Tipsheet: Trump coronavirus briefings put health officials in bind

View in your browser     Trump coronavirus briefings put health officials in bind BY BRETT SAMUELS   Health experts on the White House coronavirus task force increasingly are being put in a tough spot by the president’s daily press briefings. President Trump frequently uses the briefings to settle scores with the media, and his efforts to put a positive spin on the news and his administration’s actions has led him to embrace ideas that lack scientific backing. Read the full story here     Coronavirus spreads to Trump country BY REID WILSON The coronavirus pandemic that has hammered some of America's largest cities is now spreading to smaller rural areas, a progression that will bring a virus President Trump once downplayed to the doorsteps of voters who sent him to the White House. Read the full story here     Trump says remarks about heat, light, disinfectant were sarcastic BY BRETT SAMUELS   President Trump on Friday said he was being sarcastic when he suggested multiple times a day earlier that scientists should consider exposing the body to light, heat and disinfectants as a potential treatment for the coronavirus. Read the full story here     US hits grim milestone: 50,000 coronavirus deaths BY REID WILSON   More than 50,000 people in the United States have died of COVID-19, a grim milestone in a global pandemic that shows few signs of slowing even as pressure mounts to reopen parts of the U.S. economy. Read the full story here       Pelosi: November elections 'must' go on as scheduled BY CRISTINA MARCOS   Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday that Democrats "must" ensure that President Trump doesn't try to delay the Nov. 3 elections, a day after presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden issued a similar warning. Read the full story here     Democrats grapple with how to hold state conventions amid pandemic BY MAX GREENWOOD   State Democratic parties are scrambling to reconfigure their conventions and delegate selection rules ahead of the national convention this summer as the coronavirus upends months of detailed planning and forces delays of nominating contests nationwide. Read the full story here     Supreme Court denies motion to block Trump 'public charge' rule during pandemic BY HARPER NEIDIG   The Supreme Court on Friday denied a request to block the Trump administration's "public charge" rule during the coronavirus health crisis. Read the full story here     Navy recommends reinstating Crozier as captain of USS Theodore Roosevelt: report BY REBECCA KHEEL   The Navy has recommended reinstating Capt. Brett Crozier as commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, according to reports, in a move that would be unprecedented. Read the full story here     Treasury considers lending program for oil producers BY RACHEL FRAZIN   The Trump administration is considering the creation of a lending program to provide money for U.S. oil producers, which have seen falling prices in recent days.  Read the full story here     DOJ gives Flynn's attorneys documents uncovered in review BY TAL AXELROD   The Justice Department said Friday it has provided former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s lawyers with several documents unearthed in a review ordered by Attorney General William Barr, indicating the agency may believe exculpatory evidence was not handed over before Flynn pleaded guilty. Read the full story here     State and local governments are going broke BY ZACH MOLLER   OPINION | Our state and local governments are losing a ton of revenue at the moment, from taking in less in sales taxes to getting fewer toll dollars as people stay home. That, paired with state and local governments paying a lot more in higher safety net spending, is about to decimate their budgets and ability to fight this pandemic.  Read the full story here     Using the coronavirus to keep out immigrants will hurt the economy BY ERIN CORCORAN   OPINION | Waging a war on immigrants will not protect us from the coronavirus. It instead puts individuals fleeing harm in further danger and weakens the economy of the United States. Immigrants are part of the solution to the challenges we face today and should be welcomed rather than banned. Read the full story here     The Washington Post: US officials scramble to warn against bogus cure floated by Trump BY PHILIP RUCKER, JOSH DAWSEY, YASMEEN ABUTALEB AND LENA H. SUN The federal government scrambled Friday to stave off a potential wave of public health emergencies sparked by President Trump’s dangerous suggestion that injecting bleach or other household disinfectants into the body might cure people of the novel coronavirus. Read the full story here     The New York Times: Businesses tiptoe into a world of masks, gloves and wary customers BY RICK ROJAS AND RICHARD FAUSSET   Weeks after a deadly virus reordered daily life in America, shuttering most businesses and forcing most people indoors, three states on Friday took tentative steps toward something resembling normalcy. But across Georgia, Alaska and Oklahoma, it was anything but business as usual. Read the full story here     The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus projected to trigger worst economic downturn since 1940s BY PAUL KIERNAN The coronavirus shutdown will induce the sharpest economic downturn and push the U.S. budget deficit to the highest levels since the 1940s, the Congressional Budget Office projects. Read the full story here     The Associated Press: Bloomberg moves past presidential defeat with virus crusade BY ALEXANDRA JAFFE and JONATHAN LEMIRE Nearly two months after an embarrassing end to his presidential campaign, Mike Bloomberg is again deploying his massive personal fortune – this time to combat the coronavirus. Read the full story here     Reuters: Showdown looms between Silicon Valley, US states over contact tracing apps BY STEPHEN NELLIS AND PARESH DAVE   U.S. states promoting apps that could prove essential to ending the coronavirus lockdown may be headed for a showdown with the two Silicon Valley companies that control key software on 99% of smartphones over the collection of sensitive GPS location data. Read the full story here         Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for The Hill Tipsheet       Forward this Tipsheet   You Might Like       Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2020 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

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