On This Day: May 13

5 posts spanning 2019–2025

2019

• Day 844: The White House asked Don McGahn to say Trump never obstructed justice; China is retaliating against Trump's tariff hikes with tariff hikes of their own; the White House complained that Democrats weren't following the "rules and norms" of government; the Pentagon is spending money meant for missiles and spy planes on Trump's border wall; and Omarosa wants to join a lawsuit alleging that women were underpaid by the Trump campaign. May 13, 2019

2020

• Day 1210: Trump and the coronavirus task force is pushing the CDC to change its methodology for how they count coronavirus deaths, which could lead to far fewer deaths being counted than originally reported; Jared Kushner refused to rule out that the presidential election could be postponed despite the opinion of a White House staff member having no bearing on when the election is held; the top U.S. vaccine doctor who was ousted in April testified that the U.S. could face the "darkest winter in modern history" because the Trump administration was unprepared for the coronavirus; and Paul Manafort was released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence from home due to concerns over the coronavirus. May 13, 2020

2021

• Day 114: The CDC said Americans who are fully vaccinated can safely go without masks or physical distancing in most cases; jobless claims fell to a new pandemic low of 473,000 last week; a Florida politician – and Rep. Matt Gaetz associate – is expected to plead guilty; the Republican, QAnon-supporting congresswoman from Georgia aggressively confronted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and falsely accused her of supporting "terrorists"; and Florida officials are reportedly preparing "contingency plans" for a Trump indictment as the Manhattan district attorney's criminal investigation enters its final stages. May 13, 2021

2024

• Day 1210: Michael Cohen testified that Trump directed him to personally make the $130,000 hush payment to Stormy Daniels because her story would be “catastrophic” for his campaign; an aide to Trump's 2016 campaign alleges that the campaign intentionally obscured settlement payments to women who made discrimination or harassment claims in violation of federal law; Trump may face a $100 million IRS bill after an audit suggests he double-dipped on tax losses tied to a Chicago skyscraper; a State Department report said it was "reasonable to assess" that Israel had used American-provided weapons in Gaza that are “inconsistent” with international law; a federal appeals court upheld Steve Bannon’s criminal contempt of Congress conviction; and Biden called Trump "clearly unhinged" after Trump praised the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter as a "wonderful man." May 13, 2024

2025

• Day 1575: Trump will lift all U.S. sanctions on Syria, ending a decades-long policy that labeled the country a state sponsor of terrorism; Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced a $1 trillion package of Saudi investments in U.S. defense, energy, tech, infrastructure, and health care; Chuck Schumer placed a hold on all Justice Department political nominees over Trump’s plan to accept a $400 million jet from Qatar; inflation rose 0.2% in April, and 2.3% from a year earlier; U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained a U.S. citizen and Global Entry member for nearly two hours at Chicago O’Hare Airport after his return from France; the Episcopal Church cut ties with the U.S. refugee resettlement program after the Trump administration asked it to help resettle white South African Afrikaners; in a first, a federal judge in Pennsylvania backed Trump’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang; Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. waded into Washington, D.C.’s Rock Creek with his grandchildren over the weekend, despite federal warnings that the water contains unsafe levels of bacteria; Biden’s top aides privately discussed putting him in a wheelchair if he won a second term; and Senator Mike Lee introduced a bill that would make most pornography a federal crime by expanding the legal definition of obscenity. May 13, 2025