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WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily by Matt Kiser and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
Day 730: "Breach of trust."
Today in one sentence: The Supreme Court cannot identify the person who leaked a draft of the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade; the U.S. reached its $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, forcing the Treasury Department to begin resorting to "extraordinary measures" to pay the bills; the State Department will allow private citizens to financially sponsor the resettlement of refugees in the U.S.; and a federal judge declined to dismiss the contempt of Congress charges against Peter Navarro for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 Committee.
1/ The Supreme Court cannot identify the person who leaked a draft of the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, which the court has called “one of the worst breaches of trust in its history.” Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley conducted 126 formal interviews of 97 employees, but “was unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence.” Curley said 82 employees had access to copies of the draft opinion. The court also said it could not rule out that the opinion was inadvertently disclosed, “for example, by being left in a public space either inside or outside the building,” but also “the Court’s IT experts cannot absolutely rule out a hack.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / CNN / Associated Press / NPR)
2/ The U.S. reached its $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, forcing the Treasury Department to begin resorting to “extraordinary measures” to pay the bills. With no deal in sight to raise the artificial debt ceiling, the Treasury Department suspended certain federal investments to prevent a default that would cause “irreparable harm” to the economy. The accounting measures will preserve the nation’s ability to meet financial obligations until at least June 5. House Republicans have said they will not raise the borrowing limit unless Biden agrees to cuts in federal spending, including potentially to Social Security and Medicare. Biden and the Democrats, meanwhile, have said they will not negotiate and that it’s inappropriate to attach conditions to raising the limit. “I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to Kevin McCarthy. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC / Associated Press / NBC News)
3/ The State Department will allow private citizens to financially sponsor the resettlement of refugees in the U.S. The pilot program, called “Welcome Corps,” will initially enlist 10,000 Americans, who will be able to sponsor up to 5,000 refugees. Groups of at least five people will be required to raise an initial $2,275 per refugee to help support them during their first three months in the country. Since 1980, the refugee program has been managed by nine federally funded nonprofits, which resettled at least 65,000 refugees a year. Trump, however, set the admissions ceiling at 15,000 refugees in his final year and gutted the refugee admissions infrastructure both in the U.S. and abroad. (Associated Press / CBS News / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NPR)
4/ A federal judge declined to dismiss the contempt of Congress charges against Peter Navarro for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 Committee. The former Trump White House adviser will now go to trial at the end of the month for refusing to testify and refusing to provide documents. He faces a maximum sentence of a year in prison on each contempt of Congress charge if convicted. (Politico / CNN)
A political newsletter for normal people
WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily by Matt Kiser and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
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