Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday

Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday

Jul 10, 2017

Spicer's antagonist-in-chief

AP

WashPost Style front, "CNN's Jim Acosta airs the news — and his irritation," by Paul Farhi:

CNN's senior White House correspondent "has said on the air that White House press secretary Sean Spicer's unresponsive answers were rendering him 'just kind of useless' as a credible source; that the ever-briefer briefings have become 'basically pointless'; that covering this White House has at times been like 'covering bad reality television.'"
"Spicer effectively blames Acosta ... when he suggests that live audio and video coverage of the briefings was curtailed because of 'grandstanding' by some reporters."
"In an interview, Spicer denounced Acosta in some of the harshest terms a press secretary has used ... 'If Jim Acosta reported on Jim Acosta the way he reports on us, he'd say he hasn't been very honest ... He's the prime example of a [reporter in a] competitive, YouTube, click-driven industry.'"

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8 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Scoop: Border officials project 13,000 child migrants in May

The "El Chaparral" border crossing at Tijuana. Photo: Stringer/Picture Alliance via Getty Images

A Customs and Border Protection staffer told top administration officials Thursday the agency is projecting a peak of 13,000 unaccompanied children crossing the border in May, sources directly familiar with the discussion told Axios.

Why it matters: That projection would exceed the height of the 2019 crisis, which led to the infamous "kids-in-cages" disaster. It also underscores a rapidly escalating crisis for the Biden administration.

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9 hours ago - World

U.S. strikes Iran-backed militia facilities in Syria

President Biden at the Pentagon on Feb. 10. Photo: Alex Brandon - Pool/Getty Images

The United States on Thursday carried out an airstrike against facilities in Syria linked to an Iran-backed militia group, the Pentagon announced.

The state of play: The strike, approved by President Biden, comes "in response to recent attacks against American and Coalition personnel in Iraq, and to ongoing threats to those personnel," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement.

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9 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Senate parliamentarian rules $15 minimum wage cannot be included in relief package

Photo: Al Drago/Getty Images

The Senate parliamentarian ruled Thursday that the provision to increase the minimum wage to $15/hour cannot be included in the broader $1.9 trillion COVID relief package.

Why it matters: It's now very likely that any increase in the minimum wage will need bipartisan support, as the provision cannot be passed with the simple Senate majority that Democrats are aiming to use for President Biden's rescue bill.

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