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The HEROES Act passed by the House last week would do more than provide direct assistance to Americans struggling during the coronavirus pandemic; it would allocate funding to states as they prepare for a November election that will look a lot different than usual. Every state must have a plan that ensures voters may vote safely, orderly, and securely amid coronavirus concerns. Crowded polling stations can pose a mortal danger, particularly for seniors, and a fear of contracting COVID-19 could effectively disenfranchise those who choose to stay home. That means a heavy reliance on expanded absentee voting and online registration is imperative. For states that don’t already have the infrastructure in place, it’s a tall order, particularly when budgets are stretched to the breaking point. Contact your senator and ask them to support safe elections by supporting the HEROES Act. —Mindy Finn
Top Ten

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1. What does he have to lose? A positive early vaccine trial. A big rally on Wall Street. Yesterday was looking up in coronavirus news. Then came President Trump's unexpected announcement: he's taking hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 preventative. Can't we have one good day? While the anti-malarial drug, which Trump spent weeks pushing as a potential miracle cure, has reportedly had some anecdotal benefits, it has the potential to cause significant side effects in some patients and has not been proven as a treatment nor shown to prevent someone from contracting the novel coronavirus. —Associated Press ([link removed])
* — Things aren't what they seem in Georgia. Recent public data from the Georgia Department of Public Health appeared to show that new confirmed cases in the counties with the most infections had dropped every day for the past two weeks, but in fact, lower case numbers were the result of a lag in data collection. Some worry the data is being portrayed in a way that favors Gov. Brian Kemp's early easing of restrictions. —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ([link removed])
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* — Oregon restrictions "null and void." In Oregon, Baker Co. Circuit Judge Matthew Shirtcliff ruled yesterday that Gov. Kate Brown's coronavirus emergency orders were "null and void" after she failed to have them approved by the state's legislature in 28 days. A lawsuit was brought by churches who claimed the social distancing directives were unconstitutional and that emergency powers only last for a month. Brown plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court. —Fox News ([link removed])
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* — Texas reopens amid rising cases. As Texas continues to move forward with its reopening, the Texas Department of Health reported more than 47,000 COVID-19 cases in the state, with over 1,800 new cases confirmed on Saturday alone. It's the largest single-day increase in confirmed cases in Texas since the pandemic began. Gyms and non-essential manufacturing and work offices reopened yesterday with 25% capacity. —CBS News ([link removed])
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* — A coronavirus campaign strategy in Utah. Kaysville Mayor Katie Witt, who is running for Congress in Utah's 1st district, is openly defying the state's COVID-19 restrictions by allowing a protest group to hold an outdoor concert in a city park on May 30. State directives ban public gatherings of more than 50 people. The Alliance for a Better Utah is calling on her to resign. —Deseret News ([link removed])

More: He thought the coronavirus was 'a fake crisis.' Then he contracted it and changed his mind (NBC News) ([link removed])

2. Fleischer: Be wary of too-good-to-be-true data "Mass delusion seems a dubious strategy for ending the coronavirus crisis. And yet if you look at the data coming out of Georgia over the past month—which had one of the earliest and most aggressive efforts to reopen its economy—you might be convinced that there is little danger in a broad economic reopening. ... [W]e now know things did indeed look too good to be true. Georgia's coronavirus numbers looked so rosy because officials misrepresented the data in such a way it's difficult to believe it wasn't done on purpose. ... Time will tell if Georgians will pay the price for the irresponsibility and incompetence of their leaders, or if they'll catch a break. Hot, humid summer weather could send coronavirus into a remission unearned by responsible public health strategies. One thing, however, is certain: Wishful thinking isn't going to end this pandemic. If the numbers look too good to be true, they probably are." —Los Angeles Times
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More: Texas, North Carolina, Arizona see rising COVID-19 cases as they reopen (The Hill) ([link removed])

