Here’s a look at today’s biggest news items: Obama criticizes Trump administration’s coronavirus crisis response. At an online ‘virtual’ commencement ceremony for HBCUs this afternoon, the former US president ripped his successor’s actions on the pandemic, saying: “More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.” Justin Amash will not run as third-party candidate for president. The former Republican said he will not run as a third-party candidate in this year’s presidential election, assuaging fears among Democrats that he would help return Trump to power in this November’s election. New York tourist arrested in Hawaii for violating local quarantine rule. The island state, with 638 Covid-19 cases, has been cracking down on those who refuse to comply with the 14-day mandated isolation. US states begin to reopen amid contact tracing programs scramble. Patchwork of efforts as states left to devise own programs and local health department are still hiring people to test and trace contacts. Barack Obama delivered a rare rebuke of a sitting president from one of his predecessors on Saturday when he criticized the Trump administration’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic during an online commencement address to graduates of 78 historically black colleges and universities. A just-published story from my colleague Jessica Glenza has further details. “Let’s be honest, a disease like this just spotlights the underlying inequalities and extra burdens that black communities have historically had to deal with in this country,” Obama said. “We see it in the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on our communities.” As he continued, Obama criticized federal response efforts to the pandemic: “More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge,” he said. The speech was the first of two addresses Obama was due to give on Saturday. He is also scheduled to take part in a prime time special for high-school graduates that starts at 8pm Eastern on all the major TV networks. In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. 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The White House says Donald Trump’s latest firing of a federal watchdog came following a recommendation by US secretary of state Mike Pompeo. “Secretary Pompeo recommended the move, and President Trump agreed,” an administration official said on Saturday after two top Democrats announced a probe into Trump’s dismissal of Steve Linick, the state department’s inspector general, on Friday night. New York representative Eliot Engel and New Jersey senator Bob Menendez said the decision “may be an illegal act of retaliation” in letters to the White House, the state department and the inspector general’s office announcing the investigation, asking that administration officials provide all records related to the firing to the committees by Friday, according to the AP. The results of more than 35,000 Covid-19 tests ordered by a Florida-based health care system and performed by a third-party lab are unreliable, the company said Saturday. The Associated Press reports: According to AdventHealth, a faith-based health care system, the situation has created unacceptable delays. AdventHealth didnt name the third-party lab but said it had terminated its contract with the lab. The tests were a mixture of positive and negative results, and some had been at the lab for a while. About 25,000 of the unreliable tests were in the central Florida area. AdventHealth president and CEO Terry Shaw said the company will notify patients who are impacted. AdventHealth has 49 hospitals in nine states. Company spokeswoman Melanie Lawhorn said two of those states are joint venture systems and were not affected by the unreliable testing. On Saturday, Florida’s department of health reported more than 600 new coronavirus cases in the past 24-hour period, lifting the overall count to 44,811. A total of 1,964 people have died from the virus, up 47 from Friday. US swing states such as Michigan and Wisconsin helped bring Donald Trump to power in 2016. How they handle the pandemic may well be crucial at the presidential election this November too, writes my colleague David Smith. Just as in the 2016, the swing states bring national trends into sharp focus. Democratic governors across the country have generally urged caution, particularly in major cities, citing concerns for public health from a virus that has killed more than 85,000 people in the US – more than any other country in the world. But Republican governors have tended to err on the side of reopening faster, alarmed that more than 36m Americans have submitted unemployment claims since mid-March and retail sales dipped 16.4% last month. Southern states such as Georgia and Texas were among the first to allow shops and businesses to reopen. “Vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back,” Trump said in the White House rose garden on Friday while announcing a major US drive to create a coronavirus vaccine. Polls show Biden beating Trump in battleground states but Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, warns that he still faces political traps. “The fundamental problem for the Democratic party is that in order to defeat