Apr 13, 2018 - Politics & Policy

Reports: Trump considers pardoning Cheney aide Scooter Libby

Scooter Libby at the U.S. Capitol. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

President Trump is considering a pardon for Scooter Libby, the former chief of staff to former Vice President Dick Cheney, reports ABC News and the New York Times. The president has reportedly already signed off on the pardon, which he has been considering for months.

The big picture: Pardoning Libby, who was convicted of lying to the FBI and obstruction of justice in 2007, could raise concerns about Trump pardoning his political allies. He would be Trump's third presidential pardon, after Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and Navy sailor Kristian Saucier. Trump also granted Sholom Rubashkin, an Iowa kosher meatpacking executive, clemency last December.

Go deeper

Barak Ravid
6 mins ago - World

Trump announces new Iran sanctions in effort to maintain international arms embargo

Photo: Anna Moneymaker-Pool/Getty Images

President Trump signed an executive order on Monday that would impose sanctions on any person or entity that contributes to the supply, sale, or transfer of conventional arms to or from Iran or is engaged in providing training and financial support related to those weapons.

Why it matters: The executive order is the first step by the Trump administration to put teeth into its claim that international sanctions on Iran were restored over the weekend, one month after the U.S. initiated the "snapback" process under a United Nations Security Council resolution.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Alayna Treene
20 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Exclusive: Conservative group launches $2M Supreme Court ad

Screengrab of ad, courtesy of Judicial Crisis Network.

The Judicial Crisis Network is launching a $2.2 million ad campaign to put pressure on vulnerable Senate Republicans in battleground states to support a quick confirmation when President Trump announces his Supreme Court nominee.

The big picture: "Follow Precedent," previewed by Axios, is one of the first national and cable television ads to run following Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg's death Friday.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Axios
Updated 21 mins ago - Politics & Policy

CDC says it mistakenly published guidance about COVID-19 spreading through air

CDC Director Robert Redfield. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Pool/Getty Images

The CDC has removed new guidance that acknowledged airborne transmission of the coronavirus, posting in a note on its website that the guidance was only a draft and had been published in error.

Why it matters: The initial update — which was little noticed until a CNN story was published Sunday — had come months after scientists pushed for the agency to acknowledge the disease was transmissible through the air. The CDC previously said that close person-to-person contact was the bigger concern, and the language has been changed back to erase the warning about airborne transmission.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow