Secretary of State Mike PompeoMichael (Mike) Richard PompeoEU set to ban American travelers when borders reopen due to COVID-19 spikes US puts visa restrictions on Chinese officials over tensions with Hong Kong Trump has ‘no final decision’ on Israeli plans for annexation MORE on Friday announced that the U.S. will impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials found to be involved in Beijing’s efforts to exert more control over Hong Kong.

The move marks the first concrete steps taken by the U.S. against China over its expected national security legislation, which critics argue violates Hong Kong’s autonomy from Beijing outlined in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration and that established the “one country, two systems” rule. 

“President TrumpDonald John TrumpMiami-Dade to close beaches for July Fourth weekend over coronavirus fears Oklahoma reporter tests positive for COVID-19 after attending at Trump’s Tulsa rally Trump slams Illinois governor, mayor over violence in Chicago, calls for ‘law and order’ MORE promised to punish the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials who were responsible for eviscerating Hong Kong’s freedoms,” Pompeo said in a statement. “Today, we are taking action to do just that.”

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The secretary said the visa restrictions will apply to current and former officials of the Chinese Communist Party “who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy,” in violation of the 1984 declaration, “or undermining human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong.”

Pompeo added that the visa restrictions may also apply to family members. A State Department spokesperson said visa records are confidential under U.S. law and that the agency would not provide the names of any officials who fall under the restrictions.

The Trump administration announced in May that the U.S. would no longer view Hong Kong as autonomous from Beijing, setting up the State Department’s ability to impose sanctions and visa restrictions as outlined in the Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 and reinforced with the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019.

The new visa restrictions announced by Pompeo come one day after the Senate passed a resolution condemning Beijing for its moves over Hong Kong and passed legislation providing the ability to impose sanctions on individuals and “entities” that materially contribute to an erosion of freedoms in the territory.

Pompeo held a rare face-to-face meeting last week with Yang Jiechi, China’s top diplomat, in Hawaii at a time where relations between Washington and Beijing are at an all-time low.

President Trump has called for holding China accountable for the spread of the novel coronavirus and criticized its influence over international bodies like the World Health Organization. Pompeo has also called on allied countries to reject Beijing’s efforts to invest in critical infrastructure projects, saying such deals pose threats to national security.

Pepsi reportedly joined the advertising boycott that several companies are taking against Facebook, people close to the matter told Fox Business Sunday.

The second largest food and beverage company in the world is reportedly pulling ads from Facebook through July and August as part of a “global boycott,” sources told Fox Business. Pepsi has not yet made an official announcement on the subject. 

Pepsi’s boycott could have a large impact because of its large size, as it is reported to spend as much as $2.6 billion every year on marketing, promotion and advertising, the news outlet noted. Like most companies, Pepsi is spending an increasing portion of its advertising on social media websites. 

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Facebook has been consistently criticized for not taking enough action to remove or addressing hate speech or comments considered inappropriate. As of Sunday, more than 150 companies, including Ben and Jerry’s and Patagonia, have vocally expressed their concerns about the platform and vowed to pull their Facebook ads.

Ad agency Goodby Silverstein announced last week that it would join the boycott against Facebook and is urging clients like Adobe, HP, PayPal and BMW to do the same. Pepsi is also one of the agency’s clients, according to Fox Business.

“We will join #StopHate4Profit and stop posting on @Facebook for the month of July,” the agency tweeted. “We are taking this action to protest the platform’s irresponsible propagation of hate speech, racism, and misleading voter information.”

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Meanwhile, other companies like Starbucks and Coca-Cola have said their boycotts will apply to all social media platforms. 

Pepsi and Facebook did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Recent criticism of Facebook came when President TrumpDonald John TrumpIntelligence suggests Russian bounties led to deaths of several US troops in Afghanistan: report Obama called Philonise Floyd before brother’s memorial service: NYT President Trump tries to cover his tracks by attacking the rule of law MORE said on social media as the protests broke out over George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Twitter decided to label the president’s tweet with a warning that it was “glorifying violence” hours after it was posted. 

Facebook makes about $1 billion per quarter on advertising, and the social media platform’s stock fell more than 8 percent on Friday as more companies joined the boycott, according to Fox Business. 

Delta Air Lines reportedly plans to warn over 2,500 of its pilots that furloughs could be coming, as the airline company struggles to regain its footing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

While Delta and the labor union that represents the company’s 14,000 pilots have reached an agreement for an early retirement package, airline officials signaled that it won’t be enough to prevent additional furloughs from occurring.

“As we’ve communicated previously, early retirements alone likely won’t be enough to avoid pilot furloughs altogether,” Delta’s senior vice president of flight operations John Laughter said in a memo obtained by CNBC on Friday.

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He added: “With that in mind and given that we won’t know the results of the early-out for a few weeks, we must continue to move ahead to address pilot overstaffing. In an effort to best prepare our pilots, we will send notices to 2,558 pilots as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act [“WARN Act”] next week to let them know of a possible furlough.”

About 7,900 of the Delta’s pilots will be eligible for the early retirement option, Laughter noted, according to CNBC. Pilots can apply for early retirement starting in July and will know by the beginning of August if they’ve been accepted, according to the outlet.

The labor union has said that with the retirement plan, a pilot would get paid for 58 hours a month until reaching age 65 or for 36 months, whichever comes first. Delta would also reportedly cover up to two years of health insurance premiums and a year of travel benefits for the pilots who decide to take early retirement.

Last month, Delta also offered the rest of its employees early retirement and buyout options. While demand for flying has somewhat returned despite the prevalence of the pandemic, it is nowhere near where it is usually.

The $25 billion received by airlines in federal relief bar airlines from laying off or cutting the pay of any of their employees until after Sept. 30.

A massive dust storm from the Sahara Desert in North Africa will arrive to the U.S. gulf coast this week.

Michael Lowry, a strategic planner with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that the yearly phenomena is expected to be particularly strong this year. 

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“The ongoing Saharan #dust outbreak across the tropical Atlantic is *by far* the most extreme of the MODIS satellite record — our most detailed, continuous record of global dust back to 2002,” Lowry said in a tweet.  

The technical name for the phenomenon is the “Saharan Air Layer,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, though some experts have nicknamed this year’s cloud the “Godzilla dust cloud” for its size.

Pablo Méndez Lázaro, an environmental health specialist with the University of Puerto Rico, told Phys.org that the dust cloud “is the most significant event in the past 50 years.” 

“Conditions are dangerous in many Caribbean islands,” he said.

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The dust resulted in reduced visibility when it hit Puerto Rico this week, with its haze completely engulfing the mountains in El Yunque National Forest in northeastern Puerto Rico.

On Thursday the cloud reached the western Caribbean, over Belize and the Yucatán Peninsula, and through most of the central and western Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to reach Texas and Louisiana in the coming days. 

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The Pentagon has announced that as part of the federal government’s July 4 celebration, military aircraft will conduct flyovers of major East Coast cities, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Additionally, the agency will provide “musical and ceremonial support to this year’s celebration in Washington, D.C.,” according to a Department of Defense (DoD) press release.

The Pentagon’s statement describes the flyovers as “an opportunity for DoD to demonstrate the capabilities and professionalism of the United States Armed Forces.”

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“Flying hours are a sunk cost for the Department of Defense, and these aircraft and crews would be using these hours for proficiency and training at other locations if they were not conducting these flyovers,” the statement added.

Military planes will also flyover Mount Rushmore as part of the festivities, the agency said.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi NoemKristi Lynn NoemPentagon announces July 4th flyovers across northeast South Dakota governor pledges to protect Mount Rushmore amid statue debate Native American tribal nations take tougher line on COVID-19 as states reopen MORE (R) had said at the beginning of the month that she was working with the Trump administration to plan some kind of flyover at Mount Rushmore for the holiday weekend. The flyover is expected to be on July 3.

The White House announced Thursday that the Trump administration’s top IT official, Suzette Kent, will step down from her position in July.

Kent, who was appointed Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) by President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump administration calls for Supreme Court to strike down ObamaCare Trump says there will be ‘retribution’ for those who deface monuments White House task force tracking coronavirus spikes even as Trump says virus is ‘going away’: report MORE in early 2018, announced her departure during a team meeting on Thursday. The position heads the Office of E-Government and Information Technology, part of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

In the position, Kent was responsible for developing guidance on the use of internet-connected technology, along with streamlining digital interaction between the federal government and U.S. citizens and businesses, as well as overseeing some cybersecurity initiatives.

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During her tenure, a new cloud computing initiative was launched, along with rolling out updated policies around how federal agencies can secure their networks. 

Kent said in a statement that it had been “an honor and a privilege to serve our nation.”

“My commitment was to give 100 percent to improving government technology and citizen services,” Kent said. “It is my hope that the outcomes achieved stand in evidence to that commitment.”

She noted that she had “confidence” in the abilities of other top OMB leaders, including Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat, and added she had “great pride in results delivered” while serving at OMB.

Roat will likely step into the position of federal CIO on an acting basis, but the White House has not commented officially on who will take over.

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Kent did not comment on what her next steps are following her departure next month. 

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Acting OMB Director Russ Vought thanked Kent on Thursday for her service.

