Barr directs federal prosecutors to report restrictive state, local coronavirus edicts

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors across the U.S. to identify coronavirus-related restrictions from state and local governments “that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.”
The memo to U.S. attorneys directs the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan to coordinate the department’s efforts to monitor state and local policies and take action if needed.
“If a state or local ordinance crosses the line from an appropriate exercise of authority to stop the spread of COVID-19 into an overbearing infringement of constitutional and statutory protections, the Department of Justice may have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court.”
Barr’s memo comes about two weeks after the Justice Department filed a statement of interest in a civil case in Mississippi, siding with a Christian church where local officials had tried to stop Holy Week services broadcast to congregants sitting in their cars in the parking lot.
The directive also comes as many stay-at-home orders are set to expire and governors eager to rescue their economies are moving to ease restrictions meant to control the spread of the coronavirus, even as new hot spots emerge and experts warn that moving too fast could prove disastrous.
At the same time, protesters have staged demonstrations against stay-at-home orders, and in recent weeks, President Donald Trump has urged supporters to “liberate” three states led by Democratic governors.

Attorney General William Barr speaks to reporters at the Justice Department in Washington, Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, to announce results of an investigation of the shootings at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida. On Dec. 6, 2019, 21-year-old Saudi Air Force officer, 2nd Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani, opened fire at the naval base in Pensacola, killing three U.S. sailors and injuring eight other people. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Trump was asked at Monday's coronavirus briefing about the strategy behind the decision by the Justice Department.
“Well, you’d have to ask Attorney General Barr, but I think he wants to see — like everybody, he wants to see people get back and he wants to see people get back to work,” Trump said. “He doesn’t want people to be held up when there’s no reason for doing it. In some cases, perhaps it’s too strict. He wants to make sure people have the rights and they maintain the rights, very importantly.”
The Justice Department argued in the Mississippi filing that officials in Greenville appeared to be targeting religious conduct by singling churches out as the only essential service, as designated by the state of Mississippi, that may not operate despite following all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state recommendations regarding social distancing.
In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt last week, Barr said the Justice Department could support legal action against states that impose strict measures as the number of coronavirus cases begins to subside.
“The idea that you have to stay in your house is disturbingly close to house arrest,” Barr said. “I’m not saying it wasn’t justified. I’m not saying in some places it might still be justified. But it’s very onerous, as is shutting down your livelihood.”
Barr said he believes there is a sufficient basis for social distancing rules that have been put in place, but he has cautioned that there may be concern if the restrictive measures continue too long. He has said the U.S. must find a way to allow business to adapt and reopen.
“I think we have to allow people to figure out ways of getting back to work and keep their workers and customers safe,” Barr said in an interview with Fox News earlier this month. “I’m not suggesting we stop social distancing overnight. There may come a time where we have to worry less about that.”
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. The vast majority of people recover.

Trump rips ‘hostile’ media, cancels briefing, then holds press conference

Donald Trump is now fed up with the daily White House briefings that became the centerpiece of his presidency in the coronavirus era.
He bragged about the “Bachelor”-level ratings, enjoyed targeting opponents--especially network reporters--and, along with his team of advisers, would let the sessions run for as long as two hours.
In the process, Trump brushed off increasingly urgent advice from his own allies that the briefings were hurting him as they became a marathon of mixed messages, clashes with medical experts and bitter exchanges with journalists.
That advice reached a crescendo after Trump mused about finding a cure involving injecting disinfectant or ultraviolet light into the body, followed by a White House statement accusing the media of taking him out of context, followed by his declaration that his comments had been purely sarcastic.
I’ve seen plenty of instances where the press has taken joking or tongue-in-cheek lines from Trump and blown them way out of proportion. This wasn’t that. The reaction was so negative that federal health experts, state and local officials, and even Lysol, rushed out statements telling Americans not to inject bleach.
And that led to this Saturday tweet in which the president abruptly changed strategy while blaming the press:
“What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, & then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately. They get record ratings, & the American people get nothing but Fake News. Not worth the time & effort!”
That came after Trump took no questions at the Friday briefing, and the Saturday and Sunday pressers--a staple of cable news since mid-March--were canceled. So it appears, at the very least, the briefings are being cut back.
The irony is that liberal commentators at MSNBC, CNN and elsewhere have been insisting that their networks and Fox stop airing the news conference because they view Trump as peddling lies and misinformation. Now he’s using them as justification for holding fewer briefings.
To say that Trump has gotten “nothing but hostile questions” simply isn’t true. There’s no shortage of grandstanding in the briefing room, but many of the questions challenge his policies on matters like testing and ventilators, as well as why he didn’t move more quickly in some areas. The president seemed to relish these battles. And the disinfectant business didn’t start with a reporter, but with Trump speculating with two members of his task force. In tennis, that’s called an unforced error.
“When will all of the ‘reporters’ who have received Noble Prizes for their work on Russia, Russia, Russia, only to have been proven totally wrong (and, in fact, it was the other side that committed the crimes), be turning back their cherished ‘Nobles’…” And yes, beyond the misspelling, he must have meant Pulitzer Prizes.
And then he invoked the sarcasm defense again:
“Does anybody get the meaning of what a so-called Noble (not Nobel) Prize is, especially as it pertains to Reporters and Journalists? Noble is defined as, ‘having or showing fine personal qualities or high moral principles and ideals.’ Does sarcasm ever work?”
Usually not when you have to explain it after the fact.
The president also hit the Washington Post after his press secretary complained that her quote was buried in one story: “They are one of the worst in the ‘news’ business. Total slime balls!”
And he reprised his complaint against Fox News for being politically correct by covering Democrats: “They are being fed Democrat talking points, and they play them without hesitation or research. They forgot that Fake News @CNN & MSDNC wouldn’t let @FoxNews participate, even a little bit, in the poor ratings Democrat Debates...” Actually it was the Democratic National Committee, not rival networks, that froze out Fox, only to see most of the candidates do town hall forums on the network.
Trump also lambasted the New York Times over a story that described him showing up in the Oval Office as late as noon, “usually in a sour mood after his morning marathon of television.”
The Twitter rebuttal: “I work from early in the morning until late at night, haven’t left the White House in many months...and then I read a phony story in the failing @nytimes about my work schedule and eating habits, written by a third rate reporter who knows nothing about me.”
That wasn’t all, The White House worked with the New York Post on a knockdown piece, granting access to such officials as chief of staff Mark Meadows, who said “the biggest concern I have as a new chief of staff is making sure he gets some time to get a quick bite to eat. I can tell you that he will go back in and have a lunch just off the Oval Office and more times than not it is interrupted by several phone calls.”
I have no doubt the president works hard. I have no doubt that he is his best messenger. I have no doubt that beating up on the press revs up his supporters.
And I know that Trump never goes dark for long. Soon after canceling yesterday’s coronavirus briefing, he held a solo Rose Garden news conference--in the same time slot--and sparred with reporters on a wide array of subjects.

AOC challenger calls her ‘out of touch’ for voting against latest stimulus bill

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, the former CNBC anchor who is taking on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the primary, said in an interview published Monday that the “Squad” member was wrong to vote against the latest coronavirus stimulus package.
Caruso-Cabrera, a registered Democrat and descendant of Cuban immigrants, told Yahoo Finance that Ocasio-Cortez's vote against the $484 billion package is proof that she is fundamentally out of touch with her constituents in New York's 14th Congressional District.
“If she really cared, she would’ve come home after that last vote,” Caruso-Cabrera told Yahoo. “If she really cared, she wouldn’t drive away 25,000 jobs like she did. If she really cared, she wouldn’t be telling the poorest people in her district not to go back to work like she did earlier this week. She’s out of touch to tell people who are desperate for food that they shouldn’t go back to work. How out of touch can you be?”
The progressive lawmaker said the bill left out any real aid for Americans struggling to pay rent or purchase necessities including food after being left jobless or stranded due to the virus.
"My concern is that we are giving away the farm," Ocasio-Cortez said at the time. "I cannot go back to my communities and tell them to just wait for CARES four because we have now passed three, four pieces of legislation that's related to coronavirus. And every time it's the next one, the next one, the next one, and my constituents are dying."
Ocasio-Cortez was criticized in the New York Daily News’ editorial page for being the only Democrat to vote against the bill.
“Not the kind of distinction a rising star legislator should be proud of,” the paper wrote.
Fox News’ Vandana Rambaran contributed to this report

Lawmakers apprehensive about returning to Capitol: ‘People are still scared’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. walks to the House Chamber to vote on the nearly $500 billion Coronavirus relief bill on Capitol Hill, Thursday, April 23, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Both the House and Senate are scheduled to return to session next Monday, as coronavirus stay-at-home orders remain for the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland.
And that’s not sitting well with some lawmakers.
“People are still scared,” said one senior congressional source about the return. “There is still apprehension among lawmakers about returning to the National Capital Region.”
As word trickled out from Capitol Hill on Monday about lawmakers returning in earnest, a number of senior aides from both sides of the aisle blasted the decision – if for no other reason that there was no master plan on how the reopening would work.
There are questions about exactly what Congress would “do” when it came back. The next “Phase 4” coronavirus bill is not ready yet. Many Senate Republicans argue that Congress must return to address coronavirus. But those same members are skittish of passing another bill, costing hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions – to combat coronavirus.
“We’re risking ourselves to vote on confirmation? A Commissioner for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)?” asked one senator who asked to not be identified. “There are questions about the validity of this.”

The Senate’s vote on Monday is to confirm Robert Feitel to serve on the NRC.

Fox News is told the House is looking at conducting one “suspension” vote on Monday and then limited floor activity for the balance of next week. A senior source indicated that some House committees will met.
Besides that, no one has a semblance of a schedule. Are members going to require aides to come in? Congress is basically comprised of 535 CEOs. And, in this case, 535 public health commissioners. Every office is going to decide on their own if aides return to work – in notoriously cramped Capitol Hill offices.

“We’re talking about 20,000 people who work on Capitol Hill,” said John Lawrence, the former chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “You’re talking about thousands and thousands of people who are traveling the country, being exposed to people from all over the country. They need a much higher level of health security that can really be provided in a Capitol Hill environment.”
It’s possible that Congress “returning to work” is really just a shadow play or window dressing. An effort to “look” like Congress is back – even though its members don’t have major legislative items teed up yet. After all, Capitol Hill is often about the optics. And the concerns are extensive about the collective wisdom of bringing the House and Senate back to session.

“I don’t know how many times the Office of the Attending Physician has sent out messages about masks. And yet not everybody is wearing them,” groused one senior Congressional staffer. “People don’t read what you send them to read.”
So what does Congress look like when it comes back? What safety precautions are in place? Or is it business as usual?
“Fear drives a lot of people,” said one Capitol Hill source. “It takes a while for a rational answer to sink in.”

Biden Cartoons

Timeline shows media, Dems' different approach to Tara Reade accusation after Kavanaugh free-for-all

When Christine Blasey Ford publicly accused Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault in a September 2018 interview with The Washington Post, prominent Democrats and media organizations rushed to the story -- demanding answers and, in many cases, the end of Kavanaugh's career.
In the weeks after Tara Reade publicly charged in a podcast released March 25 that Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993, however, those same politicians and outlets have become either silent or equivocal -- even as mounting video and testimonial evidence corroborates Reade's claim, where Ford presented no contemporaneous support for her allegations.
A Fox News chronology, beginning the day of each accusation, shows the extent to which Reade's claims have been handled differently from Ford's.
Fox News has reached out to Democratic lawmakers for comment about Reade, but has not heard back. Similarly, not a single Democratic senator responded when The Daily Caller gave each lawmaker 24 hours to provide comment on Reade's allegations.

