Summary
- California, Michigan and other states are dialing back reopening plans as coronavirus cases surge. New York City has decided not to let restaurants resume indoor service next week as planned, and Miami Beach has reinstated a curfew ahead of the Independence Day weekend.
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Donald Trump said the coronavirus pandemic is just going to “disappear” as cases climbed across the nation. In an interview with Fox, he said: “I think we’re gonna be very good with the coronavirus. I think that at some point that’s going to sort of just disappear, I hope.”
- New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have restricted travel from parts of the country that are experiencing a spike in coronavirus cases. Travelers coming from 16 states will have to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival in the tri-state region.
- A CIA official chose not to tell Trump of Russia bounty report, top adviser claimed. The claim from Robert O’Brien came as top members of the administration gave differing accounts on why Trump didn’t take action in response to intelligence reports that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban for killing American soldiers.
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The heads of four big tech firms – Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook – have agreed to participate in a House judiciary committee hearing in late July.
The House judiciary antitrust subcommittee has been investigating whether the market power of these tech giants poses a threat to competition.
The agreement was first announced in a New York Times interview with the representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island, who heads the subcommittee. It ends a stalemate between lawmakers and the heads of the tech firms – this will mark the first time the CEOs of all four companies will testify together.
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The Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign raised $131m in June, eclipsing the total they raised in any month in 2016, according to the RNC.
The campaign has $295m on hand. How will that be spent?
Here’s one way, per CNBC:
President Donald Trump’s campaign, facing a growing disadvantage in polls, has started reserving spots for a television ad blitz set to run in several swing states during the final months of the race.
The ad buy, worth more than $90 million, comes as some in the Trump campaign see warning signs in multiple key states, including Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina, according to people familiar with the matter.
Ad tracking firms Advertising Analytics and Medium Buying announced that Trump’s campaign is reserving ad time starting in September in the key states of Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Trump won all six states in 2016. The ad buy comes on top of the ads currently airing against Joe Biden in North Carolina.
An ember is defined as a small piece of burning or glowing coal or wood in a dying fire. Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, echoed her boss’s insistence on Wednesday that America is seeing mere embers of the coronavirus pandemic, even as daily cases rocket to a record 48,000.
At the press briefing, I asked through my face mask why she keeps referring to cases as embers when the latest surge more closely resembles a wildfire. McEnany replied: “I use the word ‘embers’ because that is what the president acknowledged that would happen around the country. You would see spikes across the country.
“He said at times you would see a fire across the country. Embers, fires, but at the same time, I would note the sixfold increase in testing, you identify more cases. I would also note that Secretary Azar said that we’ve seen nationwide fatalities at a two month low.”
She added: “So this is a different situation... We believe we’re equipped to handle what we see on the horizon.”
McEnany was also reminded that Trump recently repeated his infamous claim that the virus will just disappear. She insisted: “The president’s confident that it will disappear. He’s confident that he’s put together a revolutionary, first class team that is going to break through bureaucracy and get us a vaccine.”
The White House has been much criticised for trying to wish the pandemic away. McEnany began Wednesday’s briefing with an attention deflecting claim that Seattle had been “liberated from anarchists” – a reference to police clearing protesters away from the city’s autonomous zone.
Past press secretaries became accustomed to defending Trump’s social media posts with the phrase “the tweet speaks for itself”. Questioned about the president’s deleted retweet of a video in which a man shouted “white power!”, McEnany said without irony: “The deletion speaks for itself.”
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The Guardian’s Vivian Ho has more from California, where the governor has ordered the closure of all recently reopened bars and halted indoor operations of restaurants, movie theaters, museums and zoos across the majority of the state following a surge in coronavirus cases.
The order affects 19 counties, amounting to 70% of California’s population, with some of the counties on the governor’s list among the most populous in the state: Los Angeles, Sacramento and Santa Clara.
“The bottom line is the spread of this virus continues at a rate that is particularly concerning,” Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday.
California has seen 5,898 new cases in the past 24 hours and recorded 110 deaths. The positivity rate over the past 14 days increased from 4.6% two weeks ago to 6%.
Newsom issued the order after much of the state’s economy had cautiously reopened, operating under new guidelines that allowed for social distancing. Newsom noted in the Wednesday briefing that an uptick in cases was to be expected. “As we open our economy, as more people mix, we’re going to see an increase in spread,” he said. “This was anticipated the day we advanced our efforts to curb the spread of this virus.”
Read her full story:
Congress passes Paycheck Protection Program extension
Just as the Paycheck Protection Program that offers forgivable loans to American businesses was set to expire, the House voted to extend the application period. The legislation has already passed the Senate and will now go to Trump desk for a signature.
About $130bn in PPP funds were left untapped when the program stopped accepting new applications on Tuesday. The application period will now be extended till 8 August. But it’s unclear what the demand for this remaining money is.
Many of the businesses shut out of the first sound of loans offered by the government went out of business. Other small businesses without banking relationships aren’t able to partake in the program, which relies on commercial lends to send out money.
My colleague, voting rights reporter Sam Levine, brings us this update:
Florida does not have to immediately move towards implementing a system where any person with a felony conviction can vote, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.
The ruling is the latest development in one of the most significant voting rights cases in the United States. Florida is appealing a May decision from a lower court saying the state could not require those with felony convictions to repay fines and fees they owe before they can vote again if they cannot pay or figure out how much they owe. The US district Judge Robert Hinkle earlier this year also ordered Florida to come up with a formal system where someone with a felony conviction can ask the state to calculate how much they owe.
There are an estimated 774,000 people in Florida, a key battleground state in the presidential election, who cannot vote because they have a felony conviction and owe money.
The US court of appeals for the 11th circuit offered no reason for its explanation to pause the lower court’s ruling. In an unusual move, the court announced that the entire court would immediately consider the appeal (voting rights appeals are usually first heard by three-judge panels rather than an entire circuit court). Oral arguments in the appeal are scheduled for the week of 10 August.
The decision will likely add to mounting confusion over the state’s voting policies for people with felony convictions and makes it more uncertain whether the case will be resolved before the November election. During a trial this year, state and local officials testified that it was extremely difficult to figure out just how much someone owed. The state does not have a centralized system for people to figure out how much they owe.
