Trump pulls out of Congress relief talks
Donald Trump announced he was ending negotiations with Congress on a new coronavirus economic relief bill until after the election, accusing Democrats of “not negotiating in good faith” over the $2.2 trillion package. Instead, the US president said he was asking Republicans in Congress to “focus full time” on approving his nominee to the US Supreme Court, the conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett. US stocks tumbled in the wake of Mr Trump’s announcement.
DONALD TRUMP announced he was ending negotiations with Congress on a new coronavirus economic relief bill until after the election, accusing Democrats of “not negotiating in good faith”.
Instead, the US president said he was asking Republicans in Congress to “focus full time” on approving his nominee to the US Supreme Court, the conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett.
US stocks tumbled in the wake of Mr Trump’s announcement.
Democrats had been pushing for a $2.2 trillion package but Republicans in the House of Representatives had balked at the huge cost. Instead, the Trump administration had endorsed a $1.6 trillion stimulus plan.
Mr Trump’s decision to end the possibility of stimulus funds, just a month before he seeks re-election and at a time when many Americans’ jobs are hanging in the balance, surprised many.
The announcement took Republicans by surprise, with one congressman calling it “a gift” to Democrats.
Hours earlier Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman, warned America could face economic tragedy as a result of the pandemic and urged lawmakers to act on fiscal stimulus plans.
“Weakness feeds on weakness,” Mr Powell said as he warned of the consequences of a slow economic recovery.
Meanwhile, on his first day back at the White House after a three-day stint in hospital, Mr Trump was censored by Facebook for suggesting Covid-19 was “far less lethal” than the flu. He claimed he was “feeling great” as he played down the risks of coronavirus and encouraged Americans to “learn to live” with the pandemic.
In a message shared to his social media pages, Mr Trump said: “Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the vaccine, die from the flu. Are we going to close down our country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!”
Facebook later said it had removed the post for breaking its rules on spreading Covid-19 information that is deemed both wrong and harmful. By contrast,
Twitter allowed the message to remain, citing “public interest”, but attached a warning to Mr Trump’s tweet stating it “violated the Twitter rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to Covid-19”.
More than 7.5 million Americans have been infected by coronavirus since the outbreak began, and the country has the world’s highest death toll from the pandemic, at more than 210,000.
Sean P Conley, Mr Trump’s doctor, said the president had a “restful” night at the White House and reported no symptoms yesterday.
However, Mr Trump is expected to be closely monitored with round-theclock care for another week, given that he is being treated with a range of therapies typically used for severe cases and is still in a vulnerable phase of infection.
It remains unclear how Mr Trump will safely operate from the White House, which is now the centre of a Covid outbreak. At least 13 senior White House officials – including Mr Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh Mcenany, his senior adviser, Hope Hicks, and Nicholas Luna, his personal assistant – have now tested positive.
The US Capitol has also seen 123 coronavirus cases among staff, including at least 20 cases in the last six weeks, according to Roll Call, which covers the Capitol building.
It was revealed yesterday that the outbreak has also now spread to the country’s military leaders. Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and several of the Pentagon’s most senior uniformed leaders announced that they were quarantining after being exposed to the virus. The development means almost all the country’s most senior uniformed leaders are now self-isolating.
♦ Donald Trump is a “racist” president whose strategy of division could “destroy” America if he is re-elected, former first lady Michelle Obama said yesterday.
In a 24-minute video, Mrs Obama described Mr Trump and his Republican allies as unfairly “stoking fears” about African Americans and for “lying” about how minorities would ruin US suburbs. “What the president is doing is once again patently false, it’s morally wrong, and, yes, it is racist,” she said.
‘Many people... die from the flu. Are we going to close down our country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid’