Feb 10, 2017

Kushner’s global appeal: Trump’s shadow Sec. of State

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior adviser to Trump, is serving as a "shadow secretary of state," working behind the scenes with foreign leaders and diplomats to guide the president on foreign affairs communications, the Washington Post reports.

So is it working? Somewhat. Kushner had some success in mitigating Trump's comments on Mexico and though foreign officials have said they were skeptical at first of Kushner, they say he's turned out to be a "good listener and courteous intermediary."

Areas to Watch:

  1. Mexico: Kushner and Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray have formed a personal bond through mutual friends, so this could come back into play for Mexico-U.S. relations
  2. The Middle East: Trump has publicly assigned Kushner the tasks of pushing along a Middle East peace and ambassador selections for the region

Go deeper

Podcast: Trump vs. Twitter ... vs. Trump

Twitter came under fire on Tuesday for allowing President Trump to tweet conspiracy theories about Joe Scarborough and the 2001 death of one of his staffers, despite the objections of the staffer's family. The company came under further fire from Trump himself for fact-checking two of his tweets about mail-in voting.

Dan and the New York Times' Kara Swisher dig into Trump’s use of the platform and Twitter’s steps — and missteps — in handling it.

Go deeper: Trump has turned Big Tech's speech rules into a political football

8 mins ago - Technology

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 11:30 a.m. ET: 5,618,829 — Total deaths: 351,146 — Total recoveries — 2,311,404 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 11:30 a.m. ET: 1,681,793 — Total deaths: 98,933 — Total recoveries: 384,902 — Total tested: 14,907,041 — Map.
  3. Public health: Fauci says data is "really quite evident" against hydroxychloroquine — Nearly half of Americans say someone in their household has delayed medical care.
  4. Tech: Zipline drones deliver masks to hospitals; vaccines could be next
  5. Business: Boeing to lay off 6,770 more U.S. employees.
  6. 🏒Sports: NHL unveils 24-team playoff plan to return from hiatus.
  7. What should I do? When you can be around others after contracting the coronavirus — Traveling, asthma, dishes, disinfectants and being contagious — Masks, lending books and self-isolating — Exercise, laundry, what counts as soap — Pets, moving and personal health — Answers about the virus from Axios experts — What to know about social distancing — How to minimize your risk.
  8. Other resources: CDC on how to avoid the virus, what to do if you get it, the right mask to wear.

Subscribe to Mike Allen's Axios AM to follow our coronavirus coverage each morning from your inbox.

Updated 12 mins ago - Politics & Policy

U.S. coronavirus updates

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios. This graphic includes "probable deaths" that New York City began reporting on April 14.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Wednesday the city will start to lift coronavirus restrictions on May 29 after seeing a 14-day decline in community spread of the virus. The city’s current stay-at-home and business closure orders were set to run through June 8.

By the numbers: More than 98,900 people have died from the novel coronavirus and over 1.6 million have tested positive in the U.S. Over 384,900 Americans have recovered and more than 14.9 million tests have been conducted.

Go deeper (2 min. read)ArrowUpdated 18 mins ago - Health