Hope Hicks Is Resigning From the White House but Not Because People Broke Into the Capitol and Smeared S–t Through the Halls, Which She’s Fine With

Hey, remember COVID-19?

With the president of the United States siccing his personal army on the Capitol, you might have forgotten there’s still a major virus ripping through the country that he’s continued to horribly mismanage. But, surprise:

More than 4,000 people died of COVID-19 in the United States in one day for the first time on Thursday as the country reports record-high numbers and the outbreak grows more severe by the day. The U.S. has reported a record-high daily death toll on five of the past 10 days, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Over the past week, the U.S. has reported an average of more than 2,700 deaths per day, up 16% compared with a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins data. Nearly 20,000 people in the country have died of COVID in January alone, setting the pace for a month that will likely rival December for the deadliest month yet of the pandemic.

“We believe things will get worse as we get into January,” Anthony Fauci said in an interview with NPR on Thursday, adding that Americans can “blunt that acceleration” by strictly abiding by public health measures like social distancing and mask-wearing. Also on Thursday a House lawmaker reportedly warned that “There’s a severe COVID outbreak coming among members,” probably thanks to the fact that “at the secure location yesterday at least 50 GOP members refused to wear masks. They were asked repeatedly. Older [Democratic Party] members pleaded. And they wouldn’t do it.”

Elsewhere!

Twitter Permanently Suspends Trump’s Account (CNBC)

Murkowski Is the First Republican Senator to Say Trump Should Resign: “I Want Him Out” (NYT)

FBI Releases 10 More Photos of Suspected Rioters (NYP)

Trump Officials Are Still Slowing Transition, Biden Team Says (Bloomberg)

Biden Demands Trillions in New Aid, Renews $2,000-Checks Goal (Bloomberg)

White House COVID Task Force Warns of Possible New “USA Variant” Driving Spread (CNBC)

Twitter Bans Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, and Other QAnon Accounts (CNBC)

Ivanka Trump “Surprised and Hurt” by Karlie Kloss’s Tweets After Capitol Siege (NYP)

David Hasselhoff Auctioning Off KITT Car From Knight Rider (UPI)

Jamiroquai Singer: I’m Not the Capitol “Viking” Rioter (NYP)

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— Jared and Ivanka’s Final Chapter in Washington Demolished Their Future
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— The Deeply Unsettling, Not Entirely Surprising Images of Trump’s Capitol Hill Mob
— Twitter Finally Muzzling Trump Is Too Little, Too Late
— The Eerie Charlottesville Echoes of Trump Supporters’ Capitol Coup
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