Trump Administration, Week 182: Friday, 10 July – Thursday, 16 July 2020 (Days 1,267- 1,273)

Here are some significant developments:

• Many Texas hospitals are struggling to add capacity to treat both covid-19 patients and others. In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp’s office announced the convention center in Atlanta will reopen as a temporary hospital, the AJC reports.
• Texas, Arizona and South Carolina have all seen their death toll from covid-19 rise by more than 100 percent in the last four weeks. Four more states — Mississippi, Tennessee, California and Louisiana — have seen at least a 20 percent jump in that time span.
• The Trump administration is pressing the Food and Drug Administration to reverse course and grant a second emergency authorization for the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19. Scientists have widely criticized the new study that the White House is relying on as ‘flawed.’
• The coronavirus proved substantially deadlier to people of color under the age of 65 than to their white counterparts in the early days of the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
• Republican governors who have opposed or even blocked orders mandating mask-wearing are watching from the sidelines as local officials impose strict measures to contain the spread.
• The college football season, uninterrupted for 150 years, veered this week toward a grim fate as the novel coronavirus continued to surge. The Big Ten ‘may not have college sports in the fall,’ commissioner Kevin Warren said Thursday.

Many other significant developments are included in this article.

Continue reading Week 182, Friday, 10 July – Thursday, 16 July 2020 (Days 1,267-1,273)

• President Trump on Saturday wore a mask in public for the first time while visiting wounded service members and health-care workers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Trump has previously shown disdain toward face coverings during the coronavirus pandemic and refused to wear them.
• Louisiana’s Democratic governor announced a new requirement that most people wear a mask in public. The state’s Republican lawmakers, who have opposed coronavirus restrictions, are likely to speak out against the measure.
• Walt Disney World in Orlando reopened after having been shuttered for nearly four months, even as Florida continued to report record infections. Testing supplies in the state are running low, and some big labs are taking several days to return results, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said at a news conference. He partly attributed the backlog to testing many people without symptoms.
• The United States tallied 62,715 new infections on Saturday, an increase of 11,564 from the total on this day last week. The single-day death toll was 724, compared to 289 a week ago. Five states and territories set a record for coronavirus-related hospitalizations: Puerto Rico, North Carolina, Alaska, Florida and California.

Many other significant developments are included in this article.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is sidelined by the White House as he steps up blunt talk on pandemic, The Washington Post, Yasmeen Abutaleb, Josh Dawsey, and Laurie McGinley, Saturday, 11 July 2020: For months, Anthony S. Fauci has played a lead role in America’s coronavirus pandemic, as a diminutive, Brooklyn-accented narrator who has assessed the risk and issued increasingly blunt warnings as the nation’s response has gone badly awry. But as the Trump administration has strayed from the advice of many of its scientists and public health experts, the White House has moved to sideline Fauci, scuttled some of his planned TV appearances and largely kept him out of the Oval Office for more than a month even as coronavirus infections surge in large swaths of the country.”

Tucker Carlson’s top writer resigns after secretly posting racist and sexist remarks in online forum, CNN Business, Oliver Darcy, Saturday, 11 July 2020: “Editor’s note: This article quotes racist, homophobic and sexist language, much of which has not been censored. The top writer for Fox News host Tucker Carlson has for years been using a pseudonym to post bigoted remarks on an online forum that is a hotbed for racist, sexist, and other offensive content, CNN Business learned this week. Just this week, the writer, Blake Neff, responded to a thread started by another user in 2018 with the subject line, ‘Would u let a JET BLACK congo n****er do lasik eye surgery on u for 50% off?’ Neff wrote, ‘I wouldn’t get LASIK from an Asian for free, so no.’ (The subject line was not censored on the forum.) On June 5, Neff wrote, ‘Black doods staying inside playing Call of Duty is probably one of the biggest factors keeping crime down.’ On June 24, Neff commented, ‘Honestly given how tired black people always claim to be, maybe the real crisis is their lack of sleep.’ On June 26, Neff wrote that the only people who care about changing the name of the NFL’s Washington Redskins are ‘white libs and their university-‘educated’ pets.’… And over the course of five years, Neff has maintained a lengthy thread in which he has derided a woman and posted information about her dating life that has invited other users to mock her and invade her privacy. There has at times also been overlap between some material he posted or saw on the forum and Carlson’s show…. In a memo sent to employees Saturday afternoon, after this story was first published, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace condemned ‘horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior.’  ‘Neff’s abhorrent conduct on this forum was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation,’ Scott and Wallace wrote. ‘Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our work force.’ Scott and Wallace said that Carlson would address the matter on his Monday show.” See also, Tucker Carlson’s chief writer resigns over racist and sexist posts, the latest trouble for Fox’s most controversial star, The Washington Post, Sarah Ellison, Saturday, 11 July 2020: “After an inquiry from a reporter, it took less than a day for Fox News to receive the resignation of Tucker Carlson’s chief writer, who was exposed for the racist and sexist messages he had been covertly sharing on an online forum. Among his posts, Blake Neff had smeared black people as lazy and criminal, stated that he would not get medical care from an Asian doctor, used homophobic slurs, and repeatedly mocked a female college acquaintance by reposting her Facebook messages and photos for several years. Top newsroom officials called Neff’s posts ‘horrendous’ and ‘deeply offensive’ in a memo to staff Saturday, a day after they were exposed in a CNN story. ‘FOX News Media strongly condemns this horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior,’ said the memo from Suzanne Scott and Jay Wallace, the chief executive and president of Fox News, respectively. ‘Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our work force.’ But the years Neff spent spewing toxic sentiments online while at the same time penning Carlson’s provocative TV commentary raises questions about the culture of cable news’s most-watched show and the philosophical underpinnings of one of the conservative movement’s most prominent voices.”

