Trump news: CDC accuses administration of ‘muzzling’ science as Pelosi calls president a child with ‘doggy doo’ on his shoes

AFP via Getty Images
AFP via Getty Images

Nancy Pelosi has doubled down on her attacks against Donald Trump by saying that the president and his aides have "doggy doo" on their shoes when speaking to CNN.

After the House Speaker called Mr Trump "morbidly obese" over concerns that he is at risk of dangerous side effects for daily dosages of hydroxychloroquine to prevent coronavirus infection, which is not proven, the president called her "sick" and claimed she has "mental problems".

After White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the president's use of the drug, he said he would finish his regimen in "one or two days".

Officials with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention also have accused the president of "muzzling" science in favour of politics while handling his administration's response to the pandemic.

The latest battles follow the president's claim on Tuesday that the US taking the lead in global coronavirus infections — currently 1.56m and more than 92,250 deaths — is a "badge of honour" and claimed that it's "common sense" that the US is simply testing more people than others, though the nation is still far behind in per capita rates of tests.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation recorded its highest-ever one-day total of new infections — more than 106,000 — coming from four countries, though the organisation didn't name them.

The president also dangerously and falsely claimed that Michigan sending out absentee ballot applications was "done illegally" but wasn't able to answer why. (His own review committee investigating voter fraud has failed to find any.)

A federal judge has meanwhile allowed a lawsuit to press ahead that accuses the president and his family business of collaborating with a fraudulent marketing scheme “to enrich themselves by systematically defrauding economically marginalised people looking to invest in their educations, start their own small business and pursue the American dream”.

While the president and his allies continue to press "Obamagate" conspiracies and undermine the results of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, the US Supreme Court has agreed to temporarily block the full, unredacted Mueller report from release while William Barr's Justice Department appeals a court decision that allows it.

Meanwhile, a figure central to the report, the president's former personal attorney Michael Cohen, who is working on a "tell-all" book and whose attorney suggested more dirt on the president could be coming, could be released from prison as early as this week to finish his sentence at home.

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