White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci told Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Tuesday that the final coronavirus death toll will be “very disturbing,” before predicting up to 100,000 new cases a day “if this does not turn around.”

“We’ve already seen 126,000 deaths with infection rates rising rapidly. Dr. Fauci, based on what you are seeing now, how many Covid-19 deaths and infections should America expect before this is all over?” asked Warren during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the pandemic, prompting Dr. Fauci to reply, “I can’t make an accurate prediction, but it is going to be disturbing, I guarantee you that.”

In a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, the former vice president recounted what he cast as Trump’s missteps, from Trump’s early dismissals of the virus to his more recent refusals to wear a mask in public appearances.

Pointing to Trump in March declaring himself a wartime president in battling the coronavirus, Biden said: “What happened? Now it’s almost July, and it seems like our wartime president has surrendered — waved the white flag and left the battlefield.”

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany opened Tuesday’s White House briefing with a defense of President Donald Trump’s refusal to read the Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) — and his claims that he wasn’t aware Russia had put bounties out for Taliban-linked militants to kill American troops.

“The president does read, and also he consumes intelligence verbally. This president, I will tell you, is the most informed person on planet Earth when it comes to the threats we face,” McEnany said. “You have Ambassador O’Brien, who sees him in person twice a day, who sometimes takes upwards of half a dozen calls with this president. He’s constantly being informed and briefed on intelligence matters.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) endorsed face coverings on Monday, a position contrary to the apparent instincts of many House Republicans and President Donald Trump.

 

“We must have no stigma — none — about wearing masks when we leave our homes and come near other people,” McConnell said in a speech to the Senate. “Wearing simple face coverings is not about protecting ourselves. It is about protecting everyone we encounter.” He added Americans should be “happy” to take “small steps” that ensure the country can “remain on offense” against the coronavirus.

Citing the rapid pace of coronavirus spread in some parts of California, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered seven counties including Los Angeles on Sunday to immediately close any bars and nightspots that are open and recommended eight other counties take action on their own to close those businesses.

The order shuts down any bar, brewery or pub that sells alcoholic drinks without serving food at the same time. Those that sell food will either be subject to the stricter dine-in rules or asked to focus on takeout and patio service.

The decision was announced in a statement issued by the governor’s state public health director, Dr. Sonia Angell. Bars in seven counties are immediately affected by the state order: Los Angeles, Fresno, Kern, San Joaquin, Tulare, Kings and Imperial.

President Donald Trump on Sunday denied that U.S. intelligence officials had briefed him about an alleged plot by Russian operatives to pay Taliban-linked militants in Afghanistan to kill American troops.

 

“Nobody briefed me or told me, [Vice President] Pence, or Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians,” Trump tweeted.

 

The president accused The New York Times of using a fake “anonymous source” to report the alleged briefing. In fact, the Times report cited multiple officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. It’s not uncommon for news outlets to grant anonymity to sources who aren’t authorized to speak publicly about information that may be newsworthy.

 

“Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us,” Trump tweeted. He added of the Times report: “Who is their ‘source’?”

The House approved a police reform bill proposed by Democrats on Thursday night, after Senate Democrats blocked a more modest proposal from moving forward in the Senate a day earlier. The bill passed with a vote of 236 to 181, with three Republicans — Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick, Will Hurd and Fred Upton — joining the Democrats to vote in favor. 

“This year in Congress, the only way we can ensure that a policing reform bill is signed into law is by coming to the table with all parties, in good faith, to finally end this injustice,” Fitzpatrick, a representative from Pennsylvania, said in a statement. The bill will now go to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said it will not pass the Republican-held chamber. 

Read the rest of the story at CBS News.

In one of his sharpest rebukes of President Donald Trump to date, former Vice President Joe Biden lambasted the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, comparing Trump to a whining child.

“(Trump’s) like a child who can’t believe this has happened to him — all his whining and self pity. This pandemic didn’t happen to him. It happened to all of us. And his job isn’t to whine about it, his job is to do something about it — to lead,” Biden said in a speech in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Thursday.

A federal prosecutor offered lawmakers on Wednesday a roadmap to investigate alleged political interference in the sentencing of longtime Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone.

Aaron Zelinsky, one of four lead prosecutors in the Stone case, told the House Judiciary Committee that senior officials — including the head of the Justice Department’s public corruption unit — freely discussed concerns that they were being pressured to go easy on Stone during sentencing.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

The Kentucky Senate Democratic primary race to determine who takes on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in November is too close to call, NBC News projects.

Amy McGrath, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel, had a slight edge in a tougher-than-expected challenge from state Rep. Charles Booker. With 10 percent of the vote in by Wednesday morning, McGrath led Booker, 44 percent to 39.6 percent, a margin of just over 2,000 votes. But that tally includes only ones cast in person at the polls Tuesday; none of the substantial number of mail-in ballots that could determine the outcome have been counted and will not be for days.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Coronavirus hospitalizations in Arizona and Texas have hit record numbers as cases continue to surge in states in the South and the West, overwhelming medical professionals.

