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LeBron James advisor exhausted from Me Too, Black Lives Matter

LeBron James advisor exhausted from Me Too, Black Lives Matter

NBA player LeBron James and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in Los Angeles, California.

Chelsea Lauren | FilmMagic | Getty Images

Longtime white advisor to black NBA superstar LeBron James was caught on tape telling an ESPN white reporter, “I’m exhausted. I have nothing left between Me Too and Black Lives Matter, ”revealed a report on Sunday.

Communications expert Adam Mendelsohn’s outspoken comments – referring to catchphrases used for the movements aimed at reducing sexual violence against women and police murders and brutality against blacks – came during a taped phone call he made last summer with the NBA Reporter Rachel. from ESPN had Nichols, the New York Times reported.

Mendelsohn apologized for these specific comments in an email to CNBC after being asked about them on Sunday.

Nichols, who is white, had complained to Mendelsohn during that July 2020 call about a black reporter, Maria Taylor, getting the pre-game NBA final hosting spot from her sports cable TV network had, a spot Nichols expected her to, The Times reported.

Nichols on this tape implied that Taylor received this gig to the detriment of Nichols because Taylor is black – and because ESPN was under pressure to have more racial diversity in its lineup of on-air talent.

In his initial comments on the Black Lives Matter and Me Too statements, Mendelsohn told CNBC, “I made a stupid, negligent comment rooted in privilege and I am truly sorry.”

“I shouldn’t have said it or even thought it,” Mendelsohn said in an email.

“I am working to support these movements and I know that the people affected by these problems are never exhausted or left with nothing. I must continue to review my privilege and work to be a better ally.”

Nichols apparently did not know that the conversation was being recorded by a video camera broadcasting images and audio from her hotel room at a resort in Walt Disney World, Florida. Walt Disney Company is the majority owner of ESPN.

The video from the camera she used to appear on the network’s shows was fed into ESPN’s control room in Bristol, Connecticut. A tape of the call later circulated within ESPN and was leaked.

Mendelsohn has been an advisor to James for over ten years. Last year he co-founded James’ Black Vote Promotion Group More Than A Vote and is a senior advisor to the group.

The More Than a Vote website notes that the group was launched “amid the protests against Black Lives Matter following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Our goal: energy, education and protection of black voters. “

Taylor joined More Than a Vote last summer and recorded videos as a member of the group supporting the group’s efforts.

Mendelsohn is also a Senior Advisor at the private equity firm TPG, where he previously worked as Managing Director for Global Communications. Previously, he was Deputy Chief of Staff to then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Times reported that the video of the call lasted more than 20 minutes, with “continuous talk”. The newspaper only put two audio snippets online, which together last 2 minutes and 47 seconds.

Anthony Davis # 3 of the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James # 23 of the Los Angeles Lakers and Quinn Cook # 28 of the Los Angeles Lakers kneel down during the National Anthem with VOTE shirts before the start of the game against the Denver Nuggets in Game Three of the Western Conference Finals during the 2020 NBA Playoffs at the AdventHealth Arena at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on September 22, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

Mike Ehrmann | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images

The Times article stated that “many employees were outraged when they saw the video” because they believed that Nichols “reflected a common criticism used by white workers in many workplaces of non-white colleagues Denigrate – that Taylor was only offered the job of hosting because of her race, not because she was the best person for the job. “

And The Times reported that ESPN staff had also said Nichols made Taylor’s job difficult because Taylor had to deal with Mendelsohn to get interviews with people in professional basketball.

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Last May, The Times reported, the stars of ESPN’s “NBA Countdown” discussed whether they would refuse to appear in protest against changes to production they believed were made in Nichols’s favor .

These changes included Nichols becoming the game’s main reporter, which in turn resulted in three colored side reporters being given fewer tasks.

The bomb report comes weeks before Taylor’s contract with ESPN expires.

The New York Post reported last week that Taylor turned down a contract proposal last year that would have increased her current annual salary from $ 1 million to nearly $ 5 million a year. Taylor reportedly held out after significantly more money.

