JUDY WOODRUFF: The U.S. top 1.8 million cases of the coronavirus and passed 107,000 deaths.
The state of Florida reported 1,300 new infections, one of its largest one-day surges. But Governor
Ron DeSantis said it is because testing capacity is improving.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Now, the virus isn't gone. I think that we're testing a lot. We
are identifying cases, particularly in prisons, amongst agriculture workers, amongst areas
where you have a lot of congregation, close quarters for a long period of time. And so
we're going to continue to keep an eye on that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Overseas, the British government said that it will mandate a two week self-quarantine
on anyone arriving from abroad.
In the U.S. presidential campaign, former Vice President Joe Biden is now within a few
dozen delegates of clinching the Democratic presidential nomination. He swept Tuesday's
primaries in seven states and the District of Columbia. We will look at that and the
other headlines from the primaries later in the program.
Republican Party leaders made it official today. Parts of the GOP convention will take
place this August in Charlotte, North Carolina, as planned. But, in an unusual move, President
Trump will give his acceptance speech in a city yet to be determined.
North Carolina's Democratic Governor Roy Cooper has said that pandemic concerns make a full-scale
convention very unlikely.
Former Democrat -- or -- sorry -- Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein conceded today that
there were mistakes in the probe of the 2016 Trump campaign and its alleged ties to Russia.
He said he would not have approved surveillance of campaign aide Carter Page if he had known
of problems with the warrant.
But at a U.S. Senate hearing, Rosenstein defended tapping Robert Mueller to lead the investigation,
and he insisted the probe was not corrupt.
ROD ROSENSTEIN, U.S. Deputy Attorney General: I was concerned that the public would not
have confidence in the investigation. I decided that appointing a special counsel was the
best way to complete the investigation appropriately and to promote public confidence in its conclusions.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The Mueller probe found the Russians did try to interfere with the 2016
election. It did not allege a criminal conspiracy with the Trump campaign.
President Trump's doctor reports that he remains healthy, based on his latest physical exams.
Today's statement also says that the president had no ill effects from taking hydroxychloroquine
for two weeks to help ward off COVID-19.
However, a major new study today in The New England Journal of Medicine said the drug
has no effect on the coronavirus.
The Trump administration will ban four Chinese airlines from flying to the U.S. That announcement
comes after Beijing refused to let United and Delta Air Lines resume flights to China,
as the pandemic has subsided there. Before the pandemic, there were about 325 flights
a week between the two nations.
And on Wall Street, stocks pushed higher again on growing optimism that the economy can recover
quickly. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 527 points to close near 26270. The
Nasdaq rose 74 points, and the S&P 500 added 42. It is now near its all-time high set earlier
this year.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": we examine police practices that often target people
of color and possible reforms; a study of how systemic racial bias can be addressed
one family at a time; plus, the critical takeaways from another primary Election Day
in America.