Trump and some top aides question accuracy of virus death toll  —  President Trump has complained to advisers about the way coronavirus deaths are being calculated, suggesting the real numbers are actually lower — and a number of his senior aides share this view, according to sources with direct knowledge.

How Kushner's Volunteer Force Led a Fumbling Hunt for Medical Supplies  —  Roughly a dozen young, inexperienced workers were assembled to sort through tips on masks, gloves and other equipment.  Warehouses were running bare, and doctors fighting the coronavirus were forced to make their own protective gear.

Trump order to paint border wall black could drive up cost $500 million or more  —  President Trump is once more pushing to have his border wall painted black, a design change that is projected to add at least $500 million in costs, according to government contracting estimates obtained by The Washington Post.

Byron York's Daily Memo: EXCLUSIVE - DNI to Schiff: The transcripts are ready to release  —  Welcome to Byron York's Daily Memo newsletter.  —  Was this email forwarded to you?  Sign up here to receive the newsletter.  —  EXCLUSIVE — DNI TO SCHIFF: THE TRANSCRIPTS ARE READY TO RELEASE.

The problem with Biden's pledge of a black woman Supreme Court justice  —  There are few black women serving on the federal judiciary, and none younger than age 67 in appeals courts, the usual stepping stone to the high court.  —  WASHINGTON — Joe Biden has promised that if elected president …

Trump touted reopening.  Privately, his team sounded alarms.  —  President Donald Trump boasted on May 1 that his success in responding to the coronavirus pandemic has made ventilator, test kit and mask shortages a thing of the past, and that much of the country is ready to quickly send people back to work.

American detained in Venezuela says he planned to capture president  —  “Donald Trump is the direct chief of this invasion,” Maduro said in televised comments, after the video of Denman was broadcast.  —  Venezuelan state television broadcast on Wednesday a video of captured American Luke Denman …

Don't Be Fooled by America's Flattening Curve  —  Here is America's coronavirus curve: the number of newly reported cases each day.  The curve has started declining moderately from the peak in early April.  —  But that's not the whole story.  Separate the region around New York City and the picture becomes far less rosy.

Voters Divided on Alleged Biden Assault  —  Half the electorate consider voting by mail this year  —  West Long Branch, NJ - Recent headlines may have dented Joe Biden's favorability rating ever so slightly but he has actually widened his national lead over Donald Trump in the race for president.

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman says evidence suggests coronavirus was not man-made or released from lab  —  The Pentagon's top uniformed official on Tuesday maintained that available evidence indicates the virus that has caused a global pandemic was natural and not man-made or released purposely from a Chinese lab.

The Republic of Facebook  —  With the Naming of Oversight Board Members, What Kind of Institution Will This Become?  —  With Facebook's unveiling of the first 20 (of an expected 40) members of its newly minted Oversight Board for content moderation, it's a good moment to take a step back …

GOP lawmakers cheer Texas salon owner for violating stay-at-home order  —  Republican officials across the country have urged reopening businesses despite public health experts' advice that doing so too quickly will result in more cases of the virus.  —  Republican elected officials are rushing …

'It's gone haywire': When COVID-19 arrived in rural America  —  DAWSON, Ga. (AP) — The reverend approached the makeshift pulpit and asked the Lord to help him make some sense of the scene before him: two caskets, side by side, in a small-town cemetery busier now than ever before.

Trump's train wreck ABC interview illustrated why he rarely strays from Fox News  —  President Trump tours a Honeywell plant in Phoenix, Arizona, on May 5.  Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images  —  “I'll be honest, uh, I have a lot of things going on,” Trump said, trying to explain his lack of coronavirus preparation.

Firm Set Up by G.O.P. Operatives Under Scrutiny Over Virus Contracts  —  Blue Flame Medical boasted that it could acquire masks, testing kits and other equipment to respond to the pandemic.  State and local governments paid up — and are still waiting for delivery.