The case is expected to eventually go all the way to the United States supreme court.
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Hi there, it’s Maanvi Singh, writing from the west coast.
Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has asked bars to cease serving customers indoors in parts of the state, including in the college town where about 140 infections were traced back to a single pub.
Whitmer signed a bill that would allow bars and restaurants to sell cocktails to-go, in order to help businesses stay afloat through the pandemic. Pubs in parts of the state with low coronavirus case counts have been allowed to remain fully open, and throughout the state, bars can continue seating customers in outdoor patios.
“Following recent outbreaks tied to bars, I am taking this action today to slow the spread of the virus and keep people safe,” said Whitmer. “If we want to be in a strong position to reopen schools for in-person classroom instruction this fall, then we need to take aggressive action right now to ensure we don’t wipe out all the progress we have made.”
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Today so far
It’s been an eventful day, let’s check in with what we’ve covered thus far:
- Donald Trump called Black Lives Matter a symbol of hate in response it being painted next to Trump Tower
- A former FDA leader is warning the US isn’t testing enough.
- The president then did an about-face on masks
- The mayor of Richmond, Virginia ordered all Confederate monuments removed.
- California is dialing back its reopening plans
- The New York tri-state doesn’t want visitors from these 16 states
Keep it right here on the Politics Live Blog for more.
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Cuomo adds eight states to travel advisory list
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are cracking down on domestic travelers heading to their states from parts of the country that are experiencing a spike in coronavirus cases.
At his press conference, New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, announced he was adding eight additional states to New York’s travel advisory, bringing the total to 16. Any residents who travel to New York from them are required to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
“Time to wake up, America,” the governor said. “If that spread comes to New York, we could have to do this all over again. Doing this once in life is enough. We don’t need to climb another mountain.”
The enhanced travel advisory comes as the former Food and Drug Administration chief Dr Scott Gottlieb estimated roughly 25% of New York City residents have likely been infected with the virus.
The tri-state travel restriction now applies to the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
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New York Times introduces readers to former Trump supporters
The New York Times presented an eye-opening look at former supports of Donald Trump. Featuring men and women who voted for the president in 2016, but who now says there’s no chance they will vote for him this year.
From one supporter:
“He said he was going to, quote unquote, drain the swamp, and all he’s done is splashed around and rolled around in it.”
According to New York Times/Siena College polling,they represent just 2% of all registered voters in the 6 states most likely to decide the presidency. Read more over at the Times.
California governor shuts down bars and indoor dining bars as Covid-19 cases surge
Effective immediately, California is instructing entertainment venues and restaurants to close their indoor operations. The dialed back reopening comes amid a drastic surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the state.
From KABC:
Several counties in Southern California have already ordered all beaches to close for the holiday weekend. Counties with mandatory closures should consider cancelling Fourth of July fireworks shows, the governor said, and Californians should not gather with people they do not live with.
The order applies to all counties that have been on the state’s watch list for three consecutive days. Those 19 counties represent over 70% of the population of California, according to the governor, Gavin Newsom.
“We bent the curve in the state of California once. We will bend the curve again. We will crush this pandemic. We will annihilate it. We’ll get past this, but we’re going to have to be tougher.”
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Richmond, Virginia, mayor calls for removal of all Confederate statues
Levar Stoney, the mayor of Richmond, Virginia, where protests against statues honoring Confederate leaders have resulted in clashes with far-right agitators, has ordered the immediate removal of all Confederate statues in the city.
“It is time to put an end to the lost cause, Replace the racist symbols of oppression and inequality,” he said.” During a Richmond City Council meeting earlier that day, the mayor introduced legislation to immediately remove the remaining Confederate statues along the city’s infamous Monument Avenue.
Stoney contended his emergency powers allow him to speed up the healing process for the former capital of the Confederacy amid weeks of protests over police brutality and racial injustice.
This week the Guardian spoke with Black Virginians at the statue of former Confederate leader Robert E Lee on Monument Avenue as they shared their experiences with Black hair discrimination.
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Trump still thinks coronavirus is just going to go away somehow, hopefully
The president told Fox Business just now that “I think we’re gonna be very good with the coronavirus. I think that at some point that’s going to sort of just disappear, I hope.”
Trump ludicrously claimed to Fox Business just now that "I think we're gonna be very good with the coronavirus. I think that at some point that's going to sort of just disappear, I hope." (The virus will not disappear on its own.) pic.twitter.com/ZkLtjKUEDu
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 1, 2020
New infections are at record levels in the US, an all-time high, as everyone has been reporting for days and public health experts have been warning for weeks.
And, again, this:
Trump does an about-face on masks - sort of - as Republicans shift
Donald Trump, who has avoided being seen in public wearing a face covering, said today that he would wear a mask - if he were in close quarters with other people, in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“I’m all for masks,” Trump told Fox Business Network, Reuters reported. “If I were in a tight situation with people I would absolutely” wear a mask, he added.
But he doesn’t believe in mandating the wearing of masks nationwide, “because you have many places in the country where people stay very long distance.”
Trump has only been photographed wearing a mask around others once, behind the scenes on a factory tour in May.
President Trump wears a mask during his tour of the Ford Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where ventilators, masks and other medical supplies are being manufactured. https://t.co/UCqBVUEuBZ
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 22, 2020
📷 Anonymous pic.twitter.com/eiIFVNPVIh
Since the new surges of new coronavirus cases across southern and western states, after hasty reopening, that has brought the US to a new all-time high of daily infections, a change of outlook is slowly happening in GOP circles.
Top congressional Republicans hauling themselves belatedly onto the mask wagon this week include Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy. And Mike Pence, who has been wearing a mask more of late, but has been wishy-washy on the topic of mandating, saying it’s up to local authorities.
Vice President Mike Pence, right, is greeted with an elbow bump by Arizona governor Doug Ducey, left, as he arrives today in Phoenix to discuss the record surge in coronavirus cases. Photograph: Ross D Franklin/AP
And senior Republican senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee joined a plea to Trump to wear a mask, as he chaired a hearing in Congress yesterday where public health expert Anthony Fauci gave dire warning about the virus being out of control.
