Mask war flares; Biden rips 'Neanderthal thinking'

C'mon, cave man

President Joe Biden has made bringing an end to the pandemic the most transcendently urgent goal of his term. His anger Wednesday at the governors of Texas and Mississippi for throwing precautions to the wind may have been the sharpest he has displayed from the White House.

"I think it's a big mistake," Biden told reporters in the Oval Office when he was asked about Republicans Greg Abbott of Texas and Tate Reeves of Mississippi abandoning statewide mask mandates and capacity limits at businesses. "The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that ‘In the meantime, everything's fine, take off your mask, forget it.’ It still matters," Biden said through a face mask, before noting that more than 511,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. (Watch Biden's remarks.)

Biden, who a day earlier touted good news about speeding U.S. vaccine production, urged Americans to continue following federal guidelines meant to stop the spread of the coronavirus. At a separate briefing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said the country is at a "critical nexus." While new cases have leveled off, "stamina has worn thin, fatigue is winning, and the exact measures we have taken to stop the pandemic are now too often being flagrantly ignored," she said.

"It's critical — critical, critical, critical — that they follow the science," Biden said of Americans enduring a pandemic entering its second year. "Wash your hands — hot water — do it frequently. Wear a mask and stay socially distanced. And I know you all know that. I wish the heck some of our elected officials knew it."

Reeves hit back at Biden over the "Neanderthal" crack. "Mississippians don’t need handlers. As numbers drop, they can assess their choices and listen to experts. I guess I just think we should trust Americans, not insult them," Reeves tweeted. He said Biden won't "stop us from leaning towards freedom." Abbott in a tweet insisted: "We are able to contain COVID and safely allow Texas to open 100%." (Abbott's order takes effect next week; Reeves' became effective Wednesday evening.)

Abbott and Reeves cited the increased availability of vaccines and a decline in hospitalization rates as reasons for relaxing restrictions in their states. But many major retailers and employers in their states — including Kroger, Target, Walgreens and CVS — said they're not ready to drop requirements for face coverings. Fearful of a new surge, Texas health officials said that while the crush on hospitals has eased, there is an acute shortage of staffers who aren’t already stressed out and exhausted from battling the pandemic for more than a year.

For more, see Newsday's story by Laura Figueroa Hernandez.

COVID bill's variants

In a concession to moderate Senate Democrats, Biden has agreed to narrow eligibility for a new round of $1,400 stimulus payments in his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.

Under the new structure, the checks would phase out faster for those at higher income levels. The cutoff for the full benefit would be $75,000 per year and couples earning $150,000. A partial benefit would phase out entirely for individuals earning more than $80,000 annually and couples earning more than $160,000. Under the House-passed version, the cutoffs were $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for couples.

At the same time, the White House and top Democrats stood by progressives and agreed that the Senate package would retain the $400-weekly emergency unemployment benefits included in the House-passed pandemic legislation. Moderates wanted to shrink those checks to $300.

The Senate could begin debating the bill Thursday, but Democrats faced mountains of GOP amendments and other delays that could take days to plow through. So far, Republicans have presented a unified front against the bill, but Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) didn’t rule out switching sides because her state’s tourism industry has been clobbered by the pandemic and she’s talked to administration officials about how the bill could help. "My state needs relief," she said.

Janison: Detritus of the Trump era

Donald Trump in his post-presidency life has lost his dominance over public attention as real news rises to the forefront, writes Newsday's Dan Janison. But the fallout from his chaotic term still draws interest.

An investigation from the Pentagon inspector general, impeded by Trump's staff before his departure, catalogs allegations of misbehavior against Dr. Ronny Jackson — the former White House physician Trump once tried to elevate with no clear qualification to become Veterans Affairs secretary. Jackson, a retired Navy rear admiral whose medical service for the White House began in the George W. Bush administration, made "sexual and denigrating" comments about a female subordinate and engaged in inappropriate use of alcohol, the report said. Jackson, who first became presidential physician under Barack Obama, remains on the Washington scene as a Trump-endorsed freshman congressman from Texas.

Other former Trump aides left behind evidence of fiascoes. As reported by Politico this week, former trade adviser Peter Navarro wrote a dossier falsely accusing colleague Victoria Coates, then a deputy national security adviser, of being "Anonymous," author of an op-ed and then a book depicting Trump as an erratic autocrat. Coates was banished from the White House. The real "Anonymous" — a former Homeland Security official named Miles Taylor — came forward last year.

On Wednesday, it was revealed that the Transportation Department’s inspector general asked the Justice Department in December to consider a criminal investigation of then-Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao for possible ethics violations of using her office to promote her family's shipping business. Trump officials declined.

Various ongoing investigations could ensnare Trump himself. His brief emergence at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida over the weekend just wasn't the same show as when he was in office and his policy pronouncements carried immediate relevance.

New Capitol attack feared

A crackpot QAnon theory is connected to reality-based worries of a possible far-right extremist plot to breach the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. It's being taken seriously enough that the House changed its schedule so that the chamber will no longer be in session Thursday.

"We have obtained intelligence that shows a possible plot to breach the Capitol by an identified militia group on Thursday, March 4," a statement from Capitol Police said Wednesday. The department said it is "prepared for any potential threats." Police did not identify the militia group in the statement, but online chatter identified by authorities included discussions among members of the Three Percenters, an anti-government militia group, according to The Associated Press.

March 4 is significant to QAnon and other fantasists who think Trump will rise again to power on that date. That was the original presidential Inauguration Day until 1933, when it was moved to Jan. 20 with the adoption of the 20th Amendment. Intelligence reports also pointed to March 6 as a potential date for trouble.

On Wednesday, federal agents were seeking to determine whether there was an increase in the number of hotel rooms being rented in Washington. They also were monitoring flights to the area, car rental reservations and any buses being chartered to bring groups into the capital, AP reported from a security source. Since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, the Capitol has been heavily fortified by fencing and National Guard troops supporting Capitol Police.

Guard commander: We were held back

The commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, Army Maj. Gen. William Walker, told a Senate committee that it took three hours and 19 minutes while the riot raged at the Capitol on Jan. 6 to get a green light from the Pentagon to send his troops in with appropriate equipment, and he still doesn't understand why.

Until the day before the insurrection, Walker said, he didn't need Defense Department permission to act. But a memo received on Jan. 5, as described by Walker, said "no civil disturbance equipment could be authorized unless it came from the Secretary of Defense." Walker called the memo "unusual."

On the day of the insurrection, Walker said he was "stunned" at how long it took the Army to meet then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund's request for additional forces. Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt and Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn — the brother of former Trump aide and election conspiracy-monger Mike Flynn — hesitated "because they didn't like the optics" of soldiers on the scene, Walker said. Guard troops stood by idly for hours after they were ready to go until approval finally came from then-acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, said the Guard commander.

More coronavirus news

See a roundup of the latest regional pandemic developments on Long Island and beyond by Newsday's Bart Jones and David Reich-Hale. For a full list of Newsday's coronavirus stories, click here.

What else is happening:

• Biden will wait on scheduling his first address to a joint session of Congress until after there is final action on his coronavirus relief package, press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday.
• Biden won't announce a new choice to head the Office of Management following the withdrawal of Neera Tanden's nomination this week, Psaki said. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders urged him to choose Shalanda Young, who he had nominated to be Tanden's deputy. Young also has been touted by Republicans for her past work bringing about bipartisan cooperation as staff director for the House Appropriations Committee.
• A judge has set the first tentative trial date for a defendant in the Capitol riot, scheduling Brian Cua, 18, of Milton, Georgia, to face charges on May 10 that include assaulting a police officer.
• While not claiming outright that the election was "stolen," former Vice President Mike Pence echoed false and exaggerated claims of irregularities in a column for the Daily Signal, a conservative website. He argued against a voting rights bill that Democrats were advancing in the House.
• Trump advisers are looking for alternative running mates for the ex-president if he chooses to run in 2024, Bloomberg News reported, including Black and female possibilities. Two advisers have suggested that Trump consider South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. On Tuesday, Trump issued a public endorsement for reelecting South Carolina's Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate.