"She also is a Rhodes scholar," Trump's
@PressSec
says of Amy Coney Barrett, who did not receive a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford, but instead received her BA from Rhodes College in Tennessee.
Fauci to CNN: "I'm actually disturbed and concerned about the fact that our baseline of infections is still stuck at 40,000 cases a day. That's no place to be."
McEnany ends her first press briefing in weeks by telling CNN's
@kaitlancollins
: "I don't call on activists." (She'd just called on
@ChanelRion
.)
Collins replied: "That's not doing your job, your taxpayer-funded job."
Pfizer says it has "millions more doses" of its vaccine waiting in a warehouse for the U.S. government to tell it where to send it, via
@TheTerminal
.
"As of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses," Pfizer said.
(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lowered its forecast for U.S. economic growth after Senator Joe Manchin said Sunday he won’t support the $2 trillion tax-and-spending plan that’s the heart of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.
The White House -- after holding a big outdoor signing ceremony this week, only rarely wearing masks and traveling to big rallies, some of them indoors -- is now declining comment on reports that members of the administration have tested positive for the virus.
Canada released a report on legal weed today. The authors needed a way to compare the maximum size of a licensed "micro-cultivation" area.
And lo, in all its Canadian glory:
In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!
Annnnnnnnnnnd Trump's rally is again playing 'Fortunate Son' at tonight's rally -- a song sharply critical of powerful people who avoided serving in Vietnam, like Trump did.
I wrote about the song's author being dumbfounded Trump was using it:
Tucker Carlson is distancing himself from Trump sharply tonight -- saying that Trump is on his way out and that Trump only thinks about Trump. He told his viewers that they should ask themselves: who's thinking about them?
Channeling Trump populism into his own, in other words.
President Trump has departed the White House. They haven't said where he's going (but it all suggests golf).
The secret service positioned their SUVs on an angle to block photographers' shot. They don't usually do that.
The U.S. has said, and is reiterating this morning (Kirby just now on CNN), that the aircraft left behind were left inoperable, fwiw. "They can look all they want but they can't fly them," Kirby told CNN.
I should add: Coney Barrett graduated summa cum laude from Notre Dame and was the top student in her law class there, per the school.
In other words, she's not someone who needs some, er, topspin on her academic credentials.
The latest: no network has called Pennsylvania or the race yet. Trump's still pledging a legal fight. Vote counts are still rolling in, and are not done. But:
Pennsylvania: Biden's up 12,497.
Georgia: Biden's up 1,557.
Arizona: Biden's up 43,779.
Nevada: Biden's up 20,137.
Biden, half off stage, circles back to a shouted question about if he's concerned about inauguration: "I am not concerned about my safety, my security or my inauguration. I am not concerned. The American people are going to stand up, and stand up now. Enough is enough is enough."
Biden's team keeps saying Trump left them literally no plan on Covid -- but they inherited a vaccination program already meeting their target, kept some of the same people and are pledging much of the same stuff. It's complicated.
With
@rileyraygriffin
:
Biden’s public schedule tomorrow:
- Oval Office meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (11 am)
- Oval Office meeting with Fed Chair Jay Powell on inflation (1:15 pm)
- Meeting megagroup BTS privately on addressing anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination (3 pm)
Trump, a hotelier at heart, announces a press conference at Philadelphia's "Four Seasons" at 11, before specifying it's at Four Seasons Total Landscaping at 11:30.
Good morning! Here's the latest.
Georgia: Biden took the lead overnight and is up by 1,096. It'll be close, no matter what.
Pennsylvania: Trump leads by 22,473. It's narrowing.
Arizona: Biden leads by 47,052. It's narrowing.
Nevada: Biden leads by 11,438. More data at noon.
Biden is handing each Coast Guard Academy graduate their commission scroll as they cross the stage, and is taking a photo with each one. There are 240 graduates.
The Clark County registrar is saying that he personally spoke with the woman that the Trump campaign featured at a press conference -- who said she tried to vote and was told she already had -- and that officials looked at her mail ballot and believe its signature is hers.
Canada's PM, commenting on the mob that swarmed the Capitol: “What we witnessed was an assault on democracy by violent rioters, incited by the current president and other politicians."
President Biden and the First Lady called Al Roker while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from Nantucket.
