Today in one sentence: Trump called the high number of US COVID-19 cases a “badge of honor” because it means the U.S. is testing more people; Trump threatened to permanently cut off funding to the World Health Organization and revoke U.S. membership; the White House said it didn't know "the exact rationale" behind Trump's decision to take hydroxychloroquine; the Trump administration will end deployments for more than 40,000 National Guard members currently helping states with coronavirus test and trace programs one day before thousands of members become eligible for key federal benefits; and the House Judiciary Committee told the Supreme Court they need Robert Mueller's secret grand jury materials to determine if there is new evidence of impeachable offenses involving Trump, saying Trump “did not cease with the conclusion of the impeachment trial."

  • 🔥 Daily Damage Report.

  • 🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~4,877,000; Total deaths: ~323,000; Total recoveries: ~1,673,000. (Johns Hopkins University)

  • 🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,524,000; Total deaths: ~92,000; Total recoveries: ~283,000

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

  • Trump called the high number of U.S. COVID-19 cases a “badge of honor” because it means the U.S. is testing more people. “Really, it’s a badge of honor,” Trump said. “It’s a great tribute to the testing and all of the work that a lot of professionals have done.” The U.S. death toll stands at roughly 92,000 with more than 1.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus. (CNN)

  • The Congressional Budget Office projects GDP dropping 38% in the second quarter as 26 million Americans remain unemployed. (CNBC)

  • The Federal Reserve chair said the U.S. would have a slow recovery from the “biggest shock that the economy’s had in living memory,” suggesting that a full rebound from the lockdowns could take until the end of 2021. (New York Times)

  • Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said “there is the risk of permanent damage” to the economy if the country remains closed. He said he plans to use all of the $500 billion that Congress provided to help the economy through direct lending. (Bloomberg)

  • A leaked Pentagon memo warned of “the real possibility of a resurgence” of the coronavirus and that an effective vaccine will not be ready until “at least the summer of 2021,” contradicting Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s vow to deliver a vaccine “at scale” by the end of the year. “We have a long path ahead,” the memo reads, reportedly authored by Esper. “Therefore, we must now re-focus our attention on resuming critical missions, increasing levels of activity, and making necessary preparations should a significant resurgence of COVID-19 occur later this year.” (Task and Purpose / Daily Beast / Military.com / Raw Story)

  • White House officials, however, predict a swift economic recovery, suggesting that the “reopening” of states will reverse the economic damage caused by the coronavirus. Some economists and Wall Street analysts say the unemployment rate could remain above 10% into 2021 — unseen since the Great Depression — even if lawmakers approve more emergency aid. (Washington Post)

  • By Wednesday, all 50 states will have begun lifting restrictions put in place to combat the coronavirus outbreak despite daily case rates continue to rise in parts of the country. Only 16 states’ average new daily cases have dropped more than 10%, and as of Tuesday, at least 17 states have recorded a rise in average new daily cases of at least 10%. (CNN / Washington Post)

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

1/ Trump threatened to permanently cut off funding to the World Health Organization and revoke U.S. membership. Trump sent a letter to the WHO director-general complaining about the “repeated missteps by you and your organization,” and claiming that the WHO “ignored credible reports of the virus” and “repeatedly made claims about the coronavirus that were either grossly inaccurate or misleading.” Trump threatened that the U.S. would permanently end all U.S. financial contributions to the WHO if the organization didn’t “commit to major substantive improvements in the next 30 days.” Trump suspended U.S. funding to the WHO last month. Trump, however, offered no other details about the reforms he was seeking or what specific changes would unlock U.S. funding. Trump tweeted that his letter is “self-explanatory.” Leaders in Europe and Asia, meanwhile, stressed the importance of the WHO’s work, calling on the U.S. to “stop the blame game” because – during the global pandemic – this is “not the time for finger pointing.” (CNN / NBC News / Politico / NPR / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CBS News / Axios)

  • 📌 Day 1182: Trump cutoff U.S. funding to the World Health Organization in response to the agency’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “We have not been treated properly,” Trump said, deflecting blame for his dismissal of the virus as a threat to Americans and the U.S. economy. The hold will remain for up to 90 days while the Trump administration conducts a funding review. Trump said the U.S. had “a duty to insist on full accountability,” accusing the WHO of “severely mismanaging and covering up” the crisis. Trump also said that “if we cannot trust them,” then the U.S. will be “forced to find other ways to work with other nations to achieve public health goals.” The U.S. is the largest donor to the WHO, and contributes between $400 million and $500 million a year to the organization, which has an annual budget of around $6 billion. (Washington Post / Politico /USA Today / Wall Street Journal / Axios / CNN / NBC News / BBC News)

  • The Lancet, one of the top peer-reviewed medical journals in the world, rebuked Trump for incorrectly citing its research in a letter threatening to permanently pull U.S. funding to the WHO. The British medical journal refuted Trump’s claim that the global health body “consistently ignored credible reports of the virus spreading in Wuhan in early December 2019 or even earlier, including reports from the Lancet medical journal.” The Lancet called “This statement is factually incorrect,” noting it published “no report in December, 2019, referring to a virus or outbreak in Wuhan or anywhere else in China.” (Politico)

