Good morning, this is Rick Powered with the Daily Beast. It's Friday, October 30th, and these are the top stories the Chi Chi team is watching right now. The U.S. recorded over 87,000 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, the highest number of new cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic.
The latest figure from Johns Hopkins University breaks the previous high of 83,000 new infections, which was reported just last week. The newest record comes amid an alarming surge of cases in the Midwest and a jump in New York and New Jersey. With President Trump repeatedly suggesting the pandemic is already largely over, experts have warned that there is no end in sight, and infections are likely to top 100,000 a day. More than 1,000 people died on Thursday, the same day Trump told supporters in Florida that they will, quote, get better if they contract the virus.
His son, Donald Trump Jr., who had his own name sewn on a pullover along with, quote, Team Trump while being interviewed on Fox News, repeatedly claimed on Thursday night that coronavirus deaths had dropped to, quote, almost nothing. But more than 1,000 Americans had died from the virus that day. Dismissing the alarming increase in number of daily coronavirus cases across the nation, Don Jr. insisted to host Laura Ingraham that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was focusing on infections instead of deaths because, quote, the numbers are almost nothing.
Adding that the Trump administration has, quote, gotten control of the virus due to therapeutics, he told viewers to check out his Instagram page for the evidence behind his claim. Weeks after Rudy Giuliani first published what he said were Hunter Biden's files and a collection of dirt to the New York Post in hopes of helping Donald Trump victoriously cross the 2020 presidential election finish line. Both he and the president, and apparently some of Trump's political lackies, have been frustrated at the lack of impact it had. Trump and Giuliani have instead found a new target to blame, Attorney General William Barr.
A person close to Giuliani said he and the president recently discussed their mutual frustrations with the lack of action from Barr and FBI director Chris Wray, saying that the emails and Hunter Biden files have provided legal ammunition to probe the Biden family. A White House official said Giuliani even suggested Trump fire Wray after the election. He's got some nerve. Louisville Police Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly filed suit Thursday against the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, alleging assault, battery, and intentional emotional distress.
Mattingly was one of the officers involved in executing a midnight no-knock search warrant at Taylor's apartment back in March. Taylor was shot six times and killed during the raid. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot when the officers entered the apartment and hit Mattingly in the thigh, and police say the wound required five hours of surgery. Mattingly alleges Walker fired knowing he was a police officer, and he has blamed Walker for Taylor's death in previous interviews.
But Walker has held Mattingly responsible and filed suit against several Louisville police officers, the Commonwealth Attorney Tom Wine, and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Walker's lawyer said he's immune from liability as he was acting in self-defense. I personally always thought it was weird that you could buy a gun and a Barbie doll at the same place. Walmart is reportedly removing firearms and ammunition from shelves ahead of election day as a precaution against any potential, quote, civil unrest.
The retailer announced the move in a statement Thursday, four days before the election third vote. It said it would remove firearms from shelves, quote, for the safety of our associates and customers. But the merchandise will, quote, remain available for purchase by customers, despite being out of the public eye. Store managers were reportedly told on Wednesday to pull firearms from sales floors, quote, out of an abundance of caution.
Two days after Kim Kardashian was called out for sharing photos on social media from her insensitive and tone-deaf 40th birthday party on a private island during a global health pandemic, she has now shared with her followers the truly bizarre gift she received from her husband, Kanye West. Kim wrote on Twitter that Kanye bought her a hologram of her late father, Robert Kardashian, the OJ Simpson defense lawyer who died in 2003. The hologram informs his daughter at one point in the hologram video that Kanye is the biggest genius on her. What the hell is happening?
Nonetheless, Kim called the hologram, quote, the most thoughtful gift of a lifetime. That's all for this morning. Check back every weekday, morning and afternoon for more news you need to know. Find us wherever you listen to podcasts.
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