motherjones--2020-03-13--The Right and Wrong Lessons to Take From That Viral Photo of an ICE Arrest at a Hospital

Two seemingly contradictory facts are both true : First , in the midst of a pandemic , Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained a Honduran immigrant at a Pennsylvania hospital on Thursday .
Second , it remains safe for immigrants to seek medical treatment .
These two facts collided on Thursday , when the news of a hospital arrest appeared in a tweet from Pennsylvania immigration attorney Juliette Gomez and quickly went viral .
What exactly occurred was hard to discern from the tweet .
On Twitter , some users incorrectly concluded that ICE was targeting hospitals as the novel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a longstanding ICE policy generally prohibits ICE officers from taking people into custody at hospitals .
“ Exceptions to this policy are extremely rare and are mostly limited to imminent public safety threats , ” Sarah Pierce , a policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute , said .
“ Immigrants should absolutely feel safe to seek medical treatment.
” In an initial statement , ICE said that it was investigating the tweet , adding , “ It is critical during this time of global pandemic , that everyone know that ICE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , except under extraordinary circumstances .
Individuals should continue to seek care for medical conditions.
” ICE officials confirmed in a follow up statement that officers detained a man at a hospital after initially intending to take him into custody at a courthouse .
I caught up with Gomez and an ICE spokesman to find out about the events that led up to the moment in the hospital .
Gomez told me her client first came to the United States from Honduras in 2004 , and he was deported around 2011 .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a month later and has been in the country ever since .
He has two children in the United States who are ages 14 and 6 , Gomez said .
He ’ s also the legal guardian of a third child who is about 12 .
On Thursday , Gomez said , he was scheduled to be sentenced in federal court for reentering the country without authorization .
ICE said in a statement that officers planned to take him into custody after the sentencing hearing in Scranton , Pennsylvania , noting that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ office about the plan .
( The Justice Department handles criminal charges , while ICE , a part of the Department of Homeland Security , places people in civil detention so that it can deport them . )
At the hearing , a Justice Department attorney asked Gomez ’ s public defender , Elliot Smith , why his and Gomez ’ s client had brought his family with him , according to Gomez .
He was going to be detained by ICE afterwards , the US attorney said , and seeing that happen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gomez ’ s client was aware of how traumatic this situation could be .
He had been detained by ICE in May after dropping his 14-year-old daughter off at school , she said .
His 14-year-old was so traumatized by the event , she ended up missing school due to the mental health problems it caused .
He had initially gotten on ICE ’ s radar , Gomez explained , after being incorrectly told to file an asylum application by someone practicing law without a license .
After being detained by ICE in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ roughly six months in ICE detention before becoming eligible to be released .
The news that he was going to be arrested after the Thursday hearing was a surprise to Smith and Gomez ’ s client , who didn ’ t realize ICE officers would be there to detain him that day .
The public defender asked the judge to provide Gomez ’ s client with the chance to say goodbye to his family since he wouldn ’ t be able to do so after he was taken into custody .
The judge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
While he was saying goodbye , the man , whom Gomez said sleeps wearing a ventilator because of respiratory problems , had difficulty breathing , either as the result of a panic attack or because of the medical issues for which he ’ s been hospitalized in recent weeks .
Before interacting with the ICE officers at the courthouse , he was taken to a hospital in an ambulance .
ICE followed him there and then stood watch outside his door , according to Gomez .
As soon as he was discharged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he was handcuffed by two officers .
Gomez said the photo she posted was taken by her client ’ s wife as officers escorted him to the bathroom .
When we spoke on Thursday night , Gomez said her client was being detained without his ventilator .
She was particularly worried that a man with a respiratory problems is now locked up , as people are contracting COVID-19 .
The fact that he ’ d previously been released from ICE custody should be evidence that he is not a flight risk .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be deported as quickly as possible so that his family can join him in Honduras .
But first , he will have to remain in jail for a new sentencing hearing that had been rescheduled on Thursday , she said , and it ’ s unclear when that will happen .
After his hospital arrest , Gomez asked ICE to release her client on an order of supervision so that he can leave the country with his family .
ICE can honor that request , or it can keep him in detention @ @ @ @ @ @ @ After describing the charity her client had created to send food and clothes to children in need in Honduras , Gomez concluded , “ This is a genuinely good dude .
”

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Two seemingly contradictory facts are both true: First, in the midst of a pandemic, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained a Honduran immigrant at a Pennsylvania hospital on Thursday. Second, it remains safe for immigrants to seek medical treatment.
These two facts collided on Thursday, when the news of a hospital arrest appeared in a tweet from Pennsylvania immigration attorney Juliette Gomez and quickly went viral.
Image of ICE officers arresting my client at the hospital pic.twitter.com/y7ZdDyz6iT — juliette (@juliblingblong) March 12, 2020
What exactly occurred was hard to discern from the tweet. On Twitter, some users incorrectly concluded that ICE was targeting hospitals as the novel coronavirus spread across the country.
But a longstanding ICE policy generally prohibits ICE officers from taking people into custody at hospitals. “Exceptions to this policy are extremely rare and are mostly limited to imminent public safety threats,” Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, said. “Immigrants should absolutely feel safe to seek medical treatment.”
In an initial statement, ICE said that it was investigating the tweet, adding, “It is critical during this time of global pandemic, that everyone know that ICE does not conduct operations at medical facilities, except under extraordinary circumstances. Individuals should continue to seek care for medical conditions.” ICE officials confirmed in a follow up statement that officers detained a man at a hospital after initially intending to take him into custody at a courthouse.
I caught up with Gomez and an ICE spokesman to find out about the events that led up to the moment in the hospital.
Gomez told me her client first came to the United States from Honduras in 2004, and he was deported around 2011. He then returned to the United States about a month later and has been in the country ever since. He has two children in the United States who are ages 14 and 6, Gomez said. He’s also the legal guardian of a third child who is about 12.
On Thursday, Gomez said, he was scheduled to be sentenced in federal court for reentering the country without authorization. ICE said in a statement that officers planned to take him into custody after the sentencing hearing in Scranton, Pennsylvania, noting that it had informed the US Attorney’s office about the plan. (The Justice Department handles criminal charges, while ICE, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, places people in civil detention so that it can deport them.)
At the hearing, a Justice Department attorney asked Gomez’s public defender, Elliot Smith, why his and Gomez’s client had brought his family with him, according to Gomez. He was going to be detained by ICE afterwards, the US attorney said, and seeing that happen could be traumatizing for his children.
Gomez’s client was aware of how traumatic this situation could be. He had been detained by ICE in May after dropping his 14-year-old daughter off at school, she said. His 14-year-old was so traumatized by the event, she ended up missing school due to the mental health problems it caused. He had initially gotten on ICE’s radar, Gomez explained, after being incorrectly told to file an asylum application by someone practicing law without a license. After being detained by ICE in May, Gomez’s client spent roughly six months in ICE detention before becoming eligible to be released.
The news that he was going to be arrested after the Thursday hearing was a surprise to Smith and Gomez’s client, who didn’t realize ICE officers would be there to detain him that day. The public defender asked the judge to provide Gomez’s client with the chance to say goodbye to his family since he wouldn’t be able to do so after he was taken into custody. The judge allowed him to before the hearing began. While he was saying goodbye, the man, whom Gomez said sleeps wearing a ventilator because of respiratory problems, had difficulty breathing, either as the result of a panic attack or because of the medical issues for which he’s been hospitalized in recent weeks.
Before interacting with the ICE officers at the courthouse, he was taken to a hospital in an ambulance. ICE followed him there and then stood watch outside his door, according to Gomez. As soon as he was discharged, but still in his hospital room, he was handcuffed by two officers. Gomez said the photo she posted was taken by her client’s wife as officers escorted him to the bathroom.
When we spoke on Thursday night, Gomez said her client was being detained without his ventilator. She was particularly worried that a man with a respiratory problems is now locked up, as people are contracting COVID-19. The fact that he’d previously been released from ICE custody should be evidence that he is not a flight risk. Instead, she said, he wants to be deported as quickly as possible so that his family can join him in Honduras. But first, he will have to remain in jail for a new sentencing hearing that had been rescheduled on Thursday, she said, and it’s unclear when that will happen.
After his hospital arrest, Gomez asked ICE to release her client on an order of supervision so that he can leave the country with his family. ICE can honor that request, or it can keep him in detention then deport him on his own. After describing the charity her client had created to send food and clothes to children in need in Honduras, Gomez concluded, “This is a genuinely good dude.”


motherjones--2020-03-13--Total Isolation. No Testing. Communication Breakdown. Inside the Coronavirus Cruise Ship Evacuation.

