That’s all from me today. You can keep following our global coronavirus coverage here.
Here are the biggest US stories of the day:
- Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence of his former associate Roger Stone. Stone was convicted of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction. He was set to begin a 40-month prison sentence on Tuesday.
- Covid-19 cases continued to surge, with hospitalizations in Texas surpassing 10,000 for the first time. In California, officials announced a plan to release up to 8,000 people from the state’s prisons in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, which has infected thousands of incarcerated people.
- A federal judge halted an execution scheduled for Monday, which would have been the first federal execution in 17 years. The DOJ said it would appeal the injunction. Two other federal executions are scheduled for later next week.
- A court refused to lift a temporary restraining order against Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump. A judge this afternoon extended the order until a further decision on Monday. That means she won’t be free to do any interviews about her damning new book about the president and the family. The book is due out on Tuesday and is not subject to restraint after a TRO against the publisher was recently lifted.
- Trump postponed his rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was planned for tomorrow night. The president said he was “forced” to postpone the event because of weather, but the decision comes as campaign officials have reportedly voiced concerns about low turnout at the event because of coronavirus.
- Trump traveled to Florida for a roundtable event, but he avoided discussing the state’s coronavirus crisis. Florida has been reporting record levels of new cases, but the president has downplayed recent surges in several states by falsely blaming the increases on expanded testing.
- The president threatened the tax-exempt status of universities and schools as he pushes schools to reopen. Trump has repeatedly said schools must open their doors this fall, even though his administration has sent mixed signals on how schools can safely reopen. School officials have expressed concerns about the potential spread of coronavirus in the classroom.
- A federal judge has set a hearing for next week in the case involving the president’s financial records. Judge Victor Marrero, who previously ruled that Trump’s business records and tax returns had to be turned over to the grand jury, has set a filing deadline for Wednesday and a hearing for Thursday in the case. The announcement comes one day after the supreme court ruled the president is not categorically immune from grand jury subpoenas.
The Democratic Chairman of the House Committee on Intelligence Adam Schiff condemned the president’s decision.
“President Trump has engaged in countless acts that are both self-serving and destructive to our democracy while in office, but commuting the sentence of Roger Stone, a crony who lied and obstructed our investigation to protect Trump himself, is among the most offensive to the rule of law and principles of justice,” Schiff said in a statement.
While not unexpected, Trump’s move to spare Stone from prison will only increase alarm among critics concerned that the Trump administration has interfered with the justice system in order to shield the president and his friends.
In February, Trump commuted the 14-year sentence of Rod Blagojevich, a former Democratic Illinois governor accused of trying to sell the senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. He also offered clemency for allies including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio who disobeyed a judge’s order to stop racial profiling immigrants and conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who was convicted for campaign finance violations.
Last month, Trump fired Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney who had prosecuted the president’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and was investigating Rudy Giuliani – another Trump lawyer. And in May, the Justice Department dismissed its case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn after Trump complained that prosecutors acting unfairly.
Stone, Manafort, Flynn .. if you’re in need of a refresher on the men in Trump’s inner circle who’ve been convicted on federal charges there’s this handy read Victoria Bekiempis put together last year.
Bill Russo, a spokesperson for vice president Joe Biden, said Trump “once again abused his power.”
He will not be shamed.
— Bill Russo (@BillR) July 11, 2020
He will only be stopped when Americans make their voice heard at the ballot box this fall.
Enough.
Here’s a statement from Roger Stone’s attorney:
In a statement to CBS News, Stone’s attorney says he is “incredibly honored President Trump used his awesome and unique power under the Constitution of the United States for this act of mercy. Mr. and Mrs. Stone appreciate all the consideration the President gave to this matter”
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 11, 2020
Denunciations of Trump’s decision to commute the prison sentence of his longtime friend and supporter are starting to come in.
The United States was founded on the rule of law.
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) July 11, 2020
It seems our president has nothing but contempt for it. https://t.co/QlNNTgFoRQ
.@RepAdamSchiff: Trump "has engaged in countless acts that are both self-serving and destructive ... commuting the sentence of Roger Stone, a crony who lied and obstructed our investigation to protect Trump himself, is among the most offensive to the rule of law."
— Ben Siegel (@benyc) July 11, 2020
Trump called Roger Stone to inform him of the commutation on Friday, the AP reported.
“The president told me he thought my trial has been unfair,” Stone told the AP from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Stone said he was celebrating with champagne.
The White House issued a lengthy statement about the commutation that declared Stone “a victim of the Russia Hoax” and excoriated the Mueller investigation.
Stone had been convicted of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction. He was due to begin a three years and four month prison sentence next week.
By giving Stone a commutation rather than a full pardon, Trump has spared his old friend a prison sentence without erasing the felony convictions.
Updated
Donald Trump commutes prison sentence of Roger Stone
The White House announced that Donald Trump had commuted the prison sentence of Roger Stone on Friday evening. The executive grant of clemency will spare Stone, who was convicted of lying to congress, from serving a prison sentence.
More soon...
Texas Covid-19 hospitalizations exceed 10,000 patients as crisis escalates
Texas governor Greg Abbott has warned residents of the state that “the worst is yet to come” after a week that saw new coronavirus diagnoses exceed 10,000 new cases per day on Tuesday and total hospitalizations surpass 10,000 on Friday, according to the Associated Press.
The governor who oversaw one of the US’s fastest attempts to reopen is now urging residents to wear masks and warning that he might impose a new lockdown.
“Things will get worse,” Abbott told a local television station. “The worst is yet to come as we work our way through that massive increase in people testing positive.”
“The next step would have to be a lockdown,” he added Friday. “The last thing I want to do, the last thing anybody in Texas wants to do is see another lockdown.”
The surge of new patients is already overtaxing the health care system for the state’s 30m residents. The state’s congressional delegation have requested federal government assistance to bring a field hospital to the Rio Grande Valley. A top official in one rural county said the area’s sole hospital was down to two ventilators and that the county required a refrigerated trailer to store dead bodies.
“Several months ago, I warned of a potential tsunami if we did not take this more seriously,” Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez told the AP. “The tsunami is here.”
Senator Ted Cruz has responded to Trump’s incoherent interview on immigration with outrage, though it will be hard for anyone in Congress to know quite what they’re dealing with until the White House issues some kind of clarification of the president’s remarks.
There is ZERO constitutional authority for a President to create a “road to citizenship” by executive fiat.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 10, 2020
It was unconstitutional when Obama issued executive amnesty, and it would be a HUGE mistake if Trump tries to illegally expand amnesty. #TellTheSwampNO #RuleOfLaw https://t.co/RLWuCgcNU6
Donald Trump discussed a possible “road to citizenship” for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (Daca) recipients in an interview with Telemundo today, though the details of any policy action, or whether one even exists, remains entirely unclear.
In an interview with Jose Diaz-Balart, Trump repeatedly mentioned signing “a big immigration bill”, though bills are authored and passed by Congress, and no such bill has been sent to him for his signature. Trump repeatedly resisted Diaz-Balart’s efforts to steer him back into safe constitutional waters by suggesting that he might be referring to an executive order rather than a bill.
Adding to the confusion, he said of Daca: “We put it in and we’re probably going to be taking out again.”
“We’re going to have a road to citizenship,” Trump told Telemundo. Says he will do something by EO. https://t.co/tw12qjA3K0
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 10, 2020
Judge halts Monday execution; DOJ to appeal
The first federal execution in 17 years, which was scheduled to take place on Monday, has been called off by a federal judge due to Covid-19, the AP has reported.
Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled that the execution of Daniel Lee should be delayed until the family of his victims are able to travel safety to attend it. Lee, 47, was convicted of the 1996 killings of William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell.
But the US Justice department has already filed notice that it plans to appeal the judge’s warning to the 7th Circuit court of appeals.
Per the Associated Press:
Attorney General William Barr has said part of the reason to resume executions was to carry out the sentences imposed by the court and to deliver a sense of justice to the victims families, but relatives of those killed by Lee did not want that.
They have pleaded for years that Lee instead should receive the same life sentence as the ringleader in the deadly scheme. The relatives, including Earlene Branch Peterson, who lost her daughter and granddaughter in the killing, had urged the Trump administration for months not to move forward with the death sentence and had argued their grief is compounded by the push to execute Lee in the middle of a pandemic.
Two other federal executions are scheduled for next week, and are not affected by the judge’s order.
The geopolitical battles over social media platforms took a slightly bizarre turn today when Amazon ordered some of its employees to delete TikTok from their phones due to security concerns over the Chinese app, only to reverse themselves hours later, with a spokesperson saying the email was sent in error.
My colleague Kari Paul spoke to a cybersecurity expert about why TikTok is causing disquiet among US politicians and leaders:
The biggest concern regarding TikTok is that its parent company, based in China, is required to share information collected on users with the Chinese government, said Douglas Schmidt, a cybersecurity expert and professor of engineering at Vanderbilt University.
“This clearly has issues with regards to privacy for users,” he said.
Schmidt said other concerns were that the Chinese government would use the downloaded software to surveil activity and content on TikTok user phones, particularly of those in the US military or government, or censor content on TikTok “that doesn’t conform with the Chinese government’s positions on human rights”.
In 2019, leaked internal documents showed TikTok instructed moderators to censor videos that mention Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, or the banned religious group Falun Gong. Previously it was reported that TikTok was scrubbed of any videos of Hong Kong protests.
Read Kari’s full report here:
DNC organizers lay out how delegates will partipate remotely
Guardian US senior political reporter Daniel Strauss reports:
Organizers for the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee later this year laid out directions for how convention delegates will vote remotely.
The directions, obtained by the Guardian, were authored by Jason Rae, the Democratic National Committee’s secretary. The 2020 Democratic National Convention, where former vice president Joe Biden will formally be nominated as his party’s presidential candidate, will partially be in Milwaukee and partially be virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic. DNC officials and health officials concluded that state delegations, which normally attend the convention, should not travel and instead participate in the convention remotely.
“Given the pandemic, the DNCC has developed a voting system that will allow convention delegates to safely and securely cast ballots for all required votes,” Rae writes. “Each delegate will be sent an individualized ballot with unique identifiers via email. As you know, the Office of the Secretary at the Democratic National Committee is working to certify each delegate, which includes gathering the delegate’s best contact information, including email and phone number.”
Voting will start on August 3 and run for 12 days, through August 15.
“During the voting period, each certified delegate will receive a ballot and directions for completing and returning the ballot electronically,” Rae continues in the email. “For security, the ballot design will tie each ballot to the individual to whom it is sent through individualized and serial identifiers. Ballots will be electronically fillable so a delegate will not need access to a printer. Once completed, delegates will electronically submit their ballots to their State Democratic Party.”
Organizers will work with state parties to set up secure systems for receiving ballots.
“The State Parties will be responsible for collecting all ballots from convention delegates as they would if we were conducting votes in person at the convention,” Rae continued. “At the conclusion of voting, each state delegation chair will submit a tally sheet to the Secretary’s Office that formally records the number of votes cast on each item of convention business.”
The Biden campaign and Bernie Sanders campaign are also holding webinars over the next few days to provide delegates information on the new voting process.
The directions and new approach to state conventions voting is one example of how the convention ceremonies will be different because of the coronavirus pandemic. Republican organizers are reportedly considering holding portions of the Republican National Convention outside, also in response to the coronavirus.
Hello everyone, this is Julia Carrie Wong in Oakland, California picking up the live blog for the rest of the afternoon.
Just a few miles away, on the northern side of the San Francisco bay, one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in the country has created a “humanitarian crisis” at San Quentin state prison, where almost 1,500 people have tested positive for Covid-19 and seven have died.
My colleague Abené Clayton has been covering the state’s “historic health screw-up”, and today she reports that California has announced a plan to release up to 8,000 people from the state’s prisons in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.
Abené writes:
Officials on Friday announced three separate efforts, approved by the governor, Gavin Newsom, that they say will decrease the prison population by 8,ooo by the end of August. The measures mark the largest release efforts the state administration has taken since Covid-19 began to circulate among prison staff and incarcerated people.
The first initiative expands a previous effort to expedite the release of people with 180 or fewer days left on their sentences to include people serving time for serious felonies.
The second measure is an immediate review of cases of people with less than a year left to serve in eight prisons that have large populations at high risk of developing Covid-19 complications.
The state will also launch a one-time program under which those incarcerated in state prisons, including people serving time for violent felonies, will receive a credit shortening their sentences by three months.
But public health experts have told Abene that these measures will not be enough to allow for the social distancing required to bring the outbreak under control
Even though this is the largest round of COVID-induced releases, it won't be enough to bring the prison population to below 100% capacity, which advocates and public health experts insist is the only way to make enough space for social distancing. https://t.co/iSEhZEzTSg
— Néné (@abene_writes) July 10, 2020
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Julia Carrie Wong, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- A court refused to life a temporary restraining order against Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump. A judge this afternoon extended the order until a further decision on Monday. That means she won’t be free to do any interviews about her damning new book about the president and the family. The book is due out on Tuesday and is not subject to restraint after a TRO against the publisher was recently lifted.
- Trump postponed his rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was planned for tomorrow night. The president said he was “forced” to postpone the event because of weather, but the decision comes as campaign officials have reportedly voiced concerns about low turnout at the event because of coronavirus.
- Trump traveled to Florida for a roundtable event, but he avoided discussing the state’s coronavirus crisis. Florida has been reporting record levels of new cases, but the president has downplayed recent surges in several states by falsely blaming the increases on expanded testing.
- The president threatened the tax-exempt status of universities and schools as he pushes schools to reopen. Trump has repeatedly said schools must open their doors this fall, even though his administration has sent mixed signals on how schools can safely reopen. School officials have expressed concerns about the potential spread of coronavirus in the classroom.
- A federal judge has set a hearing for next week in the case involving the president’s financial records. Judge Victor Marrero, who previously ruled that Trump’s business records and tax returns had to be turned over to the grand jury, has set a filing deadline for Wednesday and a hearing for Thursday in the case. The announcement comes one day after the supreme court ruled the president is not categorically immune from grand jury subpoenas.
- Trump said he is “looking at” a pardon for his former associate Roger Stone. The president said Stone, who is expected to report to prison on Tuesday, “was very unfairly treated.”
Julia will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
Pastor and civil rights activist to Chicago mayor: take bull by horns
Reverend Gregory Livingston, well known in his native Chicago for his campaigning and community efforts to tackle corruption, gun violence and street gangs, spoke of “a tale of two Americas” in the shocking spate of shootings in several US cities last weekend.
It is estimated that at least 160 people were shot in towns and cities across the US from Friday evening through Sunday of the July Fourth holiday weekend. Several children were wounded or killed by stray or bullets in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Atlanta, which have seen more shootings in recent weeks than is typical at this time of year.
Some of an interview he did on the phone with the Guardian in New York, where he moved last summer and has been working alongside Black Lives Matter and preaching in various parts of the city, was in our news piece. But here are some more of his remarks that there was not space for in that wider piece.
He warned Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, in office for just about a year, that she “is really going to have to take leadership, head on. People are dying and they cannot wait.”
“She must take the bull by the horns,” he said. She should “hold a press conference and hold community meetings to talk about race.”
He urged her to talk to police leaders, state leaders, root out racist and corrupt city politicians, direct more money to Black-led anti-violence organizations rather than “white-led organizations with no boots on the ground”; address herself to broken promises from previous leaders about police reform and shortages of mental health facilities, health care resources and school resources in many areas, he said.
Livingston complained of “two Chicagos” that are very segregated - the affluent downtown and north side, in contrast to the south and west sides.
When street shootings rise: “You cannot look at the fruit of these tragedies without looking at the tree,” he said. He added that he wasn’t looking for mercy for murders or an absolution of personal responsibility, but urgent attention on the root causes of division and inequality.
He said: “Some say ‘if Black lives matter then why do you guys kill each other?’ We are a violent country. There is individual responsibility but there are also conditions that create a climate for violence.”
Livingston says Lightfoot has a difficult job “but it’s a job she wanted”.
He urged her: “It’s going to take courage. Call the racists out.”
Here’s Livingston talking to the Guardian in person in Chicago in 2018.
Updated
Judge extends temporary restraining order on Mary Trump
We won’t be hearing in person from Donald Trump’s niece Mary Trump this weekend. Despite her book being due out next week and already heavily covered in the press, including here in the Guardian, she is not free of legal action by the family just yet.
JUST IN: Judge extends temporary restraining order on Mary Trump, punting decision until Monday. But the order does not apply to her publisher, Simon & Schuster, which has moved up her book's publication date to Tuesday
— Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) July 10, 2020
Here’s our story on her bombshell book from the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly earlier this week.
Updated
Facebook considering political ad blackout before election - report
Facebook is reportedly considering a ban on political ads in the days leading up to the November elections.
Bloomberg News reports:
The potential ban is still only being discussed and hasn’t yet been finalized, said [people familiar with the matter], who asked not to be named talking about internal policies. A halt on ads could serve as a defense against misleading election-related content spreading widely right as people prepare to vote. Still, there are also concerns that an ad blackout could hurt ‘get out the vote’ campaigns, or limit a candidate’s ability to respond widely to breaking news or new information.
The news comes as Facebook has faced pressure from employers and advertisers to crack down on hate speech, even if it comes from the president or his allies.
Hearing in Trump tax return case set for next week
A federal judge in New York has called for a hearing in the case involving Trump’s financial records next week, after the supreme court sent the case back to the lower court.
NEW: A federal judge in NY – acting quickly on his own and without being asked by either side -- has ordered attorneys for President Trump and Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance to inform the court by next Wednesday morning how they expect to proceed with the subpoena for Trump's tax docs.
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) July 10, 2020
According to NBC News, Judge Victor Marrero, who previously ruled that the president’s business records and tax returns had to be turned over to the grand jury, has asked the president’s legal team and Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance to inform him by Wednesday morning how they plan to proceed. A hearing will be held the following day.
The announcement comes one day after the supreme court delivered a 7-2 ruling that the president was not categorically immune from grand jury subpoenas.
In the opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said Trump could fight the subpoena on the same grounds that any other American could, and the president’s lawyers are likely to attempt to do so.
However, if that effort fails, the business records and tax returns will be turned over to Vance.
Updated
Trump may not have taken the time to seriously address Florida’s coronavirus crisis during his trip there today, but the president did make the time to pay an unscheduled visit to his Miami area resort.
Trump, after speaking a few blocks away at Iglesia Doral Jesus Worship Center, stops by his Miami area golf club before going back to airport. He’s in clubhouse now. Stop wasn’t on his public schedule. pic.twitter.com/t0FPOj4W2u
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 10, 2020
According to the White House pool report, the president stopped at the resort’s main clubhouse for 10 minutes. The White House did not provide an explanation as to why.
Trump is now traveling on to Hillsboro Beach for a high-dollar campaign fundraiser at a supporter’s home.
Trump in Florida but not to discuss Covid crisis
Florida has been thrust into the midst of the latest peak of the coronavirus and people may have thought that would have been the main reason for the president to visit today.
But so far he has not discussed it much and has got on with his agenda of visiting the military to talk about counter-narcotics operations, talking to the Venezuelan diaspora and meeting supporters.
The White House pool report notes that Trump said of the coronavirus earlier: “We are still fighting it and we are going to do very well”.
He was recently often talking about the pandemic in the past tense, so that comment is notable today.
The front page of today’s Miami Herald shows Trump arriving at the airport without wearing a mask, noting that he “stepped off Air Force One in Miami, into one of the worst coronavirus hot spots in the country” and even though Miami-Dade County has a mask-wearing mandate in public and mayor Carlos Gimenez last week said he expected Trump to don one.
