10 things you need to know today: June 1, 2023

1. House passes deal to raise debt limit, sending it to Senate

The House on Wednesday passed the bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling and avoid an unprecedented and catastrophic default. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it still faces hurdles ahead of a June 5 deadline, when the Treasury Department has said it will start running short of money to cover all the country's financial obligations. Hard-line conservatives tried to block the bill in the House, saying the compromise brokered over the weekend by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and President Biden didn't contain sufficient spending cuts in exchange for raising the $31.4 trillion debt limit for two years. In the end, the measure passed by a comfortable 314-117 margin in a test of McCarthy's control of his party's narrow House majority.

The Washington Post

2. Report: Prosecutors have recording of Trump discussing classified document

Federal prosecutors have a recording in which former President Donald Trump discusses a classified military document he held onto after leaving the White House, CNN reported Wednesday, citing multiple sources. The audio was from a summer 2021 meeting. Trump indicates that he would like to share the information in the document, which concerns a potential attack on Iran, but he appears to acknowledge that it hasn't been declassified, two of CNN's sources said. The recording undercuts Trump's assertion that he declassified all material he took with him after leaving office. Special counsel Jack Smith is focusing on the meeting in his investigation of Trump's handling of national security secrets. Prosecutors have interviewed witnesses about the conversation before a grand jury.

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CNN

3. Drones hit 2 refineries in southern Russia

Drones struck two oil refineries in southern Russia on Wednesday in the latest sign that the country's war in Ukraine is spreading onto Russia's home turf. Western officials said Russia appears to be responding by increasing its defenses just inside its 900-mile front with Ukraine as that country's forces prepare for a long-awaited counteroffensive. Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of Russia's Kransodar region, said the Ilyinsky refinery was undamaged, but a suspected drone ignited a 1,000-square-foot fire at the Afipsky refinery. The attacks came a day after drones damaged several apartment buildings in Moscow. Kremlin officials said the failure of Ukraine's allies to condemn that attack, which came as Russia hit Kyiv with airstrikes, proved that the Ukraine war is really a conflict with the West.

The Wall Street Journal The New York Times

4. Trump lawyers ask judge in criminal case to step aside

Former President Donald Trump's lawyers said in a statement Wednesday that they were asking the judge overseeing his criminal case in Manhattan to step aside, saying his family is connected with Democratic causes. The motion for recusal they plan to file is the latest move Trump's legal team has made to steer the case out of State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan's Manhattan court. The case, filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, focuses on allegations that Trump falsified records to cover up hush money paid to a porn star so she wouldn't speak publicly ahead of the 2016 presidential election about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump years earlier. Trump has denied the allegations and called the case politically motivated.

The New York Times

5. Pence to launch presidential campaign next week

Former Vice President Mike Pence plans to launch a campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on June 7, numerous news outlets reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the situation. Pence is expected to get his campaign started by making a speech and releasing a video, stressing his track record as a traditional conservative. "We have to resist the politics of personality, the lure of populism unmoored by timeless conservative values," he told a crowd in early-voting New Hampshire recently. He joins an increasingly crowded field dominated by his ex-boss, former President Donald Trump, whose nearest rival is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also is expected to join the race next week.

NBC News The Washington Post

6. 5 Palestinian fighters killed in Lebanon explosion

An explosion killed five members of a Syrian-backed Palestinian faction at a military base the group controls in eastern Lebanon on Wednesday. Ten others were wounded. The group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, blamed an Israeli strike. Israel denied responsibility. A Lebanese military official said the blast originated on the base, and was not caused by an airstrike. An official from a regional group with ties to the Syrian government said "human error" caused the explosion. A PFLP-GC official in Lebanon, Abu Wael Issam, told The Associated Press the group would retaliate for the blast "at the suitable time," and would not shrink from "escalating the fight against the Israeli enemy."

ABC News The Associated Press

7. Texas governor appoints interim replacement after Paxton impeachment

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) named longtime ally John Scott to fill in for Texas Secretary of State Ken Paxton as he faces trial in the State Senate. The state House impeached Paxton on charges that he used his office to benefit himself and a campaign donor. Scott served as Texas secretary of state during the 2022 primaries and midterm elections, and implemented an election bill following former President Donald Trump's loss. Scott briefly represented Trump in a lawsuit that sought to overturn Pennsylvania's results. "His decades of experience and expertise in litigation will help guide him" in the "short-term" appointment, Abbott said. Paxton faces 20 articles of impeachment in a trial expected to start in late summer.

The Dallas Morning News The New York Times

8. Amazon workers walk out in climate protest

A group of Amazon's corporate workers staged a lunchtime walkout at the online retail giant's Seattle headquarters on Wednesday to protest the company's environmental impact, layoffs, and an order for employees to return to the office. The demonstration came a month after Amazon imposed a mandate for employees to report for in-person work three days a week. More than 1,900 employees committed to participating around the world, 900 of them in Seattle, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice said. The workers have complained that Amazon's massive distribution network has a huge carbon footprint, and they said the company wasn't acting fast enough to address it. "We respect our employees' rights to express their opinions," Amazon said.

The Associated Press

9. Decorated Australian veteran loses defamation case

Australia's most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, lost a high-profile defamation case against three newspapers that reported he appeared to have committed war crimes in Afghanistan. The judge in the case, Justice Anthony Besanko, said the newspapers — the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age, and the Canberra Times — had shown that the allegations that Roberts-Smith killed unarmed prisoners were substantially true. The judgment marked a significant victory for the newspapers and advocates of Afghan victims. Besanko found the newspapers had not proven other reports, including that Roberts-Smith assaulted a woman he was having an affair with, and that he threatened a junior colleague. Roberts-Smith, a retired special forces colonel, has not been charged with any crimes.

The Washington Post BBC News

10. 'That '70s Show' star Danny Masterson convicted of rape

A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday found actor Danny Masterson, a star of That '70s Show, guilty on two counts of rape. Masterson's wife, actor and model Bijou Phillips, wept as he was led away in handcuffs. He could be sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. The jury deadlocked on a third count involving the alleged rape of a longtime girlfriend. Masterson, 47, will be jailed without bail pending sentencing. The judge scheduled the next hearing in the case for Aug. 4. One victim, like Masterson a member of the Church of Scientology, said she was "experiencing a complex array of emotions — relief, exhaustion, strength, sadness — knowing that my abuser, Danny Masterson, will face accountability for his criminal behavior."

Los Angeles Times The Associated Press