Day 1

SEPT. 16, 2018 
Within minutes of The Washington Post's story outlining Ford's claim that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party more than three decades earlier, The New York Times immediately publishes a story stating that Kavanaugh's nomination was "in turmoil." Ford presents no independently verifiable evidence that she had ever met Kavanaugh.
CNN also reports the news immediately with an article. And another (likening the news to the Anita Hill testimony). And another (describing the White House as mounting an "intense" effort to squash the accusation.) And another (describing a senator's assessments of how Kavanaugh's nomination would go forward). And another (describing how Democrats would push for a delay in Kavanaugh's confirmation vote.)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., announces her opposition to Kavanaugh. “Supreme Court justices should not be an extension of the Republican Party," she says. "They must also have unquestionable character and integrity, and serious questions remain about Judge Kavanaugh in this regard, as indicated in information I referred to the FBI.” (Feinstein had first received Ford's accusations weeks earlier, but chose not to release them until after Kavanaugh's initial confirmation hearings had concluded.)
Other Democratic lawmakers follow Feinstein's lead.
MARCH 25, 2020
“It happened all at once, and then … his hands were on me and underneath my clothes,” Reade tells podcast host Katie Halper. “He said ‘come on, man, I heard you liked me. For me, it was like, everything shattered … I wanted to be a senator; I didn’t want to sleep with one.” Reade was a Senate staffer for Biden at the time.
Reade says she told her brother, Collin Moulton, as well as her mother and a friend about the incident at the time. Both Moulton and the friend confirmed Reade's account in interviews with The Intercept. (Reade's mother has died, but footage has emerged showing her calling into CNN at the time with a story about her daughter's problems with a prominent senator.)
Meanwhile, CNN wonders, "Why is Bernie Sanders still running for president?"  The Reade claim is not mentioned on the network, either on-air or online.
The New York Times publishes a story explaining that Biden was growing "impatient" with the idea of more debates with Bernie Sanders. The Reade claim is not mentioned anywhere in the paper, which had slammed Republicans in August 2018 for "covering up" Kavanaugh's "past."
The Intercept reports that a darling of the "Me Too" movement, the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund, refused to help Reade with legal expenses, citing Biden's presidential run and its nonprofit status.

Christine Blasey Ford is sworn in before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)

Day 2

SEPT. 17, 2018
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., calls for an FBI background investigation into the claims against Kavanaugh. "We need the FBI to step forward to ensure that the Senate and American public have complete information about this troubling alleged incident before a hearing is held,” Schumer says.
CNN calls the Ford accusation a "watershed moment for the GOP."
The Huffington Post runs a story quoting Biden as saying, "Women’s Claims Of Sexual Assault Should Be Presumed To Be True." Biden remarks: "For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, you’ve got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she’s talking about is real, whether or not she forgets facts, whether or not it’s been made worse or better over time. ... But nobody fails to understand that this is like jumping into a cauldron.”
MARCH 26, 2020 
Jimmy Kimmel interviews Biden, and the two discuss "Where's Waldo?" Kimmel does not ask Biden about Reade's accusation.
Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor, touts a "Green New Deal." He accuses Republicans of "refusing to admit" that "climate change is real."
CNN teases an upcoming CNN town hall with Joe Biden. The Reade accusations are not discussed on-air in the network's preview coverage.

Day 3

SEPT. 18, 2018
Kavanaugh's nomination officially "descends into chaos," CNN reports.
The New York Times publishes an op-ed from Anita Hill, who argues: "With the current heightened awareness of sexual violence comes heightened accountability for our representatives."
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, tells all men to "shut up" -- and suggests Kavanaugh doesn't deserve due process because of rulings that she perceives as pro-life.
MARCH 27, 2020 
CNN's Anderson Cooper does not ask Biden about Reade's claims in a lengthy virtual town hall. In its writeup of the event, CNN assures readers, "Joe Biden: He's just like the rest of us."
"We sit on our back porch and they sit out on the lawn with two chairs," the network says of Biden and his wife Jill. "They talk through everything that's happened during their day now that they are home from school, who's driving who crazy."
The Huffington Post covers Reade's claim. The outlet notes, "Last April, Reade was one of eight women to accuse the former vice president of inappropriate touching." The articles goes on to observe, however, that when she first accused Biden of inappropriate touching, Reade was "accused of being politically motivated and called a Russian operative after a Medium post in which she praised Russia and its president Vladimir Putin resurfaced."
Reade has said she did not initially outline the full extent of Biden's alleged sexual assault, including digital penetration, out of embarrassment.

Day 4

SEPT. 19, 2018
The Guardian reports that Christine Ford's life has been "turned upside down" by her accusation, noting that she has received threats. The paper does not note that Kavanaugh and his family, as well as Republican senators, also had received threats to their lives.
MARCH 28, 2020 
The Guardian laments: "It hugely frustrating to see conservatives, who couldn’t give a damn about the multiple sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump, weaponize the accusations against Biden. However, it’s also frustrating to see so many liberals turning a blind eye. The accusations against the former vice-president are serious; why aren’t they being taken seriously?"

LGBT supporters gather in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019, in Washington. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in its first cases on LGBT rights since the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy was a voice for gay rights while his successor, Brett Kavanaugh, is regarded as more conservative. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Day 12

SEPT. 27, 2018
South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham erupts, accusing Democrats of orchestrating "the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics."
“What you want to do is destroy this guy's life, hold this seat open, and hope you win in 2020,” Graham says, before turning to Kavanaugh.
"Are you a gang rapist?" Graham asks sarcastically, referring to an unsubstantiated accusation by Michael Avenatti client Julie Swetnick. 
The New York Times describes Kavanaugh and Graham's behavior as a typical display of "white male anger."
(Guy Benson, a Townhall.com political editor and Fox News contributor, tweeted this week that a "non-conservative" contact in the media had messaged him to belatedly praise Graham's comments. "I thought he was a loon" to say the Kavanaugh hearings were all about power, the source said. "In reality he was right all along.")
APRIL 5, 2020 
A self-described movie enthusiast posts a transcript of Reade's claims on a message board. CNN and The New York Times have not yet mentioned Reade's story.
Alyssa Milano suddenly embraces due process.

Day 16

OCT. 1, 2018
The New York Times embarks on a deep dive, reporting that Kavanaugh was once questioned by police after a bar fight in 1985. A police report even said Kavanaugh "threw ice at another patron."
Meanwhile, the ex-boyfriend of Julie Swetnick, the third woman to make uncorroborated, lurid allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh, tells Fox News exclusively that she had threatened to kill his unborn child and at times even bizarrely asked him to hit her. "Right after I broke up with her, she basically called me many times and at one point she basically said, 'You will never, ever see your unborn child alive,'" Richard Vinneccy says on "The Ingraham Angle."
According to Vinneccy, Swetnick told him at the time, 'I'm just going to go over there and kill you guys.'"
APRIL 9, 2020 
Reade files a criminal complaint with the Washington, D.C. police, alleging that she was sexually assaulted in 1993.

Day 18

OCT. 3, 2018
It is widely reported that Leland Keyser, Ford's lifelong friend and a supposed witness at the party in which Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted Ford, doesn't back Ford's account. Later, Keyser would say that much of Ford's account didn't make "any sense," including how Ford couldn't remember how she got home from the party. Keyser would also say she was pressured by Ford associates at the time to change her story to corroborate Ford's account.
“I was told behind the scenes that certain things could be spread about me if I didn’t comply,” Keyser told The New York Times. “I don’t have any confidence in the story."
With Keyser's statement, it becomes clear that no one can contemporaneously corrobotate Ford's story.
Meanwhile, protesters let out a collective "STOP KAVANAUGH" scream at a protest in Brooklyn.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, assures demonstrators in Washington: "This isn’t about politics or anything else."
A Democratic aide is arrested, and would later be convicted, in a scheme to dox Republican lawmakers who support Kavanaugh by revealing their personal information online.
APRIL 12, 2020 
The Times covers Reade's accusations, and makes sure to note that Reade could face criminal penalties if she filed a false police report. Attempting to explain why the Times waited so much longer to report on Reade's accusation, Times executive editor Dean Baquet claims that "Kavanaugh was already in a public forum in a large way" -- although he does not explain why that logic did not apply to Biden, who was sealing up the Democratic Party's nomination for president when Reade went public with her claim.
The Times piece focuses on unrelated sexual misconduct accusations against President Trump, and largely dismisses Reade's allegations as uncorroborated by her co-workers -- even though the Times notes later in its piece that Reade's claim was contemporaneously corroborated by two of Reade's friends.
Baquet would also admit the story was edited after publication at the request of the Biden campaign to remove a reference to Biden's past history of inappropriate touching. No notation in the story indicates that it was edited.
According to a copy of the Times' article saved by the Internet archive Wayback Machine, the Times originally reported: "No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any details of Ms. Reade’s allegation. The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable."
After the Biden campaign's request, the paragraph now reads: "No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any details of Ms. Reade’s allegation. The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden."
"Another good day not to be the NYT public editor," muses the paper's former public editor, Margaret Sullivan.
Later in the day, The Washington Post also covers Reade's claims for the first time. Both the Post and the Times mention accusations against President Trump.
Actress-turned-activist Rose McGowan quickly slams the Washington Post, saying its article was “not journalism” and constituted “victim shaming.”
ABC and CBS News, among other networks, mention Reade's claims shortly afterward, also for the first time.

