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Saturday 18 July 2020 14:45
Donald Trump has yet to release his own statement about the death of Congressman John Lewis after the civil rights leader died on Friday from his six-month-battle of pancreatic cancer. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, though, honoured Mr Lewis in a statement by calling him an “icon” of the civil rights movement.
The president has instead issued a series of angry tweets about Joe Biden and his niece Mary Trump, who just released a scathing book about Mr Trump.
An interview with the president and Fox News host Chris Wallace is set to air on Sunday, and a sneak peek of the conversation showed Mr Trump making false claims that Mr Biden was calling to defund the police in a policy pact with Bernie Sanders.
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The Vice President released a statement on Saturday following the news of Congressman John Lewis’ death.
“While John Lewis will be rightly remembered as an icon of civil rights movement,for me he was also a colleague & a friend. Even when we differed, John was always unfailingly kind and my family. I will never forget the privilege of crossing Edmund Pettusn Bridge at his side,” he said in a statement.
The US Food and Drug Administration issues emergency authorisation for coronavirus pool testing
“This EUA for sample pooling is an important step forward in getting more Covid-19 tests to more Americans more quickly while preserving testing supplies,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said in the statement. “Sample pooling becomes especially important as infection rates decline and we begin testing larger portions of the population.”
This would be the first approved Covid-19 diagnostic test in the US that allowed pool samples.
Pool testing involves labs to test multiple people at once by mixing their samples together in one batch and then testing that sample. If the sample comes back positive, then the lab will go back and individually test each person. If it comes back negative, that means all people involved are free from the novel virus.
Top health officials like Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Deborah Birx have previously said pool testing could make a positive impact on the testing system in the US.
This test, if accurate, could help already overwhelmed labs test more people quicker.
Congresswoman Karen Bass of California, who serves as the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, has told Donald Trump to not release a statement about John Lewis’ death in a tweet.
The president, who is currently golfing at his Virginia golf club, has not released a personal statement about the civil rights leader but did order for the flags at the White House and other public buildings to be lowered to half-staff to honour Mr Lewis.
Picture obtained by CNN showed President Donald Trump on the golf course on Saturday at his club in Sterling, Virginia, He arrived to the club earlier on Saturday morning and was met with protesters outside the club upon entrance.
This is the presidents 370th trip to the golf course since becoming president in 2016 and his 278th trip to one of his own clubs, per CNN.
“As a mark of respect for the memory and longstanding public service of Representative John Lewis, of Georgia, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions through July 18, 2020,” President Donald Trump said in his proclamation.
The president has made no other statement or issued any tweets about Congressman John Lewis.
NYPD union chief appears on Fox News with far-right conspiracy theory QAnon symbol in background
A New York Police Department union chief made an appearance on Fox News with a QAnon mug featured in the background.
Ed Mullins, president of the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association, appeared on Fox News to discuss the increased gun violence in New York City and other parts of the US.
Viewers noticed a mug in the background of Mr Mullins interview with a logo on the front representing QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory whose adherents believe in the existence of a “deep state” within the US government that is controlled by a Satanic cabal of child-abusing elites.
Our report:
The White House has lowered the flags to half-staff following the news of Congressman John Lewis’ death on Friday.
The civil rights leader died after a six-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi also ordered for the flags at the US Capitol Building to be lowered to fly at half-staff.
Portland leaders demand removal of masked federal agents sent by Trump admin following spate of arbitrary arrests
Elected officials in Portland have called on the Trump administration to remove militarised federal agents from the city following reports of protesters being arbitrarily detained, likening their actions to the “tactics of a government led by a dictator.”
Federal law enforcement officers driving unmarked vehicles and wearing camouflage have been seizing people from the street in recent days in Portland, Oregon, which has seen nightly protests for racial justice since the police killing of George Floyd.
Agents from the US Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service have deployed in the city ostensibly to protect federal property. But video and witness testimony show they have far exceeded that mandate and have detained people without cause far from the buildings they are supposed to be protecting.
Richard Hall reports:
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has reacted to the news of John Lewis’ death on Twitter.
She called the congressman an “icon” for the civil rights movement, adding his “enduring legacy will never be forgotten”.
This comes as President Donald Trump has yet to release a statement about the passing of Mr Lewis, who was one of the original Freedom Riders and civil rights leader starting in the 60s before becoming a Democratic congressman for Georgia. But the president has posted a series of tweets last night about Joe Biden and his niece’s recent book about Mr Trump.
Mr Biden released a statement about the passing of Mr Lewis on Saturday morning, calling him a “one-of-a-kind” and a “moral compass” within Congress. |
Safety experts have urged the government to exclude US car imports from any post-Brexit trade deal with Donald Trump, warning that they have lower safety standards.
The Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety says imported vehicles should still have to meet British standards for collisions with pedestrians, children, and people on bikes — which many US vehicles do not.
The Council has written to Trade Secretary Liz Truss warning that US safety standards “are much lower than those permitted for vehicles sold in the UK”.
