President Trump ramps up the attacks on President Obama. Meanwhile, Coronavirus hits the White House with a number of officials testing positive. Finally, Trump takes new measures to get the country closer to reopening. Here are some of the biggest stories for the Trump White House this past week.
President Trump accused former President Barack Obama of committing the biggest political crime in history, following the release of declassified information surrounding Michael Flynn’s case.
Responding to a reporter’s question, Trump said, “Obamagate, it’s been going on for a long time. It’s been going on since before I even got elected. And it’s a disgrace that it happened. And if you look at what’s gone on, and you look at now all of this information that’s being released. And from what I understand that’s only the beginning. Some terrible things happened, and it should never be allowed to happen in our country again.”
The crime that Trump is accusing Obama of is using the intelligence community to spy on the Trump campaign and, after beating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, weaponize intelligence to overthrow the Trump presidency, an act of subversion that many of Trump’s base consider to be on par with a coup d’etat.
Next, coronavirus starts taking its toll on the White House directly.
Several White House officials tested positive for coronavirus, including Katie Miller, who is Vice President Pence’s press secretary and the wife of Trump aide Stephen Miller. As a result, the White House issued guidance requiring face masks be worn and that social distancing rules be observed. Despite this development, President Trump and Vice President Pence reportedly have no plans to isolate themselves from each other.
Finally, Trump is ramping up efforts to get states what they need as the country moves closer to reopening.
“Today, we’re announcing a groundbreaking initiative to replenish and modernize our strategic national stockpile. The cupboards were bare,” Trump told a crowd of supporters in Pennsylvania this week.
Signaling a new phase in the pandemic response, the president announced his plan to stockpile 300 million N95 masks and distribute $11 billion to states so that they can increase testing and contact tracing efforts. Additionally, the White House wants all nursing home residents and staff to be tested for the coronavirus in the next few weeks, after reports from New York showed that 5,300 people died from coronavirus in nursing homes and adult care facilities.
