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Saudi Arabia and Russia Reach Deal to End Oil Price War

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Saudi Arabia and Russia ended their price war and are poised to deliver the oil production cut President Trump has been demanding in order to raise historically low prices that have damaged the U.S. shale industry.

Saudi-led OPEC and its allies agreed in principle to a deal during an unprecedented emergency remote video meeting Thursday to cut production by 10 million barrels per day beginning in May.

The agreement for that level of cuts would last for two months, with reductions subsequently leveling off through April 2022 depending on progress in containing the coronavirus outbreak. Trump spoke Thursday night with Russian President Vladimir Putin and King Salman of Saudi Arabia to discuss finalizing the oil production cut deal.

After the call, Trump said at his daily press conference that “they are getting close to a deal.” . . .

Trump has been pushing Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut output in the hopes that less crude on the market will raise oil prices, which have fallen by two-thirds since the start of the year and reached a 18-year low last month. (Read more from “Saudi Arabia and Russia Reach Deal to End Oil Price War” HERE)

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WATCH: Trump Coronavirus Campaign Ad Features Joe Biden Cheerleading for China; Joe Biden Is China’s Choice for President

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By Breitbart. President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign released a new ad on Thursday attacking former Vice President Joe Biden for his past support of China.

“During America’s crisis, Biden protected China’s feelings,” the text of the ad reads.

The ad features Biden’s past positive comments about China, as more Americans suffer from the coronavirus that first came from China.

(Read more from “Trump Coronavirus Campaign Ad Features Joe Biden Cheerleading for China” HERE)

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Joe Biden Is China’s Choice for President

By National Review. The Democratic Party has always been weak on national security when it comes to China. But some credit is due when it comes to China’s atrocious human-rights record and its theft of American jobs. For a generation, prominent Democrats loudly criticized Beijing on these fronts, well before Donald Trump helped form a new national consensus on China. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have been longstanding China trade hawks, for instance. Even a socialist like Bernie Sanders has been a reliable critic.

And Joe Biden? Well, he’s on China’s side — not yours.

Despite the occasional box-checking, wishy-washy comment slapping Beijing on the wrist for the worst of its abuses, the reality is that the former vice president’s support of the People’s Republic of China is deep and longstanding. In the critical fight over whether to grant most-favored-nation trade status and World Trade Organization membership to China in the 1990s — a fight in which, again, many of his party’s leaders in Congress were on the right side — Biden carefully shepherded China through the process from his powerful perch as the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Wherever a brake might have been applied — by placing human-rights or labor conditions on most-favored-nation status, for example — Biden voted the measures down and lobbied other senators for Beijing. Unfortunately, China and Biden got their way, and American workers are still suffering from it.

It should have been a warning on more fronts than one when President Obama recruited Biden to his ticket to buttress his credibility on foreign policy; unsurprisingly, there was no about-face on Beijing. As the Chinese Communist Party gained strength and Xi Jinping seized absolute power, Biden continued to push for closer ties and even more trade. As for American workers? In February 2012, in friendly remarks with Xi standing next to him, Biden praised Beijing as a “new partner” that would help to meet “global challenges,” and said Americans “welcome this competition. . . . It pushes our companies to develop better products and services and our government to craft better policies.” Millions of American jobs were disappearing as he spoke, and the militarization of the South China Sea was just around the corner. (Read more from “Joe Biden Is China’s Choice for President” HERE)

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Columnist: ‘If Biden Is Serious About Winning He Needs to Accuse Trump of Willingness to Kill People’; Joe Biden’s Plan to Win Over Bernie Supporters

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By The Blaze. The Washington Post’s #NeverTrump, self-proclaimed conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin took her constant attacks against President Donald Trump to a whole new level on Thursday, saying that if Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden “is serious about winning he needs to accuse Trump of willingness to kill people.” . . .

Rubin shared a headline from The Post’s live COVID-19 updates on Twitter that read, “U.S. death toll climbs, but signs emerge that new coronavirus cases…” before trailing off.

The columnist wrote in her message, “If Biden is serious about winning he needs to accuse Trump of willingness to kill people.”

