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      in US Politics

      Trump’s Covid-19 testing tsar Brett Giroir faces monumental challenge

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      Jesuit high school, an all-boys Catholic school in New Orleans, is proud of its alumni. In 1978, its website records, student debaters Moises Arriaga and Brett Giroir “had a legendary season, winning the City Championship, District Championship, State Championship and the NFL National Championship”.Forty-two years later, Giroir’s debating skills are facing their ultimate test. As Donald Trump’s coronavirus testing tsar, he is repeatedly grilled by America’s top political news hosts about what is seen as an epic disaster. And despite his gilded career at school, Giroir’s qualifications and track record have come under increasing scrutiny as the US pandemic death toll tops 150,000.“What he does over and over again in his public statements is always put the most positive spin he can on what is clearly just an abysmal failure in terms of the US testing strategy,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, who led the government response to international disasters at USAid from 2013 to 2017.Now 59 years old, Giroir spent his childhood in a small town outside New Orleans, the son of an oilfield worker and police officer. “Growing up, I had significant hearing problems and hearing loss, and there was no ENT physician in my small hometown; we had to drive 30 miles to the city to see a specialist,” he told Texas Medical Center News online in 2014.“It just so happened that clinic was near the Jesuit high school, one of the best high schools in the region. It looked like an interesting place to be, so I set my goal, which was astronomical at that time, to be admitted in the Jesuit high school. Luckily, I got in, and that was the academic launching point for me.”Success on the debate team meant touring universities, including Harvard, where he won a place to study biology before gaining a medical doctorate from the University of Texas Southwestern medical center. Giroir began his career as a pediatrician in Texas and became the head of Children’s medical center Dallas. More

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      in Elections

      Trump calls for delay to election, falsely claiming mail-in voting will lead to fraud – live

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      Trump calls election ‘inaccurate’ amid news of GDP plummet
      Former presidential candidate Herman Cain dies from Covid-19
      Economy suffers worst quarter since second world war as GDP shrinks by 32.9%
      US passes 150,000 deaths
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      Mourners arrive for John Lewis memorial service – watch live

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      11.16am EDT11:16
      Funeral for civil rights leader John Lewis begins in Atlanta

      10.39am EDT10:39
      Former presidential candidate Herman Cain dies from Covid-19

      9.01am EDT09:01
      Nasa successfully launches Perseverance mission to Mars

      8.56am EDT08:56
      Trump appears to call for delay to November election over his mail-in voting fears

      8.41am EDT08:41
      Mike Pompeo appears before the Senate foreign relations committee

      8.34am EDT08:34
      Grim GDP and jobless figures reveal extent of Covid-19 damage to economy

      8.18am EDT08:18
      Biden posts video with Obama criticising administration over approach to schools during Covid-19 crisis

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      11.16am EDT11:16

      Funeral for civil rights leader John Lewis begins in Atlanta

      The funeral for civil rights leader John Lewis has just begun at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
      The church’s senior pastor, reverend Raphael Warnock, is leading the service, which has dozens of attendees who are keeping social distance and wearing masks.
      “Here lies a true American patriot,” Warnock said.
      This morning, the New York Times published a powerful essay Lewis submitted two days before he died from pancreatic cancer at age 80.
      The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington writes:

      The essay rehearses several of the key moments that for Lewis shaped his life in non-violent protest and what he called “good trouble”. He said he was inspired into the movement against America’s brutal history of race discrimination by the lynching in Mississippi of Emmett Till, aged 15, in 1955 – when Lewis was himself just 14.
      “Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor,” he writes.
      He recalls how in his childhood in Alabama, the white supremacist threat was a fact of everyday life. “Unchecked, unrestrained violence and government-sanctioned terror had the power to turn a simple stroll to the store for some Skittles or an innocent morning jog down a lonesome country road into a nightmare.

