Trump news – live: Fauci responds to White House attacks as Oklahoma governor tests positive for coronavirus
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Your support makes all the difference.Dr Anthony Fauci responded to White House's "bizarre" attacks against the coronavirus taskforce head, saying it ultimately hurts the president.
Donald Trump distanced himself from the op-ed in USA Today, saying it was written by Peter Navarro and that he had a good relationship with Dr Fauci.
It came as Oklahoma's Kevin Stitt becomes first US governor announced that he had tested positive for Covid-19.
Trump, meanwhile, appeared to avoid a Twitter hack that targeted presidential candidates Joe Biden and Kanye West, as well as other high-profile politicians and business leaders like Barack Obama and Elon Musk.
Follow the latest updates below:
Fauci calls White House efforts to discredit him 'bizarre'
“Ultimately, it hurts the president to do that,” Dr Fauci said in an interview with The Atlantic.
Trump’s lawyers intend to continue fighting to keep his tax returns secret
A week after losing a Supreme Court ruling, President Donald Trump’s lawyers said on Wednesday that they’re considering challenging a subpoena for his tax records by criminal prosecutors.
The challenge would be on grounds that it’s a fishing expedition or a form of harassment or retaliation against him.
The plans were outlined in a letter to a Manhattan federal judge overseeing legal squabbles related to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr’s request to Trump’s longtime accountant for eight years of the president’s personal and corporate tax records in a criminal probe.
Mr Vance is seeking the records in part for a probe of payments that Trump’s then-personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, arranged during the 2016 presidential race to keep the porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal from airing their claims of extramarital affairs with Trump. Trump has denied the affairs.
Mr Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to campaign finance and lying to Congress, among other crimes.
A hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
(AP)
Wheels down in Atlanta
The president has arrived in Atlanta and was greeted by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and First Lady of Georgia Marty Kemp, as well as Representative Doug Collins, Representative Rick Allen, and Richard Woods, Georgia State School Superintendent.
All wore masks except for the president.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, third from left, greets President Donald arrives at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Wednesday, July 15, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
RBG discharged from hospital
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been discharged from the hospital, and is home and doing well, according to a court statement — Reuters
She was admitted on Tuesday for treatment for a possible infection.
Modernising Federal environmental reviews to accelerate America’s infrastructure development
“By streamlining infrastructure approvals, we’ll further expand America’s unprecedented economic boom.” - President Donald J Trump
According to a release from the White House press office, the president intends to:
- Take action to right-size the Federal government's environmental review process
- Streamline infrastructure approvals that he says have historically been far too complex, costly, and time consuming
- Cut red tape to reverse years of burdensome overregulation and administrative use, simultaneously ensuring meaningful environmental reviews and spurring economic growth.
We'll bring you our senior climate correspondent's take on the announcement shortly.
Meadows says Trump did not approve Navarro op-ed
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows tells reporters that the president did not approve Pete Navarro's op-ed in USA Today and underlined that Trump has said publicly that he should not have written it.
New polling numbers
The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal polling numbers do not make good reading for the Trump campaign.
Joe Biden is leading the president 51 percent to 40 per cent, and there is worse news in the battleground states.
ICYMI: What was Trump's Farsi tweet all about?
Trump earlier tweeted in Farsi a vague rebuke against Iranian executions.
Here is a closer look at what was behind the Persian tweet, which wasn't the president's first in the language.Trump tweets in Farsi to condemn 'deplorable' executions of three Iranian protestors
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