In Commuting Roger Stone’s Sentence, Trump Goes Where Nixon Would Not. Senator Mitt Romney called the commutation an act of ‘unprecedented, historic corruption.’ Attorney General William P. Barr privately argued against clemency for the president’s friend.  The New York Times, Peter Baker, Saturday, 11 July 2020: “President Trump has said he learned lessons from President Richard M. Nixon’s fall from grace, but in using the power of his office to keep his friend and adviser Roger J. Stone Jr. out of prison he has now crossed a line that even Mr. Nixon in the depths of Watergate dared not cross. For months, senior advisers warned Mr. Trump that it would be politically self-destructive if not ethically inappropriate to grant clemency to Mr. Stone, who was convicted of lying to protect the president. Even Attorney General William P. Barr, who had already overruled career prosecutors to reduce Mr. Stone’s sentence, argued against commutation in recent weeks, officials said. But in casting aside their counsel on Friday, Mr. Trump indulged his own sense of grievance over precedent to reward an ally who kept silent. Once again, he challenged convention by intervening in the justice system undermining investigators looking into him and his associates, just days after the Supreme Court ruled that he went too far in claiming ‘absolute immunity’ in two other inquiries. Democrats condemned the commutation of Mr. Stone’s 40-month prison term and vowed to investigate.” See also, Trump’s Clemency Came After Displays of Loyalty by Roger Stone, The New York Times, Sharon LaFraniere and Mark Mazzetti, Saturday, 11 July 2020: “The president’s decision on Friday to commute Mr. Stone’s prison sentence for impeding a congressional inquiry and other crimes was extraordinary because federal prosecutors had suspected that Mr. Stone could shed light on whether Mr. Trump had lied to them under oath or illegally obstructed justice. Even Mr. Stone suggested a possible quid pro quo, telling a journalist hours before the announcement that he hoped for clemency because Mr. Trump knew he had resisted intense pressure from prosecutors to cooperate. It was the latest example of how Mr. Trump has managed to bend America’s legal machinery to his advantage and undermine a criminal investigation that has dominated so much of his presidency. Mr. Trump’s move was so stunning that Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel who investigated Russia’s election interference and has insistently refused to go beyond what was in his report, responded with an op-ed published late Saturday in The Washington Post. ‘When a subject lies to investigators, it strikes at the core of the government’s efforts to find the truth and hold wrongdoers accountable,’ Mr. Mueller wrote. ‘Because his sentence has been commuted, he will not go to prison. But his conviction stands.’ A jury determined that Mr. Stone, 67, was guilty of seven felonies, including witness tampering and lying to federal authorities, and a judge sentenced him to 40 months in prison. But to some, his brazen taunting of F.B.I. agents, prosecutors and a federal judge for the past three years indicated that he knew how the story would end: His friend Mr. Trump would rescue him.” See also, Roger Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so, The Washington Post, Robert S. Mueller III, Saturday, 11 July 2020: “The work of the special counsel’s office — its report, indictments, guilty pleas and convictions — should speak for itself. But I feel compelled to respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office. The Russia investigation was of paramount importance. Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so.” See also, In Rare Public Comments, Mueller Defends Prosecution of Roger Stone, The New York Times, Peter Baker, Saturday, 11 July 2020: “The former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III broke his long silence on Saturday to defend his prosecution of Roger J. Stone Jr., forcefully rebutting President Trump’s claims that the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election was political and illegitimate. Speaking out the day after Mr. Trump commuted Mr. Stone’s prison sentence for obstructing an inquiry into Russia’s role in the campaign, Mr. Mueller said Mr. Stone was no innocent victim and emphasized that the president’s clemency grant did not erase the conviction on seven felony counts.”

Business Leaders Urge Trump to Leave Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Alone After Supreme Court Ruling, The New York Times, Maggie Haberman, Saturday, 11 July 2020: “A group of prominent business leaders urged President Trump on Saturday to leave in place a program affecting roughly 800,000 young immigrants who are shielded from deportation, saying it would disrupt the economy and impact the battle against the coronavirus. The letter, from members of the Coalition for the American Dream, an alliance of business and industry leaders, comes after the Supreme Court ruled last month that the Trump administration improperly wound down the Obama-era program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, a finding that was made on procedural grounds. The signers of the letter included executives with Amazon, General Motors, Hilton Worldwide, Target, Apple, Google and Facebook, as well as groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and almost every sector of the manufacturing industry.”

• Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, both Democrats, are calling for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to impose a statewide stay-at-home order amid surging case numbers and increasing hospitalizations, the Houston Chronicle reported. Hidalgo wrote: ‘Not only do we need a stay home order now, but we need to stick with it this time until the hospitalization curve comes down, not just flattens.’
• Nationwide, new cases reached record levels in states across the United States over the weekend, even as weekly testing plateaued. Seven-day averages for new cases hit new highs in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Puerto Rico. Deaths were trending sharply up in nearly every major region of the country.
• The White House has moved to sideline Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, with whom Trump has clashed over mask policy, state reopening strategies and the use of antimalarial drugs to treat covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Many other significant developments are included in this article.

White House seeks to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci amid coronavirus surge, CNBC, Josh Lederman and Kelly O’Donnell, Sunday, 12 July 2020: “The White House is seeking to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, as it works to marginalize him and his dire warnings about the shortcomings in the U.S. coronavirus response. A White House official told NBC News that ‘several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things.’ The official provided NBC News with a lengthy list of past comments by Fauci earlier in the pandemic, including Fauci saying in January that coronavirus was ‘not a major threat’ and ‘not driven by asymptomatic carriers’ and Fauci’s comment in March that ‘people should not be walking around with masks.’ Many of the past statements the White House is criticizing Fauci for are ones that were based on the best available data at the time and were widely echoed by Trump, other members of the task force and senior White House officials. As Surgeon General Jerome Adams told CBS News on Sunday, ‘When you learn more, you change those recommendations. Our recommendations have changed.'” See also, Trump Aides Undercut Dr. Anthony Fauci as He Speaks Up on His Concerns About the Coronavirus. Administration officials moved to treat the nation’s top infectious disease expert as if he were a warring political rival, releasing a list of what they said were questionable statements he had made. The New York Times, Maggie Haberman, Sunday, 12 July 2020: “President Trump’s advisers undercut the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, over the weekend, anonymouslyproviding details to various news outlets about statements he had made early in the coronavirus outbreak that they said were inaccurate. The move to treat Dr. Fauci, who has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for decades, as if he were a warring political rival came as he has grown increasingly vocal in his concerns about the national surge in coronavirus cases, as well as his lack of access to Mr. Trump over the past several weeks. It has been accompanied by more measured public criticism from administration officials, including the president.”

• Deaths trended upward over the weekend in a majority of states, including many beyond the hard-hit Sun Belt. At least 3.3 million cases and more than 132,000 deaths have been reported in the United States. Although testing has remained flat, 20 states and Puerto Rico reported a record-high average of new infections over the past week.
• Officials in Miami spoke in alarming terms Monday, as Florida reported another record-high average of new infections over the past week. ‘Miami is now the epicenter of the pandemic,’ said Lilian Abbo, an infectious-disease specialist from the University of Miami Health System. ‘What we were seeing in Wuhan six months ago, now we’re there.’
• The Trump administration is poised to ask governors to consider sending in the National Guard to hospitals to help improve data collection about coronavirus patients, supplies and capacity.
• A White House effort to undermine Anthony S. Fauci has drawn rebukes from public health experts, scientists and mostly Democratic politicians, who argue it is dangerous to disparage a highly respected infectious-disease expert during a pandemic.
• New treatment options could arrive months before even the most optimistic timeline for a vaccine, senior Trump administration officials said. But limited supply could outstrip demand.
• Three of the nation’s largest school districts said they will begin the new school year with all students learning from home — Los Angeles, San Diego and Atlanta. Several other big cities were considering similar plans.

Many other significant developments are included in this article.

Trump says he likes Fauci ‘personally’ after promoting tweet, without evidence, attacking ‘lying’ doctors. Trump’s move comes amid a White House effort to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci. ABC News, Ben Gittleson, Monday, 13 July 2020: “As the novel coronavirus spreads across the country — leading to record numbers of cases and increased deaths in several states — President Donald Trump shared a message on Twitter Monday saying doctors and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are ‘lying.’ Then, after promoting a message critical of the nation’s foremost infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Trump later in the day said he liked Fauci ‘personally.’ ‘The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19,’ read a tweet written by the game show host and conservative commentator Chuck Woolery that the president shared with his over 83 million followers on Twitter on Monday morning. ‘Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it.’ Trump shared the message without comment or elaboration. There is no evidence the CDC, a federal agency, or doctors are ‘lying.'”

