США готовят к отправке в Россию 200 аппаратов ИВЛ
Соединённые Штаты передадут России 200 аппаратов искусственной вентиляции легких (ИВЛ). "Голос Америки", ссылаясь на правительственные документы, сообщил, что первые аппараты ИВЛ, произведённые в Калифорнии, будут готовы к отправке в Москву в среду. Ещё 150 аппаратов будут отправлены в Россию 26 мая.
Правительство США оплатило полностью стоимость аппаратов, оборудование для их пуска и расходы на доставку – в общей сложности, по словам представителей администрации, затраты составили 4,7 миллиона долларов.
Аппараты ИВЛ будут доставлены в Россию военной авиацией, так как между Россией и США в настоящее время почти нет коммерческих рейсов. В администрации подчеркивают, что аппараты предназначены для жителей России, и это решение не является сигналом какого-либо партнерства с российскими военными, отмечает "Голос Америки".
https://www.svoboda.org/a/30616067.htmlСША передадут России 200 аппаратов искусственной вентиляции легких
США передадут России 200 аппаратов искусственной вентиляции легких (ИВЛ), сообщает "Голос Америки" со ссылкой на правительственные документы.
Первые аппараты ИВЛ, произведенные в Калифорнии, будут готовы к отправке в Москву в среду. Еще 150 аппаратов будут отправлены в Россию 26 мая.
Правительство США полностью оплатило стоимость аппаратов, оборудование для их пуска и расходы на доставку. Всего, по данным представителей администрации, затраты составили 4,7 миллиона долларов.
Аппараты ИВЛ будут доставлены в Россию военной авиацией, так как между Россией и США в настоящее время почти нет коммерческих рейсов.
Это решение "не является сигналом какого-либо партнерства с российскими военными", подчеркивают в США.
Впервые о возможных поставках американских аппаратов ИВЛ в России в середине апреля сказал президент Дональд Трамп. На прошлой неделе в ходе телефонного разговора с Трампом российский президент Владимир Путин принял предложение президента США.
По словам официальных лиц, Соединенные Штаты уже помогли многим странам в борьбе с пандемией коронавируса и будут продолжать делать это в будущем.
Подробнее:
https://www.newsru.com/world/17may2020/ustorussia.htmlСША отправили в Россию тест-системы на коронавирус и аппараты ИВЛ
Власти США направили в Россию аппараты искусственной вентиляции легких и тесты для выявления коронавируса. Об этом в интервью Washington Examiner рассказал глава Госдепартамента Майк Помпео.
По его словам, аппараты и тесты уже находятся в пути. Сколько именно оборудования и тест-систем власти США решили отправить в Россию, Помпео не уточнил. «Мы рады, что можем попытаться помочь им (российским властям — ред.) в борьбе с этим вирусом», — сказал он.
https://novayagazeta.ru/news/2020/05/18 ... paraty-ivlПомпео: Россия и США могут вместе бороться с пандемией и терроризмом
Госсекретарь США Майк Помпео считает, что Москва и Вашингтон могут вместе работать по ряду направлений, несмотря на разногласия. Среди них — пандемия коронавируса и терроризм.
«Есть области, где наши две страны могут работать вместе… Мы рады, что можем попытаться помочь им побороть этот вирус»,— сказал господин Помпео в интервью Washington Examiner. Он напомнил о планах США помочь России с оборудованием для тестирования COVID-19. По словам госсекретаря, «оно уже в пути».
Господин Помпео привел в пример совместную работу Москвы и Вашингтона по противодействию терроризму. «Я работаю с Россией с того времени, когда был директором ЦРУ. Я тесно работал с ними, предотвращая теракты. Они помогли нам, спасли американские жизни, предоставив нам информацию. Мы помогли им предотвратить теракт, который планировался в Санкт-Петербурге»,— сказал госсекретарь.
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4347775«Роскосмос» готов к переговорам с NASA на тему проектов по освоению Луны и пригласил руководство американской организации для обсуждения проектов, однако ответа пока не получил. Вместе с тем сотрудничество по лунным проектам могло бы «стать серьезным фактором для взаимодействия двух стран в непростое время», считает замгендиректора «Роскосмоса» по международному сотрудничеству Сергей Савельев.
«Амбициозные проекты, связанные с освоением Луны, могли бы стать серьезным фактором для взаимодействия России и США в это непростое время... Амбициозные проекты, связанные с освоением Луны, могли бы стать серьезным фактором для взаимодействия России и США в это непростое время»,— сказал господин Савельев.
Американский президент США Дональд Трамп в апреле подписал указ о праве граждан США на добычу космических ресурсов. Позже стало известно о подготовке международного соглашения по освоению Луны. В него не включили Россию. NASA отрицает корректность этой информации.
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4347523NASA не ответило Роскосмосу на приглашение обсудить лунные проекты
Роскосмос нацелен на переговоры с НАСА о проектах по освоению Луны и уже пригласил руководство организации для их обсуждения, однако пока не получил ответа. Ранее США собирались добывать на Луне ресурсы без России.
- Амбициозные проекты, связанные с освоением Луны, могли бы стать серьезным фактором для взаимодействия России и США в это непростое время... Мы официально позвали руководство NASA к себе, однако ответа так и не получили. Надеюсь, что он все-таки последует — и последует в положительном ключе, - сказал заместитель генерального директора госкорпорации по международному сотрудничеству Сергей Савельев.
Ранее президент США Дональд Трамп подписал указ о праве американцев на добычу космических ресурсов. Позже последовала подготовка международного соглашения о добыче лунных ресурсов Artemis Accords, однако Вашингтон не включил него Россию. Говорилось, что Пентагон посчитал действия российских спутников «угрожающими». Однако НАСА отрицает корректность этой информации.
Глава Роскосмоса Дмитрий Рогозин заявил, что планы США по освоению Луны схожи со вторжением в Ирак и Афганистан. Тогда же глава НАСА Джим Брайденстайн выразил надежду на то, что Россия присоединится к «лунному соглашению».
Теперь замглавы американского космического агентства Майк Голд заявил, что НАСА разочаровано Роскосмосом.
- Я надеюсь, что когда наши коллеги в России увидят, что мы пытаемся достичь с помощью Artemis Accords и как мы это делаем, они поддержат нас и присоединятся к нам в создании норм поведения, которые позволят достичь мирного и процветающего будущего для России, США и всего мира, - сказал Голд.
Напомним, что в мае 2019 года глава Роскосмоса Дмитрий Рогозин заявлял, что Россия планирует совершить и пилотируемый полет к Луне с высадкой на ее поверхность первого российского космонавта в 2030 году, а за год до этого должен состояться облет Луны. А через десять с небольшим лет страна сможет развернуть на поверхности спутника Земли модули для жизни и работы космонавтов.
Что касается американской лунной программы, то Рогозин не раз критически высказывался о ней. Он уверял, что американцы «не потянут» создание сверхтяжелой ракеты SLS, и добавлял, что российский аналог будет намного дешевле.
- Наш сверхтяж будет стоить намного меньше американской SLS, но уже сейчас надо заложить решения, которые сделают "Енисей" ещё более конкурентоспособным, - заявил глава госкорпорации.
https://newizv.ru/news/world/16-05-2020 ... ye-proektyАмериканские сенаторы заставили главу НАСА Джима Брайденстайна отозвать приглашение делегации Роскосмоса в США, рассказал в субботу замгендиректора Роскосмоса по международному сотрудничеству Сергей Савельев.
...В Роскосмосе надеются, отметил замглавы госкорпорации, что руководство НАСА сможет приехать в Россию. Официальное приглашение было отправлено, пишет РИА Новости, но положительного ответа пока нет.
https://www.vesti.ru/doc.htmlTrump tells McConnell 'time is running out' for him to hold Russia 'hoaxers' accountable
Trump told Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that he "love[s]" him but that he should quickly move to hold accountable the people behind the "Russia collusion hoax."
Trump had retweeted an article by Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway in the Federalist, shared by editor Sean Davis, which argued that McConnell wouldn't be able to confirm more judges or maintain a Republican majority without addressing the issue.
"Mitch, I love you, but this is 100% true," Trump tweeted. "Time is running out. Get tough and move quickly, or it will be too late. The Dems are vicious, but got caught. They MUST pay a big price for what they have done to our Country. Don’t let them get away with this!"
Trump also tagged Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was mentioned in the article. Hemingway argued that Graham's work ethic was lacking while McConnell was shirking his responsibilities as a senate leader.
"The Senate can subpoena records and compel testimony — holding hearings if necessary — to get to the bottom of the effort from inside the U.S. government to use a false and dangerous conspiracy theory that threatened the health and safety of the republic," Hemingway wrote.
"If that’s not the Senate’s business, what in the world is? And if the Senate majority leader won’t care even about how this scandal uniquely harmed Republican voters, then who will?"
During Thursday's "Special Report," McConnell suggested that it was Graham's responsibility to investigate former President Obama's role in the Russia probe -- something that caught renewed attention after the Justice Department moved to dismiss the case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Obama administration officials also reportedly sought to unmask Flynn, or reveal his identity in intelligence reporting on Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn has been fighting a years-long legal battle after he misled the FBI about his contacts with Russia. Recently unveiled documents, however, showed the FBI contemplating whether its intent was to prompt a lie from Flynn in hopes of getting him fired.
It's been almost a year since former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's portion of the Russia investigation ended. The Ukraine controversy sidelined House Democratic efforts to further the investigation, although Democrats have indicated they will continue pursuing the issue.
Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr has been pursuing a counter-investigation exploring the origins of the former administration's Russia probe. While it's unclear how the Senate will proceed, Trump has called on Graham to have Obama testify. Graham, however, has already indicated he's not interested in doing that.
In an interview on the "Brian Kilmeade Show" with host Brian Kilmeade, Graham said that he does not want to "wreak havoc on the institution" like House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., did during the impeachment trial against the president earlier this year.
"So, if I find something that makes me suspicious of President Obama, if he may have been part of committing a crime against General Flynn or anyone else, I will turn that over to Mr. [John] Durham," he promised, referring to the U.S. attorney who is investigating the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump- ... ccountableTrump accuses Obama of crime
Many pundits dispute 'Obamagate' claims.
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6157246186001/Trump: Unmasking of Flynn is greatest political scam in history of our country
President Trump sits down with ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ anchor Maria Bartiromo to discuss the Michael Flynn unmasking case.
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6157241491001/Trump discusses bombshell revelations in Flynn case in exclusive interview with Maria Bartiromo
Trump called the Russia Probe “the greatest political crime in the history of our country, ” and labeled his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn a hero, in an exclusive interview that aired Sunday with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo.
Trump's comments, during the interview on “Sunday Morning Futures,” come after the Justice Department this month moved to drop its case against Flynn, in a stunning development that follows internal memos being released and raises serious questions about the nature of the investigation that led to Flynn’s late 2017 guilty plea of lying to the FBI.
“They [FBI agents] weren't after General Flynn. They wanted him to lie about me, make up a story,” Trump told Bartiromo. “And, with few exceptions, nobody did that.”
He added, “If I were a Democrat instead of a Republican, I think everybody would have been in jail a long time ago; and I'm talking with 50-year sentences.”
“It is a disgrace what's happened,” he continued. “This is the greatest political scam, hoax in the history of our country.”
Trump went on to say that “people should be going to jail for this stuff and hopefully a lot of people are going to have to pay.”
He continued, “No other president should have to go through [this] and I'll tell you, General Flynn and others are heroes.”
Trump also reacted to top Obama administration officials, including former Vice President Joe Biden, purportedly requesting to “unmask” the identity of Flynn -- whose calls with the former Russian ambassador during the presidential transition were picked up in surveillance and later leaked.
The list of names was revealed after it was declassified in recent days by Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell and then sent to GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, who made the documents public.
The unmasking concerns events between the November 2016 election and Inauguration Day 2017.
Unmasking occurs after U.S. citizens' conversations are incidentally picked up in conversations with foreign officials who are being monitored by the intelligence community. The U.S. citizens' identities are supposed to be protected if their participation is incidental and no wrongdoing is suspected. However, officials can determine the U.S. citizens' names through a process that is supposed to safeguard their rights.
The list revealed that then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power made unmasking requests seven times between Nov. 30, 2016 and Jan. 11, 2017. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper made three requests from Dec. 2, 2016 through Jan. 7, 2017; and that former CIA Director John Brennan made two requests, one on Dec. 14 and one on Dec. 15, 2016. Former FBI Director James Comey also made a request on Dec. 15, 2016. On Jan. 5, 2017, then-Chief of Staff Denis McDonough made one request, and on Jan. 12, 2017, Biden made one request.
“This was all Obama. This was all Biden. These people were corrupt,” Trump told Bartiromo. “The whole thing was corrupt and we caught them.”
Trump went on to say that “they never thought” that they would get “caught in the act,” adding, “they got sloppy.”
President Trump keeps the pressure on former Obama officials who 'unmasked' Michael FlynnVideo
Trump elaborated, telling Bartiromo that he thinks “Comey is a corrupt person… Brennan [is] bad. They’re all bad. Clapper is not a smart guy in charge of intelligence.”
“But here's the thing: It was impossible for it to happen without the man that sits right in that chair in the Oval Office. He knew everything,” he continued.Bartiromo then asked Trump, “Do you believe President Obama directed the U.S. intelligence agencies to spy on you?”
“Yes, he probably directed them, but if he didn't direct them, he knew everything,” Trump said in response.
Trump then brought up text messages between FBI paramours Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, which included an exchange about preparing talking points for Comey to give to President Obama, who wanted “to know everything we’re doing." The pair both worked at one point for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
“Remember the Lisa Page text to her lover saying ‘POTUS wants to see everything?’ They're not talking about me. I wasn't president. They're talking about POTUS wants to see everything,” Trump told Bartiromo.
Trump added that “if this happened to Obama instead of me everybody would be in jail for years already.”
“It's a disgraceful thing,” he continued. “But, we caught them in the act. It's a beautiful thing. And, every day, we're seeing more and more information come out.”
He later tweeted Sunday, “The Obama Administration is turning out to be one of the most corrupt and incompetent in U.S. history. Remember, he and Sleepy Joe are the reasons I am in the White House!!!”
In his interview, Trump went on to say that “Comey and all these guys” were “guarding the fort.”
“And once they left, it got easier and easier and now it's like an avalanche of really bad, call it treason, call it whatever you want, but they tried to take down a duly elected president of the United States,” he said.
Trump also brought up Biden’s appearance on ABC News’ “Good Morning America” last week where the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said that he was “aware” at the time of the investigation started by Obama administration officials into Flynn.
During the interview, ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos pressed Biden, questioning whether he attended the Oval Office meeting on Jan. 5, 2017, where Flynn apparently was discussed.
In response, Biden said, “I was aware that there was—that they asked for an investigation, but that’s all I know about it, and I don’t think anything else ...”
“He could barely speak,” Trump told Bartiromo, referencing Biden's interview on ABC. “He was on ‘Good Morning America,’ right? And, he said he didn't know anything about it… right after he said that, it gets released that he was one of the unmaskers, meaning he knew everything about it, so he lied to your friend George Stephanopoulos.”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/presid ... -bartiromoTrump ramps up retaliatory purge with firing of State Department inspector general
Trump accelerated his retaliatory purge of public servants by firing the State Department's inspector general, who had played a minor role in the president's impeachment proceedings and was said to have begun investigating alleged misconduct by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Acting on Pompeo's recommendation, Trump abruptly terminated Steve Linick late Friday night, again challenging established norms of American governance in his push to rid the federal bureaucracy of officials he considers insufficiently loyal to or protective of him and his administration. Trump replaced Linick with Stephen Akard, a trusted ally of Vice President Mike Pence and the diplomat who directs the Officeof Foreign Missions.
Inspectors general serve as internal government watchdogs conducting oversight of federal agencies - and although they technically are political appointees, their independence has long been protected. Trump's move - his fourth such firing during the coronavirus pandemic - drew swift condemnations from Democrats and at least one Republican on Capitol Hill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., decried what she termed a "dangerous pattern of retaliation against the patriotic public servants charged with conducting oversight on behalf of the American people."
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's ranking Democrat, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, jointly launched an investigation Saturday into Linick's firing.
"We unalterably oppose the politically-motivated firing of inspectors general and the President's gutting of these critical positions," Engel and Menendez wrote in a letter to the White House directing that all records related to Linick's ouster be preserved and turned over to their committees.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, wrote Saturday evening on Twitter: The firings of multiple Inspectors General is unprecedented; doing so without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose. It is a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in the constitutional balance of power.
Officials at the White House and the State Department did not detail the reasons for Linick's dismissal or address the criticisms from Democrats.
A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said, "Secretary Pompeo recommended the move, and President Trump agreed." Another U.S. official confirmed that Pomepo supported Linick's firing in discussions with Trump.
Trump wrote in a letter to Pelosi sent Friday night, "It is vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as Inspectors General. That is no longer the case with regard to this Inspector General."
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime champion of the independence of inspectors general from partisan interference, was notably tepid in his response. In a statement issued Saturday, Grassley said that "inspectors general are crucial in correcting government failures and promoting the accountability that the American people deserve." He said Trump ought to further justify his decision beyond citing "a general lack of confidence," though he stopped short of criticizing Linick's dismissal.
Linick had served as inspector general since 2013, when he was appointed by President Barack Obama. A former assistant U.S. attorney and career government official, Linick also served in the Justice Department as a senior anti-fraud official and as inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency before his appointment to the State Department.
Some of Linick's recent investigations have been critical of the State Department's management and caused consternation among Trump's political appointees there. He has been perceived as a persistent thorn in the side of the administration under Pompeo.
Linick had recently launched an investigation into the use of a Schedule C employee by Pompeo and his wife to conduct personal activities, according to lawmakers and people familiar with the inspector general's office. A Schedule C employee is a non-career official working directly for a presidential appointee.
Engel and Menendez wrote in their letter Saturday to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that if Linick's firing had been designed to protect Pompeo from personal accountability, it may have been "an illegal act of retaliation."
A Pompeo spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
Questions also have been raised about the State Department's response to the pandemic, which would fall under the inspector general's purview.
Linick's firing is the latest in a series of moves by Trump since the Senate voted in February to acquit him in his impeachment trial. The president has vowed repeatedly to destroy what he calls the "deep state" by removing government officials he believes conspired against him in the impeachment proceedings or are otherwise disloyal.
"I never knew the swamp was so bad," Trump said at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 29, about three weeks after his acquittal. "It's really bad. . . . A lot of dirty people. A lot of very bad people. A lot of bad people. And I think justice will be had."
Although other State Department officials played far more prominent roles in the impeachment inquiry, Linick last October provided congressional investigators with a packet of internal documents containing unproven claims about former vice president Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden and former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said at the time that he had been responsible for sending some of those materials to the State Department.
In recent weeks, Trump has ousted three other internal government watchdogs. The president fired the intelligence community's inspector general, Michael Atkinson, who had handled the explosive whistleblower complaint that led to his impeachment.
Trump also pushed out Glenn Fine, chairman of the federal panel Congress created to oversee his administration's management of the government's $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package. And he removed Christi Grimm as principal deputy inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services, after Grimm's office criticized the administration's response to the pandemic.
The president lashed out publicly at Grimm, whose office detailed "severe shortages" of testing kits, delays in receiving test results and "widespread shortages" of masks and other protective equipment at U.S. hospitals.
There is no modern precedent for so many firings of inspectors general in such a compressed time period. Obama fired one inspector general, citing job performance issues. President Ronald Reagan tried to remove several but reversed himself after aides told him that watchdogs are not political appointees in the traditional sense.
Trump's moves have rattled the nonpartisan community of federal watchdogs, many of whom are longtime public servants. About 30 of the 74 current inspectors general are Senate-confirmed presidential appointees, with the rest appointed by heads of smaller agencies.
"Some people are scared. Others are outraged. We all recognize how bad this is for our country," one inspector general said in describing the reaction of Obama and Trump appointees alike. This official, like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid without fear of retribution.
For weeks, inspectors general said they have had urgent conversations among themselves about how to continue doing their jobs in the Trump administration without compromising their principles or going easy on the subjects of their probes.
"Things are taking a very dark turn," said a second inspector general.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who heads the council of 74 federal inspectors general, declined to comment Saturday.
Walter Shaub, who resigned as director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics six months into Trump's presidency after clashing with the new administration, said he has been alarmed by Trump's efforts this spring to remove "anybody who could protest or expose or investigate his corruption."
"During the pandemic, he knows Americans are distracted with the simple tasks of staying alive and feeding their families," Shaub said. "Times of crisis are very dangerous for anti-corruption fforts and very dangerous for democracy because leaders use them to justify power grabs. I think that's what's happening here."
At the State Department and other large agencies, inspectors general do not have fixed terms once they are confirmed by the Senate. Although they serve at the pleasure of the president, they have not traditionally been treated as political appointees and therefore occupy a murky space in the bureaucracy.
Some State Department officials have questioned the slow speed of inquiries conducted by Linick, and the lack of investigation into the treatment of Yovanovitch, the career ambassador who Trump fired last year.
But many of the office's probes have been sharply critical. An August 2019 report concluded that the leadership of the State Department's Bureau of International Organizations Affairs mistreated and harassed staffers, accused them of political disloyalty to the Trump administration and retaliated against them.
Career staffers who had held their jobs in the previous administration were referred to as "Obama holdovers," "traitors" and members of the "Deep State" that Trump has long accused of using the bureaucracy to thwart his policies, according to the report.
