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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Sam Levin, Joan E Greve and Martin Belam

European Union reportedly set to ban US travelers over Covid-19 concerns – as it happened

Mike Pence speaks at Friday’s press briefing while Dr Anthony Fauci watches. Pence did not wear a mask at the news conference.
Mike Pence speaks at Friday’s press briefing while Dr Anthony Fauci watches. Pence did not wear a mask at the news conference. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/Getty Images

Summary

We’re ending our live coverage for the day, thanks for following along. A summary of some key events:

  • Vice-president Mike Pence touted the country’s “tremendous progress” against coronavirus, as the US set a single-day record for new infections.
  • Pence declined to offer a federal recommendation on mask usage, instead referring Americans to their state and local officials.
  • Florida and Texas are clamping down on bars as they grapple with the surge in cases. The governor of Texas announced it was shutting down bars, and Florida will no longer allow alcohol sales at bars in order to limit the spread of coronavirus.
  • The US intelligence community has concluded Russia offered Afghan militants bounties to kill US troops, according to a new bombshell report from the New York Times.
  • The Minneapolis city council has unanimously approved a proposal to change the city charter to allow the police department to be dismantled.
  • San Francisco has paused its reopening following a surge in cases in California.
  • Trump signed an executive order “protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues - and combatting recent Criminal Violence”.
  • Most US residents will likely be blocked from traveling to the European Union when travel restarts, due to ongoing concerns about the coronavirus.
  • The US attorney general, William Barr, has announced the formation of a task force on “violent anti-government extremists”, which he said includes “Antifa”.
  • A federal judge has ordered US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to release all immigrant children who have been detained inside Ice’s family jails for more than 20 days.
  • For the first time in history, the House of Representatives has approved a bill that would make Washington DC the 51st US state.

Updated

California’s governor has granted clemency to 21 prisoners as Covid-19 outbreaks have continued to infect thousands behind bars in an escalating public health crisis.

Gavin Newsom, who has faced mounting pressure to release people en masse from state prisons, announced Friday that he is granting commutations to 21 people, a move that reduces their sentences and creates a potential path for their release. He also announced pardon grants for 13 people, a step that restores some rights for those who have already served sentences.

Advocates said the move was deeply inadequate given the scale of the Covid crisis, which has infected more than 4,000 people in state prisons, leading to 20 deaths. The state announced more than 1,000 new cases in the last two weeks, a surge that advocates and experts say was preventable and is a result of the state’s negligence.

The recent outbreaks in two prisons, San Quentin and Corcoran, occurred after officials transferred hundreds of people into those facilities. They came from a prison with the largest outbreak in the state and were not tested first.

A federal judge has ordered US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to release all immigrant children who have been detained inside Ice’s family jails for more than 20 days, by 17 July, according to BuzzFeed reporter Adolfo Flores:

Eleven people recently tested positive in one of the facilities.

The US attorney general, William Barr, has announced the formation of a task force on “violent anti-government extremists”, which he said includes “Antifa”.

The memo announcing the task force, released late Friday by the US department of justice, does not include a lot of detail but does seem to align with Trump’s ongoing political agenda to target “Antifa”, a group that does not actually exist as a distinct entity. Antifa is an umbrella term that denotes a broad spectrum of groups and individuals of far-left or anarchist tendencies. The term means anti-fascist.

The task force will include the FBI and a number of US attorneys, Barr said. His memo also equated the far-right anti-government “boogaloo” movement to anti-fascists. “Boogaloo” ideology has been linked to the ambush killing of a sheriff’s deputy and a federal security officer in California. Trump’s continued claims blaming violent protests on “antifa” has not been substantiated.

An NPR investigation published in the wake of protests across the country found no evidence that any of the 51 individuals facing federal charges after the unrest had any connection to anti-fascist organizing.

Seventeen guards at Rikers, a notorious New York jail, are facing disciplinary actions relating to the death of Layleen Polanco, a trans woman who was kept in solitary confinement where she suffered a seizure.

A captain and three others were suspended without pay, said New York’s mayor Bill de Blasio, who has faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks over police brutality and violence in the city’s jail. The discipline facing the other 13 officers was not specified.

The news comes after the Board of Correction published a scathing report describing the failures that led to the death of the 27-year-old, who was jailed for a low-level misdemeanor allegation and remained behind bars because she couldn’t afford bail. The report stated that “confused” officers did not check on Polanco every 15 minutes, which violated police, Gothamist noted. Video surveillance showed they also waited an hour and a half to call for medical attention after she became unresponsive.

Black trans lives matter rally.
Black trans lives matter rally. Photograph: Stephanie Keith/Reuters

Her death has been a rallying cry for advocates who have long criticized the conditions and treatment of people in Rikers and other jails, especially black trans women.

Polanco’s family spoke at a recent rally for black trans women in New York that drew tens of thousands of people.

“Black trans lives matter,” Polanco’s sister, Melania Brown, told the crowd. “My sister’s life mattered. All of the loved ones we have lost, all of these beautiful girls that we have lost. Their lives matter. We have to protect them.”

Advocates and lawyers for her family questioned why it took so long for the city to take action against officers: “They think that suspending or even firing individual employees is not going to save the next Layleen from dying. What we need to do is treat trans women as women, stop abusing solitary confinement, and start treating people in jail as human beings,” one of the lawyers told Gothamist.

Activists said the officers should be immediately fired and said de Blasio’s statements rang hollow given the city’s inaction. Prosecutors also recently declined to pursue criminal charges.

EU set to ban US travelers due to Covid-19, reports say

Most US residents will likely be blocked from traveling to the European Union when travel restarts, due to ongoing concerns about the coronavirus, according to multiple reports.

EU officials are in the process of settling on a final “safe list” of countries whose residents could travel to the block in July, but the US, Brazil and Russia are set to be excluded, Reuters reported. With coronavirus continuing to spread in the US at alarming rates, the possibility of allowing American tourists into the EU is not even part of the ongoing discussion, six diplomats familiar with the talks told the Washington Post.