White House effort to undermine Dr. Anthony Fauci is criticized by public health experts, scientists, and Democrats, The Washington Post, Laurie McGinley and Yasmeen Abutaleb, Monday, 13 July 2020: “A White House effort to undermine Anthony S. Fauci has drawn rebukes from public health experts, scientists and mostly Democratic politicians, who argue it is dangerous for the Trump administration to disparage a highly respected government infectious-disease expert as the novel coronavirus continues to exact a heavy toll on the nation. The angry reaction occurred after The Washington Post published a story Saturday saying the relationship between President Trump and Fauci had sharply deteriorated and that the two had not spoken since early June. The White House provided The Post with examples of what it characterized as mistakes that Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had made about the pandemic, mostly in the early days when information about the virus was extremely limited. The White House also made the information available to other reporters, some of whom described it as ‘opposition research.’ Academics and researchers rallied to defend Fauci. ‘It’s shocking,’ said Janis Orlowski, chief health care officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges. ‘When you begin to discredit scientists like Fauci, who are national treasures, you are in serious trouble.’ Critics of the White House noted that some of the Fauci statements cited by the White House were taken out of context, or incomplete. Fauci has said repeatedly, especially in the early days of the outbreak, that scientists lacked sufficient information about the virus to be definitive in their statements. He said recommendations might change as new information emerged.”

Los Angeles Unified will not reopen campuses for start of school year amid coronavirus spike, Los Angeles Times, Howard Blume, Monday, 13 July 2020: “Los Angeles campuses will not reopen for classes on Aug. 18, and the nation’s second-largest school system will continue with online learning until further notice, because of the worsening coronavirus surge, Supt. Austin Beutner announced Monday. The difficult decision became unavoidable in recent weeks, Beutner said, as coronavirus cases have skyrocketed in Los Angeles County, and the district cannot come close to protecting the health and safety of some half a million K-12 students and about 75,000 employees.” See also, Los Angeles and San Diego Schools to Go Online-Only in the Fall, The New York Times, Shawn Hubler and Dana Goldstein, Monday, 13 July 2020: “California’s two largest public school districts said on Monday that instruction would be online-only in the fall, in the latest sign that school administrators are increasingly unwilling to risk crowding students back into classrooms until the coronavirus is fully under control. The school districts in Los Angeles and San Diego, which together enroll some 825,000 students, are the largest in the country to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. The decision came as Gov. Gavin Newsom announced some of the most sweeping rollbacks yet of California’s plans to reopen. Indoor operations for restaurants, bars, wineries, movie theaters and zoos were shut down statewide on Monday, and churches, gyms, hair salons, malls and other businesses were shuttered for four-fifths of the population.”

Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Call Out the Agency’s ‘Toxic Culture of Racial Aggressions,’ NPR, Delena Simmons-Durrin, Pien Huang, Monday, 13 July 2020: “More than 1,200 current employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have signed a letter calling for the federal agency to address ‘ongoing and recurring acts of racism and discrimination’ against Black employees, NPR has learned. In the letter, addressed to CDC Director Robert Redfield and dated June 30, the authors put their call for change in the context of the coronavirus pandemic’s disproportionate impact on Black people and the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks. NPR obtained a copy of the letter, which is published below. ‘In light of the recent calls for justice across this country and around the world, we, as dedicated public health professionals, can no longer stay silent to the widespread acts of racism and discrimination within CDC that are, in fact, undermining the agency’s core mission,’ the letter reads.” See also, Employees at the Centers for Disease Control (C.D.C.) Ask the Agency to Address ‘Racism and Discrimination,’ The New York Times, Jacey Fortin, published on Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “More than 1,000 employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have signed a letter calling for the agency to address ‘a pervasive and toxic culture of racial aggressions, bullying and marginalization’ against Black employees. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, was first reported by National Public Radio on Monday. It was sent to Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the C.D.C., on June 30. ‘After decades of well-meaning, yet underfunded, diversity and inclusion efforts, we have seen scant progress in addressing the very real challenges Black employees experience at C.D.C.,’ the letter said, pointing to a ‘lack of inclusion in the agency’s senior ranks’ and “ongoing and recurring acts of racism and discrimination.'”

George Soros’s Foundation Pours $220 Million Into Racial Equality Push, The New York Times, Astead W. Herndon, Monday, 13 July 2020: “The Open Society Foundations, the philanthropic group founded by the business magnate George Soros, announced on Monday that it was investing $220 million in efforts to achieve racial equality in America, a huge financial undertaking that will support several Black-led racial justice groups for years to come. The initiative, which comes amid national protests for racial equality and calls for police reform ignited by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, will immediately reshape the landscape of Black political and civil rights organizations, and signals the extent to which race and identity have become the explicit focal point of American politics in recent years, with no sign of receding. Mr. Soros, who has at times faced smears and anti-Semitism over his role as a liberal megadonor, is also positioning his foundation near the forefront of the protest movement. Of the $220 million, the foundation will invest $150 million in five-year grants for selected groups, including progressive and emerging organizations like the Black Voters Matter Fund and Repairers of the Breach, a group founded by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II of the Poor People’s Campaign. The money will also support more established Black civil rights organizations like the Equal Justice Initiative, which was founded by the civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson and depicted in the 2019 movie ‘Just Mercy.'”

Trump has made more than 20,000 false or misleading claims, The Washington Post, Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo, and Meg Kelly, Monday, 13 July 2020: “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 notion that Trump would exceed 20,000 claims before he finished his term appeared ludicrous when The Fact Checker started this project during the president’s first 100 days in office. In that time, Trump averaged fewer than five claims a day, which would have added up to about 7,000 claims in a four-year presidential term. But the tsunami of untruths just keeps looming larger and larger.”

New York Judge Clears Publication of Trump Tell-All by Trump’s Niece Mary, The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Monday, 13 July 2020: “A New York judge ruled on Monday that Mary L. Trump, the niece of President Trump, could legally go ahead with the publication of her explosive tell-all memoir about her famous family, ending a whirlwind of last-minute litigation to try to stop the book. The decision by the judge, Hal B. Greenwald of State Supreme Court in Dutchess County, was largely a symbolic victory, given that it came on the eve of the official release of the book, ‘Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,’ which is already in print and has received enormous public attention. The memoir reveals what Ms. Trump has described as a number of family secrets, including an allegation that as a young man Donald J. Trump paid someone to take his college entrance exams on his behalf. It also describes how Mr. Trump’s sister Maryanne Trump Barry, a former federal judge, considered him ‘a clown’ who had ‘no principles.'”

Here are some significant developments:

• Tuesday’s updated figures show new covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are reaching record highs, even beyond hot spot states like Florida and Texas.
• An experimental coronavirus vaccine was safe and triggered immune responses in all 45 participants in the first human tests, according to an article published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The vaccine is being developed by the biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
• The Trump administration said it is dropping a much-criticized plan to require international college students to leave the United States unless they are enrolled in the fall for at least one in-person class.
• Across much of the developing world, including the U.S., rampant coronavirus outbreaks came relatively late. But now that the virus has taken root, governments are flailing in their attempts to halt it and citizens are resisting changes to their way of life.
• Some health systems in Texas and Arizona are requesting ‘mobile morgues’ as death tolls spike across much of the South and West.
• A new poll found that nearly 3 in 4 U.S. parents are worried about sending their children back to the classroom as the White House pushes for schools to reopen. At least three of the nation’s largest school districts are resisting and plan to begin the school year with online lessons.
• In an op-ed, four former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criticized the Trump administration for trying to distort covid-19 research. ‘We cannot recall over our collective tenure a single time when political pressure led to a change in the interpretation of scientific evidence,’ they wrote.

Many other significant developments are included in this article.

Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine Moves to Bigger Study, The Wall Street Journal, Peter Loftus, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “New details about the first human study of Moderna Inc.’s experimental coronavirus vaccine emerged Tuesday, which researchers said reinforced their decision to take the shot into a large, decisive clinical trial scheduled to start in late July. The new results, published online by the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that the vaccine induced the desired immune response for all 45 people evaluated—a larger group than in the preliminary data Moderna released in May—and was generally safe and well-tolerated. ‘This is really quite good news,’ Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview Tuesday. NIAID co-developed the Moderna vaccine and led the study. ‘The gold standard of protection against a viral infection is neutralizing antibodies,’ he added. ‘And the data from the study, small numbers as it may be, are pretty clear that this vaccine is capable of inducing quite good [levels] of neutralizing antibodies.'”

Trump administration recommends the National Guard as an option to help hospitals report coronavirus data, The Washington Post, Lena H. Sun and Amy Goldstein, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “The Trump administration is asking governors to consider sending the National Guard to hospitals to help improve data collection about novel coronavirus patients, supplies and capacity, according to a letter, internal emails and officials familiar with the plans. The move is part of a new data reporting protocol for hospitals that eliminates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a recipient of that information — a decision that is sparking controversy about whether or not the data is reliable. In a letter to the nation’s governors that says the National Guard could help improve hospitals’ data flow, HHS Secretary Alex Azar and Deborah Birx, the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force response coordinator, say they ordered the changes because some hospitals have failed to report the information daily or completely. That portrayal, and the involvement of the National Guard, have infuriated hospital industry leaders, who say any data collection problems lie primarily with HHS and repeatedly shifting federal instructions. The new protocol, to begin Wednesday, leaves health-care institutions to report information daily about covid-19, the disease caused by the novel virus, to a federal contractor or to their state, which would coordinate the federal reporting. Public health experts say bypassing the CDC could harm the quality of data and the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.”

Trump Administration Strips C.D.C. of Control of Coronavirus Data. Hospitals have been ordered to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and send all patient information to a central database in Washington, raising questions about transparency. The New York Times, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “The Trump administration has ordered hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and send all Covid-19 patient information to a central database in Washington beginning on Wednesday. The move has alarmed health experts who fear the data will be politicized or withheld from the public. The new instructions were posted recently in a little-noticed document on the Department of Health and Human Services website. From now on, the department — not the C.D.C. — will collect daily reports about the patients that each hospital is treating, the number of available beds and ventilators, and other information vital to tracking the pandemic. Officials say the change will streamline data gathering and assist the White House coronavirus task force in allocating scarce supplies like personal protective gear and remdesivir, the first drug shown to be effective against the virus. But the Health and Human Services database that will receive new information is not open to the public, which could affect the work of scores of researchers, modelers and health officials who rely on C.D.C. data to make projections and crucial decisions. ‘Historically, C.D.C. has been the place where public health data has been sent, and this raises questions about not just access for researchers but access for reporters, access for the public to try to better understand what is happening with the outbreak,’ said Jen Kates, the director of global health and H.I.V. policy with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. ‘How will the data be protected?’ she asked. ‘Will there be transparency, will there be access, and what is the role of the C.D.C. in understanding the data?’ News of the change came as a shock at the C.D.C., according to two officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.” See also, Trump’s Covid-19 data reporting switch to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) draws outcry from health groups. Experts said orders to bypass the CDC could make it harder to track the virus, while others warned of unusual political interference. Politico, Adriel Bettelheim, published Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “An HHS-imposed change in how hospitals and states report coronavirus data to the government is drawing fierce criticism from public health groups and congressional Democrats concerned that the Trump administration could manipulate the numbers for political purposes. Hospitals were told as of Wednesday to stop reporting daily Covid-19 data through the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network and instead funnel it through two HHS systems. The order set off alarm for a broad range of health care groups, including those representing local and state health officials, who questioned why the change was made at a critical point in the pandemic as coronavirus cases spike in more than half the states. A senior Senate Democrat suggested the move could be deliberately intended to sideline public health experts, who’ve increasingly come under attack by the administration. ‘CDC has had a system in place for over a decade to track infection data, and hospitals and states know and trust this system,’ said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate health committee. ‘It’s entirely unclear why the Trump administration has asked states and hospitals to entirely upend their reporting systems in the middle of a pandemic.'” See also, Hospital officials and experts say new federal rules for covid-19 reporting will add burdens during pandemic, The Washington Post, Amy Goldstein and Lena H. Sun, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “State health leaders, public health experts and hospital officials warn that an abrupt change in how the Trump administration requires them to report coronavirus data will increase the burden on facilities already strained by the pandemic and could impede the distribution of critical medicines.”

We ran the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. No president ever politicized its science the way Trump has. The administration is undermining public health. The Washington Post, Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan, David Satcher, and Richard Besser, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “As America begins the formidable task of getting our kids back to school and all of us back to work safely amid a pandemic that is only getting worse, public health experts face two opponents: covid-19, but also political leaders and others attempting to undermine the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As the debate last week around reopening schools more safely showed, these repeated efforts to subvert sound public health guidelines introduce chaos and uncertainty while unnecessarily putting lives at risk. As of this date, the CDC guidelines, which were designed to protect children, teachers, school staffers and their families — no matter the state and no matter the politics — have not been altered. It is not unusual for CDC guidelines to be changed or amended during a clearance process that moves through multiple agencies and the White House. But it is extraordinary for guidelines to be undermined after their release. Through last week, and into Monday, the administration continued to cast public doubt on the agency’s recommendations and role in informing and guiding the nation’s pandemic response. On Sunday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos characterized the CDC guidelines as an impediment to reopening schools quickly rather than what they are: the path to doing so safely. The only valid reason to change released guidelines is new information and new science — not politics.”

‘None of us lie’: Coronavirus testing czar Admiral Brett Giroir rejects Trump’s attacks on health officials. Trump has repeatedly questioned his own administration’s experts as the pandemic threatens his reelection effort. Politico, Quint Forgey, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “Adm. Brett Giroir, the Trump administration’s coronavirus testing czar, on Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump’s suggestion that his own public health officials are liars. ‘Look, we may occasionally make mistakes based on the information we have, but none of us lie. We are completely transparent with the American people,’ Giroir told NBC’s ‘Today’ show. Giroir’s remarks came after Trump retweeted a message Monday from Chuck Woolery, the conservative former game show host, who wrote online: ‘Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust.'”

Asked About Black Americans Killed by Police, Trump Says, ‘So Are White People,’ The New York Times, Jeremy W. Peters, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “President Trump, whose re-election prospects have dimmed as Americans question his handling of the coronavirus outbreak and race relations, on Tuesday stoked racial grievances yet again with a series of startling remarks about the Confederate flag, victims of police violence and a St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters peacefully marching by their house. Mr. Trump added to his long record of racially inflammatory comments during an interview with CBS News, in which he brushed off a question about Black people killed by police officers, saying that white people are killed in greater numbers. Mr. Trump reacted angrily when asked about the issue, which has led to nationwide protests calling for major law enforcement changes. ‘Why are African-Americans still dying at the hands of law enforcement in this country?’ the interviewer, Catherine Herridge of CBS News, asked the president. ‘What a terrible question to ask,’ Mr. Trump responded. ‘So are white people. More white people, by the way.’ Statistics show that while more white Americans are killed by the police over all, people of color are killed at higher rates. A federal study that examined lethal force used by the police from 2009 to 2012 found that a majority of victims were white, but the victims were disproportionately Black. Black people had a fatality rate at the hands of police officers that was 2.8 times as high as that of white people. In a separate interview published on Tuesday with the conservative website Townhall.com, Mr. Trump falsely claimed that a white couple in St. Louis who confronted peaceful marchers outside their home with guns had been on the verge of being beaten and having their home burned down. ‘They were going to be beat up badly, and the house was going to be totally ransacked and probably burned down,’ Mr. Trump said. Video of the incident, which became a flash point in the national debate over racial inequality, showed that the protesters at no point physically threatened the couple. The president’s remarks were the latest example of his refusal to acknowledge the racial discrimination that even many in his own party have said must be addressed. But Mr. Trump, who recently retweeted a video of a supporter shouting ‘white power’ and said he would oppose a bipartisan effort in Congress to remove Confederate names from military bases, has displayed no intention of trying to bridge the country’s racial divide.” See also, Asked why Black Americans are ‘still dying at the hands of law enforcement in this country,’ Trump responds, ‘So are White people,’ CBS News, Grace Segers, published on Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, President Trump said the killing of George Floyd was ‘terrible’ but appeared to bristle when asked why Black Americans are ‘still dying at the hands of law enforcement in this country.’ ‘So are White people. So are White people. What a terrible question to ask. So are White people,’ Mr. Trump told CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge at the White House. ‘More White people, by the way. More White people.’ Police departments are not required to report comprehensive data on police killings, but researchers have compiled statistics showing Black Americans are more likely to die at the hands of law enforcement than White people. One study published in 2018 found that Black men are roughly 3.5 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement than White men. Another study released in 2019 found that one in 1,000 Black men in the U.S. can expect to die at the hands of police over the course of their lifetimes.”

N.Y.P.D. Says It Used Restraint During Protests. Videos Shot by Protesters and Journalists Suggest That Many of the Police Attacks, Often Led by High-Ranking Officers, Were Not Warranted. The New York Times, Allison McCann, Blacki Migliozzi, Andy Newman, Larry Buchanan, and Aaron Byrd, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “It was two hours after curfew on the sixth night of protests against police brutality in New York City. An officer in Brooklyn pushed a protester so hard that she fell backward on the pavement. Then he shoved someone on a bicycle and picked up and body-slammed a third person into the street. Nearby, a man fell running from the police. Officers swarmed him and beat him with batons. A commanding officer, in his white-shirted uniform, joined the fray and stepped on the man’s neck. All of it was caught on video. In fact, the New York Times found more than 60 videos that show the police using force on protesters during the first 10 days of demonstrations in the city after the death of George Floyd. A review of the videos, shot by protesters and journalists, suggests that many of the police attacks, often led by high-ranking officers, were not warranted. A video of five or 10 or 30 seconds does not tell the whole story, of course. It does not depict what happened before the camera started rolling. It is unclear from the videos, for instance, what the officers’ intentions were or why protesters were being arrested or told to move. But the Police Department’s patrol guide says officers may use ‘only the reasonable force necessary to gain control or custody of a subject.’ Force, policing experts say, must be proportionate to the threat or resistance at hand at the moment it is applied. In instance after instance, the police are seen using force on people who do not appear to be resisting arrest or posing an immediate threat to anyone.”

Biden Announces $2 Trillion Climate Plan. Joe Biden’s plan connects tackling climate change with the economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis, while also addressing racism. The proposal drew praise from his onetime critics. The New York Times, Katie Glueck and Lisa Friedman, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “Joseph R. Biden Jr. announced on Tuesday a new plan to spend $2 trillion over four years to significantly escalate the use of clean energy in the transportation, electricity and building sectors, part of a suite of sweeping proposals designed to create economic opportunities and strengthen infrastructure while also tackling climate change. In a speech in Wilmington, Del., Mr. Biden built on his plans, released last week, for reviving the economy in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, with a new focus on enhancing the nation’s infrastructure and emphasizing the importance of significantly cutting fossil fuel emissions. As he denounced President Trump’s stewardship of the virus and climate change, he drew criticism from Republicans — but he also faced a key test from progressives who have long been skeptical of the scope of his climate ambitions…. Many liberals have long been unenthusiastic at best about Mr. Biden, a former Delaware senator who staunchly opposes a range of progressives’ top priorities: He has said that he does not support ‘Medicare for all’ or defunding the police, he has not fully endorsed the Green New Deal and has reservations about marijuana legalization. His record on issues like criminal justice has drawn fierce criticism from the left, and some in his party view his reverence for bipartisan deal-making as naïve. Still, his climate plan does appear to have made some inroads with progressive Democrats. ‘This is not a status quo plan,’ said Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, a prominent environmentalist who ran a climate-focused campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination and later endorsed Mr. Biden. He added: ‘It is comprehensive. This is not some sort of, Let me just throw a bone to those who care about climate change.’ Mr. Inslee called the proposal ‘visionary.'”

Trump administration backs off plan requiring international students to take face-to-face classes, The Washington Post, Nick Anderson and Susan Svrluga, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “The Trump administration on Tuesday dropped its much-criticized plan to require international college students to leave the United States unless they are enrolled in the fall term in at least one face-to-face class. The abrupt reversal, disclosed in a federal court in Boston, came a little more than a week after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued an edict that stunned U.S. higher education leaders and students worldwide.” See also, U.S. Rescinds Plan to Strip Visas From International Students in Online Classes. The Trump administration said it would no longer require foreign students to attend in-person classes during the coronavirus pandemic in order to remain in the country. The New York Times, Miriam Jordan and Anemona Hartocollis, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “In a rare and swift immigration policy reversal, the Trump administration on Tuesday bowed to snowballing opposition from universities, Silicon Valley and 20 states and abandoned a plan to strip international college students of their visas if they did not attend at least some classes in person. The policy, which would have subjected foreign students to deportation if they did not show up for class on campus, had thrown the higher education world into turmoil at a time when universities are grappling with whether to reopen campuses during the coronavirus pandemic. The loss of international students could have cost universities millions of dollars in tuition and jeopardized the ability of U.S. companies to hire the highly skilled workers who often start their careers with an American education.”

