Trump news: President preparing to sign executive order keeping undocumented immigrants off census as Pentagon bans Confederate flag

Officials condemn federal officers using 'authoritarian' force in Oregon as coronavirus infections continue surge across South

Mark Zuckerberg says Dr. Fauci is being 'quite generous in your description of the government’s response here'

Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order that would prevent states from counting undocumented immigrants in their census, according to a Politico report confirmed by The Independent. The order could potentially undercounting significant parts of the US and depriving federal spending and congressional seats from those areas. It's likely to be challenged in court.

Unidentified federal border control officers have been deployed to Portland, Oregon in recent days to indiscriminately arrest protesters and forced them into unmarked vehicles, as Department of Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf condemned protesters "violent anarchists" while releasing a list of crimes that mainly amounted to graffiti.

Portland's mayor has demanded the president withdraw the troops, and Washington officials are outraged, liking the show of federal force to an "authoritarian" measure, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley said.

The president – who has falsely and repeatedly accused his Democratic rival of endorsing efforts to "defund" police in a campaign bid to pin recent unrest on Democrats – snapped at Fox News host Chris Wallace in an interview to air on Sunday after the president has pressed to prove his claims.

Pentagon officials meanwhile have banned Confederate battle flags completely from US military installations despite the president's defence of the symbol as "free speech" amid growing calls to remove the icons from public spaces.

Coronavirus infections continue to surge across the US, with daily cases Thursday reaching at least 77,255. That figure is nearly triple the daily cases discovered three weeks ago. In a White House document obtained by Centre for Public Integrity, 18 states are in the coronavirus "red zone".

Florida has seen its fourth consecutive day with more than 100 deaths, as daily cases there top 11,000. The World Health Organisation also recorded a record-high number of daily cases, as global infections near 14 million. Nearly 139,000 people in the US have died from Covid-19-related illness, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The Trump administration has blocked the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention from appearing at a House committee discussing school reopening plans, as the White House pushes states to reopen within weeks despite a raging public health crisis and no clear guidance for managing outbreaks, as teachers and school staff brace for spikes in infections.

This week, the administration directed hospital systems to send crucial coronavirus reporting data to a central Washington database under the Department of Health and Human Services – not the CDC. Researchers and health officials fear that White House-controlled data will not reflect the growing crisis but become a political cudgel.

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Key Points

• Trump to sign executive order keeping undocumented immigrants off census
• Pentagon bans Confederate flag from military installations
• 18 states in coronavirus 'red zone' as cases surge
• Trump's niece claims she heard president say the n-word
• US coronavirus daily cases over 77,000

[17 July 2020 11:34 · Chris Baynes]

[17 July 2020 12:23 · Chris Baynes]

Government plans third execution this week after 17-year hiatus

A week that marked the return of capital punishment by the US government after a 17-year hiatus is due to end with a third planned execution of a federal prisoner today.

If Donald Trump's administration faces no legal obstacle in putting Dustin Lee Honken, a convicted murderer, to death by lethal injection at 4pm EDT (9pm BST), it will have completed as many executions in a few days as happened in the preceding 57 years.

Lawyers for the condemned men have amassed legal challenges, which include arguments that the US Department of Justice's new one-drug lethal-injection protocol breaches a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishments.

These arguments have been rejected twice this week in overnight rulings by a 5-4 majority in the Supreme Court.

Dustin Honken was a dealer in illegal methamphetamine when he and his girlfriend murdered five people in Iowa in 1993, including two girls aged 10 and 6. He was convicted in 2004.

He is one of several inmates on federal death row in Terre Haute, Indiana, who have said the new one-drug protocol, which replaces a three-drug protocol the government last used in 2003, would cause an unnecessarily painful death.

The litigation will continue in the US District Court in Washington with the surviving inmates. Since last year, Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the cases, has ordered injunctions on three occasions delaying the scheduled executions to allow the legal challenges to play out. All three were overruled by the Supreme Court.

Two other men convicted of murdering children were executed in Terre Haute earlier this week: Daniel Lee on Tuesday, and Wesley Purkey on Thursday.

[17 July 2020 12:49 · Chris Baynes]

China vows to 'fight back against malicious slander and attacks by US'

China has said it is not seeking to confront or replace the US as the world's top technological power but will fight back against "malicious slander" and attacks from Washington.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying responded today to a series of recent accusations from the Trump administration.

She said China's chief concern was improving the livelihoods of its citizens and maintaining global peace and stability, despite what critics say is an increasingly aggressive foreign policy.

"As an independent sovereign state, China has the right to safeguard its own sovereignty, security and development interests, to defend the achievements made by the Chinese people with hard work, to refuse any bullying and injustice against China and to fight back against malicious slander and attacks by the US against China," Hua told reporters at a daily briefing.

Her comments came in response to a speech yesterday by US attorney general William Barr in which he cautioned American business leaders against promoting policies favourable to Beijing.

He claimed at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic China not only dominated the market on protective equipment, exposing American dependence on Beijing, but also hoarded supplies and blocked producers from exporting them to countries in need.

Barr also accused hackers linked to the Chinese Government of targeting American universities and businesses to steal research related to coronavirus vaccine development.

[17 July 2020 13:39 · Danielle Zoellner]

Georgia governor holding press conference after suing Atlanta mayor over mask policy

George Governor Brian Kemp decided to hold a press conference on Friday regarding the coronavirus pandemic. 

This conference comes after he sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over the mask policy she enacted in her city, which required for residents to wear a face shield when out in public. 

The reasoning behind Mr Kemp's lawsuit has not been revealed. But it comes on the heels of Donald Trump's Atlanta visit where he opted to not wear a mask. Following the visit, Ms Bottoms said the president broke the law by not wearing a mask. 

"Mayor Bottoms mask mandate can not be enforced," Mr Kemp. "...We will fight to stop reckless actions and put people over politics." 

The governor claimed the policies enacted by the Atlanta mayor was harming businesses and communities in her city. 

[17 July 2020 13:51 · Danielle Zoellner]

Georgia governor claims residents don't need a mandate to 'do the right thing' 

"I don't think Georgians need a mandate to do the right thing," Governor Brian Kemp said when asked why he was against enforcing a mask mandate. 

"This is not about masks. We all agree it is good to wear masks in the right situation. This is about protecting the livelihood of citizens," he added. 

Mr Kemp appeared to allude that wearing a mask would be a direct link to "shutting the economy down" in Atlanta or the state, which hasn't been what Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has pushed in her own mask mandate. 

"We have to protect the livelihoods," he reiterated. 

Another reason why Mr Kemp was against a mask policy was because he claimed it would be unenforceable. But he again reiterated that most citizens knew that they should wear a mask and that knowledge was good enough for him. 

"To add another mandate that is not going to be enforced ... in my opinion is a failed policy," he said. Mr Kemp made a comparison to laws against speeding, saying residents still find ways to break those. So he did not see how a mask mandate would prevent people from also breaking it. 

Ms Bottoms has accused her state governor of "playing politics" with his lawsuit against her mask mandate. She also said the state was ignoring science released by federal agencies like the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

[17 July 2020 14:17 · Danielle Zoellner]

Apple, Google, and Microsoft are collaborating too much with China, says US Attorney General

United States Attorney General William Barr has said that Apple, Google, and Microsoft are collaborating too much with the Chinese government.

"Corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Apple have shown themselves all too willing to collaborate with the [Chinese Communist party]," Barr said.

"The Chinese Communist Party thinks in terms of decades and centuries, while we tend to focus on the next quarterly earnings report," the Attorney General said in a speech at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Michigan.

Adam Smith with the report: 

[17 July 2020 14:58 · Danielle Zoellner]

Florida reports most coronavirus cases per capita

The state of Florida has overtaken Arizona by now having the recording the most coronavirus cases per capita. 

Florida is averaging 55 cases per 100,000 residents, according to data obtained by Johns Hopkins University. 

In comparison, Louisiana is averaging 44.3 cases per 100,00 residents and Arizona is averaging 43.06 cases per 100,000 residents. 

Arizona led the United States in cases per capita, but Florida and Louisiana have since passed the state with their own rise in coronavirus cases. 

[17 July 2020 15:16 · Danielle Zoellner]

Mary Trump says she heard president use n-word and antisemitic slurs as White House claims she's lying

The president's niece Mary Trump said late Thursday she has heard him use the n-word and anti-Semitic slurs over the years - as new figures show fewer than 30 per cent of Americans trust her uncle to handle race relations.

Ms Trump, who is making the media rounds pushing a new book that argues her uncle is the "most dangerous man in the world," made the explosive claims during an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. She made similar charges in the book.

Ms Maddow asked if Ms Trump heard the now-president use the n-word "specifically."

"Of course I did," Mr Trump's niece responded.

John T Bennett reports:

[17 July 2020 15:34 · Danielle Zoellner]

The UK and US are starting a new Cold War with Russia and China -- so what are these governments trying to hide? Patrick Cockburn with his take: 

[17 July 2020 16:00 · Danielle Zoellner]

How an 'indignant' Trump supporter grew to love Biden

Marie Garofolo says she was an ardent supporter of the president – until she sat down for some frank discussions with her family. 

Chris Riota with the latest from his Polarized column: