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WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden says that wearing a mask in public to combat the spread of the coronavirus is a sign of leadership and that President Donald Trump is a “fool” for suggesting otherwise. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said Tuesday that it was tantamount to “stoking deaths.” Biden's comments came a day after he wore a black face mask at a park near their Delaware home to lay a wreath at a veterans' memorial for Memorial Day. Trump later retweeted a post that appeared to make fun of Biden in his mask. The president insisted he wasn't being critical but has declined to wear a mask despite guidance from experts.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Donald Trump followed the law when he fired multiple inspectors general in the last two months, but the administration is offering no new details about why they were let go. A White House letter issued in response to concerns from a prominent Republican senator does little to explain the decision-making behind Trump’s recent upheaval of the inspector general community. It is unlikely to quell outrage from Democrats and good-government groups who fear the president is moving to dismantle a post-Watergate network of watchdogs meant to root out corruption, fraud and other problems inside federal agencies.
UNDATED (AP) — For the first time, Twitter has flagged some of President Donald Trump’s tweets with a fact-check warning. On Tuesday, Twitter added a warning phrase to two Trump tweets that called mail-in ballots “fraudulent” and predicted that “mail boxes will be robbed,” among other things. Under the tweets, there is now a link reading “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” that guides users to a Twitter “moments” page with fact checks and news stories about Trump’s unsubstantiated claims. The move comes after years in which Twitter has declined to apply its community guidelines and other rules of the road to the 45th U.S. president.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Four Minneapolis police officers who were involved in the arrest of a black man who died in police custody were fired Tuesday. The firings come a day after a bystander’s video showed the man pleading that he could not breathe as a white officer knelt on his neck and kept his knee there for several minutes after the man stopped moving. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced the terminations on Twitter, and said the firings were the “right call.” Monday's death of George Floyd was under investigation by the FBI and state law enforcement authorities. It drew comparisons to the case of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died in 2014 in New York after being placed in a police chokehold.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ Democratic governor has vetoed a sweeping Republican coronavirus measure that would have curbed her power to direct the state’s pandemic response. But Gov. Laura Kelly also ceded to local officials the power to keep restrictions on businesses. Kelly not only killed a bill approved by the GOP-controlled Legislature last week but also issued a new state-of- emergency declaration to replace one set to expire Tuesday night. Kelly also is calling the Legislature back into special session on June 3 to extend the new state of emergency past June 10. Yet a top Republican declared victory because Kelly backed off statewide restrictions on businesses.
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