POLITICO Playbook PM: Jared’s ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment Presented by Amazon

Jared Kushner said today that the “federal government rose to the challenge and this is a great success story.” | Win McNamee/Getty Images

ONE MILLION INFECTED AND NEAR 60K DEAD … JARED KUSHNER on “Fox and Friends” this morning: “Again, we’re on the other side of the medical aspect of this and I think that we’ve achieved all the different milestones that are needed. So, the government, federal government rose to the challenge and this is a great success story and I think that that’s really what needs to be told.”

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S CORONAVIRUS ECONOMY: GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT shrunk by an annual rate of 4.8% in the first quarter -- the worst contraction in a dozen years, since the Great Recession.

-- BLOOMBERG, by Katia Dmitrieva: “The record-long U.S. economic expansion is over after almost 11 years, with what’s likely to be the deepest recession in at least eight decades now under way.”

-- YIKES … WAPO’S @byHeatherLong: “The worst is yet to come. Q2 2020 expect to be -35%.”

FLASHBACK … LARRY KUDLOW on FOX NEWS on Feb. 7: “The impact on the American economy will be very, very, very small, if any. … We really haven’t seen any economic impact. There may be some out there. Our own internal numbers say maybe two-tenths of a percent in the first quarter, but that’s not going to end this growth cycle.” Video, with remarks at 6:40

POTENTIALLY BIG NEWS … BLOOMBERG: “Gilead Virus-Drug Trial Signals Hope, and Fauci Sees ‘Good News,’” by Michelle Fay Cortez and Naomi Kresge: “Gilead Sciences Inc. said early results from a U.S.-government-run study showed its experimental drug to treat coronavirus helped patients recover more quickly than standard care, suggesting it could become the first effective treatment for an illness that has turned modern life inside-out. …

“Gilead shares jumped as much as 7.1% Wednesday after the company’s statement. The news appeared to boost the entire U.S. stock market as well, with the S&P 500 gaining 2.4%. … Remdesivir, which was originally developed to treat other novel viruses, has placed Gilead at the head of the race to develop a treatment for Covid-19. The drug, which has also been tested on Ebola, hasn’t been approved for use anywhere in the world.”

-- SARAH OWERMOHLE: “Gilead released its own study results this morning suggesting that severely ill patients receiving five days of remdesivir fared just as well as patients receiving a 10-day dosing regimen.”

ANTHONY FAUCI ON REMDESIVIR in the Oval: The drug has a “clear-cut, significant positive effect in diminishing the time to recover. … We think it’s really opening the door to the fact that we now have the capability of treating.”

HMM … SEN. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) sent out a fundraising invite Tuesday for a “weekend of wine and food” in Sonoma County, Calif., Aug. 21-23. “Note: Very limited space,” the invite reads. The event, which is being held at the MacArthur Place Resort, includes visits to Donum Estate, Arista Winery and Three Sticks Winery. Cost to attend: $5,000. The invite

FROM SINEMA’S OFFICE: “This event was previously scheduled for June (originally advertised in January) - and this notice is our first attempt at rescheduling it. As Kyrsten’s highest priority is health and safety during this emergency, we will obviously continue to adjust plans as needed over the coming weeks and months, and have already canceled all in-person events in the near future.”

-- THE CRAZY PART: Sinema isn’t up for reelection until 2024!

Good Wednesday afternoon.

THE MASKLESS MAN BACK ON THE ROAD: VP MIKE PENCE will go to Kokomo, Ind., on Thursday to visit a GM plant.

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FAUCI spoke to the Washington Nationals’ RYAN ZIMMERMAN. The convo

COME ON … DETROIT NEWS: “Amash ‘confident’ in winning a White House bid,” by Melissa Nann Burke: “U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, a Trump critic from West Michigan, is weighing a third-party bid for the White House that he said he’s ‘confident’ he could win. ‘There's an urgency. There is a need right now, more than ever, for someone with common sense to stand up to these two parties and to present a strong alternative,’ Amash said in an interview.”

ROBERT O’BRIEN PROFILE … WSJ’S MIKE BENDER and GORDON LUBOLD: “On Coronavirus, National Security Threats, O’Brien Picks His Spots”: “While Mr. O’Brien viewed the novel coronavirus as an imminent danger, he largely removed himself from the spotlight on the administration’s response, instead picking moments to assert himself behind the scenes. He rarely attends coronavirus task force meetings, ceding those duties to his chief deputy, and has appeared just once, on March 19, at the president’s evening news conferences on the topic.

