President Trump on Friday evening commuted the sentence of his longtime associate Roger Stone, according to two senior administration officials. Stone in February was sentenced to 40 months in prison for crimes including obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements to Congress.
Why it matters: The controversial move brings an abrupt end to the possibility of Stone spending time behind bars. He had been scheduled to report to prison on July 14.
The U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia on Friday denied Roger Stone, President Trump's former associate, a requested delay to his 40-month prison sentence for lying to Congress during the Russia probe.
Why it matters: Stone is set to report for his sentence on July 14. Trump on Friday said he was "looking at" commuting Stone's sentence, adding his former aide and longtime confidant was "unfairly treated," according to the Washington Post.
President Trump on Friday said he is no longer confident about negotiating a phase-two trade deal with China, noting that the coronavirus pandemic has damaged the countries' already-strained relationship.
Why it matters: The president's remarks throw both the future of the U.S.-China trade war and the first phase of the deal that the two countries signed in January into limbo.
President Trump and Joe Biden are going back and forth over the former vice president's "buy American" economic proposal, which Trump claims Biden "plagiarized" from him.
Why it matters: Biden is directly challenging Trump and his "America First" agenda with the release of his latest plan, focused on economic recovery and re-investing in American manufacturing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
A National Guard soldier on Thursday became the first woman in the U.S. to earn the title of Green Beret after graduating from Army Special Forces training, the New York Times reports.
The big picture: The Pentagon announced it would open all combat jobs to women in late 2015, and the Green Berets had been one of the last places in the Army without any women.
Latinx politicians Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Julián Castro and chef José Andrés decried Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue after the executive spoke in support of President Trump on Thursday, saying, "We're all truly blessed" to have him as a leader.
Why it matters: Unanue's comments triggered a nationwide boycott among Latinos, the Washington Post reports. Goya is America’s largest Hispanic-owned food company, founded by Spanish merchants who emigrated to Puerto Rico and then moved to New York City in the 1930s.
Why it matters: California is the first state to challenge the administration's rule, which amid the coronavirus pandemic, requires international college students to "depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status," Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian on Friday told CNN that he believes the Trump administration should move to require the use of face masks during air travel amid a surge in coronavirus cases.
The big picture: Delta already requires passengers to wear masks during its flights, but Bastian says it can be difficult to enforce that directive if passengers refuse — and he's not sure if other airlines would be on board.
President Trump's outdoor campaign rally in Portsmouth, N.H., slated to take place on Saturday, was postponed on Friday due to weather from Tropical Storm Fay, a senior White House official confirmed to Axios.
The state of play: Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters on Air Force One that the event would take place in "a week or two" instead. The outdoor rally — which had encouraged the use of face masks — was scheduled after sparse attendance at Trump's indoor comeback to the campaign trail in Tulsa.
Joe Biden yesterday laid out the broad strokes of his economic policy platform, which seemingly is designed to not freak out centrists and not piss off progressives.
Why it matters: Biden has a better-than-even shot of becoming the next president, which means his tax plans could become everyone's tax bills.
Why it matters: It's one of the first interventions from a prominent politician on the topic — and it comes after the Ivy League's move to pause fall sports and the Big Ten's decision to keep its competitions conference-only.
Joe Biden is making it increasingly clear that he'll push for a large increase in energy research, development and demonstration funding if he wins the White House.
Driving the news: The economic proposals Biden unveiled yesterday include $300 billion over four years for investments in R&D and "breakthrough" tech — and one of the focus areas is energy.
The myth that Black Americans can close the racial wealth gap through "personal responsibility" comes in part from a misunderstanding of what wealth is.
The big picture: As noted by a report last year from the Cleveland Fed, the income gap between Black and white Americans is the result of "persistent systemic differences in economic opportunity," rather than a lack of responsibility.
TikTok users have again tried to prank President Trump, flooding his official campaign app with thousands of one-star reviews, Bloomberg eports.
Why it matters: Generation Z is retaliating against the president after his administration has floated banning the Chinese-owned app — a favorite among their cohort — in recent days over data privacy concerns, which TikTok denies.
Over the last few weeks, the Supreme Court has handed down multiple setbacks to President Trump and conservatives on cases ranging from abortion to LGBTQ discrimination. Chief Justice John Roberts' record shows he's not siding with the left. Instead, he's slowly but surely moving the court in a more conservative direction.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is not the revolutionary that conservative activists want him to be.
He moves slower than they want, sides with liberals more than they want, and trims his sails in ways they find maddening. But he is still deeply and unmistakably conservative, pulling the law to the right — at his own pace and in his own image.
