LIVE BLOG: daily COVID Taskforce briefing – for want of a nail buffing the country was lost

Live Blog below

5:30* PM EDT (it rarely starts on time)

Members of the Coronavirus Task Force Hold a Press Briefing

The White House

Texas Lt. Gov. @DanPatrick, defending reopening & risking more virus, said “There are more important things than living.” He did not specify exactly what things.

When the https://t.co/DtaaH34Eu4. of Texas says there are things "more important than living", like "saving this country for my children and my grandchildren," he means "preventing Republican defeats at the ballot box at all costs, including letting people die."

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) April 21, 2020

NEW: Officials in hard-hit Albany, Georgia, are concerned after Gov. Brian Kemp said he's lifting some of the state’s restrictions on businesses: "Social distancing cannot be maintained in a barber shop, in a beauty shop or in a nail salon." https://t.co/6JGp6wQbbQ pic.twitter.com/fy8QnK3kDK
— ABC News (@ABC) April 21, 2020

https://twitter.com/Politidope/status/1252691059911647233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Keep up the drum beat:

▪️ What did Trump do in February?
▪️ What did he do, aside from going to rallies, weddings, fundraising events, playing golf, and praising China’s President Xi?
▪️ Why did Trump waste the whole of February?#ImpeachedPresidentTrump pic.twitter.com/fcfsb4gvYj
— Andrea Junker (@Strandjunker) April 21, 2020

Must have been honest.
— Charles (@greywan) April 21, 2020

(CNN) The director of the agency responsible for leading the charge on the production and purchase of vaccines in the Trump administration is no longer leading the agency as of Tuesday, CNN has confirmed.

Dr. Rick Bright had led the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which has been central to the response to the coronavirus outbreak, since 2016. An acting director has taken over in his position, though the reason behind Bright’s sudden departure is still unclear.

The move was first reported by STAT News.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Bright’s move in a statement to CNN and said he will now lead a new government project: a public-private partnership on vaccine development and treatment.

🚨BREAKING: Study of 368 patients finds that @realDonaldTrump's favorite drug #hydroxychloroquine (±azithromycin) had NO BENEFIT for #coronavirus patients, and there were MORE DEATHS in #COVID19 patients treated with #hydroxychloroquine vs standard care.💥https://t.co/nxU5s6ZLaA
— Dena Grayson, MD, PhD (@DrDenaGrayson) April 21, 2020

NEW: Coronavirus testing needs to expand, but it depends on having enough swabs and reagents. But what, exactly, are these test materials and why has it been so hard to get them? Our report: https://t.co/LCugi5w44R

— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) April 21, 2020

William Barr has become the full, blooming, odiferous flower of reeking corruption—the hacko di tutti hacki of all AGs. https://t.co/AIZab1wKsX
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) April 21, 2020

The bipartisan deal is about double the $250B Senate Republicans tried to jam through on their own 10 days ago.

It includes a lot more money for small biz + $100B hospitals/testing.

Total package is ballpark $480B.
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) April 21, 2020

Lot of things still on the table for what could be a truly mammoth next package.
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) April 21, 2020

Chart shows which entities Americans believe will benefit from the $2 trillion relief package. Majorities say it will help large and small businesses, unemployed people, states and localities. But just 46% say it'll help their own household. https://t.co/63h7eF856u pic.twitter.com/YbDvpLEZEd
— John Gramlich (@johngramlich) April 21, 2020

https://twitter.com/blakesmustache/status/1252620940128800768?

Burr's comment rebuffs this line from the House's 2018 report:

"(U) Finding #16: The Intelligence Community Assessment judgments on Putin's strategic intentions did not employ proper analytic tradecraft."
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 21, 2020

Bipartisan Senate report backs the intelligence community's assessment that Russia interfered to help Donald Trump in 2016 election https://t.co/krYGsf60nx pic.twitter.com/P4oYhWi28v
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 21, 2020

Washington (CNN)

A bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence committee released on Tuesday has backed the US intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 Presidential election to help then-candidate Donald Trump.

The committee’s findings are a rebuke to Trump’s frequent claims of a “hoax” that Russia was trying to help him win and the President’s attacks on the intelligence community. The panel concluded that the Obama administration’s assessment on Russian election interference was crafted without political bias, undercutting the President’s claims that officials like former CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were using the intelligence community to attack him.

Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr said in a statement that the assessment reflected “strong tradecraft” and “sound analytical reasoning.”

“The Committee found no reason to dispute the Intelligence Community’s conclusions,” Burr said.

Putin leverages coronavirus chaos to make a direct play to Trump

The committee has previously summarized its finding that the intelligence assessment was supported, but the 156-page report included new details — and a lot of redactions — on how the committee reached that conclusion. The report pushed back against the findings of House Intelligence Committee Republicans, who raised issues in 2018 with how the intelligence assessment was reached that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to help Trump.

www.cnn.com/…

John Kerry: "Even when [Trump] says he shut down China, 435,000 people continued to come in on airplanes." pic.twitter.com/neyePN5sbn
— The Hill (@thehill) April 21, 2020

AP Investigation: At least eight publicly traded firms received a maximum $10 million loan from a relief fund meant for help small businesses through the coronavirus. https://t.co/EiKcodALjC
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 21, 2020

It's not enough for Trump to refuse to help on testing — now he is attacking Governors tackling this problem. https://t.co/bGr8O54leL
— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) April 21, 2020

My 70 year old mother made Trump press conference bingo cards. I like “no one could have known.” And I also like that her khaki panted legs make a cameo. pic.twitter.com/O8yCQVKU0d
— Michelle Biloon (she/her) (@biloon) April 21, 2020

Nurses read names at White House of colleagues who died of covid-19 – The Washington Post https://t.co/xCAQp8eFkr
— Kremlin Annex (@KremlinAnnex) April 21, 2020

Hell yeah, boss! Let’s abuse some power! https://t.co/3zpKZxh1Be
— Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) April 21, 2020

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