The Supreme Court last week rejected the President Trump’s claims of total immunity from the criminal process, but a hearing Thursday in New York previewed what could be the next flashpoint in the proceedings over a subpoena for Trump’s financial docs.
USA Today Issues Editor’s Note Saying Navarro’s Op-Ed Failed To Meet Standards
USA Today on Wednesday night issued an editor’s note following intense backlash over its publication of White House trade adviser Peter Navarro’s op-ed criticizing Dr. Anthony Fauci. Continue reading “USA Today Issues Editor’s Note Saying Navarro’s Op-Ed Failed To Meet Standards”
Maryland GOP Governor Shreds Trump’s Coronavirus Response
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) castigated President Donald Trump’s failure to act early in the coronavirus crisis that has now months later spiraled out of control, calling the President’s handling of the pandemic “hopeless.”
“Eventually, it was clear that waiting around for the president to run the nation’s response was hopeless,” Hogan wrote in a scathing op-ed published in the Washington Post on Thursday, describing a man who instead of planning a federal response to the crisis as it ravaged other countries and increasingly his own, tweeted and talked “like a man more concerned about boosting the stock market or his reelection plans.”
Hogan, who is the chairman of the National Governors Association — and has hinted at a 2024 presidential run — has established himself as a prominent Republican critic of the President. The GOP governor suggested in the op-ed that had the governors waited any longer for the President to take the reins in action against the spread of the coronavirus, they would be “condemning more of our citizens to suffering and death.”
The essay describes how Hogan watched as Trump “downplayed the outbreak’s severity “ and as the White House refused to issue genuine public warnings, failed to create a federal strategy that extended to all 50 states, and creeped along in the provision of medical equipment or ventilators from the national stockpile to hospitals in short supply across the country.
Hogan has been especially vocal in the past in criticizing the President’s claims about the wide availability of coronavirus testing, which Hogan ramped up in Thursday’s essay.
The op-ed, pointing at the “well-coordinated testing regimes” that were being rolled out in other countries, decried the Trump administrations “bungled effort” and “resulting disorganization,” which delayed mass testing for almost two months and left the United States “largely in the dark as the epidemic spread.”
Hogan’s essay comes as governors around the country have been given no other choice but to issue their own measures to get coronavirus outbreaks in their respective states under control in what Hogan calls “a patchwork response” — arguably netting varying levels of success.
“I did the best I could for Maryland,” Hogan said, also chronicling his own efforts to secure 500,000 coronavirus tests from South Korea with the help of his wife, Yumi Hogan, who was born there.
“It was hopeless, waiting around for him,” Hogan wrote, adding that governors had been told they were on their own — “it was sink or swim.”
Hogan said his move to secure tests from abroad provoked an attack from the President. Trump criticized those efforts and any others that implied his own incompetency. The President suggested in press conferences after the test kits were secured that governors like Hogan, who were urging him to drive up national testing efforts, were part of a political conspiracy to bring him down.
Read Gov. Hogan’s full essay here.
GOP Sets Restrictions On RNC Attendance To Hold A ‘Safe’ Convention
GOP Chair Ronna McDaniel sent a letter to party delegates on Thursday informing them that the upcoming Republican National Convention (RNC) in Jacksonville, Florida would be downsized as a protective measure against COVID-19.
The GOP’s latest move comes as Florida experiences an explosion in coronavirus cases.
Continue reading “GOP Sets Restrictions On RNC Attendance To Hold A ‘Safe’ Convention”
‘Outright Lies’: Voting Misinformation Flourishes on Facebook
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On April 3, Terrence K. Williams, a politically conservative actor and comedian who’s been praised by President Donald Trump, assured his nearly 3 million followers on Facebook that Democrats would light ballots on fire or throw them away. Wearing a red “Keep America Great” hat, Williams declared, “If you mail in your vote, your vote will be in Barack Obama’s fireplace.” The video has been viewed more than 350,000 times.
Continue reading “‘Outright Lies’: Voting Misinformation Flourishes on Facebook”
US, UK And Canada Accuse Russia Of Trying To Steal COVID-19 Vaccine Info
LONDON (AP) — Britain, the United States and Canada say Russia is trying to steal information from researchers seeking a COVID-19 vaccine.
The three nations alleged Thursday that hacking group APT29, also known as Cozy Bear and said to be part of the Russian intelligence service, is attacking academic and pharmaceutical research institutions involved in coronavirus vaccine development.
Continue reading “US, UK And Canada Accuse Russia Of Trying To Steal COVID-19 Vaccine Info”
US Carries Out Second Federal Execution This Week
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The United States on Thursday carried out its second federal execution this week, killing by lethal injection a Kansas man whose lawyers contended he had dementia and was unfit to be executed.
Wesley Ira Purkey was put to death at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. Purkey was convicted of kidnapping and killing a 16-year-old girl, Jennifer Long, before dismembering, burning and dumping her body in a septic pond. He also was convicted in a state court in Kansas after using a claw hammer to kill an 80-year-old woman who had polio.
Continue reading “US Carries Out Second Federal Execution This Week”
Georgia Governor Explicitly Bans Local Mask Mandates In New Executive Order
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) on Wednesday explicitly banned cities and counties from adopting rules requiring masks or other face coverings.
The governor has called mandates to wear a mask “a bridge too far,” the Atlanta Journal- Constitution reported.
An earlier executive order, which was set to expire on Wednesday, had kept in place a months-long ban on local officials from taking more restrictive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. But the new executive order Kemp issued on Wednesday “suspended” local requirements that require the use of masks or face coverings in efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The news came after Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) announced a statewide mask requirement to take effect on Thursday. Kemp’s move also falls out of step with decisions made by the likes of Walmart and Sam’s Club, who on Monday said they would require shoppers to begin wearing masks.
A string of Georgia cities had already started to require masks earlier this month defying Kemp’s earlier calls not to adopt more restrictive measures. Savannah’s mask mandate was quickly followed in cities like Atlanta, Athens and Augusta.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson (D) responded to the decision telling MSNBC on Thursday morning that he was “flabbergasted.”
“On one hand we’re fighting COVID on another hand we’re fighting our governor,” Johnson said. “Our hands should be totally and unequivocally working to fight this virus.”
The mayor added that as far as local officials in Savannah are concerned the city’s emergency declaration stands. “If you come into the city of Savannah — you’re in business with the city of Savannah — you will wear a mask. Period.”
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson on Georgia Gov. Kemp's new executive order banning cities and counties from mandating people to wear masks.
"Our governor has chosen … to make a public health emergency into some type of political issue." pic.twitter.com/FYjYxCTVud
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 16, 2020
Georgia reported 3,871 new infections on Wednesday, the second-highest daily count since the pandemic began. So far, 127,834 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Georgia — a number that more than doubles the infections reported in mid-June.
“We continue to watch the data and the numbers,” Kemp said earlier this week. “We’ve got to learn to deal with it, and we’re encouraging people to wear masks and follow the guidance that we have.”
Before the new executive order was issued on Wednesday, more than 1,400 health care workers had signed an open letter earlier this month calling on Kemp to mandate masks and to allow local governments to make their own rules aimed at cutting down the number of new infections, The Journal-Constitution said. The letter also made pleas for the governor to close bars and restaurants, and to ban indoor gatherings of more than 25 people. Dr. Harry J. Heiman, a clinical associate professor at Georgia State University School of Public Health said that although these measures are “basic,” the state hasn’t “come close to mastering them yet.” He added that in the absence of “aggressive action,” the outbreak in the state “is only going to get worse.”
Graham Says Comey And McCabe Will Testify In Front Of Judiciary Committee In September
Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC) stated on Wednesday night that he plans to have former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe testify soon in his investigation into the Trump-Russia probe.
1.3 Million Jobless Claims Filed Last Week
The Department of Labor reported on Thursday morning that 1,300,000 unemployment claims had been filed in the week ending on July 11.
Continue reading “1.3 Million Jobless Claims Filed Last Week”