A second report, issued last November, found that a civil service employee relieved of her job as an expert on Iran and the Persian Gulf in the office of policy planning had been targeted in part because she was of Iranian descent, as well as for her work during the Obama administration - including on the Iran nuclear deal - and rumors that she had shed tears at Trump's election.
In January, an inspector general investigation of the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki found that Trump-appointed Ambassador Robert Pence, and the career Foreign Service officer who served as second-in-command, "did not manage conflict between them in an appropriate manner, which resulted in a breakdown of trust and communication that complicated the chain of command and contributed to a stressful work environment" for staff. Pence, a Virginia real estate developer and Republican donor, has no relation to the vice president.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Tru ... 275436.phpПротив Трампа начали новое расследование в США
Американский лидер Дональд Трамп стал фигурантом еще одного «дела» — в отношении него инициировали новое расследование демократы Палаты представителей и Сената Конгресса США. Как сообщает Reuters, поводом стало увольнение ряда чиновников, в том числе инспектора Госдепа Стива Линика.
Конгрессмены полагают, что Трамп путем увольнения пытался устранить всех чиновников, которые могут осуществлять надзор над его администрацией. При этом Линик был уволен по политическим мотивам. Якобы «госсекретарь Майк Помпео лично порекомендовал Трампу его уволить, поскольку Линик «начал расследование правонарушений самого Помпео», считают некоторые представители Конгресса, уточняет СМИ.
Напомним, ранее Линик давал показания по делу об импичменте Трампа.
https://www.rosbalt.ru/world/2020/05/17/1843747.htmlCongressional Democrats launch investigation into Trump's firing of State Department IG
The top Democrats on the House and Senate foreign affairs committees launched an investigation Saturday into President Trump's Friday night firing of State Department Inspector General (IG) Steve Linick.
Rep. Eliot Engel, the chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Sen. Bob Menendez, the lead Democrat on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, wrote letters to the White House, State Department and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to preserve all records related Linick's dismissal and to turn the information over by Friday, May 22.“President Trump’s unprecedented removal of Inspector General Linick is only his latest sacking of an inspector general, our government’s key independent watchdogs, from a federal agency. We unalterably oppose the politically-motivated firing of inspectors general and the president’s gutting of these critical positions,” Engel and Menendez wrote in the letter to the White House.
The lawmakers suggest that the firing "may be an illegal act of retaliation" because the IG was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“Reports indicate that Secretary Pompeo personally made the recommendation to fire Mr. Linick, and it is our understanding that he did so because the Inspector General had opened an investigation into wrongdoing by Secretary Pompeo himself," the lawmakers write. "Such an action, transparently designed to protect Secretary Pompeo from personal accountability, would undermine the foundation of our democratic institutions and may be an illegal act of retaliation."
It was Pompeo who suggested to Trump that he fire Linick, two Trump Administration officials told Fox News on Saturday.
“Secretary Pompeo recommended the move, and President Trump agreed," a White House official told Fox News.
A Democratic congressional aide told Fox News that Linick was investigating possible misuse of a political appointee at the State Department to perform personal tasks for Pompeo and his wife.
Trump fired Linick on Friday night, saying in a letter to Congress that he no longer had confidence in the State Department IG -- who was appointed during the Obama administration and had overseen reports critical of the department’s policies since Trump took office.
Fox News learned in October 2019 that Linick had hosted a closed-door briefing on the Ukraine investigation for congressional committee aides that examined communications between Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and fired Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin and current Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko.
Before that, his office had raised concerns about then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
Linick’s removal continues a series of changes among the government’s inspectors general. The most notable of which was Trump’s April firing of then-Inspector General for the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson for his role in the whistleblower complaint that led the Ukraine probe -- and Trump’s subsequent impeachment.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/congre ... or-generalDemocrats investigating Trump firing of State Dept. watchdog
Democrats demanded on Saturday that the White House hand over all records related to President Donald Trump's latest firing of a federal watchdog, this time at the State Department, and they suggested Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was responsible, in what “may be an illegal act of retaliation.”
"We unalterably oppose the politically-motivated firing of inspectors general and the President's gutting of these critical positions,'' the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote in a letter to the administration announcing their investigation.
Trump announced late Friday that he was firing the inspector general, Steve Linick, an Obama administration appointee whose office was critical of what it saw as political bias in the State Department's management. The ouster was one more move by the president against independent executive branch watchdogs who have found fault with his administration.
New York Rep. Eliot Engel and New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez sent letters to the White House, the State Department and the inspector general’s office asking that administration officials preserve all records related to Linick’s dismissal and provide them to the committees by this coming Friday. They promised to “look deeply into this matter" and said they would seek to interview White House officials. They said they “trust that the White House will cooperate fully with our investigation."
A senior department official said Trump removed Linick from his job on Friday but gave no reason for the action. In a letter to Congress, Trump said Linick, who had held the job since 2013, no longer had his full confidence and that his removal would take effect in 30 days. Trump did not mention Linick by name in his letter.
Democrats soon cried foul. Engel suggested Linick was fired in part in retaliation for opening an unspecified investigation into Pompeo.
Engel offered no details. Two congressional aides said it involved allegations that Pompeo may have improperly treated staff. Linick’s office has issued several reports critical of the department’s handling of personnel matters during the Trump administration, including accusing some political appointees of retaliating against career officials.
Engel and Menendez said it was ”their understanding" that Pompeo recommended that Linick be fired because the watchdog was investigating “wrongdoing” by the Cabinet officer. They gave no specifics, but said such a move “may be an illegal act of retaliation.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Linick was “punished for honorably performing his duty to protect the Constitution and our national security.” She said Trump ”must cease his pattern of reprisal and retaliation against the public servants who are working to keep Americans safe, particularly during this time of global emergency.”
Linick, whose office also took issue with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she served as America's top diplomat, played a minor role in the Ukraine impeachment investigation into Trump.
In October, Linick turned over documents to House investigators that he had received from State Department Counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, a close Pompeo associate, which contained information from debunked conspiracy theories about Ukraine’s role in the 2016 election.
Linick will replaced by Stephen Akard, a former career foreign service officer who has close ties to Vice President Mike Pence, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Akard currently runs the department's Office of Foreign Missions. He had been nominated to be the director general of the foreign service but withdrew after objections he wasn't experienced enough.
The lawmakers' request for information from the White House includes any evaluations of Linick's job performance and any assessment of Akard's job qualifications.
Linick, a former assistant U.S. attorney in California and Virginia, had overseen inspector general reports that were highly critical of the department's management policies during the Trump administration. His office had criticized several Trump appointees for their treatment of career staff for apparently being insufficiently supportive of Trump and his policies.
Under Linick, the State Department's inspector general office was also critical of former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's hiring freeze and attempts to streamline the agency by slashing its funding and personnel.
Trump has been taking aim lately at inspectors general.
In April, he fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, for his role in the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment.
Then Trump removed Glenn Fine as acting inspector general at the Defense Department. The move stripped him of his post as chairman of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, which is among those overseeing the vast economic relief law pass in response to the coronavirus.
During a White House briefing on COVID-19, Trump questioned the independence of an inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services over a report that said there was a shortage of supplies and testing at hospitals. Trump has since moved to replace the HHS official, Christi A. Grimm. She is a career person who has held the position in an acting capacity, but now Trump has nominated a permanent replacement.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Pom ... 274318.phpPompeo recommended firing of now-ousted State Department IG: official
Mike Pompeo recommended to President Trump that he fire now-ousted Inspector General Steve Linick, a State Department official told Fox News on Saturday -- as Democrats raised concerns that Linick was fired after opening an investigation into the secretary of state.
Trump fired Linick on Friday night, saying in a letter to Congress that he no longer had confidence in the State Department IG -- who was appointed during the Obama administration and had overseen reports critical of the department’s policies since Trump took office.
But the move immediately drew ire from Democrats, with Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, suggesting Linick was fired in part in retaliation for opening an investigation into Pompeo.
“This firing is the outrageous act of a president trying to protect one of his most loyal supporters, the secretary of state, from accountability,” Engel said in a statement. “I have learned that the Office of the Inspector General had opened an investigation into Secretary Pompeo. Mr. Linick’s firing amid such a probe strongly suggests that this is an unlawful act of retaliation.”
A Democratic congressional aide says the Linick investigation Engel references centered on possible misuse of a political appointee at State to perform personal tasks for Pompeo and his wife.
“If Inspector General Linick was fired because he was conducting an investigation of conduct by Secretary Pompeo, the Senate cannot let this stand,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said in a statement. “The Senate Foreign Relations Committee must get to the bottom of what happened here.”
The revelation that Pompeo requested Linick be fired will almost certainly increase those concerns from Democrats.
Fox News learned in October that Linick had hosted a closed-door briefingon the Ukraine investigation for congressional committee aides that examined communications between Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and fired Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin and current Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko.
Before that his office had raised concerns about then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pompeo ... l-officialFaced with a Trumpian barrage of attacks, Joe Biden chooses to look the other way
In a return to his old fighting form last week, President Donald Trump suggested that his electoral rival, Joe Biden, should go to prison for an unspecified offense he labeled the "greatest political crime in the history of our country."
In response, Biden did nothing, holding back in silence for hours after Trump's interview aired Thursday on Fox Business Network, until the presumptive Democratic nominee's campaign finally sent out a tweet.
"There's nothing that the American people cannot accomplish when we stand together - one nation, united in purpose," it read.
The cheery non sequitur underscored a core presumption of Biden's senior team as it enters a new phase of the presidential campaign, one marked by hourly offensives from one of the most accomplished political pugilists in American history, who now enjoys the largest electoral cash advantage of the modern era.
Biden's advisers, aware of what Trump is preparing to fire at him, describe themselves as dead set against being triggered by his provocations or engaging with him on his terms. Voters will decide the election, they believe, in response to the crisis now engulfing the nation, not the spectacle of Trump's Twitter feed.
The most explosive Trump volleys have been dismissed by them as distractions - so far at least - even as Trump's attacks on the former vice president's competence and economic record stir more concern and response.
"The context of this race is different than anything anyone has experienced since probably 1932," said Anita Dunn, a senior strategist for the Biden campaign. "The question that the American people are going to be posed in 2020 will be: Who do you trust as we enter this new phase of this nation's history?"
Some of Biden's top advisers have gone even further, predicting that Trump's tactics of embracing false conspiracy theories and stirring up hurricanes of controversy could backfire, given an unemployment rate approaching 20 percent and a viral pandemic that has already killed nearly 90,000.
"The public is really focused on what matters in this election. And they're not being dragged into side issues and they are not being dragged into manufactured issues," said Mike Donilon, the Biden campaign's senior strategist. "It's just too serious. So I think Trump is risking a real problem in trying to push the conversation to a place where the country knows that's not what's at stake."
