Apr 10, 2019

John Abizaid confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Trump shake hands on May 20, 2017. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

John Abizaid, a retired army general and former U.S. Central Command commander, was named the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday in a 92-7 vote.

The backdrop: This post has been vacant since 2017, which became a sore point in the backlash against the Trump administration for failing to respond with force to journalist Jamal Khashoggi's assassination at the Saudi Sonsulate in Istanbul. U.S. intelligence has since concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the operation against Khashoggi.

Go deeper: U.S. ambassadors have become less qualified under Trump

Go deeper

Axios
1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Louisville officer: "Breonna Taylor would be alive" if we had served no-knock warrant

Breonna Taylor memorial in Louisville. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, the Louisville officer who led the botched police raid that caused the death of Breonna Taylor, said the No. 1 thing he wishes he had done differently is either served a "no-knock" warrant or given five to 10 seconds before entering the apartment: "Breonna Taylor would be alive, 100 percent."

Driving the news: Mattingly, who spoke to ABC News and Louisville's Courier Journal for his public interview, was shot in the leg in the initial moments of the March 13 raid. Mattingly did not face any charges after Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said he and another officer were "justified" in returning fire to protect themselves against Taylor's boyfriend.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow
Scott Rosenberg, Ashley Gold, Kyle Daly
2 hours ago - Technology

U.S. vs. Google — the siege begins

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The Justice Department fired the starter pistol on what's likely to be a years-long legal siege of Big Tech by the U.S. government when it filed a major antitrust suit Tuesday against Google.

The big picture: Once a generation, it seems, federal regulators decide to take on a dominant tech company. Two decades ago, Microsoft was the target; two decades before that, IBM.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Dion Rabouin, author of Markets
2 hours ago - Economy & Business

Why the stimulus delay isn't a crisis (yet)

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

If the impasse between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House on a new stimulus deal is supposed to be a crisis, you wouldn't know it from the stock market, where prices continue to rise.

  • That's been in no small part because U.S. economic data has held up remarkably well in recent months thanks to the $2 trillion CARES Act and Americans' unusual ability to save during the crisis.
Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow