CDC chief Redfield predicts coronavirus deaths to top 100,000 in June

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned Friday that the U.S. is likely to top 100,000 coronavirus deaths by the start of June -- citing a dozen forecasting models that make the grim prediction.

"CDC tracks 12 different forecasting models of possible #COVID19 deaths in the US. As of May 11, all forecast an increase in deaths in the coming weeks and a cumulative total exceeding 100,000 by June 1,” CDC Director Robert Redfield tweeted.
While the prediction is to an extent expected -- the U.S. is already on 87,530 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University -- it marks a grim milestone in the fight against the virus.
However, it is significantly lower than the 2 million deaths the White House was warned in January and February could result if precautions were not implemented.
But there has also been some skepticism about the way officials are reporting deaths. Some states count presumed coronavirus deaths along with confirmed cases under CDC guidance issued last month. Other states don’t count those deaths.
Deaths have been classified as a COVID-19 death even after a physician or loved ones reported otherwise. And those who died “with" COVID-19 have been included in the count with those who died “of" COVID-19.

“I think a lot of clinicians are putting that condition (COVID-19) on death certificates when it might not be accurate because they died with coronavirus and not of coronavirus,” Macomb County, Mich., Chief Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz in an interview with the Ann Arbor News last month.
Redfield’s prediction came as the White House ramps up efforts to reopen the country after the measures to stop the slow of the spread of the virus sent the economy into freefall -- with the unemployment rate hitting 14.7 percent this month and expected to rise further.
President Trump on Friday announced "Operation Warp Speed" -- a new initiative aimed at developing, manufacturing and distributing a "proven" vaccine.
Trump described the administration's plan as "a massive scientific industrial and logistical endeavor unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project" of World War II, with the intent to rapidly develop and distribute a vaccine with help from the U.S. military and world-renowned doctors and scientists.

"We'd love to see if we can do it prior to the end of the year," the president said. "We think we're going to have some very good results coming out very quickly."
Fox News' Robert Gearty contributed to this report.

New Jersey, Murphy campaign agree to pay $1M to settle rape accusation against ex-aide

The state of New Jersey and Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaign agreed Friday to pay $1 million in a lawsuit brought by a state employee who alleged a campaign aide raped her in 2017.
Katie Brennan, chief of staff of the state's housing finance agency, accused Murphy’s then-campaign chief of staff Albert Alvarez of raping her on April 8, 2017, after Alvarez drove her home from a campaign event while they were both working to get Murphy elected. Alvarez left as the chief of staff of the Schools Development Authority in October 2018 when a news account of the accusation was about to come out.
Alvarez has denied the allegations and wasn’t criminally charged, but it sparked monthslong investigations by Murphy’s team and lawmakers.
“I think it’s a fair and reasonable settlement. We’ve worked collaboratively and constructively with Katie and her team to institute meaningful reforms to support survivors in the workplace,” Murphy said, according to NorthJersey.com. “We look forward to continuing our work on these issues to make New Jersey a leading state for survivor-centric policies as we have been doing now for a long time.”

"I think it’s a fair and reasonable settlement."
— New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy

Gov. Phil Murphy, D-N.J., listens to President Donald Trump speak during a meeting about the coronavirus response in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, April 30, 2020, in Washington. (Associated Press)

No money will go to Brennan, officials said: $600,000 will go to a charity she selected that helps low-income survivors of sexual assault and $400,000 will go to pay her attorneys.
As part of the settlement, Brennan and Alvarez will have a meeting through a facilitator and he will attend an anti-sexual harassment class.
“All survivors deserve the excellent support I had,” Brennan said in a news release Friday. “I hope to create that support for others so that a lack of legal representation is never a barrier to justice.”
“I hope that this can create a model program for other New Jersey survivors,” she added. “Living in silence did not serve me or any other survivors in this state. Speaking out gave me great strength."