(Photo via the White House; the press pool wasn’t brought in.)
(Bloomberg) -- Western nations are set to enact drastic new sanctions that would cripple Russia’s economy and financial system after initial penalties failed to deter Putin. A common decision -- and coordinated announcement -- on SWIFT is likely on Sunday.
Trump in Erie, PA: "Before the plague came in, I had it made. I wasn't coming to Erie. I mean, I have to be honest: there's no way I was coming. I didn't have to. I would have called you and said `hey Erie, you know, if you have a chance get out and vote.' We had this thing won."
Biden's administration has announced that it will increase the Medicare reimbursement for giving the Covid shot to $40, from $23, to further incentivize providers to deliver it.
The trendlines are basically: Biden is looking good in Pennsylvania.
Georgia is going to be tight, regardless.
It's not clear whether Trump's gaining in Arizona at the pace he needs to catch Biden (and Fox stands by its call of the state for Biden).
Nevada:🐢.
I've asked the White House for a response, needless to say.
Two days ago,
@PressSec
said there will be another 4 million Pfizer vaccine doses shipped on Friday. (It's unclear whether that's the same batch that Pfizer is referring to.)
.
@mcuban
tells me he'd vote for Biden over Trump.
“If they were having his last wake, and it was him versus Trump, and he was being given last rites, I would still vote for Joe Biden,” he said. He voted for Haley in the primary, too.
SCOOP: Biden will announce today that 90% of U.S. adults will be eligible for the vaccine by April 19, and that the U.S. will more than double the number of pharmacies where people can get a shot by then. Story link to come.
After the president encouraged people to vote by mail in North Carolina, then try to vote in person to test whether it counted, the NC state board of elections has now felt the need to say: "It is illegal to vote twice in an election."
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden will announce plans Monday to combat the market power of the giant conglomerates that dominate meat and poultry processing, ratcheting up a months-long campaign that has blamed anti-competitive practices for contributing to surging inflation.
New: Biden has hairline fractures in his foot, per a statement from Dr. Kevin O’Connor via the campaign.
“It is anticipated that he will likely require a walking boot for several weeks," O'Connor says in the statement.
Trump today: “China's now paying us billions of dollars in tariffs and hopefully we'll be able to work something out. We'll be having an announcement tonight, after close of market and that will take place—pretty comprehensive statement. Kevin may speak and Larry may speak.”
Trump is receiving the 2019 bipartisan justice award here, for the passage of the First Step Act.
The award "will be at a very high level at the Oval Office -- a place called the Oval Office," Trump says, to cheers.
SCOOP: The FDA is set to authorize the Covid-19 treatment pills from *both* Pfizer and Merck. An announcement is expected this week. It would open up two significant treatment options for severe cases. A big milestone.
With
@JenniferJJacobs
and
@RobertLangreth
on
@TheTerminal
.
Meanwhile, both Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff have surpassed the threshold required to avoid a recount in the Georgia Senate races.
Perdue and Loeffler haven't conceded yet.
Trump has arrived at the Trump Tower and hotel here in Chicago for a fundraiser. This is as close as the pool has gotten to the ongoing protests. Many streets closed.
Ric Grenell is now speaking about the Trump camp's latest lawsuit, in Nevada. A local journalist there asked Grenell his name; Grenell scowled at him, didn't say and just kept talking.
Great to speak to President
@JoeBiden
this evening. I look forward to deepening the longstanding alliance between our two countries as we drive a green and sustainable recovery from COVID-19.
Background, obvs: Trump is unpopular in Canada, Trudeau's voter base is a center-left coalition, & he tends to imply critique without explicitly critiquing Trump (and sending his gov't back through the Nafta/232 negotiation gauntlet). It's his brand of nudge-and-wink realpolitik.
Biden says he spoke with Jimmy Carter last night. He thanks the other presidents in attendance, including Bush. (He has not yet mentioned the only other living ex-president, who of course is not there: Trump.)
Four hours after calling off stimulus talks because he thought Pelosi wanted too much, Trump now tweets apparent agreement with the Fed chair about the need for more stimulus and the low risk of going overboard.
Trump legal adviser Jenna Ellis, speaking after Giuliani and Powell: "This is an elite strike force team that is working on behalf of the president and the campaign."
Former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell has been sued for defamation by Dominion, the voting-machine company she repeatedly placed at the center of a vast and unfounded election conspiracy,
@eelarson
reports via
@TheTerminal
.
OK, the latest: no network has called the race yet. Biden just gave a speech saying basically he's getting ready to take the reins. Court fights abound.
Votes:
Pennsylvania: Biden's up 28,833.
Arizona: Biden's up 29,861.
Georgia: Biden's up 4,395.
Nevada: Biden's up 22,657.
Interesting to generally see American progressives applaud this response (saying basically: the pause says it all!) and Canadian progressives and others criticize Trudeau for fouling off the pitch (saying basically: the pause and the answer that followed said nothing at all).
At one point during a lengthy pool spray shortly ago in the Cabinet Room, Trump got irritated when a (visibly pregnant) reporter from NBC,
@HallieJackson
, slipped quietly out of the room.
He said NBC is worse than CNN, and that he made lots of money for NBC with The Apprentice.
Trump is repeating his false claim that he asked Shinzo Abe for car plants and that, poof, 5 Japanese auto makers are now building plants in Michigan.
He said the same thing in Michigan. The actual number of Japanese plants being built there is 0:
tl;dr: the Trump campaign is suing in Nevada to "stop the counting of improper votes," but hasn't actually sued yet, and held a bizarre-even-by-Vegas-standards news conference where Trump advisers declined to identify themselves to local press & said they wouldn't take questions.
The U.S. recorded 1.1 million vaccine shots in today's data, Covid adviser Jeff Zients says during a briefing. That's the highest single-day total since July 3rd, he says.
Ok, the latest:
Georgia: Trump's lead is 2,497 and the count is trickling in. Biden could take lead soon.
Pennsylvania: Trump's lead is 48,751. Data trickling in.
Arizona: Biden's lead is 46,257. Next data expected tomorrow.
Nevada: Biden's lead is 11,438. More tomorrow.
Speaking to CNN, Dr. Fauci was asked if he's been at all involved in Trump's care.
"I think it's obvious that I have not been involved," Fauci replies.
He adds that Dr. Conley is a very good physician and is very qualified.
The
@CDCDirector
is (barely) holding back tears as she warns of "impending doom" as Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are rising again. She's begging people to hold on a while longer and keep up mitigation measures.
Minutes after suing to stop counting in Pennsylvania (with 1.1 million ballots uncounted), Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien says on a press call that "we are declaring a victory in Pennsylvania."
Trump spokesman
@TimMurtaugh
responds, downplaying the development: "He filed a very detailed affidavit, he named names, he described explicitly what it is that he experienced, and we don't know what kind of pressure he has been under since he publicly made those statements."
BREAKING NEWS: Erie, Pa.
#USPS
whistleblower completely RECANTED his allegations of a supervisor tampering with mail-in ballots after being questioned by investigators, according to IG.
THREAD:
Today, the U.S. recorded another 2.6 million vaccine doses administered, per CDC data. That pushes them over Biden's goal of administering 100 million shots early in his presidency, as he announced yesterday.
(He'd said he'd do so in 100 days, it was done in 58.)
Canadians are calling it C-Day. On Wednesday, Canada will legalize recreational cannabis use across the country. I'll be live on Periscope at 3 p.m. ET tomorrow at a pot lounge in Toronto, answering your questions & giving you a look at the festivities. Tweet me your questions.
The White House press pool is being called for an unscheduled event in the West Wing, per
@JenniferJJacobs
. Looks like Trump wants to talk after markets got hammered again today.
.
@jrpsaki
is asked if Biden will keep Trump's paintjob for the new Air Force Once planes (left) or revert to the current look on the existing planes (right). She says she doesn't know but will poke around.
The latest:
MICHIGAN: Biden leading by 12,000 votes, 90% reporting.
WISCONSIN: Biden leading by 21,000 votes, 97% reporting.
NEVADA: Biden leading by 8,000 votes, 86% reporting.
PENNSVYLANIA: Trump leading by 589,000 votes, just 76% reporting.
In the past 24 hours, the total of confirmed cases now includes President Trump, the first lady, a senior White House aide, two Republican senators who sit on the judiciary committee and the head of the University of Notre Dame.
All have links to Saturday's White House event.