Trump news: President claims 'Operation Warp Speed' will find coronavirus vaccine by end of year as Space Force makes White House debut

'There's a serious problem in the White House right now - and it isn't Obamagate'

For Indy Voices, Andrew Feinberg says the festering culture of cronyism in the West Wing has allowed Trump to play his favourite conspiracy theory while Rome burns.

Trump proudly announces funding going towards state transit 

Donald Trump tweeted on Friday about two states that would receive federal funding for their public transit after the passing of the CARES Act, which was crafted by members of Congress. 

New Jersey's transit system was set to receive $1.4bn while the Chicago Transit Authority in Illinois would receive $817m from the act. 

The president notably did not mention New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), which is the largest transit system in the nation and has been hit the hardest during the coronavirus pandemic. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has consistently pleaded with the federal government to provide more funding to states during the pandemic. 

How Michael Flynn conspiracy theory became central to Trump reelection campaign

The Independent's breakdown of the current Republican conspiracy theory used by Donald Trump to distract from the coronavirus as he seeks reelection.

Nasa makes landmark announcement about plan to return to the moon

Nasa has made a landmark announcement about its plan to return to the Moon and onto Mars, revealing that it has begun negotiating the "Artemis Accords".

The accords are a set of agreements that would require any country that plans to work with the US to return to the lunar surface to agree to a host of principles. The accords are named in keeping with the Artemis programme, which is the plan to send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024.

They would include a commitment to be transparent in their work, to only explore space for "peaceful purposes", and to guarantee they would work together to save any astronauts that came into danger during a mission.

Andrew Griffin reports: 

Trump claims US will have an 'amazing' 4th quarter as retail sale fall 16 per cent

Donald Trump spoke in the Rose Garden of the White House on Friday to discuss his administration's plan to push the development of the coronavirus vaccine in the coming months. 

He opened the briefing by boasting what is to come for the US economy in the fourth quarter, as a majority of states begin their reopening processes. 

According to Mr Trump, the US was set to have an "amazing" resurgence. But economists have warned it could take up to a decade for the US to fully recover from the coronavirus pandemic. It was announced on Friday that retail sales cross the US have fallen 16 per cent after stores were forced to close in-store services and Americans halted spending. 

The unemployment rate also soared to 14.7 per cent in April, a number only expected to grow in the coming months. 

Donald Trump's megalomania and Boris Johnson's incompetence have increased the coronavirus death toll Patrick Cockburn​ with his take: 

Trump claims the US is 'back' amid coronavirus pandemic without a vaccine

The Trump administration has turned its focus on developing and administering a coronavirus vaccine in its latest response to the novel virus. 

When speaking about the topic on Friday, the president claimed "warp speed" action toward delivering vaccine doses by the end of 2020. 

"We're getting ready so that we get the good word that we have the vaccine, we have the formula, we have what we need, we're ready to go... It's risky, it's expensive, but we'll be saving massive amounts of time, we'll be saving years if we do this properly," Mr Trump said. 

"When a vaccine is ready, the US government will deploy every plane, truck and soldier required to help distribute it to the American people as quickly as possible," he added. 

Experts have warned developing a vaccine in that time frame could be risky for the public, specifically if necessary safety precautions are sidelined to speed up the process. It was initially estimated a vaccine could be developed in 12 to 18 months, an already expedited deadline that concerned experts.

“I want to make one thing clear: vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back," Mr Trump claimed, which could be a statement to cover his administration in case it was unable to develop the vaccine by the end of the year. 

Health officials have warned life in the US would not be able to completely return to normal until a vaccine was made available to the public against Covid-19. 

Nancy Pelosi calls GOP tax law a 'scam' while defending Democrats coronavirus bill

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has defended a coronavirus relief package the House is slated to take up and which critics have said is too big. She also contrasted it to a series of 2017 Republican tax laws she called a "a scam".

House Democrats are expected by late Friday evening to pass the $3trn bill even though top Senate Republicans have called it "dead on arrival" in the upper chamber. White House aides say Donald Trump would not sign it into law. That means it has will have no life left in Washington and no chance to become law, though Ms Pelosi crafted the bill and is bringing it to the floor to give Democratic members a chance to vote for some of their biggest priorities in an election year.

John T Bennett reports: 

My family are the rule-breaking, lockdown-flouting entitled Americans you've heard about during the coronavirus pandemic

Andrea Askowitz on her family's take on the social distancing measures: 

Space Force makes its Oval Office debut

In what's either a tribute to or ripoff of the Star Fleet logo, the flag for Donald Trump's Space Force — the sixth and somehow very real branch of the US armed forces — has been unfurled inside the White House.

Moments after declaring "warp speed" production for a coronavirus vaccine that's not likely to be available to Americans until 2021, the flag's unveiling is the first time in more than 70 years that a commander in chief has been presented with a new military flag.