Sign up for our daily briefing

Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday

Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Denver news in your inbox

Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Des Moines news in your inbox

Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Minneapolis-St. Paul news in your inbox

Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Tampa Bay news in your inbox

Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Charlotte news in your inbox

Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Schiff announces probe into DHS intelligence activities in Portland

Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

The House Intelligence Committee will investigate the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis over reports that officials have targeted protesters and journalists in Portland and other cities, chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) announced Monday.

Driving the news: DHS reassigned its top intelligence official, acting Undersecretary Brian Murphy, after his office analyzed communications between Portland protesters and supplied law enforcement with lists of journalists that had published leaked agency documents, the Washington Post first reported.

What they're saying: "Let me be clear: reporting regarding the monitoring of peaceful protesters, creating and disseminating intelligence reports about journalists and protesters, and potential exploitation of electronic devices is deeply troubling," Schiff wrote in a letter to acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf on Monday.

The big picture: Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) said last week that the Trump administration had agreed to a "phased withdrawal" of Customs and Border Protection and ICE agents from Portland, after weeks of protests and attacks on the city's federal courthouse and accusations from Democrats that federal law enforcement was escalating violence.

  • President Trump tweeted over the weekend that the agency would not leave Portland "until local police complete cleanup of Anarchists and Agitators," which acting Homeland secretary Chad Wolf retweeted.
  • When Brown first announced the agreement, Wolf said that Homeland Security personnel would stay in Portland "until we are assured that the Hatfield Federal Courthouse and other federal properties will no longer be attacked."

Read the letter.

Go deeper

Rebecca Falconer
Nov 5, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Election protesters rally across the U.S.

Police clash with election protesters, Manhattan, Nov. 4. Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Police and demonstrators clashed in New York and several other U.S. cities into Thursday morning, during nationwide election protests.

Why it matters: The uncertain presidential election results have prompted unrest and some of the biggest protests seen since the summer's massive Black Lives Matter demonstrations over the death of George Floyd, as supporters of President Trump and Joe Biden took to the streets Wednesday night.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow
Orion Rummler
52 mins ago - Politics & Policy

DOJ watchdog to probe whether officials sought to alter election results

Former President Donald Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump exit Air Force One in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 20. Photo: Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images

The Justice Department's inspector general will investigate whether any current or former DOJ officials "engaged in an improper attempt to have DOJ seek to alter the outcome" of the 2020 election, the agency announced Monday.

Driving the news: The investigation comes in the wake of a New York Times report that alleged that Jeffrey Clark, the head of DOJ's civil division, had plotted with President Trump to oust acting Attorney General Jeffery Rosen in a scheme to overturn the election results in Georgia.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Axios
1 hour ago - Podcasts

Google's chief health officer Karen DeSalvo on vaccinating America

Google on Monday became the latest Big Tech company to get involved with COVID-19 vaccinations. Not just by doing things like incorporating vaccination sites into its maps, but by helping to turn some of its offices and parking lots into vaccination sites.

Axios Re:Cap goes deeper into what Google is doing, and why now, with Dr. Karen DeSalvo, Google's chief health officer who previously worked at HHS and as health commissioner for New Orleans.