THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Saturday/Sunday, April 4 - 5, 2020 |A
Philadelphia lawyer Kevin Harden worries about economic fallout.MICHELLE GUSTAFSON FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNALnew directive doesn’t replace
the earlier stay-at-home order.
“This is not an excuse to sud-
denly all go out,” he reminded
Angelenos.
Residents were also urged
not to stock up on medical-
grade masks, but instead to
make their own with bandan-nas and scarves.
On Friday, the Centers for
Disease Control and Preven-
tion also began recommending
Americans wear nonmedical
masks in public.
The Erewhon Organic Gro-
cery and Cafe store in Venice
was bustling Thursday withhave handled the crisis,
though he has seen “inconsis-
tencies of advice” at the fed-
eral level. “It feels like the
messaging from the state level
on down has been pretty con-
sistent and that we shouldn’t
make a mistake about being
too relaxed about this,” he
said.
Philadelphia
The coronavirus pandemic
has kept Mike Keenan largely
confined to his northeast Phil-adelphia home with his wife
and two daughters, ages 6 and- It has also soured the 49-
year-old Democrat on Mr.
Trump. He had been leaning
toward voting for him in No-
vember, after backing Demo-
crat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Now, he said he doesn’t
know who will get his vote,
chalking up his uncertainty to
the economy’s nosedive and
the president’s handling of the
crisis.
to steer clear of everyone but
his 3-year-old daughter and
the child’s mother. “My daugh-
ter is at the age where she
won’t remember me if I got
sick and passed away,” he said.
“That really breaks me up.”
Peach County, Ga.
Sara Jo McLean, owner of a
small deli in Byron, transi-
tioned last week to takeout-
only to comply with social-dis-
tancing guidelines. She saw
her sales drop by $500 com-
pared with the previous week.
Over the weekend, Ms.
McLean, 79, paid attention to
the news and calculated her
expenses before deciding to
temporarily close her deli.
“It seemed like the prudent
thing to do,” she said.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a
Republican, issued a shelter-
in-place order Wednesday af-
ter resisting calls to take ac-
tion for weeks. He previously
closed schools, bars and clubs,
banned gatherings of more
than 10 people and asked
“medically fragile individuals”
to stay indoors.
Across this rural county
that flipped from blue to red
in the 2016 election, Republi-
can and Democratic voters
said in interviews that tempo-
rary economic hardships were
warranted.
“If you don’t protect every-
one, there will be no one
around to worry about the
economy,” said Kattie Kend-
rick, a Democrat and chief ex-
ecutive of a nonprofit in Fort
Valley.
Ms. Kendrick said the crisis
made the need for Democrats
to defeat Mr. Trump more ur-
gent, as those in his party con-
tinue to support him.
Wade Yoder, 50, an at-large
Republican county commis-
sioner who is serving on a lo-
cal task force dealing with the
pandemic, said the country
will need Mr. Trump’s business
and leadership experience in
the private sector to recover
when the outbreak ends.
Mr. Yoder acknowledged,
however, that he has been
frustrated by certain aspects
of the government’s response,
citing what he described as
confusing guidelines on wear-
ing masks. “This virus quite
simply comes from people’s
mouths, and yet they are say-
ing that people shouldn’t wear
face masks,” he said.WASHINGTON—President
Trump late Friday said he in-
tends to remove the inspector
general for the U.S. intelli-
gence community, who last
year called a whistleblower’s
complaint about Mr. Trump’s
dealings with Ukraine credible
and pushed to share it with
Congress.
Mr. Trump’s decision to fire
Michael Atkinson is the latest
in a string of dismissals or fir-
ings of more than a half-dozen
top U.S. intelligence officials,
particularly at the Office of
the Director of National Intel-
ligence.
Several of the actions have
come since Mr. Trump was im-
peached last year by the House
of Representatives and acquit-
ted earlier this year in his im-
peachment trial in the Senate.
“As is the case with regard
to other positions...it is vital
that I have the fullest confi-
dence in the appointees serving
as inspectors general,” the
president said in a letter to
Congress. “That is no longer
the case with regard to this in-
spector general.”
Mr. Atkinson, who was ap-
pointed to his post by Mr.
Trump in 2018, became a key
figure in the impeachment in-
quiry last year when he shep-
herded a whistleblower com-
plaint from a Central
Intelligence Agency officer
about the president’s July call
with his Ukrainian counterpart.
During that call, Mr. Trump
pressed Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky to investi-
gate former Vice President Joe
Biden, his likely Democratic foe
in the election this fall, and Mr.
Biden’s son for dealings in
Ukraine.
Democrats and whistle-
blower advocates quickly con-
demned Mr. Atkinson’s re-
moval.
“In the midst of a national
emergency, it is unconscionable
that the president is once again
attempting to undermine the
integrity of the intelligence
community by firing yet an-
other intelligence official sim-
ply for doing his job,” said Sen.
Mark Warner (D., Va.), the se-
nior Democrat on the Senate
Intelligence Committee.
The White House didn’t im-
mediately respond to requests
for comment. The Office of the
Director of National Intelli-
gence referred questions to the
White House.
Under law, Mr. Trump is al-
lowed to remove the inspector
general of the intelligence com-
munity 30 days after notifying
the congressional intelligence
committees of his intention and
justification for doing so.
—Catherine Lucey
contributed to this article.
BYWARRENP.STROBEL
ANDDUSTINVOLZ
Trump Set
To Remove
Intelligence
Watchdog
Officials say the virus has
infected at least 2,100 people
in Philadelphia and led to 17
deaths. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom
Wolf, a Democrat, ordered
“nonlife-sustaining” busi-
nesses to close their physical
locations in mid-March; on
Wednesday, the state issued a
stay-at-home order.
Mr. Keenan panned the
president’s messages about
the crisis. “He was saying, oh,
we’ll be good by Easter. Now
it’s April 30. What’s the plan?
Is there a plan?” he said. He
said he is lucky he and his wife
still have jobs, unlike some of
their friends.
In 2016, Mr. Trump won
Pennsylvania, a crucial swing
state. The Democratic nomi-
nee, now likely to be former
Vice President Joe Biden,
would need to rack up enough
votes in this city and other lib-
eral areas to outweigh the
president’s rural support and
flip the state back.
Democrat Kevin Harden, a
34-year-old personal-injury
lawyer who is working from
his dining room in the Mount
Airy neighborhood, said he is
concerned about the impact of
the crisis on his job, with
courts closed and defendants
possibly facing insolvency. He
also fears African-Americans
will be disproportionately
harmed by the slowdown and
the virus, from mom-and-pop
shop owners to jail inmates
awaiting trial for lower-level
offenses.
He said he is doing his bestCumulativecoronaviruscases
Iowa Pennsylvania GeorgiaIowa Pennsylvania GeorgiaUnemploymentclaims,asapercentageofstatelaborforce6,01,3,4,6,01,3,4,6,01,3,4,MoreCases,MoreClaims
Ascoronaviruscaseshaveincreased,morearefilingunemploymentclaims,withthe
highestratesinPennsylvania,comparedtoIowaandGeorgia.804% 804% 804%HowardCounty PhiladelphiaCounty PeachCountyMarch 14 AprilMarch 7 14 21 28 March 7 14 21 28 March 7 14 21 28March 14 April March 14 AprilSources: Johns Hopkins University (cases); U.S. Department of Labor (claims)U.S. NEWS
The coronavirus pandemic
is hitting Americans at differ-
ent times, as infections rise
and measures restricting per-
sonal and economic activity
vary by state.The Wall Street Journal
spoke to residents in three
places across the country
where reporters spent time
earlier this year—Howard
County, Iowa; Philadelphia and
Peach County, Ga.—to find out
how the coronavirus crisis is
affecting their lives, jobs and
political views.
Howard County, Iowa
Life is even quieter than
usual on Elm Street in rural
Cresco, Iowa.
A couple of restaurants are
offering takeout service, but
most everything else is closed
on what is the main street for
commerce. If you need to do
business at the courthouse,
you must call ahead.
Bank lobbies are closed and
special procedures are in place
to wipe down the canisters
that move through air tubes
between the drive-through
lanes and tellers inside, said
Jason Passmore, executive di-
rector of the local chamber of
commerce.
“You could have a bowling
alley in the middle of the
street,” Mr. Passmore said.
The county of 9,200 people
has gained political notoriety
because it voted by more than
20 percentage points for Presi-
dent Obama in 2012 and by
more than 20 percentage
points for President Trump in
2016.
Located near the Minnesota
border in northeast Iowa, it
has yet to record any corona-
virus cases, data from Johns
Hopkins University show.
“I was way confident that
not much was going on with
it,” said Gary Gooder, the pres-
ident of a local manufacturing
company. “Then, I talked to
one of my good friends today,
and he’s kind of freaked out.”
Mr.Goodersaidheiscon-
cerned about the economy, in-
cluding his manufacturing of
aluminum trailers and related
products. For now, all of his
80 employees are working.
The company has been
deemed as essential because
part of its work is done for
first responders. But he said
he is starting to see orders
canceled, and he worries lay-
offs could come later.
Mr. Gooder, a Republican,
said he thinks his state’s GOP
governor and Mr. Trump have
done a good job of balancing
economics with health. “I
don’t think there is an easy
answer,” he said.
Farmer Brandon Reis’s two
young daughters are home
from school, and his wife is
now working from home. A
planned vacation to Europe
had to be canceled.
Planting season typically
starts for him around the third
week of April, and Mr. Reis
said he thinks he will be in de-
cent shape for supplies and la-
bor. He said he has some con-
cern about getting products
like pesticides made in China.
Mr. Reis, an independent
voter, said he generally has
been pleased with how his lo-
cal and state governmentsByJohn McCormick,
Scott Calvert
andTarini PartiPandemic Leaves Voters Guessing
Brandon Reis, an Iowa farmer, at home with his daughters, says federal messaging hasn’t been as consistent as state and local.DANIEL ACKER FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNALmasked shoppers and employ-
ees. Anyone who didn’t have a
mask going in could buy a 10-
pack of cotton and polyester
face coverings for $20.
Outside the store, Anjoum
Agrama, 25, said she has been
wearing a mask while shop-
ping or in other public spaces
since Monday. Her family, she
said, had encouraged the pro-
tective measure.
“I just didn’t want to acci-
dentally spread it,” Ms.
Agrama said.
At a nearby Lincoln Hard-
ware store, Rick Seitz and Da-
vid Ramsey were taking differ-
ing approaches.
Mr. Seitz, who wiped down
the counter after each sale,
said he started wearing a
mask at work Thursday be-
cause of the mayor’s directive.
Mr. Ramsey said he wasn’t
planning to wear a face cover-
ing at the store but had a ban-
danna to cover up when he
heads home. The bandanna, he
joked, would help ensure he
doesn’t get “beat up by the
masked vigilantes.”LOS ANGELES—One day af-
ter Los Angeles Mayor Eric
Garcetti became the first
leader of a major U.S. city to
urge residents to wear masks
to help prevent the spread of
the new coronavirus, many
faces went covered.
“I like the bandido chic
look,” said 69-year-old Torie
Osborn, who works for Los
Angeles County Supervisor
Sheila Kuehl.
Ms. Osborn was out for a
morning walk in the coastal
Venice neighborhood in sweat-
pants, a T-shirt, blue latex
gloves and a bright orange
bandanna covering her mouth
and nose.
Mr. Garcetti on Wednesday
donned a black face mask in
his virtual news conference as
an example for residents, urg-
ing them to wear any sort they
can for the sake of their own
health and their neighbors.
“This is how we are going
to be seeing each other,” Mr.
Garcetti said, adding that the
BYALICIAA.CALDWELL
Angelenos Take Mask Advice in Stride
A masked Rick Seitz wipes down the counter at Lincoln Hardware.ALLISON ZAUCHA FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNALto surveil for former Trump
campaign aide Carter Page.
The apparent pattern of
problems “thereby reinforces
the need for the Court to moni-
tor the ongoing efforts of the
FBI and DOJ to ensure that, go-
ing forward, FBI applications
present accurate and complete
facts,” Judge Boasberg said.
The FBI said it had received
the order and reiterated it has
adopted more than 40 “cor-
rected actions” in its methods
for seeking wiretaps under the
Foreign Intelligence Surveil-
lance Act. The actions were
implemented by FBI Director
Chris Wray in December fol-
lowing the release of a previ-
ous audit by Michael Horo-
witz, the Justice Department’s
inspector general, revealing a
litany of errors involving the
surveillance of Mr. Page.
The FBI said it would work
closely with the court and the
Justice Department to “ensure
that our FISA authorities are
exercised responsibly.”WASHINGTON—The secre-
tive federal court responsible
for approving government re-
quests for national security
surveillance ordered the Justice
Department to review more
than two dozen wiretap appli-
cations to determine whether
they were so flawed that ap-
provals to monitor Americans
shouldn’t have been granted.
The order from James Boas-
berg, chief judge of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court,
followed a Justice Department
watchdog report this week that
found widespread problems
with files associated with sur-
veillance applications that are
intended to verify the accuracy
of wiretap requests made by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Those findings, he said, pro-
vide “further reason for systemic
concern” about FBI handling of
surveillance requests that ex-
tends beyond mistakes previ-
ously identified in the requestsBYDUSTINVOLZDOJ Is Told to Review
Wiretap Paperwork
Michael
Atkinson
became a key
figure in the
impeachment
inquiry last
year.