Trump Administration

Smaller Casinos Eligible For SBA Funds After Lobbying

The Washington Post reports: Casinos with fewer than 500 employees are eligible to receive loans from a new pot of $310 billion in small-business funding that was released Monday, a rule change that could help casinos hire back workers but was opposed by anti-gambling advocates. For nearly 25 years, companies that made more than one-third of their revenue from gambling …

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Pence Defends Flouting Mask Policy: I’ve Been Tested

The Hill reports: Vice President Pence on Tuesday defended his decision not to wear a face covering during a visit to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, despite the facility’s policy requiring all visitors to have one. The vice president said he was following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, which say face coverings are intended to prevent those …

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Mike Pence Flouts Mask Policy During Mayo Clinic Visit

The Daily Beast reports: Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday refused to wear a mask during his visit to Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic, which requires all staff, patients, and visitors to wear a face covering while at the medical center. In a since-deleted tweet, the Mayo Clinic called out the veep, saying it “had informed @VP of the masking policy prior …

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Mnuchin “Outraged” That NBA Team Took SBA Funds

Business Insider reports: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday slammed the Los Angeles Lakers’ participation in a government relief program meant for small businesses. “I’m a big fan of the team, but I’m not a fan of the fact that they took a $4.6 million loan,” he said on CNBC. “I think that’s outrageous and I’m glad they returned it …

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Barr To Prosecutors: Watch For Too Strict Lockdowns

NBC News reports: Attorney General William Barr directed the nation’s federal prosecutors Monday to watch for restrictions imposed by state and local governments during the coronavirus pandemic that may go too far, violating constitutional rights. “Many policies that would be unthinkable in regular times have become commonplace in recent weeks, and we do not want to unduly interfere with the …

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WH Out To Prove Trump Doesn’t Watch That Much TV

Mediaite reports: The White House is on a crusade this week to prove that President Donald Trump is way too busy to watch cable news all day after the New York Times reported that he’s been staying up until 5 a.m. watching the major networks. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told the New York Post on Sunday, “I …

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Birx: Social Distancing Could Last “Through Summer”

The Washington Post reports: Some form of social distancing will probably remain in place through the summer, Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus task force coordinator, said — the same day several governors expressed optimism about the course of the virus and outlined their plans for a piecemeal reopening of their economies. It was the latest instance of conflicting signals …

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White House Cancels Today’s COVID Press Briefing

The New York Times reports: The White House canceled the daily coronavirus briefing that it had listed on the schedule for Monday as Mr. Trump continued to complain about news coverage of his handling of the pandemic. Kayleigh McEnany, the newly appointed White House press secretary, told reporters that there would be no briefing even though it had been listed …

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Dozens Of Large Companies Got Small Business Funds

The New York Times reports: A company in Georgia paid $6.5 million to resolve a Justice Department investigation — and, two weeks later, received a $10 million federally backed loan to help it survive the coronavirus crisis. Another company, AutoWeb, disclosed last week that it had paid its chief executive $1.7 million in 2019 — a week after it received …

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Ex-FDA Head: Ouster Of Vaccine Chief “Sets Us Back”

The Hill reports: Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday that the ouster of federal vaccine chief Richard Bright will “set us back” in combating the coronavirus pandemic. “I know Rick Bright well … he was effective. He was a vaccine expert, so I was sorry to see him go,” Gottlieb said on CBS’ “Face the …

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Birx: Stop Talking About Trump’s Bleach Claims [VIDEO]

Politico reports: “The CDC had to issue a statement. Lysol had to issue a statement. I understand that you’re taking a generous approach to this when it comes to President Trump musing aloud, but this is potentially dangerous,” Jake Tapper said. “As a doctor, doesn’t that bother you that you even have to spend any time discussing this?” Birx replied …

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WaPo Sues State Dept For COVID Diplomatic Cables

The Washington Post reports: The Washington Post filed a lawsuit against the State Department late Friday after the agency denied speedy processing of the newspaper’s request to see diplomatic cables warning of safety issues at a coronavirus research lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the global pandemic originated. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington centers …

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Brad Pitt Plays Anthony Fauci In SNL Opening [VIDEO]

The New York Times reports: In its second run at an at-home episode, “S.N.L.” got more ambitious, adding flashy graphics and editing tricks, and diving into its pool of celebrity contacts for some well-timed cameo appearances — perhaps none more surprising than the opening sketch, which featured Brad Pitt as Dr. Anthony Fauci. In a CNN interview earlier this month, …

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REPORT: Trump Planning To Sack HHS Sec. Alex Azar

Politico reports: White House officials are weighing a plan to replace Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Among the names on the short list to replace Azar are White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx, Medicare chief Seema Verma and deputy HHS Secretary Eric Hargan, said the four people familiar with the talks. Senior officials’ long-standing frustrations with the health …

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National Car Seller Got $77M In Small Business Funds

The Washington Post reports: AutoNation, a national network of auto sellers, received more than $77 million in federal small-business funds despite being a company worth billions that employed more than 26,000 people before the pandemic. In response to questions from The Washington Post, AutoNation Executive Vice President Marc Cannon said that the company’s board voted Thursday to return the funds …

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Bill Barr To Pastors: I Won’t Let States “Single You Out”

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 …

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Stephen Miller Has Plan To End “New Immigrant Labor”

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. …

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HHS To Scrap Medical Protections For LGBT Patients

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. …

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Treasury Department Asks Publicly-Traded Companies To Return Small Business Stimulus Loans After Backlash

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 …

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FDA Issues Heart Risk Warning On Trump’s Drugs

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, …

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