Above the Fold

• The federal government’s Coronavirus Task Force was rumored to start winding down within a month, NPR reported. This morning, however, President Trump elucidated: “The Task Force will continue on indefinitely with its focus on SAFETY & OPENING UP OUR COUNTRY AGAIN. We may add or subtract people to it, as appropriate. The Task Force will also be very focused on Vaccines & Therapeutics.”

• Meanwhile, President Donald Trump yesterday remarked: “It’s sort of a combination of safety and reopening, so we’ll have something in a different form.” He continued, “We can’t keep our country closed for the next five years. I’m not saying anything is perfect. Will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be badly affected? Yes.” He also cautioned, “It’s possible there will be some [deaths] because you won’t be locked into an apartment or house or whatever it is. But at the same time, we’re going to practice social distancing, we’re going to be washing hands, we’re going to be doing a lot of the things that we’ve learned to do over the last period of time.”

• According to Steven Hayward over at Power Line, “Neil Ferguson, the Imperial College modeler whose initial alarmist projections that 2.2 million Americans would die of COVID-19 prompted the U.S. and U.K. to go into a hard lockdown, has been forced to resign as an adviser to the British government following revelations that he violated the stay-at-home protocols.” Those violations consisted of trysts with a married environmental zealot. But by all means, let’s shut down the world down based on the faulty projections of a guy who literally got caught with his pants down.

Government & Politics

• “House Democrats are forging ahead with another massive coronavirus relief package without the input of Republicans. … ‘Think big,’ Pelosi instructed lawmakers on a Democratic caucus call. … Democrats want to lay down a marker in the talks and ramp up pressure on Republicans, who are still reluctant to commit to passing another bill right now.” (Politico)

• Ousted HHS official Dr. Rick Bright files whistleblower complaint on coronavirus response (NBC News)

• Federal judge orders officials to restore New York primary, drawing cheers from Sanders camp (The Washington Post)

• Michael Flynn bombshells cast doubt on Mueller prosecutor Brandon Van Grack’s compliance with court order (Fox News)

• For the record: “Pee tapes,” Deutsche Bank, COVID-19 “hoax”… The eight worst fake news stories of the Trump years (NewsBusters)

Other Notables

• Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office refuses records request on “murky” $1 billion mask deal with Chinese company (Fox News)

• In 1991, Joe Biden voted to block creation of Senate office that handles sexual-harassment complaints (The Washington Free Beacon)

• Nothing to see here — move along! Obama’s office condemns Senate investigation into Ukraine, Biden (The Washington Post)

• New York reports 1,700 more coronavirus deaths at nursing homes (National Review)

• San Francisco police chief bans “thin blue line” face masks (PoliceOne)

Closing Arguments

• Policy: Tom Cotton is right about restricting Chinese student visas (The Federalist)

• Policy: Washington must preclude a flood of tort claims that threaten to kneecap the economy even further (City Journal)

• Humor: Newsom reminds Californians to only go outside to defecate on the sidewalk (Genesius Times)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.

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