The president is not well: The umpteenth reminders of Trump's mental state and the consequences  —  Every parent has warily confronted the hypothetical question: What would you do if you suspected your child was unwell?  —  Not physically, but emotionally unwell, or mentally unstable?

US private payrolls drop by 20.2 million in April, the worst job loss in the history of ADP report  — Private payrolls fell by more than 20 million in April, the worst drop in the ADP survey history, though not as bad as estimates of 22 million job losses.

Coronavirus Casts Deep Chill Over U.S.-China Relations  —  Pandemic has brought relations between the two to a modern-day nadir as they try to outmaneuver one another to shape the world order  —  Relations between the U.S. and China, strained for years, have deteriorated at a rapid clip in recent months …

Coronavirus stimulus checks sent to dead people should be mailed back to IRS, Treasury says  —  WASHINGTON - If your dead relative got a coronavirus stimulus check, the government wants the money back.  —  The Treasury Department said Wednesday that people who received a stimulus payment …

Coronavirus lessons on density, mass transit, bureaucracy and censorship: They kill.  —  Coronavirus unknowns include how fatal it is and if we can make a vaccine.  But we've already learned about four things that make the pandemic worse.  —  The novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan …

Kemp Warns Of Growing Outbreak Stressing Northeast Georgia  —  Gov. Brian Kemp warned on Tuesday that a growing coronavirus outbreak is stressing resources in northeast Georgia.  —  Kemp has moved aggressively to allow businesses to reopen even though infections are on the rise in some areas of the state.

What Is the Real Coronavirus Toll in Each State?  —  As the coronavirus pandemic cuts through the country, it is leaving behind large numbers of deaths that surpass those of recent history.  A New York Times analysis of state data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows …

Report: Detroit Casinos May Not Reopen For Months While Tribal Casino Up North Re-Starts Today  —  The Detroit mayor says it depends on a treatment or vaccine.  —  (WWJ) Because of a nearly $350 million budget shortage, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan suspended anti-blight programs across the city …

New Colorado poll shows Hickenlooper widening double-digit lead over Gardner  —  Former Gov. John Hickenlooper leads U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner by 18 percentage points in Colorado's U.S. Senate race, according to a poll from Colorado firms released Wednesday.  —  The Keating-Onsight-Melanson poll …

Where the virus is spreading fastest  —  In addition to keeping an eye on the tragic, and climbing, numbers of total coronavirus cases and deaths across the U.S., it's important to watch how those trends are playing out over time at the state level.  —  Why it matters: Rising, or falling …

Zoom Adds Board Member H.R. McMaster and Head of Global Public Policy and Government Relations Jonathan Kallmer to Leadership Team  —  Zoom announced today that it has appointed Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond “H.R.” McMaster as an independent director on Zoom's Board of Directors …

States of Play: Battleground Survey Shows Voters Concerned About Reopening Economy  —  CNBC/Change Research Poll in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin: May 1-3, 2020  — 68% of voters in the battleground remain seriously concerned about the coronavirus …

State health department tells university COVID-19 modeling team to stop work, limits data access  —  The Arizona Department of Health Services told a team of university experts working on COVID-19 modeling to “pause” its work, an email from a department leader shows.

Betsy DeVos Completes Sexual Assault Rules  —  Education Secretary Betsy DeVos released final regulations for schools dealing with sexual misconduct, giving them the force of law for the first time and bolstering due-process rights.  —  WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos …

Health workers that volunteered to come to NY during pandemic have to pay state income tax: Cuomo  —  NEW YORK — Health care workers that came to New York to help fight the coronavirus pandemic at its epicenter will have to pay state taxes, according to the governor.  —  He addressed the issues Tuesday at a news conference.

2 Utah County businesses told staff to ignore COVID-19 guidelines, resulting in 68 positive cases  —  Nearly half of the employees of a Utah County business tested positive for COVID-19 after the business instructed employees to not follow quarantine guidelines and required staff …