New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's chances at a future in President-elect Donald Trump's administration keep getting slimmer and slimmer. Days after Christie lost his position as chair of Trump's transition team to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, NBC News reported that a senior Trump official "merely laughed" when asked if Christie might get tapped for a job in the administration.
While some attribute Christie's waning popularity among the Trump team to his perceived lack of loyalty after the release of Trump's Access Hollywood tape or "dissatisfaction with his team's work" on the transition, NBC News reported that Trump insiders say it may very well boil down to tensions between Christie and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. In 2005 while serving as a U.S. attorney, Christie prosecuted Kushner's father for charges including tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions; Kushner's father spent two years in prison as a result.
Christie reportedly isn't the only one getting burned by his rocky relationship with Kushner. NBC News reported that Gen. Michael Flynn — "bearing instructions" from Kushner — nixed several people at the transition team's first post-election meeting. All of the candidates Flynn pulled out of the running for national security and intelligence positions, NBC News reported, were people Christie had supported, including retired Marine General Peter Pace, retired Marine General James Mattis, former House Intelligence chairman Mike Rogers, and retired Admiral William McRaven, the architect of the Osama bin Laden raid in 2011.
For more reports from inside Trump's transition team, head over to NBC News. Becca Stanek
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is trying to make sure an eventual coronavirus vaccine is affordable for everyone.
The foundation has donated $150 million to the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker, the Gavi vaccine alliance announced Friday. The money will help speed up the development and distribution of an eventual COVID-19 vaccine and make it available to 92 poorer countries for no more than $3 per dose.
"Too many times we've seen the most vulnerable countries left at the back of the queue when it comes to new treatments, new diagnostics and new vaccines," said Gavi CEO Dr. Seth Berkley. But the consequences of such inequities when distributing a COVID-19 vaccine would be devastating. "If only the wealthiest countries in the world are protected, then international trade, commerce and society as a whole will continue to be hit hard as the pandemic continues to rage across the globe," Berkley continued.
The Serum Institute of India is one of several manufacturers working with AstraZeneca to make its candidate vaccine. It's also the go-to supplier for the World Health Organization, The Wall Street Journal notes. A total of 92 countries will be eligible to receive the discount vaccine as Gavi seeks $2 billion total to further support vaccine access. Kathryn Krawczyk
A top intelligence official says Russia is using a "range of measures" to take down former Vice President Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 presidential election, while China prefers that President Trump doesn't win.
William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, released a statement on Friday detailing the "intentions and activities" of U.S. adversaries in the presidential election, which describes how intelligence officials are "concerned" primarily about China, Russia, and Iran.
By the U.S. assessment, China "prefers that President Trump — whom Beijing sees as unpredictable — does not win re-election," Evanina wrote. Additionally, Russia is "using a range of measures to primarily denigrate" Biden, and "some Kremlin-linked actors are also seeking to boost President Trump's candidacy on social media and Russian television," the statement said.
Finally, Evanina said that Iran seeks to "undermine U.S. democratic institutions, President Trump, and to divide the country in advance of the 2020 elections," driven by its belief that Trump being re-elected would "result in a continuation of U.S. pressure."
Senate Intelligence Committee Acting Chair Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) on Friday said this statement "highlights some of the serious and ongoing threats to our election." They also said that additional information has been provided to members of Congress in recent weeks and that more of it "can, and at the appropriate time should, be shared with the voting public." Brendan Morrow
President Trump would love to have dinner with you, for the low, low price of a $10,000 fine.
The Trump campaign blitzed supporters this week asking for donations in exchange for the chance to attend a "VIP dinner" with the president in Southampton, New York on Aug. 8, but Popular Information's Judd Legum, who investigated the contest, says the fundraising attempt is a pretty blatant "scam."
The ads, which reportedly cost the campaign $100,000 to run on Facebook, failed to mention that anyone residing in one of 35 states is legally barred from attending the fundraiser (or any event in the state of New York, for that matter).
Since late June, visitors to New York who are coming from states with surging COVID-19 numbers have been told they need to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine to help prevent the virus' spread. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has since doubled down on that requirement, imposing fines and installing checkpoints for visitors.
It's unlikely that Trump, who has gone head-to-head with Cuomo throughout the pandemic, has forgotten these restrictions. Still, that didn't stop the campaign from advertising its one-of-a-kind deal to those very people.
"In one heavily promoted version of the ad, 73 percent of the impressions were targeted at users in states subject to New York's quarantine order," Legum writes.
The Trump campaign seems to have advertised the fundraiser knowing much of its targeted audience wouldn't be in a position to actually attend, as the contest rules give the campaign permission "to suspend or cancel the Promotion" if any "viruses, bugs, unauthorized human intervention or other causes beyond Sponsor's control" interfere.
Essentially, anything from the mandatory quarantine order to a fruit fly infestation could give Trump reason to bail. Marianne Dodson
The rain continues to pour on the Friends reunion special.
The planned reunion of the hit sitcom's original cast on HBO Max has yet again been delayed, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
Filming of the unscripted special was scheduled to occur in March, but production had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The hope in recent weeks, though, was that the special could finally be filmed in August.
"It's supposed to happen maybe in August, the middle of August," David Schwimmer recently said on The Tonight Show. "But honestly, we're gonna wait and see another week or two, if we all determine it's really safe enough to do. And if not, then we'll wait until it's safe."
It looks like they will indeed be waiting, as the special reportedly won't be filmed in August anymore, and no new date has been announced. According to the Reporter, everyone involved wants the reunion to take place on the show's original soundstage in California, so doing the special virtually isn't in the cards.
The idea with the Friends reunion special was for it to debut with HBO Max and be a major draw to the streaming service in May. Since then, the cast of tons of shows from Community to Parks and Recreation have come together for virtual reunions during the pandemic, while the Friends reunion has been continuously held up. Could the executives at HBO Max be any more disappointed? Brendan Morrow
The U.S. is once again escalating tensions with China over Beijing's crackdown on Hong Kong freedoms.
The U.S. Treasury and State Departments levied sanctions against 11 Hong Kong and China officials on Friday, most notably Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam. The sanctions are in response to severe crackdowns on freedoms those officials have taken against Hong Kongers at the mainland's direction.
These officials all helped implement Hong Kong's "draconian" national security law in late June, and were involved with "actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, stability or autonomy of Hong Kong," the Treasury Department said. It lets China monitor Hong Kongers more closely and punish people who protest for democracy in the area, who speak to journalists, or who otherwise oppose China's government. National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said at the time the U.S. would likely sanction China over the law. Thursday's decision will let the U.S. seize any assets these officials have in the U.S., though experts tell the South China Morning Post the decision is largely symbolic.
Just last month, the U.S. also sanctioned government officials in Beijing over China's human rights abuses of the Uighur Muslims and other minority groups. China barred entry to some U.S. lawmakers in response. Trump aides have reportedly told Trump that appearing tough on China, including by blowing up a trade deal with the country, could help him win re-election. Kathryn Krawczyk