It's a wager the Trump campaign's top advisers are happy to take. After more than two months of mixed messages and inconsistent strategy, Trump chose the second week of May to finally launch his campaign at its full power against Biden, attacking his record, his integrity and his mental acuity with a media blitz anchored by about $10 million in television ads in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, Arizona, Iowa and North Carolina. Trump has focused extensively on Pennsylvania and Florida in recent conversations with political advisers, who met with him in the Oval Office last week.
Pro-Trump ads in the electoral battlegrounds now outnumber Democratic ads for the first time this year, by a margin of about 2 to 1 since the beginning of the month, according to Democratic advertising tracking data provided to The Washington Post. And that is just part of the effort Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale calls "omnichannel," a reference to the scope of its delivery systems, which include online advertising, social media posts, phone banking and an extensive surrogate operation.
On Facebook, the Trump campaign debuted new ads calling Biden a "corrupt BIG GOVERNMENT SOCIALIST," and others attacking his record on guns and immigration. One set of digital ads casts the former vice president as a puppet in the hand of Chinese President Xi Jingping, and another photoshops Biden as a spoon-fed invalid in a nursing home with the caption "Too Old?"
Trump allies and advisers are likely to slam Biden for other unproven charges, such as allegations about women and being mentally disabled. The president's son, Donald Trump Jr., posted an image Saturday on Instagram that showed an alligator calling Biden a pedophile, an allegation with no foundation. In emojis, the younger Trump indicated he found the image to be funny.
Among the other messages the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign have tested in polling: Biden's support for the Iran nuclear deal, his boast of wanting to get rid of fossil fuels, his vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement and his support for access to health insurance for undocumented immigrants. They have also tested attacks about members of Biden's family making money while he held public office, his vote for the Iraq War, his personal wealth and his tendency to stumble over his words.
Among the attacks that have polled better, advisers say: Hitting him on China, NAFTA, support for the Green New Deal and Iran.
Parscale and his team have tested positive messages about Trump and did not get the same results, according to people familiar with the campaign tests. But there are some limits to how well some of the attacks might work. After voters in the 17-state RNC survey were provided an onslaught of negative statements about Biden, the Democrat still won by 1 percent over Trump, compared with 3 percent before they heard the statements, an official familiar with the poll said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the findings.
One adviser said of Trump: "We are testing if he still has the amazing ability to get people to vote for him who say they can't stand him."
The sheer volume of attacks is part of the strategy, an effort to overwhelm a Biden campaign that is still finding its footing after a near standing start at the end of the Democratic primaries.
"They don't have a choice but to just take it on some of these things. They don't have the war chest or the structural organization to fight a multi-front battle," said Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign's communications director. "If they say their strategy is to take gut punch after gut punch and that's their plan, I'm not sure who's buying that."
Talking points distributed Tuesday by the Trump campaign to surrogates asked them to hammer Biden on his support for China gaining entry to the World Trade Organization, opposing "strong trade actions" against China and the evidence-free charge that Biden's son, Hunter, took $1.5 billion from China. (The younger Biden was involved in a Chinese investment effort during his father's time as vice president, but there is no public evidence the fund ever attracted that much investment or that the younger Biden profited to that extent.)
Similar scripts were given to Trump's army of grass-roots volunteers, who have been blitzing key states with phone calls and text messages, according to a campaign official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss strategy.
Trump and his advisers see scorched-earth as the way to win. Campaign adviser Bill Stepien has recounted to others being in Trump Tower on Election Day 2016 and telling the president his approval rating was 38 percent - and Trump still believed he would win.
At the same time, Trump has personally taken the lead attacking Biden from the White House, even as he simultaneously denies that Biden is the focus of his campaign.
"I'm not running against Sleepy Joe Biden. He is not even a factor," Trump tweeted on Saturday. "I'm running against the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats & their partner, the real opposition party, the Lamestream Fake News Media!"
Over the past week he has questioned Biden's ability to perform as a candidate and latched on to a recently declassified document showing that Biden was one of 16 officials who requested the unmasking of a person who turned out to be Trump's first national security adviser, after his conversation with the Russian ambassador was captured in intercepts gathered as part of a foreign intelligence operation after the 2016 election.
The same document says standard procedures were followed during the unmasking, which occurs in every administration, including Trump's, if top officials can show they need to know the name of Americans or legal residents interacting with foreigners targeted by spy agencies. But Trump has nonetheless alleged that Biden's actions are part of a criminal conspiracy to undermine his incoming administration, which he has labeled "Obamagate."
Many Democratic strategists, including those outside the Biden campaign, have warned that the attacks are tangential and should be ignored. "Vote," tweeted former president Barack Obama in an apparent one-word rejoinder to the attack, which Biden echoed with the phrase, "What he said."
"If I were them I would be as quiet as a church mouse," said Jefrey Pollock, a Democratic pollster who has been working with independent groups to help defeat Trump. "Engaging with an arsonist will only light your house on fire."
Inside the Biden campaign, the greatest concern is raised by Trump attacks that might erode Biden's standing as a person better able than the president to help the country recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The campaign has hit back on Trump's China attacks, using the president's own words to argue in digital videos that it is Trump who is too cozy. And advisers have taken notice of the Trump campaign's fixation on Biden's mental competence.
Biden has also launched an economic policy attack on Trump's coronavirus response, tapping into liberal economic populist arguments that Biden has embraced in past campaigns.
"Trump and his administration are carrying out what is now the largest corporate bailout in American history in a way that is systematically rigged in favor of big businesses, the wealthy, and the financial sector - and against the working people and middle class families," advised a Biden campaign memo to surrogates on May 8.
The campaign has also focused on health care, a significant Trump weakness, according to internal and external polling.
The Biden campaign has also been playing its own branding game, seeking to build out an online brand identity with a "campaign code" of inclusion, empathy and kindness, words not associated with Trump's more aggressive style. Campaign videos make jokes about the candidate's love of ice cream and aviator sunglasses.
His advisers have also been cheered by internal and public polls that show Biden with advantages in key personal attributes and a far more favorable rating among voters than the last Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, had at this point in 2016.
A CNN poll released last week found that Biden had a 12-point advantage over Trump on the question of whether the candidate "cares about people like you," a 15-point advantage on being "honest and trustworthy" and a 17-point advantage on uniting the country, not dividing it. Biden trailed Trump by three points in a question about who had the sharpness and stamina to be president. Internal Trump polling has shown similar numbers.
While there is no certainty that those numbers will hold up over the Trump blitz to come, Biden and those working to elect him believe they will be better off ignoring much of it.
"By the end of next week they will be done with this and they will go on to the next thing, which is Beijing Biden or whatever," said Rick Wilson, a Trump foe and Republican consultant. "The Biden campaign needs to just keep one thing in mind: Every re-election is a referendum on the incumbent."
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Fac ... 276062.phpAP FACT CHECK: Trump, GOP distortion on Flynn; virus fiction
Trump and his GOP allies are misrepresenting the facts behind the legal case of former national security adviser Michael Flynn as they seek to allege improper behavior during the Obama administration in the presidential campaign season.
Broadly dubbing his allegations “Obamagate," Trump points to unspecified conspiracies against himself in 2016 and suggests the disclosure of Flynn's name as part of legal U.S. surveillance of foreign targets was criminal and motivated by partisan politics. There's no evidence of that.
In fact, the so-called unmasking of Americans' names like Flynn's is legal, and such requests have been more frequently sought in the Trump administration than in the last stretch of Obama's tenure.
In a politically tumultuous week, the president also mischaracterized messages between FBI employees and again alleged without evidence corruption involving Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's son, Hunter, in China.
Meanwhile, Trump continued to spread falsehoods about the availability of tests needed to help stem the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S.
A look at the past week's political rhetoric and reality:
FLYNN
TRUMP: “OBAMAGATE!” — tweet Wednesday.
TRUMP: “Biggest political crime and scandal in the history of the USA.” — tweet Thursday.
THE FACTS: He’s making an unsupported claim that former President Barack Obama broke the law.
Trump and his supporters have made the unmasking of Flynn one of their major talking points, claiming that it proves the Obama administration unfairly and illegally targeted Flynn and other Trump associates.
But there is nothing illegal about unmasking. The declassified document also states that the unmasking requests were approved through the National Security Agency’s “standard process.”
Earlier in the week, when Trump was asked by reporters to define Obama’s criminal offense in the alleged “Obamagate,” Trump failed to articulate one. “You know what the crime is,” he said Monday. “The crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers, except yours.”
During routine surveillance of foreign targets, names of Americans occasionally come up in conversation, either because the foreigner is talking to or about them. For privacy reasons, those names are generally concealed, or masked, before the intelligence is distributed to administration officials. U.S. officials can ask the agency that collected the intelligence to unmask the name if they think it is vital to understanding the intelligence.
While Trump casts unmasking as sinister, the number of identities unmasked in response to such requests has actually increased during the first years of the Trump administration from the final year of the Obama administration.
___
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee: “The unmasking of General Flynn by the Obama Administration regarding conversations during the presidential transition are deeply troubling and smell of politics, not national security.” — statement Wednesday.
THE FACTS: There is nothing from newly released material that suggests the unmasking requests were rooted in politics rather than national security.
There were indeed multiple Obama administration officials, including then-Vice President Biden, who asked the NSA to disclose the name of an American whose identity was concealed in intelligence reports. That American was revealed to be Flynn.
But there’s nothing inherently unusual about the requests, and the documents released by the Trump administration say the people who made the requests were authorized to receive the underlying intelligence reports.
___
SEN. RAND PAUL, R-KY: “But it should be and is illegal to listen to an American’s conversation. And it’s even worse if you’re listening to an American who just happens to be your political opponent from the opposite party.” — interview Wednesday on Fox News Channel.
THE FACTS: It is not illegal to listen to an American’s conversations, and law enforcement officials do it routinely with a warrant or court order. But in any event, that’s not what happened here.
No one was listening intentionally to an American’s conversation. Instead, U.S. officials learned of the conversations that involved or mentioned Flynn during surveillance of foreign targets.
___
TRUMP, addressing the criminal case against Flynn that Trump's Justice Department is now seeking to drop: “This was all Obama, this was all Biden. These people were corrupt, the whole thing was corrupt, and we caught them.” — interview Thursday on Fox News.
THE FACTS: He’s suggesting partisan politics by the Obama administration were completely behind Flynn’s investigation. That's incorrect.
It is true that the counterintelligence investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, and into Russia in particular, began during the Obama administration. But it continued well into Trump’s own administration. The investigation into Flynn was taken over by a special counsel who was appointed by Rod Rosenstein, Trump’s own deputy attorney general.
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VIRUS TESTING
TRUMP: “We just cracked 10 million tests ... Ten million. ... If you look down here, these are other countries that have not done anywhere near what we’re doing. We’re double. If you add them up and double them, we’ve done more tests. But I can’t get the press to print that, unfortunately.” — remarks Wednesday with governors of Colorado and North Dakota.
TRUMP: “What we’ve done on testing, we’ve now tested more than the entire world put together.” — remarks Thursday to reporters.
THE FACTS: False. The U.S. has not tested more than all other countries combined, let alone double the number for the entire world. It also lags many countries in testing its population proportionally.
Together, just three countries — Russia, Germany and Italy — have reported more tests than the U.S.
This week, the U.S. had reported conducting more than 10 million tests since the pandemic began, after failing in the crucial early weeks of the outbreak. That compared with more than 23 million tests by the other countries in the top 10 of the testing count.
The U.S. was followed by Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Britain, India, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and France.
___
BRETT GIROIR, the federal health official overseeing U.S. testing: “Everybody who needs a test can get a test. ... If you’re symptomatic with a respiratory illness, that is an indication for a test and you can get a test. If you need to be contact traced, you can get a test." — news briefing Monday.
THE FACTS: Not according to public health experts, who say the U.S. is not near the testing level to safely reopen.
Researchers at the Harvard Global Health Institute, for instance, said the U.S. should now be doing 900,000 tests a day to help stop the spread of the virus. Trump this week said the U.S. was doing about 300,000.
Giroir stressed that an adequate number of diagnostic tests were available for those with symptoms of COVID-19, but studies have shown many who get infected never show symptoms. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert, has urged enough testing to include at the least asymptomatic people in vulnerable populations, such as nursing homes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently broadened its guidelines for coronavirus testing to include certain asymptomatic people who may be seen at higher risk.
More than 40 states are failing to test widely enough to reach the level needed to safely loosen stay-at-home orders, according to an AP analysis of metrics developed by the Harvard Global Health Institute. The group includes four — Colorado, Florida, Georgia and Texas – that have already reopened.
___
TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
TRUMP: “In January I put – and I was criticized by everybody including Dr. Fauci — I put in a wall. We put in a very strong wall. Only a small number of people were allowed in, and they were all U.S. citizens. I can’t tell a U.S. citizen, you can’t come back into your country. ... We actually acted very early.” — interview Thursday with Fox News.
THE FACTS: The travel restrictions he imposed on China in late January had other loopholes besides the exceptions for U.S. citizens. It was not a solid wall or total “ban,” as he often puts it.
There were many gaps in containment and initial delays in testing in January and February, leading to the U.S. rising to No. 1 globally in the number of people infected by COVID-19.
His order temporarily barred entry by foreign nationals who had traveled in China within the previous 14 days, with exceptions for U.S. citizens, but also their immediate family and permanent residents.
Dr. Anne Schuchat, the No. 2 official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press the federal government was also slow to understand how much coronavirus was spreading from Europe, which helped drive the acceleration of U.S. outbreaks in February. Trump announced restrictions for many European countries in mid-March.
”I think the timing of our travel alerts should have been earlier," she said.
___
MORE ON ‘OBAMAGATE
TRUMP: “So even before I got elected, you remember the famous — the two lovers, right, Strzok and Page, the insurance policy, she’s going to win, but just in case she doesn’t we have an insurance policy. That means that if I won, they’re going to try and take me out.” — Fox News interview Thursday.
THE FACTS: There was no conspiracy afoot to take out Trump in the 2016 text message between two FBI employees.
Trump depicts the two as referring to a plot — or insurance policy — to oust him from office if he won the presidential election over Democrat Hillary Clinton. It’s apparent from the text that it wasn’t that.
Agent Peter Strzok and lawyer Lisa Page, both now gone from the bureau, said the text messages reflected a debate about how aggressively the FBI should investigate Trump and his campaign when expectations at the time were that he would lose anyway.
Strzok texted about something Page had said to the FBI’s deputy director, to the effect that “there’s no way he gets elected.” But Strzok argued that the FBI should not assume Clinton would win: “I’m afraid we can’t take that risk.” He likened the situation to “an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.” He has said he was not discussing a plot to drive Trump from office.
___
TRUMP, on Hunter Biden: “Worst of all, was the last eight years under President Obama and Biden, where his son gets a billion and a half dollars, and then they’re supposed to be tough on China. ... And he walked out of China with $1.5 billion dollars to invest for them, of which he makes hundreds of thousands — and actually millions — of dollars.” — interview Thursday on Fox News.
THE FACTS: There’s no evidence Hunter Biden pocketed $1.5 billion from China. More generally, accusations of criminal wrongdoing by father or son are unsubstantiated.
In 2014, an investment fund started by Hunter Biden and other investors joined with foreign and Chinese private equity firms in an effort to raise $1.5 billion to invest outside China. That’s far from giving Hunter Biden such a sum, as Trump describes it.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, George Mesires, wrote in an internet post last year that his client was an unpaid director of the fund at the time “based on his interest in seeking ways to bring Chinese capital to international markets.”
“He has not received any return on his investment," Mesires said.
Hunter Biden stepped down from the Chinese board last October as part of a pledge not to work on behalf of any foreign-owned companies should his father win the presidency.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/AP- ... 274876.phpХакеры REvil начали публикацию документов известной юрфирмы с упоминанием Трампа
Группа хакеров REvil начала выкладывать в сеть документы, полученные в ходе взлома компьютерной системы Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks. Это одна из ведущих в мире юридических фирм, которая занимается делами звезд шоу-бизнеса. Как сообщает Business Insider, первым делом хакеры выложили в сеть целый архив электронной переписки фирмы с клиентами. Причем только тех писем, где по разным поводам упоминается имя президента США Дональда Трампа.
Взломав на прошлой неделе компьютерную сеть Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, хакеры потребовали выкуп за возвращение информации. Они угрожали выложить в открытый доступ личные данные звезд шоу-бизнеса, которых обслуживала эта фирма, а также договоры с клиентами и другие конфиденциальные документы.
Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks отказалась платить деньги. В минувший четверг хакеры повысили сумму выкупа. Теперь она составляет $42 млн. Они пообещали начать выкладывать данные в Dark Net, причем начать «с самой невинной информации», связанной с Дональдом Трампом. В первой партии выложенных писем имя президента упоминается в связи с обсуждением разных юридических моментов, например, использования в рекламе выдержек из давнего интервью господина Трампа. Как пообещали хакеры, следующие порции уже не будут такими невинными. У Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, по словам хакеров, есть неделя на то, чтобы начать выплачивать выкуп.
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4347779WSJ: власти США могут предъявить Google обвинения в нарушении антимонопольного законодательства
Минюст США и генпрокуроры нескольких американских штатов в ближайшие месяцы могут предъявить обвинения компании Google в нарушении антимонопольного законодательства, сообщила газета The Wall Street Journal со ссылой на источники.
Источники издания ожидают иска Минюста США летом. Осенью, как предполагается, его также подадут генпрокуроры ряда штатов во главе с Техасом. Министерство имеет претензии к несправедливым преимуществам Google в рекламном бизнесе, генпрокуроры считают, что у компании чрезмерно большой контроль в этой сфере. Будут ли они готовить иск совместно, не уточняется.
Проверки в отношении Google подтвердил министр юстиции США Уильям Барр в марте. Генпрокурор Техаса Кен Пакстон сообщил, что у Google запрошены документы, расследование завершится осенью.
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4347482E-commerce sales rose by 49 percent in the United States in April.
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a ... ne-orders/Крупный американский ритейлер JC Penney объявил о банкротстве
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4347763Число нефтегазовых буровых установок в США упало до исторического минимума
Число действующих нефтегазовых буровых установок в США упало до минимума с 1944 года, когда начались подсчеты, свидетельствуют данные компании Baker Hughes.
По данным нефтесервисной компании, количество буровых в США сократилось на прошлой неделе на 35, до 339. Из них действующих нефтяных установок — 258, это самый низкий показатель с июля 2009 года. Год назад в стране насчитывалось 987 нефтегазовых буровых, из них нефтяных — 802.
Сокращение добычи нефти в США происходит из-за падения спроса на нее на фоне пандемии коронавируса COVID-19. Кроме того, сказываются ценовые войны между основными поставщиками сырья на мировой рынок. В апреле цена нефти марки WTI достигла отрицательных значений. Президент Дональд Трамп поручил разработать план помощи нефтяным компаниям США.
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4347920Stay-at-home orders face lawsuits across the nation
Stay-at-home orders aimed at reducing the spread of coronavirus are now facing legal challenges from residents and state officials alike, alleging that some measures – mostly put in place by Democrats -- go too far while the country gradually moves toward reopening.
California alone is facing at least a dozen lawsuits that include claims that the state has unjustly closed down gun shops and religious services, infringed on freedoms of speech and assembly by restricting protests, and one case where a resident alleges that being forced to remain at home constitutes forced detention without due process.
“We’re being challenged,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “All across this country, every single day, governors are being challenged, local health officials are being challenged, and it’s a spirit of collaboration. Those that continue to pursue things that put people in harm’s risk, you have to have stepped up efforts and enforcement and sanctions.”
That reference to “collaboration” was with regard to Tesla founder Elon Musk, who reopened business in Alameda County, stating in advance on the Internet that he would be disobeying an order requiring him to remain closed. Newsom said that by the time the Tesla facility was open for business, it was with permission following negotiations with the county government.
“They came together and they were able to work out a framework of modifications to keep their workers safe,” Newsom said.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is up against a lawsuit from Republicans in her state’s House and Senate over her extension of an already-strict emergency order that has regulated residents’ movement and closed businesses. The GOP lawsuit claims that Whitmer overstepped her authority by extending her previous shutdown order, saying she needs the legislature’s approval to extend it beyond 28 days.
Whitmer responded by calling the lawsuit “a political bluff” and “power grab” by the Republican lawmakers.
In Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court struck down the state's “safer at home” on Wednesday, saying the administration of Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, overstepped its authority when it extended the order through the end of May. The ruling said any future orders must be approved by the state’s legislature.
Kentucky protesters sued officials including Gov. Andy Beshear, also a Democrat, for allegedly violating the First Amendment by banning mass protests. In another lawsuit a federal judge temporarily blocked Beshear’s ban on in-person church services.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-im ... the-nationFederal judge halts Kentucky governor's ban on in-person church services after lawsuit
https://www.foxnews.com/us/coronavirus- ... -gov-judgeKentucky man accused of threatening governor, state troopers on social media arrested
https://www.foxnews.com/us/kentucky-thr ... cial-mediaMichigan barber defying Gov. Whitmer’s coronavirus shutdown has license stripped
https://www.foxnews.com/us/michigan-bar ... e-strippedProtesters carrying guns, getting haircuts and dressed as Santa Claus gather outside the Pennsylvania state capitol to demand Gov. Wolf reopen the state
Hundreds demanded Democratic Governor Tom Wolf lift statewide lockdown in Pennsylvania on Friday
Demonstrators waved American flags and held pro-Trump banners near Capitol building in Harrisburg
One woman offered protesters free hair cuts while another protester dressed up as Santa Claus
Protesters also demanded resignation of Pennsylvania secretary of health, Dr. Rachel Levine
One demonstrator held a sign which read 'Fire Fauci' while another compared him to a Nazi
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... eopen.htmlCalifornia's Newsom says fed help to states 'not charity,' but 'moral and ethical obligation' to Americans
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday that his state is facing a major budgetary crisis as a “direct result” of the coronavirus pandemic and called on federal lawmakers to provide some sort of relief funding to states across the nation as they struggle with the economic fallout that has accompanied the public health emergency.
