AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT

Trump visits Kenosha, calls violence 'domestic terrorism'

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — President Donald Trump stood at the epicenter of the latest eruption over racial injustice Tuesday and came down squarely on the side of law enforcement, blaming “domestic terror” for the violence in Kenosha and making no nod to the underlying cause of anger and protests — the shooting of a yet another Black man by police.

Trump declared the violence “anti-American." He did not mention Jacob Blake, who was badly wounded last week in Kenosha.

Soon after arriving in the city, a visit made over the objections of state and local leaders, Trump toured the charred remains of a block besieged by violence and fire. With the scent of smoke still in the air, he spoke to the owners of a century-old store that had been destroyed and continued to link the violence to the Democrats, blaming those in charge of Kenosha and Wisconsin while raising apocalyptic warnings if their party should capture the White House.

“These are not acts of peaceful protest but, really, domestic terror,” said Trump. And he condemned Democrats for not immediately accepting his offer of federal assistance, claiming “They just don’t want us to come, These governors don’t want to call, and the mayors don’t want to call. They have to ask.”

The city has the scene of protests since the Aug. 23 shooting of Blake, who was hit seven times in the back by police as he was getting into a car while they were trying to arrest him. Protests have been concentrated in a small area of Kenosha. While there were more than 30 fires set in the first three nights, the situation has calmed since then.

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AP FACT CHECK: Trump misstates what happened in Kenosha

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is not waiting for a trial to sort out what happened on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, where prosecutors say a 17-year-old with a semi-automatic rifle fatally shot two men on a night of protest and violence. He’s giving an account at odds with the authorities who charged Kyle Rittenhouse with homicide.

In remarks surrounding and during his trip Tuesday to Kenosha, Trump also falsely claimed credit for National Guard deployments that he actually did not authorize. Wisconsin's Democratic governor did.

TRUMP, asked if was going to condemn the actions of Rittenhouse: “We’re looking at all of it. And that was an interesting situation. You saw the same tape as I saw. And he was trying to get away from them, I guess; it looks like. And he fell, and then they very violently attacked him. And it was something that we’re looking at right now and it’s under investigation. But I guess he was in very big trouble. He would have been — I — he probably would have been killed.” — news conference Monday before traveling to Kenosha on Tuesday.

THE FACTS: His implication that Rittenhouse only shot the men after he tripped and they attacked him is wrong. The first fatal shooting happened before Rittenhouse ran away and fell.

Trump did not say whom he meant by “they” — the two men he shot or others in pursuit of him. But he spoke in defense of someone who opposed racial-justice protesters, who authorities say was illegally carrying a semi-automatic rifle and who prosecutors accuse of committing intentional homicide.

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Large antibody study offers hope for virus vaccine efforts

Antibodies that people make to fight the new coronavirus last for at least four months after diagnosis and do not fade quickly as some earlier reports suggested, scientists have found.

Tuesday’s report, from tests on more than 30,000 people in Iceland, is the most extensive work yet on the immune system’s response to the virus over time, and is good news for efforts to develop vaccines.

If a vaccine can spur production of long-lasting antibodies as natural infection seems to do, it gives hope that “immunity to this unpredictable and highly contagious virus may not be fleeting,” scientists from Harvard University and the U.S. National Institutes of Health wrote in a commentary published with the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

One of the big mysteries of the pandemic is whether having had the coronavirus helps protect against future infection, and for how long. Some smaller studies previously suggested that antibodies may disappear quickly and that some people with few or no symptoms may not make many at all.

The new study was done by Reykjavik-based deCODE Genetics, a subsidiary of the U.S. biotech company Amgen, with several hospitals, universities and health officials in Iceland. The country tested 15% of its population since late February, when its first COVID-19 cases were detected, giving a solid base for comparisons.

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Mnuchin says Trump still wants virus deal with Democrats

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pressed by Democrats to quickly negotiate a new coronavirus relief package, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday the administration remains willing to work on a bipartisan agreement to help small businesses, the unemployed, children and schools. Democratic leaders in Congress are holding it up with hardened positions, he said.

“Let's move forward on a bipartisan basis on points we can agree upon," Mnuchin urged at a hearing by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. “The president and I want to move forward."

Mnuchin made the case that the economy's recovery has strengthened in recent weeks, citing improved consumer spending, growth in manufacturing and a rebounding housing market. It's the failure of some states to reopen activity that is holding back the economy, he said.

But Democrats insisted that dire economic conditions persist for many. “Millions of Americans are now facing eviction, debt and hunger," said the panel's chairman, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C. “As the pandemic drags on, states, cities and businesses are warning that more layoffs may be coming."

The subcommittee's Democratic staff, meanwhile, said it has identified lapses pointing to possible fraud and abuse in a signature piece of the administration's relief effort, the $660 billion-plus small business loan program — including more than $1 billion awarded to businesses that received multiple loans.

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Feds to ship fast COVID-19 tests to assisted living sites

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal official said Tuesday the government plans to ship rapid coronavirus tests to assisted living facilities, moving to fill a testing gap for older adults who don’t need the constant attention of a nursing home.

Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said assisted living facilities will be followed by senior day care centers and home health agencies in getting the tests.

The tests will come from a supply of 150 million ordered from test maker Abbott Laboratories. Abbott’s rapid test, the size of a credit card, is the first that doesn’t require specialty computer equipment to process. It delivers results in about 15 minutes and is priced at $5, significantly lower than similar older tests.

