Trump news: President claims 'Operation Warp Speed' will find coronavirus vaccine by end of year as Space Force makes White House debut
White House tells press to investigate 'Obamagate' claims as troll army 'Keyboard Warriors' get presidential approval
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Donald Trump has claimed that his administration would take "warp speed" action to develop a coronavirus vaccine for Americans by end of the year — despite experts warning that his timeline would take a "miracle" — during remarks at the White House on Friday, as nearly every state begins to "reopen" amid the public health crisis that has led to the deaths of more than 85,000 people.
Mr Trump's optimism — propelled by a flag unveiling for his beloved Space Force and the creation of a "super duper missile" — had ramped up by Friday afternoon as he claimed that his administration was "looking at" making a virus vaccine free.
The president also claimed the US economy would be "amazing" by the fourth quarter moments after reports revealed that retail sales have plummeted 16 per cent, following business closures across the US in the wake of the pandemic.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany meanwhile said that Barack Obama's administration left Mr Trump with a "thin packet" for a pandemic response when he left office more three years ago, though it was Mr Trump who dissolved the national security team responsible for responding to outbreaks.
She also called on the press to "investigate" the president's Obamagate conspiracy theory on Mr Trump's behalf after she was asked directly what crimes were committed by Mr Trump's predecessor.
When pressed, Ms McEnany mentioned one potential crime: The leaking of the identity of Michael Flynn, the president's former national security adviser, to reporters.
Mr Trump also applauded his “Keyboard Warriors” for promoting his conspiracy, to which Mr Obama himself responded (indirectly) with a one word tweet: “Vote”.
On Thursday, Mr Trump called on Senator Lindsay Graham to force the former president to testify at a Senate hearing, but the Republican senator denied his request, saying it would set a "bad precedent" and "open up a can of worms".
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Hello and welcome to The Independent's rolling coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in the US and the Donald Trump administration's response to it.
Trump dismisses coronavirus testing and social distancing on factory visit
Donald Trump used a trip to a medical equipment manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania on Thursday to suggest that testing for the coronavirus is “frankly overrated” while mocking social distancing and again declining to wear a face mask despite everyone around him sporting one.
“If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases,” the president told his warehouse audience at Owens and Minor Inc in Allentown, employing some perverse logic to excuse the country’s 1.45m cases of Covid-19 and more than 86,500 deaths.
Two other questionable remarks from Trump included his praise for doctors and nurses who he said are “running into death just like soldiers running into bullets… it's a beautiful thing to see” and his contention that “I've never lost anybody to the flu that I knew,” apparently forgetting the death of his own grandfather from Spanish flu in 1918.
The president otherwise declared he would refill the national stockpile of medical supplies in preparation for the outbreak of future pandemics, which he insisted had been left “bare” by Barack Obama’s administration.
"Wouldn't that be nice?" he said. "My goal is to produce everything America needs for ourselves and then export to the world, including medicines.
He had earlier in the day complained about global supply chains in a Fox Business interview that aired prior to his visit.
"These stupid supply chains that are all over the world - we have a supply chain where they're made in all different parts of the world. And one little piece of the world goes bad, and the whole thing is messed up. We should have them all in the United States," he told Maria Baritromo.
At Allentown, Trump added to the pressure Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor Tom Wolf is under from home-state Republicans to roll back stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns after effectively containing the state's outbreak early on.
"We have to get your governor of Pennsylvania to start opening things up a bit," Trump said, claiming some places in the state had been "barely affected" by coronavirus.
Pennsylvania is 10th among states in overall infection rate, with some 59,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 4,000 deaths, according to federal statistics.
Here’s John T Bennett’s report.
President applauds 'Keyboard Warriors' over Obamagate
Later, Trump took to social media to applaud his “Keyboard Warriors” for pushing the Obamagate conspiracy theory on his behalf, a subject he has been much more concerned about this week than the pandemic wreaking havoc across the nation.
Barack Obama himself responded (indirectly) to all of this with the dignity you would expect of a commander-in-chief and a one word tweet:
If you haven't yet got your head around Obamagate - and who could blame you? - here's Griffin Connolly to guide us like Virgil through this head-spinning web of manufactured intrigue.
