Tag: Trump Tulsa rally

Threats and invective hurled at health director who sought to postpone Trump’s Tulsa rally, emails show

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Three days before President Trump’s first indoor campaign rally during the coronaviruspandemic — at an arena in Tulsa in June — the director of the Tulsa Health Department marveled at the wave of abuse that was cresting in his direction.

“It’s been crazy since the announcement of the presidential rally,” Bruce Dart wrote to Lori Freeman, a colleague who led an association of local public health officials. “It’s amazing how people strike out against anyone who they assume is not supportive of the president instead of listening to our messaging around staying safe in this pandemic.”

“You’re doing a fabulous job,” Freeman wrote back. “Be strong (as will I).” Continue reading.

Tulsa health official: Trump rally ‘likely’ source of virus surge

“In the past few days, we’ve seen almost 500 new cases,” Dr. Bruce Dart said.

OKLAHOMA CITY — President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa in late June that drew thousands of participants and large protests “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases, Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said Wednesday.

Tulsa County reported 261 confirmed new cases on Monday, a one-day record high, and another 206 cases on Tuesday. By comparison, during the week before the June 20 Trump rally, there were 76 cases on Monday and 96 on Tuesday.

Although the health department’s policy is to not publicly identify individual settings where people may have contracted the virus, Dart said those large gatherings “more than likely” contributed to the spike. Continue reading.

The Trump administration is considering banning TikTok

TikTok is arguably the most popular app in the world right now, with hundreds of millions of (mostly) young people using the platform for everything from dance moves to political activism. Despite its popularity (or perhaps because of it), the app is facing increased scrutiny because of its alleged ties to the Chinese government. India banned the app last week, and the United States may soon follow suit. In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the current administration is considering banning TikTok and other Chinese apps.

“With respect to Chinese apps on people’s cell phones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right too,” he said in an interview with Laura Ingrahm. “I don’t want to get out in front of the President, but it’s something we’re looking at.” Pompeo also warned the American people that they should only download TikTok “if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.”

TikTok, for its part, says that it is “led by an American CEO, with hundreds of employees and key leaders across safety, security, product, and public policy here in the US” A spokesperson for the company tells Mic, “We have no higher priority than promoting a safe and secure app experience for our users. We have never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked.” Continue reading.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, Top Fund-Raising Official for Trump Campaign, Tests Positive for Coronavirus

New York Times logoShe is the third person in proximity of President Trump known to have contracted the virus.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of President Trump’s eldest son and a top fund-raising official for the Trump re-election campaign, tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday before a Fourth of July event at Mount Rushmore, a person familiar with her condition said.

Ms. Guilfoyle traveled to South Dakota with Mr. Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., in anticipation of attending a huge fireworks display where the president was set to speak. They did not travel aboard Air Force One, according to the person familiar with her condition, and she was the only person in the group who tested positive.

As a routine precaution, people who come in close contact with Mr. Trump are screened for the virus. Continue reading.

Herman Cain hospitalized with COVID-19 after attending Trump’s Tulsa rally

AlterNet logoHerman Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO who ran in the 2012 Republican presidential primary, has been hospitalized with COVID-19 in Atlanta.

According to a statement posted on the 74-year-old Cain’s Twitter account, the far-right Tea Party activist — who President Donald Trump, at one point, considered for the position of Federal Reserve chairman— was diagnosed with coronavirus on Monday. And on Wednesday, his symptoms had grown worse and “required hospitalization.”

The statement reported that Cain “is resting comfortably in an Atlanta-area hospital. Mr. Cain did not require a respirator, and he is awake and alert. There is no way of knowing for sure how or where Mr. Cain contracted the coronavirus, but we do know he is a fighter who has beaten Stage 4 cancer.” Continue reading.

Scoop: Kushner changes top Trump campaign staff

Axios logoMichael Glassner, the man who organizes President Trump’s rallies, has been “reassigned,” and Trump’s 2016 Arizona chair Jeff DeWit will join the campaign as chief operating officer to oversee the final stretch to election day, three sources familiar with the situation tell Axios.

Driving the news: Jared Kushner engineered these moves. Glassner, a Trump campaign original dating back to 2015, has been told he will now be handling the campaign’s various lawsuits, sources say.

  • DeWit, a Kushner ally, is a businessman and former Arizona state treasurer who served as chief financial officer of NASA under Trump from 2018 until earlier this year. Continue reading.

Workers removed thousands of social distancing stickers before Trump’s Tulsa rally, according to video and a person familiar with the set-up

Oklahoma reporter who attended Trump’s Tulsa rally tests positive for coronavirus

The Hill logoA journalist who covered President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Okla., last week announced Friday he has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Paul Monies, a reporter for Oklahoma Watch, said he got his positive diagnosis Friday, though he is not experiencing symptoms.

“Friends, I tested positive for #COVID19. I’m pretty surprised. I have zero symptoms (so far) and I feel fine. In fact, I ran 5 miles this morning. I spent the last few hours calling people I know I’ve been in contact with in the last 14 days. Be safe out there,” he wrote on Twitter. Continue reading.

Dozens of Secret Service officers and agents told to self-quarantine after Trump’s Tulsa rally

Washington Post logoDozens of Secret Service officers and agents who were on site for President Trump’s rally in Tulsa last week were ordered to self-quarantine after two of their colleagues tested positive for the novel coronavirus, part of the fallout from Trump’s insistence on holding the mass gathering over the objections of public health officials.

The Secret Service instructed employees who worked the Tulsa event to stay at home for 14 days when they returned from the weekend trip, according to two people familiar with the agency’s decision.

The order came in the wake of the discovery — hours before the president’s Saturday evening rally — that at least six advance staffers who helped organize the trip had tested positive for the virus, including two Secret Service employees. Another two advance staffers tested positive after Trump returned to Washington on Sunday. Continue reading.

The White House is trying to clean up Trump’s horrifying admission about testing — but Mike Pence confirmed the worst: report

AlterNet logoDuring his speech at a campaign rally in Tulsa on Saturday, President Donald Trump told the crowd that he had ordered his staff to slow down the amount of coronavirus testing — sparking a fierce backlash from those who have long criticized his handling of the pandemic as inept, if not outright corrupt. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the comment during a press briefing on Monday, saying that Trump was speaking “in jest.” But Trump’s critics have their doubts, fearing that the president really does want to cut back on testing for COVID-19.

McEnany told reporters that Trump was “not joking about coronavirus” but rather, was poking fun at the press while speaking “in jest.”

However, CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe reported on Twitter that when Vice President Mike Pence was speaking to governors during a conference call on Monday, he told them that Trump’s “comments at an Oklahoma campaign rally about slowing down testing for #Coronavirus were just ‘a passing observation’ and not meant in jest.” Continue reading.