Arizona reported a record high of 3,591 new cases Tuesday, with nearly 60,000 known cases in the state overall. The swell in cases comes as President Donald Trump is set to hold a rally at a Phoenix megachurch Tuesday.

There was a surge in the number of inpatient beds occupied by positive or suspected COVID-19 patients, with 2,136 beds occupied, compared to 1,992 Sunday, according to data from the state’s Department of Health Services.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Four top U.S. public health officials and members of Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force said on Tuesday that he has not asked them to slow down testing for the virus after the president suggested at a rally that it was a “double-edged sword.”

Testifying before the House Energy & Commerce Committee, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, and the Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Brett Giroir all said that the president had not asked them to slow down the testing.

Read the rest of the story at HuffPost.

The United States saw a 25% increase in new cases of COVID-19 in the week ended June 21 compared to the previous seven days, with Arizona, Florida and Texas experiencing record surges in new infections, a Reuters analysis found.

Twenty-five U.S. states reported more new cases last week than the previous week, including 10 states that saw weekly new infections rise more than 50%, and 12 states that posted new records, according to the analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the outbreak.

Read the rest of the story at HuffPost.

A noose was found in the garage stall of Black driver Bubba Wallace at the NASCAR race in Alabama on Sunday, less than two weeks after he successfully pushed the auto racing series to ban the Confederate flag at its tracks and facilities.

NASCAR announced the discovery late Sunday and said it had launched an immediate investigation. It said it will do everything possible to find who was responsible and “eliminate them from the sport.”

Read the rest of the story at Politico

President Trump’s campaign promised huge crowds at his rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday, but it failed to deliver. Hundreds of teenage TikTok users and K-pop fans say they’re at least partially responsible.

TikTok users and fans of Korean pop music groups claimed to have registered potentially hundreds of thousands of tickets for Trump’s campaign rally as a prank. After @TeamTrump tweeted asking supporters to register for free tickets using their phones on June 11, K-pop fan accounts began sharing the information with followers, encouraging them to register for the rally — and then not show.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Attorney General William Barr said Saturday that at his request, President Donald Trump had fired Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan.

Shortly afterwards, Berman, who had defied Barr’s earlier demand for his resignation, announced that he would not resist the order and would step down, leaving the high-profile prosecutor’s office in the hands of his deputy, Audrey Strauss.

Trump himself, when asked about Berman’s firing Saturday afternoon by reporters at the White House, said he was “not involved” in the situation and that the decision was “up to the attorney general.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Six members of President Donald Trump’s campaign staff who are in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to set up for the president’s first campaign rally in months have tested positive for the coronavirus, the campaign announced Saturday.

The president’s campaign said they had performed hundreds of tests before the rally, his first since March 2, and Tim Murtaugh, the campaign communications director, said six members of the advance team tested positive and were immediately quarantined.

“No COVID-positive staffers or anyone in immediate contact will be at today’s rally or near attendees and elected officials,” Murtaugh said in a statement.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

An ABC News analysis found that hospitalizations for COVID-19 are increasing in 17 states across the country, with experts warning that the U.S. is by no means out of the first wave.

The states that saw the increases were Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Vermont, according to the analysis of state-released data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News.

One of the three police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, is being fired, Mayor Greg Fischer announced Friday.

The chief of the Louisville Metro Police Department, Rob Schroeder, is initiating termination procedures against the officer, Brett Hankison, the mayor said in a statement.

It is the first significant action taken against an officer in a case that has drawn widespread criticism and national protests. Two other officers are on administrative reassignment while the shooting is investigated.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

The Oklahoma State Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit appeal to enforce safety measures at President Donald Trump’s rally on Saturday.

Tulsa attorney Clark Brewster will make a court appearance before the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Thursday by phone at 3 p.m., according to court records.

Earlier this week, a judge denied a lawsuit from the Tulsa law firm to enforce masks and social distancing at President Trump’s rally.

Read the rest of the story at KJRH-Tulsa.

President Donald Trump is trailing his Democratic rival Joe Biden by the widest margin this year, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday.

The poll, conducted from June 13 to 16, found 50 percent of respondents would vote for Biden, compared to 38 for Trump. That’s a sharp change from last month’s poll, which found 48 percent backing Biden and 40 percent backing Trump.

The poll was conducted amid weeks of protests over race and police brutality, a period where Trump attempted to establish himself as a “law and order” president and threatened federal force to quell demonstrators.

Read the rest of the story at Politico.

Read the rest of the story at HuffPost.

The former Atlanta police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooksin the parking lot of a Wendy’s restaurant has been charged with felony murder, the district attorney’s office announced Wednesday.

