Trump news – live: President asks Supreme Court to quash Obamacare in ‘senseless crusade’ on healthcare as US sees record surge in coronavirus cases
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Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to quash the Affordable Care Act, which was introduced by his predecessor Barack Obama to provide healthcare coverage to millions of Americans.
Government lawyers are arguing the legislation, dubbed Obamacare and seen as one of the Democrat ex-president’s signature achievements, became invalid when the Republican-led Congress axed parts of it in 2017.
Democrats have accused the administration of waging a “senseless crusade” of “unfathomable cruelty” on healthcare protections just as the US sees an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases across the US. The country on Thursday recorded its highest one-day rise in Covid-19 infections yet.
Texas puts reopening on hold as coronavirus cases surge to record highs
Texas Governor Greg Abbott first announced on Thursday that the state would be pausing its reopening plans amid an increase in coronavirus cases.
On Friday, it was then announced that the state would be introducing some past restrictions, such as closing bars and reducing capacity in restaurants.
Andrew Naughtie with the story of Texas' pause in reopening:
Why this anti-choice independent voter doesn't believe Trump is 'pro-life' – and supports Biden instead Chris Riotta with his latest column about voters across the US:
Health experts considering new testing option in US
The White House Coronavirus Task Force was now "seriously considering" pool testing for Covid-19 as a way to better improve the US' testing capabilities as coronavirus cases rise.
"Something's not working," Dr Anthony Fauci told The Washington Post. "I mean, you can do all the diagramming you want, but something is not working."
The strategy of pool testing mixes several samples together of different people into one batch or "pool". This mixture would then be tested using one diagnostic Covid-19 test. If the test comes back negative, you then eliminate all of the people from having the novel virus. If the test comes back positive, health professionals then go back and test each individual within the group.
Dr Deborah Birx, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said the new approach could help better inform officials of where the virus is spreading.
"If you look around the globe, the way people are doing a million tests or 10 million tests is they're doing pooling," Dr Birx said during an online conference of the American Society for Microbiology. "Pooling would give us the capacity to go from a half a million tests a day to potentially 5 million individuals tested per day by those poolings."
The new approach was not currently being used by officials, but it was under consideration as an option.
Trump says Biden's 'going to be your president because some people don't love me, maybe'
In an admission that Americans might not reelect him as US president in November, Donald Trump has said that Joe Biden "is going to be president because some people don't love me."
His comments on Thursday night came amid national and state-wide polls that showed the president trailing the Democratic presidential nominee, Mr Biden, at the ballot box.
Gino Spocchia reports:
Trump administration's SCOTUS filing to end Obamacare is 'crazy', Pelosi says John T Bennett with the breaking news:
Florida reports a new single-day high in coronavirus cases
Coronavirus cases continue to surge in Florida, as Governor Ron DeSantis declines to issue a state-wide mandate for all residents to wear masks when outside.
The Florida Department of Health reported at least 8,942 coronavirus new cases in a single day, according to data released by the state on Friday. This would bring the state's total number of cases to 122,960.
This is the largest single-day jump the state has reported since the start of the pandemic.
White House silent on reason for Trump cancelling weekend golf club trip
The White House has cancelled Donald Trump's planned weekend at his Bedminster golf resort amid New Jersey's request that travellers who have visited states with coronavirus spikes self-quarantine for 14 days.
Mr Trump has recently visited Arizona, which has seen a surge in cases and hospitalisations, and a county in Wisconsin on Thursday that its state government says has a "high" Covid-19 activity level.
White House officials have declined to disclose the reason for why the trip was cancelled just a few hours before the president was scheduled to leave the White House on Marine One.
John T Bennett has the story:
Commerce secretary says consumer spending will lead US recovery
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross discussed what could help lead to a US recovery in the economy, even with states like Texas now rolling back reopening plans amid a surge in coronavirus cases.
"Well it's natural that there will be some little interruptions as we come back out of the pandemic, but the key thing in my view is consumer spending will continue to lead the recovery," Ross said.
He added it was a matter of when, not if on how consumer spending will be unleashed.
Pence boasts of 'remarkable progress' and 'rolling' retail sales as US cases surge Our story:
Pence reveals he will be travelling to three coronavirus hotspots
Vice President Mike Pence announced during the White House's coronavirus task force briefing, the first one the task force has held in two months, that he will be travelling to three hotspots in the US.
He will travel to Texas on Sunday, Arizona on Tuesday, and Florida on Thursday. All three of these states are experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced on Friday that his state would rollback some of its reopening processes in response to a surge in cases.
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