"Living in silence did not serve me or any other survivors in this state. Speaking out gave me great strength."
— Katie Brennan

Katie Brennan, left, chief of staff at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, listens while testifying before the Select Oversight Committee at the Statehouse in Trenton, N.J., Dec. 4, 2018. (Associated Press)

Brennan filed a police report at the time, but prosecutors said no charges would be filed because of "a lack of credible evidence."
In June 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported, Brennan emailed Murphy and his wife, asking to speak with them about a "sensitive matter" that had occurred the previous year.
Although Brennan did not specify the nature of the matter, Murphy responded within an hour and said he would schedule a meeting to talk with Brennan, The Journal reported.
“Hang in,” Murphy wrote to Brennan. “We are on it.”
But the meeting never happened, and there were no ramifications for Alvarez, the paper reported.
In October 2018, both of New Jersey's legislative houses voted to start a special commission to look into why Alvarez then scored a $140,000-per-year job in Murphy's administration.
Brennan sued the state over its handling of her allegation, which she reported to officials in the governor's transition and administration. She has said the administration botched its response to her claims, which officials have testified that they found to be credible.
Alvarez filed a countersuit alleging his reputation was destroyed by her claim. The countersuit was resolved in the settlement. Neither party admitted any wrongdoing.
He claimed the two had a consensual encounter, according to NorthJersey.com.
Fox News' Gregg Re and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Trump fires Steve Linick, Obama appointee who briefed Congress on Biden-Ukraine ties

President Trump on Friday night fired the State Department’s inspector general, saying in a letter to Congress that he no longer had confidence in the Obama administration appointee.
The president’s letter did not mention Steve Linick by name but said his removal would take effect in 30 days, The Associated Press reported.
Linick, a former assistant U.S. attorney in California and Virginia who has held the IG position since 2013, had overseen reports that were highly critical of the State Department's management policies since Trump took office.
His office had also criticized several Trump appointees for their treatment of career staff for allegedly being insufficiently supportive of Trump and his policies, the AP reported.
Last October, Fox News reported Linick had hosted a closed-door briefing on Ukraine for aides from several congressional committees. The briefing examined communications between Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and fired Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin and current Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko. Linick also shared news clips and information regarding Ukrainian energy company Burisma, Fox reported.
The conversations between Giuliani and the Ukrainians were in reference to reports that former Vice President Joe Biden had sought to have Shokin fired amid an investigation into Burisma, whose board members included Hunter Biden, son of the former vice president.
President Trump’s July 2019 request that Ukraine’s president investigate the Biden matter led House Democrats to impeach the president last December on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate acquitted Trump in February.
Democrats in Congress immediately cried foul, with the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee suggesting that Linick was fired in part in retaliation for opening an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“This firing is the outrageous act of a president trying to protect one of his most loyal supporters, the secretary of state, from accountability,” Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said in a statement. “I have learned that the Office of the Inspector General had opened an investigation into Secretary Pompeo. Mr. Linick’s firing amid such a probe strongly suggests that this is an unlawful act of retaliation.”
Engel offered no details of the alleged investigation into Pompeo, although two congressional aides told the Associated Press the investigation involved allegations that Pompeo may have improperly treated staff.
Linick’s removal continues a series of changes among the government’s inspectors general.
In April, Trump fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, for his role in the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment.
Then Trump removed Glenn Fine as acting inspector general at the Defense Department, a move that stripped him of his post as chairman of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. That panel is charged with overseeing the allocation of more than $2 trillion in coronavirus relief funding.
During a White House briefing on the cornavirus, Trump questioned the independence of an inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services over a report that said there was a shortage of supplies and testing at hospitals.
When Linick departs he will replaced by Stephen Akard, a former career foreign service officer with close ties to Vice President Mike Pence, a Trump administration official told the AP. Akard currently runs the department's Office of Foreign Missions. He had been nominated to be the director general of the Foreign Service but withdrew after objections he wasn't experienced enough.
Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, objected to the president’s move.
“The president must cease his pattern of reprisal and retaliation against the public servants who are working to keep Americans safe, particularly during this time of global emergency,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
Pelosi claimed Linick was being “punished for honorably performing his duty to protect the Constitution and our national security.”
Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, suggesting Linick was fired in part in retaliation for opening an unspecified investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“This firing is the outrageous act of a president trying to protect one of his most loyal supporters, the secretary of state, from accountability,” Engel said in a statement. “I have learned that the Office of the Inspector General had opened an investigation into Secretary Pompeo. Mr. Linick’s firing amid such a probe strongly suggests that this is an unlawful act of retaliation.”
Engel offered no details of the alleged investigation into Pompeo, but Linick's office had issued several reports critical of the department’s handling of personnel matters, including accusing some of Trump’s appointees of retaliating against career officials.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Nevada Democrat Horsford admits affair with former Reid intern known as ‘Love Jones’

