🤫 Crypto's midterm punch

Plus: New voice for presidency | Thursday, May 05, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By American Bankers Association   Axios Sneak Peek By the Axios Politics team · May 05, 2022 🇲🇽 Welcome back to Sneak on Cinco de Mayo. A week defined by a leak heads toward its end. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,013 words ... 4 minutes. Edited by Glen Johnson.     1 big thing: Crypto's midterm punch Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   Cryptocurrency is showing its growing power in national politics, with its own billionaires tilting the balance in key midterm contests — and operatives in both major parties rushing to implement the underlying technologies to boost their candidates and campaigns. The big picture: Political groups backed by wealthy crypto investors have already scored some key wins in the 2022 midterm primaries. And at this early stage in campaign, donations from the industry already have exceeded 2020 totals by more than two-thirds, according to OpenSecrets data shared with Axios' Lachlan Markay, Matt Phillips and Alexi McCammond. Be smart: Regulation of digital assets is a hot and contentious topic in Washington right now, with billions potentially on the line. As lawmakers eye new oversight powers, industry engagement in D.C. is skyrocketing. Driving the news: The power of crypto runs through races in Arizona, Wyoming, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas and Oregon. Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) bested primary challenger Nina Turner on Tuesday with the backing of Protect Our Future. The deep-pocketed super PAC is financed by Sam Bankman-Fried, co-CEO of crypto exchange FTX. FTX's other co-CEO, Ryan Salame, is single-handedly funding another super PAC, American Dream Federal Action. It backed Indiana Republican Erin Houchin, a former state senator who also won a House primary on Tuesday. In January, when tech mogul Peter Thiel hosted a fundraiser for Harriet Hageman, the Republican challenging Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), numerous crypto investors attended, Axios has learned. Donald Trump Jr., who also was in attendance, remarked to acquaintances that he'd been seated with many of them at the event, according to a source who spoke with him about it. Thiel also poured more than $10 million into a super PAC supporting J.D. Vance, who won Ohio's crowded Republican Senate primary Tuesday. Keep reading.     2. Ukraine's high bar for "victory" Onlookers watch smoke rising from an airstrike in Lviv, Ukraine, a month into the war. Photo: Aleksey Filippov/AFP via Getty Images.   Ukraine's U.S. ambassador, Oksana Markarova, is setting a high bar for victory in her country's war: pushing all Russian troops from Ukrainian territory — including the Crimean Peninsula and Donbas regions claimed as their territory since 2014. Why it matters: As the war drags into its 10th week, it's a sign Ukraine is increasingly looking ahead and gaining confidence — which seemed absurd at the start of the war, writes Axios' Sophia Cai. But declaring it will accept only total victory complicates any peace talks, amid fears of potential Russian use of weapons of mass destruction. What she's saying: "The victory for us is when we will have no Russian troops within our territory, when we restore integrity and sovereignty, and when the war crimes have been taken into account," Markarova told a group of reporters today. A spokesperson from the Embassy of Ukraine confirmed to Axios that Markarova's definition includes restoring sovereignty to Crimea and Donbas, the former of which Russia has annexed and the latter of which pro-Russian separatists have controlled for eight years. "To get to this victory might be more difficult than talking about it," Markarova acknowledged. "We are peaceful, sovereign country. All we want to is live peacefully within our internationally recognized borders." Keep reading.     3. Mapped: Abortion rights globally Data: Center for Reproductive Rights; Map: Axios Visuals If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade and paves the way for states to implement abortion bans, the U.S. would join only three countries — El Salvador, Nicaragua and Poland — that have rolled back abortion rights since 1994, Axios' Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath writes. The big picture: Nearly 60 countries have liberalized their abortion laws — though some only incrementally — over the last 25 years. The rollback of abortion rights has come in countries "where democracies have eroded," says Margaret Harpin, a legal adviser at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which advocates for abortion rights and tracks abortion laws worldwide. But the overall trend has been toward liberalization of abortion laws, Harpin tells Axios. Keep reading. 🌎 Go deeper: Read tonight's fresh edition of Axios World through this link.     A message from American Bankers Association America's banks are protecting consumers from phishing scams     Today is World Password Day — a good reminder that your bank will never ask you for sensitive information like your password or PIN. If you want more tips and tools to protect yourself from scammers, check out the award-winning #BanksNeverAskThat campaign. Learn more.     4. Worthy of your time Christian Smalls, founder of the Amazon Labor Union, speaks to reporters after testifying at a Senate Budget Committee hearing. Photo: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images   💥 Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper writes in his upcoming memoir that former President Trump asked him about the possibility of launching missiles into Mexico to "destroy the drug labs," Axios' Andrew Solender reports from a New York Times dispatch in tonight's Sneak roundup. ⚖️ Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said during a judicial conference in Atlanta that the leak of a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade is "absolutely appalling," according to Reuters. He added, "If the person behind it thinks it will affect our work, that's just foolish." 🤝 Venture capitalist J.D. Vance, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in Ohio, is rallying for TV personality and fellow Trump-endorsed Senate candidate Mehmet Oz at a Trump rally in western Pennsylvania tomorrow, the former president announced. 🕊️ Caroline Kennedy was unanimously confirmed by the Senate as U.S. ambassador to Australia. Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, previously served as ambassador to Japan during the Obama administration. 📹 A video posted to social media shows a Republican New Hampshire state representative pointedly accusing abortion rights supporters protesting outside the statehouse of being "murderers," telling the crowd, "Shame on all of you. ... You're killing babies!"     5. Pic du jour Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images   President Biden announced Karine Jean-Pierre will replace Jen Psaki as White House press secretary after next week. Jean-Pierre made a cameo at Psaki's daily briefing late this afternoon. Five facts about the new voice of the presidency, also from Sophia: In March, Jean-Pierre, currently the principal deputy press secretary for the White House, became the first Black woman in three decades to address the press on behalf of the president in the White House Briefing Room. Jean-Pierre has worked on four presidential campaigns — for Obama twice, Martin O'Malley and Biden-Harris. The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Jean-Pierre was a volunteer firefighter at the Hempstead Fire Department in New York while an undergraduate student at the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury. She also ran the 400-meter hurdles in high school, representing Kellenberg Memorial High School in Long Island. Jean-Pierre has served in the Obama White House in the office of political affairs and has been involved in advocacy with Move On, a liberal advocacy organization. She received a master's degree from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.     A message from American Bankers Association America's banks are protecting consumers from phishing scams     Today is World Password Day — a good reminder that your bank will never ask you for sensitive information like your password or PIN. If you want more tips and tools to protect yourself from scammers, check out the award-winning #BanksNeverAskThat campaign. Learn more.   🥂 Thanks for reading this week. We'll be back Sunday evening! Please tell your family, friends and colleagues they can subscribe to Sneak or any of Axios' other free local and national newsletters through this link. Like this email style and format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 200 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: