Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here.
A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
President Trump yesterday cancelled former Vice-President Kamala Harris’ Secret Service protection, according to a copy of a letter seen by CNN. As a former vice president, Harris was entitled to six months of protection after leaving office under federal law. According to several sources, former President Biden extended this protection for an additional year in a secret directive that Trump has now revoked. Edward-Isaac Dovere reports.
The White House yesterday tapped one of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s top deputies, Jim O’Neill, to be the acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sources say. O’Neill is currently a HHS Deputy Secretary, and will continue in the role while serving as the interim CDC head, the sources added. He was a frequent critic of the CDC during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dan Diamond reports for the Washington Post.
Trump yesterday signed an executive order expanding his effort to strip union protections from federal employees. Trump’s new order directs NASA, the National Weather Service and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the Office of the Commissioner for Patents, and units of the Bureau of Reclamation to end their collective bargaining agreements. Chris Cameron reports for the New York Times.
The Defense Department will no longer allow Chinese nationals to work as coders on the Pentagon’s cloud systems, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday, citing “unacceptable risks” to national security. Ashleigh Fields reports for the Hill.
The Education Department wants Denver’s public school system to convert its all-gender restroom facilities into “sex-designated multi-stall restrooms” to resolve a civil rights investigation and avoid sanctions, according to a statement released by the department yesterday. Juan Perez Jr. reports for POLITICO.
The Defense Department is restoring a portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee to the U.S. Military Academy library, officials say. The painting includes a slave guiding the Confederate general’s horse. It is unclear how the Pentagon plans to restore the portrait without violating an order from a congressionally-mandated commission for West Point to remove displays that “commemorate or memorialize the Confederacy.” Greg Jaffe reports for the New York Times.
U.S. FOREIGN DEVELOPMENTS
The United States will not participate in the U.N.’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism or submit its report on the human rights situation in the United States when it is due in November, a State Department official told Reuters. According to the official, the move is a consequence of Trump’s February executive order directing the State Department to disengage from the U.N. Human Rights Council. A spokesperson for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the organization regrets the U.S. decision. Andrew R.C. Marshall and Olivia Le Poidevin report.
The United States and Panama yesterday presented a draft proposal seeking the U.N. Security Council’s authorization for a new “Gang Suppression Force” to help tackle gang violence in Haiti. It was not clear from the draft whether the force would supplement the existing, Kenya-led Multinational Security Support force in the island country, or what states would help finance the deployment and contribute troops. Frances Robles reports for the New York Times.
The U.S. tariff exemption for package shipments valued under $800 ended today, with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection now collecting normal duty rates on all global parcel imports. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro yesterday claimed that the removal of the de minimis exception will “save thousands of American lives by restricting the flow of narcotics and other dangerous prohibited items, and add up to $10 billion a year in tariff revenues.” David Lawder and Andrea Shalal report for Reuters.
The European Commission yesterday proposed removing duties on imported U.S. industrial goods in a bid to pave the way for a reduction in U.S. tariffs on European cars. Philip Blenkinsop reports for Reuters.
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network yesterday issued a new advisory warning U.S. banks to monitor their operations for attempts by Mexican drug cartels to use Chinese money-laundering networks to hide their profits. Daniel Flatley reports for Bloomberg News.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
European defense ministers will meet in Copenhagen to discuss the war in Ukraine today, following a Russian attack on Kyiv that killed 23 people and significantly damaged a EU diplomatic compound and the British Council’s offices. Both the EU and the United Kingdom summoned their respective Russian ambassadors in response to the strikes. The U.N. Security Council has also scheduled an emergency meeting on airstrikes against Ukraine for this afternoon at the request of Ukraine, the United Kingdom, France, Slovenia, Denmark, and Greece. Sam McNeil reports for AP News; Filip Timotija reports for the Hill.
The Trump administration yesterday announced it had approved a proposed $825 million sale of 3,350 Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) missiles to Ukraine. A source said that if the sale is concluded as expected, the missiles could be delivered later this year. The move appears to be the Trump administration’s first major arms sale of new weapons to Kyiv. Jennifer Hansler reports for CNN.
Ukraine and Russia are “perhaps … not ready to end [the war] themselves,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday while commenting on Russia’s strike on Kyiv. Leavitt said that Trump was “not happy” but “not surprised” by Russia’s attack, and noted that Ukraine launched effective assaults on Russia’s oil industry in recent weeks. Sam McNeil reports for AP News.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Asked about Moscow’s deadly strike on Kyiv, a Kremlin spokesperson yesterday said that Russia remains interested in pursuing peace talks on Ukraine, but Moscow’s “the special military operation continues” and Kyiv “also continues strikes on Russian infrastructure.” Dmitry Antonov reports for Reuters.
Surveillance drones operated by Russia or its proxies are flying over routes used by the United States and Ukraine’s other allies to ferry military supplies through eastern Germany, according to U.S. and other Western officials. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius yesterday said that Berlin’s attempts to stop the drones are a “constant technical cat-and-mouse game” and that Germany is doing “everything [it] can” to counter the flights. A Kremlin spokesperson dismissed the report as “likely” fake news. Julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt report for the New York Times; Reuters reports.
European leaders are considering creating a buffer zone between the Russian and Ukrainian frontlines as part of a ceasefire or peace deal, European diplomats suggest. Moscow has previously embraced the idea of a buffer zone, and it is not clear Kyiv would accept the plan, as it would likely come with territorial concessions. The United States does not appear to be involved in the buffer zone discussions. Paul McLeary and Jack Detsch report for POLITICO.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Hundreds of staffers working at the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Wednesday wrote to him asking to take a “clear and public” position describing the Gaza war as a genocide, according to a letter seen by Reuters. In the letter, the staff say they consider that the legal criteria for genocide have been met in the Israel-Hamas war. A U.N. spokesperson said that Türk has the full support of the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and that “labelling of an event as a genocide is up to a competent legal authority.” Emma Farge reports.
