Trump Administration

The New York Times reports: Vice President Mike Pence encouraged governors on Monday to adopt the administration’s explanation that a rise in testing was a reason behind new coronavirus outbreaks, even though testing data has shown that such a claim is misleading. “I would just encourage you all, as we talk about these things, to make sure and continue to …

Axios reports: The Supreme Court’s historic ruling on LGBTQ nondiscrimination could sideline the Trump administration’s new policies on health care and adoption. The ruling’s ripple effects will be felt immediately, and could ultimately derail regulations the administration had finalized just days ago.  Federal civil rights law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, and the Supreme Court said Monday that …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump’s campaign is demanding an apology from CNN and Brian Stelter after a heated interview with Trump legal adviser Jenna Ellis on Sunday. The campaign claimed the interview on Reliable Sources was “sexist” and “demeaning,” pointing to comments from Stelter to Ellis that, “someday you’re going to regret this, when your kids and grandkids look back …

The Washington Post reports: The Senate’s top Democrat late Sunday asked the U.S. Postal Service’s governing board to turn over communication with the White House about the appointment of new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a sign that Democrats plan to press the Trump administration on its plans to consolidate control of the nation’s mail service. Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration does not plan to back the extension of expanded unemployment insurance benefits beyond the end of July, citing concerns that workers are opting to take the generous benefits instead of going back to their jobs. Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said on Sunday that the White House would …

Mediaite reports: CNN’s Brian Stelter had Trump legal adviser Jenna Ellis on Reliable Sources to talk about the the president’s re-election campaign and their threat to sue the network over a poll showing Joe Biden leading Trump by 14 points. It quickly degenerated into a complete trainwreck of a conversation. “The only reason CNN published this because it’s junk science,” …

ABC News reports: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Sunday declined to back up President Donald Trump’s claim that he’s done more for the African American community than any president since Abraham Lincoln, saying the debate is “not productive.” “To get into an argument about who has done the most probably is not productive, but it is good …

Axios reports: White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that the Trump administration never promised to release the names of businesses that received forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans as a part of the CARES Act. Why it matters: U.S. taxpayers have provided hundreds of millions of tax dollars to bail out small businesses impacted …

Washington DC’s CBS News affiliate reports: Secret Service now admits that an agency employee fired oleoresin capsicum spray (pepper spray) “in response to an assaultive individual,” when protesters were cleared from Lafayette Square on Monday, June 1. The correction issued by the agency is a follow up to its Friday, June 5, announcement. This is when Secret Service said that …

The Associated Press reports: The White House is floating a theory that travel from Mexico may be contributing to a new wave of coronavirus infections, rather than states’ efforts to reopen their economies. The notion was discussed at some length during a meeting of the administration’s coronavirus task force in the White House Situation Room Thursday that focused, in part, …

From DNC Chairman Tom Perez: “Shameful. On the four-year anniversary of Pulse, in the middle of Pride Month, and during a pandemic, Trump has taken a knife to protections against health care discrimination put in place by the Obama-Biden administration. This illegal attack on the health of LGBTQ+ Americans and other marginalized communities is appalling, but tragically unsurprising. “Trump and …

From the Human Rights Campaign: The Human Rights Campaign announced that it will file a lawsuit challenging the Trump-Pence administration’s decision to roll back critical civil rights protections in the rule implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The new rule will eliminate explicit protections from discrimination based on sex stereotyping and gender identity that have existed under …

Bloomberg Law reports: The Trump administration has finalized a policy that would remove women seeking abortions and LGBT people from the Affordable Care Act’s non-discrimination protections, the HHS announced Friday. The regulation would let health-care workers, hospitals, and insurance companies that receive federal funding refuse to provide or cover services such as abortions or transition-related care. This continues the Trump …

Politico reports: White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Friday declared that a “second wave” of the coronavirus was not descending upon the country, even as cases of Covid-19 are spiking in more than a dozen states. “There is no emergency. There is no second wave. I don’t know where that got started on Wall Street,” Kudlow told “Fox & …

A standard Trumpian non-specific denial: The East Wing on Friday dismissed a new book about first lady Melania Trump that reported she waited to move to the White House in 2017 while she renegotiated the terms of her prenuptial agreement with President Trump. “Yet another book about Mrs. Trump with false information and sources. This book belongs in the fiction …

Axios reports: John Bolton taunts President Trump, his former boss, on the back cover of his forthcoming book: “Game on.” In a memoir coming June 23 that the White House has tried to delay, former national security adviser Bolton will offer multiple revelations about Trump’s conduct in office, with direct quotes by the president and senior officials, according to a …

Courthouse News reports: After nearly four years of arguing for the Trump administration in high-stakes Supreme Court battles, Solicitor General Noel Francisco plans to leave the Justice Department, according to multiple reports Thursday morning. A former clerk for Justice Anthony Scalia, Francisco previously worked in the George W. Bush White House and at the Justice Department. He also spent time …

Talking Points Memo reports: White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday dismissed Joe Biden’s concerns that President Trump is going to “try to steal” November’s election. “I think that’s a ridiculous proposition,” McEnany said on “America’s Newsroom” on Fox News. “This president’s looking forward to November,” she continued. “This president’s hard at work for the American people, and leave …

“I look at him and I really do think that could have been me. That could be me, pulled over for speeding five miles over the speed limit. That could be me with a busted tail light. “That could be me who is just seen as a black man and not as the surgeon general of the United States — …

ABC News reports: The White House is preparing to announce a number of proposals later this week related to race and policing, but the rollout has yet to be determined. Many top advisers concede that these proposals are often overshadowed by controversial statements coming from the president’s Twitter account. Days in the West Wing are so often dictated by what …