Sunday shows preview: Coronavirus poses questions about school safety; Trump commutes Roger Stone sentence

by Marty Johnson - 07/11/20 4:04 PM ET

Whether or not and how schools and colleges open in the fall amid the coronavirus pandemic will be one of the main topics discussed on this week’s Sunday morning shows.

The Trump administration this week took an aggressive stance on wanting schools to in the fall. President Trump threatened to cut schools’ federal funding if they don’t open up in the fall, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told governors it was unacceptable for schools districts to have in-person teaching only part of the time.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released guidance for the nation’s schools on how to reopen in the safest way possible, but Trump pushed back on the recommendations, calling the guidelines “very tough & expensive.”

CDC Director Robert Redfield said Thursday that there are greater health risks with keeping schools closed rather than having them reopen.

“I’m of the point of view as a public health leader in this nation, that having the schools actually closed is a greater public health threat to the children than having the schools reopen,” Redfield told The Hill.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Friday that having students return to school in the fall is “not that hard.”

All of this comes as the U.S. broke its single-day record for coronavirus cases three days in a row, reporting over 68,000 new cases of the virus on Friday.

Adm. Brett Giroir, the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) official who’s in charge of the U.S.’s COVID-19 testing operation, will make stops on ABC’s “This Week” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Another leading health official, Surgeon General Jerome Adams, will appear on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

DeVos will also make an appearance, going on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

The other major topic on the shows will most likely be Trump’s commutation of longtime adviser Roger Stone. The president commuted the sentence of Stone, who was convicted of witness tampering and lying to Congress and set to go to jail on Tuesday.

The move prompted instant backlash from the president’s Democratic critics in Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Saturday that she plans on introducing legislation that will limit the president’s future pardon powers.

“President Trump’s decision to commute the sentence of top campaign advisor Roger Stone, who could directly implicate him in criminal misconduct, is an act of staggering corruption,” Pelosi said in a statement.

Pelosi will appear on “State of the Union.”

A full lineup of the shows is below:

—

ABC’s “This Week” — Adm. Brett Giroir, the Health and Human Services Department official overseeing the nation’s coronavirus testing efforts; Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)

NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Giroir; Gov. Larry Hogan (R-Md.); Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Florida’s Miami-Dade County Public Schools district

CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Dr. Jerome Adams, U.S. surgeon general; Mayor Kate Gallego of Phoenix; Terry Shaw, president and CEO, AdventHealth; Tom Wyatt, CEO of KinderCare

CNN’s “State of the Union” — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); Education Secretary Betsy DeVos; Mayor Carlos Gimenez of Miami-Dade County, Florida

“Fox News Sunday” – Education Secretary Betsy DeVos; Dr. Tom Inglesby, Director of the Center for Health Security of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” — Peter Navarro, White House trade adviser; Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio); Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City; Donald Trump Jr., executive vice president of The Trump Organization; Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)

“America This Week With Eric Bolling” — Horace Lorenzo Anderson Sr., father of CHOP (Seattle) victim; HUD Secretary Ben Carson; Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.); Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX); Panel: Ameshia Cross & Sebastian Gorka

–This report was updated on July 12 at 11:39 a.m.