Jun 6, 2017

What Trump will be doing during the Comey testimony

Dave Lawler

Evan Vucci / AP

President Trump has scheduled a speech to religious conservatives for 12:30pm EST on Thursday, the AP reports. That means the speech is likely to fall during James Comey's highly-anticipated testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

  • Flashback: This is part of the Trump playbook. He once held a televised fundraiser for veterans during a primary election debate he had boycotted.
  • Watch your Twitter feed: Comey's testimony will begin at 10am, and Trump will almost certainly be watching. Per the Washington Post's Robert Costa, he'll also be on Twitter: "I'm told by two WH sources that Pres. Trump... may live tweet if he feels the need to respond."
  • Why it matters: Comey is expected to confirm that Trump asked him to ease up on his investigation of Michael Flynn. Responding to his testimony in real time, and without consultation from aides or lawyers, is a risky move.

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Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian

Scoop: Census Bureau is paying Chinese state media to reach Americans

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The 2020 Census Paid Media Campaign, which sends U.S. taxpayer dollars to community media outlets to run ads about the upcoming census, is including a Chinese state-run broadcaster as one of its media vendors.

Why it matters: After China's yearslong campaign to co-opt independent Chinese-language media in the U.S., Washington is now paying Beijing-linked media outlets in order to reach Chinese Americans.

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Axios

Live updates: Coronavirus spreads to Latin America

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.

Brazil confirmed the first novel coronavirus case in Latin America Wednesday — a 61-year-old that tested positive after returning from a visit to northern Italy, the epicenter of Europe's outbreak.

The big picture: COVID-19 has killed more than 2,700 people and infected over 81,000 others. By Wednesday morning, South Korea had the most cases outside China, with 1,261 infections. Europe's biggest outbreak is in Italy, where 374 cases have been confirmed.

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Dan Primack

GOP congressman accuses California pension official of working for China

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios

The latest season of Red Scare has come to Sacramento.

Driving the news: Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) has repeatedly accused Ben Meng, chief investment officer of the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), of tacitly working on behalf of the Chinese government. Banks also says that, were it up to him, Meng would be fired — and has questioned the patriotism of California Gov. Gavin Newsom for not at least investigating Meng.

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