Trump retreats from absolute authority claim as he deflects blame for coronavirus crisis to WHO

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/15/politics/trump-coronavirus-crisis/index.html

Deep into his remarks, Trump edged away from his position on Monday that a president could order states to do what he wanted. In face-saving language that lacked constitutional grounding, he said he was "authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening and a very powerful reopening plan of their state." 

 

Trump has spent several days preparing the ground for his attack on the WHO with which he led his news conference. He tapped into legitimate criticism of the WHO's response to the outbreak and complaints that it was too deferential to China and did not act quickly enough to raise the alarm about the novel coronavirus and its pandemic potential.