Trump news: President plans to send more agents nationwide amid crackdown on protests while attacking Biden in Twitter rant
Justice Department to deploy federal officers to three more US cities as coronavirus death toll reaches 150,000
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The nation's death toll from coronavirus surpassed 150,000 on Wednesday, reaching the highest such figure globally, as Covid-19 infections continue to rise across the US.
Donald Trump meanwhile spent the day travelling to a fundraiser in Texas to support oil drilling efforts, raging against Democrats in a campaign-style speech before signing a series of pipeline permits.
The president claimed in a new interview that he “never discussed” reports of Russian bounties on the heads of US troops in Afghanistan with Vladimir Putin, as the US announced it will be withdrawing troops from Germany.
Mr Trump claimed the issue of Russian bounties never reached his desk in an interview with Axios, despite reports indicating he received the intelligence in a daily briefing back in February.
This comes as the administration moves forward with plans to pull forces out of Germany after Mr Trump alleged the country was "delinquent in their payments" to the NATO security alliance.
Asked whether he reads his briefings, Mr Trump responded: “I do. I read a lot. You know, I read a lot. They like to say I don’t read. I read a lot. I comprehend extraordinarily well. Probably better than anybody you’ve interviewed in a long time. I read a lot.”
Justice Department officials also announced that the administration will surge federal officers into three more American cities in electoral battleground states – Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee – as the president prioritises a "law and order" agenda in his 2020 campaign.
Oregon's governor also announced that federal agents in Portland will be withdrawn, per an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, though director Chad Wolf has said that their departure depends on whether the safety of federal properties can be assured amid Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
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More than 150,000 Americans have died from Covid-19
The rise in deaths marks yet another grim turning point as the administration struggles to address a growing reality for many Americans, local governments juggle the consequences of reopening too quickly only to close weeks later, and millions of families approach a looming deadline for sending children back to school.
Trump rails against Democrats during Texas visit as state reports single-day Covid-19 death toll record
During a visit to an oil drilling rig outside Midland, Texas, Donald Trump couldn't help himself from delivering a campaign speech attacking Democrats over environmental regulations and claiming that his opponents want to end suburbs, police and an American way of life he has repeatedly insisted is under threat despite his three years in office proving otherwise.
As he delivered remarks on "restoring energy dominance", the US surpassed 150,000 coronavirus deaths, including more than 300 in Texas, breaking a single-day record in the state.
The president said several hundred doses of Remdesivir will be sent to the state.
Trump claims Biden isn't 'going to do well in Texas' as Democrat leads in election polls
Donald Trump on Wednesday declared victory in what he called a Democratic "war" on the American energy industry, defying polls while visiting a Texas oil rig by predicting he will win the state in November as he once again turned an official trip into a mini-campaign rally.
"As long as I'm president we will never allow anyone to put American energy out of business, which is what they want to do," he said on an oil rig in Midland, Texas. "We unlocked the full energy potential of Texas and New Mexico. ... We have become a net energy exporter."
The president announced export authorisations for US liquified natural gas will be extended well into the future, through 2050. "That seems like a long time," Mr Trump said, claiming his administration is also safeguarding the environment – though conservation groups and congressional Democrats sharply disagree, saying he has taken a blow torch regulations and other environmental safeguards.
John T Bennett on the president's visit to the Lone Star state.
Fauci stresses that hydroxychloroquine is 'not effective' despite 'a bunch of people spouting something that isn't true'
As Donald Trump and his allies promote hydroxychloroquine to combat coronavirus, with White House economic adviser Peter Navarro telling CNN that the government is sitting on "millions" of doses, Dr Anthony Fauci reiterated that the drug has "consistently" been shown to be "not effective" against the disease.
He spoke to MSNBC a day after the president defended a controversial doctor who claimed that the drug was a "cure" for Covid-19.
"The scientific data, the cumulative data on trials, clinical trials that were valid — namely, clinical trials that were randomized and controlled in the proper way — all of those trials show consistently that hydroxychloroquine is not effective in the treatment of coronavirus disease or Covid-19," he said.
The nation;s top infectious disease expert described a video that has been pulled from social media for spreading misinformation as "a bunch of people spouting something that isn't true."
"The only recourse you have is to be very, very clear in presenting the scientific data that essentially contradicts that," he said.
Judge blocks Trump 'public charge' rule amid pandemic
A federal just has blocked the Trump administration from implementing its "public charge" rule that limits eligibility for people seeking legal status in the US if they are using public benefits like Medicaid, housing vouchers or food assistance.
The Trump administration's extension of the policy would restrict poor immigrants from obtaining a green card if they had recently used benefits, despite the administration's own findings that more than half of noncitizen households rely on those public services. In his ruling on Wednesday, US District Judge George Daniels argued that the rule is an unnecessary burden amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"What were previously theoretical harms have proven to be true," he said. "We no longer need to imagine the worst-case scenario. We are experiencing its dramatic effects in real time."
Johns Hopkins to the US: Get on the right track to combat coronavirus
The US is "not currently on course to get control" of its coronavirus outbreak like other developed countries, according to a Wednesday report fromJohns Hopkins University Center for Health Security said in a new report Wednesday as the nation's death toll reached more than 150,000.
“It is time to reset," the authors wrote.
The report calls for a national mask mandate and testing standards – both applied at the federal level – and stay-at-home orders in areas where the virus is spiking (which is.... roughly half the US). It also calls for a unified response, not a patchwork one, and for commercial labs to be able improve turnaround times
While a vaccine will "dramatically change the course of the response", it is still months away, and its efficacy and availability won't be immediately determined, which is why officials can't wait to rely on one before implementing measures that the rest of the world has taken the lead on, the report says.
“With misinformation and vaccine hesitancy remaining prominent issues affecting public health, vaccination campaigns will not be successful if they are not executed with sensitivity to the current climate around trust of public institutions and if they do not incorporate multidisciplinary expertise in decision-making groups,” according to the report.
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