On Politics: The Biggest Stories of the Week

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/us/politics/on-politics-the-biggest-stories-of-the-week.html

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From President Trump’s stonewalling of Congress to the trade war with China, it’s been a busy week in American politics. Here are some of the biggest stories you might have missed (and some links if you’d like to read further).

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The fight over President Trump’s stonewalling of Congress escalated on two fronts on Monday. A judge ruled that his accounting firm must turn over his financial records to Congress, while separately, Mr. Trump moved to block Congress from receiving testimony by the former White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II. The fights raise the issue of what power the president has to keep secrets from Congress.

Mr. Trump abruptly blew up a meeting with Democratic congressional leaders on Wednesday, declaring that he could not work with them until they stopped investigating him and lashing out at Speaker Nancy Pelosi for accusing him of a “cover-up.” He later held a hastily called news conference in the Rose Garden to denounce House Democrats and the Mueller investigation.

The president took extraordinary steps on Thursday to give Attorney General William P. Barr sweeping new authorities to conduct a review into how the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia were investigated, further testing congressional oversight and putting at risk a C.I.A. informant close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Additional Reading

• Trump and Pelosi Trade Barbs, Both Questioning the Other’s Fitness

• Democratic Calls for Impeachment Inquiry Grow as Leaders Instead Vow to Toughen Tactics

• Pelosi Pushes Go-Slow Strategy on Impeachment as She Goads Trump

The United States, China and global markets are digging in for a prolonged trade war with more companies saying they are redirecting supply chains away from China. The Trump administration unveiled on Thursday a $16 billion bailout for farmers hurt by retaliatory tariffs.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that he was questioning some of America’s largest companies about their plans for weathering the Trump administration’s trade war with China, including encouraging firms to reorient their supply chains and source their products elsewhere.

The Trump administration is considering limiting the ability of a Chinese video surveillance giant, Hikvision, to buy American components. It’s a step that would widen Mr. Trump’s campaign to counter Beijing’s technological ambitions and punish Chinese companies for their role in the surveillance and mass detention of Muslims.

Additional Reading

• DealBook Briefing: $16 Billion in Bailouts Says the Trade War Is Here to Stay

• Pain of Tariffs Tests Farmers’ Faith in Trump: ‘How Long Is Short-Term?’

• China’s Supply of Minerals for iPhones and Missiles Could Be a Risky Trade Weapon

The Trump administration has warned Congress that the flow of unaccompanied migrant children at the southern border has increased and may require an additional $1.4 billion to provide housing and care.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday that it would build temporary housing along the southwestern border for 7,500 migrant adults facing deportation, responding to a surge in undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers.

A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy was found dead at a Border Patrol station in southern Texas after a week of waiting in holding facilities to be sent to a shelter for migrant children. He is the third child to die in Customs and Border Protection custody since December.

Additional Reading

• They Grow the Nation’s Food, but They Can’t Drink the Water

• Both Parents Are American. The U.S. Says Their Baby Isn’t

• Gov. Mike Parson of Missouri on Friday signed into law a bill outlawing abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy, joining several other states this year in enacting measures designed to limit women’s access to the procedure.

• The Trump administration proposed to roll back Obama-era rights for transgender people in the Affordable Care Act, eliminating “gender identity.”

• In a move that would infuriate congressional Democrats and Republicans who are seeking to limit American military support for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Trump administration is preparing to bypass Congress to allow the export of weapons Gulf Nations.

• Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old whose shooting death by a neighborhood watch volunteer set off a national conversation on racial profiling, formally announced on Monday that she would run for local office in Florida.

• John Walker Lindh, the man referred to as the “American Taliban” who was captured during the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, was released from prison this week, highlighting questions about his reintegration into society.

• The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces 17 new counts in a superseding indictment over his role in publishing classified documents in 2010.

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Today’s On Politics briefing was compiled by Isabella Grullón Paz in New York

Is there anything you think we’re missing? Anything you want to see more of? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com.