Tag Archives: Trump administration

The Associated Press reports: The United States said Wednesday that it has ordered China to close its consulate in Houston “to protect American intellectual property” and the private information of Americans. China strongly condemned the move, the latest in a series of steps by the Trump administration as it ratchets up pressure on the world’s second-largest economy over trade, technology, …

ProPublica reports: Companies owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and his family received up to $24 million from one of the federal government’s key coronavirus economic relief programs, according to data made public Monday. At least six companies from Justice’s empire showed up on the list of Paycheck Protection Program aid recipients released by the Small Business Administration. The …

“What happened in Portland over the weekend, it was not only unlawful and unconstitutional, it’s just plain wrong. Sending armed, untrained police into the streets wearing fatigues without the knowledge or consent of the local police actually caused more violence. All the people that they arrested, they didn’t file one criminal complaint. “You have a lot of peaceful demonstrators. The …

NBC News reports: Dozens of women wearing yellow linked arms to form a protective “wall of moms” around Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday as the protesters clashed with federal law enforcement. Video from the scene showed crowds chanting “Feds stay clear, moms are here!” and “Feds go home!” before protesters toppled a fence erected around the …

The Washington Post reports: Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams on Monday cited the controversy over sending federal troops into Portland, Ore., to protect federal property as he argued against imposing a federal mandate on wearing masks as a means to combat the novel coronavirus. During an appearance on Fox News, Adams championed wearing masks but sided with President Trump when …

The New York Times reports: Once-reticent Republican governors are now issuing orders on mask-wearing and business restrictions that run counter to Mr. Trump’s demands. Some of those governors have been holding late-night phone calls among themselves to trade ideas and grievances; they have sought out partners in the administration other than the president, including Vice President Mike Pence, who, despite …

Axios reports: President Trump and top White House officials are privately considering a controversial strategy to act without legal authority to enact new federal policies — starting with immigration, administration officials tell Axios. The White House thinking is being heavily influenced by John Yoo, the lawyer who wrote the Bush administration’s justification for waterboarding after 9/11. Yoo detailed the theory …

New from the Lincoln Project: The Lincoln Project’s latest video, “New”, lambasts the irony of Ivanka Trump, in her White House role solely due to the unbridled nepotism of her father, advising America’s jobless to simply “find something new”. “It’s condescending and painfully ironic that as hard-working, everyday Americans find themselves unemployed because of Trump’s mishandling of this pandemic, his …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump said he is trying to “help” the city of Portland amid controversy over a decision to send federal agents to crack down on protests there. Local lawmakers accused the Trump administration of an “abuse of power” for deploying masked, militarised federal agents to the city, ostensibly to protect federal buildings. The officers have been accused …

CNBC reports: U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has been hospitalized due to health reasons not related to the coronavirus, according to a Commerce Department spokesperson. “Secretary Ross has been admitted into the hospital for minor, non-coronavirus related issues. He is doing well and we anticipate his release soon,” according to a statement NBC News obtained. Ross started working remotely …

The Washington Post reports: The Trump administration is trying to block billions of dollars for states to conduct testing and contact tracing in the upcoming coronavirus relief bill, people involved in the talks said Saturday. The administration is also trying to block billions of dollars that GOP senators want to allocate for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and …

The New York Times today published a lengthy accounting of the ways that Trump and his administration botched the COVID response. A couple of lowlights: For scientific affirmation, they turned to Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the sole public health professional in the Meadows group. A highly regarded infectious diseases expert, she was a constant source of upbeat news for the …

CNN reports: The US Attorney for the Oregon District today requested an investigation into the masked, camouflaged federal authorities without identification badges who are arresting protesters in Portland. The request is aimed specifically at DHS personnel who have been captured on various videos arresting protesters and putting them in unmarked SUVs. Demonstrators in Portland have been protesting racial inequality and …

Via press release: Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s new rule vastly limiting anti-discrimination protections under the Affordable Care Act. Among many other changes, the rule removes explicit protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex stereotyping. This allows for discrimination against LGBTQ patients — particularly transgender patients. The rule also …

Just in from the watchdog group CREW: Ivanka Trump’s official endorsement of Goya products on social media was an apparent violation of federal ethics rules and standards of conduct, according to a complaint filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) with the Office of Government Ethics. Federal ethics regulations prohibit any employee from endorsing “any product, service …

The Freedom From Religion Foundation reports: The audio of two calls between religious leaders and the White House, made available today by FFRF, confirms that the White House secretly worked to give church leaders special access to PPP, ensuring they could receive top dollars from U.S. taxpayers. The first such conference call took place on April 3, just as the …

The Washington Examiner reports: The New York Times’s 1619 Project is an attack on “the American way of life” that aligns with the Chinese Communist Party, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “They want you to believe Marxist ideology that America is only the oppressors and the oppressed,” Pompeo said Thursday at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. “The …

Via press release from the Justice Department: A California man was arrested today and charged with fraudulently seeking over $8.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Andrew Marnell, 40, of Los Angeles, California, was charged by criminal complaint, unsealed today upon his arrest, in the Central District of California with one count of bank fraud. The complaint alleges that …

CNN reports: For the first time, the numbers of coronavirus cases reported in the United States passed 77,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. There were 77,255 new cases reported Thursday, topping the previous high of 67,791 two days ago. Florida reported 13,965 of Thursday’s cases, the second most reported in a day in the state. As much …

“What has whiteness brought us? What has western civilization brought us? When you look at the western civilization, when you look at representative democracy, you look at rule of law, you look at equality before the law, you look at equality of the sexes. “Or, we could go to the African subcontinent and have female genital mutilation be a part …