“I want to thank Suzette for all of her work on behalf of the President,” Vought said in a separate statement. “During her time at the White House she’s had a remarkable impact on Agencies operations, helping to drive critical modernizations through the President’s Management Agenda. On behalf of the entire Office of Management and Budget, I want to express my deepest gratitude for Suzette and wish her all the best in this next chapter.”

Kent was the fourth person to serve as permanent federal CIO since the position was created by the E-Government Act of 2002. She previously served in top positions at Ernst & Young, JPMorgan and Accenture. 

Happy Friday and welcome back to On The Money, where we also plan to stay inside this weekend for “Law and Order.” I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

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See something I missed? Let me know at slane@thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@thehill.com,  njagoda@thehill.com and nelis@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane, @NJagoda and @NivElis.

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LEADING THE DAY

Stocks sink as Florida, Texas reimpose restrictions after COVID-19 spikes: U.S. stocks plunged on Friday as major COVID-19 outbreaks forced Texas and Florida to reinstate some restrictions.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 730 points, or 2.8 percent, and the S&P 500 declined 75 points, or 2.4 percent. The drop comes amid rising concerns about a second surge of coronavirus cases across the U.S. that could dampen the rebound from the pandemic-driven recession.

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said Friday that the state would order bars and some outdoor recreation businesses to close, and lower the operating capacity of indoor restaurants.
• In Florida, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation suspended consumption of alcohol on premises at bars.

Markets had recovered a significant portion of their steep losses in March on expectations for a swift and straightforward recovery from the pandemic-induced economic downturn. But Friday’s declines erased the remainder of the gains made in June, raising questions about the outlook for markets. The Hill’s Niv Elis has more here.

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Treasury to give Congress access to all PPP loan data: Treasury Secretary Steven MnuchinSteven Terner MnuchinOn The Money: Stocks sink as Florida, Texas reimpose restrictions | Treasury to give Congress access to all PPP loan data | Delayed mortgage payments increase by 79K Hillicon Valley: Facebook to label ‘newsworthy’ posts that violate policies | Unilever to pull ads from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram | FEC commissioner steps down SBA scrapped ethics review for agency employees, lawmakers in emergency loan program MORE agreed to provide relevant congressional committees with full access to loan data from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a key demand Democrats have been pushing.

In a letter dated Thursday, Mnuchin told House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard NealRichard Edmund NealOn The Money: Stocks sink as Florida, Texas reimpose restrictions | Treasury to give Congress access to all PPP loan data | Delayed mortgage payments increase by 79K The Hill’s Coronavirus Report: San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus Artistic Director Tim Seelig says choirs are dangerous; Pence says, ‘We have saved lives’ Treasury to give Congress access to all PPP loan data MORE (D-Mass.) that it would include data with borrower names and loan amounts “with the understanding that nonpublic personally identifiable and commercially sensitive business information will be treated as confidential.”

• Mnuchin had earlier agreed to publicly disclose information on the loans within wide ranges but said Treasury would keep personally identifiable information for businesses that took loans below $150,000 under wraps.
• For those loans, they would only provide aggregate data on industry, ZIP code, business type and demographic characteristics. Mnuchin argued that that category of loans only accounted for 25 percent of the total dollar amount.
• Neal called the plan “inadequate,” noting that while loans under $150,000 accounted for only a quarter of the total dollar amount, they comprised 85 percent of the total number of loans made.

Read more: SBA scrapped ethics review for agency employees, lawmakers in emergency loan program

ON TAP NEXT WEEK

Monday

• The House is expected to vote on a resolution to repeal the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)’s revision of the Community Reinvestment Act, time to be determined.

Tuesday:

• The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on the digitization of money and payments, 10 a.m.
• The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing on the 2020 tax filing season and IRS COVID-19 recovery, 10:15 a.m.
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testify before the House Financial Services Committee for a hearing on oversight of the Fed and Treasury’s response to the coronavirus recession, 12:30 p.m.
• A Senate Finance subcommittee holds a hearing on censorship as a non-tariff barrier to trade, 2 p.m.

Wednesday:

• The House Foreign Affairs Committee holds a hearing entitled “The End of One Country Two Systems?: Implications of Beijing’s National Security Law in Hong Kong,” 9:30 a.m.
• The House Small Business Committee holds a hearing entitled “The Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program: Status Update from the Administration,” 10 a.m.

Thursday:

• A House Small Business subcommittee holds a hearing on supply chain resiliency, 10 a.m.

GOOD TO KNOW

• An uptick in in-restaurant spending can predict an increase in COVID-19 cases over three weeks, according to a research note from J.P. Morgan.
• The number of homeowners delaying payments increased by a steep 79,000 in the past week, reversing a three-week trend that saw forbearance requests decline, according to data from Black Knight.
• France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy have offered to limit their proposed digital tax after the U.S. threatened to slap tariffs on goods from those countries.
• Unilever, which controls brands including Dove soap and Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, announced Friday that it is pulling brand advertisements from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook until “at least” the end of 2020.

