Daily Deep State Report

27 May 2022

Uvalde/Gun Control/Mass Shootings

Horrific mass shootings in Texas and upstate New York within the past two weeks have fueled a new public outcry for gun reform. But even Democrats admit that, when it comes to federal action, this time might not be different from all those that have gone before. Measures to enact even modest gun reforms have run aground for years on Capitol Hill. There is another push underway now, after 21 people, including 19 children, were shot dead in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. The tragedy came only 10 days after 10 people were killed in a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y. Read the full story here.

Senate Democrats say they are ready to accept a modest deal on gun-control legislation as they are eager to get something done in response to mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, even if it falls below their ambitions of previous years. A bipartisan group of nine senators met Thursday afternoon to chart out a path for negotiation. They say their top priorities are proposals to expand background checks and encourage states to set up red-flag laws to prohibit people deemed dangerous to themselves or others from owning firearms. Democrats acknowledged from the outset that whatever deal they get is likely to be modest since it needs at least 10 Republican votes to overcome a filibuster. Read the full story here.

A bipartisan group of senators are set to begin exploring possible federal gun-control laws. The group is led by Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX) and will examine modest reform proposals. More progressive proposals to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines are not on the table, according to Republicans. Instead, negotiators are eyeing expansions of background checks and “red flag” laws that would allow authorities to keep guns away from people found to pose a potential threat. While Cornyn said that the most recent mass shooting could “provide some impetus” for compromise, “restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens is not going to make our communities or our country any safer.” Mike DeBonis reports for the Washington Post. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he encouraged Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Judiciary Committee, to discuss legislative ideas with Murphy and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), among other colleagues, with a focus on “an outcome that’s directly related to the problem” (The Hill).

California looks to implement stricter gun control laws in the wake of the Uvalde mass shooting. Governor of California Gavin Newsom pledged to swiftly enact a string of new laws, including one that would limit ghost guns and another that would allow victims of shootings to sue the gun industry. “We’re going to control the controllable — the things we have control of,” Newsom said during an event at the State Capitol. “California leads this national conversation. When California moves, other states move in the same direction.” California is already one of the strictest states in terms of gun control, which Newsom argues is part of why the state enjoys one of the lowest firearm death rates in the nation. Soumya Karlamangla reports for the New York Times.

The Dallas Morning News: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) decided not to attend the National Rifle Association convention in Houston and instead will be in Uvalde today. The governor recorded a video message for the NRA gathering.

Politico: “He can’t just be the ‘eulogizer in chief’”: Frustration grows over Biden’s Texas response. 

Texas law enforcement officials face questions about whether police waited too long to respond after the gunman entered the elementary school unchallenged by security and spent an hour inside (The Washington Post). It was unclear on Thursday whether the rampage went on long enough on Tuesday that witnesses gathered at the scene had protested that police needed to enter the school and even agitated to do so themselves. 

CNBC: Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) asks FBI to investigate police response timeline in Texas school shooting as controversy grows.

During the hour the gunman was inside the school, parents pleaded with officers to storm in, witnesses said, and some parents tried to do so themselves.

Officials also said that the gunman had entered the school unimpeded, contradicting reports of a confrontation with an officer.

The New York Times: Other countries experienced mass shootings and had cultures of gun ownership. They changed their gun laws and their violence statistics show the results.

The Hill: Five things to know about this weekend’s NRA meeting in Houston. 

The Hill: Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told House lawmakers on Thursday that educators “need action” on school safety and more when it comes to mass shootings.

US

A New York State appeals court ruled yesterday that former President Trump must testify in the New York Attorney General’s fraud investigation. Attorney General Letitia James has argued that she needs the testimony of Trump, and two of his children — Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. — for her investigation into the financial dealings of the former president and his business. Lawyers for the Trump family argued that they were unfairly targeted in a politically motivated investigation, an argument rejected by the appeals court. The Trumps “have failed to demonstrate that they were treated differently from any similarly situated persons,” the court said. Corrine Ramey reports for the Wall Street Journal.

Republicans in the Senate have blocked a domestic terrorism bill which would have established domestic terrorism offices within federal law enforcement agencies.  The new offices were designed to analyze and combat white supremacist infiltration in the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The vote in the senate fell down party lines — 47 to 47 — with not a single Republican supporting the measure. Jordan Williams reports for The Hill.

The Associated Press`: Baby formula shortage highlights racial disparities.

CNN: Instacart: Baby formula searches surging as store shelves remain empty.

The Washington Post: Parents trying to find baby formula are getting scammed.

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who has seen her star grow in Trump’s orbit, is leaning against a bid for House majority whip if Republicans retake the majority in the lower chamber in November, according to the Washington Examiner

Jan. 6th Insurrection

Former House Republicans have called on current members to comply with Jan. 6 subpoenas. Twenty-one former Republican representatives urged leading Republican members of the House to engage with the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. “We believe our country is at a pivotal moment. In the wake of the January 6th, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, current Members bear a responsibility to do all they can to secure our institutions. As part of that duty, we write to urge you to cooperate with the House Select Committee investigating the attack,” the former lawmakers wrote. Rebecca Beitsch reports for The Hill. 

Kevin McCarthy and three other House Republicans signaled they would not cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee’s subpoenas.

Virus/Science/Climate

COVID-19 has infected over 83.72 million people and has now killed over 1.00 million people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been over 527.412 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6.28 million deaths. Sergio Hernandez, Sean O’Key, Amanda Watts, Byron Manley and Henrik Pettersson report for CNN.

The current COVID-19 variant that is sweeping the U.S. is firmly in the delta lineage, but it is perhaps its properties from the original delta strain that have helped it spread faster and evade immunity than previously dominant variations, including the original omicron variant. As The Associated Press reports, a genetic trait known as a “delta mutation,” appears to allow the virus “to escape pre-existing immunity from vaccination and prior infection, especially if you were infected in the omicron wave,” according to Wesley Long, a pathologist at Houston Methodist in Texas.

The Biden administration on Thursday announced the first proposed wind power lease sales offshore in California, the latest in a series of sales as the administration seeks to build out renewable energy infrastructure. The lease sales, the first of its kind off the West Coast, will take place in five proposed lease areas: Two off the Northern California coast in the Humboldt Wind Energy Area, and off of central California in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area (The Hill).

Across the country, Republican lawmakers are trying to punish corporations for taking climate action.

UKR/RU

Russia shelled the northeastern city of Kharkiv yesterday, killing nine people and wounding more than a dozen. The renewed attack follows almost two weeks of relative quiet in Ukraine’s second-largest city. Several neighborhoods “came under fire from rocket-propelled grenade launchers and artillery,” the regional governor, Oleh Synehubov, said. Another person was killed and another wounded in the nearby town of Dergachi. Valerie Hopkins reports for the New York Times. 

Four people have been killed in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk over the past 24 hours by Russian shelling, according to Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai. “The residents of Sievierodonetsk have forgotten when was the last time there was silence in the city for at least half an hour,” he wrote in a Telegram post. One more person was also killed by a Russian shell in the village of Komushuvakha. AP reports. 

Russian-backed separatists claim to have taken control of the city of Lyman in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. In a Telegram post, the armed forces of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic says 220 settlements are now under their control. Lyman is on the road to the Ukrainian city of Slovyansk – which is a key Russian target as Moscow tries to take full control of the Donbas. BBC News reports. 

Russian forces are continuing to carve out incremental gains in eastern Ukraine, fighting to take hamlets and villages and shelling cities from afar. The diminishing scale of the fighting has generated anxiety among some Western allies that the war could reach an extended impasse with severe economic consequences. However, U.S. defense officials have pushed back against calling the state of the battle in the Donbas a stalemate, saying there remains fierce, active fighting by Russian troops and stiff Ukrainian resistance, if on a diminishing scale. Victoria Kim reports for the New York Times. 

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba,  pleaded with Western nations yesterday to provide Kyiv with heavy weapons to enable it to push Russian forces back. “We need heavy weapons. The only position where Russia is better than us it’s the amount of heavy weapons they have. Without artillery, without multiple launch rocket systems we won’t be able to push them back,” he said in a video posted on Twitter. AP reports. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of executing “an obvious policy of genocide” as its military keeps pummeling cities and towns in the eastern part of Ukraine. The Russians’ goal is clear, Zelensky said — to raze more towns in Donbas to rubble, as they did in Mariupol. “All this, including the deportation of our people and the mass killings of civilians, is an obvious policy of genocide pursued by Russia.”  Jonathan Edwards reports for the Washington Post. 

Russia’s actions in Ukraine provide enough evidence to conclude that Moscow is inciting genocide and committing atrocities intended to destroy the Ukrainian people, according to the first independent report into allegations of genocide in that country. The report, set to be released today, is signed by more than 30 leading legal scholars and genocide experts and accuses the Russian state of violating several articles of the United Nations Genocide Convention. It warns there is a serious and imminent risk of genocide in Ukraine, backing the accusations with a long list of evidence including examples of mass killings of civilians, forced deportations and dehumanizing anti-Ukrainian rhetoric used by top Russian officials. The report was put together by New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. Ivana Kottasova reports for CNN. 

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been processed through a series of Russian “filtration camps” in Eastern Ukraine and sent into Russia as part of a systemized program of forced removal, according to four sources familiar with the latest Western intelligence. This estimate is far higher than U.S. officials have publicly disclosed and forms a key element of Russia’s effort to cement political control over occupied areas –  in part by eliminating Ukrainians believed to be sympathetic to Kyiv and in part by diminishing the Ukrainian national identity through depopulation. Katie Bo Lillis, Kylie Atwood and Natasha Bertrand report for CNN.

The Biden administration is considering sending advanced, long-range rocket systems to Ukraine, multiple officials have said. The administration is leaning toward sending the systems – which can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of kilometers –  as part of a larger package of military and security assistance to Ukraine, which could be announced as soon as next week. Jim Sciutto, Natasha Bertrand and Alex Marquardt report for CNN. 

As the U.S. and its allies provide Ukraine with increasingly sophisticated arms, Washington has held discussions with Kyiv about the danger of escalation if it strikes deep inside Russia. The behind-the-scenes discussions, have not put explicit geographic restrictions on the use of weapons supplied to Ukrainian forces. However, the conversations have sought to reach a shared understanding of the risk of escalation, three U.S. officials and diplomatic sources said. Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali report for Reuters. 

The U.S. general nominated to become NATO’s next supreme allied commander warned yesterday that Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports could enable terrorist networks in other parts of the world. Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commander of all U.S. Army forces in Europe and Africa, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that groups including the Islamic State, al-Shabab and Boko Haram stand to benefit from food shortages resulting from the war. He also said that U.S. military intervention may be required to ensure global markets don’t become destabilized. Karound Demirjian, Alex Horton and Stefano Pitrelli report for the Washington Post. 

Cavoli, also told senators that Sweden and Finland’s push to join NATO won’t require adding more U.S. ground forces into either country. However, military exercises and occasional American troop rotations will probably increase, he said. AP reports. 

The White House expects minimal impact on the U.S. and global economy from a potential Russian debt default, as Washington decided to not extend a waiver that enabled Russia to pay U.S. bondholders. “We expect the impact on the U.S. and the global economy to be minimal, given Russia has already been isolated financially,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press briefing yesterday. Steve Holland and Kanishka Singh report for Reuters.

The World Health Assembly yesterday voted in favor of a resolution that condemned Russian attacks on the healthcare system in Ukraine before rejecting a parallel proposal presented by Moscow. Ukraine’s successful resolution, which was backed by member states 88-to-12 with 53 abstentions, raises the possibility that Russia could be suspended from the assembly if attacks on hospitals and clinics continue. Adam Taylor reports for the Washington Post. 

Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko yesterday ordered the creation of a new military command for the south of the country, bordering Ukraine. “A new front has opened and we can’t fail to pay attention to it,” Lukashenko told a televised meeting of defense officials. The new command had been proposed last year but needed to be set up immediately, he said. Reuters reports. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi yesterday discussed ways to help ease the international food crisis, with the Kremlin saying this could be done only if the West lifts sanctions. “Vladimir Putin emphasized that the Russian Federation is ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food crisis through the export of grain and fertilizers, provided that politically motivated restrictions from the West are lifted,” Moscow said in a statement. Reuters reports. 

Global Developments

G7 energy ministers have called on the Opec group of oil producing countries to pump more oil as Russia’s war in Ukraine pushes crude prices to their highest levels in a decade. Read the full story here.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday said the U.S. will rally the global alliance supporting Ukraine’s defensive war against Russia to confront China’s global ambitions, calling it a “charged moment for the world.” “Beijing’s defense of President Putin’s war to erase Ukraine’s sovereignty and secure its sphere of influence in Europe should raise alarm bells for all of us who call the Indo-Pacific Region home,” Blinken said in a speech at George Washington University. Laura Kelly reports for The Hill. 

The U.S. yesterday urged Yemen’s Houthi rebels to release all U.S. Embassy local staffers that they had detained, following the death of one of them after seven months in captivity. The Iran-backed Houthis seized the headquarters of the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa last October. They detained dozens of former staffers, at least 11 of whom remain in the rebels’ custody. Samy Magdy reports for AP. 

China and Russia vetoed a new round of U.N. sanctions on North Korea yesterday, for the first time since 2006. The sanctions were proposed after a year in which North Korea launched dozens of ballistic missiles, in violation of U.N. resolutions. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. criticized Russia and China for their use of the veto, saying that “these council members have decided to shield a proliferator from facing the consequences of its actions and they have demonstrated the worthlessness of their word by giving an explicit nod of approval to the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea].” Samantha Beech reports for CNN.

Palestinian Authority’s investigation has accused Israel of deliberately killing Palestinian-American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh. The investigation’s conclusions, reported by the Authority’s attorney general, were based in part on the bullet used in the killing, which they argue demonstrates Israeli responsibility. The Israeli government is conducting its own investigation and has requested access to the bullet used, but their request has been denied by the Authority. Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz, said that any claim that their military intentionally harms journalists is a “blatant lie.” Raja Abdulrahim and Hiba Yazbek report for the New York Times. 

Saudi officials have rejected any near future meeting with Iran, suggesting that before a meeting can take place, Iran must take steps to reduce regional tensions. An official with the Saudi foreign ministry said that the talks with Iran have made limited but insufficient progress and that a bilateral meeting is unlikely to take place in the foreseeable future. “Iran must build confidence for future cooperation, and there are several issues that can be discussed with Teheran if it has the desire to de-escalate tensions in the region,” the official told Reuters. Iran’s foreign minister, however, presented a differing view, suggesting that he hopes to meet his Saudi counterpart soon. Aziz El Yaakoubi reports for Reuters. 

U.N. human rights envoy in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has called on the Taliban to reverse new restrictions on Afghan women. Bennett said Thursday that the country faces “severe” human rights challenges and that the Taliban must relax its restrictions on womens’ rights. “I urge the authorities to acknowledge human rights challenges that they are facing and to close the gap between their words and the deeds,” he said. He referred specifically to the decision to ban girls from attending high-school and to impose mandated facial coverings for women. Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Charlotte Greenfield report for Reuters. 

Daily Deep State Report

26 May 2022

Uvalde, Texas, and Gun Control

Fact: Where there are more guns, there are more gun deaths. Studies have found this to be true at the state and national level. It is true for homicides, suicides, mass shootings and even police shootings. It is an intuitive idea: If guns are more available, people will use them more often. If you replaced “guns” in that sentence with another noun, it would be so obvious as to be banal. Stricter gun laws appear to help. They are associated with fewer gun deaths, in both a domestic and global context, while looser gun laws are linked with more gun deaths. To reduce mass shootings, experts have several ideas:

• More thorough background checks might stop some gunmen, like those in the church shootings in Charleston, S.C., in 2015 and in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in 2017.
• “Red flag” laws allow law enforcement officials to confiscate guns from people who display warning signs of violence, like threatening their peers or family members. The laws might have applied to the gunman in the Parkland, Fla., school shooting in 2018.
• Assault weapon bans would restrict or prohibit access to the kinds of rifles shooters often use. A ban could at least make mass shootings less deadly by pushing gunmen toward less effective weapons, some experts argue.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) says he wants Republicans to work with Democrats to pass bipartisan gun control legislation — but the proposals under consideration face significant hurdles and the likelihood of success is small. Read the full story here.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott dismissed calls for more gun regulation following Tuesday’s deadly school attack in Uvalde, stating that cities with stronger gun laws aren’t safer.  “I hate to say this, but there are more people shot every weekend in Chicago than there are in schools in Texas,” Abbott said during a press conference yesterday. Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, both Democrats, said Abbott was feeding a false narrative about Chicago and Illinois. The governor noted that most guns used in Chicago crimes come from outside Illinois. Joseph De Avila reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

President Biden said yesterday that he will travel to Uvalde, Texas, in the near future to meet the families of the 19 children and two teachers killed during Tuesday’s school shooting. “Jill and I will be traveling to Texas in the coming days to meet with the families and let them know we have a sense of their pain, and hopefully bring some little comfort to a community in shock, in grief and in trauma,” Biden said at the White House during a signing event for an executive order on police reform. Maegan Vazquez and Nikki Carvajal report for CNN. 

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced that the House will vote after the Memorial Day recess on a bill that would nationalize those laws. The legislation would also empower courts to bar individuals from buying or possessing firearms if a judge deems them to be a threat to themselves or others (The Hill).

Emily Brooks and Mike Lillis, The Hill: Here are the gun bills stalled in Congress.

Dan Balz: America’s new norm: “Why are we willing to live with this carnage?”

Politico: Biden’s presidency has been colored by crises. It now faces the grimmest one yet. 

The New York Times: A timeline of failed attempts to address U.S. gun violence.

The New York Times: After Texas shooting, Cruz digs in against gun control.

CNN exclusive, by Annie Grayer: The House sergeant-at-arms believes lawmakers should not be allowed to carry guns inside the Capitol.

The Hill and Politico: Mass shootings focused attention on Wednesday on Democrats’ push to confirm Biden’s nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). ATF has not had a Senate-confirmed leader in seven years.

The Texas Tribune: Texas governor attended a political fundraising event 300 miles away from the site of Tuesday’s school shooting just hours after the murders. 

The New York Times: Uvalde gunman, 18, had no history of mental health problems, according to Texas authorities.

States are divided on gun control, even as mass shootings rise. The majority have taken no action on gun control in recent years. That’s because they are either controlled politically by Republicans who oppose gun restrictions or are politically divided, which results in stalemate on gun proposals (The Associated Press).

US

Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has warned immigrants against coming to the southern border amid a historical influx. Immigrants coming to the border would be sent back, Mayorkas said in a video released on Twitter. “Individuals and families should not put their lives at risk by taking the dangerous journey only to be sent back,” he said in the video. Mayorkas stated firmly that the U.S. border is not open and that, pursuant to Trump-era immigration laws that remain enforced, they are obligated to expel or remove immigrants coming to the border. This comes amid an unprecedented flow of migrants to the southern border, fleeing from violence, poverty and other hardships. Monique Beals reports for the Hill. 

The Justice Department is looking into the role of pro-Trump lawyers, including Rudy Giuliani, in trying to overturn the 2020 election. The DOJ investigation into the “alternate electors” for Trump in 2020 is getting more serious, especially for Trump lawyers, NYT’s Alan Feuer, Katie Benner and Luke Broadwater report .

Oklahoma now has the most restrictive abortion law in the country. Oklahoma Gov. Greg Stitt (R) on Wednesday signed one of the nation’s strictest abortion laws. In a rebuke of Roe v. Wade, the state’s law bans termination of pregnancy from the stage of “fertilization” and allows private citizens to sue abortion providers who “knowingly” perform or induce an abortion “on a pregnant woman” (CNN).

Former President Donald Trump is facing a serious political setback after Georgia voters delivered a resounding rejection on Tuesday of his efforts to reshape some of the state’s highest offices in his own image. Read the full story here.

Niall Stanage: The Memo: Winners and losers from Tuesday’s primaries. 

Politico: How Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) went from Trump outcast to MAGA vanquisher.

The Washington Post: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and Stacey Abrams are in a rematch. A lot has changed since 2018.

CNN: Moderate-turned-MAGA Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-N.Y.) stock is rising in Trump world.

Aaron Blake, The Washington Post: Former Sen. David Perdue’s (R-Ga.) historically bad comeback attempt.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) on Wednesday announced a $161.5 million settlement between the state and two drug companies over their role in the opioid epidemic. Morrisey’s office described the deal with Teva and Allergan as “record-breaking,” saying it was the highest per capita settlement in the U.S. The news comes as a trial over a lawsuit alleging the companies helped fuel the epidemic was concluding (The Hill).

“Jury sees conflicting evidence on Michael Sussmann’s role at FBI Trump-Russia meeting,” by Josh Gerstein

A new report finds that a Biden administration move to make a “dedicated docket” for some asylum cases actually “has imposed new hardships on many asylum seekers and created additional obstacles that ultimately lead to higher rates of deportation orders, sometimes based on legal technicalities,” the L.A. Times’ Cindy Carcamo reports.

The CBO said Wednesday that federal revenue has surged, shrinking the budget deficit this year way down to about $1 trillion. But the agency projected that deficits will start to soar again from 2024 onward. More from The Washington Times

A Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission abruptly resigned Wednesday, saying he couldn’t represent the party anymore because he refuses to give credence to election fraud lies. “His announced departure pushed the commissioners to delay the election of their next chair,” reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Molly Beck.

Jan. 6th Insurrection

Former President Trump, watching television throughout the Jan. 6 attack, spoke approvingly of chants to “Hang Mike Pence” as he discussed them with his White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. The account of Trump’s comments, provided to the committee investigating the attack by at least one witness, are further evidence of how extreme the rupture between the president and his vice president had become, and of how Trump not only failed to take action to call off the attack but appeared to identify with the sentiments of those involved. Maggie Haberman and Luke Broadwater report for the New York Times. 

Rep. Jim Jordan (OH), one of five Republican members subpoenaed by the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, has asked the panel to turn over the information it has collected on him. In a six-page letter, Jordan berates the committee on a number of points before asking that it “provide all documents, videos, or other material in the possession of the Select Committee that you potentially anticipate using, introducing, or relying on during questioning.” Rebecca Beitsch reports for The Hill.

Virus/Science/Climate

COVID-19 has infected over 83.72 million people and has now killed over 1.00 million people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been over 527.412 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6.28 million deaths. Sergio Hernandez, Sean O’Key, Amanda Watts, Byron Manley and Henrik Pettersson report for CNN.

If you’re an adult of any age, but particularly an older adult, scientists have assembled some downbeat news about long COVID: Coronavirus vaccines that help prevent initial infections and serious illnesses provide some protection against long COVID but, mounting research shows, not as much as scientists had first hoped. And up to a year after an initial coronavirus infection, 1 in 4 adults aged 65 and older had at least one potential long COVID health problem, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (The Associated Press).

In China, the country’s pursuit of “zero COVID” means regular testing (The New York Times). The endeavor is massive: 99 million residents of central Henan province will be required to take PCR tests every other day by June. In the eastern province of Zhejiang, drivers are tested at highway exits before they can enter. Beijing, which has a small outbreak, is among the cities now requiring a test to get on the subway or enter any public place.

Twitter agreed to pay $150 million to end a privacy lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department. The settlement, made public Wednesday, concerns allegations that the platform improperly collected user data between 2014 and 2019. Twitter asked for phone numbers and email addresses from users to secure their accounts and allowed advertisers to subsequently use that information in targeted ads, according to the complaint (The Hill).

UKR/RU

Russia shelled more than 40 towns in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, authorities said today, as Moscow’s forces sought to surround Ukrainian troops, outnumbering them in some places. Russia has poured thousands of troops into the region, attacking from three sides in an attempt to encircle Ukrainian forces holding out in the city of Sievierodonetsk and its twin, Lysychansk. Their fall would leave the whole of Luhansk province under Russian control. Pavel Polityuk and Max Hunder report for Reuters. 

Russian forces were unsuccessful in several of their overnight assaults and troops retreated with losses from the village of Zolota Nyva after a failed attack, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces says in its latest update. Russia was also unsuccessful in attacking the cities of Mykolayivka and Kryvyy Rih, it says, adding troops have been focusing their efforts on taking full control of the town of Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine. BBC News reports. 

Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics number about 8,000, Luhansk official Rodion Miroshnik was quoted by TASS news agency as saying. “There are a lot of prisoners. Of course, there are more of them on the territory of Donetsk People’s Republic, but we also have enough, and now the total number is somewhere in the region of 8,000,” Miroshnik said. Reuters reports. 

Police in Lysychansk are burying the bodies of civilians in mass graves, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai has said. About 150 people have been buried in a grave in one district, Haidai said, adding that the families of the people buried there will be able to carry out a reburial after the war. BBC News reports. 

The eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk has been under “constant fire” for the past week and a half, according to the head of the local military administration Oleksandr Stryuk. Some 90% of housing has been damaged by the fighting, Stryuk said.  About 12,000-13,000 people are still thought to be in the city – many of them sheltering in basements. BBC News reports. 

The U.S., along with the U.K. and the E.U., announced yesterday the creation of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group to help Ukrainian authorities investigate and prosecute potential war crimes committed by Russian forces. According to a statement by the U.S. State Department, the group will be based largely in Poland and bring together multinational experts, including war crimes prosecutors and forensic specialists. They will advise and assist Ukrainian authorities with collecting and preserving evidence, drafting indictments and other tasks. Amy Cheng reports for the Washington Post.

A meeting between diplomats from Turkey, Sweden and Finland concerning Turkey’s objections to their bids to join NATO, had produced some “positive” signs but no immediate breakthrough, a senior Turkish official said yesterday. Ibrahim Kalin, an adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also suggested that unless Turkey’s demands were met, his government was in no great hurry to resolve the dispute. Kareem Fahim reports for the Washington Post. 

Russia is open to easing its blockade of Ukraine’s ports along the Black Sea if sanctions on Moscow are lifted, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko said yesterday. “Solving the food problem requires a comprehensive approach, including the lifting of sanctions that were imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions,” Rudenko said in comments carried by Russian state media. Alistair MacDonald, William Mauldin and Ann M. Simmons report for the Wall Street Journal.

A proposal to condemn the regional health emergency triggered by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine will come before a World Health Organization assembly today, prompting a rival resolution from Moscow that makes no mention of its own role in the crisis. The original proposal, backed by the U.S. and more than 40 other countries, condemns Russia’s actions but stops short of immediately suspending its voting rights at the U.N. health agency. The Russian document backed by Syria, which echoes the language of the first text, will also be decided on. If the Western-led initiative passes nearly unanimously, observers say it would send a powerful political message that is rare in the multilateral system. Jennifer Rigby and Emma Farge report for Reuters.. 

A senior U.N. official is due to visit Moscow in the coming days to discuss reviving fertilizer exports, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said yesterday. The talks are not linked to a resumption of Ukrainian grain shipments, Nebenzia stressed. “We are prepared to export fertilizers and grain from our ports to the world market,” he said, adding that when it came to Ukrainian grain exports – “I think that should be negotiated with the Ukrainians, not with Russians.” Michelle Nichlos reports for Reuters. 

U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said attempts to “appease” Vladimir Putin were dangerous, in a press release ahead of her trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina today. “Russian aggression cannot be appeased. It must be met with force. We must be adamant in ensuring the victory of Ukraine with military assistance and sanctions. Now we can no longer take our foot off the gas pedal,” she said. BBC News reports. 

European Council chief Charles Michel is “confident” that any issues over a proposed ban on Russian oil imports will be resolved by the next council meeting on May 30. Addressing a news conference alongside Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson in Stockholm yesterday, Michel said that although he was “still confident” the bloc will be able to resolve any issues, it will require “a lot of dialogue.”  Niamh Kennedy reports for CNN.

Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has condemned a new Russian decree that would expedite the process of obtaining Russian passports for Ukrainians living in Russian-occupied regions in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Authorities in Kyiv called the policy illegal and argued that it underscores Russia’s overarching goal to annex and integrate more Ukrainian territory. The move may be motivated by the Kremlin’s desire to exert more control over the occupation and forcefully conscript people in occupied areas to fight on Russia’s behalf, according to an assessment by the Institute for the Study of War. Amy Cheng reports for the Washington Post. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday ordered an end to visa-free travel for Russian citizens, citing the need to improve border security in the wake of Moscow’s invasion. Russian citizens are currently allowed to visit neighbouring Ukraine without visas. Reuters reports

A new proposed Russian law would allow the government to seize western companies who try to leave the country following its invasion of Ukraine. The new law raises the stakes for western multinational companies seeking to distance themselves from Russia. This law comes after an exodus of major western companies, including Starbucks and McDonald’s, while increasing the pressure on those companies, such as IKEA, the largest furniture manufacturer in the world, who have remained in Russia thus far. John O’Donnell reports for Reuters.

Some pro-Russian milbloggers on Telegram continued to criticize the Kremlin for the treatment of forcefully mobilized Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR) servicemen–contradicting Russian information campaigns about the progress of the Russian special military operation. Former Russian Federal Security Service officer Igor Girkin amplified a critique to his 360,000 followers from a smaller milblogger discussing a video wherein a DNR battalion appealed to DNR Head Denis Pushilin about the maltreatment of forcefully mobilized forces. The milblogger blamed Russian leadership, not Pushilin, for beginning the invasion with insufficient reserves and unprepared, forcefully mobilized forces. The Institute for the Study of War reports. 

The war in Ukraine poses a threat to the transition to cleaner energy, according to business and government leaders at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Europe’s scramble to wean itself off Russian energy following the country’s attack on Ukraine will lead to new short-term investments in coal, oil and natural gas, energy and government officials said. However, some leaders at Davos also warned that the crisis may give producers an opening to invest in the kind of longer-term fossil fuel projects that Western governments have been discouraging, making it harder to reach the goals of the international Paris Agreement which seeks to keep global temperature rises below 2 degrees Celsius. Chip Cummins and Elena Cherney report for the Wall Street Journal.

Global Developments

The U.S. announced another round of sanctions on Russian entities, this time for assisting Iran in circumventing their sanctions. The Biden administration accused the Russian government of helping Iran’s blacklisted military unit — the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — sell hundreds of millions of dollars of oil around the globe, while the sanctions were targeted at those companies and individuals allegedly involved in the smuggling. One of the companies listed is a Russia-based entity called RPP Ltd. which the Treasury Department alleges was used by former Revolutionary Guard official Rostam Ghasemi to sell and transport Iranian oil. This comes as the negotiations over a new nuclear deal with Iran have stalled. “While the United States continues to seek a mutual return to full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, we will strictly enforce sanctions on Iran’s illicit oil trade,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Ian Talley reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel has announced that he will not attend the Summit of Americas. Díaz-Canel said yesterday that “under no circumstances” will he attend the Summit due to take place in Los Angeles in June. Earlier this month the Biden administration announced that it would not be inviting the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua or Venezuela to the summit. U.S. allies in the region have expressed disappointment with this exclusion, with the Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announcing that he will not attend but will send his foreign minister in his place if Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are excluded. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a right wing populist up for re-election, announced that he will be attending the summit. Rafael Bernal reports for the Hill

Biden’s trip to Asia demonstrates a hardened U.S. position towards North Korea. Biden’s curt message for the North Korean leader (“Hello. Period.”) represents a departure from his predecessor’s approach to Kim Jong Un, with whom Trump met three times throughout his presidency. For some, the new policy resembles the Obama administration’s stance of strategic patience.  “The Biden administration’s inaction towards North Korea increasingly looks like the so-called strategic patience 2.0 or even a strategic negligence,” said Park Won-gon, professor of North Korean Studies at Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul. “It has been clear that President Biden has little confidence in Kim Jong Un.” Min Joo Kim and Michelle Ye Hee Lee provide analysis for the Washington Post. 

A CIA-used forecasting model has predicted that U.S.-China relations will ease in the near future. According to a new model, the Biden administration will cut consumer tariffs in a move supported by the Chinese as well as instigate a new round of trade negotiations. The game theory forecasting model was developed by a graduate student at New York University and has been used in the past by the CIA. The model predicts a thawing in U.S.-China relations, most evident in new trade policy, and expects the Russia-Ukraine war to have an impact on the relationship. Bob Davis reports for POLITICO.

China is seeking to expand its regional influence in policing, maritime cooperation and cybersecurity through a new agreement with Pacific nations, according to documents obtained by the New York Times. The documents outline how Beijing seeks to expand its alliances and access to the chain of islands in the pacific that are of geopolitical significance to China. It marks another step taken by the Chinese government to counter American influence in the region. Damien Cave reports for the New York Times. 

China plans to launch combat drills in the water and airspace around Taiwan following President Biden’s commitment to defend the island. The announcement did not make clear if they had taken place already or if they were yet to come,  but came just one day after China and Russia sent bomber jets over the sea in norteast Asia in their first joint military operation since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On Wednesday, the spokesman for China’s Eastern Theater Command, Senior Col. Shi Yi described the drills near Taiwan as a “solemn warning to the recent collusion between the United States and Taiwan.” Paul Mozur and John Liu report for the New York Times.

President Xi Jingping defended China’s human rights record during the U.N. visit to the country. In a video call with Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Xi said that there is “no need for ‘preachers’ to boss around other countries.” Bachelet, who will spend six days in China, plans to travel to the western region of Xinjiang, where the Chinese government is accused of human rights violations against the Uyghur minority and other mostly Muslim minorities. Yesterday, Xi told Bachelet that China’s human rights development “suits its own national conditions.” Nectar Gan reports for CNN.

Israel has announced that it is responsible for the killing of a leading Iranian officer, Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei. Khodaei, who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds force, was involved in a plot to kill an Israeli diplomat in 2021, according to a U.S. General. Iran has pledged to retaliate for the assassination, with the commander of the IRGC saying in a speech that “We will make the enemy regret this and none of the enemy’s evil actions will go unanswered.” According to an intelligence official briefed on the communications, Israel has informed American officials that it was behind the killing. Farnaz Fassihi and Ronen Bergman report for the New York Times and Dov Lieber, Dion Niessenbaum and Benoit Faucon report for the Wall Street Journal 

Russian hackers have been linked to a new website which published leaked emails relating to Britain’s exit from the E.U., Google cybersecurity officials and the former head of U.K. foreign intelligence have said. Shane Huntley, who directs Google’s Threat Analysis Group, told Reuters that the website, known as “Very English Coup d’Etat”, was linked to what they knew as “Cold River,” a Russia-based hacking group. “We’re able to see that through technical indicators,” Huntley said. Raphael Statter, James Pearson, and Christopher Bing report for Reuters. 

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has demanded that new elections be held within six days, or he will march on the capital along with 3 million followers. Since his ouster last month, Khan has held rallies across the country, claiming his removal was the result of a U.S.-organized plot. Khan’s rallies and marches have led to clashes with police that have turned violent. The government has cracked down on Kahn’s supporters, arresting some 1700 on Wednesday. Munir Ahmed reports for AP.

The Gambian government announced yesterday that it would prosecute its former president for murder.“President Jammeh will face justice for the atrocities that he committed in this country,” the Minister for Justice, Dawda Jallow said. Jammeh ruled over the small African nation for over two decades in a period marked by violence and brutal oppression. Saikou Jammeh and Ruth Maclean report for the New York Times. 

Daily Deep State Report

25 May 2022

Uvalde Shooting

Senate Democrats say a major floor debate on gun control is inevitable after a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, left at least 19 children and two adults dead, only 10 days after another massacre killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo. The second high-profile killing spree in the span of just more than a week means that Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) will be under heavy pressure to bring a gun-control measure to the floor before the July 4 recess, risking a partisan brawl that could be tough on vulnerable Democrats up for re-election in swing states this fall. Read the full story here.

A gunman killed at least 19 children and two adults yesterday in a rural Texas elementary school, a state police official has said, in the deadliest American school shooting since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary a decade ago. The gunman, whom the authorities identified as an 18-year-old man who had attended a nearby high school, was armed with several weapons, officials said. He also died at the scene, they said. Josh Peck and J. David Goodman report for the New York Times. 

Americans must stand up to the gun lobby and pressure members of Congress to pass sensible gun laws, President Biden said yesterday following the killing of at least 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Texas. “As a nation, we have to ask when in God’s name we’re going to stand up to the gun lobby, when in God’s name we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done,” Biden said in a televised speech. “I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don’t tell me we can’t have an impact on this carnage,” he said. Andrea Shalal and Trevor Hunnicutt report for Reuters. 

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) who once held a 15-hour filibuster on the Senate floor on the need for stricter gun laws in the U.S., returned there yesterday night to plead with his colleagues to work together to prevent mass shootings. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also charged Republicans with robbing the lives of young children. Describing the shooting as “a crisis of existential proportions,” Pelosi in a tweet called on senators to finally vote “House-passed bipartisan, commonsense, life-saving legislation into law.” Colby Itkowitz, Marianna Sotomayor and Mile DeBonis report for the Washington Post. 

Mexico’s government is offering consular assistance to Mexican families affected by yesterday’s school shooting. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said its consulates in Texas — including one in Eagle Pass and another in San Antonio — were closely working with law enforcement officials and local hospitals to determine whether any Mexican nationals were killed or injured in the Robb Elementary School attack. María Paúl reports for the Washington Post. 

Pope Francis said he was “heartbroken” by the Texas school shooting and called for broader gun-control measures: “It is time to say ‘enough’ to the indiscriminate trafficking of weapons.” “Let us all make a commitment so that tragedies like this cannot happen again,” he said. Reuters reports. 

CNN: The San Antonio suspect allegedly shot his grandmother, who was reported to be hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday night.

KSAT: One student victim, fourth-grader Xavier Lopez, had been joined by his mother at a school awards ceremony hours before the Texas school shooting.

Houston Chronicle: Gunman bought AR-15 style rifle a day after turning 18.

The New York Times: Several other children were injured in the shooting at Robb Elementary School, including at least one 10-year-old who remained in critical condition at a nearby hospital.

The Associated Press: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) seeks congressional action on guns after Texas shooting: “I’m here on this floor to beg — to literally get down on my hands and knees — to beg my colleagues. Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely.”

The Daily News: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a potential presidential candidate in 2024, on Tuesday criticized Democrats who speak of gun control and want “to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.”

Houston Chronicle: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) urged the National Rifle Association to cancel a planned annual forum this weekend in Houston. (Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) canceled his planned appearance; former President Trump is scheduled to speak.)

US

Two years after George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer, the nation is struggling to deliver progress on a host of issues critical to race, policing and inequality in American life. Read the full story here.

Tuesday marked yet another eventful primary night with former President Trump’s political brand once again being put to the test. Trump’s endorsement suffered a major loss in Georgia’s gubernatorial race with incumbent Brian Kemp’s (R ) victory over former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.). On the Democratic side, the runoff between incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and progressive activist Jessica Cisneros remained razor-thin. Read the full story here.

President Biden will today sign an executive order aimed at promoting police accountability, people familiar with the matter have said. The wide-ranging order, to be signed on the second anniversary of the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer while three others looked on, builds on Justice Department policies that limit federal officers’ ability to use force. Among other measures, it also will create a registry of major disciplinary actions taken against officers and require at least some of that data to be made public. Sadie Gurman reports for the Wall Street Journal.

The Hill: Democrats want Biden to rescind Trump-era tariffs on Chinese and other international goods. 

The Hill: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a pro-abortion-rights Catholic, on Tuesday asked why the Catholic Church does not punish supporters of the death penalty. 

Greg Bluestein, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Trump’s revenge tour is derailed in Georgia.

Politico: “We’re going to go f—ing scorched-earth”: How Kemp crushed Trump in Georgia.

The Hill: Five takeaways from primaries in Georgia, Alabama and beyond.

Arkansas Democrat Gazette: Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) secures GOP nomination for his Senate seat.

The Hill: Sarah Huckabee Sanders sails to Arkansas GOP governor nomination.

The Hill: New Hampshire Democrats spotlight abortion issues in tough Senate election.

The Associated Press: Courts stymie abortion bans in Iowa, other GOP-led states.

Delaware Gov. John Carney (D) on Tuesday vetoed a bill to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, setting the stage for a possible battle with the state legislature, which may attempt to muscle it into law. Carney reiterated his support for decriminalizing the drug, but maintained that he could not go further (The Hill).

U.S. supply chains could see a new complication if there’s a rail shutdown. Railroad worker unions, which complain that tens of thousands of employees have been laid off by four major railroads, this week will ask a government board to be released from tenuous contract talks with the railroads, a move that would allow rail conductors to strike (The Hill).

The U.S. birthrate rose 1 percent last year, its first increase since 2014.

A man suspected of Sunday’s fatal New York City subway shooting turned himself in.

Republican legislators in Indiana banned transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams at school, overriding the Republican governor’s veto.