      Updated
      at 11.22am EDT

      11.00am EDT11:00

      Julian Borger

      The Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, is watching secretary of state Mike Pompeo testify before the Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations committee.
      Mike Pompeo has been questioned on the decision announced yesterday to pull nearly 12,000 US troops out of Germany, bringing 6,400 of them back to the US, and how that squared with Pompeo’s claims to be leading a tough policy towards Russia. He confirmed the state department was “very involved at the strategic level” but argued that bringing the troops home did not mean they were “off the field”
      “These units will participate in rotational activity. They’ll be forward deployed. They won’t be stationed or garrisoned. But make no mistake about it they will be fully available to ensure that we can properly prosecute the challenges we have from the global powers.”Senator Jeanne Shaheen asked him whether the impact on relations with Germany had been taken into account, to which Pompeo replied: “This is personal for me I fought on the border of East Germany when I was a young soldier I was stationed there.”
      Pompeo was stationed in West Germany as an army lieutenant in the late eighties. There was no fighting there.
      Mitt Romney, who continues to be the only Republican senator to seriously challenge the administration, picked up the issue in his own remarks, saying: “I have heard from the highest levels of the German government that this is seen by them as an insult to Germany, and I can’t imagine, at a time when we need to be drawing in our friends and allies so that we can collectively confront China, we want to insult them.”
      Pompeo was also questioned about Donald Trump’s suggestion that the election might be delayed.
      Senator Tom Udall asked the secretary of state: “Will you respect the results of the certified election as the State Department typically does throughout the world?”
      Pompeo replied: “Senator I’m not going to speculate. You had about 15 ‘ifs’ in there.. I’ve said repeatedly to this committee I will follow the rule of law, follow the Constitution. I’ve endeavored to do that in everything I’ve done and I’ll continue to do that every day.”

      10.39am EDT10:39

      Former presidential candidate Herman Cain dies from Covid-19

      Former presidential candidate Herman Cain, 74, has died from Covid-19 after contracting the illness nearly one month ago.
      His official Twitter account, which had been providing updates on Cain’s hospitalization due to Covid-19, posted an announcement of his death on Thursday morning.

      Herman Cain
      (@THEHermanCain)
      You’re never ready for the kind of news we are grappling with this morning. But we have no choice but to seek and find God’s strength and comfort to deal… #HermanCain https://t.co/BtOgoLVqKz

      July 30, 2020

      Cain, the co-chair of Black Voices for Trump, had attended Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma in June, where he did not wear a mask.
      “We’re heartbroken, and the world is poorer,” said a post on Cain’s website, which provided insight into his Covid-19 infection.
      “There were hopeful indicators, including a mere five days ago when doctors told us they thought he would eventually recover, although it wouldn’t be quick,” the post said. “We were relieved to be told that, and passed on the news via Herman’s social media. And yet we also felt real concern about the fact that he never quite seemed to get to the point where the doctors could advance him to the recovery phase.”

      Updated
      at 10.49am EDT

      10.10am EDT10:10

      Dominic Rushe

      More on the staggering drop in GDP figures from the Guardian US’s business editor, Dominic Rushe:
      The fall came as large parts of the US economy shutdown in March in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus across the US. The closures led to a historic number of layoffs and sent unemployment soaring to levels unseen since the 1930s Great Depression.
      Lexie Testa, 26, from Lansing, Michigan lost her hotel job at the end of May and waited two months to receive her first unemployment payment. While her husband has retained his job, she said it had been a struggle since her layoff and that she was wary about finding new work as the virus continues to spread.
      Testa said it was too early to cut benefits given how hard it remains to find work and the fact that the virus is still spreading. “I know a lot of people who aren’t really comfortable returning to work with children in their home and actually I have a few friends that cannot because they have no child care,” she said.
      “I am lucky enough that I have a grandmother who usually babysits for me but I just am not really comfortable yet as I have always worked in the food service industry and I see places in my city of Lansing shut down and reopen due to Covid cases often.”

      9.47am EDT09:47

      The Guardian’s voting rights report, Sam Levine, notes that the president can’t unilaterally change the election date.

      Sam Levine
      (@srl)
      The president cannot unilaterally move the election. The date of the election is set by Congress. The constitution says the President and Vice President’s term ends on January 20 https://t.co/LMVTeCOgRs https://t.co/LOz4qLjDBH

      July 30, 2020

      This is why people are speculating one of the reasons Trump asked whether the election should be delayed this morning is to distract from the very bad economic news this morning.
      Government figures revealed Thursday morning that the US economy shrank by an annualized rate of 32.9% between April and June, its sharpest contraction since the second world war.

