Axios

Georgia's legislature voted 127-38 on Tuesday to pass a bill requiring police officers to document when someone is subjected to a hate crime on the basis of race, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, religion or national origin.

The big picture, via the Wall Street Journal: Georgia has been weighing the passage of a hate crimes law for two decades.

Former President Barack Obama said at a virtual fundraiser for Joe Biden Tuesday night that “help is on the way” and urged supporters not to be complacent in thinking their work is close to being finished: "Whatever you’ve done so far is not enough."

Why it matters: Organizers said it's the Biden campaign's largest fundraiser yet, bringing in $7.6 million from over 175,000 people. It's expected to be the first of several joint efforts with Biden in the months leading up to the election.

Despite laws protecting people from workplace discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age, religion and sexual orientation — including last week's Supreme Court victory for LGBTQ workers — when it comes to actually holding firms accountable, the odds are stacked against workers.

Why it matters: The U.S. workplace is still rampant with discrimination, but the bulk of it is going unchecked as companies have figured out how to keep themselves out of court.

Walmart will no longer display the Mississippi state flag in its stores, since it is the only flag in the U.S. to embed the Confederate battle flag, the AP first reported and Axios confirmed.

Driving the news: The NCAA announced on Friday that it would no longer hold championship events in Mississippi, due to the Confederate symbol's "prominent presence" on the state flag.

A career Justice Department lawyer will testify to the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that political leaders in the agency's antitrust division initiated a probe of four automakers' carbon emissions agreement with California a day after President Trump tweeted criticisms of the preliminary deal.

Driving the news: John Elias, one of two whistleblowers testifying in Wednesday's hearing about political interference at the Justice Department, says in prepared testimony that the since-abandoned probe into Ford, BMW, Honda and VW initiated on Aug. 22, 2019, did not follow the typical procedures.

The 2020 White House Correspondents' Association dinner has been canceled after originally being postponed from April to Aug. 29 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Why it matters: The dinner brings together journalists who cover Washington, D.C., and often features influential hosts. The event is the primary source of revenue for the White House Correspondents' Association.

• The WHCA says it is working to host a virtual event "that would allow us to salute award-winning journalism, toast an impressive group of scholarship winners, and still enjoy a few laughs."

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) issued an executive order Tuesday to eliminate the word "plantations" from state documents, symbols and related government websites.

Why it matters: The state seal includes a golden anchor along with the word "hope" and the phrase "the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." Rhode Island was one of the original 13 colonies, with Providence Plantations founded in 1636.

President Trump's national security adviser Robert O'Brien will lambast China's leadership in a speech tomorrow in Arizona, one day after President Trump visits the crucial battleground state to promote his border wall.

What we're hearing: O'Brien's speech "will focus on the challenge presented by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to American values and the values of democratic societies around the world," a senior administration official familiar with his prepared remarks tells Axios.

Career prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky will tell the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that Justice Department leadership intervened in the sentencing of former Trump adviser Roger Stone for political purposes, according to his opening statement.

Why it matters: Zelinsky is one of two Justice Department whistleblowers who plan to testify before the committee about the alleged politicization of the Justice Department under Attorney General Bill Barr.

Primary elections initially delayed by the coronavirus are taking place on Tuesday in North Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi, Kentucky and New York.

The big picture: Establishment-backed candidates have been pitted against progressive challengers in several of the Democratic congressional primaries being held Tuesday — including one race that could see the powerful chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee unseated after 16 terms in Congress.

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley will leave his post to become the national press secretary for President Trump's re-election campaign, per sources with direct knowledge.

The big picture: Gidley, who has been serving as principal deputy press secretary, will join the campaign’s communications staff which is headed by Tim Murtaugh. He will fill the role previously held by Kayleigh McEnany, who is now White House press secretary.

Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday stating that Senate Republicans' police reform bill is "not salvageable."

Why it matters: The bill comes amid a national reckoning over police brutality and systemic racism spurred by the killing of George Floyd, but Capitol Hill's gridlock over the best path forward might torpedo any real legislative action on the issue at the moment.

A bipartisan Senate coalition of 27 Democrats, 13 Republicans and two independents are backing a bill to recognize Juneteenth, the June 19 commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, as a federal holiday.

Why it matters: 47 states, plus D.C., recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday, but legislation to declare it a national holiday has repeatedly stalled in Congress, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Pressed on whether he was joking when he said at a campaign rally this weekend that he asked officials to slow down coronavirus testing, President Trump told reporters on Tuesday: "I don't kid."

