Axios

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected to restore two Obama-era fair housing rules created to reduce residential segregation and unintended discrimination, Politico reported Tuesday, citing notices posted by the Office of Management and Budget.

Why it matters: The move would be one the strongest actions the Biden administration has taken so far to address systemic racism in housing, according to the Washington Post.

A use-of-force expert called by Derek Chavin's defense team on Tuesday said the former Minneapolis police officer was "justified" in his actions when he knelt on George Floyd's neck last May.

The big picture: The testimony of Barry Brodd, a former police officer, comes after witnesses called by the prosecution argued the opposite.

Rusten Sheskey, the police officer who shot Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, is back on duty and won't face disciplinary action, Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis said Tuesday.

The big picture: Kenosha was at the center of protests against police brutality after Sheskey, a white law enforcement officer, shot and wounded Blake, a Black man, on Aug. 23, 2020. Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced in January that the officers involved in last summer's incident would not face charges.

John Kerry, President Biden's special envoy on climate change, is traveling to Shanghai, China and then on to South Korea for meetings on reducing emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases, the State Department said.

Why it matters: Kerry is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit China since Biden took office, and these talks come less than two weeks in advance of a virtual White House climate summit on April 22-23.

President Biden on Tuesday announced that he plans to nominate Robert Santos, vice president and chief methodologist at the Urban Institute, as director of the U.S. Census Bureau at the Department of Commerce.

Why it matters: If confirmed by the Senate, Santos, who also serves the president of the American Statistical Association, would be the first person of color to permanently lead the agency.

After the U.S. administered nearly 7 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC and FDA this morning issued a recommendation to pause using that particular vaccine after six women developed blood clots following their vaccinations. 

Axios Re:Cap digs into how this recommendation was likely made, why and how to understand it with Julie Morita, executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who has served on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, as commissioner for the Chicago Department of Public Health, and on the Biden COVID-19 advisory board.

The White House on Tuesday issued its first-ever presidential proclamation marking Black Maternal Health Week as part of an effort to highlight racial gaps in pregnancy and childbirth-related deaths.

Why it matters: The U.S. retains the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world, largely due to high mortality rates among Black mothers, according to research by Commonwealth Fund. Black women in the U.S. are 2.5 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women.

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced that patients seeking abortion pills will not be required to obtain the drug from hospitals or medical facilities in person while the coronavirus pandemic persists.

Why it matters: The move will allow women to get prescriptions for mifepristone via telemedicine and receive the drug by mail. The FDA's decision comes as abortion opponents in multiple Republican-led states push legislation to limit access to pregnancy termination methods.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday called President Biden's expected plans to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 a "grave mistake" and "abdication of American leadership."

Why it matters: Biden's expected withdrawal date is four months after the May 1 deadline the Trump administration negotiated with the Taliban last year.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's lawyers called their first witnesses on Tuesday, as the prosecution rested its case in a murder trial expected to hold closing arguments as early next week.

The state of play: The prosecution called dozens of witnesses in the trial's first 11 days to testify that Floyd died from a lack of oxygen due to police restraint, and not from the use of drugs or a pre-existing heart condition. On Tuesday morning, the defense sought to make a case for the latter.

Kim Potter, identified as the officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a weekend traffic stop near Minneapolis, resigned from her position "effectively immediately," Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said in a statement Tuesday.

What's new: Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon also submitted his resignation letter on Tuesday, Elliott said at a press conference. Elliot also called on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to turn the case over to Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is currently prosecuting former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.

A constellation of Trump administration stars today will launch the America First Policy Institute, a 35-person nonprofit group with a first-year budget of $20 million and the mission of perpetuating former President Trump's populist policies.

Why it matters: Two top Trump alumni tell me AFPI is by far the largest pro-Trump outside group, besides Trump's own Florida-based machine.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's gubernatorial campaign has reached a settlement with a former campaign staffer who accused the Democrat of unwanted sexual behavior during her 2018 run for governor.

Why it matters: Lujan Grisham is the chair of the Democratic Governors Association and a former member of Congress. This development comes as Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, also a Democrat, battles searing sexual harassment allegations.

Slain U.S. Capitol Police officer Billy Evans lay in honor in the Capitol on Tuesday, drawing mourners that included his family, his fellow officers, members of Congress and President Biden.

Why it matters: Evans is the second USCP officer this year to lie in honor at the Capitol. Evans died in a vehicular attack on the Capitol on April 2, and his colleague, officer Brian Sicknick, died the day after the Jan. 6 pro-Trump siege of the Capitol.

President Biden is expected to announce plans to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: The decision, expected to be publicly announced Wednesday, means thousands of soldiers will remain in the country beyond the current May 1 deadline, which the Trump administration negotiated with the Taliban last year.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is preparing to vote on a 280-page bipartisan bill that aims to counter the Chinese Communist Party's global influence.