The list of allowed countries includes China, but on the condition that China allows EU travelers to visit, the New York Times reported.

Various travel restrictions remain across the globe. Greece, for example, requires Covid tests for arrivals from a number of EU countries, including France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. Self isolation is also mandatory until results come in.

Updated

Trump signs executive order 'protecting American monuments'

Trump says in a tweet he has just signed an executive order “protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues - and combatting recent Criminal Violence”.

The president also promised “long prison terms for these lawless acts”. His press secretary tweeted that people “who vandalize our monuments will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law”, adding, “This President is committed to ACTION over anarchy!”

It’s unclear what impact the order would have, considering that it’s already a federal crime to deface federal property. The news follows reports that he personally requested that a statue of a Confederate general be put back up after protesters in Washington tore the monument down.

A helpful reminder about existing law:

Movements to remove Confederate and racist statues have gained momentum in recent weeks as protests have sparked a national reckoning on systemic racism in America.

The Guardian’s voting rights reporter Sam Levine has this update on the mail-in voting fight in Texas:

The US supreme court declined a request from the Texas Democratic Party on Friday to help lift the state’s strict requirements on mail-in voting. The ruling means that the state’s restrictions on mail-in voting will remain in place for upcoming primaries there next month.

Texas has some of the most severe restrictions on voting by mail in the United States. A voter can only cast a mail-in ballot if they are 65 or older, disabled, out of their county during the early voting period and election day or confined in jail. Democrats in the state filed a lawsuit challenging those restrictions amid the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year and in May, US district judge Fred Biery sided with them and ordered the state to all anyone to apply to vote by mail. Texas appealed the ruling and the US court of appeals blocked Biery’s order while it was considering the case.

Texas Democrats were asking the supreme court to lift the appeals court ruling blocking the lower court’s order to expand mail-in voting. They argued Texas’ policy made it easier to vote for voters 65 and older than other voters, a violation of the 26th Amendment, which guarantees the right to vote to anyone aged 18 or older.

While the supreme court declined that request on Friday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the case presented “novel” questions and she urged the lower court to resolve it ahead of the November election.

Trump celebrated in a Friday tweet:

San Francisco pauses reopening

Following a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in California, governor Gavin Newsom is urging one desert county to once again reinstitute a shelter-in-place order, and San Francisco has paused its reopening.

In the last day, California had 4,890 new positive cases and 79 deaths. Hospitalizations increased by 3.3% and intensive care unit cases went up by 4.4%.

While the state is testing now more than before – 77,000 in the last day alone – positivity rates remain the main focus. In the last day, the positivity rate was at 5.3%, while in the last seven days, the rate was at 5.7%. The threshold for reopening was that the rate should not cross more than 8%.

Imperial county, a small southern block of desert bordering Mexico and Arizona with a population of 181,000, has a positivity rate of 23%. In the past seven days, the county has reported 680 new cases, bringing the county’s total count to 5,838.

From the start, Newsom has emphasized that the “size and scope and scale of California requires a disciplined understanding that there are parts of the state that are very distinct and unique from other parts of the state”. With that understanding, he believes that local counties and health officers must make the correct decisions for their jurisdictions while following state guidelines.

“To the extent that they don’t, we will advise as we have in Imperial county that they do and we reserve the right in our authority as a state to pull back,” Newsom said. He applauded San Francisco’s decision to pause its reopening following 103 new cases on Thursday. The delayed Monday opening would have included hair salons, museums, outdoor bars, tattoo parlors and zoos.

Hi all - Sam Levin here, taking over our live coverage for the rest of the day.

The Minneapolis city council has unanimously approved a proposal to change the city charter to allow the police department to be dismantled. This comes as the calls to defund and abolish the police have gained momentum across the country.

Lawmakers in Minneapolis, where the killing of George Floyd sparked protests that have continued for weeks, have taken the most aggressive steps to rethink public safety and policing, and earlier this month publicly vowed to completely disband the troubled department.

The vote Friday is the first step in a complicated process to begin dismantling that would involve allowing voters to weigh in through a ballot measure in November.

Jeremiah Ellison, a councilmember, said the charter has been a barrier to the kinds of changes that citizens have demanded, the AP reported. Draft language of the amendment said the city would replace the police with a “Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention, which will have responsibility for public safety services prioritizing a holistic, public health-oriented approach”.

The amendment says the new agency would also have “non-law-enforcement experience in community safety services, including but not limited to public health and/or restorative justice approaches”.

Today so far

That’s it from me this week. I’ll be handing over the blog to my west coast colleague, Sam Levin, for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Vice President Mike Pence touted the country’s “tremendous progress” against coronavirus, as the US set a single-day record for new infections. At the first White House coronavirus task force briefing in nearly two months, Pence echoed the president and downplayed concerns about the surge in new cases being reported in many US states.
  • Pence declined to offer a federal recommendation on mask usage, instead referring Americans to their state and local officials. But a number of other prominent Republicans, including former vice president Dick Cheney and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, are calling on Americans to wear masks to limit the spread of the virus.
  • Florida and Texas are clamping down on bars as they grapple with the surge in cases. The governor of Texas announced it was shutting down bars, and Florida will no longer allow alcohol sales at bars in order to limit the spread of coronavirus. Florida’s announcement came shortly after the state health department reported a record-high 8,942 new cases of the virus.
  • The US intelligence community has concluded Russia offered Afghan militants bounties to kill US troops, according to a new bombshell report from the New York Times. Trump reportedly learned of the alarming intelligence in late March, but he has not yet authorized any action against Russia.
  • Tthe House approved a bill that would make Washington, DC, the 51st US state. The 232-180 vote marked the first time in history that the House approved a DC statehood bill. However, McConnell has already said he will not take up the bill in the Senate, and Trump has threatened to veto it.