      9.35am EDT09:35

      Julian Borger

      Secretary of state Mike Pompeo is appearing before the Senate foreign relations committee for the first time in more than a year, in what is already a particularly contentious hearing.
      The ranking Democrat, Bob Menendez said the Trump administration had “at worst simply abetted Putin’s efforts” to undermine the US, and said the state department was “at risk of catastrophic failure.”
      Menendez started his questioning on Trump’s admission on Wednesday that he had not confronted Vladimir Putin with intelligence reports that Russia was paying bounties to Taliban fighters for killing US soldiers in Afghanistan and asked Pompeo whether he had raised the issue with his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
      Pompeo’s reply avoided confirming the reports, which Trump called “fake news”, but claimed that if it was true, he raised it.
      “Anytime there was a tactical threat on the lives for the health of the safety and security or our assets in place, we have raised this with our Russian counterparts not only at my level but Ambassador Sullivan [US ambassador to Moscow], and every one of our team that interacts with the Russians we’ve made very clear our expectations.”

      9.18am EDT09:18

      One thing undermining Donald Trump’s ongoing quest against mail-in voting is that he and his officials have used it in the past.
      Mother Jones reporter Ari Berman notes that at least 16 Trump officials have either voted by mail or requested absentee ballots, including the president himself. Others include attorney general William Barr, adviser and president’s daughter Ivanka Trump and White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany.
      McEnany has voted by mail in every Florida election she has participated in since 2010, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
      When asked about this in late May, McEnany said: “Absentee voting has the word absent in it for a reason. It means you’re absent from the jurisdiction or unable to vote in person. President Trump is against the Democrat plan to politicize the coronavirus and expand mass mail-in voting without a reason, which has a high propensity for voter fraud. This is a simple distinction that the media fails to grasp.”

      Ari Berman
      (@AriBerman)
      16 top Trump officials have voted by mail or requested absentee ballots:TrumpPence Barr McEnanyConway IvankaMelaniaAzarRossDeVosMcDanielKushner GlassnerStepienAyersParscaleGOP only opposes mail voting when Dems use itpic.twitter.com/rBOKnJUoNe

      July 30, 2020

      9.01am EDT09:01

      Nasa successfully launches Perseverance mission to Mars

      On a brighter note, and sticking to their timetable, Nasa appears to have successfully launched the Perseverance mission, the third and final Mars launch from Earth this summer. China and the United Arab Emirates got a head start last week, but all three missions should reach their destination in February.
      Nasa’s science mission chief, Thomas Zurbuchen, pronounced the launch the start of “humanity’s first round trip to another planet.”
      “Oh, I loved it, punching a hole in the sky, right? Getting off the cosmic shore of our Earth, wading out there in the cosmic ocean,” he said. “Every time, it gets me.” More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      US coronavirus deaths near 150,000 as 21 states declared 'red zones'

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      US deaths from the coronavirus were approaching 150,000 on Wednesday, the highest level in the world and rising by about 10,000 in just 11 days, as 21 states enter what the federal government considers the “red zone” of rising infection rates.The nation recorded the deadliest day of the summer in the last 24 hours, with more than 1,200 confirmed coronavirus deaths, the highest daily toll reported by the country since May, according to a tally by Reuters.Covid-19 deaths have risen in the US for three weeks in a row while the number of new cases week-over-week recently fell for the first time since June.The White House coronavirus taskforce coordinator, Deborah Birx, on Tuesday said hotspots threaten regions where cases are controlled.Birx warned: “We can see the virus moving north. What we’re seeing across the south right now is both rural infections, as well as small metros and major metros, simultaneously.”A surge in infections in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas this month has overwhelmed hospitals.Texas has recorded nearly 4,000 deaths so far this month, followed by Florida with 2,690 and California, the most populous state, with 2,500. The Texas figure includes a backlog of hundreds of deaths after the state changed the way it counted Covid-19 deaths. More