Trump, they almost have to cheerlead for a bad economy and they also have to cheerlead for new [coronavirus] hotspots in swing states. It sounds gruesome, but really that’s so far what they’re banking on to beat Trump. “And in this case, Trump is absolutely smarter than that and what he is offering, not only his base but voters in swing states, is hope. It’d actually be reminiscent, in a much less articulate way, of Ronald Reagan. He’s basically saying, ‘I got you to the promised land economically once, I will get you back to the promised land economically again’. Obama comments on Arbery shooting Barack Obama also commented in his virtual commencement address just now on the cold-blood shooting of Ahmaud Arbery that has sparked widespread horror and outrage. Arbery, a black man shot and killed while jogging in Georgia by a white former police officer and his son, was 25. After he was killed, it took local authorities more than two months to file charges, a move that followed shocking video footage of the shooting emerging into the public domain. Obama made the comments at a virtual commencement ceremony for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, as he acknowledged the dual crises graduates now face after leaving college – the Covid-19 pandemic and a historic economic downturn. Let’s be honest, a disease like this just spotlights the underlying inequalities and extra burdens that black communities have historically had to deal with in this country... We see it in the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on our communities,” said Obama. “Just as we see it when a black man goes for a jog and some folks feel like they can stop and question and shoot him, if he doesn’t submit to their questioning. Injustice like this isn’t new.” Barack Obama criticizes Trump administration"s coronavirus crisis response At an online “virtual” commencement ceremony for Historically Black College and Universities this afternoon, the former US president, Barack Obama, told graduates moments ago about his successor administration’s actions on the pandemic: More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.” The takedown of the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic is a rare rebuke from a former president. It follows Obama’s leaked remarks last week that the government response to Covid-19 had been “an absolute chaotic disaster”. But Saturday’s remarks were made openly to likely thousands of graduating students tuned in online. While a majority of North American thoroughbred tracks have been shuttered during the pandemic, Churchill Downs and Santa Anita Park resumed live racing on Saturday in what the Associated Press says could be a lifeline for owners and trainers with smaller barns who have been suffering without steady income. Barack Obama also commented in his virtual commencement address just now on the cold-blood shooting of Ahmaud Arbery that has sparked widespread horror and outrage. Arbery, a black man shot and killed while jogging in Georgia by a white former police officer and his son, was 25. After he was killed, it took local authorities more than two months to file charges, a move that followed shocking video footage of the shooting emerging into the public domain. Obama made the comments at a virtual commencement ceremony for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, as he acknowledged the dual crises graduates now face after leaving college – the Covid-19 pandemic and a historic economic downturn. Let’s be honest, a disease like this just spotlights the underlying inequalities and extra burdens that black communities have historically had to deal with in this country... We see it in the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on our communities,” said Obama. “Just as we see it when a black man goes for a jog and some folks feel like they can stop and question and shoot him, if he doesn’t submit to their questioning. Injustice like this isn’t new.” Barack Obama criticizes Trump administration"s coronavirus crisis response At an online “virtual” commencement ceremony for Historically Black College and Universities this afternoon, the former US president, Barack Obama, told graduates moments ago about his successor administration’s actions on the pandemic: More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.” The takedown of the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic is a rare rebuke from a former president. It follows Obama’s leaked remarks last week that the government response to Covid-19 had been “an absolute chaotic disaster”. But Saturday’s remarks were made openly to likely thousands of graduating students tuned in online. While a majority of North American thoroughbred tracks have been shuttered during the pandemic, Churchill Downs and Santa Anita Park resumed live racing on Saturday in what the Associated Press says could be a lifeline for owners and trainers with smaller barns who have been suffering without steady income. “We’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully,” Maryland-based owner and trainer Linda Gaudet said from Kentucky, where she’s preparing for racing to return Saturday at Churchill Downs. “The owners and the trainers and the riders, they need to