A Democratic congressman from Nevada admitted Friday that he was involved in “a previous relationship outside of my marriage.”
U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford – a married man with three children who represents the state’s 4th Congressional District -- acknowledged the affair after a former intern to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid revealed she is “Love Jones,” the focus of a podcast series called “Mistress for Congress.”
“It is true that I had a previous relationship outside of my marriage, over the course of several years,” Horsford said Friday, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“I’m deeply sorry to all of those who have been impacted by this very poor decision, most importantly my wife and family. Out of concern for my family during this challenging time, I ask that our privacy is respected.”

"I’m deeply sorry to all of those who have been impacted by this very poor decision, most importantly my wife and family."
— U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev.

The woman’s real name is Gabriela Linder and she told the Review-Journal that she and the congressman were engaged in an off-and-on sexual relationship between 2009 and 2019. (Horsford married his wife in 2000.)
When they first met, she was 21 and Horsford was the 36-year-old majority leader of the Nevada state Senate. (He is now 47.) She said she wants her story to be a warning for other young women about relationships with older men in positions of power.
“He knew how in love with him I was, and he knew what he could do and get away with," she told the newspaper. “He knows I would support him. He never told me to keep quiet. He didn’t have to. He knew I was loyal to a fault."

“He knew how in love with him I was, and he knew what he could do and get away with."
— Gabriela Linder, aka 'Love Jones'

Linder never worked for Horsford, but said on her podcast that he provided job referrals and “financial support” over the years, the newspaper reported.
She added that she had no knowledge of Horsford ever misusing campaign funds or money from his state Senate or congressional offices to pay for anything for her.
On April Fools’ Day, Horsford appeared on a YouTube program hosted by Linder’s young son but the woman told the newspaper that Horsford is not the boy’s father. Linder and Horsford stopped speaking after the YouTube show, though the reason was unclear, the report said.
She said she launched the podcast series as “an empowering journey” away from the relationship and is also writing a book about their time together. She also claims that no one offered her money to produce the podcast, and she was not prompted by any of Horsford’s opponents as he seeks reelection.
Linder told the newspaper she thinks Horsford should withdraw from the race for misrepresenting himself to voters as “a family man and man of God.”
“He should take a step back, atone, and if people are satisfied, then he can come back into politics,” she told the Review-Journal.

“He should take a step back, atone, and if people are satisfied, then he can come back into politics.”
— Gabriela Linder, aka 'Love Jones'

In February, Horsford appeared on Fox News to announce his endorsement of Democrat Joe Biden for president after a poll showed Biden losing support from African-Americans.
"I am supporting Joe Biden for president because he is vetted, he is trusted and he has delivered,” Horsford said at the time.

Susan Rice Cartoons

Kamala’s stealth campaign: Media now boosting her VP chances

For someone who is said not to be campaigning for the vice-presidential slot, Kamala Harris is running a pretty effective campaign.

Three major media outlets are essentially anointing her the front-runner in a process in which no one really knows who the front-runner is, since it comes down to a judgment call by one man.
But whatever Joe Biden may be privately thinking, the California senator is shrewdly pulling off the running-without-appearing-to-run maneuver. Or the Biden team may simply be touting her to journalists as a kind of trial balloon. That’s how murky the process is, and always has been.
“Why Kamala Harris Isn’t Clamoring to be Biden’s Running Mate,” says the headline on a New York Times piece. Clamoring isn’t a good look for someone who wants to be tapped as the number two. Having the pundits say you’re at the top of the short list, if there is such a list, is the cool move.
Which isn’t to say there aren’t potential problems with Harris as Biden’s pick -- or with the quadrennial veepstakes speculation in which the press often goes astray. The New York Post wrongly reported that John Kerry had chosen Dick Gephardt in 2004, and no one saw John McCain picking Sarah Palin in 2008.
The Times assures us that Kamala “has kept a noticeably lower profile than other possible contenders,” and that those close to Biden “have remarked about how little they have heard from Ms. Harris and her allies.”
And yet Politico somehow found out that “even before Harris ended her own campaign last year, aides said she and Biden were already stealing warm moments together.”

