Trump news: President disagrees with official CDC warning in rambling coronavirus conference as he puts Pence in charge
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Donald Trump has downplayed the possibility of a widespread outbreak of the coronavirus inside the United States, calling the risk "low" a day and appearing to disagree with his top health officials who have said it is a matter of when, not if, the country sees serious illnesses.
"No, I dont think it's inevitable. It probably will, It possibly will," he said. "This will end. ... Nothing's inevitable."
He said he was putting vice president Mike Pence in charge of overseeing efforts to protect Americans from the deadly virus, which has killed thousands of people – particularly in China – although there have been no fatalities in the US.
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Roger Stone judge condemns ‘harassment’ of jurors as Trump launches fresh attack on Twitter
Trump tweeted out new allegations of bias against the judge and jury in the Roger Stone trial yesterday - just as disctrict court justice Amy Berman Jackson complained that her jurors were being intimidated and harassed.
Referring to accusations against her forewoman that have gained currency in conservative and pro-Trump circles, Judge Jackson said she had seen no evidence of anything untoward.
She added that, in the current climate, making jurors’ identities public would put them at “serious risk of harm”, citing “a highly polarised political climate in which the president himself has shone a spotlight on the jury”.
With classic Trump timing, he duly tweeted his grievances against the court:
Here's Andrew Naughtie with the latest.
'Trump is secretly terrified of the coronavirus - because of what it's doing to his re-election prospects'
For Indy Voices, Tim Mullaney has this insight into the president's private concerns about the global spread of the pandemic and its knock-on consequences.
President announces 'Caronavirus' press conference and bashes Dem debate
In the last hour, Trump has announced he'll be holding a press conference on the "Caronavirus" this evening (after Klobuchar called him out for not addressing the nation on the crisis last night) and served up the inevitable attacks on the 2020 candidates and the media.
Elizabeth Warren was "mean and undisciplined", he said, before mocking "Crazy Bernie" and "Mini Mike" himself.
He also called her a "chocker", presumably meaning "choker". Wow, his English is worse than his Hindi.
He's also been quoting Candace Owens on Fox on the supposed surge in support for him from African-Americans without offering any evidence and trailing his next rally in South Carolina on Friday.
Here's John T Bennett on this latest serving of madness from the Resolute Desk.
Trevor Noah mocks Trump for 'butchering' Hindi language during India visit
The Daily Show's host was left helpless with laughter at the president's blundering attempts to pronounce Hindi names in his address in Ahmedabad on Monday.
Here's Oliver O'Connell on a joyous segment.
Trump called Obama 'a psycho' for not banning flights over Ebola virus
As Trump continues to insist the coronavirus threat is overstated, it's worth revisiting the pressure he himself put on Barack Obama over the Ebola outbreak in 2014.
There was also this tweet, in which he argued that the Liberian immigrant who first caught the disease of the US should be prosecuted, posting that message four days before Thomas Eric Duncan passed away in Dallas, Texas, aged just 42.
Chris Riotta looks back on the president's heckling from the sidelines six years ago.
Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren pick up key endorsements
South Carolina congressman Jim Clyburn has just endorsed the former vice-president ahead of his state's crucial primary, which is make-or-break for Diamond Joe.
Meanwhile, The Boston Globe has backed Massachusetts senator Warren despite admitting that she is a "divisive figure".
New poll shows Bernie winning approval as Mayor Pete forced to cancel Florida fundraisers
Also in the race for the Democratic presidential race, Bernie's curmudgeonly performance on the stage in Charleston last night impressed the viewing public...
...while challenger Pete Buttigieg has been forced to cancel a string of Florida fundraising events ahead of Super Tuesday because he's ill. Let's hope it's not you-know-what.
Chuck Schumer set to propose $8.5bn coronavirus emergency relief package
The Senate minority leader is reportedly seeking to dwarf the White House's spending proposal by asking Congress to reapportion $8.5bn (£6.6bn) to take on the pandemic.
That's $6bn (£4.6bn) more than the $2.5bn (£1.9bn) asked for by the Trump administration.
Yesterday, Schumer accused the president of being "asleep at the wheel" on the international crisis and he has continued to bash the government response with some gusto.
You can, incidentally, follow our dedicated liveblog on the coronavirus with Chiara Giordano below.
Joe Walsh: ‘I’d rather have a socialist in the White House than a con man’
Trump's former GOP challenger has written for The Washington Post this morning to rally the Never Trumpers.
"Some of my Republican and ex-Republican brethren have started implying that what never-Trump actually meant was something more like: fingers-crossed-I-really-really-hope-not-Trump-but-I-guess-sometimes-Trump if Democrats wind up nominating a self-described democratic socialist," he writes. "But that’s not how this works."
“If it were up to me, [Bernie] Sanders isn’t the guy I’d put in charge But when I finally came around to saying, ‘never Trump,’ I meant it.
“Lots of politicians stink, and people hold their noses and vote for them, anyway. But if you’ve already gone on record as a never-Trumper, and now you’re saying that you’ll vote for Trump because you don’t like the alternative, you’re not holding your nose, you’re inhaling deeply.”
Mike Bloomberg borrows Trumpian tactics to spin Bernie feud into gold
The billionnaire is cashing in on his beef with Sanders through the medium of baseball caps.
"Bring in the boss" will surely never catch on as slogan.
Bloomberg's spokesman Tim O'Brien has also been channelling Trump by denying something we all heard his man say with our own ears last night.
The candidate was about to claim he "bought" the Democratic blue wave that swept the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterms before stopping himself short in mid-sentence with a correction: "I bough... I got them..."
But O'Brien, speaking to John Berman on CNN's New Day, insists his man said "backed", not "bought". Hmmm.
The below is even more tragic.
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