‘Here We Go Again’: Pelosi, Schiff Plot New Probe of Trump; Pelosi in No Rush on Next Coronavirus Stimulus Deal

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By Washington Times. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has spent the last three-plus years investigating President Trump, and each time, she’s come up empty. . .

Mrs. Pelosi announced last week that she is setting up a select House committee to “assure that the taxpayer dollars are being wisely and efficiently spent” — but the California Democrat also said she wants to “examine all aspects of the federal response to the coronavirus.” . . .

Meanwhile, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who led the failed impeachment process, on Friday proposed the establishment of a bipartisan commission — also with subpoena power — to investigate the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Schiff, another California Democrat, wants to set up a “9/11-style commission” of 10 lawmakers to review the administration’s actions and probe the government’s preparedness in advance of the COVID-19 pandemic. . .

Imagine that. Imagine lawmakers calling federal health officials off the front lines and into the House chambers to answer a bunch of biased questions, including “What did Trump know and when did he know it?” (Read more from “‘Here We Go Again’: Pelosi, Schiff Plot New Probe of Trump” HERE)

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Pelosi in No Rush on Next Coronavirus Stimulus Deal

By The Independent. Democrats are in no rush to furnish additional funds for the Treasury Department’s new small business paycheck protection programme (PPP), which received more than $350 billion from Congress last month.

“They still have two-thirds of it left. So we have time to negotiate how or when or where we need money there,” speaker Nancy Pelosi said of the initial funding for PPP, which has already lent out more than $100bn to help small companies deal with the coronavirus pandemic, roughly 30 percent of its initial allotment from Congress.

The last time Ms Pelosi spoke to Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has been the Trump administration’s lead negotiator on coronavirus response legislation, was Tuesday.

“No, I have not spoken to the secretary today,” the speaker said.

Ms Pelosi has acknowledged that Congress’ next bill responding to the health crisis will not include more wide-ranging Democratic priorities such as a sweeping infrastructure package. It may not immediately extend some provisions from the $2.2trn “CARES Act” that will provide direct cash payments of $1,200 to most American taxpayers. Negotiations for those Democratic wish-list items will come down the line. (Read more from “Pelosi in No Rush on Next Coronavirus Stimulus Deal” HERE)

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Treasury Secretary Says U.S. Could Be Open for Business in May

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that he believed it was possible that the U.S. could open back up next month.

“I do, Jim,” Mnuchin said after CNBC’s Jim Cramer asked about reopening the economy in May. The comments came during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” . . .

The Treasury secretary said that the administration was doing “everything necessary that American companies and American workers can be open for business and that they have the liquidity that they need to operate their business in the interim.” . . .

President Donald Trump said last month that he hoped that Americans would be able to pack churches by Easter, though the administration later released guidelines calling for social distancing to continue at least through the end of April. Trump declined to provide a date for a reopening during a White House briefing on Wednesday.

Trump is already stepping up efforts to reopen the economy. The president is planning to create a second task force designed to focus on the response to the economic devastation that COVID-19 has wrought, a senior administration official told NBC News. (Read more from “Treasury Secretary Says U.S. Could Be Open for Business in May” HERE)

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Fraud Squad: Another Lawsuit to Force Clean-Up of Voter Rolls

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When CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta challenged President Trump’s concern about vote fraud at a White House briefing this week, the president cited a Judicial Watch lawsuit against Los Angeles County after 1.6 million ineligible voters were discovered on its roll.

On Thursday, Judicial Watch announced a new lawsuit, in North Carolina, where many of the state’s 100 counties have a large number of ineligible voters on their rolls.

In the complaint, Judicial Watch argues the states’ own data shows a total of 1 million inactive voters on its rolls. . .

The lawsuit also claims the counties violated the NVRA by failing to make available to Judicial Watch public records concerning efforts to comply with the law.

The law requires the removal of the names of registrants who have failed to respond to an address confirmation notice and then fail to vote in the next two general federal elections. (Read more from “Fraud Squad: Another Lawsuit to Force Clean-Up of Voter Rolls” HERE)

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White House Working on Plan to Cut Aid to WHO

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By NBC News. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget is working on a possible plan to cut U.S. aid to the World Health Organization, administration officials said Wednesday, as President Donald Trump tries to deflect blame for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Administration officials said they also plan to look into the timeline of the WHO’s reaction to the coronavirus after it first appeared in China, as well as “links” to China.

“What the WHO knew and how it reacted to that knowledge is relevant to the U.S. government’s response to the crisis,” a senior administration official said. (Read more from “White House Working on Plan to Cut Aid to WHO” HERE)

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Trump Escalates Tension With World Health Organization Over Coronavirus Pandemic, Repeats Threat to Withhold Funding

By CNBC. U.S. President Donald Trump escalated tension with the World Health Organization on Wednesday, once again criticizing the agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and threatening to withhold funding.

