theguardian--2020-07-21--White couple who pointed guns at St Louis protesters face criminal charges – as it happened

Another political battle for St. Louis ’ first black top prosecutor In late June , when a white couple pointed guns at the racial justice protesters marching past their $ 1.15 million mansion in St. Louis , the photographs and the video of the incident immediately went viral .
St. Louis ’ police department said that they were investigating the June 28 incident , but that it viewed Mark and Patricia McCloskey , the white couple , as the victims , not the perpetrators , of an incident of “ trespassing ” and “ intimidation.
” But the city ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , made a different announcement .
Kimberly Gardner said said was she was “ alarmed ” to see an incident “ where peaceful protestors were met by guns and a violent assault ” , and that her office was also investigating .
“ Make no mistake : we will not tolerate the use of force against those exercising their first amendment rights , ” Gardner wrote .
Gardner , the first African-American top prosecutor in St. Louis ’ history , was elected in 2016 as one of the country ’ s new wave @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reduce mass incarceration and address the stark racial disparities within America ’ s criminal justice system .
Since she announced her investigation into the McCloskeys , powerful white Republicans , including the president , Missouri ’ s governor , and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley , have rallied behind the wealthy white couple , and made clear that they would oppose any attempt to charge them .
Trump said in an interview that the idea that the McCloskeys might be prosecuted was “ a disgrace.
” Republican governor Mike Parson said in a radio @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if they were to be convicted of anything .
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley asked the Justice Department to consider a civil rights investigation of Gardner , suggesting that her investigation of whether the couple violated any laws was an infringement of their Constitutional rights , and an “ an unacceptable abuse of power and threat to the Second Amendment.
” Gardner said she has received death threats in the wake of the comments about her by Republican lawmakers , and compared the attacks against her to violent threats by the Ku Klux Klan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last week .
“ This is a modern-day night ride , and everybody knows it , ” Gardner told the Washington Post , referring to the Ku Klux Klan ’ s tactics of intimidation towards black Americans .
“ And for a president to participate in it , in the larger context of racism and cronyism , is scary.
” Several Black leaders in St. Louis have expressed support for Gardner , including Democratic U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay , who has said protesters “ should never be subject to the threat of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the police.
” Gardner did not back down in the face of political pressure from Missouri Republicans to choose not to prosecute the gun-toting St. Louis couple .
On Monday , she announced criminal charges against the McCloskeys , including a felony charge of unlawful use of a weapon , and a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree assault .
“ It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner that is unlawful in the city of St. Louis , ” Gardner told the Associated Press , arguing that the couples ’ actions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ otherwise nonviolent protest .
She is recommending a diversion program such as community service rather than jail time if the McCloskeys are convicted .
Typically , class E felonies could result in up to four years in prison .
An attorney for the McCloskeys , Joel Schwartz , in a statement called the decision to charge “ disheartening as I unequivocally believe no crime was committed.
” Gardner has said Trump , Parson and others are attacking her to distract from “ their failed approach to the COVID-19 pandemic ” and other issues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the city ’ s police union and Missouri ’ s Republican political establishment .
Her office charged then Republican governor Eric Greitens with felony invasion of privacy in 2018 for allegedly taking a compromising photo of a woman during an extramarital affair .
The charge was eventually dropped , but Greitens resigned in June 2018 .
A private investigator Gardner hired to investigate the claims against Greitens was later indicted for perjury for allegedly lying during a deposition .
His case is pending .
Gardner also has butted heads with police leaders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exclusion list ” of more than two dozen officers who were barred from serving as primary witnesses in criminal cases over what Gardner called credibility concerns .
The move angered Police Chief John Hayden , who also is Black .
In January , Gardner filed a federal lawsuit accusing the city , the police union and others of a coordinated and racist conspiracy aimed at forcing her out of office .
The lawsuit also accused “ entrenched interests ” of intentionally impeding her efforts to change racist practices .
The Associated Press contributed @ @ @ @

Lois Beckett in San Francisco (now), Joan E Greve in Washington and Martin Belam (earlier)

21 Jul 2020 01.34 BST Evening summary We are wrapping up our daily live politics coverage for today. An updated summary of some of the key events in US politics: Trump said he would resume his coronavirus briefings, likely starting tomorrow. Trump held daily briefings at the start of the coronavirus crisis, but the briefings attracted widespread criticism because of the president’s frequent false and misleading claims about the pandemic. The announcement comes as the president’s approval and polling numbers continue to decline. He also tweeted a photo of himself wearing a face mask, after facing months of criticism for refusing to publicly wear a mask.
likely starting tomorrow. Trump held daily briefings at the start of the coronavirus crisis, but the briefings attracted widespread criticism because of the president’s frequent false and misleading claims about the pandemic. The announcement comes as the president’s approval and polling numbers continue to decline. He also tweeted a photo of himself wearing a face mask, after facing months of criticism for refusing to publicly wear a mask. A St. Louis prosecutor announced criminal charges against the white couple who pointed guns at anti-racism protesters outside their mansion. Mark and Patricia McCloskey, both attorneys in their 60s, are now facing are facing a felony charge of unlawful use of a weapon. Kimberly Gardner, the first black top prosecutor in St. Louis history, has been battling the city’s police department and the state’s Republican establishment for years. She said she had already faced death threats over her investigation of the white couple.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey, both attorneys in their 60s, are now facing are facing a felony charge of unlawful use of a weapon. the first black top prosecutor in St. Louis history, has been battling the city’s police department and the state’s Republican establishment for years. She said she had already faced death threats over her investigation of the white couple. The gunman suspected of attacking a federal judge’s family, leaving her son shot to death and her husband wounded, was an anti-feminist lawyer who left behind thousands of pages of writing railing against a “feminazi infestation” of the legal system. Roy Den Hollander also called Judge Esther Salas “lazy and incompetent.”
was an anti-feminist lawyer who left behind thousands of pages of writing railing against a “feminazi infestation” of the legal system. also called “lazy and incompetent.” The department of homeland security reportedly intends to send 150 federal agents to Chicago. Those reports come as activists in Portland, Oregon, have expressed severe alarm over incidents involving federal agents using unmarked cars to detain peaceful protesters.
Those reports come as activists in Portland, Oregon, have expressed severe alarm over incidents involving federal agents using unmarked cars to detain peaceful protesters. A coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University appears to be safe and prompts an immune response, raising hopes about the distribution of a vaccine in the coming months. The Oxford team published the results of its vaccine trials in the medical journal the Lancet today.
raising hopes about the distribution of a vaccine in the coming months. The Oxford team published the results of its vaccine trials in the medical journal the Lancet today. Georgia state senator and Democratic party chairwoman Nikema Williams will replace John Lewis on the November ballot. Williams was selected from a group of five finalists to replace Lewis as the Democratic congressional nominee in Georgia’s 5th district, after the longtime congressman and civil rights icon died on Friday.
20 Jul 2020 00.52 BST Louisiana program offering help with rent overwhelmed by response A program to help residents pay rent during the pandemic was supposed to offer assistance to 10,000 people. It was suspended after receiving 40,000 applications in just four days, the Times-Picayune reported. A housing advocacy group said the response should be no surprise, since it estimated that there were 42,000 unemployed renters across Louisiana, and a $24 million program to help them was starkly insufficient. “(HousingLOUISIANA has) said from the beginning that $250 million is the minimum amount needed for rental assistance through the end of 2020,” the group said in a written statement to the Times-Picayune. JUST IN: Louisiana's COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program has been temporarily suspended due to "overwhelming response."
The program was expected to benefit about 10,000 residents by providing up to three months of help. https://t.co/vM2p3i8Jrj — The Advocate (@theadvocatebr) July 19, 2020
Updated at 01.36 BST
20 Jul 2020 00.35 BST Suspect in attack on judge’s family ranted about ‘feminazi infestation’ The man authorities have said attacked the family of a federal judge, leaving her husband wounded and her son dead, had previously called her “a lazy and incompetent Latina judge appointed by Obama,” and had fantasized about raping a different female judge who presided over his divorce case, NBC News reported. A review of thousands of pages of self-published writing by Roy Den Hollander, an anti-feminist lawyer, found threats of retribution against the “feminazi infestation of government institutions” and the “feminist infested American judicial system,” NBC reported. The lawyer “was active in anti-feminist and misogynist groups on Facebook, including groups titled Humanity Vs. Feminism and Men Going Their Own Way, according to an analysis of accounts linked to him,” NBC News reported. It characterized his writing as “littered with language common among the most extreme anti-feminist communities on the web.” New + exclusive from me + @BrandyZadrozny:
The man suspected of ambushing the family of Judge Esther Salas called her “a lazy and incompetent Latina judge appointed by Obama,” part of a 1,700-page misogynist screed he wrote this year.https://t.co/kjrfwgNBMU — Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) July 20, 2020
20 Jul 2020 00.22 BST St Louis prosecutor: ‘We must protect the right to peacefully protest’ In announcing criminal charges against a wealthy white couple who pointed guns at anti-racist protesters marching through their gated community, St. Louis’ top prosecutor said the protesters were “peaceful” and “unarmed.” “We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation will not be tolerated,” Kimberly Gardner wrote in a statement on Twitter. But Gardner noted in the statement that she had also filed charges against another St. Louis man who had “assaulted peaceful demonstrators at the King Louis IX statute on June 27th,” the day before the incident involving the white couple. The man charged in that incident was black, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch previously reported. The newspaper published video it said appeared to capture part of the assault, which showed a black man attempting to slap a white man, during a protest centered on whether or not to remove a statue of the French King. Since 18-year-old Michael Brown’s killing by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014, St. Louis has become one of the major centers of protest over racist policing and broader anti-black racism in the United States. Ferguson is one of the many small jurisdictions that circle St. Louis, a metropolitan area that is marked by stark racial segregation between black and white residents.
Gardner, who was elected in 2016, is the city’s first black circuit attorney. 1/ Statement from Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner - Today my office filed charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey following an incident involving peaceful, unarmed protesters on June 28th. Full statement below: pic.twitter.com/zPucQ3MHs5 — Circuit Attorney (@stlcao) July 20, 2020 7/ I issued charges against an individual who assaulted peaceful demonstrators at the King Louis IX statute on June 27th. I am open to recommending diversion in this case as well. — Circuit Attorney (@stlcao) July 20, 2020
Updated at 01.36 BST
20 Jul 2020 23.24 BST Another political battle for St. Louis’ first black top prosecutor In late June, when a white couple pointed guns at the racial justice protesters marching past their $1.15 million mansion in St. Louis, the photographs and the video of the incident immediately went viral. St. Louis’ police department said that they were investigating the June 28 incident, but that it viewed Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the white couple, as the victims, not the perpetrators, of an incident of “trespassing” and “intimidation.”
But the city’s top prosecutor, who is black, made a different announcement. Kimberly Gardner said said was she was “alarmed” to see an incident “where peaceful protestors were met by guns and a violent assault”, and that her office was also investigating. “Make no mistake: we will not tolerate the use of force against those exercising their first amendment rights,” Gardner wrote. Gardner, the first African-American top prosecutor in St. Louis’ history, was elected in 2016 as one of the country’s new wave of progressive prosecutors, who aimed to reduce mass incarceration and address the stark racial disparities within America’s criminal justice system. Since she announced her investigation into the McCloskeys, powerful white Republicans, including the president, Missouri’s governor, and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, have rallied behind the wealthy white couple, and made clear that they would oppose any attempt to charge them. Trump said in an interview that the idea that the McCloskeys might be prosecuted was “a disgrace.” Republican governor Mike Parson said in a radio Friday that he would likely pardon them if they were to be convicted of anything. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley asked the Justice Department to consider a civil rights investigation of Gardner, suggesting that her investigation of whether the couple violated any laws was an infringement of their Constitutional rights, and an “an unacceptable abuse of power and threat to the Second Amendment.” Gardner said she has received death threats in the wake of the comments about her by Republican lawmakers, and compared the attacks against her to violent threats by the Ku Klux Klan in an interview with the Washington Post last week. “This is a modern-day night ride, and everybody knows it,” Gardner told the Washington Post, referring to the Ku Klux Klan’s tactics of intimidation towards black Americans. “And for a president to participate in it, in the larger context of racism and cronyism, is scary.”
Several Black leaders in St. Louis have expressed support for Gardner, including Democratic U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, who has said protesters “should never be subject to the threat of deadly force, whether by individuals or by the police.” Gardner did not back down in the face of political pressure from Missouri Republicans to choose not to prosecute the gun-toting St. Louis couple. On Monday, she announced criminal charges against the McCloskeys, including a felony charge of unlawful use of a weapon, and a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree assault.
“It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner that is unlawful in the city of St. Louis,” Gardner told the Associated Press, arguing that the couples’ actions risked creating a violent situation during an otherwise nonviolent protest. She is recommending a diversion program such as community service rather than jail time if the McCloskeys are convicted. Typically, class E felonies could result in up to four years in prison. An attorney for the McCloskeys, Joel Schwartz, in a statement called the decision to charge “disheartening as I unequivocally believe no crime was committed.” Gardner has said Trump, Parson and others are attacking her to distract from “their failed approach to the COVID-19 pandemic” and other issues. Gardner has already spent years battling with the city’s police union and Missouri’s Republican political establishment. Her office charged then Republican governor Eric Greitens with felony invasion of privacy in 2018 for allegedly taking a compromising photo of a woman during an extramarital affair. The charge was eventually dropped, but Greitens resigned in June 2018. A private investigator Gardner hired to investigate the claims against Greitens was later indicted for perjury for allegedly lying during a deposition. His case is pending. Gardner also has butted heads with police leaders, especially after she developed an “exclusion list” of more than two dozen officers who were barred from serving as primary witnesses in criminal cases over what Gardner called credibility concerns. The move angered Police Chief John Hayden, who also is Black. In January, Gardner filed a federal lawsuit accusing the city, the police union and others of a coordinated and racist conspiracy aimed at forcing her out of office. The lawsuit also accused “entrenched interests” of intentionally impeding her efforts to change racist practices. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Updated at 23.33 BST
20 Jul 2020 22.26 BST Criminal charges for white St Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters The white couple who pointed guns at the racial justice protesters marching through their gated community in St. Louis are now facing criminal charges. St. Louis’ top prosecutor said that Mark and Patricia McCloskey “are facing a single felony count unlawful use of a weapon — exhibiting,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The husband and wife, who are both personal injury attorneys in their 60s, also face a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree assault. While the prosecutor who announced the charges against the McCloskeys said she is recommending community service rather than jail time if they are convicted, the case is likely to fuel continued partisan debate over gun rights and racial violence. President Donald Trump and other white Republican leaders have spoken out publicly in support of the couple in the past, saying that he believed “they were going to be beat up badly, if they were lucky” and that they should not be prosecuted. Missouri’s Republican governor said Friday he would likely pardon the couple if they were to be convicted.
McCloskeys charged with felonies for waving guns during protests https://t.co/v3I8P8y02v — St. Louis Post-Dispatch (@stltoday) July 20, 2020 Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner told the Associated Press in advance of announcing the charge that the McCloskeys’ actions risked creating a violent situation during an otherwise nonviolent protest. “It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner — that is unlawful in the city of St. Louis,” Gardner said. Gardner is recommending a diversion program such as community service rather than jail time if the McCloskeys are convicted. Typically, class E felonies could result in up to four years in prison.
Missouri’s governor said on Friday, before any charges were announced, that if the couple were to be convicted of a crime, he would likely pardon them. “By all means, I would, and I think that’s exactly what would happen,” governor Mike Parsons said in a radio interview, the Post-Dispatch reported. “If this is all about going after them because they … did a lawful act, then, yeah, if that scenario in fact happened, I don’t think they’re going to spend any time in jail,” he said, while noting he would wait for “all the facts.” The attorney for the McCloskeys, Joel Schwartz, in a statement called the decision to charge “disheartening as I unequivocally believe no crime was committed.” The Associated Press contributed to this report. ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis’ top prosecutor told The Associated Press on Monday that she is charging a white husband and wife with felony unlawful use of a weapon for displaying guns during a racial injustice protest outside their mansion. — Steven Albritton (@StevenAlbritton) July 20, 2020
Updated at 01.39 BST
20 Jul 2020 22.09 BST Report: Men’s Rights Activist Linked to Killing of Federal Judge’s Son The man who shot a federal judge’s husband and son in New Jersey on Sunday night was a self-described “anti-feminist” and men’s rights activist, according to multiple media reports citing unnamed law enforcement sources.
The suspected gunman, Roy Den Hollander, was reportedly found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound later on Sunday night. Hollander brought a case before Judge Esther Salas in 2015, challenging the United States’ male-only military draft, the New York Times reported, noting that the case is ongoing. “For years, he had filed suits alleging that women get unconstitutional special treatment, pushing to outlaw Ladies’ Nights at bars and women’s studies programs at universities,” the Daily Beast reported. In 2013, in a media interview about a legal defeat, he claimed he was contemplating an act of “vigilante justice” against Ladies’ Nights. The Daily Beast noted Hollander had also filed a “ludicrous” lawsuit against reporters from major news outlets, including CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post, claiming their reporting about Trump “amounted to a violation of the anti-racketeering statute used to prosecute mobsters.” The judge’s husband was wounded in the attack and is in the hospital, the Times reported. The Judge’s 20-year-old son was killed.
20 Jul 2020 21.51 BST Missouri governor’s troubling remarks on kids and COVID-19 This is Lois Beckett, picking up this afternoon’s live politics coverage from our California office. Comments from a Friday radio interview with Missouri’s Republican governor, Mike Parson, are continuing to spark condemnation and alarm, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reports today: “These kids have got to get back to school,” the governor said on Friday. “They’re at the lowest risk possible. And if they do get Covid-19, which they will – and they will when they go to school – they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going to have to sit in doctor’s offices. They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.” “We gotta move on,” he added later. “We can’t just let this thing stop us in our tracks.” Among the many responses, the Post-Dispatch reported, was one Democrat running for governor in Missouri, who responded: “Does he not realize multiple American kids have died after being infected?” Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, a Harvard epidemiologist, called the comments “dystopian”. DYSTOPIAN: Missouri Gov @mikeparson: “These kids have got to get back to school—And if they do get #COVID19, which they will—& they will when they go to school—they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.” https://t.co/p6O8szPUad pic.twitter.com/JhMbQ73YUo — Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) July 20, 2020
Updated at 22.37 BST
20 Jul 2020 21.30 BST Today so far That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will take over the blog for the next few hours. Here’s where the day stands so far: Trump said he would resume his coronavirus briefings, likely starting tomorrow. Trump held daily briefings at the start of the coronavirus crisis, but the briefings attracted widespread criticism because of the president’s frequent false and misleading claims about the pandemic. The announcement comes as the president’s approval and polling numbers continue to decline.
likely starting tomorrow. Trump held daily briefings at the start of the coronavirus crisis, but the briefings attracted widespread criticism because of the president’s frequent false and misleading claims about the pandemic. The announcement comes as the president’s approval and polling numbers continue to decline. Trump tweeted a photo of himself wearing a face mask. The president has weathered months of criticism for not embracing masks as a means of limiting the spread of coronavirus. The CDC first urged Americans to wear face coverings in April, but Trump was only seen publicly wearing a mask for the first time earlier this month.
The president has weathered months of criticism for not embracing masks as a means of limiting the spread of coronavirus. The CDC first urged Americans to wear face coverings in April, but Trump was only seen publicly wearing a mask for the first time earlier this month. The department of homeland security reportedly intends to send 150 federal agents to Chicago. Those reports come as activists in Portland, Oregon, have expressed severe alarm over incidents involving federal agents using unmarked cars to detain peaceful protesters.
Those reports come as activists in Portland, Oregon, have expressed severe alarm over incidents involving federal agents using unmarked cars to detain peaceful protesters. A coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University appears to be safe and prompts an immune response, raising hopes about the distribution of a vaccine in the coming months. The Oxford team published the results of its vaccine trials in the medical journal the Lancet today.
raising hopes about the distribution of a vaccine in the coming months. The Oxford team published the results of its vaccine trials in the medical journal the Lancet today. Georgia state senator and Democratic party chairwoman Nikema Williams will replace John Lewis on the November ballot. Williams was selected from a group of five finalists to replace Lewis as the Democratic congressional nominee in Georgia’s 5th district, after the longtime congressman and civil rights icon died on Friday. Lois will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
20 Jul 2020 21.18 BST The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports from California: Thirty-three California counties, covering 92% of the state’s population, now find themselves on the state’s watch list as coronavirus continues to stretch hospital resources thin. Late last week, US military medical teams deployed 100 staff members to five California hospitals to assist hospital staff in hard-hit areas of the state. And more help is on the way. Governor Gavin Newsom said today that the federal government dispatched 190 medical personnel to help support counties facing shortages of staff and resources. YOU have the power to slow the spread of #COVID19.
Be smart. Do your part. https://t.co/Bv7r51auou — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 20, 2020 Coronavirus cases in California continue to climb. While the positivity rate of those tested has dropped slightly over the past week from 7.7% to 7.2%, nobody is comforted while rates are north of 7%, Newsom said. Hospitalizations continue to rise, creating pressure for hospitals in the state’s hotspots. In rural Placer County, for example, just 18% of ICU beds are available. San Benito County currently has no capacity to handle more ICU admissions, Newsom said, a reminder that ““county by county, things look very differently than they do statewide.” Meanwhile, Newsom addressed reporting from the New York Times that he was required to personally ask (and thank) Donald Trump in order to secure needed medical swabs. Newsom said the claims were “not true”, adding that he expressed appreciation for the administration’s support routinely as they deliver assistance. Newsom also tackled a claim circulating today that Trump may be sending federal law enforcement officers into Oakland, as he has done in Portland, Oregon, to “deal with unrest”. Newsom waived away the possibility, saying bluntly that if the federal government attempted to send law enforcement officers into Oakland, “We would reject it.”
20 Jul 2020 21.07 BST Trump tweets photo of himself wearing face mask The president has tweeted a photo of himself wearing a face mask, after weathering months of criticism for not publicly embracing masks as a means of limiting the spread of coronavirus. “We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance,” Trump said in a tweet. “There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President!” We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance. There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President! pic.twitter.com/iQOd1whktN — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2020 The tweet comes more than three months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first urged Americans to wear face coverings to help limit their risk of contracting the virus. For weeks, Trump resisted wearing a face mask in public, even as more evidence emerged that it was an effective way to mitigate the spread of the virus. The president was seen wearing a mask in public for the first time earlier this month, as he visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center just outside of Washington. Donald Trump wears mask in public for first time during Covid-19 pandemic Read more
20 Jul 2020 20.59 BST Democrats demand briefing on foreign influence operation targeting lawmakers Democratic congressional leaders are demanding an FBI briefing to all members of the House and Senate on a foreign influence campaign aimed at lawmakers. Four senior congressional Democrats -- House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff and Senate intelligence committee vice chairman Mark Warner -- requested the briefing last week in a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray. We're gravely concerned Congress appears to be the target of a foreign interference campaign that seeks to launder & amplify disinformation.
We're urging the FBI to provide all Members a defensive counterintelligence briefing before August.
Americans decide American elections. pic.twitter.com/UuNT9AZ093 — Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) July 20, 2020 “We write to request that the Federal Bureau of Investigation provide a defensive counterintelligence briefing to all Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate regarding foreign efforts to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election,” the Democrats said in the letter. “We are gravely concerned, in particular, that Congress appears to be the target of a concerted foreign interference campaign, which seeks to launder and amplify disinformation in order to influence congressional activity, public debate, and the presidential election in November.” The letter does not elaborate on the specifics of the foreign operation, but the Democratic leaders included a classified addendum that was omitted from the public version of the letter.
20 Jul 2020 20.35 BST State senator to replace Lewis on ballot The Democratic party of Georgia has chosen state senator and party chairwoman Nikema Williams to replace the late congressman John Lewis on the November ballot. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: Facing an urgent legal deadline, the state party’s executive committee met Monday on a virtual Zoom call to select Williams over four other finalists from a group of 131 candidates who submitted online applications after Lewis’ death on Friday.
Williams is seen as a virtual lock to win the Atlanta-based district, which is so heavily Democratic that Lewis often drew only token Republican opposition since he won the seat in 1986. She will face Republican Angela Stanton-King, an ally of President Donald Trump, in November. The DPG Executive Committee has selected @NikemaWilliams to be the Democratic nominee for the GA-05 Congressional seat previously held by Congressman John Lewis. As a Party, we are committed to continuing Congressman Lewis's life's work of justice and voting rights. #gapol — Georgia Democrats (@GeorgiaDemocrat) July 20, 2020 Scott Hogan, the executive director of the Democratic party of Georgia, said in a statement, “We congratulate Nikema on this appointment, and look forward to working with her in this new capacity as we uphold and build on Congressman Lewis’ legacy and elect Democrats across Georgia this November.” This will mark the first time in more than three decades that someone other than Lewis will represent Georgia’s 5th congressional district. The civil rights icon first took office in 1987.


theguardian--2020-07-20--Trump consults Bush torture lawyer on how to skirt law and rule by decree

The Trump administration has been consulting the former government lawyer who wrote the legal justification for waterboarding on how the president might try to rule by decree .
John Yoo told the Guardian he has been talking to White House officials about his view that a recent supreme court ruling on immigration would allow Trump to issue executive orders on whether to apply existing federal laws .
“ If the court really believes what it just did , then it just handed President Trump a great deal of power , too , ” Yoo , a professor at Berkeley Law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has said President Obama could [ choose not to ] enforce immigration laws for about 2 million cases .
And why can ’ t the Trump administration do something similar with immigration – create its own … program , but it could do it in areas beyond that , like healthcare , tax policy , criminal justice , inner city policy .
I talked to them a fair amount about cities , because of the disorder.
” In a Fox News Sunday interview , Trump declared he would try to use that interpretation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ healthcare , immigration and “ various other plans ” over the coming month .
The White House consultations with Yoo were first reported by the Axios news website .
Constitutional scholars and human rights activists have also pointed to the deployment of paramilitary federal forces against protesters in Portland as a sign that Trump is ready to use this broad interpretation of presidential powers as a means to suppress basic constitutional rights .
“ This is how it begins , ” Laurence Tribe , a Harvard constitutional law professor , wrote on Twitter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is insatiable .
If ever there was a time for peaceful civil disobedience , that time is upon us.
” Yoo became notorious for a legal memo he drafted in August 2002 , when he was deputy assistant attorney general in the justice department ’ s office of legal counsel .
It stated : “ Necessity or self-defense may justify interrogation methods that might violate ” the criminal prohibition on torture .
Memos drafted by Yoo were used for justifying waterboarding and other forms of torture on terrorism suspects at CIA “ black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if he now regretted his memos , Yoo replied : “ I ’ m still not exactly sure about how far the CIA took its interrogation methods but I think if they stayed within the outlines of the legal memos , I think they weren ’ t violating American law.
” In a book titled Defender in Chief , due to be published next week , Yoo argues that Trump was fighting to restore the powers of the presidency , in a way that would have been approved by the framers of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ branch to have certain constitutional weapons and then they wanted them to fight .
And so they wanted the president to try to expand his powers but they expected also Congress to keep fighting with the President , ” he said .
In a June article in the National Review , he wrote that a supreme court decision that blocked Trump ’ s attempt to repeal Barack Obama ’ s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme , known as Daca and established by executive order , meant Trump could do the same thing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suspended deportations of undocumented migrants who arrived in the US as children .
As an example of what Trump might achieve in the same way , Yoo suggested the president could declare a national right to carry firearms openly , in conflict with many state laws .
“ He could declare that he would not enforce federal firearms laws , ” Yoo wrote , “ and that a new ‘ Trump permit ’ would free any holder of state and local gun-control restrictions .
“ Even if Trump knew that his scheme lacked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with it for the length of his presidency , ” he said .
In a telephone interview , he added : “ According to the supreme court , the president can now choose to under-enforce the law in certain areas and it can ’ t be undone by his successor unless that successor goes through this onerous thing called the Administrative Procedure Act , which usually takes one to two years.
” Constitutional scholars have rejected Yoo ’ s arguments as ignoring limits on the executive powers of the president imposed by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rise of a tyrant .
He added : “ I fear that this lawless administration will take full advantage of the fact that judicial wheels grind slowly and that it will be difficult to keep up with the many ways Trump , aided and abetted by Bill Barr as attorney general and Chad Wolf as acting head of homeland security , can usurp congressional powers and abridge fundamental rights in the immigration space in particular but also in matters of public health and safety.
” On the deployment of federal paramilitary units @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not know enough of the facts to deem whether it was an abuse of executive power .
“ It has to be really reasonably related to protecting federal buildings , ” he said .
“ If it ’ s just graffiti , that ’ s not enough .
It really depends on what the facts are.
” Alka Pradhan , a defence counsel in the 9/11 terrorism cases against inmates in the Guantánamo Bay prison camp , said : “ John Yoo ’ s so-called reasoning has always been based on ‘ What @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ rather than ‘ What is the purpose and letter of the law ?
’ “ That is not legal reasoning , it ’ s inherently tyrannical and anti-democratic.
” Pradhan and other defence lawyers in the pre-trial hearings at the Guantánamo Bay military tribunal have argued that the use of torture against their clients , made possible by Yoo ’ s 2002 memo , invalidated much of the case against them .
“ The fact that John Yoo is employed and free to opine on legal matters is an example of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” she said .

The Trump administration has been consulting the former government lawyer who wrote the legal justification for waterboarding on how the president might try to rule by decree.
John Yoo told the Guardian he has been talking to White House officials about his view that a recent supreme court ruling on immigration would allow Trump to issue executive orders on whether to apply existing federal laws.
“If the court really believes what it just did, then it just handed President Trump a great deal of power, too,” Yoo, a professor at Berkeley Law, said.
“The supreme court has said President Obama could [choose not to] enforce immigration laws for about 2 million cases. And why can’t the Trump administration do something similar with immigration – create its own … program, but it could do it in areas beyond that, like healthcare, tax policy, criminal justice, inner city policy. I talked to them a fair amount about cities, because of the disorder.”
In a Fox News Sunday interview, Trump declared he would try to use that interpretation to try to force through decrees on healthcare, immigration and “various other plans” over the coming month. The White House consultations with Yoo were first reported by the Axios news website.
Constitutional scholars and human rights activists have also pointed to the deployment of paramilitary federal forces against protesters in Portland as a sign that Trump is ready to use this broad interpretation of presidential powers as a means to suppress basic constitutional rights.
“This is how it begins,” Laurence Tribe, a Harvard constitutional law professor, wrote on Twitter. “The dictatorial hunger for power is insatiable. If ever there was a time for peaceful civil disobedience, that time is upon us.”
Yoo became notorious for a legal memo he drafted in August 2002, when he was deputy assistant attorney general in the justice department’s office of legal counsel.
It stated: “Necessity or self-defense may justify interrogation methods that might violate” the criminal prohibition on torture.
Memos drafted by Yoo were used for justifying waterboarding and other forms of torture on terrorism suspects at CIA “black sites” around the world.
Asked if he now regretted his memos, Yoo replied: “I’m still not exactly sure about how far the CIA took its interrogation methods but I think if they stayed within the outlines of the legal memos, I think they weren’t violating American law.”
In a book titled Defender in Chief, due to be published next week, Yoo argues that Trump was fighting to restore the powers of the presidency, in a way that would have been approved by the framers of the US constitution.
“They wanted each branch to have certain constitutional weapons and then they wanted them to fight. And so they wanted the president to try to expand his powers but they expected also Congress to keep fighting with the President,” he said.
In a June article in the National Review, he wrote that a supreme court decision that blocked Trump’s attempt to repeal Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, known as Daca and established by executive order, meant Trump could do the same thing to achieve his policy goals.
Daca suspended deportations of undocumented migrants who arrived in the US as children. As an example of what Trump might achieve in the same way, Yoo suggested the president could declare a national right to carry firearms openly, in conflict with many state laws.
“He could declare that he would not enforce federal firearms laws,” Yoo wrote, “and that a new ‘Trump permit’ would free any holder of state and local gun-control restrictions.
“Even if Trump knew that his scheme lacked legal authority, he could get away with it for the length of his presidency,” he said. In a telephone interview, he added: “According to the supreme court, the president can now choose to under-enforce the law in certain areas and it can’t be undone by his successor unless that successor goes through this onerous thing called the Administrative Procedure Act, which usually takes one to two years.”
Constitutional scholars have rejected Yoo’s arguments as ignoring limits on the executive powers of the president imposed by the founders, who were determined to prevent the rise of a tyrant.
Tribe called Yoo’s interpretation of the Daca ruling “indefensible”.
He added: “I fear that this lawless administration will take full advantage of the fact that judicial wheels grind slowly and that it will be difficult to keep up with the many ways Trump, aided and abetted by Bill Barr as attorney general and Chad Wolf as acting head of homeland security, can usurp congressional powers and abridge fundamental rights in the immigration space in particular but also in matters of public health and safety.”
On the deployment of federal paramilitary units against Portland, Yoo said he did not know enough of the facts to deem whether it was an abuse of executive power.
“It has to be really reasonably related to protecting federal buildings,” he said. “If it’s just graffiti, that’s not enough. It really depends on what the facts are.”
Alka Pradhan, a defence counsel in the 9/11 terrorism cases against inmates in the Guantánamo Bay prison camp, said: “John Yoo’s so-called reasoning has always been based on ‘What can the president get away with?’ rather than ‘What is the purpose and letter of the law?’
“That is not legal reasoning, it’s inherently tyrannical and anti-democratic.”
Pradhan and other defence lawyers in the pre-trial hearings at the Guantánamo Bay military tribunal have argued that the use of torture against their clients, made possible by Yoo’s 2002 memo, invalidated much of the case against them.
“The fact that John Yoo is employed and free to opine on legal matters is an example of the culture of impunity in the United States,” she said.


theguardian--2020-07-20--Trump threatens to deploy more federal agents to protests despite reports of violence

Federal agents sent to confront protesters in Portland have “ done a fantastic job ” and could be deployed to other cities , Donald Trump said on Monday .
The mayor of Portland has called for Trump to withdraw the federal agents , and the Oregon attorney general has filed a lawsuit seeking the same end .
The governor and the state ’ s two senators , all Democrats , have also complained .
Speaking in the Oval Office , the president brushed aside claims the officers are depriving people of their constitutional rights , and concerns such deployments could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ without Congress .
The largest city in Oregon has seen more than 50 nights of protest over police brutality and systemic racism , arising from the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on 25 May .
Confrontations between law enforcement and protesters in Portland have led to fires and the use of teargas .
Speaking to the Guardian and other outlets , protesters have reported violence by police and instances of people being seized by unidentified officers and held without due process .
Democrats in the US House of Representatives have demanded investigations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law enforcement agencies by the attorney general and the acting secretary of homeland security to suppress first amendment-protected activities in Washington DC , Portland and other communities across the United States ” .
In June , the Trump administration used federal officers against protesters in the capital , some of whom were forcibly dispersed so Trump could stage a photo op at a church .
National guard troops were also used , and active duty army units moved closer to the city .
In Portland , local media has stressed that the protests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ confined to a small area , and that much of life continues as normally as possible under the coronavirus pandemic .
Nonetheless , at the White House Trump was asked if he would consider sending troops .
It depended on the definition of troops , he said , adding : “ We are sending law enforcement.
” Trump seemed to refer to such plans in a controversial Fox News Sunday interview .
Talking about healthcare , the president said he would soon issue a plan “ that the supreme court decision on Daca @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against the administration ] gave me the right to do ” .
It has been widely reported that the White House has been influenced by John Yoo , a former government lawyer who justified the use of torture by the George W Bush administration .
Yoo argues the Daca ruling , which upheld Barack Obama ’ s executive order , shows Trump how to bypass Congress .
Many fear Trump , seeking to foreground law and order in an election in which he trails Joe Biden in most polls , will attempt to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cities in which gun violence has spiked .
On Monday , it was reported that agents were set to be sent to cities including Chicago .
In the Oval Office , the president complained about cities including Chicago and his native New York .
“ The police are afraid to do anything , ” he said , though Portland police have reported some federal agents acting “ under their own supervision and direction ” , many while dressed in camouflage fatigues that make them look like regular troops .
Trump continued : “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York and Chicago , Philadelphia , Detroit , Baltimore and all of these , Oakland in California is a mess , we ’ re not going to let this happen in our country .
All run by liberal Democrats .
“ Nobody will have done what I ’ m doing in the next four weeks , ” Trump told Fox News Sunday .
“ We can ’ t let this happen in the cities .
I ’ m going to do something , that I can tell you .
We ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ … In Portland they ’ ve done a fantastic job , they ’ ve been there three days [ and ] have done a fantastic job.
” Describing actions against protesters which observers and officials have described as blatantly unconstitutional , Trump said : “ No problem .
They grab them , a lot of people in jail .
“ These are leaders .
These people are anarchists , they ’ re not protesters … These are people that hate our country and we ’ re not going to let it go forward.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ maybe even physically afraid ” of the protesters , he added : “ It ’ s worse than Afghanistan.
” Trump has sought to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan and other actual war zones .

Federal agents sent to confront protesters in Portland have “done a fantastic job” and could be deployed to other cities, Donald Trump said on Monday.
The mayor of Portland has called for Trump to withdraw the federal agents, and the Oregon attorney general has filed a lawsuit seeking the same end. The governor and the state’s two senators, all Democrats, have also complained.
Speaking in the Oval Office, the president brushed aside claims the officers are depriving people of their constitutional rights, and concerns such deployments could herald an attempt by Trump to rule without Congress.
The largest city in Oregon has seen more than 50 nights of protest over police brutality and systemic racism, arising from the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on 25 May.
Confrontations between law enforcement and protesters in Portland have led to fires and the use of teargas. Speaking to the Guardian and other outlets, protesters have reported violence by police and instances of people being seized by unidentified officers and held without due process.
Democrats in the US House of Representatives have demanded investigations, decrying “the use of federal law enforcement agencies by the attorney general and the acting secretary of homeland security to suppress first amendment-protected activities in Washington DC, Portland and other communities across the United States”.
In June, the Trump administration used federal officers against protesters in the capital, some of whom were forcibly dispersed so Trump could stage a photo op at a church. National guard troops were also used, and active duty army units moved closer to the city.
In Portland, local media has stressed that the protests are not paralysing the city and are confined to a small area, and that much of life continues as normally as possible under the coronavirus pandemic.
Nonetheless, at the White House Trump was asked if he would consider sending troops. It depended on the definition of troops, he said, adding: “We are sending law enforcement.”
Trump seemed to refer to such plans in a controversial Fox News Sunday interview. Talking about healthcare, the president said he would soon issue a plan “that the supreme court decision on Daca [regarding immigration enforcement and which went against the administration] gave me the right to do”.
It has been widely reported that the White House has been influenced by John Yoo, a former government lawyer who justified the use of torture by the George W Bush administration. Yoo argues the Daca ruling, which upheld Barack Obama’s executive order, shows Trump how to bypass Congress.
Many fear Trump, seeking to foreground law and order in an election in which he trails Joe Biden in most polls, will attempt to use federal agents against protesters and in cities in which gun violence has spiked.
On Monday, it was reported that agents were set to be sent to cities including Chicago. In the Oval Office, the president complained about cities including Chicago and his native New York.
“The police are afraid to do anything,” he said, though Portland police have reported some federal agents acting “under their own supervision and direction”, many while dressed in camouflage fatigues that make them look like regular troops.
Trump continued: “We’re not going to let New York and Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore and all of these, Oakland in California is a mess, we’re not going to let this happen in our country. All run by liberal Democrats.
“Nobody will have done what I’m doing in the next four weeks,” Trump told Fox News Sunday.
“We can’t let this happen in the cities. I’m going to do something, that I can tell you. We’re going to have more federal law enforcement … In Portland they’ve done a fantastic job, they’ve been there three days [and] have done a fantastic job.”
Describing actions against protesters which observers and officials have described as blatantly unconstitutional, Trump said: “No problem. They grab them, a lot of people in jail.
“These are leaders. These people are anarchists, they’re not protesters … These are people that hate our country and we’re not going to let it go forward.”
Claiming lawmakers in Oregon were “maybe even physically afraid” of the protesters, he added: “It’s worse than Afghanistan.”
Trump has sought to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan and other actual war zones.


theguardian--2020-07-20--Trump's sweaty Fox News interview shows his 2020 chances melting away | Richard Wolffe

Two generations ago , Richard Nixon sweated his way to losing the first ever presidential debate on television to a young , fit and cool John F Kennedy .
It was the kind of rookie mistake you could put down to the newness of TV .
So how do you explain – 60 years later – the drenching sweat that trickled down the face of the reality TV star who is now living inside the White House ?
Of the very few things Donald Trump is supposed to know in any modicum of detail , TV sits right at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ challenging his presidency than there are cable news channels , but that doesn ’ t stop him tweeting about all the TV he ’ s watching all day .
For a man who still measures his manhood by his own TV ratings , it was a curious choice to sit outside in the humid steamer of a Washington summer , caked in his glowing orange make-up , to field the pesky questions of the best interviewer on Fox News .
“ Hot enough for you here , Mr President ?
” asked Chris @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” said Trump .
“ It ’ s about , well , sort of almost record-breaking stuff.
” “ You know , we wanted to do it inside , ” replied Wallace .
“ This is your choice.
” Trump has made so many more consequential blunders than failing to prepare for his double-sided grilling by the weather and Wallace .
But this chargrilled interview laid bare how the Wicked Wizard of the West Wing is melting before our eyes .
For four years we have been told that populist leaders – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : experts not in government but in hijacking the public attention .
His pithy nicknames and catchphrases supposedly destroyed his rivals in 2016 .
They came up with 12-point plans while he was going to make America great again .
He threatened North Korea with his big nuclear button , then fell in love with the North Korean leader in a summit staged just for the cameras .
But now his repeated attempts to smear Joe Biden have flopped and the great showman is reportedly asking aides if he should try to find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ showing him losing the election , both nationally and in all the battleground states , Trump ’ s despair dribbled through all his pores on Sunday ’ s interview .
When asked if Biden was senile , Trump answered with the kind of half-baked half-thoughts of a mind cooking slowly in the heat of the presidency .
“ I ’ d say he ’ s not competent to be president , ” he warmed up .
“ To be president , you have to be sharp and tough and so many other things.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ things , pray tell ?
“ He doesn ’ t even come out of his basement .
They think , ‘ Oh this is a great campaign.
’ So he goes in.
” It wasn ’ t clear who they were or what he was going into .
But it seemed totally clear to our sharp and tough president , who is also so many other things .
“ I ’ ll then make a speech .
It ’ ll be a great speech .
And some young guy starts writing , ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , this.
’ He didn ’ t say it .
Joe doesn ’ t know he ’ s alive , OK ?
He doesn ’ t know he ’ s alive.
” It may be tempting to blame all of this on the young guy whose writing clearly leaves a lot to be desired .
But it ’ s the old guy in the Oval we should be worried about .
He doesn ’ t know he ’ s dying out there .
There have been some clues , of course .
There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ op with a pretty bible and a ton of tear gas .
There was the Tulsa rally for a million people who failed to show up .
There was that weird Mount Rushmore speech about the fascists who say mean things about racists .
Then again , as Chris Wallace pointed out , there are the polls that show this desperate act isn ’ t working .
And there ’ s all the endless video of our sharp and tough president predicting the pandemic would just disappear , like a miracle , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ perhaps some bright light .
“ I ’ ll be right eventually , ” Trump insisted when confronted with his own cringe-inducing comments about the coronavirus .
“ I will be right eventually .
You know I said , ‘ It ’ s going to disappear.
’ I ’ ll say it again.
” They say a stopped clock is right twice a day .
But this broken timepiece will only be happy when all the clocks have stopped .
At this point in Trump ’ s Twilight Zone , the audience has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that lie ahead in the next four months .
It consists of as much concocted chaos as humanly possible .
There will be terrorist protesters in every major city , whisked off the streets by Trump ’ s paramilitaries in rented minivans .
Thank goodness we have machine-gun-toting goons to protect us from all that graffiti .
There will be caravans of coronavirus-filled immigrants scaling the freshly-painted border wall , which has done such a fantastic job of protecting us all from the pandemic .
After Nixon sweated his way to defeat against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidency eight years later with a law and order campaign that promised to shut down civil rights protests and stop enforcing civil rights laws .
Our Trumpified version of Tricky Dick is a little less subtle than the original .
He claimed that people flying the confederate flag were “ not talking about racism ” .
But when asked about removing the names of confederate generals from US military bases , Trump could only think about race .
And some weird stuff about a couple of world wars .
“ We ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Al Sharpton ?
What are you going to name it , Chris ?
Tell me what you ’ re going to name it , ” Trump sputtered .
“ So there ’ s a whole thing here .
We won two world wars , two world wars , beautiful world wars that were vicious and horrible .
And we won them out of Fort Bragg .
We won out of all of these forts that now they want to throw those names away.
” Ah yes , those beautiful world wars .
So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same time .
Like the man says , there is indeed a whole thing here .
“ Let Biden sit through an interview like this , ” Trump declared at another point .
“ He ’ ll be on the ground crying for mommy .
He ’ ll say , ‘ Mommy , mommy , please take me home.
’ ” In his own man-childish way , Trump thought he was proving his point about senility and sharpness and toughness .
And so many other things .
But with every new interview , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asking his mommy to please take him home .