Why it matters: The bill marks a culmination of years of growing concerns over the rise of an increasingly authoritarian China. It would allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to a raft of new initiatives aimed at helping the U.S. succeed in long-term ideological, military, economic and technological competition.

Democratic lawmakers called on their Republican colleagues Tuesday to pass the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which aims to improve hate crime reporting and educate law enforcement on identifying anti-Asian racism.

Why it matters: Democrats will require 60 votes to push the legislation through the Senate, effectively daring Republicans to filibuster a bill for the first time since the new Congress.

Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday stressed that the U.S. needs to "reimagine policing and public safety" after Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by a Minneapolis officer this weekend.

The big picture: Following nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd's death last year, local police reforms were proposed on a scale not seen since the inception of the Black Lives Matter movement. But many of those proposals were never realized.

The White House said Tuesday that the FDA's recommendation that the U.S. pause use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine "will not have a significant impact" on the administration's vaccination plans.

Why it matters: The Biden administration says it has secured enough Moderna and Pfizer doses for 300 million Americans. The U.S. will be able to continue administering 3 million vaccine doses a day even without the Johnson & Johnson shot, according to the White House.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on a trip to Berlin Tuesday that the U.S. will station an additional 500 troops in Germany as soon as this fall "to strengthen deterrence and defense in Europe."

Why it matters: It's a stark reversal from the policies of former President Trump, who sought to withdraw 12,000 troops from Germany after accusing the U.S. ally of "delinquent" payments to NATO.

In the run-up to the White House's virtual climate summit on April 22-23, environmental groups and now major corporations are presenting a united front in calling for at least a 50% cut in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, when compared to 2005 levels.

Why it matters: The 2030 targets are needed since the world is on course to sail above the warming targets set in place by the Paris Climate Agreement, resulting in potentially catastrophic climate impacts. These include the loss of much of the world's coral reefs and melting of some of the planet's largest ice sheets.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D) announced Monday he's launched a civil rights investigation into the Windsor Police Department and its officers involved in the traffic stop of U.S. Army Lt. Caron Nazario.

Details: Herring told CNN footage that emerged last Friday showing the two officers pepper-spraying and drawing guns on Nazario, who is Black and Latino, in December was "appalling," "dangerous" and "unacceptable."

China's government has sent 25 military jets into Taiwan airspace, the self-governed island's Ministry of National Defense said.

Why it matters: Monday's deployment of 14 J-16 and four J-10 fighters, four H-6K bombers, two Y-8 anti-sub warfare aircraft and one KJ-500 aircraft marks the biggest breach of Taiwan's air defense identification zone on record, according to the island's defense ministry.

Axios traveled to McAllen and El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, to see how the communities are responding to an increase of migrants from Central America.

Of note: South and West Texas are among the poorest regions in the nation and rarely are they covered beyond soundbites and press conferences. Axios reporters Stef Kight and Russell Contreras walked the streets of McAllen, El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez to record images that struck them.

Police on Monday identified the officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a weekend traffic stop near Minneapolis as Kim Potter.

Details: Potter has been with the Brooklyn Center Police Department for 26 years, the The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said in an emailed statement.

President Biden on Monday nominated Christine Wormuth, director of the RAND Corporation's international security and defense center, to serve as his Army Secretary.

Why it matters: Wormuth would be the first woman in the role if confirmed by the Senate. She led Defense Department policy at the end of Obama's administration, after serving as the Pentagon's under secretary of defense and as a senior policy director on the National Security Council.

Democrats and Republicans will be looking far beyond the bottom-line numbers as they examine first-quarter campaign fundraising reports due Wednesday.

Between the lines: We spoke with aides to House and Senate leadership, allies of former President Trump and top Democrats about their focus. They'll be looking for any proof Republicans were hurt by the Jan. 6 Capitol siege and whether Democrats are headed for midterm trouble.

Top Biden officials have meetings planned with more than a dozen congressional committees this week as they try to pass a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure package on an accelerated timeline, senior White House sources tell Axios.

Why it matters: Democrats are anxious to pass their massive tax-and-spend package before the August recess. If negotiations stretch beyond the summer break, the chances increase they drag into 2022, and it's hard to get members to take tough votes during election years.

The Biden administration is vetting Ken Salazar, a former senator and Interior secretary, to serve as U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: President Biden is close to publicly naming a slate of ambassadors. In considering a former Senate colleague for Mexico City, he's acknowledging the crisis on the border will require both diplomatic and political skills to solve.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other migrant advocacy groups are fed up with President Biden for continuing some of the controversial immigration practices used by President Trump.

Why it matters: With the president approaching his 100th day in office, the situation at the southern border has become his administration's biggest problem and threatens the Democrats' chances in the pivotal 2022 midterms.

A federal judge approved a partial agreement between the U.S. Soccer Federation and the women's national team on unequal working conditions, per AP.

Why it matters: The approval clears the way for the U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT) to appeal a ruling last May against the world champions on equal pay returns.