U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk to the Marine One helicopter for travel to Fort McHenry in Baltimore for Memorial Day holiday commemorations from the White House in Washington, U.S., May 25, 2020.
Washington, United States - Earlier on Monday, Trump fumes on Twitter as media slams pandemic golf outing.
Published: Tue 26 May 2020, 5:12 AM
Updated: Wed 27 May 2020, 9:43 AM
The White House on Monday brought forward by two days restrictions on travel to the United States from Brazil that were announced after the Latin American country became the world's No. 2 coronavirus hotspot.
A White House statement amended the timing of the start of the restrictions to 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, May 26 (7.59am, UAE time, on Wednesday, May 27).
In its original announcement on Sunday, it said the restrictions would come into force on May 28.
The statement did not give a reason for the move. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration issues, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The travel ban was a blow to right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has followed the example of U.S. President Donald Trump in addressing the pandemic, fighting calls for social distancing and touting unproven drugs.
The White House said on Sunday the restrictions would help ensure foreign nationals do not bring additional infections to the United States, but would not apply to the flow of commerce between the two countries.
Trump's national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, said on Sunday the measures were needed to protect American people and he hoped they would be temporary. The United States has the largest number of coronavirus cases in the world.
Earlier on Monday, Trump fumed at negative media coverage of him playing golf over Memorial Day weekend, as the US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic neared 100,000.
"The Fake and Totally Corrupt News makes it sound like a mortal sin!" the golf-loving president said on Twitter, noting that the game at his own course in Virginia was the first time he had played since early March.
The timing of his outing, as the nation approached a milestone in deaths from the pandemic, sparked widespread criticism in the media, with commentators recalling Trump's own past attacks on his predecessor Barack Obama for playing the game during the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
"There are times to play and times that you can't play. It sends the wrong signal," Trump said at the time.
"You know when you're president you sorta say, like, 'I'm gonna give it up for a couple of years and I'm really gonna focus on the job,'" he said in 2014.
- 'Hypocrite' -
After being raked over the coals at the weekend, Trump lambasted the media as being "sick with hatred and dishonesty."
"I knew this would happen!" he said. "What they don't say is that it was my first golf in almost 3 months, and, if I waited three years, they would do their usual 'hit' pieces anyway."
The Republican leader went on to say that in 2014 Obama flew to his home state of Hawaii shortly after he had publicly denounced the beheading of American hostage James Foley by Islamic State militants.
Obama apologised for the poorly timed visit afterwards and acknowledged the gravity attached to presidential behaviour at such moments.
Trump received some unexpected support from one-time Obama adviser David Axelrod.
"I don't often defend this @POTUS but I don't begrudge him a round of golf," Axelrod, now a political commentator, said on Twitter.
"Besides, it gives the rest of us a respite from those crazy tweets! Yes, it's hypocritical for @realDonaldTrump to have attacked @BarackObama for seeking some relief from the pressures of the presidency on the golf course when Trump has logged many more rounds," he said.
"It's also hypocritical to attack Trump for it now if you defended Obama then."
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