Alexander pleaded with Americans to take politics out of it and stop associating be For Trump with not wearing a mask and being Against Trump with wearing one.
And McConnell said yesterday “we must have no stigma” about wearing masks.
Here are some things the president has previously said about face masks, having early on dismissed any idea that he would or should wear one.
7 May: Trump tells aides that wearing one would “send the wrong message”.
21 May: Says he wouldn’t wear a mask in public because he “didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it”.
26 May: “Oh, OK, you want to be politically correct,” to reporter who declines to remove mask during White House press conference.
20 June: “There was a time when people thought it was worse wearing a mask. I let people make their own decision … if people want to wear masks I think that’s great. I won’t be. Not as a protest but I don’t feel that I’m in danger.”
Fauci has urged mask-wearing repeatedly. In late May he said: “I want to protect myself and protect others, and also because I want to make it be a symbol for people to see that that’s the kind of thing you should be doing.”
Read more here about how Trump and his public health experts diverge on science and health re Covid:
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Coronavirus continues to scorch Sunbelt
Arizona recorded more coronavirus deaths, infections, hospitalizations and emergency-room visits in a single day than ever before in a crisis, in a day across the Sunbelt that sent a shudder through other parts of the country and led distant states to put their own reopening plans on hold.
Vice President Mike Pence waves as he arrives to meet with Arizona governor Doug Ducey to discuss the surge in coronavirus cases. Photograph: Ross D Franklin/AP
In Florida, hospitals braced for an influx of patients, with the biggest medical center in Florida’s hardest-hit county, Miami’s Jackson Health System, scaling back elective surgeries and other procedures to make room for victims of the resurgence underway across the South and West, The Associated Press reports.
Vice President Mike Pence, head of the White House coronavirus task force, planned to visit Arizona today, where cases have spiked since stay-at-home orders expired in mid-May.
Arizona reported record single-day highs of almost 4,900 new Covid-19 cases, 88 new deaths, close to 1,300 ER visits and a running total of nearly 2,900 people in the hospital.
Florida recorded more than 6,500 new cases down from around 9,000 on some days last week, but still alarming and a running total of over 3,500 deaths.
Ahead of the Fourth of July, counties in South Florida are closing beaches to fend off large crowds that could spread the virus.
The run-up in cases has been blamed in part on what New Jersey’s governor called “knucklehead behavior” by Americans not wearing masks or obeying other social-distancing rules.
“Too many people were crowding into restaurants late at night, turning these establishments into breeding grounds for this deadly virus,” Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in forbidding restaurants with seating for more than eight people from serving customers inside from midnight to 6am.
Health experts say the virus in Florida and other Southern states risks becoming uncontrollable, with case numbers too large to trace.
Marilyn Rauth, a senior citizen in Punta Gorda, said Florida’s reopening was “too much too soon.”
“The sad thing is the Covid-19 spread will probably go on for some time though we could have flattened the curve with responsible leadership,” she said.
“Experience now has shown most people won’t social distance at beaches, bars, etc. The governor evidently has no concern for the health of the state’s citizens.”
Some distant states and cities that seemed to have tamed their outbreaks, including Colorado, Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey, hit pause or backtracked on some of their reopening plans for bars and restaurants.
And New York and New Jersey are asking visitors from 16 states from the Carolinas to California to quarantine themselves for two weeks.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city is delaying its resumption of indoor dining at restaurants, and not because of any rise in cases there.
The number of confirmed cases in the US per day has roughly doubled over the past month, hitting 44,800 on Tuesday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
That is higher even than what the nation witnessed during the deadliest stretch of the crisis in mid-April through early May.
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Former FDA leader warns there aren’t enough Covid-19 tests
Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner for the US Food and Drug Administration told CNBC on Monday that the US still isn’t testing enough people for the coronavirus, especially as outbreaks accelerate in states across the country.
From CNBC’s Squawk Box:
“The problem is that even though we have a lot of testing — we have well more than 500,000 tests a day and that’s going to continue to grow — we’re going to be short on tests in places where there’s epidemics. States like Texas and Florida, they’re falling behind on testing right now because the testing isn’t evenly distributed across the country.”
The former FDA leader’s comments come as White House health advisor Dr Anthony Fauci warned Tuesday that if the country’s outbreak continues on its current trajectory, the country could hit more than 100,000 new cases per day. Gottlieb contended the US is already there but aren’t testing enough to detect all the new patients.
Young people of color are under threat from the coronavirus
As we’ve been reporting throughout the day, health experts and the White House are warning young Americans about the growing risk of contracting and dying from Covid-19, with vice president Mike Pence saying they “have a particular responsibility to make sure that they’re not carrying the coronavirus into settings where they would expose the most vulnerable”.
For The Guardian’s latest on Covid-19 and race, I unpack those numbers and talk with experts about how young people of color face are facing the brunt of the spike. According to the CDC, the majority of coronavirus hospitalizations among Black and Latino Americans are of those under the age of 50.
The risk is multifold because young people are more often susceptible to the same conditions that increase the risk of exposure, including working on the frontlines.” - Dr Mary T Bassett, director of the Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and New York City’s former health commissioner.
Check out more on the coronavirus spike among youth of color, and be sure to follow all of The Guardian’s coverage of racial disparities in the response to the coronavirus outbreak.
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Texas sets a new single-day record for fresh Covid-19 cases
Covid-19 cases are skyrocketing in Texas, with the state reporting a single-day high of 6,975 newly confirmed cases on Tuesday.
Hospitalization rates also saw a new surge with 620 more positive patients being admitted to make the total 6,533 across the state.
Despite the spike, protesters gathered outside the state capital Tuesday to express their outrage over the continued shut down of bars and restaurants to combat the spread, which CDC officials sources as a substantial factor in the increase among young people.
One sign even read “Bar Lives Matter.” Classy.
