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| Presented By American Bankers Association |
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| Axios AM |
| By Mike Allen ·Jun 11, 2021 |
| Happy Friday! Smart Brevity™ count: 1,153 words ... 4½ minutes. Edited by Zachary Basu. 🧨 You're invited: "The War for Attention" ... Today at 12:30 p.m. ET, Axios CEO Jim VandeHei leads an Axios HQ virtual event to help leaders of humans — in groups of any size — become captivating communicators. Sign up here. |
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| 1 big thing: What Biden packed for Europe |
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| Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios |
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| 500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses. Jill Biden's "Love" jacket. And an updating of the Atlantic Charter that briefly let President Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson channel FDR and Winston Churchill. - Joe Biden's first foreign trip as U.S. president is a carefully managed mix of multilateralism and message discipline — in deliberate contrast to his predecessor's M.O. on the international stage, Axios' Margaret Talev and Glen Johnson write.
This opener in England comes ahead of the main event — next week's summit in Switzerland with Vladimir Putin: - Biden travels old-school — a newspaper tucked under his arm as he boards Air Force One, a notebook in hand for meetings with leaders.
First lady Jill Biden's jacket as she visited with Carrie Johnson, wife of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, yesterday in Carbis Bay, England. Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP What we're watching: Aides to Biden, 78, have kept his events and pacing manageable in a way reminiscent of Ronald Reagan's travel in the 1980s. - Aides to Reagan — then the oldest American to assume the presidency — would ensure he was rested and ready on long trips to Asia by making stops in his home state of California or the mid-Pacific way station of Hawaii.
- Biden has since assumed the mantle of oldest president. He made a daytime flight to Europe on Wednesday, but on Thursday had nothing on his public schedule until mid-afternoon — a buffer against jet lag.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife, Carrie, meet President Biden and first lady Jill Biden in England yesterday. Photo: Andrew Parsons/Downing Street via Getty Images Share this story. |
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| 2. Trump Justice Dept. secretly targeted House Democrats |
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| Screenshot: CNN |
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| House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a member of the committee, were notified last month that the Trump Justice Department secretly obtained Apple records about them in 2017-18, in what Schiff called "a body blow to our democracy." - Schiff and Swalwell spoke on CNN after the N.Y. Times revealed (subscription) that as part of a leak investigation, the Justice Department subpoenaed, and received, Apple metadata (records but not actual content) for at least a dozen House Intelligence Committee members, aides and family members. One was a minor.
- The records contained no proof of leaks. "As the years wore on, some [DOJ] officials argued in meetings that charges were becoming less realistic," The Times reported. "They lacked strong evidence, and a jury might not care about information reported years earlier."
Schiff, who at the time was the committee's top Democrat under a GOP chair, told Chris Cuomo that the requests were "extraordinarily broad — people having nothing to do with ... the intelligence matters that are, at least, being reported on," and called it a "fishing expedition": - "What they were looking for, I still don't know. Apparently they didn't find anything."
Swalwell told Don Lemon that the officials and relatives "were targeted punitively — not for any reason in law, but because Donald Trump identified Chairman Schiff and members of the committee as an enemy." - Swalwell said the subpoenas were covered by gag orders: "It looks like they were renewed a number of times and, thankfully, ... it looks like [the Biden administration] did not renew it."
- "The matter's closed," Swalwell said. "And of course it's closed, because we did nothing but our jobs, and we followed the rules we were supposed to follow in our investigation that showed that Donald Trump and his team sought to have assistance from Russia."
Schiff said Trump used the Justice Department as "this bludgeon to go after the president's enemies, and a shield to protect those who lied for him." - "We brought about these new norms after Watergate to prevent exactly this kind of abuse. But they didn't survive his presidency."
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| 3. Garland promises voting-rights fight |
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| Attorney General Merrick Garland arrives at a Senate hearing Wednesday. Photo: Stefani Reynolds/Pool via Getty Images |
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| Attorney General Merrick Garland will give a policy address on voting rights at 2 p.m., promising "concrete steps ... to secure the fundamental right to vote for all Americans," the Justice Department says. - Why it matters: President Biden said last week that he's prioritizing fights for federal voting-rights protection, as Republicans in legislatures across the country pass their own election laws. Democrats' efforts were set back Sunday when Sen. Joe Manchin said he wouldn't support a centerpiece bill passed by the House.
A DOJ official tells me Garland "will discuss the central importance of voting rights to American democracy. He'll announce steps the department is taking to secure and expand the right to vote for all Americans, including in states seeking to curb voter access." - "He will also speak to the upcoming redistricting cycle, the first since 1960 to proceed without preclearance protections of the Voting Rights Act."
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| A message from American Bankers Association |
| Bank of the Rockies steps up to help get Montana vaccinated |
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| America's banks aren't just improving your financial health these days. Montana's Bank of the Rockies transformed branches into vaccination centers to help fight the pandemic. It's another example of banks stepping up to support their communities. |
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| 4. Pics du jour: China on Mars |
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| Photo: China National Space Administration via AP |
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| The Chinese Mars rover Zhurong (right, and below) near its landing platform, taken by a remote camera dropped into position by the rover. CNSA via AP Go deeper. |
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| 5. Tech reopening plans allow lots of remote time |
 Data: Companies, Axios research. (Refers to overall policies; exceptions apply.) Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios Amazon says most office workers will need to come in just three days per week, with further leniency possible, after earlier indicating it planned to return to an office-first culture, Ina Fried writes in Axios Login. - Some tech companies, including Twitter and Square, are offering workers the ability to remain fully remote. Even office-centric companies (Apple and Amazon) are recognizing the need for flex.
The bottom line: Giving workers flexibility has become table stakes in tech, where competition for talent is always fierce. |
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| 6. Inflation highest in 13 years |
 Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chart: Axios Visuals Consumer prices rose last month by 5% compared to May of 2020, marking the biggest year-over-year gain since August 2008, Axios' Kate Marino writes from data out yesterday. - Prices were 0.6% higher in May than they were in April.
Used vehicle prices increased 7.3% month-over-month in May, after a 10% monthly gain in April. Since a year ago, used vehicles are up 29.7%. |
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| 7. Coming up on "Axios on HBO": Worker shortage |
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| Photo: "Axios on HBO" |
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| On Sunday's episode of "Axios on HBO" (6 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max), I ask U.S. Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Suzanne Clark: "Do you honestly think that people are staying home — not working — because of $300 a week" in supplemental unemployment? - Clark, who became CEO in March, replied: "I honestly believe it's part of the problem. I'm hearing it too often, in too many communities across the country, for it to be made up."
Watch the clip. |
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| 8. Stunning COVID stat |
 "More people have died from Covid-19 already this year [1.9 million] than in all of 2020, ... highlighting how the global pandemic is far from over even as vaccines beat back the virus in wealthy nations," The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription). - Another way to say it: "It took less than six months for the globe to record more than 1.88 million Covid-19 deaths this year" — the same as last year's 12-month total.
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| 9. New Netflix moves |
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| Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios |
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| After years of owning streaming, Netflix is trying new business lines to stay out in front, Axios Media Trends expert Sara Fischer writes. - The company yesterday unveiled an online merchandise store, Netflix.shop, that features products inspired by shows on its streaming platform.
- The store marks Netflix's first foray into commerce — something other entertainment giants like Disney and NBCUniversal have long used to make more money and expand their content franchises.
- The tech giant is eyeing gaming, possibly with the launch of a suite of downloadable mobile games, per Axios' Stephen Totilo.
- It's also pushing deeper into podcasts as a vehicle to promote its shows and movies, the L.A. Times reports.
Share this story. |
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| 10. ⚽ Euros mark return of mega-scale sports events |
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| Stadio Olimpico in Rome, which hosts today's opener. Photo: Andrew Medichini/Pool via AP |
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| Euro 2020 (which kept the name despite the year delay), the every-four-years European soccer championship, kicks off today when Italy hosts Turkey at Rome's Stadio Olimpico (3 p.m. ET, ESPN), Jeff Tracy writes in Axios Sports. - The tournament will be a pan-continental affair, with Rome acting as one of 11 host cities. The others: London ... Munich ... Baku, Azerbaijan ... St. Petersburg ... Budapest ... Seville, Spain ... Bucharest ... Amsterdam ... Glasgow ... Copenhagen.
Why it matters: If everything goes smoothly, AP notes, Euro 2020 will give a confidence boost for the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled to open July 23 — also a year late. Problems would be a serious setback to global reopening, with ramifications beyond soccer. Go deeper. |
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| A message from American Bankers Association |
| Expanding access to America's banks |
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| The way Americans bank may be evolving, but brick-and-mortar banking remains a vital part of many communities. With the average person living near 25 branch locations, and increasingly robust digital services for those who prefer to bank remotely, banking services are within reach of everyone. |
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