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On a normal day, U.S. Consular Agent Marian Han Nguyen’s duties in her sleepy one-woman office in Cusco, Peru, range from stamping passports to registering American babies. But when Lima announced it was closing Peru’s borders on March 16 to stop the spread of coronavirus , Nguyen’s job changed overnight to Lara-Croft-style bounty hunter. She had 24 hours to track down an unknown number of Americans trekking the Incan ruins of Machu Piccu, a five-hour train ride away, so they could escape before its airports shut. Then she had to figure out how to get anyone else left home. Nguyen reached out on social media groups for U.S. trekkers and handed out her personal cell number to just about any American who called or emailed. When authorities shut down car traffic, Nguyen, five months pregnant, walked roughly 45 minutes each way to her office through the high-altitude Andean city, negotiating police checkpoints. Eventually, she helped some 1,300 Americans return on 10 chartered f

The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the nation’s major airlines have tentatively agreed to terms for $25 billion in federal aid to pay workers and keep them employed through September. The assistance will include a mix of cash and loans, with the government getting warrants that can be converted into small ownership stakes in the leading airlines. The airlines did not want to give up equity, but Treasury demanded compensation for taxpayers. The airlines have little leverage — their business has collapsed as the COVID-19 pandemic reduces air travel to a trickle and they face mass layoffs without the federal aid. The nation’s six biggest airlines — Delta, American, United, Southwest, Alaska and JetBlue — along with four smaller carriers have reached agreements in principle, and the Treasury Department said talks were continuing with others. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the department would work with the airlines to finalize deals “and disburse funds as quic

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump claimed the authority Monday to decide how and when to reopen the economy after weeks of tough social distancing guidelines aimed at fighting the new coronavirus. But governors from both parties were quick to push back, noting they have the primary constitutional responsibility for ensuring public safety in their states and would decide when it’s safe to begin a return to normal operations. Democratic leaders in the Northeast and along the West Coast announced separate state compacts to coordinate their efforts to scale back stay-at-home orders or reopen businesses on their own timetables, even as Trump tried to say it’s his call. “When somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total,” Trump said at Monday’s White House coronavirus briefing. “The governors know that.” But he offered no specifics about the source of his authority or his plan to reopen the economy. Anxious to put the twin public health and economic cr

MADISON, Wis. — Joe Biden and a liberal candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court whose opponent was endorsed by President Donald Trump emerged victorious Monday in the state’s turbulent election marked by the struggle over whether it should have been held at all last week amid the coronavirus pandemic. Biden’s win was a foregone conclusion, but the absentee-ballot-fueled victory by liberal Supreme Court candidate Jill Karofsky was a huge win for Democrats. It reduced conservative control of the court to 4-3 and overcame obstacles to voting in large liberal, urban cities. Justice Dan Kelly was an early underdog in the Supreme Court race, given the expected higher Democratic turnout since the election was on the same day as the presidential primary. But as that race became less competitive in March, and then the coronavirus pandemic hit leading to fears of in-person voting and closure of polling locations, the outcome became far more uncertain. With so much riding on turn

(WASHINGTON) — Former U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke is denouncing President Donald Trump for a new campaign ad that seems to falsely imply Locke was a Chinese official. Trump’s Republican reelection campaign released an ad Thursday that accused former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, of being too cozy with China. It featured an image of Biden and Locke on a stage with U.S. and Chinese flags in the background. Locke, an Asian American, said Friday that Trump and his team are “fanning hatred” at a time when hate crimes and discrimination against Asian Americans are on the rise. He said in a statement that “the Trump team is making it worse” and that “Asian Americans are Americans. Period.” Read more: ‘It’s Tough to Reconcile Being Both Celebrated and Villainized.’ An Asian-American Doctor on the Challenges of the Coronavirus Pandemic Locke was an ambassador during the Obama administration and also served as U.S. commerce s

On Friday, Mar. 27, President Donald Trump took what appeared to be bold, decisive action in the fight against the new coronavirus. Reaching for wartime powers under the Defense Production Act, Trump ordered the federal government to “use any and all authority” to force auto giant General Motors to produce ventilators, the life-saving medical devices desperately needed by patients and hospitals struggling to survive the fast-spreading COVID-19 respiratory illness. For good measure, Trump tweeted, “General Motors MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!!” But if Trump’s Friday performance conveyed urgency and action, four days later, neither is anywhere in evidence. Despite the tough talk and the invocation of presidential powers, Trump and his team by midday on Tuesday had yet to formally file a single order for a GM-made ventilator. While negotiations were ongoing, they had set no mand

(WASHINGTON) — The White House says a member of Vice President Mike Pence’s staff has tested positive for coronavirus . Pence’s spokeswoman Katie Miller said Friday that the staff member, who is not being identified, did not have “close contact” to either the vice president or President Donald Trump. Read more: Mike Pence’s ‘High Risk’ Coronavirus Response Will Impact His Political Future—and American Lives Miller said contact tracing, or contacting everyone the individual has been in contact with, is being conducted in accordance with guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Miller says Pence’s office was notified Friday evening of the positive test result.

