White House

Trump Rebooting White House Coronavirus Briefings

/ Lawrence Lease / Leave a comment

President Trump is rebooting his reality tv-style coronavirus briefings, months after backing away from them and as COVID-19 cases spike across the country.

Trump announced on Monday morning that he is bringing back the White House briefings, which came to a halt after he suggested during one in April that people infected with COVID-19 should take an “injection” of disinfectant to recover from the virus. Since then, Trump has repeatedly downplayed the coronavirus and complained that increased testing is to blame for spiking cases (it’s not).

Speaking to reporters during a pool spray at the White House Monday, Trump spoke of the briefings like a seasoned television producer. Trump claimed the briefings, which were held nearly every day for weeks at the beginning of the pandemic, were “very successful” and garnered record ratings.

“There’s never been anything like it,” Trump said. “And we were doing very well and I thought it would be sort of automatic and a lot of positive things were happening.”

The President went on to outline his plan for the briefings.

“So I think what we’re going to do is I’ll get involved and we’ll start doing briefings whether it’s this afternoon or tomorrow — probably tomorrow,” Trump said. “And I’ll do briefings. And I think part of the briefing much more so than last time because last time we were nowhere with vaccines and therapeutics. And let’s say that ended six weeks ago and we’ll start them again.”

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During the first season of Trump’s briefings, the President often went on bizarre and unrelated tangents. He also often used the briefings to attack the assembled journalists in the room. At one briefing, Trump almost completely ignored the coronavirus threat and instead detailed his administration’s operations to go after MS-13. Cable news networks often cut away from the briefings altogether, in search of actual news on the pandemic.

Trump added Monday that the new briefings will be “a great way to get information out to the public” when it comes to the status of vaccines, therapeutics and “generally speaking where we are” on the COVID-19 outbreak.

The President reiterated the briefing will start “probably tomorrow” during the “good slot” of 5 p.m. and predicted that a lot of people will tune in. Trump said that White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany will continue her briefings separately, but that his briefings will discuss the coronavirus and “perhaps some other things.”

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NSA Compares China’s Coronavirus Response to Chernobyl

/ Alexander Massaad / Leave a comment

White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien drew comparisons between China’s coronavirus outbreak response to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster during Sunday morning interviews.

When asked by CBS’ Margaret Brennan whether a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China would be made available to the American public, O’Brien replied that he believes that the U.S. would develop a vaccine first before accusing China of espionage.

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“Now, there’s a chance, and it’s been reported, that the Chinese have been engaged in espionage to try and find the research and the technologies that we’re working on both for a vaccine and a therapy,” O’Brien said. “So, look, they’ve got a many, many year history of stealing American intellectual property and knocking off American technology. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they did that with vaccines.”

After claiming that the U.S. is “moving out very quickly” on therapies and a vaccine for COVID-19, O’Brien pivoted to how the novel coronavirus was “unleashed by China.”

“There was a cover-up that someday they’re going to do an HBO show like they did with Chernobyl on this virus,” O’Brien said. “But we’re going to be part of the solution to the virus.”

Asked to clarify what a “cover-up” means, O’Brien said that China covered up its handling of the novel coronavirus by giving “false information” to the World Health Organization.

O’Brien made similar remarks during an interview on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday morning after saying that “we’ll see” whether China can “live up” to its trade deal with the U.S. after it “unleashed” the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re in a very different world. The cover-up that they did of the virus is going to go down in history along with Chernobyl,” O’Brien said. “We’ll see an HBO special about 10 or 15 years from now, and so we’re in a different place with China as we speak today.”

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Trump Threatens to Hold Up Funding For Those Pushing Mail-In Voting

/ Alexander Massaad / Leave a comment

President Donald Trump had a conniption on Wednesday upon learning that Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson had begun sending all registered voters applications in the swing state that would make it easier to vote in the November elections by mail.

“This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State,” Trump tweeted while erroneously reporting that Benson had sent absentee ballots. “I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!”

He followed up with a second tweet tagging acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and the Treasury department’s Twitter handle.

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Trump later posted the exact same threatening tweet with the correction that Michigan voters were being sent mail-in voting applications, not absentee ballots.

Benson announced on Tuesday that her office had begun sending the applications to voters to let them mail in their ballots as a safer alternative to in-person voting amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As of November 2018, Michigan voters are already allowed to mail in their votes, and there is nothing that indicates Benson’s actions were illegal.

The state official dismissed Trump’s threats in a phone interview with TPM on Wednesday, saying she has no plans to stop sending the applications and that she’s “trying to stay above the fray of mudslinging.”

“We’re moving full steam ahead in doing our work,” Benson said.

She also pointed out that her initiative was funded by the sweeping COVID-19 response package that Trump had signed.

“This is something we’re able to do by federal funding,” the official told TPM.

And contrary to Trump’s claims, there has been “no evidence” of voter fraud caused by mail-in voting in Michigan, Benson said.

She fired back at Trump after he posted his corrected tweet that claimed “a rogue Secretary of State” sent the applications “illegally.”

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“Still wrong,” Benson tweeted. “Every Michigan registered voter has a right to vote by mail. I have the authority & responsibility to make sure that they know how to exercise this right – just like my GOP colleagues are doing in GA, IA, NE and WV.”

“Also, again, my name is Jocelyn Benson,” she added.

Several hours after ranting about Michigan, Trump made a virtually identical threat against Nevada, which started sending mail-in ballots for the states’ June primary elections at the beginning of May.

“State of Nevada ‘thinks’ that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They can’t!” he wrote. “If they do, ‘I think’ I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections. @RussVought45 @USTreasury.”

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) slammed Trump’s threat via Twitter and, like Benson, made it clear that his state would not be cowed into reversing its vote-by-mail operation.

“Nevada is widely recognized as being a national leader in election administration, and we will continue to support the safest, most accessible election possible under these unprecedented circumstances,” the governor tweeted. “For the President to threaten federal funding in the midst of a pandemic over a state exercising its authority to run elections in a safe and legal manner is inappropriate and outrageous.”

Trump had thrown a similar tantrum several weeks ago over California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) executive order to send mail-in ballots to all registered voters in his state.

The President accused California Democrats of “trying to steal another election” and demanded that the votes in the blue state be thrown out.

“These votes must not count,” he tweeted. “SCAM!”

Trump has been railing against mail-in voting recently, despite the fact that he himself voted by mail in Florida’s primary elections in March, because it “doesn’t work out well for Republicans.”

He also falsely claims that mailing in ballots is “corrupt” and leads to voter fraud, even though there have been no reports of fraud from states that already had mail-in voting systems even before the COVID-19 pandemic.

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