After spending five days quarantined in their cabins aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship that carried 21 people infected with the coronavirus off the coast of San Fransisco , passengers faced a harrowing bus journey to an Air Force base where chaos and confusion reigned .
Of the ship ’ s 2,422 guests , 858 were sent to the Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield , California for a two-week quarantine , according to the Department of Health and Human Services .
One of these passengers was 77-year-old Steve Houghton , who describes an exhausting trip from boat to bus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eight hours .
Houghton , a retired commissioner and judge who lives in Pleasant Hill , California , had been hesitant about boarding the cruise ship after it returned to San Francisco from Mexico in late February .
His hesitation turned out to be well-founded : after 10 days in the Pacific Ocean , passengers went into quarantine aboard the boat .
“ They shut the dining rooms , the bars , any alternate eating sites , and we just were given our food and masks and essentially confined , ” Houghton says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and his 74-year-old wife were awoken at 6 a.m. as the ship began evacuating passengers in different groups based on destination—passengers were brought to military installations in California , Texas , and Georgia , according to HHS .
Houghton and his wife were among the passengers who disembarked at 5:30 p.m. in Oakland .
The bus left Oakland at about 5:45 and arrived in Fairfield shortly after 7 p.m. , Houghton says .
Once in Fairfield , the roughly 50 passengers , all wearing face masks , were not allowed off the bus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was the luggage ordeal .
Hundreds of passengers ’ luggage was dumped in a dimly lit Air Force parking lot , where Houghton says he rummaged around for 40 minutes before finding his bags .
After standing in line to get his room assignment , Houghton thought he was on the home stretch .
Then another bus pulled up .
About half an hour past midnight , Houghton and the rest of the passengers were corralled back onto this other bus with their luggage , only to be dropped off in another dimly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finally allowed to leave and find their rooms .
“ The anger at the bus stop , ” Houghton says , “ was more than a little surly for older adults .
A little screaming and more than a little annoyance and vitriol directed at the guy who was trying to get us on the bus.
” On top of that , he says , “ Nobody assisted anybody—other than the people that could not walk at all—to their rooms.
” When he finally reached his room at 1 a.m.—more than seven hours @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it nearly empty , save for fresh sheets on the bed and towels in the bathroom .
He had to request toilet paper and soap , which were delivered within the hour .
Still , “ there wasn ’ t a plate , a fork , a knife .
There weren ’ t any cups or glasses , ” Houghton says .
“ I called the main number and she said , ‘ Well , if you can find a cup , hang on to it.
’ ” Overall , it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s no logistical support at all here , ” Houghton says .
“ It ’ s as if nobody really anticipated that 900 Californians were gon na come into this facility .
This is after five days of being in total isolation.
” Still , Houghton has been focusing on the positives , like the can of Coca Cola he was enjoying as we spoke on Wednesday .
He has shown no symptoms , and , as of Friday afternoon , had not been tested for the coronavirus aside from having his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Vice President Pence assured the nation that all cruise ship passengers would be tested , and HHS said that those tests would take place at the military installations . )
During our phone call , a knock on Houghton ’ s door turned out to be a coffee delivery .
Houghton and his wife aren ’ t the only members of the family whose lives have been upended by the coronavirus .
His daughter , Beth Houghton , runs an Oakland children ’ s yoga studio that hosts summer camps .
“ If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have to return the summer camp money , it ’ s not an exaggeration to say I ’ ll have to go out of business , ” she tells me .
“ All this presents a stress that you don ’ t need , ” Houghton says , aptly summing up the pandemic that has killed more than 4,000 people worldwide .
“ But we went out and took a little walk around the complex , and it ’ s OK .
So we ’ ll be OK .
”

After spending five days quarantined in their cabins aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship that carried 21 people infected with the coronavirus off the coast of San Francisco, passengers faced a harrowing bus journey to an Air Force base where chaos and confusion reigned.
Of the ship’s 2,422 guests, 858 were sent to the Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California, for a two-week quarantine, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. One of these passengers was 77-year-old Steve Houghton, who describes an exhausting trip from boat to bus to Air Force condominium that spanned nearly eight hours.
Houghton, a retired commissioner and judge who lives in Pleasant Hill, California, had been hesitant about boarding the cruise ship after it returned to San Francisco from Mexico in late February. His hesitation turned out to be well-founded: after 10 days in the Pacific Ocean, passengers went into quarantine aboard the boat. “They shut the dining rooms, the bars, any alternate eating sites, and we just were given our food and masks and essentially confined,” Houghton says.
Then, on Tuesday, Houghton and his 74-year-old wife were awoken at 6 a.m. as the ship began evacuating passengers in different groups based on destination—passengers were brought to military installations in California, Texas, and Georgia, according to HHS. Houghton and his wife were among the passengers who disembarked at 5:30 p.m. in Oakland. The bus left Oakland at about 5:45 and arrived in Fairfield shortly after 7 p.m., Houghton says. Once in Fairfield, the roughly 50 passengers, all wearing face masks, were not allowed off the bus for nearly two hours.
“There’s no logistical support at all here. It’s as if nobody really anticipated that 900 Californians were gonna come into this facility. This is after five days of being in total isolation.”
Then there was the luggage ordeal. Hundreds of passengers’ luggage was dumped in a dimly lit Air Force parking lot, where Houghton says he rummaged around for 40 minutes before finding his bags. After standing in line to get his room assignment, Houghton thought he was on the home stretch. Then another bus pulled up.
About half an hour past midnight, Houghton and the rest of the passengers were corralled back onto this other bus with their luggage, only to be dropped off in another dimly lit parking lot from which they were finally allowed to leave and find their rooms. “The anger at the bus stop,” Houghton says, “was more than a little surly for older adults. A little screaming and more than a little annoyance and vitriol directed at the guy who was trying to get us on the bus.” On top of that, he says, “Nobody assisted anybody—other than the people that could not walk at all—to their rooms.”
When he finally reached his room at 1 a.m.—more than seven hours after getting off the Grand Princess—Houghton found it nearly empty, save for fresh sheets on the bed and towels in the bathroom. He had to request toilet paper and soap, which were delivered within the hour. Still, “there wasn’t a plate, a fork, a knife. There weren’t any cups or glasses,” Houghton says. “I called the main number and she said, ‘Well, if you can find a cup, hang on to it.’”
Overall, it’s been an exhausting ordeal. “There’s no logistical support at all here,” Houghton says. “It’s as if nobody really anticipated that 900 Californians were gonna come into this facility. This is after five days of being in total isolation.”
Still, Houghton has been focusing on the positives, like the can of Coca Cola he was enjoying as we spoke on Wednesday. He has shown no symptoms, and, as of Friday afternoon, had not been tested for the coronavirus aside from having his temperature taken. (Last week, Vice President Pence assured the nation that all cruise ship passengers would be tested, and HHS said that those tests would take place at the military installations.) During our phone call, a knock on Houghton’s door turned out to be a coffee delivery.
Houghton and his wife aren’t the only members of the family whose lives have been upended by the coronavirus. His daughter, Beth Houghton, runs an Oakland children’s yoga studio that hosts summer camps. “If it goes on much longer and I have to return the summer camp money, it’s not an exaggeration to say I’ll have to go out of business,” she tells me.
“All this presents a stress that you don’t need,” Houghton says, aptly summing up the pandemic that has killed more than 4,000 people worldwide. “But we went out and took a little walk around the complex, and it’s OK. So we’ll be OK.”


motherjones--2020-03-13--If Trump Got the Coronavirus, How Would We Know?

The number of people in the United States who have the coronavirus is still fairly small , but the number of people who have been in contact with someone who has the virus is growing fairly quickly—and President Trump is one of them .
Trump posed for a photo at Mar-a-Lago last weekend with Jair Bolsonaro , the president of Brazil , who was tested for the coronavirus but doesn ’ t have it , and that president ’ s communications director , who definitely has it .
Other people close to the president have also come into contact with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Ivanka , and his attorney general , Bill Barr , recently met with an Australian official who tested positive .
Two top allies in the House , Doug Collins ( R-Ga. ) and Matt Gaetz ( R-Fla. ) , and Trump ’ s incoming chief of staff , Mark Meadows , were all in contact with an individual at the conservative CPAC conference who had contracted the virus .
If the coronavirus spread is like a game of Battleship , nothing has hit Trump yet .
But the misses are getting closer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ question : If President Trump did get the virus , how would we know ?
When asked on Thursday about the president ’ s possible exposure , White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement there were so far no plans to test Trump for the virus because his contact with the Brazilian communications director had been minimal and Trump was not displaying any symptoms .
“ Exposures from the case are being assessed , ” Grisham explained , “ which will dictate next steps.
” Maybe you ’ d accept @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration .
But Trump ’ s lack of transparency—and deliberate falsehoods—has made it hard to trust anything his administration says .
The Washington Post documented 16,241 false statements in the president ’ s first three years in office , and many of those lies concerned two areas that are relevant here : his personal life , and disaster management .
Let ’ s start with national disasters .
Last year , Trump falsely told the public that Alabama was in the path of a hurricane , and when the error was pointed out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be doctored to try and prove Alabama was in the path .
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , which had initially contradicted Trump , was subsequently forced to produce a statement supporting his version .
The president downplayed the enormous death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico , and claimed that a study showing that 3,000 people had died as a result of the storm was a hoax pushed by Democrats .
And when it comes to his own health , he ’ s pushed misleading information and brought out aides @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in lieu of medical records , he produced a letter from a private Manhattan doctor , Harold Bornstein , attesting to his well-being .
Trump “ will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency , ” the letter read , adding that his lab results were “ astonishingly excellent.
” Bornstein later confessed what anyone reading that might have inferred—that Trump himself had dictated the note .
Since then , those tasked with vouching for the president ’ s health have done so in such effusive terms as to diminish their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to sleep very little , and having a lifelong revulsion toward exercise ( which he believes saps humans ’ finite supply of energy ) , Trump ’ s “ incredibly good genes ” mean he ’ d be perfectly fit for the rest of the term and even a second one , then–White House doctor Ronny Jackson claimed in 2017 , notwithstanding the fact that the president has heart disease .
On Sunday , his surgeon general , Jerome Adams , told CNN that Trump was healthier than he was .
Trump , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is in the at-risk demographic for the coronavirus , which is more likely to be fatal the older you are .
In Hubei , China , nearly 10 percent of people in their seventies who contracted the virus have died so far—more than double the fatality rate of people in their 60s and 109 times higher than people in their twenties .
And Trump , for his part , has continued to misinform the public about the current pandemic , severely downplaying the threat it posed for weeks before delivering an error-laden address @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kind of situation has played out before .
President Woodrow Wilson contracted the deadly Spanish flu during the 1918 epidemic .
“ I am feeling terribly bad , ” he told his physician .
His doctor told the press it was simply a cold .
At a press conference in Burlington , Vermont , on Friday , Sen. Bernie Sanders was asked if he believed the president should take a test and release the results to the public .
The Democratic presidential candidate noted Trump ’ s exposure to the Brazilian delegation over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump may be fine for now , but the current moment perfectly illustrates the perils of an administration that believes honesty is optional .
If you can ’ t tell the truth about the small things , people just might start to doubt you on the big ones .

The number of people in the United States who have the coronavirus is still fairly small, but the number of people who have been in contact with someone who has the virus is growing fairly quickly—and President Trump is one of them.
If the coronavirus spread is like a game of Battleship, nothing has hit Trump yet. But the misses are getting closer and closer.
Trump posed for a photo at Mar-a-Lago last weekend with Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, who was tested for the coronavirus but doesn’t have it, and that president’s communications director, who definitely has it. Other people close to the president have also come into contact with individuals carrying the virus: His daughter, Ivanka, and his attorney general, Bill Barr, recently met with an Australian official who tested positive. Two top allies in the House, Doug Collins (R-Ga.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), and Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Mark Meadows, were all in contact with an individual at the conservative CPAC conference who had contracted the virus. If the coronavirus spread is like a game of Battleship, nothing has hit Trump yet. But the misses are getting closer and closer.
Which raises a troubling question: If President Trump did get the virus, how would we know?
When asked on Thursday about the president’s possible exposure, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement there were so far no plans to test Trump for the virus because his contact with the Brazilian communications director had been minimal and Trump was not displaying any symptoms. “Exposures from the case are being assessed,” Grisham explained, “which will dictate next steps.”
Maybe you’d accept that kind of response from a normal administration. But Trump’s lack of transparency—and deliberate falsehoods—has made it hard to trust anything his administration says. The Washington Post documented 16,241 false statements in the president’s first three years in office, and many of those lies concerned two areas that are relevant here: his personal life, and disaster management.
Let’s start with national disasters. Last year, Trump falsely told the public that Alabama was in the path of a hurricane, and when the error was pointed out, produced a map that appeared to be doctored to try and prove Alabama was in the path. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which had initially contradicted Trump, was subsequently forced to produce a statement supporting his version. The president downplayed the enormous death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, and claimed that a study showing that 3,000 people had died as a result of the storm was a hoax pushed by Democrats.
And when it comes to his own health, he’s pushed misleading information and brought out aides for Soviet-style cheerleading . In 2015, in lieu of medical records, he produced a letter from a private Manhattan doctor, Harold Bornstein, attesting to his well-being. Trump “will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,” the letter read, adding that his lab results were “astonishingly excellent.” Bornstein later confessed what anyone reading that might have inferred—that Trump himself had dictated the note.
Since then, those tasked with vouching for the president’s health have done so in such effusive terms as to diminish their credibility. Despite being obese, seeming to sleep very little, and having a lifelong revulsion toward exercise (which he believes saps humans’ finite supply of energy), Trump’s “incredibly good genes” mean he’d be perfectly fit for the rest of the term and even a second one, then–White House doctor Ronny Jackson claimed in 2017, notwithstanding the fact that the president has heart disease. On Sunday, his surgeon general, Jerome Adams, told CNN that Trump was healthier than he was.
Here's Surgeon General Jerome Adams telling Jake Tapper that President Trump "sleeps less than I do and he's healthier than what I am." 😳 pic.twitter.com/bDpQWWAgUU — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 8, 2020
Trump, who will be 74 in June, is in the at-risk demographic for the coronavirus, which is more likely to be fatal the older you are. In Hubei, China, nearly 10 percent of people in their seventies who contracted the virus have died so far—more than double the fatality rate of people in their 60s and 109 times higher than people in their twenties. And Trump, for his part, has continued to misinform the public about the current pandemic, severely downplaying the threat it posed for weeks before delivering an error-laden address to the nation on Wednesday.
This kind of situation has played out before. President Woodrow Wilson contracted the deadly Spanish flu during the 1918 epidemic. “I am feeling terribly bad,” he told his physician. His doctor told the press it was simply a cold.
At a press conference in Burlington, Vermont, on Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders was asked if he believed the president should take a test and release the results to the public. The Democratic presidential candidate noted Trump’s exposure to the Brazilian delegation over the weekend and said he should. Trump may be fine for now, but the current moment perfectly illustrates the perils of an administration that believes honesty is optional. If you can’t tell the truth about the small things, people just might start to doubt you on the big ones.


motherjones--2020-03-13--Russia Isn’t the Only Country Pushing Coronavirus Disinformation

Last week , a U.S. State Department official said that fears about the spread of COVID-19 are helping fuel Russian disinformation campaigns .
“ The coronavirus is an example of where we have seen adversaries take advantage of a health crisis where people are terrified worldwide to try to advance their priorities , ” Lea Gabrielle , who serves as special envoy and coordinator of the State Department ’ s Global Engagement Center , told senators during a Capitol Hill hearing .
Prior to Gabrielles testimony , Russian propaganda media outlets with ties to the Kremlin had been pushing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ created bioweapon .
It turns out that Russia isn ’ t the only country glomming onto coronavirus fears to peddle disinformation .
Iranian media organizations linked to the government have also been taking advantage of fears over the virus to spread other conspiracies .
Like Russia , PressTV , an English and French news service associated with the Islamic Republic of Iran , has been focusing on pushing the idea that coronavirus is the U.S.-made bioweapon .
Russia Today , the Kremlin ’ s English language propaganda arm , has amplified these theories @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Revolutionary Guard ’ s claims that the virus is a bioweapon .
Clint Watts , a research fellow who focuses on global disinformation at the Foreign Policy Research Institute , has written that Iranians are pushing coronavirus conspiracies even more strongly than Russia .
Russia has gotten a good deal of attention thus far for advancing such conspiracies , but I ’ d assess Iran has advanced this false narrative to a higher degree and the Russian disinformation ecosystem elevates it even further .
Iran ’ s suffering from the coronavirus outbreak and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to churn out a substantial amount of disinformation pointing to the U.S. as a culprit .
China is also pushing its own campaigns related to the coronavirus , but Watts and Rachel Chernaskey , a project manager at the same think tank , have noted that that country has been less interested in peddling disinformation and more in pushing narratives about the strength of its response compared to the U.S. , which has been slow to take steps to stop the virus , in part because of the Center for Disease Control ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus , and President Trump ’ s mismanagement and unwillingness to confront the implications of the disease .
Accusing countries of engineering diseases as a bioweapons is a propaganda tactic countries have resorted to before .
During the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s , the Soviet Union undertook “ Operation Infektion , ” a propaganda campaign that falsely accused the U.S. of intentionally engineering the virus as a weapon .
During the Ebola outbreak in 2014 , Liberia and North Korea accused the U.S. of creating the deadly disease as a bioweapon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. of creating the bird flu as , again , a bioweapon , which several Chinese media outlets ran with and amplified .

Last week, a U.S. State Department official said that fears about the spread of COVID-19 are helping fuel Russian disinformation campaigns. “The coronavirus is an example of where we have seen adversaries take advantage of a health crisis where people are terrified worldwide to try to advance their priorities,” Lea Gabrielle, who serves as special envoy and coordinator of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, told senators during a Capitol Hill hearing.
Prior to Gabrielles testimony, Russian propaganda media outlets with ties to the Kremlin had been pushing the hoax that the coronavirus is a U.S. created bioweapon.
Iranian media has taken advantage of fears over the virus to spread conspiracies.
It turns out that Russia isn’t the only country glomming onto coronavirus fears to peddle disinformation. Iranian media organizations linked to the government have also been taking advantage of fears over the virus to spread other conspiracies. Like Russia, PressTV, an English and French news service associated with the Islamic Republic of Iran, has been focusing on pushing the idea that coronavirus is the U.S.-made bioweapon.
Russia Today, the Kremlin’s English language propaganda arm, has amplified these theories by publishing the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s claims that the virus is a bioweapon.
Clint Watts, a research fellow who focuses on global disinformation at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, has written that Iranians are pushing coronavirus conspiracies even more strongly than Russia.
Russia has gotten a good deal of attention thus far for advancing such conspiracies, but I’d assess Iran has advanced this false narrative to a higher degree and the Russian disinformation ecosystem elevates it even further. Iran’s suffering from the coronavirus outbreak and its inability to contain it incentivizes them to churn out a substantial amount of disinformation pointing to the U.S. as a culprit.
China is also pushing its own campaigns related to the coronavirus, but Watts and Rachel Chernaskey, a project manager at the same think tank, have noted that that country has been less interested in peddling disinformation and more in pushing narratives about the strength of its response compared to the U.S., which has been slow to take steps to stop the virus, in part because of the Center for Disease Control’s bungled rollout of test kits for the virus, and President Trump’s mismanagement and unwillingness to confront the implications of the disease.
Accusing countries of engineering diseases as a bioweapons is a propaganda tactic countries have resorted to before. During the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, the Soviet Union undertook “Operation Infektion,” a propaganda campaign that falsely accused the U.S. of intentionally engineering the virus as a weapon. During the Ebola outbreak in 2014, Liberia and North Korea accused the U.S. of creating the deadly disease as a bioweapon. In 2013, Chinese officials accused the U.S. of creating the bird flu as, again, a bioweapon, which several Chinese media outlets ran with and amplified.


motherjones--2020-03-13--ICE Is Ignoring a Simple Way to Slow the Spread of Coronavirus: Let People Out of Detention

Last week , a Cuban asylum seeker called me from a for-profit jail in Louisiana to express the same fear shared by people across the world .
The man , whom I ’ ll call Alberto to protect him from potential retaliation , had more reason to worry about the coronavirus than most : He was detained in a crowded room alongside nearly 100 others at a jail run by LaSalle Corrections , a company with a long record of providing shoddy medical care .
“ If coronavirus gets in here , ” he said , “ it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s going to be a massacre because everyone will get it at the same time , ” Alberto explained in Spanish .
“ Not just one person .
Everyone will get it at the same time because we ’ re all breathing the same air.
” His concern is shared by immigrant advocates and detention experts who have spent years documenting Immigration and Custom Enforcement ’ s in some cases fatally substandard medical care .
There is a simple step the agency could take to reduce the risk of the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its custody : ICE could release people , particularly those who are most vulnerable to the virus , who don ’ t pose a threat to public safety .
That would lead to thousands of people being released from detention .
So far , ICE appears set on keeping detention numbers high .
In the first week of March , ICE took more than 5,400 people into detention , a similar rate to before the outbreak began .
Marc Stern , who served as the health services director for Washington state ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ detainee populations would slow the spread of the virus by creating more distance between people .
In a recent memo making recommendations to Washington jails , Stern , now an assistant professor at the University of Washington ’ s School of Public Health , wrote that local officials should ask whether there are inmates who can be released on their own recognizance or whether they could employ alternatives to detention .
Anne Spaulding , a medical doctor and correctional health expert in Emory University ’ s epidemiology department , has also recommended that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ monitoring .
Fortunately , ICE has broad authority to release people in its custody .
Eunice Cho , a senior staff attorney and detention expert at the American Civil Liberties Union , said , “ The question is whether the government will actually exercise this and mitigate what continues to be a very foreseeable disaster.
” Luz Lopez-Ortiz , a senior attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center , said , “ This is a disaster waiting to happen and there ’ s no reason it should be.
” As of Tuesday , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tested for the coronavirus ; all tested negative .
But if—and presumably when—the coronavirus enters ICE detention centers and the county jails the agency contracts with , it could be particularly difficult to stop the virus from spreading .
“ Immigration detention is like a cruise ship but obviously worse for many reasons , ” Cho explained .
ICE detainees often live together in large rooms filled with dozens of bunk beds , not in cells .
Then there are ICE ’ s longstanding issues with medical care .
Cho ’ s experience @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diseases does not give her much confidence in its ability to respond to something as serious as the coronavirus .
( ICE did not respond to questions about how many people it has tested for the coronavirus or whether it plans to release people from vulnerable populations . )
At a congressional hearing on Wednesday , Rep. Grace Meng ( D-N.Y. ) asked acting ICE director Matthew Albence whether he would consider releasing detainees who are most at risk of the coronavirus , including older people and those with preexisting medical conditions .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of action , ” she said .
Albence replied , “ The people that we have in detention are there because they ’ re public safety threats or flight risks.
” The implication was that his hands were tied : He couldn ’ t let them out .
That is not true , nor is it true that everyone in ICE custody is a flight risk let alone a threat to others .
“ When it comes down to it , ” Cho said , “ ICE has the power to decide who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ James Boasberg has repeatedly found that ICE is unnecessarily subjecting asylum seekers to mandatory detention .
Between 2011 and 2013 , five of ICE ’ s 24 field offices approved 92 percent of asylum seekers ’ requests to be released on parole .
In the first months of the Trump administration , that rate dropped to 4 percent .
In response to a class action lawsuit , Boasberg ruled that the government needed to return to following its own parole policy , which requires it to release asylum seekers who don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safety .
Still , ICE kept denying most parole applications , a decision that forced Ansly Damus , a Haitian asylum seeker , to spend two years inside a windowless jail with no access to fresh air .
Last year , the SPLC and the ACLU of Louisiana sued the Trump administration after it started ignoring ICE ’ s parole policy at a sixth field office in New Orleans .
The office , which covers five southern states , had approved 75 percent of parole applications in 2016 .
By 2019 , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ absolutely no explanation for the precipitous nosedive in the parole-grant rates issued by an Office that has allegedly preserved the same underlying policy for making those decisions all along , ” Boasberg ruled in a September decision that forces the New Orleans office to follow the parole policy .
At first , lawyers with clients in Louisiana saw no sign that ICE was complying with Boasberg ’ s order .
In February , ICE ’ s parole rate in the region rose to 21 percent , up from 2 percent in January .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ case for the SPLC , said deportation officers are telling asylum seekers that they ’ ll only be granted parole if they have close relatives with legal status who make at least about $ 60,000 per year .
Neither of those are requirements under the 2009 ICE parole directive that theoretically remains in effect .
Lopez-Ortiz spoke with a US citizen from Cuba whose fiance has been denied parole multiple times .
She makes roughly $ 40,000 per year and ICE officials told her that ’ s not enough , Lopez-Ortiz said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a coronavirus contingency plan , but she has not seen it yet .
She and others working on the parole lawsuit plan to request it and may seek further action from Boasberg if they decide it is inadequate . )
Across the country , more than 6,500 of the nearly 38,000 people in ICE custody as of Sunday had established a fear of being persecuted in their home countries in interviews with US asylum officers .
Only 38 percent of all ICE detainees have a criminal conviction , many of which are for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authorization .
Among the 50 percent of ICE detainees who were stopped at the border , as opposed to being arrested by ICE within the country , only about one in nine have a criminal conviction .
When we spoke last Friday , Alberto said fellow detainees were always getting the flu .
The conditions were horrible and unhygienic , he said .
They breathed the same air and touched the same things .
Alberto believed the logical response would be for ICE to let them join relatives in the United States while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was living in fear at an isolated jail built to hold convicted criminals .
“ We feel kidnapped , ” he said , “ and nobody hears us .
”

Last week, a Cuban asylum seeker called me from a for-profit jail in Louisiana to express the same fear shared by people across the world. The man, whom I’ll call Alberto to protect him from potential retaliation, had more reason to worry about the coronavirus than most: He was detained in a crowded room alongside nearly 100 others at a jail run by LaSalle Corrections, a company with a long record of providing shoddy medical care. “If coronavirus gets in here,” he said, “it’s going to be a massacre.”
“It’s going to be a massacre because everyone will get it at the same time,” Alberto explained in Spanish. “Not just one person. Everyone will get it at the same time because we’re all breathing the same air.” His concern is shared by immigrant advocates and detention experts who have spent years documenting Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s in some cases fatally substandard medical care.
There is a simple step the agency could take to reduce the risk of the coronavirus spreading and potentially causing more deaths in its custody: ICE could release people, particularly those who are most vulnerable to the virus, who don’t pose a threat to public safety. That would lead to thousands of people being released from detention. So far, ICE appears set on keeping detention numbers high. In the first week of March, ICE took more than 5,400 people into detention, a similar rate to before the outbreak began.
“If coronavirus gets in here,” Alberto said, “it’s going to be a massacre.”
Marc Stern, who served as the health services director for Washington state’s department of corrections, explained that reducing detainee populations would slow the spread of the virus by creating more distance between people. In a recent memo making recommendations to Washington jails, Stern, now an assistant professor at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health, wrote that local officials should ask whether there are inmates who can be released on their own recognizance or whether they could employ alternatives to detention. Anne Spaulding, a medical doctor and correctional health expert in Emory University’s epidemiology department, has also recommended that jails consider detention alternatives such as electronic monitoring.
Fortunately, ICE has broad authority to release people in its custody. Eunice Cho, a senior staff attorney and detention expert at the American Civil Liberties Union, said, “The question is whether the government will actually exercise this and mitigate what continues to be a very foreseeable disaster.” Luz Lopez-Ortiz, a senior attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said, “This is a disaster waiting to happen and there’s no reason it should be.”
As of Tuesday, four people in ICE custody had been tested for the coronavirus; all tested negative. But if—and presumably when—the coronavirus enters ICE detention centers and the county jails the agency contracts with, it could be particularly difficult to stop the virus from spreading. “Immigration detention is like a cruise ship but obviously worse for many reasons,” Cho explained. ICE detainees often live together in large rooms filled with dozens of bunk beds, not in cells. Then there are ICE’s longstanding issues with medical care. Cho’s experience with ICE’s handling of infectious diseases does not give her much confidence in its ability to respond to something as serious as the coronavirus. (ICE did not respond to questions about how many people it has tested for the coronavirus or whether it plans to release people from vulnerable populations.)
At a congressional hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) asked acting ICE director Matthew Albence whether he would consider releasing detainees who are most at risk of the coronavirus, including older people and those with preexisting medical conditions. “It would be a prudent course of action,” she said. Albence replied, “The people that we have in detention are there because they’re public safety threats or flight risks.” The implication was that his hands were tied: He couldn’t let them out. That is not true, nor is it true that everyone in ICE custody is a flight risk let alone a threat to others. “When it comes down to it,” Cho said, “ICE has the power to decide who they release or not.”
Federal judge James Boasberg has repeatedly found that ICE is unnecessarily subjecting asylum seekers to mandatory detention. Between 2011 and 2013, five of ICE’s 24 field offices approved 92 percent of asylum seekers’ requests to be released on parole. In the first months of the Trump administration, that rate dropped to 4 percent. In response to a class action lawsuit, Boasberg ruled that the government needed to return to following its own parole policy, which requires it to release asylum seekers who don’t pose flight risks or threats to public safety. Still, ICE kept denying most parole applications, a decision that forced Ansly Damus, a Haitian asylum seeker, to spend two years inside a windowless jail with no access to fresh air.
Last year, the SPLC and the ACLU of Louisiana sued the Trump administration after it started ignoring ICE’s parole policy at a sixth field office in New Orleans. The office, which covers five southern states, had approved 75 percent of parole applications in 2016. By 2019, it was approving none. “Defendants offer absolutely no explanation for the precipitous nosedive in the parole-grant rates issued by an Office that has allegedly preserved the same underlying policy for making those decisions all along,” Boasberg ruled in a September decision that forces the New Orleans office to follow the parole policy.
At first, lawyers with clients in Louisiana saw no sign that ICE was complying with Boasberg’s order. In February, ICE’s parole rate in the region rose to 21 percent, up from 2 percent in January. Lopez-Ortiz, who is working on the case for the SPLC, said deportation officers are telling asylum seekers that they’ll only be granted parole if they have close relatives with legal status who make at least about $60,000 per year. Neither of those are requirements under the 2009 ICE parole directive that theoretically remains in effect. Lopez-Ortiz spoke with a US citizen from Cuba whose fiance has been denied parole multiple times. She makes roughly $40,000 per year and ICE officials told her that’s not enough, Lopez-Ortiz said. (Lopez-Ortiz has heard that ICE has a coronavirus contingency plan, but she has not seen it yet. She and others working on the parole lawsuit plan to request it and may seek further action from Boasberg if they decide it is inadequate.)
Across the country, more than 6,500 of the nearly 38,000 people in ICE custody as of Sunday had established a fear of being persecuted in their home countries in interviews with US asylum officers. Only 38 percent of all ICE detainees have a criminal conviction, many of which are for minor offenses like crossing the border without authorization. Among the 50 percent of ICE detainees who were stopped at the border, as opposed to being arrested by ICE within the country, only about one in nine have a criminal conviction.
When we spoke last Friday, Alberto said fellow detainees were always getting the flu. The conditions were horrible and unhygienic, he said. They breathed the same air and touched the same things. Alberto believed the logical response would be for ICE to let them join relatives in the United States while their cases were pending. Instead, he was living in fear at an isolated jail built to hold convicted criminals. “We feel kidnapped,” he said, “and nobody hears us.”


