Tag Archives: Oval Office

Pence, Harris to clash in VP debate amid White House virus outbreak

By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) – Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic challenger Kamala Harris will square off on Wednesday in their only debate, as President Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis and the ongoing pandemic continue to roil the U.S. presidential contest.

The televised clash comes at a precarious moment for the Trump-Pence re-election campaign, less than a week after the president announced he had contracted COVID-19 amid a White House outbreak that has infected numerous high-profile Republicans.

Late on Tuesday, the two sides were still arguing over Harris’ request for plexiglass barriers on stage to lessen the chance of infection. CNN reported that a member of the commission that oversees the debate said Pence would be permitted to appear without a barrier, while Harris would have one on her side of the stage if desired.

Both Pence and Harris, a U.S. senator, tested negative for the coronavirus on Tuesday. Current government guidelines call for anyone exposed to someone with COVID-19 to quarantine for 14 days regardless of test results.

Pence’s spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

In a statement, Harris spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said, “If the Trump administration’s war on masks has now become a war on safety shields, that tells you everything you need to know about why their COVID response is a failure.”

With two septuagenarians at the top of the ballot, the debate could take on greater importance than in other years, when the vice presidential match-up was largely seen as an afterthought to the presidential debates. Both Pence and Harris will seek to demonstrate that they can step into the Oval Office if necessary to lead the country.

Trump, 74, returned to the White House on Monday after three days in a military hospital. It is unclear when he will again be able to campaign. Trump has said he plans to participate in the Oct. 15 presidential debate.

The pandemic is likely to dominate the proceedings. Biden, 77, and Harris, 55, have made Trump’s handling of the disease the central theme of their campaign, blaming Trump for deliberately downplaying the health risks and failing to endorse mask-wearing.

The 61-year-old Pence, who headed up the administration’s coronavirus task force, will defend Trump’s response to the virus, which has killed 210,000 Americans and decimated the U.S. economy even as other wealthy nations have managed to get the disease under control.

Viewers will have a constant reminder of the pandemic’s effect on daily life: Pence and Harris will be more than 12 feet apart on stage at the University of Utah, in addition to the plexiglass barrier

In preparation for the debate, Harris got help from former Democratic presidential primary rival Pete Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who is familiar with Pence’s past record when he was governor of the state.

The debate is unlikely to match the sheer chaos of the first presidential debate last week, when Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden and the two traded insults. Pence, who once hosted a radio show as a congressman, and Harris, a former prosecutor known for sharp questioning during Senate hearings, are both seen as polished communicators.

A Biden campaign official said Harris has prepared for Pence to attack her as too liberal, echoing Trump’s assertion that the moderate Biden will advance a “radical left-wing” agenda if elected.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Leslie Adler)

Power of prayer in the White House takes media spotlight

praying with Trump

By Kami Klein

In a rare media shift, the attention has been drawn to prayer in the White House through a picture that has hit social media. The picture, taken in the Oval Office, shows an intimate moment where Christian representatives were laying hands on President Trump and praying.  

The picture was provided by Johnnie Moore, a former senior vice president at Liberty University in Virginia. He had been invited along with a group of evangelical leaders to meet with the President and Jennifer Korn, deputy director and liaison from the White House, for a day-long meeting to discuss several issues.  

Among the approximate 30 leaders praying with the President, many were part of President Trump’s faith advisory council from his campaign, who were invited to participate last Monday, July 10th.  Florida pastor, Paula White, South Carolina  pastor, Mark Burns, former Republican representative, Michele Bachmann, and Southern Baptist pastors Jack Graham, Ronnie Floyd and Robert Jeffress were included and had been asked to discuss issues such as the Affordable Care Act, religious freedom, pending judicial nominees, criminal justice reform and support for Israel.   

After the meeting, the group paid a visit to the Oval office where they were joined by President Trump and Vice President Pence. In a statement emailed to The Christian Post, the provider of the picture, Johnnie Moore, described the event as “a very special moment but it was also not an unusual one.”

“Various ones of us have prayed with him many times and have been praying for him for a long time…We believe we are a praying nation, and we begin by praying for our leaders,” stated Moore.

“As you know, most evangelicals believe it’s a sacred responsibility to pray for the President, and this is very much in our tradition as Americans who once took — and sometimes still do take — this responsibility seriously.”

