Live reporting on the coronavirus in the US continues with Friday’s blog:
Summary
From me and Joan E Greve:
- The White House press secretary suggested “the science should not stand in the way” of reopening schools. As coronavirus cases surge across the country, many major school districts, including Los Angeles and Dallas, have announced plans to hold online-only classes. In Texas, governor Greg Abbott permitted districts to continue online teaching, overriding an earlier policy that could have cost funding to districts that resisted reopening.
- Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, is filing a lawsuit against Atlanta’s Democratic mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over her coronavirus response. The lawsuit seeks to block Bottoms from enforcing a citywide mask mandate requiring people to wear face masks in public and challenges the mayor’s decision to return to “phase one” of the city’s reopening plan as cases surged.
- Canada and the US have once again extended restrictions on cross-border travel. The restrictions, which were first enacted in March, allow only “essential” travel by land and sea across the world’s largest undefended border.
- A new CDC report said Trump’s European travel ban was enacted too late to protect New York residents. “Although travel restrictions are an important mitigation strategy, by the time the European restrictions were implemented, importation and community transmission of Sars-CoV-2 had already occurred in NYC,” the report says. Although the rate of new infections has slowed significantly in New York, the city has lost more than 23,000 residents to the virus.
- The supreme court declined to block a Florida law criticized as a “poll tax”. Florida can continue to block people with felony convictions from voting until they’ve repaid all fines and fees they owe, the US supreme court said today. Florida Republicans passed the law after the state’s voters approved a 2018 initiative to restore voting rights to those previously convicted of felonies.
- The Republican National Committee is reportedly planning for a downsized nominating convention next month, as coronavirus cases rise in 41 states. According to reports, RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a letter to delegates that attendance would be strictly limited at next month’s convention in Jacksonville, Florida.
- Russian state-sponsored hackers have been targeting organizations working to develop a coronavirus vaccine, British security officials said. The hacking efforts have been specifically targeting groups involved in vaccine work in the UK, the US and Canada.
Updated
The Democrats are urging elected leaders and party delegates to skip the national convention in August as coronavirus cases surge, the New York Times reports.
From the Times:
“We have been working closely with state and local public health officials, as well epidemiologists, and have come to the hard decision that members of Congress should not plan to travel to Milwaukee,” Chasseny Lewis, a senior adviser to the convention committee, wrote in an email to congressional aides. “No delegates will travel to Milwaukee and Caucus and Council meetings will take place virtually.”
The directive ensures that little will happen at the physical convention site beyond keynote speeches from former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., his vice-presidential nominee and a handful of other top party leaders. The remainder of the event — state delegation meetings, parties and schmoozing, voting on the party platform and Mr. Biden’s nomination — will happen virtually or not at all.
Over the past several months, Democrats have scaled back their plans, moving the convention across downtown Milwaukee from the Fiserv Forum, the city’s professional basketball arena, to the Wisconsin Center, a modest convention center that typically hosts events like the city’s car show. The last national political event to take place there was the 2004 Green Party convention. Party officials have been consulting regularly with doctors and epidemiologists and say they are following the recommendations of the medical establishment.
Puerto Rico has rolled back its reopening, ordering bars, gyms, theaters and other businesses to close, and limiting the use of beaches to those who are exercising.
“We’ve reached a level where we need to take more restrictive measures,” said governor Wanda Vázquez. The restrictions will be in place for two weeks, until at least 31 July, she said.
The sale of alcohol will also be limited after 7pm, and restaurants will be required to keep at 50% capacity. Vázquez also announced $100m in funding for municipalities worst hit by the pandemic and $150m in aid for hospitals. She is also seeking to limit flights into the territory from Texas and Florida, both coronavirus hotspots.
The major tourist destination also requires visitors to present a negative Covid-19 test result, taken no more than 72 hours before their arrival. Those who don’t comply will face a mandatory quarantine.
Vázquez was among the first leaders in the US to enact shelter-in-place orders when the pandemic first struck. The island of 3.2m has counted more than 10,500 cases and 172 deaths.
Updated
Georgia governor sues Atlanta mayor, in an attempt to block the city's coronavirus restrictions
Georgia’s Republican governor Brian Kemp has filed a lawsuit blocking Atlanta Democratic mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’s coronavirus response.
The lawsuit seeks to block her from enforcing a citywide mandate requiring people to wear face masks in public and challenges Bottom’s decision to return to “phase one” of the city’s reopening plan as cases surged, arguing that Kemp can “suspend municipal orders that are contradictory” to state policy.
Kemp had issued a statewide order restricting local governments from enacting more drastic coronavirus restrictions than the state. Georgia has reported more than 127,000 Covid-19 cases, and about half are in Atlanta. Bottoms herself has tested positive.
Kemp has often butted heads with Bottoms, who is on Joe Biden’s shortlist of potential running mates. She has criticized Kemp’s decision to send national guard troops to her city to protect state buildings amid protests against police brutality, and last week announced her intention to have Atalanta reverse its reopening plan despite protests from Kemp.
Updated
Restrictions limiting non-essential travel between Canada and the US have been extended. The restrictions will be in place until 21 August, “to keep people in both our countries safe”, said prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Update on our border: Non-essential travel between Canada and the US remains restricted. And as we continue to fight COVID-19, we have agreed to extend the current border measures by another 30 days - until August 21st - to keep people in both our countries safe.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) July 16, 2020
The US and Canada first began restricting travel across their border in March. The restrictions have since been renewed three times. US lawmakers have been pressuring officials in both countries to ease up the travel limits, but Canadians are wary of letting in travelers from the US as coronavirus cases here surge.
A loophole does allow Canadians to fly into the US - though they have to quarantine for two weeks upon returning to Canada.
Updated
Dallas, Texas, officials won’t reopen schools until at least 8 September.
The Dallas Independent school district is the latest major school district to reconsider reopening plans as the number of coronavirus cases swell. Dallas county had reported nearly 36,000 coronavirus cases so far.