Sam will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Updated

Commentators were quick to criticize Trump after the New York Times reported the president has authorized no action against Russia since learning the Kremlin offered Afghan militants bounties to kill US troops.

From Evan McMullin, a former CIA officer who ran as an independent candidate in the 2016 presidential election:

From Molly McKew, an expert in Russian disinformation campaigns:

US intelligence concludes Russia offered bounties to kill US troops in Afghanistan - report

In a new bombshell report, the New York Times says the US intelligence community has concluded Russia offered Afghan militants bounties to kill US troops.

The Times reports:

American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter.

The United States concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.

Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money, the officials said. Twenty Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2019, but it was not clear which killings were under suspicion.

Perhaps most shockingly, Trump has reportedly not yet authorized any action in response to this startling intelligence, which was first shared with him three months ago.

The Times reports:

The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said.

Trump has previously been accused of not taking a harsh enough line against the Kremlin, and the president has repeatedly taken issue with the US intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to boost Trump’s chances of victory.

Republicans urge mask usage as Pence dodges

More prominent Republicans are urging Americans to wear masks to limit the spread of coronavirus as the country confronts a new single-day record in infections.

Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney shared a photo of her father, former vice president Dick Cheney, wearing a mask with the message, “Dick Cheney says WEAR A MASK. #realmenwearmasks.”

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly said that masks are an effective way to mitigate the spread of the virus and encourage others to practice social distancing.

Republican senator Marco Rubio put it much more bluntly earlier this week. “Everyone should just wear a damn mask, like you guys are, like I am right now,” the Florid Republican told congressional reporters.

Yet when asked about masks at the coronavirus task force briefing earlier today, Vice President Mike Pence declined to offer a federal recommendation on the issue.

Instead, Pence said, “Well, we think that the first principle is that people ought to listen to their state and local authorities.”

Trump has been hesitant to wear a face mask in public, and the president has previously mocked his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, for wearing a mask.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell again encouraged Americans to wear face masks to limit the spread of coronavirus.

“Until we find a vaccine, these are really important,” McConnell said in Morehead, Kentucky, holding up a mask. “This is not as complicated as a ventilator, and this is a way to indicate that you want to protect others.”

The Kentucky Republican added, “I see various events on TV in which people are clearly not wearing masks, not taking this seriously, and not doing others a favor. ... We need to get past that in order to not only protect ourselves but our friends and colleagues and others until we get to a vaccine.”

Other Republicans, including the president, have been much more hesitant to encourage widespread mask usage, which has inexplicably become a culture war issue in the past few months.

Republican congressman Andy Biggs, the chairman of the House freedom caucus, was asked yesterday whether he would encourage his Arizona constituents to wear masks, as the state grapples with a surge in new cases.

“It’s up to them,” Biggs replied.

Updated

Congresswoman Liz Cheney tweeted a photo of her father, former vice president Dick Cheney, wearing a face mask, as public health experts have recommended in order to limit the spread of coronavirus.

“Dick Cheney says WEAR A MASK. #realmenwearmasks,” the Republican congresswoman tweeted.

The photo of the former Republican vice president came just hours after the nation’s current Republican vice president, Mike Pence, held the first coronavirus task force briefing in nearly two months.

Pence was asked by a reporter what message he wanted to offer on face masks, as promising evidence suggests face coverings can help mitigate the spread of the virus.

But Pence declined to offer a federal recommendation on face masks, instead referring Americans to their local and state guidelines.

Trump has been similarly hesitant to encourage widespread mask usage and has previously mocked his opponent, Joe Biden, for consistently wearing a face mask.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC’s non-voting delegate to the House who has long pushed for statehood, celebrated the historic House passage of the DC statehood bill.

Outside the Capitol, Norton held up a card indicating the 232-180 House vote approving the bill.

Every House Republican voted against the bill, and one Democratic congressman -- Collin Peterson of Minnesota -- also voted “no.”

Asked if she had a message for Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, who has said he will not take up the bill, Norton said, “Bye bye Mitch!”

House approves DC statehood bill for the first time

For the first time in history, the House of Representatives has approved a bill that would make Washington, DC, the 51st US state.

The bill passed the Democratic-controlled House with a vote of 232 to 180. Many House Democrats wore face masks in support of the statehood movement as they cast their votes.

The DC statehood issue last came before the House in 1993, when the bill was soundly defeated with a vote of 153-277. However, many Democrats have more recently come around to support the statehood movement.

Despite today’s historic vote, the legislation is dead on arrival in the Senate, considering majority leader Mitch McConnell has already said he will not take up the bill.

Trump has also already said he would veto the bill, and the House does not have a veto-proof level of support for the legislation.

However, if Democrats can flip the White House and the Senate in November, the issue will almost certainly be brought up again.

American Airlines announced it would start booking flights to full capacity next week, as the country hits a record in new cases of coronavirus.

The AP reports:

American’s move matches the policy of United Airlines but contrasts sharply with rivals that limit bookings to create space between passengers to minimize the risk of contagion.

American said Friday that it will continue to notify customers if their flight is likely to be full, and let them change flights at no extra cost. The airline said it will also let passengers change seats on the plane if there is room and if they stay in the same cabin.

Since April, American has limited bookings to about 85% of a plane’s capacity by leaving about half the middle seats open. However, the airline will start selling every seat it can beginning next Wednesday.

The auto club AAA forecasted earlier this week that Americans will take 150 million fewer trips this summer because of the pandemic, but road trips are expected to stay relatively stable.

Former defense secretary James Mattis has a message for the American people and possibly his old colleagues in the White House.

Mattis issued a public service announcement urging Americans to wear face masks - something Donald Trump has refused to do in public, nor urge others to do, even as his public health experts begged the public to cover their faces and keep social distance to slow the roaring-again spread of coronavirus.

An anti-mask sentiment is infecting some vocal Americans at present, even as latest polls show most people believe states rushing to reopen for business are doing so too quickly and they support efforts to stem the spread.

“I’m here to talk about that nasty virus,” Mattis said on the short video.

“Make sure you are wearing a face mask.” He said that in his career “I have learned that divisiveness will never work in defeating an enemy. We have got to all pull together, we can get through this if we are united,” Mattis said.

Earlier this month, Mattis, Trump’s first defense secretary, who later fell out with his boss, delivered a blistering condemnation of the president’s handling of anti-racism protests across the nation in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.

That broadside broke a near silence from the ex-marine general since he resigned in December 2018. He expressed outrage at the militarisation of the administration’s response to mass protests, as force was used to clear peaceful protesters from outside the White House so the president could have a photo op and the president threatened to override state governors and send in the US army to quell protests - which did not ultimately happen.

“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis said at the time. Here’s the full report from Julian Borger.

Today so far

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Vice President Mike Pence claimed the country has made “truly remarkable progress” on coronavirus as the US set a record for new cases. Echoing the president, Pence blamed the rising number of new cases on increased testing, even though Dr Debroah Birx warned the positivity rate of tests is also increasing. “We are facing a serious problem in certain areas,” Dr Anthony Fauci said.
  • Florida and Texas are clamping down on bars as they grapple with a surge in cases. The governor of Texas announced it was shutting down bars, and Florida will no longer allow alcohol sales at bars in order to limit the spread of coronavirus. Florida’s announcement came shortly after the state health department reported a record-high 8,942 new cases of the virus.
  • The House will vote on the DC Statehood Act today. The chamber is expected to approve DC statehood for the first time in history, although the bill faces a bleak future with the Republican-controlled Senate.

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

Updated

The White House coronavirus task force briefing, the first in nearly two months, has just concluded.

In the last question of the briefing, Vice President Mike Pence was pressed on whether he and the president were being hypocritical by asking Americans to follow social distancing guidelines while holding large campaign events without mandating mask usage.

The vice president reiterated that he considered the president’s rallies to be an opportunity for Americans to excercise their First Amenment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

Pence claimed the campaign was “creating settings where people can choose to participate in the political process.”

The president has been widely criticized for holding an indoor rally in Tulsa last weekend as Oklahoma reported an increase in new cases, and Trump held another event earlier this week in Arizona, which is grappling with a surge in new cases.

After fielding that tough question, Pence left the briefing with a promise that the task force would be “back with more information as time goes on.”

Vice President Mike Pence was asked what message he wanted to offer on wearing masks, as evidence suggests face coverings can limit the spread of coronavirus.

“Well, we think that the first principle is that people ought to listen to their state and local authorities,” the vice president said, declining to offer a federal endorsement on wearing maks.

Trump and other Republicans have been hesitant to encourage widespread mask usage, and the president has previously mocked his opponent, Joe Biden, for wearing a mask.

The briefing has now turned to reporters’ questions, and Vice President Mike Pence was asked why the Trump campaign continues to hold large events without mandating face masks as the number of new coronavirus cases rise.

“Freedom of speech, the right to peacefully assemble is enshrined in the Constitution of the United States,” Pence said. “And we have an election coming up this fall. ... We still want to give people the freedom to participate in the political process.”

The president has been widely criticized for holding an indoor rally in Tulsa last weekend as Oklahoma reported an increases in its number of new cases.

Dr Robert Redfield, the director of the centers for disease control and prevention, encouraged those under 40 to practice social distancing to protect the most vulnerbale Americans.

Redfield specifically encouraged young Americans to wear masks, echoing an earlier recommendation from Dr Deborah Birx.

The recommendations were noteworthy considering Trump and other Republicans have been hesitant to encourage widespread mask usage, despite promising signs it can limit the spread of coronavirus.

As the White House coronavirus task force holds its first briefing in nearly two months, the president is busy tweeting about protecting statues.

Moments ago, Trump sent a tweet sharing an FBI notice seeking information about those suspected of defacing the Andrew Jackson statue in Lafayette Square near the White House.

Simultaneously, Drs Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci were warning that some parts of the country are seeing a dangerous rise in the rate of positive coronavirus test results, pleading with Americans to continue practicing social distancing.

Fauci: 'We are facing a serious problem in certain areas'

Striking a notably different tone than Vice President Mike Pence, Dr Anthony Fauci warned some parts of the country are facing a “serious problem” in terms of the spread of coronavirus.

The infectious disease expert applauded the states that have safely reopened their economies in a “prudent way that’s been effective.”

But Fauci ominously added, “We are facing a serious problem in certain areas.”

Fauci expressed sympathy with Americans who have become exhausted with social distancing retrictions, but he emphasized everyone has a responsibility to limit the spread of the virus.

Dr Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, noted the rate of positive test results is on the rise in Texas, Arizona and California.

Vice President Mike Pence blamed the rising number of new coronavirus cases on expanded testing.

However, the rising positivity rate cannot be explained by the higher number of tests, clearly indicating the virus is spreading at a higher rate.

Vice President Mike Pence claimed that hospital capacity “remains strong” and “very, very broadly available.”

However, a number of hospitals in Florida and Texas are nearing full capacity in their intensive care units as the states grapple with a surge in new cases.

Pence also encouraged Americans to “take comfort in the fact that fatalities are declining.”

However, Dr Anthony Fauci testified before the House earlier this week that the number of coronavirus deaths often lags behind the number of new cases, so the death toll may still sharply rise in the weeks to come.

As the country reports a record-high level of new cases, the vice president said, “The reality is we’re in a much better place” than we were two months ago.

Vice President Mike Pence claimed that increased testing is the cause of the surge in new coronavirus cases.

However, it’s important to note that the rate of new cases is outpacing increased testing in many states, indicating the country’s coronavirus crisis is worsening.