Jon Stone with the report:
Republican senator criticised for suggesting Hispanic people less likely to follow coronavirus guidance
A Republican senator has come under fire for suggesting Hispanic people in his state are less likely to wear masks and follow social distancing rules during the coronavirus pandemic.
Thom Tillis, the junior senator for North Carolina, said during a virtual town hall on Tuesday that he had concerns about “less consistent adherence” with public health guidelines among the Hispanic population.
“Just wear the mask out of respect,” Mr Tillis said, in an audio clip posted online by Democratic super PAC American Bridge.
Conrad Duncan reports:
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ordered the US Capitol flags to fly at half-staff on Saturday following the death of Congressman John Lewis.
Mr Lewis, a civil rights leader and Democratic congressman for Georgia, died on Friday from his six-month battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 80 years old.
Politicians and other prominent leaders have since honoured Mr Lewis on Twitter and other social media platforms. Donald Trump has not acknowledged the passing of Mr Lewis publicly.
An army base on Fort Campbell, which is located on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, has mandated for all personnel to wear masks while inside its facilities, joining a number of businesses and facilities this week to make similar mandates.
The move was announced in a tweet by officials.
Masks have become a political issue across the country, with Democrats pushing for mandates that would require all citizens to wear face shields when in public or near other people. But Republicans, specifically Donald Trump, have pushed against making any mandates. Officials have used the argument of people’s personal freedoms when refusing to create a mask policy.
But more and more businesses are now requiring the face shield as it has been proven to diminish the spread of the coronavirus.
He also retweeted his campaign comms director, who somewhat fleshed out the baseless claims with wild accusations that Mr Biden is “an empty vessel” for the “extreme left”.
He is the latest in a series of Republicans to misrepresent the Democrats’ comments on law enforcement. Mr Biden clarified these in a US Today op-ed, writing: “While I do not believe federal dollars should go to police departments violating people’s rights or turning to violence as the first resort, I do not support defunding police.
“The better answer is to give police departments the resources they need to implement meaningful reforms, and to condition other federal dollars on completing those reforms.”
Trip Gabriel reports.
Now, unexpectedly, Ohio looms as a tantalising opportunity for Joe Biden.
Two prominent polls of the state last month showed the presidential race in a statistical tie. Turnout in the Ohio primary elections in April was higher for Democrats than for Republicans for the first time in a dozen years, evidence of enthusiasm in the Democratic base. And the Trump campaign recently booked $18.4m (£14.6m) in autumn TV ads in Ohio, more than in any state besides Florida – a sign that Mr Trump is on the defensive in a state that until recently seemed locked down for Republicans.
With Democratic leaders urging Mr Biden, the presumptive nominee, to expand his ambitions to states previously considered out of reach, Ohio offers Democrats the possibility of seizing on suburban gains they have made in the Trump era while restoring parts of the old Obama coalition.
“The definition of Trump being in trouble is that he’s forced to spend $18m on TV in Ohio and he’s mired in a battle for his life here,” said David Pepper, the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.
The president has falsely claimed that his niece, who has published a tell-all book about their family, unlawfully leaked his tax returns, in the same sentence as claiming that she “knows little about” him.
Donald Trump’s lawyers are considering challenging a subpoena for his tax records by criminal prosecutors, after losing a bid to keep them private in the Supreme Court.
Donald Trump has said that he will not order Americans to wear face coverings to prevent the spread of coronavirus, despite pleas for US residents to do so from the country’s top public health official, Dr Anthony Fauci.
In a segment to be broadcast on Sunday, the president told Fox News: “No, I want people to have a certain freedom, and I don’t believe in that.”
The wearing of face masks as a response to the pandemic has become heavily politicised in the US, largely by Republicans who view calls to do so as an affront to their personal liberty.
Amid the confusion, three top officials with the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday urged the public to wear masks.
“We are not defenceless against Covid-19,” CDC Director Dr Robert Redfield wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Cloth face coverings are one of the most powerful weapons we have to slow and stop the spread of the virus – particularly when used universally within a community setting.”
The Nation has obtained a memo purporting to show that the agents will be there “indefinitely”.
The officers are part of Donald Trump’s “Protecting American Communities Task Force”, which was formed in response to the targeting of US monuments with ties to racism, including those of Confederate figures erected decades later during the Jim Crow era.
The White House has blocked officials at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from testifying to Congress on school safety plans – even as Donald Trump’s administration demands schools reopen within weeks despite surging coronavirus infections across the US, Alex Woodward reports.
The CDC Director Robert Redfield has “has testified on the Hill at least four times over the last three months”, according to a White House statement. “We need our doctors focused on the pandemic response.”
In a statement, House Education and Labour committee chairman Bobby Scott called the move “alarming” and condemned the administrations “strategy of prioritising politics over science” and its “devastating impact on our country throughout this pandemic”.
“It should not make that same mistake when it comes to reopening schools,” he said.
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