The White House Called a News Conference. Trump Turned It Into a Meandering Monologue. Trump spoke in the Rose Garden for 63 minutes. He spent only six of those minutes answering questions from reporters. The New York Times, Peter Baker, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “In theory, President Trump summoned television cameras to the heat-baked Rose Garden early Tuesday evening to announce new measures against China to punish it for its oppression of Hong Kong. But that did not last long. What followed instead was an hour of presidential stream of consciousness as Mr. Trump drifted seemingly at random from one topic to another, often in the same run-on sentence. Even for a president who rarely sticks to the script and wanders from thought to thought, it was one of the most rambling performances of his presidency. He weighed in on China and the coronavirus and the Paris climate change accord and crumbling highways. And then China again and military spending and then China again and then the coronavirus again. And the economy and energy taxes and trade with Europe and illegal immigration and his friendship with Mexico’s president. And the coronavirus again and then immigration again and crime in Chicago and the death penalty and back to climate change and education and historical statues. And more. ‘We could go on for days,’ he said at one point, and it sounded plausible. At times, it was hard to understand what he meant. He seemed to suggest that his presumptive Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., would get rid of windows if elected and later said that Mr. Biden would ‘abolish the suburbs.’ He complained that Mr. Biden had ‘gone so far right.’ (He meant left.) Even for those who follow Mr. Trump regularly and understand his shorthand, it became challenging to follow his train of thought. For instance, in discussing cooperation agreements with Central American countries to stop illegal immigration, he had this to say: ‘We have great agreements where when Biden and Obama used to bring killers out, they would say don’t bring them back to our country, we don’t want them. Well, we have to, we don’t want them. They wouldn’t take them. Now with us, they take them. Someday, I’ll tell you why. Someday, I’ll tell you why. But they take them and they take them very gladly. They used to bring them out and they wouldn’t even let the airplanes land if they brought them back by airplanes. They wouldn’t let the buses into their country. They said we don’t want them. Said no, but they entered our country illegally and they’re murderers, they’re killers in some cases.'” See also, Trump’s Falsehoods on Police Shootings, Biden, Coronavirus, and China. Speaking in the Rose Garden and in an earlier television interview, the president made incorrect, misleading and exaggerated statements on a wide variety of topics. The New York Times, Linda Qiu, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “In a rambling, campaign-style appearance in the Rose Garden at the White House and in an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, President Trump ranged across many topics, sprinkling questionable assertions throughout his remarks.”

Dan Scavino, One of Trump’s Closest Advisers, Posts Cartoon Mocking Dr. Anthony Fauci as White House Denies Undermining Him. Scavino shared the cartoon by Ben Garrison, an alt-right artist who has been criticized for anti-Semitic imagery. The New York Times, Katie Rogers, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “White House officials this week have denied trying to undermine Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, for his stark analysis of the coronavirus pandemic. But Dan Scavino, the White House deputy chief of staff for communications, undercut that message by posting a cartoon mocking Dr. Fauci by an artist whose work has been criticized for its anti-Semitic imagery. Mr. Scavino on Sunday posted on Facebook a rendering of Dr. Fauci that likened him to a faucet drowning Uncle Sam — in the case, representing the economy — with water drops labeled with mock public health warnings considered antithetical to White House policy: ‘Schools stay closed this fall!’ ‘Indefinite lockdown!’ ‘Shut up and obey!’ The post from Mr. Scavino, one of Mr. Trump’s most trusted advisers, is another example of the Trump administration treating Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as another political opponent, though Mr. Scavino refers to him as a colleague.”

Postal Service memos detail ‘difficult’ changes, including slower mail delivery. Analysts say the memos recast the USPS as a business rather than a government service. The Washington Post, Jacob Bogage, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “The new head of the U.S. Postal Service established major operational changes Monday that could slow down mail delivery, warning employees the agency would not survive unless it made “difficult” changes to cut costs. But critics say such a philosophical sea change would sacrifice operational efficiency and cede its competitive edge to UPS, FedEx and other private-sector rivals. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told employees to leave mail behind at distribution centers if it delayed letter carriers from their routes, according to internal USPS documents obtained by The Washington Post and verified by the American Postal Workers Union and three people with knowledge of their contents, but who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution. ‘If the plants run late, they will keep the mail for the next day,’ according to a document titled, ‘New PMG’s [Postmaster General’s] expectations and plan.’ Traditionally, postal workers are trained not to leave letters behind and to make multiple delivery trips to ensure timely distribution of letters and parcels.”

A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile Detention During the Coronavirus Pandemic. ProPublica Illinois, Jodi S. Cohen, Tuesday, 14 July 2020: “One afternoon in mid-June, Charisse* drove up to the checkpoint at the Children’s Village juvenile detention center in suburban Detroit, desperate to be near her daughter. It had been a month since she had last seen her, when a judge found the girl had violated probation and sent her to the facility during the pandemic. The girl, Grace, hadn’t broken the law again. The 15-year-old wasn’t in trouble for fighting with her mother or stealing, the issues that had gotten her placed on probation in the first place. She was incarcerated in May for violating her probation by not completing her online coursework when her school in Beverly Hills switched to remote learning. Because of the confidentiality of juvenile court cases, it’s impossible to determine how unusual Grace’s situation is. But attorneys and advocates in Michigan and elsewhere say they are unaware of any other case involving the detention of a child for failing to meet academic requirements after schools closed to help stop the spread of COVID-19. The decision, they say, flies in the face of recommendations from the legal and education communities that have urged leniency and a prioritization of children’s health and safety amid the crisis. The case may also reflect, some experts and Grace’s mother believe, systemic racial bias. Grace is Black in a predominantly white community and in a county where a disproportionate percentage of Black youth are involved with the juvenile justice system.”

Wednesday, 15 July 2020, Day 1,272:

Here are some significant developments:

• The total number of coronavirus infections reported in the United States is approaching 3.5 million, according to data tracked by The Washington Post, including at least 134,000 deaths.
• The greater Washington, D.C., region recorded its highest daily coronavirus caseload in weeks Wednesday as the District lost more ground in its fight to quell the pandemic.
• Hospital capacity in several hard-hit states is running low as officials scramble to keep their expanding outbreaks from spinning even further out of control.
• Health experts and hospital officials warn that an abrupt change in how the Trump administration requires them to report coronavirus data will increase the burden on facilities already strained by the pandemic.
• Support for mask mandates continued to grow a day after another of the country’s top health officials said universal face-covering could bring covid-19 ‘under control’ in the United States. Alabama and the city of Tulsa mandated masks on Wednesday, while Walmart, Kroger and Kohl’s announced they would require all shoppers to wear masks.
• Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) became the first governor to announce that he’d tested positive for coronavirus. Stitt said he has experienced only mild symptoms and will continue working from home while self-isolating.
• The 2021 Los Angeles area Rose Parade is canceled for the first time in 75 years.

Many other significant developments are included in this article.

