10 things you need to know today: May 26, 2023

1. Oath Keepers leader sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes to 18 years in prison for his conviction on seditious conspiracy charges, the most severe penalty imposed yet in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Rhodes was found guilty of rallying members of the right-wing militia group to go to Washington, D.C., to violently prevent Congress from certifying President Biden's election victory and keep then-President Donald Trump in power. Rhodes, 58, said before his sentencing that he was a "political prisoner." Judge Amit Mehta said Rhodes had been "prepared to take up arms in order to foment a revolution," simply because his candidate lost the election, and presented "an ongoing threat" to the nation "and the very fabric of our democracy."

The New York Times USA Today

2. Biden, McCarthy near deal to raise debt limit

President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Thursday inched toward a deal to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling and cap spending for two years. The two leaders met virtually with a June 1 deadline to avoid an unprecedented, catastrophic default. Biden said the two sides were still discussing where to make the cuts. "I don't believe the whole burden should fall back to middle class and working-class Americans," Biden said. Any agreement will take days to move through the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate, with lawmakers on both sides expected to object to elements of any compromise. "I don't think everybody's going to be happy at the end of the day," McCarthy said. "That's not how the system works."

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3. Russia's Wagner group transferring Bakhmut control to Russian army

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, said Thursday that his forces have started handing Russia control of Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine destroyed by months of fighting. Prigozhin, who claimed just days ago that his fighters had captured the city, said his fighters were withdrawing as Russian soldiers take over. The battle for Bakhmut, a city with little strategic value, dragged on for nine months and killed tens of thousands of people. Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said it appeared that Wagner mercenaries were still in the city but regular Russian troops had replaced them in suburban areas. Ukraine still holds some territory on the southwestern outskirts of the city.

USA Today

4. DeSantis speaks to conservative media after bumpy Twitter campaign launch

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday followed up the glitchy Twitter launch of his 2024 presidential campaign by giving a series of interviews to friendly right-wing commentators. He also announced a string of in-person events in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, three early-voting states that will kick off the primary season. DeSantis deflected criticism of the "train wreck" on Twitter, telling conservative radio host Erick Erickson the launch "was probably the biggest story in the world yesterday" and the attention might get more people interested in his campaign. DeSantis also said he might consider pardoning former President Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner, if he faces federal charges, as well as defendants charged over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

The New York Times The Independent

5. Supreme Court cuts reach of Clean Water Act

The Supreme Court on Thursday reduced the Clean Water Act's reach with a 5-4 ruling saying only wetlands directly connected to a body of water qualified for protection. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the conservative majority, said the Environmental Protection Agency was wrong to block construction on a private lot near Idaho's Priest Lake, because their wetlands were "distinguishable from any possibly covered waters." One conservative justice, Brett Kavanaugh, broke with the majority, which he said had "rewritten the Clean Water Act," ignoring both its text and decades of policy. Kavanaugh, writing for himself and liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, said the ruling would "leave some long-regulated adjacent wetlands" unprotected, harming "water quality and flood control."

CNN Politico

6. Zelenskyy delivers virtual Johns Hopkins commencement address

The Johns Hopkins University Class of 2023 got a surprise at their graduation on Thursday when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a commencement address via a livestream from Kyiv. Zelenskyy urged the graduates to seize every moment because you never know when events you can't control, like war, will change everything. "Every person eventually realizes that time is the most valuable resource on the planet, not oil or uranium, not lithium or anything else, but time, time," Zelenskyy said. "All of our tomorrows and the tomorrows of our children and grandchildren depend on each of our todays," he added. Johns Hopkins reached out to the Ukrainian government in March, hoping leadership defending democracy would be an inspiration.

USA Today

7. 2 ex-Trump employees say documents were moved a day before FBI agents' search

Two of former President Donald Trump's employees moved boxes containing documents the day before federal agents arrived at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida to take classified documents under a subpoena, The Washington Post reported Thursday. Trump and members of his team also practiced moving secret papers before the subpoena was issued in May 2022, the Post's sources said. The revelations added previously unreported details to possible examples of alleged obstruction the FBI and Justice Department may have uncovered in their investigation. Trump's team has suggested it believes the government is getting close to making a decision on whether to file charges. Trump has denied he mishandled classified material.

The Washington Post

8. Russia signs deal to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus

Russia and Belarus signed a deal Thursday to deploy some of Moscow's tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the plan to deploy the short-range weapons in Belarus, a key ally in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in what was widely interpreted as a warning to Western countries supporting Ukraine. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said after signing the document formalizing the deal that "the movement of the nuclear weapons has begun," and it was "possible" some had already arrived. It was not immediately clear how many nuclear weapons Russia would send. The United States estimates Russia has about 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, including aircraft bombs, missile warheads, and artillery rounds.

The Times The Associated Press

9. Ford, Tesla announce Ford EV owners will get access to Tesla Superchargers

Ford CEO Jim Farley and Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced Thursday that owners of Ford's electric vehicles will have access to about 12,000 Tesla Supercharger stations starting in spring 2024. "We think this is a huge move for our industry and for all electric customers," Farley said during a Twitter Spaces audio chat with the Tesla CEO, who bought Twitter last year. Musk said he wanted to use Tesla's supercharger network to support sustainable transportation, and not be a "walled garden." Farley said Ford owners would pay for the access, possibly through a monthly subscription, although he and Musk didn't disclose the financial details of the deal. At first, Ford drivers will need an adaptor, but Ford will make Tesla's charging connector standard in 2025.

The Associated Press

10. Report says lack of oversight made Navy SEALs training more dangerous

The Navy SEALs training program has been plagued by a "near perfect storm" of problems, including widespread failures in medical care, poor oversight, and performance-enhancing drug use, that have increased the risk of injury and death for candidates seeking to join the elite commandos, according to a report released Thursday. The investigation, launched after a sailor died last year, concluded instructors were pushing classes to exhaustion, and students were dropping out of the notoriously brutal Navy SEAL selection course in larger numbers, or winding up in the hospital. The commander in charge blamed students, saying their generation was soft. "The investigation revealed a degree of complacency and insufficient attentiveness to a wide range of important inputs meant to keep the students safe," the report said.

Navy Times The New York Times