.
Updated
White House refuses to take stance on Confederate flag
White House reporters continue to press Kayleigh McEnany on the meaning of Trump’s tweet this morning about Nascar driver Bubba Wallace and the decision to ban Confederate flags at races.
One reporter asked the press secretary why the president would not praise Nascar’s decision to ban Confederate flags.
McEnany replied that Trump was against demonizing American citizens. “He stands against the demonization of Americans, and he stands firmly on the side of preserving our history,” McEnany said.
The press secretary claimed Trump “has not given an opinion one way or another” on flying the Confederate flag.
Updated
The first question of the White House briefing was unsurprisingly about the president’s tweet this morning, which criticized Nascar driver Bubba Wallace and the decision to ban Confederate flags at Nascar races.
Asked why Trump supports flying the Confederate flag, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany replied, “The president never said that.”
McEnany then went on to emphasize that the FBI concluded the Bubba Wallace incident was not a hate crime, but she avoided engaging with Trump’s own words about Nascar’s decision on the Confederate flag.
Trump specifically tweeted this morning, “Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!”
Pressed on the president’s thoughts about flying the Confederate flag, McEnany said Trump “was not making a judgment one way or the other.”
McEnany holds White House briefing
Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany is now holding a briefing in the White House briefing room.
McEnany opened the briefing by describing Trump’s July 4 speeches as “unifying,” claiming tjhey attracted “widespread praise.”
In reality, Trump’s speech in South Dakota this weekend was widely criticized for its divisive rhetoric.
Many commentators argued the president delivered a controversial, campaign-style speech a day before the holiday celebrating American independence.
Updated
Harvard will hold all classes online for the next academic year, as universities struggle with how to resume operations amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ivy League university said it would welcome up to 40% of undergraduates on campus, but those students would take their classes online along with their classmates.
Harvard will welcome up to 40% of undergraduates on campus for the fall semester, including first-year students and those who need to be on campus to learn https://t.co/mcNberGtiF
— Harvard University (@Harvard) July 6, 2020
But Harvard is not offering any discount on tuition as classes move entirely online. In comparison, Princeton University said it would cut tuition by 10% to reflect the shifting classroom experience.
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Trump was criticized for suggesting Nascar driver Bubba Wallace should apologize for raising concerns about a noose found in his garage. The president said that the incident was a “hoax,” although a picture released of the door pull in Wallace’s garage clearly resembled a noose. Trump also criticized Nascar for banning Confederate flags at its races.
- The supreme court ruled states can punish “faithless electors,” members of the electoral college who try to vote for candidate who did not win their state. The court still has five outstanding cases, including one involving Trump’s financial records.
- A judge ordered the Dakota Access pipeline to be shut down until a more thorough environmental review can be completed. The federal judge’s ruling marks a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, who have been protesting against the pipeline for years.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Judge orders Dakota Access pipeline shut down
A federal judge has ordered the controversial Dakota Access pipeline to be shut down until a more thorough environmental review can be completed.
The AP reports:
US district judge James Boasberg said previously the pipeline, which has been in operation three years, remains “highly controversial” under federal environmental law, and a more extensive review was necessary than the environmental assessment that was done by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
In a 24-page order Monday, Boasberg wrote that he was ‘mindful of the disruption such a shutdown will cause’, but said he had concluded that the pipeline must be shut down.
‘Clear precedent favoring vacatur during such a remand coupled with the seriousness of the Corps’ deficiencies outweighs the negative effects of halting the oil flow for the 13 months that the Corps believes the creation of an EIS will take,’ Boasberg wrote.
The ruling marks a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, who have been protesting against the pipeline for years, and a defeat for Trump, who pushed for speedier construction of the pipeline shortly after taking office.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s closest Senate allies, pushed back against the president’s tweet about Nascar driver Bubba Wallace.
“...they all rallied to Bubba's side, so I would be looking to celebrate that kind of attitude more than being worried about it being a hoax."
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 6, 2020
“Well, I don’t think Bubba Wallace has anything to apologize for,” Graham said. “When there was a chance that it was a threat against Bubba Wallace ... they all rallied to Bubba’s side, so I would be looking to celebrate that kind of attitude more than being worried about it being a hoax.”
Graham also said he did not agree with Trump’s criticism of Nascar’s decision to ban Confederate flags at its races.
