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Trump and other Republicans’ well wishes to Biden shift to accusations of a cancer cover-up. A federal judge in Texas issues a novel order in the ongoing Alien Enemies Act legal saga. And cases of Valley fever are on the rise in one state.
Here’s what to know today.
The shifting tone on Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis
In the day after former President Joe Biden announced he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, Republicans’ reactions have shifted from sympathy to an onslaught of accusations that his inner circle masked his condition while he was in office.
Among the more prominent voices was President Donald Trump, who on Sunday wished Biden a speedy recovery. And then yesterday, Trump posted on social media: “Everyone was in on the coverup! Who was running the country? We need accountability!”
The assertion from Trump and others, including Vice President JD Vance, comes as fresh reporting suggests Biden’s decline was more pronounced than previously known. Now, the cancer diagnosis —coupled with the damage to Biden world’s credibility when it comes to his fitness — are tinder for unfounded speculation that Biden, 82, knew he was sick and concealed it anyway.
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin called the timing of Biden’s announcement “interesting.” On the other side of the aisle, former Rep. Dean Phillips, who ran against Biden in the 2024 Democratic primary, also suggested Biden held off in revealing his diagnosis for strategic reasons.
Given the care and attention Biden received as president, the advanced state of the illness left some medical experts surprised. According to multiple oncologists, most cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed at an early stage. But in around 8% of cases, the cancer has already metastasized by the time it’s diagnosed — and at that point, the patient has most likely had prostate cancer for several years to a decade. However, there are some exceptions.
One former Biden aide said the former president would be better served if he answered a few pressing questions: Why was the cancer detected late? Did doctors test for it earlier? And what are the prospects for recovery?
Biden took to social media to thank well-wishers for their “love and support,” and a Biden spokesperson said yesterday there was no additional information outside of Sunday’s announcement.
Read the full story here.
More politics news:
- Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee about Trump’s budget request for the agency — though after last week’s contentious congressional hearings, Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism and support of fluoride bans is bound to come up.
- There was little sign of a breakthrough in peace negotiations after Trump’s phone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as Trump called for direct talks between the warring countries.
- Kash Patel and Dan Bongino have spent years accusing “deep state” actors of weaponizing the FBI against Trump. Now that they lead the FBI, they find themselves in an awkward position — and some Trump supporters are calling them out.
- The death of George Floyd almost gave momentum to the effort to reform “qualified immunity,” which can protect police officers even when they have violated the Constitution. But as one scholar and critic of the legal defense put it, “Nothing, I mean nothing, has happened.”
A new court order in the Alien Enemies Act legal saga
The Trump administration has until tomorrow afternoon to facilitate contact between a Venezuelan man deported to a notorious El Salvador prison and the man’s lawyers, a federal judge in Texas said yesterday. It’s the first such court order in the mounting legal saga surrounding President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport hundreds of men suspected of being members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. The Trump administration is expected to appeal.
At the center of the case is Widmer Josneyder Agelviz Sanguino, a 24-year-old who traveled to the U.S. in September as part of a refugee resettlement program, which involves extensive vetting and background checks. Agelviz was detained at the airport in Houston, and two weeks before the immigration court case was set to be resolved, he was deported without warning or court hearings to El Salvador. Documents show that Agelviz was detained because of a forearm tattoo and that he had no criminal record and there was no additional evidence linking him to the gang. Agelviz’s mother, who also resettled in the U.S. with his two younger brothers, spoke about the case to NBC News’ David Noriega. Read the full story here.
More immigration news:
- The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to move forward with revoking special legal protections for almost 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants.
- The Justice Department said it filed charges against Democratic New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver in an incident at an ICE facility in Newark, alleging she assaulted law enforcement during a May 9 visit that involved a protest. Meanwhile, acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced that all charges have been dropped against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested and charged with trespassing.
- Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student who has been detained since March, released a new video of Khalil that they say contradicts the federal government’s claims about him.
An undeniable increase in Valley fever cases
California is on track for another record-breaking year of Valley fever, according to early data, which shows more than 3,000 confirmed cases already logged this year. That’s more than there were at the same time last year and nearly double what cases were this time in 2023. And the cases aren’t appearing only in hot and dry areas like Kern County. Cities along California’s central coast are also becoming Valley fever hot spots.
The increase in cases has been so dramatic, in fact, that the Golden State is closing the gap with Arizona for the most Valley fever cases annually. But Arizona is also seeing more hot spots emerge in areas that are historically colder and wetter. Other places in the U.S. could see more Valley fever cases, too, as climate change creates drier soils that allow the range of the fungi to expand.
Making matters more complicated: Valley fever is tricky to diagnose because its symptoms overlap with other respiratory illnesses such as Covid, the flu and pneumonia. Read the full story here.
Read All About It
- The bombing at a fertility clinic in California should be a wake-up call, especially as reproductive issues are becoming increasingly politicized, security experts and women’s health advocates said.
- A fourth inmate in the group of 10 that escaped from a New Orleans jail last week has been captured.
- A hearing that could lead to freedom for brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez, convicted in their parents’ 1989 murders, has been pushed back more than two months.
- A former personal assistant for Sean “Diddy” Combs sobbed on the witness stand, and Casandra Ventura’s former best friend testified that she witnessed Combs assault Ventura twice. Here’s what else happened yesterday in Combs’ federal trial.
- Two of England’s worst-performing soccer teams have made it to the high-stakes Europa League final. But how?
Staff Pick: The thrill of being a Knicks fan
This is the best it’s been for Knicks fans since the turn of the century.
From 2001 to 2021, the Knicks had the fourth-fewest playoff wins in the NBA and the only teams with fewer didn’t even exist for 20 years. It was bleak. There were so many attempts at turning around the franchise that went bust that fans could be excused for losing faith.
But in the past few years, a series of smart moves (none better than bringing on Jalen Brunson) has brought the team back to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. Knicks fans — from celebs courtside like Spike Lee, Fat Joe and Timothée Chalamet, to the ones sitting in the last row of the upper sections — are thrilled. Madison Square Garden will be electric this week as they “welcome” the rival Indiana Pacers. Let’s Go Knicks! — Tim Perone, managing editor for news
NBCU Academy: NBC News journalist helps Black WWII heroes get recognition
When Tawanda Scott Sambou was assigned to find a story commemorating the 75th anniversary of World War II, the first thing she asked herself was, “What role did Black women play in the war?”
She thought she was coming to a dead end in her search until she came across the 6888th battalion, an all-women, majority-Black unit that traveled to Europe to sort through a massive mail backlog so that soldiers would receive letters from home. “I was so intrigued,” said Sambou, a senior producer at NBC News. “I just thought, ‘Wow, people don’t know about this troop, this unit. I would really love to share their story.’”
See how Sambou’s reporting brought a new level of recognition to the Six Triple Eight unit, from a Congressional Gold Medal to a Netflix film starring Kerry Washington and directed by Tyler Perry.
NBCU Academy is a free, award-winning education program for developing new skills and advancing careers in journalism, media and tech.
NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
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