The Post also reported that ESPN’s current offering to Taylor is valued at $ 2-3 million per year. The lower amount reflects a move by the network to cut salaries across the board, according to The Post.

Nichols called Mendelsohn on July 13, 2020 to request an interview with James and another Lakers player, Anthony Davis, who is another client of James’ agent, Rich Paul. Mendelsohn is also an adviser to Black Paul.

Nichols also took the time on the same call to ask Mendelsohn’s advice on how to deal with the situation at ESPN, and was denied the assignment, which went to Taylor.

“I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world – she reports on football, she reports on basketball,” said Nichols during the phone call with Mendelsohn, whose audio was posted online by The Times.

“If you have to give her more to do because you are feeling pressure because of your shitty long-term record in terms of diversity – which, by the way, I know personally from the female side – then just do it. Just find it somewhere else. You won’t find it from me or take my thing away. “

She also noted that the assignment to moderate coverage of the NBA finals “is written in my contract,” the newspaper reported.

After Nichols said she was planning to wait for ESPN’s next move, Mendelsohn paused, then said, “I don’t know. I am exhausted. I have nothing left between Me Too and Black Lives Matter. “

Nichols laughed at that, as the tape reveals.

Mendelsohn then suggested to Nichols that the situation be so that ESPN played two women, Nichols and Taylor, against each other.

“About the fact that it is just so very white men that they turn two women against each other to compete for the one point that they dangle over them,” said Mendelsohn.

“A broader discussion of all the points that should be considered.”

Nichols then said on the tape, “There’s not just one place at the table for a minority of the version we’re trying to try this week.”

Mendelsohn replied, “If you think about it, this is exactly the problem we’ve been talking about for a long time, which is white men – it’s an example of the one black person on the boardroom … you don’t? Not having a black woman in a prominent position and feeling, OK, all the work is done. “

“And you certainly can’t say, ‘Okay, we have a white woman, we have a woman in a critical place, and now that we’re going to put a black woman in the same place,” he said.

“The question is, what other seats do white men sit in?”

The Times reported that he told the paper for its article, “I will share what I believed then and what I still believe to be true. Maria [Taylor] earned and earned the position, and Rachel [Nichols] must respect it. “

“Maria deserved it because of her job, and ESPN realized that, like many people and companies in America, she needs to change on purpose,” said Mendelsohn.

“Just because Maria got the job doesn’t mean Rachel shouldn’t get what she deserves. Rachel and Maria shouldn’t be forced into a zero-sum game by ESPN, and Rachel had to challenge them. “

The Times reported that Mendelsohn did not answer follow-up questions about the taped call.

In his statement to CNBC, Mendelsohn said, “I’ll reiterate what I believe advised Rachel on the call and told the Times. Maria deserved and deserved the position and Rachel had to respect her. If Rachel wanted to challenge ESPN, she needed” to focus on their overall culture. “

ESPN has declined to say if an employee has been disciplined in connection with the case.

The Times reported that the only known person known to have been punished was a black digital video producer who was suspended for two weeks without pay after telling ESPN Human Resources that they were sending the video to Taylor had sent.

Josh Krulewitz, spokesman for ESPN, declined to speak to CNBC, but cited statements he had given the Times for its article.

“A diverse group of executives thoroughly and fairly examined all facts related to the incident and then handled the situation appropriately,” said Krulewitz.

“We pride ourselves on the coverage we continue to produce and our focus will continue to be on Maria, Rachel and the rest of the talented team that collectively serve NBA fans.”

Krulewitz also told the newspaper that ESPN emphasizes diversity, inclusion and equity, and that the company “arguably has the most diverse talented professionals in the sports media business, including those behind the scenes”.

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Health

High FDA advisor says children should be vaccinated towards Covid

Top FDA advisor says kids need to be vaccinated against Covid

U.S. Senator Bob Casey, right, watches as Dr. Paul Offit speaks during a press conference in Philadelphia on Friday, Feb. 13, 2015.

Matt Rourke | AP

Children need to be vaccinated against Covid-19, a top advisor to the Food and Drug Administration’s childhood vaccines told the agency on Thursday.

“It just seems silly to think that we don’t need to involve children,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and advisor to the FDA. “They can suffer and be hospitalized and occasionally die.”

He said 300 children had died of Covid so far.

Offit, a voting member of the Agency’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, spoke about the use of Covid-19 vaccines in children 6 months of age during the panel’s meeting.

“We have variants that are becoming more contagious, which means you need higher population immunity … for years, if not decades,” Offit said. He also said that we vaccinate children against polio every year, although we haven’t had a polio case since the 1970s.

Data from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that nearly 4 million children have tested positive for Covid since the pandemic began. In the past week, the data said more than 16,000 new cases in children were reported, the lowest since June 2020. In states reported, less than 1% of all Covid cases in children resulted in death, the AAP wrote their website.

“I think in winter we will really see how well we do on population immunity,” Offit said. “I think the idea that we will no longer have to vaccinate children in the future is wrong.”

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Politics

Former Obama advisor Seth Andrew in talks to resolve constitution college theft

Former Obama advisor Seth Andrew in talks to resolve charter school theft

Seth Andrew during a TEDx conversation

Source: TEDx talks | Youtube

Federal prosecutors and an attorney for former White House education advisor Seth Andrew are in initial talks over a possible removal of the criminal case accusing him of tearing down a network of charter schools he founded for $ 218,000 .

These discussions came to light just a month after Andrew was arrested on a New York City criminal complaint for wire fraud, money laundering, and misrepresentation against a financial institution.

However, one person familiar with these discussions, who had requested anonymity due to the nature of the conversations, said they were not referring to a possible plea deal, but rather giving Andrew’s new attorney time to update on the case.

Free for a $ 500,000 bond, 42-year-old Andrew is the founder of Democracy Prep Public Schools, which he left in 2013 to join then-President Barack Obama’s administration.

Prosecutors last month accused Andrew of looting a number of school escrow accounts on the Democracy Prep network in 2019.

Andrew then allegedly used most of the money to keep a minimum number of bank accounts, which in turn gave him a cheaper rate on the $ 1.776 million mortgage on the Manhattan residence he and his wife, the CBS news anchor, he owned Lana Zak, shares.

Andrew and Zak received a mortgage rate of only 2.5% or 0.5% less than they should have paid because they had more than $ 1 million on deposit with the lender.

Without the more than $ 142,000 in allegedly stolen funds that he deposited with the lender, “Andrew could only have received an interest deduction of 0.375%,” the US Attorney’s Office for the southern borough of New York found last month.

Democracy Prep said it learned of the unauthorized withdrawals and then reached out to the authorities.

Zak, who has three children with Andrew, is not accused of wrongdoing.

Thursday was the legal 30-day deadline within which Andrew will be charged in the case, either by grand jury indictment or by some other type of indictment known as informational. This is usually filed after a defendant has indicated willingness to plead guilty.

On Thursday, prosecutors asked Manhattan Federal Supreme Court judge Barbara Moses to extend the deadline on the case.

“The defense attorney and the government are discussing a possible disposition for this case and other matters,” US assistant attorney Ryan Finkel wrote in a trial.

“Therefore, the government is asking for a 30-day continuation until June 27, 2021 to continue the above discussions. The undersigned spoke personally with the defense attorney, who had expressly consented to this request.”

Moses granted the request for continuation in an order published on Friday.

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An injunction in criminal proceedings usually relates to a confession of guilt, an acquittal in the process or, less often, the dismissal of charges by prosecutors.

It is common for prosecutors and defense lawyers to discuss a possible objection agreement, but such discussions do not always end in an agreement.

And the person familiar with the discussions in Andrew’s case said the postponement of the indictment was because his attorney, Edward Kim, was recently hired to represent him on the case, rather than due to taking the case immediately resolve through a plea.

The US Attorney’s Office for the southern borough of New York declined to comment.

Kim also declined to comment.

Until his arrest, Andrew was CEO of Democracy Builders, a group that describes itself as “the social sector studio that created more than $ 1 billion in companies that are the face of education, democracy and technology change all over the world “.

Democracy Builders bought the former Marlboro College campus in Marlboro, Vermont, for more than $ 1.7 million in 2020 with the aim of building a school there called Degrees of Freedom.

The group removed Andrew as chairman of the board of directors and restricted his access to all financial accounts after learning of his arrest.

Natasha Trivers, current executive director of the Charter School network Democracy Prep, said in an email to the network’s families last month that Andrews “alleged acts are a profound betrayal of everything we stand for and of you and your children. the scholars and families who do that. ” we serve. “

Trivers added, “The network’s finances remain strong and at no point has any of Seth Andrew’s activities had a negative impact on our scholars or the functioning of our schools.”

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Biden senior Covid advisor Andy Slavitt leaving White Home subsequent month

Biden senior Covid advisor Andy Slavitt leaving White House next month

Andy Slavitt

Tom Williams | CQ Appeal, Inc. | Getty Images

Andy Slavitt, a senior advisor to President Joe Biden’s coronavirus response team, confirmed on Friday that he will be leaving his role in early June.

Slavitt, whose temporary position on Biden’s Covid panel is known to expire next month, said that while the government had achieved many of its goals for the pandemic, there was more work to be done.

“Look, there’s never a perfect time to leave,” Slavitt said in a Bloomberg interview. But he said he believes that if he retires from the role, “things are in really good hands with the people here, that many difficult things have been accomplished”.

“There’s a lot more to do, but the people here, I couldn’t think of a better group than the people who will be here when I’m gone,” he said.

When asked what still needs to be done, Slavitt mentioned the “great job” of convincing the remaining block of unvaccinated Americans to get their shots and helping other struggling nations to vaccinate.

“There will always be things to do, there will always be challenges,” said Slavitt. “Hopefully, for the sake of the country, they won’t be as intense as before.”

Slavitt said he would be leaving sometime “early June”. The White House did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment for further details on Slavitt’s exit. Slavitt was a so-called special government employee, a status that, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior, limited his service to 130 days.

Slavitt discussed his upcoming departure the day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that fully vaccinated people would no longer need to wear face masks in most situations.

The shift in guidelines meant a significant relaxation of the social distancing recommendations that were in place in one form or another during most of the pandemic. Biden and other government officials hailed the update, which coincided with the US reaching 250 million vaccinations, as a turning point in the United States’ fight against the virus.

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Biden capital positive factors tax hike would solely hit 0.3% of households, advisor says

Biden capital gains tax hike would only hit 0.3% of households, advisor says

Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, holds a press conference in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC on April 26, 2021.

Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images

President Joe Biden’s chief economic adviser on Monday defended a plan to increase capital gains tax on the country’s richest households as neither too much of a burden nor as a barrier to business investment.

Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, said during a news conference that the president’s plan would increase capital gains tax for 0.3% of US households – those with annual incomes above $ 1 million.

It’s “not the top 1%, it’s not even the top half of 1%,” said White House Deese. “For the other 997 out of 1,000 households in the country … this is not a change that will be relevant. It will not change the tax treatment of capital gains at all.”

He explained that the proposed tax hike would target those households who normally do not receive most of their income from work-place wages.

“For typical Americans, most of their income comes from wages,” he said. “For people who earn less than $ 1 million a year, about 70% of their income comes from wages. For people who earn more than $ 1 million, the opposite is the case. About 30% of their income. ” [income] comes from wages. “

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Though Deese didn’t mention a specific interest rate, his appearance Monday during a White House briefing gave credence to reports that the government will seek to raise the capital gains rate to 39.6% for households earning more than $ 1 million .

Biden is expected to officially launch the proposal on Wednesday to fund spending on the upcoming American family plan, which is said to be priced at around $ 1 trillion.

Separated from the US infrastructure-based employment plan, this bill is believed to include measures designed to help US workers learn new skills, expand childcare subsidies, and make tuition fees free for everyone at Community College.

When responding to criticism that increasing the capital gains rate could dampen investment in the US business, Deese argued that there is no evidence to support this claim. Capital Gains Tax is especially important to Wall Street as it dictates how much a portion of a stock sale is collected by the federal government.

