Trump Administration

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is expected to announce on Monday that it is designating an ultranationalist group based in Russia as a terrorist organization, according to officials. It is the first time the government will apply the label to a white supremacist group. While the label of specially designated global terrorist has been frequently used for …

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump has said his administration is encouraging Americans to wear face masks in public to prevent spreading the coronavirus – but does not intend to wear one himself, despite his own wife’s advice. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidance for people to wear bandannas, t-shirts and other cloth-based coverings in crowded …

The Associated Press reports: Thirty-eight percent of Americans approve of the federal government’s handling of the outbreak, while 41% disapprove. And just 31% approve of how leaders in Congress are handling the crisis, less than the 41% who disapprove. Fewer than half of Democrats or Republicans approve of how Congress is handling the situation. Americans have a far more favorable …

The Huffington Post reports: Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that President Donald Trump is merely being “optimistic” with remarks that downplayed the coronavirus outbreak. Pence was pressed during an appearance on CNN by politics anchor Wolf Blitzer to explain why Trump hadn’t ordered a national lockdown in the days since he had stopped “belittling the enormity of this crisis.”  …

“I think it’s really disappointing to have President Obama’s number two, who apparently doesn’t talk much to him, out there criticizing instead of saying, ‘Hey, here’s what we did that we thought was effective.’ “Why doesn’t Vice President Biden call the White House today and offer some support? He’s in his bunker in Wilmington, and I have to tell you …

The Hill reports: Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Wednesday that the White House coronavirus guidelines should be interpreted as a national stay-at-home order. “My advice to America would be that these guidelines are a national stay-at-home order,” he said on NBC’s “Today” show. His comment was in response to a question about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has said …

USA Today reports: Members of President Donald Trump’s administration laid out dire estimates Tuesday to underscore the potential impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, a grim prediction they said was at the center of the president’s decision to extend strict social distancing guidelines through the end of April. Federal public health officials said that between 100,000 and …

CNBC reports: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is working from his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, while the Trump administration tries to limit the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, according to people familiar with the matter. Ross, 82, is teleworking to the extent possible, according to the people, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. A representative …

The Washington Post reports: The Food and Drug Administration has given emergency approval to a Trump administration plan to distribute millions of doses of anti-malarial drugs to hospitals across the country, saying it is worth the risk of trying unproven treatments to slow the progression of the disease in seriously ill coronavirus patients. There have only been a few, very …

ABC News reports: The U.S. government’s foremost infection disease expert says the United States could experience more than 100,000 deaths and millions of infections from the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci, speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, offered his prognosis as the federal government weighs rolling back guidelines on social distancing in areas that have not been …

The Associated Press reports: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says a decision whether to reopen the nation back for business as early as Easter will be a health decision not an economic one. Mnunchin acknowledges surging unemployment numbers and declining GDP as 1 in 3 Americans remain under government orders to stay at home to slow the coronavirus that has killed …

Stunning reporting by Politico: It was the beginning of the 15-day period during which the White House hoped it could slow the advancing virus and stem the economic bleeding left in its wake. For the next two weeks, the president’s coronavirus task force encouraged Americans to essentially self-isolate, while aides worked with anxious governors across the country and quarreling lawmakers …

The New York Post reports: The Trump administration has added the firearms industry — gun shops included — to a federal list of critical infrastructure during the ongoing coronavirus emergency. The new language, added Saturday to the website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, now deems as critical “Workers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, …

Never let a national crisis go to waste. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a sweeping suspension of its enforcement of environmental laws Thursday, telling companies they would not need to meet environmental standards during the coronavirus outbreak. The temporary policy, for which EPA has set no end date, would allow any number of industries to skirt environmental laws, with …

Bloomberg News reports: The Justice Department will allow more older, nonviolent federal inmates to be placed in home confinement in order to cope with rising coronavirus cases affecting the federal prison population, Attorney General William Barr said. Barr told reporters Thursday that he’s directed the Bureau of Prisons to increase the use of home confinement for elderly prisoners following infections …

“To be honest with you, I just think these numbers right now are not relevant whether they’re bigger or smaller in the short term. Obviously, there people who have jobless claims, and, again, the good thing about the bill is the president is protecting those people. “They had no choice, now with this bill passed by Congress, there are protections, …

The Hill reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressed Group of Seven (G-7) leaders to refer to the novel coronavirus as the “Wuhan virus,” according to a report by the German magazine Der Spiegel. The G-7 leaders have thus far not been able to agree on a joint statement because of Pompeo’s insistence that the group should refer to the …

Raw Story reports: The minister who hosts a weekly bible study session for President Trump’s cabinet has an opinion about the origins of the coronavirus. According to Ralph Drollinger, it’s just another form of God’s wrath in response to an increasingly progressive nation. Drollinger railed against the “religion of environmentalism” and people who express a “proclivity toward lesbianism and homosexuality,” …

Politico reports: The Department of Homeland Security stopped updating its annual models of the havoc that pandemics would wreak on America’s critical infrastructure in 2017, according to current and former DHS officials with direct knowledge of the matter. From at least 2005 to 2017, an office inside DHS, in tandem with analysts and supercomputers at several national laboratories, produced detailed …

The Washington Post reports: The White House coronavirus task force, citing concern about the high infection rate in the New York City area, is asking everyone who has left that area recently to self-isolate for 14 days, wherever they are. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the task force, said at a Tuesday news conference that 60 percent of all …