President Trump has had an evangelical advisory board from the beginning of the election campaign and a long friendship with Paula White who served as his spiritual adviser. White now serves as Chairwoman of the Evangelical Advisory Board to President Donald J. Trump and delivered the invocation at his inauguration, becoming the first female clergy member to pray at a Presidential inauguration.

Jim and Lori Bakker are honored to be welcoming Paula White-Cain on Tuesday, August 15th on Grace Street at Morningside. Please join us for this very special show taping that begins at noon with absolutely free admission.  This will be a fascinating look at the spiritual side of our government and hear a message from an outstanding woman of faith!  Don’t miss it!

Story Sources:   CNN,  Washington Post, Faithful news,

Trump pulls U.S. out of Pacific trade deal, loosening Asia ties

President Donald Trump holds up executive order

By Roberta Rampton and Steve Holland

(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on Monday, distancing America from its Asian allies as China’s influence in the region rises.

Fulfilling a campaign pledge to end American involvement in the 2015 pact, Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office pulling the United States from the 12-nation TPP.

“Great thing for the American worker,” Trump said as he signed the order on his third full day in office. The Republican says the trade deal would have damaged U.S. manufacturing.

The accord, backed heavily by U.S. business, was negotiated by former President Barack Obama’s administration but never approved by Congress. It had been the main economic pillar of the Obama administration’s “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific region to counter China.

Trump has sparked worries in Japan and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific with his opposition to the TPP and his campaign demands for U.S. allies to pay more for their security.

Harry Kazianis, Director of Defense Studies at the Center for the National Interest think tank in Washington, said Trump must now find an alternative way to reassure allies in Asia.

“This could include multiple bilateral trade agreements. Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam should be approached first as they are key to any new Asia strategy that President Trump will enact,” he said.

U.S. BUSINESS LEADERS

The new president also met with a dozen American manufacturers at the White House on Monday, pledging to slash regulations and cut corporate taxes, but warning them he would take action on trade deals he felt were unfair.

Trump, who took office on Friday, has promised to bring manufacturing plants back to the United States – an issue he said helped him win the Nov. 8 election. He has not hesitated to call out by name companies that he thinks should bring outsourced production back home.

He said those businesses that choose to move factories outside the country would pay a price. “We are going to be imposing a very major border tax on the product when it comes in,” Trump said.

Trump asked the group of chief executives from companies including Ford, Dell Technologies, Tesla and others to make recommendations in 30 days to stimulate manufacturing, Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris told reporters.

Liveris said the CEOs discussed the border tax “quite a bit” with Trump, explaining “the sorts of industry that might be helped or hurt by that.”

“Look: I would take the president at his word here. He’s not going to do anything to harm competitiveness. He’s going to actually make us all more competitive,” Liveris said.

At a portion of the meeting observed by reporters, Trump provided no details on how the border tax would work. The U.S. dollar fell to a seven-week low against a basket of key world currencies on Monday and global stock markets declined amid investor concerns about Trump’s protectionist rhetoric.

“A company that wants to fire all of its people in the United States, and build some factory someplace else, and then thinks that that product is going to just flow across the border into the United States – that’s not going to happen,” he said.

CUT TAXES AND REGULATIONS

The president told the CEOs he would like to cut corporate taxes to the 15 percent to 20 percent range, down from current statutory levels of 35 percent – a pledge that will require cooperation from the Republican-led U.S. Congress.

But he said business leaders have told him that reducing regulations is even more important.

“We think we can cut regulations by 75 percent. Maybe more,” Trump told business leaders.

“When you want to expand your plant, or when Mark wants to come in and build a big massive plant, or when Dell wants to come in and do something monstrous and special – you’re going to have your approvals really fast,” Trump said, referring to Mark Fields, CEO of Ford, who sat around the boardroom-style table in the Roosevelt Room.

Fields said he was encouraged by the tone of the meeting.

“I know I come out with a lot of confidence that the president is very, very serious on making sure that the United States economy is going to be strong and have policies – tax, regulatory or trade – to drive that,” he said.

Trump told the executives that companies were welcome to negotiate with governors to move production between states, but Trump was scheduled to hold a meeting later on Monday with labor leaders and U.S. workers, the White House said.

Between winning the presidential election in November and taking office, Trump hosted a number of U.S. CEOs in meetings in New York, including business leaders from defense, technology and other sectors. He also met with leaders of several labor unions, including the AFL-CIO.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom, Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey, Ayesha Rascoe and David Shepardson)