Jul 8, 2017

Putin's side of the Russia election hacking story

Evan Vucci / AP

After their sit-down meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he thinks Trump believed his denial of any Russian meddling in the 2016 election, per AP. But he later said it's best to ask Trump himself what he thinks.

Trump's administration wouldn't deny that Trump "accepted" Putin's denials, per pool reports.

Putin clarified that Trump asked "numerous" questions about this issue during their meeting that lasted 2 hours 16 minutes instead of the originally scheduled 30 minutes. Axios' Jonathan Swan breaks down how Trump and Putin both got what they wanted out of the meeting, including Putin looking like a respected world leader and Trump directing the media narrative by even asking about election hacking.

Putin also said that US-Russia relations would improve if the two countries treated each other the way he and Trump did in their meeting.

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Some Trump aides eye May 1 start to reopening

President Trump was flanked at yesterday's briefing by HHS Secretary Alex Azar (far left), Vice President Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

President Trump's aides, encouraged by virus data showing fewer deaths than once projected, are working behind the scenes to deliver on his vow to reopen America "sooner rather than later."

"We are looking at when the data will allow the opportunity to reopen," said a senior White House official.

What to watch for: The official said there’s a lot of internal energy pushing for May 1, because that's the end of the White House's "30 days to slow the spread."

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U.S. coronavirus updates: Death toll surpasses 14,800

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The novel coronavirus has now killed more than 2,000 people for the second day in a row, and it's infected over 432,000 others, per Johns Hopkins data.

Where it stands: More than 14,800 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. — including over 4,500 in New York. The state's death toll surged to its highest one-day total on Wednesday — beating the previous day's record. 779 people died in New York in 24 hours. N.Y. has reported more cases than the most-affected countries in Europe.

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World coronavirus updates: U.K. PM "stable, improving" in intensive care

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is "stable, improving, sat up and engaged with medical staff" in the intensive care unit of London's St. Thomas' Hospital, where he is being treated for the coronavirus, Culture Minister Oliver Dowden told the BBC Thursday.

Zoom in: The update comes as ministers meet to discuss whether to extend the United Kingdom's lockdown and after the country's health officials reported Wednesday the highest daily rise in COVID-19 deaths — 938, taking the total to over 7,300. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Wednesday the U.K. is "nowhere near lifting the lockdown," with the virus not expected to peak there until next week.

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