Trump news: President calls coronavirus testing 'double-edged sword' as 17 states sue over student visa rule
White House defends relationship with Dr Fauci despite memo undermining his Covid-19 warnings
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has again lashed out on Twitter against his key media ally, Fox News, accusing the network of “working so hard against the people that got them there” and saying its contributors are “all over the place”.
A move by the White House to discredit the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, by labelling him too frequently “wrong” about the coronavirus pandemic has meanwhile been derided as “atrocious” by House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo denounced the administration's push to reopen schools, saying that the states is "not going to use our children as guinea pigs" or as a "litmus test" for national reopenings as he accused the president of "gross negligence" for "denying" public health experts.
The president defended his "very good" relationship with the nation's leading infectious disease expert as he falsely claimed that the US has one of the lowest Covid-19 mortality rates and blamed the Obama administration for US testing shortfalls, claiming that his predecessor "stopped their testing" despite the pandemic beginning three years after he left office.
During a White House roundtable discussion with law enforcement and people reflecting on their "positive experience" with police, the president repeated that coronavirus testing is a "double-edged sword" – implying that the discovery and spread of the disease also negatively impacts him.
Political rival Joe Biden's campaign criticised the president's "refusal to listen to science" and public falling out with Dr Fauci.
"The president's disgusting attempt to pass the buck by blaming the top infectious disease expert in the country ... is yet another horrible and revealing failure of leadership as the tragic death toll continues to needlessly grow," a statement said.
His latest spats come as new cases of Covid-19 continue to surge in the Sun Belt states, with Florida reporting a record 15,299 cases on Sunday and the Texas city of Houston weighing a return to lockdown.
Meanwhile, 17 states and Washington DC have sued the administration over its plans to drop certain visas for students at universities moving to online classes despite the raging pandemic.
A lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security argues that the order "fails to consider the harm to international students and their families whose lives will be upended" and that it "will also cause irreparable harm to the public health and the economy" of each state.
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Trump administration lifts ban on sales of gun silencers to private foreign buyers
Donald Trump ended a nearly 20-year-old ban on selling gun silencers to foreign buyers on Friday.
The ban – which was implemented in 2002 – was intended to prevent terror organisations from gaining access to American silencers.
Silencers – also called suppressors – are devices attached to firearm barrels to mitigate the noise produced when the weapon is fired.
California closing bars and indoor dining amid coronavirus infection surge
California's bars have been ordered to close, and indoor service at restaurants, movie theaters, wineries and other venues is shut down following a spike in coronavirus infections in the state.
Governor Gavin Newsom announces the changes on Twitter.
While localised restrictions have been in place, the statewide order reflects worrying rates of infections and hospitalisations.
At least 8,358 new cases were identified on Sunday. The state’s positivity rate is 7.4 per cent.
“The data suggests not everyone is acting with common sense,” Governor Newsom said during a Monday press conference.
There were 6,485 Covid-19 patients in hospitals as of Sunday.
The governor has also ordered that businesses in 30 counties, accounting for roughly 80 per cent of the state, have also been ordered to close inside service, including places of worship, hair dressers and other services.
House committee releases transcript from Geoffrey Berman's departure
Oh boy.
Geoffrey Berman, who was forced from his role as US attorney in the Southern District of New York, was prepared for a legal fight if he was to be removed by Attorney General WIlliam Barr through an alleged political maneuvering without first appointing his deputy as an interim successor.
Judge allows Mary Trump to speak out about family as book nears publishing date
Mary Trump's tell-all about her uncle's exploits – excerpts of which have already been denounced by the White House – is set for release on Tuesday, and a judge has freed the president's niece from a gag order allowing her to speak freely about its contents.
In a statement, her attorney said: “The court got it right in rejecting the Trump family’s effort to squelch Mary Trump’s core political speech on important issues of public concern. The First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy. Tomorrow, the American public will be able to read Mary’s important words for themselves.”
5.4m Americans lost health insurance during pandemic, report says
An estimated 5.4 million Americans lost their health insurance within the first few months of 2020 following mass layoffs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and economic fallout.
More Americans became uninsured between February and May than over any year in history, according to a report from nonpartisan consumer advocacy group Families USA, which compiled state-by-state reports estimating Covid-19's impact among workers under 65.
In that time, at least 22 million Americans lost their jobs or left the workforce. The public health crisis also has stripped roughly 16 million workers and their families from employer-provided health plans, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
"Despite these historic coverage losses, no Covid-19 legislation yet signed into law has made a serious effort to protect comprehensive health insurance," Families USA reported. "Policymakers know that millions of people are losing employer-based coverage. But they do not know how many people are becoming uninsured and how many are retaining coverage by shifting to insurance offered by a spousal employer, Medicaid, or the individual insurance market. ... Policymakers need to know now about the magnitude of coverage losses as they decide whether and, if so, how the next Covid-19 legislation will restore and maintain comprehensive health insurance."
The report found that the spike in uninsured Americans – adding to an estimated 84 million people who are already un- or underinsured – is 39 per cent higher than any previous annual increase, including the most recent surge at the height of the recession between 2008 and 2009 when nearly 4 million non-elderly Americans lost insurance.
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