US sees deadliest day of summer in coronavirus outbreak – live

A doctor who spread false health information about coronavirus, and who Trump praised as “spectacular” despite her misinformation, has had some of her beliefs captured in a CNN chyron.

Here’s more about the doctor from Guardian reporter David Smith:

Donald Trump has praised as “spectacular” a doctor who wrongly dismissed the use of face masks to combat the coronavirus as well as reportedly claiming that alien DNA is used in medical treatments and some gynecological problems are caused by people dreaming about having sex with demons.

A group of lab coat-wearing doctors posted an online video on Monday to make a string of inaccurate assertions about the coronavirus that contradicted official government guidelines. Among them was a woman who identified herself as Dr Stella Immanuel and said: “You don’t need masks. There is a cure.”

The US president tweeted a version of the video, which rapidly gained tens of thousands of views on Facebook and YouTube before both companies took it down for containing false public health information. The president’s son Donald Trump Jr had his Twitter account restricted by the company for 12 hours after calling the video a “must watch”.

At a White House press conference on Tuesday, Trump expressed puzzlement over why the so-called “America’s Frontline Doctors” video had been removed, noting that Immanuel claimed to be treating hundreds of Covid-19 patients with the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which he has long championed despite federal public health advice that it is ineffective against coronavirus.

“I don’t know why,” he told reporters. “I think they’re very respected doctors. There was a woman who was spectacular in her statements about it and she’s had tremendous success with it.”

The flag-draped coffin of former Democratic Representative John Lewis, the Civil Rights icon, is scheduled to be transported from the Capitol in Washington DC to Atlanta, Georgia this morning. Here’s more from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

It will pass several notable spots in Atlanta, including the Rainbow Crosswalk at 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue, Chabad Intown Synagogue, will travel down John Lewis Freedom Parkway, the Martin Luther King Jr Historic District, the John Lewis “HERO” mural and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference headquarters.

As was done in the nation’s capital and three Alabama cities, members of the public will be allowed to file past Lewis’ casket from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, and again from 8 to 10 p.m.

Good morning, US live blog readers, it’s going to be a lively day in American political news. We will have a separate live blog for you on all the drama on Capitol Hill as the chiefs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are grilled (via video conference) in a historic anti-trust hearing, which begins at 12pm ET.

In this regular live blog, here’s what’s afoot, stay tuned.

• More than 1,300 lives were lost from coronavirus nationwide in the US yesterday, making it the biggest one-day increase since May and the deadliest day of the summer so far.
• The US death toll from Covid-19 is approaching 150,000, while confirmed US cases are now above 4.3m.
• A total of 21 states are now considered to be in what the federal government considered a “red zone” for concerning rates of infection.
• The Trump administration has started talks with the Oregon governor’s office and indicated that it would begin to draw down the presence of federal agents sent to quell two months of chaotic protests in Portland if the state stepped up its own enforcement, a senior White House official has said.
• Donald Trump said he never questioned Russian leader Vladimir Putin about US intelligence reports that Moscow paid the Taliban to kill American troops in Afghanistan, casting doubt on the reports in an interview with Axios on its HBO show. “I have never discussed it with him,” Trump said last night. The full interview airs next week.