Trump news: President claims Dr Fauci is ‘wrong’ over why US has more coronavirus cases as TikTok fights back against White House
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Donald Trump has challenged Dr Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House's coronavirus task force, over why the United States has more coronavirus cases than other countries. Dr Facui said in front of a House subcommittee it was because the US only shut down 50 per cent of its economy, but Mr Trump says it's due to the country testing more.
Although the president has blamed testing, that doesn't explain the surge in death toll and hospitalisations. In the month of July, 10 days posted more than 1,000 people dying from the coronavirus in a one day. The month prior only had three days within the month hitting that number.
This comes as the president has said he would ban popular video app TikTok over security concerns.
Mr Trump said a ban could be implemented on Saturday. On Friday he said he could use emergency economic powers or an executive order to enforce the action, insisting, “I have that authority” before adding: “It’s going to be signed tomorrow.”
TikTok's US general manager came back with a video on Saturday to users, saying the app was not going anywhere.
Key impeachment witness Alexander Vindman penned a Washington Post op-ed against the president following his resignation. The lieutenant colonel accused Mr Trump of using "bullying and retaliation" against him after he spoke during the House impeachment trials against the president.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden is nearing the announcement of his vice presidential choice. The top contenders and their advocates are making final appeals. The leading contenders include California Senator Kamala Harris, California Representative Karen Bass and Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice.
Representative Karen Bass responded to scrutiny on Saturday after a Scientology event she attended 10 years ago resurfaced. Ms Bass defended her attendance by stating she was trying to be accepting of all organisations in her community while acknowledging the recent allegations against Scientology.
The top Democrats in Congress are due to meet with two top Trump aides on Saturday to try to reach a deal to pump more money into the US economy to ease the coronavirus' heavy toll, after an essential lifeline for millions of unemployed Americans expired.
Over recent months, Congress has been unable to reach an accord for a next round of coronavirus relief, in a pandemic that has killed more than 150,000 Americans and brought on the sharpest economic collapse since the Great Depression.
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are to meet with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows beginning at about 9 am EDT (1300 GMT) at the Capitol, according to an aide familiar with the planning.
Congress has so far agreed on about $3 trillion in coronavirus relief.
Ms Pelosi said on Friday she had rejected an offer by Donald Trump's administration to continue the $600 payments for another week, saying such a move would only make sense "if you are on a path" toward a deal.
"We're not," Ms Pelosi told a news conference.
Two major drug companies will supply the US government with 100 million doses of an experimental vaccine, the Trump administration said on Friday, as the nation's top health agency predicted that fatalities would rise in the coming weeks.
Mexico surpassed Britain as the country with the third-highest coronavirus death toll on Friday, as the pandemic reaches new milestones in Latin America and threatens to disrupt efforts to reopen the region's economies.
Hurricane Isaias ripped tiles off roofs and blew over trees as it carved its way through the Bahamas early on Saturday morning and headed towards the Florida coast, where officials in Miami said they were closing beaches, marinas and parks.
Miami Mayor Carlos Gimenez said on Friday that 20 evacuation centers were on standby that could be set up with Covid-19 safety measures.
"We still don't think there is a need to open shelters for this storm, but they are ready," he said.
Authorities in North Carolina ordered the evacuation of Ocracoke Island, which was slammed by last year's Hurricane Dorian, starting Saturday evening. Meanwhile, officials in the Bahamas evacuated people on Abaco island, who have been living in temporary structures since Dorian. People living in the eastern end of Grand Bahama were also being moved.
Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (135 kph) on Saturday morning and some strengthening was possible later on Saturday, the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said. The storm was centred about 80 miles (125 kilometres) south-southeast of Nassau in the Bahamas and was moving northwest at 12 mph (19 kph). Forecasters said some decrease in its forward motion was expected.
After a difficult week, Trump addressed reporters in Florida, saying he gets along well with Anthony Fauci, the top federal infectious disease official, and he should have better ratings for his administration’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Read The Independent's Washington Bureau Chief John T Bennest’s analysis here.
Iran says it has detained a leader of a little-known California-based opposition group for allegedly planning a 2008 attack on a mosque that killed 14 people and wounded over 200 others.
Iran's Intelligence Ministry has also alleged Jamshid Sharmahd of the Kingdom Assembly of Iran planned other attacks around the Islamic Republic amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the US over its collapsing 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Iranian state television broadcast a report on Sharmahd's arrest, linking him to the 2008 bombing of the Hosseynieh Seyed al-Shohada Mosque in Shiraz. It also said his group was behind a 2010 bombing at Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's mausoleum in Tehran that wounded several people.
US daily coronavirus death toll tops 1,000 for 10 days in July
The United States reached multiple grim milestone in the month of July amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Not only did the country hit 150,000 deaths from Covid-19, but it has also reported more than 4.5 million cases since the pandemic started.
During the month of July, the country also hit 1,000 daily coronavirus deaths for 10 days, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
In June, the month only saw three days where it surpassed 1,000 daily deaths for the novel virus, which indicates the country might be moving in the wrong direction.
But July was a better month than May and April. May saw 23 days with coronavirus daily deaths topping 1,000 and April had every day of the month topping 1,000 daily deaths.
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman says Trump's 'campaign of bullying' led him to retire
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman penned an op-ed in The Washington Post on Saturday following the announcement he would be retiring from the Army.
"After 21 years, six months and 10 days of active military service, I am now a civilian. I made the difficult decision to retire because a campaign of bullying, intimidation and retaliation by President Trump and his allies forever limited the progression of my military career," he wrote.
Mr Vindman experienced attacks from President Trump after he testified before Congress during the president's impeachment hearings. His testimony became key in the impeachment inquiry, as he expressed alarm over Mr Trump's phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the phone call, Mr Trump asked for the country to open an investigation into political rival Joe Biden.
The former lieutenant colonel then experienced what he think was impeachment retaliation following the testimony after his promotion to colonel was delayed this summer.
But in the op-ed, Mr Vindman said he did not regret testifying before Congress.
"At no point in my career or life have I felt our nation's values under greater threat and in more peril than at this moment," he wrote. "Our national government during the past few years has been more reminiscent of the authoritarian regime my family fled more than 40 years ago than the country I have devoted my life to serving."
Mr Vindman added he stood "by his conviction" even though he received retaliation from the president.
"America has thrived because citizens have been willing to contribute their voices and shed their blood to challenge injustice and protect the nation. It is in keeping with that history of service that, at this moment, I feel the burden to advocate for my values and an enormous urgency to act," he wrote.
The lieutenant colonel submitted his letter of resignation on 8 July.
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