3. Barr: No criminal probe of Obama, Biden Attorney General Bill Barr dismissed President Trump's attempts to rebrand the Russia investigation as a criminal plot engineered by former President Barack Obama, saying yesterday that he expects no charges against either Obama or former Vice President Joe Biden. Barr added that John Durham, the federal prosecutor investigating how law enforcement and intelligence officials confronted Russia's operations to interfere in the 2016 election, is focused on others. ([link removed])
* — That came as a surprise to Trump, who has been actively pushing his "Obamagate" conspiracy theory. "I have no doubt they were involved," Trump said of Obama and Biden, but added that he relies on Barr, whom he called an "honorable man." —NPR ([link removed])
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— Over in the Senate, Sen. Lindsey Graham is preparing to ask his colleagues on the Judiciary Committee for blanket permission to subpoena dozens of Obama and Trump Administration officials connected to the investigation. That could include former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former National Intelligence Director James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former FBI Director James Comey. —Politico ([link removed])
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* — Meanwhile, in a case at the center of the Russia investigation, former federal judge John Gleeson—who was appointed by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan to fight the Justice Department's move to drop Gen. Michael Flynn's prosecution—has requested a June 10 deadline to file his first brief. Gleeson said the department's effort "reeks of improper political influence." Stay tuned. —The Daily Beast ([link removed])

More: Prosecutor under fire for court filings benefiting Trump allies Roger Stone and Michael Flynn will become DEA chief, report says (CNBC) ([link removed])

4. The Pompeo plot thickens After House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel raised the possibility yesterday that State Department Inspector General Steve Linick was fired because he was investigating an expedited 2019 arms sale to Saudi Arabia, President Trump was questioned about it by reporters. He played dumb. "I don't know him at all. I never even heard of him, but I was asked to by the State Department, by Mike," Trump said, referring to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. "I have the absolute right as president to terminate. I said, 'Who appointed him?' They said, 'President Obama.' I said, 'I'll terminate him.'" ([link removed])
* — Pompeo confirmed yesterday that he recommended Linick's firing, but denied that he was aware beforehand that the IG was investigating whether he had an aide run personal errands, which was the initial suggested reasoning behind the firing. —The Kansas City Star ([link removed])
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* — "He's a very brilliant guy," Trump said of Pompeo. "And now I have you telling me about dog-walking, washing dishes, and, you know what, I'd rather have him on the phone with some world leader than have him wash dishes because maybe his wife isn't there or his kids aren't there," he added, as if that's an appropriate way for federal employees to spend their time. —CNN ([link removed])
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* — Trump's Republican allies are concerned. "We deserve an explanation," said Senate Majority Whip John Thune of Linick's dismissal. "These are important positions. They are watchdogs for these agencies, and they have an important role to play, and I think it's important for us to be a part of the oversight process." —Politico ([link removed])

5. Wasserman: Election needs national commitment ([link removed])

"[V]ote by mail remains the most sensible option. According to election protection expert John Brakey, about 80% of the nation's precincts now have ballot imaging machines which should be able to handle the vote counts quickly, while still preserving the actual paper ballots for inevitable challenges. ... But the devil will be in the details. Americans hoping for a clean, fair, and reliable vote count this fall must pay attention to how their state and local officials intend to handle this election. It is the job of us all to protect this fundamental right." —Bangor Daily News ([link removed])

More: Sweeping lawsuit seeks to have absentee ballot requests sent to all Wisconsin voters (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) ([link removed])
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6. FBI: Saudi gunman had extensive al-Qaeda ties Last December, a member of the Saudi air force killed three U.S. Navy sailors and injured eight others at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla. After an exhaustive investigation of the content of the shooter's phones, the FBI confirmed that he had substantial ties to al-Qaeda. ([link removed])
* — The incident highlighted a struggle between the FBI and Apple. The FBI initially struggled to open the shooter's locked iPhones. The FBI asked Apple for help and claimed that no help came. Apple denies such claims and says it provided plenty of help and expertise. ([link removed])

* — "The evidence we've been able to develop from the killer's devices shows that the Pensacola attack was actually the brutal culmination of years of planning and preparation by a longtime [al-Qaeda] associate," FBI Director Christopher Wray said, raising the larger question of how he was cleared to train in the U.S. in the first place. ([link removed])
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* — The shooting prompted the expulsion of 21 Saudi military students from the training program in which the gunman took part. They were immediately returned to Saudi Arabia on other violations. While some of them possessed jihadist or anti-U.S. material, there was no evidence they participated in the attack. —The Wall Street Journal ([link removed])

7. Marques: How Putin bungled the pandemic ([link removed])

"Few governments have made a success of managing the epidemic. Yet the rapid spread of the illness has exposed a Russian health system that's suffering from poor funding, incomplete reforms that neglected much of the country, and a misguided attempt to replace imports of drugs and medical equipment with local production—at least until two ventilators caught fire and killed patients. An authoritarian regime that dislikes bad news and fuels disinformation hasn't helped." —Bloomberg ([link removed])

More: Disinformation and democracy: The weapons of political warfare (The Economist) ([link removed])

8. Dissident journalist arrested in Egypt A prominent investigative media outlet in Egypt said security forces have detained its editor-in-chief, the latest arrest amid a wider crackdown on dissent in the North African country. Mada Masr, one of a shrinking number of independent news websites in Egypt, said Lina Attalah was arrested outside Cairo's Tora Prison complex on Sunday. ([link removed])
* — Attalah was interviewing Laila Soueif, the mother of jailed activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, when she was arrested. Attorney Hassan al-Azhari said she has been released on bail, but the reason behind the arrest and the charges against her remain unclear. ([link removed])
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* — Mada Masr is one of the hundreds of websites blocked by the Egyptian government in recent years. The outlet, which has continued to publish through mirror sites, has produced investigative pieces looking into some of Egypt's government institutions, including intelligence agencies, military, and the presidency. ([link removed])
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* — Reporters Without Borders says at least 29 journalists are jailed in Egypt, which ranks 166th out of 180 countries in its 2020 world press freedom index. Egyptian officials have increasingly deployed the vague accusation of "fake news" to silence and jail critics in the government's crackdown on dissent. —Al Jazeera ([link removed])

More: Egypt: No pretense of judicial review for hundreds (Human Rights Watch) ([link removed])

9. Mahaffee: Divided we fall "For the American people who want to live healthy, prosperous, and secure lives, the politicization of these most important functions of government leaves us sicker, poorer, and in danger. Our main adversaries, Russia and China, see us respectively as fertile ground for sowing further divisions and a weak superpower ready to be replaced on the global stage. Our friends look to the United States not as a beacon of hope but a good friend who has fallen on hard times. Facing these challenges, we must ask what forces at home and abroad profit when we are split red versus blue, rather than a nation united as one." —The Hill ([link removed])

Ed. Note: Dan Mahaffee is the senior vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress in Washington.

10. An American Story: When life gives you lemons... ...you feed hundreds of families! In many ways, Morgan Marsh-McGlone is an average 7-year-old girl from Madison, Wisc., but her caring heart and one big idea set her apart from others. She originally planned to open a lemonade stand to raise money for kangaroos hurt by Australia's wildfires, but now she is raising money to feed families out of work because of COVID-19. ([link removed])
* — Because of the pandemic, Morgan cannot operate an in-person lemonade stand, but she innovated and created a virtual lemonade stand. Those who wish to buy lemonade only need to go online and make a donation to receive a voucher for free lemonade in the mail. ([link removed])
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* — Morgan will notify her customers when things are safe and back to normal. Once safe, customers will be encouraged to visit Morgan's in-person lemonade stand and redeem their voucher for a glass of lemonade. ([link removed])

* — Morgan has raised more than $25,000, helping replenish Heide's food delivery program, which recently depleted its funding. With the money, Heide's will be able to feed more than 600 families, six meals a week. Great work, Morgan! —Up North News ([link removed])

Ed. Note: We are spotlighting ways that Americans are helping each other through the coronavirus crisis. Would you like to suggest an "American Story" from your local news? If so, please forward a link to the story to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) . Thank you!
What's Your Take?

With Justin Amash's recent decision to forego a presidential run in 2020, I think the opportunity is ripe for presidential candidate Joe Biden to recruit him to join his team. I think that Mr. Biden should also reach out to Mitt Romney to take advantage of his recent acts of courage to stand up and say "no" to the current corrupt administration. Mitt Romney is a role model for demonstrating what other Republicans should be doing at this pivotal moment in time.

Here is my proposed roster for some of the positions within a hypothetical Biden Administration:

1. Amy Klobuchar for Vice President
2. Mitt Romney for Secretary of State
3. Pete Buttigieg for Secretary of Defense
4. Andrew Yang for Secretary of the Treasury
5. Justin Amash for Attorney General

I think that having one Republican and one Independent on Biden's team would send a strong message of unity in the face of adversity. I think that Amy Klobuchar's moderate stance and even temperament would positively contribute to a more centrist mentality to help carry us away from extreme viewpoints currently infecting both parties.
—Steven R., California

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