As the coronavirus spreads rapidly throughout the country, Washington is scrambling to pass massive legislation allotting hundreds of billions of dollars in relief efforts, the likes of which have not been seen since the 2008 financial crisis. Lawmakers, who have spent the majority of the 116th Congress mired in polarized debates and legislative stalemates, are working in an environment of heightened personal risk. Many are over 65, making them particularly vulnerable to the virus. Two members of Congress, Reps. Ben McAdams of Utah and Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, have already tested positive for coronavirus, with a handful of others subsequently self-quarantining. “These are not ordinary policies,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Thursday. “This is no ordinary time.” President Donald Trump has already signed two of these packages into law, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is working with Democrats and Republicans to craft a third.

Around the time on Friday that President Donald Trump was shaking hands with business leaders at the White House and denying responsibility for the spread of COVID-19 , more than 100 mayors of America’s largest cities gathered on a phone call to compare notes on how to fight the virus in the absence of federal help. The mayors traded ideas about ending utility cutoffs and stopping evictions; they discussed who was banning gatherings and for how many people. One mayor on the call said the group had set up a Slack channel to see what other cities were doing to stop the spread of the virus. Another said that the leaders whose cities had already been affected had an urgent message for those still bracing for the impact of the novel coronavirus: “You must act now.” Trump finally declared a national emergency on Friday, but state and local officials have been fighting outbreaks in their communities for weeks. Without help from Washington, many say, it has fallen to them to fig

Joe Biden began his remarks on March 12 with the familiar words that often meet Americans in moments of fear and crisis: “My fellow Americans.” For the next 18 minutes, the Democrats’ leading contender for the presidency offered Americans a dress rehearsal for the job he hopes to have come January. Reading from prepared remarks about how to combat the global coronavirus pandemic, he sought to reassure the public, markets and allies that the United States will prevail—all while appearing undeniably presidential. After the speech, #PresidentBiden was trending on Twitter. About an hour and a half later, Bernie Sanders, who significantly trails Biden for the Democratic nomination, struck a similar tone. In the face of a global pandemic, he said, Americans must act not for themselves, but in the service of others. “Now is the time for solidarity. Now is the time to come together with love and compassion for all.” The two Democratic rivals’ speeches diverged from one another’

WASHINGTON — Two classified briefings that lawmakers received from intelligence agencies Tuesday did little to bridge the rift between President Donald Trump’s administration and Democrats who have concerns about Russian interference in the 2020 elections. Democrats leaving the meeting said they had more questions and had heard conflicting evidence. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said after the briefing that he had “renewed concerns about the independence of the intelligence community, and their willingness to continue speaking truth to power.” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said she believed there was conflicting information coming to Congress from the administration. “I just don’t have trust that we’re getting accurate information,” she said. Democrats have expressed concerns about the independence of the intelligence community after Trump replaced the former acting Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, with a loyalist who had

WASHINGTON — Çhief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday criticized as “inappropriate” and “dangerous” comments that Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer made outside the Supreme Court earlier in the day about Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Roberts was responding to Schumer’s remarks at a rally outside the court while a high-profile abortion case was being argued inside. “You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You will not know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,” Schumer said, naming the two appointees of President Donald Trump, according to video of the rally available online. In a statement, Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman criticized Roberts, saying that “to follow the right wing’s deliberate misinterpretation of what Sen. Schumer said” shows the chief justice “does not just call balls and strikes.” Goodman said Schumer’s comments “were a reference to the political price Senate Republicans will pay for putting t

We’re in the endgame now. Tonight, seven Democrats will face off in Charleston for the last Democratic debate of February, just a few days before the South Carolina primary. Crucially, it will also be the final debate before Super Tuesday on March 3, when more than a third of all delegates for the Democratic National Convention will be decided. So far, 2020 has been Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ year. The self-described democratic socialist swept the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 22, winning 24 pledged delegates with 46.8% of the vote. Former Vice President Joe Biden came in second with 20.2%, winning nine delegates, and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg came third with 14.3%, winning three delegates. Sanders has done well throughout the primary; he came neck-and-neck with Buttigieg in Iowa — Buttigieg gained 13 delegates to Sanders’ 12 — and won the New Hampshire primary with 25.7% of the vote (Buttigieg came in a close second with 24.4%.) Sanders’ sweep in Nevada e