The White House on Friday said that states have enough coronavirus tests to be able to enter the first phase of its plan for reopening the economy.
A career filled with tricky sales pitches has reached its apex for President Trump. With Americans dubious of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and nervous about trying to return to normal too quickly, Trump hopes to convince the country that some places or some states can begin to scale back social distancing measures that have helped contain the virus’s spread.
To do so, he and Vice President Pence on Thursday unveiled data they hoped would bolster their case that the United States is on the mend. Unfortunately, those data were, not for the first time, misleading and incomplete.
Trump began the day’s coronavirus news conference by articulating the steps that had been taken to combat the virus and the positive results that had followed. Part of his defense of rolling back containment measures has consistently been that some places in the country have only been affected by the virus to a limited degree. On Thursday, he offered a statistic aimed in the same direction. Continue reading.
Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday defended President Donald Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by falsely claiming that the president had never sought to belittle the threat the virus posed.
“I don’t believe the president has ever belittled the threat of the coronavirus,” Pence said.
A massive trail of evidence shows otherwise, however.
“Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low,” Trump said on February 26th. “When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” Continue reading.
NOTE: We’re interested that people like the Pences, professional athletes and other famous people are able to be tested without needing hospitalization. This is concerning, and not what the Trump White House has told us for days now.
Vice President Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, have tested negative for coronavirus, according to a statement tweeted by the vice president’s press secretary Katie Miller on Saturday evening.
“Please to report that the COVID-19 test results came back negative for both Vice President @Mike_Pence and Second Lady @KarenPence,” Miller tweeted.
Pence said earlier Saturday that he and the second lady would be tested for the coronavirus after a member of the vice president’s staff tested positive for COVID-19. Continue reading.
An official working for Vice President Pence has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office announced Friday, becoming the first known positive test to date for a White House staffer.
“This evening we were notified that a member of the Office of the Vice President tested positive for the Coronavirus,” Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, said in a statement.
“Neither President Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual. Further contact tracing is being conducted in accordance with CDC guidelines,” the spokeswoman added. Continue reading.
With co-host Joe Scarborough absent, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski rained hell on President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for an avalanche of lies about progress on the coronavirus pandemic front during their press conference on Thursday.
Focusing on the dearth of life-saving masks available to health providers and the public in general, the “Morning Joe” host shared clips of Pence and the president saying there was no problem with anyone needing supplies — and then called them out for it.
“They’re not — they’re absolutely not available now,” the MSNBC host explained. “What the vice president just said, and he is in charge of this coronavirus task force that the president has put together, standing next to the president of the United States the vice president said something that was not true.” Continue reading.
As part of his duties overseeing the task force in charges of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Vice President Mike Pence has been holding secret meetings with prominent right-wing “influencers” on how to spin Donald Trump’s administration’s efforts to contain the growing health crisis.
According to a report from the Daily Beast, the outreach began at the annual CPAC conference long before the administration had any idea what they were dealing with, the report notes.
“The direct outreach occurred on Thursday, Feb. 27—the day after Trump tapped Pence to lead the task force. There, the vice president hosted an informal briefing on COVID-19 and the administration’s latest efforts, with several right-leaning personalities with large followings on Twitter and other social media platforms, according to a source with direct knowledge of the gathering,” the Beast reports, adding, “The following Wednesday, Pence hosted another closed-door meeting with conservative ‘influencers,’ with this one lasting for roughly an hour in the vice president’s office on White House grounds.” Continue reading.
Every time Vice President Pence appears for a coronavirus briefing, it is a reminder what the votes of just 20 Republican senators for impeachment might have accomplished for the republic.
Pence is no Franklin D. Roosevelt, but neither is he an obviously outmatched leader like his boss. The vice president is a sycophant but not an incompetent. He possesses the type of qualities one might find in an effective governor facing a hurricane. President Trump possesses the qualities one might expect in a shady businessman trying to shift responsibility for bad debt and mismanagement — which was the main leadership qualification on his pre-presidential résumé.
Never has the phrase “President Pence” had a better ring to it. Never have Republican votes against impeachment seemed more shortsighted and damaging to the country. Continue reading.
Vice President Mike Pence announced Saturday that all travel from Ireland and the United Kingdom to the U.S. will be suspended, effective midnight EST on Monday. He said Americans and legal residents abroad in those countries can return home.
Why it matters: The administration initially left the two off its restricted travel list, but that case has been weakened due to an uptick in cases in the UK.
Details: The travel restrictions do not apply to cargo or economic shipping, officials with the coronavirus task force said. Continue reading.
The White House on Saturday started taking the temperatures of individuals “in close contact” with President Trump or Vice President Pence, including reporters attending a briefing on the coronavirus.
“Out of an abundance of caution, temperature checks are now being performed on any individuals who are in close contact with the President and Vice President,” deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement.
An official with the White House physician’s office went around the press workspace on Saturday morning and took the temperatures of reporters in the building for a noon news conference with Pence and members of the coronavirus task force. Continue reading.
