Monthly Archives: September 2020

Trump: 'Terrific' that former MLB pitcher Curt Schilling is mulling a congressional run

President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE on Tuesday embraced the idea of former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling running for Congress in Arizona.

“Curt Schilling, a great pitcher and patriot, is considering a run for Congress in Arizona. Terrific!” Trump tweeted shortly after a brief segment on “Fox & Friends” mentioned the pitcher’s preliminary considerations.

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Schilling, an outspoken conservative and Trump supporter, told The Arizona Republic on Monday that he’s mulling a run in one of the state’s five congressional districts currently held by Democrats, though he did not specify which one.

Schilling won a world series in Arizona playing for the Diamondbacks in 2001 before going to the Red Sox and helping them win their first world series in 86 years in 2004.

The former pitcher has made it clear his run would be based on a hard-line approach on immigration and social issues.

“The state is not the state I grew up in. Making Arizona citizens of EVERY Race, religion and sexual orientation 2nd class citizens to illegal immigrants is about as anti-American as it gets,” Schilling told the news outlet in a statement. “When you have homeless veterans, children, and you’re spending tax dollars on people smuggling drugs and children across our border someone in charge needs their ass kicked.”

After his pitching career, Schilling went on to become a broadcaster for ESPN but was fired in 2016 after sharing offensive social media posts with anti-transgender comments. Prior to that, he had been suspended from the network for sharing anti-Muslim social media content.

Biden campaign updates climate plan after lifting passages from green groups

Former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenHillicon Valley: Biden calls on Facebook to change political speech rules | Dems demand hearings after Georgia election chaos | Microsoft stops selling facial recognition tech to police Trump finalizing executive order calling on police to use ‘force with compassion’ The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook MORE unveiled his plan to battle climate change Tuesday, but the plan lifted multiple passages from climate policy think tanks.

The Biden campaign said they inadvertently left citations off of some passages of the report, adding that the proposal was updated to include proper citations.

“Several citations, some from sources cited in other parts of the plan, were inadvertently left out of the final version of the 22 page document. As soon as we were made aware of it, we updated to include the proper citations,” Biden’s campaign told The Hill.

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Biden’s campaign had described carbon capture sequestration, a method of trapping carbon emissions from power plants and other polluting industries, as “a rapidly growing technology that has the potential to create economic benefits for multiple industries while significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions.”

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The Blue Green Alliance described the process in almost exactly the same way in a letter 2017 letter to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, omitting only the word “the” before “potential.” The group acknowledged in a statement to The Hill on Tuesday that Biden’s campaign used language from documents publicly available on its website.

That example and others were first flagged by Josh Nelson, vice president of Credo Mobile who previously worked for the Climate Reality Project, which was founded by former Vice President Al GoreAlbert (Al) Arnold GoreCNN coronavirus town hall to feature science author David Quammen, ‘Empire’ actress Taraji Henson Top Democratic pollster advised Biden campaign to pick Warren as VP Melania Trump to appear on CNN coronavirus town hall Thursday night MORE, and the National Wildlife Federation.

 

In another portion of his climate plan, Biden’s proposal said it hoped to make carbon capture sequestration “a widely available, cost effective, and rapidly scalable solution to meet mid-Century climate goals.”

The nonpartisan Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) describes the goal of the Carbon Capture Coalition the exact same way.

Plagiarism has been an issue in Biden’s past presidential ambitions. The former longtime Delaware senator withdrew from the 1988 presidential race after reports that he incorporated passages from other speeches into his own.

“We do not coordinate with campaigns, but carbon capture should be an essential element in any comprehensive strategy to eliminate carbon emissions,” said Alec Gerlach, communications director with C2ES.

Mike Williams, interim co-executive director of the Blue Green Alliance, acknowledged that Biden’s campaign used language from the group’s website but said the group is “appreciative that multiple campaigns have put forward plans to address climate change and we have been in communication with several campaigns to discuss ways to tackle this crisis that put America’s workers at the forefront of the discussion.”

“We’re proud of our efforts to champion policies that will address climate change, repair America’s infrastructure systems, and build a stronger, fairer economy for all Americans,” he said in a statement.

Updated: 4:55 p.m.