Jan. 6th Insurrection

Candidates who take part in an insurrection may be barred from holding public office under the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, a federal appeals court has ruled, overturning a lower court judge’s decision. The US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling yesterday in a challenge to former North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorn’s candidacy for the House of Representatives. While the ruling is legally binding only in the states that make up the 4th Circuit — Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina — it could influence the outcome of legal challenges to multiple Republican House candidates tagged by critics for participating in events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Bloomberg Law reports. 

The Justice Department yesterday released new videos of a meeting between the leaders of the two most prominent extremist organizations connected to Jan. 6 which took place just 24 hours before the attack. The six new videos provide greater detail as to what was discussed at the meeting between Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes and Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio and show that the conversations between those at the meeting only briefly touched on Jan. 6. Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand report for CNN. 

The Hill: The House Jan. 6 investigative panel was blocked by a federal appeals court from obtaining Republican National Committee records.  

Virus/Climate/Science

COVID-19 has infected over 83.28 million people and has now killed over 1.00 million people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been over 525.617 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6.28 million deaths. Sergio Hernandez, Sean O’Key, Amanda Watts, Byron Manley and Henrik Pettersson report for CNN.

A luggage search at a Detroit airport turned up a moth species not seen since 1912.

UKR/RU

Russian forces launched offensives on towns in eastern Ukraine today, with constant mortar bombardment destroying several houses and killing civilians, Ukrainian officials have said. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said the Russians launched an offensive on Sievierodonetsk early today and the town was under constant fire from mortars. Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said six civilians were killed and at least eight wounded, most near bomb shelters, in Sievierodonetsk. Pavel Polityuk and Max Hunder report for Reuters. 

Russian forces have likely given up on planning a single large encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the country’s east, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in their latest assessment. Although their forces have secured more terrain in the past week than earlier in May, this has been achieved by scaling back their objectives, the ISW said — largely abandoning operations around Izyum and concentrating on key front-line towns. Overall, Russia’s performance “remains poor.” 

Workers digging through the rubble of an apartment building in Mariupol have found 200 bodies in the basement, Ukrainian authorities said yesterday. The authorities did not say where the bodies were discovered, but the number of victims makes it one of the deadliest known attacks of the war. Elena Becatoros, Oleksandr Stashevskyi and Ricardo Mazalan report for AP. 

Eight Russian soldiers and mercenaries were charged yesterday with the murder of the mayor of a small Kyiv suburb and her family, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said. The mayor, Olha Sukhenko, was found in a shallow grave in her village, Motyzhyn, about 30 miles west of Kyiv, on April 2, after Russians withdrew from their positions around the capital. Her husband and son were buried with her. The group of accused soldiers and mercenaries also terrorized other civilians, torturing and killing them, as well as pillaging and destroying their homes, prosecutor general Irina Venediktova said. Valerie Hopkins reports for the New York Times.

The Biden administration will start blocking Russia from paying American bondholders, increasing the likelihood of the first default of Russia’s foreign debt in more than a century. An exemption to the sweeping sanctions that the United States imposed on Russia as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine has allowed Moscow to keep paying its debts since February. However, that carve-out will expire today, and the United States will not extend it, according to a notice published by the Treasury Department yesterday. Alan Rappeport and Eshe Nelson report for the New York Times. 

Henry Kissinger, the 98-year-old former secretary of state who played a pivotal role in orchestrating American detente with the Soviet Union, has advised Ukraine to cede territory to make peace with Russia. Speaking via video link to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Kissinger said the failure to restart negotiations with Russia and the further alienation of the Kremlin would have dire long-term consequences for stability in Europe. His statements have drawn wide criticism, including from members of the Ukrainian parliament. Dan Bilefsky reports for the New York Times.

E.U. officials yesterday suggested the bloc might not decide whether to impose an oil embargo on Russia for weeks, as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared a state of emergency over the Ukraine war.  Polish Prime Minister Matteusz Morawiecki also told the Wall Street Journal that a deal on the embargo, which Poland has pushed, might not happen until E.U. leaders gather again in Brussels in late June. Drew Hinshaw and Laurence Norman report for the Wall Street Journal. 

Delegates from Finland and Sweden will visit Ankara today in a bid to clear up Turkey’s opposition to the Nordic states’ applications for NATO membership. Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto confirmed the trip during a World Economic Forum event yesterday, adding that he thinks diplomatic efforts could assuage Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s concerns. Amy Cheng reports for the Washington Post. 

The British government approved the sale of Chelsea Football Club after sanctions were placed on Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, the longtime owner of the London-based team. “Last night the Government issued a licence that permits the sale of @ChelseaFC,” Nadine Dorries, the British cabinet minister responsible for sports, said in a tweet. “Given the sanctions we placed on those linked to Putin and the bloody invasion of Ukraine, the long-term future of the club can only be secured under a new owner.” Adela Suliman reports for the Washington Post. 

Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki has said developments in Ukraine are a continuation of a long-term Western strategy to contain Russia, and that Ukraine and its people are “victims”. He made the remarks while addressing the nation on Eritrea’s 31st Independence Day from the main stadium in the capital, Asmara yesterday. He alleged that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, “forces of hegemony” decided to “rule the world through anchor states” against Russia. BBC News reports.  

Russian lawmakers yesterday gave the first stamp of approval to a bill that would allow Russian entities to take over foreign companies that have left the market in opposition to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. The bill, passed in the first reading by the lower house of parliament, or Duma, would allow the state development bank VEB or other entities approved by a commission to act as external administration at companies where foreign ownership, specifically from countries that Moscow deems “unfriendly”, exceeds 25%. Reuters reports. 

China’s Army held combat drills in the sea and airspace around Taiwan, a Chinese military official has said. The drills come one day after China and Russia held their first joint military exercise since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. China and Russia both said that Tuesday’s exercise was not aimed at a third party and that it was part of routine measures to strengthen cooperation between the two nations. Paul Mozur and John Liu report for the New York Times. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will speak only directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin, not via intermediaries, for peace negotiations, he said at the World Economic Forum today. Zelenskyy also said his country would fight until it has recovered all of its territory, as Russia presses on with an offensive in the south and east of Ukraine. If Putin “understands reality,” he added, there could be a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Reuters reports. 

Newly declassified U.S. intelligence shows that a Russian naval blockade has halted maritime trade at Ukrainian ports, in what world leaders call a deliberate attack on the global food supply chain. Russia’s navy now effectively controls all traffic in the northern third of the Black Sea, making it unsafe for commercial shipping, according to a U.S. government document. Shane Harris reports for the Washington Post. 

Russia is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions, the Interfax news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying. Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia sent thousands of troops into Ukraine and more than 20 million tonnes of grain are stuck in silos in the country. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies and the lack of significant grain exports from Ukraine ports is contributing to a growing global food crisis. Reuters reports. 

An Iraqi man in the U.S. accused of being linked to ISIS operatives planned to kill George W. Bush in his Dallas home, according to an FBI search-warrant application filed March 23 and unsealed this week. The man, Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, went as far as travelling to Dallas in November to take videos around the former president’s home and recruiting a team of compatriots he hoped to smuggle into the country over the Mexican border. The FBI said it uncovered the scheme through the work of two confidential informants and surveillance of the alleged plotter’s account on the Meta-owned WhatsApp messaging platform. Thomas Brewster reports for Forbes. 

President Biden has finalized his decision to keep Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on a terrorist blacklist, according to a senior Western official. The decision, which was reportedly conveyed to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on April 24, will further complicate efforts to restore the 2015 nuclear deal. However, according to a person familiar with the matter the decision was conveyed as absolutely final, creating no room for Iranian concessions. Alexander Ward and Nahal Toosi report for POLITICO. 

New evidence suggests that Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in a targeted attack by Israeli forces. Audio and video analysis indicates that Abu Akleh was shot from a distance of 200 meters. Israel claims she could have been hit by Palestinian militants, or an Israeli soldier returning fire, but eyewitnesses say there were no armed Palestinians or clashes in her vicinity. Zeena Saifi, Eliza Mackintosh, Celine Alkhaldi, Kareem Khadder, Katie Polglase and Gianluca Mezzofiore report for CNN. 

The State Department has started to inform some of the Afghans housed for months at a military base in Kosovo that they won’t be allowed to enter the U.S.. The U.S. sent Afghans—many accompanied by spouses and children—to the base in Kosovo after they were flagged for additional screening during the vetting process following their evacuation from Kabul last year. U.S. officials said the decision to deny entry for some of the cases at the base came after disqualifying information was found about them. Jessica Donati and Gordon Lubold report for the Wall Street Journal.

Global Developments

China’s premier has said the world’s second-largest economy could struggle to record positive growth in the current quarter, urging officials to help companies resume production after Covid-19 lockdowns. Read the full story here.

North Korea launched three ballistic missiles, including a possible intercontinental ballistic missile, toward the waters off its east coast today, South Korea’s military has said. Shortly after the North’s tests, the South Korean and United States militaries each launched a land-to-land missile off the east coast of South Korea to demonstrate what Seoul called the allies’ “swift striking capability to deter further provocations from North Korea,” as well as the South Korean military’s “overwhelming” ability to launch “precision strikes at the origin of North Korean provocation.”Choe Sang-Hun reports for the New York Times. 

A cache of leaked documents detailing draconian surveillance and reeducation practices in Xinjiang has shed light on the scale of Beijing’s multiyear crackdown on ethnic Uyghurs in the region. The files, which include thousands of mug shots of detainees held in a network of camps in Xinjiang, cast a shadow over the highly orchestrated six-day trip to China by the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet. Lily Kuo and Cate Cadell report for the Washington Post. 

Israel and Turkey’s top diplomats have said their countries were hoping to expand economic ties as they seek an end to more than a decade of strained relations. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is on the second-day of a two-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, the first such visit by a senior Turkish official in 15 years. Reuters reports. 

Security forces in Sudan have mounted a crackdown in recent days to crush remaining unrest, six months after a coup that brought a military regime to power in the country. Police fired teargas and shotguns at protesters as thousands took to the streets in the capital, Khartoum, and twin city of Omdurman on Monday. The violence followed a similarly harsh response to demonstrations over the weekend. In all, 113 people have been injured and one killed in recent days, according to doctors. Jason Burke and Zeinab Mohammed Salih report for the Guardian. 

Zambia is making moves to abolish the death penalty, President Hakainde Hichilema has announced. “We will work with parliament to run this process as we transition away from the death penalty and focus on the preservation, rehabilitation of life while still delivering justice for all,” he said yesterday. Kennedy Gondwe reports for BBC News.

Daily Deep State Report

May 20, 2022

US

Some GOP lawmakers are getting frustrated with the hard-line tactics of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Members of the group have forced recorded votes on normally non-controversial bills on the suspension calendar, forcing lawmakers to hang around the chamber for hours to get their votes in rather than conduct other business. It led to a confrontation on Tuesday night during a two-and-a-half-hour vote series on 13 separate measures between Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, and Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who is the chair of the group. Read the full story here.

The stakes are growing higher by the day for former President Trump in advance of Georgia’s GOP primaries on Tuesday. The primaries will be the latest test of Trump’s muscle within the Republican Party. It’s a test he could fail. The elections come on the heels of key contests this week, particularly in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, where Trump-backed candidates met mixed fates. Read the full story here.

The number of sailors who deserted the Navy more than doubled from 2019 to 2021, while desertions in other military branches dropped or stayed flat. In the wake of several suicides among sailors assigned to the warship the USS George Washington, the new desertion figures highlight the lack of options for contract-bound sailors who are desperate to leave the military. Melissa Chan reports for NBC News. 

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby will move to the White House in a senior communications role, according to two people familiar with the personnel move. Kirby’s move to the White House comes after Karine Jean-Pierre took over as White House press secretary from Jen Psaki, who left the administration last week. Kirby’s exact title and role remain unclear. Some in the White House said Kirby would make regular appearances at the daily press briefing, while others said he would not share duties with Jean-Pierre and only appear alongside her. Tyler Pager reports for the Washington Post. 

A group of Democratic congress members, including the House majority leader, yesterday proposed a binding plebiscite to decide whether Puerto Rico should become a state or gain some sort of independence. The draft proposal would commit Congress to accepting Puerto Rico into the U.S. if voters on the island approve it. However, even if the plan were to pass the Democratic-led House, the proposal appears to have little chance in the Senate, where Republicans have long opposed statehood. Danica Coto reports for AP. 

The 18-year-old suspected of targeting and fatally shooting 10 Black people in Buffalo, New York, wrote in what are believed to be his online journals that he learned how to illegally modify his rifle by watching YouTube videos. As of yesterday evening, many of the videos linked to in this Discord chat logs are still available on Youtube, despite appearing to violate the platforms community guidelines. Joshua Eaton report for NBC News.

Monday is the date the administration set to lift immigration policy known as Title 42. The government asked a federal judge to rule on a lawsuit filed by conservative states that want to keep the Trump-era policy in place, and a decision is pending. Activists on all sides of the debate appear to believe there’s a good chance that the judge, a Trump nominee, may rule in favor of the Republicans who sued, meaning Title 42 will remain in place as the busy summer months at the border arrive, according to Fox News. 

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who visited the U.S. southern border on Tuesday, said the administration was prepared for Title 42 to be lifted and for an influx of migrants moving through Mexico to try to cross into this country (The Associated Press).

Vice President Harris on Thursday assailed a new Oklahoma law that bars nearly all abortions and will be effective immediately if signed by the governor (The New York Times). Meeting with abortion providers, the vice president called the legislation in Oklahoma and restrictive laws in other states “outrageous” (The Hill).

Infant formula shortage: Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf demurred on Thursday under some tough House Appropriations subcommittee questioning about the months that passed before the government addressed reported contamination problems at an Abbott Nutrition infant formula plant in Michigan. Califf declined to explain what transpired before Abbott voluntarily closed its plant to address sanitation problems. The FDA is now working with the company to resume manufacturing, perhaps by next week, to address a critical U.S. shortage of baby formula in stores. “I know we have an Oversight hearing next week and we’ll be prepared to go into much more detail at that point. As I’ve said, we could do better than we did,” Califf said (Politico and The Hill).

The New York Times: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) fights New York district maps: “Enough to make Jim Crow blush.”

New York Post: GOP primary turnout suggests red wave in November midterms.

Politico: Oz, McCormick unleash army of lawyers in Senate race.

The New York Times: A Pennsylvania election storm brews again, this time in a GOP primary.

Niall Stanage: The Memo: Trump faces critical popularity test in Georgia. 

Politico: Democrats confront North Carolina blues.

Reid Wilson, The Hill: Democrats spend big in GOP governor primaries.

Democrats’ expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies expire at the end of the year — and many in the party are worried that Congress will fail to renew them, Adam Cancryn and Megan Messerly report. That could lead 13 million Americans’ premiums to leap all of a sudden, with especially bad timing: “voters would begin receiving notices about their premium increases in October — around the same time they’re starting to cast their midterm ballots.”

Virus/Science/Climate

COVID-19 has infected over 83.06 million people and has now killed over 1.00 million people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been over 524.057 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6.27 million deaths. Sergio Hernandez, Sean O’Key, Amanda Watts, Byron Manley and Henrik Pettersson report for CNN.

Rochelle Walensky, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Thursday gave the official OK on a recommendation to allow COVID-19 vaccine boosters for children between aged 5 and 11. Children will now be able to get a third shot at least five months after the first round of vaccination against the virus. Earlier in the day, a CDC advisory committee voted in favor of the booster (The Hill).

The New York Times: Why New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) is rejecting mask mandates as COVID-19 cases rise.

January 6th Insurrection

The committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack have asked a Republican congressman to submit to questioning about a tour of the complex he gave one day before the attack. In a letter sent yesterday to Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), the top two members of the panel said investigators had obtained evidence that he had led a tour through parts of the Capitol complex on Jan. 5, 2021, when it was closed to visitors because of pandemic restrictions. The committee is trying to assess whether those involved in the attack had conducted a reconnaissance of the building prior to the events of Jan. 6. Luke Broadwater reports for the New York Times. 

President Trump’s attorney general Bill Barr is in active discussions with the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack about appearing for a formal transcribed interview, according to two sources familiar with the matter. One source familiar with Barr’s thinking has revealed that the former Trump official will likely cooperate. However, it appears that the committee has made no firm decision on whether to invite Barr to appear in the public hearings that begin in June. Jonathan Swan reports for Axios.

Congressional investigators have obtained a batch of official White House photographs, including images taken on Jan. 6, 2021, according to two sources familiar with the evidence. The previously unreported cache, which arrived via the National Archives, may provide the committee with real-time visual evidence of former President Donald Trump’s actions and movements during the Jan. 6 attack. Kyle Chenery and Nicholas Wu report for POLITICO.

UKR/RU

Russian forces have bombarded areas of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas, killing at least 13 civilians in the past 24 hours, regional governor Serhiy Gaidai has said. Twelve were killed in the town of Severodonetsk, where a Russian assault has been unsuccessful, he added. Natalie Zinets reports for Reuters.

Ukrainian military officials have reported that some Russian troops withdrawn from the Kharkiv region have redeployed to western Donetsk, according to the latest assessment by the Institute for the Study of War. The Ukrainian General Staff said that 260 servicemen withdrawn from the Kharkiv region arrived to replace the significant combat losses suffered by the 107th Motorized Rifle Battalion near Donetsk. The Ukrainian Military Directorate intercepted a Russian serviceman’s call suggesting that some of the 400 servicemen from the Kharkiv region who had arrived elsewhere in Donbas were shocked by the intensity of the fighting there compared with what they had experienced in Kharkiv. 

The Russian-installed governor of occupied Kherson in southern Ukraine has said the region will soon be fully integrated into Russia. Volodymyr Saldo, who was installed by Russian forces after they took control of the area in early March, wrote on Telegram that it would become the “Kherson region of the Russian Federation.” BBC News reports. 

In a sign of Russia’s urgent need to bolster its war effort in Ukraine, Russia’s parliament is considering a bill to allow Russians over 40 and foreigners over 30 to sign up for the military. The website of the State Duma, parliament’s lower house, said the move would enable the military to utilise the skills of older professionals. “For the use of high-precision weapons, the operation of weapons and military equipment, highly professional specialists are needed. Experience shows that they become such by the age of 40–45,” it said. Mark Trevelyan reports for Reuters. 

As many as 1,700 Ukrainian soldiers are likely to have surrendered from the Mariupol Azovstal steel plant, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry’s latest intelligence update. An unknown number of Ukrainian forces remain inside the factory. Once Russia has secured Mariupol, it is likely they will move their forces to the Donbas. However staunch Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol since the start of the war means Russian forces in the area must be re-equipped before they can be redeployed. This can be a lengthy process. 

Svyatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, posted a Telegram video yesterday declaring that there would be no surrender from the troops still in Mariupol. “The commanders and I are on the territory of Azovstal, where a certain operation is taking place, the details thereof I will not be disclosing,” Palamar said in the 18-second clip. The suggestion that some soldiers would keep fighting comes despite the negotiated surrender of hundreds of Ukrainian troops in the port city this week. Andrew Jeong reports for the Washington Post.

A joint statement has been issued by the attorneys general of the U.S., U.K. Australia, Canada and New Zealand, expressing support for Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, her office and Ukrainians “in ensuring accountability for war crimes committed during the Russian invasion.” The statement also vocalizes support for international investigations, “including at the International Criminal Court, the United Nations, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and in our own jurisdictions.” The United States Department of Justice reports. 

A Ukrainian state prosecutor asked a court yesterday to sentence Russian solider Vadim Shishimarin to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian during the first war crimes trial arising from the Russian invasion. Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian tank commander, asked widow Kateryna Shelipova to forgive him for the murder of her husband, Oleksandr, in the northeast Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on Feb. 28. “I acknowledge my blame … I ask you to forgive me,” he told Shelipova at the hearing. Max Hunder and Tom Balmforth report for Reuters. 

The war crimes trial of Shishimarin has been adjourned until Monday. Shishimarin appeared before a Kyiv court on Friday for a third day of hearings. A defense lawyer defended his actions saying the soldier “was not aware of what is going on in Ukraine.” Saskya Vandoorne, Daria Markina and Katya Krebs report for CNN.

In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his allegation that Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine – something for which “the occupiers will definitely be brought to justice.” Zelensky also said life had become “hell” in the eastern Donbas region – which had been “completely destroyed”. BBC News reports.

President Biden vowed yesterday to speed Finland and Sweden to NATO membership. In a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden with President Sauli Niinisto of Finland and Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden, Biden said he was immediately submitting to the Senate the treaty language needed to make the two countries the newest members of the alliance. Formal accession to the alliance will also require the approval of the other 29 member nations. David E. Sanger reports for the New York Times. 

U.S. officials are considering arming the Ukrainian military with advanced anti-ship missiles to help defeat Russia’s naval blockade. However, current and former U.S. officials have cited roadblocks to sending more powerful weapons to Ukraine, including lengthy training requirements, difficulties maintaining equipment, and concerns U.S. weaponry could be captured by Russian forces. There are also concerns that the provision of more powerful weapons could escalate the conflict. Mike Stone reports for Reuters.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley spoke with his Russian counterpart yesterday, the first such conversation between the two since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Milley and chief of the Russian general staff, Valery Gerasimov, “discussed several security-related issues of concern and agreed to keep the lines of communication open,” Joint Staff spokesperson Col. Dave Butler said in a readout of the conversation. Ellen Mitchell reports for The Hill. 

The Senate has voted to approve a new $40bn bill to provide military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. It is the biggest emergency aid package so far for Ukraine. The package brings the total U.S. aid delivered to the country to more than $50bn, including $6bn for security assistance such as training, equipment, weapons and support. BBC News reports. 

The United States has not redeployed Marine Corps guards to its reopened embassy in Kyiv, a senior defense official said yesterday. However, the official didn’t rule out the possibility of that changing in the future, saying the State Department would have the final say. Andrew Jeong reports for the Washington Post.

The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has criticized what he called a lack of support from NATO since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. Before the war, Kuleba said, Ukrainians saw NATO as more forceful than the European Union. However, since the invasion, the trans-Atlantic alliance had failed to help Ukraine as an organization, he added. Erika Solomon reports for the New York Times. 

China is buying record amounts of cheap Russian coal, even as Western nations sanction Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. In April, not only did the world’s second-largest economy buy more coal from Russia than ever before, it also eliminated import tariffs on all types of coal, a move analysts say will mainly benefit Russian suppliers. Laura He reports for CNN.

Following Russia’s retreat from Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv, more sober assessments of Russia’s invasion have started to emerge from Moscow, including from pro-Kremlin commentators on state television. The criticism on state television echoes fears Russians express in private over the fate of the conflict and their own country. Thomas Grove and Matthew Luxmoore provide analysis for the Wall Street Journal. 

Russian-backed actors have launched numerous disinformation campaigns intended to demoralize Ukrainians and incite internal unrest, according to a report released yesterday by cybersecurity firm Mandiant. Mandiant said that the disinformation campaigns it identified occurred concurrently with disruptive and destructive cyberattacks that targeted Ukrainian government websites. “While some of this activity is known, or already been reported on, this report captures how known actors and campaigns can be leveraged or otherwise refocused to support emerging security interests, including large-scale conflict,” Alden Wahlstrom, senior analyst at Mandiant, said in a statement. Ines Kagubare reports for The Hill.

Global Developments

President Biden has arrived in South Korea in his first visit to Asia since his presidency began. The trip marks the beginning of a five-day tour designed to underscore his administration’s diplomatic and economic commitment to the region in the face of a rising China. Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Seung Min Kim report for the Washington Post. 

Former guerrilla Gustavo Petro looks set to win the Colombian presidency on May 29, raising concerns in Washington over its closest South American ally. Petro has vowed not only to upend the country’s investor-friendly economic model but also to rethink key tenets of Washington’s most important strategic alliance in South America, such as the “war on drugs”, a free trade deal and a U.S.-led push to unseat the revolutionary socialist government in next-door Venezuela. Gideon Long and Michael Stott provide analysis for the Financial Times.

The future of Israel’s government has been plunged into uncertainty after an Arab member of the coalition resigned, leaving it as a minority in parliament for the first time. In a letter announcing her decision, Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi of the left-wing Meretz party said: “Again and again the heads of the coalition have taken hawkish, rigid and right-wing stances regarding basic issues of utmost importance for Arab society.” Raffi Berg reports for BBC News. 

A court in Kyiv has approved a request from the prosecutor general’s office to arrest former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych for allegedly smuggling people across the border into Russia in 2014. Yanukovych, a longtime ally of Moscow, already faces a prison term of 13 years on a separate treason charge. He was voted out of office in 2014 by Ukrainian lawmakers for gross human rights violations and dereliction of duty. Amy Cheng reports for the Washington Post. 

London’s Metropolitan Police yesterday concluded its four-month investigation into a string of British government gatherings during the pandemic, determining that 83 people violated their own lockdown rules across eight different dates. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not receive any additional fines beyond one disclosed earlier — which last month made him the first sitting prime minister found to have broken the law. However, he has been linked to at least five additional parties, bolstering critics who say the police let him off too lightly. William Booth and Karla Adam report for the Washington Post.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have ordered all female presenters on TV channels to cover their faces on air, the country’s biggest media outlet said yesterday. The order came in a statement from the Taliban’s Virtue and Vice Ministry, tasked with enforcing the group’s rulings, as well as from the Information and Culture Ministry, the TOLOnews channel said in a tweet. The statement called the order “final and non-negotiable,”  the channel said. AP reports.

Daily Deep State Report: May 13, 2022

US

Democrats on Capitol Hill are sounding alarms this week over the possibility that Donald Trump could return to Twitter, warning that providing the former president with such a powerful megaphone could lead to violence on par with last year’s Capitol riot. Trump was banned “permanently” from Twitter on Jan. 8, 2021, just two days after a mob of his supporters attacked the Capitol in a failed effort to overturn President Biden’s election win. But with billionaire Elon Musk poised to take over the highly influential company, Trump may soon be back on the platform that helped propel his stunning political rise. Indeed, Musk on Tuesday said the ban was “flat-out stupid” and would be rescinded if and when his $44 billion takeover offer is finalized. Read the full story here.

Federal prosecutors have begun a grand jury investigation into whether classified White House documents that ended up at former President Trump’s Florida home were mishandled. In recent days, the Justice Department has taken a series of steps showing that its investigation has progressed beyond the preliminary stages, according to sources familiar with the matter. First, prosecutors issued a subpoena to the National Archives and Records Administration to obtain the boxes of classified documents. Second, the authorities have made interview requests to people who worked in the White House in the final days of Trump’s presidency. Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt report for the New York Times. 

Elon Musk has said that his planned $44 billion purchase of Twitter is “temporarily on hold” pending details on spam and fake accounts on the social media platform. The announcement that the Tesla billionaire tweeted is another twist amid signs of internal turmoil over his planned buyout of Twitter, including that the social media company fired two of its top managers yesterday. AP reports. 

There’s a baby formula shortage…The NY Times’s Well has a guide for parents searching for formula, and Politico’s Helena Bottemiller Evich has offered tips on Twitter.

Biden spoke Thursday with manufacturers of infant formula amid a U.S. supply shortage that caught the White House flat-footed and has families scouring stores and the internet and reaching out to pediatricians and relatives in other states, in search of available products or safe substitutions. Nationwide, about 40 percent of large retail stores are out of stock, up from 31 percent in mid-April, according to Datasembly, a data analytics firm. More than half of U.S. states are seeing out-of-stock rates between 40 percent and 50 percent, according to the firm, which collects data from 11,000 locations.

The Associated Press: Parents swap, sell baby formula as Biden focuses on a shortage.

The Senate confirmed Jerome Powell for a second term as the Federal Reserve chair.

Representative Conor Lamb, a moderate Democrat, once seemed like the front-runner in Pennsylvania’s Senate race. Now, he’s trailing by double digits.

The looming loss of abortion rights has re-energized the Democratic Party’s left flank, and put anti-abortion members on the defensive.

At least 11 people died, and 31 others were rescued, after a boat carrying migrants capsized near Puerto Rico.

President Biden is boxed-in by high inflation, leaving him with few options to take the heat off on an issue that hurting his party politically.

Biden has limited control over inflation beyond proposing policies and investments that could take months, if not years, to make an impact. t’s also hard for the president to pass the buck on the matter.Read the full story here.

The Associated Press: Fairfax County, Va., and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) spar over protests at justices’ homes.

The Washington Post: Justice Samuel Alito reluctant to discuss state of Supreme Court after Roe leak.

Jan. 6 Insurrection

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack issued subpoenas yesterday to five Republican members of Congress, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader. This move was an extraordinary step in the annals of congressional investigations and represents a significant escalation as the panel digs deeps into the role Republicans played in attempts to overthrow the 2020 election. Luke Broadwater and Emily Cochrane report for the New York Times. 

“We recognize this is fairly unprecedented,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), one of two Republicans on the committee. “But the Jan. 6 attack was very unprecedented” (The Associated Press).

Axios: The Jan. 6 committee opens a Pandora’s box of retaliation.

The Hill: Republicans tread carefully after Jan. 6 subpoenas.

The Washington Post: Can the Jan. 6 committee get Republicans to talk using subpoenas?

Virus/Science/Climate

COVID-19 has infected over 82.32 million people and has now killed over 998.997 people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been over 519.514 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6.26 million deaths. Sergio Hernandez, Sean O’Key, Amanda Watts, Byron Manley and Henrik Pettersson report for CNN.

The Hill: Five risks if Congress does not pass new COVID-19 funding.

The Associated Press: White House COVID-19 coordinator Ashish Jha said in an interview that he’s made a case to lawmakers for additional COVID-19 funding for weeks, calling it a “very pared down request” and “the bare minimum that we need to get through this fall and winter without large loss of life.”

The Boston Globe: Biden urges world leaders to add financial fire to the COVID-19 fight as Congress stalls aid.

Light and matter cannot escape from black holes, making images hard to capture. So the first colorized image of the Milky Way’s relatively placid black hole, first discovered in the 1990s, is considered a triumph by the consortium of astronomers working with the Event Horizon Telescope, a collection of eight synchronized radio telescopes around the world. The image released on Thursday shows space far, far away: Earth is about 27,000 light years from the Milky Way’s black hole. A light year is 5.9 trillion miles (The Associated Press and National Geographic).

UKR/RU

Ukrainian forces destroyed a pontoon bridge and parts of a Russian armoured column as it tried to cross a river in the Donbas region, video footage released today has shown. Ukraine is now in control of territory stretching to the banks of the Siverskiy Donets River, around 25 miles east of Kharkiv. Jonathan Landay reports for Reuters. 

Conducting river crossings in a contested environment is a highly risky manoeuvre, and the fact that Russian forces have been attempting them speaks to the pressure the Russian commanders are under to make progress in their operation in eastern Ukraine, a  U.K. Ministry of Defense intelligence update has said. Russian forces have failed to make any significant advances despite concentrating forces in this area after withdrawing and redeploying units from the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, the update added. 

Ukrainian officials say their forces took out another Russian ship in the Black Sea. Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, said yesterday the Vsevolod Bobrov logistics ship was struck as it was trying to deliver an anti-aircraft system to Snake Island. He said the ship was badly damaged but was not believed to have sunk. AP reports. 

In southern Ukraine, the regional administration in Zaporizhzhia has said that there are signs the Russians are trying to reinforce their units by bringing in more equipment and troops. It said a new Russian contingent had arrived in Mykhailivka, just south of current frontlines. Tim Lister and Julia Kesaieva report for CNN.

A court in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, began hearings today in the case against Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin, the first Russian soldier to go on trial for alleged war crimes. He is accused of shooting a 62-year-old civilian in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy. A spokesperson for Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said that the hearing was a “preparatory meeting” and was set to start at noon local time at Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district court. David L. Stern reports for the Washington Post. 

Russian forces have sent “at least several thousand Ukrainians” to be processed at Russia’s so-called filtration centers “and evacuated at least tens of thousands more to Russia or Russia-controlled territory,” U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Michael Carpenter said yesterday. The forced displacement – and reported violence that is faced by those at the so-called filtration centers – amount to war crimes, Carpenter said according to the transcript of his remarks to the OSCE Permanent Council. Jennifer Hansler reports for CNN. 

China’s Foreign Ministry has criticized the U.N. Human Rights Council after it adopted a resolution for an investigation into alleged human rights abuses by Russian troops in Ukraine, saying the body portrays “double standards.” The U.N. Human Rights Council passed the resolution yesterday with all members except China and Eritrea voting in favor. “Politicized double standards and selective practices are on the rise in the Human Rights Council. The reason why China voted against Ukraine is based on China’s principled position on the Ukrainian issue,” spokesperson Zhao Lijan said. CNN reports. 

Russia has said it will be forced to take “retaliatory steps” over its neighbour Finland’s move to join NATO. A foreign ministry statement said the move would seriously damage bilateral relations, as well as security and stability in northern Europe. Russia’s deputy U.N. representative Dmitry Polyansky said Sweden and Finland would become possible targets for Russia if they become Nato members, according to Russian news agency Ria. BBC News reports. 

Foreign ministers from The Group of Seven (G7) nations aim to give what Germany called a “powerful sign of unity” as they meet today to discuss the war in Ukraine. “Never since the end of the Cold War have we G7 partners been more profoundly challenged. Never before have we stood more united,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a tweet. The annual meeting brings together top diplomats from Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union. The foreign ministers of Ukraine and its neighbour Moldova will also attend. Alexander Ratz and John Irish report for Reuters. 

E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said today that the bloc would provide a further 500 million euros worth of military support to Ukraine and that he was confident a deal could be reached in the coming days to agree an embargo on Russian oil. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Germany, Borrell said the military support would be for heavy weapons such as tanks and artillery and take the bloc’s aid to about 2 billion euros. Reuters reports. 

More weapons need to be sent to Ukraine to help “keep up the pressure” on Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said today. ”It is very important at this time that we keep up the pressure on Vladimir Putin by supplying more weapons to Ukraine, by increasing the sanctions,” Truss said, speaking on her way to a meeting of the G7. Nadine Schmidt reports for CNN.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) objected yesterday to a Senate vote on assistance for Ukraine, delaying passage of the bill till next week. Paul was able to single-handedly block the package’s advancement because the Senate requires unanimous consent to quickly move such a bill to a final vote. Paul requested that an inspector general be appointed to oversee the funding but rejected an offer from Senate leaders to hold an amendment vote on his provision. Changing the bill would have forced it back to the House. Amy Cheng and Eugene Scott report for the Washington Post.

The European Union’s executive body has proposed setting up trade corridors that would allow Ukraine to sidestep Russia’s blockade of its Black Sea ports and resume exporting millions of tons of grain that are essential to the world’s food supply. European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean said 22 million tons of grain must leave Ukraine via E.U. “solidarity lanes” within the next three months. In a news release, she called the effort a “gigantesque challenge” but stressed the “urgent need.” Andrew Jeong reports for the Washington Post. 

David Beasley, head of the U.N. World Food Programme, is pleading with Russian President Vladimir Putin to reopen Ukraine’s Black Sea ports before global calamity strikes. “Millions of people around the world will die because these ports are being blocked,” Beasley said during a conference yesterday. Matt Egan reports for CNN.

U.N.I.C.E.F. has verified that almost 100 children were killed in Ukraine in April alone, but actual figures could be significantly higher. “In just this past month, the U.N. verified that nearly 100 children were killed, and we believe the actual figures to be considerably higher,” U.N.I.C.E.F. Deputy Executive Director Omar Abdi told the U.N. Security Council yesterday. Hande Atay Alam reports for CNN. 

Global Developments

A group of 18 progressive House Democrats sent a letter to President Biden, urging him to lift all sanctions against Venezuela that “exacerbate the humanitarian situation” in the country. In a letter dated May 10, led by Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Jesús García (D-IL), the group wrote, “It is clear that broad sanctions have failed to achieve their aims.” “In light of this, and the dire human costs incurred, we urge you to lift all U.S. financial and sectoral sanctions that exacerbate the humanitarian situation, though without hindering or delaying the urgent action needed to transition the U.S. economy off of fossil fuels,” the letter reads. Rachel Scully reports for The Hill. 

The U.S. yesterday signed the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention, a multilateral treaty aimed to protect citizens from cybercrime and hold cybercriminals accountable. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard Downing signed the treaty at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. According to a statement by the Justice Department, the U.S. will join more than 60 countries that have pledged to combat cybercrime, with more expected to join in the coming years. Ines Kagubare reports for The Hill. 

President Biden welcomed leaders from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to the White House yesterday night for an intimate dinner ahead of a two-day summit, the first meeting of the group to be held in Washington in its 45-year history. Biden is looking to nudge southeast Asian leaders to be more outspoken about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, however, finding consensus with ASEAN members on the Russian invasion could prove difficult. The White House is also trying to demonstrate that it is stepping up in the Pacific. It announced that the United States would commit to more than $150 million in new projects to bolster Southeast Asia’s climate, maritime and public health infrastructure. Aamer Madhani reports for AP. 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he will refer the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Aqla to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Abu Aqla was shot while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank. There was no immediate response from the ICC or the Israeli government, which does not recognise the court’s authority and has refused to cooperate with an investigation into possible war crimes in the occupied territories. BBC News reports. 

Sri Lanka’s president Gorabaya Rajapaksa has appointed opposition politician Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister in an effort to appease protesters. Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe to the post yesterday after his older brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, stepped down. The move followed a spate of violence that began on Monday when hundreds of ruling party supporters rallied outside the prime minister’s official residence in Colombo, the capital, before marching toward sites where antigovernment protesters had been demonstrating peacefully for weeks. Philip Wen reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

U.N.-appointed independent human rights experts have called for Singapore to immediately impose a moratorium on the death penalty, saying the continued use of capital punishment for drug-related crimes runs contrary to international law. States that have not yet abolished the death penalty may only impose it for “the most serious crimes,” the group of eleven experts said in a joint statement, adding that under international law, “only crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing” should be considered “most serious.” “Drug offences clearly do not meet this threshold,” they argued. The experts condemned Singapore’s recent execution of Malaysian nationals Abdul Kahar bin Othman and Nagaenthran Dharmalingam for drug-related offences. UN News Centre reports. 

A Turkish court upheld a prison sentence for a prominent leader in the country’s largest opposition party, deepening a clampdown on opponents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Court of Cassation in Ankara yesterday approved an earlier sentence against Canan Kaftancioglu, the leader of the Istanbul branch of the Republican People’s Party. She was sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison on charges of insulting the Turkish Republic and defamation of a public official in connection with her social media posts. She will also be banned from participating in politics for nearly five years. Jared Malsin reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

After a month of crippling ransomware attacks, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves has declared a state of emergency. The attacks began in April when the finance ministry was the first to report that a number of its systems were affected, including tax collection and customs. The Costa Rican government has not reported an expansion of the attacks, but some systems, especially at the finance ministry, are still not functioning normally. The Russian-speaking Conti gang had claimed responsibility for the attacks. AP reports. 

One of the biggest donors to Britain’s Conservative Party is suspected of secretly funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to the party from a Russian account, according to a bank alert filed to Britain’s national law enforcement agency. The donation, of $630,225, was made in February 2018 in the name of Ehud Sheleg, a wealthy London art dealer who was most recently the Conservative Party’s treasurer. However, documents filed with the authorities last year say that the money originated in a Russian account of Sheleg’s father-in-law, Sergei Kopytov, who was once a senior politician in the previous pro-Krelim government of Ukraine. The donation was flagged by Barclays bank as both suspected money laundering and a potentially illegal campaign donation. Jane Bradley reports for the New York Times.

Daily Deep State Report 10 May 2022

US

Dead bodies are revealing themselves as Lake Mead’s water levels shrink…Google it!

The Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday announced that it would make $40 million available to fund community policing efforts. The funding allocates up to $10 million for crisis intervention teams, $15 million for de-escalation training and $8 million for accreditation efforts, according to a statement by the DOJ. Another $5 million will go to projects known as COPS Microgrants, which allow local agencies to offer creative ways to fight crime, and up to $2 million will support training related to tolerance, diversity and anti-bias. Monique Beals reports for The Hill. 

QAnon followers are intercepting migrant children at the border and collecting information about their families, based on a conspiracy theory that they are falling prey to sex-trafficking rings. They are the latest in what over the years has developed into a cottage industry of dozens of armed civilians who have packed camouflage gear, tents and binoculars and deployed along the southern border. Miriam Jordan reports for the New York Times. 

Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen testified for four hours yesterday about his claim that the former president orchestrated an altercation with demonstrators outside Trump Tower in 2015. Lawyers questioned Cohen about his recent assertion that Trump directed his bodyguard to “get rid of” a group protesting his derogatory comments about Mexicans early in the 2016 presidential race. Dareh Gregorian and Adam Reiss report for NBC News. 

The Hill: Five things to watch in the West Virginia, Nebraska primaries.

USA Today: West Virginia primary puts Biden infrastructure bill against Trump.

The Associated Press: Groping claims roil Nebraska governor primary.

The Hill: Trump ally slams former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over criticism of Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz. 