“So we’re going to do a study, an investigation, and we’re going to make a determination as to what we’re doing. In the meantime, we’re holding back,” Trump said at a White House press conference Wednesday. It was not immediately clear from the president’s comment if he was “holding back” on the funding or probe of the WHO.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the administration is reevaluating the WHO’s funding, adding that the United Nation’s health organization hasn’t “achieved what it intended to do,” particularly in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Organizations have to work. They have to deliver the outcomes for which they were intended,” Pompeo said. “We need to make sure that, not only the World Health Organization but every international organization that we take taxpayer money and give it to them for the benefit of America, we need to make sure it’s delivering on those tax payer dollars.” (Read more from “Trump Escalates Tension With World Health Organization Over Coronavirus Pandemic, Repeats Threat to Withhold Funding” HERE)

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Bernie Sanders Drops out of 2020 Race

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Sen. Bernie Sanders ended his presidential campaign, he announced on Wednesday, leaving former Vice President Joe Biden as the apparent Democratic presidential nominee.

“I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will not be successful, and so today I am announcing the suspension of my campaign,” Sanders told supporters in a livestream, saying he wished he could provide supporters with “better news” but “I think you know the truth.”

“We are now some 300 delegates behind Vice President Biden and the path to victory is virtually impossible,” he said. Sanders, I-Vt., called Biden “a very decent man who I will work with to move our progressive ideas forward.” . . .

He added that he understands some supporters who want him to fight on through the convention, but he could not “in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win and would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour” as the COVID-19 outbreak grips the nation.

He pledged to have significant influence over the party platform this summer, as he did during the 2016 convention. He pointed to policies like a $15 minimum wage, which has been picked up in some states and cities since he first began campaigning for it at the presidential level five years ago, as evidence that his progressive platform is winning. (Read more from “Bernie Sanders Drops out of 2020 Race” HERE)

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FCC Makes Decision on Investigating Networks Airing Trump’s Coronavirus Briefings

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Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai dismissed a petition for the agency to investigate news networks that air President Donald Trump’s press briefings on coronavirus.

The independent government agency slapped down a request from advocacy group Free Press because press freedoms are too important, Pai said in a tweet Monday announcing the decision. The tweet included screenshot of a press statement addressing the petition. . .

Pai’s tweet and press statement comes after Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan demanded Saturday that news networks stop live-broadcasting Trump’s near-daily coronavirus briefings.

“The media must stop live-broadcasting Trump’s dangerous, destructive coronavirus briefings,” Sullivan tweeted along with her column explaining why. (Read more from “FCC Makes Decision on Investigating Networks Airing Trump’s Coronavirus Briefings” HERE)

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CDC May Loosen Guidelines Thanks to This Game-Changing Update

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By WND. A key model used by the White House Coronavirus Task Force lowered its projection of coronavirus deaths in the United States by 25% in an assessment issued Wednesday.

The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation now forecasts 60,415 deaths, down from 81,766 in its previous report.

IHME’s director, director Christopher Murray, explained in a press release issued Sunday that this institute’s estimates “assume statewide social distancing measures are continuing in states where they have already been enacted, and for those states without such measures in place, it is assumed they will be will be in place within seven days.” . . .

The lowered projection comes as the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers loosening its guidelines for self-isolation. (Read more from “CDC May Loosen Guidelines Thanks to This Game-Changing Update” HERE)

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Feds Loosen Virus Rules to Let Essential Workers Return

By AP News. In a first, small step toward reopening the country, the Trump administration issued new guidelines Wednesday to make it easier for essential workers who have been exposed to COVID-19 to get back to work if they do not have symptoms of the coronavirus.

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced at the White House that essential employees, such as health care and food supply workers, who have been within 6 feet of a confirmed or suspected case of the virus can return to work under certain circumstances if they are not experiencing symptoms.

The new guidelines are being issued as the nation mourns more than 14,000 deaths from the virus and grapples with a devastated economy and medical crises from coast to coast. Health experts continue to caution Americans to practice social distancing and to avoid returning to their normal activities. At the same time, though, they are planning for a time when the most serious threat from COVID-19 will be in the country’s rear-view mirror. (Read more from “Feds Loosen Virus Rules to Let Essential Workers Return” HERE)

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The U.S. Government Has Possibly Millions of Chickens in Secret Locations Laying Eggs Year Round for Flu Vaccines. the Exact Number and Location Are a Matter of National Security. Here’s What We Know About the Chickens.

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Their number and location are a matter of national security. Their purpose is to make vaccines. These are America’s hidden chickens.

Across the United States, there are potentially millions of chickens laying eggs every day, year-round, for flu vaccines. According to CNN, during the most recent flu season alone (to the end of February), 140 million eggs could have been used for vaccines. And hens only lay a single egg each day.

The cost of the chickens isn’t public, but one three-year contract between the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a private company for year-long egg supplies cost $42 million, and CNN reported the HHS has a number of contracts meaning the actual cost could be worth tens of millions of dollars.

Rick Bright, director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority in Washington told NPR’s Planet Money, after the avian flu scare in 2001, to make sure the country was ready for a pandemic, the US government secured a: “large number of chicken flocks.” . . .

When he was asked where they were, he said: “A lot of farms that we have [are] in undisclosed places. As you can imagine, it’s our national security.” (Read more from “The U.S. Government Has Possibly Millions of Chickens in Secret Locations Laying Eggs Year Round for Flu Vaccines. the Exact Number and Location Are a Matter of National Security. Here’s What We Know About the Chickens.” HERE)

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Dr. Fauci Says the World May Never Get Back to ‘Normal’ After the Pandemic; U.S. Records Highest Death Toll in Single Day

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By PJ Media. Dr. Anthony Fauci has a somber warning for people who are hoping the world will get back to “normal” soon.

Speaking at the coronavirus White House briefing on Sunday, Fauci said “If you want to get back to pre-coronavirus, that might not ever happen in the sense that the threat is there.” He said that even with a vaccine, the coronavirus will remain a threat.

Fox News:

Fauci said Sunday that people must be prepared for a resurgence next year, which is why officials fighting the pandemic are pushing for a vaccine and clinical trials for therapeutic interventions so “we will have interventions that we did not have” when this started.

He said Monday that he is encouraged about therapies and “confident that over a period of time we will get a good vaccine, that we will never have to get back to where we are right now.”

. . .

“If ‘back-to-normal’ means acting like there never was a coronavirus problem, I don’t think that’s going to happen until we do have a situation where you can completely protect the population,” Dr. Fauci said. “But when we say ‘getting back-to-normal’ we mean something very different from what we’re going through right now – ’cause right now we are in a very intense mitigation.”

(Read more from “Dr. Fauci Says the World May Never Get Back to ‘Normal’ After the Pandemic” HERE)

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Coronavirus: U.S. Records Highest Death Toll in Single Day

By BBC. The US recorded the most coronavirus deaths in a single day with 1,736 fatalities reported on Tuesday.

It brings the total number of deaths in the country to 12,722, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The US has more than 398,000 confirmed cases, the highest number in the world. Global cases have exceeded 1.4 million.

However during a press conference President Donald Trump said the US might be getting to the top of the “curve”. (Read more from “Coronavirus: U.S. Records Highest Death Toll in Single Day” HERE)

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“Obama Judge” Rejects 2nd Amendment, Says States, Counties May Force Gun Stores to Close

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Even though Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has reluctantly agreed that gun stores can open in his jurisdictions, a lawsuit challenging his earlier closures is still winding its way through the federal court system, and Monday afternoon U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte ruled against the Second Amendment organizations that brought the suit, refusing their request for a temporary injunction and setting up the possibility that Villanueva could once again order gun stores to close.

In his decision, Birotte declared that Los Angeles County and the state of California were within their emergency powers to close gun stores, ruling that the orders should be viewed under an intermediate standard of judicial scrutiny. That muddy middle legal ground allows for judges like Birotte to sign off on almost any gun control law that doesn’t amount to a complete and permanent ban on entire classes of firearms. As the judge wrote in his order denying the temporary injunction:

In applying intermediate scrutiny to the County and City Orders, the Court must consider (1) whether the government’s stated objective is significant, substantial, or important, and (2) whether there is a reasonable fit between the challenged regulation and the asserted objective. See Chovan, 735 F.3d at 1139. The City’s and County’s stated objective—reducing the spread of COVID-19, a highly dangerous and infectious disease—undoubtedly constitutes an important government objective. Moreover, because this disease spreads where “[a]n infected person coughs, sneezes, or otherwise expels aerosolized droplets containing the virus,” (Dkt. No. 21) the closure of non-essential businesses, including firearms and ammunition retailers, reasonably fits the City’s and County’s stated objectives of reducing the spread of this disease. Accordingly, Plaintiffs fail to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits of the Second Amendment claim against the County and City Orders.

(Read more from “Obama-Appointed Federal Judge Forces Gun Stores to Close” HERE)

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