TV News LIES

Attorney General William P. Barr said Monday that he did not expect the prosecutor he handpicked to review the 2016 FBI investigation into President Trump’s campaign would investigate former president Barack Obama or former vice president Joe Biden — an assertion that is likely to dismay Trump and his conservative allies.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday narrowly approved a $3 trillion bill crafted by Democrats to provide more aid for battling the coronavirus and stimulating a faltering economy rocked by the pandemic.

By a vote of 208-199 Democrats won passage of a bill that Republican leaders, who control the Senate, have vowed to block despite some Republican support for provisions aimed at helping state and local governments.

Republican President Donald Trump has promised a veto if it were to reach his desk.

However, the Democrats’ measure could trigger a new round of negotiations with congressional Republicans and Trump, who have been talking about the need for new business liability protections in the age of coronavirus or additional tax cuts.

TVNL Comment: Trump said this bill would be 'dead on arrival' in the Senate. Okay, bail out the airlines, instead.

More...

Authorities arrested an Oahu visitor who documented his violation of Hawaii’s 14-day quarantine rule on social media.

The state Attorney General’s office said today that 23-year-old Tarique Peters of the Bronx, New York, was arrested this morning for violating quarantine and lying to authorities. A local man was with Peters when he was arrested and also faces charges. Bail for Peters is set at $4,000.

Peters arrived on Oahu Monday and authorities said he posted numerous pictures of himself on Instagram. “He allegedly left his hotel room the day he arrived and traveled many places using public transportation,” the attorney general said in a press release.

More...

U.S. retail sales endured a second straight month of record declines in April as the novel coronavirus pandemic kept Americans at home, putting the economy on track for its biggest contraction in the second quarter since the Great Depression.

The deepening economic slump was underscored by other data on Friday that showed production at industries collapsed last month at its deepest pace in 101 years. The reports, combined with a historic 20.5 million job losses in April, buttressed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s warning on Wednesday of an “extended period” of weak growth and stagnant incomes.

More...

The number of people who have died of the coronavirus in the US has now topped 80,000, while the number of cases in the country hits 1.3 million.

On Sunday, the death toll reached 80,308, and it has been revealed nursing home residents and workers now account for a third of these fatalities.

A New York Times database shows that at least 25,600 residents and workers at US nursing homes or long-term care facilities for the elderly have died from coronavirus as of Saturday.

More than 143,000 people were infected with coronavirus at about 7,500 facilities, according to statistics gathered by the newspaper.

More...

Defying congressional oversight concerns, U.S. President Donald Trump’s acting director of national intelligence on Friday unveiled organizational changes to his agency.

Richard Grenell, who is expected to be replaced in coming months by Trump’s full-time nominee, said the changes were the result of a lengthy review and would make more efficient use of funds and enhance intelligence support for the Pentagon.

Grenell, a Trump loyalist who also serves as U.S. ambassador to Germany, proceeded with the reorganization after rebuffing a request last month for details of changes he planned from the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Adam Schiff.

More...

Barack Obama has reportedly said the “rule of law is at risk” in the US, after the justice department said it would drop its case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

In remarks likely to enrage Donald Trump, Obama also reportedly labeled the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak “an absolute chaotic disaster”.

Flynn, a retired general, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with the Russian ambassador about sanctions over election interference, which were levied by Obama at the end of his presidency.

More...

The director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Friday it will continue investigating the death of Ahmaud Arbery, including the man who filmed the incident in a video.

Director Vic Reynolds said that video, which has spread widely on social media, was a key piece of evidence in the case in which two white men are seen chasing Arbery down on a residential street in southern Georgia.

He said it took 36 hours from the time the bureau began assisting in the probe to arrest the father and son, Gregory and Travis McMichael, who are accused of shooting Arbery, who was black. There were "some things that needed to be done" in the investigation that had been led by Atlantic Judicial Circuit District Attorney Tom Durden since April 14, he said.

More...