Why it matters: White House officials have insisted that the comments were "tongue-in-cheek." Anthony Fauci told the Wall Street Journal this week that while increased testing does lead to more cases reported, the higher percentages of positive tests results in many states "cannot be explained by increased testing."

Inviting biological weapons attacks, withdrawing the U.S. from NATO and criminalizing political dissent: John Bolton tells Axios these are some of his fears about what could come to pass if President Trump is elected to a second term.

Driving the news: In an interview on Monday at his office in downtown D.C., timed to the release of his book "The Room Where It Happened," Trump's former national security adviser elaborated on hypothetical scenarios that keep him up at night when he considers the implications if Trump wins re-election.

Stacey Abrams tells "Axios on HBO" that she hopes Joe Biden picks a running mate who "reflects his understanding of this moment and his effort to continuing to expand the electorate," but she declined to say whether she's being vetted for that role for which she's openly campaigned.

Even as the protests over the killing of George Floyd have upped the urgency for Joe Biden to select a black running mate, college students are favoring Sen. Elizabeth Warren, according to a new College Reaction/Axios poll.

Why it matters: The poll shows that progressive ideology is still a top consideration for young voters — though it also found that two African-American women, Sen. Kamala Harris and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, had substantial support.

Traffic to donation websites has exploded over the past few weeks, amid the social reckoning around systemic racism in the United States.

• More than 20% of that traffic came from countries outside the United States, which speaks to the tremendous impact that the protests are having abroad.

Top aides and advisers to President Trump have been urging him to put together a new list of Supreme Court Justices ahead of the November election in an effort to pump up his base and remind them why a Republican needs to remain in the White House, people familiar with the talks tell Axios.

Behind the scenes: Discussions among Trump administration officials, Senate Judiciary staff and outside groups ramped up after Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump's first SCOTUS nominee, delivered the majority decision prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

The Secret Service told members of the media covering a protest in Lafayette Square to leave White House grounds on Monday evening, as demonstrators attempted to topple a statue of Andrew Jackson.

Why it matters: It's an "incredibly unusual" move, noted CNN's Kaitlan Collins live on air. Reporters are typically redirected to the White House briefing room during such incidents, per CNN. A Secret Service spokesperson said in a statement to Axios, "[I]n response to the increasingly violent demonstrations in Lafayette Park, four members of the media were misdirected by the Secret Service to leave the White House grounds. The members of the press were rerouted to exits on the south side of the complex for their own safety."

Protesters chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Andrew Jackson's got to go" as they tried to pull down a statue of the seventh U.S. president in Lafayette Park outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on Monday evening, video shows.

The big picture The demonstrators attached ties to the statue as they attempted to topple it before police used pepper spray to disperse protesters, per WUSA-TV and DCist.com. President Trump tweeted, "Numerous people arrested in D.C. for the disgraceful vandalism, in Lafayette Park, of the magnificent Statue of Andrew Jackson, in addition to the exterior defacing of St. John’s Church across the street. 10 years in prison under the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act. Beware!"

Go deeper: Secret Service says it "misdirected" press to leave White House grounds

The CEO of Delta Air Lines repeatedly declined to comment on President Trump's handling of protests over police brutality, claiming that he "can't speak to the president's actions."

• "I'm speaking to the people that I'm accountable to. I think their ... top of mind is not what the president is doing in D.C.," Ed Bastian told Jim VandeHei in an interview for "Axios on HBO."

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow doesn't believe there is systemic racism in the United States, citing the election of former President Barack Obama.

• "I don't accept the view of systemic racism. I think there is racism in pockets of this country, but I do not believe it is systemic," Kudlow told Jonathan Swan in an interview for "Axios on HBO."
• "You have as evidence of that view, our first black president, just a few years back, won two terms, and I regarded that with pride as an American."

The president's chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow disputed comments from Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro, who said Monday night on Fox News the U.S.-China trade deal is "over."

Details: "The U.S. remains engaged with China over the phase one trade deal signed last January and according to trade negotiator Bob Lighthizer the deal is going well. President Trump has made similar comments just recently," Kudlow told me.

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) is preparing to subpoena Attorney General Bill Barr for his testimony on July 2, a committee spokesperson confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: The expected subpoena comes after the firing of Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York who had been investigating President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.