Republicans release list of Obama officials who sought to 'unmask' Flynn, including Biden – live

Per White House press pool reporters, the president also called Dr. Anthony Fauci’s message yesterday cautioning against opening schools too soon “unacceptable”.

“I was surprised by his answer,” Trump said. “To me it’s not an acceptable answer especially when it comes to schools.”

Yesterday, the top public health official contradicted Trump, who urged schools and businesses to reopen and said the White House has set a target of having 100m vaccine doses by the autumn. Fauci disputed that timeline, indicating that neither a vaccine nor treatment could be developed and distributed in time to facilitate the reopening of schools in the fall.

“I think they should open the schools, absolutely,” the president said. “I think they should. It’s had very little impact on young people. And I think that if you’re an instructor, if you’re a teacher, a professor over a certain age like let’s say 65 or maybe even if you want to be conservative, 60, perhaps you want to stay out for a little while longer. But I think you should absolutely open the schools. Our country has got to get back and it’s got to get back as soon as possible, and I don’t consider our country coming back if the schools are closed.”

Hi there, it’s Maanvi Singh — blogging from the West Coast.

Donald Trump told reporters that he’s missing Mike Pence.

Trump was speaking with the officials from North Dakota and Colorado in the White House Cabinet Room, where reporters were also present.

The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:

Missouri Republicans have approved a new ballot measure seeking to undo significant gerrymandering reform voters overwhelmingly approved just two years ago.

In 2018, 62% of Missouri voters supported a constitutional amendment to put a non-partisan demographer in charge of drawing the districts for state legislators. The measure also established prioritized criteria for the demographer to follow, making partisan fairness and competitiveness one of the most important ones. The reform would likely weaken Republican control of the state legislature, an Associated Press analysis found.

The next round of redistricting won’t take place until 2021, and the demographer hasn’t even been chosen yet. But if voters approve the new Republican proposal, they would eliminate the position entirely and return redistricting power to committees picked by the state Democratic and Republican parties and the governor. It makes partisan fairness and competitiveness the least important criteria to follow when redistricting, instead prioritizing keeping districts compact and contiguous.

The U.S. constitution requires districts to have roughly the same number of people in each district and states have long used the all residents as the basis for drawing districts. But the Republican proposal requires districts to be drawn on the basis of “one person, one vote,” a change many believe would allow districts to be drawn solely on the population eligible to vote. Such a change would likely “benefit Republicans and non-Hispanic whites,” Thomas Hofeller, a top GOP redistricting expert wrote in 2015.

There’s already a rush of a split-screen response over the Republicans’ reveal of the “unmasking” list.

Republicans are repeating what Republican senator Rand Paul just said at a press conference, calling the list damning evidence that the Obama administration was using government resources to spy on Trump.

Members of the GOP are starting to call for hearings to investigate efforts to “unmask” Flynn.

Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, an ally of Trump, said on Twitter that the list is proof that the Obama administration “had a history of using intelligence agencies to target political opponents”

Meanwhile, Democrats are pointing out that “unmasking” is routine intelligence work, conducted by the federal government thousands of times a year.

Yellowstone to partially reopen May 18

Officials announced Yellowstone National Park will begin a partial reopen on Monday, May 18, allowing visitors to access the park at two of the park’s entrances in Wyoming.

Wyoming lifted its out-of-state travel restriction last Friday, giving the national park an opportunity to experiment with reopening the park and how it will affect surrounding Wyoming counties.

Idaho and Montana, the two other states the park is located in, still have out-of-state travel restrictions in place. The entrances in those states will remain closed.

In a statement, park officials said they have three phases of reopening the park in mind: First is the reopening of the Wyoming entrances, allowing visitors to access trails, restrooms and self-service gas stations. The second phase would be the same, though with the rest of the park in Idaho and Montana. The third phase would see the reopening of hotels, tour buses and ranger programs. The park said it does not have a date set for the next two phases.

NY Attorney General to investigate NYPD enforcement of social distancing measures

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced this afternoon that her office will be looking into whether NYPD has been equally enforcing social distancing measures in the city.

NYPD has come under fire in recent weeks after it was revealed that 35 of 40 arrests for social-distancing violations made between March 17 and May 4 were arrests of black individuals. Four of the arrests were Hispanic, and one was white. All the while pictures were posted on social media of crowded parks in the more white, affluent neighborhoods in the city.

“The apparent unequal enforcement of social distancing policies is deeply troubling, and deepens the divide between law enforcement and the people they are tasked to protect,” James said in a statement.

Senate rejects data privacy amendment

The Senate just now voted down an amendment that would limit the federal government’s ability to obtain data without a warrant.

The amendment was introduced by a bipartisan pair of senators as one potential reform of the Foriegn Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which gives the US federal government broad power to surveil individuals who are considered a threat to national security.

The amendment would prohibit the federal government from collecting information such as web browsing and internet search history without probable cause.

Rumors of Biden’s VP shortlist continue to circulate

As Joe Biden weighs his options for vice president predominantly in private, rumors of who the front-runners continue to float around.

CNN reported today that former presidential candidates and current US senators Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar are currently his leading contenders, according to sources close to the candidate.

Here’s more from CNN:

As the vice presidential search intensifies, Harris and Klobuchar are widely seen as two of the leading contenders, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The vetting process will determine whether they remain in the top tier at the end of the search.

Since both ran for president, most aspects of their backgrounds are already well known, but the research for a vice presidential selection could be far more rigorous, invasive and different than their presidential bids. Teams of lawyers will be assigned to look into their histories, particularly focusing on their respective records as prosecutors in California and Minnesota, along with financial information and personal backgrounds.