Sunday shows – FDA commissioner declines to confirm Trump claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are ‘harmless’

by The Hill staff - 07/05/20 11:38 AM ET

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn appeared on multiple Sunday morning political talk shows to discuss the coronavirus pandemic.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” he declined to confirm President Trump’s claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are “harmless.” On ABC’s “This Week,” he said he couldn’t predict when a vaccine would be ready despite Trump’s timeline claims.

Multiple local officials also discussed coronavirus, which is making a resurgence in the U.S.

Read The Hill’s complete coverage below:

FDA commissioner declines to confirm Trump claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are ‘harmless’

By JUSTINE COLEMAN

“I’m not gonna get into who’s right and who’s wrong,” Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said. “What I’m gonna say … is what I’ve said before which is that it’s a serious problem that we have. We’ve seen this surge in cases. We must do something to stem the tide.”

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Hahn says he can’t predict when vaccine will be ready after Trump’s timeline claims

By JUSTIN WISE

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn said Sunday that he would not make a prediction about when a coronavirus vaccine would be available after President Trump claimed that a vaccine or therapeutic would be ready “long before the end of the year.”

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Miami mayor says city ‘breaking record after record after record’ of coronavirus cases

By REGINA ZILBERMINTS

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) said Sunday he’s hopeful measures put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus will prevent city officials from needing to enact even more dramatic restrictions in the coming weeks.

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Miami-Dade mayor: Residents ‘kind of let their guard down’ during reopening

By ZACK BUDRYK

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez (R) blamed county residents “let[ting] their guard down” since the state began to reopen for Florida becoming a recent hotspot for the coronavirus.

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Phoenix mayor: ‘We opened way too early in Arizona’

By REGINA ZILBERMINTS

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego (D) said Sunday that the pace of Arizona’s reopening indicated to some residents that the coronavirus crisis was over and, in turn, spurred a record number of new cases.

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Austin mayor: Trump’s ‘ambiguous’ messaging ‘makes me angry’

By JUSTINE COLEMAN

“When they start hearing that kind of ambiguous message coming out of Washington, there are more and more people that won’t wear masks, that won’t social distance, that won’t do what it takes to keep a community safe,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler (D) said.

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Public health expert: ‘Mixed messaging’ on masks, social distancing contributed to ‘perilous moment’ for US

By ZACK BUDRYK

“I think we opened up a little too early in some places, a lot of states didn’t meet the White House’s own guidelines for when to open up safely,” Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We didn’t have the kind of testing and tracing infrastructure that we needed [and] last but not least there’s been a lot of mixed messaging on masks and social distancing and so all of that has contributed to what I think is a perilous moment for our country.”

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Houston mayor: Hospitals will be overwhelmed ‘if we don’t get our hands around this virus quickly’

By ZACK BUDRYK

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) pushed back on President Trump’s characterization of the coronavirus as “harmless” in 99 percent of cases, saying on Sunday the city’s hospitals could be overwhelmed “if we don’t get our hands around this virus quickly.”

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Top Houston-area official: ‘We’ve got to fundamentally rethink strategy’ in dealing with coronavirus

By REGINA ZILBERMINTS

Harris County, Texas, Judge Lina Hidalgo (D) said Sunday that the state needs to “fundamentally rethink” its strategy for dealing with the coronavirus outbreak and must return to a stay-at-home order.

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Labor secretary: ‘I believe we can continue to reopen our workplaces safely’

By ZACK BUDRYK

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia echoed the White House on Sunday, saying that despite the increasing coronavirus cases, workplaces could be reopened safely if proper precautions are followed.

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Republican governor on Mt. Rushmore event: ‘There should have been face coverings’

By JUSTINE COLEMAN

“Obviously, I would have liked to see more face coverings there in order to set an example,” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said.

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Duckworth says Trump’s Mt. Rushmore speech showed ‘his priorities are all wrong’

By JUSTINE COLEMAN

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said Sunday that President Trump’s speech at Mount Rushmore’s Fourth of July celebration demonstrated that “his priorities are all wrong.”

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Senate Democrat: Russian bounties intel ‘the type of information that has to be seized by the president’

By ZACK BUDRYK

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Sunday criticized President Trump’s response to intelligence alleging Russian officials offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. service members, saying the president should have “seized” on those reports.

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Former NYPD commissioner: De Blasio has ‘sapped the strength of the department’

By J. EDWARD MORENO

Former New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Ray Kelly said in an interview broadcast Sunday that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) has done significant damage to the department during his tenure.

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