Dec 6, 2018

Saudi lobbyists spent $270,000 at Trump Hotel in December 2016

Zachary Basu

Photo: Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

A month before President Trump was inaugurated, lobbyists funded by the Saudi government spent more than $270,000 renting rooms at the Trump International Hotel as part of an initiative to send groups of veterans to Capitol Hill to lobby on its behalf, the Washington Post reports.

The big picture: Veterans who participated in the "fly-in" trip were offered free rooms and dinners at the luxury hotel before heading to the Hill to meet with lawmakers, where they claimed a law alleging the Saudi government bore some blame for 9/11 would pave the way for retaliation from other countries. Lobbyists said they chose the Trump hotel because it offered a discount for veterans, but the case is nonetheless being used in an emoluments lawsuit that accuses Trump of profiting off the presidency.

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U.S. coronavirus updates: Confirmed cases surpass 200,000

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

Positive cases of the coronavirus passed 213,000 on Wednesday — nearly twice as many as Italy — as more state governors issued stay-at-home orders for Americans to curb infection.

The state of play: Trump administration officials are anonymously sounding the alarm that America's emergency stockpile of personal protective equipment is running dangerously low, the Washington Post reports.

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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

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  4. World update: Spain’s confirmed cases surpassed 100,000, and the nation saw its biggest daily death toll so far. More than 500 people were reported dead within the last 24 hours in the U.K., per Johns Hopkins.
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World coronavirus updates: Spain's health care system overloaded

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens and confirmed plus presumptive cases from the CDC

Two planes with protective equipment arrived to restock Spain’s overloaded public health system on Wednesday as confirmed cases surpassed 100,000 and the nation saw its biggest death toll so far, Reuters reports.

The big picture: COVID-19 cases surged past 900,000 and the global death toll surpassed 45,000 early Wednesday, per Johns Hopkins data. Italy has reported more than 12,000 deaths.

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