US coronavirus live: Trump says taskforce to continue 'indefinitely' after backlash – live
18m ago
14:36 /
6-5-2020
Dr Anthony
Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, initially denied reports
that the White House was looking to wind down its coronavirus task force.
“That’s not
true,” Fauci initially said yesterday. “I’ve been in every task force meeting,
and that’s not what they are doing.”
When the
vice president confirmed the news shortly afterwards, it seemed Fauci (and
potentially other public health experts on the task force) had been left out of
the loop on the conversations.
Trump is
now saying the task force will “continue on indefinitely,” but the president
noted the group “may add or subtract people ... to it, as appropriate,” raising
questions about whether Fauci’s role with the group will change.
Fauci, who
serves as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, has become a household name since the coronavirus crisis started, and
polls show a large majority of Americans trust Fauci as a source of information
on the pandemic, while the president has received low ratings on that front.
Trump heads to Arizona mask plant to make case
for reopening US
President wears safety glasses but no mask during
visit to political battleground state as US death toll passes 70,000
Lauren
Gambino
@laurenegambino
Wed 6 May
2020 01.58 BSTLast modified on Wed 6 May 2020 04.26 BST
Donald
Trump used his first cross-country trip since the pandemic began to visit an
Arizona plant manufacturing medical masks, seeking to demonstrate America’s
readiness to reopen the economy even as public health experts warned it was too
soon.
His visit
to the battleground state on Tuesday came as the White House signalled a desire
to wind down the coronavirus taskforce in the coming weeks despite a continued
threat from the virus.
“I’m not
saying anything is perfect,” Trump told reporters in Arizona. “Will some people
be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get
our country open and we have to get it open soon.”
During a
tour of the Honeywell facility in Phoenix, which shifted from manufacturing aircraft
engines to producing N95 respirator masks in response to the pandemic, Trump
wore safety glasses but no mask. A sign at the entrance urged visitors to wear
masks at all times, but a White House official said the company had informed
them in advance that a mask was not required.
The visit
is meant to underscore the administration’s efforts to nudge a cautious nation,
still grappling with economic and public health disasters inflicted by the
virus, to return to a more normal way of life. Trump has cheered moves by some
governors to reopen their economies, despite a failure to meet guidelines for
lifting safety restrictions issued by the White House and concern from public
health officials that states are acting too quickly.
Despite
Trump’s optimism, wide majorities of Americans oppose the reopening of
businesses and restaurants. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll
published on Tuesday found that 74% of Americans said they were opposed to
reopening dine-in restaurants and nail salons in their states, while more than
eight in 10 Americans said movie theaters should not be allowed to reopen in
their states.
In Arizona,
Trump praised the “phenomenal” work of the coronavirus taskforce, led by the
vice-president, Mike Pence, but said it was time to focus on the next “phase”.
Trump was
greeted on the tarmac in Phoenix by Arizona’s governor, Doug Ducey, a
Republican who has been more cautious than some fellow GOP governors about
reopening the state. This week he extended the state’s stay-at-home-order until
15 May with exceptions allowing salons, barbershops, businesses and restaurants
to open in the coming days if they meet certain safety conditions.
While the
number of infections in Arizona is declining, the Navajo Nation that crosses
the northern part of the state remains one of the worst-affected areas in the
country. As of Monday, 2,474 residents of the Navajo Nation have tested
positive and 73 have died.
Before
Trump’s visit, the treasury department announced that it would begin
distributing $4.8bn in coronavirus relief allocated for Native American tribes,
aid the tribal governments had to sue to obtain. Trump pledged $600m to help
the Navajo Nation fight the pandemic during a roundtable with tribal leaders.
Joe Biden,
the Democratic presidential nominee, said Trump had worsened the public health
crisis by refusing to reopen enrollment in the Affordable Care Act amid the
pandemic, which Ducey recommended.
“President
Trump will try to paper over his administration’s failed response to the
Covid-19 pandemic when he travels today to Arizona,” he said in a statement,
“but nothing can cover up how he failed to prepare our country for this
pandemic and his slow response.”
A political
battleground in Arizona
Some of
Trump’s most raucous rallies have been in Arizona, where he has a devoted base.
But he has also alienated the state’s independent and moderate voters, while a
growing Hispanic electorate and newcomers from states like California and
Washington have also accelerated the state’s political diversity.
In 2016, he
won the state by 3.5 percentage points, a much smaller margin than past
Republican presidential candidates. Two years later, the Democrat Kyrsten
Sinema beat Martha McSally in a Senate race to succeed the retiring Arizona
senator Jeff Flake. McSally was then appointed to fill the seat of the late
Arizona senator John McCain, and she is now locked in a fierce contest with the
Democrat Mark Kelly to retain it.
The seat
has been held by a Republican since Barry Goldwater was first elected to the
Senate in 1968. But the race is now considered a “toss-up” by the non-partisan
Cook Political report and recent polling shows McSally trailing Kelly.
“This year
really could be a tipping point for Arizona politics,” said Chip Scutari, a
political consultant in Phoenix. “And I’m sure President Trump and his team
want to solidify Arizona in the win column but it’s really up for grabs.”
Scutari
called Trump’s visit a “pseudo-campaign rally”; indeed, when the president
finished speaking at the Honeywell facility the Rolling Stones’s You Can’t
Always Get What You Want – a Trump rally staple – began to play.
Democrats
are increasingly bullish on their prospects, buoyed by polls that show Biden
leading in the state.
Felecia
Rotellini, the chair of the Arizona Democratic party, called Trump’s visit to
the state a “sign of desperation”.
“The
Covid-19 crisis and the complete lack of empathy and competence that the
president has shown in his handling of this has created even a greater sinking
ship that is now called his re-election campaign,” Rotellini said.
The brief
trip to Phoenix marks the beginning of what Trump hopes will be more frequent
outings after being locked down in Washington for weeks, and as polling numbers
show his support eroding in battleground states. The president has said he
plans to travel soon to Ohio, New York and North Dakota for a Fourth of July
fireworks display at Mount Rushmore. Though eager to get back on the campaign
trail, Trump acknowledged in a town hall with Fox News on Sunday that his
signature rallies were unlikely to return for several more months, at least.
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