AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT
Spain opens border to UK tourists; Trump wants less testing
MADRID (AP) — Spain reopened its borders to British tourists on Sunday in a bid to kickstart its economy while Brazil and South Africa struggled with rising levels of coronavirus infections. At a campaign rally, President Donald Trump said he told his government to reduce U.S. testing for the virus, an apparent attempt to avoid unflattering statistics.
The head of the World Health Organization has warned that the virus's global spread is accelerating after a daily high of 150,000 new cases was reported last week.
The new coronavirus has infected nearly 8.8 million people and killed more than 464,000, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The true number is thought to be much higher because many cases go untested.
At a campaign rally in Tulsa Oklahoma, Trump said Saturday he has told his administration to slow down virus testing. He said the United States has tested 25 million people, but the “bad part” is that it found more cases.
“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Trump said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’''
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Trump comeback rally features empty seats, staff infections
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — President Donald Trump launched his comeback rally Saturday by defining the upcoming election as a stark choice between national heritage and left-wing radicalism. But his intended show of political force amid a pandemic featured thousands of empty seats and new coronavirus cases on his own campaign staff.
Trump ignored health warnings to hold his first rally in 110 days — one of the largest indoor gatherings in the world during a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 120,000 Americans and put 40 million out of work. The rally was meant to restart his reelection effort less than five months before the president faces voters again.
“The choice in 2020 is very simple,” Trump said. “Do you want to bow before the left-wing mob, or do you want to stand up tall and proud as Americans?”
Trump unleashed months of pent-up grievances about the coronavirus, which he dubbed the “Kung flu,” a racist term for COVID-19, which originated in China. He also tried to defend his handling of the pandemic, even as cases continue to surge in many states, including Oklahoma.
He complained that robust coronavirus testing was making his record look bad — and suggested the testing effort should slow down.
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Judge: Bolton can publish book despite efforts to block it
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former national security adviser John Bolton can move forward in publishing his tell-all book, a federal judge ruled Saturday, despite efforts by the Trump administration to block the release because of concerns that classified information could be exposed.
The decision from U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth is a victory for Bolton in a court case that involved core First Amendment and national security issues, even as the White House pledged to keep pursuing the onetime top aide. And the judge also made clear his concerns that Bolton had taken it upon himself to publish his memoir without formal clearance from a White House that says it was still reviewing it for classified information.
“Defendant Bolton has gambled with the national security of the United States. He has exposed his country to harm and himself to civil (and potentially criminal) liability," Lamberth wrote. “But these facts do not control the motion before the Court. The government has failed to establish that an injunction will prevent irreparable harm.”
The White House signaled the legal fight would continue, saying it would try to prevent Bolton from profiting off the book.
President Donald Trump tweeted that Bolton “broke the law by releasing Classified Information (in massive amounts). He must pay a very big price for this, as others have before him. This should never to happen again!!!”
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Under Trump, 'You're fired!' even greets federal prosecutors
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara had a snickering response to news that his successor as top federal prosecutor was “stepping down” from the job.
“Doesn't sound like ‘stepping down,’” Bharara tweeted soon after the announcement was made Friday night that Geoffrey S. Berman was out.
He would know.
The Southern District of New York, an office older than the Justice Department itself, has long prided itself on the talent of its prosecutors, the import of its cases and an independence from Washington that has earned it the moniker of “Sovereign District.” But that hasn't spared officials from being fired by Washington, as both Bharara and Berman have learned in 3 1/2 years.
The top prosecutors there have enjoyed an outsize celebrity status, including Rudy Giuliani (later mayor of New York), James Comey (later FBI director) Mary Jo White (later head of the Securities and Exchange Commission) and Bharara himself, who was on the cover of Time magazine before becoming a popular presence on Twitter and legal commentator on television.
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Statues toppled throughout US in protests against racism
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Protesters tore down more statues across the United States, expanding the razing in a San Francisco park to the writer of America’s national anthem and the general who won the country’s Civil War that ended widespread slavery.
In Seattle, pre-dawn violence erupted Saturday in a protest zone largely abandoned by police, where one person was fatally shot and another critically injured.
On the East Coast, more statues honoring Confederates who tried to break away from the United States more than 150 years ago were toppled.
But several were removed at the order of North Carolina's Democratic governor, who said he was trying to avoid violent clashes or injuries from toppling the heavy monuments erected by white supremacists that he said do not belong in places like the state Capitol grounds that are for all people.
The statues are falling amid continuing anti-racism demonstrations following the May 25 police killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd, the African American man who died after a white police officers pressed his knee on his neck and whose death galvanized protesters around the globe to rally against police brutality and racism.
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UK police seek motive in stabbing attack that left 3 dead
READING, England (AP) — British police on Sunday were seeking the motive of a 25-year-old man suspected of stabbing three people to death in a daylight attack in a park.
Detectives said they were not, for now, treating Saturday’s attack in the town of Reading as terrorism, though the counterterrorism unit is supporting the investigation. They said they were keeping an “open mind” about the motive.
The Thames Valley Police force said officers arrested a 25-year-old local man at the scene and they were not looking for anyone else. Overnight, heavily armed officers entered an apartment about a mile from the attack.
“There is no intelligence to suggest that there is any further danger to the public,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Hunter. “This is not currently being treated as a terrorism incident; however, officers are keeping an open mind as to the motivation."
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his “thoughts are with all of those affected by the appalling incident in Reading.”
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Trump suggests US slow virus testing to avoid bad statistics
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday he's asked his administration to slow down coronavirus testing because robust testing turns up too many cases of COVID-19.
Trump told supporters at his campaign rally that the U.S. has tested 25 million people, far more than any other country. The “bad part,” Trump said, is that widespread testing leads to logging more cases of the virus.
“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Trump said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’ They test and they test.”
The campaign of likely Democratic presidential rival, Joe Biden, said Trump was putting politics ahead of the safety and health of Americans.
Trump opted to hold his first rally in 110 days despite concerns from local health officials that it could lead to further spread of the virus in Tulsa. Most of those in attendance declined to wear a mask.
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The Latest: Coronavirus resurgence continues in South Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea continues to struggle to contain a resurgence in the coronavirus that has seen some of the country’s hard-won pandemic gains erased since social distancing rules were eased in mid-April.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 48 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing the national caseload to 12,421 infections, with 280 deaths.
The agency says 24 of the new cases are in the Seoul region, which has been the center of the country’s outbreak since late May. Ten of the new cases, however, are from the central city of Daejeon, indicating the virus is beginning to spread more broadly.
Some experts say the country should reimpose stronger social distancing guidelines, but officials are reluctant to do so in fear of hurting an already fragile economy.
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The Latest: Archbishop criticizes toppling of park statue
TOP OF THE HOUR:
— San Francisco religious leader criticizes toppling of statue in Golden Gate Park.
— Trump tries to tie destruction of statues to Democrats, including Biden.
— Trump stages comeback rally in less-than-fun arena amid pandemic.
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AP FACT CHECK: Trump at rally falsely cites a Biden apology
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump falsely told supporters Saturday night that Democratic rival Joe Biden apologized for opposing his restrictions on travel from China early in the coronavirus pandemic. On multiple fronts, the revival of the Trump campaign rally marked the return of distortions from months ago.
Trump's remarks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, followed days of self-congratulation as well as trashing of the Obama administration in which Biden served as vice president. Many of the president's statements — on the pandemic, public unrest over police brutality, his record on veterans and more — were inaccurate.
A sampling from Saturday night and the past week:
RALLY
TRUMP, saying Biden accused him of being xenophobic for limiting travel from China, where the pandemic began: "He apologized a month later.”