get back to work, make a living.” A mix of government restrictions and positive Covid-19 results stopped racing in Kentucky, Maryland, New York, California and elsewhere in March, and Gaudet said “it’s been a long two months.” Racing without fans continued only at a handful of tracks, including Florida’s Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs and Arkansas’ Oaklawn Park. Trainer Norm Casse recently said from Florida that as long as some tracks are running, he’s able to keep his operation going. “I don’t think there’s probably an industry in the country that’s not affected by this in some way, shape or form,” Norm Casse said. “You take comfort in the fact that you know you’re not alone, that everybody’s going to be making sacrifices. Everybody probably stands to lose a little something from all of this and just be grateful to be in the position we were in to begin with.” Some are in better position than others. Deep-pocketed owners and big-time trainers like two-time Triple Crown winner Bob Baffert can handle the reduction in racing. It’s more concerning for the small businesses throughout the industry, from owners and trainers to jockeys, grooms and other employees. “Those businesses don’t have the financial flexibility, perhaps the cash reserves, to weather this storm for longer than a month or two,” National Thoroughbred Racing Association president and CEO Alex Waldrop said. “If this extends past May into June or July, you’re going to see attrition. You’re going to see people who aren’t going to be able to remain viable business operations.” Congressmen announces examination of watchdog firing by Trump Representative Eliot Engel of New York, a Democrat and the chairman of the House foreign affairs committee (as well as a leading figure in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump at the start of the year), announced that the committee would be probing the firing last night of the State Department inspector general, Steve Linick. In a statement, Engel said: “This firing is the outrageous act of a president trying to protect one of his most loyal supporters, the Secretary of State, from accountability. I have learned that the Office of the Inspector General had opened an investigation into Secretary Pompeo. Mr. Linick’s firing amid such a probe strongly suggests that this is an unlawful act of retaliation. “This president believes he is above the law. As he systematically removes the official independent watchdogs from the Executive Branch, the work of the Committee on Foreign Affairs becomes that much more critical. In the days ahead, I will be looking into this matter in greater detail, and I will press the State Department for answers. “I thank Mr. Linick for his distinguished service.” Investigation into watchdog firing - report The US House foreign relations committee has just announced an investigation into the firing last night of Donald Trump’s inspector general at the State Department, Reuters reports. Steve Linick was ousted last night as the department’s internal watchdog. He had been reportedly looking into the actions of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. According to a Democratic congressional aide, just before his abrupt dismissal Linick had opened an investigation into allegations that Pompeo had been using a political appointee at the state department to run personal errands for him and his wife, Susan. More details as they emerge. Justin Amash will not run as third-party candidate for president Justin Amash has announced that he will not run as a third-party candidate in this year’s presidential election. Some had feared the former Republican’s campaign would help return Donald Trump to power in this November’s election, an accusation Amash denied. “Washington is totally dysfunctional,” Amash told CNN’s State of the Union earlier this month. “That’s why I left the Republican party, because there was this partisan death spiral. “We need someone who’s going to come in as president, respect our constitution, defend our rights, and fix our representative system of government so that people will actually feel represented at home. And I know that millions of Americans want that.” On Saturday, he said he had reconsidered his decision. “After much reflection, I’ve concluded that circumstances don’t lend themselves to my success as a candidate for president this year, and therefore I will not be a candidate,” the Michigan congressman tweeted. “I’ve spent nearly three weeks assessing the race, appearing in media, talking to delegates and donors, watching the Libertarian Party’s convention plan unfold, and gathering feedback from family, friends, and other advisers,” he added. Amash was the first Republican congressman to call for the impeachment of Donald Trump. Barack Obama is due to make a speech today during an online commencement for HBCUs. You can follow the speech here on a livestream. David Smith has detailed Donald Trump’s obsession with his predecessor. As David puts it: “Observers point to a mix of anti-intellectualism, racism, vengeance and primitive envy over everything from Obama’s Nobel peace prize to the scale of his inauguration crowd and social media following.” You can read the full article below: