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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Sam Levin in Los Angeles, Joan E Greve in Washington and Martin Belam (earlier)

California reverses coronavirus reopenings for businesses' indoor operations – as it happened

Summary

That’s it for the blog today, thanks for following along. Some links and developments from the day:

Judge lifts Mary Trump gag order

Mary Trump, the president’s niece, is allowed to speak freely about her family and promote her book, according to a judge’s ruling, lifting her from a gag order.

Mary Trump’s lawyer said in a statement (via Daily Beast):

The court got it right in rejecting the Trump family’s effort to squelch Mary Trump’s core political speech on important issues of public concern. The First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy. Tomorrow, the American public will be able to read Mary’s important words for themselves.”

Here’s the Guardian’s review of the book, and our earlier news coverage:

Report: 5.4m have lost health care in US during pandemic

Between February and May, an estimated 5.4 million Americans lost their health insurance due to Covid-19 job losses, according to a new analysis.

The study, reported in the New York Times, found that during those three months more adults became uninsured due to job losses than have ever lost coverage in a single year.

Stan Dorn, author of the study and director of the National Center for Coverage Innovation, told the Times: “This is the worst economic downturn since World War II. It dwarfs the Great Recession. So it’s not surprising that we would also see the worst increase in the uninsured.”

The grim numbers follow recent efforts by the Trump administration to repeal Obamacare. Millions of Americans who have survived Covid-19 or face future infections could lose their insurance or be barred from getting coverage if Trump is successful.

More on that case here:

As California counties have to shut down industries that recently reopened, the Covid crisis continues to rapidly spread across the state’s vast prison system. My colleague Abené Clayton has been tracking the rising number of cases and deaths, and the “historic health screw-up” that spread Covid from prison to prison.

As of today, the California department of corrections and rehabilitation (CDCR) had reported 6,289 coronavirus cases and 33 deaths among incarcerated people. In San Quentin state prison, California’s oldest correctional facility, 1,455 people, or more than one in three prisoners, have tested positive. Most of the state’s prisons remain significantly overcrowded, and health experts say Governor Gavin Newsom’s ongoing promises to do early releases are inadequate.

Despite intense pressure, the governor has continued to refuse to release most older prisoners, given that the majority of people age 65 and above are serving times for convictions considered violent or serious. Advocates say mass releases are the only way to slow the spread of the virus behind bars and in the surrounding communities. More here:

'Shame on you!': protester interrupts Florida governor

As Florida governor Ron DeSantis started his update on the worsening Covid crisis in his state just now, a protester in a mask interrupted, shouting: “You are misleading the public. You are blaming the protesters. You guys have no plan, and you are doing nothing. Shame on you!” Watch here:

The protest comes one day after Florida broke the national record for the largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases in any state since the beginning of the pandemic, adding more than 15,000 cases as its daily average death toll continued to also rise.

DeSantis has said that even with the rising rates and growing safety concerns, he still wants schools to reopen as scheduled next month. The governor also recently downplayed the help his state was receiving from the state of New York for supplies, even though records show his aides thanking New York officials.

Fact check on Trump's false 'mortality rate' comments

As the Covid-19 crisis dramatically worsens across the US, Trump has continued to share the falsehood that the US has “one of the lowest mortality rates anywhere”:

In fact, there are at least 14 countries that have lower death rates than the US, according to CNN, when looking at the 20 countries most affected by the virus. Experts told the network the fatality rate of around 4.5% in the US was the sixth highest in the world – a death toll more than twice as high as Brazil, with the second-highest toll.

Updated

Judge blocks Georgia's anti-abortion law

A federal judge has permanently blocked a controversial Georgia law passed in 2019, which sought to ban abortions once there was a “detectable human heartbeat”, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

The law would have also granted personhood to a fetus, giving it the same legal rights as people after they’re born. US judge Steve Jones ruled against the state today, refusing to leave any parts of the law intact. The ruling permanently blocks the state from enforcing the law, which he had temporarily blocked in October and never went into effect.

The law had faced intense backlash from the film industry, and experts warned it would have deadly consequences for women forced underground:

The governor, Brian Kemp, a Republican and a supporter of the restrictions, has vowed to appeal the ruling, though he will face an uphill battle given that the US Supreme Court last month struck down other abortion restrictions from Louisiana. Some more background from the Associated Press:

At least eight states passed so-called heartbeat bills in 2019, including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee. South Carolina is still considering one. All of the new bans joined the fate of earlier heartbeat abortion bans from Arkansas, North Dakota and Iowa in being at least temporarily blocked by judges. Louisiana’s ban wouldn’t take effect unless a court upholds Mississippi’s law.