The man, Garrett Rolfe, who was fired by the Atlanta Police Department after the June 12 shooting, faces 11 total counts, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said at a news conference.

A second officer, Devin Brosnan, was placed on administrative leave. Brosnan, who is a cooperating witness for the state, faces three charges, including aggravated assault and violation of oath.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, says in his new book that the House in its impeachment inquiry should have investigated President Trump not just for pressuring Ukraine to incriminate his domestic foes but for a variety of instances when he sought to intervene in law enforcement matters for political reasons.

Mr. Bolton describes several episodes where the president expressed willingness to halt criminal investigations “to, in effect, give personal favors to dictators he liked,” citing cases involving major firms in China and Turkey. “The pattern looked like obstruction of justice as a way of life, which we couldn’t accept,” Mr. Bolton writes, adding that he reported his concerns to Attorney General William P. Barr.

Read the rest of the story at The New York Times.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on policing Tuesday amid increasing pressure and nationwide protests over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and other Black people in custody or at the hands of law enforcement officers.

“Today is about pursuing common sense and fighting, fighting for a cause like we seldom get the chance to fight for,” Trump said. “We have to find common ground.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday rebuffed Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s calls for nearly a dozen Confederate statues to be removed from the Capitol, saying it was an attempt to “airbrush” history.

“What I do think is clearly a bridge too far is this nonsense that we need to airbrush the Capitol and scrub out everybody from years ago who had any connection to slavery,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters, noting that a handful of former American presidents owned slaves.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

Vice President Mike Pence encouraged governors on Monday to adopt the administration’s explanation that a rise in testing was a reason behind new coronavirus outbreaks, even though testing data has shown that such a claim is misleading.

“I would just encourage you all, as we talk about these things, to make sure and continue to explain to your citizens the magnitude of increase in testing,” Mr. Pence said on a call with governors, audio of which was obtained by The New York Times. “And that in most of the cases where we are seeing some marginal rise in number, that’s more a result of the extraordinary work you’re doing.”

Read the rest of the story at The New York Times.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s request for the justices to hear arguments in a legal challenge to California’s “sanctuary city” laws, which protect undocumented immigrants from deportation. While the decision is likely to be overshadowed by the Court’s watershed civil rights ruling granting gay, lesbian, and transgender workers protection from discrimination under Title VII, attorneys said the Court’s denial is a stinging loss for the president and the latest in a continuing trend of federal court losses over sanctuary city laws.’

Read the rest of the story at Law & Crime.

The fatal shooting of an Atlanta man by a city police officer at a fast-food restaurant late Friday night launched a day of protests and the resignation of the department’s highest-ranking official on Saturday.

Officials have identified the man as 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News.

President Donald Trump appeared to struggle several times during a commencement address he delivered Saturday afternoon at West Point, including stumbling over the pronunciation of the name of the legendary World War II General Douglas MacArthur and needing two hands to lift a glass of water.

The New York Daily News described Trump’s delivery of the speech as “lethargic,” and that, plus the moments listed below, drew a lot of mocking commentary on social media.

See the video at Mediaite.

President Trump has moved his campaign rally that was originally scheduled for June 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the following day. The rally’s original date sparked criticism because June 19, otherwise known as Juneteenth, marks the day that slavery ended in the U.S. The rally also drew condemnation for taking place in Tulsa, the site of a race massacre in which 300 people, mostly black men, women, and children, were killed nearly a century ago. 

Mr. Trump tweeted late Friday night that he rescheduled the rally on the advice of African American friends and supporters. 

Read the rest of the story at CBS News.

“THIS SPACE IS NOW PROPERTY OF THE SEATTLE PEOPLE” reads a giant black banner with red lettering at the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,” an area around the abandoned police precinct that demonstrators moved into, setting up tents with plans to stay.

The Seattle Police Department vacated the East Precinct on Monday night, and protesters against the killing of George Floyd and police brutality established the zone, known as CHAZ, and changed the boarded-up building’s sign to read “Seattle People Department.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Joe Biden on Thursday blasted President Donald Trump for failing to offer a comprehensive plan on how to reopen the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, while also unveiling his own proposals on how how to do so safely.

At an in-person round-table discussion with community leaders in Philadelphia, Biden said the federal government had “abdicated any effective leadership role” in responding to the pandemic and reopening the economy, and slammed Trump for having “basically a one-point plan” that focused solely on “opening business.”

The former vice president, in turn, offered his own multifaceted plan to safely reopen businesses in the United States.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Stocks fell sharply on Wall Street on Thursday as coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased again, deflating recent optimism that the economy could recover quickly from its worst crisis in decades.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 1,800 points and the S&P 500 dropped 5.9%, its worst day since mid-March, when stocks had a number of harrowing falls as the virus lockdowns began.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

President Donald Trump’s signature campaign rallies are back in business, after a gap of more than three months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump announced on Wednesday that his reelection campaign would be holding a rally in Tulsa, Okla., on June 19 and would also be holding rallies in Florida, Texas and Arizona — as well as an event in North Carolina “at an appropriate time.”

