The U.S. is deploying the USS Arlington, an amphibious transport ship, and a Patriot air defense system to U.S. Central Command in the Middle East, the Defense Department announced on Friday.
What to watch: This decision is partially based on U.S. intelligence that says Iran has green-lit some proxy forces to "go after American military personnel and assets in the region," 3 U.S. officials told NBC. An anonymous defense official told the AP the same thing last Monday, saying Iran and its proxy forces were preparing to possibly attack U.S. forces in the region.
The FBI has opened a campaign finance investigation into Li "Cindy" Yang, a donor to President Trump and founder of a Florida massage parlor chain caught in a human trafficking investigation, the Miami Herald reports.
Driving news: The FBI subpoenaed records this week related to a donation to Trump's 2020 campaign from an employee of Yang's massage parlors who wrote a $5,400 check, the maximum allowed under federal law, with Yang's help, as reported by the New York Times. It's unclear if that employee was reimbursed by Yang for the donation.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a trip to Russia next week, the State Department announced Friday.
Details: Pompeo is set to speak with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on May 14 in Sochi to discuss "bilateral and multilateral challenges" between the U.S. and Russia. It will be Pompeo's first trip to Russia during his tenure heading the State Department.
President Trump said in a Twitter thread Friday that China is paying billions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury due to tariffs hours after he reignited the trade war with a tariff spike. This is a claim he's made before, including back in January, when he said it twice during a press conference and on Twitter.
Reality check: The tariffs are paid by U.S. importers of affected Chinese goods, not by China's government or by Chinese companies. Importers then either raise costs on consumers, lower their own profit margins or both.
