Michael Cohen will be released from prison due to pandemic  —  (CNN)The federal Bureau of Prisons has notified Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, that he will be released early from prison due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter and his lawyer.

My Wild, Totally Surreal Experience Covering a Trump Coronavirus Briefing  —  “Your forehead, please,” said the woman in a mask.  —  She was a medical technician sitting in a tent outside the northwest gate of the White House in the otherwise deserted section of Pennsylvania Avenue that is usually crammed with tourists in April.

For Mark Meadows, the Transition From Trump Confidant to Chief of Staff Is a Hard One  —  Only weeks into the job, the former congressman has confronted the same problems that frustrated his three predecessors.  It hasn't helped him with his new White House colleagues that he's emotional and sometimes cries.

Who will Joe Biden pick as his running mate?  Here's what Vegas betting odds show  —  With the Democratic primary field down to one candidate, attention has turned to who former Vice President Joe Biden will pick as his running mate.  —  While pundits are discussing the options …

Early peek at data on Gilead coronavirus drug suggests patients are responding to treatment  —  A Chicago hospital treating severe Covid-19 patients with Gilead Sciences' antiviral medicine remdesivir in a closely watched clinical trial is seeing rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms …

Small-Business Rescue Shows Not All States Are Created Equal  —  During the first 10 days of the federal government's small-business rescue program, the spigot was wide open in Nebraska.  Firms there got enough money to cover about three-fourths of the state's eligible payrolls.

Most Americans Say Trump Was Too Slow in Initial Response to Coronavirus Threat  —  Wide concern that states will lift COVID-19 restrictions too quickly  —  How we did this  —  As the death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to spiral, most Americans do not foresee a quick end to the crisis.

The Trump administration paid a bankrupt company with zero employees $55 million for N95 masks, which it's never manufactured  — The Trump administration has awarded a $55 million contract for N95 masks to a company with no experience producing medical supplies and whose parent company filed for bankruptcy protection last year.

Why Michael Savage is blasting Sean Hannity and the right-wing media on the coronavirus  —  There are a lot of people who are ruining the country right now, according to Michael Savage.  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  Liberal mayors in big cities like San Francisco.  Undocumented immigrants.

As testing outcry mounts, Trump cedes to states in announcing guidelines for slow reopening  —  President Trump released federal guidelines Thursday night for a slow and staggered return to normal in places with minimal cases of the novel coronavirus, moving to try to resume economic activity …

‘Ellen’ Crew Furious Over Poor Communication Regarding Pay, Non-Union Workers During Coronavirus Shutdown (EXCLUSIVE)  —  Endeavor Content, Keller/Noll Launch Game Show Podcast With ‘American Ninja Warrior’ Host Matt Iseman  —  Crew members from Ellen DeGeneres' long-running daytime talk show …

Trump's Job Rating Slides; U.S. Satisfaction Tumbles  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — As President Donald Trump works to contain the damage from the novel coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., the rally in support he enjoyed as the nation entered a virtual lockdown has faded.

What AOC Gets that Bernie Didn't  —  The 27-year-old progressive activist Sean McElwee made the POLITICO 50 list of influential thinkers in 2017 for “Abolish ICE,” a pithy slogan that more liberal Democrats adapted into a quixotic campaign to dismantle the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Berkeley institution Top Dog is on the ropes.  But they still won't take federal aid.  —  You never forget your first trip to Top Dog.  —  The tiny, Berkeley-born grab-and-go grill is a rite of passage for Cal students, slinging superlative sausages late night 'til 3 a.m. — along with a side of libertarian literature.

DNC Milwaukee Host Committee reduces staff by more than half through layoffs and transfers  —  In the latest sign of trouble for the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee this summer, the host committee announced Thursday that it is cutting its staff by more than half by reassigning some employees and laying off others.

Yair Netanyahu tweets leftists will die of coronavirus following protest  —  “I hope the elderly people who die following this protest will be from your bloc,” the younger Netanyahu junior wrote on Twitter.  —  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son Yair Netanyahu caused controversy Thursday night …

Army Decides a Pandemic Is a Good Time to Give GOP Donors $569 Million to ‘Build the Wall’  —  What coronavirus crisis?  Big Republican donors get a half-billion dollar, no-bid deal that one watchdog calls “a travesty that must be investigated and audited immediately.”  —  BEAST INSIDE

Family of New York woman blames hydroxychloroquine combo for fatal heart attack  —  The 65-year-old woman was prescribed the malaria drug and an antibiotic by her doctor to treat coronavirus symptoms.  —  A New York woman with coronavirus symptoms died last week after being prescribed …

Massachusetts man charged with trying to blow up Jewish nursing home  —  Blood found on the failed explosive matched the DNA of suspect John Michael Rathbun, 36, the FBI said.  —  Federal agents arrested a western Massachusetts man and accused of him trying to blow up a Jewish assisted living facility …

A Gloomy Prediction on How Much Poverty Could Rise  —  Researchers suggest the poverty rate may reach the highest levels in half a century, hitting African-Americans and children hardest.  —  The pandemic crippling the American economy portends a sharp increase in poverty …

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer: Abortion During Coronavirus ‘Is Life Sustaining’  —  The governor of Michigan said Thursday that abortion is “life sustaining.”  —  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, discussed abortion in times of the coronavirus pandemic during David Axelrod's Axe Files podcast posted Thursday.

New York Extends Coronavirus Lockdown as Some Asian Countries See Rise in Cases  —  U.S. jobless claims soar as the U.K. also extends its stay-at-home policy  —  New York state and the U.K. moved to extend coronavirus lockdowns as U.S. jobless claims jumped and countries around the world wrestled …

An Open Letter to the New New Left From the Old New Left  —  Now it is time for all those who yearn for a more equal and just social order to face facts.  —  “THESE are the times that try men's souls.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country....

The WHO doesn't only have a China problem — it has a dictator problem  —  This week, President Trump announced that he is suspending U.S. funding for the World Health Organization.  He accused the organization of taking “China's assurances at face value” and pushing “China's misinformation” about the coronavirus outbreak there.

US alerted Israel, NATO to disease outbreak in China in November — report  —  Israeli officials said to have debated threat five months ago, before public was aware of coronavirus, but ‘nothing was done’ by Health Ministry  —  US intelligence agencies alerted Israel to the coronavirus outbreak …

Sen. Richard Burr's Pre-Pandemic Stock Sell-Offs Highly Unusual, Analysis Shows  —  • The recent stock sales by the North Carolina Republican were a market-beating anomaly that didn't match his typically middling trading history, according to a new Dartmouth College analysis.  —  CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES

Facebook confronts the coronavirus hoaxes  —  A few years ago, Facebook became aware that Russia kept posting misinformation all over the network.  The misinformation was designed to rile people up and make them share with their friends, and because people are generally pretty easy to rile up, Russia's strategy was very successful.