Sarah Sanders says internal polling apparently showing Trump trailing Biden isn't 'right'

White House press secretary Sarah HuckabeeSarah Elizabeth SandersMcEnany stamps her brand on White House press operation Sanders mocks NY Times urging DNC to investigate Biden allegations: ‘I thought it was an Onion headline’ Donald Trump: The Boomer TV president MORE Sanders said Tuesday that she doesn’t believe internal polling showing President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE trailing former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenHillicon Valley: Biden calls on Facebook to change political speech rules | Dems demand hearings after Georgia election chaos | Microsoft stops selling facial recognition tech to police Trump finalizing executive order calling on police to use ‘force with compassion’ The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden campaign goes on offensive against Facebook MORE in a hypothetical 2020 race.

“I think the polling got it completely wrong in 2016, I don’t think it’s right now,” Sanders told reporters.  

“The president’s got a great story and we feel very comfortable about where we are,” she added, touting the president’s work on trade deals, the economy and military.

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“I’m not worried about polling,” she said when pressed about the internal polls. “The president has an incredible record, he’s had tremendous success and we feel very comfortable about where we are as an administration.”

The New York Times reported Monday that Trump told aides to deny that internal polls showed him lagging behind Biden in key states. When the polling was leaked, Trump told aides to tell reporters that other data showed him doing better, according to the newspaper. 

A Trump campaign official denied this, telling The Hill in a Tuesday statement that “no one has ever asked us to lie about anything.”

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Polls released last week found that Trump was trailing Biden, the Democratic front-runner, in states including Texas, which Democrats haven’t won since 1976, and Michigan, which Trump narrowly won in 2016.

Two dozen candidates are vying for the 2020 Democratic nomination.  

Former DHS official says Trump 'throwing fuel on the fire' of far-right extremism

A former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said President TrumpDonald John TrumpKenosha mayor lifts curfew citing several ‘peaceful’ nights MSNBC’s Joy Reid concedes ‘framing’ of Muslim comments ‘didn’t work’ Conway says even more ‘hidden, undercover’ Trump voters will help him win reelection MORE is “throwing fuel on the fire” of far-right extremism, in an NPR interview published Wednesday. 

Elizabeth Neumann, the former assistant secretary of counterterrorism and threat prevention, told NPR’s Steve Inskeep that the Trump administration is allowing domestic terrorism to flourish in the country. She resigned from her position in April after serving three years total at the department. 

The former official said if “clear voices” from the president and other leaders of the Republican Party condemned right-wing groups, “it would somewhat inoculate people from that recruitment and that radicalization.”

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“But instead, we have the opposite effect. We have the president not only pretty much refusing to condemn, but throwing fuel on the fire, creating opportunities for more recruitment through his rhetoric,” she added.

The shooting at an El Paso Walmart last year marked a major juncture during which Neumann sought funding to combat domestic terrorism. Neumann said her team was invited to the White House after working on a strategy for a year and a half. 

In her NPR interview, she claimed that the El Paso shooter’s anti-immigration rhetoric aligned with the president’s during campaign rallies, and while she agrees immigration is a national security issue, she said Trump’s language stokes fear.

The Texas shooting left 23 dead and about two dozen injured in the Walmart parking lot.

The White House backed her team’s proposed strategy as long as the term “preventing violence” was used instead of “domestic terrorism.”

“My sense was they were doing that pragmatically,” Neumann told NPR. “They seem to understand that for whatever reason, if we use the term ‘domestic terrorism’ or we talk about the white supremacist language, that seems to derail things at the White House.”

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The former DHS official also expressed concern about a second Trump term, saying there are “no officials” with “the experience and gravitas” to challenge his proposals that could “lead us to war.”

Neumann, a lifelong Republican, voted “very reluctantly” for Trump in 2016 but joined the department in February 2017 due to her almost 20 years of experience in homeland security. She said she noticed the rise in domestic terrorism and specifically “anti-Semitic hate crimes” upon her arrival working as the deputy chief of staff to then-Homeland Security Secretary John KellyJohn Francis KellyMORE. 

Neumann moved to her other position focused on counterterrorism and threat prevention in March of 2018. She told NPR that she noticed during her work that the right-wing extremists were hard to pinpoint because they behaved more as a movement than a traditional organization.

She compared their cohesion to ISIS’s group behavior, telling the news outlet, “They borrowed from ISIS’s playbook and they learned how to radicalize people online.”

NPR noted that Trump first used the term “domestic extremism” this summer to describe the violence and looting that arose out of the protests over police brutality. The president has repeatedly attributed the violence to the left-wing movement “antifa.”

White House spokesperson Alyssa Farah said in a statement that federal law enforcement, national security and intelligence officials “work around the clock to monitor every range of threats facing our nation, including domestic terror.”

“This sounds more like a case of this former disgruntled employee being ineffective at their job, than an indictment of the career professionals who swear an oath to work every day to protect our country from threats foreign and domestic,” she said.

–Updated at 3:09 p.m.

T-Mobile CEO says 'Defund the police' message a surefire way to give Trump another term: report

T-Mobile’s CEO, Mike Sievert, reportedly warned in a private Facebook post that Democrats risk losing the election to President TrumpDonald John TrumpKenosha mayor lifts curfew citing several ‘peaceful’ nights MSNBC’s Joy Reid concedes ‘framing’ of Muslim comments ‘didn’t work’ Conway says even more ‘hidden, undercover’ Trump voters will help him win reelection MORE in November by embracing calls to defund police departments across the U.S.

Politico reported that Sievert wrote to friends and family in last week’s post that if Democrats “want to LOSE THIS ELECTION, we should keep saying and repeating the phrase ‘Defund the Police’ and associate the phrase with our candidates.”

“This phrase is a sure fire way to hand Donald Trump and many R’s in Congress another term,” Sievert reportedly said.

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Sievert declined to explain his views further to Politico when contacted, and T-Mobile did not return the news outlet’s request for comment.

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“[I]f the mantra becomes ‘Defund the Police’ or worse, if we start to riot and tear down buildings or incite violence in response, the other guy wins. THE OTHER GUY WINS,” Sievert reportedly added. “And the changes we want, and demand, don’t come about anytime soon.”

Sievert took over as the company’s CEO earlier this year after T-Mobile completed a merger with Sprint valued at $26 billion. The company also moved to stop ad placements on “Tucker CarlsonTucker Carlson Victor Davis Hanson: The cowards of ‘cancel culture’ Legal battle heats up over sexual harassment allegations against Carlson, Hannity GOP lawmaker says fatal shooting at Kenosha protest ‘100% justified self defense’ MORE Tonight” as advertisers fled the program earlier this year over comments Carlson made about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Trump has sought for months to tie his opponent in the November election, former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenKenosha mayor lifts curfew citing several ‘peaceful’ nights Conway says even more ‘hidden, undercover’ Trump voters will help him win reelection Disrupting the presidential debates MORE (D), to calls to defund the police, which became a rallying cry among some advocates during protests this summer over the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.

Biden and other Democrats have instead argued for reform to law enforcement.

Officials in Seattle moved to scale back funding of the city’s police department last month, but the vast majority of the department’s funding remained intact.

Trump called American war dead in French cemetery 'losers:' report

Before a planned visit to honor the American dead at a French cemetery just outside Paris in 2018, President TrumpDonald John TrumpNetanyahu privately condoned US arms sale plan with UAE: report Trump denies report he called U.S. service members buried in France ‘losers’, ‘suckers’ Jim Carrey pens op-ed comparing Trump to Michael Corleone in ‘The Godfather’ MORE called the U.S. service members who were buried there during World War I “losers,” sources told The Atlantic.

At the time, Trump was expected to arrive at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, but he canceled last minute, stating that due to the rain, the helicopter could not fly to the location and noted that the Secret Service could not drive him. 

However, according to four sources with knowledge of the incident, Trump was reluctant to travel to the cemetery because he was concerned that the rain would dishevel his hair, the Atlantic reported. 

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He also did not think it was important to honor the dead there, according to the sources. 

“Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” Trump reportedly told aides before canceling the trip to Belleau, France.

In another conversation Trump reportedly said that the 1,800 marines who lost their lives in the battle of Belleau Wood were “suckers” for getting killed. The president reportedly asked aides about historic details about WWI, including “Who were the good guys in this war?”

Belleau Wood was a significant battle for the Allies during the First World War. There, they held off Germany advancing into France. The American Marine Corps fought there to beat back German forces. 

Trump has previously made controversial comments about veterans. In 2015, before his presidential tenure, Trump said that Sen. John McCainJohn Sidney McCainTrump denies report he called U.S. service members buried in France ‘losers’, ‘suckers’ Overnight Defense: Seventh US service member dies from COVID-19 | Trump reportedly called American war dead in French cemetery ‘losers’ | Trump expected to name new ambassador to Afghanistan Trump called American war dead in French cemetery ‘losers:’ report MORE (R-Ariz.), a Vietnam veteran who was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, wasn’t a war hero “because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

Several staff of the White House and the Trump campaign denied the president made the comments. 

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White House spokesperson Alyssa Farah told The Hill the report is false. 

“President Trump holds the military in the highest regard,” Farah added. “He’s demonstrated his commitment to them at every turn: delivering on his promise to give our troops a much needed pay raise, increasing military spending, signing critical veterans reforms, and supporting military spouses. This has no basis in fact.”

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany also weighed in on the report, calling it “garbage,”.  

 

Hogan Gidley, a Trump campaign spokesperson who worked at the White House during the 2018 trip to France, called the claims “disgusting, grotesque, reprehensible lies.”

Democratic presidential nominee Joe BidenJoe BidenTrump skewers Biden, suggests again supporters vote twice in Pennsylvania Sarah Jessica Parker helps launch ‘Moms for Biden’ in Ohio Trump called American war dead in French cemetery ‘losers:’ report MORE also seized on the news, promising that if he is elected president he ”will ensure that our American heroes know that I will have their back and honor their sacrifice. Always.”

The Democratic National Committee also criticized the president. 

“Donald Trump’s comments about veterans are beyond disgusting—they’re un-American,” Democratic National Committee Spokesperson Chris Hayden said in a statement.

“Not only does Trump have no idea what it means to sacrifice for our country, he has made it clear he has no respect for those who have.”

“The men and women who have given everything to protect our freedoms deserve to be celebrated, not mocked and vilified by the Commander-in-Chief,” he continued. 

Updated 11:35 p.m. 

Trump proposal would make it tougher to protect habitat for endangered species, critics say

The Trump administration is proposing another measure that critics say will harm endangered species, proposing Friday to further weigh economic impacts before setting aside habitat that could aid their recovery.

The proposal from the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) would change what the agency considers before designating new so-called critical habitat, a move that would give more weight to the financial impacts on the oil and gas industry, ranchers and even homeowners.

Environmentalists fear the rule would tilt the process to the favor of industry after the administration has already finalized a major rollback of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

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“If this proposal and the others put forward by the Trump administration are allowed to stand, it will be death by a thousand cuts for endangered wildlife across the country. Critical habitat is just that — critical for species’ survival and recovery. In the face of mass extinction, and climate and health crises worsened by habitat destruction and loss of nature, it’s essential that we protect more habitat, not less,” the Sierra Club said in a statement.

Designating habitat as critical doesn’t bar development of a parcel of land, but it could lead to additional barriers or come with certain management requirements.

FWS is already required to consider the economic impacts before issuing a critical habitat designation, but the proposal would require them to accept assessments of that impact from industry.

Noah Greenwald, endangered species director with the Center for Biological Diversity, worries those figures could be inflated or at best speculative. He gave the example of a land owner who could argue a designation could interrupt their plans to build a resort, potentially costing them $50 million.

“They’re basically saying Fish and Wildlife will take people at their word of what the value of the designation will be and give weight to that,” he said.

The process would work similarly on federal lands that may already having grazing or oil and gas activity underway.

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“It essentially gives priority to special interests who have economic stake in management of federal lands. This gives them an additional hook over the rest of us that all own those lands,” Greenwald said.

“The proposed regulations would provide greater transparency for the public, improve consistency and predictability for stakeholders affected by [endangered species] determinations and stimulate more effective conservation on the ground,” FWS Director Aurelia Skipwith said in a release. 

Publicizing the economic impacts of protecting endangered species was a key feature of last year’s rollback of the ESA, including how protecting a species or its habitat might hinder the operations of the oil and gas industry, foresters and many other operations that work on or near federal lands.

