Trump Administration

The National Review reports: During a White House conference call with more than 500 faith leaders on Thursday, Attorney General William Barr assured the participating priests, rabbis, and ministers that the administration is on guard against overzealous state governments intent on “singling out” religious groups with punitive coronavirus lockdown measures. Barr, who spoke for roughly ten minutes, told the religious …

The Washington Post reports: Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller told White House supporters in a private call this week that the president’s new executive order curbing immigration will usher in the kind of broader long-term changes to American society he has advocated for years, even though the 60-day measures were publicly characterized as a “pause” during the coronavirus pandemic. …

Politico reports: The Trump administration is moving to scrap an Obama-era policy that protected LGBTQ patients from discrimination, alarming health experts who warn that the regulatory rollback could harm vulnerable people during a pandemic. The health department is close to finalizing its long-developing rewrite of Obamacare’s Section 1557 provision, which barred health care discrimination based on sex and gender identity. …

ABC News reports: The Treasury Department issued new guidance on Thursday encouraging publicly-traded companies to return their coronavirus stimulus loans by May 7 as Shake Shack and other public companies have faced backlash for receiving funds meant for small businesses. While small business owners struggled to secure loans under the Paycheck Protection Program in the two weeks before the $350 …

Bloomberg News reports: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned patients against taking two malaria medications that have been talked up by President Donald Trump for Covid-19, unless carefully monitored in a hospital or as part of a clinical trial. The FDA said it was issuing the warning for the drugs, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, after reports that patients taking them, …

“A reminder to all Americans- PLEASE always talk to your health provider first before administering any treatment/ medication to yourself or a loved one. “Your safety is paramount, and doctors and nurses are have years of training to recommend what’s safe and effective.” – Surgeon General Jerome Adams, tweeting to his 800,000 followers. For those unaware, a subtweet is a …

Vanity Fair reports: White House officials pushed ahead with a massive behind-the-scenes pressure campaign on the government’s top health officials to deliver huge amounts of chloroquine drugs to just about anyone who wanted them, according to documents reviewed by Vanity Fair. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services, sent an email with …

The Washington Post reports: Rick Bright, the scientist who said he was removed as the leader of the federal agency working on a coronavirus vaccine, is filing a whistleblower’s complaint, his attorneys said Thursday. “The guy says he was pushed out of a job. Maybe he was. Maybe he wasn’t,” the president said during his evening news conference at the …

The Washington Post reports: The Treasury Department is considering taking unprecedented control over key operations of the U.S. Postal Service by imposing tough terms on an emergency coronavirus loan from Congress, which would fulfill President Trump’s longtime goal of changing how the service does business. Officials working under Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who must approve the $10 billion loan, have …

The Hill reports: Vice President Pence said during an interview Thursday with conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh that if current trend lines hold, the coronavirus crisis could be largely “behind us” by early June. Pence’s remarks come as some states look to begin reopening their economies in the coming days, with Oklahoma, Colorado, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Texas lifting …

The Miami Herald reports: Miami-Dade’s emergency arm was close to taking possession of 1 million N95 masks last week, but the shipment was “taken” by the federal government, WLRN reported. Frank Rollason, Miami-Dade’s director of Emergency Management, described the shipment as “hijacked” by federal authorities during a desperate dash to secure medical-grade masks needed to protect first responders and front-line …

Reuters reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a fundamental reform of the World Health Organization was needed following its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and that the United States, the WHO’s biggest donor, may never restore funding to the U.N. body. As Pompeo launched fresh attacks on the U.N. body on Wednesday, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives …

“I was thinking this morning, and this is just kind of a thought experiment because I was thinking about this — why don’t we just put everybody in a space outfit or something like that? “Seriously, I mean — I know we don’t have space outfits [laughter]— I mean, just thinking out loud, and maybe this is a crazy idea, …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is considering cutting back on sharing intelligence with partner countries that criminalize homosexuality as part of a push by the acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, to prod those nations to change their laws. The intelligence community should be pushing American values with the countries it works with, Mr. Grenell said …

The Washington Post reports: In a tweet Wednesday, Trump alleged Redfield had been misquoted — though he accused CNN of doing it rather than The Post. He also said Redfield would be putting out a statement on the matter. No statement was put out, but eight hours later Trump welcomed Redfield to clarify his comments at the daily White House …

Reuters reports: On January 21, the day the first U.S. case of coronavirus was reported, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services appeared on Fox News to report the latest on the disease as it ravaged China. Alex Azar, a 52-year-old lawyer and former drug industry executive, assured Americans the U.S. government was prepared. As is now …

The New York Times reports: Dr. Rick Bright was abruptly dismissed this week as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, and as the deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response. Instead, he was given a narrower job at the National Institutes of Health. “I believe this transfer was …

The Daily Beast reports: Last Wednesday, while the country strained under a nationwide lockdown, the Army Corps of Engineers found time to award another border-wall contract to a company Trump personally championed—even as it’s under investigation by the Defense Department inspector general. Specifically, Fisher on Apr. 15 got $7,633,085 to build a mere “800 linear feet” of bollard barrier—that slatted …

The New York Times reports: Support for the protests features more direct ties to the White House than simply support for Mr. Trump. The administration recently formed an advisory group for reopening the economy that included Stephen Moore, the conservative economics commentator. Mr. Moore had been coordinating with FreedomWorks, the Tea Party Patriots and the American Legislative Exchange Council in …

Yahoo News reports: Dr. Deborah Birx, one of the leading medical experts on President Trump’s coronavirus task force, tried to reconcile the controversial order by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp reopening some businesses across the state with the task force recommendations that call for continued social distancing. Among the businesses that Kemp, a Republican and a strong supporter of President Trump, …