Monday, June 14

· Saeed Khatibzadeh, spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said Iran reached a “broad agreement” with the United States over lifting sanctions on the Middle Eastern country’s industrial sectors, including energy, but also warned there was “very little time left” to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

· A federal intelligence report compiled by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned that QAnon conspiracists may begin to use violence to target Democrats including President Joe Biden and other perceived political enemies if the movement’s prophecies don’t come to pass. The report said QAnon supporters will believe “they have an obligation to change from serving as ‘digital soldiers’ towards engaging in real world violence.”

Tuesday, June 15

· A group of U.S. aircraft carriers led by the USS Ronald Reagan entered the contested South China Sea in a routine mission “conducting maritime security operations,” according to the Navy, as tensions between the U.S. and China continue to escalate.

· Biden agreed with European Union leaders to remove tariffs on $11.5 billion of goods for five years. The tariffs were imposed in a trade war during the administration of former President Donald Trump on a tit-for-tat basis in a 17-year-long dispute over aircraft subsidies.

· The House Oversight and Reform Committee obtained Justice Department documents that revealed Trump, his chief of staff and other allies pressured the department to challenge the 2020 presidential election results.

· The White House released a national strategy to improve analysis of domestic terror threats in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. It includes increased intelligence sharing between agencies, “extremist threat” deterrence and extremist recruitment and mobilization prevention in cooperation with tech companies on whose platforms these groups organize.

· The Department of Transportation said it wants to fine Air Canada $25.5 million for “extreme delays” in giving refunds to passengers whose flights were cancelled or rescheduled during the pandemic.

· Biden announced he picked Wall Street banker and former State Department official Thomas Nides to be the next ambassador to Israel.

Wednesday, June 16

· Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin held their first meeting since Biden took office. Biden said the tone was “positive” and Putin said the talks were “constructive. It lasted over three hours and highlighted still significant discord between the two on human rights, cyberattacks, election interference and Ukraine. Although expectations for any breakthroughs between the two leaders were low, they agreed to hold a bilateral dialogue on “strategic stability” to reduce risk of conflict between the two countries and gave the go-ahead on their respective ambassadors returning to their posts.

· The Department of Education said it would erase about $500,000 million in student loan debt for borrowers who attended predatory, for-profit college chains that exaggerated claims about graduate job-finding success. In total, Americans owe more than $1.7 trillion in student loan debt.

· Twenty-one House Republicans came under fire for voting against awarding Capitol police officers gold medals for their service during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Many of these “no” voters denied the significance of the insurrection.

· The Biden administration rescinded Trump-era policies that made it harder for asylum seekers fleeing gang or domestic violence to receive U.S. protection. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the policies were too broadly written and threatened “to create confusion and discourage careful case-by-case adjudication of asylum claims.”

· Both chambers of Congress passed a bill to make Juneteeth, June 19, 1865, the day when the last enslaved Black Americans are said to have learned they were free, into a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the country.

Thursday, June 17

· The Supreme Court dismissed a challenge brought by 18 Republican-governed states to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, finding these states had no standing to bring their lawsuit to federal court. This is the third time the ACA survived a Supreme Court challenge, preserving health care for millions of Americans.

· The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in favor of a Catholic Church-affiliated agency called Catholic Social Services after Philadelphia refused to place children in the agency’s foster care because it barred same-sex couples from applying to become foster parents.

· The Supreme Court sided 8-1 with food giants Nestle and Cargill against a group of six adult citizens of Mali who said they were kidnapped from their home country as children and forced to work on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. The justices felt that since the events occurred entirely overseas, it would be inappropriate to proceed with the suit.

· The House voted to repeal the U.S.’s 2002 war powers measure that authorized the use of force in Iraq, and which Trump used to justify the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani last year. It still must pass the Senate and be signed by Biden to become law.

· Following through on agreements made earlier in the week with the E.U., the U.S. suspended its 25% tariffs on Scotch whiskey imposed by Trump in 2019. Although the United Kingdom is no longer part of the E.U., it was when the tariff was imposed.

Friday, June 18

· Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Atlanta to urge Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine, paying particular attention to Black, Latino and other minority populations. “We can say with confidence the vaccines are safe, they are free and they are effective,” Harris said in a speech at the historically Black college Clark Atlanta University.

· The Wall Street Journal reported the Biden administration is withdrawing its antimissile batteries from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and Jordan in an effort to reduce its military footprint in the region.

Saturday, June 19

· Biden announced that first dog Champ, the family’s 13-year-old German Shepherd, died “peacefully at home.”

· The White House announced that it had sent 2.5 million COVID vaccines to Taiwan, over triple its previous allocation for the island, in a competition with China, which claims Taiwan as its own, in deepening “geopolitical clout through so-called ‘vaccine diplomacy,’” according to al-Jazeera.

· Dennis McDonough, secretary of veterans affairs, said the Department of Veterans Affairs plans to offer gender confirmation surgery in an act that has been “deserved for a long time” to “ensure the equitable treatment and safety of transgender veterans.”

Sunday, June 20

· National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the U.S. is preparing more sanctions on chemical weapons in Russia in response to the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. Biden first imposed sanctions for this reason in April.