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      in US Politics

      'The hotspot of a hotspot of a hotspot': coronavirus takes heavy toll in south Texas

      by

      Seventy-two death notices sprawled across an entire page of the Monitor newspaper in Hidalgo county recently.The small-print entries, stacked in five tidy columns, didn’t mention Covid-19. But 27 residents of the south Texas community had died from the virus that day, 22 the day before, and 35 the day before that.“I’ve never seen that ever in my life,” recalled John M Kreidler, a local funeral director, whose family has run Kreidler Funeral Home in McAllen for over a century.That was earlier this month, but things have worsened since. The coronavirus pandemic haunts almost everything in this part of the Rio Grande valley, where more than 92% of the almost 900,000 strong population identifies as Hispanic or Latino.Hand-sanitizing machines and big bins with masks and gloves surround shoppers at the regional grocery store. Outside of Nomad Shrine Club, a rundown event space turned drive-thru pop-up, residents join a long line of people in cars in search of a Covid-19 test with rapid results. Even Tex Mex, a gentlemen’s club, has a somber message for patrons: “Clothed Again.”“The Rio Grande Valley has become the hotspot of a hotspot of a hotspot,” said Ivan Melendez, Hidalgo county’s health authority and a practicing clinician. “We’re at the epicenter of the coronavirus in the United States.”Melendez recalled recently encountering a critically ill patient with an alarmingly low pulse. He tried to warn someone, but nurses informed him that a different doctor had already decided not to intervene because they “didn’t expect for [the patient] to survive”.In the United States, where the prevailing mantra for physicians is “do no harm”, that kind of ruthless calculation strikes deep, especially when so many of the lives at stake are medically vulnerable and easily exploited. More

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      in US Politics

      The Senate's stimulus proposal looks good for small businesses | Gene Marks

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      The Republican-controlled Senate released its proposal for further aiding small businesses during this unprecedented downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Of course, the seven-page detailed outline released by Senator Marco Rubio’s office will probably be different in the bill’s final form. But let’s hope not too different. That’s because it offers up at least three big things that will significantly help many struggling small businesses. Here they are:Loans under $2m would basically be forgiven, with some caveatsIf your business received a PPP loan for less than $150,000 you would no longer be required to go through the forgiveness process. You would have to represent that you made a “good faith” effort to comply with the loan requirements and you would be required to retain the relevant records needed for at least three years, as well as being asked to complete and submit certain demographic information. If your business received a loan for less than $2m you would still have to complete the application along with maintaining records for three years and submitting demographic information. But you won’t be required to submit the documentation. The government will retain its right to audit you.For countless small businesses that means a significant amount of effort (and professional fees) saved filling out applications. For small business owners like me – many of us who would have been eligible for full forgiveness – this would mean spending much less time doing bureaucratic administrative work and more time that we can devote to running our businesses.More expenses would be eligible for forgivenessJust because the loans, in my estimation, are “basically” forgiven that doesn’t mean that you’re still not responsible for certifying that you’ve met the forgiveness requirements and are keeping the necessary documentation just in case you’re reviewed. Even so, the forgiveness rules have been made easier because, although it’s still required that 60% of the costs eligible for forgiveness are payroll-related, more non-payroll expenses are considered eligible to be included in the other 40%.In addition to rents, mortgage interest and utilities, these eligible expenses now include payment for any software, cloud computing, and other human resources and accounting needs, costs related to property damage due to public disturbances that occurred during 2020 that are not covered by insurance, expenditures to a supplier pursuant to a contract for goods in effect before 15 February 2020 that are essential to the recipient’s current operations and the cost of personal protective equipment and adaptive investments to help you comply with federal health and safety guidelines related to Covid-19 during the period between 1 March and 31 December this year.All of this expands the definition of forgivable expenses and I would be hard pressed to find a small business that, given these new rules, wouldn’t be eligible for full forgiveness.There will be more PPP loans availableThe government would put aside another $190bn for this round of PPP loans and even if you received one before you may still be eligible to receive a second loan. However, you would have to meet new requirements. For starters, your business would only be allowed to have fewer than 300 employees (not 500 as was previously required). More importantly, you would also have to demonstrate that your gross receipts in the first or second quarter of 2020 was at least 50% less than the same quarters in 2019. Publicly held companies, some financial services firms and Chinese-affiliated companies would be excluded and total loans, including the first round of PPP, would be capped at $10m.Some industry groups are arguing that the 50% revenue decline benchmark is too high. But for many business owners – particularly in the restaurant and retail industries – meeting that requirement would (unfortunately) not be a problem. There are a few other goodies too. For example, small businesses who believe they are eligible for higher loans than what was initially approved would be allowed to work with their lenders to alter their original loan value regardless of whether the loan had been fully disbursed. Requirements for smaller lenders and farm credit system institutions have been eased. Chambers of commerce, lobbying and other quasi-government organizations may now be eligible for funds and the rules for seasonal and businesses in low income areas have been clarified and, in some cases, relaxed.The PPP program has never, and never will be, perfect. Not everyone will be satisfied. But since the very beginning of the pandemic, Congress has taken significant actions to provide aid to the many struggling small businesses across the country and these latest changes are a continuation of those efforts. Yes, I’m concerned about the impact these multitrillion-dollar stimulus programs will have on our future fiscal growth. But for now, these actions are critical to sustain the small businesses that are the backbone of this country’s economy. More

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      in US Politics

      'Spectacular': Trump praises doctor who dismissed face masks after viral video

      by

      Donald Trump

      Clip claiming benefits of hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus was removed by social media companies over false information

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      2:17

      Trump halts daily briefing amid questions about support for ‘alien DNA’ doctor – video

      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.”
      But Kaitlan Collins, White House correspondent for CNN, challenged the president. “The woman that you said was a ‘great doctor’ in that video that you retweeted last night said that masks don’t work and there is a cure for Covid-19, both of which health experts say is not true,” she said.
      “She’s also made videos saying that doctors make medicine using DNA from aliens and that they’re trying to create a vaccine to make you immune from becoming religious.”
      Looking increasingly agitated, Trump replied: “Maybe it’s the same [person], maybe it’s not, but I can tell you this. She was on air along with many other doctors. They were big fans of hydroxychloroquine and I thought she was very impressive in the sense that, from where she came – I don’t know which country she comes from – but she said that she’s had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients.
      “And I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her.”
      Collins followed up but Trump abruptly wound up the press conference, talking over her by saying, “OK, thank you very much, everybody,” and departing the briefing room.
      Immanuel is a registered doctor in Texas, according to the Texas Medical Board, and runs a clinic in a strip mall next to her church, Firepower Ministries, the Daily Beast reported.
      “She has often claimed that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are in fact caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches. She alleges alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments, and that scientists are cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious,” the Daily Beast added.
      Trump himself has frequently touted hydroxychloroquine and last month said he was taking it himself. But the US Food and Drug Administration revoked its emergency-use authorisation for hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 after several studies cast doubt on its effectiveness.
      On Tuesday morning, the leading public health expert on the White House coronavirus taskforce, Anthony Fauci, once again squashed claims that the drug is a useful treatment for Covid-19.
      “The overwhelming prevailing clinical trials that have looked at the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine have indicated that it is not effective in coronavirus disease,” he said.
      At the Tuesday presidential briefing, however, Trump continued to defend it. “Many doctors think it is extremely successful, the hydroxychloroquine,” he said. “Some people don’t. Some people, I think it’s become very political. I happen to believe in it. I would take it. As you know, I took it for a 14-day period and I’m here, right? I’m here.”
      Last month a New York Times/Siena College poll found that 67% of Americans trust Fauci, who is also the country’s top infectious diseases expert, for accurate information about the coronavirus, whereas only 26% trust Trump.
      The president mused: “He’s got this high approval rating. So why don’t I have a high approval rating with respect – and the administration – with respect to the virus? We should have it very high. So it sort of is curious, a man works for us, with us, very closely, Dr Fauci and Dr [Deborah] Birx also, very highly thought of – and yet, they’re highly thought of, but nobody likes me? It can only be my personality, that’s all!”
      The Democratic National Committee condemned Trump for rejecting federal health experts and promoting Immanuel. Lily Adams, its war room senior spokesperson and adviser, said: “Trump spent today’s coronavirus briefing promoting snake oil doctors and unsafe, unproven treatments because he is incapable of acting decisively to get the coronavirus under control as we near 150,000 deaths, cases spike nationwide, and millions of Americans remain unemployed.
      “There’s no new tone – this is who Trump is and always will be: a conspiracy theorist content to gamble with the lives of others. We need a president who listens to real medical experts and can be trusted to make decisions that will keep Americans safe.”

