Trump news: President says coronavirus hospitals 'a beautiful thing' and asks 'genius' drug companies to help Boris Johnson in ICU
US death toll climbs past 10,000 as White House spars pushes controverisla drug without clinical evidence of its efficacy against virus
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Donald Trump has said he hopes the US is “starting to see light at the end of the tunnel” while New York, the epicentre of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, reported a potential "plateau" of cases, as a grim streak of hundreds of deaths appears to have levelled rather than continue to spike.
On Monday, the number of Covid-19-related deaths in the US eclipsed 10,500, including the nation's youngest victim, a one-day-old newborn in Louisiana.
The president optimistic comments came in stark contrast to those of US surgeon general Jerome Adams, who warned Americans to brace for levels of tragedy similar to the September 11 attacks and the bombing of Pearl Harbour in the week ahead, as states continue mitigation efforts and prepare for several more weeks of quarantine and stay-at-home measures.
In a press conference attacking his predecessor Barack Obama, Democrats, reporters and a US Navy captain who alerted officials to a potential coronavirus outbreak on his ship before he was fired for doing so, the president dismissed an inspector general report that outlined the shortages of critically needed medical supplies in US hospitals.
The president also said he has considered "getting involved" with Captain Brett Crozier's case, and said that the captain's emailed letter "shows weakness."
The president said: "We don't want to have letter-writing campaigns where the fake news finds a letter [and] gets a leak. We don't want that."
Mr Trump continued to push for a controversial malaria drug that officials in his own administration have warned is not clinically proven to safely combat the virus. Despite warnings from Dr Anthony Fauci and the federal Food and Drug Administration, the president and his chief trade adviser Peter Navarro have insisted on administering the drug.
Mr Navarro has reportedly clashed with Dr Fauci about the drug's efficacy, though he told CNN he's qualified to measure the drug's effectiveness, despite not having a medical background.
On Monday, Dr Fauci was hesitant to say that mitigation efforts are showing signs of working across the US, but early results in hard-hit areas like New York are starting to show decreasing numbers of hospitalisations requiring ventilator support. He said: "You never want to think about declaring victory prematurely."
He said that health officials may be "overshooting" the models using initial data that showed as many as 200,000 deaths.
Meanwhile, a Democratic primary election in Wisconsin scheduled for 7 April cannot be postponed despite pleas from lawmakers and a last-minute push from the state's governor, which was overruled by the state's Supreme Court. The decision sends the election into chaos, with a drastic shortage of poll workers and an electorate that has been ordered to stay home under threat of the virus.
Ballots include thousands of local races in addition to a crucial race between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders for the party's nomination to face the president in November.
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Trump on call with Biden: 'He gave me his point of view and I fully understood that'
Donald Trump spoke with former vice president and 2020 rival Joe Biden over the coronavirus response. He said the 15-minute call was "wonderful" and "warm." The Biden campaign has said much of the same.
Trump said: "He gave me his point of view and I fully understood that."
They talked about "pretty much this, this is what everyone is talking about."
According to the Biden campaign, they talked about the administration's response and he "expressed his appreciation for the spirit of the American people in meeting the challenges facing the nation," according to a statement from deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield.
Trump on US Navy captain: 'I may just get involved'
The US Navy commander of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier reportedly sent an emailed letter warning of a coronavirus on board his ship. Captain Brett Crozier was later fired, and he is not in quarantine with Covid-19.
Donald Trump says he "may get involved" with the case and says that the letter "shows weakness."
He said: "We don't want to have letter-writing campaigns where the fake news finds a letter [and] gets a leak. We don't want that."
The president said that "you have two good people and they're arguing" and "believe it or not i'm good at settling arguments."
He added: "I don't want to destroy somebody for having a bad day."
Trump dismisses inspector general report outlining supply concerns from dozens of hospitals
Asked about an inspector general report from the Department of Health and Human Services that contradicts the president's assertions about supplies made available to hospitals experiencing critical shortages of equipment and protective gear, he president said said "what's his name?"
He also asked whether politics "could be entered into that."
He later said "we're doing to look into that."
Trump on UK's late decision to act on coronavirus: 'Many people were thinking about riding it out, meaning, whatever it is'
Asked about Boris Johnson's relatively late decision to create an effective lockdown in the UK, Donald Trump said "many people were thinking about riding it out, meaning, whatever it is" and said countries acted once the numbers of cases and deaths became "monumental."
He said the US "actually moved early" with its travel bans from China and Europe.
Johnson "made a decision very quickly thereafter to do what they did" but the UK is "suffering greatly as a nation right now."
Trump: 'We're the federal government. We're not supposed to stand on street corners doing testing'
The US has performed 1.79 million coronavirus tests, but hospitals and health systems have reported significant shortages on testing supplies, illustrated in a Health and Human Services inspector general report.
A frustrated Donald Trump said that hospitals and states "can do their own testing" and shouldn't rely on the federal government for assistance.
He said: "We're the federal government. We're not supposed to stand on street corners doing testing. ... They go to doctors, they go to hospitals, they go to the state."
ABC News reporter Jon Karl, telling the president that the inspector general had previously worked under Barack Obama, called him a "third-rate reporter" and a "disgrace."
He claimed the Obama administration left Trump a "broken" testing system, which wasn't developed until 2020.
Trump told Karl, a White House correspondent for one of the largest television networks: "You will never make it."
Trump looking at 'more money for our citizens"
Asked about another round of direct payments to Americans following a as of yet undelivered round of cash following a stimulus package in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Donald Trump "it is absolutely under serious consideration."
Americans "are going through a trauma," he said. "We're going to take good care of our people."
He claims, despite warnings from international and federal health officials, that the pandemic came out of nowhere untul "one day" officials told him to "shut the country down."
The virus is "not their fault" and he wants "more money for our citizens."
That appears to contradict members of his own administration.
Donald Trump's political attacks against the HHS inspector general that detailed the supply issues with hospitals across the US appear to have been triggered by mention of Barack Obama, despite the IG working under both Democrat and Republican administrations.
The president continues to slam his predecessor, saying the H1N1 response "was like they didn't even know it was here" and claiming that the US was under-prepared for coronavirus testing because of the Obama administration, despite the virus not surfacing until 2019.
Trump: Democrats 'shouldn't be allowed to win' 2020 election
Railing against Democrats who have criticised his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump says that their comments are politically motivated, and that "they want to win an election they shouldn’t be allowed to win."
Breaking: Wisconsin primary election can't be delayed
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers had said he was postponing the primary to protect voters from the risk of spreading Covid-19, overriding the objections of Republican politicians in the state. He had previously opposed moving the primary himself.
But the US Supreme Court intervened, voting 4-2 that he did not have the legal right to postpone the vote on his own authority.
That does it for today's coverage of the Trump administration and the coronavirus response.
Stay tuned with The Independent.
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