“Federal health officials warned on Wednesday that a third of Americans live in areas where the threat of Covid-19 is now so high that they should consider wearing a mask in indoor public settings,” the New York Times reports.
“They cited new data showing a substantial jump in both the spread of the coronavirus and hospitalizations over the past week.”
Wall Street Journal: Latest Covid-19 wave expands to more of the U.S.
“Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and fellow Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Raphael Warnock pitched President Joe Biden to go big with student loan forgiveness during a White House meeting Wednesday,” Bloomberg reports.
“The three Democrats, who have been leading the effort in the Senate, support $50,000 in student debt relief, which is five times what Biden has indicated he would support.”
“If Dr. Mehmet Oz loses the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, he could be back at his Cliffside Park home in time to vote in the June 7 Republican primary in New Jersey,” the New Jersey Globe reports.
“Records show that Oz remains on the voter rolls in Bergen County, where he voted as recently as November 2020.”
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“The Senate confirmed Bridget Brink late Wednesday as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, filling the post as officials plan to return American diplomats to Kyiv during the nation’s continuing battle against the Russian invasion,” the AP reports.
“The Defense Department’s watchdog found that Trump administration officials targeted Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, the brother of a key impeachment witness, for reprisal when he raised concerns about former President Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s President,” CNN reports.
“Vindman, an Army attorney who served as the ethics counsel on the National Security Council, was given unfavorable reviews, stripped of his responsibilities, and ultimately fired, the Pentagon Inspector General report concluded, after he told National Security Council officials that Trump may have broken the law in a July 25, 2019, phone call with Ukraine’s recently sworn-in leader, Volodymyr Zelensky. In the now infamous call, Trump asked Zelensky to open an investigation into Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election.”
“The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine.”
— Former President George W. Bush, in a speech.
“The Biden administration is invoking the Defense Production Act to increase production of baby formula and launching a new program that would use commercial aircraft to pick up overseas formula that meets U.S. standards,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Under the Korean War-era national security mobilization law, President Biden is requiring suppliers to prioritize giving resources to U.S. formula manufactures.”
Mehmet Oz (R) told supporters he was being advised in his U.S. Senate primary race by Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Said Oz: “I want to thank Sean Hannity. Sean’s like a brother to me. When Sean punches through something, he really punches through it. He understands exactly how to make a difference and he’s been doing that this entire campaign.”
He added: “Much of it behind the scenes. Giving me advice in late-night conversations — again the kinds of things that true friends do for one another.”
Chris Wallace will host a Sunday evening show on CNN, Axios reports.
The longtime Fox News host had recently moved to CNN to launch a show on its now-defunct streaming service, CNN+.
President Joe Biden warned that the country will likely see “another tough hurricane season” this year, and he pledged that his administration was prepared to respond to the storms and help Americans recover from them, the AP reports.
Said Biden: “We know hurricanes are coming our way. They grow more extreme every season.”
“Is Google trying to fuck me?”
— Donald Trump, quoted by Rolling Stone, complaining to friends and advisers that his social network still doesn’t have an Android app.
An Emerson College Polling/The Hill poll of very likely Alabama primary voters finds Katie Britt with a six-point advantage in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate with 32%, followed by Michael Durant at 26%, and Mo Brooks at 25%.
Ron Brownstein: “For all the talk about how Donald Trump’s endorsed candidates would fare in the Republican primaries this year, the results in this week’s races made clear: Whatever happens to Trump’s personal influence, Trumpism is consolidating its dominance of the GOP.”
“More revealing than what happened to the candidates Trump endorsed was how many candidates endorsed him.”
Earlier for members: Trump Wins Even By Losing
“Daniel Goldman, who was the House Democrats’ lead counsel on the first impeachment of President Donald Trump, is now considering a run for Congress in an open seat spanning Lower Manhattan and neighborhoods in western Brooklyn,” City & State reports.
Sarah Palin, now making a comeback political run for the House, revealed in a new financial disclosure form that she earned a whopping $211,529 from personalized videos on the app Cameo in 2021, Insider reports.
That’s $37,529 more than the annual salary of a House member.
A new Quinnipiac poll finds Americans support limiting the number of years a Supreme Court Justice can serve on the Supreme Court, 69% to 27%.
In addition, a majority of Americans say the Supreme Court is mainly motivated by politics, 63% to 32%.
A new Quinnipiac poll finds that if a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate supports abortion rights, 41% of Americans say they are more likely to vote for that candidate, while 22% say they are less likely, and 36% say it does not make a difference.
“House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik and more than two dozen of her colleagues are supporting a resolution to ‘expunge’ former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment — as pro-Trump Republicans push to rally voters ahead of the midterms,” Fox News reports.
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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.