Trump allies lining up doctors to prescribe rapid reopening

MICHAEL BIESECKER and JASON DEAREN

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican political operatives are recruiting "pro-Trump" doctors to go on television to prescribe reviving the U.S. economy as quickly as possible, without waiting to meet safety benchmarks proposed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

The plan was discussed in a May 11 conference call with a senior staffer for the Trump reelection campaign organized by CNP Action, an affiliate of the GOP-aligned Council for National Policy. A leaked recording of the hour-long...