Feb 23, 2017 - Politics & Policy

Manafort allegedly faced Ukrainian blackmailer

Matt Rourke / AP

Politico has the weird story of an alleged blackmail attempt on Paul Manafort by Serhiy Leshchenko, the man who later provided documents to the New York Times that seemed to show Manafort's receipt of $12.7 million from pro-Russian Ukrainian political parties.

A portion of the note: "I think you and Mr Trump will work out a way to solve this problem of yours. Otherwise official investigation that will be reinforced by the facts that are in my posession will reach also the Federal Government. [sic]"

The weird: The note was texted to Manafort's daughter and released in a hack of her phone by a collective that one former cybersecurity analyst called "randos." Manafort himself confirmed that the hack was legit.

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Axios

Updated 6 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 10 p.m. ET: 30,065,728 — Total deaths: 944,604— Total recoveries: 20,423,802 — Map
U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 10 p.m. ET: 6,674,070 — Total deaths: 197,615 — Total recoveries: 2,540,334 — Total tests: 90,710,730 — Map
Politics: Former Pence aide says she plans to vote for Joe Biden, accusing Trump of costing lives in his coronavirus response.
Health: Pew: 49% of Americans would not get COVID-19 vaccine if available today — Pandemic may cause cancer uptick — The risks of moving too fast on a vaccine — COVID-19 racial disparities extend to health coverage losses.
Business: Retail sales return to pre-coronavirus trend.

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Ina Fried, author of Login

8 hours ago - Technology

Scoop: How the Oracle-TikTok deal would work

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

An agreement between TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance and Oracle includes a variety of concessions in an effort to make the deal palatable to the Trump administration and security hawks in Congress, according to a source close to the companies.

Driving the news: The deal, in the form of a 20-page term sheet agreed to in principle by the companies, would give Oracle unprecedented access and control over user data as well as other measures designed to ensure that Americans' data is protected, according to the source.

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Zachary Basu

9 hours ago - World

How the EU plans to take on human rights abusers

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Amid a global assault on human rights stretching from Belarus to Hong Kong to Yemen, the European Union signaled yesterday that it may act to deter corrupt kleptocrats and state abusers by hitting them where it hurts: their assets.

Driving the news: Europe's chief executive Ursula von der Leyen revealed in her first-ever State of the Union speech that she will bring forth a European Magnitsky Act, a sanctions framework modeled after a U.S. law that restricts malign actors' access to travel and the global financial system.