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Late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis will be memorialized at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda next week.
Lewis, who died over the weekend after a battle with pancreatic cancer, will be placed on the East Front Steps of the rotunda for public viewing, which will be allowed on Monday from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and on Tuesday from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday. Attendees are instructed to wear masks in preparation for what will be an unprecedented ceremony for the Georgia Democrat.
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| President Trump @ Walter Reed (Source: President Trump's Personal Twitter Feed) |
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Amid sluggish polls that show him struggling to find footing against Democratic rival Joe Biden, President Trump announced he will promote deputy campaign manager Bill Stepien to campaign manager.
The president shared on Wednesday that current campaign manager Brad Parscale will become a senior adviser to his reelection campaign and will also continue his work leading the digital and data strategies team.
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WorldWhite House takes aim at Anthony Fauci over Covid-19 comments
Outspoken public face of US administration’s coronavirus response appears to be increasingly sidelined
JULY 12, 2020 by Courtney Weaver in Washington
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said he would invite special counsel Robert Mueller to testify as part of the Republican-led panel’s investigation into the origins and conduct of the Trump-Russia investigation.
“Apparently Mr. Mueller is willing — and also capable — of defending the Mueller investigation through an oped in the Washington Post," the South Carolina Republican tweeted on Sunday. “Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have previously requested Mr. Mueller appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about his investigation. That request will be granted.”
Mueller, a former FBI director, wrote an opinion article in the Washington Post on Saturday arguing that Roger Stone, a longtime friend and adviser to President Trump, "remains a convicted felon, and rightfully so." Whether Mueller accepts Graham's invitation remains to be seen.
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Adm. Brett Giroir pushed back on some of the public health recommendations made by his colleague on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
"I respect Dr. Fauci a lot, but Dr. Fauci is not 100% right, and he also doesn't necessarily, he admits that, have the whole national interest in mind," Giroir said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. "He looks at it at a very narrow public health point of view."
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Trump Tells Minnesota Governor to Go Jump In a Lake, Denies Request for ‘Disaster’ Relief After Riots
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Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said it's up to local leadership to start preparing for the reopening of schools across the country this fall, calling guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "just that."
The coronavirus pandemic, which has transferred classroom environments to remote learning since March, is set to be a major concern on how to safely resume schools as early as next month.
"Kids need to be back in school, and that school leaders across the country need to be making plans to do just that," DeVos said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union.
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President Trump granted clemency to Roger Stone just a few days before Stone was set to start his prison sentence. This decision was a mistake, as many of his advisers, administration officials, and fellow Republicans reportedly told him. And to understand why, it’s worth remembering why Stone was sentenced to prison in the first place.
Stone denied under oath that he had had contact with Guccifer 2.0 or Julian Assange, a blatant lie that obstructed Mueller’s investigation and Congress’s subsequent probe. He then attempted to prevent InfoWars conspiracy theorist Roger Credico from telling Congress the truth about his coordination with Assange. As a result, Stone was charged with and convicted of obstructing the House’s investigation, lying to investigators under oath, and tampering with a witness who would have exposed his lies.
These are serious offenses that reek of political malpractice and corruption — two things Trump promised to fight when he vowed to “drain the swamp.” Stone’s pardon makes it clear that Trump has no intention, and perhaps he never did, of draining the swamp or its villains.
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Taking a harder line on masks |
Leaving home without a mask can be an expensive business these days.
Almost four months after the pandemic peaked in Germany, Berlin’s transport authorities were this week given permission to slap a 50-euro ($56) fine on passengers who don’t cover their faces. That’s just 10 euros less than the penalty for traveling without a ticket.
Other European cities are charging miscreants even more. Since the end of June, unmasked travelers on the London Underground are threatened with a 100-pound ($125) penalty, while getting caught on the Paris Metro costs 135 euros.
Like other countries, Germany is trying to reduce the chances of a second wave of infections later in the year. And when it comes to taking trains, buses and trams, an official recommendation may well go unheeded — despite the health risks to other passengers.
A traveler wearing a protective face mask buys a train ticket at Hauptbahnhof main railway station in Berlin
Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images Europe
As a result, cities across Europe have been forced to take a harder line. In the French capital, for example, transport workers initially barred anyone who wasn’t protected from stations, a tactic that appears to have paid off. The Swiss have generally been less willing to play ball, judging from the government’s decision to tighten its rules on protective clothing earlier this month after infections accelerated.
Even before the outbreak, face coverings were relatively common in Asian countries such as Japan, China and Hong Kong. Since the start of March, more than 50 nations around the world — from Vietnam to Venezuela — have made masks mandatory in at least some public areas. A notable exception is the U.S., where the government merely recommends that individuals wear face coverings, although some states have stricter face-covering measures.
Wearing a mask “isn’t always a pleasure,” German Health Minister Jens Spahn has acknowledged, but he says it could make the difference in the battle to contain the virus. Paul Ziemiak, the secretary general of Angela Merkel’s party, is trying to increase its appeal. “Wearing a mask is sexy,” he tweeted last week. — Andrew Blackman
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The race for a vaccine |
Photographer: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP
Photographer: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP
Watching the Race
Companies large and small are engaged in a high-velocity race to find a way to keep people safe from the coronavirus. Keep track of the latest developments in the hunt for a vaccine with our interactive graphic.
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