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.

Go deeper

Axios

Updated 28 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 3 p.m. ET: 11,514,395 — Total deaths: 535,453 — Total recoveries — 6,223,819 — Map.
U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 3 p.m. ET: 2,910,023 — Total deaths: 130,090 — Total recoveries: 906,763 — Total tested: 35,512,916 — Map.
Public health: Case growth outpacing testing in hotspots
States: Cuomo accuses Trump of "enabling" the coronavirus surge — West Virginia becomes latest state to mandate facial coverings.
Politics: Meadows says Trump "is right" to claim 99% of coronavirus cases are "harmless."

Go deeper (<1 min. read)

Orion Rummler

37 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Amy Cooper charged for calling police on Black bird-watcher in Central Park

A white woman who called 911 to accuse a Black man of threatening her life in Central Park in March faces misdemeanor charges for making a false report, the Manhattan District Attorney's office announced Monday.

The big picture: The May 25 incident, which was caught on film, was one of several viral episodes that helped catalyze massive Black Lives Matter protests against the police killings of Black people in the U.S.

Go deeper (1 min. read)

Axios

56 mins ago - Politics & Policy

McEnany defends Trump's tweet about Bubba Wallace and Confederate flag

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a press briefing Monday that President Trump "was not making a judgment one way or the other" about NASCAR's decision to ban the Confederate flag and that his attack on Bubba Wallace was an attempt to stand up for NASCAR fans who are unfairly painted as racist.

The state of play: McEnany was repeatedly grilled by reporters over the president's inflammatory tweet, in which he demanded that NASCAR's only Black driver apologize after the FBI determined that he was not a target of a hate crime and claimed that ratings had dropped after the sport banned the Confederate flag at its events.