Lindsey Graham washes hands of Trump demand he subpoena Obama
The president yesterday made an extraordinary call for the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman to summon Obama to testify over his wild and unfounded claims that his predecessor's outgoing administration worked with the FBI to entrap incoming officials like disgraced general Michael Flynn to thwart the Trump project before he was even sworn in.
But the South Carolina Republican baulked at the order, saying doing so would "open a can of worms" and set a "bad precedent".
John T Bennett has more on this.
Dr Rick Bright gives 'politically damaging' testimony to Congress on sacking and says ‘lives were lost’ because of bad decisionmaking
The ousted director of the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority was called in front of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s health subcommittee yesterday to address the pandemic and his explosive 89-page complaint on the Trump administration's response to it.
Dr Bright said he was removed from his job last month after sounding the alarm, claiming he was barred from high-level meetings for raising concerns about supply shortages in January.
“Those alarms were not responded to with action” he said, but his actions meant he ”faced hostility and marginalisation from Health and Human Services officials”.
“I was told my urging were causing a commotion and I was removed from those meetings,” Dr Bright added.
He also warned that America faces its “darkest winter in modern history” because of Covid-19 and claimed more lives were lost because of the shortages and a lack of preparedness on the part of the federal government.
Even Fox pundit Brett Baiar had to admit later all of this was “potentially politically damaging” from Trump, who had attempted to distance himself from the witness as a “disgruntled employee” who no one had a kind word to say about, repeating his attack with the assistance of health secretary Alex Azar before boarding Marine One en route to Pennsylvania.
Danielle Zoellner and Alex Woodward have a full account of the expert’s testimony.
Pentagon fires point person for Defence Production Act
This doesn't feel like ideal timing.
Jennifer Santos, the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary of defence for industrial policy, told staff during a tearful staff meeting on Thursday that she had been fired and would be leaving her job at the end of play today.
That surely leaves the effort to implement the wartime Defence Production Act - which empowers the federal government to effectively take control of the manufacturing sector for the national good - in disarray.
Justin Vallejo has the latest.
Mitch McConnell forced to eat his words live on Fox over Obama pandemic plan attack
En route to Pennsylvania yesterday, Trump again laid into the preceding administration for leaving behind a "paper packet" plan on how to deal with a pandemic, which was at least an acknowledgement that one existed and was still pretty rich given that he had none of his own.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell had wrongly claimed in a Team Trump web event earlier this week that the Obama camp had failed to leave behind any kind of crisis management “game plan” despite going through Ebola in 2014, which that disaster’s response coordinator Ronald Klain and many others subsequently pointed out was just not true…
...forcing Mitch to eat his words live on Fox on Thursday: “Yeah, I was wrong. They did leave behind a plan, so I clearly made a mistake in that regard.”
Nancy Pelosi rebukes Republicans ahead of House vote on $3trn aid package
The House speaker lashed out at Trump administration officials and congressional Republicans seeking to slow work on a fresh round of coronavirus relief yesterday.
The White House responded minutes later with a threat that President Trump would veto the $3trn (£2.4trn) economic package Democrats have proposed.
The bill already had zero chance of passing the GOP-controlled Senate and reaching Trump, making the veto threat a symbolic gesture. Along with caustic criticism by the aforementioned McConnell, the exchange underscored the deep election-year gulch over what Congress' next response to the crisis should be.
But Pelosi's proposal served as an opening move and is likely to eventually produce negotiations among congressional leaders and the White House.
At a Capitol news conference, she lambasted Republicans who've said they want to hold off for now on more relief spending. "It's amazing to me how much patience and how much tolerance someone can have for the pain of others," she said.
Pelosi told reporters she believed both parties "and even down Pennsylvania Avenue" understand "the hardships Americans are feeling." She called the Democratic proposal "our offer" and said while she's had no recent negotiations with treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, the administration's chief bargainer, "I'm sure that they'll come with something."
White House officials quickly released a statement of their own. It said the legislation Pelosi unveiled on Tuesday is "more concerned with delivering on longstanding partisan and ideological wishlists than with enhancing the ability of our Nation to deal with the public health and economic challenges we face."
McConnell said later in his ill-fated Fox interview that there was a "high likelihood" Congress would do another bill and said it would include GOP-sought language limiting legal liability for companies reopening for business. He added, "But it's not going to be a $3trn left-wing wish."
The Democratic bill would provide nearly $1trn (£819bn) to help financially struggling state and local governments, e xtend special unemployment benefits and direct payments to individuals, and bolster spending for health care programs and essential workers.
The House plans to approve the measure today, which would be Congress's fifth and largest bill aimed at nursing the teetering economy through the coronavirus crisis. The measure is likely to pass on a near-party line vote and eventually lead to negotiations.
Objections listed by the White House and McConnell included provisions rolling back GOP-passed tax increases on residents of states with high taxes and making it easier for people to vote by mail and for immigrants in the US illegally to receive some federal assistance.
The White House criticised $25bn (£20.5bn) in aid for the struggling Postal Service, a favourite Trump target.
McConnell singled out what he called "the cherry on top" - provisions helping legal marijuana businesses.
Congress has approved nearly $3trn in recent weeks to address the country's twin economic and health crises, including money for coronavirus testing.
Republicans have expressed worries about burgeoning budget deficits and said lawmakers should evaluate how the initial dollars are being spent before moving fresh legislation. They also want to see whether the economy begins to recover as some states begin easing restrictions that have kept many businesses shuttered.
Today's House vote comes as 36m Americans have applied for unemployment benefits since the virus hit the US.
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has said a painful, prolonged recession could take hold unless Congress provides fresh aid to bolster the all-but-dormant economy.
Trump's views on what to do next have been unclear. He's pushed for a reduction of payroll taxes that's gained little support in Congress.
Trump has also reportedly cautioned GOP lawmakers not to box themselves in by opposing aid for state and local governments. Many state and local officials of both parties have sought more federal aid as they face eroding revenue and growing costs for unemployment and health programmes.
AP
Joe Biden commits to 'not pulling a Gerald Ford' and pardoning Trump should he win office
Democratic presumptive nominee Joe Biden said that, if he wins the presidency, he would not use his power to pardon Donald Trump or stop any investigations of him and his associates.
"It is not something the president is entitled to do, to direct a prosecution or decide to drop a case," Biden said on MSNBC in an appearance where he also appeared on a split screen with one of the women tipped to be his choice for vice president. "It's a dereliction of duty."
The former vice president made his statement in response to a voter who asked him on Lawrence O'Donnell's show, The Last Word, whether Biden would "commit to not pulling a Gerald Ford in giving Donald Trump a pardon under the pretence of healing the nation".
Biden responded, "I commit", before offering a more lengthy explanation of his view that the president must allow the Justice Department to operate without interference.
Ford became president in 1974 when Richard Nixon resigned under the threat of impeachment. He later pardoned his predecessor before any criminal charges related to the Watergate burglary could be filed. Ford went on to lose the 1976 presidential election.
The House impeached Trump in December on charges related to his effort to withhold congressionally appropriated funds from Ukraine in exchange for officials there assisting Trump in sullying Biden. The Senate acquitted him in February on a nearly party-line vote.
Biden also said on O'Donnell's show that voters who believe the former Senate staffer who has accused him of sexually assaulting her in the early 1990s probably should not cast their ballots for him in November.
"I think they should vote their heart, and if they believe Tara Reade they probably shouldn't vote for me," Biden told O'Donnell. "I wouldn't vote for me if I believed Tara Reade."
No stranger to grief himself, the candidate also offered these kind words of consolation for those who have lost loved ones to Covid-19:
Here's more from John T Bennett.
Lawsuit accusing Trump of illegally profiting from DC hotel reinstated
A suit accusing the president and former real estate magnate of illegally profiting off from his position through his luxury Washington hotel was revived on Thursday by a divided federal appeals court.
The lawsuit brought by the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia alleges Trump has violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution by accepting profits through foreign and domestic officials who stay at the Trump International Hotel.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department said it would ask the US Supreme Court to hear the case.
Maryland atorney general Brian Frosh and district attorney General Karl Racine - both Democrats - said they hoped Thursday's ruling from the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond would jump-start efforts by the two jurisdictions to obtain records showing how much state and foreign governments have paid the Trump Organisation to stay at the hotel and hold events there.
Louise Hall has more details.
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