2/ White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she didn’t know “the exact rationale” behind Trump’s decision to take hydroxychloroquine, but that “the president just wanted to be transparent about his personal health decision that he made in consultation with his doctor.” McEnany noted that “any use of hydroxychloroquine has to be in consultation with your doctor” and requires a prescription. Trump’s admission that he’s been taking hydroxychloroquine for a “couple of weeks” despite testing negative for the coronavirus alarmed health experts, who cautioned that people risk serious heart problems and other complications from the decades-old anti-malaria drug. Trump is part of the cohort most at risk: he has a common heart disease, with a buildup of plaque in his blood vessels, according to records the White House released after his 2018 physical exam. Trump’s physician, meanwhile, said in a statement that it was decided after “numerous discussions” that “the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks” of hydroxychloroquine. Unlike Trump, Pence said he is not taking hydroxychloroquine. Trump later criticized a hydroxychloroquine study he disagreed with, calling it a “Trump enemy statement.” (Bloomberg / ABC News / Politico / New York Times / Axios / NBC News)

  • Fox News host Neil Cavuto warned viewers that taking hydroxychloroquine “will kill you. I cannot stress enough.” Speaking immediately after Trump revealed that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure for the coronavirus, Cavuto said on his show: “The president insisted that [hydroxychloroquine] has enormous benefits for patients either trying to prevent or already have Covid-19. The fact of the matter is, though, when the president said, ‘What have you got to lose?’ the number of studies [show] the population have one thing to lose: their lives.” Trump in turn retweeted half a dozen posts attacking Cavuto, calling him an “idiot,” “foolish,” “gullible,” and “an asshole.” Trump proceed to complain that Fox News “is no longer the same,” and that “You have more anti-Trump people, by far, than ever before. Looking for a new outlet!” (Axios / Politico)

  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that Trump shouldn’t be taking hydroxychloroquine because he is “morbidly obese.” “He’s our president, and I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists,” Pelosi said, “especially in his age group, and in his, shall we say, weight group: ‘Morbidly obese,’ they say.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Axios / CBS News)

  • The FDA softened its earlier advisory against taking hydroxychloroquine, saying it’s “ultimately” a choice between patients and their health-care providers. FDA warned last month that the drug should only be taken in hospitals because of the risk of heart complications. Its effectiveness against the virus is unproven. (CNBC)

3/ The Trump administration will end deployments for more than 40,000 National Guard members currently helping states with coronavirus test and trace programs one day before thousands of members become eligible for key federal benefits, including early retirement and education benefits under the Post-9/11 GI bill. Members will face a “hard stop” on their deployments on June 24. (Politico / The Hill)

4/ The Trump administration signed a $354 million contract to create the nation’s first strategic stockpile of generic medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients needed to treat COVID-19, which are currently made overseas. The goal is to enable the U.S. to manufacture essential drugs at risk of shortage and to create a reserve of active pharmaceutical ingredients in order to reduce the dependence on foreign suppliers. (NBC News / New York Times)

5/ The House Judiciary Committee told the Supreme Court they need Robert Mueller’s secret grand jury materials to determine if there is new evidence of impeachable offenses involving Trump, saying Trump “did not cease with the conclusion of the impeachment trial.” The new filing comes in response to the Justice Department’s request that the Supreme Court put aside a federal appeals court order that Congress had a “compelling need” to view the secret grand jury evidence. The Justice Department, meanwhile, is asking the Supreme Court to block the release, saying it would suffer “irreparable harm” if it had to turn over the records before the justices had decided whether to take up the appeal. (CNN / Washington Post)

6/ Sen. Bob Menendez will introduce a bill that would limit Trump’s ability to fire inspectors general within his administration. The legislation is a response to Trump’s recent firing of State Department inspector general Steve Linick, the fourth IG that Trump has fired in recent months. Menendez says his bill would “prevent a President from carrying out an unjustified—or worse, politically motivated—removal” by giving Congress a “mechanism” to review attempts by a president to remove inspectors general. The bill would only allow a president to remove an IG “for cause,” including for misusing funds, abusing their power, or breaking the law. (The Hill)

7/ The Senate Intelligence Committee approved Rep. John Ratcliffe’s nomination as the nation’s top intelligence official. Trump’s next director of national intelligence was approved in a straight party-line vote, 8 to 7. The nomination must still be confirmed by the Senate. If confirmed, Ratcliffe would take over from acting national intelligence director Richard Grenell. (Politico / Wall Street Journal)

poll/ 73% of Americans are certain that climate change is happening – matching the highest level of acceptance recorded by the survey. 54% said they are “extremely” or “very” certain that climate change is happening while 10% said climate change is not happening, and 6% said they were “extremely” or “very” sure it’s not happening. (New York Times)