Joe Biden took a victory lap this morning after his administration helped rail companies and unions reach a deal to head off a strike that could have worsened America’s inflation issues, though the agreement still needs to win approval from workers. Elsewhere, Donald Trump took to the airwaves to warn of “big problems” if he was indicted, and saying it wouldn’t stop him from running for office, should he decide to do so.
Here’s what else happened:
Biden delivered an address about hate crimes, highlighting the threat f white supremacists and efforts by the federal government to bolster community resources against hate-fueled violence.
Indiana’s abortion ban went into effect, outlawing the procedure with a few narrow exceptions.
Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis had two planeloads of migrants flown to the upscale island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, creating what authorities have called a “humanitarian crisis”.
Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows has responded to a subpoena from federal investigators looking into the January 6 attack. He is the highest ranking former administration official to do so.
Reality Winner, the intelligence contractor who served more than four years in prison for leaking a report on Russian interference in the 2016 US election, has said she finds accusations that Donald Trump mishandled sensitive documents “incredibly ironic”, given her prosecution under his administration.
An FBI search of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida last month found more than 300 classified documents.
Speaking to NBC News, Winner, 30, said: “It is incredibly ironic, and I would just let the justice department sort it out.”
Winner added that it “wasn’t hard to believe” Trump held on to classified documents.
Reflecting on her own prison sentence, she said: “What I did when I broke the law was a political act at a very politically charged time.”
Winner also said she did not believe Trump should go to prison. She did not comment further on whether the former president should face charges under the Espionage Act, as she did in 2017.
“This is not a case where I expect to see any prison time,” Winner said, “and I’m just fine with that.”
Winner was released early, on good behavior, in June 2021.
