Trump expands battle with WHO . . .  President Trump and his top aides are working behind the scenes to sideline the World Health Organization on several fronts as they seek to shift blame for the novel coronavirus pandemic to the world body, according to U.S. and foreign officials involved in the discussions. Last week, the president announced a 60-day hold on U.S. money to the WHO. At the State Department, officials are stripping references to the WHO from virus fact sheets, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has instructed his employees to “cut out the middle man” when it comes to public health initiatives the United States previously supported through the WHO. The United States will now attempt to reroute the WHO funds to nongovernmental organizations involved in public health. Washington Post

 

Unreliable antibody tests flood market as FDA waives quality reviews . . . Some are giving too many false positive results, which could mislead some people into thinking they have already been infected. The current FDA commissioner, Stephen Hahn, told POLITICO that the agency has discussed changing the current policy, which allows manufacturers to validate the quality of their own products as long as they include a disclaimer with test results. The FDA is trying to balance concerns about quality with its desire to allow innovative tests to reach the market quickly during a pandemic, he said. Politico

 

 

Bill Gates defends China on coronavirus, attacks US . . . It’s too soon to be talking about whether China deserves blame for the coronavirus outbreak and efforts to shift the focus onto Beijing are a ‘distraction,’ according to Bill Gates, who criticized ‘incorrect and unfair things’ said about the Communist-run country. ‘China did a lot of things right at the beginning, like any country where a virus first shows up,' the Microsoft co-founder told CNN on Sunday. ‘They can look back and say where they missed some things.’ Gates, one of the world’s richest men, said that the US handled its COVID-19 response ‘particularly poorly’ compared to other countries that have minimized the economic damage. Daily Mail

 

Clinical trial tests heartburn drug as cornavirus treatment . . . 

A clinical trial is underway at major New York hospitals to test the efficacy of heartburn medication, in combination with the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, on coronavirus patients, The Post has learned. More than 150 people so far are taking part in the study, which began earlier this month and is being conducted by the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, the research arm of Northwell Health, according to a spokesman for the hospital system. Researchers are trying to find out whether famotidine — the active compound in the over-the-counter heartburn drug Pepcid — acts as an inhibitor of COVID-19, similar to the way certain drugs block the replication of HIV/AIDS. New York Post

 

Firm testing UV light treatment Trump mocked for suggesting . . . President Trump has been mocked relentlessly for suggesting that ultraviolet light could be brought “inside the body” to kill the coronavirus, but there is ongoing research to do just that. For example, the pharmaceutical firm Aytu BioScience announced on April 20, four days before the Trump remarks, that it has signed an exclusive licensing deal with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The center has developed and is testing a UV-A “Healight” designed to be inserted via a catheter inside the trachea to kill pathogens, including the coronavirus. Ultraviolet, or UV, light is commonly used by physicians to treat skin diseases. Cedars-Sinai says UV-A phototherapy potentially could be employed in internal organs. Washington Times

 

Sunday shows fail to ask potential Biden running mates about Reade . . .  Two prominent, female Democratic vice-presidential front-runners appeared on three national political shows Sunday morning and neither were asked about explosive allegations against their potential running mate Joe Biden. However, CNN’s Jake Tapper interviewed former candidate for governor in Georgia Stacey Abrams about her ambitions to Biden’s running mate on “State of the Union” and failed to ask about the allegations. NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd also gave Abrams a pass during an interview on Sunday. Sen. Amy Klobuchar appeared on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” but the Bill Clinton staffer-turned-ABC News anchor didn’t ask about the claims against Biden, either. Fox News

 

 

Biden accuser says media have a "political agenda" . . . The woman who accused Joe Biden of sexual assault has said she’s “lost total respect” for CNN’s Anderson Cooper for not asking the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee about the allegations. Tara Reade has claimed Biden pushed her against a wall and penetrated her with his fingers when she was working as a staff assistant in his Senate office in the 1990s. I really would look to [Cooper] for answers and I would never do that again. I've lost total respect," Reade told Fox News on Saturday, adding that she finds it difficult "as a civilian" to know "what news source to trust" because shows such as Cooper's have a "blatant bias." Reade claimed that a “political agenda” is playing a role in what she feels is underreporting by some media outlets on her allegations. Washington Examiner

 

White House weighing plan to remove HHS Secretary Azar . . . 

