Your Daily Dose of Trump and His Administration News
- Contradicting the President’s Monday Tweet: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.” A coronavirus outbreak in the United States is now inevitable, a top CDC official said Tuesday, elevating concerns that the public health emergency could soon become a full-scale pandemic.
“Ultimately, we will see community spread in this country,” Nancy Messonnier, the director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases told reporters on a call. “It’s not a question of if but rather a question of when and how many people in this country will have severe illness.”
- Trump administration officials on Tuesday tried to swat away concerns their emergency request for $2.5 billion to address the coronavirus outbreak was not enough, telling a group of senators more money could be added if the crisis escalates, according to lawmakers in attendance. The briefing, with more than a dozen senators, came as President Trump’s advisers and political allies grow increasingly concerned that a botched response could hurt the U.S. economy and put Trump’s reelection prospects at risk.
NOTE: Last fall the Trump administration shut down the pandemic response team. That’s why the CDC isn’t ready.
- White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow claimed that the coronavirus outbreak had been contained in the U.S. and that it would not result in an “economic tragedy,” even as the stock market suffered its worst losses in two years and a top U.S. health official warned that the virus’s spread in the U.S. is inevitable.
- Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf claims the mortality rate for coronavirus is similar to the flu, both at about 2%. Senator Kennedy says “are you sure of that?” and the secretary doubles down.
NOTE: The mortality rate for seasonal flu is closer to 0.1%:
- Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar testified, “We could, within a year, have a (coronavirus) vaccine.” Contradicting the President who said, “(we are) very close to a vaccine” for the coronavirus. When asked about Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, who said a vaccine would be available “in a month and a half,” Azar replied, “One could not develop a vaccine in a month and a half. That has never happened in human history.”
- President Trump is considering nominating GOP Rep. John Ratcliffe, an outspoken supporter of the president, to be the next Director of National Intelligence, only months after Ratcliffe withdrew from consideration for the role amid scrutiny about his resume and experience.
- The President once again meddled in DOJ business as he Tweeted: “There has rarely been a juror so tainted as the forewoman in the Roger Stone case. Look at her background. She never revealed her hatred of “Trump” and Stone. She was totally biased, as is the judge. Roger wasn’t even working on my campaign. Miscarriage of justice. Sad to watch!”
NOTE: Roger Stone did work on Trump’s campaign.
- The Trump administration on Monday finalized a rule that would limit access to Social Security disability benefits for non-English speakers. “It is important that we have an up-to-date disability program,” Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul said. The new rule, which goes into effect April 27, would remove English speaking as a factor of educational attainment, making it more difficult for non-English speakers to qualify for the aid.
- As the president’s distrust in those serving him has grown, a group of conservative activists led by Clarence Thomas’s Wife, Ginni Thomas, has targeted officials in the administration, leading Trump efforts to compile a ‘deep state’ hit list and lobbying for its own preferred choices.
- Regarding criticism of the administration’s handling of the COVID-19 virus, Trump Tweeted: “ Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus (sic) look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape! @CDCgov…I will be having a News Conference at the White House, on this subject, today at 6:00 P.M. CDC representatives, and others, will be there. Thank you!”
The Past 24 Hours Or So 