Before Jan. 6, aide warned Secret Service of security risk to Pence
The day before a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff called Pence’s lead Secret Service agent to his office. The chief of staff, Marc Short, had a message for the agent, Tim Giebels: The president was going to turn publicly against the vice president, and there could be a security risk to Pence because of it. A day after Short’s warning, more than 2,000 people — some chanting “Hang Mike Pence” — stormed the Capitol as the vice president was overseeing the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
Navarro indicted as Justice Department opts not to charge Meadows and Scavino
A federal grand jury Friday indicted Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to former President Donald Trump, for failing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Capitol attack, even as the Justice Department declined to charge Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino, two other top officials who have also refused to cooperate. The indictment includes two counts of criminal contempt of Congress. Navarro appeared in court Friday, and a judge released him from custody with a standard set of conditions, mostly simple restrictions on his travel privileges.
21 Americans infected with monkeypox, CDC reports
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified 21 monkeypox cases in 11 states, and the numbers are expected to rise, officials reported Friday. Of 17 patients for whom the agency has detailed information, all but one were among men who had sex with men; 14 had traveled to other countries in the three weeks before their symptoms began. Three patients were immunocompromised. So far, health officials have delivered about 1,200 vaccine doses and 100 treatment courses to eight states, according to Dr. Raj Panjabi, the White House’s senior director for global health security and biodefense.
McCormick concedes to Oz in the Pennsylvania GOP primary for Senate
David McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, conceded the race for the Republican nomination for Senate in Pennsylvania on Friday to Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity television physician, with a statewide recount underway and no official race call. Oz had a lead of fewer than 1,000 votes, or 0.07%, before the county-by-county recount began last week. The early concession was confirmed by McCormick’s campaign, five days before the recount’s full results were to be released. His decision sets up one of the most pivotal contests of the midterms, a November election between Oz and the Democratic nominee, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.
At least 4 dead after train derails in Germany
At least four people were killed and dozens of passengers were injured when their train partly derailed near the Alpine resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in southern Germany on Friday, authorities said. A police spokesperson said there were about 60 people on the train, and more than a dozen of them were taken to a hospital with serious injuries. Rescue operations took place with the assistance of helicopters from Austria, which shares a border with Germany in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region. Deutsche Bahn, the national railway company, said the railway line was shut down between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberau.
Firm proposes Taser-armed drones to stop school shootings
Taser developer Axon said this week it is working to build drones armed with the electric stunning weapons that could fly into schools and “help prevent the next Uvalde, Sandy Hook, or Columbine.” But its own group of technology advisers quickly panned the idea as a dangerous fantasy. The publicly traded company, which sells Tasers and police body cameras, floated the idea of a new police drone product last year to its artificial intelligence ethics board, a group of well-respected experts in technology, policing and privacy. Some of them expressed reservations. But they did not expect Axon’s Thursday announcement that it wants to send those Taser-equipped drones into classrooms.
US has over 750 complaints of Teslas braking for no reason
More than 750 Tesla owners have complained to U.S. safety regulators that cars operating on the company’s partially automated driving systems have suddenly stopped on roadways for no apparent reason. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed the number in an information request letter to Tesla that was posted Friday on the agency’s website. The 14-page letter dated May 4 asks the automaker for all consumer and field reports about false braking, as well as reports of crashes, injuries and deaths.