Two generations ago, Richard Nixon sweated his way to losing the first ever presidential debate on television to a young, fit and cool John F Kennedy.
It was the kind of rookie mistake you could put down to the newness of TV.
So how do you explain – 60 years later – the drenching sweat that trickled down the face of the reality TV star who is now living inside the White House?
Of the very few things Donald Trump is supposed to know in any modicum of detail, TV sits right at the tippity-top. There are more historic crises challenging his presidency than there are cable news channels, but that doesn’t stop him tweeting about all the TV he’s watching all day.
For a man who still measures his manhood by his own TV ratings, it was a curious choice to sit outside in the humid steamer of a Washington summer, caked in his glowing orange make-up, to field the pesky questions of the best interviewer on Fox News.
This video has been removed. This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. Five strange moments from Trump's Fox News interview – video
“Hot enough for you here, Mr President?” asked Chris Wallace.
“It’s hot,” said Trump. “It’s about, well, sort of almost record-breaking stuff.”
“You know, we wanted to do it inside,” replied Wallace. “This is your choice.”
Trump has made so many more consequential blunders than failing to prepare for his double-sided grilling by the weather and Wallace. But this chargrilled interview laid bare how the Wicked Wizard of the West Wing is melting before our eyes.
This chargrilled interview laid bare how the Wicked Wizard of the West Wing is melting before our eyes
For four years we have been told that populist leaders – especially this one – are peerless showmen: experts not in government but in hijacking the public attention.
His pithy nicknames and catchphrases supposedly destroyed his rivals in 2016. They came up with 12-point plans while he was going to make America great again. He threatened North Korea with his big nuclear button, then fell in love with the North Korean leader in a summit staged just for the cameras.
But now his repeated attempts to smear Joe Biden have flopped and the great showman is reportedly asking aides if he should try to find another nickname.
With every new poll showing him losing the election, both nationally and in all the battleground states, Trump’s despair dribbled through all his pores on Sunday’s interview.
When asked if Biden was senile, Trump answered with the kind of half-baked half-thoughts of a mind cooking slowly in the heat of the presidency. “I’d say he’s not competent to be president,” he warmed up. “To be president, you have to be sharp and tough and so many other things.”
What are these so many other things, pray tell?
“He doesn’t even come out of his basement. They think, ‘Oh this is a great campaign.’ So he goes in.”
It wasn’t clear who they were or what he was going into. But it seemed totally clear to our sharp and tough president, who is also so many other things.
“I’ll then make a speech. It’ll be a great speech. And some young guy starts writing, ‘Vice President Biden said this, this, this.’ He didn’t say it. Joe doesn’t know he’s alive, OK? He doesn’t know he’s alive.”
It may be tempting to blame all of this on the young guy whose writing clearly leaves a lot to be desired.
But it’s the old guy in the Oval we should be worried about. He doesn’t know he’s dying out there.
There have been some clues, of course. There was the disastrous riot of a photo op with a pretty bible and a ton of tear gas. There was the Tulsa rally for a million people who failed to show up. There was that weird Mount Rushmore speech about the fascists who say mean things about racists.
Then again, as Chris Wallace pointed out, there are the polls that show this desperate act isn’t working. And there’s all the endless video of our sharp and tough president predicting the pandemic would just disappear, like a miracle, with a little disinfectant injected inside. Or perhaps some bright light.
“I’ll be right eventually,” Trump insisted when confronted with his own cringe-inducing comments about the coronavirus. “I will be right eventually. You know I said, ‘It’s going to disappear.’ I’ll say it again.”
They say a stopped clock is right twice a day. But this broken timepiece will only be happy when all the clocks have stopped.
At this point in Trump’s Twilight Zone, the audience has a good sense of the plot twists that lie ahead in the next four months. It consists of as much concocted chaos as humanly possible.
There will be terrorist protesters in every major city, whisked off the streets by Trump’s paramilitaries in rented minivans. Thank goodness we have machine-gun-toting goons to protect us from all that graffiti.
There will be caravans of coronavirus-filled immigrants scaling the freshly-painted border wall, which has done such a fantastic job of protecting us all from the pandemic.
After Nixon sweated his way to defeat against Kennedy, he returned to win the presidency eight years later with a law and order campaign that promised to shut down civil rights protests and stop enforcing civil rights laws.
Our Trumpified version of Tricky Dick is a little less subtle than the original.
He claimed that people flying the confederate flag were “not talking about racism”. But when asked about removing the names of confederate generals from US military bases, Trump could only think about race. And some weird stuff about a couple of world wars.
“We’re going to name it after the Rev Al Sharpton? What are you going to name it, Chris? Tell me what you’re going to name it,” Trump sputtered.
“So there’s a whole thing here. We won two world wars, two world wars, beautiful world wars that were vicious and horrible. And we won them out of Fort Bragg. We won out of all of these forts that now they want to throw those names away.”
Ah yes, those beautiful world wars. So vicious and horrible. All at the same time. Like the man says, there is indeed a whole thing here.
“Let Biden sit through an interview like this,” Trump declared at another point. “He’ll be on the ground crying for mommy. He’ll say, ‘Mommy, mommy, please take me home.’”
In his own man-childish way, Trump thought he was proving his point about senility and sharpness and toughness. And so many other things.
But with every new interview, it sounds like he’s just asking his mommy to please take him home.


theguardian--2020-07-20--Watching Trump's paramilitary squads descend on Portland, it's hard not to feel doomed | Francine Pr

Watching Trump's paramilitary squads descend on Portland, it's hard not to feel doomed | Francine Prose