Read the rest of the story at Politico.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would “not even consider” renaming Army bases that honor Confederate leaders who fought to protect slavery and uphold white supremacy despite nationwide reckoning over racial discrimination in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd.

“The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations,” he tweeted.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

George Floyd’s brother Philonise pleaded in a highly emotional statement to members of Congress on Wednesday that they pass police reforms and listen to the calls around the world to “stop the pain.”

During a particularly devastating moment during his testimony to members of the House Judiciary Committee, Floyd sobbed as he discussed how tragic it was that his brother’s death in police custody last month would be available for children to watch online forever — and described the intense pain his whole family is feeling.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Republican senators don’t want to talk about President Donald Trump’s tweet. Some say they haven’t read it. Others say they don’t want to know about it. Yet others say they have a policy of not discussing what the president says on Twitter.

That’s perennially true — but perhaps never more so than on Tuesday, when Trump floated an evidence-free conspiracy theory about an elderly Buffalo man captured on camera falling, hitting his head and bleeding after being pushed by a police officer. The man was hospitalized and two officers were charged with assault after the video went viral and drew national outrage.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Hourslong waits, problems with new voting machines and a lack of available ballots plagued voters in majority minority counties in Georgia on Tuesday — conditions the secretary of state called “unacceptable” and vowed to investigate.

Democrats and election watchers said voting issues in a state that has been plagued for years by similar problems, along with allegations of racial bias, didn’t bode well for the November presidential election, when Georgia could be in play.

During a Monday interview on Fox News, Attorney General Bill Barr contradicted President Donald Trump’s claim that he had merely visited visited the White House’s secure bunker as part of a dress rehearsal in case he should later need it.

Trump was reportedly upset that the press reported of his retreat to the underground bunker during the first Friday of protests in the wake of the alleged murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police as documented by a viral video. Trump’s frustration that the reports portrayed him as weak was reportedly the genesis of his decision to stage a photo op three days later at the nearby St. John’s Church, which was partially burned when an earlier protest went awry.

Read the rest of the story at Mediaite.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, joined demonstrators Sunday marching to the White House in protest of George Floyd’s death in the custody of Minneapolis police.

About 1,000 protesters marched through Washington.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell criticized President Trump for threatening to use active-duty U.S. troops against protesters, saying it shows he has “drifted away” from the U.S. Constitution.

In a CNN interview, Powell aimed a broad critique at Trump’s approach to the military, a foreign policy that he said was causing “disdain” abroad and a president he portrayed as trying to amass excessive power. Powell, who served under Republican President George W. Bush, says he’ll vote for Democrat Joe Biden in the general election.

“We have a Constitution and we have to follow the Constitution and the president has drifted away from it,” Powell said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

Read the rest of the story at The Los Angeles Times

When Joe Biden announced he was running for president, he framed his campaign as “a battle for the soul of this nation,” saying President Trump threatened its core values by condoning the racism of torch-carrying neo-Nazis who marched in 2017 through Charlottesville, Va.

The former vice president, who has captured the 1,991 delegates he needed to formally win the Democratic nomination, returned to the theme of racial discord Saturday as thousands protested the killing of George Floyd, an African American man who died last month after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes.

Read the rest of the story at The Los Angeles Times.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday apologized to players for not listening to their concerns regarding racism sooner.

In a video posted to Twitter, Goodell offered his condolences to families who have endured “police brutality,” including George Floyd, a black man who died while in Minneapolis police custody last week; Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old woman killed during a police raid in Kentucky; and Ahmaud Arbery, who was gunned down while out for a jog in Georgia.

“We, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people,” he said. “We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all players to speak out and peacefully protest.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Joe Biden won enough delegates on Saturday to become the Democratic presidential nominee in November’s election against President Donald Trump, NBC News projects.

To win the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination on the first ballot at the party’s convention, a candidate must receive support from a majority of pledged delegates — at least 1,991 of the total 3,979 pledged delegates available.

Heading into the weekend, Biden had already amassed a projected 1,970 pledged delegates after winning a series of Democratic primaries on June 2. He now has 2,000, according to NBC News.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Former President Barack Obama offered advice to demonstrators during a virtual town hall on Wednesday in his first on-camera remarks as growing unrest against police brutality continues across the country.

“To bring about real change, we both have to highlight a problem and make people in power uncomfortable,” Obama said. “But we also have to translate that into practical solutions and laws that can be implemented.”

The event was organized by the Obama Foundation, which featured a discussion about nationwide police reform, in the wake of national unrest sparked in large part by the killing of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Three more former Minneapolis police officers were charged Wednesday in the death of George Floyd, five days after charges were brought against a fourth officer who was seen in a video kneeling on Floyd’s neck.