“They’re trying to grow the sport,” Graham said. “I’ve lived in South Carolina all my life, and if you’re in business, the Confederate flag is not a good way to grow your business.”
Updated
Miami-Dade county mayor orders more businesses to close
The mayor of Miami-Dade county is signing an emergency order to close more businesses again as Florida grapples with a surge in new cases of coronavirus.
With the percentage of COVID-19 positive cases growing and an uptick in hospitalizations in Miami-Dade County, I'm continuing to roll back business openings. This will affect restaurants (except for takeout & delivery service), gyms and more: https://t.co/6fcqiYn1Qw @MiamiDadeEM
— Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez (@MayorGimenez) July 6, 2020
“I am signing an emergency order that will close restaurants (except for takeout and delivery services), along with ballrooms, banquet facilities, party venues, gyms and fitness centers, and short-term rentals,” mayor Carlos Gimenez said in a statement announcing the order.
“We can tamp down the spread if everyone follows the rules, wears masks and stays at least six feet apart from others. I am counting on you, our 2.8 million residents, to stop the spread so that we can get back to opening our economy.”
The Republican mayor announced the order, which will go into effect starting Wednesday, as the state reported more than 6,000 new cases of coronavirus in the past day. The state’s total number of cases has now surpassed 200,000.
Simon & Schuster announced it is pushing up the publication date of Mary Trump’s book by two weeks, citing “high demand and extraordinary interest.”
The book from the president’s niece was originally set to be published July 28, but it will now be released next Tuesday, July 14.
Simon & Schuster just published the back cover of the book – Trump's niece Mary writes, "Today, Donald is much as he was at three years old: incapable of growing, learning, or evolving, unable to regulate his emotions, moderate his responses, or take in & synthesize information." pic.twitter.com/9pTVJmT1c0
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 6, 2020
On the newly released back cover of the book, Trump accuses her uncle of being “incapable of growing, learning, or evolving.”
Trump’s publisher has previously said the book will explore “a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse” that contributed to the creation of “one of the world’s most powerful and dysfunctional families.”
Last week, a judge in New York granted a temporary restraining order against Trump as her family seeks to block the book’s publication, but Simon & Schuster was released from the order, indicating the book will be published regardless.
Another Nascar driver, Tyler Reddick, criticized Trump after the president suggested Bubba Wallace should apologize for raising concerns about a suspected noose found in his garage.
In his tweet this morning, Trump also criticized Nascar for banning Confederate flags from their races.
We don’t need an apology. We did what was right and we will do just fine without your support. https://t.co/1iboOu4vTk pic.twitter.com/Dj5dz01VR2
— Tyler Reddick (@TylerReddick) July 6, 2020
“We don’t need an apology,” Reddick said in response to Trump. “We did what was right and we will do just fine without your support.”
White House press secrtary Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump’s tweet about Bubba Wallace, which criticized the black Nascar driver for raising concerns about a suspected noose found in his garage before a race.
McEnany said the president’s tweet was making “a broader point that this rush to judgment on the facts before the facts are out is not acceptable.”
Trump's making "a broader point that this rush to judgment on the facts before the facts are out is not acceptable. And we saw it with the Covington kids and we saw with Jussie Smollett and now we saw it in this case," Kayleigh McEnany on Trump claim of Bubba Wallace "hoax." pic.twitter.com/zRo3IoACEt
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 6, 2020
The press secretary compared the Nascar incident to actor Jussie Smollett’s false police report about being the victim of racist and homophobic violence.
Of course, the two events seem dramatically different, especially considering it was Nascar’s president who reported the noose, not Wallace.
The FBI concluded the noose was a garage door pull that had been in the garage since before it was assigned to Wallace, but a photo of the rope showed it greatly resembled a noose, and Nascar said no other garage had a door pull tied in that manner.
Nascar president Steve Phelps said after the photo was released, “As you can see from the photo, the noose was real, as was our concern for Bubba. Based on the evidence we had, we thought our drivers – that one of our drivers had been threatened, a driver who had been extremely courageous in recent words and actions. It’s our responsibility to react and investigate, and that’s exactly what we did.”
It looks like we will have to wait at least another day to hear the supreme court’s decision on Trump’s financial records.
