10 things you need to know today: March 5, 2019

President Trump addresses a meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General in the State Dining Room at the White House March 04, 2019 in Washington, DC.

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Jump to category:

1. House Democrats demand documents from 81 Trump associates
2. McConnell: Senate will pass measure to block Trump's emergency declaration
3. Scientists report 2nd person cured of HIV
4. Guaidó returns to Venezuela despite threat of arrest
5. Trump promises 'A Plus treatment' for Alabama after deadly tornadoes
6. California, coalition of states sue to block new abortion restrictions
7. Trump administration symbolically tightens Cuba embargo
8. Minister resigns in 2nd blow to Canada's Trudeau
9. Winner comes forward to claim $1.5 billion S.C. lottery jackpot
10. Luke Perry dies at 52 after stroke

last updated 5 March 2019

1. House Democrats demand documents from 81 Trump associates

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Monday sent letters requesting documents from 81 people and entities associated with President Trump. Nadler said in a press release he was trying to "begin building the public record" on whether the president and his administration have engaged in obstruction of justice, corruption, and abuse of power in case the Justice Department chooses to "conceal the work of [Special Counsel Robert Mueller's] investigation from the public." The requests went out to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, former Trump adviser Roger Stone, Donald Trump Jr., and dozens more. The White House called the inquiry "a disgraceful and abusive investigation into tired, false allegations."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday conceded the Senate is likely to approve a measure blocking President Trump's declaration of a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border. The resolution has already cleared the Democrat-controlled House. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced over the weekend he would vote to block Trump's declaration, saying he couldn't support using emergency powers to get money for a border wall. McConnell expects the resolution of disapproval to pass the Senate, "then be vetoed by the president, and then [in] all likelihood the veto will be upheld in the House."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

A man with HIV, dubbed the "London patient," appears to have been cured following a bone marrow transplant, according to a report being published Tuesday in the journal Nature. The patient is the second known person to experience sustained remission from HIV; the first man, Timothy Ray Brown, was cured 12 years ago. In both cases, the men had cancer and were treated with bone marrow transplants from a donor with a mutation of the CCR5 protein, which HIV uses to enter certain immune cells. The London patient underwent the transplant in May 2016, and stopped taking antiretroviral drugs in September 2017. "This will inspire people that a cure is not a dream," said Dr. Annemarie Wensing, a virologist at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. "It's reachable."

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó returned to the country Monday, arriving at Caracas' international airport to loud cheers. "We are here, Venezuela," he said, waving and surrounded by TV cameras. "We are strong. We are moving forward!" Many supporters had feared Guaidó would be arrested upon his return to his South American nation after he defied a court order on Feb. 22, leading an effort to truck humanitarian aid into the country over the objections of embattled President Nicolás Maduro. Diplomats from the U.S. and many European and Latin American countries, which recognize Guaidó as Venezuela's interim president, gathered at the airport to shield him from harm.

President Trump tweeted Monday that he has directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to give "the Great State of Alabama and the wonderful people who have been so devastated" the "A Plus treatment" after tornadoes killed at least 23 people in the state. FEMA representative Crystal Paulk-Buchanan said the agency is working closely with emergency managers in Alabama and Georgia after the deadly weather swept through the Southeast. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) tweeted that her state is continuing search and rescue efforts, "as there are many people unaccounted for."

California and a coalition of 20 states on Monday separately announced lawsuits seeking to block the Trump administration from changing the Title X family planning program. The lawsuits ask courts for an injunction against a rule, set to take effect in 60 days, that would shift millions of dollars from Planned Parenthood toward faith-based clinics and prohibit federally funded family planning clinics from operating in the same space as an abortion provider. The change also bars the clinics from referring women for abortions, a "gag" rule critics say could endanger women's lives. "The Trump-Pence administration has doubled down on its attacks on women's health," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) said. The Health and Human Services Department declined to comment, but Trump administration officials had told supporters they expected legal challenges.

The Trump administration announced Monday it will allow lawsuits against Cuban companies using properties confiscated after the 1959 revolution in the Caribbean island nation. The policy limits the lawsuits to a list of roughly 200 Cuban businesses and government agencies linked to the Cuban military and intelligence agencies and already subject to special sanctions. These businesses are not connected to U.S. legal or financial systems, so while the new policy amounts to a tightening of the six-decade U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, it is mostly symbolic and is not expected to have much impact on Cuba's economy or international companies that do business with the island's socialist government. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez tweeted that he "strongly" rejects the policy, calling it "arbitrary."

A second minister resigned from Canada's Cabinet on Monday, delivering a powerful blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Treasury Board Minister Jane Philpott said she was leaving because she had lost confidence in Trudeau's government due to its response to allegations that officials last year pressured former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to help a construction company avoid being tried for corruption. Wilson-Raybould resigned Feb. 12 after being unexpectedly demoted in January. Trudeau now has lost two powerful female Cabinet members just months ahead of elections which polls suggest he could lose.

A South Carolina resident has come forward belatedly to claim last October's $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot, the South Carolina Education Lottery announced Monday. The winner chose to remain anonymous, so the mystery surrounding the second-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history will not be fully resolved. The winner has decided to take a one-time payment of nearly $878,000,000, the biggest jackpot payout to a single winner ever. Lottery officials said the winner let another customer buy a Mega Millions ticket before them in line, leading to the "amazing outcome." Three buyers split the biggest jackpot in U.S. history, a $1.585 billion Powerball prize, in 2016.

Actor Luke Perry, who rose to fame as a teen heartthrob in the 1990s on Beverly Hills, 90210, died Monday after suffering a massive stroke. He was 52. Perry was rushed to Burbank's St. Joseph Hospital from his Sherman Oaks, California, home last week. One of his co-stars, Ian Ziering, tweeted Monday that he would "forever bask in the loving memories we've shared over the last thirty years." Most of the original 90210 cast is participating in a 2019 revival of the show, but Perry was not involved because of his role on The CW's Riverdale as Archie's father. Perry also stars in the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which will be released in July.

Explore More

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.