“In a variety of academic and empirical data, there is no evidence of a significant impact of capital gains rates on the level of long-term investment in the economy,” he said. “There are many reasons for this, including the fact that if you look at where a lot of venture capital and early-stage investments are coming from, they are actually coming from pension funds, wealth funds and corporations that are actually not tax sensitive.”

Deese also claimed that the revenue generated by a higher rate for the richest Americans could then be used for programs and subsidies that have been shown to increase economic performance over time.

“Investing in early childhood and our children, for example, yields huge dividends in terms of their own academic success, reduced health care costs, productivity and future growth,” the NEC director and former Obama official told reporters.

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White Home advisor Andy Slavitt thinks 89% of seniors will enroll

White House advisor Andy Slavitt thinks 89% of seniors will sign up

Andy Slavitt, White House Senior Advisor on Covid Response, predicted a growing number of Americans will continue to take the Covid vaccine based on news and evidence from trusted sources.

“In Israel, where they are a little ahead of us, 89% of seniors have chosen the vaccine,” Slavitt said. “We believe we can achieve these numbers if we continue to reliably answer people’s questions because these are very good, safe and effective vaccines.”

Around 37% of people in the US over the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the last week alone, the states fired around 17 million shots.

To further facilitate the distribution of vaccines, the Biden government announced that it will launch a nationwide vaccine availability website that will act as a link between the numerous vaccine registration websites from states, pharmacies, and other companies.

Slavitt told CNBC’s The News with Shepard Smith that “the idea would be if you put in your zip code it would show you on a map all the places near you that claim to have vaccines.” He added that streamlining the process would not only reduce widespread frustration, but also reduce vaccine hesitation.

Host Shepard Smith pressed Slavitt on his comments on vaccination records. Speaking at a press conference at the White House Monday, Slavitt said vaccination records should be free, private and secure. However, it is “not the job of the government to save this data and do so”.

Slavitt said Tuesday night that a government-run vaccination record campaign could lead some Americans to believe that the government is too involved in collecting data required for a vaccination record. This resistance is counterproductive for the entire vaccination effort.

“We believe that the public is more reluctant to get vaccinated if they feel like the government. The federal government is too big a role in this,” Slavitt said.

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Covid vaccine shipments delayed by storm to reach by midweek: White Home advisor

Covid vaccine shipments delayed by storm to arrive by midweek: White House advisor

Boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are being prepared for shipment on December 13, 2020 at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing facility in Portage, Michigan.

Morry Gash | Getty Images

All deliveries of Covid-19 vaccine doses delayed by the historic winter storm last week are expected to be delivered mid-week, Andy Slavitt, Senior White House Advisor for Covid-19 Response, said Monday.

Slavitt said Friday that shipments of about 6 million cans, equivalent to shipments worth about three days, were delayed by the storm.

“I reported on Friday that we would make up for the deliveries by the end of this week,” said Slavitt on Monday at the Covid-19 White House press conference. “We now assume that any remaining cans will be delivered by the middle of the week.”

He added that the federal government plans to ditch about 7 million vaccine doses on Monday, a combination of shots left behind from last week and some that should run out this week. He said the government’s ability to catch up quickly on the storm was thanks to members of the military and McKesson staff who the government hired to assist with distribution and logistics in getting the vaccine up and running.

“Seventy McKesson employees volunteered to work Saturday night and Sunday morning at 1am to prepare shipments for an 11am transit deadline,” he said, adding that UPS employees are also flexible on delayed deliveries could react.

Slavitt added that although the White House expected to catch up on the doses dispensed quickly, “it will take some time” for vaccination centers to catch up on vaccinations.

“We encourage vaccination centers to follow the same example of those who work longer hours to catch up on supplies by allowing more appointments to vaccinate the anxious public as soon as possible,” he said. Slavitt added that vaccination centers are still closed in some parts of the country that were particularly hard hit by the storm.

The pace of vaccination in Texas, rocked by the storm that left millions in the state without electricity, suffered badly. Slavitt said the 7-day average of daily doses received fell 31% over the past week.

