Trump clashes with advisers over move to push untried therapies
DONALD TRUMP has reportedly clashed with his top scientists over greatly expanding the use of experimental drugs to tackle coronavirus as his administration lobbied Congress to pass a $1trillion (£860billion) stimulus package.
The US president wanted to sign an executive order that would expand testing of unproven medical therapies but was told it could pose unnecessary risks to patients, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Mr Trump said yesterday he had not seen the reporting, which said the pushback came from senior scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but added: “We are making a lot of progress with therapeutics.”
Mr Trump said he would hold a press conference by the end of today on issues linked to the FDA, though did not give details, saying the developments were “quite exciting”.
The alleged friction behind closed doors comes as the US administration attempts to speed up testing on treatments and vaccines for Covid-19. The first human trial of the vaccine began this week in Seattle, Washington.
Meanwhile, the US treasury is carrying out urgent talks with senators over the terms of a potential $1trillion package to help American workers and businesses facing financial calamity as the economy slows during the pandemic.
The proposals that the Trump administration want passed reportedly include sending scores of needy Americans two $1,000 (£860) cheques, designed to help people whose income is plummeting from the knock-on effects of the virus.
A total of $500billion (£430billion) would be handed out, half in April and half in May, according to a treasury proposals memo seen by the Washington
Post – an extraordinary move to put cash into the hands of those affected.
Other suggestions include $300billion (£258 billion) of loans to small businesses in an attempt to avoid mass layoffs and lending $50billion (£43billion) to airlines, who Steven Mnuchin, the US treasury secretary, said are facing knock-on impacts “worse than 9/11”.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives would need to approve the bill before Mr Trump can sign it into law.
“People want to go big,” Mr Trump said when asked yesterday about the direct payments to Americans. “Everybody seems to want to go big and they want to get to the recovery.”
Mr Mnuchin has reportedly been warning the US could hit an unemployment rate of 20 per cent – not seen since the days of the Great Depression – if action is not taken now, though Mr Trump distanced himself from the figure.
Despite the negotiations, the Dow Jones dropped almost 10 per cent during afternoon trading yesterday, building on two weeks of remarkable falls. All of the gains made during the Trump presidency have now been wiped out.
A flurry of other moves were announced by the US government yesterday as Mr Trump admitted he now feels like a “wartime president”, fighting the “invisible enemy” of coronavirus.
Cases of the virus have now been found in all 50 US states. The figure for total positive tests in America has surpassed 7,000, with more than 100 deaths, according to data being tracked by Johns Hopkins University.
The Us-canadian border will now be closed to all but essential travel in a move agreed by both countries. Mr Trump said “trade will not be affected”.
Mr Trump said he would invoke a law that will allow US authorities to turn back migrants seeking to cross the Us-mexico border illegally, but said the border will not be closed.
‘People want to go big. Everybody seems to want go to big and they want to get to the recovery’