Trump Administration

The Daily Beast reports: Days after the Justice Department controversially dropped charges against Mike Flynn, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is set to expand a highly political Justice Department’s surveillance authorities during a vote this week to renew the 2001 PATRIOT Act. Under cover of redressing what President Trump and his allies call the FBI’s “witch hunt” over collusion …

The Washington Post reports: Most White House officials will be asked to wear masks or face coverings in public spaces on complex grounds, a move to prevent the novel coronavirus from spreading further inside the presidential compound, according to three administration officials with knowledge of a directive to be issued Monday. The request does not apply to offices, however, and …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Justice Department is weighing whether to file hate crime charges against the white men who killed Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man who was gunned down while jogging in the small coastal town of Brunswick, Georgia, department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said on Monday. “The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the …

ABC News reports: Nearly 2000 former Justice Department officials have signed onto a letter calling for Attorney General William Barr to resign over what they describe as his improper intervention in the criminal case of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn. Last week, the DOJ moved to drop charges against Flynn who had pleaded guilty twice to lying to …

ABC News reports: Secret Service agents close to the president and in the vicinity of the Oval Office will begin wearing face masks, sources said. The Secret Service declined to comment Sunday night. Some agents already on the ground during Trump’s Arizona trip last week were seen wearing face masks. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said on Friday …

USA Today reports: With coronavirus exposure arriving in the West Wing, the White House is taking extra precautions to ensure the safety of the president and his staff after two administration aides tested positive for the coronavirus. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will be tested daily for the virus, as will every staff member in close proximity …

NBC News reports: Vice President Mike Pence was putting “a little distance” between himself and others this weekend after a staffer tested positive for COVID-19, a senior administration official told NBC News. The official said that Pence would take the advice of the White House medical unit and that he continues to test negative for the virus. The vice president …

Bloomberg News reports: Vice President Mike Pence is self-isolating away from the White House following his press secretary’s diagnosis of Covid-19 on Friday, said three people familiar with the situation. The vice president didn’t attend a meeting on Saturday with President Donald Trump and top military officials. Pence tested negative for coronavirus infection on Sunday, one of the people said. …

The Hill reports: President Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Sunday that it is “scary” working at the White House after two staff members tested positive for COVID-19 last week. “It is scary to go to work,” Hassett told CBS’s Face The Nation. “I think that I’d be a lot safer if I was sitting at home than I would …

“I’ve got to tell you, and I want to ask about a number of signs which indicate that the recovery is going to be much slower than that, sir. Job losses are not just in hospitality industry — airlines, restaurants, as you would expect — but they’re more widespread. “The white collar and government sector, 3 million Jobs lost. Major …

The Associated Press reports: The Senate’s top Democrat on Sunday called on the Department of Veterans Affairs to explain why it allowed the use of an unproven drug on veterans for the coronavirus, saying patients may have been put at unnecessary risk. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said the VA needs to provide Congress more information about a recent …

Axios reports: Vice President Mike Pence told “Axios on HBO” that he welcomes the idea of bringing Michael Flynn back into government, after the Justice Department moved last week to drop its criminal case against President Trump’s former national security adviser. Trump said April 30 that he would “certainly consider” bringing Flynn back into the administration. Since Flynn had been …

The Washington Post reports: Three of the country’s highest ranking health officials are self-quarantining after two White House aides tested positive for the novel coronavirus, hobbling the administration’s pandemic task force as President Trump pushes to restart the economy. Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases official, will work partially from home and take other precautions after a “low …

Business Insider reports: Ivanka Trump’s personal assistant has tested positive for the coronavirus, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported. The assistant has reportedly not been around the first daughter in several weeks and has been working remotely. Collins reported that both Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, tested negative on Friday. Earlier this week, one of President Donald Trump’s Oval Office valets …

ABC News reports: Multiple members of the U.S. Secret Service have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to Homeland Security documents. In March, the Secret Service, which is responsible for the protection of President Trump and other leaders, acknowledged that a single employee tested positive in March. However the problem is currently far more widespread, …

Reuters reports: U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn is in self-quarantine for a couple of weeks after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, an FDA spokesman told Reuters late on Friday. Hahn immediately took a diagnostic test and was tested negative himself for the novel coronavirus, FDA spokesman Michael Felberbaum said in an emailed …

Yahoo News reports: Former President Barack Obama, talking privately to ex-members of his administration, said Friday that the “rule of law is at risk” in the wake of what he called an unprecedented move by the Justice Department to drop charges against former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn. In the same chat, a tape of which was obtained …

The Associated Press reports: The decision to shelve detailed advice from the nation’s top disease control experts for reopening communities during the coronavirus pandemic came from the highest levels of the White House, according to internal government emails obtained by The Associated Press. The files also show that after the AP reported Thursday that the guidance document had been buried, …

The New York Times reports: A federal investigative office has found “reasonable grounds to believe” that the Trump administration was retaliating against a whistle-blower, Dr. Rick Bright, when he was ousted from a government research agency combating the coronavirus, and said he should be reinstated for 45 days while it investigates, his lawyers said Friday. Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports that …

Talking Points Memo reports: During a White House press briefing Friday, PBS White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor asked McEnany whether she still believed the comments Trump made in 2015 on the campaign trail were “racist.” “In 2015, shortly after the president said that some Mexican immigrants were rapists and criminals, you said that that language was racist and hateful. Do …