President rejects NYC plan to paint 'Black Lives Matter' next to Trump Tower
Donald Trump is criticizing New York City’s plan to paint “Black Lives Matter” on 5th Avenue outside Trump Tower — calling it a “symbol of hate.”
NYC is cutting Police $’s by ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and yet the @NYCMayor is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxury Avenue. This will further antagonize New York’s Finest, who LOVE New York & vividly remember the....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
Earlier New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city would “take this moment in history and amplify it by taking the ‘Black Lives Matter’ symbolism and putting it all over this city, including right in front of Trump Tower.”
The move comes as the president stepped up his defense of actual symbols of hate: Confederate flags and monuments. Using a racist slur against Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, Trump threatened to veto defense spending bills that include provisions to rename Confederate bases.
In trolling fashion, opponents of the president are now calling on the city to rename the street that lines Trump Tower President Barack H. Obama Ave. In Washington DC, the former 16th street leading up to the White House is now called Black Lives Matter plaza.
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National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien has said that both the CIA and Pentagon did pursue intelligence assessments that suggested Russia had offered bounties for killing US troops in Afghanistan, and that US intelligence briefed international allies, as the administration steps up its defense of the handling of the military bounty scandal.
“We had options ready to go,” O’Brien said on a Fox news show. But added: “It may be impossible to get to the bottom of it.”
At a State Department news conference, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the situation was handled “incredibly well” to ensure the safety of U.S. troops.
The comments from administration officials come as Trump remains under increasing pressure from lawmakers of both parties to provide more answers about the intelligence and the US response or lack of one.
Democrats who were briefed at the White House on Tuesday suggested Trump was bowing to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the risk of US soldiers’ lives.
Trump remained defensive about the intelligence, dismissing stories about it as “fake news” made up to “damage me and the Republican Party.”
Former US Marine and now Democratic Senate candidate to face Mitch McConnell in Kentucky in the election, Amy McGrath, is disgusted.
American servicemembers are being targeted with Russian bounties. As a Marine, I'm disgusted that nothing's been done about it. Mitch, you get regular security briefings. What did you know and when did you know it?
— Amy McGrath (@AmyMcGrathKY) July 1, 2020
Man up and tell the truth. #MoscowMitch
And as the Washington Post noted, the only people dismissing the Russia bounties intelligence are: the Taliban, Russia and Trump, adding that the president can’t “kick his hoax habit”.
Analysis: The only people dismissing the Russia bounties intel: The Taliban, Russia and Trump https://t.co/hbWx8PitRX
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 1, 2020
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San Francisco police will stop releasing the mug shots of people who have been arrested unless they pose a threat to the public, as part of an effort to stop perpetuating racial stereotypes, the city’s police chief announced today.
San Francisco police chief Bill Scott said the policy, which goes into effect immediately, means the department will no longer release booking photos of suspects to the media or allow officers to post them online, The Associated Press reports.
Booking photos are taken when someone is arrested. They are often made public whether or not the person is prosecuted for the alleged crime, which undermines the presumption of innocence and helps perpetuate stereotypes.
Jack Glaser, a public policy professor at the University of California Berkeley who researches racial stereotyping and whose work Scott consulted, said data shows Black people who are arrested are more likely to have their cases dismissed by prosecutors.
But the mug shots live on.
Numerous websites post photos of mug shots online, regardless of whether anyone was convicted of a crime, and then charge a fee to those who want their photo taken down.
The phenomenon prompted California’s attorney general to charge one of the biggest operators with extortion, money laundering, and identity theft.
That contributes to Americans making an unfair association between people of color and crime, Scott said.
“This is just one small step but we hope this will be something that others might consider doing as well,” he said.
Large cities like Los Angeles and New York already have policies against releasing booking photos but make exceptions. For example, the New York
Police Department, the nation’s largest, releases information on arrests but doesn’t put out mug shots unless investigators believe that will prompt more witnesses to come forward or aid in finding a suspect.
In San Francisco, the only exceptions will be if a crime suspect poses a threat or if officers need help locating a suspect or an at-risk person, Scott said.
Under the policy, the release of photos or information on a person who is arrested will also require approval from the police department’s public relations team.
What's happening so far?
Lots of news developing throughout the US today. Here’s what’s been happening today:
- Donald Trump is claiming the ‘Russian bounty’ story is a hoax while Congress is demanding answers
- Dr Anthony Fauci is getting pushback from the right about his coronavirus warnings
- Fox News’ Ed Henry has been fired over sexual misconduct allegations
- The country is learning more about Lauren Boebert, who beat five-time incumbent Scott Tipton in Tuesday’s Republican primary
- Andrew Cuomo is demanding Trump admit he was wrong about the coronavirus
Stay tuned for more!
Cuomo to Trump: 'The buck stops on the president's desk'
New York governor Andrew Cuomo, in his daily press briefing excoriated Donald Trump for his continued defense of the administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying “the buck stops on the president’s desk”.
He was in denial. He has been denying what every health expert in America has been saying... Come clean with the American people. At least have the courage to admit what everybody else already knows: you were wrong!”
The governor went on to implore states to reject the president’s rhetoric and listen to the science, making a play on Trump’s former time as a reality TV host.
“Denying reality does not defeat reality. He has lived in denial, and he has been denying the scientific facts since day one,” he said. “Reality wins and reality won, and now the country is suffering because of the president”.
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US buys up Covid-19 treatment drug, shutting out allies
As our UK colleagues first reported, the US has bought up virtually all the stocks for the next three months of Remdesivir, the trial drug used to treat Covid-19, the respiratory disease that stems from the coronavirus.
The President has secured more than 500,000 treatment courses of the drug remdesivir for American hospitals through September. We are doing everything in our power to learn more about life-saving therapeutics for COVID-19 and secure access for Americans. https://t.co/uDjHtF9MR2 pic.twitter.com/bPPbgtjKod
— Secretary Alex Azar (@SecAzar) June 29, 2020
The move secures almost all stocks of the drug until October, but leaves none for allies including the UK, Europe or most of the rest of the world. l
From the Department of Health and Human Services:
HHS has secured more than 500,000 treatment courses of the drug for American hospitals through September. This represents 100 percent of Gilead’s projected production for July, 90 percent of production in August, and 90 percent of production in September, in addition to an allocation for clinical trials”.