Yesterday, Governor Greg Abbott said Texas schools would be allowed to extend online-only classes after the Texas Education Agency (TEA) initially said schools could lose funding if they remained online-only for more than three weeks.
Abbott said the state would ease up its stringent reopening requirements as the number of cases and hospitalizations continued to grow.
Updated
My colleague Kenya Evelyn brings us more context on the coronavirus surge:
Covid-19 infections are rising in 41 US states, with some southern hotspots taking crisis measures on Thursday, including calling in military medics and parking mobile morgue trucks outside hospitals, echoing scenes in New York City when it became the center of the world outbreak in the spring.
The spread of the virus has resulted in almost 56,000 hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the US currently. A month ago hospitalizations were rising in 11 states; now they are rising in 33 states.
Several states have been breaking records on many days in the last week as numbers rise. Florida set a record of almost 14,000 new cases on Wednesday as it became the focus of attention of the southern surge in Covid-19.
In other developments, Georgia governor Brian Kemp suspended local mask mandates on Wednesday, and early on Thursday, the Republican National Committee announced plans to scale back its national convention next month in Jacksonville, Florida, which it had moved from North Carolina before the surge of cases in Florida, hoping for fewer restrictions on crowds.
The RNC chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, confirmed the update in a letter to convention delegates, noting they will comply with local and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) health guidelines while adapting the events.
“We still intend to host a fantastic convention celebration in Jacksonville,” she wrote. “We can gather and put on a top-notch event that celebrates the incredible accomplishments of President Trump’s administration and his re-nomination for a second term – while also doing so in a safe and responsible manner.”
The Centers for Disease Contol and Prevention (CDC) has extended its’ no-sail order for cruises, blocking cruise ships docked at US ports from operating until at least 1 October.
Coronavirus cases have surged in Florida and California — where thousands of cruises would usually frequent. The CDC first put these restrictions in place in March. In the extension, which the public health authority announced today, it noted that between 1 March and 10 July, nearly 3,000 infections and 34 deaths were linked in cruise ships.
Eighty percent of ships within US jurisdiction were affected by Covid-19 during that time frame, the CDC said.
Industry group Cruise Lines International Association had already announced in June that members would voluntarily suspend cruises until mid-September.
Hi there, it’s Maanvi Singh - reporting from the West Coast.
Following White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s suggestion that “The science should not stand in the way” of schools reopening, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) issued a scathing statement criticizing the administration’s response to the coronavirus crisis.
“Now the Trump administration wants to further risk the lives of teachers, children, staff, and their families just to soothe the president’s ego,” said Lily Adams, a DNC spokesperson. “This president would rather accept conspiracy theories and reject science than listen to public health experts. He can’t be trusted to make decisions about the lives of America’s children and their families.”
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- The White House suggested science should not determine whether schools reopen this fall. “The science should not stand in the way of this,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said of Trump’s push to reopen schools. She later added, “The science is on our side here.” McEnany’s comments come as a number of school officials express concern about the potential spread of coronavirus in the classroom.
- A new CDC report said Trump’s European travel ban was enacted too late to protect New York residents. “Although travel restrictions are an important mitigation strategy, by the time the European restrictions were implemented, importation and community transmission of Sars-CoV-2 had already occurred in NYC,” the report says. Although the rate of new infections has slowed significantly in New York, the city has lost more than 23,000 residents to the virus.
- The supreme court declined to block a Florida law criticized as a “poll tax.” Florida can continue to block people with felony convictions from voting until they’ve repaid all fines and fees they owe, the US supreme court ruled today. Florida Republicans passed the law after the state’s voters approved a 2018 initiative to restore voting rights to those previously convicted of felonies.
- The Republican National Committee is reportedly planning for a downsized nominating convention next month, as coronavirus cases rise in 41 states. According to reports, RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a letter to delegates that attendance would be strictly limited at next month’s convention in Jacksonville, Florida.
- Russian state-sponsored hackers have been targeting organizations working to develop a coronavirus vaccine, British security officials said. The hacking efforts have been specifically targeting groups involved in vaccine work in the UK, the US and Canada.
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Trump’s remarks on regulation rollbacks have taken an unsurprising turn toward the political, as the president unleashes an attack against Joe Biden.
Trump warned his Democratic opponent’s policies would kill jobs, make energy unaffordable and destroy suburbs.
“Suburbia will be no longer as we know it,” Trump said, warning Democrats would “watch it go to hell.” “Not while I am here,” Trump added. “The suburb destruction will end with us.”
The president specifically said he would discuss the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule next week to help suburbs. The AFFH rule requires federal agencies to further the purposes of the Fair Housing Act.
Trump’s promises to suburban Americans come as suburbs across the country, previously a Republican stronghold, increasingly shift toward Democrats.
During his remarks on rolling back regulations, Trump once again complained about the water pressure in energy-efficient showers.
“Showerheads, you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out,” the president said at his White House event. “You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer? Or you take a shower longer?”
Trump then added, “Because my hair, I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect.” That comment attracted some chuckles and applause from the friendly crowd gathered on the South Lawn.
Trump has now appeared at the podium for his White House event on rolling back government regulations.
The president touted his own record on regulation rollbacks, boasting that his administration has made unprecedented progress in “freeing our citizens to reach their highest potential.”
Trump bragged that his White House has cut “nearly 25,000 pages of job-destroying regulations,” specifically praising his administration’s recent rollback of environmental regulations for infrastructure projects.
However, enviornmental activists have warned the infrastructure regulation rollback could put average Americans at risk of being harmed by quickly approved projects.
Trump will soon deliver remarks on “Rolling Back Regulations to Help All Americans” at the White House.
Before the president’s remarks, the White House set up a large crane lifting weights meant to symbolize the burden of regulations from a red truck, while a nearby blue truck remained weighed down.
On South Lawn, WH seeks to make a political point by setting up a crane lifting the weights of regulation from the bed of a "red" truck, while showing the burden of regulations weighing down a "blue" truck. pic.twitter.com/OoWmRPnWum
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) July 16, 2020
The very unsubtle visual was clearly meant to demonstrate how Republicans, often symbolized by the color red, were liberating Americans from regulations promoted by Democrats, who are usually symbolized by the color blue.