The court is done issuing rulings for the day and has not yet provided an update on when its next opinion day will be.
There are still five cases left for the court to decide, which means there will likely be one or maybe two more opinion days.
Supreme court rules states may require electors to side with voters
The supreme court has issued its ruling on so-called “faithless electors,” members of the electoral college who try to vote for a presidential candidate who did not win their state.
In a unanimous decision wrtten by justice Elena Kagan, the court said, “We now affirm the Washington Supreme Court’s judgment that a State may enforce its pledge law against an elector.”
The ruling will allow states to punish electors who do not support the winning candidate in their state, likely bringing an end to faithless electors.
The supreme court will soon start issuing today’s decisions, marking the first time in 24 years that the court has issued opinions in July.
The Supreme Court begins what *might* be its final week with decisions at 10. You know what's left: religious cases, Trump financial records, faithless electors, etc. Will be the first opinions issued in July since 1996, if that matters to you
— Robert Barnes (@scotusreporter) July 6, 2020
Congressional Democrats and prosecutors in New York are waiting to see if the court will rule on allowing them access to Trump’s financial records.
The Democratic lawmakers and the prosecutors have issued subpoenas for the records in connection to investigations of the president and his businesses, but Trump has repeatedly blocked them from receiving the documents.
Updated
This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Martin Belam.
Trump’s tweet attacking Bubba Wallace, Nascar’s only top black driver, also overlooks the fact that it was not Wallace who discovered and reported the pull rope resembling a noose.
From @BubbaWallace on June 24 “I want to say how relieved I am the investigation revealed this wasn’t what we feared it was. I want to thank NASCAR & the FBI for acting swiftly & treating this as a real threat. We’ll gladly take a little embarrassment over the alternatives”
— Dianne Gallagher (@DianneG) July 6, 2020
Congress is not in session this week, which means Republican lawmakers will likely be able to avoid questions about whether they agree with Trump that Nascar was wrong to ban the Confederate flag from its races.
Trump attacks Bubba Wallace on Twitter over Nascar noose
Donald Trump has just launched an attack on Nascar driver Bubba Wallace, that is breathtaking even by the president’s usual standards.
While seeming to complain about Nascar’s decision to ban the Confederate flag, and criticising the sports’ TV ratings, Trump is asking if Wallace has apologised after a noose found in his garage sparked an investigation.
Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020
An FBI investigation into the incident concluded that what had been reported as a noose was a garage door pull, that had been there some time before the garage was assigned to Wallace.
However, Nascar released a photograph of the noose, and said their checks showed that out of 1,684 garage stalls at 29 tracks, only 11 had a garage door pull-down rope tied in a knot. The only one fashioned in a noose was the one discovered by a crew member in Wallace’s No43 garage stall.
President Steve Phelps said: “As you can see from the photo, the noose was real, as was our concern for Bubba. Based on the evidence we had, we thought our drivers – that one of our drivers had been threatened, a driver who had been extremely courageous in recent words and actions. It’s our responsibility to react and investigate, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Updated
Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has pleaded for an end to violence in the city, after a weekend which saw the deadly shooting of a young girl. A $10,000 reward for information has been offered as authorities searched for at least two people who opened fire on the car she was riding in.
The victim, identified on Saturday night as Secoriea Turner, was just 8 years old. “You shot and killed a baby,” the mayor said. “And there wasn’t just one shooter, there were at least two shooters.”
Authorities said Secoriea was in the car with her mother and another adult when the driver attempted to drive through illegally placed barricades to get to a parking lot in the area Saturday night. A group of armed individuals had blocked the entrance.
Police said in a statement that someone in the group opened fire on the vehicle, striking it multiple times and striking the child. The driver took Secoriea to Atlanta Medical Center but she did not survive.
The incident took place near to where Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed by police, which had become a focus for Black Lives Matter protesters. Bottoms appealed directly to them over the violence, saying:
If you want people to take us seriously, and you don’t want us to lose this movement, then we can’t lose each other in this. There are peaceful demonstrators across this city and across this country, and I applaud them and I thank them for being peaceful and for honoring the lives of so many people who have been killed in America because of injustice. But this random wild, wild West, shoot ‘em up because you can, it has got to stop. It has to stop.
“An 8-year-old girl was killed last night because her mother was riding down the street,” Bottoms added. “If Secoriea was not safe last night, none of us are safe.”
The mayor said the city’s 911 system was flooded with calls Saturday night. Atlanta police said two other people, in addition to the 8-year-old, were killed and more than 20 people were injured in incidents of gunfire and violence during the long holiday weekend.
Trump claims 'anarchists have no bounds' over Frederick Douglass statue
Donald Trump has weighed straight in as his first tweet of the day on the tearing down of the Frederick Douglass statue in Rochester claiming it shows “these anarchists have no bounds!”
Statue of Frederick Douglass Torn Down in Rochester https://t.co/8iEBxSHm52 via @BreitbartNews. This shows that these anarchists have no bounds!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020
As yet police have established no motive for the removal of the statue - and there was no graffiti nearby which might point in any direction.
The statue was removed by vandals on the weekend of the anniversary of one of the most famous Douglass speeches, in which he said:
What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes that would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.
Lauren Aratani has been reporting for us in New York on the economic impact of Covid-19 on Gen Z, many of whom are at the formative years of trying to start careers and adult lives, just as the economy has been shattered by the pandemic.
The unemployment rate for teens ages 16 to 19 peaked at 31% in April, more than double the national rate of 14.7%. College graduates who only months ago were on track to enter one of the best job markets in US history have instead landed in one of the worst. A slate of summer internships and jobs have been cancelled and they are worried about their parents struggling to pay bills.
Lauren has spoken to people hoping for internships, new job prospects, or looking to enter college, about how the coronavirus shutdown has impacted their plans.
Read it here: Why the Covid-19 financial crisis will leave lasting scars on Gen Z
With so much focus on the coronavirus outbreak at home, it is sometime easy to forget that geopolitics is going on. There’s a reminder today for the Trump administration, after China opted to again criticise US military actions in the South China Sea.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said joint exercises involving two US aircraft carrier groups in the strategic waterway were performed totally out of ulterior motives and undermined stability in the area.
“Against such a backdrop, the US deliberately dispatched massive forces to conduct large-scale military exercises in the relevant waters of the South China Sea to flex its military muscle,” Zhao said at a daily briefing.
The US Navy said over the weekend that the USS Nimitz and the USS Ronald Reagan, along with their accompanying vessels and aircraft, conducted exercises.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea and routinely objects to any action by the US military in the region. Five other governments claim all or part of the sea, through which approximately $5 trillion in goods are shipped every year. Washington does not officially take a stand on the rival territorial claims in the region, but is closely allied with several of the claimants, and insists that the waters and the airspace above be free to all countries.
More details are emerging about Summer Taylor, the protester who was killed when a car was driven into them in Seattle at the weekend.
Taylor, 24, spent the last six weeks “tirelessly standing up for others while working full time and supporting everyone around them,” wrote Urban Animal on Instagram, the veterinarian clinic where Taylor worked in Portland, Oregon.
Taylor was described as “a positive force of nature” and someone brought joy. “Anyone that works for Urban Animal will tell you that Summer Taylor’s laugh makes any bad day better.”
Katelyn Hoberecht, who worked with Taylor at the veterinary clinics, told the Seattle Times that Taylor had been a frequent presence at protests.
“Summer has been there since day one standing up for Black lives. Staying out all day and night, while still working full time taking care of animals,” Hoberecht said. “Summer talked to me about the protests, and how incredible it was to be a part of something so huge. A part of history.”
Diaz Love, who was also injured in the incident, remained in serious condition Sunday in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center, but a spokesperson said her health is improving.
The driver of the car that struck them faces a second hearing on Monday in connection with the incident.
Here’s our full report: Summer Taylor honored for ‘standing up for black lives’ following death at protest
Updated
Our Joan E Greve has been looking at whether swing states may be up for grabs as Covid-19 hits Republican strongholds. While the coronavirus outbreak may have initially hit coastal metropolitan areas solidly seen as Democratic strongholds, the picture has changed.
States that reopened quickly, as the president advised, are now seeing a surge in cases and a rising hospitalizations and that is impacting the Republican heartland. States that Trump won in 2016 account for about 75% of the new cases. A few of those are key swing states that Trump will almost certainly need to win again to secure a second term. And as the devastation of the pandemic spreads across the country, other states long considered to be reliably Republican also appear increasingly up for grabs.
