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Supreme court restores temporary access to abortion pills by mail
The supreme court issued a temporary order to restore access to the abortion pill mifepristone by mail on Monday.
This comes after two companies who manufacture mifepristone the drug filed an emergency appeal to the court on Saturday asking it to halt a court decision that would require an in‑person exam before the medication can be prescribed.
The request came hours after the fifth US circuit court of appeals temporarily reinstated the requirement blocking telemedicine health providers from prescribing it to patients by mail in response to a challenge from Louisiana. Officials argue that issuing mifepristone, of the two drugs used for medication abortion, without an in-person visit violates the state’s abortion ban.
In a one-page order by justice Samuel Alito, the court stayed the fifth circuit’s decision until 11 May, giving the court more time to hear both sides before making a decision.
A reminder that most abortions in the US happen via medication, since the 2022 supreme court decision that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.
In 2024, the supreme court rejected an attempt by anti-abortion medical groups who sought to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approvals for mifepristone. In a unanimous decision, the justices said that those challenging the approvals did not have legal standing.
Key events
Rudy Giuliani recovering from pneumonia and remains in ‘critical but stable’ condition, spokesman says
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was hospitalized with pneumonia and remains in critical but stable condition, “is now breathing on his own,” according to his spokesperson, Ted Goodman.
The viral lung infection had “quickly overwhelmed” Giuliani – who Goodman said had been diagnosed with restrictive airway disease in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, adding “complications to any respiratory illness” – and he had required a ventilator to breathe.
“He is now breathing on his own, with his family and primary medical provider at his side,” Goodman said. “Mayor Giuliani is the ultimate fighter – as he has demonstrated throughout his life – and he is winning this battle … Please keep the prayers coming.”
Goodman announced yesterday that Guiliani, 81, had been hospitalized in Florida, but did not say why, and it remains unclear when he was first admitted to hospital.
In a post on Truth Social yesterday, Donald Trump, called his former personal attorney a “True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR” – before making it about himself, by perpetuating his lie about the 2020 election.
“They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!” he said.
Cole Tomas Allen removed from suicide watch
Ahead of the latest hearing for Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the White House press gala shooting last month, his lawyers wrote to the magistrate judge to note that Allen had been removed from suicide watch and issued a motion to vacate Monday’s hearing.
However, the court denied the motion. Instead, Judge Zia M Faruqui said she had “grave concerns” about Allen’s “seemingly unprompted solitary confinement for days and overall conditions of confinement”. The hearing is due to start shortly.
Supreme court restores temporary access to abortion pills by mail
The supreme court issued a temporary order to restore access to the abortion pill mifepristone by mail on Monday.
This comes after two companies who manufacture mifepristone the drug filed an emergency appeal to the court on Saturday asking it to halt a court decision that would require an in‑person exam before the medication can be prescribed.
The request came hours after the fifth US circuit court of appeals temporarily reinstated the requirement blocking telemedicine health providers from prescribing it to patients by mail in response to a challenge from Louisiana. Officials argue that issuing mifepristone, of the two drugs used for medication abortion, without an in-person visit violates the state’s abortion ban.
In a one-page order by justice Samuel Alito, the court stayed the fifth circuit’s decision until 11 May, giving the court more time to hear both sides before making a decision.
A reminder that most abortions in the US happen via medication, since the 2022 supreme court decision that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.
In 2024, the supreme court rejected an attempt by anti-abortion medical groups who sought to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approvals for mifepristone. In a unanimous decision, the justices said that those challenging the approvals did not have legal standing.
As we noted last week, the price of gas in the US reached its highest level in four years amid the ongoing war in Iran.
That number keeps climbing. As of Monday, it’s now $4.457 for a gallon of regular gasoline, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). This is up from $3.165 a year ago.
Rubio to visit pope amid strained relationship with Vatican
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, will travel to Rome this week to visit Pope Leo XIV, as the Trump administration’s relationship with the Vatican remains strained.
The state department said in a statement that the meeting will be “to advance bilateral relations with Italy and the Vatican”.
Rubio will meet with the Holy See “to discuss the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere”. This comes after Donald Trump issued a barrage of social media criticism against the pontiff, after Leo condemned the conflict in Iran, but notably did not name the president directly.
Garcia pushes oversight committee to film and publish Bondi testimony
Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee has implored Republican chair James Comer to film and publish Pam Bondi’s upcoming testimony before the panel about the justice department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstien files.
“A failure to film and release a video of Ms Bondi’s testimony would present a grave injustice to the American people and survivors of Epstein’s crimes, all of whom are calling upon Congress for transparency,” Garcia wrote in a letter to the oversight chair.
This comes after the former attorney initially resisted sitting before the panel, despite a congressionally issued subpoena, since she no longer leads the DoJ. Democratic lawmakers vowed to hold Bondi in contempt of Congress, insisting that leaving her role was immaterial to her need to testify.
Bondi will now sit for a deposition on 24 May.
Melody Schreiber
The new nominee for US surgeon general is an “effective communicator” who appears to be “mainstream enough” to pass confirmation before the US Senate, experts say.
But she has questioned routine childhood vaccines and other public health measures, and she is a progenitor of the “Make America healthy again” movement.
Nicole Saphier, a radiologist and Fox News medical contributor, is Donald Trump’s third pick for US surgeon general, following withdrawn nominations for Janette Nesheiwatand Casey Means.
The surgeon general can’t make new laws or regulations, can’t enforce policy and has no budget. Still, it’s one of the most influential health positions in the nation.
Means, who is not an actively licensed physician, faced opposition because of her significant conflicts of interest in the wellness industry and a lack of support for vaccines.
Saphier has also cast doubt on the childhood vaccine schedule, public health interventions for Covid, and healthcare for transgender children. She owns her own supplement company as well.
Saphier is “overall a solid pick”, Jerome Adams, the surgeon general under the first Trump administration, said in a statement. “She is an exceptionally clear communicator – especially effective at reaching conservative audiences who often tune out traditional public health messaging.”
Unlike Means, Saphier has an active medical license and currently practices medicine, which “we really shouldn’t have to highlight,” Adams said, “but here we are”. Adams said he has worked with Saphier before and “she’s no sycophant”, adding: “Hopefully she’ll be allowed to follow the science wherever it leads.”
A reminder that my colleagues are coveting the latest developments out of the Middle East. This comes after Donald Trump said that the US will “guide” ships trapped in the Gulf by the war through a southern route of the strait of Hormuz, even as Tehran insists that any such transits will have to be coordinated with its armed forces.
Most recently, US Central Command (Centcom) denied that one of its warships trying to pass through the strait of had been struck by Iranian missiles. Centcom added that no US Navy ships have been struck.
Donald Trump is in Washington today. He’ll start the day in policy meetings, before hosting a small business summit at the White House at 3pm ET. I’ll bring you the latest lines as that gets under way.
Michael Sainato
The Trump administration’s attack on the 87-year-old food aid program that supports tens of millions of low-income Americans escalated last week as the agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, claimed that 14,000 Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (Snap) recipients included owners of luxury vehicles such as Ferraris, Bentleys and Teslas.
Critics charge that the broadside is part of a disinformation campaign aimed at undermining a benefit relied on by some of the most vulnerable people in the US.
Rollins did not cite the unnamed state or where this data and its claims came from, but it went viral among conservatives on social media with Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Rand Paul, Congressman Tim Burchett, and actor James Woods quoting the post. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers the $57bn program, would not comment on the record and would not verify Rollins’ claims, which stem from an analysis by the Foundation for Government Accountability, an organization that has long advocated for cutting and reducing Snap and other federal government benefits.
The report cites its conclusions stem from 2023 data obtained by an unnamed contractor from an anonymous state. It does not provide any information on the alleged Snap recipients or how their identities were matched to car registrations.
The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) would not provide its data or methodology and did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Edward Helmore
The Trump administration is continuing to pressure the United Nations and the international aid sector more broadly to adopt trade-focused policies to benefit US firms – or face the threat of further budget cuts.
Donald Trump’s second term has already seen USAID suffer mass layoffs and have its remaining operations folded into the state department, with a ripple effect across the globe that has many experts warning will cost thousands of lives as vital programs are cut.
The Trump administration has also largely suspended support for agencies, including the World Health Organization, the UN human rights council and the UN’s cultural body Unesco.
Last week the Trump administration unveiled a “trade over aid” initiative at the United Nations, outlining a shift away from donor-focused development assistance toward greater private investment, or what it says is “an international economic development vision built on free markets”.
At the same time, the news website Devex reported on two US diplomatic notes that circulated in Geneva and New York that made it clear that the US was willing to use the threat of more budget cuts to the international community in order to force through its agenda.
Suspect in White House correspondents’ dinner shooting hearing scheduled for today
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
The suspect from the 25 April shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner has a hearing covering the conditions of his confinement scheduled for later today.
Cole Allen, who remains behind bars for now pending his trial, was injured during the attack but was not shot by officers. The attack was an attempt to kill president Trump, according to the federal prosecutor overseeing the investigation.
Allen is accused of rushing a Secret Service checkpoint at the event, attended by president Donald Trump and other members of the cabinet. Allen was allegedly armed with multiple weapons and fired at an agent.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said last week there was no evidence the agent was hit by friendly fire during the incident. However, she went beyond that Sunday in saying a shot from one of Allen’s weapons hit the officer’s bullet-resistant vest.
“We now can establish that a pellet that came from the buckshot from the defendant’s Mossberg pump-action shotgun was intertwined with the fiber of the vest of the Secret Service officer,” she told CNN’s State of the Union. “It is definitively his bullet.”
Allen is charged with attempting to assassinate Trump, interstate transportation of weapons and discharge of a firearm during a violent crime. His attorneys filed a document with the court on Sunday, saying they learned he was no longer on suicide watch and sought to withdraw a motion formally seeking to remove him from such supervision.
In other developments:
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Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, has been hospitalised and is in a “critical but stable condition”, his spokesperson said on Sunday evening. Ted Goodman, the spokesperson, posted on social media: “Mayor Giuliani is a fighter who has faced every challenge in his life with unwavering strength, and he’s fighting with that same level of strength as we speak. We do ask that you join us in prayer for America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani.”
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Donald Trump’s approval rating has hit its worst level during his two terms in office, with more than six in 10 Americans disapproving of the president’s job performance. Trump’s rating is at its worst on the cost of living and other economic issues since launching his deeply unpopular war against Iran in February, which has plunged the global economy into an oil crisis and sent gas prices rocketing to a four-year high.
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Trump has announced that the US will “guide” ships trapped by the Iran war out of the Gulf through the strait of Hormuz on Monday morning, and claimed his representatives were having “very positive” discussions with Iran. Trump wrote on his social media site that the operation, called “Project Freedom”, would be a humanitarian gesture “on behalf of the United States, Middle Eastern Countries but, in particular, the Country of Iran”.
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The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is to travel to Rome this week for a visit reportedly aimed at thawing frosty relations with the Italian government and the Vatican. Rubio is scheduled to be in the Italian capital on Thursday and Friday, which will also mark the one-year anniversary of the papacy of Pope Leo, the first US-born pontiff.
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Pete Hegseth’s purges of senior officers with impeccable reputations have caused alarm at the Pentagon, raising questions about whether a supposed last line of defense against the impulsive whims of a president with access to the nuclear codes still exists.
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Trump is attempting to select his own citizenry and control who can vote by gathering the personal details of all Americans, Arizona’s top election official has warned. Adrian Fontes, Arizona’s Democratic secretary of state, fears that the Trump administration’s active efforts to forcibly extract voter files from 30 states including Fontes’s own are part of a bigger plan to gather vital information on all US citizens into a centralised database.
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