States are cutting taxes to help people cope with rising prices. But those cuts are also making inflation worse.

A hunt for a corrections officer and the inmate she helped escape ended in a crash. The inmate surrendered, and the officer fatally shot herself.

Across the U.S., white evangelical churches are at odds over many of the same issues dividing the Republican Party and other institutions.

Andy Warhol’s silk-screen of Marilyn Monroe sold for $195 million at auction, a record for an American artist.

Roe v. Wade

Senate Democrats are poised on Wednesday with public fanfare and speeches to try to surmount GOP (and some Democratic) resistance to a measure that would enshrine the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling in law. The effort will fail (WSHU).

So why are Democratic leaders going this route? Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) wants to put each senator on the record at a time when a conservative majority on the Supreme Court could strike down Roe (The Hill). At the same time, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggests his party might move to ban abortion nationwide legislatively, which would contradict conservatives’ argument that abortion should be left to the states to decide. The Republican Party at the national level is in at times in conflict with public messaging coming from states that have enacted tough abortion restrictions. The Hill’s Emily Brooks writes that a variety of state approaches to limiting or banning the termination of pregnancies have become a web of threats of murder charges or potential jailing of women and their clinicians, no exceptions for cases of rape or incest, and efforts to ban abortion pills and even methods of contraception.

The explosive fight over the fate of Roe v. Wade has thrust Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) into the national spotlight in the familiar role of defending abortion rights — a lifelong battle for the veteran liberal lawmaker that might also prove among her last on Capitol Hill. Read the full story here.

Yesterday the Senate swiftly passed a bill to expand police protections for Supreme Court justices to include their immediate family members. The bill comes in the wake of protests following a leaked draft ruling that indicated the court could overturn Roe v Wade. The measure passed by unanimous consent, suggesting a clear pathway to passage in the House. Siobhan Hughes reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Virus/Climate/Science

COVID-19 has infected over 81.97 million people and has now killed over 998.041 people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been over 518.073 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6.25 million deaths. Sergio Hernandez, Sean O’Key, Amanda Watts, Byron Manley and Henrik Pettersson report for CNN.

To cut emissions, large energy companies are selling off polluting assets worth billions. But they often sell to buyers with looser climate goals.

UKR/RU

The southern Ukrainian city of Odesa was struck by three Kinzhal hypersonic missiles yesterday evening, according to a regional Ukrainian military official. However, the Pentagon assessed that Russian forces do not have the capability to launch a ground or maritime offensive against the Black Sea port. Moreover, Russian advances in the Donbas region remain “incremental” and “anaemic,” a senior U.S. defense official said in a press briefing yesterday. Amy Cheng, Andrew Jeong and Rachel Pannett report for the Washington Post. 

Fires caused by missile strikes in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa have been extinguished, said the country’s State Emergency Service. One person died and five were hospitalised due to the strikes, Ukrainian officials have said. Tim Lister and Julia Presniakove report for CNN. 

Russian forces continue to pummel the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where a local official says at least 100 civilians are still holed up with the last fighters defending the strategic southern city. “In addition to the military, at least 100 civilians remain in the (Azovstal) shelters. However, this does not reduce the intensity of attacks by the occupiers,” Mariupol mayoral aide Petro Andryushchenko wrote on Telegram. Natalie Zinets reports for Reuters. 

The bodies of 44 civilians have been found in the rubble of a five-storey building in Izyum that was destroyed by Russian forces in March, according to a Ukrainian official. “The bodies of 44 civilians were found in the temporarily occupied Izyum from under the rubble of a five-storey building, which was destroyed by the occupiers in the first decade of March,” Oleg Sinegubov, head of Kharkiv regional military administration, has said. BBC News reports. 

The U.S. remains concerned that Russia could annex the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine and hold a sham referendum there, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said yesterday. “This is what Russian authorities and proto authorities have done in the past. They have sought to annex, they have sought to conduct sham elections to give their occupation this patina of legitimacy, and our concern remains that they will attempt to do so once again in territory in eastern Ukraine,” he said at a State Department briefing. Christian Sierra, Jennifer Hansler and Michael Conte report for CNN. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified 200 attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine since the start of the war, according to Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Speaking from Kyiv after spending two days in Ukraine, Tedros said he was “deeply moved” by what he’d seen and heard. Tedros said attacks on healthcare facilities “must stop,” adding: “There is one medicine WHO cannot deliver, and which Ukraine needs more than any other, and that is peace.” Radina Gigova reports for CNN.

President Biden yesterday signed a modern-day Lend-Lease Act, 81 years after the original version helped lead the way into World War II. The new lending program will waive time-consuming requirements, speeding up the delivery of military aid to Ukraine. Peter Baker and Emily Cochrane report for the New York Times. 

The House of Representatives plans to vote early this week on a nearly $40 billion U.S. aid package for Ukraine to help the beleaguered nation fight against the Russian invasion and sustain its economy, according to Democratic aides. A senior Democratic aide said the hope is to bring the package to the floor as early as Tuesday for a vote. The package can pass the House with a simple majority, but in the Senate, it needs Republican support and at least 60 votes. The Senate hasn’t agreed to the package the House plans to vote on. Natalie Andrews reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have asked Congress to pass additional appropriations in order to further assist U.S. efforts to aid Ukraine by May 19. In a letter to House and Senate, Austin and Blinken said the administration needs the money by then “if we are to continue are security assistance at the current pace.” The officials said that they expected the $3.5 billion in drawdown authority that was passed in March as part of the $1.5 trillion government funding bill to be exhausted later this month. Jordan Williams reports for The Hill. 

Biden was “displeased” with leaks last week about U.S. intelligence that helped Ukraine target the Russian military, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said yesterday. “The president was displeased with the leaks,” Psaki in a press briefing. “His view is that it was an overstatement of our role — an inaccurate statement — and also an understatement of the Ukrainians’ role and their leadership.” Andrew Jeong reports for the Washington Post. 

Psaki yesterday called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks that NATO was “creating threats next to our border,”  “patently false and absurd.” Referring to Putin’s annual Victory Day address in Moscow Psaki said: “What we saw President Putin do is give a version of revisionist history that took the form of disinformation that we have seen too commonly as the Russian playbook…the suggestion that this war that was prompted by, directed by President Putin, was prompted by Western aggression or Western plans is patently false and absurd.” DJ Judd reports for CNN. 

The Biden administration ramped up a national security probe into Russia’s AO Kaspersky Lab antivirus software earlier this year amid heightened fears of Russian cyberattacks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The case was referred to the Commerce Department by the Department of Justice last year, but Commerce made little progress on it until the White House and other administration officials urged them to move forward in March, sources familiar with the matter have revealed. “The probe, which has not previously been reported, shows the administration is digging deep into its tool kit to hit Moscow with even its most obscure authorities in a bid to protect U.S. citizens and corporations from Russian cyberattacks,” Alexandra Alper reports for Reuters. 

The Biden administration said yesterday that it is lifting U.S. tariffs on Ukrainian steel for one year as a way to help the country in its war with Russia. The move comes as some Ukrainian steel mills have begun producing again, and the industry employs 1 in 13 Ukrainian people, the Commerce Department said.“Creating export opportunities for these mills is essential to their ability to continue employing their workers and maintaining one of Ukraine’s most important industries,” a Commerce statement read. Alex Leary reports for the Wall Street Journal.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has arrived in Ukraine on an unannounced trip. He is the highest-ranking German government official to visit the country since the start of the Russian invasion. Baerbock – who was meeting local residents in Bucha, where Russia’s army has been accused of carrying out war crimes – is the latest in a string of foreign diplomats and leaders to visit the town near Kyiv. BBC News reports. 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen failed to reach an agreement with Hungary yesterday to secure the country’s backing for an oil embargo on Russia. Officials had hoped to win approval for the sanctions package last week. However, after yesterday’s discussions, E.U. officials said work was still needed to address Hungary’s demand that alternative energy supplies will be available if they stop importing Russian oil. Laurence Norman reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Ukraine pressed ahead yesterday with its effort to join the European Union, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meeting for a virtual conference to discuss the matter. The European Commission, the E.U.’s executive body, aims to deliver its opinion on Ukrainian candidacy to the E.U. in June, von der Leyen tweeted following the meeting. However, French President Emmanuel Macron cautioned that the process of allowing Ukraine to join the E.U. would likely take several decades. Peter Saidel reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Ukraine and the E.U. have discussed taking “immediate measures to unblock Ukraine’s ports for grain exports” after Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports has forced its grain exporters to look for alternatives to move their cargo. Zelenskyy said he discussed preventing “a global food crisis triggered by Russia’s aggressive actions” during talks with European Council President Charles Michel on his visit to Odesa yesterday. BBC News reports. 

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said yesterday that Moscow wouldn’t stand idly by if Finland were to join NATO.“Our military will consider all necessary measures to safeguard [our] legitimate defense interests,” Grushko told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Finland could apply to join NATO within weeks, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said recently. Mauro Orru reports for the Wall Street Journal.

The Nordic region’s defense capabilities would be strengthened if Sweden and Finland joined NATO, allowing joint defense planning within the framework of the alliance, Sweden’s defense minister told Swedish radio today. “(If Sweden and Finland join NATO) there will be the effect that we use each others’ strengths and advantages and fully complement each other and also carry out operational planning,” Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist of the ruling Social Democrats said. Reuters reports.

The U.N. Human Rights Council (OHCHR) will hold a special session this Thursday to address the deteriorating human rights situation in Ukraine stemming from the Russian aggression, according to an OHCHR press release. The meeting comes after Yeveniia Filipenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN, wrote a letter urging it to consider “recent reports of war crimes and large-scale violations in the town of Bucha…and ongoing reports of mass casualties in the city of Mariupol.” BBC News reports. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a congratulatory message to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Russia’s Victory Day holiday. In his letter sent yesterday Kim, “extended firm solidarity to the cause of the Russian people to root out the political and military threat and blackmail by the hostile forces.” BBC News reports.

Two Russian reporters appear to have posted at least 30 articles to a pro-Kremlin news site, lenta.ru, yesterday criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and his government’s suppression of critics.  Reporters Egor Polyakov and Alexandra Miroshnikova made several claims in their articles, including that Russian defense officials were “lying to relatives” about those killed in the sinking of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva and accusing Putin of launching one of the “bloodiest wars of the 21st century.” The articles were almost immediately taken down. Henry Klapper reports for CNN. 

The Pulitzer Board has awarded a special citation to the journalists of Ukraine for their work reporting on the Russian invasion of their country. “Despite bombardment, abductions, occupation, and even deaths in their ranks, they have persisted in their effort to provide an accurate picture of a terrible reality, doing honor to Ukraine and to journalists around the world,” the board said in announcing the special citation for coverage of the war. Peter Saidel reports for the Wall Street Journal.

Global Developments

Haitian citizen, Joseph Joel John, was extradited from Jamacia to the U.S. on Friday to face criminal charges related to his alleged involvement in the assassination of the former President of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, on July 7, 2021. John, 51, made his initial court appearance yesterday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis, who sits in Miami. John is charged with conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the U.S. and providing material support resulting in death, knowing or intending that such material support would be used to prepare for or carry out the conspiracy to kill or kidnap. John is the third individual to be charged and arrested in the U.S. for his role in the assassination plot. The United States Department of Justice reports. 

China’s Foreign Ministry has rebuked the U.S. for changing the wording on the State Department website about Taiwan, saying “political manipulation” will not succeed in changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. The State Department website’s section on Taiwan has removed wording both on not supporting Taiwan’s independence and on acknowledging Beijing’s position that Taiwan is part of China. Reuters reports. 

Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the son of the country’s late former dictator, claimed a historic victory in the Philippines’ presidential election, winning more than twice as many votes as his closest competitor. To Marcos’s supporters, many of whom are too young to remember his father’s rule, the 64-year-old represents the antidote to a liberal elite that fell short on promises to meaningfully improve the lives of the poor. However, Macros’ opponents fear he could use his power to wage political battles against his family’s adversaries, shield allies from scrutiny and enrich his associates like his father did before an uprising ousted him 36 years ago. Feliz Solomon reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned yesterday, bowing to months of protests in a significant blow to the fortunes of a family dynasty that has dominated the island’s politics for nearly two decades. Rajapaksa made the move hours after his supporters instigated fierce clashes with government opponents on the streets of Colombo, the capital. It was not immediately clear whether Rajapaksa’s decision to resign would satisfy the protesters, who have been demanding the resignation of his younger brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 72, the president and currently the more powerful of the two. Skandha Gunasekara and Mujib Mashel report for the New York Times. 

Yoon Suk-yeol, the new president of South Korea, has been sworn into office in Seoul. In his inaugural speech, he made promises to heal political and economic divides at home, to fight for international norms and to offer an ambitious package of economic incentives to North Korea. Choe Sang-Hun reports for the New York Times. 

Food insecurity in parts of Afghanistan has reached “catastrophic” levels, according to a U.N. report released yesterday. The analysis, conducted primarily by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme, found that 19.7 million Afghans are “facing high levels of acute food insecurity.” The almost 20 million people facing acute malnutrition represent 47 per cent of the country’s overall population and are concentrated mostly in northeast Afghanistan. Chloe Folmar reports for The Hill. 

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has urged authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to investigate the deadly armed group attacks in Djugu Territory, Ituri Province, on Sunday. At least 38 civilians, including women and children, were killed in the attacks carried out by the Coopérative pour le développement du Congo at the Blakete-Plitu mining site. The U.N. mission in the country conducted a medical evacuation on Monday, transporting severely injured civilians to medical facilities in the provincial capital, Bunia. UN News Centre reports. 

U.K. opposition leader Keir Starmer has promised to resign if police decide that he broke coronavirus laws. The statement followed days of speculation about whether Starmer was in breach of the country’s strict Covid-19 regulations when he was pictured drinking a beer as he ate takeout Indian food during a campaign meeting in the northern city of Durham last year. Starmer’s promise raises the pressure on U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has already been fined for attending a birthday celebration at Downing Street, but has refused to quit. Stephen Castle reports for the New York Times. 

Speaking yesterday at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a new “European political community,” which would include both members and non-members of the E.U.. “This new European organization would allow democratic European nations adhering to our set of values to find a new space for political cooperation, security, cooperation in energy, transport, investment, infrastructure, and the movement of people, especially our youth,” Macron said. “Joining it would not prejudge future membership in the European Union, necessarily, just as it would not be closed to those who have left.” However, Macron offered virtually no specifics about the proposal. David M. Herszenhorn, Hans Von Der Burchard and Maia De La Baume report for POLITICO.

Daily Deep State Report: May 9, 2022

US

Florida is starting to look like Trump country. Long the nation’s largest – and most unpredictable – battleground state, Florida’s politics have transformed at a breakneck pace in recent years, becoming more and more conservative even as hundreds of thousands of new residents have poured into the state, often from bluer territory. The political sea-change happening in the Sunshine State owes to a perfect storm of circumstances – including shifting demographics and a poorly organized state Democratic Party. Read the full story here.

Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) is looking to shut down Trump-inspired primary challengers as his under-the-radar race goes down to the wire. Read the full story here.

QAnon groups are intercepting migrant children at the southern border, motivated by a conspiracy theory.

Across the U.S., suicidal teenagers sleep in hospital emergency departments every night. They have nowhere else to go.

A shortage of baby formula in the U.S. is causing some retailers to limit how much customers can buy.

Three Americans died under mysterious circumstances at a Bahamas resort. Officials didn’t suspect foul play.

The Hill: Pro-Trump candidates look to harness populist energy after Ohio. 

The Associated Press: Trump, emboldened after Ohio victory, faces challenges ahead.

Ever since Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) tanked Build Back Better, Democrats have been waiting for the swing vote to lay out what he’ll support in a new reconciliation bill before they make it official. But people close to Manchin tell NBC’s Sahil Kapur and Benjy Sarlin that it would be a “big mistake” for Dems to wait for him to write it. “People familiar with Manchin’s thinking say he has repeatedly laid out his demands in public but that he’s unlikely to put pen to paper to write a reconciliation bill — that’s a job for Democratic leaders.”

Roe v. Wade

The headquarters of an anti-abortion group in Madison, Wis., was set on fire yesterday morning in an act of vandalism that included the attempted use of a Molotov cocktail and graffiti that read “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.” No one in the group, Wisconsin Family Action, was in the building at the time, and there were no injuries reported. The Madison Police Department did not say whether it had made any arrests or whether more than one person was involved. Luke Vander Ploeg and Addison Lathers report for the New York Times. 

A clerk for a conservative justice is the “leading theory” amid intense speculation about who released a draft opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito showing the court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg of NPR. Totenberg said on ABC’s “This Week” that the prevailing theory is that a conservative clerk released the decision in an attempt to lock in the five justices who voted to support overturning Roe as Chief Justice John Roberts reportedly attempts to pull his colleagues toward a more moderate position. Brad Dress reports for The Hill.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday in the wake of abortion rights protests over the weekend that demonstrations should not involve violence and expressed President Biden’s support for judges.Read the full story here.

Would Republicans implement a national abortion ban? Senator Mitch McConnell said it was “possible,” and Democrats are raising alarms.

The leaked draft opinion that would eliminate the constitutional right to abortion sent mixed signals about what other precedents might be at risk.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), who may seek the presidency in 2024, on Sunday told ABC’s “This Week” that a national abortion ban floated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) during a USA Today interview is “inconsistent with what we’ve been fighting for.” The governor, who last year signed a near total abortion ban into law in Arkansas, said, “If you look at a constitutional or a national standard, that goes against that thrust of the states having prerogative.”

Jan. 6 Insurrection

Investigators investigating the Jan. 6 attack are preparing to open a new, public phase of their probe, as they attempt to make a case that former President Trump and people involved with his campaign motivated some rioters who took part in the violence. The Democrat-led committee plans to hold public hearings in June, some in prime time, with a full report on the investigation expected in the fall. Scott Patterson reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Though several top Trump world figures have stonewalled the Jan. 6 committee, the panel has managed to get the info it wants by turning to their assistants and deputies, Kyle Cheney and Nick Wu report this morning. “Time and again, the panel has managed to pierce the secrecy of Trump’s inner circle by turning to the aides entrusted with carrying out logistics for their bosses,” they write. “It’s a classic investigative strategy that’s paid dividends for select committee investigators” as aides like CASSIDY HUTCHINSON have helped piece together a detailed timeline of what happened in the White House on Jan. 6.

Virus/Science/Climate

COVID-19 has infected over 81.86 million people and has now killed over 997.528 people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been over 517.371 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6.25 million deaths. Sergio Hernandez, Sean O’Key, Amanda Watts, Byron Manley and Henrik Pettersson report for CNN.

COVID-19’s pending surge of infections could impact 100 million Americans this fall and winter, and the government is trying to get ready (The Hill).

At least 1 million Americans are dead because of the coronavirus, now the third-largest killer in the U.S. after heart disease and cancer, based on 2020 statistics. Unvaccinated people were 53.2 times more likely to die thus far during the pandemic than those fully vaccinated and boosted (The Washington Post). Message this fall: Be vaccinated, boosted, risk-aware and ready for the latest science about the spread of sub-subvariants.

Add another item to America’s long list of critical infrastructure woes: electricity shortages. From California to Texas to Indiana, electric grid operators are warning that power-generating capacity is struggling to keep up with demand, a gap that could lead to rolling blackouts during heat waves or other peak periods as soon as this year (The Wall Street Journal).

UKR/RU

Around 60 people were killed after a bomb hit a school in east Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Earlier, the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said 90 people had been sheltering in the building in Bilohorivka, and 30 were rescued. Haidai said a Russian plane had dropped the bomb on Saturday. BBC News reports. 

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the attack on the school building in Bilohorivka. “This attack is yet another reminder that in this war, as in so many other conflicts, it is civilians that pay the highest price,” Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement on behalf of the U.N. chief. UN News Centre reports. 

The Ukrainian military says that Russia is holding back some of its forces within its borders to prevent a Ukrainian counterattack that has made some headway east of Kharkiv. In its latest operational update, the armed forces’ general staff says that “in order to prevent the advance of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the enemy has concentrated up to nineteen battalion tactical groups in the Belgorod region” of Russia. Tim Lister reports for CNN. 

Ukrainian counterattacks northeast of Kharkiv have likely forced Russian troops to redeploy to Kharkiv instead of reinforcing stalled Russian offensive operations elsewhere in eastern Ukraine, the Washington-based think-tank the Institute for the Study of War has said in an assessment. Russian forces are continuing their attempt to reach the borders of Donestk and Luhansk but have not made any significant gains since securing Popasna on Saturday.

Russian forces have fired four Onyx cruise missiles at the Odesa region in southern Ukraine, according to the spokesman for the Odesa region military administration, Serhiy Bratchuk. “The missiles arrived from the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea,” he said. Julia Kesaieva reports for CNN. 

Russia’s stockpile of precision-guided munitions has likely been heavily depleted, forcing the use of readily available but ageing munitions that are less reliable and more easily intercepted, according to the latest U.K. Defense Ministry intelligence update. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revealed shortcomings in its ability to conduct precision strikes at scale, and Russia will likely struggle to replace the precision weaponry it has already expended, the update adds. 

The commanders of the Ukrainian forces holding out against Russian troops in the Azovstal plant in Mariupol have lashed out at the government in Kyiv for not doing enough to help them defend the city. “Our government failed in the defense of Mariupol, failed in the preparation of the defense of Mariupol,” said Ilya Somoilenko, a lieutenant in the Azov regiment. Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov regiment, accused the government of “cynicism” for celebrating the evacuation of small groups of civilians when so many people had been killed in Russia’s assault on the south-eastern port city. Ben Hall reports for the Financial Times. 

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that “all women, children and elderly people” have been evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant. “The order of the president has been done,” she said. “This part of the Mariupol humanitarian operation has been completed.” Tim Lister, Julia Presniakova and Olga Voitovych report for CNN. 

Russia is poised to begin shipping goods through the port of Mariupol in the coming weeks, officials said yesterday, signaling that Moscow will soon try to capitalize on the strategic value of the ruined city. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin and the leader of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, toured the port in recent days, Pushilin said on Telegram. He said shipments will begin this month. Reis Thebault reports for the Washington Post.

The Open Society Justice Initiative – headed by former senior International Criminal Court prosecutor and with input from a range of experts – has drafted a 65-page model indictment demonstrating the feasibility of building a solid case against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the six other most senior Russian officials responsible for the crime of aggression. These names include Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Nikolai Patrushev;  Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu; foreign intelligence director Sergey Naryshkin, and others. An introduction to the model indictment is provided by James A. Goldston for Just Security. 

Putin and Russian leaders are “mirroring” the fascism of Nazi Germany, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace will say today in a speech at the National Army Museum in London. Wallace will say that Russian leadership should share the same fate as the Nazis, who ended up facing the Nuremberg trials for their atrocities. In his address, Wallace will also slam Russian senior officers for such incompetence that they should be brought to court. “Not only are they engaged in an illegal invasion and war crimes, but their top brass have failed their own rank and file to the extent they should be court-martialled.” Camille Gijs reports for POLITICO.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking from Moscow’s Red Square at the start of a military pageant, did not use his Victory Day speech to announce plans to intensify the war against Ukraine or order a mobilization of men to fight, as Ukrainian officials had feared. Instead, he said that Russian forces entered Ukraine as “preemptive pushback” to what he claimed, without evidence, were Western plans to carry out attacks on eastern Ukraine. Robyn Dixon, Mary Ilyushina and Jennifer Hassan report for the Washington Post. 

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has used Victory Day to call on Russia’s leader to end the war in Ukraine immediately, saying that Putin should pull his troops back from Ukraine and start peace negotiations.  “We stand firmly by Ukraine’s side and will continue to help the country assert its right to self-defense,” he said. BBC News reports.

Protesters threw red paint on the Russian ambassador to Poland as he arrived at a cemetery in Warsaw to pay respects to Red Army soldiers who died during World War II. Ambassador Sergey Andreev arrived at the Soviet soldiers cemetery to lay flowers, where a group of activists opposed to Russia’s war in Ukraine were waiting for him. The protesters carried Ukrainian flags and chanted “fascist” at him, while some were dressed in white sheets smeared with blood, symbolizing the Ukrainian victims of Russia’s war. AP reports. 

The Biden administration is accelerating plans to reopen the U.S. embassy in Kyiv. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has told his Ukrainian counterpart that this progress — marked by Kyiv Embassy charge d’affaires Kristina Kvien’s visit yesterday to commemorate V-E Day — is a testament to Ukraine’s success and Moscow’s failure in the early phase of the war. Jonathan Swan and Zachary Basu report for Axios. 

The Biden administration has announced new sanctions targeting Russian state-controlled media and banking executives, as well as a ban on Americans providing accounting and management consulting services and new export controls targeting the country’s industrial sector. The package will seek to clamp down on advertising dollars flowing into three Russian television stations, bar U.S. consulting firms from providing services to Russian companies seeking to evade sanctions and limit Russia’s access to industrial engines, motors and bulldozers. The U.S. will also sanction banking executives from Sberbank, the largest financial institution in Russia, and Gazprombank, a Russian bank that facilitates business by Russia’s Gazprom, one of the world’s largest natural-gas exporters. Ken Thomas reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin claimed on Saturday that the U.S. is directly participating in hostilities against Russia amid its war with Ukraine. “This is not only about the supply of weapons and equipment,” Volodin wrote on Telegram, saying the Ukrainian government was given “the aid of American intelligence forces.” “After the coup d’etat, foreign advisers and instructors are working in Ukraine. But today, Washington essentially coordinates and develops military operations, thereby directly participating in the hostilities against our country,” he added. Caroline Vakil reports for The Hill. 

First Lady Jill Biden met her Ukrainian counterpart Olena Zelenska in Ukraine yesterday. The two first ladies met at a school in the border town of Uzhhorod. Zelenska said it had been a “courageous act” to visit Ukraine while it was at war. BBC News reports. 

Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet said yesterday that his company would nearly double production of their javelin missiles as the U.S. has sent hundreds of the weapons to aid Ukraine.“​​Right now, our capacity is 2,100 Javelin missiles per year. We’re endeavoring to take that up to 4,000 per year, and that will take a number of months, maybe even a couple of years to get there because we have to get our supply chain to also crank up,” Taiclet said. Monique Beals reports for The Hill.

Leaders of the Group of 7 nations pledged during a virtual meeting yesterday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to ban or phase out Russian oil. The group did not provide details but said in a statement that the plans would be enforced in a “timely and orderly fashion, and in ways that provide time for the world to secure alternative supplies.” Emma Bubola and Eduardo Medine report for the New York Times. 

E.U. capitals should consider seizing frozen Russian foreign exchange reserves to cover the costs of rebuilding Ukraine after the war, the E.U.’s high representative for foreign policy has said. Josep Borrell, speaking in an interview with the Financial Times, highlighted how the U.S. had taken control of billions of dollars of assets belonging to the Afghan central bank, in part to potentially compensate victims of terrorism as well as to provide humanitarian aid for the country, saying that it would be logical to consider similar steps with Russia’s reserves. Sam Fleming reports for the Financial Times.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany will continue sending heavy weapons to Ukraine, adding that it was the country’s historical responsibility to help the government in Kyiv defend itself against Russian aggression. Scholz made the comments during a speech on Sunday to mark the 77th anniversary of the Allied victory in the second world war. “We have learned a central lesson from the disastrous history of our country between 1933 and 1945,” Scholz said in the televised address. “No more war. No more genocide. No more tyranny.”  Guy Chazan reports for the Financial Times. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Russian President Vladimir Putin “can only lose” in Ukraine following his unannounced visit to the country yesterday. “What Putin needs to understand is that the West is absolutely determined and resolved to stand against what he is doing,” Trudeau told Reuters in an interview. Tom Balmforth reports for Reuters. 

In a joint news conference with Zelenskyy in Kyiv yesterday, Trudeau announced the reopening of the Canadian embassy in Kyiv. He also announced more military assistance for Ukraine would be given including drone cameras, satellite imagery, small arms, ammunition and funding for de-mining operations. Karen Smith reports for CNN.

Russian users of smart TV systems reported today that the services were hacked, with names of shows and channels replaced by a message: “The blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of murdered children is on your hands. TV and the authorities are lying. No to war.” The same line appeared on the platforms of Yandex, Russia’s IT giant that, similar to Google, combines many products under its umbrella, including a search engine and a service providing TV programming schedules. Russia’s answer to YouTube, called RuTube, was also affected, according to a statement from the streaming platform. Mary Ilyushina reports for the Washington Post. 

Global Developments

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said yesterday that he will emphasize to President Biden that no country should be left out of the U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June. “Nobody should exclude anyone,” Lopez Obrador said during a visit to Cuba. The U.S. government has stated that Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government were unlikely to be invited because the summit is meant to showcase democracy in the hemisphere. Reuters reports. 

The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on Friday against the online cryptocurrency tool Blender, which is used by North Korea to steal and launder virtual currencies. A North Korean cyber operations unit, known as the Lazarus Group, which had already been sanctioned by the U.S., carried out a $620 million heist in March and used the Blender tool to launder more than $20 million of the stolen funds, the department said. Tobias Burns reports for The Hill. 

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the U.N., has postponed a visit planned for Monday to the Syria-Turkey border. However, she will still travel to Brussels next week for an E.U. conference on the future of Syria, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations said on Saturday. Kylie Atwood reports for CNN. 

North Korea fired a short-range, submarine-launched ballistic missile off its east coast on Saturday, hours after the U.S. warned that the country could carry out a nuclear test as soon as this month. The missile, the first of its kind tested since October, was launched from waters near the coastal city of Sinpo and flew 372 miles, the South Korean military said. Choe Sang-Hun reports for the New York Times. 

Israeli security forces captured two Palestinians yesterday who were suspected of perpetrating an axe attack that killed three Israeli Jews in the central town of Elad on Thursday night. Their arrests ended an intensive search and calmed immediate fears that the assailants could come out of hiding and strike again. However, Israel remains on high alert for possible copycat attacks. Isabel Kershner reports for the New York Times. 

The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked a top official at a U.N. agency to resign on Saturday, following an article describing how the agency had given out $61 million in loans and grant money to a single British family. The United Nations Office for Project Services teamed up with the private sector for profit in 2015 by operating like an investment bank. Now it may lose as much as $22 million in bad debt, according to U.N. auditors. Farnaz Fassihi and David A. Fahrenthold report for the New York Times. 

Millions of Filipinos are heading to the polls today to choose their next president in an election that could bring the son of the country’s former dictator to power more than 3½ decades after his father’s regime was overthrown in a popular uprising. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., 64 years old, held a commanding lead over his closest competitor, current Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo, in an April opinion poll, with 56% of respondents saying they would vote for him against 23% for her. The winner will succeed President Rodrigo Duterte, a tough-talking populist who steered the U.S. ally closer to China and oversaw a brutal war on drugs that left thousands dead. The Philippines’ constitution limits presidents to a single six-year term. His daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, is seeking the vice presidency alongside Marcos. Feliz Solomon report for the Wall Street Journal. 

John Lee, a hard-line former policeman who as Hong Kong’s security chief oversaw Beijing’s imposition of a draconian security law in the city, was chosen as its next chief executive yesterday in a contest with no opponents. Lee’s selection was decided by a vote of a 1,500-member committee of mostly Beijing loyalists in the city, held amid tight security. Lee was the first candidate seeking an initial term in office to be unopposed, reflecting how Beijing has tightened its grip on the city in recent years. Cao Li and James T. Areddy report for the Wall Street Journal. 

A political party committed to the reunification of Ireland is set to win a historic victory in Northern Irish elections, marking a shift in the U.K. region which traditionally has been dominated by parties loyal to Britain. Pro-unification party Sinn Féin claimed 29% of votes cast in elections held Thursday, beating a field of other parties including the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, which secured 21.3%. The victory for Sinn Féin, which for decades was the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, is a first in Northern Ireland since its creation in 1921 and threatens to upend a delicate power-sharing arrangement in the region. Max Colchester and Paul Hannon report for the Wall Street Journal. 

At least 11 troops, including an officer, were killed in a militant attack in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula, Egypt’s military said on Saturday. It said in a statement that the militants attacked a water pumping station east of the Suez canal. It did not give further details on the location. The statement said security forces clashed with the attacking militants. It said at least five other troops were wounded in the attack. They were pursuing the militants in an isolated area of Sinai, it added. AP reports. 

Colombia has sent an additional 2,000 troops and police to help contain a gang that has burned cars and threatened people as reprisal for the extradition of its leader to the US. Defense Minister Diego Molano said the extra troops would be sent to support almost 50,000 personnel already deployed. Dairo Antonio Úsuga, better known as Otoniel, was extradited to the U.S. last week after Colombia’s Supreme Court approved the extradition last month. BBC News reports. 

Daily Deep State Report: May 6, 2022

US

The U.S. economy added 428,000 jobs and the jobless rate held even at 3.6 percent, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department. The April jobs report showed job growth holding strong in April as the unemployment rate remained just 0.1 percentage points above its level in February 2020. Economists expected the U.S. to have added roughly 300,000 jobs, according to consensus estimates, while bringing the jobless rate back down to pre-pandemic lows. Read the developing story here.

US jobs growth maintained robust momentum in April, despite employers grappling with a historically tight labor market, underscoring the strength of the economy. Read the full story here.

Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) new focus on putting together an ambitious bipartisan energy and climate package is being met with strong skepticism from fellow Democrats who view it as a stalling tactic to avoid discussing President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. Manchin told reporters this week that his focus is on crafting bipartisan energy legislation, which would center on proposals to incentivize green energy technologies and bolster the fossil fuel industry, and not on moving Biden’s most ambitious proposals with a budget reconciliation package. But the talks over the bipartisan energy bill are at the earliest stages and the chances of getting a deal are small.  Read the full story here.

President Biden has named Karine Jean-Pierre to be his new press secretary, elevating Jen Psaki’s top deputy to one of the White House’s most prominent roles ahead of November’s midterm elections. Jean-Pierre, who is 44 years old, will become the first Black woman and first openly gay person to serve as White House press secretary. Ken Thomas reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Biden yesterday signed into law bipartisan legislation aimed at improving federal law enforcement’s collection of data related to cybercrime.  The legislation, known as the “Better Cybercrime Metrics Act,” passed the Senate by unanimous consent late last year and passed the House at the end of March in a broadly bipartisan 377-48 vote.  The law directs the Justice Department to take a number of actions designed to improve data collection on cybercrimes, including requiring the department to establish a new category in the National Incident-Based Reporting System specifically for federal, state and local cybercrime reports. Morgan Chalfant reports for The Hill. 

Former President Trump proposed launching missiles into Mexico to destroy drug labs run by cartels, according to an upcoming memoir from Mark Esper, his former secretary of Defense. According to Esper, Trump raised the idea of bombing the drug labs at least twice in the summer of 2020, maintaining that U.S. involvement in a strike against its southern neighbor could be kept secret. Maggie Haberman reports for the New York Times.

Paul Kane, The Washington Post: Voters increasingly credit Democrats for a pandemic turnaround, although Americans have shifted their attention to inflation and economic trends that are less positive for Democrats, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Here’s a new data point to watch: The average mortgage rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan climbed to 5.27 percent, the highest level since 2009 (The Wall Street Journal).

The Hill, The Daily Beast and The Washington Post: Questions about professional standards for House members are back in the headlines because of freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) and his pileup of eyebrow-raising controversies. His personal behavior in a nude video clip unearthed by detractors is the latest. The 26-year-old Cawthorn, who has received no disciplinary rebuke from within his caucus, says he was “blackmailed” and will not resign.

Roe v. Wade

Democrats are worried their party lacks a clear plan to push back at what is certain to be an onslaught of abortion restrictions in the wake of a Supreme Court draft ruling striking down Roe v. Wade. While Democrat after Democrat has cried out over the possibility a conservative Supreme Court could eviscerate abortion rights, strategists say little is being offered in terms of a clear way to fight back. Some also say the party wasn’t ready for something that was clearly coming down the pike. Read the full story here.

Politico: Vulnerable Senate Democrats campaign as last hope against abortion ban.

Reuters and Fox News: Security has been tightened at the Supreme Court this week following the publication of a draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito on behalf of a conservative majority to overturn Roe v. Wade. Fences went up. A leak investigation is underway at the court. And Alito canceled a planned appearance at a judicial conference on Thursday. Liberal activists reportedly plan demonstrations at some justices’ homes on Wednesday, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has introduced legislation that would bolster security for the members of the high court and their families.

The Hill: New technologies could make it easier for law enforcement across the country to identify and prosecute people providing abortion services in states where it could become illegal.

The New York Times: Draft opinion overturning Roe raises a question: Are more precedents next?

Politico: Former President Trump set the stage for Roe’s demise. For now, he doesn’t want to talk about it.

NBC News: Former Vice President Mike Pence praises draft opinion that would overturn Roe.

The next front in the fight over abortion rights: pills.

“On Wednesday, more than 150 officials nationwide joined a call to discuss concerns about growing threats in the wake of the news, including potential danger to Supreme Court justices,” Betsy Woodruff Swan reports.

Jan. 6th Insurrection

Rudolph Giuliani, who helped lead President Donald J. Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election as his personal lawyer, has abruptly pulled out of a scheduled Friday interview with the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. According to Giuliani’s lawyer Robert Costello, Guiliani cancelled the meeting after panel lawyers informed him that he would not be able to record the interview. Luke Broadwater reports for the New York Times. 

An Iowa man who brought his teenage son to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has admitted he was among a group that assaulted D.C. police officer Michael Fanone, who suffered a heart attack and traumatic brain injury whilst defending Congress. Kyle Young, 38, pleaded guilty yesterday in D.C. federal court to one count of assaulting a police officer, which carries a sentence of up to eight years in prison; prosecutors say the guidelines call for at least five. Rachel Weiner reports for the Washington Post.

Virus/Climate/Weather

COVID-19 has infected over 81.69 million people and has now killed over 996.964 people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been over 516.194 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6.25 million deaths. Sergio Hernandez, Sean O’Key, Amanda Watts, Byron Manley and Henrik Pettersson report for CNN.

The Food and Drug Administration found “no evidence” that prolonging and repeating doses of Pfizer’s antiviral pill Paxlovid is more effective against COVID-19. Extending courses of the drug to 10 days or beginning a second round for patients with “recurrent COVID-19 symptoms” has not been shown to have added benefit (The Hill). 

The U.S. travel industry, including major airlines and travel groups, urged the White House in a letter on Thursday to abandon COVID-19 pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated international passengers traveling to the United States (Reuters). The arguments? High costs; unnecessary.

In Texas and Oklahoma, continued storms on Thursday added to Wednesday night’s tornado damage. There were no reports of serious injuries but the storm system caused flooding in parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas (The Associated Press).

In New Mexico, fire crews worked on Thursday to try to save homes from a massive wildfire. The fire has marched across 258 square miles of high alpine forest and grasslands at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains (The Associated Press).

Texas plans to challenge a Supreme Court ruling requiring public schools to educate undocumented immigrants.

UKR/RU

The Pentagon has denied providing “specific targeting information” to Ukraine to sink the Moskva, a Russian guided-missile cruiser that was the flagship of Moscow’s fleet in the Black Sea. “We did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the Moskva,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement yesterday. “We were not involved in the Ukrainians’ decision to strike the ship or in the operation they carried out. We had no prior knowledge of Ukraine’s intent to target the ship.” Oren Liebermann reports for CNN. 

The Pentagon also denied that the U.S. has shared intelligence with Ukraine to target Russian military officials after reports emerged on Wednesday saying U.S. intel had helped Ukraine kill a number of Russian generals. “The United States provides battlefield intelligence to help Ukraine defend their country,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said. “We do not provide intelligence on the location of senior military leaders on the battlefield or participate in targeting decisions of the Ukrainian military.” Jordan Williams reports for The Hill. 

The Ukrainian military reported fewer Russian ground attacks in the last 24 hours, but it said there was still persistent shelling of many places along the frontlines in the country’s east and south. The overall picture suggests relatively static frontlines, with Russian forces still unable to take towns and villages first attacked as long as a month ago.  In today’s operational update, the General Staff indicated that Russian forces seemed to be regrouping and efforts to take territory were confined to a few areas such as Popasna in the Luhansk region. Tim Lister and Julia Kesaieva report for CNN. 

Russian forces have made “some small progress, particularly in the north part of the Donbas” region of Ukraine, Kirby said during a briefing yesterday. This small progress is not the progress that the US believes Russian forces “expected to make at this point,” in the region, Kirby added. Ellie Kaufman reports for CNN. 

Russia’s Defence Ministry says its missiles have destroyed a large ammunition depot in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. It also said its air defences shot down two Ukrainian warplanes – an Su-25 and a MiG-29 – in the eastern Luhansk region. BBC News reports.

Almost 500 civilians have been evacuated from Mariupol and the Azovstal steel plant, according to Andriy Yermak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “The next stage is underway in rescuing our people,” he later added, thanking the U.N. for their help in the evacuations. Andrew Jeong reports for the Washington Post. 

Russian forces in Mariupol have continued their ground assault on the Azovstal steel plant for a second day, despite Russian statements claiming they would seek only to seal it off, the U.K. Ministry of Defense has said in its latest intelligence update. This effort has come at personnel, equipment and munitions cost to Russia. Whilst Ukrainian resistance continues in Azovstal, Russian losses will continue to build and frustrate their operational plans in the Donbas regions, the update adds. 

​​Operations to evacuate civilians from Mariupol will continue but Russian forces have “not stopped” shelling the Azovstal steel plant, Zelenskyy said in his nightly address yesterday. “Women, many children remain there,” he said. BBC News reports. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in a phone call yesterday that Russia was still ready to provide safe passage for civilians from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, the Kremlin said. It said Putin told Bennett in a “thorough exchange of views on the situation in Ukraine” that Kyiv should order Ukrainian fighters holed up in the vast Azovstal plant to put down their weapons. Reuters reports. 

Experts and officials from the U.S. and Ukraine detailed the war crimes being committed by Russia at a hearing of the U.S. Helsinki Commission on Wednesday, but were less certain about whether those actions constitute genocide. “The State Department has assessed that members of Russia’s forces have committed war crimes across Ukraine based on a careful review of available evidence and information including open-source information, but also classified sources,” said U.S. Ambassador at Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack. Caitlin McLean reports for The Hill. 

Top U.N. human rights official Michelle Bachelet told the Security Council on Thursday that her staff had documented scores of cases of Russian forces targeting male civilians around Kyiv. Some were beaten, detained or executed, and some had been taken to detention camps inside Russia and Belarus, Bachelet said. She also said that her office had recorded 180 cases of forced disappearance of local officials, journalists, activists, civilians and retired servicemen and eight cases of pro-Russian individuals who had disappeared. Farnaz Fassihi report for the New York Times. 

Amnesty International says it has documented extensive war crimes by Russian forces around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, including arbitrary executions, bombardments of residences and torture. “The pattern of crimes committed by Russian forces that we have documented includes both unlawful attacks and wilful killings of civilians,” Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary-General, said in a statement today. “It’s vital that all those responsible, including up the chain of command, are brought to justice.” AP reports. 

Former President George W. Bush announced yesterday that he had met virtually with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “I was honored to spend a few minutes talking with President Zelenskyy – the Winston Churchill of our time – this morning. I thanked the President for his leadership, his example, and his commitment to liberty, and I saluted the courage of the Ukrainian people,” Bush said in a statement shared through his George W. Bush Presidential Center. Caroline Vakil reports for The Hill. 

First lady Jill Biden will visit Slovakia’s border with Ukraine on Sunday as part of her trip to Europe amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the White House. At the border crossing, Ukrainian refugees can enter Slovakia and receive basic services before moving on to processing centers or transit hubs further inside the country, according to the White House.“On the tour, Dr. Biden will learn about the experiences of aid workers and refugees, and express gratitude to humanitarian staff. She will also visit a small Greek Catholic chapel that serves refugees, volunteers, NGO workers, and first responders,” a White House official said. Alex Gangitano reports for The Hill. 

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in an interview yesterday, but said he hadn’t expected the 10-week-old conflict to “drag on this way.” He also spoke out against the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine but wouldn’t say if Russian President Vladimir Putin had plans to launch such a strike. Ian Phillips reports for AP.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered a rare apology yesterday to Israel over recent antisemitic comments from Russia’s foreign minister connecting Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to Judaism, according to the Israeli prime minister. The reported apology came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of using Nazi propaganda and antisemitic tropes to justify the invasion as Russian leaders repeatedly compared Zelenskyy to Hitler. Timothy Bella, Steve Hendrix and Mary Ilyushina report for the Washington Post. 

World Health Organization states will consider a resolution against Russia next week, including the possible closure of a major regional office in Moscow, a document obtained by Reuters has shown. The resolution, to be considered on Tuesday, stopped short of harsher sanctions such as suspending Russia from the U.N. global health agency’s board as well as a temporary freeze of its voting rights, three diplomatic and political sources said. Emma Farge and Francesco Guarascio report for Reuters. 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned today that the European Commission’s proposed phaseout of Russian oil imports would amount to “dropping a nuclear bomb on the Hungarian economy.” Orban called the proposal announced Wednesday “unacceptable,” lashing out at the E.U. and warning of soaring energy prices. Emily Rauhala and Quentin Aries report for the Washington Post. 

Alina Kabaeva, a woman romantically linked to Putin, has been included in the sixth proposed package of EU sanctions against Moscow, according to two European diplomatic sources. The EU has not officially signed off on the draft proposal but could do so as early as this morning at a meeting of EU ambassadors — currently underway in Brussels. Luke McGee reports for CNN. 

​​Germany will deliver seven self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, on top of five such artillery systems the Dutch government already pledged, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said today. Germany reversed its long-held policy of not sending heavy weapons to war zones last week following pressure at home and abroad for it to help Ukraine fend off Russian attacks. Reuters reports. 

India and France have agreed to “intensify coordination” regarding responses to the war in Ukraine, according to a joint statement from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron. The pair met late Wednesday, concluding Modi’s three-day European tour, which included Germany, Denmark and France. Esha Mitra reports for CNN. 

Civilians trying to leave Russian-occupied Kherson are being harassed and blocked by Russian forces, according to Ukrainian officials. Yurii Sobolevskyi, the deputy head of Kherson regional Council, told Ukrainian television: “The way out of the city has been complicated. There are some cases when people managed to get out, even by a bus, but most people get turned back. All the junctions are blocked.” Sobolevskyi claimed that “there are cases when they [Russian forces] commit abuses at the check-points: very thorough frisking, forcing men to undress, looking for tattoos.” Tim Lister reports for CNN.

Global Developments

CIA Director William Burns last year told senior Brazilian officials that President Jair Bolsonaro should stop casting doubt on his country’s voting system ahead of the October election, sources have said. The previously unreported comments came in an intimate, closed-door meeting in July, according to two people familiar with the matter. Burns was, and remains, the most senior U.S. official to meet in Brasilia with Bolsonaro’s right-wing government since the election of President Biden. Gabriel Stargardter and Matt Spetalnick report for Reuters. 

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s son Laureano, an influential figure in the country’s leftist government, has reached out quietly to the Biden administration in recent months seeking to re-engage with the U.S., two Washington sources have said. The U.S. and Nicaragua have been at odds for years but relations took an especially hard hit when Daniel Ortega won a fourth consecutive term in November after jailing rivals and cracking down on critical media. President Biden dismissed the election as a sham and imposed sanctions on Nicaraguan officials. Matt Spetalnick reports for Reuters. 

A bipartisan super-majority of senators voted on Wednesday to endorse a Republican-led measure stating that any nuclear agreement with Tehran should also address Iran’s support for terrorism in the region and that the U.S. should not lift sanctions on an elite branch of the Iranian military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. While the measure itself is non-binding, it sends a symbolic message that any new nuclear deal between Iran and the U.S. has to be stronger than the 2015 one. The vote also provides a preview of the bipartisan rebuke that’s likely to come if the U.S. and Iran clinch an agreement that doesn’t address Iran’s non-nuclear activities and removes the IRGC’s terrorist designation. Andrew Desiderio reports for POLITICO. 

Dairo Antonio Usuga, the accused leader of Colombia’s Clan del Golfo criminal group, pleaded not guilty yesterday to U.S. drug trafficking charges and was ordered detained in New York pending trial, one day after being extradited from Bogota. U.S. Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon ordered Usuga’s detention at a Thursday afternoon hearing, saying the charges were serious and that the defendant posed a “significant risk of non-appearance” in future proceedings if bail were granted. Luc Cohen reports for Reuters.

Two assailants, at least one of them armed with an ax, attacked passers-by in an Israeli town yesterday night, killing at least three. The attack followed a wave of violence by Arab assailants that had already killed 14 people in cities across Israel since late March, and came days after the leader of Hamas in Gaza Palestinian urged Arabs to “get your cleavers, axes or knives ready.” The Israeli authorities described the assault, in which several other people were wounded, as a terrorist attack. The New York Times reports. 

Forces identified by witnesses as Russian have “summarily executed, tortured, and beaten civilians” in the Central African Republic since 2019, a report by rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has alleged. Citing evidence from witnesses, as well as from “several Western governments, United Nations experts and special rapporteurs,” HRW attributed the crimes to “forces linked to Russia operating in the Central African Republic,” including “a significant number of members of the Wagner Group,” which is a private military security contractor with ties to the Russian government. Hannah Ritchie reports for CNN. 

China is set to instal security official John Lee as the new leader of Hong Kong. Lee, formerly the city’s No. 2 official, is the only candidate in Sunday’s election. Well over half of the 1,500-member Election Committee that selects the chief executive have already endorsed him and he needs only a simple majority to win. Ken Moritsugu reports for AP. 

DDSR: May 5, 2022

US

A federal judge yesterday accepted a plea deal that will sentence former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to between 20 and 25 years in prison for violating the rights of George Floyd, whose murder in 2020 was followed by widespread protests. Chauvin is already serving a 22½-year sentence for Floyd’s murder and last month asked a state appeals court to overturn his conviction. Hannah Knowles reports for the Washington Post. 

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) has reiterated his call for the Justice Department (DOJ) to investigate former Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) for his alleged work for Venezuela’s Maduro regime. In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Menendez, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was concerned that the DOJ had made little progress into “serious and credible allegations” that Rivera failed to register as a foreign agent despite working for Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. Stephany Matat reports for POLITICO.

President Biden attacked the Trump movement as the “most extreme political organisation” that has existed in recent American history yesterday. Biden’s comments represent a sharpening of his criticism of the former president’s hold on the Republican party in the wake of revelations over the conservative-led Supreme Court’s likely move to gut abortion rights. James Politi reports for the Financial Times.

Trump, reveling in his evident sway with supporters, gloated during a Fox News interview that he needed little more than two weeks to lift J.D. Vance from the middle of the pack in the Ohio GOP primary contest to the party’s nominee on Tuesday night. It was the only competitive race among Trump’s endorsed candidates in Ohio and Indiana contests this week, but that didn’t deter his victory lap. 

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its overnight interest rate by half a percentage point, a move not seen for 22 years, and said it will continue that trend this year and begin next month to shrink its balance sheet in an ongoing battle against rising U.S. inflation (Reuters, The Washington Post and The Hill).

 “Madison Cawthorn says ‘blackmail won’t win’ after nude video surfaces,” by The Washington Examiner’s Ryan King: “Cawthorn (R-NC) said he was just ‘acting foolish, and joking’ with ‘a friend’ in response to a video he characterized as the latest hit piece meant to destroy his political career. The 26-year-old congressman, who has been ensnared in a string of controversies in recent weeks, released a statement Wednesday appearing to confirm the authenticity of a short clip showing him naked in bed atop another man, getting physical and making noises.”

Betsy Woodruff Swan and Daniel Lippman have the inside story this morning on DHS’ new Disinformation Governance Board, which has become the target of conservative outrage. The facts are not exactly salacious: The body emerged from a departmental working group that concluded DHS lacked a cohesive mechanism to coordinate its fight against “malicious internet activity” in nearly every arena. “It’s Washington, so the working group concluded that there needed to be another new group working on these issues.” Thus the disinformation board was born — and the rollout has been anything but smooth.

Roe v. Wade

The leaked draft Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade is throwing a late curveball into progressive efforts to unseat incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar in a Texas Democratic primary runoff. Cuellar is known by many as the last pro-life Democrat in Congress, while his progressive primary opponent, Jessica Cisneros, on the other hand, has been forcefully in favor of abortion rights, earning her the support of national abortion-rights groups.Read the full story here.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito is coming under new scrutiny and criticism after his draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade leaked Monday evening, creating a firestorm in Washington. Alito, who was confirmed to the Supreme Court in 2006, has taken a back-seat to his more prominent conservative colleagues, Justice Clarence Thomas and the late-Justice Antonin Scalia, for much of his career. But now he’s bursting into the nation’s consciousness in a big way, hailed as a hero by anti-abortion rights conservatives and denounced as a villain by Democrats who say he’s driven by a personal political agenda. Read the full story here.

Senate Republicans are dodging questions about whether they would seek restrictions or bans on abortion at the federal level if the Supreme Court overturns the Roe v. Wade decision and the GOP wins win back congressional majorities.Read the full story here.

The Washington Post: Republicans, on cusp of abortion win, seek to change the subject.

Reid Wilson, The Hill: Abortion fight puts spotlight on governors.

The New York Times: With Roe under threat, Biden is an unlikely abortion rights champion.

The Associated Press: Abortion opponents say they will next focus on stopping abortion pills from crossing state lines.

The case challenging Roe has widened the schism between Chief Justice John Roberts and his colleague Samuel Alito, once close allies.

New England’s three Republican governors said they would protect abortion rights in their states.

Theories about who leaked the draft are circulating in Washington. It’s the Supreme Court marshal’s task to find out.

How Americans feel about abortion rights differs by state, The NYTimes’s Nate Cohn explains.

Jan. 6th Insurrection

The Oath Keepers founder facing seditious conspiracy charges tried to speak directly with President Trump on the night of Jan. 6, and implored an intermediary to tell the president to use militia groups to stop the transfer of power, according to fellow Oath Keeper William Todd Wilson. Wilson, who pleaded guilty yesterday to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, said he joined Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes shorting after the attack and listened as Rhodes called an unnamed Trump intermediary. Ryan J. Reiley reports for NBC News. 

Donald Trump Jr., the son of former president Trump, interviewed with the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter. The interview was undertaken voluntarily and latest several hours. Trump Jr. is the latest member of the Trump family to provide testimony to the committee, following the panel’s interview last month with Ivanka Trump. Kyle Chenery, Betsy Woodruff Swan and Nicholas Wu report for POLITICO. 

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack that removing former President Trump through the 25th Amendment “takes too long,” according to the latest leaked recording of a call with top House Republican colleagues. McCarthy also said that what Trump did was “atrocious and totally wrong” but expressed opposition to impeachment. The 25th Amendment provides a mechanism for the vice president and a majority of the president’s Cabinet to remove him if he “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” But the president can object to that assessment, sending the issue to Congress. Emily Brooks reports for The Hill. 

Attorneys with the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently clashed with staff members for the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, according to sources familiar with the matter. In an interview conducted by the committee last month with former Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin, attorneys from the DOJ’s Office of Legislative Affairs repeatedly objected to questions that they argued could impact the DOJ’s ongoing work prosecuting those involved in the Jan. 6 attack. At one point, interactions between Jan. 6 staffers and DOJ attorneys grew so contentious that Sherwin stepped out of the room so the discussion could continue in private, sources said. Alexander Mallin and Luke Barr report for ABC News.

Virus/Science/Climate

Almost 15 million deaths were caused either directly or indirectly by COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, according to new World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, far higher than the previously reported total.  Read the full story here.

COVID-19 has infected over 81.62 million people and has now killed over 996.705 people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been over 515.639 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6.25 million deaths. Sergio Hernandez, Sean O’Key, Amanda Watts, Byron Manley and Henrik Pettersson report for CNN.

Twenty-seven months after the U.S. reported its first case of COVID-19, the country recorded 1 million deaths from the virus, according to statistics compiled by NBC News. More people have died from the virus in the U.S. than any other country, with Brazil ranking second with about 664,000 deaths.

A new study conducted at the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London shows that severe cases of COVID-19 may cause cognitive damage, possibly lowering IQ levels by 10 points, or the equivalent of aging 20 years (Forbes).

A large U.S. study undergoing peer reviews finds that omicron is as intrinsically severe as previous COVID-19 variants (Reuters).

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) this week asked Biden to declare a national emergency tied to wildfires in her state, a designation that opens the door to federal help (MarketWatch).

UKR/RU

The U.S. has provided intelligence about Russian units that has allowed Ukrainians to target many of the Russian generals who have died in action in the Ukraine war, senior U.S. officials have said. The targeting help is part of a classified effort by the Biden administration to provide real-time battlefield intelligence to Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have said they have killed approximately 12 generals on the front lines, a number that has astonished military analysts. Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt report for the New York Times. 

The Kremlin is carrying out strikes on infrastructure that is critical to Ukraine’s efforts to resupply its forces in their defense against Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian officials and the Pentagon said yesterday. Russia’s targets have included electrical substations, a railroad facility and a bridge in two major cities in western and central Ukraine. However, Ukraine is still able to move weapons through the country a senior U.S. official said. Abigail Hauslohner, Dan Lamothe and Hannah Allam report for the Washington Post. 

A Russian rocket attack has injured at least 25 civilians, six of whom were hospitalized, the military chief of the eastern Donetsk region in Ukraine has said. Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said in a post on Telegram that the attack occurred overnight, damaging nine homes, a school and other civilian buildings in the city of Kramatorsk. Bryan Pietsch reports for the Washington Post. 

Over 600 Ukrainians were killed overnight, according to claims made by Russia’s Ministry of Defense. In a post on Telegram, it said Russian artillery had struck multiple Ukrainian military posts and equipment, including aviation equipment at the Kanatovo airfield in the central Kirovohrad region, and a large ammunition depot in the southern city of Mykolaiv. BBC News reports. 

The Ukrainian armed forces say the Russians have had “no success” with efforts to break through front lines in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions over the past 24 hours. In its operational update for today, the General Staff said: “Lyman, Severodonetsk and Popasna areas. The enemy units are trying to conduct offensive operations; no success.” Tim Lister and Olga Voitovych report for CNN. 

Russia will likely seek to inflate the threat posed to Ukrainian posed by Belarusian drills in order to fix Ukrainian forces in the North, preventing them from being committed to the battle for Donbas, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense’s intelligence update. However, deviation from normal exercise activity that could pose a threat to allies and partners is not currently anticipated. 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov yesterday dismissed speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to declare war against Ukraine and a national mobilisation on May 9. Asked about speculation from some Western politicians that Putin will declare war against Ukraine on May 9, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “There is no chance of that. It’s nonsense.” Peskov also said that people should not listen to speculation that there could be a decision on a national mobilisation. Reuters reports.

U.S. Cyber Command Director Gen. Paul Nakasone yesterday challenged the prevailing narrative that Russia hasn’t launched destructive cyberattacks against Ukraine amid its military invasion. Nakasone said his agency has observed a series of destructive attacks in Ukraine, on top of those that targeted the country’s satellite communications system in March. Ines Kagubare reports for The Hill.

Heavy fighting engulfed the Azovstal steel plant yesterday as its Ukrainian defenders fought a “very difficult” battle against Russian forces attempting to storm the complex, Mariupol’s mayor said. Mayor Vadym Boychenko described Russian troops using heavy weaponry against the plant, including tanks and bombs. He also said that contact with the Ukrainian forces inside had been lost. Paulina Firozi, Annabelle Chapman and David Stern report for the Washington Post. 

Russian forces are now likely to be operating within the Azovstal steel plant for the first time, Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said in its latest assessment.

A Russian announced ceasefire is due to begin today at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. It is hoped that the ceasefire will allow civilians to flee, whilst the city’s defenders have vowed to fight to the end. France 24 reports. 

In his nightly video address yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said some 344 evacuees from the city of Mariupol and its suburbs had arrived in Zaporizhzhia. “We hope to continue rescuing people from Azovstal, from Mariupol. There are still civilians there. Women, children,” Zelenskyy said. “To save them, we need to continue the ceasefire. The Ukrainian side is ready to provide it.” BBC News reports. 

Zelenskyy has appealed to the U.N. for help in saving the lives of the remaining injured Ukrainians trapped in the Azovstal steel plant. In a phone call with the U.N.’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last night, Zelenskyy thanked the U.N. for a successful evacuation from the steel plant this week – which rescued more than 100 people – but called on the U.N. to “assist in the removal of all the wounded from Azovstal.” BBC News reports. 

Sweden has received assurances from the U.S. that it would receive support during the period a potential application to join NATO is processed by the 30 nations in the alliance, Foreign Minister Ann Linde said yesterday. “Naturally, I’m not going to go into any details, but I feel very sure that now we have an American assurance,” Linde told Swedish TV from Washington after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Reuters reports. 

More than 3,000 Finnish troops are taking part in a two-week military exercise alongside hundreds of American, British, Estonian and Latvian soldiers, shadowed by growing fears that Russia’s war in Ukraine could spread to other parts of Europe. A series of other drills involving members of NATO and its allies have been held this spring and will continue into the summer and include the world’s largest ground-based integrated air and missile exercise, in Poland and the Baltic states, in June. Sune Engle Rasmussen reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

The E.U. aims to cut off Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, from the SWIFT international payment system as Western allies seek to further isolate Moscow from financial markets over its war in Ukraine. The E.U. had previously spared Sberbank from what is seen as the harshest measure because it, along with Gazprombank, is one of the main channels for payments for Russian oil and gas, which E.U. countries have been buying despite the conflict in Ukraine. This proposal forms part of the E.U.’s sixth and toughest round of sanctions, which also includes an embargo on crude oil in six months. The measures still have to be approved by the governments of the 27 member states. Kirstin Ridley and Krin Strohecker report for Reuters. 

The Czech Republic will seek an exemption period to the E.U.’s proposed embargo of Russian oil, gaining time for pipeline capacities to be increased, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said yesterday. The Czech Republic joins other E.U. countries seeking a longer transition to introduce the ban. Slovakia, which gets nearly all its crude imports from Russia, wants a three-year transition period. Hungary also said it could not support measures in their current form. Reuters reports. 

Two-time former Brazilian President Lula Inacio da Silva has said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin share the blame for the war in Ukraine. “And now, sometimes I sit and watch the President of Ukraine speaking on television, being applauded, getting a standing ovation by all the parliamentarians,” da Silva said in an interview with TIME magazine. “This guy is as responsible as Putin for the war. Because in the war, there’s not just one person guilty.” Jack Guy reports for CNN. 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday that the problem of global food security could not be solved without restoring Ukrainian agricultural production and Russian food and fertilizer output to the world market. ​​”There is really no true solution to the problem of global food security without bringing back the agriculture production of Ukraine and the food and fertilizer production of Russia and Belarus into world markets despite the war,” Guterres told reporters during a visit to Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Felix Onuah reports for Reuters.

Global Developments

Colombia has extradited the leader of the country’s biggest crime gang to the U.S., Colombia’s President Ivan Duque has announced. Announcing the extradition Duque said that Dairo Antonio Usuage, better known as Otoniel, was the world’s most dangerous trafficker. BBC News reports. 

U.S. authorities yesterday charged the leader of the notorious 400 Mawozo gang, Germaine Joly, with conspiracy to violate export control laws and to defraud the United States, violating export control laws, money laundering, and smuggling, according to a 28-count indictment. Joly’s gang is also thought to be behind many of the mass kidnappings that have terrorized Haiti, including the abduction of 17 American and Canadian missionaries associated with an Ohio-based charity last year. Widlore Merancourt and Amanda Coletta report for the Washington Post. 

Taiwan signalled today that it had abandoned a plan to buy advanced new anti-submarine warfare helicopters from the U.S., saying they were too expensive. Asked in parliament about recent changes to Taiwan’s purchases of new U.S. weapons, Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng mentioned the helicopter case first. “The price is too high, beyond the scope of our country’s ability,” he said. Two other arms purchases have also been delayed – M109A6 Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer artillery systems, and mobile Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. Chiu said they had already signed the contract for the Stingers and paid for them, and they would press the U.S. to deliver them. Reuters reports. 

The Biden administration is preparing to refresh the message that the U.S. sees China, not Russia, as its biggest geopolitical rival. In a speech, which was set to be delivered today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was expected to reaffirm and clarify the administration’s China policy in advance of the summit with Southeast Asian leaders in Washington next week. The speech has been postponed as Blinken has tested positive for COVID-19. Lingling Wei reports for the Wall Street Journal.

Russian mercenaries in Mali have been linked to massacres in which several hundred civilians have died, raising new fears about the impact of Moscow’s intensifying interventions on the stability and security of countries across the continent. Western officials have so far steered clear of naming the perpetrators of the killings but witnesses, local community leaders, diplomats and analysts have blamed many of the deaths on fighters deployed by the Wagner Group, a network of private companies run by a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Internal Malian army documents seen by the Guardian reveal the presence of Wagner members on “mixed missions” with Malian soldiers and gendarmes during operations in which many civilians have been killed. Jason Burke and Ammanuel Akinwotu report for the Guardian. 

The premier of the British Virgin Islands Andrew Fahie has been given a $500,000 bond that would allow him to be released from prison as he awaits trial on charges tied to a U.S. narcotics sting. Federal court judge Alicia Otazo-Reyes rejected prosecutors’ argument that Fahie would flee the U.S. and possibly engage in criminal activity if he is freed. Instead, she said that he could remain in Miami if he and his family surrender their passports and he wears an ankle bracelet monitor. AP reports. 

Researchers from security firm Cybereason said yesterday that hackers connected to the Chinese government have attempted to access sensitive information from dozens of global organizations. Cybereason published research on a cyberattack believed to have had the goal of stealing sensitive proprietary information from technology and manufacturing companies mainly in East Asia, Western Europe and North America.  The group said it had “medium-high confidence” that the attack was linked to the Winnti APT group, which specializes in cyber espionage and intellectual property theft and is believed to work for Chinese state interests. Monique Beals reports for The Hill.

DDSR: May 4, 2022

US

Most one-term presidents recede from the political scene, with their party’s voters happy to see them go. But Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican Party a year and a half after he lost re-election. Yesterday’s Republican Senate primary in Ohio confirmed Trump’s influence. J.D. Vance — the author of the 2016 book “Hillbilly Elegy” — won the nomination, with 32 percent of the vote in a primary that included four other major candidates. Vance trailed in the polls only a few weeks ago, running an uneven campaign that suffered from his past negative comments about Trump. But after apologizing for them, Vance received Trump’s endorsement two and a half weeks ago. Vance quickly surged in the polls and will now face Representative Tim Ryan, a moderate Democrat, in the general election this fall.

Former acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf intervened to delay the release of an intelligence report flagging Russian involvement in the 2020 election, while other DHS officials sought to “blunt” the focus on the country in the report, according to a new report from the DHS’s Office of Inspector General. The report, released yesterday, concluded that DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) wrongly let politics interfere with the dissemination of the report, which documented a Russian disinformation campaign surrounding President Biden’s mental acuity. Rebecca Beitsch reports for The Hill. 

The Supreme Court yesterday confirmed that a leaked draft ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade was authentic but not final, even as the disclosure triggered political upheaval with potentially broad electoral and legal consequences. Protesters gathered outside the court, chanting loudly enough for members of Congress to hear at the Capitol across the street. Democrats led by President Biden vowed to make abortion rights a defining issue of the fall midterm elections. Republicans accused liberals of orchestrating the leak to intimidate the court while Chief Justice John Roberts ordered an investigation. Peter Baker reports for the New York Times. 

An “answered prayer” for some, “tyrannical” for others: Here’s how activists reacted to the Supreme Court’s draft ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote that Roe was invalid because “the Constitution makes no reference to abortion.” Here are more key passages.

The Supreme Court said that the leaked draft was authentic but that the text wasn’t final. The court will probably release its decision in late June or early July.

The leak is a sign of serious internal disarray, turning the court into an institution like any other in Washington, The Times’s Adam Liptak writes.

Among the few who may know who leaked the draft: the Politico journalists who broke the news.

The U.N. secretary-general believes that women’s rights are “fundamental” to pursuing gender equality, according to a spokesperson speaking about the U.N. chief’s response to the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade. Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary‑General António Guterres, refused to “speculate what will happen” with regard to the overturning of the landmark Supreme Court case. He did, however, say that the U.N. chief believes that sexual and reproductive health and rights are “foundational” to women’s equality and empowerment. Monique Beals reports for The Hill. 

Republican lawmakers in both chambers have introduced legislation to block the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from rolling out its new Disinformation Governance Board. The board was designed to coordinate DHS’s disinformation efforts on topics as varied as migration, natural disasters and plots by foreign actors while offering oversight to ensure civil liberties and free speech are protected. However, since its rollout last week, Republicans have criticised the board as a way to police speech. Rebecca Beitsch reports for The Hill.

The Hill: Momentum builds for major cannabis bill.

Trump’s businesses and inaugural committee and Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine (D) settled a lawsuit on Tuesday over allegations that they overpaid to hold events at Trump International Hotel and unnecessarily stuffed the 45th family’s coffers. According to Racine’s office, Trump will pay the district $750,000 to resolve a lawsuit (The Associated Press).

The Smithsonian Institution rolled out a new policy on Tuesday allowing its museums to return items that were looted or acquired unethically. Under the new rules, various museums will give back some items in their collections (The Hill).

Virus/Science/Climate

COVID-19 has infected over 81.51 million people and has now killed over 994.748 people in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been over 514.949 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 6.24 million deaths. Sergio Hernandez, Sean O’Key, Amanda Watts, Byron Manley and Henrik Pettersson report for CNN.

For children under age 5, Pfizer is still testing three extra-small doses of its COVID-19 vaccine after two shots were too weak in research trials. The company hopes to have a just-right formula to show federal regulators by early June (The Associated Press).

A study suggests that some COVID-19 mutations detected in South Africa and the United Kingdom (and detected in the United States at low levels) may evade patient immunity acquired from previous infections (The Hill).

U.S. cases of COVID-19 infection are rising, but most cities and localities are doing nothing new to encourage masking, social distancing or indoor precautions to mitigate transmission during a pandemic phase that largely leaves decision making up to individuals and businesses (The Associated Press).

With drought taking its toll in the Southwest, Nevada has taken a drastic step: outlawing grass.

The Smithsonian National Zoo said Tuesday that a wild fox broke onto its premises and killed 25 flamingos and a duck on Monday and zookeepers are “devastated” (The Hill).

Catching a falling rocket with a helicopter is no easy task. Rocket Lab, a New Zealand company founded by Peter Beck, attempted to do just that on Tuesday and was partially successful in its quest that he likened to a “supersonic ballet.” After briefly snagging the it, the helicopter was shortly after forced to drop it — the company was hoping to make it reusable — into the Pacific Ocean. It was subsequently retrieved.  The company launched the Electron rocket, which sent 34 satellites into space, in the morning from the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand before its attempt at catching it on descent. It was slowed by a parachute at the time the helicopter made its semi-oops catch-and-drop maneuver (The Associated Press).

UKR/RU

At least three Russian missiles hit electrical substations around the western Ukrainian city of Lviv close to the Polish border yesterday. Parts of the city are without power and water in the wake of what was thought to be an attack on Ukraine’s rail network. These were the first Russian missile strikes in western Ukraine in more than a week. Joe Inwood reports for BBC News. 

Russia said today that it had fired two Kalibr cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets from a submarine in the Black Sea, and reiterated a warning that it would seek to hit shipments of NATO weapons to Ukraine.  Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told a conference of defense ministry officials that Russia would seek to destroy convoys of arms shipments to Ukraine from Western countries, which in recent weeks have stepped up these supplies. “We view any transport of the North Atlantic Alliance arriving on the territory of the country with weapons or materials destined to the Ukrainian army as a target to be destroyed,” he said. Reuters reports. 

A Russian attack appeared to target a coke plant in Avdiivk, in the eastern region of Donetsk yesterday killing at least 10 people and injuring 15 others, a local leader has said. Metinvest — the country’s largest steel firm — confirmed the attack and said Russian troops fired on a busload of its workers just after their shift ended. Metinvest also owns the embattled steel plant in Mariupol. Reis Thebault and Rachel Pannett report for the Washington Post. 

The bodies of 290 civilians have been recovered in the town of Irpin, outside of Kyiv, since the withdrawal of Russian forces, Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushin said yesterday. In a statement on Facebook, Markushin said 185 of the dead have been identified, the majority of whom were men. The cause of death was “shrapnel and gunshot wounds.” Katharina Krebs reports for CNN.

Belarus, a close Russian ally and Ukraine’s neighbour to its north, has started large-scale military drills – a potential cause for alarm in Ukraine. The Belarusian defense ministry said the drills involved testing its army vehicles for combat readiness, but added that the exercise didn’t pose a threat to neighbours. BBC News reports.

Moldova sees no imminent threat of unrest spilling over from the war in Ukraine despite “provocations” by pro-Russian separatists in recent days, President Maia Sandu has said. However, the country has been making contingency plans for “pessimistic scenarios” she added. Peter Graff and Alexander Tanas report for Reuters. 

The U.N. said yesterday that it has recorded the deaths of more than 3,000 Ukrainian civilians since the beginning of the Russian invasion, adding that the true figure is believed to be “considerably higher.” The number of deaths has jumped by more than 1,000 in less than a month, as the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported the killings of almost 2,000 civilians in the conflict as of mid-April. Lexi Lonas reports for The Hill. 

Russian forces have lost more lives in Ukraine than in four years in Chechnya, a Russian soldier said in an audio clip that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) claims was an intercepted communication between the soldier and his friend. In the audio, the Russian soldier expressed discontent that the elite members of RosGvardia, Putin’s National Guard, and OMON, the Special Police Force, have left Ukraine. Mitchell McCluskey reports for CNN. 

101 civilians were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol yesterday, with many of them reaching Ukraine controlled Zaporizhzhia, according to Osnat Lubrani, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine. A further 58 people joined the convoy in a town on the outskirts of Mariupol. Some evacuees decided not to proceed towards Zaporizhzhia with the convoy, Lubrani said. Joseph Campell and Alessandra Prentice report for Reuters. 

Russian forces began storming the steel mill containing the last pocket of resistance in Mariupol yesterday, Ukrainian defenders have said. “We’ll do everything that’s possible to repel the assault, but we’re calling for urgent measures to evacuate the civilians that remain inside the plant and to bring them out safely,” Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, said in a Telegram post. He added that throughout the night, the plant was hit with naval artillery fire and airstrikes. Two civilian women were killed and 10 civilians wounded, he said. Cara Anna and Yesica Fisch report for AP. 

More than 500 wounded people are still inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, 200 of which are in critical condition, one of the remaining defendants inside the plant has said. The defender, Mykhailo Vershynin, added that the health of the wounded was worsening due to a lack of medical assistance and unsanitary conditions. BBC News reports. 

Russian forces have deported almost 40,000 people from Mariupol to Russia or the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said during a briefing at the Ukraine-Ukrinform media center yesterday. Russian military “takes the local population to the outskirts of Russia, to the Far East, or to Siberia and there they use them for various jobs,” Boichenko said, adding that Mariupol residents are issued a certificate of resettlement and are involved in “humiliating work.” Katharina Krebs reports for CNN.

The E.U. has proposed a ban on imports of Russian crude oil within six months and on refined oil products from the country by year-end, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday. The bloc is also set to impose sanctions on high-ranking Russian military officials involved in alleged war crimes and the siege of Mariupol. Further to this, the E.U.’s executive body is proposing to take Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, and two other Russian banks off the Swift financial-messaging system. There are also plans to ban three Russian state-owned broadcasters from the E.U..Laurence Norman reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Hungary and Slovakia will be able to continue buying Russian crude oil until the end of 2023 under existing contracts, an E.U. source has said, benefitting from exemptions from an oil embargo proposed by the European Commission. In a bid to convince reluctant countries not to veto the proposal, Brussels has proposed a longer period to implement the embargo for Hungary and Slovakia, the source said. Francesco Guarascio reports for Reuters. 

Europe will continue buying Russian oil via third countries once E.U. countries introduce an embargo, senior Russian MP Vladimir Dzhabarov has predicted. Dzhabarov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency Europe’s leaders “have gone a little crazy”. “You will still buy it, only through third countries. Our oil is the same, only more expensive,” he added. BBC News reports. 

The CIA has published instructions for how Russians can covertly volunteer information using an encrypted conduit to the agency’s website. The hope is to attract intelligence — and potentially gain more access to official Russian secrets — from disaffected people who have been trying to contact the CIA since the war began, officials said. Shane Harris report for the Washington Post. 

President Biden visited the Lockheed Martin Corp. plant in Troy, Ala., yesterday where the defense company is hunting for workers to assemble Javelin antitank missiles for Ukraine. Lockheed’s search for workers highlights a challenge in America’s response to supporting Ukraine and its allies: U.S. defense contractors want to boost weapons production, but finding workers for their arms factories isn’t easy with unemployment levels at a 50-year low. Doug Cameron reports for the Wall Street Journal.

Biden has asked Congress to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make it easier for highly educated Russians to obtain visas to work in the U.S., according to a section of the administration’s Ukraine supplemental budget requested submitted to lawmakers last week. The request, if enacted, would allow Russians with a masters or doctoral degree in the fields of science, technology, engineering or math to apply for a visa without first obtaining an employer sponsor in the U.S.. Natasha Bertrande reports for CNN. 

Pentagon officials have praised Ukraine’s use of weapons supplied by the U.S and its allies as European leaders signaled fresh support for the country amid continued Russian attacks. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a group of U.S. senators that several hundred Ukrainian troops have been pulled out of the country to be trained on how to use new weapons systems sent by Washington. Karoun Demirjian, Cate Cadell, Louisa Loveluck and Hannah Allam report for the Washington Post. 

Speaking to lawmakers at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing yesterday Milley said that the world is witnessing “the greatest threat to peace and security of Europe and perhaps the world” in decades due to the invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. is “at a very critical and historic geo-strategic inflection point,” where the U.S. military must “maintain readiness and modernize for the future” at the same time, he added. Ellie Kaufman reports for CNN.

Russian President Vladimir Putin put the West on notice yesterday that he could terminate exports and deals, the Kremlin’s toughest response yet to the sanctions burden imposed by the U.S. and its allies. Putin signed a broad decree yesterday which forbade the export of products and raw materials to people and entities on a sanctions list that he instructed the government to draw up within 10 days. Such a list would carry the ability to upend supply chains and business dealings as Putin pleases. Guy Faulconbridge reports for Reuters. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged global companies to exit Russia, saying that entities that remain in the country are “directly supporting that war machine, the terrorist Russian Federation war machine.” Speaking via videolink at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit in London, Zelenskyy also said that the role of companies was as important as the role of countries. James Marson and Peter Saidel report for the Wall Street Journal. 

Admiral Sir Antony Radakin, chief of the British defense staff, yesterday criticised the Kremlin’s military campaign in Ukraine as characterised by “shocking intelligence failures” and “arrogance.” Addressing the Wall Street Journal CEO Council summit in London, Radakin said “their decision making rarely improves, and their decision making gets worse. We have been surprised at the way Russia has gone about this.” Jon Henley reports for the Guardian. 

Pope Francis has asked for a meeting in Moscow with Putin to try and stop the war in Ukraine but has not received a reply. The pope also told Italy’s Corriere Della Sera newspaper that Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has given the war his full-throated backing, “cannot become Putin’s altar boy.” Philip Pullella and Francesca Piscioneri report for Reuters. 

On the day Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, he called a meeting with a group of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen, telling them the invasion was a “necessary measure” and warning of the economic sanctions they would probably face. Yet despite their ties to Putin and standing within Russia, documents show that many of those who attended the meeting had been moving their wealth out of the country for years. Peter Whoriskey reports for the Washington Post. 

Four humanitarian corridors for civilians seeking to flee fighting are planned for today, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said in a Telegram post. The routes will link towns in the south and east that are under Russian attack to Zaporizhzhia, a Ukrainian-held city. Andrew Jeong reports for the Washington Post.

Global Developments

CIA Director William Burns made an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia last month to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, U.S. and Saudi officials have said. The visit, which took place in mid-April, was part of a push by the Biden administration to repair ties with a key Middle East security partner. Stephen Kalin, Summer Said, and Warren P. Strobel report for the Wall Street Journal. 

The U.S. State Department has now classified WNBA player Brittney Griner as wrongfully detained in Russia and her case is now being handled by the office of the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA). The SPEHA office leads and coordinates the government’s diplomatic efforts aimed at securing the release of Americans wrongfully detained abroad. They played a major role in securing the release of Trevor Reed from Russia last week. Jennifer Hansler reports for CNN. 

North Korea fired a ballistic missile off its east coast today, Tokyo and Seoul officials have said, a weapons launch that comes just days before a more hard-line South Korean president takes office. The missile was fired at 12:03 p.m. local time from the Sunan area, which is on the outskirts of Pyongyang and near the country’s main international airport, South Korea’s military said. Makoto Oniki, Japan’s vice defense minister, called the behavior absolutely unacceptable, whilst South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch was a grave threat that undermines peace. Timothy W. Martin reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

State-backed hackers from Russia and China are increasing their efforts to target critical infrastructure in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to the latest cyber threat update from Google. The hackers are “using the war (in Ukraine) as a lure in phishing and malware campaigns” as they attempt to target critical sectors including telecommunications, manufacturing and the oil and gas industry, the update said. Rebecca Klar, Chris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare report for The Hill.