Trump news: Furious president claims 'total authority' to reopen states and screens video of people praising him
Donald Trump says he has no plans to sack immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci from the White House coronavirus task force despite retweeting a post from a failed Republican congressional candidate that included the hashtag “#FireFauci”.
Meanwhile the White House has blamed Democrats and the media for "ignoring" the virus threats despite reports revealing how Mr Trump repeatedly ignored dire warnings for several weeks, as early as January, while the president claimed on Monday he has "total authority" to force states to abandon their quarantine efforts as he looks to re-open the economy.
The president otherwise spent his Easter Sunday firing out angry tweets against the media, laying into Fox News anchor Chris Wallace and being accused of “third grade name-calling” for his trouble, as he told Americans he was “working hard to expose” press coverage he disputes regarding his response to the current crisis, the proclamation coming as the US death toll from Covid-19 passed 22,000.
Dr Fauci has said that there would "obviously" be fewer deaths if the US had been more prepared, but is claiming that the country could be ready for "rolling re-entry" from the start of next month as the US prepares to end the quarantine measures that have stalled the economy in recent weeks and seen 17m Americans apply for unemployment benefits.
During a White House briefing on Monday, he defended the administration's response and clarified his remarks were "taken as a way that maybe something was at fault here".
In his attempt to dismiss a timeline of pandemic warnings from as early as January, revealed in reports that the president called a "total fake", Mr Trump showed reporters a video — set to inspirational orchestral music — with his own version of events that downplayed the threat in the US.
Asked why he made reporters watch a campaign-like video promoting his own response to an outbreak that has killed thousands of people in the US, the president said he did it to "correct" the "fake news".
He also lashed out at a reporter ("you know you're a fake") and others who pressed him on what the administration did in February after putting in place the travel restrictions on China in January. It was one of the last things the White House did until March, while the president contradicted health officials and claimed that the virus would be wiped out within weeks.
His attempts on Monday to bolster the administration's to the crisis arrives as millions of Americans are expected to begin receiving $1,200 as direct deposits following the passage of a $1tn congressional relief package.
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