| President Trump on Monday took aim at a long list of perceived critics, using a coronavirus briefing at the White House to vigorously lash out at the news media and others for what he argued are misplaced critiques about how he and the administration initially handled the pathogen, which has killed more than 23,000 people in the United States and infected nearly 583,000. Trump’s grievances, delivered for more than two hours in the White House on live television, included his own January timeline and a screening of a five-minute, campaign-style defense of the administration’s pandemic responses, featuring broadcast clips of Democratic governors and even a New York Times White House correspondent evenhandedly analyzing certain steps Trump and his advisers undertook in the early weeks of a public health emergency. “I got brutalized by the press,” the president fumed. The Hill: Trump fires back at critics during Monday’s White House briefing about the coronavirus. The Washington Post: Paramount concern for Trump is Trump. In part, he was reacting to detailed news coverage on Sunday by The New York Times and The Associated Press citing early warnings raised about the coronavirus by federal infectious disease specialists a month before Trump took action. Anthony Fauci, director of the Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, over the weekend said more lives might have been saved with earlier U.S. coronavirus mitigation. It was a comment that did not sit well with Trump and sparked speculation that Fauci, who is the government’s chief U.S. communicator about virus science and research, had worn out his welcome with a thin-skinned president. Trump denied harboring anything but admiration for the 79-year-old immunologist, and Fauci stepped to the microphone to tell reporters that in three instances when he urged the president to embrace specific actions to try to contain and then mitigate the community spread of COVID-19, Trump agreed each time. Niall Stanage: The Memo: Speculation grows about Fauci's future. The Hill: Fauci is at the center of a conservative storm. 
© Getty Images “I am more focused on getting past this nightmare of an epidemic or a pandemic, anything you want to call it, we have to get past it,” the president said at one point during the unusual briefing, adding that a plan the administration will soon unveil to restart the economy at an undetermined date will happen under his constitutional say-so “whenever it’s safe.” “The president of the United States calls the shots,” he said. As Vice President Pence and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin looked on, Trump declared his power is absolute when it comes to U.S. commerce and state actions ordered by governors during the COVID-19 emergency. “When someone is president of the United States, the authority is total,” he repeated. When asked to cite any such sweeping language in the Constitution, Trump switched gears, arguing that “all states want to open, and they want to open as soon as possible, but they want to be safe.” He insisted he has “very good relationships” with the governors, conceding however that, “I’d rather have them make the decision.” Trump’s ire had been foreshadowed earlier Monday in a tweet (The Hill). Pressed again to explain the details, timing and benchmarks he will set to compel a federal lifting of stay-at-home orders in the states or end to public school closures, Trump demurred: “The fact that I don’t want to exert my power is a different thing.” The Associated Press: New Trump panel, which may be unveiled today, will be tasked with devising a national path to reopen the U.S. economy. During a series of public briefings on both coasts on Monday, Democratic governors of states damaged by COVID-19 announced the formation of regional coordinating councils that they said will make the type of decisions Trump described, with input from federal, international and state-based data and advisers. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), whose daily coronavirus updates attract significant public interest, choreographed a conference call on Monday with the news media, pulling in governors from New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Rhode Island, and later in the day, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican. Their message: A new Northeast council of state-based officials will coordinate the next phase of how and when schools, businesses and families try to return to once familiar routines (The Hill). “This virus does not care about state borders, and we shouldn’t either,” Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island (D), told reporters by phone. The governors said their collaboration is not a rebuke of Trump or the federal government. “We primarily have the responsibility of opening the state up,” said Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D). “We need to make sure we remain as safe as we can with this pandemic.” Cuomo, who is the vice chairman of the National Governors Association, invited the White House to unveil its economic restart plan, agreeing with the assertion that the federal government has significant authority. “If you want to put forward a federal national emergency plan, do it,” he said, referring to Trump. “He could put forth a model to do that,” Cuomo continued. “I don’t believe they can have a plan that says how we open five days from now.” The Hill: Cuomo says the worst may be over for New York as deaths exceed 10,000. The Garden State is not out of the woods. New Jersey announced that COVID-19 is in “most” if not all nursing homes and long-term care facilities in New Jersey, according to Gov. Phil Murphy (D) and his public health advisers. New Jersey on Monday announced 64,584 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 2,443 deaths. Of the 94 new deaths reported on Monday, 29, or more than 30 percent, were residents of long-term care facilities (NJ.com). On the West Coast, a similar coalition of states governed by Democrats — California, Washington and Oregon — announced collaboration on what they called “a shared approach for reopening our economies” (The Hill). 
© Getty Images A new USA Today-Ipsos poll released Monday showed how much the public has come to trust U.S. governors during the last month as they face the dual emergencies of a pandemic and economic meltdown. Sixty-nine percent of those surveyed express trust in their governors, an increase of 16 points since March, according to the poll. The view is bipartisan: 65 percent of Republicans, 81 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of independents. Governors are more trusted than Trump by 25 percentage points, “a difference that could be significant if there is a clash between statehouses and the White House about when parts of the nation can safely reopen” (USA Today). Reuters: The administration is poised to invest $15.5 billion through the Department of Agriculture as part of a plan to bolster the nation’s food supply chain against impacts of the pandemic. Reuters: Some U.S. airlines are close to accepting $25 billion for payroll assistance courtesy of American taxpayers, with announcements possible today. The Associated Press: U.S. lockdowns violate constitutional, individual civil rights, some conservative U.S. voters and politicians argue. Reuters: Wyoming reports first COVID-19 death, marking virus fatalities in 50 states. The Washington Post: South Dakota has become a new hot spot for coronavirus spread while Gov. Kristi Noem (R) opted to let individuals in her state decide whether to shelter in place. On Monday, local leaders, public health experts and front-line medical workers begged the governor to order a stricter response. | 