A new word , doomscrolling , describes the way we compulsively tickle our phones into providing a non-stop stream of dire health and disease statistics , grim economic predictions , images of food lines and exploding emergency rooms .
With so much doom to scroll through , it ’ s hard to know when to stop and pay attention , but one story that jumped out at me – and , I hope , at many others – is the account of how demonstrators in Portland , Oregon , protesting racism and police brutality earlier in July , were tear-gassed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by unidentified , masked federal agents in camouflage and fatigues , hustled into unmarked vans and detained for hours .
The agents were reported to work with the US Marshals Special Operations Group and Bortac , the Border Patrol Tactical Unit .
Government-funded thugs , assaulting citizens , still conjure up repellent images of Hitler ’ s Brownshirts stomping their fellow Germans , and the street kidnapping of civilians has been the hallmark of authoritarian dictatorships .
That was how you wound up in one of Stalin ’ s labor gulags , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dropped its critics into the sea , or in a CIA black site .
In a headline , an Esquire article on the Portland attacks used Pinochet ( the tyrant who orchestrated the disappearance of thousands of Chileans during his 17-year regime ) as a verb : “ A Major American City is Being Softly Pinochet ’ d in Broad Daylight.
” One can track the violence to Trump ordering the governors to “ dominate ” their cities , of which , he claimed , they ’ d lost control .
But the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Portland and other local officials insisted that they don ’ t want federal agents gassing their citizens .
So who does ?
A US Customs and Border Protection internal memo , obtained by the Nation and dated 1 July , offers some answers .
In response to a presidential order “ Protecting American Monuments , Memorials , Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Activity , “ the acting director of homeland security has created the “ DHS Protecting American Communities Task Force ( Pact ) to provide an ongoing assessment of potential civil unrest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are mine , but the memo describes the formation of a paramilitary organization , reporting to the federal government and free from the laws , rules and conventions followed ( even nominally ) by police and the army .
In addition , the DHS has begun “ coordination with the Department of Justice ( DoJ ) and the Department of the Interior ( DoI ) to establish information/intelligence sharing and resource coordination as outlined in the order .
“ CBP will be supporting this effort by deploying personnel to provide support over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the potential for increased disruptive activity at specific locations across the country that could threaten our personnel and the federal facilities and property they protect.
” Like potential , support is a questionable word , since Portland never asked for the troops ’ support or presence .
As for potential disruptive activity , two of the men whisked into unmarked vans were quietly leaving the demonstration , which was winding down .
The mention of the DoJ naturally brings to mind William Barr , the attorney general , okaying the use of teargas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Washington on 20 June to make way for Donald Trump ’ s St John ’ s church photo op .
The incident was a public-relations disaster , so why not do better in Portland , cut the awkward , upside-down Bible and Ivanka ’ s Max Mara purse and go stealthy ?
Cue the unidentified agents and the trolling unmarked vans .
The Esquire article refers to the Portland arrests as a rehearsal ; it ’ s one in a series of rehearsals .
First DC , then Portland .
Coming soon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all that manpower necessary to protect statues ?
Who knew White House was so invested in art , culture – or American history ?
These attacks are about exerting power , bullying dissenters , intimidating Americans into giving up their first amendment protections , their constitutional rights .
Robert Evans , a Portland-based freelance journalist and conflict reporter , told the New York Times : “ Portland is being used as a bellwether to see what this administration can get away with .
And also what works to quell protest.
” How much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those who would like to see the establishment of an authoritarian state that despise minorities and immigrants , hates women and the poor , and in mid-pandemic , values money and profit over human life .
This prospect intensifies the anxiety of many Americans who fear a stolen election , widespread voter suppression , further affronts to the rule of law .
Fortunately , there ’ s been pushback .
The demonstrations in Portland have gotten larger and more impassioned .
Portland mayor Ted Wheeler called the violence “ an attack on our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Portland Mercury are suing federal agents .
Oregon senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley , and New York senator Chuck Schumer , are demanding a federal investigation .
Oregon governor Kate Brown accused acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf of trying to “ provoke confrontation for political purposes.
” Americans who care about our country and still hope we can fix our flawed democracy should pay attention .
There are those , Trump and Barr among them , who would like to see our freedoms replaced by unflagging obedience to the needs of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Portland is an important story hiding in the shadow of Covid-19 ’ s devastations .
If we let the increasingly empowered paramilitary arms of the government deny our right to assemble and speak freely , to circumvent our legal system and eliminate the writ of habeas corpus , we won ’ t need to scroll down our phones to know that we are doomed .
• None Francine Prose is a former president of PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was amended on 20 July 2020 to correct the name of the Oregon Senator .
His name is Jeff Merkley , not Chuck Merkley

A new word, doomscrolling, describes the way we compulsively tickle our phones into providing a non-stop stream of dire health and disease statistics, grim economic predictions, images of food lines and exploding emergency rooms.
With so much doom to scroll through, it’s hard to know when to stop and pay attention, but one story that jumped out at me – and, I hope, at many others – is the account of how demonstrators in Portland, Oregon, protesting racism and police brutality earlier in July, were tear-gassed, beaten, seized off the street by unidentified, masked federal agents in camouflage and fatigues, hustled into unmarked vans and detained for hours. The agents were reported to work with the US Marshals Special Operations Group and Bortac, the Border Patrol Tactical Unit.
Government-funded thugs, assaulting citizens, still conjure up repellent images of Hitler’s Brownshirts stomping their fellow Germans, and the street kidnapping of civilians has been the hallmark of authoritarian dictatorships. That was how you wound up in one of Stalin’s labor gulags, in the helicopter from which the Argentinian junta dropped its critics into the sea, or in a CIA black site. In a headline, an Esquire article on the Portland attacks used Pinochet (the tyrant who orchestrated the disappearance of thousands of Chileans during his 17-year regime) as a verb: “A Major American City is Being Softly Pinochet’d in Broad Daylight.”
One can track the violence to Trump ordering the governors to “dominate” their cities, of which, he claimed, they’d lost control. But the governor of Oregon, the mayor of Portland and other local officials insisted that they don’t want federal agents gassing their citizens. So who does?
A US Customs and Border Protection internal memo, obtained by the Nation and dated 1 July, offers some answers. In response to a presidential order “Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Activity, “ the acting director of homeland security has created the “DHS Protecting American Communities Task Force (Pact) to provide an ongoing assessment of potential civil unrest and property destruction”.
The italics are mine, but the memo describes the formation of a paramilitary organization, reporting to the federal government and free from the laws, rules and conventions followed (even nominally) by police and the army.
In addition, the DHS has begun “coordination with the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Department of the Interior (DoI) to establish information/intelligence sharing and resource coordination as outlined in the order.
“CBP will be supporting this effort by deploying personnel to provide support over the Fourth of July holiday weekend which has the potential for increased disruptive activity at specific locations across the country that could threaten our personnel and the federal facilities and property they protect.”
Like potential, support is a questionable word, since Portland never asked for the troops’ support or presence. As for potential disruptive activity, two of the men whisked into unmarked vans were quietly leaving the demonstration, which was winding down.
The mention of the DoJ naturally brings to mind William Barr, the attorney general, okaying the use of teargas and national guard troops against the demonstrators in Washington on 20 June to make way for Donald Trump’s St John’s church photo op. The incident was a public-relations disaster, so why not do better in Portland, cut the awkward, upside-down Bible and Ivanka’s Max Mara purse and go stealthy? Cue the unidentified agents and the trolling unmarked vans. The Esquire article refers to the Portland arrests as a rehearsal; it’s one in a series of rehearsals. First DC, then Portland. Coming soon to a city near you.
Is all that manpower necessary to protect statues? Who knew White House was so invested in art, culture – or American history? These attacks are about exerting power, bullying dissenters, intimidating Americans into giving up their first amendment protections, their constitutional rights. Robert Evans, a Portland-based freelance journalist and conflict reporter, told the New York Times: “Portland is being used as a bellwether to see what this administration can get away with. And also what works to quell protest.”
How much clearer must it be? There are those who would like to see the establishment of an authoritarian state that despises minorities and immigrants, hates women and the poor, and in mid-pandemic, values money and profit over human life. This prospect intensifies the anxiety of many Americans who fear a stolen election, widespread voter suppression, further affronts to the rule of law.
Fortunately, there’s been pushback. The demonstrations in Portland have gotten larger and more impassioned. Portland mayor Ted Wheeler called the violence “an attack on our democracy”. The ACLU and the Portland Mercury are suing federal agents. Oregon senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and New York senator Chuck Schumer, are demanding a federal investigation. Oregon governor Kate Brown accused acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf of trying to “provoke confrontation for political purposes.”
Americans who care about our country and still hope we can fix our flawed democracy should pay attention. There are those, Trump and Barr among them, who would like to see our freedoms replaced by unflagging obedience to the needs of corporations and billionaires. What happened in Portland is an important story hiding in the shadow of Covid-19’s devastations. If we let the increasingly empowered paramilitary arms of the government deny our right to assemble and speak freely, to circumvent our legal system and eliminate the writ of habeas corpus, we won’t need to scroll down our phones to know that we are doomed.


theguardian--2020-07-21--Coronavirus US: record hospitalisations in seven states as Trump resumes briefings – live updates

Mike Pompeo has tweeted some details of his meeting this morning with British prime minister Boris Johnson , saying it was a “ constructive visit ” As expected , US-UK trade and China featured in the discussion , with Pompeo specifically mentioning 5G .
The British government recently announced that it would be stripping Huawei ’ s technology out of the nation ’ s 5G network by 2027 , a decision which Donald Trump appeared to partially claim credit for .
Pompeo will spend the afternoon meeting with his direct counterpart , foreign secretary Dominic Raab .
The two are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this afternoon .
Pompeo ’ s visit has not been protest-free .
As well as the usual anti-Trump sentiment often seen on London ’ s streets when a member of the administration visits the UK , there were demonstrations demanding freedom for Julian Assange , and also representatives of the campaign for justice for Harry Dunn .
The mother of the teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn had appealed for the prime minister to make her son “ top priority ” during the visit , and was outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office this morning @ @ @ @