The buy up has public health experts fearing many other countries will miss out on accessing the treatment.
State secretary Mike Pompeo was asked this morning about reports of Russian bounties to the Taliban for killing American soldiers. He did not deny it but instead suggested such things happened all the time.
I can tell you the intelligence community handled this incredibly well. We see threats in intelligence reporting to our soldiers stationed all over the world every single day,” he said. “And so I can assure you that whatever reporting it is that you’re referring to, that we responded in precisely the correct way with respect to making sure that our forces were postured appropriately, that they were aware of the level of the threat, the credibility of the threat.”
Pompeo added that Russians meddling in Afghanistan “is nothing new,” refuting members of Congress who he claimed “suggesting that they are shocked and appalled”.
They saw the same intelligence that we saw, so it would be interesting to ask them what they did when they saw whatever intelligence is that they are referring to,” Pompeo quipped. “They would have had access to this information as well, not just the intelligence committees, by the way, even more broadly than that.”
It is not true that Congress receives all the intelligence provided to the White House, however. Only a small number of members of Congress are periodically briefed on some intelligence issues.
Lawsuit claims Trump admin violates first amendment of immigration judges
A lawsuit filed by the Knight Institute Wednesday is challenging the Trump administration’s use of gag orders to bar immigration judges from speaking or writing to the public and media.
The institute, which represents the National Association of Immigration Judges, alleges that restrictions the administration has placed on immigration judges violates the First Amendment, and “imposes an unconstitutional prior restraint on [their free] speech”.
From the complaint:
For years, [the Executive Office for Immigration Review] permitted immigration judges to speak in their personal capacities on issues relating to immigration, so long as they provided a disclaimer that they were not speaking on behalf of the agency. In recent years, however, the agency has taken steps that have strictly limited the ability of immigration judges to speak publicly in their personal capacities.
Read more about the lawsuit here.
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New York City postpones reopening indoor dining
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city halting a planned reopening of indoor dining, a setback for bars and restaurants eager to rebuild amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The mayor vowed to “double down” on outdoor dining instead, allowing more parking spaces and public streets to be converted to accommodate table settings. The decision stems from Florida, Texas and California “slipping backward,” with from skyrocketing cases linked to loosened stay-at-home restrictions.
De Blasio added that more than 6,000 local restaurants are already participating.
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Who is Lauren Boebert?
The restaurant owner stunned five-term Colorado congressman Scott Tipton in Tuesday’s Republican primary. Boebert, who said she “believes in personal freedom, citizen rights, and upholding the Constitution of the United States,” will run in November’s general election against Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush. Here are more facts about the Republican hopeful, via the AP.
- Her claim to fame locally is that waiters in her restaurant openly carry guns. It’s named Shooter’s Grill and is located in a town called Rifle.
A big upset in my old stomping grounds. For my non-Grand Junction followers...Yes, Lauren Boebert owns Shooter's Grill in the appropriately named Rifle, CO. All the waitresses wear holstered — and loaded — sidearms! https://t.co/LLQdvb5iWv
— Crispin Havener (@CrispinHavener) July 1, 2020
- She has said she hopes QAnon is real
- She’s expressed support for abolishing the Department of Education
Congratulations on a really great win! https://t.co/rMpFiV6LvY
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
Donald Trump congratulated Boebert on the surprise victory late Tuesday, even after first endorsing her opponent.
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Fox News’ Ed Henry fired over sexual misconduct
In a bombshell revelation, CNN reports top Fox News anchor Ed Henry has been fired from the network after it “received a complaint ... from a former employee’s attorney involving willful sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago”.
From CNN:
The executives said that an outside law firm was immediately brought in to investigate the claims. Until last week, Henry was a rising star at Fox, responsible for co-anchoring three hours of morning news coverage on the network.
This isn’t the anchor’s first scandal, he was previously suspended following a tabloid magazine’s report about an extramarital affair in 2016, causing then CEO Roger Ailes to publicly admonish him.
So far, Henry has not responded to the rival network’s requests for comment.
Fauci comes under fire
As coronavirus cases surge across the US, Dr Anthony Fauci, who lead’s the CDC’s pandemic response, is facing growing backlash from conservative leaders fed up with his warnings about states’ reopening efforts.
“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I don’t need his advice anymore,” Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.
As COVID cases surge, TX Lt Gov Dan Patrick says he will no longer listen to Anthony Fauci: "I don't need his advice anymore" pic.twitter.com/8w6mdCpLhN
— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) July 1, 2020
Ingraham went on to accuse Fauci of working for Donald’s Trump Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
The backlash comes following Fauci’s testimony at a senate hearing Tuesday, where he said he’s certain that more new Covid-19 cases among young Americans can be attributed to bars opening back up, and large social gatherings - even though that same demographic marched side-by-side in major cities.
As Yahoo reports, the data backs up Fauci: parties, not protests are the cause for spikes in young people.
Young people warned of increasing Covid-19 risks
CDC officials and the Trump administration are sending a stern warning to young people that their quest for bars and beaches is putting their lives at risk. Coronavirus task force leader Mike Pence urged young Americans to take the virus more seriously.
“Young people have a particular responsibility to make sure that they’re not carrying the coronavirus into settings where they would expose the most vulnerable.” he said as part of the first coronavirus briefing to be held in nearly two months.
Later today, the Guardian reports how young people of color face a disproportionate risk of dying from Covid-19. Data from the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention have shown the majority of coronavirus hospitalizations among Black and Latino Americans are of those under the age of 50.
Donald Trump was not verbally briefed on a reported Russian effort to pay the Taliban to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan because the allegations were not corroborated at the time, White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said moments ago.
O’Brien, however, declined to say whether the intelligence, which US ally Britain has said it was aware of, had been included in a written presidential briefing earlier this year, Reuters reports.
“The president’s career CIA briefer decided not to brief him because it was unverified intelligence,” O’Brien said on Fox News. He said the CIA briefer was an outstanding officer and he supported her decision.
