Sep 6, 2018 - Economy & Business

Pence's office denies he wrote anonymous NYT op-ed

Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Vice President Mike Pence's team shut down speculation Thursday morning that Pence was the author of an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times trashing President Trump.

"The Vice President puts his name on his Op-Eds. The @nytimes should be ashamed and so should the person who wrote the false, illogical, and gutless op-ed. Our office is above such amateur acts."

— Jarrod Agen, Pence's communications director and deputy chief of staff

The big picture: There was online speculation Wednesday that Pence could be the author based on the op-ed's use of the word "lodestar," which Pence has used throughout his career. But as Axios' Jonathan Swan reported earlier this year, White House officials who frequently leak pay attention to their colleagues' speech patterns to divert suspicion.

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Axios

Updated 42 mins ago - Health

World coronavirus updates

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Axios Visuals

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it's too early to say whether next month's elections will be postponed after she announced Tuesday four people had tested positive for COVID-19 after no local cases for 102 days.

Zoom in: NZ's most populous city, Auckland, has gone on lockdown for 72 hours and the rest of the country is under lesser restrictions.

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Axios

Updated 28 seconds ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 9:30 p.m. ET: 20,207,011 — Total deaths: 738,910— Total recoveries: 12,452,222 — Map.
U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 9:30 p.m. ET: 5,140,512 — Total deaths: 164,502 — Total recoveries: 1,714,960 — Total tests: 63,252,257 — Map.
States: Georgia reports 137 coronavirus deaths, setting new daily record — Florida reports another daily record for deaths.
Health care: Trump administration buys 100 million doses of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine.
Business: Moderna reveals it may not hold patent rights for vaccine.
Sports: Big Ten scraps fall football season.
World: Anthony Fauci "seriously" doubts Russia's coronavirus vaccine is safe

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Rashaan Ayesh

3 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Voters cast ballots in Minnesota, Georgia, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Vermont

Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Primary elections are being held on Tuesday in Minnesota, Georgia, Connecticut, Vermont and Wisconsin.

The big picture: Georgia and Wisconsin both struggled to hold primaries during the coronavirus pandemic, but are doing so again — testing their voting systems ahead of the general election. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is facing a strong challenger as she fights for her political career. In Georgia, a Republican primary runoff pits a QAnon supporter against a hardline conservative.