Trump Administration

“The estimates now from the University of Washington, which is the model everybody’s been going on — even though its been wrong most of the time, by a lot, overstating it — is now, they say 60,000 people will die, Sixty-one thousand is what we lost to the flu in 2017 and 2018 — the flu. “Now, we all regret …

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reports: Reports emerged this week that the White House may be moving “soon” on withdrawing from the Open Skies treaty, a nearly two-decade-old agreement that allows 34 countries to fly and share reconnaissance missions over each other to promote military cooperation and transparency. Last month, defense secretary Mark Esper said he was freezing a long-overdue …

Politico reports: With the White House moving to reopen the economy as early as May 1, top officials have yet to coalesce around a single plan to allow Americans and businesses to safely resume work as the coronavirus pandemic rages on. Instead, senior administration officials are engaged in an earnest yet scattershot effort to support President Donald Trump’s long-expressed desire …

The Washington Post reports: The Postal Service’s decades-long financial troubles have worsened dramatically as the volume of the kind of mail that pays the agency’s bills ― first-class and marketing mail ― withers during the pandemic. The USPS needs an infusion of money, and President Trump has blocked potential emergency funding for the agency that employs around 600,000 workers, repeating …

Politico reports: Justice Department leaders say they are focusing on efforts to stop coronavirus fraud. In a memo to U.S. attorneys, Attorney General Bill Barr wrote that they have seen reports of phishing emails pretending to be from the CDC and of people selling fake cures for Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. “The pandemic is dangerous enough …

The Hill reports: “I would hope that by November we would have things under such control that we could have a real degree of normality. That’s my interest and my job as a public health person,” Fauci, a leading member of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, said Friday on MSNBC. The remarks come as Democrats and Republicans feud over …

From the editorial board of the Washington Post: The White House has just confirmed, no doubt unintentionally, that the U.S. government’s premier international broadcaster, Voice of America, is independent from the Trump administration. A shrill commentary posted on the White House website Friday assailed VOA for “promoting propaganda” of the Chinese government about the novel coronavirus epidemic. The evidence? A …

The New York Times reports: Attorney General William P. Barr said on Thursday that President Trump was right to fire the inspector general who disclosed the whistle-blower complaint about Mr. Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and that the president’s political enemies could face criminal prosecution. Mr. Barr said that dismissing Mr. Atkinson was the “right thing” to do, in part because …

CNN reports: Vice President Mike Pence’s office reversed course on Thursday afternoon, after declining for days to allow the nation’s top health officials to appear on CNN and discuss the coronavirus pandemic, in what was an attempt to pressure the network into carrying the White House’s lengthy daily briefings in full. After this story was published, Pence’s office allowed for …

Politico reports: The White House will conduct coronavirus tests on all journalists slated to attend Thursday’s coronavirus task force briefing as a precautionary measure, the White House Correspondents’ Association announced. “This is happening today in light of the news yesterday that a member of the White House press corps who was at the White House on Tuesday is experiencing symptoms …

The New York Daily News reports: First Lady Melania Trump held up a face mask in a new video encouraging people to wear protective gear – and the former model then tweeted out an image of herself wearing one. The first lady tweeted out the health guidance Thursday after national health officials revised their recommendations – a day after putting …

CNN reports: Vice President Mike Pence’s office has declined to allow the nation’s top health officials to appear on CNN in recent days and discuss the coronavirus pandemic killing thousands of Americans, in an attempt to pressure the network into carrying the White House’s lengthy daily briefings in full. Pence’s office, which is responsible for booking the officials on networks …

Newsweek reports: In an interview on Fox News, Attorney General Bill Barr told the anchor Laura Ingraham it was “disappointing” to see the media response to Trump who had been “statesmanlike” in working with governors and yet still had to deal with “snarky ‘gotcha’ questions from the White House media pool.” He said that “the stridency of the partisan attacks …

ABC News reports: As far back as late November, U.S. intelligence officials were warning that a contagion was sweeping through China’s Wuhan region, changing the patterns of life and business and posing a threat to the population, according to four sources briefed on the secret reporting. Concerns about what is now known to be the novel coronavirus pandemic were detailed …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has removed from its website highly unusual guidance informing doctors on how to prescribe hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, drugs recommended by President Donald Trump to treat the coronavirus. The move comes three days after Reuters reported that the CDC published key dosing information involving the two antimalarial drugs based on unattributed …

Politico reports: Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly offered to resign on Tuesday following an uproar over a profanity-laced address to the crew of the coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt on Sunday, according to a senior defense official with knowledge of the matter. Modly submitted his resignation letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Tuesday after meeting with his boss …

The Washington Post reports: Glenn Fine, the acting inspector general at the Defense Department, was dismissed from his acting position at the Pentagon, making him ineligible to be the watchdog over spending to counter the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Fine, a career official who will remain a deputy inspector general, had been chosen for the spending role by …

The Daily Beast reports: Defense Secretary Mark Esper directed Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly to apologize for his remarks about Capt. Brett Crozier, hours after the military official had publicly doubled down and said they were “from the heart.” The defense secretary’s order prompted Modly’s apology about his speech to the crew of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt …

CNN reports: Kayleigh McEnany, who served as Trump’s 2020 campaign spokeswoman, will replace Stephanie Grisham as White House press secretary, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is also tapping Alyssa Farah, the current spokeswoman for the Defense Department, to be the director of strategic communications, the two sources said. Ben Williamson, a Meadows …

CNN reports: White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham is leaving the job without ever having briefed the press. CNN has learned she is returning to the East Wing as first lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff as President Donald Trump’s new chief of staff Mark Meadows shakes up the communications team in the West Wing. Meadows is currently considering several …