Trump’s coronavirus task force may stop daily meetings and shift focus to a new topic: report

President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force will stop meeting as often as they have been.

The president had announced over the weekend that he would no longer hold daily briefings on the pandemic, only to reverse course Monday, but the White House coronavirus task force will begin scaling back their number of meetings, a source told CNN.

The task force will move away from briefings and daily meetings and focus on events highlighting the economy as some states begin to reopen, because the president wants to show signs of progress despite the pandemic that continues to afflict many states.

Trump lashed out at aides, the media and Democrats over the last several days, sources told CNN, as his approval rating sags and his poll numbers slip in several must-win states.

The task force met briefly Saturday but not at all Sunday, and both aides and Trump allies have begged him to stop the daily briefings that usually drift away from the pandemic and veer into an airing of the president's personal grievances.

Trump has come across as angry and petty, rather than a steady wartime leader, and that has sunk his approval rating in poll after poll.

The president is eager to resume campaign rallies and golfing, and he's been obsessing over negative reports and polls as he remains cooped up in the White House.

Plans are being discussed for possible travel by the president as soon as this week, and the task force could issue a new set of guidelines on reopening certain types of businesses, sources told CNN.

The panel wasn't scheduled to meet Monday, but some of its members were expected to join a scheduled midday phone call with the president and the nation's governors.

Afterward, the president was scheduled to meet with retail executives, some of whom may join him for a statement scheduled for 5 p.m. in the Rose Garden.