1.
The Justice Department on Thursday moved to drop its criminal case against President Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contact with Russia's ambassador before Trump's inauguration. Flynn later tried to withdraw the plea, saying he was pressured into giving it. The DOJ investigated, and concluded the FBI's interview of Flynn was "unjustified," so his statements weren't "material even if untrue." Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan now must decide whether to dismiss the case. Trump said the reversal showed Flynn was an "innocent man." Critics said the move was the latest in a series of efforts by Attorney General William Barr to chip away at the results of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. [ The Associated Press]
2.
One of President Trump's personal valets has tested positive for coronavirus. The valet, who was not identified publicly, is a member of the Navy and part of an elite military unit that works closely with the president and his family, so the test result raised concerns that Trump could have been exposed to the virus. Trump was very upset when he learned of the valet's test result, and was subsequently retested by the White House physician, CNN reported. "The president and the vice president have since tested negative for the virus and they remain in great health," Deputy White House Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement. Trump will now be tested daily for COVID-19, he said. [CNN]
3.
Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael, 34, have been arrested for the fatal February shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations announced Thursday. Both were charged with murder and aggravated assault. Arbery, who was black, was jogging through a Glynn County neighborhood on Feb. 23 when the McMichaels, who are white, began chasing him in a pickup truck. They told police they thought he was responsible for recent burglaries in the neighborhood, although no such crimes were reported in the weeks before the shooting. The arrests came two days after a video emerged showing Travis McMichael holding a shotgun as he confronted the unarmed Arbery in the street. There is a scuffle, three shots are fired, and Arbery stumbles and falls to the ground. [CNN, WJCL]
4.
The Supreme Court unanimously threw out the convictions of two former New Jersey officials involved in the state's "Bridgegate" scandal on Thursday. Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the aides — Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni, allies of former Gov. Chris Christie (R) — "used deception" to cut access lanes from Fort Lee, New Jersey, to the bridge "for no reason" other than "political payback" against Fort Lee's mayor, who had refused to endorse Christie's re-election. Evidence clearly shows corruption and power abuse, but Kelly and Baroni "could not have violated the federal-program fraud or wire fraud laws" because they didn't "aim to obtain money or property," Kagan wrote. Baroni began his 18-month prison sentence last year; Kelly was scheduled to begin her 13-month sentence two weeks before the Supreme Court agreed to hear her case. [CNN]
5.
The Trump administration sent back the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's proposed guidance for restarting businesses, houses of worship, schools, and local government offices during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, requesting revisions, The Associated Press reported Thursday. The 17-page report, titled "Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework," was intended for release last Friday, but an anonymous CDC official said agency scientists were told it "would never see the light of day." Normally, the CDC provides regular guidance and science-based updates on public health crises, but the White House has handled regular briefings during the coronavirus pandemic. The White House's broad guidelines on reopening leave most decisions to governors. [The Associated Press]
6.
Sen. Richard Burr's brother-in-law Gerald Fauth sold off significant stock holdings on the same day Burr did in February, just before fears of economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic triggered a market crash, ProPublica reported Thursday. Fauth, who was appointed by President Trump to the National Mediation Board in 2017, reportedly sold between $97,000 and $280,000 worth of shares in six companies, some of which dropped more sharply than the broader market in the panicked selling, which dragged down the main U.S. indexes by more than 30 percent in the month that followed. Burr had received intelligence briefings about the potential fallout from the pandemic, but he said he based his investment decisions on publicly available news. [ProPublica, Fox News]
7.
Tara Reade, who has accused former Vice President Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993, told Megyn Kelly in a piece of an interview aired Thursday that she thought Biden should withdraw from the 2020 presidential race. Reade says Biden sexually assaulted her in the Capitol building when she worked for him in the Senate. "You and I were there, Joe Biden," she said. "You should not be running on character for the president of the United States." Reade, whose lawyers include a Trump donor and a former editor of the Russia-linked Sputnik news agency, said she wished Biden would drop out of the presidential race, "but he won't." Biden has denied Reade's allegation "unequivocally," saying "it never happened." [Megyn Kelly]
8.
The Small Business Administration has slashed its limit on loans under an emergency disaster lending program from $2 million to $150,000 due to overwhelming demand. The agency also is blocking all new applications from small businesses under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. The longstanding program is separate from the Paycheck Protection Program created in response to the coronavirus pandemic, aiming to help small businesses continue paying employees through the crisis. The disaster loan program did get more than $50 billion in new funding under coronavirus relief bills Congress has passed since the outbreak began. The SBA now has a backlog of applications. [The Washington Post]
9.
Economists expect the Labor Department's April employment report to show the U.S. economy lost a record 21.5 million jobs last month as the coronavirus crisis shut down businesses across the country. The losses likely pushed up the unemployment rate from 4.4 percent to 16 percent, although it could fall anywhere between 11 percent and 20 percent, according to Dow Jones. Sixteen percent unemployment would be the highest rate since 1939, late in the Great Depression. "This is the biggest and most acute shock that we’ve seen in post-war history," said Michelle Meyer, head of U.S. economics at Bank of America. The government reported Thursday that 3.2 million people filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total to 33.5 million in the last seven weeks. [CNBC]
10.
Indian authorities on Friday widened evacuations near a South Korean-owned chemical factory where a gas leak has killed at least 12 people. Another 1,000 people reportedly were left struggling to breathe after the leak. Authorities tried to ease a panic caused by the evacuations, assuring the public that there hadn't been a new leak. But the factory's owner, LG Chem, said it had requested the new evacuations due to concerns that rising temperatures at the plant's gas tank could result in further leaks. Authorities said they were flying in chemicals to neutralize the gas before letting evacuees return to their homes. The first evacuations, on Thursday, affected about 3,000 people. [The Associated Press]
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