Supreme court blocks House Democrats' access to Mueller grand jury materials – as it happened

Live reporting on coronavirus in the US continues in Thursday’s blog:

• The Supreme Court temporarily blocked House Democrats from accessing grand jury material from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The solicitor general filed a request earlier this month to halt a federal appeals court’s order to turn over the material, which the court granted today. The justices set a June 1 deadline to file briefs to determine whether the case should undergo a full review.
  
• Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, may be released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence at home, per reports. Cohen would be one of many prisoners being released due to coronavirus concerns.
• Democrats criticized Trump for threatening to withhold funding from Michigan and Nevada over their efforts to expand vote by mail. Nevada’s Democratic governor said the threat was “inappropriate and dangerous” as states seek safe voting options in the middle of a global pandemic.
• Black Americans are dying of coronavirus at a rate three times higher than that of white Americans, according to a new report. More than 20,000 African Americans have already died from the virus.
• Trump suggested holding the next G7 summit in person, despite previously announcing that it would take place virtually. It would be very difficult to reschedule the meeting now, and it’s very unclear world leaders would agree to travel to the US as the country’s number of coronavirus cases continues to climb.
• Secretary of state Mike Pompeo dismissed claims that the state department inspector general was fired in retaliation for investigations he had launched. “It’s patently false,” Pompeo said of the accusations. The firing of Steve Linick has sparked concern that the Trump administration is trying to suppress government oversight.

The majority of Americans are worried about reopening causing a spike in infections.

According to a poll from the Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Centre at the University of Chicago, about 54 % of respondents were “very or extremely worried” about reopening causing more infections, and 29 % were “somewhat worried” about the risk.

Overall, more than half the respondents said that the restrictions in their area were about right to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The Guardian’s Kari Paul reports:

Apple and Google have released long-awaited smartphone technology to automatically notify people if they might have been exposed to the coronavirus.

The companies had announced the unprecedented collaboration to leverage their technology to help trace and contain the spread of coronavirus last month, and say 22 countries and several US states are already planning to build voluntary phone apps using their software.

The software relies on Bluetooth wireless technology to detect when someone who downloaded the app has spent time near another app user who later tests positive for the virus.

Many governments have already tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to roll out their own phone apps to fight the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of those apps have encountered technical problems on Apple and Android phones and haven’t been widely adopted. They often use GPS to track people’s location, which Apple and Google are omitting from their new tool because of privacy and accuracy concerns.

The Sanders campaign, seeking unity, has asked surrogates to refrain from attacking Biden, the Washington Post reports.

From the Post:

The Vermont senator’s campaign has told some supporters picked to represent him this year to sign agreements barring attacks on other candidates or party leaders, combative confrontations on social media or talking to reporters without approval.

The move, which carried a threat of being removed as a delegate, has the effect of blunting one of the most powerful if divisive tools of Sanders’s movement — its unrestrained online presence and tendency to stoke controversy through other media, which has at times spiraled into abuse of his opponents, perceived and real.

“Refrain from making negative statements about other candidates, party leaders, Campaigns, Campaign staffers, supporters, news organizations or journalists. This Campaign is about the issues and finding solutions to America’s problems,” said the social media policy sent to some delegates. “Our job is to differentiate the senator from his opponents on the issues — not through personal attacks.”

“Do your best to avoid online arguments or confrontations,” the policy said. “If engaging in an adversarial conversation, be respectful when addressing opposing viewpoints or commenting on the opposition.”

The agreements angered some Sanders delegates, and the campaign is now working with delegates to adjust its demands.

The Senate is debating the next phase of coronavirus relief.

Republicans have largely rejected the Democrats proposal for a rescue package, claiming that it costs too much. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dismissed the Democrats’ bill dismissed as a “totally unserious effort.”

But even within the the GOP, there seems to be disagreement about how best to help states weather the pandemic.

20 May 202018.29 EDT

Lauren Gambino

Joe Biden assailed Donald Trump in a pair of virtual events in Wisconsin, calling him “a destroyer of everything he touches.”

“All he’s ever done is hollow out what really matters and then slap a gold sign on a flimsy foundation,” Biden said during the virtual rally in the battleground state.

“Donald Trump claimed he would fight for the forgotten man, the working class,” the former vice president continued. “But as soon as he got into office, he forgot them.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Biden held a virtual roundtable with Wisconsin congressman Ron Kind and community advocates who spoke about the challenges facing rural Americans during the epidemic.

During the back and forth, Biden, referring to federal funding to combat the economic fallout from the virus, said: “Not one more penny should go to a Fortune 500 company. Period. Period. They don’t need it.”

“Among the speakers at the “rally” was Wisconsin senator Tammy Baldwin, who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential nominee after she won re-election in 2018. Biden called her a “true champion for Wisconsin, a true leader.”
Biden has been ramping up his virtual campaign schedule in recent weeks. Earlier events have been riddled with technical glitches - and the occasional honking duck. By contrast, Wednesday’s events went smoothly.

20 May 202018.19 EDT

Sam Levin

Prisoners and advocates told the Guardian that some infected inmates are in isolation without medical care or adequate food, cut off from family and attorneys

More than 3,200 prisoners in California have contracted Covid-19 and at least 16 inmates have died, in a public health catastrophe that advocates say was both predictable and preventable.

Inmates and advocates told the Guardian that at six prisons and jails with rapidly escalating outbreaks, basic protocols to prevent the virus from spreading are being ignored, and that they fear imminent mass fatalities and hospitalizations. Interviews with prisoners, their families and attorneys, along with internal records, reveal that:

• Some prisoners sick with coronavirus have complained that they aren’t getting enough food and water while quarantined, and that they don’t have access to doctors, temperature checks, basic medicine, phone calls, regular showers, outdoor time or sanitary supplies.
• Inmates have reported being reprimanded for wearing face coverings. At least one inmate was formally disciplined for trying to use bleach to help clean a prison.
• In one facility, prisoners assigned to make masks for others allegedly contracted Covid-19 in the process.
• Some prisoners with Covid-19 have been unable to talk to loved ones, who have been left uncertain if their relatives are still alive.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, will be released from federal prison, a person familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. Due to coronavirus concerns, Cohen is expected to serve the remainder of his sentence from home.

The Journal reports:

He is among more than 2,500 federal inmates who have been placed on home confinement in recent weeks as prison officials try to identify those who are at high risk for the disease and low risk for re-offending.

Trump said he would finish his preventative hydroxychloroquine regime “in a day or two.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he’s been taking the anti-malaria drug as a preventative measure, despite a lack of evidence that it is effective when taken in this way. Although the FDA’s emergency authorization for the drug allowed for it to be used as a treatment — rather than a prophylactic — for Covid-19, in hospital settings and clinical trials, researchers are studying whether hydroxychloroquine can be used to ward off disease.

But that research is in its early stages, and some specialists worry that the president’s politicizing of the drug by repeatedly touting it without evidence will interfere with legitimate science.

“The virus is not Democrat or Republican, and hydroxychloroquine is not Democrat or Republican, and I’m just hopeful that people would allow us to finish our scientific work,” William O’Neill, an interventional cardiologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, who is studying hydroxychloroquine as a prophylactic in health care workers, told the New York Times.

“The worst thing in the world that would happen,” he added, “is that at the end of this epidemic, in late September, we don’t have a cure or a preventive because we let politics interfere with the scientific process.”

The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:

The Trump campaign is continuing to defend the president’s on Michigan’s mail-in balloting, even after the president deleted an earlier tweet incorrectly saying the state was mailing ballots to all registered voters. Trump later revised it to correctly say the state was mailing absentee ballot applications to all voters, which the campaign said was illegal.

The effort to send absentee ballot applications could be met with a legal challenge, the Detroit Free Press reported on Tuesday. In 2008, the Michigan court of appeals ruled that a local clerk could not automatically send voters over 60 an absentee ballot application, a ruling that could be used to challenge the state’s decision.

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• The Supreme Court temporarily blocked House Democrats from accessing grand jury material from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The solicitor general filed a request earlier this month to halt a federal appeals court’s order to turn over the material, which the court granted today. The justices set a June 1 deadline to file briefs to determine whether the case should undergo a full review.
  
• Democrats criticized Trump for threatening to withhold funding from Michigan and Nevada over their efforts to expand vote by mail. Nevada’s Democratic governor said the threat was “inappropriate and dangerous” as states seek safe voting options in the middle of a global pandemic.
• Black Americans are dying of coronavirus at a rate three times higher than that of white Americans, according to a new report. More than 20,000 African Americans have already died from the virus.
• Trump suggested holding the next G7 summit in person, despite previously announcing that it would take place virtually. It would be very difficult to reschedule the meeting now, and it’s very unclear world leaders would agree to travel to the US as the country’s number of coronavirus cases continues to climb.
• Secretary of state Mike Pompeo dismissed claims that the state department inspector general was fired in retalation for investigations he had launched. “It’s patently false,” Pompeo said of the accusations. The firing of Steve Linick has sparked concern that the Trump administration is trying to suppress government oversight.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Trump appeared to slightly back down from his threat to withhold funding from Michigan and Nevada over their efforts to expand vote by mail.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump did not specify which federal funds he would withhold, adding that he did not think the move would ultimately be necessary.

It’s worth noting that legal experts have said it would almost certainly be unconstitutional for Trump to withhold funds over states’ election practices.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dodged questions this afternoon about which funds Trump was seeking to withhold and how the president thought Michigan officials had violated the law by moving to expand vote by mail.

The Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily block House Democrats from accessing the grand jury material increases the likelihood that the information will not be made public before the November election.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco has argued the House judiciary committee does not have an urgent need to review the material from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, considering Trump was acquitted in an impeachment trial earlier this year.

“The House already has impeached the president, the Senate already has acquitted him, and neither [the committee] nor the House has provided any indication that a second impeachment is imminent,” Francisco wrote.

But a federal appeals court ruled that House members’ need for the material was still relevant. “The committee has repeatedly stated that if the grand jury materials reveal new evidence of impeachable offenses, the committee may recommend new articles of impeachment,” Judge Judith Rogers wrote in the 2-1 decision.

Solicitor general Noel Francisco filed a request with the Supreme Court earlier this month to temporarily block a federal appeals court’s order, which would have allowed House Democrats access to the grand jury material.

Francisco argued it would cause “irreparable harm” to the federal government if House Democrats were allowed to review the grand jury material from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

“Once the government discloses the secret grand-jury records, their secrecy will irrevocably be lost,” Francisco wrote. “That is particularly so when, as here, they are disclosed to a congressional committee and its staff.”

The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked House Democrats from accessing grand jury material gathered during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

The high court issued a stay on members of the House judiciary committee accessing the material in order to allow a legal challenge to play out.

The justices set a June 1 deadline to file briefs to determine whether the court should take up a full review of the case.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany repeatedly dodged questions about why the president claimed something illegal was going on in Michigan, as officials there move to expand vote by mail.

“Illegality and legality of it, that’s a question for the campaign,” McEnany said, referring all queries about the president’s baseless claim to Trump’s reelection campaign.

A New York Times reporter noted that McEnany presented senators with polling information yesterday, but she is now claiming a question about the president’s comments accusing a state official of breaking the law are actually a campaign matter.