The visual likely foreshadowed the partisan tone of the president’s speech, which comes as some of Trump’s critics have called him out for inappropriately politicizing White House events.
Arkansas to require face masks to combat coronavirus surge
Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas on Thursday became the latest governor to issue an order requiring people to wear face masks in public throughout their state.
Arkansas has had a surge in coronavirus cases over the past several weeks.
The Republican governor had previously resisted a statewide mask mandate and opposed issuing a stay-at-home order earlier in the pandemic, but he signed the order requiring masks when social distancing isn’t possible in the hopes of slowing the disease’s rapid spread in the state.
The order takes effect Monday.
Hutchinson’s decision comes amid growing support for mask requirements from business and health leaders and a day after Bentonville-based Walmart said it would require customers to wear masks in all of its US stores. The state’s largest newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, also called for a statewide requirement on Thursday.
Updated
White House: 'The science should not stand in the way' of reopening schools
Moments ago, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump’s push to reopen schools, despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus in the classroom.
“And when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school,” McEnany noted furing her White House briefing.
“The science should not stand in the way of this,” McEnany said, adding moments later, “The science is on our side here.”
McEnany: Pres. Trump wants schools to open, "and when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day."
— ABC News (@ABC) July 16, 2020
"The science should not stand in the way of this," McEnany says, before adding, "the science is on our side here." https://t.co/A0aOuFmuUY pic.twitter.com/y7uyS9W9ld
However, a number of school officials have expressed concern about students and staff members potentially contracting the virus once in-person instruction resumes. In response to those concerns, many school districts have announced plans to hold virtual classes this fall.
Trump and some of his allies have pointed to evidence that children are very unlikely to become severely ill from coronavirus to justify their push to reopen schools.
However, many public health experts have said there has not yet been enough research conducted on how children react to the virus.
Updated
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has now concluded today’s briefing.
Before leaving the podium, McEnany was asked about criticism that Trump has inappropriately politicized recent White House events, including his Rose Garden press conference earlier this week, during which the president leveled attacks against Joe Biden.
In response, the press secretary said the White House always complies with the Hatch Act, an ethics law that exempts the president and the vice president from its provisions.
When a reporter noted the Hatch Act was not the focus of the criticism, McEnany told the journalist, “What your real problem was is that the president gave a very good, powerful speech from the Rose Garden.”
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the president’s standing with the American people, as multiple polls show his approval rating dropping.
“We believe this president has great approval in this country,” McEnany said. “His historic Covid response speaks for itself.”
In reality, a number of polls have shown Trump’s approval rating slipping in recent weeks, as criticism of his response to the pandemic intensifies.
According to the FiveThirtyEight average, the president’s approval has dropped more than five points since late March and now stands at 40%.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll released last week also showed Trump’s approval rating specifically on coronavirus had hit a record low, with 67% of Americans expressing disapproval of his response to the pandemic.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump would remain on Twitter, despite yesterday’s widespread hack of the social media platform.
McEnany said the president’s account was secure and White House officials were in “constant” contact with Twitter executives to ensure the security of Trump’s account.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany pushed back against a question on why Trump has been holding many events unrelated to coronavirus in recent weeks.
McEnany replied that the pandemic was a “top priority of this administration,” insisting Trump and his advisers are focused on coronavirus.
“We doing stuff each and every day,” McEnany said. “The president is focusing on a lot.”
Asked whether he has recently met with the White House coronavirus task force, McEnany deflected, saying, “The president is briefed on coronavirus each and every day.”
White House accuses Hogan of 'revisionist history' after critical op-ed
Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, is currently holding a briefing at the White House.
The first question to McEnany centered on the newly published op-ed by Republican governor Larry Hogan, which criticized Trump for failing to provide federal leadership amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The press secretary said Hogan’s comments were “really striking” considering the governor’s past praise of Trump. McEnany then read some of Hogan’s comments about the president from March and April.
McEnany accused Hogan of engaing in “revisionist history” when it comes to Trump’s response to the pandemic.
CDC report: Trump's European travel ban came too late for New York
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Trump’s European travel ban was enacted too late to protect New York residents.
“Although travel restrictions are an important mitigation strategy, by the time the European restrictions were implemented, importation and community transmission of Sars-CoV-2 had already occurred in NYC,” the report says.
Trump introduced severe restrictions on travel from China in early February in the hope of preventing travelers from spreading coronavirus in the US.
However, the president did not unveil similar restrictions on European travel until mid-March, when the CDC says the virus had already made its way to New York.
New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, has previously sought to deflect criticism of his administration’s response to the pandemic by arguing he was not adequately warned about how the virus was spreading from European travel.
“We closed the front door with the China travel ban, which was right,” Cuomo said in late April. “But we left the back door open because the virus had left China by the time we did the China travel ban.”
One of Cuomo’s top advisers quickly shared the report on Twitter, encouraging “those who wonder why NYC was hit so hard” to read the findings.
For those who wonder why NYC was hit so hard, per CDC:
— Melissa DeRosa (@melissadderosa) July 16, 2020
Although travel restrictions are an important mitigation strategy, by the time European restrictions were implemented, importation & community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 had already occurred in NYChttps://t.co/YRhQGjVCRS
Although New York’s rate of coronavirus deaths has dropped substantially in the past few months, the state’s total death toll still surpasses that of any other US state.
Since the start of the pandemic, New York has confirmed more than 400,000 coronavirus cases across the state, and more than 32,000 residents have lost their lives to the virus.
Updated
More from the Guardian’s Sam Levine on the supreme court’s ruling:
In late May, US district Judge Robert Hinkle struck down the Florida law that required those with felony convictions to repay any debts assessed as part of their sentence before they could vote again.
Florida appealed the ruling, and in late May, the US court of appeals blocked the lower court’s ruling while the appeal was pending. The plaintiffs in the case filed an emergency request with the US supreme court to let Hinkle’s ruling go into effect so the people impacted by the law could vote in Florida’s August primary.
The supreme court declined to do so on Thursday, meaning Hinkle’s ruling will not be in effect while the 11th circuit considers the appeal. It is currently scheduled to hear the case 18 August.
The supreme court did not offer an explanation for its ruling on Thursday, but Justice Sonia Sotomayor - joined by Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg - authored a scathing dissent, saying they would have let Hinkle’s ruling go into effect.
“This Court’s order prevents thousands of otherwise eligible voters from participating in Florida’s primary election simply because they are poor,” Sotomayor wrote in dissent.
Sotomayor also called out the supreme court for its willingness to uphold voting restrictions in a number of cases over the last several months.
The court shortened the deadline to return absentee ballots in Wisconsin as well as u[held restrictions on voting by mail in Texas and Alabama. Only in the Wisconsin case has the court offered any reasoning for its thinking, relying on a 2006 case, Purcell v. Gonzalez, that says courts should not interfere with election rules on the eve of an election.
“This Court’s inaction continues a trend of condoning disfranchisement. Ironically, this Court has wielded Purcell as a reason to forbid courts to make voting safer during a pandemic,” she wrote. “Now, faced with an appellate court stay that disrupts a legal status quo and risks immense disfranchisement—a situation that Purcell sought to avoid—the Court balks.”
Supreme court declines to block Florida law criticized as 'poll tax'
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
Florida can continue to block people with felony convictions from voting until they’ve repaid all fines and fees they owe, the US supreme court ruled on Thursday, a major ruling that makes it more unlikely that nearly three quarters of a million affected Floridians will get to vote in November.
New: Supreme court denies request to lift 11th circuit order blocking lower court ruling ordering Florida to allow people with felonies to vote if they can't afford to. The ruling is a preliminary loss for voting rights groups pic.twitter.com/ZQLY8udb7q
— Sam Levine (@srl) July 16, 2020
The supreme court’s ruling on Thursday came at a preliminary stage procedurally in one of the most closely-watched voting rights lawsuits in the United States.
There are an estimated 774,000 people in Florida who cannot vote because they owe money and the state has no centralized way to inform people how much they owe. Many people with felonies also simply can never afford to repay the insurmountable debt they accumulate with their court sentences.
Florida Republicans passed the law requiring repayment after Florida overs overwhelmingly approved a 2018 constitutional amendment allowing people to vote once they complete their sentences, a change that was seen to affect 1.4 million people.
The Republican-authored law was widely seen as an effort to undercut the amendment and make it more difficult and confusing for people to get their voting rights back.
Updated
USA Today labeled Peter Navarro’s op-ed on Dr Anthony Fauci, which was published on the newspaper’s website earlier this week, as “midleading.”
Bill Sternberg, USA Today’s editorial page editor, added a note to the top of the op-ed saying the editors chose to publish the op-ed because it was “newsworthy,” considering the White House’s recent attacks on Fauci’s credibility.
But Sternberg added, “However, several of Navarro’s criticisms of Fauci — on the China travel restrictions, the risk from the coronavirus and falling mortality rates — were misleading or lacked context. As such, Navarro’s op-ed did not meet USA TODAY’s fact-checking standards.”
In the op-ed, Navarro said Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, had been “wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.”
Trump sought to distance himself from the op-ed, claiming it only represented Navarro’s personal opinion. However, administration officials privately told reporters that the president urged Navarro to write the op-ed because of his frustration with Fauci’s recent comments on the coronavirus pandemic.
Sternberg said in his note on Navarro’s op-ed, “We dealt directly with Navarro and do not know whether he spoke to anyone else at the White House about his statement.”
Brad Parscale tweeted an interesting biblical passage just now, a day after being pushed out as Trump’s campaign manager.
“Romans 12:14: Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them,” Parscale said in the tweet, his first message on Twitter since his demotion.
Romans 12:14:
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) July 16, 2020
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
Parscale is staying on a senior adviser to the president’s reelection campaign, but seasoned political operative Bill Stepien is taking over as campaign manager.
The internal change came as a new set of national polls show Trump trailing Joe Biden by double digits, with many battleground state polls showing similar warning signs for the president.
The demotion of Parscale is clearly meant to shake up the Trump campaign in the hope of changing the trajectory of the race, but some Republican strategists are warning the president is running out of time to reverse his downward trend.
Minor planning note: today’s White House briefing has been pushed back an hour, to 2 pm ET.
During the briefing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany will likely be pressed on efforts by some administration officials to discredit Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert.
According to reports, the president spoke with Fauci in a phone call yesterday, marking the first conversation between the two in weeks.
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- House speaker Nancy Pelosi sharply criticized Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, as infections rise in 41 states. “Observing his behavior, I have concluded that he is like the man who refuses to ask for directions,” Pelosi said at her weekly press conference this morning. “Mr President, admit it, you’ve gone down the wrong path. Ask for directions.”
- The Republican National Committee is reportedly planning for a downsized nominating convention next month, as public health experts express concern about large events in the middle of a pandemic. According to reports, RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a letter to delegates that attendance would be strictly limited at next month’s convention in Jacksonville, Florida.
- Russian state-sponsored hackers have been targeting organizations working to develop a coronavirus vaccine, British security officials said. The hacking efforts have been specifically targeting groups involved in vaccine work in the UK, the US and Canada.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
Republicans plan for downsized convention - reports
In case you missed it this morning: Republicans are reportedly making plans to sharply restrict attendance at next month’s nominating convention in Jakcsonville, Florida.
Politico reports:
Party Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who is overseeing planning for the convention, has written a letter to RNC members saying that attendance for the first three nights of the four-night event will be limited to delegates. When Trump delivers his nomination acceptance speech on the fourth night of the convention, August 27, attendance will be expanded to delegates, a guest of their choosing, and alternate delegates. ...
‘I want to make clear that we still intend to host a fantastic convention celebration in Jacksonville,’ McDaniel wrote. ‘We can gather and put on a top-notch event that celebrates the incredible accomplishments of President Trump’s administration and his re-nomination for a second term — while also doing so in a safe and responsible manner.’
The development will certainly disappoint Trump, who specifically demanded the convention be moved from North Carolina after that state’s governor asked the RNC to scale down the event in order to comply with public health guidance.
The pandemic has upended plans for both the Democratic and Republican conventions, with Democrats saying their Milwaukee convention to nominate Joe Biden will be mostly virtual.
Data is already disappearing from the CDC’s website, after the Trump administration announced it was shifting the reporting of statistics on hospital capacity to the department of health and human services.
A ProPublica editor noted this morning that the CDC’s dashboard on hospital capacity had disappeared from the health agency’s website.
I had hoped it was a glitch, but no...The @CDCgov hospital capacity dashboard has gone dark. @CDCDirector has said CDC still has access to the data but apparently the public no longer does. pic.twitter.com/FyRt7YHvKc
— Charles Ornstein (@charlesornstein) July 16, 2020
The dashboard is now visible on the CDC website with data from ealier this week, and a note on the top of the page reads, “Data displayed on this page was submitted directly to CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) and does not include data submitted to other entities contracted by or within the federal government.”
The development comes a day after CDC director Robert Redfield confirmed states would start sending hospital data directly to HHS. Redfield described the new system as a way to streamline the data, but the change raised concerns that the Trump administration was attempting to suppress data on coronavirus.
The change did not escape the attention the top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer. “You cannot sweep this under the rug. You cannot hide the facts,” Schumer said in a tweet linking to an article about the CDC data.
“More than 130,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. President Trump: Get to work fighting this virus, and stop trying to undermine public health experts.”
You cannot sweep this under the rug.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 16, 2020
You cannot hide the facts.
More than 130,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.
President Trump: Get to work fighting this virus, and stop trying to undermine public health experts.https://t.co/bHwInODNR8
Here’s some unsurprising news: the National Rifle Association’s political arm has officially endorsed Trump’s reelection bid.
BREAKING NEWS: @NRAPVF Endorses President @realDonaldTrump for Reelection pic.twitter.com/4bvt23zQYG
— NRA (@NRA) July 16, 2020
In a new statement, the gun rights group said the endorsement was announced in a letter sent to Trump yesterday.
“On behalf of America’s 5 million NRA members, the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) is proud to endorse your reelection as president of the United States of America,” the letter reads.
“You have done more than any president to protect the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The NRA stands behind you and your administration.”
The endorsement is unsurprising considering Democrats have been pushing for years to pass more stringent restrictions on gun ownership, which the NRA has resisted.
Despite the many mass shootings that have taken place since Trump took office, the president has embraced his role as a champion of gun rights as he seeks reelection.
During her weekly press conference this morning, House speaker Nancy Pelosi also offered an unflattering comparison between Trump and some of his Republican predecessors.
“I yearn for other Republican presidents,” the Democratic speaker said. “While we may disagree on many points, at least we had a shared commitment to the governance of our country.”
Pelosi has previously admitted to some nostalgia for former president George W Bush, who she criticized a “total failure” when he was in office.
Pelosi said in late 2018 that she and Bush “had our differences of opinion, especially on the war in Iraq, but we had many areas of agreement and we were able to work together in respectful ways.”
Pelosi: 'Mr President, admit it, you’ve gone down the wrong path'
House speaker Nancy Pelosi harshly criticized Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic during her weekly press conference this morning.
“Observing his behavior, I have concluded that he is like the man who refuses to ask for directions,” Pelosi said moments ago. “All of the answers are there.”
Pelosi: "Mr. President, admit it. You've gone down the wrong path. Ask for direction. Ask for direction from our scientists who know better." https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/Rt3dQZpv1w
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 16, 2020
The Democratic speaker accused Trump of a “massive dereliction of duty,” as the number of coronavirus cases in the US continues to surge.
“Mr President, admit it, you’ve gone down the wrong path,” Pelosi said. “Ask for directions. Ask for directions from our scientists, who know better.”
Trump spoke to Dr Anthony Fauci by phone yesterday, according to CNN. The call marks the first conversation between the two in more than a month.
Fauci and Trump spoke by phone yesterday, we are told. Before the call, they had not spoken since early June.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 16, 2020
Fauci told the Financial Times in an interview published last week that he has not briefed the president in at least two months and has not seen him in person at the White House since June 2.
The phone call between Fauci and the president also comes as some of Trump’s advisers attack the infectious disease expert’s credibility.
Trade adviser Peter Navarro wrote an op-ed earlier this week criticizing Fauci. The president sought to distance himself from the op-ed, but admnistration officials have privately told reporters that Trump encouraged Navarro to write the piece because of his frustration with Fauci’s recent comments about the pandemic.
Florida sets another single-day record of coronavirus deaths
Florida has once again broken its single-day record of coronavirus deaths, as the state struggles to get the virus under control.
Florida health officials announced 156 residents died of coronavirus yesterday, breaking the record of 132 deaths reported on Tuesday morning.
The new figure brings the total number of coronavirus deaths in Florida to 4,677. The state has also confirmed more than 315,000 cases.
The grim news comes as Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, refuses to issue a statewide mask mandate, despite the state’s climbing case count.
Updated
Mary Trump’s tell-all book set a sales record for Simon & Schuster, Trump’s publisher said in a statement about the book, which was released on Tuesday.
According to Simon & Schuster, the book sold more than 950,000 copies through Tuesday, setting a new company record.
Simon & Schuster says Mary Trump’s book “sold a total of more than 950,000 copies through Tuesday, July 14, the first day the book went on sale.” It’s a company record.
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) July 16, 2020
The book details the president’s relationship with his family and includes a number of unflattering anecdotes about Trump, including an accusation that he paid someone to take his high school exams.
Despite the rising number of coronavirus cases in Georgia, the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, issued an executive order yesterday that voids local mask mandates.
The order encourages residents to wear masks, but it goes on to state, “Any state, county, or municipal law, order, ordinance, rule, or regulation that requires persons to wear face coverings, masks, face shields, or any other Personal Protective Equipment while in places of public accommodation or on public property are suspended.”
The policy prompted immediate outcry, particularly because it comes less than a week after Georgia once again broke its single-day record of new coronavirus cases reported. Overall, the state has confirmed nearly 128,000 cases of coronavirus and lost more than 3,000 residents to the virus.
The Democratic mayor of Savannah, one of more than a dozen Georgia cities that had issued a mask mandate, said in a tweet, “It is officially official. Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us. Every man and woman for himself/herself. Ignore the science and survive the best you can.”
It is officially official. Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us. Every man and woman for himself/herself. Ignore the science and survive the best you can.
— Mayor Van Johnson (@MayorJohnsonSAV) July 16, 2020
In #Savannah, we will continue to keep the faith and follow the science. Masks will continue to be available!
The new mandate seems to be purely political, considering Kemp has encouraged Georgia residents to wear masks to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.
The Republican governor even took a “Wear a Mask” tour of the state earlier this month to highlight the precautions residents can take to avoid contracting the virus.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy is introducing a bill aimed at protecting America’s statues, which has become a pet project of Trump’s since a number of controversial statues were torn down during the George Floyd protests.
Just now → I introduced the Protect America’s Statues Act to cut funding from cities and states that refuse to restore order.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) July 16, 2020
Leftwing mobs are trying to erase history by destroying statues of George Washington, General Grant, and Christopher Columbus. Enough is enough.
“Leftwing mobs are trying to erase history by destroying statues of George Washington, General Grant, and Christopher Columbus. Enough is enough,” McCarthy said in a tweet about the bill, which is very unlikely to advance given that Democrats control the House.
McCarthy’s tweet echoes the president’s recent complaints about statues being taken down. According to reports, Trump even pushed to have a DC statue of Confederate general Albert Pike, which was torn down by protesters, put back up.
The president also signed an executive order on “Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Violence” late last month.
Trump’s focus on protecting statues has attracted some criticism, given that he has simultaneously downplayed the recent surge in coronavirus cases and police violence against black Americans.
This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Martin Belam.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she will hold a briefing at 1 pm ET today, an addition to the previously announced White House schedule.
White House Press Briefing at 1 PM - see you all then! 📖
— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) July 16, 2020
McEnany will likely be pressed on the recent tension between Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, and Peter Navarro, the president’s senior trade adviser.
Navarro wrote an op-ed earlier this week criticizing Fauci, which Trump has since tried to distance himself from.
But some administration officials have told reporters that the president actively encouraged Navarro to write the op-ed, as Fauci and many other public health experts’ cautious approach to reopening frustrates Trump.
Russian hackers target coronavirus vaccine researchers
Russian state-sponsored hackers are targeting UK, US and Canadian organisations involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine development, according to British security officials.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre said drug companies and research groups were being targeted by a group known as APT29, which it said was “almost certainly” part of the Kremlin’s intelligence services.
British officials would not say if any of the attacks had been successful in their goal of stealing medical secrets – although they stressed that none of the vaccine research had been compromised as a result.
It is rare for the UK to explicitly state that it believes another country is behind a coordinated campaign of cyber-attacks, but British officials indicated it shared its assessment with the United States and Canada, both of whom are expected to release their own updates shortly.
Second federal execution takes place after court delays
The US government on Thursday carried out its second federal execution this week, killing by lethal injection a Kansas man whose lawyers contended he had dementia and was unfit to be executed.
Wesley Ira Purkey was put to death this morning at 8:19 a.m. EDT at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Purkey was convicted of kidnapping and killing 16-year-old Jennifer Long before dismembering, burning and dumping her body in a septic pond. He also was convicted in a state court in Kansas after using a claw hammer to kill an 80-year-old woman who had polio.
Legal action to halt the execution had centred around Purkey’s mental capacity to understand what was taking place. However the Associated Press report that he
expressed remorse right before he was executed.
“I deeply regret the pain and suffering I caused to Jennifer’s family,” he said. “I am deeply sorry. I deeply regret the pain I caused to my daughter, who I love so very much. This sanitized murder really does not serve no purpose whatsoever.”
Michelle Obama to launch new podcast on Spotify
Michelle Obama is launching a podcast, which will exclusively debut on Spotify on 29 July.
The former first lady said of the “The Michelle Obama Podcast” that her hope “is that this series can be a place to explore meaningful topics together and sort through so many of the questions we’re all trying to answer in our own lives.”
The new podcast is the first title in an ongoing collaboration between Spotify and Higher Ground, a production company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama. Last year, the former president and first lady partnered with Spotify to produce exclusive podcasts for the platform.
In a press release it is stated that Michelle Obama’s new podcast expects to hold candid and personal conversations with a focus on topics concerning relationships and health. She expects to have several guests on the series including talk-show host Conan O’Brien and Valerie Jarrett, business woman and former senior advisor to Barack Obama.
“Perhaps most of all, I hope this podcast will help listeners open up new conversations and hard conversations - with the people who matter most to them,” Michelle Obama said. “That’s how we can build more understanding and empathy for one another.”
1.3m more Americans filed for unemployment in the US last week
The Department of Labor have released the latest unemployment stats. They say that in the week ending July 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 1,300,000. That represents a slight decrease of 10,000 on the week before.
Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims
— US Labor Department (@USDOL) July 16, 2020
Initial claims were 1,300,000 for the week ending 7/11 (-10,000).
Insured unemployment was 17,338,000 for the week ending 7/4 (-422,000).https://t.co/ys7Eg5LKAW
The number of people seeking aid has now been slowly declining after the initial spike in March caused by economic lockdown, but still remains historically high.
Nearly 32 million American workers in total are now receiving jobless benefits.
Here’s our full report: 1.3m more file for unemployment as US economy continues to reel
There will be more reaction to these figures over on our live business blog.
Maryland’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan castigates Trump Covid-19 response in op-ed
Yesterday the Trump communications team were at pains to try and point out that Peter Navarro’s op-ed attack on Dr Anthony Fauci in USA Today did not go through their usual clearance channels.
Now, I’m no expert, but I would hazard a guess that the White House did also not get an advance copy of the piece published by the Washington Post this morning from Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan which is titled “Fighting alone – I’m a GOP governor. Why didn’t Trump help my state with coronavirus testing?”
I’d watched as the president downplayed the outbreak’s severity and as the White House failed to issue public warnings, draw up a 50-state strategy, or dispatch medical gear or lifesaving ventilators from the national stockpile to American hospitals. Eventually, it was clear that waiting around for the president to run the nation’s response was hopeless; if we delayed any longer, we’d be condemning more of our citizens to suffering and death. So every governor went their own way, which is how the United States ended up with such a patchwork response. I did the best I could for Maryland. Here’s what we saw and heard from Washington along the way.
It’s a long piece, and one can read some of it as the words of a man trying to get his side of the story in first, but it contains absolutely devastating criticisms of the Federal response to coronavirus, and of Trump personally. Hogan couldn’t understand how in private Governors where getting briefings about just how serious the pandemic could become, while in public the president was so dismissive of the coming threat.
Hogan comes across as proud that for his state he went and procured medical assistance and testing kits from South Korea. Trump was unimpressed. As Hogan puts it:
I thought we might get a congratulatory word from the president. Trump always had a taste for bold gestures — but, apparently, only for bold gestures he could claim. The president spent much of the following Monday’s White House briefing criticizing me and dismissing what we had done. “The governor from Maryland didn’t really understand” about testing, Trump grumbled. “The governor of Maryland could’ve called Mike Pence, could’ve saved a lot of money. . . . I don’t think he needed to go to South Korea. I think he needed to get a little knowledge.” The president’s comments that day seemed to confuse test kits with testing labs, but whatever. It was a great day for Maryland.
You can find it here: Washington Post – I’m a GOP governor. Why didn’t Trump help my state with coronavirus testing?
The coronavirus outbreak in Japan that centres around US military personnel in Okinawa has caused some tension in Japanese-US relations over the last few days. The governor of the southern Japanese island has been urging the military to do more to get to grips with it.
Ramy Inocencio reports for CBS News that the number of infections is up again by two to at least 138. Around 35,000-40,000 personnel are restricted to bases, including families, civilians. Outside the bases, Okinawa has reported only about 150 coronavirus cases.
NEW: U.S. soldier #coronavirus cases in #Okinawa, Japan rise to at least 138 - up two Thursday. @USForcesJapan confirms these #’s to me: ~20,000 Marines affected. In total 35,000-40,000 personnel restricted to bases, including families, civilians. @CBSNews is here. 🇯🇵 Mensooree! pic.twitter.com/L2iI6cwnlr
— Ramy Inocencio 英若明 (@RamyInocencio) July 16, 2020
Japanese defence minister Taro Kono said earlier this week “We need to have the U.S. military take concrete measures so that the infections on bases will not spread to the Japanese community. We are extremely concerned about the impact of the spread of the coronavirus infections on American troops’ rapid response capability.”
Jan-Werner Müller, who teaches politics at Princeton, has written for us today about how the Republican party and the right have turned their pandemic response into a culture war, rather than recognising that freedom for all depends on a way of making the environment safe for all.
America needs to recognize that freedom isn’t simply maximal individual self-assertion. It’s also, following the political theorist Hannah Arendt’s famous account, a collective capacity to coordinate and act in concert. That might require forbearance and proper attention to the spaces we share. Many people have been adopting such an attitude – putting on masks voluntarily as well as being considerate in how they move and talk. Such self-restraint – combined with temporary regulations – would lessen fear and increase everyone’s freedom in the long-term.
Read it in full: Jan-Werner Müller – The American right is pushing ‘freedom over fear’. It won’t stop the virus
Yesterday the court made available for viewing by appointment new bodycam footage of the events leading up to the killing of George Floyd on 25 May.
Shaquille Brewster for MSNBC was one of the people who watched it, and he reported on what the footage was like to view, saying “it helps fill out the picture of the interactions between George Floyd, and the four officers on that day.”
Notably one of the sets of footage belongs to the camera of officer Thomas Lane, who was the first to respond to the call. Brewster reports that you see him tapping on Floyd’s car window with back of his flashlight, and this startles Floyd from the beginning. Brewster reports:
[Floyd] is automatically apologetic, saying “I’m sorry, officer” and he opens the door. He’s only showing one hand at that time and that’s when you see officer Lane draw his weapon. You feel the desperation in George Floyd’s voice, he says that he has gotten shot by an officer before, he says that he is scared, he openly admits that he has anxiety. You see the situation really unfold as officers then try to move him from his car.
Brewster also reports that, among the conflicting reports of how long officer Derek Chauvin held Floyd down, according to the timings that he took while watching the video:
He had that knee on the neck of Mr Floyd in that video for nearly nine and a half minutes.
You can watch Brewster’s report here: MSNBC – New bodycam video reveals George Floyd told officers he was scared when approached
Lawyers for the Floyd family announced yesterday that they have filed a lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis for Floyd’s death.
Ben Crump, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit said: “it was the knee of the entire Minneapolis police department on the neck of George Floyd.”
Here’s some slightly counter-intuitive news about the economic impact of the coronavirus. According to research by the JPMorgan Chase Institute, Americans who received enhanced unemployment benefits due to the coronavirus pandemic spent more than when they were working.
Reuters reports that the $600 weekly supplement added to jobless benefits as part of the CARES Act helped unemployed households spend 10% more after receiving benefits than they did before the pandemic.
Researchers analyzed transactions for 61,000 households that received unemployment benefits between March and May. Spending dropped for all households as the virus spread and led to business shutdowns, but then rose when households began receiving jobless benefits, the study found.
This is a contrast with the pattern you usually see during a recession - when households receiving unemployment benefits usually cut spending because regular benefits amount to only a fraction of a person’s previous earnings.
There is a concern though, that Americans receiving unemployment benefits could be pushed off an income cliff when the supplemental benefits are withdrawn, which is scheduled to happen at the end of the month.