Newsom, a Democrat, said that funding from the federal government to states hard-hit by the virus was “not charity” and that lawmakers in Congress have a “moral and ethical obligation” to help Americans across the country.
“We’re not looking for charity,” Newsom said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It’s social responsibility at a time when people all across the country are facing unprecedented budgetary stress.”
He added: “It’s incumbent of the federal government to support these states.”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/califo ... -americansColorado Gov. Polis pushes back against CDC's coronavirus death counts
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, pushed back against recent coronavirus death counts, including those conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], days after his own state’s health department acknowledged that its numbers had been inflated by including people who had the virus but died from other causes.
Colorado previously had reported 1,150 people died from COVID-19, but late Friday, officials changed that number to 878.
“The CDC criteria include anybody who has died with COVID-19, but what the people of Colorado and the people of the country want to know is how many people died of COVID-19,” Polis told “Fox News Sunday.”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/colora ... ath-countsTrump calls into charity golf tournament
Trump calls into charity golf tournament and promises speedy return to normalcy that sounded far more optimistic than most experts say is realistic.
Trump called into a charity golf tournament broadcast Sunday and promised Americans a speedy return to normalcy that sounded far more optimistic than most experts say is realistic.
Trump hailed the event — broadcast on NBC — and said he’d like to see crowds packing into sports venues by this fall, whether or not a cure for the coronavirus is developed.
He said, “We’re looking at vaccines, we’re looking at cures and we are very, very far down the line,” adding: “I think that’s not going to be in the very distant future. But even before that, I think we’ll be back to normal.”
Experts, however, say finding a cure that fast is far from certain and have warned that easing restrictions too quickly could cause the virus to rebound.
Trump said events would likely resume with small crowds — if any — but hopes that by the time The Masters is played in November, the crowds can return.
“We want to get it back to where it was. We want big, big stadiums loaded with people,” he said. “We want to get sports back. We miss sports. We need sports in terms of the psyche, the psyche of our country.”
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/The ... 275787.phpRory McIlroy Won’t Golf With Trump Again After Ripping President’s Leadership
Rory McIlroy is just one of many professional golfers who have hit the links with President Trump in the past.
But, unlike Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka or Jack Nicklaus, McIlroy has no shot at playing golf with the president in the future after criticizing Trump’s leadership throughout the pandemic during an appearance on the McKellar Golf Podcast.
“We’re in the midst of something that’s pretty serious right now and the fact that he’s trying to politicize it and make it a campaign rally and say we’re administering the most tests in the world like it is a contest — there’s something that just is terrible,” McIlroy said. “It’s not the way a leader should act. There’s a sort of diplomacy that you need to have, and I don’t think he’s showing that — especially in these times.”
McIlroy also told the podcast he’d been invited to play with Trump again but declined the offer “out of choice” despite the president being “nice and personable” when they played the first time.
“That doesn’t mean that I agree with everything — or in fact anything — that he says,” McIlroy told the podcast.
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article ... 273127.phpTrump still confident in virus test despite false negatives
Trump expressed no concerns Friday about a rapid coronavirus test that the White House has been relying on to ensure his safety, despite new data suggesting the test may return an inordinate share of false negatives.
Trump expressed his confidence in the test from Abbott Laboratories after a preliminary study by New York University researchers reported problems with it. Trump and his deputies have promoted the 15-minute test as a “game changer" and have been using it for weeks now to try to keep the White House complex safe.
The Food and Drug Administration announced late Thursday it was investigating preliminary data suggesting the Abbott test can miss a large number of COVID-19 cases, falsely clearing infected patients.
“Abbott is a great test; it’s a very quick test,” Trump said at a Rose Garden event to highlight his administration's efforts to develop a vaccine for the virus. “And it can always be very rapidly double checked.”
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https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/FDA ... 272259.phpТрамп заявил о сильном снижении роста зараженных коронавирусом в США
Президент США Дональд Трамп заявил, что прирост заразившихся коронавирусом снижается по всей стране. США находятся на первом месте по числу заболевших в мире.
«Число случаев заражения коронавирусом сильно снижается на всей территории Соединенных Штатов, за некоторыми исключениями. Это действительно очень хорошие новости!»,— написал господин Трамп в Twitter.
По данным Университета Джонса Хопкинса, число заразившихся коронавирусом в США составляет более 1,48 млн. Умерли свыше 89 тыс., выздоровели более 272 тыс. Как отмечает AFP, в воскресенье, 17 мая, в этой стране было зарегистрировано 820 смертельных случаев за сутки. Это самое низкое значение после 10 мая: тогда было 776 летальных исходов.
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4347887Эксперт заявил о медленной реакции властей США на эпидемию COVID-19
Правительство США очень медленно реагировало на ситуацию с эпидемией коронавирусной инфекцией в стране. Об этом заявил директор американской Коалиции учреждений долгосрочного ухода за пожилыми людьми Ричард Моллот в интервью RT.
«К сожалению, федеральное правительство некоторым образом проигнорировало, что происходит, и в целом реагировало очень и очень медленно, а на ситуацию в домах престарелых особенно», — сказал Моллот.
По его словам, государство могло бы снизить риски среди пациентов домов престарелых, смертность от COVID-19 среди которых достигает 50% в некоторых учреждениях США.
Моллот утверждает, что заразившиеся коронавирусом постояльцы пансионатов нередко делят комнаты со здоровыми людьми. Им также могут отказать в госпитализации из-за инвалидности или преклонного возраста. По словам эксперта, власти говорят, что «заниматься лечением пожилых нецелесообразно
Подробнее на РБК:
https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/5ec062d8 ... m=newsfeedWASHINGTON — One of President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers is criticizing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s early response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying it “let the country down” after initial delays with testing.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro declined to say when asked Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether Trump had confidence in the CDC to lead the U.S. pandemic response, saying that was a question for the president.
But Navarro says the CDC “set us back” in the early weeks of the outbreak.
CDC struggled to develop its own diagnostic test for the coronavirus in January, later discovering problems in its kits sent to state and county public health labs in early February.
It took the CDC more than two weeks to come up with a fix, leading to delays in diagnoses as the virus rapidly spread.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Sunday said he disagreed the CDC had let the nation down. He told CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “I believe the CDC serves an important public health role.”
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/The ... 275787.phpTrump aide raises tension with CDC after criticizing health agency publicly
Tensions between the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spilled out into public view on Sunday as a top adviser to President Donald Trump criticized the public health agency's response to the novel-coronavirus pandemic.
The comments by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro are the latest signal of how the Trump administration has sought to sideline the CDC. The agency typically plays the lead role in public health crises, but in recent weeks it's had its draft guidance for reopening held up by the White House, leaving states and localities to largely fend for themselves.
Speaking on NBC News' "Meet the Press," Navarro criticized the CDC production of a flawed coronavirus test kit that contributed to a nationwide delay in testing.
"Early on in this crisis, the CDC - which really had the most trusted brand around the world in this space - really let the country down with the testing," Navarro said. "Because not only did they keep the testing within the bureaucracy, they had a bad test. And that did set us back."
The CDC did not respond to a request for comment. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, whose agency oversees the CDC, pushed back against Navarro's criticism in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation."
"I don't believe the CDC let this country down," Azar said in response to Navarro's comments. "I believe the CDC serves an important public health role. And what was always critical was to get the private sector to the table" on testing.
With the coronavirus pandemic in the United States now in its third month, some in the White House are increasingly taking aim at the CDC and the leadership of its director, Robert Redfield, as The Washington Post has previously reported.
In addition to the issue of testing, White House officials say they are also frustrated by what they consider the agency's balky flow of data and information and the leak of an early version of its reopening recommendations, according to three administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal disagreements.
Appearing remotely at a Senate committee hearing Tuesday, Redfield detailed the CDC's efforts to combat the pandemic, including expert assistance for state health authorities, disease surveillance and testing and contact tracing strategy. But he also sounded an alarm that the nation's public health resources have been insufficient to meet the challenge that covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has posed.
"We need to rebuild our nation's public health infrastructure: data and data analytics, public health laboratory resilience and our nation's public health workforce," he said.
Navarro on Sunday also criticized China, escalating the Trump administration's attacks on that country for its handling of the virus. In an interview on ABC News' "This Week," Navarro said he holds the country's leaders responsible for the global outbreak.
"The virus was spawned in Wuhan province," Navarro said. "Patient zero was in November. The Chinese, behind the shield of the World Health Organization, for two months hid the virus from the world, and then sent hundreds of thousands of Chinese on aircraft to Milan, New York and around the world to seed that. They could have kept it in Wuhan. Instead, it became a pandemic."
Beijing has responded to such attacks by accusing the Trump administration of "shifting blame" in an effort to distract from its own failures amid the pandemic.
While they were at odds over the CDC, Navarro and Azar were in agreement Sunday as they defended the Trump administration's push for states to reopen their economies.
Navarro argued that "some of the people in the medical community want to just run and hide until the virus is extinguished," an approach that he argued, without evidence, would "kill many more people" than covid-19 would.
He also said loosening restrictions on businesses is not a "question of lives vs. jobs."
"What President Trump realized early on is that, if you lock people down, you may save lives directly from the China virus, but you indirectly are going to kill a lot more people" through suicide or substance abuse, Navarro said.
Azar declared that it's safe to reopen the country because half of the counties reporting "haven't had a single death," and that more than 60% of all covid-19 cases are in 2% of the reporting counties.
"That's why the local leaders need to lead this," he said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Azar also saidhe was not overly concerned by images of people congregating at bars and other places without staying six feet apart or wearing masks.
"I think in any individual instance you are going to see people doing things that are irresponsible," he said, emphasizing that "we've got to get this economy open and our people out and about, working and going to school again."
Trump made brief remarks Sunday as he returned to the White House from Camp David. In an exchange with reporters, he maintained that "tremendous progress is being made on many fronts, including coming up with a cure for this horrible plague that has beset our country."
But statistics from some states paint a less-than-rosy picture.
