The number of coronavirus deaths in the US approached 150,000. Florida marked a record-breaking spike in the death toll, while Los Angeles and Maricopa, Arizona have marked the highest number of cases in the US.
Donald Trump once again delivered a coronavirus briefing alone, without his leading public health officers. The president complained that top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci had a higher approval rating, and defended his promotion of a disinformation video.
Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr both promoted a video featuring misinformation about the coronavirus. Twitter suspended rump Jr’s account for spreading false claims after he shared the video of a doctor falsely claiming that the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine is a “cure” for coronavirus.
Trump also discussed his administration’s $765m loan to Eastman Kodak - the camera company - so it can manufacture pharmaceutical ingredients. The move leverages the Defense Production Act, which allows the government to direct the production of certain supplies in the interest of national security.
Attorney general William Barr testified before the House judiciary committee. During the hearing, Barr struggled over a question about whether presidents should be allowed to solicit or accept foreign assistance in elections, and he said he did not believe that there is systemic racism in US police departments.
Seattle’s mayor Jenny Durkan confirmed that federal forces have left the city she represents. The mayor denounced the Trump administration for sending federal law enforcement to act against US citizens, saying in an MSNBC interview that the president had conducted a “dress rehearsal for martial law.”
Joe Biden criticized Trump for sending federal agents to crack down on anti-racism protests in Portland, Oregon. “This isn’t about law and order. It’s about a political strategy to revive a failing campaign,” the Democratic presidential candidate said in Wilmington, Delaware. “Every instinct Trump has is to add fuel to the fire. And it’s the last thing, the last thing we need.”
The Trump administration will allow “dreamers” to renew deportation protections for a year, after the supreme court blocked the administration’s effort to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. However, the acting homeland security secretary also announced that the department would not accpet new DACA applications.
The American Federation of Teachers has authorized “safety strikes” if necessary to protect teachers from coronavirus. The announcement comes as number of school districts in coronavirus hot spots are pushing to reopen schools, despite concerns about the spread of the virus in classrooms.
Seattle mayor says federal forces have left the city
Mayor Jenny Durkan said that federal law enforcement sent to Seattle have left, less than a week after being deployed. In an interview with MSNBC, Durkan said that Trump was “doing a dress rehearsal for martial law” in her city.
.@DHSgov notified me that federal forces deployed to Seattle have demobilized & left. The President’s actions to target Democratic cities with federal forces is chilling and increased violence in Portland, Seattle & other cities - exactly what the President intended.
Governor Jay Inslee noted that the departure of federal officers “means Washingtonians no longer have to worry about the White House’s aim to provoke confrontation and undermine peaceful protests”.
The president has given key diplomatic roles to big donors – who have stood out for their lack of qualifications or aptitude
The US ambassador to Iceland, a dermatologist and major Republican donor, reportedly became so paranoid about his security he asked to carry a gun and to be taken everywhere in an armored car.
Despite the absence of particular security concerns, the embassy in Reykjavik advertised in the local press for bodyguards, to placate the ambassador, Jeffrey Ross Gunter.
Gunter’s alleged antics are not an isolated case. A record share of Donald Trump’s ambassadorial appointments have been political, mostly rewards for big-money donors, and his nominees have frequently stood out for their lack of qualifications or aptitude.
A report to be published on Tuesday by Senate Democrats on the current situation at the state department, titled Diplomacy in Crisis, said: “While it is true that every administration has its share of questionable appointments, the Trump administration’s choices have gone beyond the pale, jeopardizing the department’s ability to safeguard our nation’s interests.”
A San Francisco bus driver who was assaulted last week said that both he and his Asian passengers have faced racist abuse when they have asked other riders to wear their face masks during the pandemic.
The driver said he was hit in the face and struck with a miniature baseball bat last Wednesday after asking a group of teenagers to put on their face masks.
Before he was assaulted, the driver said, one of the young men told him that because he was Asian, he was the one who was likely to have coronavirus.
“It’s hard right now being a bus driver, especially being an Asian driver,” he told the Guardian, asking that his name not be published to protect his privacy.
Since the early weeks of the pandemic, bus drivers across the United States have spoken out about anger and assaults from passengers, particularly when they try to enforce public health rules about social distancing and mask-wearing.
Just in the past month, bus drivers have been beaten after asking passengers to wear masks in San Francisco, New York City and in Lubbock, Texas, where a bus driver was hit with a large wooden board and left bloody. A New York City driver reportedly left with a broken bone near his eye in July was one of dozens of Covid-related violent incidents involving bus drivers in New York, according to the City, a local news outlet. In France, a bus driver died after a brutal beating in early July, prompted once again by asking a group of passengers to put on their masks.
Florida has reported another record one-day rise in coronavirus numbers, marking 191 deaths from the virus over the past 24 hours.
The state’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis, who had been pushing schools to reopen, has backed off in recent days, now saying he wants parents to have “the choice between in-person and distance learning” for their kids.
Two hundred and fifty years after they were stripped of their ancestral homeland, the Esselen tribe of northern California is landless no more.
The land encompasses old-growth redwoods, oak woodlands, meadows and endangered steelhead trout. Photograph: Doug Steakley/AP
Mario Koran reports:
This week, the Esselen tribe finalized the purchase of a 1,200-acre ranch near Big Sur, along California’s north central coast, as part of a $4.5m acquisition that involved the state and an Oregon-based environmental group.
The deal will conserve old-growth redwoods and endangered wildlife such as the California condor and red-legged frog, as well as protect the Little Sur River, an important spawning stream for the imperiled steelhead trout.
Tribal leaders say they’ll use the land for educational and cultural purposes, building a sweat lodge and traditional village in view of Pico Blanco peak, the center of the tribe’s origin story.
Asked about the absence of Dr Fauci, Trump comments: 'Nobody likes me'
Asked about the persistent absence of Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, at Donald Trump’s briefings, the president mused about his health official’s approval rating.
Fauci has “got a very good approval rating and I like that”, Trump told reporters. And Fauci was working with the administration, “so why don’t I have a very high approval rating?” the president wondered out loud.
“But nobody likes me,” Trump said. “It can only be my personality, that’s all.”
This morning, Fauci was asked about the coronavirus disinformation that Trump has promoted on social media during an interview with ABC. “I don’t tweet, I don’t even read them. I don’t really want to go there,” he told Good Morning America. “I just will continue to do my job, no matter what comes out, because I think it’s very important.”
More than 149,000 people have died of coronavirus in the US, according to the tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 4.3m cases of the virus have been recorded in the country.
Los Angeles county has the highest number of cases (176,028), followed by Maricopa county in Arizona, and Miami-Dade in Florida.
“I thought she was very impressive,” Trump said of the woman in the disinformation video he promoted.
Here’s more background from colleagues Joan E Greve and Martin Pengelly:
The video in question featured Dr Stella Immanuel, a physician from Houston, Texas, speaking on the steps of the US Capitol in Washington, surrounded by members of a rightwing doctors’ group.
Immanuel made baseless claims about coronavirus, including hailing hydroxychloroquine as a “cure”, even though the drug, which has been repeatedly touted by the president, has not been found to be an effective treatment.
The Houston doctor has also dismissed mounting evidence that face masks substantially help limit the spread of coronavirus.
Trump abruptly ended the conference after sustained question from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. Before he walked off, he said he did not know why Twitter and Facebook removed the hydroxychloroquine video he promoted.
“I’ve read a lot about hydroxy,” Trump said, and repeated an old refrain that there was no harm in taking the antimalarial drug to treat coronavirus. “I think it could have a very positive impact in the early stages and I don’t think you lose anything by doing it.,” he said.
Although hydroxychloroquine is used as a treatment for some conditions, including lupus, studies have not found that the drug can help treat or prevent coronavirus. The US Food and Drug Administration revoked an emergency approval that had allowed doctors to prescribe hydroxychloroquine as an untested treatment for Covid-19.
The president criticized “anarchists” and “agitators” in Portland and pinning the blame for increasing case numbers on protestors.
A couple of important points here:
1) The protests in Portland have been mostly peaceful. Journalists have documented demonstrators throwing rocks, water bottles and fireworks at officers, and setting small fires near a federal courthouse. Officers have been documented brutalizing protestors, and five have filed civil lawsuits seeking damages for injuries.
2) Epidemiologists have not conclusively linked the protests following the police killing of George Floyd to the huge spike in cases. The virus is less likely to spread outdoors, especially when people wear masks. The surge in cases across the US came as cities reopened businesses and indoor venues, where the coronavirus transmits more effectively. Doctors have warned that certain police crowd control tactics, including the use of teargas and pepper spray, would exacerbate the spread of disease.