The Herald notes that Florida’s Department of Health today confirmed 11,433 new cases of Covid-19 in the state, making it the second highest single-day total recorded in Florida since the pandemic began in March.
Some of those working in close proximity to the president can also be seen not wearing masks.
A clutch of Mike Pence’s Secret Service detail tested positive for coronavirus last week.
The Herald notes that there have been 2.4 million coronavirus tests performed in Florida so far, there are 244,000 cases and there have been just over 4,000 deaths.
Trump did an interview with Telemundo’s Jose Diaz-Balart during his trip to Florida today, and the interview will air at 6:30 pm ET.
#EXCLUSIVA: El presidente @realDonaldTrump habla con Noticias Telemundo.
— Noticias Telemundo (@TelemundoNews) July 10, 2020
Es su primera entrevista a un medio en español desde que empezó la pandemia del #coronavirus.
Más de la entrevista de @jdbalart con #DonaldTrump a las 6:30 p.m. y en https://t.co/YkVub31ilq pic.twitter.com/PxI37eWFeL
The president will likely be asked about his recent push to reopen schools despite mixed signals from his administration on how schools can safely welcome students back.
Trump: Biden is a 'puppet' of 'the militant left'
Trump is holding a rountable on supporting the people of Venezuela in Doral, Florida, where many Venezuelan immigrants reside.
But the president’s remarks took a turn for the blatantly political when he attacked his opponent, Joe Biden, as a “puppet” of the “radical left.”
LIVE: “Joe Biden is a puppet of Bernie Sanders, AOC, the militant left, the people that want to rip down statues … they want to rip down statues to Jesus.” @RealDonaldTrump said during a roundtable on Supporting the People of Venezuela in Doral, Florida pic.twitter.com/ynPhLWpyXM
— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) July 10, 2020
“The patriots here today fled socialism to find freedom,” Trump said. “And now Joe Biden and the radical left are trying to impose the same system.”
The president continued, “Joe Biden is a puppet of Bernie Sanders, AOC, the militant left, the people that want to rip down statues and monuments to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin.”
Trump then repeated his bizarre claim that Democrats are pushing for the removal of statues of Jesus Christ. “Jesus! Okay, Jesus. They want to rip down statues to Jesus,” Trump said, before confidently predicting Biden would lose the election.
Biden has said he prefers for Confederate statues and monuments to be taken down through legislative action rather than being torn down by protesters, and he has not expressed support for taking down statues of American leaders like Washington and Jefferson.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer insisted school districts need more federal funding in order to safely reopen this fall.
We all want our schools to re-open.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 10, 2020
But if we want them to open safely for our students, workers, and families, our schools and child care providers need MORE federal funding to make it happen.
President Trump’s erratic demands and threats won’t do anything to keep people safe.
The Democratic leader sent a tweet about school reopenings shortly after Trump threatened universities’ funding and tax-exempt status as the president pushes schools to reopen.
Earlier this week, the president similarly threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that do not reopen this fall.
“We all want our schools to re-open. But if we want them to open safely for our students, workers, and families, our schools and child care providers need MORE federal funding to make it happen,” Schumer said.
“President Trump’s erratic demands and threats won’t do anything to keep people safe.”
Trump threatens universities' tax-exempt status as he pushes schools to reopen
Shortly before landing in Florida this afternoon, Trump sent a pair of tweets threatening the funding and tax-exempt status of universities and schools.
“Too many Universities and School Systems are about Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education,” Trump said in the tweet thread.
“Therefore, I am telling the Treasury Department to re-examine their Tax-Exempt Status ... and/or Funding, which will be taken away if this Propaganda or Act Against Public Policy continues. Our children must be Educated, not Indoctrinated!”
... and/or Funding, which will be taken away if this Propaganda or Act Against Public Policy continues. Our children must be Educated, not Indoctrinated!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2020
Trump’s warning comes two days after he threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that do not reopen in the fall.
The president has repeatedly insisted that schools must reopen, even as his administration sends mixed signals about guidelines on how to reopen safely.
Many school officials have also expressed concern about the spread of coronavirus in classrooms once in-person instruction resumes.
Several White House reporters noted the president has previously held rallies despite bad weather conditions, raising questions about his rationale for postponing the event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Interesting. In 2018 Trump rallied in Penn while a hurricane hit Florida, saying he couldn’t disappoint his fans. Have also seen him more than once tell a crowd he flew through bad weather just to be with them. 🤷🏼♀️ https://t.co/BqFWBpfTng
— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) July 10, 2020
A spokesman for Joe Biden mocked Trump after the president’s campaign announced his Portsmouth, New Hampshire, rally would be postponed due to a tropical storm that is not expected to make landfall in Portsmouth.
“The storm is coming, and his name is @JoeBiden,” said TJ Ducklo, the national press secretary for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
The storm is coming, and his name is @JoeBiden. https://t.co/vqZFQLOxwm
— TJ Ducklo (@TDucklo) July 10, 2020
Trump said Tropical Storm Fay had “forced” his campaign to postpone his planned rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was supposed to take place tomorrow night.
With Tropical Storm Fay heading towards the Great State of New Hampshire this weekend, we are forced to reschedule our Portsmouth, New Hampshire Rally at the Portsmouth International Airport at Pease. Stay safe, we will be there soon! #MAGA2020
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2020
But as the blog has noted, the tropical storm is not expected to make landfall in Portsmouth, and the announcement comes as some campaign officials have reportedly expressed concerns about turnout at the event.
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Trump postponed his planned rally in New Hampshire tomorrow night due to weather. The Trump campaign blamed the delay on an incoming tropical storm, but the storm is not expected to make landfall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The announcement comes as campaign officials have reportedly expressed concerns about the turnout for the event because of coronavirus.
-
Approval of the president’s handling of the pandemic hit a new low in one poll. According to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, disapproval of Trump’s response to the pandemic now stands at 67%, up from 43% in March.
- Trump said he is “looking at” a pardon for his former associate Roger Stone. The president said Stone, who is expected to report to prison on Tuesday, “was very unfairly treated.”
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Trump campaign officials were reportedly concerned about how much of a crowd would show up for his rally tomorrow in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which has now been postponed.
The AP reports:
The Portsmouth rally was scheduled after aides spent weeks studying what went wrong in Tulsa three weeks ago. It was billed as a massive, defiant return to the political stage but instead produced a humiliating sea of empty seats and questions about the campaign’s ability to attract people to large events in a pandemic. ...
It was unclear how many people would attend the New Hampshire rally, campaign officials acknowledged. Conceding that another sparse crowd would raise questions about the future of Trump’s rallies, the campaign [had] taken additional steps to make attendees feel safe. ...
[W]hile masks were distributed in Tulsa, few rallygoers wore them after weeks of Trump deriding their use. This time, the campaign [had] strongly encouraged their use.
Some New Hampshire officials had called on Republican governor Chris Sununu to issue a statewide mask requirement in the days leading up to the rally, but Sununu refused to do so.
The announcement that Trump’s rally in New Hampshire tomorrow will be postponed comes weeks after the president’s Tulsa rally saw disappointing turnout.
Campaign officials told NBC News that they were determined to avoid “a repeat of Tulsa,” when thousands of seats in the indoor arena chosen for the rally went unfilled.
Instead, the campaign planned to hold tomorrow’s rally in Potsmouth at an open-air airport tarmac hangar to mitigate concerns about the spread of coronavirus at the event.
However, the large event still raised alarms with local officials, and Republican governor Chris Sununu said he would not attend the event out of an abundance of caution.
The announcement that the Trump campaign rally in New Hampshire was being delayed due to weather struck one local meteorologist as odd, considering the forecast for tomorrow night is currently party cloudy and 78 degrees.
Our forecast for Portsmouth at 8 PM on Saturday is Partly Cloudy and 78 F. https://t.co/gDVSocHiKp
— Keith Carson (@KeithCarson) July 10, 2020
The Trump campaign has confirmed that tomorrow’s planned rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has been delayed because of a tropical storm headed for the region.
“The rally scheduled for Saturday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire has been postponed for safety reasons because of Tropical Storm Fay. It will be rescheduled and a new date will be announced soon,” communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement.
Some local New Hampshire officials had criticized Trump for the planned rally because of the pandemic, but the campaign and the White House press secretary both said the cancellation was due to weather, not coronavirus.
Trump's New Hampshire rally delayed due to weather
The president’s planned rally tomorrow in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has been delayed due to weather.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters aboard Air Force One that the event would be delayed “a week or two” because of a “big storm” headed for the region.
The rally was supposed to take place partly outdoors -- reportedly because the president’s advisers were trying to avoid a repeat of his Tulsa rally, when thousands of seats in the indoor arena went unfilled.
Coronavirus testing sites in the most populous Texas county will close early today due to a heat advisory.
Officials in Harris county said testing sites would close at noon because of the high temperatures today. The announcement comes as Texas, and Harris county specifically, grapple with a surge in new cases.
🚨Due to the high temperature today. All of our #COVID19 testing sites will be CLOSED AT NOON today.
— Harris County Public Health #SocialDistance (@hcphtx) July 10, 2020
If you had an appointment for today, you can bring your code tomorrow to get tested.#houwx #hounews #heatsafety pic.twitter.com/jFd2ZDQTmo
The early closure raises questions about how southern states in particular will ensure testing continues amid the hot summer months and hurricane season later in the year.
Texas reported a record number of new cases in a single day on Tuesday, recording more than 10,000 new cases. Harris county and Dallas county, home to Houston and Dallas, have reported the highest number of cases across the state.
The Guardian’s Maanvi Singh reports from California:
A dozen California firefighting camps that house incarcerated firefighters have been quarantined and taken out of commission after a coronavirus outbreak at a state prison, highlighting the precarious situation for these crews.
Since the second world war, California has trained and deployed thousands of prisoners to fight fires each year, recruiting those who are willing to fight wildfires at great personal risk in exchange for low wages and reduced sentences.
This year, after a historically dry winter followed by a hot spring, thousands of inmates have been among those battling blazes in the state, doing the backbreaking work of clearing the dead wood and vegetation that fuel the most destructive fires.
“Every fire season it’s the same,” said Romarilyn Ralston, who leads Project Rebound, a California State University program that supports formerly incarcerated students. “The pay is so little, the work is so dangerous. Now we add Covid-19 to the story, and it gets even worse.”
In June, as California prisons saw a dramatic surge in Covid-19 cases and more than two hundred prisoners at the California Correction Center (CCC) in the north of the state tested positive for coronavirus, officials stopped all movement in and out of the prison and placed 12 camps that house more than a thousand prisoners training to fight fires under lockdown. There were no confirmed cases of Covid-19 at those dozen camps – though one member initially tested positive, a second test came back negative.
Across the state, devastating outbreaks at prisons have left more than 5,700 people who are incarcerated sick with the infection. Of the 192 crews of incarcerated firefighters, only 94 are currently available, Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday.
South Carolina is setting a curfew for alcohol sales at bars and restaurants as the state grapples with a surge in new cases of coronavirus.
Republican governor Henry McMaster announced restaurants and bars would no longer be able to sell alcohol after 11 pm starting tomorrow night.
The announcement marks South Carolina’s first step to roll back its reopening process, and it comes after states like Texas and Florida decided to reimpose limits on bars in an effort to limit the spread of the virus.
South Carolina’s number of coronavirus cases has jumped in recent days, with 21,560 cases recorded in the past two weeks. The state has confirmed more than 50,000 cases total since the start of the pandemic.
Trump’s planned rally tomorrow in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is causing unease for some of the town’s residents.
The Boston Globe reports:
Lucy Bloomfield was engaging in a particular kind of panic shopping on Thursday afternoon, preparing not for a natural disaster or an illness but instead for President Trump’s campaign rally here on Saturday. She planned to stay far from it, hunkered down at home with everything she might need to weather the weekend.
‘I’ve been referring to it as ‘The Super-Spreader in Chief’ is coming,’ Bloomfield, 57, said in the parking lot of the Market Basket, as she loaded groceries into her truck.
As the president’s rally looms, some residents, store owners, and elected officials fretted about the coronavirus pandemic and the divisiveness of the expected crowd, while a growing chorus of health care professionals and others asked Governor Chris Sununu to require masks at the event.
Sununu has declined to issue a statewide mask requirement in recent weeks, but the governor said he would not attend the president’s rally out an abundance of caution.
The campaign event comes days after a top health official in Tulsa, Oklahoma, said Trump’s rally there last month “likely contributed” to the city’s recent rise in new cases.
Updated
Trump has adopted a “woe is me” attitude as the country suffers the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and experiences a reckoning over racism, according to those who have spoken to the president in recent weeks.
The Washington Post reports:
The president rants about the deadly coronavirus destroying ‘the greatest economy,’ one he claims to have personally built. He laments the unfair ‘fake news’ media, which he vents never gives him any credit. And he bemoans the ‘sick, twisted’ police officers in Minneapolis, whose killing of an unarmed black man in their custody provoked the nationwide racial justice protests that have confounded the president.
Gone, say these advisers and confidants, many speaking on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations, are the usual pleasantries and greetings.
Instead, Trump often launches into a monologue placing himself at the center of the nation’s turmoil. The president has cast himself in the starring role of the blameless victim — of a deadly pandemic, of a stalled economy, of deep-seated racial unrest, all of which happened to him rather than the country.
Joe Biden criticized Trump’s self-pitying attitude about the pandemic in a speech late last month in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
“He’s like a child who can’t believe this has happened to him -- all his whining and self pity,” the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said.
“This pandemic didn’t happen to him. It happened to all of us. And his job isn’t to whine about it, his job is to do something about it -- to lead.”
Speaking to reporters before leaving for Florida, Trump also accused Joe Biden of copying his campaign platform with the Democrat’s “buy American” proposal.
“He plagiarized from me but he can never pull it off. He likes plagiarizing,” Trump said, apparently referring to a 1987 scandal focusing on plagiarism allegations against Biden that doomed his first presidential campaign.
“It’s a plan that is very radical left but he says the right things because he’s copying what I’ve done. But the difference is he can’t do it, and he knows he’s not doing that.”
Biden unveiled a $700 billion plan to invest in American industry yesterday. Speaking at a metalworks in Pennsylvania shortly after releasing the proposal, Biden said, “Time and time again, working families are paying the price for Donald Trump’s incompetence.”
According to the Washington Post, some of the president’s allies were frustrated that Biden released his proposal before Trump unveiled his similar “buy American” plan, which has been held up for months due to internal White House objections.
So Trump is essentially accusing Biden of plagiarizing a plan that has not yet been released.
Trump says he is considering a pardon for Roger Stone
Trump said he is “looking at” a pardon for his former associate Roger Stone, who is expected to report to prison on Tuesday.
“I think Roger Stone was very unfairly treated, as were many people,” Trump said before leaving for his trip to Florida.
Trump suggests Obama and Biden, but not Roger Stone, should be facing prison terms pic.twitter.com/jRil32V3yn
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 10, 2020
The president claimed Stone was the victim of a double standard, suggesting some of his political enemies -- including Barack Obama, Joe Biden and former FBI director James Comey -- should have been prosecuted for the investigation into Russian election interference.
“And in the meantime Comey and all these guys are walking around, including Biden and Obama, because we caught them spying on my campaign. Who would have believed that one?” Trump said.
The president has similarly mused about pardons for some of his other former associates, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, despite concerns from his allies about how such pardons would be seen by voters.
Stone had requested a delay in the start of his prison sentence because of coronavirus, but the justice department said yesterday that Stone should report to prison on Tuesday as planned.
Updated
Fauci corrects Trump's claim that 99% of coronavirus cases are 'harmless'
Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, has corrected the president’s claim that 99% of coronavirus cases are “totally harmless.”
“I’m trying to figure out where the president got that number,” Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Financial Times.
“What I think happened is that someone told him that the general mortality is about 1%. And he interpreted, therefore, that 99% is not a problem, when that’s obviously not the case.”
Trump won the attention of many fact-checkers last week when he said in a July 4 speech, “We have tested over 40 million people. By so doing, we show cases, 99% of which are totally harmless. Results that no other country will show, because no other country has testing that we have — not in terms of the numbers or in terms of the quality.”
There is no evidence to support the 99% claim, and the Washington Post Fact Checker gave it four Pinocchios. Public health experts have also noted the country’s recent surge in new cases is outpacing the increase in testing, indicating the virus is spreading more than it was before.
Trump tries to avoid Tulsa repeat with New Hampshire rally
This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Martin Belam.
Donald Trump plans to hold a campaign rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, tomorrow, and his campaign is eager to avoid the terrible optics of his recent rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where thousands of seats went unfilled.
A campaign official told NBC News, “We can’t have a repeat of Tulsa.”
NBC News reports:
Instead of opting for an indoor venue, as it did in Tulsa, the Trump campaign selected an open-air airport tarmac hangar to minimize its footprint Saturday and to appease health experts who stress that outdoor events are safer, although mass gatherings are still considered risky.
Officials say similar adjustments are being discussed for the Republican National Convention, which is set to take place at the end of August in an arena in Jacksonville, Florida, that can hold 15,000 people.
But the campaign is clearly still moving ahead with the rally, despite concerns about how his Tulsa event may have contributed to a recent surge in new cases of coronavirus there.
A top health official in Tulsa said Trump’s rally “likely contributed” to the recent rise in new cases, but White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany downplayed those concerns yesterday.
Updated
CEO says calls for boycott of Goya Foods products is "suppression of speech"
Goya Foods President and CEO Bob Unanue had some warm words yesterday for president Donald Trump when he spoke alongside him at the White House.
We’re all truly blessed at the same time to have a leader like president Trump who is a builder, and that’s what my grandfather did. He came to this country to build, to grow, to prosper. And so we have an incredible builder, and we pray for our leadership, our president, and we pray for our country that we will continue to prosper and to grow.
That has not gone down terribly well with parts of the Latino Goya Foods customer base, who are now, it appears from social media, organising to boycott. #Goyaway and #BoycottGoya trended on Twitter, and leading Latino Democratic party figures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Julián Castro joined in.
.@GoyaFoods has been a staple of so many Latino households for generations.
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) July 9, 2020
Now their CEO, Bob Unanue, is praising a president who villainizes and maliciously attacks Latinos for political gain. Americans should think twice before buying their products. #Goyaway https://t.co/lZDQlK6TcU
Oh look, it’s the sound of me Googling “how to make your own Adobo” https://t.co/YOScAcyAnC
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 10, 2020
Unanue has been on Fox & Friends this morning, where he addressed the criticism, saying that it exhibited a double-standard and was a “suppression of speech”
Eight years ago I was called by Michelle Obama to Tampa. They wanted to approach the Hispanic community so they called on us, as the most recognised Hispanic food brand in the US and I went. I went to the White House later and introduced in Hispanic Heritage Month, President Obama. And so you’re allowed to praise one president? But when I was called to be part of this [Trump] commission to aid in economic and educational prosperity, and you make a positive comment all of a sudden, that’s not acceptable? So you know, I’m not apologising for saying, and especially, if you get called by the president of the United States, you’re gonna say ‘No, I’m sorry. I’m busy. No thank you.’? I didn’t say that to the Obamas and I didn’t say that to President Trump
There’s a new official Twitter account in town. White House Rapid Response is up and running and promising to “try to drive messages and make announcements”. It will be manned, it says, by the White House communications shop, under the direction of Kayleigh McEnany and Alyssa Farah.
Their opening tweet says the account will “cut through the bias and provide real-time updates on the historic accomplishments of President Donald Trump’s administration”. A statement which, if I’m honest, maybe doesn’t sound entirely bias-free itself.
Follow @WHRapidResponse as we cut through the bias and provide real-time updates on the historic accomplishments of President @realDonaldTrump’s administration!