Texas reported its largest single-day jump in coronavirus cases Saturday, with 1,801 newly confirmed cases. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, 734 of the new cases were reported in the Amarillo area, where there has been an outbreak tied to the region's meatpacking facilities.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has allowed some businesses - including hair salons, restaurants and retail stores - to reopen at reduced capacity, and beginning Monday, gyms, offices and nonessential manufacturing facilities will be allowed to do so as well, according to the Dallas Morning News.
New York, the state hardest hit by the pandemic, has seen a decline in new cases since April, but officials remain wary of a potential increase as parts of the state begin to reopen. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, on Sunday received a covid-19 swab test on live TV in an effort to convince residents to get tested if they are experiencing symptoms.
"It is so fast and so easy that even a governor can take this test," Cuomo said shortly before a doctor swabbed his nose during his daily briefing in Albany.
After photos and videos emerged over the weekend of people in New York City crowding the sidewalks outside restaurants and bars, many carrying open containers and not wearing masks, Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, scolded those disregarding quarantine measures.
"We're feeling the pull of the outdoors, we're feeling the seasons changing, we all want to be out there," de Blasio said, noting that the warm weather has exacerbated pent-up New Yorkers' "quarantine fatigue" after two months in isolation. "But we all understand we're in the middle of a pandemic, and we have to do things differently."
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said he is moving forward based on the best guidance to control the spread of the virus: social distancing. He also said reopening schools will be predicated on data and science, not just observations on the ground.
"I think some schools will not be [open this fall] and many schools will be," Newsom told host Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union."
Seventy-five percent of California's economy is now open, including manufacturing, warehouses and restaurants, Newsom said. Business owners and individuals are encouraged to wear face coverings and maintain physical distance from others. Opening sports arenas, he said, is not an option at this time.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said reopening his state's economy was necessary, but he noted that the state was still wrestling with the outbreak and that the danger remains. "I've said to Ohioans that so much is in every individual's control. I encourage people to wear masks when they go out in public," he said on CNN.
DeWine said he was concerned when he saw images of a reopened Ohio bar crowded with people. But he added that the people running the bar got the situation under control.
"Ultimately, it's going to come to Ohioans doing what Ohioans have done the last two months - keep their distance and wear masks," he said.
DeWine said that 90% of the state's economy is open but that he wasn't sure about reopening schools. He said they were closed "not because you [are] specifically worried about the kids," but to keep students from going home and infecting their parents.
"You have 30 kids go into a classroom, one kid is in there, and he's got no symptoms, but he's carrying it - now you got maybe 25 kids . . . going back to their families," DeWine said. "And it just spreads and multiplies. So, that's the concern."
In an interview on CBS News' "Face the Nation," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., warned that "time is of the essence" for Congress and the White House to approve an additional round of coronavirus relief, including funds for additional testing and job protections.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has sought to expand liability protections for employers that reopen during the pandemic, but Pelosi on Sunday declined to say whether Democrats are open to such a move.
"Time is very important. We have lost time," Pelosi said, adding: "People are hungry across America. Hunger doesn't take a pause. People are jobless across America. That doesn't take a pause."
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Tru ... 276645.phpHHS Secretary Azar says people going to bars despite coronavirus pandemic is 'part of the freedom we have'
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Sunday he understands that while it may be “irresponsible” for people to gather in large groups during the coronavirus pandemic, it is also “part of the freedom” Americans have as states begin to ease their social distancing guidelines.
Responding to a question on CNN’s “State of the Union” about reports of people crowding into bars in Ohio and other parts of the country, Azar said that while federal officials can offer “guidance,” it’s up to local leaders to implement it in their communities.
“I think in any individual incidence you're going to see people doing things that are irresponsible, that’s part of the freedom we have in America,” Azar said.
He added: “Part of this is going to be if you're in crowded areas and if you’re in an area that has ongoing spread of community spread of disease, there's steps you should take. That's where our guidance is there for, and we count on local leaders to implement and interpret that according to the local situation.”
Azar also echoed Trump’s concerns that keeping the economy closed will lead to “serious health consequences.” Trump has consistently said that the closed economy – which has been accompanied by drastic financial strain for many Americans – can lead to both mental and physical health problems.
The HHS secretary’s comments come amid reports from Columbus, Ohio, and other cities in states that have eased their stay-at-home orders of people crowding into bars despite the ongoing public health crisis.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hhs-se ... om-we-haveIn next phase of pandemic, Trump appears poised to let others take the lead
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has proclaimed the latest phase of pandemic response the "transition to greatness." But Trump appears poised to preside over the eventual transition more as a salesman and marketer than a decider.
Many consequential actions are being done by others. The nation's governors are overseeing their states' plans to reopen their economies. Business leaders are making their own choices about how their employees can safely and responsibly return to work. Treasury officials are negotiating with Congress the details of financial stimulus packages. And scientists and public health officials are leading the race for a vaccine.
The United States under Trump has also retreated from its historic position of global leadership, declining, for instance, to participate in a coronavirus summit with other nations earlier this month.
Amid a once-in-a-century deadly pandemic, Trump has inserted his ego squarely into the U.S. response while simultaneously minimizing his own role - deferring critical decisions to others, undermining his credibility with confusion and misinformation, and shirking responsibility in what some see as a shrinking of the American presidency.
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who studies presidential leadership, said Trump has diminished the influence of his office relative to the outsized responsibilities past presidents have taken on during crises, most notably Franklin Roosevelt amid the Great Depression and World War II.
"You just yearn for that kind of leadership coming from the presidency," Goodwin said. "Right now, we're looking to the leaders in the states for carrying the major burden of how to deal with both the science and the economics. We're looking to private industries about how to reopen."
White House spokesman Judd Deere said "the media refuses to acknowledge or report accurately the incredible work of this president to protect and support the American people throughout this pandemic," including a newly announced initiative aimed at developing and distributing a vaccine by the end of the year, ahead of most predictions.
"The president has been leading every step of the way, and his actions, not only to protect public health but also the economy and workforce, will ensure we emerge stronger than ever before," Deere said.
Many Democrats disagree. "It seems that the most important decision the president makes every day is whether he does a press conference and, if so, what time," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said.
But with the U.S. death toll at more than 87,000 and rising, Murphy said he prefers a leadership vacuum in the West Wing to what he views as Trump's unhelpful meddling.
"At this point, I think the president has proved to be so incompetent that most of us in Connecticut don't want him or the people that work for him micromanaging our response," Murphy said.
Though Trump has repeatedly attacked Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic governor of Michigan said she has forged solid relationships with others in the administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, whom she described as "accessible and cordial."
"It doesn't mean every single thing we need comes on time and perfectly and when we need it, but they're good to work with and they're doing their best," she said.
Asked what she would like from the president, Whitmer said, "I would love to see a consistent, science-based message, and imploring people to keep their guard up and keep doing the right thing." And, she added with a small laugh, "I would like swabs!"
Unlike former president Barack Obama - who made a point of getting photographed receiving an H1N1 vaccine to encourage the public to do similarly - Trump has largely modeled poor public health behavior. He refuses to a wear a mask, despite his own administration's recommendation to do so, and until recently he did not practice social distancing.
Some of Trump's other decisions, meanwhile, have seemed rooted in part in public relations calculations. In an unprecedented move, the president suggested that his name be printed on all Internal Revenue Service stimulus checks, a decision that threatened to slow their delivery by several days.
And before daily coronavirus press briefings were eventually curtailed, Trump co-opted them as freewheeling, virtual campaign rallies. The ensuing dynamic ultimately transformed the coronavirus task force meetings in the Situation Room largely into planning sessions for what the president and other officials would present to the media that evening, aides said.
Now, in pushing the nation to reopen, Trump is running anew up against his own limitations. A recent CNN poll found that while Trump's approval rating remains largely unchanged at 45 percent, a smaller 36 percent of the public considers the president a trusted source of information about the coronavirus outbreak.
This trust deficit, said Richard Curtin, director of Surveys of Consumers at the University of Michigan, makes it even harder for Trump to accomplish a task that would be daunting for any leader.
"To convince consumers to go out and purchase - or to just go out - is a significant challenge because it involves their most closely held emotions about life," Curtin said. "Consumers started staying at home long before they were forced to by government regulations, because they knew that was the right thing to do, and I think the president has limited ability to change that."
Peter Wehner, who served in the past three Republican administrations and is an outspoken Trump critic, was more blunt, arguing Trump's "extreme narcissism" has impeded his administration's pandemic response.
"There's no question that he has miniaturized the office," Wehner said. "He's shrunken it, he's degraded it and he's defaced it. It's a kind of civic vandalism he's inflicted on the office."
For Trump, sometimes the message seems more important than the policy. During a Rose Garden news conference Monday, Trump announced that his administration was sending $11 billion to the states and territories to help them with testing. But when a reporter asked him why every American who wants a test still can't get a test, two months after Trump first promised they could, the president was exasperated.
"That's the problem with a question like that," Trump said. "We go through a whole announcement saying, 'We're No. 1 in the world by far,' by a factor of two, and even three and four depending on where you're looking, and I get a question, 'When will everybody be able to get tested?' "
The focus, he implied, should be on his ceremonial announcement, not the continued lack of what experts say is sufficient mass testing.
Meanwhile, Trump played a supporting role, at best, in negotiations to produce the four bipartisan bills enacted so far to address the pandemic. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was a constant presence on Capitol Hill running point for the administration on a series of relief measures, while the president's suggestions - such as a payroll tax cut - were shrugged off and gained little traction, even among Republican allies.
At one point in mid-March, as a particularly hard-fought negotiation reached resolution, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was asked if she'd spoken with Trump. "There was no need for that," she replied.
Trump and his allies stress that he deserves credit for some of the decisions he did make. Trump announced some restrictions on travel from China in late January - which he cites in claiming he took the virus seriously early on, despite having spent all of February dismissing its threat and ignoring calls to prepare for the worst.
Trump, habitually loathe to share the spotlight, helped elevate public health officials to near celebrity status, including physicians Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci. Despite some tensions and frustrations, Birx and Fauci insist that Trump listens to their advice, even if he doesn't always heed it.
While critics see Trump's hyper-focus on public relations as a detriment, Jason Miller, a former Trump campaign adviser, said it is evidence of savvy leadership.
"Every president who has faced a global crisis - whether it be a kinetic war or a viral war or even an economic war - has become the face of that crisis, whether they like it or not, and I think it's smart for President Trump to realize that his presidency will ultimately be defined by the successful recovery from coronavirus," Miller said.
Other personalities, from medical doctors to governors, have emerged as influential. For example, the daily news conferences of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, became must-watch viewing for many Americans.
"The governors with the highest approval ratings are those who acted most quickly and seemed to listen most closely to the advice of the health care experts," said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster.
Also drawing attention is Obama, who on Saturday joined a star-studded group - including basketball player LeBron James and education activist Malala Yousafzai - to deliver a prime-time televised commencement for graduates of 74 historically black colleges and universities across the United States.
