Trump contradicts nurse who reports shortages of protective gear
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump contradicted a nurse who said during a meeting with him at the White House Wednesday that some parts of the country are still experiencing shortages of protective medical gear, insisting the U.S. supply is “tremendous.”
The exchange happened during an Oval Office event to recognize National Nurses Day. A reporter asked Luke Adams, whom the White House identified as a “volunteer nurse” from New York state, whether he had sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment, or PPE. He said yes.
But another participant, Sophia Thomas, president of the National Association of Nurse Practitioners, then said that there were pockets of the country without good protective equipment. She works at the Daughters of Charity Health System in the New Orleans area.
She said she had been wearing the same N95 face mask for a “couple of weeks” and called the supply of PPE at her health system “sporadic but manageable.” She said she and her colleagues do what they have to do.
Trump interrupted. “Sporadic for you” but not for a lot of other people, he said.
Thomas agreed.
Trump insisted the country is “now loaded up” and added: “I’ve heard we have tremendous supply to almost all places.”
Other nurses in the Oval Office agreed with him.
—Bloomberg News
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Val Demings: ‘I would be honored to serve alongside Joe Biden’ as vice president
ORLANDO, Fla. — U.S. Rep. Val Demings of Orlando said Wednesday she would accept the Democratic nomination for vice president if Joe Biden chooses her for the job.
“If asked, I would be honored to serve alongside Joe Biden and do everything in my power to get this country back on track,” the former Orlando police chief said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Demings, who served as a House manager in the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump, criticized the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
“At the very least, we ought to be able to have a leader that we can trust,” she said. “We don’t have that right now.”
Demings has made the early list of potential running mates for Biden, who was vice president under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017, for the election in November.
Biden has vowed to pick a woman for the role. He also is expected to consider potential nominees such as U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams of Georgia, and others.
In early March, when reports first surfaced in the New York Times about Demings as a possible pick, she would only say she was “humbled” by the possibility.
At the time, Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida, said Demings was “a viable option” for Biden, in part because she hails from the critically important state of Florida.
Demings “has an excellent track record of accomplishments throughout her career,” Jewett added. “She’s a pathbreaker.”
Demings, 63, had three decades of experience with the Orlando Police Department and served as its first female chief.
Since her election to Congress in 2016, Demings has served on the key Judiciary and Intelligence committees.
—Orlando Sentinel
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Ex-Rep. Duncan Hunter, prosecutors ask court to delay start of his prison sentence
SAN DIEGO — The federal government and a lawyer for former Rep. Duncan Hunter asked the court on Tuesday to move his date to surrender for his prison sentence until as late as Jan. 4, 2021, in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers filed the joint motion in U.S. District Court for Southern California, according to court records. The former San Diego-area Republican was scheduled to surrender later this month to begin his 11-month prison sentence for conspiring to illegally convert more than $150,000 in campaign money to personal use.
Hunter pleaded guilty to the single felony count in December, and prosecutors dropped the remaining 59 charges in the indictment filed against Hunter and his wife and former campaign manager, Margaret, in August 2018.
He was sentenced March 17, and was scheduled as of Tuesday afternoon to surrender for incarceration on May 29.
The government and Hunter’s lawyer said in the motion filed Tuesday that delaying Hunter’s date to surrender was appropriate “due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the unknown impacts the disease will have in the coming months.”
In exchange for the government’s agreement to the motion, Hunter agreed not to seek a sentencing modification or any form of pre-surrender credit for home confinement toward his 11-month prison sentence, the motion said.
Margaret Hunter pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count in June as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. She agreed to testify against her husband as part of the deal and prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining 59 counts in the indictment.
—The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Man on date shot in home-invasion robbery in Florida
MIRAMAR, Fla. — When a Miramar man invited a woman he met on a dating app back to his place, two men followed her inside to rob the man, who was shot when he fought back, police said.
After beating up a second man who was inside the home, they ransacked the apartment, took some valuables and then sped away in a car with the woman, according to police.
It happened about 3:20 a.m. Wednesday in the Montclaire gated community.
Detectives are reviewing security camera video and other evidence but they say this was not a random robbery. The victim was set up.
He was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound that was not life-threatening. The other man in the apartment was treated by paramedics at the scene.
—Sun Sentinel
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