Trump Administration

Pompeo In Quarantine After Contact With Infected

The Hill reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is entering quarantine after he came into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, the State Department announced Wednesday. A State Department spokesperson said that Pompeo has since tested negative for the coronavirus but will quarantine “in accordance with [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines.” “He is being closely monitored …

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Hundreds Skip Pompeo’s “Superspreader” Xmas Party

The Washington Post reports: Only a tiny fraction of the more than 900 guests invited to an indoor holiday party hosted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife Susan showed up on Tuesday following an outcry from public health officials and U.S. lawmakers warning that the reception bore all the hallmarks of a superspreader event, said two U.S. …

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Pence Likely To Get COVID Vax On Camera By Friday

CNN reports: Vice President Mike Pence is likely to receive the coronavirus vaccine by Friday, two sources familiar with the plans tell CNN. It’s unclear if he will receive it before President Donald Trump. Tentative plans are being made for Pence to receive it on camera. Earlier Tuesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany repeated that Trump would be open …

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Russian Hackers Also Hit Pentagon And State Dept

The New York Times reports: The scope of a hack engineered by one of Russia’s premier intelligence agencies became clearer on Monday, when some Trump administration officials acknowledged that other federal agencies — the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and parts of the Pentagon — had been compromised. Investigators were struggling to determine the extent to which the …

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Melania Breaks Face Mask Rule At Children’s Hospital

CNN reports: First lady Melania Trump broke stated mask policy at Children’s National Hospital Tuesday when she removed her mask to read a holiday book to children. Trump, who has visited children at the hospital each year during her time as first lady, continued the tradition despite the coronavirus pandemic and record cases in Washington, DC. The first lady arrived …

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Trump Admin Further Guts Endangered Species Act

Burning it all down on the way out: The Trump administration on Tuesday narrowed habitat protections for endangered species, finalizing its second major rollback to the Endangered Species Act. The latest rule narrows the definition of habitat to areas that can currently support a species, a move environmentalists say ignores the changing climate or efforts that could be made to …

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WSJ Board Gushes Over “The Right Man” Bill Barr

From the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board: William Barr resigned as Attorney General on Monday, effective Dec. 23, and he’s certainly earned the right to leave early. He has been the right man at the right time for that difficult job, with the principles and toughness to make difficult decisions despite bitter Democrats in Congress and a willful President Trump. …

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WH Says Some Govt Officials Will Get Vax Priority

The Hill reports: White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday that personnel in the White House situation room and certain members of Congress would receive early access to the coronavirus vaccine, after President Trump halted plans to deliver some of the first doses to high-ranking staffers. “What the president decided is, look, front-line workers need to come first. Our …

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BREAKING: Attorney General Bill Barr Resigns

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump on Monday tweeted that Attorney General William Barr is resigning. Barr’s resignation will be in effect “just before Christmas,” according to the president’s tweet. Trump tweeted that Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will serve as Acting Attorney General. Richard Donoghue will take over duties of the Deputy Attorney General. Trump also tweeted what …

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US Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses 300,000

The Hill reports: The United States on Monday passed 300,000 total deaths from the novel coronavirus, according to a New York Times tally, a shocking number that is certain to quickly grow larger before a vaccine is widely available. The country is now averaging about 2,500 coronavirus deaths every day, a record total. On some days, more than 3,000 people …

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Russian Hackers Also Penetrated Homeland Security

Reuters reports: A team of sophisticated hackers believed to be working for the Russian government won access to internal communications at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to people familiar with the matter. The breach was part of the campaign reported Sunday that penetrated the U.S. departments of Treasury and Commerce. DHS is a massive bureaucracy responsible for border …

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FDA Head Refutes Trump On Timing Of Vax Approval

ABC News reports: In an interview with Fox News Saturday, Trump, after seeming to take credit for the speed of the vaccine’s development, said that the Food and Drug Administration could have authorized the shot for emergency use “last week.” “They could have even done it a week sooner,” the president continued. “We do not feel that this could have …

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Trump Retweets Call For AG Bill Barr To Be Fired

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump posted a call for Attorney General William Barr to be fired today if he knew about the Hunter Biden tax investigation in April, but failed to publicly disclose it. But word of the investigation actually did leak in October, a time so optimal for political leaks that there’s a term for it: the October surprise. …

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Trump Admin Offered $700M To Families Of 9/11 Victims In An Attempt To Save His Sudan-Israel Deal

ABC News reports: In a last-minute pitch to save President Donald Trump’s deal with Sudan, the Trump administration offered to pay victims of the Sept. 11 attacks $700 million of U.S. funds to drop their pursuit of claims against the African country, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations. The negotiations, which have not been previously reported and continued …

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WH To FDA Head: Approve Vaccine Today Or Resign

The Washington Post reports: White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Friday told Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the FDA, to submit his resignation if the agency does not clear the nation’s first coronavirus vaccine by day’s end, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The threat came on the same day …

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Axios: Trump Made Morocco Deal To Spite Inhofe

Axios reports: A fallout between President Trump and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, led to the breakthrough that resulted in the Morocco-Israel normalization deal, sources briefed on the matter told me. Inhofe is Washington’s most avid supporter of the Polisario Front — a Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement aiming to end Moroccan occupation of …

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HHS Data Shows 200 Hospitals Were Full Last Week

CNN reports: More Americans who don’t even have coronavirus are suffering from soaring Covid-19 hospitalizations. Newly released data from the US Department of Health and Human Services show at least 200 hospitals were at full capacity last week. And in one third of all hospitals, more than 90% of all ICU beds were occupied. Coronavirus patients occupied 46% of all …

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CDC Director Told Staff To Delete Email From Trump Flack Seeking To Water Down Reports On COVID Deaths

Politico reports: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield instructed staff to delete an email from a Trump political appointee seeking control over the agency’s scientific reports on the pandemic, a senior CDC official told congressional investigators this week. An Aug. 8 email was sent by Paul Alexander, who was then the scientific adviser to Health and Human …

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Trump Admin Rejected Offers To Buy More Pfizer Vax

The Hill reports: Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb [photo], now a member of the Pfizer board of directors, said Tuesday that the pharmaceutical giant offered the Trump administration the chance to buy additional doses of its coronavirus vaccine multiple times, but that officials turned down the offers. The comments from Gottlieb confirm a report in The New …

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Labor Dept Rule Allows Anti-LGBTQ Discrimination By Federal Contractors On The Basis Of “Religious Liberty”

Slate reports: On Monday, the Trump administration finalized a sweeping new regulation that allows federal contractors to discriminate against racial and religious minorities, women, and especially LGBTQ people in the name of protecting “religious liberty.” It effectively abolishes critical workplace protections for these contractors that have been in place for decades, reframing religious freedom as a near-limitless license to discriminate. …

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