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New Week Brings New Challenges for White House

Associated Press

   WASHINGTON - The Trump administration's leading health experts on
   safely dealing with the novel coronavirus will be testifying in a
   Senate hearing by a videoconference this week after three of them and
   the committee's chairman were exposed to people who tested positive for
   COVID-19.

   Adding to a string of potentially awkward moments for President Donald
   Trump, Vice President Mike Pence himself self-isolated for the weekend
   after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. Pence leads Trump's
   coronavirus task force.

   The images of top administration officials taking such precautions come
   as states seek to loosen economic restrictions put in place to mitigate
   the virus' spread.

   In the Senate, a staff member for the office of Sen. Lamar Alexander,
   R-Tenn., tested positive for COVID-19, leading Alexander to decide to
   preside over Tuesday's hearing by teleconference while
   self-quarantining at home in Tennessee for two weeks.

   As the health experts discuss the administration's response to the
   outbreak, lawyers for Trump will hope to persuade a Supreme Court with
   two of his appointees to keep his tax and other financial records from
   being turned over to lawmakers and a New York district attorney.

   The justices are hearing arguments by telephone in a pivotal legal
   fight that could affect the presidential campaign. Rulings against the
   president could result in the quick release of personal financial
   information that Trump has sought strenuously to keep private.

   On Thursday, a House panels hears from Dr. Rick A. Bright, former
   director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
   Bright asserts that he was summarily removed from his job and
   reassigned to a lesser role because he resisted political pressure to
   allow widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug favored by
   Trump.

   Perhaps most important of all the week's developments, the
   administration and Congress will be watching how businesses and
   consumers react as states gradually loosen restrictions that were
   designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

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