The Past 24 Hours Or So

Your Daily Dose of Trump and His Administration News

Coronavirus/COVID-19 Updates

• President Trump on Monday expressed support for Asian Americans after repeatedly referring to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus” despite critics who say the term is racist and fosters discrimination. “It is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States, and all around the world,” Trump tweeted.

• President Trump signed an executive order Monday aimed at preventing price gouging and hoarding of critical medical supplies amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Attorney General William Barr detailed the executive order at a White House briefing Monday evening, saying it would prohibit people from accumulating critical supplies amid the coronavirus outbreak in an effort to profit off of them.

• The Defense Department is preparing to deploy field hospitals to New York City and Seattle later this week, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced Monday. “Right now, I anticipate sending a [field] hospital to Seattle and a hospital to New York City,” Esper told reporters at the Pentagon, adding, “my aim is to get them out this week.”

• Over the weekend, President Trump implied that automakers GM and Ford are making ventilators “right now.” This is not accurate. Auto manufacturers like GM and Ford are “months away” from producing ventilators in their plants.

Other Administration News

• Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo left Afghanistan on Monday without saying whether he was able to broker an agreement between the country’s squabbling political leaders. Pompeo was in Kabul on an urgent visit to try to move forward a U.S. peace deal signed last month with the Taliban

As his Pompeo took off from Kabul, there was still no announcement on whether he’d worked out a solution to Afghanistan’s political impasse.

Update: The Trump administration is cutting $1 billion in assistance to Afghanistan after its rival leaders failed to resolve their dispute following Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit there Monday.