The British government has barred Israeli officials from participating in the United Kingdom’s biggest defense trade show due to the Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza, a government spokesperson confirmed today. Israeli defense companies will still be able to attend the event. Reuters reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israeli forces killed at least 16 Palestinians across Gaza yesterday, according to local medics. Separately, an International Committee of the Red Cross spokesperson said that 31 patients, most with gunshot wounds, were admitted to the Red Cross Field Hospital in south Gaza’s Rafah. Nidal Al-Mughrabi reports for Reuters.
The “little bit more food” that is coming into Gaza is “not nearly enough to do what we need to do” in order to prevent widespread starvation, the World Food Programme’s Executive Director, Cindy McCain, told Reuters. Separately, McCain said that she has “personally met mothers and children who were starving in Gaza” and spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about increasing the flow of aid. Olivia Le Poidevin reports; Sam Mednick and Samy Magdy report for AP News.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
The Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Andrew Ferguson, has written to Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc., warning the tech giant not to filter or suppress emails sent over Gmail with “partisan effects,” Axios reports. Congressional Republicans in May called on the FTC to investigate whether Google’s spam filters are “unfairly” putting some of their emails in recipients’ spam folders. A Google spokesperson said the company’s filters apply equally to all senders, “regardless of political ideology.” Hans Nichols reports.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
Kilmar Ábrego García’s attorneys yesterday asked a federal judge for an order that would restrain Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from publicly attacking him, citing the impact of their statements on Ábrego García’s right to a fair trial. Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report for POLITICO.
The Homeland Security Department is considering restricting the duration of foreign journalists’ U.S. visas to eight months, according to a proposed rule published in the Federal Register yesterday. Foreign journalists can currently stay for the length of their temporary activity or assignment in the United States. Laura Kelly and Rebecca Beitsch report for the Hill.
Seven migrants deported from the United States arrived in Rwanda this month, a Rwandan government spokesperson said yesterday. Under a deal struck with the Trump administration, the African state agreed to take in 250 deportees. Lucy Fleming reports for BBC News.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
A federal judge yesterday rejected Saudi Arabia’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the families of 9/11 victims that alleges Saudi government agents provided “an essential support network” for the hijackers. The judge ruled that although the doctrine of sovereign immunity would ordinarily prevent a foreign government from being sued in U.S. courts, the lawsuit could still proceed due to a carveout law Congress passed in 2016 to enable suits related to the attack. He also found that plaintiffs made a plausible case that high-ranking Saudi officials working in the United States provided assistance to hijackers in connection with their official duties. Mattathias Schwartz reports for the New York Times.
In the first case of its kind, a federal judge yesterday authorized the refund of a $2,200 restitution payment made by a Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by Trump. In authorizing the transfer, the judge wrote that “sometimes a judge is called upon to do what the law requires, even if it may seem at odds with what justice or one’s initial instincts might warrant.” Kyle Cheney reports for POLITICO.
The Republican chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Bill Cassidy (R-LA), yesterday called on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to indefinitely postpone its next meeting in light of the “serious allegations” that have been made “about the meeting agenda, membership, and lack of scientific process being followed.” Alexander Bolton reports for the Hill.
The FBI yesterday said that it had arrested a Tennessee woman on charges of threatening to kill Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). Nate Rau reports for Axios.
FEDERALIZATION OF DOMESTIC POLICING
In a joint letter published yesterday, 19 Democratic governors described Trump’s “threats and efforts” to deploy National Guard troops without the request and consent of state governors as an “ineffective” and “alarming abuse of power.” Gregory Svirnovskiy reports for POLITICO.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
The U.N. Security Council yesterday unanimously voted to end the deployment of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon at the end of next year. Lebanese officials last year called for the force to remain in the territory, saying the country’s cash-strapped army does not have the resources to patrol the full area on its own. Edith M. Lederer reports for AP News.
The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary yesterday shelled the besieged el-Fasher city in Sudan’s Darfur region, killing at least 24 people and wounding 55 others, the Sudan Doctors Network medical group said. Samy Magdy reports for AP News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal judge yesterday blocked the Trump administration from firing Mike Abramowitz, the Voice of America’s director, without the approval of the International Broadcasting Advisory Board. The judge ruled that the Senior Advisor for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Kari Lake, cannot unilaterally fire Abramowitz, as “the applicable statutory requirements could not be clearer” and require the bipartisan board to approve the termination in a majority vote. Shortly after taking office. Trump dismissed six of the seven members of the board, designed to check political influence on federally funded newsrooms, and has not named their replacements. David Folkenflik reports for NPR.
A full federal appeals court yesterday revised its earlier decision that a group of nonprofits could not challenge the Trump administration’s decision to freeze billions of dollars in Congressionally-approved foreign aid, ruling that the plaintiffs can continue challenging the move in a lower court for a subset of their claims. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times.
The Federal Reserve governor whom Trump tried to fire this week, Lisa Cook, yesterday filed a lawsuit challenging the dismissal. The legal challenge asks the court to rule that removal of a board member “for cause” cannot include “an unsubstantiated allegation” of the sort Trump leveled against her. Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report for POLITICO.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
If you enjoy listening, Just Security’s analytic articles are also available in audio form on the justsecurity.org website.
ICYMI: yesterday on Just Security
The Fantasy of a European Reassurance Force for Ukraine
By Michael Carpenter
What Just Happened? Dismantling the Intelligence Community’s Foreign Malign Influence Center
By
