Trump: Blue states are dragging their feet to hurt me

Reopen season

Some states are not moving as fast as others to ease coronavirus shutdown restrictions. Is it because the risk of reopening too soon could set off new flare-ups of COVID-19, which has killed more than 80,000 Americans? Or is the motive, as President Donald Trump insinuated Monday, to hurt him and Republicans on Election Day?

"The Democrats are moving slowly, all over the USA, for political purposes. They would wait until November 3rd if it were up to them," Trump tweeted in the morning. At an afternoon news conference, Trump named Pennsylvania, whose governor is Democrat Tom Wolf, in saying "there seems to be no effort on certain blue states to get back into gear." The Keystone State has the fifth-highest number of coronavirus-related deaths in the country, with 3,731 as of Monday, but some of its county governments are defying Wolf and moving to reopen.

Whether testing around the country is up to the task remains in dispute. Trump insisted Monday his administration has “met the moment” and “prevailed” in making enough available. Americans "should all be able to get a test right now,” the president said. Officials later clarified that “everybody who needs a test can get a test.” Whether that is true depends in part on the definition of "needs."

Trump said of Americans: "For the most part they shouldn't want to get tested. There's no reason. They feel good, they don't have sniffles, they don't have sore throats, they don't have any problem." But people without symptoms can have the virus and spread it, which is why the White House is testing everyone who comes into contact with Trump.

Trump's testing coordinator, Adm. Dr. Brett Giroir, said U.S. testing capacity is still building up and "we are starting to have asymptomatic surveillance," which will require 3 million tests a week.

Only on Monday did the administration believe it had enough tests to mount a nationwide testing campaign to address death rates in nursing homes and other senior care facilities. The guideline calls for every nursing home occupant and staffer be tested for COVID-19 in the next two weeks, with vigilant monitoring, especially of staff, going forward.

Trump said coronavirus numbers "are coming down very rapidly all throughout the country.” But NBC News reported that an unreleased White House report shows infection rates are spiking to new highs in several metropolitan areas and smaller communities across the country. More than 20,000 new cases have been announced almost every day in recent weeks, keeping the U.S. on a downward plateau instead of the sharp descent that scientists had hoped for, according to The New York Times.

Pence keeps his distance

While his office says he's not self-quarantining, Vice President Mike Pence stayed away from Trump's news conference. Pence also stayed away from the White House over the weekend, and Trump said they have not met in person since the vice president's press secretary tested positive for coronavirus.

"We can talk on the phone,” Trump said.

Pence was at the White House Monday and participated in a teleconference with the nation's governors from an isolated room. Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, was on the call from the usual spot in the Situation Room.

In the meantime, the president ordered staff and visitors in the West Wing to wear masks if not alone at their office desks. The order doesn't apply to Trump. "I'm not close to anybody," he said.

Janison: Glass house

The intrusion of coronavirus inside the White House is creating bad political optics for Trump, writes Newsday's Dan Janison. For starters, Trump's reported anger with his staff after one of his valets tested positive reinforces the image of a privileged man who is quick to blame the help when something goes wrong.

Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNN over the weekend that the West Wing is "a relatively cramped space" where it is hazardous to work, "even with all the testing in the world and the best medical team on Earth." Most employers, of course, do not have access to "all the testing in the world."

If Trump is worried for his own health, there's good reason. The president is 73 years old and overweight, making him statistically more vulnerable than some others around him. Even a brief illness would look bad in a presidential campaign, considering how Trump's camp made use of Hillary Clinton's bout with pneumonia in 2016 and spread rumors of far-worse health issues.

Asian American reporter targeted?

As he's done before, Trump on Monday rattled off stats to argue that the U.S. is the world's best for coronavirus testing. That prompted CBS correspondent Weijia Jiang to ask why it matters to him to frame testing as a "global competition" when more Americans are dying of or coming down with the virus.

"Maybe that's a question you should ask China," Trump said in his response, with a contemptuous tone. "Don't ask me. Ask China that question. OK?"

Trump tried to move on to take a question from Kaitlan Collins of CNN, but Collins held back so Jiang could ask a follow-up: "Sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically? That I should ask China." Trump denied he was asking Jiang "specifically," adding, "I'm saying it to anybody that would ask a nasty question like that."

Then Trump refused to take a question from Collins. When the CNN reporter persisted in trying, he ended the news conference and stalked off. (See a video clip.)

Trump has berated and belittled Jiang in past encounters. The CBS reporter was born in China, brought to the U.S. by her immigrant parents at age 2 and raised in West Virginia.

More coronavirus news

See a roundup of the latest pandemic developments from Long Island and beyond by Newsday's reporting staff, written by Bart Jones. For a full list of Newsday's coronavirus stories, click here.

Crime and puzzlement: Obama did what?

Since the Justice Department moved to drop charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Trump has stepped up accusations that former President Barack Obama is guilty of some sort of crime that resulted in the Russia investigation. But he hasn't come through with any particulars.

Trump tweeted over the weekend about "Obamagate" as "biggest political crime in American history, by far!" He was asked at his news conference what he was talking about, and whether the Justice Department should prosecute Obama.

Trump's answer: “Obamagate. It’s been going on for a long time. It’s a disgrace that it happened. And if you look at what’s gone on and if you look at now all of this information that’s being released, and from what I understand that’s only the beginning, some terrible things happened.”

Pressed by a Washington Post reporter on what specific crime he’s referencing, Trump said, “You know what the crime is, the crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers, except yours.” Trump added: “You’ll be seeing what’s going on in the coming weeks.”

Boos spill over Barr

Nearly 2,000 former Justice Department and FBI officials on Monday signed an open letter calling on Attorney General William Barr to resign over his decision to abandon the prosecution of Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with a Russian diplomat.

“Our democracy depends on a Department of Justice that acts as an independent arbiter of equal justice, not as an arm of the president’s political apparatus,” the group wrote.

A former Justice Department official, Mary B. McCord, said Barr "twisted" her words from a 2017 testimony to make it sound like she didn't believe there was a counterintelligence justification for the Flynn investigation.

Another former prosecutor, Jonathan Kravis, broke his silence over his decision to quit the Justice Department after Barr's move three months ago to buck the team of career prosecutors he was on and seek a lighter sentencing recommendation for longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone, who was convicted of obstruction of justice and witness tampering. In a Washington Post op-ed, Kravis wrote that the Flynn decision was another example in which the department "political patronage ahead of its commitment to the rule of law."

Kravis added that "in both cases, the department undercut the work of career employees to protect an ally of the president, an abdication of the commitment to equal justice under the law."

What else is happening:

• Joe Biden wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that Trump is presenting a "false choice" to Americans. "He hopes to split the country into dueling camps, casting Democrats as doomsayers hoping to keep America grounded and Republicans as freedom fighters trying to liberate the economy," the presumptive Democratic nominee wrote. With testing a key, "Trump should be working to get Americans the same necessary protections he has gotten for himself," Biden said.
• White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Monday mocked media’s coverage of the 14.7% unemployment rate in April. “That was a pity party yesterday on the Sunday shows … This is not the Great Depression,” Navarro complained on “Fox and Friends.”
• Senate Republicans are concerned that Trump's handling of the pandemic has put their majority in danger, The Hill reports. Polls show GOP incumbents losing in Montana, Colorado and Arizona. Seats once thought safe in Iowa, Maine and North Carolina are now toss-ups.
• Democrats are making moves to have the option of a virtual presidential nominating convention this August, authorizing organizers to design an event that won’t require delegates to attend in person.
• Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said she plans to follow a “modified quarantine” after she was exposed during a White House visit last week to the Pence staff member who tested positive for COVID-19.
• Former CDC chief Dr. Thomas Frieden told The New York Times that he’s worried about shutdown-easing decisions driven by election concerns. “We’re reopening based on politics, ideology and public pressure. And I think it’s going to end badly,” said Frieden, who served in the Obama administration.
• A Pennsylvania factory that makes medical personal protective equipment asked the White House to postpone a Trump visit initially planned for last Friday because they worried the president and his large entourage could jeopardize both the safety of the workers and the plant’s operations, The Washington Post reported.
• Trump and Biden raised almost the same amounts in April — $61.7 million vs. $60.5 million — but Biden is far behind in cash on hand, Politico reports.