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Former Biden Covid advisor warns of coming surge in Covid instances

Former Biden Covid advisor warns of coming surge in Covid cases

Dr. Michael Osterholm, Regent Professor, McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair of Public Health and Director of the Center for Research and Policy on Infectious Diseases at the University of Minnesota, announced advances on COVID-19 testing in Minnesota at St. Paul, MN.

Glen Stubbe | Star Tribune | Getty Images

An epidemiologist who advised President Joe Biden’s transition to the Covid-19 crisis warned on Sunday of an impending wave of infections and said the US should adjust its vaccination strategy to save lives.

“We have to give an acoustic signal, I think there is no doubt about it,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm on NBC’s “Meet the Press”. He used a metaphor from soccer to describe the changing plans on the fly.

Osterholm said the administration should try to give as many initial vaccine doses as possible, especially for those over 65 years of age, before there can be a potential spike in cases related to mutations overseas.

The two federally approved vaccines are given in two doses three weeks apart. Osterholm suggested that his plan might require delaying the second dose.

“The fact is the surge that is likely to occur with this new variant from England is going to happen in the next six to 14 weeks. And when we see that, my 45 years in the trenches tell me we’re going to do it, We’re going to see something like we’ve never seen in this country, “said Osterholm.

“We still want to get two doses each, but I think right now, before this surge, we need to get as many doses as possible in as many people over 65 as possible to reduce serious illnesses and deaths in the coming weeks,” added Osterholm added. He said that data supports the idea that those who get their second dose later might get better results.

The variant of coronavirus first identified in the UK has been linked to faster transmission and can be more deadly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that the variant could be the dominant strain in the US by March.

Osterholm is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. He was a member of the Covid-19 Advisory Board of the Biden transition team, which disbanded when Biden was inaugurated earlier this month.

The White House did not return a request for comment on Osterholm’s remarks on Sunday.

The number of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations every day has fallen sharply in recent weeks, although the total remains high. The monthly death toll from the virus hit a record high in January.

The United States has an average of more than 3,000 deaths from the virus and more than 150,000 infections every day, according to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

Osterholm suggested that the decreasing number of cases and hospitalizations could create a false sense of security and that these numbers would rise again if communicable mutations became more prevalent across the country.

“You and I are sitting on this beach, which is 70 degrees, perfectly blue skies, light breezes, but I see this hurricane – Category 5 or higher – 450 miles offshore,” Osterholm told host Chuck Todd. “Telling people to evacuate on the beautiful blue-sky day will be difficult. But I can also tell you the hurricane is coming.”

The federal vaccine rollout, which got off to a rocky start, has accelerated in recent weeks. Nearly 25 million people have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to CDC data, with around 5 million receiving both doses. Biden has pledged to meet a goal of 100 million doses administered within its first 100 days.

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Biden Covid advisor challenges Cuomo’s letter to purchase vaccine instantly

Biden Covid advisor challenges Cuomo's letter to buy vaccine directly

Dr. Coveline Gounder, a member of the Covid Advisory Board of President-elect Joe Biden, slammed the Trump administration’s piecemeal Covid response as some states in the US struggled to get the vaccine doses they needed.

“I think we have already received too many patchwork reactions in the states,” said Gounder in an interview on Monday evening for “The News with Shepard Smith”.

In a briefing on the coronavirus on Friday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the federal government was sending his state 50,000 less doses of vaccine than the week before. The state received fewer doses when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded immunization rights to people over 65 years of age on Jan.

On Monday, Cuomo sent a letter to Pfizer asking if New York State could buy vaccines directly from the company. Last week, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer made a similar request to Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar.

Gounder told host Shepard Smith that this approach could cause more problems than it could solve.

“I think Governor Cuomo himself had already said in the spring that the ventilator situation was essentially ‘one big Ebay’ with all states bidding against each other for ventilators, and I think this is one approach to vaccine allocation In all honesty, this will lead to the same situation that he himself criticized last spring, “said Gounder.

Data from the CDC shows that the US gets an average of 900,000 vaccinations per day. During an interview with Fox News, Azar quoted the CDC number and criticized the Biden government’s goal of “100 million gun shots in the first 100 days.”

“We’ll have 250 million doses of vaccine distributed by the end of April,” said Azar. “If by then they have only had 100 million vaccinations, it will be a tragic waste of the opportunity we gave them.”

Gounder, an epidemiologist at NYU, qualified Azar’s testimony, noting that the distribution did not mean actual injections of the vaccine.

“We saw, however, that the distribution is very different from shooting in the arms, that the last mile of delivery is really the hardest part here,” explained Gounder. “Second, we have to confirm that this number of doses, the 250 million figure he cites there, will really be down.”

Cuomo beat him up in a separate letter to Azar for “confusing” the public about vaccine supplies. Azar admitted on Friday that there are currently no supplies.

Biden consultant Dr. Michael Osterholm warned that the worst of the Covid pandemic is yet to come and the data supports his dire prediction. The U.S. is rapidly approaching 400,000 deaths in the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That is roughly one in 822 Americans. According to the Covid Tracking Project, at least 23,000 people were in intensive care units in the United States for 19 consecutive days due to Covid. The HHS reported that nearly 80% of ICU beds nationwide are occupied.

Gounder said the US is “at our fifth peak right now” and that the next few months will be all about “shift protection” to avoid another.

“We really need to focus on things like masking and social distancing, outside instead of inside, well-ventilated spaces,” warned Gounder. “If we do these things it may be our final climax, but it really depends on each of us doing what needs to be done to get back to normal life.”

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Biden nationwide safety advisor requires Russia to launch Navalny

Biden national security advisor calls for Russia to release Navalny

A file photo dated September 29, 2019 shows Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny during a rally in support of political prisoners on Prospekt Sakharova Street in Moscow, Russia. Alexei Navalny is passed out in hospital after allegedly being poisoned, according to his press secretary.

Sefa Karacan | Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan called for the immediate release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was arrested at a Moscow airport on Sunday after his arrival.

The previous Sunday, Navalny flew from Berlin to Russia, where he had recovered for almost six months since being poisoned last summer. He was arrested at passport control.

Last week, Russian authorities issued an arrest warrant for Navalny alleging that he had violated the three and a half year suspended sentence he received in 2014 for embezzlement.

“Mr. Navalny should be released immediately and the perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be brought to justice,” Sullivan wrote on Twitter.

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Sullivan’s call for Navalny to be released comes days before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Biden’s new government is expected to increase pressure on Russia.

After the poisoning of Navalny last year, Biden vowed “to work with our allies and partners to hold the Putin regime accountable for its crimes,” and accused President Donald Trump of not being tough enough.

A non-partisan group of US senators had urged the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Russia in response to the poisoning of Navalny. Trump, who is leaving office on Wednesday, did not do so.

The United Kingdom and the European Union, close allies of the United States, swiftly imposed targeted sanctions on six Russians and a government research center in October.

On the return flight to Moscow, Navalny told reporters that he was feeling great and that the trip home was “the best moment in five months.”

“I feel great. I’m finally going back to my hometown,” he said, according to a Reuters report.

Last year, Navalny was medically evacuated to Germany from a Russian hospital after falling ill after reports that something had been added to his tea. Russian doctors treating Navalny denied that the Kremlin critic had been poisoned, blaming his comatose condition for low blood sugar levels.

In September, the German government announced that the 44-year-old Russian dissident had been poisoned by a chemical agent on nerves and described the toxicological report as “clear evidence”. The nerve agent was in the Novichok family, which was developed by the Soviet Union.

Following the test results, the White House said it was “deeply concerned” by the matter and called the poisoning “utterly reprehensible.”

“The United States is deeply concerned about the results released today,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said in a written statement at the time. “The poisoning of Alexei Navalny is completely reprehensible. Russia has used the chemical nerve agent novichok in the past,” he said, referring to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied a role in the poisoning of Navalny and Skripal.

Navalny’s arrest Sunday faces another strain on relations between European leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin and comes while the Kremlin works to secure a gas pipeline project, Nord Stream 2, to Germany.