Monday, May 2

• Politico reported on a leaked Supreme Court majority opinion draft by Justice Samuel Alito in which the court voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito wrote. Chief Justice John Roberts later confirmed the draft was authentic, but not final.
• Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) met with Poland’s far-right leader President Andrzej Duda during her tour of Eastern Europe in support of Ukraine. Pelosi called Duda “a valued partner in supporting the people of Ukraine in the face of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s brutal and unprovoked war.”
• The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the city of Boston violated the free speech rights of Camp Constitution, a conservative Christian group, by refusing to fly a flag bearing the image of a cross at City Hall as part of a program that let private groups use the flagpole while holding events in the plaza below.
• A federal jury convicted Thomas Webster, a 56-year-old New York Police Department veteran, of assaulting an officer during last year’s Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. The jury rejected his self-defense argument and found him guilty of all six counts against him, including a charge that he assaulted a police officer with a dangerous weapon: a metal flag pole.
• State Department spokesman Ned Price said the recent death of Egyptian economic researcher Ayman Hadhoud n a state mental health facility requires a “thorough, transparent and credible” investigation, after rights groups raised concern about his treatment in the facility. Price said the United States is disturbed by “allegations of his torture while in detention.”
• The U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Michael Carpenter, said there are “highly credible” intelligence reports that Russia is planning to annex two Ukrainian regions, Luhansk and Donetsk, “some time in mid-May,” and declare a third region as a “people’s republic” in the southeast.

Tuesday, May 3

• The State Department determined that Russia “wrongfully detained” American basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at an airport in February after Russian authorities said a search of her bag revealed vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis. Envoy for hostage affairs Roger Carstens will lead a team tasked with securing Griner’s release, an official said.

Wednesday, May 4

• President Joe Biden gave a speech at the White House in which he touted his administration’s efforts at reducing the nation’s budget deficit, which fell by more than $350 billion in his first year. He also charged “MAGA” Republicans with protecting billionaires at the expense of working-class Americans. “The bottom line is the deficit was going up every year under my predecessor before the pandemic and during the pandemic,” Biden said.

Thursday, May 5

• Biden announced the appointment of Karine Jean-Pierre as the next White House press secretary, replacing Jen Psaki who will step down on May 13. Jean-Pierre is the White House’s current deputy press secretary and deputy assistant to Biden. “Karine not only brings the experience, talent and integrity needed for this difficult job, but she will continue to lead the way in communicating about the work of the Biden-Harris Administration on behalf of the American people,” Biden said. She will be the first Black woman and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve as press secretary.
• The government of Fiji seized a $300 million yacht owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov at the request of the U.S., which is cracking down on the sanctions it has placed on wealthy Russians.
• Biden acknowledged Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, which was created in response to longstanding calls from indigenous activists for concrete action to stem disproportionate rates of violence against indigenous women and girls. “The federal government has an obligation to ensure that cases of missing or murdered persons are met with swift and effective action,” Biden said in a statement.

Friday, May 6

• Pentagon press secretary John Kirby denied reports that the U.S. military helped Ukraine sink the Russian Moskva missile cruiser last month, explaining that the U.S. “did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the Moskva... We had no prior knowledge of Ukraine’s intent to target the ship.”
• An administrative law judge ruled that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Geo.) should be allowed to run for re-election, rejecting arguments by a group of Georgia voters that her comments apparently in support of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol made her unfit for federal office. The ruling is only a recommendation. Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, will make the final determination whether Greene is qualified to run for re-election.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that tech company Nvidia Corp. agreed to pay the federal securities regulator a $5.5 million penalty over allegations that the chipmaker failed to adequately disclose revenue from crypto mining. “All issuers, including those that pursue opportunities involving emerging technology, must ensure that their disclosures are timely, complete, and accurate,” Kristina Littman, head of the SEC’s crypto enforcement team, said.
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the U.S. authorized an additional $150 million in military aid for Ukraine in a package that includes additional weapons and equipment from defense department inventories.

Saturday, May 7

· The New York Times reported on efforts by current and former federal U.S. officials to press the Taiwanese government to order American-made weapons to help the island nation’s small military repel an invasion from China.

Sunday, May 8

· No news to report.