Trump Administration

The New York Times reports: A divided Senate voted on Thursday to confirm Representative John Ratcliffe of Texas, a fierce conservative ally of President Trump’s with relatively little intelligence experience, to become the next director of the nation’s spy agencies. Democrats opposed the nomination en masse, but they agreed to dispense with the normal rules and accelerate Mr. Ratcliffe’s confirmation …

The Daily Beast reports: The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency urged health officials in “all states and territories” to provide “daily” updates on ventilator availability for the novel coronavirus directly to the data mining giant Palantir, according to emails shared with The Daily Beast and confirmed by FEMA. Palantir, co-founded by key Trump ally Peter Thiel, signed government …

Bloomberg News reports: The U.S. Supreme Court blocked House Democrats for now from getting access to confidential materials from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, granting a request from President Donald Trump’s administration. The court put the case on a fast track, giving the Trump administration until June 1 to file its appeal. That suggests the court will say before …

The Guardian reports: No surprise here: the first question to press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was about the president’s threat to withhold funding from states that are working to expand vote by mail. Asked what funding Trump was looking to withhold, McEnany dodged the question, saying, “I won’t get into exactly what the funding considerations are.” The press secretary said the …

An opening message from Pat Robertson’s network: Kayleigh McEnany sees God’s hand in the president’s election. When asked if God put Donald Trump into The White House for such a time as this, her answer is clear. “Yeah, I think prayer made a difference in the election,” she says. “Not to say that He puts a certain political party in …

CNBC reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday lashed out at Democrats investigating him, particularly Sen. Bob Menendez, as he defended his recommendation to President Donald Trump to fire the State Department’s internal watchdog. Pompeo has come under intense scrutiny since Trump followed through on his Cabinet official’s urging to fire Inspector General Steve Linick. “This is all coming …

NPR reports: You will not find a citizenship question on the 2020 census forms. But in the months since federal courts permanently blocked the Trump administration from asking the hotly-contested question for this year’s national head count, the administration has been pushing ahead with a backup plan — amassing government records to try to determine the U.S. citizenship status of …

NBC News reports: As federal workers file out of the State Department at the end of a Washington workday, an elite group is often just arriving in the marbled, flag-lined lobby: Billionaire CEOs, Supreme Court justices, political heavyweights and ambassadors arrive in evening attire as they’re escorted by private elevator to dinner with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Until the …

The Washington Post reports: A North Dakota construction firm that has received backing from President Trump has now secured the largest border wall contract ever awarded, a $1.3 billion deal to build 42 miles of black-painted fencing through the rugged mountains of southern Arizona. The company that won the contract, Fisher Sand and Gravel, has been repeatedly lauded by the …

Fox News reports: Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News Tuesday that he — unlike President Trump — is not taking hydroxychloroquine as part of an effort to stave off coronavirus. “My physician hasn’t recommended that, but I wouldn’t hesitate” to take it if he did recommend it, Pence added. Pence gave the interview following a meeting of the National …

Courthouse News reports: Amplifying scrutiny on the recent firing of the State Department inspector general, one lawmaker revealed today that Steve Linick had been investigating not only Secretary Mike Pompeo but President Donald Trump as well. “I’ve learned there may be another reason for IG Linick’s firing,” Representative Eliot Engel tweeted this afternoon. “His office was investigating — at my …

Politico reports: More than 40,000 National Guard members currently helping states test residents for the coronavirus and trace the spread of infections will face a “hard stop” on their deployments on June 24 — just one day shy of many members becoming eligible for key federal benefits, according to a senior FEMA official. The official outlined the Trump administration’s plans …

The Washington Post reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed Monday that he asked President Trump to fire the State Department inspector general because his work was “undermining” the department’s mission, but he declined to describe any specific concerns. In a telephone interview, Pompeo said the decision was not an act of political retaliation, because he did not know beforehand …

The Hill reports: The former drug company executive leading the Trump administration’s coronavirus vaccine initiative said he will divest all his shares in Moderna, one of the initiative’s leading candidates. At the time of his appointment to lead “Operation Warp Speed,” the shares were worth about $10 million. The announcement comes as Moderna’s stock soared almost 20 percent on Monday, …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump will nominate a new U.S. Attorney to oversee the D.C. office, which handles both local and national cases including several high-profile prosecutions of the president’s allies. Justin Herdman, the U.S. attorney in Cleveland, would take the position now filled by Timothy Shea, who came to the office in February. The nomination of Herdman comes …

Fox News reports: Attorney General Bill Barr said Monday he does not expect U.S. Attorney John Durham’s review into the origins of the Russia probe will lead to a “criminal investigation” of either former President Barack Obama or former Vice President Joe Biden — while noting that their concern of “potential criminality” in the conduct of that probe is “focused …

CNBC reports: Moderna’s closely watched early-stage human trial for a coronavirus vaccine produced Covid-19 antibodies in all 45 participants, the biotech company announced Monday. Each participant was assigned to receive a 25 microgram, 100 mcg or 250 mcg dose at both vaccinations, with 15 people in each dose group. Study participants received two doses of the potential vaccine via intramuscular …

NBC News reports: A Democrat aide told NBC news the inspector general “was looking into the Secretary’s misuse of a political appointee at the Department to perform personal tasks for himself and Mrs. Pompeo.” Pompeo is married to Susan Pompeo, who’s been known to travel with the Secretary of State and was listed as “Special Assistant to the Secretary of …

We should be so lucky: White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Sunday that he was “glad Mr. Obama has a new job as Joe Biden’s press secretary.” The comment came after ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Navarro to respond to the former president saying during a commencement address that things are “screwed up” because leaders are doing “what feels good, …

Reuters reports: Authorities are not seeing spikes in coronavirus cases in places that are reopening but are seeing increases in some areas that remain closed, U.S. health secretary Alex Azar said on Sunday. “We are seeing that in places that are opening; we’re not seeing this spike in cases,” Azar said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “We still …