Donald Trump update: POTUS claims he has total authority to lift US lockdown

The United States is still struggling with the coronavirus along with the rest of the world, with officials making sure every measure to slow down the spread and flatten the curve is made. However, in the latest White House press conference, President Donald Trump claimed that he has total authority to lift the nationwide lockdown period.

BBC reports that the latest White House briefing turned into a heated argument between Trump and the press. Trump announced that his administration was in the final stages of presenting a plan to reopen the United States economy with the goal of implementing the plan on May 1st. Trump, as per health experts, previously announced that the lockdown period was to extend at the end of April although experts have clarified and said that there is no certain date when the pandemic will go away.

The press then asked Trump if he had the authority to override the stay-at-home orders that are imposed by the state governors. Trump responded, “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. It’s total, the governors know that.”

According to the U.S. Constitution, state officials are the ones who maintain public order and safety. Legal experts have also doubled down on Trump’s comment, saying that Trump does not have the authority to reverse a public health restriction on a state or local level.

At the same time, when BBC’s Jon Sopel pressed Trump on whether he would consider closing the economy again in case of a second wave of coronavirus hits the country, Trump said, “It does weigh on my mind.”

As Trump has a power struggle with the state governors, he also has another legal matter to settle as of late. Deadline reports that Trump is filing for an appeal to prevent showing unreleased footage from his old show, The Apprentice. This follows the federal judge’s decision that the unseen footage showing the behind the scenes of The Apprentice be made public, and thus rejected Trump’s and MGM’s request to settle the matter privately.

The Trump family and the Trump Organization were previously sued back in 2018 by four individuals who claimed that they were allegedly falsely encouraged people to invest in ACN’s video phone service over the show’s 10-year run. ACN turned out to be how the Trumps got people to endorse their product. Since then, Trump has made several attempts to stop the lawsuit, but the plaintiffs’ main lawyer has continuously rejected the attempts.