Rubin’s unsolicited campaign advice to Biden did not go ever well on social media, and she was overwhelmingly criticized for her take.

The writer did not elaborate on her view, but the body of The Post’s update shared by Rubin began, “President Trump on Thursday said mass testing for the coronavirus is not necessary for the United States to get back to normal, contradicting experts who say widespread testing is critical to ease out of social distancing.” (Read more from “Columnist: ‘If Biden Is Serious About Winning He Needs to Accuse Trump of Willingness to Kill People'” HERE)

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Joe Biden’s Plan to Win Over Bernie Supporters

By Medium. Two important steps we can take to help ease the economic burden on working people — and that I will take when I am President. . .

Congress has moved to help with the CARES Act, but they must do more. In addition to funds to keep workers on payroll, the next recovery package will need to provide significant funds to states, to make sure that educators and health care workers and first responders can keep getting paid. It will have to provide hazard pay to frontline workers putting themselves at risk. It will have to provide health care coverage for millions who lose their insurance, by allowing them to stay on their health care plans and covering the cost, as well as reopening enrollment for Obamacare and creating the public option I’ve been calling for. It will have to extend unemployment benefits, and provide further direct cash relief, and take care of the people left out of the CARES Act, through an immediate cancellation of a minimum of $10,000 of student debt per person, as proposed by Senator Warren, and Social Security boosts. And so much more. . .

And that’s just immediate relief. Then comes recovery. Recovery will require long term changes to build a more inclusive and more resilient middle class, and a greener and more resilient economy. We have to think big — as big as the challenges we face. As we start to lay the groundwork for recovery, we have to build back better for the future. . .

So, as the next step in building on the progressive vision for the country that I have laid out across the course of my campaign, today I’m announcing my intention to fight for two new policies that I believe will not only help people right now when they may need the help most, but will also help people find more secure footing in the long term once we have emerged from this crisis. The first is lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 60, and the second is forgiving student debt for low-income and middle class people who have attended public colleges and universities. (Read more from “Joe Biden’s Plan to Win Over Bernie Supporters” 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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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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Trump Urges Navy Not to ‘Destroy’ Captain Who Wrote Coronavirus Letter; Trump Says He Would Not Have Asked Navy Secretary to Resign

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By Washington Examiner. President Trump does not want to see the career of Navy Capt. Brett Crozier “destroyed” because of his decision to speak out about the coronavirus aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

During a press conference on Monday, Trump said that he may “get involved” in the Navy’s handling of Crozier’s case after he was fired from his role as commander of the ship. In a series of questions about Crozier’s situation, Trump said he believes the captain made a mistake by speaking to the press rather than following the military chain of command but noted that he doesn’t want the mistake to ruin Crozier’s career.

“He’s the captain of a ship. He’s a very important person of a very expensive ship, a nuclear-powered ship. He shouldn’t be writing letters like that. But it happens. Sometimes I’ll write a letter that I’ll say ‘I wish I didn’t send it.’ Not too often, but it happens,” he said.

Trump later added, “I am going to look into it, and I’m going to see maybe we can do something because I’m not looking to destroy a person’s life, who’s had an otherwise stellar career, as I understand it. I looked at his file just now because I’ve been seeing what’s going on. If we can save a person’s career — I don’t mind going after a person when they did something wrong, but this was a mistake.” (Read more from “Trump Urges Navy Not to ‘Destroy’ Captain Who Wrote Coronavirus Letter” HERE)

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Trump Says He Would Not Have Asked Navy Secretary to Resign

By New York Post. President Trump said Tuesday that acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly didn’t have to resign for giving a profane speech justifying his firing of USS Theodore Roosevelt commander Capt. Brett Crozier, but Trump said he hopes it will end the controversy.

Crozier warned last week that COVID-19 was spreading among his 5,000-man crew. Modly removed him from command, telling his former crew he was “too naive or too stupid” if he believed the email would not leak.

“The whole thing was very unfortunate,” Trump said at a press conference Tuesday night.

“The captain should not have written a letter, he didn’t have to be Ernest Hemingway. He made a mistake but he had a bad day,” Trump said.