Obama took sharp aim at the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic, saying the crisis has "finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they're doing. A lot of them aren't even pretending to be in charge."
Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to Obama, said that were Trump to think more creatively, the president could easily craft a weekly schedule that helps both steady the nation and underscore his policy goals. For instance, Rhodes sketched out a Monday briefing alongside Fauci with "just the facts you need to know about fighting the disease"; a Tuesday video call on Zoom with small businesses to discuss guidelines for safely reopening; and a Wednesday photo opportunity at a local D.C. restaurant to help with curbside pickup.
"This would be politically hugely popular, to make people feel like they're getting usable information from the government and like they're being shown by the president about how they might go about resuming their lives," Rhodes said. "This is one of those moments where doing the job well would have political benefit."
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/In- ... 276173.phpTrump’s Son Pushes Dimwitted Rigged Election Conspiracy: Virus ‘Will Magically Go Away’ After Nov. 3
Eric Trump says Democrats are in the midst of a concerted effort to stop America from reopening in order to derail his father’s rallies, thus hurting the president’s reelection chances
Trump’s son Eric wants people to believe that the Democrats are in the midst of a concerted effort to stop America from reopening so his dad can’t hold arena rallies, all in an attempt to hurt his reelection chances.
On Saturday, Eric Trump told Fox News host Jeannine Pirro that following November’s presidential election, the “coronavirus will magically… disappear and everybody will be able to reopen.” Because, you know, the Democrats will make that happen.
“They think they are taking away Donald Trump’s greatest tool, which is being able to go into an arena and fill it with 50,000 people every single time,” he said. “You watch, they’ll milk it every single day between now and November 3. And guess what, after November 3, coronavirus will magically all of a sudden go away and disappear and everybody will be able to reopen.”
There is nothing surprising about anyone connected to the Trump campaign making wild conspiracy claims. The president himself manufactures a new one seemingly on a daily basis. But the lack of respect for his father’s supporters’ and Fox News viewers’ intelligence is rather astounding here, and that’s putting aside the fact that more than 40 states will have some sort of reopening in place by next week — obviously, months before the election. In addition, Eric Trump’s conspiracy implicates a political party that is often so disorganized that pulling off a monumental task like this would be a tougher task than herding cats. And this heartless conspiracy would not only hurt an untold amount of American citizens but would have to include Democratic governors and mayors across the country who would be willing to chance their own political futures all in the name of electing Joe Biden and dethroning Donald Trump.
These grifters have sold so many on so little they don’t feel the need to take the time to submit plausible false scenarios to their followers. It’s a cult with lazy leaders.
https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/ar ... 276370.phpФРС не исключает нового обвала на финансовых рынках
Обвал на финансовых рынках может снова повториться, говорится в отчете Федеральной резервной системы (ФРС) США по финансовой стабильности (.pdf). Цены на активы остаются уязвимыми на фоне пандемии коронавируса COVID-19.
«Неопределенность все еще остается высокой, и рынки остаются волатильными по сравнению с историческими нормами, что предполагает возможность дальнейшего снижения цен, если ситуация будет развиваться хуже, чем ожидалось»,— говорится в документе.
Ведомство отметило, что рынку недвижимости, в том числе коммерческой, нужно больше времени для того, чтобы отреагировать на изменения в экономической ситуации. Эта отрасль может оказаться под серьезным давлением.
Ранее глава ФРС Джером Пауэлл заявил, что американская экономика может испытать «продолжительное воздействие» от негативных последствий пандемии коронавируса. По его словам, «масштабы и темпы экономического спада не имеют прецедентов со времен Второй мировой войны».
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4347582Глава ФРС допустил падение ВВП США на 20% и безработицу на уровне 25%
ВВП США во втором квартале 2020 года может рухнуть на 20%, а уровень безработицы — подняться до 25%. Такой прогноз озвучил глава Федеральной Резервной Системы (ФРС) Джером Пауэлл в интервью телеканалу CBS.
При этом в конце апреля министерство труда США относительно прогнозируемой безработицы называло в полтора раза меньшие цифры.
Пауэлл предположил, что прямую финансовую поддержку американцам придется оказывать еще от трех месяцев до полугода. Кроме того, он добавил, что для поддержки населения конгрессу и Центробанку придется приложить еще больше усилий.
В то же время глава ФРС опроверг предположение, что экономика страны может столкнуться с кризисом, подобным Великой депрессии. По мнению Пауэлла, после пандемии предстоит «постепенное восстановление», однако его темпы будут зависеть от открытия вакцины, сокращения числа инфицированных и преодоления последствий медицинского кризиса.
https://www.rosbalt.ru/world/2020/05/18/1843803.htmlTop investor predicts 'pendulum'-like, 'uncertain' economic recovery
The White House predicted that despite the sharp economic decline in the U.S. due to the coronavirus pandemic, there will be an equally sharp turnaround, comparing it to a V-shaped curve, but Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, does not believe it will be that easy.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-in ... c-recoveryБолее трети американцев отказались покупать товары «Сделано в Китае»
Разногласия двух стран и жесткая риторика Вашингтона приводит к тому, что все меньше американцев готовы покупать товары, произведенные в Китае. Это происходит на фоне попыток Белого дома добиться переноса производств обратно в США
Более трети жителей США не намерены покупать какие-либо товары китайского производства. Это следует из данных исследования FTI Consultig (*pdf), на которые обратил внимание Bloomberg.
40% респондентов ответили, что не купили бы товар, произведенный в КНР. Еще 34% сообщили, что готовы купить товары под лейблом «Сделано в Китае», но они не испытывают большого удовольствия от этого. Только 26% заявили, что китайское происхождение товара не оказало бы никакого влияния на их выбор.
Знак «Сделано в Китае» оказывает на покупательские предпочтения американцев максимальное влияние по сравнению с другими, следует из опроса. Меньше всего американцев смущает происхождение товаров, сделанных в Европе — только 12% заявили, что не готовы покупать вещи, сделанные в этой части света. На втором месте — продукты из стран Латинской Америки — сделанные там вещи с той или иной степенью готовности готовы купить 84% респондентов, и только 16% отказались от такой возможности.
78% американцев готовы поддержать экономический протекционизм своими деньгами. Они заявили, что готовы заплатить больше за товар, если им известно, что его производство перенесено из Китая в США. 55% опрошенных не считают, что Китаю можно доверять в выполнении взятых в январе обязательств по торговой сделке с Соединенными Штатами.
Bloomberg отмечает, что подобная точка зрения кажется не характерной для американцев, которые обычно выступают за свободу торговли и против радикального протекционизма. Агентство ссылается на данные опроса Gallup, согласно которым почти четыре пятых американцев воспринимают международную торговлю как возможность, а не как угрозу, причем доля граждан США, считающих так, постоянно росла последнее десятилетие. Однако разногласия в отношениях двух стран, возникшие в последнее время, оказывают свое влияние на позицию американцев. Подстегивают такие настроения и высказывания властей страны. О необходимости экономического протекционизма неоднократно заявлял Дональд Трамп. «Огромное количество денег было украдено Китаем у Соединенных Штатов, год за годом, десятилетие за десятилетием. Наши великие американские компании отныне получают приказ: немедленно ищите способы найти альтернативу Китаю и перевозите производство домой», — заявлял президент США в Twitter в августе 2019 года. В комментариях к посту некоторые пользователи отмечали, что именно в Китае производится агитационная продукция в поддержку Дональда Трампа, в том числе кепки с надписью Make America Great Again.
Подробнее на РБК:
https://www.rbc.ru/economics/18/05/2020 ... m=newsfeedТрамп «потерял вкус» к торговой сделке с Китаем
Трамп заявил, что потерял вкус к американо-китайской торговой сделке.
Как передает ТАСС, Трамп заявил, что не хочет разговаривать с председателем Китая Си Цзиньпином. Американский лидер ответил, что КНР тратит очень много в рамках торговой сделки, однако глава США потерял к ней вкус.
Его также спросили, готов ли он вернуть ряд таможенных пошлин на китайские товары. В ответ Трамп заявил, что не готов сейчас про это говорить. «Могу сказать, что Китай покупает много наших товаров», — сказал Трамп, напомнив, что в скором времени после заключения первой фазы соглашения Китай сообщил о вспышке коронавируса в стране. «Так что мы не в восторге», — сказал он
Ранее сообщалось, что Трамп отказался от пересмотра условий первой фазы торговой сделки с Китаем. По информации проправительственной китайской газеты The Global Times, неназванные советники предполагают, что китайские власти вновь рассматривают возможность признания торговой сделки с США недействительной и обсуждения более выгодных для Поднебесной условий. Однако Трамп заявил, что не заинтересован в этом.
https://www.rosbalt.ru/world/2020/05/16/1843663.htmlСоветник Трампа: Китай позволил своим туристам распространить коронавирус по всему миру
Власти Китая два месяца скрывали информацию о коронавирусе и позволили «сотням тысяч» своих туристов разнести инфекцию по всему миру, заявил советник Белого дома по торговой политике Питер Наварро.
Как передает телеканал ABC News, Наварро отметил, что нулевой пациент появился в Ухане в ноябре, однако Китай «прикрываясь щитом ВОЗ», скрывал эти данные от всего мира и «отправил сотни тысяч китайцев на самолетах в Милан, Нью-Йорк и по всему миру, чтобы посеять [вирус]».
Политик предположил, что при другом образе действий китайские власти могли «оставить вирус в Ухане». Он подчеркнул, что Китай должен нести ответственность за то, что «сделал это с американцами».
Ранее Питер Наварро высказывал мнение, что КНР ради собственной выгоды поставляет в другие страны некачественные тесты на антитела к коронавирусу, дающие ложный результат.
https://www.rosbalt.ru/world/2020/05/18/1843800.htmlПомпео: После пандемии Трамп будет добиваться от Китая компенсации для американцев
Президент США Дональд Трамп намерен добиваться от Китая компенсаций для пострадавших от коронавируса американцев. Он займется этим, «когда наступит подходящий момент», заявил глава Госдепа Майк Помпео в интервью изданию Washington Examiner.
Помпео подчеркнул, что сперва необходимо справиться с пандемией. После этого следует «проинформировать весь мир» о том, что власти Китая не предоставили необходимую для борьбы с вирусом информацию. По мнению Помпео, мир «должен сплотиться, чтобы заставить Китай платить по счетам». Когда эти два этапа будут пройдены, Дональд Трамп решит, какими путями добиваться компенсаций от Китая для тех, кто пострадал от вируса в США.
По словам Помпео, в число пострадавших входят не только те, кто заболел или потерял близких в результате пандемии, но и те, кто понес финансовые убытки из-за воздействия вируса на экономику страны.
https://www.rosbalt.ru/world/2020/05/18/1843791.htmlTrump: We have a lot of information on Wuhan lab and it’s not good
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6157240106001/
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