In a separate ruling Monday, a U.S. district judge in Tennessee blocked a Tennessee law that Republican Gov. Bill had signed hours earlier banning an abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy and prohibiting abortions based on race, sex or diagnosis of Down syndrome.

Updated

Hi all - Sam Levin here, taking over our live coverage for the rest of the day, writing from Los Angeles, which is returning to strict closures for a number of industries, as Covid-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to surge here.

Business owners in LA have told me that it’s been particularly painful to restart and then shut down again, and that they have been pouring money into making their indoor operations safe, with little certainty about when they can properly reopen. Here is a visual from the LA Times that illustrates just how much has shut down again after brief reopenings:

Updated

Today so far

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Sam Levin, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • California governor Gavin Newsom issued a statewide order that many recently reopened businesses must cease indoor operations, as the state grapples with a surge in new cases of coronavirus. The order impacts restaurants, wineries, movie theaters and museums, among other venues. Bars must also close all operations, according to the order.
  • The justice department released the order commuting Roger Stone’s sentence. The order showed all elements of Stone’s sentences -- including his prison time, his probation and his $20,000 fine -- have all been voided. The department released the order hours after Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who has presided over Stone’s case, requested clarification on whether the order affected Stone’s probation.
  • Trump falsely claimed he has receive “rave reviews” for commuting Stone’s sentence. In reality, both Democrats and Republicans criticized the commutation as a miscarriage of justice. Republican senator Mitt Romney described it as “unprecedented, historic corruption.”
  • California’s two largest public school districts are going entirely online when classes resume next month. The announcement makes the LA and San Diego districts the largest school districts in the country to announce they will not resume in-person instruction when the new academic year starts.
  • Trump retweeted a claim that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is “lying” about coronavirus. The tweet comes as the White House seeks to raise doubts about the credibility of Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert.
  • A US district judge set a new delay in federal executions. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s injuction came hours before the first federal execution in 17 years was set to take place at a federal prison in Indiana.

Sam will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Joe Biden released a scathing video about Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, as the president downplays the country’s recent surge in new cases.

The ad features some of Trump’s recent comments about the pandemic, including his claim that the US is “leading the world” in the fight against coronavirus.

As footage of Trump’s comments plays, a graphic shows the rising coronavirus death toll in the United States. More than 135,000 Americans have now died of coronavirus.

The US has confirmed 3,341,838 cases of coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker, meaning the US accounts for about a quarter of all cases worldwide.

California shuts down indoor operations of many recently reopened businesses

The Guardian’s Vivian Ho reports from California:

California’s governor has ordered all counties across the state to shut down the indoor operations of several recently reopened sectors of the economy, including restaurants, bars, movie theaters and malls following a surge in new coronavirus cases.

The state has seen an average of 8,211 new cases over the past week, an uptick from the 7,876 average recorded the week before. The positivity rate has increased to 7.4%, up from 6.1% a few weeks prior.

“It’s incumbent on all of us to recognize, soberly, that covid-19 is not going away anytime soon,” said Gavin Newsom, California’s governor.

The order will affect places of worship, fitness centers, zoos, museums, entertainment centers and personal care centers. It comes as the state’s monitoring list of counties experiencing surges has grown to include 30 counties.

Updated

Roger Stone's clemency order by Trump released

The attorney at the Office of the Pardon, that well known corner of the Washington labyrinth, has released the clemency order that Donald Trump signed for Roger Stone last Friday.

Stone was due to report to federal prison tomorrow. But the order voids all elements of his sentence, including the time behind bars, the $20,000 fine and the two years of probation. Earlier today, Judge Amy Berman Jackson asked for a copy of the order to clarify whether it applied to Stone’s probation.

Stone has not been pardoned, however. The president has reportedly encouraged him to appeal his conviction for lying and witness tampering in the Russia investigation. And a pardon implies that someone was guilty.

Also, Stone released from home confinement.

Updated

Donald Trump has once again baited China over the coronavirus, which originated in the country last year.

At the press Q & A moments ago in Washington, the president said: “I think what China has done to the world with the China plague...the China virus...what they did to the world should not be forgotten.”

Early on in the pandemic, Trump came under heavy criticism for calling Covid-19 the “China virus” and then defending his choice of language, while also questioning whether the virus occurred naturally, as all his top experts believe, or was made in a lab.

After a while he was persuaded to stop using that phrase but in recent weeks he’s thrown away caution and diplomacy and begun using many derogatory and racially-biased terms for coronavirus, as well as continuing with repeated misinformation about the illness and the way the pandemic is being handled in the US.

Trump once again said schools should be reopened, in response to a question about the new announcement that LA and San Diego schools will be entirely online when classes resume next month.

“Schools should be opened,” Trump said. “You’re losing a lot of lives by keeping things closed.”

The president and some of his advisers have repeatedly argued that it is more dangerous to keep students home from school due to the possibility of neglect or abuse.

However, many school districts have expressed alarm about the possibility of coronavirus spreading in the classroom when in-person instruction resumes.

Trump falsely claims he's getting 'rave reviews' for Stone commutation

Trump defended his highly controversial decision to commute the sentence of Roger Stone, the president’s former associate.

“I’m getting rave reviews for what I did for Roger Stone,” the president falsely claimed.

In reality, both Democrats and Republicans have criticized Trump’s decision to commute Stone’s sentence.

Republican senator Mitt Romney described Stone’s commutation as “unprecedented, historic corruption.”

Updated

Trump: 'I have a very good relationship with Dr Fauci'

Trump is now taking questions from reporters at his roundtable with families who have been positively impacted by police officers.

The first question was unsurprisingly about the White House’s recent criticism of Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert.

“I have a very good relationship with Dr Fauci,” Trump said, describing the senior official as a “very nice person.” But the president added, “I don’t always agree with him.”

Over the weekend, the White House ciriculated an unsigned memo casting some of Fauci’s past comments on coronavirus in a negative light, leading some of Trump’s critics to accuse the president of attacking science.

LA and San Diego schools will be entirely online when classes resume

The LA and San Diego unified school districts, the two largest public school systems in California, has announced classes will be entirely online when the new school year starts next month.

“Both districts will continue planning for a return to in-person learning during the 2020-21 academic year, as soon as public health conditions allow,” the school districts said in a joint statement.

“Our leaders owe it to all of those impacted by the Covid-19 closures to increase the pace of their work. No one should use the delay in the reopening of classrooms as a reason to relax. The coronavirus has not taken a summer vacation, as many had hoped. Indeed, the virus has accelerated its attacks on our community.

“The federal government must provide schools with the resources we need to reopen in a responsible manner.”

The announcement makes the two California school districts the largest ones in the country so far to announce they will not resume in-person instruction this fall.

The announcement comes as Trump and some of his top advisers push schools to reopen next month, even though the president’s administration has sent mixed signals about how schools can safely welcome students back.

Updated

Trump holds roundtable on families positively affected by police

Trump is now holding a roundtable “with several Americans whose lives were helped, and in some cases saved, by law enforcement,” as the White House described it.

The president opened the roundtable by complaining about how police officers were being “very unfairly treated” in the wake of the polie killing of George Floyd.

The roundtable comes as the country experiences a national reckoning over racism and police brutality in response to the killing of Floyd and many other black Americans in police custody, including Breonna Taylor.

Updated

Attorney general William Barr ignored a question about Roger Stone’s commutation, a week after Barr described the former Trump associate’s sentence as “fair.”

Senior justice department officials previously intervened in the Stone case to push for a more lenient sentence for the president’s former associate, causing some of the prosecutors involved in the case to withdraw.

Last week, the justice department declined to side with Stone after he argued the start of his prison sentence should be delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump commuted Stone’s sentence a day later.

Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has just concluded her briefing at the White House, during which she was repeatedly pressed on how the administration is responding to the recent surge in new cases of coronavirus.

McEnany defended the administration’s response to the pandemic by noting that the rate of coronavirus deaths has not risen as sharply as the rate of new cases in recent weeks.

However, public health experts have warned that the death toll often lags behind new cases as an indicator for the spread of the virus.

There is also evidence that the death toll is starting to rise. The seven-day average of daily coronavirus deaths now stands at 719, up from 471 a week ago.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was pressed on Trump’s debunked claim that expanded coronavirus testing has caused the increased number of cases in the US.

A reporter noted the positivity rate of coronavirus tests has also climbed in many parts of the country, which cannot be explained by expanded testing.

McEnany replied by saying the administration has acknowledged there would be “embers” of the crisis that states had to grapple with, but she once again emphasized that more testing reveals more positive cases.

But it is difficult to view the recent surges in new cases as “embers” considering many states are seeing record levels of new infections. Florida reported more than 15,000 new cases in one day over the weekend.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump’s highly controversial decision to commute the sentence of his former associate, Roger Stone.

McEnany described Stone’s commutation as a “very important moment for justice in this country,” criticizing the Russia investigation that led to his conviction as “completely bogus.”

The press secretary complained that there are “really two standards of justice” in the country, arguing former officials like former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe should have faced similar charges.

Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany downplayed the White House’s efforts to undercut the credibility of Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert.

McEnany was asked why officials were sharing “opposition research” on Fauci with news outlets, after the White House sent an unsigned memo trying to cast Fauci’s past comments about coronavirus in a negative light.

“There’s no opposition research being dumped to reporters,” McEnany said, arguing that memo was sent in response to a specific question from the Washington Post.

McEnany added, “The notion of opposition research and ‘Fauci versus the president’ couldn’t be further from the truth. Dr Fauci and the president have a good working relationship.”

McEnany later said Trump appreciates Fauci’s advice, but she described Fauci as “one of many on the task force who provides advice.”

Updated

McEnany holds White House briefing

Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, is now holding a briefing at the White House.

McEnany opened the briefing by noting the president would soon hold a roundtable discussion to “hear stories of families positively impacted by law enforcement.”

The press secretary said Trump “stands with our police officers” and “stands on the side of law and order to ensure peace on our streets.”

The roundtable comes as the country experiences a national reckoning over racism and police brutality after the police killing of George Floyd.

New York is now requiring travelers from states with high levels of coronavirus spread to provide their contact information to officials, governor Andrew Cuomo announced at a press briefing today.

The Democratic governor said he is issuing an emergency health order mandating that out-of-state travelers impacted by the directive must provide their contact information to officials or face a $2,000 fine.

The announcement comes after the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut announced they would require travelers from certain states to quarantine for two weeks after arriving.

During his briefing, Cuomo also criticized Trump for “attacking science,” as the White House seeks to cast doubt upon the credibility of Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert.

Today so far

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • The judge presiding over Roger Stone’s case has requested a copy of the executive order commuting his sentence. Judge Amy Berman Jackson is seeking clarification on whether Stone’s commutation only applies to his prison term or if it also applies to the two years of probation he was sentenced to.
  • Trump retweeted a claim that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is “lying” about coronavirus. The tweet comes as the White House seeks to raise doubts about the credibility of Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert.
  • A US district judge set a new delay in federal executions. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s injuction came hours before the first federal execution in 17 years was set to take place at a federal prison in Indiana.

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

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow suggested Trump would consider offering additional government funding to schools that reopen this fall.

“I think the president would be willing to consider additional funding for state and local governments if the schools do reopen, so that’s perhaps an incentive,” Kudlow told Fox News this morning.

The comment marked quite a reversal from the White House, given that it comes a week after Trump threatened to withhold government funding from schools that didn’t reopen.

The president’s initial threat struck many school officials as counterintuitive, considering a number of school districts have said they can’t bring students back because they don’t have the money to safely reopen.

The Association of American Medical Colleges issued a statement in support of Dr Anthony Fauci, as the White House raises questions about the infectious disease expert’s credibility.

AAMC CEO David J. Skorton and AAMC chief scientific officer Ross McKinney said in the statement, “The AAMC is extremely concerned and alarmed by efforts to discredit Anthony Fauci, MD, our nation’s top infectious disease expert. Dr. Fauci has been an independent and outspoken voice for truth as the nation has struggled to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

“As we are seeing from the surge in COVID-19 cases in areas that have reopened, science and facts—not wishful thinking or politics—must guide America’s response to this pandemic.”

The statement concludes, “Taking quotes from Dr. Fauci out of context to discredit his scientific knowledge and judgment will do tremendous harm to our nation’s efforts to get the virus under control, restore our economy, and return us to a more normal way of life.

“America should be applauding Dr. Fauci for his service and following his advice, not undermining his credibility at this critical time.”

For exaple, the White House has recently highlighted one February quote from Fauci to cast doubt upon his expertise.

Fauci said at the time, “Right now at this moment there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis.” However, the White House has not noted that Fauci quickly followed the comment with, “Right now the risk is still low, but this could change.”

17 states sue to block foreign student visa restrictions

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have sued the Trump administration to block new restrictions on foreign student visas in connection to many universities moving operations online for the fall semester.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued new guidance last week saying foreign students earning their degrees entirely online cannot stay in the United States, prompting accusations from university officials that the administration is attempting to pressure schools to resume in-person instruction.

“The Trump administration didn’t even attempt to explain the basis for this senseless rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses,” Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey said in a statement, per the New York Times.

California, as well as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have already filed separate lawsuits seeking to block the rule.

Updated

Judge in Stone case requests copy of commutation order

District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who presided over the case of Roger Stone, has requested a copy of the president’s executive order commuting Stone’s sentence.

Specifically, Jackson is seeking to determine whether Stone’s commutation applies only to his prison sentence or if it also applies to his supervised release.

Jackson has asked to receive a copy of Trump’s executive order by tomorrow in order to proceed with the case.

In February, Jackson sentenced Stone to 40 months in prison and two years of probation.

Trump has now made more than 20,000 false or misleading claims as president, according to the Washington Post’s Fact Checker tally.

The Post reports:

It took President Trump 827 days to top 10,000 false and misleading claims in The Fact Checker’s database, an average of 12 claims a day.

But on July 9, just 440 days later, the president crossed the 20,000 mark — an average of 23 claims a day over a 14-month period, which included the events leading up to Trump’s impeachment trial, the worldwide pandemic that crashed the economy and the eruption of protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody.

The coronavirus pandemic has spawned a whole new genre of Trump’s falsehoods. The category in just a few months has reached nearly 1,000 claims, more than his tax claims combined. Trump’s false or misleading claims about the impeachment investigation — and the events surrounding it — contributed almost 1,200 entries to the database.

The Post noted Trump averaged fewer than five false or misleading claims a day in his first 100 days as president, indicating his tendency to exaggerate or ignore the truth is accelerating as he approaches the November election amid a global pandemic.

Republican senator Thom Tillis offered an optimistic outlook on his party’s chances in the November elections, even as a number of polls show Trump trailing Joe Biden in Tillis’ home state of North Carolina.

“The stakes are very high this election, but you know why I know we’re going to win? Because people remember how good their lives were back in February,” Tillis said during the virtual North Carolina Republicah convention.

The Senate Republican added, “Can you imagine if we had had a Democrat president and a Democrat majority in the Senate and the House, what our economy would’ve looked like at the worst possible time? At least we had that economy to buttress us while we fight and ultimately win the Covid war.”

But North Carolina voters do not cuurently appear to agree, considering the RealClearPolitics polling average of the state shows Biden ahead by 3.3 points. In comparison, Trump carried North Carolina by 4 points in 2016.

Tillis also faces a difficult reelection in November. A recent poll showed Tillis trailing his Democratic opponent, Cal Cunningham, by 8 points.

US district judge orders delay in federal executions

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan has issued a new delay in federal executions, hours before the first federal execution in 17 years was set to take place at a prison in Indiana.

Chutkan wrote in her decision, “[B]ecause the public is not served by short-circuiting legitimate judicial process, and is greatly served by attempting to ensure that the most serious punishment is imposed in a manner consistent with our Constitution, the court finds that it is in the public interest to issue a preliminary injunction.”

The decision comes hours before Daniel Lewis Lee was scheduled to be killed by lethal injection at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. Two other executions were scheduled for later in the week.

The Trump administration is likely to ask a higher court to lift the injunction in order to proceed with the executions.

Chutkan’s decision is only the latest in a series of stumbling blocks the White House has encountered since attorney general William Barr announced last year that the administration would resume federal executions.

Federal executions have been rare since the federal death penalty was restored in 1988, with only three defendants being put to death in those 32 years.

The op-ed from Mick Mulvaney is also noteworthy because of how the former acting White House chief of staff previously dismissed reporting on coronavirus.

Mulvaney said in late Feburary, when he was still working at the White House, that reporters were only paying attention to the virus because “they think this is going to be what brings down the president.”

At the time, Mulvaney noted many reporters had been focused on the president’s impeachment trial in January, as the virus spread through China’s Wuhan region.

“The press was covering their hoax of the day because they thought it would bring down the president,” Mulvaney said. “The reason you’re seeing so much attention to [coronavirus] today is that they think this is going to be what brings down the president. That’s what this is all about.”

Trump’s former acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, has written a CNBC op-ed about the next coronavirus relief bill.

In the op-ed, Mulvaney argued any new aid had to be focused on addressing the public health concerns of the pandemic, which will in turn improve the economy.

“Put another way, the fact that people aren’t going on vacation probably has more to do with fear of getting sick than it does with their economic condition,” Mulvaney writes.

“Giving people a check, or some financial incentive to travel, won’t solve their problem. Make people feel safe to go back on an airplane or cruise ship, and they will of their own accord.

“Any stimulus should be directed at the root cause of our recession: dealing with Covid.”

Mulvaney goes on to specify some of the country’s current weaknesses in fighting the virus, including testing capacity. He noted his son and daughter both faced issues in trying to get tested and get results back quickly.

Mulvaney’s op-ed is notable considering it comes as his former boss has sought to downplay the current surge in new cases of coronavirus.

Trump has also recently pushed for schools to reopen this fall, even though his administration has sent mixed signals about how schools can safely reopen and many officials fear the spread of the virus in the classroom.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has announced she will hold a press briefing at 1 pm ET today.

The press secretary will almost certainly face a barrage of questions about the president’s decision to commute the sentence of his former associate, Roger Stone.

