Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Belarus' diversion of a commercial plane and subsequent arrest of opposition leader Raman Pratasevich in a statement Sunday, and called for Pratasevich's "immediate release."
State of play: Blinken said the U.S. is working with its partners to coordinate a response and he supports the "the earliest possible meeting" of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization to investigate the matter.
Two in three Americans — including the majority of moderate and liberal Republicans — favor creating a bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a new SurveyMonkey poll for Axios.
Why it matters: Conservative Republicans hold enough influence to block criticism and investigations of Donald Trump in Congress, but that stance could put them at odds with many suburban and college-educated Republican voters ahead of next year's midterms.
House Republicans will be urged to lean into voters' fear of inflation and link it to enacting the White House's economic agenda, Axios has learned.
Why it matters:A memo being sent by Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who leads the Republican Study Committee, comes as some economists are increasingly concerned President Biden is doing too much, too fast, and his spending will crank up inflation.
A new Axios-Ipsos poll on race relations one year after George Floyd's murder shows in stunning detail how there's no such thing as "what white Americans think," with Republicans and Democrats seemingly living in two different worlds.
Why it matters: Such a vast gap between the left and right inside the majority U.S. racial group belies the notion of a compromise view, and it shows why Congress has been so slow to act.
On "Axios on HBO," White House national climate adviser Gina McCarthy called for a practical rather than idealistic approach to getting Americans to change their routines to save the planet.
McCarthy told me that with all the lost jobs, "Now is not the time to sit them down and say: 'Let's talk about climate. How can you sacrifice?' ... [I]t's never going to be a winning strategy. Right now, it's ridiculous."
Why it matters: Electric vehicles have had a luxury image. But McCarthy took me for a spin in an electric Chevrolet Bolt before the interview, as part of an effort to show electric vehicles can be an economical part of the average American's future.
The National Guard troops that have guarded the Capitol in the months since the Jan. 6 insurrection will leave their post on Sunday, Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday.
State of play: Honoré said that the Guard is leaving but the building will likely not open to the public due to strains on the Capitol Police force, which has struggled with falling numbers since the events of Jan. 6.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) told "Axios on HBO" that she won't support Democrats in their fight against the GOP's push for more restrictive voting laws — a sign that she'll be no hero to the resistance.
Why it matters: Ten days after losing her House Republican post, Cheney is trying to put former President Trump's Big Lie about the election in a silo. She doesn't accept the larger context: Republicans spent years fertilizing the soil for voters to believe that voter fraud is rampant.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) took aim on Sunday at the leadership of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the day before McCarthy's GOP predecessor hosts a fundraiser for the Illinois lawmaker.
Why it matters: Kinzinger has been a prominent critic of Donald Trump and was one of 10 House Republicans who voted in January to impeach the former president.
Republican senators remain divided as they prepare to vote on establishing a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The big picture: So far, four Republican senators have expressed support for the idea while 25 have come out in opposition. Twenty-one GOP senators have not come down on either side and Democrats will need six more Republicans to get to a filibuster-proof majority, the Washington Post reports.
For the second time in a week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday the United States is looking to have a more "stable" and "predictable" relationship with Russia.
Why it matters: President Biden, who said in March that he believes Vladimir Putin is a "killer," has pledged to take a hard line against the Kremlin. The administration warned last month there would be consequences if jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny dies in custody.
Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) on Sunday condemned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for comparing mask mandates in the House to the Holocaust, saying her comments are part of a larger symptom of "attention-seeking" messages from some members of his party.
Why it matters: The Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish groups have raised alarms about rising anti-Semitism following the confrontation between the Israeli military and Hamas in Gaza. Reports of Islamophobia have also increased.
On the next episode of “Axios on HBO,” Axios national political correspondent Jonathan Swan asks Rep. Liz Cheney: "Where do you get the hope for this, that this is going to work?"
She replies: "Because I look at it from the perspective of what's right."
Catch the full interview and much more on Sunday, May 23 at 6 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul won't get vaccinated against COVID-19 because he previously contracted the virus, the Republican lawmaker told radio host John Catsimatidis.
The big picture: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises vaccination for those who previously had the coronavirus because experts do not yet know how long the immune system will protect against reinfection.
In the absence of support from President Biden and most national Democrats, the "Defund the Police" movement has gone local, ushering in an unprecedented wave of cuts to departments in major cities around the country in the year since George Floyd's death.
The big picture: At least 20 large U.S. cities have reduced their police budgets in some form, adding up to some $840 million, per data from the progressive group Interrupting Criminalization and media reports from across the country. 25 have ended contracts with police operating in schools.
Iran's parliament speaker said that a three-month monitoring agreement with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency has expired, so inspectors can no longer access images of nuclear sites, state media reported Sunday.
The "Saturday Night Live" cast reflected in the final cold open of season 46 on a "crazy" year that saw political upheaval and a pandemic that forced NBC to produce the show remotely for a while.
The big picture: "SNL" regular Cecily Strong thanked viewers "for staying with us through an election, an insurrection, and an objection that there was an insurrection." Comedian Chris Rock made a brief cameo to note that his hosting of the season's premiere "feels like six years ago."
Actor Anya Taylor-Joy hosted the show, while Lil Nas X was the musical guest.
Two doses of the COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca are "highly effective" against variants first detected in India and the United Kingdom, health officials in England announced Saturday.
Why it matters: Some health experts have expressed concerns that contagious new variants could be more resistant against coronavirus vaccines, potentially prolonging the pandemic.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has been issued with a fine for failing to follow pandemic health regulations at a public event in Maranhao state.
Driving the news: Maranhao's leftist governor, Flávio Dino, tweeted late Friday that the far-right president would be fined "for the promotion ... of gatherings with no sanitary safeguards," noting that masks are mandatory and gatherings of over 100 people are banned in the state.