— WH Rapid Response (@WHRapidResponse) July 10, 2020
The account is yet to be verified by Twitter.
We know the Donald Trump cares deeply about his rating numbers - whether that is political polls or on the television. He maybe shouldn’t look at the app store at the moment.
Bloomberg are reporting that thousands of TikTok fans are review-bombing the official Donald Trump campaign app in the Apple store in retaliation for noises coming from Trump’s administration that they are considering a ban on the app for security reasons.
It isn’t the first time that Trump and the TikTok audience have crossed swords - many suggested that a social media driven campaign by TikTok users and K-Pop fans to take up tickets for Trump’s divisive rally in Tulsa drove up the campaign’s expectations of the size of crowd they would see at the event, leading to the humiliation of them having to cancel the overspill area they had arranged.
Questions about how Joe Biden and Donald Trump perform cognitively are likely to be a recurring theme in the next few months of the campaign. Both men go into the election in their mid-70s.
Last night in a phone interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump called on Biden to take a test, and unexpectedly boasted about his own score on a recent test:
[Biden] hasn’t taken any cognitive tests because he couldn’t pass. I actually took one very recently, when the radical left was saying “Is he all there? Is he all there?”, and I proved that I was all there, because I aced it. I aced the test. He should take the same exact test, it’s a very standard test. I took took it at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in front of the doctors, and they were very surprised, they said “That’s an unbelievable thing, rarely does anybody do what you just did”, but he should take that same test.
As many have observed on social media, saying that your doctors were “surprised” that you did well in a mental acuity test is quite the odd boast
Even if it were true, "the doctors were *very* surprised I passed a cognitive test" is not really the slam dunk the president thinks it is. https://t.co/7hk0LAFxcZ
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) July 10, 2020
Poll find public approval of Trump Covid-19 handling at new low
The public are rating Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic at a new low, according to figures from a new ABC News/Ipsos poll that have come out this morning.
Disapproval of the president’s performance over the crisis now stands at 67%. At one point in March as many as 55% supported his handling of Covid-19, now that’s down to 33%.
BREAKING: Approval of Pres. Trump's oversight of the COVID-19 crisis has reached a new low since @ABC News/Ipsos began surveying on the coronavirus, with 67% of Americans disapproving of his efforts, per new ABC News/Ipsos poll. https://t.co/RvLIQjwDFs pic.twitter.com/BAmI0HtYRn
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) July 10, 2020
Even Republicans are suddenly less inclined to back him. Only 78% are approving of the president’s handling of the coronavirus, compared to 90% in mid-June.
These poor numbers for Trump are accompanied by concerns over the administration’s drive to get the economy to reopen. A majority of Americans - 59%- believe the push to reopen the economy is moving too quickly
Read it here: ABC – Broad disapproval for Trump’s handling of coronavirus
Alexandra Villarreal has been reporting for us on the coronavirus hotspot of Texas. Five residents from Starr county on the state’s southern border died on a single day last week after contracting Covid-19. Local officials felt they had it under control - and then Republican Gov. Greg Abbott stepped in.
The piece looks at how state-wide mandates have under-mined local attempts to keep the population safe - making it impossible to enforce measures that are considered best practice for halting the pandemic. As Joel Villarreal, the mayor of Rio Grande City, puts it:
Here we are, fighting a global pandemic, and we’re having to figure out loopholes on how to keep people safe. That is so ridiculous.
Read it here: Texas border county had ‘model’ Covid-19 response – then the governor stepped in
Politico have a big profile number up this morning on Elissa Slotkin, Michigan’s 8th congressional district Democratic representative. It makes an interesting point about how reacting to Donald Trump ends up eating into the time that politicians have for doing their own campaigning and putting forward their own proposals.
Slotkin, a former intelligence analyst who served three tours in Iraq, has been outspoken about the “Russian bounty” scandal and the administration’s lack of meaningful action over it. But, the Politico piece by Tim Alberta argues, at a cost:
Take the Russian bounties scandal. When I spoke with her over the phone, three days after the story broke, she had just been informed that she would visit the White House the next morning for a classified briefing. It made sense that Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader charged with leading a select crew of Democrats down Pennsylvania Avenue, would bring Slotkin along. She deserved to be there. She wanted to be there. And yet, being there meant not doing constituent calls. Being there meant skipping other meetings relevant to her district. Being there—and agreeing to appear on television as a serious, sober-minded, non-bomb-throwing spokesperson for the Democratic Party—meant talking for most of the week about Trump rather than about water quality fixes or defense authorization amendments or any number of other things she’d been consumed with.
It’s a great read: Politico – Elissa Slotkin is sounding the alarm. Will Democrats listen?
Over at Axios, Sam Baker is having a look at what he describes as Chief Justice John Roberts’ “Long game”
To fellow conservatives, Baker’s analysis is that:
Roberts moves slower than they want, sides with liberals more than they want, and trims his sails in ways they find maddening. But he is still deeply and unmistakably conservative, pulling the law to the right — at his own pace and in his own image.
Even when Roberts has, for example, upheld the Affordable Care Act, Baker argues he has done so not because he believes in the healthcare provisions of the act, but because of his approach to Congress’ power to be able to regulate commerce.
Baker suggests that his critics “largely don’t question Roberts’ ideological conservatism, but worry that it’s clouded by what they see as excessive concern for how the court’s rulings will be received.”
Read it here: Axios – John Roberts’ long game
If you missed it yesterday, here’s some video of New York City mayor Bill de Blasio helping to paint a Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue opposite the Trump Tower.
There’s some great photos from the event as well.
As well as de Blasio, Sen. Brian Benjamin and Rev. Al Sharpton were among the participants
Protesters who have clashed with authorities in the Pacific Northwest are not just confronting local police, report the Associated Press. Some are also facing off against federal officers whose presence reflects Donald Trump’s decision to make cracking down on “violent mayhem” a federal priority. And it means a significant change in role for some officers.
The Department of Homeland Security has deployed officers in tactical gear from around the country, and from more than a half-dozen federal law enforcement agencies and departments, to Portland, Oregon, as part of a surge aimed at what a senior official said were people taking advantage of demonstrations to commit violence and vandalism.
“Once we surged federal law enforcement officers to Portland, the agitators quickly got the message,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation.
The deployment represents somewhat of a departure for DHS, which was created after the September 11 attacks and is primarily focused on threats from abroad and border security. Now it is in the role of supporting Trump’s law-and-order campaign, raising questions about overstepping the duties of local law enforcement.
Portland Deputy Police Chief Chris Davis said his department did not request the assistance and did not coordinate efforts with the federal government amid often chaotic clashes that have ranged across several downtown blocks after midnight for weeks.
