2020 Day 1201: The CDC projects that by June 1, the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. will reach about 3,000 daily deaths; Trump revised his estimated coronavirus death toll for the fifth time in two weeks; Trump claimed that he gets treated worse by the press than Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated; Trump moved to replace the top watchdog at the Department of Health and Human Services after her office released a report highlighting supply shortages and testing delays at hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic; and Trump is reportedly not happy with FBI director Christopher Wray and wants to replace him. May 4, 2020
2021 Day 105: The FDA is expected to authorize Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for children as young as 12 by next week; the number of people getting their first Covid-19 vaccine dose has declined in at least 47 states as the country approaches 150 million vaccinated people; the White House will reallocate some Covid-19 vaccine doses away from states with lower demand to those where demand remains high; and America’s "new normal" temperature is one degree hotter than it was two decades ago. May 4, 2021
2022 Day 470: Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a Texas-style abortion ban into law; the National Republican Senatorial Committee circulated a three-page memo of talking points urging GOP candidates to “be the compassionate consensus-builder” on abortion and attack Democrats for their "extreme and radical views"; J.D. Vance won Ohio's Senate Republican primary with 32% support after a late endorsement by Trump; Trump's acting Homeland Security secretary changed and delayed an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2020 election; the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point to combat the highest inflation in 40 years; and the U.S. surpassed 1 million Covid-19 deaths. May 4, 2022
2023 Day 835: Four members of the Proud Boys were found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol; the special counsel investigating Trump's mishandling of classified documents sent new grand jury subpoenas to top Trump employees for information about the handling of Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage; a New York Supreme Court judge dismissed Trump's lawsuit against the New York Times; a Republican megadonor paid for two years of private school tuition for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s great nephew; and Republican lawmakers in the North Carolina House approved legislation that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks. May 4, 2023