motherjones--2020-03-13--Trump Nearly Ended Asylum at the Border. But Those Who Made It Are Facing a New Set of Problems.

The Trump administration essentially has slammed the door shut on asylum seekers in the last year , forcing more than 60,000 migrants to wait upwards of a year in Mexican border cities as their cases moved through US immigration court .
But on this latest episode of The Mother Jones Podcast , we take you to New Mexico to meet some of the select few asylum seekers who have defied odds to be admitted to the United States—and who now must face a new set of challenges as they settle into life here .
Mother Jones ‘ Fernanda Echavarri and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so-called family navigator from a local direct-services organization called Las Cumbres whose main job is to do “ whatever the families need ” : from driving them around to a clinic to helping them enroll in school .
Las Cumbres is a nonprofit that helps families with resources—including mental health services—in a city without the type of support systems that immigrants can find in bigger cities such as Los Angeles , New York City , or Chicago .
Many newly arrived immigrants are often preoccupied with trying to find employment and a safe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any mental health issues .
They ’ ve fled dangerous situations and traumatic experiences in their home countries before experiencing the infamously harsh conditions inside US immigration detention facilities .
Mental health experts have said it can be difficult to recognize signs of trauma in these communities , not only because trauma shows up differently when they ’ re still in the middle of processing it , but also because they are still in the middle of it with so much stress to handle .
Subscribe to the Mother Jones Podcast , here @

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.
The Trump administration essentially has slammed the door shut on asylum seekers in the last year, forcing more than 60,000 migrants to wait upwards of a year in Mexican border cities as their cases moved through US immigration court. But on this latest episode of The Mother Jones Podcast, we take you to New Mexico to meet some of the select few asylum seekers who have defied odds to be admitted to the United States—and who now must face a new set of challenges as they settle into life here.
Listen to the latest episode of the Mother Jones Podcast: Subscribe using Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.
Mother Jones‘ Fernanda Echavarri and Julia Lurie spend the day with a so-called family navigator from a local direct-services organization called Las Cumbres whose main job is to do “whatever the families need”: from driving them around to a clinic to helping them enroll in school. Las Cumbres is a nonprofit that helps families with resources—including mental health services—in a city without the type of support systems that immigrants can find in bigger cities such as Los Angeles, New York City, or Chicago.
Many newly arrived immigrants are often preoccupied with trying to find employment and a safe place to live first, before addressing any mental health issues. They’ve fled dangerous situations and traumatic experiences in their home countries before experiencing the infamously harsh conditions inside US immigration detention facilities. Mental health experts have said it can be difficult to recognize signs of trauma in these communities, not only because trauma shows up differently when they’re still in the middle of processing it, but also because they are still in the middle of it with so much stress to handle.
Subscribe to the Mother Jones Podcast, here.


motherjones--2020-03-13--Trump, Still Hoping to Slash CDC Funds, Blames CDC for Coronavirus Fiasco

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention became the latest target of President Donald Trump ’ s attempts to deflect blame for what is being roundly condemned as a disastrous response by his administration to the coronavirus pandemic .
Trump claimed , without evidence , on Friday that the federal agency had for decades sat idle on efforts to build an adequate testing system—a situation he blamed former President Barack Obama for supposedly exacerbating .
Trump ’ s latest twitter fusillade comes despite the fact that his administration has directly controlled the CDC for more than three years .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ predecessor failed to act on the H1N1 outbreak—commonly known as the swine flu—until thousands had already died .
The truth : The Obama administration acted months before the World Health Organization declared the swine flu a pandemic .
On April 26 , 2009—with only 20 confirmed cases of the disease and no deaths in the US—Obama ’ s Health and Human Services chief declared it a public health emergency .
“ The emergency declaration in the United States lets the government free more money for antiviral drugs and give some previously unapproved tests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York Times reported at the time .
“ One-quarter of the national stockpile of 50 million courses of antiflu drugs will be released.
” In October of that year , Obama declared it a national emergency—in addition to his earlier designation of a public health emergency—in order to allow the US to greenlight plans that included creating offsite emergency rooms .
Trump now appears to be deliberately distorting the timeline in order to escape the current criticism , adding to an already inflammatory track record of misinformation around the virus .
His @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his administration refuses to drop its plans to slash the agency ’ s funding , even with the current coronavirus pandemic .

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention became the latest target of President Donald Trump’s attempts to deflect blame for what is being roundly condemned as a disastrous response by his administration to the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump claimed, without evidence, on Friday that the federal agency had for decades sat idle on efforts to build an adequate testing system—a situation he blamed former President Barack Obama for supposedly exacerbating. Trump’s latest twitter fusillade comes despite the fact that his administration has directly controlled the CDC for more than three years. The president then repeated the lie that his predecessor failed to act on the H1N1 outbreak—commonly known as the swine flu—until thousands had already died.
The truth: The Obama administration acted months before the World Health Organization declared the swine flu a pandemic. On April 26, 2009—with only 20 confirmed cases of the disease and no deaths in the US—Obama’s Health and Human Services chief declared it a public health emergency. “The emergency declaration in the United States lets the government free more money for antiviral drugs and give some previously unapproved tests and drugs to children,” the New York Times reported at the time. “One-quarter of the national stockpile of 50 million courses of antiflu drugs will be released.”
In October of that year, Obama declared it a national emergency—in addition to his earlier designation of a public health emergency—in order to allow the US to greenlight plans that included creating offsite emergency rooms.
Trump now appears to be deliberately distorting the timeline in order to escape the current criticism, adding to an already inflammatory track record of misinformation around the virus. His newest attack against the CDC comes as his administration refuses to drop its plans to slash the agency’s funding, even with the current coronavirus pandemic.


motherjones--2020-03-16--Emergency Medical Responders Have Lacked Guidance and Are Stretched for Supplies and Personnel to Co

Emergency Medical Responders Have Lacked Guidance and Are Stretched for Supplies and Personnel to Combat Coronavirus

This story was published originally by ProPublica , a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power .
Sign up for ProPublica ’ s Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published .
After the first confirmed coronavirus case on U.S. soil , 800 miles to his north , the chief of a Northern California fire department gathered his executive team in mid-February to prepare for the inevitable landing of the virus in his community .
They planned to screen patients carefully and have their first responders gear up in gowns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one could be infected .
Yet even though the outbreak was already spreading nationwide , Rocklin Fire Department Chief William Hack decided to hold off on putting the high-level response into action until the first case showed up in the county .
Fate worked against them , Hack said .
On Feb. 27 , firefighters in Rocklin , a suburb of Sacramento , responded to a call to help a person who had taken a tumble .
The patient coughed on the firefighters ; days later , that patient tested positive for coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be quarantined for 14 days .
In hindsight , Hack said , he realizes his department ’ s response came too late , but he believes that they had the operational measures and protective equipment in place .
“ You don ’ t want to jump the gun too soon because there ’ s a cost to it , ” he said , both in equipment and creating panic .
They had expected the virus to pop up first somewhere else in the state , he said .
“ Little did we know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have this happen to.
” As the coronavirus spreads in the United States , emergency medical providers are scrambling to keep up , with key direction on how to protect themselves lagging behind the unprecedented threat .
It ’ s yet another example of a fragmented and halting response at the highest levels of government , including getting testing off the ground and ensuring an adequate supply of resources .
It took nearly four weeks from the time the World Health Organization announced China ’ s novel coronavirus outbreak for the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issue guidance for first responders .
The CDC ’ s direction came more than two weeks after it confirmed the first known U.S. case on Jan. 20 in Washington state .
It came nine days after a first responder from Kirkland , a suburb of Seattle , was exposed to the virus on Jan. 29 while responding to a call at the Life Care Center of Kirkland , a nursing home that became an early epicenter of the virus ’ s American spread .
Emergency providers are prepared , by nature of their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a crisis strikes .
A car crashes , a tornado touches down , and they mobilize .
At the local and national level , they approached the rapidly spreading coronavirus in a similar way .
Leslee Stein-Spencer is a program adviser at the National Association of State EMS Officials , a liaison between state and federal emergency authorities and other partners .
One of the group ’ s roles is to prepare for the coronavirus by holding conference calls between state agencies and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ’ s Office of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to “ reduce death and disability by providing leadership and coordination to the EMS community.
” Those conference calls didn ’ t begin until March 5 , after the outbreak had been spreading in the U.S. for more than six weeks .
A NHTSA official declined to comment .
“ We weren ’ t aware of the impact that this was having , ” Stein-Spencer said of the earlier days .
“ You don ’ t want to cry wolf if there isn ’ t really anything.
” Stein-Spencer said she believes front-line @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Those on the front lines are not so sure .
“ There doesn ’ t seem to have been a strong coherent response or assessment of risk from the top down , ” said Haydon Pitchford , an emergency medical technician in central Virginia who is desperately searching for the N-95 masks , which protects the face from airborne particles and liquid .
On Saturday , he ’ s scheduled to pull a shift at an agency that has about 20 of the masks and about 100 more that are old and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quickly if they get many calls for suspected coronavirus .
Pitchford tried ordering them .
He scrounged around at the local hospital , where people donate expired medical equipment .
He even called his congressional representatives .
No masks could be found .
ProPublica reporters have spoken to more than two dozen EMTs , firefighters and paramedics across the country .
The conversations raised a variety of concerns , including a looming shortage of protective gear and staff , confusion around infection control practices and poor communication from dispatchers .
Some emergency responders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ None are certain they have the staffing and supplies to perform as well as they may need to in the coming months .
Pitchford , who works part time at multiple agencies , said he ’ s grateful for the leadership of his supervisors , but he acknowledged they are frustrated , too .
If he and his colleagues don ’ t have the equipment they need , he said , they could become sick .
Or , they could become carriers , spreading the virus to the weak and vulnerable people they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It feels like I ’ m watching a train wreck in slow motion , ” Pitchford said , “ and I ’ m about to be thrown in front of it.
” As Resources Vary , So Does the Quality of Response There are about 20,000 emergency medical service agencies in the country , with oversight that looks different in each state and assets that fluctuate wildly .
About a third of the states depend on volunteer organizations .
The system is staffed thin and designed to share people and resources regionally during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are facing a sweeping global pandemic that could infect patients in every jurisdiction .
“ We ’ re under-resourced from a staffing perspective when the sun is shining , much less when the sky is gray , ” said Tim Frazier , faculty director of Georgetown University ’ s disaster management program .
The fragmentation leads to varying levels of sophistication when it comes to services and quality .
Residents of well-resourced communities may benefit from a more prepared , better-staffed response .
In San Francisco , for instance , there are specialized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ potential coronavirus cases .
EMTs drive the nurses to test such patients , but they don ’ t lead the testing effort of the patient , said Sasha Cuttler , one of the six nurses on the San Francisco team .
If there is an emergency , the EMTs can shuttle the patient to a nearby hospital .
Elsewhere , resources are so scarce that managers have to gamble on how much precaution they should take from call to call .
Nathan Boone , a South Howell County ambulance field supervisor in West @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sends his staff out wearing protective gear every time , they risk running out of gowns and masks and other equipment .
That could get worse if the virus continues to spread .
But not wearing masks in some cases could mean exposing and temporarily losing his staff .
“ It ’ s almost like an impossible situation if you look at it , ” he said .
Dennis Lawson , president of the Washington State Council of Firefighters , echoed concerns about the possible shortage of supplies if the crisis goes on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t know how big this is going to get or how long it ’ s going to last , ” he said .
There has been some confusion about the CDC guidance to prevent the spread of infection , as it relates to supplies .
Nathan Smith , a national representative for the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics , said he and his colleagues have debated whether masks need to be discarded after each use .
In light of the N-95 mask shortage , he told ProPublica on Wednesday that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they can be reused .
“ Actually , that respirator mask is good until the seal won ’ t seal or it starts falling apart , or it becomes obviously contaminated , ” he said .
“ So once you wear it , you kind of should wear it for the rest of your tour and then throw it away , instead of putting a new one on every call.
” But the CDC guidelines are clear that first responders should not reuse masks and other equipment after transporting a potentially infected patient @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back to him on Thursday , he corrected himself , later realizing he confused the guidelines with those he said were issued by a different federal agency .
“ If they are recommending we get rid of them , we will recommend getting rid of them , ” he said .
“ Hopefully we don ’ t run out of masks.
” Advanced Warning Is Crucial but Not Always Possible First responders depend on dispatchers to ensure they ’ re not flying blind when they arrive at the site of an emergency .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a firefighter in Kirkland , was responding to a call about a patient suffering back pain at the Life Care Center .
He found out after about 15 minutes that the patient had symptoms of an ongoing infection .
Hurley got exposed to coronavirus .
“ We don ’ t always know when we ’ re talking to a patient whether or not they have these issues , ” Hurley said .
He doesn ’ t blame his dispatcher , but “ in instances like that sometimes you find yourself after the fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he said .
Hurley did not test positive and doesn ’ t have any symptoms , unlike dozens of patients and staff members at the home ; 22 people have died , according to public health officials .
As of Wednesday , the number of Kirkland firefighters that had been quarantined or isolated is up to 40 , including one positive test .
The same thing happened to an additional 10 first responders from neighboring agencies who had to be quarantined or isolated .
Hurley said he is still frustrated—six weeks into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus for his fire department .
Only 17 of the 105 members have been tested , he said .
“ We are at the front line , the epicenter , and we can ’ t get tested , ” he said .
“ It ’ s embarrassing and represents a danger to the public.
” In the age of the coronavirus , a dispatcher ’ s questions could mean the difference between identifying a case in advance or getting a first responder infected .
But the dispatch screening guidelines are supposed to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In the initial weeks of the outbreak , the CDC had narrow recommendations for identifying a “ person under investigation ” for possible coronavirus .
If a person , in the past 14 days , hadn ’ t traveled from China or been in contact with a patient with confirmed COVID-19 , the disease caused by the novel coronavirus , the CDC said early on they should not be considered a risk .
In the past three weeks , dispatchers in Grand Rapids , Michigan , started screening callers for coronavirus symptoms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ traveled to countries considered at risk .
The dispatchers relay the information to first responders , who decide whether they should treat the call as a potential coronavirus case .
Jason Murphy , a paramedic who has been responding to calls in Grand Rapids , said he and others have chosen not to suit up if a patient didn ’ t have a travel history , even as recently as Tuesday , when the virus was spreading from person to person within the country .
If a dispatcher asks all the right questions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ create confusion , said James Wheaton , an emergency responder in New York .
“ It ’ s a garbage in , garbage out situation , ” he said .
Even first responders who are confident they are prepared for the crisis say they ’ ve never seen anything like it .
“ It ’ s going to be a test of the system , I can tell you that , ” said Tim Hinchcliff , managing director of Burholme Emergency Medical Services in Pennsylvania .
“ Many of us feel prepared but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this thing will go .
”

This story was published originally by ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for ProPublica’s Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published.
After the first confirmed coronavirus case on U.S. soil, 800 miles to his north, the chief of a Northern California fire department gathered his executive team in mid-February to prepare for the inevitable landing of the virus in his community.
They planned to screen patients carefully and have their first responders gear up in gowns, masks and goggles if they believed one could be infected. Yet even though the outbreak was already spreading nationwide, Rocklin Fire Department Chief William Hack decided to hold off on putting the high-level response into action until the first case showed up in the county.
Fate worked against them, Hack said. On Feb. 27, firefighters in Rocklin, a suburb of Sacramento, responded to a call to help a person who had taken a tumble. The patient coughed on the firefighters; days later, that patient tested positive for coronavirus. Three of the responders had to be quarantined for 14 days.
In hindsight, Hack said, he realizes his department’s response came too late, but he believes that they had the operational measures and protective equipment in place. “You don’t want to jump the gun too soon because there’s a cost to it,” he said, both in equipment and creating panic. They had expected the virus to pop up first somewhere else in the state, he said. “Little did we know we’d be the first agency to have this happen to.”
As the coronavirus spreads in the United States, emergency medical providers are scrambling to keep up, with key direction on how to protect themselves lagging behind the unprecedented threat. It’s yet another example of a fragmented and halting response at the highest levels of government, including getting testing off the ground and ensuring an adequate supply of resources.
It took nearly four weeks from the time the World Health Organization announced China’s novel coronavirus outbreak for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue guidance for first responders.
The CDC’s direction came more than two weeks after it confirmed the first known U.S. case on Jan. 20 in Washington state. It came nine days after a first responder from Kirkland, a suburb of Seattle, was exposed to the virus on Jan. 29 while responding to a call at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, a nursing home that became an early epicenter of the virus’s American spread.
Emergency providers are prepared, by nature of their profession, to jump into action when a crisis strikes. A car crashes, a tornado touches down, and they mobilize. At the local and national level, they approached the rapidly spreading coronavirus in a similar way.
Leslee Stein-Spencer is a program adviser at the National Association of State EMS Officials, a liaison between state and federal emergency authorities and other partners. One of the group’s roles is to prepare for the coronavirus by holding conference calls between state agencies and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Emergency Medical Services, whose mission is to “reduce death and disability by providing leadership and coordination to the EMS community.”
Those conference calls didn’t begin until March 5, after the outbreak had been spreading in the U.S. for more than six weeks. A NHTSA official declined to comment.
“We weren’t aware of the impact that this was having,” Stein-Spencer said of the earlier days. “You don’t want to cry wolf if there isn’t really anything.”
Stein-Spencer said she believes front-line providers are prepared in the immediate term.
Those on the front lines are not so sure. “There doesn’t seem to have been a strong coherent response or assessment of risk from the top down,” said Haydon Pitchford, an emergency medical technician in central Virginia who is desperately searching for the N-95 masks, which protects the face from airborne particles and liquid.
On Saturday, he’s scheduled to pull a shift at an agency that has about 20 of the masks and about 100 more that are old and expired. They’ll run out quickly if they get many calls for suspected coronavirus. Pitchford tried ordering them. He scrounged around at the local hospital, where people donate expired medical equipment. He even called his congressional representatives. No masks could be found.
ProPublica reporters have spoken to more than two dozen EMTs, firefighters and paramedics across the country. The conversations raised a variety of concerns, including a looming shortage of protective gear and staff, confusion around infection control practices and poor communication from dispatchers.
Some emergency responders feel ready but others do not. None are certain they have the staffing and supplies to perform as well as they may need to in the coming months.
Pitchford, who works part time at multiple agencies, said he’s grateful for the leadership of his supervisors, but he acknowledged they are frustrated, too. If he and his colleagues don’t have the equipment they need, he said, they could become sick. Or, they could become carriers, spreading the virus to the weak and vulnerable people they care for in their community.
“It feels like I’m watching a train wreck in slow motion,” Pitchford said, “and I’m about to be thrown in front of it.”
As Resources Vary, So Does the Quality of Response
There are about 20,000 emergency medical service agencies in the country, with oversight that looks different in each state and assets that fluctuate wildly. About a third of the states depend on volunteer organizations. The system is staffed thin and designed to share people and resources regionally during major disasters. But now these agencies are facing a sweeping global pandemic that could infect patients in every jurisdiction.
“We’re under-resourced from a staffing perspective when the sun is shining, much less when the sky is gray,” said Tim Frazier, faculty director of Georgetown University’s disaster management program.
The fragmentation leads to varying levels of sophistication when it comes to services and quality. Residents of well-resourced communities may benefit from a more prepared, better-staffed response.
In San Francisco, for instance, there are specialized field nurses designated to respond strictly to potential coronavirus cases. EMTs drive the nurses to test such patients, but they don’t lead the testing effort of the patient, said Sasha Cuttler, one of the six nurses on the San Francisco team. If there is an emergency, the EMTs can shuttle the patient to a nearby hospital.
Elsewhere, resources are so scarce that managers have to gamble on how much precaution they should take from call to call. Nathan Boone, a South Howell County ambulance field supervisor in West Plains, Missouri, says if he sends his staff out wearing protective gear every time, they risk running out of gowns and masks and other equipment. That could get worse if the virus continues to spread. But not wearing masks in some cases could mean exposing and temporarily losing his staff.
“It’s almost like an impossible situation if you look at it,” he said.
Dennis Lawson, president of the Washington State Council of Firefighters, echoed concerns about the possible shortage of supplies if the crisis goes on for a long time.
“We don’t know how big this is going to get or how long it’s going to last,” he said.
There has been some confusion about the CDC guidance to prevent the spread of infection, as it relates to supplies. Nathan Smith, a national representative for the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics, said he and his colleagues have debated whether masks need to be discarded after each use. In light of the N-95 mask shortage, he told ProPublica on Wednesday that his understanding of CDC guidance was that they can be reused.
“Actually, that respirator mask is good until the seal won’t seal or it starts falling apart, or it becomes obviously contaminated,” he said. “So once you wear it, you kind of should wear it for the rest of your tour and then throw it away, instead of putting a new one on every call.”
But the CDC guidelines are clear that first responders should not reuse masks and other equipment after transporting a potentially infected patient.
When a reporter read the guidelines back to him on Thursday, he corrected himself, later realizing he confused the guidelines with those he said were issued by a different federal agency.
“If they are recommending we get rid of them, we will recommend getting rid of them,” he said. “Hopefully we don’t run out of masks.”
Advanced Warning Is Crucial but Not Always Possible
First responders depend on dispatchers to ensure they’re not flying blind when they arrive at the site of an emergency. On Feb. 11, Evan Hurley, a firefighter in Kirkland, was responding to a call about a patient suffering back pain at the Life Care Center. He found out after about 15 minutes that the patient had symptoms of an ongoing infection. Hurley got exposed to coronavirus.
“We don’t always know when we’re talking to a patient whether or not they have these issues,” Hurley said. He doesn’t blame his dispatcher, but “in instances like that sometimes you find yourself after the fact wishing you’d known more,” he said.
Hurley did not test positive and doesn’t have any symptoms, unlike dozens of patients and staff members at the home; 22 people have died, according to public health officials. As of Wednesday, the number of Kirkland firefighters that had been quarantined or isolated is up to 40, including one positive test. The same thing happened to an additional 10 first responders from neighboring agencies who had to be quarantined or isolated.
Hurley said he is still frustrated—six weeks into the crisis—by the lack of testing for coronavirus for his fire department. Only 17 of the 105 members have been tested, he said.
“We are at the front line, the epicenter, and we can’t get tested,” he said. “It’s embarrassing and represents a danger to the public.”
In the age of the coronavirus, a dispatcher’s questions could mean the difference between identifying a case in advance or getting a first responder infected. But the dispatch screening guidelines are supposed to be based on the CDC’s guidance. In the initial weeks of the outbreak, the CDC had narrow recommendations for identifying a “person under investigation” for possible coronavirus. If a person, in the past 14 days, hadn’t traveled from China or been in contact with a patient with confirmed COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the CDC said early on they should not be considered a risk.
In the past three weeks, dispatchers in Grand Rapids, Michigan, started screening callers for coronavirus symptoms, as well as whether they had traveled to countries considered at risk. The dispatchers relay the information to first responders, who decide whether they should treat the call as a potential coronavirus case. Jason Murphy, a paramedic who has been responding to calls in Grand Rapids, said he and others have chosen not to suit up if a patient didn’t have a travel history, even as recently as Tuesday, when the virus was spreading from person to person within the country.
If a dispatcher asks all the right questions, language barriers and misinformation can still create confusion, said James Wheaton, an emergency responder in New York. “It’s a garbage in, garbage out situation,” he said.
Even first responders who are confident they are prepared for the crisis say they’ve never seen anything like it.
“It’s going to be a test of the system, I can tell you that,” said Tim Hinchcliff, managing director of Burholme Emergency Medical Services in Pennsylvania. “Many of us feel prepared but we don’t know how widely this thing will go.”


motherjones--2020-03-16--Results or a Revolution? Biden and Sanders Debate the Coronavirus

From the onset of Sunday night ’ s Democratic debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders , the candidates ’ plans for addressing the coronavirus pandemic became the perfect microcosms of the broader themes of their two campaigns .
Biden called for tackling the crisis at hand , while Sanders emphasized that the crisis exposes the flaws in America ’ s healthcare and economic systems .
“ People are looking for results , not a revolution , ” Biden said , arguing that systemic changes should wait until the pandemic was defeated .
“ That has nothing to do with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ America .
That ’ s real , ” he said .
“ But that does not affect the need for us to act swiftly and very thoroughly and in concert with all the forces that we need to bring to bear to deal with the crisis now.
” Biden proposed using the resources of the military to build up the capacity of the healthcare system as well as ensuring an economic response to make sure people do not lose their homes or undergo increased financial hardship as a result of the pandemic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the coronavirus , but also argued that the crisis would be managed better if the country had a single-payer health care system .
“ It is not good enough not to be understanding how we got here and where we want to go into the future , ” he said .
As it stands , he pointed out , people who should go get a test or see a doctor instead stay home to avoid the medical bills .
This has been Sanders ’ message on the crisis this past week , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Biden , by contrast , has run a campaign all about going back to normal .
Not back to Trump ’ s “ make America great again ” dogwhistle , but to the more stable leadership of the Obama administration .
That message was on full display Sunday , as Biden repeatedly recalled the previous administration ’ s response to the Ebola and H1N1 outbreaks .
Only once things are back to normal , Biden said , would his administration consider pushing for bigger changes .
He supports a public health care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should be the only option .
“ With all due respect to Medicare for All , ” he said , “ you have a single payer system in Italy , ” where the coronavirus has spread rapidly in recent weeks .
“ It doesn ’ t work there .
It has nothing to do with Medicare for All .
That would not solve the problem at all.
” But when it came to how Biden and Sanders are protecting themselves from the spread of the coronavirus , there was plenty of agreement .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , their rallies are now online events , neither are shaking hands anymore , and they both reassured audiences that they are using plenty of soap .

