memeorandum: Esper supports Navy's dismissal of aircraft carrier captain (Jack Arnholz/ABC News)

11:25 AM ET, April 5, 2020

Top Items:

Stranded in the Maldives by Coronavirus Travel Restrictions — Surrounded by a fleet of staff, who are also stranded, one couple is trapped in an eternal honeymoon in the Maldives. — Olivia and Raul De Freitas are currently on their honeymoon, at a five-star resort, in the Maldives …

ABC News:

Biden says call with Trump over coronavirus response hasn't happened — Biden reiterated he was open to speaking with the president. — Former Vice President Joe Biden said a suggested call between himself and President Donald Trump about the novel coronavirus response hasn't happened …

Discussion: The Hill, Bloomberg, Talking Points Memo, NBC News, Mediaite and Political Wire

ABC News:

Biden says 2020 convention may be ‘virtual,’ will wear mask in public amid COVID-19 outbreak — The convention was delayed to August. — Former Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday on ABC's “This Week” the recently delayed Democratic Convention will have to happen, but conceded that it may need …

Discussion: Breitbart

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:

Some top Sanders advisers urge him to consider withdrawing — A small group of Bernie Sanders's top aides and allies — including his campaign manager and his longtime strategist — have encouraged the independent senator from Vermont to consider withdrawing from the presidential race …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, NewsOne, The Guardian, Raw Story, The Hill and NBC News

Holly Otterbein / Politico:
Sanders' ‘narrow path’ to victory gets even narrower

Discussion: Slate and The Week

Mary Spicuzza / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Joe Biden says Democrats ‘may have to do a virtual’ national convention instead of a massive meeting in Milwaukee

J. Edward Moreno / The Hill: Larry David: Bernie Sanders should drop out of 2020 race

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Larry David, Master of His Quarantine

Discussion: Breitbart and InsideHook

Michael Biesecker / Associated Press:

U.S. ‘wasted’ months before preparing for virus pandemic — WASHINGTON (AP) — As the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster …

Discussion: Axios, Politico and POLITICUSUSA

Matthew Mosk / ABC News:

George W. Bush in 2005: ‘If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare’ — A book about the 1918 flu pandemic spurred the government to action. — In the summer of 2005, President George W. Bush was on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he began flipping through …

Discussion: Political Wire

Dan Balz / Washington Post: America was unprepared for a major crisis. Again.

Michelle Stoddart / ABC News:
Trump discusses opening the country as coronavirus peak approaches

Discussion: One America News Network and Breitbart

New York Times:

Coronavirus Live Updates: Trump Warns of ‘a Lot of Death’ While Also Revisiting Easter Sunday Services — President Trump warns of what could be “the toughest week,” while also saying he would like to consider relaxing social distancing rules for Easter services.

Discussion: The Root

New York Times: 24 Hours in a Pandemic Nation

Peter Baker / New York Times: Trump Proceeds With Post-Impeachment Purge Amid Pandemic

Jack Arnholz / ABC News:

Esper supports Navy's dismissal of aircraft carrier captain — Over 1,200 service members, DOD civilians have tested positive for coronavirus. — Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said he fully supported acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly's decision to dismiss the Navy captain who raised concerns …

Discussion: Bloomberg and The Hill

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Inside the ouster of Capt. Brett Crozier

Discussion: Politico, The Guardian, Task & Purpose, Axios and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Juan Perez Jr / Politico:
'He shouldn't be talking that way': Trump rips ousted Navy captain

Discussion: Washington Post, Balloon Juice, CNN, The National Interest, Breitbart, HuffPost, Raw Story and Task & Purpose

Kansas City Star:

COVID-19 reshuffles 2020 Missouri governor race between Parson and Galloway — A little more than a month ago, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson was running TV ads making the case that a booming economy, record-low unemployment and his accomplishments as governor should earn him four more years in office.

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:

Two months in, Trump's coronavirus response creates more chaos — Analysis: Amid America's biggest crisis in generations, the president's actions have often complicated problems rather than resolved them. — WASHINGTON — More than two months into what President Donald Trump calls a “war” …

Edwin Mora / Breitbart:

Former CIA Station Chief: DNI Richard Grenell Bringing ‘Much Needed Efficiency’ to ‘Bloated’ Intel Community — U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Richard Grenell is streamlining the “bloated bureaucracy” that is the intelligence community in a bid to make it more efficient in tackling …

Discussion: Politico

Natasha Bertrand / Politico:
‘A searing time for whistleblowers’: Ousted intel watchdog wrote letter to Schumer

Discussion: NBC News, The Gateway Pundit and The Hill

Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
Pelosi Statement on Firing of Intelligence Community Inspector General

Discussion: Rolling Stone, IJR and CNN

Reuters:

Exclusive: Pressed by Trump, U.S. pushed unproven coronavirus treatment guidance — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In mid-March, President Donald Trump personally pressed federal health officials to make malaria drugs available to treat the novel coronavirus, though they had been untested for COVID-19, two sources told Reuters.

Discussion: РБК

Yahoo News:

A small trial finds that hydroxychloroquine is not effective for treating coronavirus — Food and Drug Administration approved the use of two antimalarial drugs, hydroxychloroquine and a related medication, chloroquine, for emergency use to treat COVID-19. The drugs were touted by

Discussion: The National Interest

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

Early on, Cheney and Cotton warned about the coronavirus. They still face pushback in the GOP. — Frustrated by the-cure-is-worse-than-the-pandemic rhetoric, some prominent Republicans have begun to forcefully defend the medical science behind the virtual shutdown of the U.S. economy.

Adam Kilgore / Washington Post:

How long until sports can return? You might not like the answer. — As fields, arenas and stadiums sit vacant and silent, the desire for sports to return far exceeds the capacity among those who oversee them to determine when they will. Assessing probability is futile …

Discussion: Axios and Associated Press

Zack Budryk / The Hill:

Surgeon general: ‘This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives' — U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned Sunday amid the coronavirus pandemic that the week ahead would be the “hardest and the saddest” of “most Americans' lives.”

Discussion: Associated Press

Helen Branswell / STAT:

CDC launches studies to get more precise count of undetected Covid-19 cases — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun preliminary studies to try to determine how many Americans have already been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, an agency official revealed Saturday.

Discussion: The Week and Politico

Politico:

Wisconsin's primary to go forward Tuesday even as coronavirus all but shutters the U.S. — The deadly coronavirus pandemic may have closed schools, shuttered businesses, ended sports seasons and postponed the Democratic National Convention, but it hasn't canceled Wisconsin's primary on Tuesday.

Discussion: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Common Dreams, Althouse, Axios, New York Post and Washington Post