Trump’s administration has defended pushing for schools to reopen in the coming weeks, following the release of Centres for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that downplay the agency’s own findings about the risks of infections among school-aged children.
During a Friday briefing, White House secretary Kayleigh McEnany shared a video of Portland protestors described by critics as «propaganda» following Donald Trump’s call to send federal law enforcement to cities across the US.
The United Nations has pleaded with the US to halt the use of force against journalists, at least 70 of which have been placed in custody during Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
During a Friday briefing, Ms McEnany said: «Even if there is transmission … we believe that students should be going back to school because the effect on a child we know scientifically they are not affected the same way as an adult.»
Mr Trump meanwhile sat for a softball interview with Barstool Sports in which he admitted regretting some late-night posts on Twitter and boasted about being in rap songs while calling the Covid-19 outbreak a «downer».
«We were doing a great job,» he said. «We were sailing. George Washington would’ve had a hard time beating us … And then when the China virus came in. It’s a dampener, it’s a downer.»
The president has also signed a series of orders in an effort to lower prescription drug costs, despite pushback from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over similar legislative efforts from Democrats.
Without any deal in sight, Congress has failed to extend federal unemployment benefits, which expire for most Americans this week. More than 30 million people – or roughly one in five workers – are unemployment amid the pandemic.
Trump relying on outlier interpretation of Supreme Court decision to assert broad new powers
Donald Trump is relying on an outlier interpretation of a recent Supreme Court decision to assert broad new powers as he prepares to sign a series of executive orders in the coming weeks.
The expansive view of presidential authority has been promoted by John Yoo, a Berkeley Law professor known for writing the so-called «torture memos» that the George W. Bush administration used to justify using «enhanced interrogation» techniques after the 11 September terror attacks.
Mr Yoo told The Associated Press on Thursday he has had multiple conversations with senior administration officials in which he’s made the case that a June Supreme Court ruling that rejected Trump’s effort to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, opened the door to enormous new presidential power.
«I said, ‘Why not just take the DACA opinion itself and do a search-replace. And every time it says ‘DACA’ … replace it with ‘skills-based immigration system,’» Mr Yoo said he told the White House.
«This gives President Trump an alternative to create such a program, at least for a few years.»
Not long after the conversations, Mr Trump began promising a series of new executive orders on a range of issues.
«The decision by the Supreme Court on DACA allows me to do things on immigration, on health care, on other things that we’ve never done before,» Mr Trump said in an interview on Fox News Sunday, predicting «a very exciting two weeks.»
Nearly half of Americans laid off during coronavirus crisis believe jobs are lost forever
Nearly half of Americans whose families experienced a layoff during the coronavirus pandemic now believe those jobs are lost forever, a new poll shows, as temporary cutbacks give way to shuttered businesses, bankruptcies and lasting payroll cuts.
It represents a sharp change after initial optimism the jobs would return.
In April, 78 per cent of those in households with a job loss thought they’d be temporary. Now, 47 per cent think that lost job is definitely or probably not coming back, according to the latest poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
That translates into roughly 10 million workers who will need to find a new employer, if not a new occupation.
The poll is the latest sign the solid hiring of May and June, as some states lifted stay-at-home orders and the economy began to recover, may wane as the year goes on. Adding to the challenge: many students will begin the school-year online, making it harder for parents to take jobs outside their homes.
Russia rejects US and UK criticism of space activities
Moscow has rejected criticism from the US and the UK of Russia’s activities in space on Friday, after the two nations expressed concern at a Russian satellite test conducted on 15 July.
On Thursday Britain said Russia had launched a projectile with the «characteristics of a weapon» and called on Moscow to behave responsibly in space.
«The tests conducted by Russia’s Ministry of Defence on 15 July did not pose a threat to other space objects and, most importantly, did not violate any norms and principles of international law,» Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The foreign ministry said it considered statements made by American and British officials as an «anti-Russian strike as part of a targeted information campaign initiated by Washington» to discredit Russia’s activities in space.
