WTF Just Happened Today

Monday, June 21, 2021

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1/ Nearly 10 million Americans enrolled in Medicaid during the coronavirus pandemic. Roughly 80 million people are now covered by Medicaid – nearly a quarter of the entire U.S. population. Federal health officials attributed the boost in enrollment to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, approved by Congress in March 2020. That law gave states extra federal money to help cover Medicaid costs as long as the states didn’t remove any enrollees until after the coronavirus public health emergency was declared over. (Washington Post / The Hill / New York Times)

2/ The Biden administration is weighing whether to end a Trump-era policy that directed border officials to immediately expel the majority of immigrants crossing the border. The policy, known as Title 42, allows border agents to turn away migrants before they have the opportunity to seek asylum and was established through the CDC to prevent the coronavirus from spreading in holding facilities. The White House is considering ending family expulsions as early as July 31. (Axios)

3/ Officials in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have reportedly grown frustrated by the lack of cooperation from the Trump Organization’s CFO. Allen Weisselberg is a key figure in prosecutors’ efforts to indict Trump due to his central role in nearly every aspect of the Trump Organization. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s investigators have been pressing Weisselberg to provide evidence implicating Trump as they scrutinize Trump’s business practices before he was president, including whether he inflated the value of assets to obtain bank loans and deflated the value of those same assets for tax breaks. Officials also believe Weisselberg continues to regularly speak with Trump. (Washington Post)

4/ The U.S. is preparing more sanctions against Russia in response to the poisoning of Aleksei Navalny. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the timing of the sanctions or what they would include would come “as soon as we develop the packages to ensure that we’re getting the right targets.” Biden imposed sanctions on Russia for the poisoning and imprisonment of Navalny, which were directed at Putin and the oligarchs who support him. (New York Times)

5/ The Biden administration will make gender confirmation surgery available to transgender veterans through Veterans Affairs health care coverage. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough said that “for far too long, and for far too many,” respect and care “were not the norm for our LGBTQ+ community and our veterans,” adding that is why the VA is “determined to continue down that path. The path of progress.” The National Center for Transgender Equality estimates there are approximately 134,000 transgender veterans. (CNN)

6/ Trump suggested sending Americans infected with Covid-19 to Guantanamo Bay in an effort to suppress the number of cases on U.S. soil. During a February 2020 meeting as administration officials were discussing whether to bring infected Americans home for care, Trump reportedly asked: “Don’...

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