We should get the latest Bereau of Labor Statistics bulletin on jobless numbers later this morning.
Here’s a bit of a run-down of some of the coronavirus situation across the country. California, Arizona, Texas and Florida together reported about 36,000 new coronavirus cases yesterday. The restrictions aimed at combating the spread of the pandemic taking hold in the US are becoming unsettlingly reminiscent of the dark days of April.
The soaring counts of confirmed infections and a mounting death toll led the mayor of Los Angeles to declare that the nation’s second-largest city is on the verge of resorting to a shutdown of all but essential businesses, reports the Associated Press.
More school districts made plans to start their fall semester without on-site instruction, and the 2021 Rose Parade in California was canceled.
Other events went ahead undeterred though. Thousands of racing fans gathered at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee for a Nascar event. Officials allowed 20,000 at the track - the largest sporting event in the US since the pandemic began four months ago.
According to New York Times figures there have been at least 67,515 cases of coronavirus in Tennessee and at least 773 people had died. The state set a record for its highest number of new daily cases on Monday with 2,509 cases.
California, Arizona, Florida and Texas reported a total of more than 450 new deaths. In Texas, which again set a record for confirmed new cases - nearly 10,800 - Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has increasingly emphasized face coverings as the way to avoid another lockdown.
Alabama reported a pandemic-high one-day total of 40 deaths, and officials said the state will begin requiring face masks.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock required masks at indoor public spaces and at larger outdoor gatherings in counties where four or more people are known to have Covid-19. The Democratic governor’s order came as the state also reported a record number of new confirmed cases.
In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine, who has faced criticism from fellow Republicans over business closures, gave a televised address with an emotional appeal to residents to make sacrifices to protect their neighbors. But he stopped short of mandating masks.
Florida surpassed 300,000 confirmed cases overall, reporting 10,181 new infections as its daily average death rate keeps rising. If it was a country, Florida would be in the top ten most affected countries in the world. Major cities have required masks, but Gov. Ron DeSantis has declined to issue a statewide order, arguing that it’s best decided and enforced locally.
Updated
One bright spot in the otherwise bleak coronavirus news is the promising details released this week about Moderna’s trail Covid-19 vaccine.
Jessica Glenza in New York has been reporting on it for us:
Moderna is one of five pharmaceutical companies that have received billions from the US government, in a vaccine development initiative called Operation Warp Speed. Later this month, Moderna and a handful of other laboratories will begin recruiting tens of thousands of volunteers to take the vaccine.
Coming studies must balance safety and efficacy. Moderna researchers abandoned a higher dose of the vaccine because it did not appear to provide a better immune response and produced worse side effects, including headache, chills, fever and fatigue.
At the same time, researchers must contend with Covid-19 antibody tests that can be unreliable. It is also unclear how long an immune response might last. One year? Six months?
Read it here: Moderna raises vaccine hopes but more trials are vital, say experts
Supreme court clears way for second federal execution
The Associated Press are reporting that early this morning the supreme court cleared the way for the second federal execution this week. The vote to allow the execution of Wesley Ira Purkey to go forward was 5-4, with the court’s four liberal members dissenting.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that “proceeding with Purkey’s execution now, despite the grave questions and factual findings regarding his mental competency, casts a shroud of constitutional doubt over the most irrevocable of injuries.”
She was joined by fellow liberal justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan.
But a lower court put an emergency hold on the execution for one hour as it weighed issues in the case, further delaying what initially had been slated for Wednesday evening at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. Protesters against the death penalty had gathered there this week prior to the execution of Daniel Lewis Lee on Tuesday, in the first federal execution after a 17-year hiatus
Purkey was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing 16-year-old Jennifer Long before dismembering, burning and then dumping her body in a septic pond. He also was convicted in a state court in Kansas after using a claw hammer to kill an 80-year-old woman who suffered from polio.
Lawyers for the 68-year-old Purkey, of Kansas, argue that he has dementia and is unfit to be executed. They say his condition has deteriorated so severely that he doesn’t understand why he is being executed.
One of the other significant overnight developments was the announcement that Donald Trump has replaced his campaign manager Brad Parscale in a major shake-up of his team as he trails Joe Biden nationally in the polls.
Parscale was under pressure after the disastrous rally the Trump campaign held in Tulsa, followed by the cancellation of a planned event in New Hampshire.
Parscale will be demoted to senior adviser, and Bill Stepien, the deputy campaign manager, will take over the top position.
My colleague Maanvi Singh has more here: Trump replaces campaign manager Brad Parscale in major shake-up
Good morning, welcome to our live coverage of US politics and the coronavirus crisis. Here are some key points from yesterday and overnight, and a little bit of what we can perhaps look forward to today.
- The total number of cases of Covid-19 recorded in the US now stands at 3,499,398 according to the Johns Hopkins tracker. 41 states continue to see rising daily new case numbers. Only Delaware and Maine are seeing numbers fall
- The governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt announced he has tested positive for coronavirus. Despite his positive test result Republican Stitt said he does not currently plan to roll back the state’s reopening
- Dr Anthony Fauci has stood firm after a series of attacks from the White House, saying “I think you can trust me”
- The city of Berkeley is moving forward with a first-of-its kind proposal to replace police with unarmed civilians during traffic stops in an effort to curb racial profiling
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg was discharged from hospital after being admitted yesterday for treatment of a possible infection
- Twitter is still reeling from a hack that saw the accounts of prominent figures, including Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Bill Gates and Kanye West compromised by a bitcoin scam.
- Donald Trump gets his intelligence briefing in the morning. In the afternoon he’ll be at the White House talking about ‘Rolling Back Regulations to Help All Americans’
- Joe Biden will deliver pre-taped remarks for a virtual climate town hall launching ‘Biden Climate Voters’ with Governor Jay Inslee this evening. Elizabeth Warren is also out on the virtual campaign trail, and Nancy Pelosi will be holding her weekly press briefing this morning
- We should get the latest jobless figures today as well
I’m Martin Belam, I’ll be with you for the next few hours. You can message me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