McEnany will also likely be pressed on the White House’s recent efforts to undercut the credibility of Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert.

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

The White House is defending Trump’s highly controversial decision to commute the sentence of Roger Stone, the president’s former associate who had been convincted of obstruction of justice, lying to Congress and witness tampering.

Former special counsel Robert Mueller wrote an op-ed about the commutation over the weekend, defending his officie’s work in the case and saying Stone “remains a convicted felon, and rightly so”.

Asked about Mueller’s op-ed, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, “He had to come up with process crimes, which is exactly what was done in the case of Roger Stone.”

Trump’s decision to commute Stone’s sentences has attracted widespread criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.

Washington NFL team confirm name change

As expected, the Washington NFL franchise have formally announced that they will be retiring their racist nickname following a review.

More than a dozen Native American leaders and organisations wrote to the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, last week demanding an immediate end to Washington’s use of the name. The announcement says that they will be developing a new name and logo in due course.

Updated

He is the US scientist who became the figurehead of attempts to combat the country’s coronavirus epidemic, described in some quarters as “America’s doctor”.

Now Dr Anthony Fauci appears sidelined by Donald Trump’s White House after repeatedly contradicting the president’s view about the effectiveness of the government response.

Described as driven and a workaholic, Fauci had found himself in the uncomfortable position of gently correcting Trump’s false or misleading statements for months.

My colleague Peter Beaumont has put together this profile of Fauci and what is going on with his relationship with the White House: Fauci sidelined as Trump’s White House steps up briefing campaign

It isn’t just at home that US coronavirus cases have been rising. Reuters are reporting that a high number of incidences of Covid-19 occurring at US bases in Japan is causing consternation for the locals.

A top Japanese official said on Monday that of the 62 individuals Okinawa prefecture confirmed had tested positive from Tuesday to Sunday, 39 were at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, 22 at Camp Hansen and one at Camp Kinser. Later on, TV Asahi said 32 more cases were confirmed at Futenma.

“We will cooperate appropriately on this matter,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news briefing. “Japan and the United States are sharing information about the activity history of the infected military individuals.”

Okinawa hosts the bulk of US military forces in Japan, whose alliance with Washington is central to its security. But many Okinawans associate the bases with problems from crime to accidents - and now coronavirus.

At the weekend, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said it was “extremely regrettable” that a large number of infections had occurred in a short time, adding that Okinawans were “shocked” by the news.

“I can’t help but have strong doubts about the US. military’s measures to prevent infections,” he said, adding that there were reports of personnel leaving bases for beach parties and visits to night life districts around Independence Day on 4 July.

On its Facebook page for Pacific bases, the Marine Corps said it was prohibiting off-base activity for all installations across Okinawa, except essential needs such as medical appointments approved by a commanding officer.

“We are trying to limit as much contact (with local people) as we can, as we look to contact tracing of infected personnel,” a US military spokesman said.

Excluding the bases, Okinawa’s infections stand at 148, with seven deaths.

One of the battles around reopening during the coronavirus pandemic has been over whether schools can go back in fall. Donald Trump and his White House administration are strongly urging them to open. Others are very much not sure that it is practical or safe.

Siva Vaidhyanathan has written for us this morning on how the country is not adequately prepared for reopening, even if there are groups who desperately need it to be done.

This is a crisis of conflicting needs. Parents need their children in school so they can do their jobs or care for sick or elderly relatives. Children need a decent education, access to nurses, nutritious meals, safety, friendship and mentorship. And teachers deserve to be able to do their jobs to the best of their ability, know that they are making a difference, and trust they are not endangering themselves or their loved ones.

Read it here: Siva Vaidhyanathan – America is not prepared for schools opening this fall. This will be bad

Former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has reacted to Donald Trump’s decision to retweet a claim that the CDC and doctors are lying about Covid-19. He put it quite simply: “Paranoia kills”

Trump earlier retweeted a message from from game show host Chuck Woolery claiming that among others, the CDC and “most” doctors were lying about the coronavirus in order to damage the economy and Trump’s election campaign.

It adds to a growing sense that faced with soaring coronavirus cases, and with increased rates of daily new cases in over 40 states, the president is retreating back to a view that the virus is a hoax intended to damage him, and that the medical advice being given is unsound.

Prof Peter Hotez, who had written earlier during the pandemic about the likelihood of politicians “turning on scientists as a deflection mechanism”, sees the attacks on Dr Anthony Fauci and the accusations of lying as being in line with Trump’s previous attitude towards China and the World Health Organization over the outbreak.