Until now, the government's effort to improve COVID-19 testing for vulnerable older adults has been focused on nursing homes, which are overseen by Medicare. Assisted living facilities don't provide skilled nursing care and are outside of Medicare's purview. Nursing homes have already been receiving another kind of fast test, from different manufacturers.

In an interview, Giroir said the government had been planning to expand rapid testing beyond nursing homes, and the advent of the new Abbott test now makes that possible.

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Lawyer: Plea offer tried to link Breonna Taylor to drug ring

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A lawyer for Breonna Taylor's family said prosecutors offered a plea deal to an accused drug trafficker that would have forced him to implicate Taylor in criminal activity after her killing by police had pushed her name to the forefront of a national reckoning on race.

Louisville's top prosecutor said the document was not an attempt to smear Taylor but was part of preliminary plea negotiations with a man charged with illegal drug trafficking.

Taylor family attorney Sam Aguiar posted a photo on social media Monday that he said was a plea offer to Jamarcus Glover from prosecutors. The photo of the document appeared to show Taylor listed as a “co-defendant” in illegal activities leading up to April 22, weeks after her death.

“Why would they put her name on there?” Aguiar said in a statement sent to news media. “It’s outrageous.”

Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine said that document was a “draft that was part of pre-indictment plea negotiations.”

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Facebook, Twitter suspend Russian network ahead of election

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Facebook said Tuesday that it removed a small network of accounts and pages linked to Russia’s Internet Research Agency, the “troll factory” that has used social media accounts to sow political discord in the U.S. since the 2016 presidential election.

Twitter also suspended five related accounts. The company said the tweets from these Russia-linked accounts“were low quality and spammy" and that most received few, if any, likes or retweets.

The people behind the accounts recruited “unwitting” freelance journalists to post in English and Arabic, mainly targeting left-leaning audiences. Facebook said Tuesday the network’s activity focused on the U.S., U.K., Algeria and Egypt and other English-speaking countries and countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

The company said it started investigating the network based on information from the FBI about its off-Facebook activities. The network was in the early stages of development, Facebook added, and saw “nearly no engagement" on Facebook before it was removed. The network consisted of 13 Facebook accounts and two pages. About 14,000 accounts followed one or more of the pages, though the English-language page had a little over 200 followers, Facebook said.

Still, its presence points to ongoing Russian efforts to disrupt the U.S. election and sow political discord in an already divided country. To evade detection, the people behind the network recruited Americans to do their bidding, likely unknowingly, both as journalists and as people authorized to purchase political advertisements in the U.S.

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Book: Pence told 'to be on standby' for Trump hospital visit

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new book is reviving questions about President Donald Trump's unscheduled visit to Walter Reed military hospital last fall with the revelation that “word went out” for Vice President Mike Pence to stand by to temporarily assume presidential powers if Trump had to receive anesthesia for a medical procedure.

The White House has said the president's November 2019 visit, which raised questions at the time about Trump's health, was part of his routine annual physical, and said the president wanted to get a head start on what typically is an hours-long, head-to-toe exam because he'd be busy this year with campaigning.

A president's routine medical checkup typically is announced ahead of time.

The White House provided no other details at the time. Trump's White House doctor said in a statement Tuesday the president “remains healthy” and “fit to execute the duties of the Presidency.” Pence's office declined comment.

Trump visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, about a month before the Democratic-controlled House impeached him over his conduct toward Ukraine.

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Zoom stock surges, market value tops Boeing, Starbucks

NEW YORK (AP) — A Zoom call has become an integral part of daily life during the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, Wall Street acknowledged as much by boosting the videoconferencing company's market value above that of more established companies such as Citigroup, Boeing and Starbucks.

Zoom shares rose 40.8% to $457.69, pushing its market value to more than $129 billion, after the company reported explosive growth during the second quarter as more people paid for subscriptions, giving them more control over virtual meetings. Zoom's revenue more than quadrupled from the same time last year to $663.5 million and profits blew past Wall Street forecasts.

At the current level, Zoom's market value exceeds the combined value of two storied automakers, General Motors and Ford, and is more than double the aggregate value of the nation's four biggest airlines.

The company is one of the key beneficiaries of the virus pandemic as more people log on to its videoconferencing service to work from home.

In a show of confidence, Zoom raised its revenue projection for its fiscal year ending in January to nearly $2.4 billion, up from roughly $1.8 billion that the San Jose, California, company predicted in early June. The forecast is now more than double the $910 million revenue that Zoom had anticipated as it began its fiscal year.

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Meals on heels: San Francisco drag queens deliver amid virus

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — These divas deliver.

Drag queens don their colorful wigs, elaborate makeup and knee-high stiletto boots, but instead of stepping on a stage, they're putting on a face covering, grabbing a takeout bag and bringing their musical numbers to fans' doorsteps in San Francisco.

The Oasis nightclub is turning the boring dinner blues into “Meals on Heels,” dispatching drag queens like Amoura Teese and Kochina Rude to bring food, cocktails and socially distant lip-synching performances to people during the coronavirus pandemic.

On a recent evening, Rude delivered dinner to Kelsie Costa and her family in the city’s Marina District and then lip-synched the drag show classic “Finally” by CeCe Peniston.

“There’s not a lot to do these days with shelter in place and COVID and all that,” Costa said. “So gotta spice it up somehow. It’s really fun.”