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Continuing to offer misleading comparisons of the U.S. death rate compared to other countries, President Donald Trump in a news conference Tuesday evening said "strong mitigation efforts" are "working very well" and rattled off numbers he called "spectacular" on the country's economy and handling of the coronavirus pandemic. "The great strength and great news is really for states like, in particular, Michigan and Ohio, South Carolina, Pennsylvania -- very good, Florida, little bit," Trump said, though the Sunshine State again neared its record-daily death toll Tuesday. (Siegel, Cathey and Stoddart, 8/4)

With coronavirus cases nearing 5 million in the United States and average daily deaths topping 1,000, the United States is the hottest hot spot in the ongoing global pandemic — a ranking that wasn’t exactly what President Trump had in mind with his “America First” doctrine. You wouldn’t know it, however, to hear the president describe the U.S. performance in handling the virus; he called it “an amazing job, a great job” on Monday, and recited a list of other countries experiencing a rebound in infections. (Gearan, 8/4)

President Trump, in a news conference on Tuesday, cited a slew of statistics to argue that “our strong mitigation efforts are working very well.”Here’s a fact-check. (Qiu, 8/4)

In the early days of the coronavirus crisis, President Donald Trump was flanked in the White House briefing room by a team of public health experts in a seeming portrait of unity to confront the disease that was ravaging the globe. But as the crisis has spread to all reaches of the country, with escalating deaths and little sense of endgame, a chasm has widened between the president and the experts. The result: daily delivery of a mixed message to the public at a moment when coherence is most needed. (Madhani, Alonso-Zaldivar and Lemire, 8/5)

Fewer than 1 in 3 Americans said they trust President Trump on the coronavirus pandemic, according to new polling from NBC News. The NBC News-SurveyMonkey weekly tracking poll found 58 percent of Americans do not trust the president on the pandemic, compared to 31 percent who say they do trust him. By comparison, 51 percent of adults said they trust statements on the virus by Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases specialist. A larger majority, 55 percent, said they trust the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the virus. (Budryk, 8/4)

When President Donald Trump directed late Monday that states now pick up some of the tab for the nationwide deployment of the National Guard to respond to the coronavirus, he carved out two big exceptions: Texas and Florida. While all other states and territories will have to shell out millions to cover 25 percent of their National Guard costs starting later this month, Texas and Florida will be fully covered. The two key states, which voted for Trump in 2016 and are hotly contested this year, are struggling to contain the coronavirus surges. But other states are worse off by several metrics — including total Covid-19 cases and the percentage of people testing positive. (Miranda Ollstein, 8/4)