White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, the grandson of refugees who fled to America to escape the Holocaust, defended President Trump's decision to slash the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. in an interview with "Axios on HBO."
Driving the news: Kushner told Axios that his family's experience — from "the precipice of life and death" to the West Wing in just two generations — is a reminder of "how great this country is." But "you can’t have all of them come into your country," Kushner said of the 68.5 million refugees in the world.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan compared President Donald Trump to "fascists of the 20th century" in an op-ed in The Observer, a day before Trump is set to arrive in the United Kingdom for a state visit.
"Donald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat. The far right is on the rise around the world, threatening our hard-won rights and freedoms and the values that have defined our liberal, democratic societies for more than seventy years. Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Matteo Salvini in Italy, Marine Le Pen in France and Nigel Farage here in the UK are using the same divisive tropes of the fascists of the 20th century to garner support."
State visits by American presidents in the U.K. are typically smooth sailing, but a combination of British political events and bilateral tensions could unsettle President Trump's current trip.
The big picture: Trump arrives in London amid the upheavals of the unresolved Brexit issue, a Conservative Party leadership crisis and the sizable win for far-right leader Nigel Farage’s party in the European parliamentary elections. His commentary on the politics of Brexit has not always been welcome, and disputes over Huawei and other foreign policy issues have added to the strain.
In a CNN interview on Sunday, 2020 candidate Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) went into a detailed discussion on living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after he served four tours in the Iraq War.
Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C), the third-highest ranking Democrat in the House, told CNN's Jake Tapper Sunday that he believes President Trump will be impeached "at some point," but that Congress must first "effectively educate the public" on his corruption in order to get their support.
The number of Democrats running for president is just too damn high. And that's causing problems for the candidates and the Democratic Party.
The big picture: Voters have never had this many options to choose from in a presidential primary, so the national party is doing its part to narrow the field — and getting hammered for it — while the candidates are being forced to get creative to stand out.
Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden vowed at the Human Rights Campaign’s gala Saturday his legislative priority was preserving Equality Act protections for LGBTQ people, as he accused the Trump administration of committing "immoral" acts against the community.
“You can get married because the Supreme Court now says that, but you can walk into your place of employment in so many states and be fired ... It’s got to change, because of the values we have to demonstrate to the rest of the world. It’s got to change because it’s just morally wrong."
A protester rushed MoveOn's Big Ideas Forum stage, grabbed the mic from 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and declared he wanted "attention for a much bigger idea" before being led offstage in San Francisco, California.
Details: Harris was answering a question about the gender pay gap in the U.S. when the man interrupted her. An animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere claimed responsibility for the incident, naming the protester as Aidan Cook, per SFGate.
Former Vice President Joe Biden was at an LGBTQ civil rights gala in Ohio rather than attending the California Democratic Convention on Saturday — where 14 other 2020 candidates courted voters and delegates, reports AP.
Why it matters: This convention was a chance for presidential candidates to address nearly 200 delegates, nearly one-fifth of what's needed to secure the nomination, and Biden skipped it. Since announcing his run for the White House, Biden has focused on going President Trump, rather going after other Democrats, per AP.
On the first day of LGBTQ Pride month commemorating the Stonewall Riots, 2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) released her LGBTQ rights agenda.
Why it matters: Gillibrand used the policy outline to juxtapose herself against President Trump and his administration when it comes to LGBTQ rights.
There was an 8% drop in international students in the U.S. last year, with nearly half of that decline coming from fewer Chinese students receiving visas.
Why it matters: The trend is at least partially attributed to President Trump's immigration policy changes and rhetoric, which have led to fewer foreign students applying to study at U.S. institutions. Foreign students contributed $36.9 billion to the U.S. economy during the 2016-2017 academic year, according to the NAFSA Association of International Educators.
President Trump expressed support for former U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's run for Prime Minister in an interview with The Sun on Friday, but stopped short of formally endorsing him.
Catch up quick: Trump said Johnson would be an "excellent" choice, but he also praised Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt's potential to succeed as Theresa May's replacement, saying, "I could help anybody if I endorse them." Trump will meet with Prime Minister Theresa May and UK business leaders on June 4.
Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) is no longer considering running against President Trump in the 2020 presidential election, the Washington Post reports.
The bottom line: Only one Republican has formally announced a challenge to Trump — former Gov. Bill Weld (R-Mass.), and only one other Republican — Nebraskan senator Ben Sasse — is weighing a possible 2020 run.
The State Department announced that all foreigners looking to attain a U.S. visa will have to list their social media accounts, emails and previous phone numbers, reports AP.
Why it matters: This change is part of the Trump administration's sweeping plan to overhaul the screening process, and they are citing national security as the primary motivation. President Trump has tried numerous things to curb immigration into the United States under the umbrella of national security, including the controversial "Muslim ban."
Former Vice President Joe Biden has recruited Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) to be a co-chair of his presidential campaign in a bid to appeal to more congressional Democrats and African American voters, reports the New York Times.
Why it matters: As a southern Democrat, Richmond says he has extensive political ties that could help boost Biden's chances in key primary states, such as South Carolina, per the Times. Richmond's new role in the Biden campaign comes at a time when black congressional leaders are struggling to decide if they should support frontrunner Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) or Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)
Transcripts between President Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Sergey I. Kislyak, Russia’s former head diplomat in the U.S., were not made public on Friday as ordered by a federal judge, the New York Times reports.
Context: These highly classified transcripts were obtained via FBI wiretap on Ambassador Kislyak — and that wiretap has not been acknowledged by prosecutors with the Justice Department, who failed to comply with the judge's order because they said they did not need to release transcripts that aren't vital to Flynn's prosecution.
A government watchdog group told the Department of Homeland Security to immediately resolve "dangerous" overcrowding at Border Patrol facilities in El Paso, Texas, according to a new report.
Why it matters: The Office of the Inspector General said crowded, standing-room-only conditions, specifically at the El Paso Del Norte Processing Center, posed serious health and security risks to both the migrants and officers. Some were held for weeks at a time. The watchdog group gave a target completion date of Nov. 30, 2020 to to follow recommendations and alleviate overcrowding.
