Trump news: Native Americans protest ahead of president's Mount Rushmore event as coronavirus cases continue to spike
Nation surpasses 50,000 cases for third consecutive day as violent Fourth of July speech defends monuments
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump drew on his dark, campaign-style vision of a divided America at his Fourth of July fireworks show at Mount Rushmore, held in front of hundreds of people packed together and not wearing masks as the nation's coronavirus crisis reaches nearly 3 million cases and more than 128,00 deaths.
The US reported more than 50,000 cases on Friday for a third straight-day, with spikes in nearly every state as the US entered the three-day holiday weekend.
In his remarks, he promised to defend monuments and condemned what he called "far-left fascism" among protesters calling for the removal of statues honouring slaveholders and Confederates.
Roughly 100 protesters were met by National Guard troops who fired pepper spray at several people and arrested a handful of others.
The president promised to build a National Garden of American Heroes – "a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans who ever lived" – including a complicated and likely controversial selection of American figures, from Amelia Earhart and Harriet Tubman to Antonin Scalia and Billy Graham.
The president also argued that Black Lives Matter protesters angered by the police killings of George Floyd and other black Americans would have wiped out the city of Minneapolis had he not sent in the National Guard to stop the demonstrations, while he picked fights with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo and Dr Anthony Fauci as he seeks to distract from the resurgent coronavirus.
Dr Fauci warned on Thursday that the US is “not going in the right direction” after the country reported 55,000 new cases of Covid-19 in a day, beating the world record for a daily rise set by Brazil on 19 June. Arizona, California, Florida and Texas alone accounted for 25,000 of that total as assistant health secretary Brett Giroir cautioned: “We are not flattening the curve right now. The curve is still going up.”
Follow live coverage as it happened
Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
VoteVets drops savage ad targeting 'Benedict Donald'
VoteVets, the group dedicated to electing veterans into public office to fight for progressive values, released an Independence Day campaign ad this afternoon that did not hold back.
"This July 4th Benedict Arnold can step aside, because Benedict Donald is America's number one traitor."
Trump's Mount Rushmore speech will slam "left wing mob"
ABC News reports a campaign official saying that tonight's speech at Mount Rushmore will see the president "tell the truth about America's history and he will tell the truth about those trying to tear it down and divide our country".
"My father..."
A Trump campaign message to supporters asking for donations contained an unfortunate error in which vice president Mike Pence appeared to refer to president Donald Trump as his father.
NBC News reporter Brandy Zadrozny posted a screenshot of the Facebook message to potential donors. The mistake is believed to be the result of a copy and paste error from a similar plea for donations from one of the president's adult children.
The vice president is known to refer to his wife, second lady Karen Pence as "mother", which makes it all the more confusing.
The president and first lady have departed the White House
Per the Travel Pool Report:
President Trump and the First Lady walked out of the White House and boarded the motorcade on West Executive Avenue at about 5:05 pm. We rolled out about a minute later and are now en route to Joint Base Andrews.
It is a positively swampy 95 degree afternoon here in Washington. Your pooler is hoping for (even slightly) cooler weather in South Dakota.
Stay with us for coverage of tonight's event at Mount Rushmore.
Report: Chairs at Trump's Mt Rushmore event are tied together
Donald Trump has faced intense scrutiny for hosting an event at Mt Rushmore with potentially hundreds of attendees as the US is in the grip of a coronavirus crisis, while officials in South Dakota have said physical distancing and face coverings won't be enforced.
CNN's Jim Acosta reports that chairs at the event are ziptied together:
Number of US prisoners with Covid-19 passes 50,000 mark
The number of US prisoners who have tested positive for coronavirus, now totals more than 50,000.
At least 52,649 prisoners had tested positive for coronavirus by the end of June, which represented an eight per cent rise from the week before, according to data from nonprofit news organisation, the Marshall Project, and the Associated Press.
Of the 52,649 prisoners, at least 35,796 have recovered from the virus, while 616 have died.
Protesters demonstrate at Mount Rushmore ahead of Trump visit
Indigenous activists and demonstrators were met by National Guard troops as protests blocked roads and demanded Donald Trump and his supporters to leave what is regarded as sacred land for Native groups.
“Nothing stands as a greater reminder to the Great Sioux Nation of a country that cannot keep a promise or treaty then the faces carved into our sacred land on what the United States called Mount Rushmore,” Chairman Harold Frazier of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe said in a statement this week. ”We are now being forced to witness the lashing of our land with pomp, arrogance and fire hoping our sacred lands will survive.”
National Guard clashes against Native demonstrators at Mount Rushmore event
National Guard troops fired pepper spray at protesters outside Donald Trump's Mount Rushmore event, where the president is expected to address a rally of hundreds of people on the eve of the Fourth of July.
Native Americans have condemned the event in South Dakota's Black Hills as a breach of a longstanding treaty to protect the sanctity of the area that they allege the president has exploited for political purposes, as the nation is embroiled in nightly protests over racial injustice.
Law enforcement also began towing trucks that blocked the road to the event.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies