10 things you need to know today: May 19, 2020

1. Potential coronavirus vaccine shows early promise

Massachusetts biotechnology company Moderna announced Monday that its potential COVID-19 vaccine showed promising early clinical trial results. Eight patients developed antibodies at levels similar to those of people who recovered from the coronavirus. Moderna described the interim data as "positive," with Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks saying that the findings, though preliminary, "substantiate our belief that mRNA-1273 has the potential to prevent COVID-19 disease and advance our ability to select a dose for pivotal trials." Moderna's stock soared on the news, lifting much of Wall Street with it. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 912 points or nearly 3.9 percent, while the S&P 500 closed up by nearly 3.2 percent. Moderna is developing the vaccine with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' Vaccine Research Center.

The Washington Post Stat News

2. Trump threatens to permanently end WHO funding

President Trump has warned World Health Organization Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the U.S. might permanently cut off funding to the organization due to its "repeated missteps" in the response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a copy of a letter Trump posted in a tweet Monday night. Trump said the organization would have to "commit to substantive improvements within the next 30 days" or lose U.S. funding, which Trump already has suspended pending a review. Trump said the review found that the WHO "consistently ignored" the severity of the outbreak in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, and made "grossly inaccurate or misleading" claims about the public health threat. Trump said unless the WHO makes improvements the U.S. also will "reconsider our membership in the organization."

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The New York Times Donald J. Trump

3. Trump says he's taking unproven drug as protection against COVID-19

President Trump announced Monday that he has been taking the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for about a week and a half as a preventative treatment against COVID-19. Trump, who has long touted the drug, said he has "heard a lot of good stories" about the drug's effectiveness against the novel coronavirus, and that "many, many" frontline workers and doctors were taking it themselves or prescribing it to patients with success. Clinical trials have not proven that hydroxychloroquine is effective in preventing COVID-19, but indicate that it can significantly increase the risk of death in patients with heart problems and other risk factors. Trump's description of his use of hydroxychloroquine suggest he started taking it around the time the White House confirmed two staffers had tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Washington Post Reuters

4. Fired State Department watchdog was investigating Saudi arms sales

The State Department watchdog President Trump fired last Friday was investigating U.S. military sales to Saudi Arabia, Democratic lawmakers said Monday. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had urged Trump to remove former Inspector General Steve Linick because his work was undermining the State Department. "Just like every presidentially confirmed position, I can terminate them. They serve at his pleasure for any reason or no reason," Pompeo told The Washington Post in an interview. Linick was the fourth federal government inspector general Trump has fired in recent weeks. Congressional Democrats have launched an investigation into the removal of Linick, who also reportedly was looking into whether Pompeo had a staffer do personal errands for him. Pompeo said he didn't know Linick was investigating him.

Reuters The Washington Post

5. Barr: FBI found ties between Pensacola shooter and Al Qaeda

The Saudi military trainee who fatally shot three U.S. sailors at a Pensacola, Florida, military base last year had "significant" ties to Al Qaeda, the Justice Department and the FBI announced Monday. Investigators discovered the connection after they got through the encryption of iPhones belonging to the trainee, Mohammed Alshamrani, who had communicated with operatives from the terror group the night before the shooting, Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray said at a virtual news conference. "The evidence we've been able to develop from the killer's devices shows that the Pensacola attack was actually the brutal culmination of years of planning and preparation by a longtime [Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] associate," Wray said.

CNN

6. Navajo Nation surpasses New York with highest COVID-19 rate

The Navajo Nation has overtaken New York and New Jersey as the part of the U.S. with the highest per capita coronavirus infection rate. The Navajo Nation, which stretches across parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, has 4,002 coronavirus cases in a population of 173,667. That gives it an infection rate of 2,304.41 cases per 100,000 people. New York, long the U.S. epicenter of the outbreak, has a rate of 1,806 cases per 100,000. The Navajo Nation has one of the most strict stay-at-home policies in the U.S., barring people from going out unless they have an emergency or are essential workers. Other minority groups also have been hit hard by the coronavirus. African Americans account for 13 percent of the population but 27 percent of the more than 90,000 U.S. COVID-19 deaths.

CNN

7. McConnell picks Rubio as interim Senate intelligence chair

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) will take over as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee during the FBI investigation of former chair Sen. Richard Burr's (R-N.C.) stock trades, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Monday. Burr said last week that he was stepping aside while the FBI looks into his sale of stocks, which happened after he received closed-door February briefings on the potential scope of the coronavirus outbreak, but before the stock market crashed as the pandemic hit the U.S. "Senator Rubio was the natural choice for this temporary assignment on the basis of accumulated committee service," McConnell said in a statement. "His proven leadership on pertinent issues only made the decision easier."

Politico

8. Barr says no plan to investigate Obama, Biden

Attorney General William Barr said Monday that he didn't expect investigations of former President Barack Obama or former Vice President Joe Biden, now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, as part of a review of the Russia inquiry. President Trump recently has made baseless allegations of unspecified crimes by his predecessor. Barr did not mention Trump's comments, but he criticized what he called "increasing attempts to use the criminal justice system as a political weapon." He said the tactic involves concocting "allegations of criminality by one's political opponents based on the flimsiest of legal theories." Barr has appointed Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham to look at how the FBI handled the 2016 investigation into Russia's election meddling, and contacts with Trump campaign aides.

The Washington Post CBS News

9. Season's first named storm grazes Outer Banks

The National Weather Service issued a tropical storm warning for the North Carolina Outer Banks on Monday as Tropical Storm Arthur neared Cape Hatteras with top sustained winds of 45 miles per hour. Arthur, the first name storm of the 2020 hurricane season that doesn't officially start until June 1, hit the state's barrier islands with rain, high surf, and gusty winds, but veered out to sea by afternoon, sparing the region a direct hit as its winds strengthened to 50 mph. "This early season storm reminds us that we always need to be prepared for severe weather," North Carolina Emergency Management Director Mike Sprayberry said before the storm grazed the state.

Accuweather CNN

10. Ken Osmond, actor who played Leave It to Beaver's Eddie Haskell, dies at 76

Ken Osmond, the actor best known for his role as Eddie Haskell in the classic American sit-com Leave It to Beaver, died at his home in Los Angeles on Monday. He was 76. The cause is unknown. The actor appeared on Leave It to Beaver over the course of its six-season, 234-episode run between 1957 and 1963. His character, Eddie Haskell, was a series fixture who was sycophantic to adults and often got his friends into trouble. Osmond, who later served as an L.A. police officer, also made guest appearances on other TV shows, including Lassie and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, as well as returning for the 1983 telefilm Still the Beaver, and for the revival series The New Leave It to Beaver. He returned to the role for a final time in the 1997 film Leave It to Beaver.

Variety