Dr. Anthony Fauci: ‘Bizarre’ White House Behavior Only Hurts Trump, The Atlantic, Peter Nicholas and Ed Yong, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “Anthony Fauci isn’t about to quit, despite the White House’s clumsy attempts to stain his public image. More so now than at any other point in their uneasy partnership, it seems that if President Donald Trump wants to be rid of Fauci, he’ll need to fire him. In recent days especially, the White House has stepped up efforts to discredit Fauci, a move he describes as ‘bizarre.’ ‘Ultimately, it hurts the president to do that,’ Fauci told The Atlantic in a series of interviews this week. ‘When the staff lets out something like that and the entire scientific and press community push back on it, it ultimately hurts the president.’ He described the White House attacks against him as ‘nonsense’ and ‘completely wrong.’ He also seemed dismayed that they are coming at a time when COVID-19 is surging across the country, deaths are once again rising, and Americans remain deeply confused about how to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.” See also, After Attacks From Trump Aides, Dr. Anthony Fauci Says ‘Let’s Stop This Nonsense’ and Focus on the Virus, The New York Times, Katie Rogers, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “After several days spent weathering attacks from White House officials, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci hit back on Wednesday, calling recent efforts to discredit him ‘bizarre’ and a hindrance to the government’s ability to communicate information about the coronavirus pandemic. ‘I cannot figure out in my wildest dreams why they would want to do that,’ Dr. Fauci said in an interview with The Atlantic published on Wednesday, speaking of recent attempts by President Trump’s aides to undermine him. ‘I think they realize now that that was not a prudent thing to do, because it’s only reflecting negatively on them.'”

White House Distances Itself From Trade Adviser Peter Navarro’s Criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, The Wall Street Journal, Andrew Restuccia, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “A senior White House trade adviser criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, in an opinion column that the White House said wasn’t authorized. In the column published Tuesday night in USA Today, Peter Navarro wrote, ‘Dr. Anthony Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.’ He added that he listens to Dr. Fauci ‘with skepticism and caution.’ Some administration officials have ramped up their public and private criticism of Dr. Fauci in recent days, but the White House on Wednesday distanced itself from Mr. Navarro’s column.” See also, White House distances itself from extraordinary op-ed criticizing Dr. Anthony Fauci by Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro, The Washington Post, John Wagner and Meryl Kornfield, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “The White House on Wednesday moved to distance itself from an extraordinary op-ed in USA Today in which Peter Navarro, President Trump’s trade adviser, heavily criticized Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease official, over his handling of the coronavirus crisis.”

Footage of Police Body Cameras Offers Devastating Account of the Killing of George Floyd, The New York Times, Tim Arango, Matt Furber, and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “Almost from the moment George Floyd encountered the police on May 25, with a gun pointed at him, he appeared terrified and emotionally distraught, according to police camera footage that was newly made available for viewing Wednesday at a courthouse in downtown Minneapolis. Mr. Floyd was visibly shaken, with his head down, and crying, as if he were in the throes of a panic attack, as he put his hands on the steering wheel in response to a frantic order from an officer. He told the officers over and over that he was claustrophobic, as two officers struggled to push him to the back seat of a police vehicle. Throughout the video, he never appeared to present a physical threat to the officers, and even after he was handcuffed and searched for weapons, the officers seemed to be more concerned with controlling his body than saving his life, the footage showed.”

Asylum Officers Condemn What They Call ‘Draconian’ Plans by Trump. The New York Times, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “A Trump administration plan to overhaul the asylum system in the United States would subject vulnerable families to danger and violate international law, officers who would carry out the policy said Wednesday. In its public comment on the proposed regulation, the union representing federal asylum officers said it would effectively deny most migrants pursuing protection the right to have their claims of fear or persecution assessed.”

‘A modern-day night ride’: St. Louis prosecutor receives death threats as Trump defends couple who pointed guns at protesters, The Washington Post, Meagan Flynn, Tom Jackman, and Ben Guarino, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “The prosecutor investigating the St. Louis couple who aimed guns at protesters says she has received racist attacks and death threats that have worsened as President Trump has thrown his support behind the couple. ‘This is a modern-day night ride, and everybody knows it,’ St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner (D) said in an interview with The Washington Post, referring to the terroristic forays of the Ku Klux Klan into African American neighborhoods in the 19th and 20th centuries. ‘And for a president to participate in it, in the larger context of racism and cronyism, is scary.'”

A Brazen Online Attack Targets V.I.P. Twitter Users in a Bitcoin Scam, The New York Times, Sheera Frenkel, Nathaniel Popper, Kate Conger, and David E. Sanger, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “It was about 4 in the afternoon on Wednesday on the East Coast when chaos struck online. Dozens of the biggest names in America — including Joseph R. Biden Jr., Barack Obama, Kanye West, Bill Gates and Elon Musk — posted similar messages on Twitter: Send Bitcoin and the famous people would send back double your money. It was all a scam, of course, the result of one of the most brazen online attacks in memory. A first wave of attacks hit the Twitter accounts of prominent cryptocurrency leaders and companies. But soon after, the list of victims broadened to include a Who’s Who of Americans in politics, entertainment and tech, in a major show of force by the hackers. Twitter quickly removed many of the messages, but in some cases similar tweets were sent again from the same accounts, suggesting that Twitter was powerless to regain control. The company eventually disabled broad swaths of its service, including the ability of verified users to tweet, for a couple of hours as it scrambled to prevent the scam from spreading further. The company sent a tweet saying that it was investigating the problem and looking for a fix. ‘You may be unable to Tweet or reset your password while we review and address this incident,’ the company said in a second tweet. Service was restored around 8:30 Wednesday night.”

Trump Raises New Objections to Subpoena Seeking His Tax Returns, The New York Times, William K. Rashbaum and Benjamin Weiser, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “Days after the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a defeat to President Trump, clearing the way for the Manhattan district attorney to seek his tax returns, his lawyers on Wednesday renewed their efforts to block or at least narrow access to the records. Mr. Trump’s lawyers wrote to the federal judge in Manhattan who originally presided over the case, saying they planned to argue that the district attorney’s subpoena seeking eight years of his corporate and personal tax returns was too broad and politically motivated. The filing came less than a week after the Supreme Court struck down Mr. Trump’s previous argument — that the subpoena was invalid because a sitting president could not be criminally investigated.”

Trump Weakens Major Conservation Law to Speed Construction Permits, The New York Times, Lisa Friedman, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “President Trump on Wednesday unilaterally weakened one of the nation’s bedrock conservation laws, the National Environmental Policy Act, limiting public review of federal infrastructure projects to speed up the permitting of freeways, power plants and pipelines…. Revising the 50-year-old law through regulatory reinterpretation is one of the biggest — and most audacious — deregulatory actions of the Trump administration, which to date has moved to roll back 100 rules protecting clean air and water, and others that aim to reduce the threat of human-caused climate change. Because the action is coming so late in Mr. Trump’s term, it also elevates the stakes in the November elections. Under federal regulatory law, a Democratic president and Congress could eradicate the NEPA rollback with simple majority votes on Capitol Hill and the president’s signature.” See also, Trump revamps key environmental law in bid to fast track pipelines and roads, The Guardian,Valerie Volcovici and Jeff Mason, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced final plans to expedite permitting for infrastructure like oil pipelines and road expansions, a move that critics say will sidestep the need for public input, especially from low-income and minority communities. The proposal to change how the 50-year-old bedrock National Environmental Policy Act is implemented is part of Trump’s broader campaign to curtail environmental regulations to boost industry and fast-track projects that can take years to complete. Among other things, the final rule says that federal agencies need not factor in the ‘cumulative impacts’ of a project, which could include its impact on climate change and have significant and long-lasting consequences.” See also, Trump to Put New Environmental Review Rules Into Force, The Wall Street Journal, Timothy Puko, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “President Trump said Wednesday that his administration has completed its update to the National Environmental Policy Act, including changes that will mandate deadlines for completing environmental reviews. The new rules would require full environmental impact statements to be completed within two years. Less comprehensive environmental assessments would have to be concluded within one year. It hews to a proposal the administration made in January. The measures, which are expected to be published in the Federal Register on Thursday and go into effect in 60 days, are supported by business groups and trade unions who say the environmental review process has been distorted to become a tool to endlessly delay needed highways, pipelines and other infrastructure projects. The changes are opposed by environmentalists who say the reviews serve as a bulwark against climate change and help protect poor and minority communities that typically lack the resources to defend their interests from development that could harm their neighborhoods.” See also, The Trump Administration Is Reversing 100 Environmental Rules. Here’s the Full List. The New York Times, Nadja Popovich, Livia Albeck-Ripka, and Kendra Pierre-Louis, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “In all, a New York Times analysis, based on research from Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School and other sources, counts nearly 70 environmental rules and regulations officially reversed, revoked or otherwise rolled back under Mr. Trump. More than 30 additional rollbacks are still in progress.”

Trump Replaces Brad Parscale as Campaign Manager, Elevating Bill Stepien, The New York Times, Maggie Haberman, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “President Trump on Wednesday shook up his re-election team with less than four months until November’s vote, replacing his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, in an acknowledgment of the president’s diminished standing in nearly all public and private polling since the spring. Mr. Parscale, who was named campaign manager unusually early, in February 2018, will step out of the job and Bill Stepien, currently the deputy campaign manager and a veteran political operative, will take over. Mr. Parscale will stay on with the campaign, becoming a senior adviser for data and digital operations.”  See also, Bill Stepien was ousted over Bridgegate by Chris Christie in 2014. Now he’s in charge of Trump’s reelection campaign. The Washington Post, Allyson Chiu, published on Thursday, 16 July 2020.

City council in Asheville, North Carolina, unanimously approves reparation plan. The city will make investments in areas where Black residents face disparities. ABC News, Ivan Pereira, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “Leaders in Asheville, North Carolina, have taken a historic step to repair centuries of racial prejudice by unanimously voting to provide reparations. The Asheville City Council voted 7-0 on a resolution Tuesday night that formally apologized to its Black residents for the city’s role in slavery, discriminatory housing practices, and other racist policies throughout its history. The measure also calls for a plan to provide reparations to its Black residents in the form of investments in their community such as ‘increasing minority home ownership,’ ‘increasing minority business ownership and career opportunities,’ and ‘strategies to grow equity and generational wealth,’ according to the resolution.” See also, The City Council of Asheville, North Carolina, Approves Reparations for Black Residents, The New York Times, Neil Vigdor, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “As Americans debate how far the country should go to make amends for slavery and other racial injustices, a conversation reawakened by the killing of George Floyd, a city in North Carolina has taken the first step: It approved reparations for Black residents. The city, Asheville, N.C., will provide funding to programs geared toward increasing homeownership and business and career opportunities for Black residents as part of a reparations initiative. The measure was unanimously approved by the Asheville City Council on Tuesday night, but it stopped short of stipulating direct payments, which are usually associated with reparations. City leaders said their goal was to help create generational wealth for Black people, who have been hurt by income, educational and health care disparities. The city, which is in Western North Carolina and has about 93,000 residents, also apologized for its participation in and sanctioning of slavery, as well as other historical injustices perpetrated against Black people, who make up about 12 percent of the city’s population.”

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) Files Hatch Act Complaint Against Mark Meadows, Trump’s Chief of Staff, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows appears to have violated the Hatch Act twice during separate interviews with Fox News, according to a complaint sent today to the Office of Special Counsel by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). While appearing in his official position as White House Chief of Staff, Meadows advocated in both interviews for President Trump’s reelection and against his 2020 opponent, Joe Biden, and in one he also endorsed the Republican candidate running for his former congressional seat.”

Despite Supreme Court’s Ruling on Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, the Trump Administration Rejects New Applicants, NPR, Joel Rose, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “DACA recipients and their families were elated when the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration didn’t go about ending the popular program correctly. Many immigration lawyers thought that meant the program would have to be restarted to allow new applications. But that hasn’t happened. And critics accuse the Trump administration of ignoring the high court’s ruling. ‘That’s insane. That’s a violation of the order,’ said Bill Ong Hing, professor of law and Director of the Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic at the University of San Francisco. It’s been nearly a month since the Supreme Court’s ruling. So technically, Hing says, that order should be in full effect and DACA should be operating exactly the way it was before the administration moved to end it.”

Donald Trump Poses With Goya Products One Day After Ivanka Tweets Support, HuffPost, David Moye, Wednesday, 15 July 2020: “President Donald Trump may be setting himself for a new gig after he leaves office ― as a spokesman for Goya Foods.  The president posted a pic on Instagram Wednesday that showed him at his desk with a variety of Goya products, including cookies, coconut milk and adobo. Trump’s promo pic came a day after his daughter Ivanka Trump posted a Twitter selfie with a can of black beans, posing as if she were a spokesmodel on ‘The Price Is Right.’ Both Trump photos came in reaction to a boycott against Goya that began after CEO Robert Unanue said that the country is ‘truly blessed’ to be under Trump’s leadership. But the pics may violate the Code of Federal Regulations, which states that employees ‘shall not use or permit the use of their Government position or title or any authority associated with their public office to endorse any product.'” See also, Trump Is Shilling Beans, The New Yorker, Masha Gessen, Thursday, 16 July 2020: “Trump and his daughter Ivanka have been using their social-media accounts to advertise canned beans. On Twitter, she posed with a can of Goya black beans in her right hand, her left hand held as though cradling an imaginary cloud beneath the product. On Instagram, he sat at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, stars, stripes, and gold velvet curtains behind him, and Goya products arrayed in front of him. He held both thumbs up. In between attacking Joe Biden and the Times and touting his success at fighting the MS-13 gang, Trump tweeted, ‘.@GoyaFoods is doing GREAT. The Radical Left smear machine backfired, people are buying like crazy!’ The First Family is fighting back against calls for a boycott of Goya after the company’s C.E.O., Robert Unanue, praised the President during a White House event last week. ‘This one’s got everything: the Trump family, using official office to promote a private business, rewarding political allies with business help from the White House,’ Noah Bookbinder, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, tweeted. ‘So much corruption in one post, and likely a violation of ethics rules.’ (According to the Department of Justice, ‘An employee’s position or title should not be used to coerce; to endorse any product, service or enterprise; or to give the appearance of governmental sanction.’) But corruption may not be the best term to describe this spectacle. The word implies something illicit, hidden from the public; the remedy for ‘corruption,’ in political discourse, is usually ‘transparency.’ The Trumps are, without a doubt, corrupting the Presidency in the sense that they are changing it beyond recognition, but they are doing it in plain view.”