The Republican president has faced a barrage of criticism after New York Times reports that a Russian military intelligence unit had offered bounties for US and allied soldiers and that Trump received a written briefing on the matter in February.
After Trump initially said he was not briefed on the matter, the White House said Trump was not “personally” briefed but did not address whether he had received a written report or read it, and why he had not responded more aggressively if so.
O’Brien told reporters later that Trump has now been briefed on the Russian bounty reports.
“The president’s been fully briefed,” O’Brien said outside the White House, “We don’t get into written classified documents.”
Democrats on Tuesday called on Trump to consider imposing new economic sanctions on Russia if the information was confirmed.
Democratic lawmakers have asked for more in-depth briefings on the issue. O’Brien said the Gang of Eight - congressional leaders and intelligence committee lawmakers - would be briefed by intelligence officials, possibly later today.
Updated
Good morning!
I’m reporter Kenya Evelyn taking over live blog for today. Here’s what we’re following:
- The latest primary races including a shocking unseating of five-term Colorado congressman Scott Tipton
- Donald Trump tying defense spending to preserving Confederate-named military bases, and mocking Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren with a familiar racial slur
- The latest on the administration’s attempt to block an upcoming book from the president’s niece
- The US’s buyout of nearly the entire global stock of a potential Covid-19 treatment drug
Stay tuned for more throughout the day.
Updated
Key points so far today
Here are the main points of the day so far
- Donald Trump twice insisted on Twitter that claims he did not act on intelligence about Russia offering a bounty for the deaths of US military personnel in Afghanistan were “a made up fake news media hoax started to slander me and the Republican Party”
- White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien has this morning confirmed that the president has now been fully briefed. He declined to say whether the information had been included in a written presidential briefing earlier this year as multiple reports have stated.
- Former US Navy helicopter pilot and New Jersey Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill had strong words over the issue on CNN, saying “We ask that the president come out and reassure us that he has our backs, that he will get to the bottom of this and that Russia will face repercussions. Whether or not he was told verbally about this, he knows now.”
- Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad F. Wolf, has announced the formation of a “special task force to coordinate Departmental law enforcement agency assets in protecting…historic monuments, memorials, statues, and federal facilities”. Wolf said “As we approach the 4 July holiday, I have directed the deployment and pre-positioning of Rapid Deployment Teams across the country to respond to potential threats to facilities and property.”
- Oklahoma voters narrowly decided to expand Medicaid health insurance to tens of thousands low-income residents, becoming the first state to amend its Constitution to do so.
- Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper won the Democratic nomination Tuesday to face Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in November
- Also in Colorado, Lauren Boebert, the owner of a gun-themed restaurant she refused to close under coronavirus restrictions, will be running for Congress. Boebert, who has spoken approvingly of the QAnon far-right conspiracy theory, beat five-term Rep. Scott Tipton in the Republican primary for the state’s third congressional district
This is Martin Belam signing off in London - Kenya Evelyn will be taking over our coverage shortly. Have a great day.
One couple unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight in the last few days were the McCloskeys, who went viral on the internet after images emerged of them brandishing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their St Louis home.
Mark McCloskey was talking to Tucker Carlson on Fox News late last night and said:
When I saw that mob come through the gate with their rage and their anger, I thought that we would be overrun in a second. By the time I was out there with my rifle, the people were 20 or 30 feet from my front wall. I was literally afraid that within seconds they would surmount the wall, come into the house, kill us, burn the house down and everything that I had worked for and struggled for for the last 32 years.”
Mark insisted that the actions of himself and his wife Patricia McCloskey had nothing to do with race.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is investigating the incident, which has spawned a whole series of memes on social media. She said in a statement on Monday
I am alarmed at the events that happened over the weekend, where peaceful protestors were met by guns and a violent assault. We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation or threat of deadly force will not be tolerated
Protesters were marching to Mayor of St. Louis Lyda Krewson’s house to call for her resignation when the incident occurred.
While Donald Trump might be happy with those Pew Research Center numbers showing that he his holding onto his white evangelical base (see 7:57) the Politico/Morning Consult survey numbers out today make for grimmer reading.
They find that Trump’s job approval sank to 39 percent, with 59 percent of voters disapproving of the way he is doing his job.
There was also some pretty bleak news about the state of the country as a whole:
The poll found sinking voter optimism as well, with only a quarter of voters responding that the country is headed in the right direction, while 75 percent said things had “pretty seriously” gotten off on the wrong track — a record high for the Trump presidency. The 50-point gap also represents the largest gulf since Trump took office in 2017.
You can read the details here: Politico - Trump job approval dips as coronavirus fears rise
Donald Trump has now been fully briefed on a reported Russian effort to pay the Taliban to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan, White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said moments ago.
O’Brien declined to say whether the information had been included in a written presidential briefing earlier this year, Reuters said - as multiple reports have stated.
“The president’s been fully briefed,” O’Brien told reporters at the White House, adding, “We don’t get into written classified documents.”
Here’s our story from all the news on this yesterday:
Calls on Capitol Hill for answers from Trump over Russia "bounty" scandal
Donald Trump is facing an increasingly-loud chorus demanding answers over his relationship with Vladimir Putin and what he is going to do about reports that Russia paid bounties for the deaths of US soldiers in Afghanistan.
There were calls yesterday for answers and action, after more denials from the White House that Trump had been personally briefed on the matter prior to very recent days, when reports came out details were included in his intelligence briefings perhaps as early 2019.
Mikie Sherrill, first term congresswoman and Democrat of New Jersey, former US Navy helicopter pilot and lieutenant commander (having graduated with the first class of women eligible for combat), spoke up on Wednesday morning about the issue on the minds of people in New Jersey.
As she was speaking, the president was tweeting, about TV ratings, Confederate monuments and the bounty scandal, in his own way, but not about the fourth day of record new coronavirus diagnoses in the US - 48,000 new cases yesterday, a new record in the US outbreak.
The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party. The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited @nytimes has a source, reveal it. Just another HOAX!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
Sherrill told CNN: “I’m not expecting people in New Jersey to understand exactly what is going on [with the bounty story]. We have had one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks...we have some of the longest lines for food at our distribution centers.” She said paying attention to what was going on between the US and places like Russia, Afghanistan and Syria: “That’s my job.”
