Good Tuesday morning! Biden expected to sign an executive order cutting down on asylum claims at US-Mexico border; Fauci grilled by GOP lawmakers; and a promising birth control gel for men

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Good morning,

Cue the theme song! We are just 52 days until the start of the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

Watch Simone Biles (above) win her record-extending 9th all-around national championship over the weekend! It brings her total number of national titles to 32.

Have a good one!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

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📌 BIDEN SET TO SIGN MOST AGGRESSIVE BORDER CRACKDOWN TO DATE

President Biden is expected to sign an executive order today that will significantly shut down asylum requests to the US-Mexico border.

It will mark Biden’s most significant, unilateral move yet to control the number of migrants at the border, which hit a record high of nearly 250,000 crossings in December 2023 and has been over 3,500 people crossing into the US per day in recent weeks. Mayors of border towns are expected to join Biden for the announcement.

THE NEW POLICY
The proposal would reportedly shut the border to asylum processing when the number of daily encounters of migrants entering illegally hits 2,500 between ports of entry. Travel, trade, and immigrants presenting themselves lawfully for asylum would be free to enter.

• The order would allow the US to quickly deport non-qualifying asylum seekers to Mexico or their home countries, which is currently not allowed.

  • Officials say it will be similar how the US government handled border restrictions during COVID-19.

• But legal experts expect this to be challenged in court.

• Been here before? A group of Democratic and Republican senators worked to pass a similar measure in the fall, but a group of Republicans killed it after former President Trump advised them to do so.

  • Notably, Trump also sought to enact a nearly identical ban to what Biden is proposing in 2018, but was blocked by a federal court. They ruled it was a violation of asylum laws, which allow people to ask for humanitarian protection no matter how they enter the country.

    • The Biden administration is seeking to avoid legal pitfalls by creating exceptions for unaccompanied children and trafficking victims.

• Where we’re at: The ban, if it were to take effect, will also prove difficult to implement. The federal government currently doesn’t have enough personnel or detention space to rapidly deport everyone found ineligible for asylum under the order, meaning they would be released in the US.

  • That’s why Biden was pushing for that Senate border bill (see above) that would have earmarked billions in funding.

ELECTION DAY LOOMS
Undocumented migration is a top issue for voters ahead of the November elections.

• A Wall Street Journal poll from February found 65% of respondents disapproved of Biden’s handling of border security. Voters in border states, including the swing-state of Arizona, feel even more strongly about the issue.

📌 FAUCI GRILLED BY GOP LAWMAKERS ON COVID-19 RESPONSE

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert during the COVID-19 pandemic, faced intense questioning during a Republican-led hearing on the US response to the pandemic and whether the virus originated from a US-funded lab in China.

It was the first time Fauci publicly testified since he retired from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2022. The hearing was full of typical Capitol Hill histrionics.

A TENSE Q&A
The former health adviser to both the Trump and Biden administrations defended the US government’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

• Did he seek to cover up the possibility that the pandemic originated in a laboratory? Despite being dismissive of a lab leak, he says that the accusation is “absolutely false and simply preposterous” and that he keeps “an open mind as to what the origin is.” He still leans toward animal-to-human transfer.

• Back in January, Fauci privately told the panel that the six-foot social distancing guidance “sort of just appeared” in early 2020 and “wasn’t based on data.” Who came up with 6-foot social distancing guidance? He says it was the CDC and clarified that what he meant was that there had been “no clinical trial behind that.”

• Were vaccine mandates effective? He said, “Vaccines save lives,” but he also says the "cost-benefit ratio" still needs to be evaluated.

• What about masks and all the closures? At the time, he says thousands of people were dying everyday from the virus and it was justified. But the length at which they extended is “debatable.”

• Did he use his personal email to circumvent Congressional oversight? He says no, and asserts that a former senior adviser at the NIH who had used his unofficial email was “an aberrancy and an outlier.” That said, there remain major questions about how public health officials were avoiding transparency.

• How this has impacted his life: “Everything from harassments from emails, texts, letters of myself, my wife, my three daughters. There have been credible death threats leading to the arrest of two individuals – and credible death threats means someone who clearly was on their way to kill me. And it’s required my having protective services essentially all the time.”

ACTION ITEMS
Fauci says the US still has a ways to go to be prepared for another pandemic. One of those ways is boosting communication between federal and local officials.

There was a “disconnect between the health-care system and the public health system” during COVID-19, Fauci says. For example: The CDC could not demand information from local agencies, which caused a lag in sharing data.

🎧 Mosheh spoke with reporter Bethany McLean, co-author of “The Big Fail,” about how the US bungled the pandemic and the lessons we need to be learning. Check out the full conversation on the ‘Mo News: The Interview’ Podcast. Apple | Spotify 🎧

🔬 BREAKTHROUGH MALE CONTRACEPTIVE GEL SHOWS PROMISE IN TRIAL

Men may soon be able to shoulder the responsibility of birth control– literally. An easy-to-use birth control gel appears safe and effective in a new phase 2 trial.

The hormonal gel contains testosterone and a synthetic hormone called Nestorone — also found in women’s vaginal ring contraception.

THE FINDINGS
Researchers with NIH’s Contraceptive Development Program reported that 86% of the 222 men, ages 18 to 50, had sperm suppression after 12 weeks.

• Participants of the still-in-progress clinical trial applied about a teaspoon of the gel to each of their shoulder blades daily.

• After 12 weeks, the majority of men had up to 1 million sperm per milliliter of semen — what researchers defined as effective for contraception.

  • Without contraception, sperm counts typically range from 15 million to 200 million per milliliter.

• Up next: Does it actually work to prevent pregnancy? They are studying it. Participants need to be in a consenting, monogamous relationship to join the study. The couples can’t use other forms of contraceptives and agreed to have sex at least monthly for a year.

DEMAND, BUT NO SUPPLY
The FDA has not approved any male birth control drugs — only a handful of products have advanced into human trials. Researchers say it’s not for the lack of demand or promising products, but due to a lack of funding.

• It takes $1 billion to $2 billion to take a drug through clinical trials and onto the market, the Congressional Budget Office says.

• About 80% of men in the US reportedly would try new birth control methods.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 A heat dome will send temperatures into the triple-digits across the American West (CNN)

📌 Louisiana lawmakers approve surgical castration option for those guilty of sex crimes against kids (AP)

📌 Jury of 6 women, 6 men chosen to hear opening arguments in Hunter Biden trial today (AXIOS)

📌 Indicted NJ Sen. Bob Menendez plans to file as independent Senate candidate (ABC NEWS)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 IDF announces deaths of four Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity (TIMES OF ISREAL)

📌 Russia is trying to scare people away from the Paris Olympics, report says (NBC NEWS)

📌 South Korea to suspend military pact with North over trash balloons (REUTERS)

📌 Nigeria plunged into darkness as union workers shut down national grid in minimum wage protest (CNN)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 AI isn't a daily habit yet for teens, young adults (AXIOS)

📌 Extreme heat set to drive home cooling costs to 10-year high, advocates warn (NBC NEWS)

📌 Bitcoin billionaire to settle DC tax fraud suit for $40 million in city’s largest tax-evasion settlement (CNBC)

📌 New York Stock Exchange says bizarre glitch that showed Berkshire Hathaway down 99.97% has been resolved (CNN)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Epstein accuser files lawsuit alleging famed psychiatrist Henry Jarecki facilitated sexual abuse (CNBC)

📌 Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez kiss on the cheek as they attend his son basketball game amid separation rumors (PEOPLE)

📌 WNBA upgrades foul on Caitlin Clark by Chennedy Carter, fines Angel Reese for no postgame interview (AP) ESPN host Pat McAfee apologizes for calling Caitlin Clark ‘White b*tch’ (CNN)

📌 Kris Jenner reflects on friend Nicole Brown Simpson's murder 30 years ago (TODAY)

Mo News Podcast: A daily conversation about the news that matters.

🗓 ON THIS DAY: JUNE 4

• 1896: Henry Ford test-drove the Quadricycle, a frame fitted to four bicycle wheels.

• 1919: Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution which would give women the right to vote.

• 1989: Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters.

• 2001: Avril Lavigne released her debut studio album 'Let Go' which included songs “Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi"