The Washington Post editorial board published an article on Wednesday calling for former Vice President Joe Biden to publicly address a sexual assault allegation made against him by Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer.
Driving the news: Business Insider this week published accounts from two on-the-record sources corroborating parts of allegations by Reade, who alleges Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced on Wednesday that phase one of the state's reopening will begin in most counties on Monday, with stores and restaurants permitted to operate at a 25% occupancy limit.
Why it matters: Florida has been one of the epicenters of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., reporting more than 33,000 confirmed cases and 1,200 deaths thus far, per Johns Hopkins.
Trump administration advisers are hinting at a willingness to spend billions and elevate their risk tolerance in the hope of getting coronavirus treatments out this year.
What they're saying: "There had been frustration about how slow CDC was moving on a vaccine, and there had been discussions on how to bypass some of the bureaucracy and speed the process up significantly," a White House official told Axios' Alayna Treene.
Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.), who announced Wednesday that he has formed an exploratory committee for a potential third-party presidential run, dismissed concerns on MSNBC that his candidacy could help re-elect President Trump.
What he's saying: Amash said that denying more candidates on the 2020 ballot is essentially "voter suppression" and "frankly un-American," adding, "If people want to vote for someone, they should vote for that person."
The vast majority of Americans support universal access to mail voting and over half believe all elections should be conducted via mail, a Pew poll published Tuesday shows.
Driving the news: There's a bipartisan concern among the 4,917 people Pew surveyed this month that the novel coronavirus pandemic will disrupt November's elections. President Trump has questioned the reliability of mail-in ballots, but several states have elected to expand mail-in voting for 2020 primaries. 49% of Republicans Pew polled now favor allowing any voter to vote by mail if they want to.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, along with police, attempted to break up groups of mourners at a rabbi's funeral Tuesday. De Blasio denounced via Twitter the holding of gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.
Details: De Blasio called the large funeral gathering in Williamsburg "unacceptable." "When I heard, I went there myself to ensure the crowd was dispersed," he tweeted. "And what I saw WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the Coronavirus." But Some Jewish leaders criticized de Blasio for singling out "one specific ethnic community."
Democrat Kweisi Mfume defeated Republican Kimberly Klacik in a special election to succeed Rep. Elijah Cummings for Maryland's 7th congressional district on Tuesday, per AP.
Why it matters: The seat was left vacant in October by the death of Cummings, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee and one of the most prominent faces of the House Democratic caucus.
Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) announced on Tuesday that he has "launched an exploratory committee" to seek the Libertarian Party's 2020 nomination for a possible third-party presidential run.
Why it matters: Amash gained notoriety last year when he came out as the lone House Republican to support the impeachment of President Trump following the publication of the Mueller report. He later switched his party affiliation to independent.
Former Vice President Joe Biden won Ohio's Democratic primary on Tuesday, according to AP.
Why it matters: Biden is the lone Democrat left running for president. But his former competitor Sen. Bernie Sanders has encouraged his supporters to continue voting for him in presidential primaries to help gain leverage over the party's platform at the Democratic National Convention.