White House officials are weighing a plan to replace Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, according to four people familiar with the discussions. Among the names on the short list to replace Azar are White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx, Medicare chief Seema Verma and deputy HHS Secretary Eric Hargan, said the four people familiar with the talks. Senior officials’ long-standing frustrations with the health chief have mounted during the pressure-packed response to the Covid-19 outbreak, with White House aides angry this week about Azar’s handling of the ouster of vaccine expert Rick Bright. Politico

 

Trump says talk of replacing Azar is fake news

 

Biden allies fear Trump fundraising juggernaut . . . Joe Biden’s allies are concerned that the former vice president’s campaign will not be able to compete with President Trump’s fundraising juggernaut, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc on the economy. “It's our biggest problem right now in the general election,” one aide acknowledged. A New York Times analysis found that the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee have a $187 million advantage over the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). “That’s insurmountable,” said one Democrat who has raised money for Biden. “I don’t see how you make that up." The Hill

 

Schiff stalling release of Russia probe witness transcripts

 

Trump defends work habits . . . The president first unleashed a pair of tweets apparently prompted by an article published Thursday in The New York Times detailing the president's private life and work schedule during the coronavirus pandemic. "I work from early in the morning until late at night, haven’t left the White House in many months (except to launch Hospital Ship Comfort) in order to take care of Trade Deals, Military Rebuilding etc., 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," he wrote. "I will often be in the Oval Office late into the night & read & see that I am angrily eating a hamburger & Diet Coke in my bedroom. People with me are always stunned. Anything to demean!" Trump added. The Hill

 

Today's Trump schedule

 

Birx bothered Trump disinfectant comment still in news . . . Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said President Donald Trump understands that disinfectant isn’t a treatment for Covid-19. “It bothers me that this is still in the news cycle,” Birx told CNN’s “State of the Union,” in one of three interviews on Sunday. “I think I’ve made it clear that this was a musing” on Trump’s part. The president on Friday said he had “sarcastically” suggested Americans be injected with disinfectant, following his briefing room riff from the day before about the possibility of fighting coronavirus with chemical disinfectant or sunlight. Bloomberg

 

Maria Bartiromo tweets Flynn to be exonerated this week

 

Trump looks to Hope Hicks for help . . . The adviser faces the difficult task of formulating a new path for a mercurial president out of an emergency that shows no sign of abating. Her responsibilities straddle both the management of the president’s daily calendar and the crafting of messaging based on news of the day, although it is quick to change. But most important, she has been a key figure in encouraging Trump to be front and center at briefings and events during the coronavirus response, viewing him as the voice that could break through and capture the most attention. Politico

 

Iran to strike "400 America targets" if US takes military action . . . Iranian military leaders on Friday said the country had drafted plans to strike "400 American targets" in response to further military action by the United States. After Iran launched missiles at Iraq's Ain al-Asad base in January, where more than 1,000 U.S. and coalition soldiers are stationed, it anticipated retaliatory attacks by the Trump administration, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force, told the country's state-controlled press. "The day we attacked on Ain al-Asad, we thought the U.S. forces would respond after 20 minutes, so we were ready to attack 400 American targets," Hajizadeh disclosed, though he did not provide detailed information about the sites in question. Washington Free Beacon

 

South Korea says Kim Jong Un health rumors untrue . . . A top South Korean official said his country remains confident there have been no “unusual developments” in North Korea, suggesting that rumors about the possible ill health of leader Kim Jong Un are untrue. Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul told a closed-door forum in Seoul on Sunday that South Korea has “enough intelligence to confidently say that there are no unusual developments” in rival North Korea that would back up speculation about Kim Jong Un’s health, according to his ministry. The minister said he would not reveal what specific intelligence led to that conclusion, but stressed that it had undergone a complex analysis. Associated Press

 

New Zealand says it has eliminated the coronavirus . . . New Zealand says it has stopped community transmission of Covid-19, effectively eliminating the virus. With new cases in single figures for several days - one on Sunday - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the virus was "currently" eliminated. But officials have warned against complacency, saying it does not mean a total end to new coronavirus cases. The news comes hours before New Zealand is set to move out of its toughest level of social restrictions. BBC

 

Apple to delay new iPhone . . . Apple Inc. AAPL 2.89% is pushing back the production ramp-up of its flagship iPhones coming later this year by about a month, according to people familiar with the changes, as the coronavirus pandemic weakens global consumer demand and disrupts manufacturing across Asia, the heart of the consumer electronics supply chain. Apple is forging ahead with plans to release four new iPhone models later this year, people familiar with its plans say. The phones, some with 5G connectivity, will vary in price and come in three sizes—5.4 inches, two measuring 6.1 inches, and one at 6.7 inches, all featuring organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, screens, the people said. Wall Street Journal

 

Most businesses won't seek US aid . . . A majority of U.S. companies expect to stay afloat for more than six months without government assistance, according to a survey on Monday, even though the novel coronavirus outbreak has severely disrupted economic activity and hit cash flow. The National Association for Business Economics business conditions survey also found that a third of firms expected to resume normal business operations within five to eight weeks. Reuters

 

Arrest made in drive-by shooting at Duck Dynasty star's home . . . Louisiana authorities arrested a man in connection with a Friday afternoon drive-by shooting involving the estate of "Duck Dynasty" star Willie Robertson. The Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office in Monroe, Louisiana, charged Daniel King Jr., 38, with one count of aggravated assault by drive by shooting and one count of criminal neglect of family and booked into OCC. According to Robertson, one of the shots went through the bedroom window of the home where son John Luke Robertson lives with his wife Mary Kate McEachern and their infant child, but nobody in the family was injured. "We were pretty shook up," Robertson said in a Sunday interview with USA Today Network. "It looks like they were just spraying bullets across my property." Robertson said 8-10 shots were fired. USA Today

 

Politico quiety updates Artricle claiming Trump owes millions to Bank of China . . . Politico quietly updated a story after first claiming that President Donald Trump currently “owes millions to the Bank of China” Friday. The publication posted an article Friday suggesting President Donald Trump currently “owes” millions of dollars to the Bank of China, adding that “the loan is due soon.” Politico was forced to quietly edit its story after it was determined that Trump apparently did not currently owe the Bank of China millions of dollars. The publication updated the article, but did not admit that it may have bungled the story and did not retract its story. “This article and headline were updated to include comment from the Bank of China and additional reporting,” Politico wrote in its updated article. Daily Caller

 

Taylor Swift hits Soros for "shameless greed" . . . Pop singer Taylor Swift took another swing at billionaire investor George Soros on Thursday, condemning the "shameless greed" of the financier for partnering with her ex-manager Scooter Braun to release a new album of her songs. Swift, who has emerged as an outspoken supporter of the Democratic Party, railed against Soros, a liberal megadonor, and Braun, who helped organize the March for Our Lives gun-control protest, after learning her former label Big Machine was releasing an album of a live radio concert she performed in 2008. Washington Free Beacon

 

California city official resigns after throwing cat during Zoom meeting . . . A planning commissioner in California has resigned after video surfaced of him appearing to throw his cat and allegedly drinking a beer during a Zoom meeting, according to a report on Saturday. The video in question was a Vallejo Planning Commission teleconference on April 20. Chris Platzer was seen on video announcing, “I’d like to introduce my cat,” before he apparently picked up the feline and threw it. After the meeting, Platzer was heard by city staff making derogatory remarks, the Vallejo Times-Herald reported. “I’m going to call bull— on you little b—s,” he said, according to the original commission meeting video released by the Northern California city. Fox News