Judge Rejects Delay of Wisconsin Primary: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden said Thursday that if he and President Donald Trump do have a telephone conversation that he will offer constructive advice about tackling the coronavirus crisis.

“I’m not doing this to criticize. I’m doing this to say this is what I think you should do,” Biden told reporters during a video-conferenced news conferece from his Delaware home.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway proposed the call on Wednesday after saying she’d only heard criticism from the former vice president. Biden responded that he would be glad to have a conversation, adding “I’m just taking Kellyanne Conway at her word.”

Biden has repeatedly said that the president and his team could adapt and use his proposals to fight the pandemic. On Thursday, he said he would share the lessons he’s learned from managing past crises such as the Ebola outbreak and the stimulus fund that followed the 2008 financial crisis. He said he would urge Trump to use the Defense Production Act on more than just ventilators and recommend that he choose a “commander-in-chief” for the federal coronavirus response.

Biden said he wouldn’t try to score points against Trump. “I understand if he doesn’t want to take my advice, but it won’t be ‘I told you so, Mr. President.’ It wouldn’t be if he decided to do what I suggested that I go back and say, ’Well, I told the president to do that,’” Biden said. “This is beyond politics right now.”

Judge Rejects Delay of Wisconsin Primary (5:16 p.m.)

A federal judge refused to postpone Wisconsin’s presidential primary on Tuesday, but extended the deadline for absentee voting by a week.

The judge denied a request from Wisconsin Democrats, including Governor Tony Evers, and allied groups for the state to delay in-person voting in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

But the judge extended the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot until Friday and gave voters until the 13th to submit ballots. Democrats had asked the court to direct the state to hold its primary all through mail-in voting. They found a silver lining in the extension of absentee ballots.

“We are glad that the court came to the right decision today,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said. “Expanding access to absentee voting is critical in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and we continue to encourage all states to pursue vote-by-mail and no-excuse absentee voting to ensure that all eligible voters who want to cast a ballot have the means and ability to do so.”

Evers declared a state of emergency on March 12, but both he and Republican leaders in the legislature opposed any move to delay Tuesday’s primary. Several states have postponed primaries amid the coronavirus pandemic, including Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio and Connecticut. Wisconsin has more than 1,300 cases of coronavirus.

Trump Campaign Tells Sessions He’s Not an Ally (4:08 p.m.)

President Donald Trump’s campaign asked former attorney general Jeff Sessions to stop promoting himself as an ally of the president in his U.S. Senate race in Alabama.

The Trump campaign, in a March 31 letter seen by Bloomberg News, said Sessions “misleadingly” promoted his connections to the president in a letter to potential voters. Last month, Trump tweeted that he’s backing Sessions’s opponent, Tommy Tuberville, to be the Republican nominee against Democrat Doug Jones.

Sessions has been the target of Trump’s ire since he recused himself from the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Sessions represented Alabama, a reliably red state, in the Senate from 1997 to 2017, when he was appointed U.S. attorney general.

In Sessions’s mailing to prospective supporters, he calls himself “Trump’s #1 Supporter in the Senate” and begins the letter by saying that he was the “FIRST U.S. Senator to endorse Donald Trump for President.”

“The letter even makes the delusional assertion that you are President ‘Trump’s #1 Supporter.’ We only assume your campaign is doing this to confuse President Trump’s loyal supporters in Alabama into believing the President supports your candidacy in the upcoming primary run-off election. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Michael Glassner, chief operating officer of the Trump campaign, said in a March 31 letter.

In a statement, the Sessions campaign said the fundraising letter was mailed four days before Trump’s announcement. -- Mario Parker

Groups Sue Arizona for Ballot-Measure Rule (2:54 p.m.)

Two groups are suing Arizona to force the state to temporarily change the requirements for gathering physical signatures to get measures on the November ballot amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Arizonans for Fair Elections and Healthcare Rising Arizona jointly filed a lawsuit Thursday to compel the state to allow backers to gather electronic signatures when building support for ballot measures as the virus has stopped organizers from gathering on-paper signatures in public places.

“Arizonans shouldn’t have to choose between having their voices heard and protecting their health or that of their family,” said Anabel Maldonado, the campaign manager for the Fair Elections Act, which would expand early voting and automatically register voters when they apply for driver’s licenses and renewals.

Arizona already has an existing program, called E-Qual, which allows candidates in the state to qualify for the ballot online by signing an electronic petition or giving $5 online for a qualifying contribution. The two groups are seeking to expand that system to include ballot measures. -- Ryan Teague Beckwith

Biden Calls for Easing Iran Sanctions (1:54 p.m.)

Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden on Thursday suggested that the Trump administration should ease sanctions against Iran to help the country access medical supplies and equipment during the coronavirus pandemic.

“In the midst of this deadly pandemic that respects no borders, the United States should take steps to offer what relief we can to those nations hardest hit by this virus — including Iran — even as we prioritize the health of the American people,” Biden said in a statement. The statement does not name any other countries.

Biden offered steps the administration should make, including issuing export licenses to pharmaceutical and medical-device companies, and creating means for international banks, transportation companies and others to help Iranians access treatment.

“Whatever our many, many disagreements with the Iranian government, it’s the right and the humane thing to do,” Biden said. “And Iran also should make a humanitarian gesture and allow detained American citizens to return home.”

Iran, which has reported more than 50,000 cases of the virus and 3,160 deaths, has asked the U.S. to ease sanctions on humanitarian grounds. But Trump administration officials insist that Iran has or could get the support that it needs. -- Jennifer Epstein

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