Category Archives: Trump administration

US could face ‘darkest winter in modern history’, warns former vaccine official – video highlights

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Rick Bright, a former top vaccine official, has told a Congressional committee that the US faces its 'darkest winter in modern history' if it does not develop a coordinated response to the pandemic. Bright has turned whistleblower and claims his removal from his federal government role last month was retaliation by the Trump administration for his resistance to the promotion of unproven drugs to treat Covid-19

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‘Obamagate’: Trump seeks to draw Biden into conspiracy theory

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Donald Trump has ratcheted up his “Obamagate” conspiracy theory to implicate Joe Biden and other former White House officials in what critics say is a desperate attempt to distract from the coronavirus pandemic.

Related: What is 'Obamagate' and why is Trump so worked up about it?

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Michael Flynn: judge pauses justice department effort to dismiss case

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Order paves way for legal experts to oppose Trump administration motion to exonerate former adviser

A federal judge has put the justice department’s decision to dismiss a criminal case against Michael Flynn, Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, on hold – opening the door for legal experts and other outside parties to oppose the administration’s motion to exonerate Flynn of lying to the FBI.

Judge Emmet Sullivan’s order is the latest development in the high-profile case, which has led critics, including Barack Obama and hundreds of former FBI and justice department officials, to question whether William Barr, the attorney general, was orchestrating favors for Trump.

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US supreme court tackles politics’ most tantalising mystery: Trump’s tax returns

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The president’s tax documents have been reported on by various outlets, even winning the New York Times a Pulitzer

The US supreme court is in its second week of working by telephone during the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday it will hear the highest-profile arguments so far presented remotely: regarding the release, or not, of Donald Trump’s tax returns.

When Trump ran for president in 2016, he bucked tradition by refusing to release such information. Saying he was under audit, which would not in fact have precluded action, he promised to release his returns in due course. He has not.

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Global report: Fauci warns of ‘needless death’ as WHO urges vigilance in lifting lockdowns

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Health body says coronavirus restrictions must be eased carefully; Iran to reopens mosques; China reports one new case

The World Health Organization has called on countries to show “extreme vigilance” when loosening Covid-19 restrictions as the top US infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, warned that prematurely reopening the American economy would cause “needless suffering and death”.

The WHO’s emergencies chief, Michael Ryan, has hailed the gradual lifting of coronavirus lockdowns in some countries whose death and infection rates were dropping, as a sign of “hope”, but he cautioned that “extreme vigilance is required”.

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Trump’s environmental ‘blitzkrieg’ advances under cover of coronavirus

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Administration is weakening protections ahead of the election, making changes that could take years for a Democratic president to undo

The Trump administration is diligently weakening US environment protections even amid a global pandemic, continuing its rollback as the November election approaches.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, US federal agencies have eased fuel-efficiency standards for new cars; frozen rules for soot air pollution; proposed to drop review requirements for liquefied natural gas terminals; continued to lease public property to oil and gas companies; sought to speed up permitting for offshore fish farms; and advanced a proposal on mercury pollution from power plants that could make it easier for the government to conclude regulations are too costly to justify their benefits.

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Trump charges Obama with ‘biggest political crime in American history’

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Donald Trump continued to fume over the Russia investigation on Sunday, more than a year after special counsel Robert Mueller filed his report without recommending charges against the president but only three days after the justice department said it would drop its case against Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.

Related: Kayleigh McEnany - the 'acceptable' face of Trumpism who infuriates liberals

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Coronavirus live news: China reports possible new wave of cases; Germany sees infections rise again

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Anthony Fauci and top advisers from CDC and FDA to work remotely because of potential exposure to Covid-19; global cases pass 4 million; Russia cases approach 200,000

While many people in Iran’s capital are taking advantage of loosened COVID-19 controls, some worry about a new spike in infections in what remains the Middle East’s deadliest virus epicentre.

“The line of fools,” muttered shopkeeper Manouchehr, peering disdainfully at a queue of customers outside a foreign currency dealer in the Sadeghieh district of western Tehran.

New clusters of coronavirus infections are igniting concerns about a second wave even as calls grow in some countries to relax restrictions even further.

In Germany, where thousands have protested in recent days against the remaining restrictions, health officials say the number of people each confirmed coronavirus patient infects rose above one again, reflecting a renewed increase in cases. The number must be below one for outbreaks to decline.

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Coronavirus US live: death toll nears 80,000 as Trump rages over Russia

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Precautions against Covid-19 infection have been stepped up at the White House but are hampered by the cramped and poorly ventilated conditions in the West Wing, Kevin Hassett, a special adviser to Donald Trump on the pandemic response, said on Sunday.

Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has been talking to Fox News Sunday about the Trump administration’s attempts to reopen and restart the stalled US economy, and whether there will be another huge stimulus bill. Democrats who control the House want one of those but the White House doesn’t – that’s the short version.

The White House is “absolutely pushing for a payroll tax cut”, Mnuchin says. Most observers think that is a non-starter, because Democrats won’t let it. Payroll taxes, meaning deductions from regular paychecks, include funds for Social Security and Medicare, vital social benefits.

Related: US job losses have reached Great Depression levels. Did it have to be that way?

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Donald Trump says coronavirus will ‘go away without a vaccine’ – video

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Donald Trump has asserted with no evidence that the coronavirus pandemic will 'go away without a vaccine'. Without mentioning specifics, he pointed to other viruses and flus that 'disappeared' before vaccines were created. 'They've never shown up again. They die, too. Like everything else, they die,' Trump said. 'It's going to go away. And we're not going to see it again, hopefully, after a period of time.'

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Mike Pence’s press secretary is second White House staffer to test positive for Covid-19 this week

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Katie Miller has not been in contact with Donald Trump, who said he’s ‘not worried’ about the virus spreading among staff

Vice-president Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House said Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week.

Katie Miller is married to Stephen Miller, a top Trump advisor. She has been in recent contact with Pence but not with the president. The White House had no immediate comment on whether Stephen Miller had been tested or if he was still working out of the White House.

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Coronavirus US live: press secretary defends Trump over blocking Fauci’s testimony – as it happened

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A migrant detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in California has died from Covid-19, according to the ACLU.

“This is a terrible tragedy, and it was entirely predictable and preventable. For months, public health experts and corrections officials have warned that detention centers would be Petri dishes for the spread of Covid-19 — and a death trap for thousands of people in civil detention,” said Andrea Flores, the ACLU deputy director of immigration policy. “Unless ICE acts quickly to release far more people from detention, they will keep getting sick and many more will die,” she added.

Related: Coronavirus inevitable in prison-like US immigration centers, doctors say

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Trump reverses course and says White House coronavirus taskforce will stay

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The White House appeared to be in fresh disarray on Wednesday as Donald Trump insisted that his coronavirus taskforce would remain in place – less than 24 hours after suggesting it would be disbanded.

Related: Coronavirus US live: Pelosi attacks Trump's focus on reopening and says 'death is not an economic motivator'

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Trump loyalist set to become national intelligence director on second attempt

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John Ratcliffe was forced to withdraw his nomination for the same post nine months ago for exaggerating his security experience

A Trump loyalist nominated as director of national intelligence (DNI) looked set to sail through Senate confirmation hearings on Tuesday, only nine months after being forced to withdraw for having exaggerated his security experience.

Related: John Ratcliffe: Trump's intelligence chief pick withdraws amid qualification doubts

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US uses coronavirus to challenge Chinese Communist party’s grip on power

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Trump administration portrays crisis as example of danger Beijing’s leadership poses to China and the world

The escalating row between Washington and Beijing over blame for the coronavirus pandemic is fast becoming a battle over the Chinese Communist party’s legitimacy, raising the stakes in an already fraught relationship.

In castigating Beijing for its failure to contain the outbreak, senior Trump administration officials have gone out of their way to portray the crisis as a deadly illustration of the threat that Communist party rule poses the Chinese people – and the world beyond.

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Mike Pompeo: ‘enormous evidence’ coronavirus came from Chinese lab

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The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, claimed on Sunday there is “enormous evidence” the coronavirus outbreak originated in a Chinese laboratory – but did not provide any of the alleged evidence.

Related: Pandemic brings Trump's war on science to the boil – but who will win?

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Harry Dunn lawyers say documents expose ‘scandalous’ Foreign Office cover-up

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Family of motorcyclist killed near US base to receive crucial papers after seeking review

Lawyers representing the family of 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn are poised to receive a series of crucial documents which they believe will help their legal case to expose a “scandalous cover-up” by the Foreign Office.

The development comes after documents showed that a senior Foreign Office diplomat had sent a text message to a US Embassy counterpart saying they should “feel able” to put suspect Anne Sacoolas on the next flight back to the States.

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Coronavirus live news: Malaysia rounds up migrants as UN warns of crackdown on vulnerable

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Somalia reports rapid rise in Covid-19 deaths; 98 people die in one New York nursing home; Singapore eases restrictions as second wave subsides

Japan will fast-track a review of the antiviral drug remdesivir so that it can hopefully be approved for domestic COVID-19 patients a week after Gilead Sciences filing for such approval, the health minister said on Saturday, according to a report by Reuters.

Health Minister Katsunobu Kato’s comment comes after remdesivir was granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration for COVID-19 on Friday.

The Chinese virologist whose work has been at the centre of the controversial claim that coronavirus came from a laboratory has dismissed rumours that she has defected from China, South China Morning Post reports.

Shi Zhengli, a researcher of bat coronaviruses, wrote on WeChat on Saturday that she and her family had not fled the country, despite coming under heavy scrutiny amid conspiracy theories that the virus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic had originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in central China where she works.

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Coronavirus US live: FDA approves experimental drug remdesivir for emergency use

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Donald Trump appears to have revised upward to 100,000 his expectations for the number of Americans who will die of Covid-19.

“Hopefully we’re going to come in below that 100,000 lives lost, which is a horrible number nevertheless,” Trump said at a White House event to honor people who are doing work related to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Reuters.

The last patient has left the field hospital that was erected in New York City’s Javits convention center, the AP reports.

The emergency facility was erected by the members of the US military to alleviate strain on the city’s hospital system at the height of the outbreak. It ultimately treated 1,095 patients, the last 8 of whom left the hospital today.

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