“After seven months on the job, Mr. O’Brien has settled into the role of facilitator. He is quicker than either of his predecessors, John Bolton or H.R. McMaster, to defer to the president’s judgment.

“Mr. O’Brien arrives at the office by 9 a.m. most mornings, often fielding phone calls from the president much earlier, and is comfortable in the Washington social scene. He travels with Mr. Trump to Mar-a-Lago, and sits at the middle of the table in the White House Situation Room. But he has told colleagues that he is more comfortable in the background, viewing himself as a ‘quiet professional,’ in the words of one associate, and sees himself as a senior aide, not a principal.”

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT -- “Coronavirus Testing Capacity Is Going Unused,” by WSJ’s Brianna Abbott and Sarah Krouse: “Lab executives and public-health officials blame barriers including fragmented supply chains, relatively strict test guidelines, incompatible electronic systems and a lack of centralized data on where capacity exists.

“The result is a disorganized system that isn’t matching the limited testing supply with the demand, and some public-health experts are calling for national coordination to scale up quickly.” WSJ

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SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-Conn.) is leading a bill to federalize the medical supply chain. Details … Press call at 1:30 p.m. today

SARAH OWERMOHLE: “FDA official steps into vaccine vacuum after shakeup”: “A senior official at the Food and Drug Administration has emerged as the Trump administration’s unofficial vaccine czar after the abrupt ouster of the scientist leading the multibillion federal effort to develop coronavirus treatments … Peter Marks trained as a cancer doctor and now directs the FDA office that oversees the approval of vaccines and gene therapies.

“HHS has increasingly positioned the quiet, trusted FDA official as an informal adviser to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and other agencies on vaccine development. Giving Marks, who a senior HHS official called ‘a world-class expert’ on vaccines, a more prominent role could ease fears that the recent shakeup at BARDA could slow progress against the pandemic.” POLITICO

OVERSIGHT WATCH -- “Congress sounds alarm over inaccurate antibody tests,” by NBC’s Josh Lederman: “Amid an ongoing investigation, the House Oversight subcommittee on economic policy sent letters Tuesday demanding test data and a list of all purchasers from four companies that have claimed that their tests are more accurate than the California researchers’ data shows. …

“[T]he early results are alarming enough that the House subcommittee is urging the FDA to revise its policy to require antibody test makers to apply for FDA approval and to allow only effective tests to be sold.” NBC

THE LATEST RESEARCH -- “‘Frostbite’ toes and other peculiar rashes may be signs of hidden coronavirus infection, especially in the young,” by WaPo’s Ariana Eunjung Cha

-- QUOTE DU JOUR, via dermatologist Esther Freeman: “My inbox and my telemedicine clinic are full of just toes. It’s all about toes. I have never seen so many toes.”

TRUMP VS. CHINA … WAPO: “White House aides torn over trade hawk’s proposal as President Trump weighs action on China,” by Jeff Stein, Bob Costa and Josh Dawsey: “Trump has groused about China during several recent Oval Office meetings and expressed interest in an executive order crafted by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, the president’s leading China hawk and a divisive figure within the administration. The executive order would over time require the federal government to buy medical supplies and pharmaceuticals manufactured in the United States, aiming to reduce dependency on imports and increase domestic production.

“But Trump has stopped short of signing the measure. … Although it has the support of some officials at the State Department and the National Security Council, [Treasury Secretary Steven] Mnuchin and several business leaders close to Trump are averse to making a major push on supply chains at a fragile moment for the economy, they said. And Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, shares Mnuchin’s caution.” WaPo

AFTER RECOVERY -- “‘Will You Help Save My Brother?’: The Scramble to Find Covid-19 Plasma Donors,” by NYT’s Audra Burch in Hollywood, Fla., and Amy Harmon: “In the absence of a vaccine or proven treatment, Covid-19 survivors are being viewed as potential saviors for patients with a disease that has killed more than 52,000 people in the United States. Demand for what is known as ‘convalescent plasma’ has outstripped supply by roughly two to one, setting off a kind of pandemic free-for-all for survivor good will. …

“With a limited pool, panicked relatives of Covid-19 patients have resorted to social media campaigns and mass emails to seek out survivors with a compatible blood type. And Covid-19 survivors have found themselves facing unanticipated ethical dilemmas about the potentially lifesaving antibodies circulating in their blood.” NYT

AP’S ROXANA HEGEMAN in Belle Plaine, Kan.: “A federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday that a Kansas law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote is unconstitutional, upholding a judge’s injunction that had banned its use.” AP

TERRIFYING READ -- “‘The Nightmare Scenario’: How Coronavirus Could Make the 2020 Vote a Disaster: Trump can’t cancel the presidential election. Here’s what you should really be worrying about,” by Zack Stanton in POLITICO Magazine

DEPT. OF COULDA WOULDA SHOULDA -- “Governors were warned of a pandemic years ago, told to stockpile. Why didn’t they do more?” by ABC’s Mike Levine: “[D]ozens of documents reviewed by ABC News … show governors and local authorities were keenly aware even years ago that when a pandemic inevitably hit, they would endure life-threatening shortages and receive limited help from the federal government. …

“But the documents reviewed by ABC News and interviews with several current and former government officials expose a painful paradox about preparing for a pandemic: States could have been far more self-reliant, but only if the federal government had provided more help.” ABC

UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES -- “The Roads Are Quieter Due to Coronavirus, but There Are More Fatal Car Crashes,” by WSJ’s Scott Calvert

THE TRACKING QUESTION -- “A Scramble for Virus Apps That Do No Harm,” by NYT’s Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Natasha Singer and Aaron Krolik: “Several dozen countries, states, universities and companies are racing to develop and begin using the digital tools, which public health experts said could improve person-to-person contact tracing but are not a panacea. The mad dash has left some places with a confusing mishmash of options, and has some computer security researchers worried about vulnerabilities in hastily written software.

“There is no evidence that the apps will be effective without widespread testing for the virus and without enormous numbers of voluntary participants, which could be hampered by years of privacy scandals involving both governments and companies.” NYT

-- TO WIT … WAPO: “Nearly 3 in 5 Americans say they are either unable or unwilling to use the infection-alert apps under development by Google and Apple, suggesting a steep climb to win enough adoption of the technology to make it effective against the coronavirus pandemic, a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll finds.” The poll

IN THE PRISONS -- “ACLU Presses Prisons for Coronavirus Infection Data,” by WSJ’s Laura Kusisto and Sadie Gurman: “The ACLU effort lends legal muscle to separate attempts by correction officers’ unions and families, who say federal and state prisons have stonewalled their questions as infection rates and deaths climb among inmates and prison employees.

“The national ACLU and its local affiliates are seeking email communications from the federal Bureau of Prisons and about three dozen state prison systems that they said would help show when government officials first understood the risk of Covid-19 spreading among inmates and facility staff. They are requesting copies of recommendations made about preventing the virus’s spread, including releasing inmates. And they want records of employees’ grievances about potential unsafe practices, such as lack of protective equipment or even hand soap.” WSJ

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ICYMI -- THE LEFT TAKES ANOTHER L … COLUMBUS DISPATCH: “Winning 68% of the vote, Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty has easily fended off a challenge from Morgan Harper to virtually guarantee another term in Washington.”

-- BALTIMORE SUN: “Baltimore’s Kweisi Mfume wins U.S. House race in special election, returns to seat he held before taking over NAACP”

SPORTS BLINK -- “NCAA proposes letting college athletes get paid for endorsements,” by Juan Perez Jr.: “If approved by college officials and put into effect next year, the NCAA’s plan would allow college athletes to earn money from endorsement deals or other business agreements. But athletes couldn’t use school logos or trademarks in their product pitches.” POLITICO

MEDIAWATCH -- Adam Nossiter will be the next Kabul bureau chief for the NYT. He currently is Paris bureau chief. Announcement

BONUS BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Melody Barnes, co-director of the Democracy Initiative and professor of practice at U.Va.’s Miller Center of Public Affairs. A trend she thinks doesn’t get enough attention: “For too long, too many have assumed that democracy’s questions and challenges only belong to the policymakers and the social scientists. There’s growing awareness that the scientists and the artists also have much to tell us about who we are, the primacy of reason and culture, and how we can realize our democratic aspirations.” Playbook Q&A

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