“I don’t have authority to order federal officers to do things,” Davis told AP. “It does complicate things for us.”
Civil liberties advocates and activists have accused federal authorities of overstepping their jurisdiction and an excessive use of crowd-control measures, including using tear gas and patrolling beyond the boundaries of federal property. Portland police are prohibited from using tear gas under a recent temporary court order unless they declare a riot.
“DHS should go back to investigating the rise of white supremacist activity and actors who are seeking to cause violence against these peaceful protests, that is under the purview of the agency’s mission,” said Andrea Flores, the deputy director of immigration policy at the American Civil Liberties Union who was a DHS official during the Obama administration.
Following Trump’s 26 June executive order to protect monuments, DHS created the Protecting American Communities Task Force and sent officers from Customs and Border Protection and other agencies to Washington, D.C., Seattle and Portland.
As local governments in Washington, D.C., and Portland have stepped back to allow space for peaceful demonstrations, the Trump administration has stepped up its effort.
Among the federal forces deployed in Portland are members of an elite Border Patrol tactical team, a special operations unit that is based on the US-Mexico border and has been deployed overseas, including to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bortac members, identifiable by patches on their camouflage sleeves, were mixed in with the FBS outside the courthouse. Others in the unit, which includes snipers, have been stationed in “overlook” positions on the courthouse’s ninth floor.
A former DHS official said Bortac agents were viewed as “highly trained, valuable, scarce resources” and would typically be used for domestic law enforcement in extraordinary circumstances. “These units don’t normally sit around idle,” said the official, who spoke on condition anonymity. “What did they get pulled off of in order to watch over statues?”
If you want more discussion of those supreme court judgements yesterday, then Slate have a podcast episode up this morning dedicated to just that. Dahlia Lithwick presents a look at what these end of term decisions tell us about the relationship between the court and the president and beyond. Associate law professor Zephyr Teachout of Fordham University Law School says:
It’s hard not to see this as Chief Justice Roberts grand finale of the year, where he gets to finish with two big cases with seven-two majorities that show him off as a kind of political hero against Trump.
But presenter Lithwick gets to the nub of it, by pointing out that yesterday’s verdicts have variously been “hailed in the press as a triumph for the New York district attorney, a triumph for congress, a triumph for president Trump, and a triumph for supreme court supremacy. Everyone’s a winner - I don’t even know where to begin!”
Listen to it here: Slate Amicus – Roberts vs. Trump
Earlier this week Lt Col Alexander Vindman announced that he was retiring from the military, accusing Donald Trump of running a ‘campaign of bullying, intimidation and retaliation’ against him after he was a witness in the president’s impeachment trial.
Marie Yovanovitch was also heavily involved in the Ukraine affair. She was the US ambassador in Kyiv who Trump disparigingly referred to as “the woman” in his infamous 25 July phone conversation with new Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
She has weighed in on Vindman’s retirement, telling the New Yorker:
Alex is a decorated combat veteran and has served his country well and honorably. Alex should have received the honor and thanks and recognition of the nation. He deserved better than this. Our country deserved better than this.
Robert Fuller tree-hanging death ruled suicide by authorities
The death of a Black man found hanging from a tree in a Southern California city park last month has been ruled a suicide following a police investigation prompted by outrage from the man’s family, who said authorities initially were too quick to rule out the possibility he was lynched.
Robert Fuller’s death on 10 June came at a time when Black Lives Matter protests were sweeping the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. Family members said they couldn’t imagine 24 year old Fuller taking his own life, and community activities noted that the Antelope Valley area north of Los Angeles where the death occurred has a history of racist incidents.
The Associated Press report that Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva promised a thorough investigation and at a news conference to announce the findings it was revealed that Fuller had a history of mental illness and suicidal tendencies.
Sheriff’s Commander Chris Marks outlined three hospitalizations since 2017 where Fuller told doctors he was considering taking his life. The last was in November, when he was being treated for depression at a hospital in Nevada and “disclosed that he did have a plan to kill himself,” Marks said.
Marks also said the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department investigated an incident in February in which Fuller “allegedly tried to light himself on fire.”
Last month, after Fuller’s body was reported by a passerby in the Palmdale park, deputies reported finding no evidence of a crime at the scene. An autopsy conducted the next day resulted in an initial finding of suicide.
That determination outraged Fuller’s family, who said authorities were too quick to dismiss the possibility of a crime. They hired an attorney who said an independent autopsy would be conducted, and the FBI and state attorney general’s office pledged to monitor the investigation.
Racism has plagued the desert city of Palmdale for years. Five years ago, the county reached a settlement with the US Department of Justice regarding accusations that deputies had harassed and discriminated against Black people and Latinos in Palmdale and nearby Lancaster.
As recently as September, a photo circulated on social media of four elementary school teachers smiling and holding a noose.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Palmdale and had asked the attorney general to look into Fuller’s death, said she is now waiting for the state’s “completed assessment.”
The family’s attorney, Jamon Hicks, plans to hold a news conference Friday to respond to the determination.
Fuller was the second Black man recently found hanged in Southern California. Malcolm Harsch, a 38-year-old homeless man, was found in a tree on 31 May in Victorville, a desert city in San Bernardino County east of Palmdale.
Publicity surrounding Fuller’s case prompted Harsch’s family to seek further investigation of his death. Police were able to obtain surveillance footage from a vacant building near where Harsch’s body was found that “confirmed the absence of foul play,” according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. The family was shown the video and said they accepted the finding of suicide.
Updated
Good morning, welcome to our live coverage of US politics for today. Here’s a quick run-through of the key points from yesterday and overnight, and a little bit of what we can expect today.
- We can expect more fall-out from the supreme court decisions over president Donald Trump’s financial records. New York prosecutors and a Manhattan grand jury can see them, multiple Democratic-led committees in Congress cannot. Yet. The litigation continues
- Disney World is set to begin reopening in Florida this weekend despite surging numbers of new coronavirus cases in the state. Florida recorded 120 Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday, a record high. This is despite Dr Anthony Fauci saying that states with surging Covid-19 cases should pause reopening efforts
- Joe Biden unveiled his $700bn ‘buy American’ proposal to revive US industry
- New York City’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, took part in painting “Black Lives Matter” in front of the Trump Tower in Manhattan, an act which the president has described as “a symbol of hate”
- Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, was returned to federal prison having “refused the conditions of his home confinement”
- The president has got a busy day planned, including getting a briefing on enhanced counternarcrotics operations at the US Southern Command in Florida, where he is scheduled to make some remarks. He’s also got an event with supporters, and will be holding a roundtable about Venezuela.
I’m Martin Belam and I’ll be with you for the next few hours. You can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