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From the onset of Sunday night’s Democratic debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, the candidates’ plans for addressing the coronavirus pandemic became the perfect microcosms of the broader themes of their two campaigns. Biden called for tackling the crisis at hand, while Sanders emphasized that the crisis exposes the flaws in America’s health care and economic systems.
“People are looking for results, not a revolution,” Biden said, arguing that systemic changes should wait until the pandemic was defeated. “That has nothing to do with the legitimate concern about income inequality in America. That’s real,” he said. “But that does not affect the need for us to act swiftly and very thoroughly and in concert with all the forces that we need to bring to bear to deal with the crisis now.” Biden proposed using the resources of the military to build up the capacity of the health care system as well as ensuring an economic response to make sure people do not lose their homes or undergo increased financial hardship as a result of the pandemic.
“People are looking for results, not a revolution,” Biden said,
Sanders called for a vigorous response to the coronavirus, but also argued that the crisis would be managed better if the country had a single-payer health care system. “It is not good enough not to be understanding how we got here and where we want to go into the future,” he said. As it stands, he pointed out, people who should go get a test or see a doctor instead stay home to avoid the medical bills.
This has been Sanders’ message on the crisis this past week, as my colleague Tim Murphy wrote on Friday:
The coronavirus crisis, he argued, had laid bare the larger failures of the American system itself—its lack of a social safety net for working people, its privatized health care networks, and a trade and manufacturing policy that had outsourced the production of necessary supplies to other countries for the sake of corporate profits. In other words, for Sanders there’s no normal to go back to.
Biden, by contrast, has run a campaign all about going back to normal. Not back to Trump’s “make America great again” dogwhistle, but to the more stable leadership of the Obama administration. That message was on full display Sunday, as Biden repeatedly recalled the previous administration’s response to the Ebola and H1N1 outbreaks.
Only once things are back to normal, Biden said, would his administration consider pushing for bigger changes. He supports a public health care option, but does not think it should be the only option. “With all due respect to Medicare for All,” he said, “you have a single payer system in Italy,” where the coronavirus has spread rapidly in recent weeks. “It doesn’t work there. It has nothing to do with Medicare for All. That would not solve the problem at all.”
But when it came to how Biden and Sanders are protecting themselves from the spread of the coronavirus, there was plenty of agreement. Their campaigns’ staff are working remotely, their rallies are now online events, neither are shaking hands anymore, and they both reassured audiences that they are using plenty of soap.


motherjones--2020-03-16--Trump Is Talking About Pardoning Michael Flynn Based on a Made-Up Claim

President Donald Trump may be poised to try to distract from his botched response to coronavirus by pardoning former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn .
Or maybe Trump hopes to use the pandemic as cover to pardon Flynn .
Or a bit of both .
It ’ s hard to be sure .
But what is clear is that Trump is threatening to let Flynn off the hook for lying to FBI agents about Russia .
And the president seems to have based this threat on a claim concocted by Flynn ’ s lawyer , right wing pundit Sidney Powell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ federal judge overseeing the case .
This development continues a pattern .
Since hiring Powell last June , Flynn has used legal filings to amplify far right conspiracy theorists who claim his guilty plea resulted from a deep state plot .
Flynn is now attempting to undo his November 2017 guilty plea .
This effort has largely failed in court , but by pushing attacks on former special counsel Robert Mueller ’ s investigation , Flynn ’ s defense seems to be succeeding with Trump .
On Sunday , the president tweeted that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claim the FBI “ has ‘ lost ’ the records of General Michael Flynn.
” Trump didn ’ t explain where this was reported .
But a review of the busy Twitter feed of Flynn ’ s attorney , Sidney Powell , suggests that she believes Trump is referring to her assertion that federal prosecutors failed to turn over to Flynn ’ s defense team “ the original 302 ” of Flynn ’ s January 24 , 2017 interview with FBI agents .
( 302s are interview summaries prepared by FBI agents .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ admitted he had lied to agents in that interview by claiming he did not discuss US sanctions on Russia with that country ’ s ambassador during the presidential transition period .
If the FBI lost records of this interview , it would be a big deal .
But neither the FBI nor the Justice Department says this happened .
Instead , they say they turned over more than sufficient evidence to Flynn , including the original notes of agents who interviewed Flynn as well as the 302 report summarizing the interview .
( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ filed in court here . )
Powell claims there is a missing “ original 302 ” of the January 24 interview .
She has implied the FBI may have destroyed this document and altered evidence to hide evidence of Flynn innocence .
( Powell here is pushing a version of a popular theory among right wing pundits that a failure by FBI agent Peter Strozk and other FBI officials to immediately find that Flynn was lying in the January 24 interview suggests he was telling the truth .
An alternative understanding is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had lied convincingly . )
Prosecutors , in an October 2019 filing , do indicate that is possible that they no longer have an “ earlier draft of the interview report , ” but they argue that doesn ’ t matter .
“ [ E ] ven if an earlier draft of the interview report once existed , ” the filing reads , “ there is no reason to believe it would materially differ from the interviewing agents ’ handwritten notes or the other drafts—all of which state that the defendant made the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ admitted guilt.
” This argument prevailed in court .
In a blistering December 16 ruling , US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan , who is known for pushing federal prosecutors turn over any arguably exculpatory evidence to defendants , excoriated Powell ’ s arguments .
Sullivan even accused Powell of plagiarism .
Sullivan found that “ there were no material changes in the interview reports , and that those reports track the interviewing FBI agents ’ notes.
” He said the material prosecutors turned over is “ both consistent and clear that Mr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” In other words , the judge found that the Justice Department not only turned over adequate records of the interview to Flynn ’ s lawyers , but those records show that Flynn is guilty of the crime to which he pleaded guilty .
That was in December .
It ’ s unclear where or why Trump picked up the idea the FBI had lost “ the records ” in Flynn ’ s case .
But one reason may be that Powell is still pushing the claim .
She is now working to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and cited the “ still missing original FBI FD-302 ” in a January motion to argue that “ everything about this prosecution has violated long-standing standards and policy for the FBI and the DOJ.
” Powell , who has previously called claims that she is angling to get Flynn a presidential pardon “ total bullshit , ” on Monday celebrated Trump ’ s tweet in an email to Fox News .
“ General Flynn is honored by the President ’ s concern and awareness of this egregious injustice against him , his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Powell wrote .
Flynn and Powell ’ s efforts have fared poorly in federal court .
But they appear to winning in the White House .

President Donald Trump may be poised to try to distract from his botched response to coronavirus by pardoning former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Or maybe Trump hopes to use the pandemic as cover to pardon Flynn. It’s hard to be sure.
But what is clear is that Trump is threatening to let Flynn off the hook for lying to FBI agents about Russia. And the president seems to have based this threat on a claim concocted by Flynn’s lawyer, right wing pundit Sidney Powell, and dismissed months ago by the federal judge overseeing the case.
This development continues a pattern. Since hiring Powell last June, Flynn has used legal filings to amplify far right conspiracy theorists who claim his guilty plea resulted from a deep state plot. Flynn is now attempting to undo his November 2017 guilty plea. This effort has largely failed in court, but by pushing attacks on former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Flynn’s defense seems to be succeeding with Trump.
On Sunday, the president tweeted that he might pardon Flynn based on a claim the FBI “has ‘lost’ the records of General Michael Flynn.” Trump didn’t explain where this was reported.
So now it is reported that, after destroying his life & the life of his wonderful family (and many others also), the FBI, working in conjunction with the Justice Department, has “lost” the records of General Michael Flynn. How convenient. I am strongly considering a Full Pardon! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2020
But a review of Powell’s busy Twitter feed suggests that she believes Trump is referring to her assertion that federal prosecutors failed to turn over to Flynn’s defense team “the original 302” of Flynn’s January 24, 2017 interview with FBI agents. (302s are interview summaries prepared by FBI agents.)
See Twitter thread by the great #patriot @AKA_RealDirty for clips from my talk with @Hillsdale
on how to fix Justice. Begin to restore trust in #FBI #DOJ by exposing truth & dismissing @GenFlynn case in the interest of justice! @realDonaldTrump@KerriKupecDOJ @BernardKerik pic.twitter.com/MJYwcoVuQq — Sidney Powell 🇺🇸⭐⭐⭐ (@SidneyPowell1) March 16, 2020
In his guilty plea, Flynn admitted he had lied to agents in that interview by claiming he did not discuss US sanctions on Russia with that country’s ambassador during the presidential transition period.
If the FBI lost records from this interview, it would be a big deal. But neither the FBI nor the Justice Department says this happened. Instead, they say they turned over more than sufficient evidence to Flynn, including the original notes of agents who interviewed Flynn as well as the 302 report summarizing the interview. (You can read a redacted version they filed in court here.)
Powell claims there is a missing “original 302” of the January 24 interview. She has implied the FBI may have destroyed this document and altered evidence to hide evidence of Flynn’s innocence. (Powell here is pushing a version of a popular theory among right wing pundits that a failure by FBI agent Peter Strozk and other FBI officials to immediately find that Flynn was lying in the January 24 interview suggests he was telling the truth. An alternative understanding is that Strozk’s initial impression showed Flynn had lied convincingly.)
Prosecutors, in an October 2019 filing, do indicate that it is possible that they no longer have an “earlier draft of the interview report,” but they argue that doesn’t matter. “[E]ven if an earlier draft of the interview report once existed,” the filing reads, “there is no reason to believe it would materially differ from the interviewing agents’ handwritten notes or the other drafts—all of which state that the defendant made the specific false statements to which the defendant admitted guilt.”
This argument prevailed in court. In a blistering December 16 ruling, US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, who is known for pushing federal prosecutors turn over any arguably exculpatory evidence to defendants, excoriated Powell’s arguments. Sullivan even accused Powell of plagiarism.
Sullivan found that “there were no material changes in the interview reports, and that those reports track the interviewing FBI agents’ notes.” He said the material prosecutors turned over is “both consistent and clear that Mr. Flynn made false statements to the FBI.” In other words, the judge found that the Justice Department not only turned over adequate records of the interview to Flynn’s lawyers, but those records show that Flynn is guilty of the crime to which he pleaded guilty.
That was in December. It’s unclear where or why Trump picked up the idea the FBI had lost “the records” in Flynn’s case. But one reason may be that Powell is still pushing the claim. She is now working to withdraw Flynn’s earlier guilty plea, and cited the “still missing original FBI FD-302” in a January motion to argue that “everything about this prosecution has violated long-standing standards and policy for the FBI and the DOJ.”
Powell, who has previously called claims that she is angling to get Flynn a presidential pardon “total bullshit,” on Monday celebrated Trump’s tweet in an email to Fox News. “General Flynn is honored by the President’s concern and awareness of this egregious injustice against him, his family, and the American people,” Powell wrote.
Flynn and Powell’s efforts have fared poorly in federal court. But they appear to winning in the White House.