5 things to know for May 23: Trump, Extreme weather, Uvalde, Student debt relief, Ticketmaster
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Billions of dollars’ worth of sunken treasure has been found at a shipwreck site off the coast of Colombia, prompting an “unprecedented” underwater expedition. The 300-year-old warship on the seafloor has been declared a “protected archaeological area” as a legal battle ensues over who owns the artifacts. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Former President Donald Trump is falsely claiming that President Joe Biden authorized the Department of Justice to have him assassinated when raiding his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 for classified documents. Followers of Trump received a campaign email this week addressed from “President Trump,” with the subject line: “They were authorized to shoot me!” The email appeared to reference a recently unsealed document outlining FBI procedures that included standard language about the “use of force” in searches. Separately, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announced Wednesday that she will vote for Trump in the November election after exiting the GOP race more than two months ago. Haley, during the bitter primary battle, called Trump “unhinged” and questioned the former president’s mental fitness, but the political calculation has changed for the former Trump rival. Destructive storms and tornadoes in Iowa this week have killed at least five people and injured dozens of others, according to officials. The tornado that struck Greenfield, Iowa, on Tuesday — about 50 miles southwest of Des Moines — is estimated to have been at least an EF3 and the deadliest of the year. Footage from the region shows homes and other structures were obliterated and communities were blanketed with debris. Tornado reports have skyrocketed well above average in recent weeks as the typically busiest period of severe weather season unfolds. More than 800 tornadoes have been reported in 2024, making it one of the most active years for twisters on record. Nineteen families of the students and teachers killed or injured during the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, have reached a $2 million settlement with the city. The families also announced plans to file a lawsuit against 92 officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety, the school district and individual employees. The settlement and latest legal action comes days before the second anniversary of the shooting in which an 18-year-old stormed into the school, killed 19 children and two teachers and barricaded himself in a classroom. A total of 376 law enforcement officers rushed to the school to respond, but ultimately none of them breached the door to the classroom to confront the shooter for 77 minutes. The Biden administration on Wednesday announced an additional $7.7 billion in student debt relief for around 160,000 Americans. “I will never stop working to cancel student debt — no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. Biden has faced blowback from conservative lawmakers who accuse the administration of transferring the burden to taxpayers and undermining the Supreme Court, which blocked the White House’s student loan forgiveness plan last year. Borrowers affected by the latest round of debt relief were approved through the administration’s SAVE Plan, other income-driven repayment programs or initiatives for qualifying public service workers.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.
If nothing else, the controversy over the Trump administration’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean has surfaced a long-overdue debate about its already legally dubious first strikes.
Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.