Today in one sentence: Another 2.98 million people filed unemployment claims last week, bringing the two-month total to 36.5 million; the White House threatened to veto a $3 trillion pandemic relief bill; Trump criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci's warning about the risks of reopening schools and businesses too soon as "not an acceptable answer"; the Trump administration plans to extend its coronavirus border restrictions indefinitely; Sen. Richard Burr stepped down as chairman of the Intelligence Committee following an FBI investigation into whether he sold stocks after secret briefings on the threat of the coronavirus pandemic; and a federal appeals court revived a lawsuit accusing Trump of illegally profiting from the presidency;

  • 🔥 Daily Damage Report.

  • 🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~4,427,000; Total deaths: ~302,000; Total recoveries: ~1,584,000. (Johns Hopkins University)

  • 🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,413,000; Total deaths: ~86,000; Total recoveries: ~247,000

  • 💰 Markets: Dow 📈; S&P 500 📈; Nasdaq 📈

  • 💻 Live Blog: New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / CNBC

  • 👑 Portrait of a President.

  • Inside Trump’s coronavirus meltdown. What went wrong in the president’s first real crisis — and what does it mean for the US? (Financial Times)

1/ Another 2.98 million people filed unemployment claims last week, bringing the two-month total to 36.5 million. While the weekly count of new claims has been declining since late March, it was the eighth-straight week of numbers in the millions. Continuing claims is now at around 22.8 million. A survey by the Federal Reserve found that in households making less than $40,000 a year, nearly 40% of those who were working in February lost their jobs in March or the beginning of April. The jobless rate has more than tripled to 14.7% from 4.4% a month earlier. Trump, meanwhile, said he doesn’t see the U.S. unemployment rate dropping below 10% until September. (NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / The Guardian / Bloomberg / CNBC)

  • 📌 Day 1162: A record 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week – the largest number of unemployment claims ever recorded for a single week since the government began collecting data in 1967. The number shatters the Great Recession peak of 665,000 claims in March 2009 and the all-time mark of 695,000 in October 1982. As a result, the U.S. unemployment rate has likely already risen to 5.5% from 3.5% in February – a level not seen since 2015. A similarly large number of initial unemployment claims is expected next week when the Labor Department releases its report on claims filed this week. In the prior Labor Department report, for the week ended March 14, initial claims totaled 282,000. (NPR / CNBC / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg)

  • 📌 Day 1169: More than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week – double the 3.3 million who applied the previous week. About 6% of the U.S. work force filed for jobless benefits in the last two weeks. In March, more than 10 million Americans lost their jobs, erasing nearly all the jobs created in the past five years. Economists say the real number of people out work is probably higher and that as many as 20 million people could be out of work this summer. The Congressional Budget Office, meanwhile, updated its economic projections and expects U.S. unemployment to exceed 10% in the second quarter – eclipsing the peak of the last recession – and gross domestic product to fall by more than 7%, or an annualized 28%. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Bloomberg / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / CNN / CBS News / The Guardian)

  • 📌 Day 1176: Another 6.6 million Americans filed first-time unemployment claims last week — marking the largest and fastest string of job losses since 1948. More than 17 million new claims have been filed over the last three weeks – or about 10% of the U.S. workforce. Economists estimate that the U.S. unemployment rate is now 13% – the worst level of joblessness the nation has seen since the Great Depression. In February, the unemployment rate was 3.5%. The number of jobs lost in the last three weeks now exceeds the 15 million that it took 18 months during the Great Recession, from 2007 to 2009. (CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / Vox / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)

  • 📌 Day 1183: More than 5.2 million Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week. In the past four weeks, more than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment aid — wiping out nearly all the job gains since the Great Recession. The U.S. unemployment rate is now over 20% and is expected remain close to 10% through the end of the year. (NPR / Washington Post / CNBC / Associated Press)

  • 📌 Day 1190: More than 26 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits over the last five weeks – wiping out all of the job gains since the Great Recession. More than 4.4 million people filed for unemployment last week – down from more than 5.2 million the week before – which marks the fifth straight week that job losses were measured in the millions. Roughly 22 million jobs were created after the 2008 financial crisis. Economists predict that by summer the unemployment rate will be within range of the 25% peak recorded in 1933 during the Great Depression and that the U.S. GDP will shrink by around 6% this year. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News / CNBC / Reuters / The Guardian)

  • 📌 Day 1197: Another 3.8 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. The number of first-time claims over the past six weeks total 30.3 million people – roughly 18.6% of the entire U.S. labor force – the highest since the Great Depression and far above the 10% peak reached in 2009. Hundreds of thousands of Americans, however, are still waiting to receive unemployment benefits, which means the official unemployment tally is almost certainly an undercount. (CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)

  • 📌 Day 1204: An additional 3.2 million Americans filed unemployment claims last week, down slightly from 3.8 million the previous week. More than 33.5 million have filed for unemployment over the last seven weeks and the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the week ending April 25 was 15.5%. Continuing claims – the number of people receiving ongoing benefits – is now at more than 22 million, surpassing the recessionary peak of 6.6 million. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico / ABC News / NBC News / The Guardian)

  • The White House threatened to veto a $3 trillion pandemic relief bill. White House officials called the legislation a nonstarter and accused Democrats of being “more concerned with delivering on longstanding partisan and ideological wish lists than with enhancing the ability of our nation to deal with the public health and economic challenges we face.” (New York Times)

2/ Trump criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci’s warning about the risks of reopening schools and businesses too soon as “not an acceptable answer,” accusing the nation’s top infectious disease expert of “wanting to play all sides of the equation.” Dr. Fauci told a Senate committee Tuesday that his “concern” is that we’ll see “see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks” if cities and states “prematurely open up without having the capability of being able to respond effectively and efficiently.” Dr. Fauci also told the panel that a vaccine for the coronavirus would not be ready in time for the new school year, warning of the dangers of the virus to children. Trump, however, told reporters he was “surprised by his answer,” adding: “To me it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools.” Past public disagreements between Trump and officials have been followed by an eventual dismissal or resignation. See: Tillerson, Rex; Sessions, Jeff; Bolton, John; Kelly, John. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / NPR / NBC News)

  • 📌 Day 1209: Dr. Anthony Fauci warned the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that reopening the country too soon “could turn the clock back” and lead to “suffering and death that could be avoided.” The nation’s top infectious diseases expert contrasted Trump’s effort to quickly restart the economy, saying “My concern is that we will start to see little spikes that then turn into outbreaks. The consequences could be really serious […] there is no doubt that when you pull back on mitigation, you will see some cases reappear.” Dr. Fauci added that the death toll is “almost certainly” higher than official counts. He also dismissed the notion that a vaccine would be available by the time schools reopen in the fall, calling it “a bit of a bridge too far.” He added: “There’s no guarantee that the vaccine is actually going to be effective.” Dr. Fauci, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, and Stephen Hahn, the head of the FDA, all testified by videoconference because they are self-quarantining after possible exposure to COVID-19. (Associated Press / Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)

  • The Pentagon fired its lead official responsible for executing the Defense Production Act to increase production of masks and equipment to help fight COVID-19. The decision to fire Jennifer Santos was reportedly made by “the White House and interagency” and not her immediate boss. (Politico / CNN)

3/ The Trump administration plans to extend its coronavirus border restrictions indefinitely. On March 21, the CDC imposed a 30-day restriction on all nonessential travel into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada, which was extended for another 30 days on April 20. Since then, only two migrants have been permitted to remain in the U.S. to pursue asylum. A new order under review would extend the restrictions indefinitely until the director of the CDC decides the coronavirus no longer a threat. (New York Times)

4/ Sen. Richard Burr stepped down as chairman of the Intelligence Committee following an FBI investigation into whether he sold stocks after secret briefings on the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, which led to the seizure of his cellphone by federal agents. Burr has denied he did anything wrong and previously asked the Ethics Committee to review the stock sales. Burr sat on two committees that received briefings on the growing coronavirus epidemic, including one on Jan. 24. On Feb. 13, Burr sold as much as $1.7 million in stock. The decision to execute a search warrant on a sitting member of Congress, which was approved at the highest levels of the Justice Department, requires federal prosecutors and agents to persuade a judge there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed. (Los Angeles Times / USA Today / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)

5/ A private jet company founded by a Trump donor received nearly $27 million in government grant as part of the CARES Act. The funding is a grant rather than a loan, and doesn’t need to be repaid. The company also received the largest grant of any private jet company, according to government filings. (CNBC)

6/ A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit accusing Trump of illegally profiting from the presidency, allowing the case to proceed to fact-gathering about Trump’s profits from his luxury Washington hotel. The lawsuit brought by the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia alleges that Trump has violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution by accepting profits through foreign and domestic officials who stay at the Trump International Hotel. The decision by the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a ruling in favor of Trump last July. (Associated Press / ABC News / Politico / CNN / Reuters / Wall Street Journal / Axios)

7/ The federal judge overseeing the case against Michael Flynn appointed a former federal judge to oppose the Justice Department’s request to dismiss Flynn’s guilty plea and examine whether Flynn may have committed perjury. Flynn pleaded guilty twice to lying to investigators as part of a larger inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. The judge requested a recommendation on whether Flynn should face a criminal contempt hearing for pleading guilty to a crime of which he now claims to be innocent. (Washington Post / New York Times)

8/ The EPA will not limit a toxic chemical used in rocket fuel that contaminates water and has been linked to fetal and infant brain damage. In 2011, the Obama administration announced that it would regulate perchlorate, reversing a decision by the George W. Bush administration not to control it. The EPA plans to send a federal register notice to the White House in the coming days for review that will declare it is “not in the public interest” to regulate the chemical. (New York Times)

9/ The U.S. Postal Service will review package delivery fees as a top Republican fundraiser and Trump campaign donor is set to takeover as postmaster general. The Postal Service in recent weeks has sought bids from consulting firms to reassess what the agency charges companies to deliver products on their behalf. Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman will leave before new agency head Louis DeJoy takes over, leaving its board of governors without any officials who predate Trump, who has dubbed the U.S. Postal Service “a joke.” (Washington Post)

poll/ 43% of Americans say Trump’s doing a good job of handling the coronavirus outbreak – 5 points lower than three weeks ago and 10 points lower than in March. 38% say they trust Trump to provide accurate information about the coronavirus. Meanwhile, 46% of Americans have a favorable view of Dr. Fauci and 62% say they trust him for information. (CBS News)