Fauci says states with surging Covid-19 cases should pause reopening efforts

Public health expert made remark after US set world record for most new Covid-19 cases reported in one day

As the US set a world record for most Covid-19 cases in one day, with 60,000 reported on Wednesday, Dr Anthony Fauci, a senior member of the White House coronavirus taskforce, said states needed to pause reopening efforts.

Related: Some Republican senators to skip national convention due to pandemic

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Fauci: US is ‘still knee-deep in first wave’ of pandemic as it passes 130,000 deaths

Top public health expert urges further action as new cases surge to record highs of around 50,000 a day across country

The United States is “still knee-deep in the first wave” of the coronavirus pandemic, one of the country’s top public health experts has warned, as the country surpassed 130,000 Covid-19 deaths and new polling indicates Donald Trump’s approval rating over his handling of the crisis has remained low.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Monday that America’s grasp of the pandemic was “really not good” and urged further action as new cases of the virus continue to surge to record highs of about 50,000 a day across the country. More than 131,200 have died in the US as of Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins figures.

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White House says US is ‘a leader’ in fighting coronavirus, despite rising infections – video

Kayleigh McEnany says the US has been a leader in the fight against Covid-19, despite rising infections across the country. Its infection tally is nearing 3m cases, while there have been 130,000 deaths. Speaking at a press briefing, the White House press secretary added: 'No one wants to see anyone in this country contract coronavirus, which is why the administration has fought hard to make sure that's not the case with our historic response effort'

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Mary Trump’s book to be published early amid ‘extraordinary interest’

Tell-all book by Donald Trump’s niece will argue president suffered ‘child abuse’ in the early years of his life

A tell-all book by Donald Trump’s niece will be published two weeks ahead of schedule and will argue that the president suffered “child abuse” in the early years of his life.

Related: Bolton: Trump claim he wasn’t told of Russia bounty report is 'not how system works’

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Bolton: Trump claim he wasn’t told of Russia bounty report is ‘not how system works’

Ex-national security adviser also says any decision to withhold intelligence would ‘certainly not’ be ‘made only by the briefer’

Donald Trump’s claim not to have been briefed about intelligence suggesting Russia paid Taliban-linked militants to kill US soldiers is “just not the way the system works”, former national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday.

Related: Trump’s niece says 2001 NDA based on ‘fraudulent’ financial information

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Trump claims victory as US nears 130,000 coronavirus deaths – live

Houston mayor Sylvester Turner has appeared on CBS’s Face The Nation to discuss the Covid-19 outbreak in his city. He says staffing at the city’s hospital is a particular problem.

“If we don’t get our hands around this virus quickly, in about two weeks our hospital system could be in serious, serious trouble,” he says. “... We can always provide additional beds, but we need the people, the nurses and everybody else, the medical professionals to staff those beds. That’s the critical point right now.”

New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, has appeared on NBC’s Meet The Press. New Jersey has been one of the worst-hit states in the US during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, and he says a national strategy is needed to combat Covid-19.

“This thing is lethal,” he says. “New Jersey’s paid an enormous price. We’ve [had] 13,000 confirmed fatalities from Covid-19. We’re starting to see small spikes in reinfection from folks coming back from places like Myrtle Beach and as well as in Florida, other hotspots.

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Trump claims US on way to ‘tremendous victory’ over Covid-19 as cases surge – live

The White House is set to host its largest event since the start of the coronavirus pandemic with tonight’s Salute to America. Hundreds of chairs and tables have been set up on the South Lawn, where Trump will deliver a speech he says will celebrate American heritage. An administration spokesperson says social distancing “will be observed” and face masks will be offered but not mandatory.

Trump was first inspired to stage a mass display of pop and power on America’s birthday when attended the Bastille Day military parade as the guest of French president Emmanuel Macron back in 2017. An initial 2018 push to stage a parade that would have seen soldiers marching and tanks rolling down the streets of Washington was scuttled amid accusations that he was politicizing an important holiday, emulating displays in authoritarian countries and wasting taxpayers’ money.

President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, along with the Department of Interior, will host the 2020 Salute to America on the South Lawn of the White House and Ellipse on Saturday, July 4. In addition to music, military demonstrations, and flyovers to honor our Nation’s service members and veterans, the President will deliver remarks that celebrate our independence and salute our amazing heritage. The evening will culminate with a spectacular fireworks display over the National Mall.

For 4 July, in the summer of protests over the killing of George Floyd, a picture gallery from Jameelah Nuriddin and Erin Hammond.

The eight images capture a giant 200-year-old flag, a young black woman with a giant afro, and various postures combining the pledge of allegiance and black power poses. They are accompanied by a manifesto that mirrors the preamble to the US constitution, written by Nuriddin, who is also the model in the series:

Related: Imagine a 'New America': reclaiming the American flag – in pictures

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Donald Trump says US ‘under siege from far-left fascism’ in Mount Rushmore speech – video

Standing beneath Mount Rushmore on the eve of independence day in the US,  the president said the nation’s history was 'under siege from far-left fascism'.  He defended the symbolism of statues and monuments, including Mount Rushmore - which features the carved faces of four US presidents. They include George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who were slave owners. Trump said: 'These heroes will never be defaced. Their legacy will never, ever be destroyed. Their achievements will never be forgotten'

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US under siege from ‘far-left fascism’, says Trump in Mount Rushmore speech

US president enflames national tensions with attack on ‘leftwing revolution’ and plan for national memorial of statues of ‘American heroes’

Standing beneath Mount Rushmore on the eve of American independence day, Donald Trump staged a defiant celebration of what critics say is white identity politics and warned the nation’s history is under siege from “far-left fascism”.

The US president defended the symbolism of statues and monuments before a packed crowd at an event that revelled in political incorrectness calculated to enflame the country’s current divisions and enrage liberal critics. There were few face masks and even fewer people of color on stage or in the stands.

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Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend, tests positive for Covid-19

Ex-Fox News presenter is key fundraiser for Trump re-election campaign and latest of president’s circle to contract the disease

US records highest daily increase in coronavirus cases

The girlfriend of Donald Trump Jnr, the US president’s eldest son, has tested positive for the coronavirus, US media have reported.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is a former Fox News television personality and a senior fundraiser for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, is just the latest person in Trump’s inner circle to contract the potentially deadly virus. The news also comes as the US is experiencing a huge spike in coronavirus cases and amid withering criticism of Trump’s response to the crisis.

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Covid-19 survivors could lose health insurance if Trump wins bid to repeal Obamacare

  • ACA prevents denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions
  • Abolition could mean Covid-19 victims could be turned down

Millions of Americans who have survived Covid-19 or face future infections could lose their insurance or be barred from getting coverage should the Trump administration successfully repeal Obamacare.

The Trump administration asked the supreme court late Thursday to overturn the Affordable Care Act – a move that, if successful, would bring a permanent end to the health insurance reform law popularly known as Obamacare.

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Trump administration sent $1.4bn in stimulus checks to dead people

US Government Accountability Office said almost 1.1 million dead people received payments of about $1,200 each

The Trump administration sent almost $1.4bn in coronavirus stimulus payments to dead people, according to its own watchdog’s report.

In the report released on Thursday, the US Government Accountability Office (USGAO) said almost 1.1 million dead people received payments of about $1,200 each, as of 30 April.

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How Trump has defied science on coronavirus – video explainer

Donald Trump told thousands of supporters at a rally in Oklahoma he wanted to slow down testing for Covid-19 – despite experts saying the opposite.

From masks to 'miracle' treatments, the Guardian's Maanvi Singh looks back at how the US president has long been contradicting and defying science during the coronavirus outbreak and the impact that has had on the country's handling of the pandemic

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Roger Stone case: Trump ally given special treatment, Congress hears

Aaron Zelinsky says prosecutors were under pressure to go easy on Stone because of his relationship with the president

A federal prosecutor who was part of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation told Congress on Wednesday Roger Stone, a close ally of Donald Trump, was given special treatment before sentencing because of his relationship with the US president.

Related: US appeals court orders judge to dismiss case against Michael Flynn

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Johnson and May ignored claims Russia had ‘likely hold’ over Trump, ex-spy alleges

Exclusive: Christopher Steele claims May government turned blind eye to Trump allegations

Boris Johnson and Theresa May ignored claims the Kremlin had a “likely hold” over Donald Trump and may have covertly funded Brexit, the former spy Christopher Steele alleges in secret evidence given to MPs who drew up the Russia report.

In testimony to MPs, the MI6 veteran accused the government led by May and in which Johnson was foreign secretary for two years of turning a blind eye to allegations about Trump because they were afraid of offending the US president.

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US v China: is this the start of a new cold war?

Coronavirus has brought the rivalry to a head sooner than expected – and the scope for non-alignment is narrowing

George Kennan, the US charge d’affaires in Moscow at the end of the second world war and the author of the famous Long Telegram in 1946, captured in his memoir how quickly perceptions in international relations can change.

The man widely seen as the intellectual author of the cold war recalled that if he had sent his telegram on the nature of the Soviet threat six months earlier, his message “would probably have been received in the state department with pursed lips and raised eyebrows. Six months later, it probably would have sounded redundant, a preaching to the converted.”

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Trump and Navarro condemn John Bolton’s China claim

The White House fired back at John Bolton on Sunday, seeking to rubbish a key claim in the former national security adviser’s bombshell new book, that Donald Trump asked Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, for help in winning re-election.

Related: Trump's Berman-SDNY disaster suggests William Barr is not so smart after all | Lloyd Green

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Peter Navarro: Trump call to slow Covid-19 testing was ‘tongue-in-cheek’

Trade adviser also claims without foundation that the virus ‘was a product of the Chinese Communist party’

White House adviser Peter Navarro claimed Donald Trump was being “tongue-in-cheek” when he claimed to have asked public health officials to slow down coronavirus testing.

Related: Donald Trump sows division and promises 'greatness' at Tulsa rally flop

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Brad Parscale faces Trump ‘fury’ after Tulsa comeback rally flops

Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, was under pressure on Sunday after claiming hundreds of thousands of people had applied for tickets to the president’s return to the campaign trail in Tulsa, only for the rally to attract a sparse crowd.

Related: Trump 'played' by K-pop fans and TikTok users who disrupted Tulsa rally

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The Room Where It Happened review: John Bolton fires broadside that could sink Trump

The ex-national security adviser is no hero or martyr and certainly no prose stylist either. What counts is how damaging his memoir will be

John Bolton’s near-600-page tome is the most damning written account by a Trump administration alumnus, the one that stands to haunt the president come November. In the author’s judgment, “I don’t think he’s fit for office. I don’t think he has the competence to carry out the job.” Joe Biden couldn’t say it better himself.

Related: John Bolton: judge declines to block tell-all Trump book

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