The three former officers, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, were charged with aiding and abetting murder, according to criminal complaints filed by the state of Minnesota. The murder charge against the fourth, Derek Chauvin, was also elevated to second-degree, from third-degree.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Joe Biden on Tuesday praised the nationwide peaceful protests following the death of George Floyd, calling his killing in police custody a “wake-up call for our nation” and accusing President Donald Trump of sowing division.

In a speech from Philadelphia City Hall, Biden repeated Floyd’s final words before he died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes — and said it was time “to listen to those words … and respond with action.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who has a long history of racist and outrageous remarks, lost his long-held House seat in a primary race Tuesday, NBC News projected.

With 95 percent of the vote counted at 12:18 a.m. ET, King trailed his challenger, state Sen. Randy Feenstra, by 7,785 votes, or 45.8 percent to 35.8 percent.

The Republican primary challenge, the fiercest since King was first elected to Congress in 2002, came after he was stripped of his committee assignments in the House last year because of comments to The New York Times about white nationalism.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Police unloaded rounds of tear gas at peaceful protesters outside the White House on Monday evening, clearing the way for President Donald Trump to deliver an ominous speech against the nationwide protests sparked by the latest killings of unarmed black people. He then walked through the newly opened path to participate in a nearby photo op.

Trump was apparently agitated by night after night of looting and violent protestsoutside his door and around the nation. The dystopian scenes played 24/7 on cable news, paired with reports that last week he was rushed to a White House bunker amid the unrest, brought him to lash out beyond his own Twitter feed.

Read the rest of the story at BuzzFeed News.

In a call with the nation’s governors Monday, an angry President Donald Trump told state leaders they must “dominate” out-of-control protests, calling on law enforcement to get “much tougher” and blaming unrest erupting across many communities squarely on “the radical left.”

The president and Attorney General William Barr used the word “dominate” nearly a dozen times in describing how law enforcement should posture themselves.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News.

Michael Flynn did something far worse than lie to the FBI. He betrayed the United States. That’s the major revelation of the just-released transcripts of the conversations he had during the presidential transition with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. 

Up until now, the Flynn scandal has generally centered on his criminal case, in which Flynn, Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, was charged with—and pleaded guilty to—lying to FBI about his calls with Kislyak. Flynn told bureau agents that he had not discussed the sanctions imposed on Russia by the Obama administration in response to Vladimir Putin’s attack on the 2016 election. Well, he had. And Flynn had even encouraged the Russians to not retaliate severely, suggesting that when Trump took office things between Moscow and Washington could be smoothed over. The FBI knew this because US intelligence had intercepted those calls, presumably part of routine surveillance of the Russian official. Flynn took a deal, and he pleaded guilty to lying to avoid being charged for an unrelated crime (failing to register as a foreign agent for Turkey).

Read the rest of the story at Mother Jones.

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday left his home for a site in Wilmington, Del., that has seen protests over the death of a black man at the hands of a white police officer.

It was his second time in a week he ventured outside after having elected to campaign from his house since coronavirus lockdowns went into effect. On Monday, Biden had attended a quick Memorial Day ceremony with his wife.

Read the rest of the story at Politico

The former Minneapolis police officer shown on video putting his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than 8 1/2 minutes — as he pleaded for air and his mother — was arrested Friday and charged with murder, authorities said.

Derek Chauvin, who was fired on Tuesday along with the three other officers involved in the arrest of Floyd, was taken into custody Friday and faces charges of third-degree murder and manslaughter, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

A police precinct was burning in Minneapolis as protests over the death of George Floyd raged on for a third straight day.

Protesters late Thursday focused their attention on the police department’s 3rd Precinct, the base of four officers who were firedafter Floyd’s death in their custody Monday.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

President Donald Trump went on a tear against Twitter after the social media platform flagged his tweets on mail-in voting as misinformation. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters this afternoon the president plans to sign an executive order “pertaining to social media.”

Read the rest of the story at Mediaite.

A cellphone video has gone viral and is sparking widespread outrage after capturing a white dog owner calling 911 and claiming an African American birdwatcher who told her to keep her pet leashed was “threatening myself and my dog” in New York City’s Central Park.

The confrontation occurred on Memorial Day in a wooded area of the urban oasis known as the Ramble, a popular destination for wildlife fans looking to spot rare birds. By Tuesday morning the dog owner had returned her pet to the rescue shelter she adopted it from, was fired from her job at the Franklin Templeton investment firm, and issued an apology for her behavior in an interview with CNN.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News.

Four Minnesota officers have been fired following the detainment of a man who died Monday night after being pinned to the ground by an officer who put his knee on the man’s neck for about eight minutes.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said it was the “right call” to terminate the officers in a tweet announcing the decision Tuesday. The police department said the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI would be independently investigating the incident.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Joe Biden ventured out of his home in Wilmington, Delaware, for his first brief public event in two months on Monday, to observe Memorial Day. Accompanied by his wife Dr. Jill Biden, he laid a flower wreath at Wilmington Memorial Park. The Bidens, who both wore black masks, placed the wreath of white roses before the Memorial Wall, which includes 15,000 names of men and women from Delaware and New Jersey who died in World War II and the Korean War, according to the Memorial’s website.

The two paused in front of the memorial for about a minute and then walked away, hand in hand. Biden also saluted a small group of veterans who were also at the memorial and thanked them for their service.

Read the rest of the story at CBS News.

Senior Joe Biden campaign adviser Symone Sanders positively steamrolled MSNBC’s Chuck Todd when Todd tried to ask a question about Biden’s controversial remark to radio host Charlamagne Tha God. At the tailed end of a lengthy interview Friday, Biden cracked “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or for Trump, then you ain’t black.”

In a clip that went viral on social media and was flagged here by Crooks and Liars’ Karoli Kuns, Todd played some video of former Obama adviser and longtime senior Democratic operative Patrick Gaspard criticizing Biden over the remarks.

Read the rest of the story and see the video at Mediaite.

Congress is moving toward another round of coronavirus relief as jittery Republican senators demand action and the Trump administration says more legislation is likely to be needed, with unemployment soaring and the U.S. death toll approaching 100,000.

Lawmakers are far from a deal, but the battle lines are emerging in what is likely to be the most contentious negotiations yet after trillions of dollars have already been spent to ease the economic and public health devastation wrought by COVID-19.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by 11 points in a new national poll of registered voters focused on November’s presidential election. The survey from Quinnipiac University shows Biden with 50% to Trump’s 39%, up from the 49% to 41% lead Biden held in an April 8 poll by the same university. The survey noted that more than two months into the coronavirus crisis in the U.S., Trump’s job approval rating is ticking lower. In an average of national polls from RealClearPolitics, Biden leads Trump by 5.6 points. That average includes the Quinnipiac poll, which was taken May 14-18 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

Read the rest of the story at MarketWatch

President Donald Trump shut down a reporter who asked why he hadn’t yet revealed a plan to get unemployed Americans back to work following the coronavirus pandemic, calling her a “rude person” on Tuesday.

“Mr. President, why haven’t you announced a plan to get 36 million unemployed Americans back to work. You’re overseeing historic economic despair. What’s the delay?” questioned the reporter, prompting President Trump to reply, “Oh, I think we’ve announced a plan. We’re opening up our country.”

“Just a rude person, you are,” he snapped.

Read the rest of the story and see the video at Mediaite.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., chastised President Donald Trump on Monday for his decision to take hydroxychloroquine, saying that health experts have warned about its effects and that it could be harmful to the president because she said he’s “morbidly obese.”

“As far as the President is concerned, he’s our president and I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and in his, shall we say, weight group, morbidly obese, they say. So, I think it’s not a good idea,” Pelosi said in an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to make the freeze on U.S. funding for the World Health Organization permanent.

He also laid out allegations of “missteps” in the way the agency responded to the coronavirus in a letter he said he sent to the WHO’s leader.

The letter, which was posted to Trump’s Twitter account and comes midway through the World Health Assembly, is addressed to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. It accuses the organization of an “alarming lack of independence from the People’s Republic of China.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

The State Department inspector general who was removed from his job Friday was looking into whether Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a staffer walk his dog, pick up his dry cleaning and make dinner reservations for Pompeo and his wife, among other personal errands, according to two congressional officials assigned to different committees.

The officials said they are working to learn whether former Inspector General Steve Linick may have had other ongoing investigations into Pompeo.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

One of President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s early response to the coronavirus spread Sunday, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” the CDC “let the country down” initially with testing problems.

When asked whether Trump had faith in the CDC, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, and coordinator of the Defense Production Act response, said that is a question for the president before criticizing the federal health agency’s initial response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Independent Michigan Congressman Justin Amash has abandoned his flirtation with a third-party presidential run, announcing his decision in a Twitter thread Saturday afternoon.

In a lengthy Twitter thread, Amash cited, among other things, the challenge of campaigning during the coronavirus pandemic.

Read the rest of the story at Mediaite.

President Donald Trump demanded that GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ‘get tough and move quickly’ to get back at Democrats for launching the ‘Russia Hoax’ during a Saturday morning Twitter rant.

“Mitch, I love you, but this is 100% true,” Trump said quote tweeting a user advocating for going after Democrats for “Russian collusion hoax.” “Time is running out. Get tough and move quickly, or it will be too late. The Dems are vicious, but got caught. They MUST pay a big price for what they have done to our Country.”

Read the rest of the story at Mediaite.

President Donald Trump on Friday removed a watchdog critical of personnel moves in the State Department.

Trump informed Congress of the move in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, in which he gave no specific reason for firing State Department Inspector General Steve Linick.

Trump wrote he “no longer” had full confidence in the State Department’s inspector general.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., admitted he was wrong when he that the Obama administration never left a plan for President Donald Trump for how to handle a pandemic.

“I was wrong — they did leave behind a plan. So I clearly made a mistake in that regard,” McConnell said in a Thursday evening interview with Fox News’ Brett Baier when asked about his initial comments.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Coronavirus infection rates are spiking to new highs in several metropolitan areas and smaller communities across the country, according to undisclosed data the White House’s pandemic task force is using to track rates of infection, which was obtained by NBC News.

The data in a May 7 coronavirus task force report are at odds with President Donald Trump’s declaration Monday that “all throughout the country, the numbers are coming down rapidly.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down the state’s stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic as “unlawful, invalid, and unenforceable” after finding that the state’s health secretary exceeded her authority.

In a 4-3 ruling, the court called Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm’s directive, known as Emergency Order 28, a “vast seizure of power.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

A new poll out Wednesday reveals a whole lot of good news for former Vice President Joe Biden, and bad news for President Donald Trump.

According to the latest Retuers/Ipsos survey, Biden — the presumptive Democratic nominee — has surged to an eight point lead in the race. The same poll showed Biden ahead by only two points just last week — well within the four point margin of error.

Read the rest of the story at Mediaite.

The very nature of the presidency was under scrutiny at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, as the justices heard more than three hours of arguments on whether House committees and prosecutors may obtain troves of information about President Trump’s business affairs.

The court’s ruling, expected by July, could require disclosure of information the president has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect. Or the justices could rule that Mr. Trump’s financial affairs are not legitimate subjects of inquiry.

Read the rest of the story at The New York Times

The Department of Justice said Monday it will consider a request by Georgia’s attorney general to review the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery and assess whether federal hate crime charges should be pursued in the high-profile case.

The federal government’s further involvement would underscore a larger demand by Arbery’s family and civil rights groups for another law enforcement agency to closely examine the handling of the case since Arbery was killed on Feb. 23. Also on Monday, the state’s top prosecutor, Chris Carr, appointed a new district attorney — the fourth since Arbery’s death — to take over the case.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Coronavirus infection rates are spiking to new highs in several metropolitan areas and smaller communities across the country, according to undisclosed data the White House’s pandemic task force is using to track rates of infection, which was obtained by NBC News.

The data in a May 7 coronavirus task force report are at odds with President Donald Trump’s declaration Monday that “all throughout the country, the numbers are coming down rapidly.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Vice President Mike Pence was putting “a little distance” between himself and others this weekend after a staffer tested positive for COVID-19, a senior administration official told NBC News.

The official said that Pence would take the advice of the White House medical unit and that he continues to test negative for the virus. The vice president chose not to attend a national security meeting Saturday, the official said, adding that there is “no restriction” on his activities.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Just two months ago, American workers were enjoying the fruits of the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. But Friday’s jobs report, reflecting April’s official unemployment rate, is expected to show just how thoroughly the economic collapse caused by the coronavirus has eviscerated the U.S. labor market. 

Glassdoor economist Daniel Zhao bluntly predicts “the single worst jobs report in history” when the Labor Department on Friday releases employment numbers for April. Forecasters expect the nation’s jobless rate, which was at 4.4% in March, to skyrocket to an annualized unemployment rate of 15% to 20% for the April period, based on a survey of workers during the week of April 12. 

Read the rest of the story at CBS News

A white man and his son who are accused of killing an unarmed black man in Georgia in February have been arrested after video of the incident sparked widespread outrage.

Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced. Both men face charges of aggravated assault and murder.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

One of President Donald Trump’s personal valets, who works in the West Wing serving the president his meals, among other duties, has tested positive for the coronavirus, the closest the virus is known to have come to the president, a White House official said.

Since the White House medical unit was made aware of the case, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have both tested negative, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Thursday. The White House did not say when the valet developed symptoms or when the president was last exposed to the individual.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was treated Tuesday for a gallstone that was causing an infection, the court said in a statement.

She underwent nonsurgical treatment for a benign gallbladder condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The condition was detected Monday after the court’s historic telephone session for oral arguments. Tests confirmed that a gallstone had migrated to her cystic duct, causing a blockage and infection.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force is in the early stages of winding down, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The meetings in the Situation Room of the White House have been shorter, and the task force no longer meets every day, according to the two people. Drs. Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci are still expected to be at the White House daily, but other members of the task force may be present less frequently. However, two separate sources familiar with the matter noted that the task force met Tuesday.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Watch the latest video from The Lincoln Project.

The Senate will gavel in Monday as the coronavirus rages, returning to an uncertain agenda and deepening national debate over how best to confront the deadly pandemic and its economic devastation.

With the House staying away due to the health risks, and the 100 senators convening for the first time since March, the conflicted Congress reflects an uneasy nation. The Washington area remains a virus hot-spot under stay-home rules.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News

Tara Reade, the former Senate staffer who alleges Joe Biden sexually assaulted her 27 years ago, says she filed a limited report with a congressional personnel office that did not explicitly accuse him of sexual assault or harassment.

“I remember talking about him wanting me to serve drinks because he liked my legs and thought I was pretty and it made me uncomfortable,” Reade said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. “I know that I was too scared to write about the sexual assault.”

Read the rest of the story at The Associated Press

Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said Sunday that anti-lockdown protests are “devastatingly worrisome” because demonstrators who do not practice social distancing measures could contract the illness and pass it on to others back home.

“It’s devastatingly worrisome to me personally, because if they go home and infect their grandmother or their grandfather who has a comorbid condition and they have a serious or a very … unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of [their] lives,” Birx said. “So we need to protect each other at the same time we’re voicing our discontent.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News

April was Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Every year, at this time, we talk about awareness, prevention, and the importance of women feeling they can step forward, say something, and be heard. That belief — that women should be heard — was the underpinning of a law I wrote over 25 years ago. To this day, I am most proud of the Violence Against Women Act. So, each April we are reminded not only of how far we have come in dealing with sexual assault in this country — but how far we still have to go.

Read the rest of Joe Biden’s statement at Medium

The Federal Reserve is holding its benchmark short-term interest rate near zero in an effort to offset the crushing economic impact of the coronavirus. The U.S. central bank said Wednesday it would keep rates low until there are “signs the economy has recovered from coronavirus and shutdown.”

In a press conference following the policy decision, Fed Chairman Jay Powell said he expects an “unprecedented” drop in economic activity over the next few months. He also hinted at the need for more government stimulus.

Read the rest of the story at CBS News.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday touted the results of trial examining an experimental drug treatment for the novel coronavirus, calling it “good news” as he spoke in the Oval Office alongside President Donald Trump.

A randomized, international trial of the drug remdesivir had resulted in “quite good news,” shortening the period patients experienced symptoms and potentially slightly reducing the mortality rate, according to Fauci, a member of the White House’s coronavirus task force and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which sponsored the trial.

Read the rest of the story at ABC News.

Vice President Mike Pence went on a tour of the Mayo Clinic’s coronavirus testing labs Tuesday — and ignored the prestigious Minnesota hospital’s rules that all occupants wear masks.

“Mayo Clinic had informed @VP of the masking policy prior to his arrival today,” the clinic tweeted while Pence was still inside meeting with doctors and patients.

The tweet was later deleted. Asked for comment, the clinic said only that it had “shared the masking policy with the VP’s office.”

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Donald Trump got on the presidential Twitter machine on Sunday to go on an enraged rant against The New York Times and their report on his activities in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

See the tweets and read the story at Mediaite.

After nearly 50 coronavirus press briefings in March and April, President Donald Trump’s aides and allies are increasingly worried that his lengthy appearances are backfiring politically and White House officials say they are evaluating whether to reduce his participation in news conferences in the weeks to come.

Concerns that the briefings are hurting the president reached an inflection point Thursday evening when Trump suggested that people might be able to inject household cleaning items or disinfectants to deter the coronavirus, sparking immediate and universal backlash from the medical community.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Unemployment around the U.S., near a 50-year low before the coronavirus struck, will surge to 16% by September as the economy withers under the impact of the outbreak, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday. 

That would far exceed the hit to the labor market during the Great Recession, when the jobless rate peaked at 10%. Unemployment will likely remain in double-digits into 2021, according to the agency.

Read the rest of the story at CBS News.

A day after he floated the idea of using disinfectants and light to treat COVID-19, President Donald Trump declined to take any questions at his daily coronavirus briefing at the White House.

The briefing — which can sometimes last about two hours — was over in just over 20 minutes, following remarks from Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and FDA head Stephen Hahn. The two top government doctors charged with combating the coronavirus crisis, Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, were not in attendance.

On Thursday, Trump drew widespread criticism for suggesting light, heat and injecting disinfectants could be used to treat coronavirus patients.

Read the rest of the story at NBC News.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Thursday predicted President Donald Trump will try to delay the 2020 presidential election in a ploy to snag a reelection victory.

“Mark my words, I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held,” Biden said, according to a pool report of an online campaign event. “That’s the only way he thinks he can possibly win.”

Read the rest of the story at Politico.

Traditionally, Las Vegas has been a place where Americans go to forget about statistics, but in an appearance on Anderson Cooper 360, Mayor Carolyn Goodman stressed the need for a control group to determine if social distancing measures are the tool that have kept American deaths below the early, catastrophic estimates. Generously for the United States — and unfortunately for the people of her neon city — she offered that Las Vegas be that control group, allowing a return to normal to see if an intensified outbreak would occur.

Read the rest of the story at New York Magazine.