The piece has a look at what is going on in Texas, Florida, Arizona. Read it here: Swing states may be up for grabs as Covid-19 hits Republican strongholds
Axios this morning are reporting on a new Joe Biden campaign initiative - chats with celebs on Insta.
The campaign, called #TeamJoeTalks, is an attempt to open up a new front on social media, drawing on celebrities’ Instagram followers to help find and motivate voters while large parts of the country remain locked down.
Republicans have made much of the fact that Biden has been in his basement running a virtual campaign while Donald Trump is back to the shock and awe tactic of his mass rallies, but the Biden campaign are betting that during a pandemic, it is their approach that will pay dividends.
Especially if they get directly at young voters through the massive Instagram followings of celebrities. TV actor Misha Collins has 4.2 million followers, and this afternoon will be chatting with Biden senior adviser Karine Jean-Pierre.
Read it here: Axios - Biden campaign using Instagram to mobilize celebrity supporters
Here’s our updated tracker of the countries with the most cases of the coronavirus - showing the US way out ahead.
The New York Times has done a deep data dive into the racial inequality behind those numbers.
Latino and African-American residents of the United States have been three times as likely to become infected as their white neighbors, according to the new data, which provides detailed characteristics of 640,000 infections detected in nearly 1,000 U.S. counties. And Black and Latino people have been nearly twice as likely to die from the virus as white people, the data shows.
While the Times admits that the federal data is flawed - they say race and ethnicity information is missing from more than half the cases, and it only goes up to May - they say it is the best picture yet from the data.
Experts point to circumstances that have made Black and Latino people more likely than white people to be exposed to the virus: Many of them have front-line jobs that keep them from working at home; rely on public transportation; or live in cramped apartments or multigenerational homes.
You can read it in full here: New York Times - the fullest look yet at the racial inequity of Coronavirus
Frederick Douglass statue torn down in Rochester park
Here’s more from the Associated Press on the removal of the Frederick Douglass statue overnight. It was ripped from its base in Rochester on the anniversary of one of his most famous speeches, delivered in that city in 1852.
Police said the statue of Douglass was taken on Sunday from Maplewood Park, a site along the Underground Railroad where Douglass and Harriet Tubman helped shuttle slaves to freedom.
The statue was found at the brink of the Genesee River gorge about 50 feet (15 meters) from its pedestal, police said. There was damage to the base and a finger.
In Rochester on July 5, 1852, Douglass gave the speech “What to the slave is the Fourth of July”, in which he called the celebration of liberty a sham in a nation that enslaves and oppresses its Black citizens.
To a slave, Douglass said, Independence Day is a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.
Carvin Eison, a leader of the project that brought the Douglass statue to the park, told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle another statue will take its place because the damage is too significant.
“Is this some type of retaliation because of the national fever over confederate monuments right now? Very disappointing, its beyond disappointing,” Eison told the local WROC-TV channel.
Incidentally, yesterday we had an interesting piece looking at the Frederick Douglass’ own contemporary thoughts on one of the contested Lincoln statues in the spotlight at the moment.
Good morning, welcome to our rolling coverage of US politics, which understandably is still very much focussed on both the impact of the coronavirus outbreak and the ongoing Black Lives Matter protest movement. Here’s a quick catch-up
- The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday reported 52,228 new coronavirus cases, and said the number of deaths had risen by 271 to 129,576
- The mayors of Houston and Austin have warned that hospitals in the two Texas cities are in danger of being “overwhelmed” by coronavirus patients in the coming weeks
- A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass has been ripped from its base in Rochester on the anniversary of one of his most famous speeches - “What to the slave is the Fourth of July”
- The Libertarian party’s presidential candidate, Jo Jorgensen, has appeared on a podcast associated with the anti-government “boogaloo” movement, which has been linked to at least five killings.
- The Ghislaine Maxwell legal proceedings continue - prosecutors ask for Friday court appearance in New York
- Seattle police are seeking a motive after a driver hits protesters, killing one of them, Summer Taylor
The president’s official diary is empty today, save a meeting with secretary of state Mike Pompeo in the morning.
I’m Martin Belam and I’ll be running this live blog for the next few hours - you can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