Echoing the president, Mike Pence blamed the rising number of new coronavirus cases on increased testing.

“It’s almost inarguable that more testing is generating more cases,” the vice president said at the White House coronavirus task force briefing.

However, public health experts have said the rising number of cases is more attributable to states reopening and Americans relaxing social distancing practices.

It’s also important to note that coronavirus hospitalizations are rising in many states, indicating the crisis is worsening.

Vice President Mike Pence said Trump had asked the White House coronavirus task force to hold a briefing because of the surge in cases in southern states.

“Our focus today is very much on the advent of a rising series of new cases across the American South,” Pence said at the briefing.

“President Trump asked us to brief the American people to give details on what we’re seeing, what we’re doing and how it’s different from two months ago.”

Pence also celebrated the “very encouraging news” that roughly half of new cases are among those under 35, noting that “younger Americans are less susceptible to the serious outcomes of this virus.”

Vice President Mike Pence announced that he would still visit Texas on Sunday, as planned, to “get a ground report” on the state’s surge in new coronavirus cases.

Pence said that Dr Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, would join him on the trip.

The vice president said he would also visit Arizona and Florida, which are seeing a similar surge in cases, next week.

Pence holds coronavirus task force briefing

Vice President Mike Pence is now holding the first coronavirus task force briefing in nearly two months.

The vice president opened the briefing by heralding the progress made in hard-hit states like New York and New Jersey.

“We have made truly remarkable progress in moving our nation forward,” Pence said.

However, Pence then shifted to noting the high level of new cases in many parts of the country, which the president has sought to downplay in recent days.

Vice President Mike Pence will soon hold the first coronavirus task force briefing in nearly two months.

The briefing, held at the department of health and human services, comes as the US reports a record-high level of new coronavirus cases.

Trump has blamed the increases on expanded testing, but states are also reporting more coronavirus hospitalizations, indicating the crisis is worsening.

The vice president will likely be pressed on those comments during the briefing.

White House spokesperson Judd Deere denied that the president’s decision to cancel his planned trip to Bedminster this weekend was related to New Jersey’s new travel restrictions.

“It has nothing to do with that,” Deere said, according to a White House pool report.

New Jersey, as well as New York and Connecticut, announced earlier this week that anyone traveling from states with high levels of community spread of coronavirus would have to quarantine for 14 days.

That order would apply to Trump, who traveled to Arizona for a border security roundtable and a campaign event earlier this week.

The White House confirmed in an updated guidance that Trump is no longer traveling to his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend.

The president was severely criticized last month, when he went golfing over Memorial Day weekend as the US coronavirus death toll neared 100,000.

White House officials were likely trying to avoid a similar visual this weekend, as the country reports a record-high level of new coronavirus cases.

Florida reported that it confirmed nearly 9,000 new cases yesterday, setting a new record, and the US coronavirus death toll is now approaching 125,000.

Trump has canceled his trip to his private glof club in Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend, according to the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman.

According to his public schedule, the president planned to leave for Bedminster after delivering remarks at the American workforce policy advisory board meeting this afternoon.

However, there had been questions raised about whether the president would have to self-quarantine in New Jersey because the state is currently requiring those who travel from states with high levels of community spread of coronavirus to do so for 14 days.

Earlier this week, Trump traveled to Arizona, which was included on New Jersey’s list of affected states. The White House previously said the president was exempt from the quarantine order.

Florida suspends alcohol consumption at bars

A top Florida official announced the state is suspending alcohol consumption at bars after reporting a record-high level of new coronavirus cases.

Halsey Beshears, the head of Florida’s department of business and professional regulatinon, said the policy would be in effect “immediately.”

The announcement came less than an hour after the Florida department of health reported that the state confirmed 8,942 new cases of coronavirus yesterday, breaking a record set earlier this week.

The health department also reported a frightening rise in the rate of positive test results. On Thursday, 13.1% of test results come back positive, compared to 8.9% on Wednesday.

Updated

Florida is reporting a record-high number of new coronavirus cases in a single day, after the state set its last record earlier this week.

The Florida department of health reported 8,942 new cases from yesterday, shattering the state’s previous single-day record of 5,506 cases, which was reported on Wednesday.

Florida has now confirmed 122,960 coronavirus cases in total, and the state has lost 3,366 residents to the virus so far.

The rate of positive test results has also increased, the Florida department of health reported. Thursday saw 13.1% of test results come back positive, up from 8.9% on Wednesday.

As Texas announces it is again closing down bars due to a surge in new coronavirus cases, the number of confirmed new cases per day in the US hit an all-time high of 40,000 yesterday.

While the increase is believed to reflect, in part, greatly expanded testing, experts say there is ample evidence the virus is making a comeback, including rising deaths and hospitalizations in parts of the country, especially in the south and west. Arizona, Texas and Florida are among the states that have been hit hard.

The number of confirmed infections soared past the previous high set on 24 Aprilof 36,400, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Deaths from the coronavirus in the US are down to around 600 per day, compared with about 2,200 in mid-April.

Some experts have expressed doubt that deaths will return to that level, in part because of advances in treatment and prevention but also because a large share of the new infections are in younger adults, who are more likely than older ones to survive.

The virus is blamed for 124,000 deaths in the US and 2.4m confirmed infections nationwide, by Johns Hopkins’ count.

All Texas bars will be required to close by 12 pm today, and restaurants will be restricted to 50% indoor capacity starting Monday.

Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order also shuts down rafting and tubing businesses and requires outdoor events larger than 100 people to be approved by local officials.

“We want this to be as limited in duration as possible. However, we can only slow the spread if everyone in Texas does their part,” Abbott said in a press release announcing the new order.

“Every Texan has a responsibility to themselves and their loved ones to wear a mask, wash their hands, stay six feet apart from others in public, and stay home if they can.”

The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, previously indicated that shutting down the state again would be a last resort to curb the number of new coronavirus cases.

Abbott said Monday, “To state the obvious, Covid-19 is now spreading at an unacceptable rate in Texas, and it must be corralled.” But he added that “closing down Texas again will always be the last option.”

The governor’s decision today to close bars again and lower restaurants’ maximum capacity is a recognition that the state’s coronavirus crisis is quickly spiraling out of control.

Texas reported 5,996 new cases yesterday, beating the state’s previous single-day record of 5,551, which was set just a day before.

Texas shuts down bars again, marking reversal in reopening process

The governor of Texas is shutting down bars and lowering restaurant capacity back down to 50%, as the state grapples with a surge in new coronavirus cases.

Before this morning’s announcement from governor Greg Abbott, restaurant capacity was capped at 75% and bars were allowed to operate at 50% capacity.

“At this time, it is clear that the rise in cases is largely driven by certain types of activities, including Texans congregating in bars,” Abbott said in a press release.

“The actions in this executive order are essential to our mission to swiftly contain this virus and protect public health.”

The announcement was signficant considering Abbott has appeared hesitant to shut down businesses again in response to the surge.

Abbott announced yesterday he would pause any additional reopening in the state, but his decision to go backwards in the reopening could put pressure on other states seeing increases in new cases to do the same.

Updated

The Trump administration’s push to end the Affordable Care Act ensures healthcare will be a top issue in the November election.

Congressional Democrats focused their 2018 pitch to voters on protecting the Affordable Care Act, and the party ended up taking control of the House.

In his speech yesterday, Joe Biden made clear that he would put healthcare at the center of his campaign in the final months leading up to the general election.

“I want every single American to know: if you’re sick, if you’re struggling, if you’re worried about how you’re going to get through the day — I will not abandon you,” the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

In case you missed it: the Trump administration submitted a late-night court filing asking the supreme court to invalidate the affordable care act.

Solicitor general Noel Francisco argued the Obama-era law became invalid when Congress repealed certain elements of the ACA in 2017, siding with Republican state attorneys general who filed the original lawsuit.

“Nothing the 2017 Congress did demonstrates it would have intended the rest of the ACA to continue to operate in the absence of these three integral provisions,” Francisco said.

“No further analysis is necessary; once the individual mandate and the guaranteed-issue and community-rating provisions are invalidated, the remainder of the ACA cannot survive.”

Hours before the administration submitted the filing, Joe Biden delivered a speech criticizing Trump for attacking the ACA in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said in Pennsylvania, “If Donald Trump refuses to end his senseless crusade against health coverage, I look forward to ending it for him.”

This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Martin Belam.

A new poll found that an increasing number of Americans are concerned about contracting coronavirus, as more than half of US states report increases in new cases.

According to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, 76% of Americans are now worried about being infected with the virus, up from 69% earlier this month. That reverses a two-month downward trend on the question.

A majority of Americans (56%) also believe the economy is reopening too quickly, compared to 15% who say it is opening too slowly.

Those numbers do not bode well for Trump, who has tried to downplay the latest surge in new cases by incorrectly blaming it on expanded testing.

The vice president will almost certainly be pressed on these concerns today, when he holds the first coronavirus task force briefing in nearly two months.

Newsweek have just put up an interview with Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, where she talks about defunding the police, criticism of holding protests during a pandemic, and what it feels like for the movement so have such a moment in the global spotlight. Of the worldwide impact, she says:

It’s powerful. I feel very grateful...It was really moving. I also feel scared. Whenever we’re effective in our organizing, there’s a serious backlash. And I think we have to be mindful that in these moments, when we’re winning, we have to be ready and prepared for the backlash, of what that looks like and how to counter it.

Cullors also attributed the impact of George Floyd’s death to being the sum of all the outrages that had gone before:

I think it’s seven years of viral videos of Black people dying. I think it’s multiple years of us watching white women call the police on Black people. I think it’s multiple years of viral videos of Black men being kicked out of places like Waffle House, kicked out of everyday dining experiences. I think it’s living under Covid-19 and Black people having the highest rates of dying and having little access to health care. I think it’s millions of people being unemployed, including Black communities. And just a despair...And we’re tired of this. Enough is enough.

You can read the interview in full here: Newsweek - BLM Co-Founder: ‘The Entire World Is Saying Black Lives Matter Now’

The New York Times has done some polling looking at Joe Biden’s prospective picks for vice-president. Biden has committed to choosing a woman, and, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests that have swept the nation, has come under some pressure to pick a running mate who is Black.

The survey claims that four out of five voters don’t think that race should be a significant factor in Biden’s selection. It also puts Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Stacey Abrams as the front-runners, with much higher national profiles than Gretchen Whitmer, Tammy Duckworth and Val Demings.

Read it here: New York Times - Biden is getting a lot of advices on his VP, here’s what voters think

Gaby Del Valle has a new piece for us looking at how it is possible to influence and alter policing policy via voting. People don’t vote for their police, but often they do vote for sheriffs, judges and prosecutors.

The United States is unique in this regard – it’s the only country where judges and prosecutors, two groups of people associated with the judicial branch, are elected rather than appointed across the board. Elected law enforcement officials often run unopposed; even when they are challenged, incumbents almost always win. In recent years, however, voters have begun pushing for “progressive” law enforcement.

Read it here: The police we vote for - how Americans can influence policing at the polls

The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr has been tweeting this morning about #DefundThePolice, and again trying to make it out to be an equivalence of abolishing police. He directed his followers to an Fox News op-ed published a couple of hours ago by New York Rep. Lee Zeldin: Defunding police is great for criminals – bad for crime victims

In the piece Zeldin posits this scenario:

It’s 3 a.m. and you’re home, with your children sleeping in the other room, when a window shatters downstairs. You reach for the phone to dial 911 – but instead of an operator dispatching your local police, you get a recording saying you can leave a voicemail for a social worker.