Day 21

OCT. 6, 2018
Anti-Kavanaugh protesters bang on the walls of the Supreme Court to protest his confirmation.
APRIL 15, 2020 
The Washington Post openly struggles with Reade's claims: "What to make of former Joe Biden staffer Tara Reade’s allegations that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee sexually assaulted her in 1993?" writes the paper's deputy editorial page editor, Ruth Marcus. "This is a difficult and important question — not least for those who were persuaded by Christine Blasey Ford’s assertion that then-Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were high school students in the 1980s."
Marcus goes on to admit that "we all suffer from the inclination, whether knowing or unknowing, to assess evidence through the lens of preexisting biases."
CNN, two days later, notes that Democrats were "grappling" with the Biden accusations -- a common framing seemingly employed by left-of-center outlets to avoid directly discussing the allegations.

Day 30

OCT. 15, 2018
The Guardian reports that witches are planning to hex Kavanaugh.
APRIL 24, 2020 
A resurfaced clip of "Larry King Live" from 1993 appears to include the mother of Tara Reade -- who has accused Joe Biden of past sexual assault while in the Senate -- alluding to “problems” her daughter faced while working as a staffer for the then-U.S. senator from Delaware.
But rather than CNN's team of investigative reporters, it was the Media Research Center’s NewsBusters, a conservative group that seeks to expose liberal bias, that exhumed the footage from its own vault. NewsBusters found the clip after The Intercept first reported on a transcript of the Larry King interview.
"I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington?" the caller begins. "My daughter has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him."
In a telephone interview with Fox News, Reade confirms that her mother called in to the show -- and it is independently confirmed that the caller in the show had phoned in from the same California city where Reade's mother lived at the time. Biden's presidential campaign has adamantly denied Reade's allegations but the video could be cited as evidence supporting Reade’s allegation – even though her late mother, in the clip, does not specifically refer to a sexual assault claim.
CNN would not cover the clip until the following afternoon, well after most other media organizations.
The Intercept had reported earlier that Reade said her late mother once called into CNN’s “Larry King Live” to discuss her daughter’s “experience on Capitol Hill,” where the alleged encounter with Biden took place. Reade didn’t recall other information, such as the date or even year, and The Intercept managed to dig up a transcript of the call but not the video.
Meanwhile, aides to former 2020 hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders express their anger.
"The video of Tara Reade's late mother calling into Larry King to blow the whistle about about [sic] Tara's sexual assault is being met with relative silence from a cadre of progressives right now and I want you all to know that I see you," former Sanders senior adviser Winnie Wong tweets. "We all do."
"Progressives didn't make this happen. Corporate Democrats chose Biden," Briahna Joy Gray, former Sanders press secretary, tweets.  Gray also added: "It's a good time to note that Bernie's on the ballot."
Shortly afterward, ex-Clinton adviser Peter Daou says Biden should withdraw his candidacy. He writes: "If #MeToo means anything, it CANNOT BE APPLIED ON A PARTISAN BASIS."

Day 32

OCT. 17, 2018
The Washington Post speculates about "two ways Democrats can remove Kavanaugh -- without impeaching him."
One of the approaches: A new president could "nominate and the Senate would confirm by majority vote a justice — in this case Kavanaugh — to a different post on an intermediate court of appeals (say the D.C. Circuit, where Kavanaugh formerly served). The justice would, in effect, be demoted."
The Post notes with regret that the move is "admittedly unprecedented at the Supreme Court level."
Another equally unprecedented but "optimal" option: the "creation of a new vehicle for judicial peer review ... [that would] create a nonpartisan, procedurally robust device for disciplining judges."
"If the political stars align, something good for our constitutional democracy might result from their efforts: a better way to discipline errant federal judges," opines the piece's since-disappointed author, University of Chicago law professor Aziz Huq.
APRIL 26, 2020 
The 1993 episode of CNN's "Larry King Live" apparently featuring Reade's mother is discovered missing from the Google Play store.
Twitter user J.L. Hamilton shares a screenshot showing the Aug. 11, 1993, broadcast of "Larry King Live" is no longer listed in the season three catalog of the iconic CNN talk show. Mysteriously, though, the Aug. 10 broadcast, which is listed as "Episode 154" is followed by the Aug. 12 broadcast, which is listed as "Episode 155," suggesting that episode and the ones that follow could be incorrectly listed and off by a number.
Fox News has verified the Aug. 11 episode is not listed on the streaming service. It is unclear when it was removed from the catalog.
Neither CNN nor Google immediately responded to Fox News' requests for comment. Fox News also reached out to the representation of Larry King and have not heard a response.
Fox News' Joseph Wulfson, Brian Flood, and Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.

IRS enhances 'Get My Payment' online application to help taxpayers

The Internal Revenue Service has made an update to its "Get My Payment" tool to help Americans track their coronavirus-prompted stimulus payments.
The enhancements, which started last week and continued through the weekend, adjusted several items related to the online tool, which debuted on April 15.
The changes were implemented to help millions of additional taxpayers with new or expanded information and access to adding direct deposit information.
“We delivered Get My Payment with new capabilities that did not exist during any similar relief program, including the ability to receive direct deposit information that accelerates payments to millions of people,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “These further enhancements will help even more taxpayers. We urge people who haven’t received a payment date yet to visit Get My Payment again for the latest information."
The IRS stimulus tool, which also allows people to provide their direct deposit information if necessary, has frustrated taxpayers with a “Payment Status Not Available” if “the application doesn’t yet have your data or you are not eligible for a payment.”
The error message could occur for other reasons, too, like if the IRS has not finished processing your 2019 return or you’re expecting a direct deposit but didn’t file a tax return.
The "Get My Payment" tool can be accessed through IRS.gov. Taxpayers need a few pieces of information to obtain the status of their payment and where needed, provide their bank account information. Having a copy of their most recent tax return can help speed the process.
As part of President Trump’s $2 million CARES Act to stimulate the economy, the IRS sent $1,200 payments to those with adjusted gross income below $75,000 and $2,400 to married couples filing taxes jointly who earn under $150,000.
FOX Business' Shawn M. Carter contributed to this article.

AOC slammed by New York paper for voting against latest stimulus bill

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was criticized in an editorial Sunday that called her decision to vote against the $484 billion coronavirus relief package “terribly wrong.”
The New York Daily News’ editorial, “Enemy of the Good: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Makes the Wrong Choice,” pointed out that the rising star from New York’s 14th Congressional District was the sole Democrat who voted against the bill.
“Not the kind of distinction a rising star legislator should be proud of,” the paper wrote.
The editors took issue with her claim that the bill did not go far enough.
The progressive lawmaker said the bill left out any real aid for Americans struggling to pay rent or purchase necessities including food after being left jobless or stranded due to the virus.
"My concern is that we are giving away the farm," Ocasio-Cortez said. "I cannot go back to my communities and tell them to just wait for CARES four because we have now passed three, four pieces of legislation that's related to coronavirus. And every time it's the next one, the next one, the next one, and my constituents are dying."
The paper found the argument unsound.
“Yeah: The first aid bill didn’t go far enough,” the editorial read. “Nor did the second. Nor did the third. The fourth didn’t get there either, but the response to crises happen in steps. If everyone said no to each massive package because it didn’t go all the way, we’d all be even deader in the water.”

Jared Kushner on securing US supply chain amid coronavirus: We can never rely on foreign supplies again

The coronavirus pandemic brought to light the critical importance of securing U.S. supply chains to eliminate the long-time reliance on foreign governments, White House senior advisor Jared Kushner said during a rare appearance on "The Next Revolution" Sunday.
"I think the campaign platform that President Trump ran on in 2016 which was basically 'you have to secure your borders and you have to control your own manufacturing as a national security issue.' I think those have been totally vindicated positions from the virus and I doubt it will be easy for people to argue against them in the future," Kushner said.
Kushner has been a key figure in the federal effort to manage the flow of U.S. supply chains and ensure hospitals in need are properly equipped with ventilators and other life-saving medical equipment.

"We can take all the learnings from this virus and figure out how we can be more prepared for the future."
— Jared Kushner, 'The Next Revolution'

His team, which has worked together with the coronavirus task force lead by Vice President Mike Pence, is now focussed on solving the issue of insufficient testing at the center of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S.
"We figured out how to really stimulate that supply," Kushner said. "We believe by the month of April we will have close to five million tests that will be performed. We're anticipating for the month of May, the number we were originally asked to do, we can exceed it...we think we can double that number and we should have more than ample amount of tests in the market for the month of May," he explained.
Kushner said the White House, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services, has spent the weekend communicating with governors to effectively develop their own testing strategy on a local level.
At the end of the day, Kushner explained, "the limiting factor is not going to be swabs or reagents or transport media, it's going to be the different states' ability to collect the samples and do it in an efficient way."
"We feel really good," he added. "We’ve eliminated a lot of problems when it comes to testing and I think we will continue to see it do better and better over the coming weeks."
Kushner also announced a federal effort to supply nursing homes and other vulnerable communities with additional test kits and personal protective equipment.
"I don't want to get ahead of any specific announcements," he said, but Adm. John Polowczyk, supply chain task force lead at FEMA has "been focused very much on getting stuff to the different places that need it and nursing homes in different areas where people are vulnerable has been a place where we really tried to surge," Kushner explained.
Kusher said he is also focussed on "the inner cities and indigenous populations" and has "been working very hard to make sure they have adequate testing and PPE disproportionate to where vulnerable populations are to where there are less vulnerable populations."
As many parts of the country look towards a phased reopening, Kushner urged Americans to "take all the learnings from this virus and figure out how we can be more prepared for the future."
"Now, the goal is not to make this a political issue and figure out how we can come together to really onshore," he said. "What we've been doing at the federal government is figuring out how do we aggregate a lot of the different demand in different key industries that are critical for our national security. We're thinking of ways right now to redo our stockpile given the nature of the hospital system and the medical distribution system and figure out how we can take all the learnings from this virus and figure out how we can be more prepared for the future."
Kushner said he found a renewed desire in various industries who "want to move manufacturing onshore" amid the coronavirus and echoed President Trump's commitment to make the United States a "leader in advanced manufacturing."
"If you look at why it went overseas before, it's because people were a big cost of manufacturing. Now, it's really robots... the personnel component of manufacturing has actually gone down but we've lost a lot of the capability here in America to be the leader in advanced manufacturing and President Trump is very committed to making sure that over the next couple of years, America regains their ability to be the leading global advanced manufacturer."
"I think," Kushner predicted, "we will see a lot of that happening."
In his final remarks, the president's son-in-law imparted a message of hope as the country looks towards the future.
"By slowing the spread and flattening the curve, that has given us time to really develop search hospital capacity plans, we have enough ventilators, we have a ton of spare hospital capacity and in addition, we have a lot of PPE," Kushner said.
"We're onshoring a lot of these industries, working to make sure we're never reliant on foreign supplies again, and the doctors have learned more about how to treat this."
He concluded, "I would say the most important thing is the behavioral changes. People are washing their hands and wearing masks and I think we're learning how to live with this in a much better way which will enable us, at least the people who are not high-risk to start going back to work in a phased and responsible approach."

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