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    • 138 Shares159 Views

      in Elections

      Russia used English-language sites to spread Covid-19 disinformation, US officials say

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      US officials say Russian intelligence services are using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, seeking to exploit a crisis that America is struggling to contain ahead of the presidential election in November.Two Russians who have held senior roles in Moscow’s military intelligence service known as the GRU have been identified as responsible for a disinformation effort reaching American and western audiences, US government officials said on Tuesday. They spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.The information had previously been classified, but officials said it had been downgraded so they could more freely discuss it. Officials said they were doing so now to sound the alarm about the particular websites and to expose what they say is a clear link between the sites and Russian intelligence.Between late May and early July, one of the officials said, the websites published about 150 articles about the pandemic response, including coverage aimed either at propping up Russia or denigrating the US.Among the headlines that caught the attention of US officials was one that said “Russia’s Counter Covid-19 Aid to America Advances Case for Détente”, which suggested that Russia had given urgent and substantial aid to the US to fight the pandemic. “Beijing Believes Covid-19 is a Biological Weapon”, which amplified statements by the Chinese, was another one.The disclosure comes as the spread of disinformation, including by Russia, is an urgent concern heading into November’s presidential election. US officials look to avoid a repeat of the 2016 race, when Russia launched a covert social media campaign to divide American public opinion and to favor then-candidate Donald Trump over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. The US government’s chief counterintelligence executive warned in a rare public statement Friday about Russia’s continued use of internet trolls to advance their goals.Even apart from politics, the twin crises buffeting the country and much of the world – the pandemic and race relations and protests – have offered fertile territory for misinformation or outfight falsehoods. Trump himself has come under scrutiny for sharing misinformation about a disproven drug for treating the coronavirus in videos that were taken down by Twitter and Facebook.Officials described the Russian disinformation as part of an ongoing and persistent effort to advance false narratives and cause confusion. They did not say whether the effort behind these particular websites was directly related to the November election, though some of the coverage appeared to denigrate Joe Biden, and does call to mind Russian efforts from 2016 to exacerbate race relations in America and drive corruption allegations against US political figures.Though US officials have warned before about the spread of disinformation tied to the pandemic, they went further on Tuesday by singling out a particular information agency that is registered in Russia, InfoRos and that operates a series of websites – InfoRos.ru, Infobrics.org and OneWorld.press – that have leveraged the pandemic to promote anti-western objectives and to spread disinformation.An email to InfoRos was not immediately returned on Tuesday.The sites promote their narratives in a sophisticated but insidious effort that US officials liken to money laundering, where stories in well-written English – and often with pro-Russian sentiment and anti-US sentiment – are cycled through other news sources to conceal their origin and enhance the legitimacy of the information.The sites also amplify stories that originate elsewhere, the government officials said.Beyond the coronavirus, there’s also a focus on America, global politics and topical stories of the moment.A headline Tuesday on InfoRos.ru about the unrest roiling major American cities read “Chaos in the Blue Cities”, accompanying a story that lamented how New Yorkers who grew up in the tough-on-crime approach of mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg “must adapt to life in high-crime urban areas”.Another story carried the headline of “Ukrainian Trap for Biden”, and claimed that “Ukrainegate” – a reference to stories surrounding Biden’s son Hunter’s former ties to a Ukraine gas company – “keeps unfolding with renewed vigors”.Two individuals who have also held leadership roles at InfoRos, identified Tuesday as Denis Valeryevich Tyurin and Aleksandr Gennadyevich Starunskiy, have previously served in a GRU unit specializing in military psychological intelligence and maintain deep contacts there, the officials said.InfoRos and One World’s ties to the Russian state have attracted scrutiny in the past from European disinformation analysts.In 2019, a European Union task force that studies disinformation campaigns identified One World as “a new addition to the pantheon of Moscow-based disinformation outlets”. The task force noted that One World’s content often parrots the Russian state agenda on issues including the war in Syria.A report published last month by a second, nongovernmental organization, Brussels-based EU DisinfoLab, examined links between InfoRos and One World to Russian military intelligence. The researchers identified technical clues tying their websites to Russia and identified some financial connections between InfoRos and the government.“InfoRos is evolving in a shady grey zone, where regular information activities are mixed with more controversial actions that could be quite possibly linked to the Russian state’s information operations,” the report’s authors concluded.On its English-language Facebook page, InfoRos describes itself as an “Information agency: world through the eyes of Russia”. More