He added on Modly’s resignation: “I had heard he did because he didn’t want to cause any disturbance for our country… because he wouldn’t have had to resign, I would not have asked him. I don’t know him. I didn’t speak to him, but he did that I think just to end that problem. And I think in really many ways that was a very unselfish thing for him to do.”

Trump offered Monday to mediate between Modly and Crozier. On Tuesday, Modly resigned after meeting with Defense Secretary Mark Esper, according to reports. (Read more from “Trump Says He Would Not Have Asked Navy Secretary to Resign” HERE)

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Trump Promotes Voter ID, Says ‘a Lot of People Cheat With Mail-In Voting’

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By Newsweek. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he rejected the idea of mail-in voting and endorsed the concept of Voter ID, which he referred to as “the real deal.”

“I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting,” Trump said at Friday’s coronavirus task force meeting from the White House. “I think people should vote with Voter ID. I think Voter ID is very important, and the reason they don’t want Voter ID is because they tend to cheat.” . . .

Trump said people should show up to the polls in person and cast their votes after presenting the proper identification.

“You should have a picture for voting,” Trump said. “It should be called Voter ID, they should have that. And it shouldn’t mail-in voting, it should be you go to a booth and you proudly display yourself.” (Read more from “Trump Promotes Voter ID, Says ‘a Lot of People Cheat With Mail-In Voting'” HERE)

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Texas Opens Door to More Mail-In Voting in 2020 Elections

By Houston Chronicle. Texas is opening the door to an expansion of mail-in voting during the coronavirus outbreak, though the state is unlikely to heed calls to have every voter cast ballots by mail to avoid exposure to COVID-19 at polling places.

The state’s director of elections on Thursday sent guidance to elections officials in all 254 counties telling them that voters can ask for mail-in ballots if they are worried that coronavirus will make showing up to a polling place a danger to their health. (Read more from “Texas Opens Door to More Mail-In Voting in 2020 Elections” HERE)

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U.S. Doctor: COVID-19 Patients Go From ‘Very Ill’ to ‘Symptom-Free’ in 8 to 12 Hours Using Hydroxychloroquine and Zinc; Dem Says Trump’s Touting of Hydroxychloroquine Helped Save Her Life

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By The Blaze. A doctor in Los Angeles is reporting remarkable success in treating COVID-19 patients with a combination of zinc and the Trump-touted anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine.

Dr. Anthony Cardillo, an ER specialist and the CEO of Mend Urgent Care, has been prescribing the combination of drugs to patients experiencing severe symptoms of the disease after contracting the novel coronavirus.

“Every patient I’ve prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within 8 to 12 hours, they were basically symptom-free,” Cardillo said in an interview Sunday with KABC-TV. “So, clinically I am seeing a resolution.”

He added that combining the drug with zinc has been the key to the success. The hydroxychloroquine, he said, “opens the zinc channel” allowing the zinc to enter the cell, which then “blocks the replication of cellular machinery.”

Cardillo was careful to note that the drug should only be prescribed for patients who are extremely sick and in urgent need so as to not blow through the limited supply of the drug, which is used to treat other illnesses, as well. (Read more from “U.S. Doctor: COVID-19 Patients Go From ‘Very Ill’ to ‘Symptom-Free’ in 8 to 12 Hours Using Hydroxychloroquine and Zinc” HERE)

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Detroit Dem Says Trump’s Touting of Hydroxychloroquine Helped Save Her Life

By Fox News. A Democratic state representative from Detroit has recovered from coronavirus and she says it was the combination of the drug hydroxychloroquine and President Trump that saved her life.

State Rep. Karen Whitsett’s husband is an engineer at Detroit Metropolitan Airport and the two believe they were exposed to COVID-19 through his job.

Whitsett said she started experiencing shortness of breath, sinus issues, and swollen lymph nodes and tested positive for the virus on Monday.

Her doctor prescribed hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to prevent and treat malaria and also used to treat lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and medical conditions.

Trump has touted the use of hydroxychloroquine during his daily coronavirus briefings despite push back from health experts who warn that the drug could potentially be dangerous and its effectiveness against COVID-19 hasn’t been proven. (Read more from “Detroit Dem Says Trump’s Touting of Hydroxychloroquine Helped Save Her Life” HERE)

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After Attacking Trump’s Coronavirus-Related China Travel Ban as Xenophobic, Dems and Media Have Changed Tune; Obama Admin Repeatedly Sought Millions in CDC Funding Cuts, Despite Biden’s Attacks on Trump Preparedness

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By Fox News. Within hours of President Trump’s decision to restrict travel from China on Jan. 31, top Democrats and media figures immediately derided the move as unnecessary and xenophobic — and they are now beating a hasty retreat from that position as the coronavirus continues to ravage the economy and cause scores of deaths. . .

For many news outlets, the about-face has been stark. A Jan. 31 article in The New York Times quoted epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm as saying that Trump’s decision to restrict travel from China was “more of an emotional or political reaction.”

Weeks later, though, the paper reported that dozens of “nations across the world have imposed travel restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus,” and did not criticize any of them for the move.

The Washington Post ran a story quoting a Chinese official asking for “empathy” and slamming the White House for acting “in disregard of WHO [World Health Organization] recommendation against travel restrictions.”

In March, The Post finally acknowledged that critics accused China and WHO of “covering up or downplaying the severity of an infectious disease outbreak.” (Read more from “After Attacking Trump’s Coronavirus-Related China Travel Ban as Xenophobic, Dems and Media Have Changed Tune” HERE)

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Obama Admin Repeatedly Sought Millions in CDC Funding Cuts, Despite Biden’s Attacks on Trump Preparedness

By Fox News. The Obama administration repeatedly sought to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), yearly budget requests show — seemingly undercutting former Vice President Joe Biden’s repeated attacks on the Trump White House for its pandemic preparedness.

Numerous Democrats, including Biden, have falsely claimed that Trump slashed the CDC budget, and Biden has suggested that he would never pursue similar cuts. The Associated Press has noted that those claims “distort” the facts, with FactCheck.org pointing out that CDC funding has actually increased under the current administration, largely because Congress insisted on maintaining funding levels for both CDC and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Nevertheless, speaking to ABC News’ “This Week” on March 1, Biden claimed: “They’ve cut the funding for the CDC.” On Friday, Biden stepped up his attacks, writing on Twitter: “Donald Trump’s careless, shortsighted actions left our nation ill-prepared and now Americans are paying the price.”

In its fiscal year 2013 budget, while Biden was vice president, the Obama administration sought a total funding level of $5.9 billion from the CDC, or a $569 million cut from the 2012 budget of $6.46 billion. In fiscal year 2015, the Obama administration wanted a $414 million cut year-over-year, and again in the fiscal year 2017 budget, the Obama administration looked to eliminate $251 million in CDC funding. . .

Some of the Obama administration’s cuts specifically took aim at the CDC’s preparedness initiatives. (Read more from “Obama Admin Repeatedly Sought Millions in CDC Funding Cuts, Despite Biden’s Attacks on Trump Preparedness” HERE)

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Trump Fires Intelligence IG Who Told Congress About Ukraine Phone Call

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President Trump has fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the U.S. intelligence community who alerted Congress to concerns about a Trump phone call with the president of Ukraine – a matter that led to the president’s impeachment last year.

Trump formally notified the intelligence committees of both the Senate and House in a letter dated Friday. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., posted the letter online.

“This is to advise that I am exercising my power as President to remove from office the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, effective 30 days from today,” the president wrote.

“It is extremely important that we promote the economy, efficiency, and the effectiveness of Federal programs and activities. The Inspectors General have a critical role in the achievement of these goals,” the president continued. “As is the case with regard to other positions where I, as President, have the power of appointment, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, it is vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as Inspectors General. That is no longer the case with regard to this Inspector General.”

The president added he would nominate a replacement “who has my full confidence and who meets the appropriate qualifications,” at a later time. (Read more from “Trump Fires Intelligence IG Who Told Congress About Ukraine Phone Call” HERE)

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