Yesterday an anonymous White House aide was briefing about concern that Fauci, one of the nation’s leading health experts, had made “mistakes”. Sources told Katherine Faulders and John Santucci at ABC News that “Fauci has at times been referred to among aides to president Donald Trump as ‘Dr. Gloom and Doom.’”

There’s yet more legal activity regarding Mary Trump’s book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.

There’s currently a temporary restraining order in place on the author, Trump’s niece, which is preventing her from promoting or giving interviews about the book at the moment - or in fact at all discussing her relationship with Robert S. Trump, Donald Trump, or Maryanne Trump Barry in public.

There was supposed to be a hearing about it all on Friday, but that was pushed back to today. We’re expecting a decision out of the New York State Supreme Court at some point today. In the meantime, she’s gagged.

Whatever happens in the court case, you should still be able to get your hands on the book tomorrow when Simon & Schuster now intend to publish, bringing it forward due to, they say, “high demand and extraordinary interest”. There’s some 600,000 copies printed.

You can, of course, read our review in advance. As Lloyd Green puts it: “It is score-settling time, Trump-style. Go big or go home. Few are spared.”

If Tamir was alive, he’d probably be doing something with sports. That little boy was so athletic at an early age. I’m not sure what kind of athlete he would have been. We didn’t really have a chance to have a lot of those conversations. He would be 18 and have graduated high school by now.

Samaria Rice, Tamir’s mother, has spoken to ABC news about her life since her son was killed. Tamir Rice was 12 when he was shot dead by a white police officer in2014 while playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Tamir is in high demand and I’m his voice, so that keeps me really busy in wanting to give back to the community with his foundation, and things that I’m doing with the platform that I have – the platform that America has provided me. They provided it for me because they murdered my son. I’m still being a mom, a grandmother and I’m always going to be fighting for police reform, dismantling the whole system.

You can read the full transcript of Rice’s words here: My 12-year-old son, Tamir Rice, was killed by police. I’m not allowed to be normal

Chris McGreal has been in Milwaukee for looking at one of the battleground states for November’s election - Wisconsin. Donald Trump won the state by just 23,000 votes in 2016, and his team opened an office in Milwaukee on Martin Luther King drive.

But the Trump campaign’s best laid plans to appeal to Black voters in the state have been disrupted by two huge changes to American life in the last couple of months. As McGreal puts it:

Covid-19 has shattered the illusion that Trump could take significant numbers of African American votes following his hostility to the Black Lives Matters movement in the wake of George Floyd’s killing. Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic – which has had a disproportionate impact on communities of colour – has also been a factor.

In the piece, McGreal has been on the ground talking to local residents and politicians of both parties. It’s a good read about a state with a significant role to play in November.

Read it here: ‘He’s in trouble here’: can Trump win swing state Wisconsin again?

Reuters are reporting that two experimental coronavirus vaccines, jointly developed by German biotech firm BioNTech and US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer have received ‘fast track’ designation from the Food and Drug Administration.

The candidates, BNT162b1 and BNT162b2, are the most advanced of at least four vaccines being assessed by the companies in ongoing trials in the United States and Germany.

Earlier this month, the companies said BNT162b1 showed potential against the virus and was found to be well tolerated in early-stage human trials. Early data from the German trial of BNT162b1 are expected to be released in July, the companies said.

If the ongoing studies are successful, and the vaccine candidate receives regulatory approval, the companies said they expect to make up to 100 million doses by the end of this year and potentially more than 1.2 billion doses by 2021-end.

The companies said they expect to begin a large trial with up to 30,000 participants as soon as later this month, if they receive regulatory approval.

The fast track status by the FDA is granted to speed up the review of new drugs and vaccines that show the potential to address unmet medical needs.

Trump retweets claim that CDC and doctors are "lying" about coronavirus

Donald Trump has retweeted a claim that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the media, the Democratic party, and “most” doctors are “lying” about Covid-19.

Donald Trump retweet of claim that CDC, media, Democratic Party and “most” doctors are lying about coronavirus
Donald Trump retweet of claim that CDC, media, Democratic Party and “most” doctors are lying about coronavirus Photograph: Twitter

The tweet from game show host Chuck Woolery was posted last night, and claims that the CDC and doctors are lying about coronavirus, alongside the media and Trump’s politicial opponents, in order to keep the economy from coming back and to damage the president’s re-election chances.

As a reminder, at the moment the US has more than 3.2 million total confirmed coronavirus cases, and 135,066 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker.

My colleague Mario Koran has been reporting for us on the coronavirus situation in Imperial county, California. Over the last 14 days, the county’s infection rate was more than 588 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people – by far the highest in the state.

Not only has coronavirus infected a disproportionately high number of residents, Imperial county is also the state’s poorest. In 2018, 30% of its children lived in poverty, soaring above state and national averages. It comes in dead last on a ranking of county health indicators, which include rates of obesity, access to healthcare, and environmental pollution. Luis Olmedo, executive director of Comite Civico del Valle, said that taken together these factors make the county a Petri dish for disease.

You can read more here: ‘This is a war’: the coronavirus disaster in California’s hardest-hit – and poorest – county

Updated

Police to investigate viral video of officer using knee-on-neck hold in Pennsylvania

Police in Allentown, Pennsylvania have issued a statement saying they are to investigate an incident which was filmed on Saturday by a passer-by and which went viral on social media.

The video shot on Saturday night from a passerby’s vehicle shows Allentown officers restraining a man on the ground outside the emergency room of the Sacred Heart Campus of St. Luke’s Hospital.

An officer has his elbow on the man’s neck before switching to a knee to hold him down, while other officers restrained his arms. The man does not appear to be resisting during the video.

The local Black Lives Matter group has demanded the force suspend the officers involved.

According to the police statement, officers were outside the hospital for an unrelated matter when they saw a man staggering in the street, vomiting and stopping in the driveway of the ER.

The officers and hospital staff interacted with the man, who began to yell and spit at them, police said. The statement said the man was “noncompliant which required officers to restrain” him. It’s unclear from the video how long the officer had his knee of the man’s neck.

The man was treated at the hospital and later released.

Allentown Mayor Ray O’Connell described the incident as “disturbing”, and protesters are planning another march to City Hall on Monday evening with community leaders slated as speakers.

China to impose sanctions on Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio among others

Reuters are reporting that China has announced “corresponding sanctions” against the US after the Trump administration penalised senior Chinese officials over the treatment of minority Uighur Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang.

The sanctions target Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Rep. Chris Smith, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, and the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

Rubio and Cruz have both sponsored legislation that would punish China’s actions in Xinjiang. Smith has also been a vocal critic of China on issues ranging from Xinjiang to Hong Kong and the coronavirus.

China’s move comes as relations between the world’s two biggest economic powerhouses have slumped over disagreements on issues including the coronavirus pandemic, trade, Huawei and a sweeping national security law imposed on Hong Kong.

“The US actions seriously interfere in China’s internal affairs, seriously violate the basic norms of international relations and seriously damage Sino-US relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.

“China will make further responses based on how the situation develops.”

Hua did not elaborate.

UN experts and activists say at least a million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims are held in detention centres in Xinjiang. China denies this, and describes them as training centres helping to stamp out terrorism and extremism and give people new skills.

The Uighurs are a predominantly Muslim Turkic-speaking ethnic group, primarily from China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang. They have been subject to religious and ethnic persecution by Chinese authorities, with rights groups claiming that in recent years more than 1 million people have been held in detention camps. 

Having initially denied the existence of the camps, China has described them as “vocational education centres” in the face of mounting evidence in the form of government documents, satellite imagery and testimonies from escaped detainees. Satellite images have also suggested that more than two dozen Islamic religious sites have been partly or completely demolished since 2016.

In July 2019 China claimed that most of the people sent to the mass detention centres have “returned to society”, but this has been disputed by relatives of those detained. Around 1-1.5m Uighur are estimated to live overseas as a diaspora, many of whom have campaigned against the treatment of their families. China repeated these claims in December 2019, but offering no evidence of their release.  

Martin Belam

Several news outlets are reporting the political attack on Dr Anthony Fauci, saying that a White House official released a statement saying that “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things.”

The statement then went on to list a number of things that Fauci said early on in the coronavirus outbreak that were either proved not to be true by further scientific discovery, or which Fauci has changed his position on. It resembled the kind of opposition research you would more usually do on a political opponent, rather than one of your chief medical experts.

Donald Trump himself directly criticised Fauci on television last week, saying “Dr. Fauci is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes”

A couple of days ago Fauci revealed that he had not briefed the president in two months. Trump is unable to directly fire Fauci.

The anonymous White House aide criticised Fauci for suggesting that people with no symptoms were unlikely to play a significant role in spreading the virus, and his public statement in February as the US was experiencing its earliest cases that “at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis.”

According to the Washington Post, Fauci was supposed to make several media appearances towards the end of last week which were cancelled by the White House.

Good morning, welcome to our live coverage of US politics and the coronavirus crisis. Here’s a quick run-through of the key points from yesterday and overnight, and a little bit of what we can expect today.

I’m Martin Belam, I’ll be with you for the next few hours. You can send me tips and suggestions and get in touch at martin.belam@theguardian.com

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