Jack Abramoff, the former lobbyist who was convicted of various corruption charges in the 2000s, has been charged in a cryptocurrency case, a U.S. prosecutor said Thursday.

San Francisco U.S. Attorney David Anderson said at a press conference that Abramoff was charged with a criminal conspiracy to make false and misleading statements to potential buyers of cryptocurrency, Bloomberg News reported. The prosecutor said Abramoff agreed to plead guilty and could face up to five years in prison.

In a separate suit, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Abramoff, asserting he participated in a fraudulent and unregistered offer and sale of digital asset securities. 

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The SEC claims the sale occurred through NAC Foundation, a company that was creating a blockchain-based digital token called AML BitCoin, which the defendants claimed was “a new and improved version of bitcoin.”

The chief executive of the NAC Foundation, Rowland Marcus Andrade, was also indicted this week and will plead not guilty to his charges, Anderson said. The SEC said Andrade allegedly raised at least $5.6 million from more than 2,400 investors by selling tokens to later be transferred to AML BitCoin.

The commission also alleged both men claimed they were on the verge of advertising AML BitCoin during the SuperBowl, but the foundation couldn’t afford an ad at the time. 

“We allege that these defendants repeatedly misled investors into funding non-existent technology, falsely claiming that the technology would make digital asset transactions more secure,” Kristina Littman, the chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Cyber Unit, said in a release.

Abramoff ended up serving 43 months in prison for his participation in a fraud scandal involving overcharging Native American tribes for developing casino gambling on their reservations. The scandal resulted in 20 convictions or guilty pleas, including two officials in President George W. Bush’s administration, former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and other political aides and lobbyists. 

In 2006, the former lobbyist pleaded guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials and was in prison until 2010.

Unilever, which controls brands including Dove soap and Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, announced Friday that it is pulling brand advertisements from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook until “at least” the end of 2020.

The decision was made after several other major companies pulled advertisements from Facebook as part of an advertising boycott called for by the Stop Hate for Profit campaign over allegations that Facebook had not done enough to rein in hateful content, particularly in the wake of protests over the police killing of George Floyd. 

Unilever wrote in a blog post pointed to the “polarized atmosphere in the U.S.,” such as “hate speech” during the run up to the presidential election in November, as being a major contributing factor to pulling brand advertisements.

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“We have decided that starting now through at least the end of the year, we will not run brand advertising in social media newsfeed platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the U.S.,” Unilever wrote. “Continuing to advertise on these platforms at this time would not add value to people and society. We will be monitoring ongoing and will revisit our current position if necessary.”

Instead, the company said it would continue advertising in the U.S. through “shifting to other media” and working with advertising industry forums “to drive action, transparency, clarify policies and create consistency in enforcement.”

“The complexities of the current cultural landscape have placed a renewed responsibility on brands to learn, respond and act to drive a trusted and safe digital ecosystem,” the company wrote. 

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on Unilever’s decision.

Other Unilever brands include Lipton tea, Vaseline, Talenti Gelato and Sorbetto, Degree deodorant and TRESemmé hair products. The company also represents Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, which announced separately earlier this week that it would pull its ads from Facebook and Instagram.

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Facebook, which owns Instagram, pushed back against claims it had not done enough to curb hate speech, though acknowledged more work could be done.

“We invest billions of dollars each year to keep our community safe and continuously work with outside experts to review and update our policies,” a Facebook spokesperson told The Hill in a statement. “We’ve opened ourselves up to a civil rights audit, and we have banned 250 white supremacist organizations from Facebook and Instagram. The investments we have made in AI mean that we find nearly 90 percent of Hate Speech before users report it to us, while a recent EU [European Union] report found Facebook assessed more hate speech reports in 24 hours than Twitter and YouTube.”

The spokesperson added that “we know we have more work to do, and we’ll continue to work with civil rights groups, GARM [Global Alliance for Responsible Media], and other experts to develop even more tools, technology and policies to continue this fight.”

Sarah Personette, the vice president of Global Client Solutions at Twitter, told The Hill in a statement that the company is “respectful of our partners’ decisions and will continue to work and communicate closely with them during this time.”

“Our mission is to serve the public conversation and ensure Twitter is a place where people can make human connections, seek and receive authentic and credible information, and express themselves freely and safely,” Personette said. “We have developed policies and platform capabilities designed to protect and serve the public conversation, and as always, are committed to amplifying voices from underrepresented communities and marginalized groups.”

Other companies that have announced they are pulling ads from Facebook include Verizon, Patagonia, The North Face and REI in support of the Stop Hate for Profit campaign.

Updated at 1:50 p.m.