And in July, FWS proposed a rule that would block the agency from protecting habitat for endangered species if the area is not currently ready to host them — something critics say ignores how climate change is impacting the environment and pushing migration of species.

That proposal spurred more Democratic pushback Friday in a letter signed by more than 100 lawmakers.

“We are alarmed by this proposed rule, especially in the context of the three regulations finalized last year that weakened ESA implementation. This onslaught of environmental rollbacks that threaten the survival of our nation’s wildlife must stop,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter spearheaded by House Natural Resources Chair Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

Lawmakers argue the rollbacks impeded the government’s ability “to conserve and restore important habitat based on the best available science for the recovery of ESA-listed species.”

Updated: 5:09 p.m.

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Buttigieg: Iran situation 'disturbingly reminiscent' of lead-up to Iraq War

Democratic presidential candidate Pete ButtigiegPete ButtigiegScaled-back Pride Month poses challenges for fundraising, outreach Biden hopes to pick VP by Aug. 1 It’s as if a Trump operative infiltrated the Democratic primary process MORE said in an interview that aired Sunday that U.S. tensions with Iran are “disturbingly reminiscent” of the lead-up to the Iraq War. 

“There’s no question that Iran has a pattern of malign activities. There’s also no question that there is a pattern that is disturbingly reminiscent of the run-up to the war in Iraq in some cases being driven by the same people,” Buttigieg said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“I mean, the fact that one of the architects of the Iraq war is the President’s national security adviser right now, when the President himself has pretended that he was against the Iraq War all along. This is shocking,” the South Bend, Indiana, mayor said referring to national security adviser John BoltonJohn Bolton Lawyer says Bolton moving forward with book despite warning from White House White House tells Bolton his manuscript contains classified information The Hill’s Morning Report – Capitol Hill weighs action on racial justice as protests carry on MORE. 

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Buttigieg has previously made similar comments, although tensions with Iran have heightened in recent days. The U.S. blamed Iran on attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman Thursday, accusing the country of using limpet mines on the tankers. Iran has denied involvement.

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Secretary of State Mike PompeoMichael (Mike) Richard PompeoPompeo: US response to Floyd protests a ‘stark contrast’ to authoritarian regimes Trump administration accuses international court of corruption at ‘highest levels,’ authorizes sanctions A crisis on the Korean peninsula reinforces the need for allies MORE doubled down on blaming Iran on Sunday, saying in a “Fox News Sunday” appearance that it is “unmistakable what happened here.” 

Buttigieg is among two dozen people running for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. 

Democrats urge CDC to update guidance to encourage colleges, universities go tobacco-free

Democrats on Thursday urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue new guidance to encourage colleges and universities to go tobacco-free in the fall during the coronavirus pandemic.

Rep. Raja KrishnamoorthiSubramanian (Raja) Raja KrishnamoorthiDemocrats urge CDC to update guidance to encourage colleges, universities go tobacco-free Trump says people ‘in the dark shadows’ are controlling Biden House panel opens probe of Navarro over 6M ventilator contract cancellation MORE (D-Ill.), the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, and Sen. Dick DurbinRichard (Dick) Joseph DurbinHillicon Valley: Russia ‘amplifying’ concerns around mail-in voting to undermine election | Facebook and Twitter take steps to limit Trump remarks on voting | Facebook to block political ads ahead of election Democrats urge CDC to update guidance to encourage colleges, universities go tobacco-free Top Democrats press Trump to sanction Russian individuals over 2020 election interference efforts MORE (D-Ill.) wrote a letter to CDC Director Robert Redfield urging him to revamp his agency’s guidelines for institutions of higher learning, citing studies linking tobacco use to COVID-19.

“Based on new evidence demonstrating the link between adolescent tobacco use and COVID-19, we call on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to update its guidance to colleges and universities and encourage campuses to go tobacco-free – which would include e-cigarettes – for the fall semester,” they wrote. 

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“With the added public health risk posed by the coronavirus, the CDC must act quickly and forcefully,” they said, adding they’d like confirmation by Sept. 9 if the CDC intends to comply with their request. 

The lawmakers specifically cited a study showing that young people between the ages of 13 and 24 who vape are five times as likely as nonvapers to contract COVID-19. Those who both smoke combustible cigarettes and vape are seven times as likely to be diagnosed with the coronavirus.

Krishnamoorthi and Durbin also noted that younger people have been heavily driving recent spikes in coronavirus cases, a trend they fear will only be exacerbated once students gather again on college campuses.

“With some colleges reopening for on-campus learning in the fall semester, this new study on youth vaping must be taken into account. College-age tobacco users are at heightened risk of contracting the virus, and they will spread it,” the lawmakers wrote.

“Young people are increasingly driving the spread of COVID-19, and that will only increase with reopened college campuses if appropriate public health precautions are not strictly implemented and enforced,” they added. 

Current CDC guidelines for colleges and universities indicate that “Face coverings should be worn as feasible and are most essential in times when physical distancing is difficult.”

The CDC advises institutions should “Recommend and reinforce handwashing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds,” among other things. There is no mention of tobacco in the guidelines.

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Trump maintains US 'rounding the turn' on coronavirus

President TrumpDonald John TrumpDHS to label white supremacists as the ‘most persistent and lethal threat’ to the US: report Buttigieg slams Trump over comments on fallen soldiers: ‘He must think we’re all suckers’ White House tells federal agencies to cancel ‘divisive’ racial sensitivity training: report MORE declared Friday that the United States is “rounding the turn” on the novel coronavirus, projecting optimism about the progress on a vaccine and the economic recovery even as health experts warn of the potential for another wave of the disease in the fall during flu season.

At a news conference, Trump touted the jobs report released Friday showing that the U.S. economy added 1.4 million jobs in August and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.4 percent. He called the economic recovery “unprecedented” and described it as taking the shape of a “super V.”

“Were really rounding the turn. The vaccines are coming. The therapeutics have already come but they’re continuing to come,” Trump said of the coronavirus.

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Trump implored Americans to “remain vigilant” over the upcoming Labor Day weekend, urging them to socially distance, wear masks, practice good hygiene and keep gatherings to “a group that you know.”

The president’s remarks came roughly a week after he delivered his acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention from the South Lawn of the White House before a crowd of 1,500 attendees, most of whom were not wearing masks or social distancing, in a break with his own administration’s guidelines.

Trump on Friday also touted the decline in cases over the last month, after states like Florida and Arizona experienced a significant spike in cases during the month of July upon taking steps to loosen virus-related restrictions and reopen businesses.

The president told reporters he believed a vaccine would be developed by the end of the year and perhaps during the month of October, which would be before the presidential election.

Trump was pressed later during the news conference on his assertion that the country was rounding a corner, when the University of Washington model tracked by the White House shows the U.S. recording more than 410,000 deaths due to COVID-19 by January of next year.

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The president insisted that his response to the virus, and particularly his decisions to restrict travel from China in February and Europe in March, saved many lives.

“If I didn’t close up — instead of the number you mentioned or whatever number it may be, about 180,000 — we would have perhaps 1.5 or 2 million deaths right now if I went in a different direction,” Trump said, referring to the current death toll, which stands at more than 180,000.

Trump also repeated his frequent assertion that the U.S. would have fewer cases if the country did not have such expansive testing capabilities.

“If we cut our testing in half, we would probably have about half the number of cases,” Trump claimed. He also suggested casually that the U.S. approach to the virus would appear better if in his count he simply “took out” New York, which was the epicenter of the pandemic when the virus first broke out in the U.S.

Trump has repeatedly minimized the threat of the virus, offering up rosy predictions of his administration’s response to the pandemic as it has come under widespread and consistent scrutiny. Polls show that a large majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of COVID-19, and the virus has become a key issue on the campaign trail ahead of the November election.

The president and other speakers at the GOP convention last week largely treated the pandemic as if it were in the rearview mirror, touting the administration’s response as a success.  First lady Melania TrumpMelania TrumpTrump maintains US ’rounding the turn’ on coronavirus Trump to award Medal of Honor to Army Ranger on 9/11 Trump encourages North Carolina residents to test system by voting twice MORE was a notable exception, offering condolences to those who have felt pain due to the crisis. For his part, President Trump came under blistering criticism for his response to the virus from Democrats at their convention the week prior.

Health officials like Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield have warned of the possibility of a dire public health situation in the fall if Americans do not follow health guidelines as the pandemic coincides with flu season.