21 Jul 2020 00.51 BST Summary From Joan E Greve and me: During a coronavirus briefing, Donald Trump spoke without his top health officials, Dr Deborah Birx and Dr Anthony Fauci. The president stayed on message, encouraging Americans to wear masks despite his months-long resistance to covering his face in public to stop the spread of disease. He chose a racist term to refer to the coronavirus and repeated a few false or misleading claims about the national stockpile and testing.
The president stayed on message, encouraging Americans to wear masks despite his months-long resistance to covering his face in public to stop the spread of disease. He chose a racist term to refer to the coronavirus and repeated a few false or misleading claims about the national stockpile and testing. Trump signed an executive order aimed at excluding undocumented persons from being counted in the 2020 census. The ACLU immediately said it would file a lawsuit against the administration over the order, which comes a year after the supreme court blocked Trump’s effort to add a citizenship question to the census.
The ACLU immediately said it would file a lawsuit against the administration over the order, which comes a year after the supreme court blocked Trump’s effort to add a citizenship question to the census. Joe Biden accused Trump of having “quit on this country” amid the coronavirus pandemic. Delivering a speech on his plan to expand access to early childcare, Biden said of Trump, “For all his bluster about his expertise on the economy, he’s unable to explain how he’ll actually help working families hit the hardest ... He’s quit on you. He’s quit on this country.”
Delivering a speech on his plan to expand access to early childcare, Biden said of Trump, “For all his bluster about his expertise on the economy, he’s unable to explain how he’ll actually help working families hit the hardest ... He’s quit on you. He’s quit on this country.” Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell outlined the broad strokes of the Republican coronavirus relief bill. McConnell said the legislation would include $105bn for schools, which is well short of the $430bn that Democrats have been pushing for. The bill will also allocate more money in small business loans and direct payments to American families, McConnell said.
McConnell said the legislation would include $105bn for schools, which is well short of the $430bn that have been pushing for. The bill will also allocate more money in small business loans and direct payments to American families, McConnell said. John Bolton said there is no justification for the deployment of DHS forces on the streets of Portland. Bolton told the Guardian in an interview, “The protection of federal courthouses now is the responsibility of the US Marshals Service ... I’m not saying everything’s hunky dory in Portland, Oregon, because it clearly is not. But I don’t see any justification for the deployment of the Department of Homeland Security personnel.”
Updated at 01.27 BST
21 Jul 2020 00.43 BST Tom McCarthy Skepticism is growing in the United States about the accuracy of publicly reported numbers for Covid-19 deaths, according to Axios-Ipsos polling published on Tuesday. Thirty-one percent of respondents in the survey said they believe the number of Americans dying from Covid-19 is in reality smaller than public data portrays. Skepticism was up from 23% in May. Skepticism about coronavirus statistics was heavily correlated with media consumption habits, the poll found. A 62% majority of Fox News watchers said the statistics are overblown, while 48% who reported no main news source thought so. Only 7% of CNN and MSNBC watchers thought so. Denialism around the virus is growing at a time when the US faces an unprecedented emergency of exploding case numbers and when the urgency is acute for coordinated action to prevent an uncontrollable outbreak, epidemiologists say. US public increasingly skeptical of Covid-19 death toll, poll finds Read more
21 Jul 2020 00.31 BST Trump asked the US ambassador to Britain, Robert Wood Johnson IV, to inquire if the British government might help push to have the British Open golf tournament at the Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland, the New York Times reports. Johnson reportedly told multiple colleagues that the president wanted him to see if he UK officials could help make Turnberry the venue for the world-famous golf tournament in 2018. From the Times: The ambassador’s deputy, Lewis A. Lukens, advised him not to do it, warning that it would be an unethical use of the presidency for private gain, these people said. But Mr. Johnson apparently felt pressured to try. A few weeks later, he raised the idea of Turnberry playing host to the Open with the secretary of state for Scotland, David Mundell. The Guardian has not independently verified the Times’ reporting. Trump has drawn criticism in the past for using his political position to draw business to his properties in the UK. In 2018, Congress opened an investigation into whether increased spending at Prestwick airport near Glasgow and visits to Turnberry violated the constitution. That investigation followed reports that the strained airport was offering “cut-price rooms for select passengers and crew” and free rounds of golf at Turnberry for US military and civilian aircrews.
Updated at 01.26 BST
21 Jul 2020 00.18 BST In response to Trump’s briefing today, Democratic National Committee spokesperson Lily Adams said that “as soon as he was off script, Trump once again downplayed the virus.” “The White House thinks these briefings will be good for Trump’s ratings, but the more people hear from Trump, the more they see what a failure he is,” she wrote in a statement. “Trump might be able to read semi-coherently from prepared remarks for 15 minutes, but that doesn’t mean he’s turned over a new leaf on his response.”
21 Jul 2020 00.12 BST Sam Levin California’s governor has granted an emergency release to Patricia Wright, a 69-year-old woman battling terminal cancer inside a prison that has suffered a major outbreak. Wright, who doctors say has months to live, left prison on Tuesday morning for the first time in 23 years, greeted by her five children, three sisters and a dozen other relatives waiting on the other side of the gates at the California Institution for Women (CIW), east of Los Angeles. The family’s long fight for her release became increasingly urgent due to Covid-19, which has infected more than 160 people at CIW and nearly 7,000 people across the state’s prison system. “I’ve been waiting for this day for 23 years, it is really indescribable,” said Wright, standing on the street outside CIW as her grandchildren and other loved ones swarmed her with hugs and handed her flowers and gifts, including her first iPhone. She danced and held her hands in the air. “Oh my God! I’m walking on cloud nine … I just want to sit down at the table with my family and embrace my children.” Wright, who has battled breast and ovarian cancer and is legally blind, is undergoing chemotherapy. She spoke of her fears of dying alone behind bars in recent interviews with the Guardian, and is one of tens of thousands of older and at-risk prisoners who have been pleading for some form of clemency in response to Covid-19. Since March, 40 prisoners have died and those numbers are expected to increase in the coming weeks. “For the past 23 years, I’ve had this burden in my heart every day. I could not live fully thinking about my sister in prison,” said Chantel Bonet, who years earlier moved to the city of Corona, where the prison is located, so she could be closer to her sister. “Now that burden is lifted.” Wright, a survivor of domestic violence, was accused of hiring someone to kill her abusive husband but has maintained her innocence. She is one of many women convicted of murder under US laws that have faced widespread scrutiny for targeting victims of abuse. She was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, meaning this kind of direct action from the governor was her only option. California releases cancer patient Patricia Wright from prison amid Covid-19 outbreak Read more
21 Jul 2020 00.10 BST David Smith Donald Trump has bestowed his good wishes on Ghislaine Maxwell, who faces federal charges for allegedly enabling disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of minor girls. At a press conference ostensibly to discuss the coronavirus crisis gripping the US on Tuesday, Trump took questions from reporters, one of whom asked him about Maxwell’s recent arrest and whether she might implicate some of the “powerful men” who formed part of Epstein’s jet set social circle. “I don’t know – I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly,” Trump responded. “I have met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well, whatever it is.” Maxwell, a longtime associate of Epstein, was arrested earlier this month and charged with conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and perjury.
Epstein was arrested last July and killed himself in federal jail in August. His death sparked a flurry of speculation about what he knew about the powerful figures from the worlds of politics, science and entertainment with whom he had frequently associated, including figures like Trump, former president Bill Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew. Responding to the reporter’s question, Trump concluded by saying: “I don’t know the situation with Prince Andrew. Just don’t know. Not aware of it.” Donald Trump on Ghislaine Maxwell: 'I wish her well' Read more
21 Jul 2020 23.55 BST On CNN, Nancy Pelosi is referring to the coronavirus as the “Trump virus” castigating the administration’s response to the pandemic. The president has taken to using a racist term to describe to novel coronavirus, including that his briefing today, pinning the blame on China for the pandemic.
Updated at 23.59 BST
21 Jul 2020 23.21 BST Ed Pilkington The United States is failing to report vital information on Covid-19 that could help track the spread of the disease and prevent the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans, according to the first comprehensive review of the nation’s coronavirus data. The report, Tracking Covid-19 in the United States, paints a bleak picture of the country’s response to the disease. Five months into the pandemic, the essential intelligence that would allow public health authorities to get to grips with the virus is still not being compiled in usable form. That includes critical data on testing, contact tracing, new cases and deaths. What the authors call “life-and-death information” is being pulled together haphazardly by individual states in a way that is “inconsistent, incomplete and inaccessible in most locations”. Without such intelligence the country is effectively walking blind, with very little chance of getting “our children to school in the fall, ourselves back to work, our economy restarted, and preventing tens of thousands of deaths”. 'Flying blind': US failure to report vital coronavirus data is hobbling response Read more
21 Jul 2020 23.00 BST Circling back to testing ... Trump, who has been boasting about the country’s coronavirus testing for months, was right in saying that the US has dramatically ramped up testing and is now testing a higher proportion of citizens than many other countries. But that’s in part because there are so many cases in the US – the bigger the outbreak, the more testing is needed to contain and suppress the virus. The US is now administering more tests per 100,000 people than South Korea and Germany. But a smaller proportion of those tests are coming back positive in the latter two countries.
Updated at 23.05 BST
21 Jul 2020 22.47 BST One non-coronavirus line from that presser that stood out: Trump on Ghislaine Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein associate charged with sex trafficking of minors. Trump’s response when asked about her: “I wish her well.”
Updated at 23.05 BST