Tag Archives: White House

Politico reports: Dr. Scott Atlas warns against coronavirus overreaction and hysteria, pushes for the reopening of schools and sports leagues and downplays the need for broader testing to root out the virus. Unlike bigger-name, more circumspect public health officials, who’ve watched their luster dim at the White House, Atlas has become a star adviser in President Donald Trump’s inner circle …

The Hill reports: White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Sunday denied reports that several U.S. Postal Service (USPS) letter-sorting machines were decommissioned after orders from the postmaster general. “There’s no sorting machines that are going offline between now and the election,” Meadows said. “That’s something that my Democrat friends are trying to do to stoke fear out there. …

The New York Times reports: Robert S. Trump, the younger brother of President Trump, died on Saturday night in Manhattan. He was 71. The White House, which announced his death, at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, did not give a cause. Robert Trump, who took blood thinners, had experienced brain bleeds, which began after a recent fall, according to a family friend. President …

The Huffington Post reports: President Donald Trump’s interest in taking intelligence briefings has been declining steadily since his first months in office and has dropped to near zero in recent weeks, according to a HuffPost review of all of his daily schedules. Trump went from a high of 4.1 briefings per week on average in March 2017 to 0.7 per …

The New York Post reports: Secret Service agents abruptly halted President Trump’s coronavirus briefing on Monday after an armed suspect was shot outside the White House. The president was just minutes into his briefing when a Secret Service agent whispered in Trump’s ear and asked him to leave the podium along with other administration officials who were in the room. …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Monday said he plans to deliver his acceptance speech during the Republican National Convention (RNC) from either the White House or the battlefield at Gettysburg. Trump last week said he would “probably” give the speech from the White House, an idea that drew pushback from even some Republicans. “I assume that’s not something that …

From the far-right outlet Newsmax: President Donald Trump has every right to accept his party’s nomination at the White House, despite concerns from some that doing so could be a violation of the federal Hatch Act, because it’s “his house,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Monday. “Here is my personal opinion,” McDaniel said on Fox News’ “Fox and …

Mediaite reports: Despite reports of widespread delays, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany is defending U.S. coronavirus testing — claiming that there is actually an abundance of supply. Appearing on Fox & Friends Monday, the press secretary was confronted by host Ainsley Earhardt — who said that she’s spoken with friends who had difficulty getting a rapid coronavirus test. “There …

The Washington Post reports: Republican National Convention planners are considering the White House South Lawn as the site of President Trump’s nationally televised nomination acceptance speech later this month, according to a Republican familiar with the discussions. The decision to stage the most high-profile political event of Trump’s reelection campaign at the national seat of presidential power would be just …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump has described deadly explosions in Lebanon as a “terrible attack” despite no evidence that suggests the blasts were intentional. Massive explosions in Beirut on Tuesday have killed at least 70 people and injured more than 3,000 others while leveling a large segment of the capital. “Let me begin by sending America’s deepest sympathies to the …

Reuters reports: White House officials on Tuesday could not say how the U.S. government would receive a portion of the proceeds from any sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations, one day after President Donald Trump called for a cut of the money. “There’s no specific blueprint here,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Fox Business Network on Tuesday. “It …

Mediaite reports: WNBC’s Geoff Bennett invoked Trump’s tweet during McEnany’s press briefing, and he asked her to explain the about-face. “What in his view changed? Was he advised by Republicans that he was potentially suppressing his own vote by stoking unfounded fears about mail-in voting? Will he admit now the fact that voting by mail across the country by mail …

CNN reports: The National Association of the Deaf and five deaf Americans are suing the White House in an attempt to force President Donald Trump and other top officials to have American Sign Language interpreters at Covid-19 briefings. They’ve asked a federal judge to order the White House to add live televised ASL interpretation at all public coronavirus briefings. “The …

Johnson City’s ABC News affiliate reports: The pastor of a local church who gained national attention for his support of local law enforcement is now battling COVID-19. When Pastor Perry Cleek’s church, Lighthouse Missionary Baptist in Jonesborough, donated $1,000 to every Jonesborough Department of Public Safety employee earlier this month, the story went viral. That led the White House to …

Yahoo News reports: Most Americans now believe that President Trump will not accept the results of November’s election if he loses to Joe Biden, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll — and an even larger majority of Trump voters say they too will refuse to accept a narrow loss if mail-in ballots contribute to Biden’s victory. Asked whether Trump …

Politico reports: The acting chief of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Matthew Albence, is leaving the government. A career law enforcement officer who filled a number of positions within the DHS, Albence recently sparred with White House officials over how to handle ICE’s mission amid the coronavirus pandemic. Trump officials accused Albence of favoring humanitarian concerns about the treatment of immigrants …

The Hill reports: A report from Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee released Friday finds that the Trump administration overpaid by as much as $500 million for ventilators and was slow to respond to an offer to accelerate shipments in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. The report finds that the Trump administration paid the manufacturer Philips …

Vanity Fair reports: The prospect of launching a large-scale national plan was losing favor, said one public health expert in frequent contact with the White House’s official coronavirus task force. Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of Kushner’s team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was …

Bloomberg News reports: President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien has tested positive for Covid-19, according to people familiar with his situation. O’Brien has been out of the office since late last week, one of the people said. O’Brien came down with the coronavirus after a family event and has been isolating at home while still running the National …

The New York Times reports: Melania Trump, the first lady, will announce a plan on Monday to renovate the White House Rose Garden, a signature showcase of power used by presidents for decades, as her husband enters a crucial stretch of his re-election effort. The project, which includes electrical upgrades for television appearances, a new walkway and new flowers and …