Trump news: President preparing to sign executive order keeping undocumented immigrants off census as Pentagon bans Confederate flag
Officials condemn federal officers using 'authoritarian' force in Oregon as coronavirus infections continue surge across South
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order that would prevent states from counting undocumented immigrants in their census, according to a Politico report confirmed by The Independent. The order could potentially undercounting significant parts of the US and depriving federal spending and congressional seats from those areas. It's likely to be challenged in court.
Unidentified federal border control officers have been deployed to Portland, Oregon in recent days to indiscriminately arrest protesters and forced them into unmarked vehicles, as Department of Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf condemned protesters "violent anarchists" while releasing a list of crimes that mainly amounted to graffiti.
Portland's mayor has demanded the president withdraw the troops, and Washington officials are outraged, liking the show of federal force to an "authoritarian" measure, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley said.
The president – who has falsely and repeatedly accused his Democratic rival of endorsing efforts to "defund" police in a campaign bid to pin recent unrest on Democrats – snapped at Fox News host Chris Wallace in an interview to air on Sunday after the president has pressed to prove his claims.
Pentagon officials meanwhile have banned Confederate battle flags completely from US military installations despite the president's defence of the symbol as "free speech" amid growing calls to remove the icons from public spaces.
Coronavirus infections continue to surge across the US, with daily cases Thursday reaching at least 77,255. That figure is nearly triple the daily cases discovered three weeks ago. In a White House document obtained by Centre for Public Integrity, 18 states are in the coronavirus "red zone".
Florida has seen its fourth consecutive day with more than 100 deaths, as daily cases there top 11,000. The World Health Organisation also recorded a record-high number of daily cases, as global infections near 14 million. Nearly 139,000 people in the US have died from Covid-19-related illness, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The Trump administration has blocked the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention from appearing at a House committee discussing school reopening plans, as the White House pushes states to reopen within weeks despite a raging public health crisis and no clear guidance for managing outbreaks, as teachers and school staff brace for spikes in infections.
This week, the administration directed hospital systems to send crucial coronavirus reporting data to a central Washington database under the Department of Health and Human Services – not the CDC. Researchers and health officials fear that White House-controlled data will not reflect the growing crisis but become a political cudgel.
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Lowes and Home Depot join other major retailers by requiring masks
Lowes and Home Depot announced they would be requiring customers to wear a mask when visiting their stores.
The nationwide mandate would start at Lowes stores on Monday and at Home Depot stores on Wednesday.
Associates across all stores would also be required to wear masks when working.
A chain of retail stores requiring masks heightened this week after Walmart announced it would require face shields at all of its stores. This encouraged stores like Target, CVS, Kroger and Kohl's to make similar mandates.
White House bars CDC officials from testifying at House hearing next week
The White House has reportedly barred officials at the Centres of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from speaking at House's Committee on Education & Labour.
Chairman Bobby Scott invited CDC Director Dr Robert Redfield to testify in front of the committee about how to safely reopen schools amid the coronavirus pandemic. But the committee later reported the director was barred from attending.
"It is alarming that the Administration is preventing the CDC from appearing before the Committee at a time when its expertise and guidance is so critical to the health and safety of students, parents, and educators," Mr Scott said about the move by the White House.
Donald Trump has put pressure on schools recently to reopen come the fall and even threatened to pull federal funding for schools if they did not hold in-person classes.
Conservative talk radio host Dianna Ploss fired for demanding workers speak English
A conservative radio show host lost her job after she filmed herself telling landscapers to speak English.
Dianna Ploss, a supporter of Donald Trump and conservative talk radio host in New Hampshire, filmed herself berating a man for speaking Spanish while he was working.
Ms Ploss was on the way to her radio station when she overheard a landscaper speaking Spanish. She began filming herself and started harassing the workers.
Graig Graziosi reports:
Scientists are researching if people can become reinfected with coronavirus
Scientists and clinicians around the world are researching whether someone who previously had Covid-19 could become reinfected by the novel virus, according to Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organisation's technical lead on coronavirus response>
The information was revealed during a press briefing on Friday.
"What we understand from people who are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the virus that causes Covid-19, is that they will develop an immune response. They will develop antibodies, neutralizing antibodies, and an immune response that will provide some protection against reinfection," Ms Van Kerkhove said.
"What we don't know right is how strong that protection is and for how long that protection will last. And we need answers to those questions to be able to determine if someone can be reinfected after that immunity wears off. So this is an area of active, active research for the specific SARS-CoV-2," she added.
'Let's go!': Trump gets angry when pushed on Biden claims of defunding the police
Donald Trump sat down with Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace for an interview, which will air this Sunday. In a sneak peak of the interview, Mr Trump was asked about the increase in gun violence in cities like New York City and Chicago.
Mr Trump claimed it was because Democrats were in charge of those cities, but Mr Wallace pointed out that they have been in charge of those cities for years, so that wouldn't explain the sudden increase now.
"It was always bad but now it has gone totally out of control. And it is really because they want to defund the police. Biden wants to defund the police," the president claimed.
The Fox News host challenged that claim by saying that Joe Biden does not want to defund the police. But Mr Trump was not having the explanation.
"He signed a charter with Bernie Sanders," the president said.
"Which says nothing about defunding the police," Mr Wallace added.
"Oh really? Let's go! Get me the charter," Mr Trump said before the short clip ended.
The full interview will air on Sunday.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls White House Press Secretary 'Karen' following insult at briefing
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called Kayleigh McEnany "Karen" in response to an insult the Press Secretary made against her in a White House briefing.
At a press briefing on Thursday Ms McEnany branded Mayor Lightfoot "the derelict mayor of Chicago" when answering a question on police brutality.
"Hey, Karen. Watch your mouth," Mayor Lightfoot tweeted in response.
Louise Hall with the full report:
It's all over. America has lost its battle with coronavirus
John T Bennett with his analysis of the coronavirus pandemic in the US:
Judge orders Trump administartion to accept new DACA applications
Nearly a month after a US Supreme Court ruling blocked the White House's attempts to dismantle a program granting legal status to people who entered the country illegally as children, Donald Trump's administration has been ordered to accept new applications.
US District Judge Paul Grimm ruled on Friday that the program must be restored to prior to the administration's attempt to terminate the Obama-era policy in 2017. That would allow thousands of qualifying immigrants to apply.
"We are extremely pleased and excited by Judge Grimm's order, but it's really just effectuating the decision the Supreme Court made a month ago," said Nick Katz, senior manager of legal services at CASA, which filed the lawsuit. "I hope this order makes it clear to ... that they can't delay any longer. They need to reopen the program."
The president has recently insisted that his administration was reworking DACA and introducing a "merit-based" immigration plan.
Record set – again – for daily cases reported to WHO
The World Health Organisation announced that 237,743 new coronavirus cases were collected within the last 24 hours, breaking another daily case record last set just days ago.
Daily cases reported to WHO have reached 13.6 million. (Johns Hopkins University puts the global total at 13.9 million.)
The previous daily record from WHO was set on Sunday, with 230,370 new cases.
White House blocks CDC testimony on reopening schools
The White House has blocked Centres for Disease Control and Prevention chief Robert Redfield and other CDC officials from appearing before a House committee next week, a move that follows the administration's clashed with health officials over its demands that schools reopen amid a raging public health crisis and fears that students, teachers and staff are at risk of infection.
Donald Trump has threatened to pull funding from schools that refuse to reopen in a traditional sense this term, recently calling it a "terrible decision", while Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has suggested that the administration does not have any significant plans in the event of an outbreak.
The CDC has delayed issuing its revised guidelines for schools after pushback from the White House.
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