Trump news – live: Fauci responds to White House attacks as Oklahoma governor tests positive for coronavirus
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Dr Anthony Fauci responded to White House's "bizarre" attacks against the coronavirus taskforce head, saying it ultimately hurts the president.
Donald Trump distanced himself from the op-ed in USA Today, saying it was written by Peter Navarro and that he had a good relationship with Dr Fauci.
It came as Oklahoma's Kevin Stitt becomes first US governor announced that he had tested positive for Covid-19.
Trump, meanwhile, appeared to avoid a Twitter hack that targeted presidential candidates Joe Biden and Kanye West, as well as other high-profile politicians and business leaders like Barack Obama and Elon Musk.
Follow the latest updates below:
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's rolling coverage of US politics and the country's coronavirus pandemic.
Trump claims 'more white people' die at hands of police
President Donald Trump has claimed that “more white people” are dying at the hands of police than Black Americans, further stoking racial tensions and divisions in the country.
During a CBS News interview, Mr Trump was asked why Black people were still dying as a result of police brutality, to which he replied: “And so are white people. So are white people. What a terrible question to ask. So are white people. More white people by the way.”
A study published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2018 found that African Americans are 3.5 times as likely to be killed by police compared to white people.
Mr Trump was asked about the issue in an interview with CBS News’ Catherine Herridge.
She began: “Let’s talk about George Floyd, you said George Floyd’s death was a terrible thing.”
“Terrible,” the president said.
Ms Herridge then asked: “Why are African Americans still dying at the hands of law enforcement?”
To which Mr Trump replied: “And so are white people. So are white people. What a terrible question to ask. So are white people. More white people by the way. More white people.”
According to a Washington Post analysis updated on Monday, half of people killed by police are white, but Black Americans are shot at a disproportionate rate. They account for less than 13 percent of the US population but are killed by police at over twice the rate of white Americans, the newspaper analysis found.
The May 25 death of African-American George Floyd sparked protests across the US and has led to an increased focus on police violence against Black people.
US coronavirus update - latest stats:
The United States reported 67,417 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the country's highest single-day jump in cases since the pandemic began.
There were also 900 new virus-related deaths.
That brings the national total to at least 3,431,574 cases and 136,466 related deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
Trump takes credit for convincing UK to ban China's Huawei
Donald Trump has appeared to take credit for having "convinced many countries" including the UK not to use Huawei after Boris Johnson ordered a ban on the Chinese firm with the country's 5G network.
The US president said, "I did this myself, for the most part", as he spoke of having worked to pressure nations to not use Huawei, adding: "If they want to do business with us, they can't use it."
In a major U-turn provoking criticism from China, the British PM ordered telecoms firms to remove Huawei equipment from the 5G network by 2027.
The move, costing billions and delaying the deployment of 5G by up to three years, came after a government-ordered review found the security of Huawei's equipment could not be guaranteed because of US sanctions.
Mr Trump boasted in a press conference that no White House "has been tougher on China" than his administration, which the UK is trying to broker a post-Brexit trade deal with.
Health secretary Matt Hancock acknowledged the US sanctions played a role in the ban and said trade discussions were also an important consideration, but insisted it was "a sensible decision".
"We all know Donald Trump, don't we?" he told Sky News.
Trump ends preferential status for Hong Kong
President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered an end to Hong Kong's special status under US law to punish China for what he called "oppressive actions" against the former British colony, prompting Beijing to warn of retaliatory sanctions.
Citing China's decision to enact a new national security law for Hong Kong, Mr Trump signed an executive order that he said would end the preferential economic treatment for the city.
"No special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies," he told a news conference.
Acting on a Tuesday deadline, he also signed a bill approved by the US Congress to penalise banks doing business with Chinese officials who implement the new security law.
"Today I signed legislation, and an executive order to hold China accountable for its aggressive actions against the people of Hong Kong," Mr Trump said.
"Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China."
China's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Beijing will impose retaliatory sanctions against US individuals and entities in response to the law targeting banks, though the statement released through state media did not reference the executive order.
Trump to dismantle environmental protections
Donald Trump is today expected to announce a new federal rule to speed up the environmental review process for proposed roads, gas pipelines and other major infrastructure, a move that critics are describing as the dismantling of a 50-year-old environmental protection law.
The president will travel to Atlanta today to announce rule he first outlined the effort in January. The administration is likely to set a two-year deadline for completing full environmental impact reviews while less comprehensive assessments would have to be completed within one year.
Critics call the Republican president's efforts a cynical attempt to limit the public's ability to review, comment on and influence proposed projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, one of the country's bedrock environmental protection laws.
"This may be the single biggest giveaway to polluters in the past 40 years," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Centre for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that works to save endangered species.
Trump has made slashing government regulation a hallmark of his presidency and held it out as a way to boost jobs.
"The United States can't compete and prosper if a bureaucratic system holds us back from building what we need," he said when first announcing the sweeping rollback of National Environmental Policy Act rules.
But environmental groups say the regulatory rollbacks threaten public health and make it harder to curb global warming. With Congress and the administration divided over how to boost infrastructure investment, the president is relying on his deregulation push to demonstrate progress.
UK acting like 'junior partner' of US, says China
China's ambassador to the UK has accused Britain of behaving like a "junior partner" of the United States over the decision to ban Huawei from its 5G network.
Liu Xiaoming said: "Britain can only be Great Britain when you have an independent foreign policy rather than... [when] you are just a junior partner of the United States.
"Look at what happened with Huawei. Look at what their secretary of state is saying after the decision made by the UK government. Everybody understands what the reason is behind the UK decision.
"[If] the UK wants to build a global Britain, to still exert a global influence, you really have to think deeply what kind of role you are going to play."
Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said yesterday that the UK government's U-turn over Huawei was "welcome news". Donald Trump's administration had piled pressure on Britain over the issue.
Trump begins day with flurry of tweets
The president has logged on. Donald Trump has begun the day with a scattergun flurry of tweets about Joe Biden, Goya Foods, his approval rating in the Republican party, Fox News, vaccines and the New York Times.
Experimental US vaccine safe and triggers immune response, early results suggest
One of those Trump tweets just mentioned - in which he declares there is "Great News on Vaccines!" - appears to be a reference to a promising US study on an experimental vaccine candidate.
On Tuesday, researchers reported the findings from the first 45 healthy adults who received Moderna Inc’s vaccine candidate in March.
Those early volunteers developed neutralising antibodies – which are key to blocking infection – at levels comparable to those found in people who survived Covid-19, the research team reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Zoe Tidman has more on this story:
White House distances itself from Navarro op-ed
The White House appears to be distancing itself from an op-ed by Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro published overnight by USA Today.
In the article, ‘Anthony Fauci has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on’, Mr Navarro lists a number of occasions in the early days of the spread of Covid-19 in which he and Dr Fauci disagreed on policy or advice to the public.
He closes with the line: “So when you ask me whether I listen to Dr. Fauci’s advice, my answer is: only with skepticism and caution.”
This morning Alyssa Farah, White House director of strategic communications, tweeted: “The Peter Navarro op-ed didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes and is the opinion of Peter alone. @realDonaldTrump values the expertise of the medical professionals advising his Administration.”
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