Sherrill also serves on the House armed services committee
“We ask that the president come out and reassure us that he has our backs, that he will get to the bottom of this [the bounty scandal] and that Russia will face repercussions,” she said.
“Whether or not he [Trump] was told verbally about this, he knows now.”
Sherrill has served overseas and said she and service families and military personnel currently overseas needed to know that the Trump administration, specifically the president was “looking out for them.”
“And we have not seen that,” she said.
In the last few moments, Trump has doubled-down on this on Twitter, asking “Do people still not understand that this is all a made up Fake News Media Hoax started to slander me & the Republican Party”
“No corroborating evidence to back reports.” Department of Defense. Do people still not understand that this is all a made up Fake News Media Hoax started to slander me & the Republican Party. I was never briefed because any info that they may have had did not rise to that level
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
Updated
We know that Donald Trump is very fond of poll numbers when they are favourable to him and he’ll be pleased to see a Pew Research Center poll being reported by Associated Press today that suggests about 7 in every 10 white evangelical Protestants is a Trump supporter.
However, Trump’s 72% approval among white evangelicals in June represents a fall of six percentage points since a similar April survey.
The survey’s findings are in line with a fall in his general approval among all Americans, which declined from 44% in April to 39% in June. Despite the slight tick downward, Trump’s approval among white evangelicals has remained largely consistent over his presidency.
The survey also found a majority of two other Christian groups continuing to register approval of the president. Trump tallied 56% approval among non-evangelical white Protestants in June and 54% approval among white Catholics.
In the numbers there’s an indication of how the widespread Black Lives Matter protests might impact on Trump’s November chances. Among Black Protestants, Trump’s approval ticked up from 10% in January to 21% in April, but fell back down to 12% in June in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd and the president’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis which has disproportionately impacted minority communities.
Homeland Security announces task force to protect monuments
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad F. Wolf, has announced the formation of a “special task force to coordinate Departmental law enforcement agency assets in protecting…historic monuments, memorials, statues, and federal facilities”.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Acting Secretary Wolf says:
DHS is answering the President’s call to use our law enforcement personnel across the country to protect our historic landmarks. We won’t stand idly by while violent anarchists and rioters seek not only to vandalize and destroy the symbols of our nation, but to disrupt law and order and sow chaos in our communities.
The DHS Protecting American Communities Task Force (PACT) will, according to the statement, “conduct ongoing assessments of potential civil unrest or destruction and allocate resources to protect people and property. This may involve potential surge activity to ensure the continuing protection of critical locations.”
Wolf says: “As we approach the 4 July holiday, I have directed the deployment and pre-positioning of Rapid Deployment Teams (RDT) across the country to respond to potential threats to facilities and property.”
The president himself will be visiting one such monument on 3 July, in a controversial trip to Mount Rushmore, which has been heavily criticised and where protests are expected.
Trump claims that 'Russian bounty' story is a hoax
Donald Trump has been on a tweeting spree this morning. Some of the things he has mentioned include the renaming of military bases named after Confederate figures who fought against the US in the civil war. He’s threatening to veto any action on that.
I will Veto the Defense Authorization Bill if the Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren (of all people!) Amendment, which will lead to the renaming (plus other bad things!) of Fort Bragg, Fort Robert E. Lee, and many other Military Bases from which we won Two World Wars, is in the Bill!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
He’s also talking about his executive order to protect monuments and statues, most of which were already protected by state law anyway.
My Executive Order to protect Monuments, Statues etc., IS IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT. In excess of a 10 year prison term. Please do not put yourself in jeopardy. Many people now under arrest!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
He’s had a dig at CNN over their TV ratings.
Can’t believe how badly @CNN has done in the newly released TV ratings. They are so far below @FoxNews (thank you President Trump!) that you can barely find them. Fredo should be given a big pay cut! MSDNC also did poorly. As I have long said, Fake News does not pay!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
He has resolutely failed to mention coronavirus though - bearing in mind that yesterday the US recorded over 43,000 new cases of Covid-19.
But perhaps the most eye-catching claim this morning though is the president declaring that the ‘Russian bounty’ story is a “HOAX!”.
The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party. The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited @nytimes has a source, reveal it. Just another HOAX!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
Given that over the last couple of days both senior Republican and Democratic politicians have been briefed on the existence of the intelligence in Capitol Hill, that does seem a stretch.
Updated
Meat-processing plants have been at the centre of coronavirus outbreaks in several countries, and the US is no exception,
In late April, while outbreaks began emerging at meat processing plants across the country, Donald Trump signed an executive order forcing the facilities to remain open.
Since the pandemic began, more than 36,000 meat processing and farm workers have tested positive for Covid-19 and at least 116 have died, according to a tally by the Food and Environment Reporting Network, though the true number is likely higher.
Lewis Kendall has been reporting for us in Durham, North Carolina, on what it is like to be working in an environment where coronavirus seems to spread so easily.
Read it here: Revealed - Covid-19 outbreaks at US meat-processing plants are being kept quiet
Oklahoma votes narrowly to expand Medicaid
Sean Murphy at the Associated Press has been reporting on how Oklahoma voters narrowly decided to expand Medicaid health insurance to tens of thousands low-income residents, becoming the first state to amend its Constitution to do so.
With 100% of precincts reporting unofficial results, State Question 802 passed by less than 1 percentage point. The question fared well in metropolitan areas, including Oklahoma City and Tulsa, but was overwhelmingly opposed in rural counties.
Amending the Oklahoma Constitution will prevent the Republican-controlled Legislature, which has resisted Medicaid expansion for a decade, from tinkering with the programme or rolling back coverage.
State Question 802 will extend Medicaid health insurance to those earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level, which is about $17,200 for an individual or $35,500 for a family of four. Oklahoma was one of 14 states that had not expanded Medicaid under the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act.
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and his predecessor, Mary Fallin, have opposed expansion, citing uncertainty about future costs for the state. “We have a billion-dollar shortfall next year,” Stitt said recently at a forum hosted by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group that opposes the measure. The state would have to “either raise taxes or to cut services somewhere else like education, first responders, or roads and bridges.”
After years of legislative inaction on health insurance proposals, supporters of Medicaid expansion launched an initiative petition last year to get the measure on the ballot, and collected a record number of signatures.
Some Republican opposition to Medicaid expansion has eroded in recent years, particularly in rural areas where hospitals have suffered financial problems or closed.
Kevin Penry, a Republican and retired pastor from Edmond, said that before going on Medicare last month he had to buy expensive insurance on the federal marketplace, which “really made me feel for folks who are in a difficult financial situation.” He said he voted for the expansion.
The Oklahoma Health Care Authority has projected that about 215,000 residents would qualify for a Medicaid expansion, for a total annual cost of about $1.3 billion. The estimated state share would be about $164 million. But those numbers could be considerably higher given the number of Oklahomans who have lost their jobs and work-related health insurance because of the economic shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Missouri voters will also decide on a constitutional amendment on 4 August.
John Hickenlooper wins Democratic nomination in Colorado
Another result from Colorado is that former Governor John Hickenlooper won the Democratic nomination Tuesday to face Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in November
Hickenlooper’s main challenge was former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who was promising a Green New Deal and single-payer health care.
But Hickenlooper had a financial edge in the campiagn, out-raising Romanoff by about 7-to-1. He also had a reservoir of goodwill to call upon after two terms in the governor’s mansion.
Senate Democrats recruited Hickenlooper, 68, to take on Gardner, who is widely seen as the most vulnerable Republican in the Senate. Democrats need to gain three seats in November to win control of the chamber, and they see Colorado as their most promising opportunity. Hickenlooper made an ill-fated bid for the White House last summer.
“I’ve never lost an election in this state and I don’t intend to lose this one,” Hickenlooper said Tuesday night.
In an interview, Gardner previewed how he intends to fight back, calling Hickenlooper “the most corrupt governor in the history of Colorado.”
Romanoff had quickly called Hickenlooper to congratulate him on the victory after polls closed Tuesday evening. “For all the differences that we had, and there were many in this race, I am equally committed to making sure Cory Gardner is a one-term senator,” Romanoff told supporters during a virtual victory party on Zoom.
QAnon-linked Lauren Boebert wins her Colorado primary
It will be Lauren Boebert who goes into the election in Colorado in November after her surprise primary victory last night.
The owner of a gun-themed restaurant where staff carry their weapons as they serve customers, Boebert won after a campaign in which she accused five-term Rep. Scott Tipton of not being sufficiently pro-Donald Trump, even though the president had endorsed Tipton.
America is and always will be the greatest country in the world.
— Lauren Boebert for Congress (R-CO3) (@laurenboebert) July 1, 2020
Thank you, Colorado!
This is the honor of a lifetime.
Now, the hard work begins to take back the House in November!
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Boebert wrote in a recent Aspen Times column that “A sober look at the Tipton record shows a back-burner representative that has failed to live up to his conservative chops that he touted on his Tea Party-inspired campaign trail. If his record lived up to his campaign rhetoric, I wouldn’t feel so compelled to run.”
She made made a name for herself after loudly protesting Democratic Gov. Jared Polis’ orders to close businesses to fight the coronavirus pandemic. She opened her Shooters Grill restaurant in defiance of closure orders - county officials ended up having to to obtain a cease-and-desist letter from a district judge to shut her restaurant down.
She’s also spoken approvingly of the QAnon far-right conspiracy theory saying during an appearance on QAnon-aligned web show Steel Truth: “Everything that I’ve heard of Q, I hope that this is real because it only means that America is getting stronger and better, and people are returning to conservative values.”
Ann Vandersteel, who conducted the interview, tweeted in support of Boebert yesterday
Good luck to the lovely @LaurenBoebert from Colorado. Today she will unseat Scott Tipton from his seat in Congress and let us have one less RINO in our party. Good luck! You’ve had an incredible campaign and are one of the best Twitter accounts out there!
— Ann Vandersteel (@annvandersteel) June 30, 2020
Boebert will run in November’s general election against Diane Mitsch Bush, a former state lawmaker who won the Democratic nomination on Tuesday.
Tipton, who has been in office since 2011, conceded in an email “District Republicans have decided who they want to run against the Democrats this November. I want to congratulate Lauren Boebert and wish her and her supporters well.”
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics today. Here’s a quick catch-up and some of what we can expect from today:
- Dr Anthony Fauci has braced the country for worsening coronavirus numbers, saying the US could see 100,000 new coronavirus cases daily unless action is taken to reverse the epidemic. Yesterday Alaska, Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas all announced single-day highs for new cases. Experts say masks would help slow the spread - but the president is conspicuously continuing to refuse to wear one in public. The US administration has, though, bought up the world’s stock of Covid-19 drug, remdesivir
- Colorado, Oklahoma and Utah held primaries yesterday. John Hickenlooper has held off Andrew Romanoff in the Colorado Democratic Senate Primary. Lauren Boebert has pulled off a surprise victory over five-term Representative Scott R. Tipton in Colorado’s Republican primary. She’s previously spoken approvingly about the QAnon conspiracy theory, and faced legal action after she refused to obey the state’s coronavirus restrictions
- Julian Bear Runner, the president of the Oglala Sioux tribal council, has told Donald Trump to stay away from Mount Rushmore. He warns that the president’s planned 3 July visit to the monument on ‘stolen’ Native land risks spreading coronavirus. South Dakota governor Kristi Noem has said the state won’t be enforcing social distancing at the independence day celebration event
- Republican Governor Tate Reeves retired Mississippi’s 126-year-old flag
- The Oscars voting body invited in 819 new members in a campaign to diversify the Academy
And if you fancy a bit of light relief before the day gets properly going, we’ve got a great piece where Martha Reeves discusses the making of and the political impact of her 60s Motown hit that became the unintentional soundtrack to another tumultuous time in American history - Dancing in the Street.
I’ll be your lone warrior on the blog this morning - you can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