It’s an unlikely scenario. As mentioned earlier (see 6:52), where cities like Minneapolis are proposing to make changes to their police force, they are not suggesting that social workers respond to potentially violent 911 situations.

Minneapolis Council Member Steve Fletcher explicitly said, as part of those proposals, “when someone calls 911, there will always be a response that’s appropriate, including the option for a response by employees authorised to use force.”

The vast majority of calls that police officers currently take, though, would be answered by employees with different expertise.

It’s pretty clear already, though, that suggesting the Democrats are attempting to abolish police, rather than suggesting their funding could be switched to other agencies, is going to be a Trump campaign tactic we see a lot of between now and November.

Also writing about the DC bid for statehood is David Litt, the former senior speechwriter to president Barack Obama. He sets out a clear case for the elevation of the district to statehood.

Washington’s population has been larger than Wyoming’s for that state’s entire existence and bigger than Vermont’s from at least 1910 until 1994 and has been bigger again since 2012; its residents pay more in total federal taxes than the residents of 22 other states, despite’s the district’s small size. Yet these 700,000 people remain essentially disenfranchised, with no voting representation in either chamber of Congress.

But, in his opinion piece for NBC News, he says that what is striking this time around is the language being used by Republican opposition to the move, particularly Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

It’s not surprising that McConnell is against DC statehood: The deep blue District would all but certainly add two Democrats to the Senate. What is surprising, however, is the language he chose to explain his opposition: His talking points against statehood echo the last gasps of the Jim Crow era, revealing what’s truly at stake.

It’s a great read, with an interesting look at the obstacles Hawaii had to overcome to be admitted as a non-majority white state in the 20th century.

Read it here: David Litt - The D.C. statehood fight is part of an ugly effort to disenfranchise Black and brown people

As well as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, there’s another piece of legislation this week which can expect to get passed and then stall due to Republican opposition.

Barbara Sprunt over at NPR has a scene-setter for today’s vote about the statehood of the District of Columbia. The District’s non-voting delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, is sponsoring the Bill, which she is dedicating to great-grandfather, saying:

My great-grandfather, who walked away from slavery in Virginia, got as far as the District of Columbia — got to freedom, but not to equality. And so what I think of this bill, at least for my family: I dedicate it to my great-grandfather, Richard Holmes.

It is the first time Congress has considered the matter since 1993, and it is expected to sail through this time. Norton has 220 co-sponsors. But it is unlikely to make any difference - Senate Republicans and the president have already ruled out agreeing to the changes.

You can read Sprunt’s full write-up here: House vote Friday would make D.C. the 51st state. Trump and the Senate say no

There’s a bit more reaction today to yesterday’s approval of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act the far-reaching police reform proposals from Democrats in a vote heavy with emotion and symbolism.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had gathered with members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the Capitol steps, challenging their opponents not to allow the deaths of George Floyd and other victims of police killings to have been in vain.

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (C) speaks beside House Democrats in a press event to discuss the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act before the House voteed on the legislation
US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (C) speaks beside House Democrats in a press event to discuss the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act before the House voteed on the legislation Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

“Exactly one month ago, George Floyd spoke his final words ‘I can’t breathe’ and changed the course of history,” Pelosi said. She said the Senate faced a choice “to honour George Floyd’s life or to do nothing.”

During the day, several Democratic lawmakers read the names of those killed, shared experiences of racial bias and echoed support of Black Lives Matter activists.

California Rep. Karen Bass, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said hundreds of thousands of people “in every state in the union” are marching in the streets to make sure Floyd “will not be just another Black man dead at the hands of the police.”

Rep. Karen Bass speaking ahead of the vote
Rep. Karen Bass speaking ahead of the vote Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

In the end three Republicans joined Democrats in favour of passage of the bill - Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Fred Upton of Michigan and Will Hurd of Texas. No Democrats were opposed. But it has almost zero chance of becoming law, because the Republican-controlled Senate will not pass it.

South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott, who authored an alternative Republican-driven plan said momentum behind getting any legislation ”is dissipating as we speak.”

He accused Democrats of “playing a dangerous game of politics” - essentially taking a gamble that after November’s elections they’ll be in a commanding position to push through the reforms that they want intact, rather than see them watered-down now by a compromise with the Senate.

You can find some more quotes from various legislators in these round-ups of the events from CNN and from Bloomberg.

Robin DiAngelo’s bestselling book White Fragility has provoked an uncomfortable but vital conversation about what it means to be white in 2020. As protests organised by the Black Lives Matter movement continue across the world, in this video for us she explains why white people should stop avoiding conversations about race because of their own discomfort, and how ‘white fragility’ plays a key role in upholding systemic racism in the US and beyond.

You may have seen that this week the Guardian has been running a series on the challenges many in the US face getting access to safe, clean, affordable water: America’s water crisis

Water is essential to life. Yet running water is becoming unaffordable across the US, in cities large and small. Water bills weigh heavily on many Americans as utilities hike up prices to pay for environmental clean-ups, infrastructure upgrades and climate emergency defenses to deal with floods and droughts. Federal funding for America’s ageing water system has plummeted, and as a result a growing number of households are unable to afford to pay their bills; millions of homes are being disconnected or put into foreclosure every year.

This morning Nina Lakhani and Juweek Adolphe have published 12 key findings from our investigations into the affordability of water in 12 cities across 10 states. You can read the results here:

Richard Winton over at the Los Angeles Times was reporting last night on legal attempts to restrain the Los Angeles Police Department from using baton strikes and rubber bullets to control crowds. They are arguing that such a use of force violates demonstrators’ constitutional rights as well as causes injury.

Attorney Paul Hoffman, acting for Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, says that “The LAPD has used so-called rubber bullets and batons indiscriminately to disrupt and disperse protesters with many serious injuries resulting. The images of baton-wielding LAPD officers and protesters’ injuries unacceptably increase the cost of public participation in these important exercises of First Amendment rights.”

You can read more about it here: Los Angeles Time - Black Lives Matter seeks restraining order to prevent LAPD use of batons, ‘rubber’ bullets on marchers

The Minneapolis City Council will vote today on a proposal to change the city charter to allow elimination of the city’s police department. It is a move supported by a majority of the council after George Floyd’s death but far from assured, reports Amy Forliti for the Associated Press

The vote is just one step in a process that faces significant bureaucratic obstacles to make the November ballot, where the city’s voters would have the final say

The Minneapolis force has come under heavy pressure since Floyd was killed on 25 May, sparking a global wave of Black Lives Matter anti-racism protests. Local activists had long accused the department of being unable to change a racist and brutal culture, and earlier this month, a majority of the council proclaimed support for dismantling the department.

Doing so would first require amending the city charter. Draft language of the amendment posted online would replace the department with a Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention, “which will have responsibility for public safety services prioritising a holistic, public health-oriented approach.”

“It is time to make structural change,” Council Member Steve Fletcher told AP. “It is time to start from scratch and reinvent what public safety looks like.”

Fletcher said under the new agency when someone calls 911, there will always be a response that’s appropriate, including the option for a response by employees authorised to use force. But he said the vast majority of calls that police officers currently take will be answered by employees with different expertise.

The proposed amendment is expected to be approved Friday, but that’s just a first step. It goes then to a policy committee and to the city’s Charter Commission for formal review. The commission’s recommendation doesn’t bind the council, but it takes time.

Barry Clegg, chairman of the Charter Commission, said the process feels rushed.

“As I understand it, they are saying, ‘We are going to have this new department. We don’t know what it’s going to look like yet. We won’t implement this for a year, we’ll figure it out,”’ Clegg said. “For myself anyway, I would prefer that we figured it out first, and then voted on it.”

For his part, Mayor Jacob Frey doesn’t support abolishing the department, a stance that got him booed off the street by activists who demonstrated outside his house following Floyd’s death and demanded to know where he stood.

Frey expressed concerns about the proposed amendment as currently drafted, including whether the change would eliminate police altogether or allow for a police presence going forward.

“There is a significant lack of clarity. And if I’m seeing a lack of clarity, so are our constituents,” said Frey, who has said he supports deep structural change in the existing department.

Amber Phillips is writing in the Washington Post this morning about what she identifies as one of the key factors in the country’s struggle against Covid-19: Republicans are choosing rosy assessments of coronavirus that do not match reality

Key members of the Trump administration, including the president and vice president, are holding up data in a way that allows them to publicly argue it’s not all that bad. The full picture suggests the opposite of a rosy one: On the same day that Pence urged senators to focus on “encouraging signs,” the United States had its highest single day of reported coronavirus cases. Some of their comments risk underplaying the risk the country faces.

She singles out the approach of Sen. Marco Rubio as an example. Last night he was urging people to take precautions, while accompanying this message with upbeat statistics. As Phillips puts it

Presenting a message of caution with caveats of hopeful news still a risky strategy, with so many things unknown about the virus.

You can read her analysis in full here (assuming you have access to subscription of course): The Washington Post - Republicans are choosing rosy assessments of coronavirus that do not match reality

If you missed it yesterday, my colleague Maanvi Singh had this video analysis of how the US president has long been contradicting and defying science during the coronavirus outbreak, and the impact that this has had on the country’s handling of the pandemic.

My colleague Amanda Holpuch in New York has been speaking to executive director of the National Immigration Law Center Marielena Hincapié about what to expect from the Trump administration as November’s election draws near. Hincapié says she expects to see anti-immigrant talk ramped up:

Every time that [Trump]’s under attack or he feels he’s been cornered or may be blamed for something, we can expect that he’s going to default to attacking immigrants

She says that it is important to focus on what Trump is trying to achieve with his legislation, not just listen to what he says about it:

Trump’s rhetoric is almost exclusively about undocumented immigrants – he calls undocumented immigrants everything from murderers and rapists to gang members, etc. But in fact, the policy changes he has put in place, almost all are chipping away at the legal immigration system.

You can read the full piece here: ‘A matter of life and death’: a top immigrant advocate on the US election

Coronavirus cases confirmed by ICE among detained migrant families with children

CBS News have reported overnight the confirmation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that for the first time families with children in detention centres have been confirmed with the coronavirus.

According to the reports, 11 family members at the Karnes County Residential Center in south Texas have tested positive for the virus. The agency has additionally reported four cases of coronavirus among employees at a family detention centre in Dilley, Texas.

An ICE statement said that the family members who tested positive were new arrivals, and that they have not come into contact with other families at the Karnes facility.

More than 2,500 adult immigrants have tested positive for Covid-10 while in ICE custody, with the agency reporting two deaths.

Read the full report here: CBS News - ICE reports first coronavirus cases among detained migrant families with children

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of US politics and Black Lives Matter protests as we head into the weekend. Here’s a quick catch-up of where we are and what we can expect today

  • Coronavirus cases continue to rise at an alarming rate - Mike Pence will give his first address as part of the coronavirus “task force” for two months today. CDC experts say that more than 20m Americans could have contracted Covid-19. Pence was criticised yesterday for not wearing a mask when visiting an automobile facility in Ohio
  • Colorado has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the 2019 police killing of Elijah McClain
  • The House will vote on the DC Statehood Act, which is expected to pass for the first time
  • Yesterday the House Democrats’ sweeping police reform bill was passed - and three Republicans broke ranks and voted for it. But it will inevitably stall in the Republican-controlled Senate
  • Joe Biden, who now has a comfortable lead in the latest polls, with be taking part in a virtual Biden for President finance event. Yesterday he criticised the president for his “self-pity” over the coronavirus
  • Donald Trump will deliver remarks at the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board Meeting, and will then travel to Bedminster, New Jersey

I’m Martin Belam and I’ll be here for the next couple of hours - you can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com

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