Politico goes a tad further in declaring that “Biden aides, surrogates and major donors see her as the best fit at the onset of the process — at least on paper — to join him atop the Democratic ticket.” Ladies and gentlemen, articles like this don’t appear by accident.
The Washington Post, playing catchup yesterday, hedged its bets a bit:
“Two prospects with national experience who are significantly younger than Biden are emerging as the early leaders in the eyes of top Biden allies, according to interviews with a half-dozen people in frequent contact with the campaign”: Kamala and Amy Klobuchar.
The Post quotes a source as saying “there are no strong internal front-runners” -- which of course undercuts this whole exercise -- but says that the two senators “are seen as tested politicians who experienced the rigors of a national campaign alongside Biden during the Democratic primaries, understand the inner workings of Congress and are ideologically similar to the presumptive nominee.”
I disagree with the last point -- Harris is far more liberal, Klobuchar a self-described moderate -- but have long felt Biden would pick a campaign rival because that person will have been vetted. No surprises is the way to go.
It’s worth noting that Harris’ campaign imploded early amid mismanagement and missteps, while Klobuchar had a strong showing in New Hampshire and lasted through Super Tuesday.

Obviously, Klobuchar’s Midwestern roots could help in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, while Harris could help boost African-American turnout -- to the extent that running mates matter at all. I don’t think Mike Pence and Tim Kaine had much impact on the last election. But Biden did just fine among black voters in the primaries while Harris struggled.
One disadvantage for Harris is the way she pummeled the former vice president over busing in an early debate. But Politico says that “Jill Biden -- who as recently as March described Harris’ attack as a “punch to the gut” -- said they’ve mulled ways for her to telegraph that it wasn’t a deal breaker for the California senator’s chances.”
Politico gets a quote from James Clyburn, who is pushing for an African-American on the ticket: “Joe Biden is a big boy. I’ve never seen Joe have any animus toward Kamala for what may have been said during the campaign.”
The Times and the Post both say Al Sharpton has been promoting Harris, as well as Stacey Abrams, and everyone notes Kamala’s standard line that she’d be “honored” to serve. (Abrams appeared with Biden last night on Lawrence O’Donnell’s MSNBC show, which sounds like a tryout.)
A downside for Klobuchar, says the Post, is “news reports about her poor treatment of staff members have circulated widely in the party, raising questions about her management style.” The old salad-with-a-comb rap is back.
This is clearly a more important pick than most, since Biden is 77 and win or lose, his running mate will become a front-runner for 2024.
But in the end, two things are certain: Many of the media’s VP predictions will be wrong, and the election will be decided by Donald Trump, Joe Biden and the coronavirus.

Susan Rice 'would say yes' if asked to be Biden's running mate

Former national security advisor Susan Rice Thursday said she "certainly would say yes" if former Vice President Joe Biden asked her to be his running mate in the presidential election.

“I’m humbled and honored to be among the extremely accomplished women who are reportedly being considered in that regard,” Rice told PBS.
Biden is listed on a memo declassified this week by acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell of former Obama administration officials who may have seen documents related to the “unmasking” of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
While Rice isn’t on the list, she has admitted to making unmasking requests during her time as national security adviser.
All of the officials listed on the memo had the authorization to make unmasking requests -- which is a common practice in intelligence work and numbers in the thousands across administrations, including more than 10,000 by the Trump administration – and being listed on the memo doesn’t necessarily mean they did anything wrong.
“The allegation is that somehow the Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes. That’s absolutely false,” Rice said in a 2017 interview, according to Bloomberg.
Flynn’s name was unmasked after he was intercepted by U.S. intelligence in December 2016 during a phone call with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period.

Flynn was fired as national security adviser in 2017 and eventually pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the phone call. Earlier this month, the Justice Department decided to drop the case against him.
Rice told PBS she wanted to "enable [Biden] to become the next president of the United States in any way I can," but added that she's not necessarily campaigning for the role.
Rice is included among a long list of women Biden is reportedly looking to for a running mate. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Rep. Stacey Abrams, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Sen. Kamala Harris are also on the list.
Earlier this year, Biden promised to choose a woman for his vice presidential pick.

Trump wants FBI’s original ‘302’ report on Flynn case, says former adviser 'persecuted'

President Trump late Thursday night inquired about the fate of the FBI’s “302” report on the Michael Flynn case that officials say vanished after the president’s first national security adviser met with federal agents in January 2017.
“Where is the 302? It is missing. Was it stolen or destroyed? General Flynn is being persecuted!” Trump tweeted.
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo that the original 302 document — which typically summarizes witness interviews with agents — was “missing.” Nunes said the document is where Flynn is accused of lying to investigators.
Bartiromo pointed out that federal agents usually summarize their interviews with subjects on forms known as 302s.
Nunes laid out what he said he knows about the original report. He said it was written and transcribed and recalled FBI sources saying, “Look, there’s nothing to see here, Flynn wasn’t lying.”
“So we knew this at the beginning of 2017, so you can imagine my astonishment when it began to leak out in the press that General Flynn was being busted for lying to the FBI,” he said. “And that, that’s what the Mueller team — the dirty Mueller team — that’s what they were going to bust him on.”
Nunes said the original report that was used to initially brief Congress vanished. “It’s gone. Poof. It’s out of — we can’t find it.”
“And I told people at the highest levels of the FBI and the DOJ, I said, what are you doing here? Like, we have, on the record, from the highest-level people that he didn't lie to the FBI,” he said.
Late last year, Flynn’s attorney sought “every document” pertaining to the interview with agents after allegations that FBI officials manipulated the original 302 report. His attorney asserted that separate handwritten notes from the interview drafted by since-fired FBI agent Peter Strzok and another agent are plainly inconsistent with one another, as well as the final FBI 302 that underpinned Flynn's guilty plea for one count of making false statements to investigators.
Although the government has insisted that the FBI's after-the-fact edits to the 302 report were "largely grammatical and stylistic," Flynn's lawyer argued that they were in fact highly substantive and improper alterations that inaccurately made it appear that Flynn had issued blanket denials to agents' questions.
Trump has been trying to go on the offensive after a string of developments he says bolstered his claim that the Russian collusion investigation conducted was nothing more than a political witch hunt.
Trump took the remarkable step earlier Thursday to ask Sen. Lindsey Graham, the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to call former President Barack Obama to testify in front of the committee. Graham played down the request and Obama later tweeted, “Vote.”
Last week, Attorney General William Barr’s Justice Department dismissed the case against Flynn, who was seen as the key prosecution witness from Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign.
Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, wrote in The Hill that one of the reasons Flynn would not have been convicted is because federal agents “went out of their way to deceive Flynn about the purpose of the interview, at which they hoped to trip him up.”
Flynn “was not given the customary advice of rights — the FBI, after officials acknowledged among themselves that they owed it to Flynn to advise him that a false statement could be grounds for prosecution, willfully withheld this admonition from him,” McCarthy wrote.
Flynn was not charged with perjury, and he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his previous contact with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak weeks before Trump was to be sworn in. The guilty plea was vacated to one count of making false statements.
Sidney Powell, one of Flynn’s lawyers, told Fox News that FBI agents did their best to hide their investigation and attempted to entrap her client. She mentioned a meeting on Jan. 5, 2017, at the White House that included Obama, then-FBI Director James Comey, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan.
Powell said the “whole thing was orchestrated and set up within the FBI, Clapper, Brennan and in the Oval Office meeting that day with President Obama.”
Bartiromo asked Powell if she believed the scandal reached up to Obama, and Powell responded, “Absolutely.”
Obama last week told supporters that with regard o Flynn's case, there was “no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free. That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic — not just institutional norms — but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places.”
Fox News is told even more exculpatory documents are forthcoming, as Barr continues to oversee the DOJ's investigation into the handling of the Flynn case.
Fox News' Gregg Re and the Associated Press contributed to this report.