The Senate passed a mammoth defense policy bill on Friday, setting up a veto showdown with President TrumpDonald TrumpBiden team says it’s ‘no surprise’ Supreme Court rejected Texas lawsuit Trump praises FDA approval of COVID-19 vaccine: ‘One of the greatest scientific accomplishments in history’ Giuliani says Trump team ‘not finished’ after Supreme Court defeat MORE.

Senators overwhelmingly supported the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in an 84-13 vote, approving it with more than the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override a potential veto from President Trump, who opposes the legislation on two points. 

The bill already passed the House this week in a 355-78 vote, meaning it now goes to Trump, where he’ll have to decide if he is going to follow through with his veto threat despite bipartisan opposition. 

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Top Republicans touted the bill ahead of Friday, underscoring the division between the president and congressional Republican leaders. 

“It does not contain every policy that either side would like to pass, but a huge number of crucial policies are included and a lot of bad ideas were kept out. So I would encourage all our colleagues to vote to advance this must-pass bill,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellTrump signs one-week funding bill to avoid shutdown Congress ‘close’ to massive government funding deal Overnight Health Care: White House presses FDA chief over COVID-19 vaccine | Committees reach bipartisan deal to protect patients from surprise medical bills | Sanders, Hawley vow fight next week over stimulus checks MORE (R-Ky.). 

Trump has homed in on two issues. One is his months-long fight over a plan, included in the final version of the bill, that would require Confederate bases and military installations to be renamed within three years. Though senators had hoped that he had backed down from that fight, Trump shouted out the provision in a tweet this week.

More recently he’s hammered the bill over not including a repeal of Section 230, which provides a legal shield to tech companies and has emerged as a prime punching bag for the president and his allies. The bill also rebuffs Trump’s efforts to draw down troops in Germany and Afghanistan.

Though the bill passed both chambers this week with enough votes to override a veto, there could be a shuffling on an override vote with some GOP lawmakers flipping to stick with Trump and some Democrats who opposed the bill supporting an override. 

Republicans say there have been efforts to talk Trump down from his veto threat, which could imperil a bill that typically passes with overwhelming bipartisan support and has been signed into law for 59 years in a row. 

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“My hope is that if the number is big enough that the president reconsiders his threat to veto it. It’s clear what the final outcome will be,” said Sen. John CornynJohn CornynSasse: Supreme Court ‘closed the book’ on election ‘nonsense’ Overnight Defense: Congress sends Trump defense bill he threatened to veto | Senate approves stopgap spending bill to prevent shutdown | Navy searching for sailor overboard Murkowski ‘really disappointed’ with House lawmakers supporting election challenge MORE (R-Texas). 

But Trump has shown no signs of backing down from trying to sink the bill, and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman James InhofeJames (Jim) Mountain InhofeOvernight Defense: Congress sends Trump defense bill he threatened to veto | Senate approves stopgap spending bill to prevent shutdown | Navy searching for sailor overboard Senate passes defense bill, setting up Trump veto fight Defense pick faces big hurdle MORE (R-Okla.), who spoke with the president this week, said he expects him to veto it. 

The language on Afghanistan temporarily snagged passage of the bill after Sen. Rand PaulRandal (Rand) Howard PaulSenate approves funding bill by voice vote to avert shutdown Senate passes defense bill, setting up Trump veto fight The Hill’s 12:30 Report – Presented by Alibaba – Next steps for the Pfizer vaccine MORE (R-Ky.) warned that he was slow-walking the legislation. Paul had wanted leadership to agree to delay the final vote until Monday, an effort leadership said was really an attempt to delay the veto override vote. 

“Our main point in filibustering the defense authorization bill was to point out that the president should have the prerogative to end a war, not just to start wars,” Paul said on Friday. 

Trump’s threat has also complicated support for the defense bill. 

Though House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthyKevin Owen McCarthyPelosi: GOP ‘brought dishonor to the House’ for supporting election lawsuit Congress ‘close’ to massive government funding deal Overnight Defense: Congress sends Trump defense bill he threatened to veto | Senate approves stopgap spending bill to prevent shutdown | Navy searching for sailor overboard MORE (R-Calif.) voted for it this week, he has vowed that he won’t support a veto override.

GOP Sens. Josh HawleyJoshua (Josh) David HawleyTrump signs one-week funding bill to avoid shutdown Congress ‘close’ to massive government funding deal Overnight Health Care: White House presses FDA chief over COVID-19 vaccine | Committees reach bipartisan deal to protect patients from surprise medical bills | Sanders, Hawley vow fight next week over stimulus checks MORE (R-Mo.) and Tom CottonTom Bryant CottonOvernight Defense: Congress sends Trump defense bill he threatened to veto | Senate approves stopgap spending bill to prevent shutdown | Navy searching for sailor overboard Senate passes defense bill, setting up Trump veto fight The Memo: Hunter Biden twist brings new problems for president-elect MORE (R-Ark.), two 2024 hopefuls who supported the Senate’s bill earlier this year, warned that they would oppose the final version of the bill. 

“The NDAA does NOT contain any reform to Section 230 but DOES contain Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth WarrenOn The Money: Coronavirus relief talks stall as liability issue foils negotiators | Sanders, Hawley promise fight to secure stimulus checks | Senate passes bill to avert shutdown Senate passes defense bill, setting up Trump veto fight Warren: Biden administration has ‘moral obligation’ to forgive student debt MORE’s social engineering amendment to unilaterally rename bases & war memorials w/ no public input or process. I cannot support it,” Hawley tweeted, referring to the Massachusetts Democratic senator. 

Cotton said the bill “stiff arms” the president. 

“As this massive bill was written and then rushed to a vote, some seem to have forgotten to consult with the commander in chief or recall that he has a veto power,” Cotton said. 

Neither chamber has been able to successfully override one of Trump’s vetoes during his administration.

But a veto of the defense bill will represent one of the biggest challenges to Trump’s relationships with congressional Republicans to date and comes as he’s already mired in a weeks-long fight over President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenBiden team says it’s ‘no surprise’ Supreme Court rejected Texas lawsuit Giuliani says Trump team ‘not finished’ after Supreme Court defeat Cuomo under consideration to become Biden’s attorney general: reports MORE’s victory that has emerged as a division point among GOP lawmakers. 

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Top Republicans have hinted they are willing to override a veto in an unprecedented break with Trump, but they are hoping to convince him to back down. 

Rep. Liz CheneyElizabeth (Liz) Lynn CheneyHouse Republicans who didn’t sign onto the Texas lawsuit Senate passes defense bill, setting up Trump veto fight The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – COVID-19 vaccine moves ahead. Congress? Not so much MORE (R-Wyo.), the No. 3 House Republican, said “ the president should not veto it. And we should override.”

And Inhofe — who, like most Republicans, has stuck closely to Trump — has vowed to support a potential veto override. 

“He says he’s gonna veto. But he also knows, and I told him how significant it was,” he said. “It’s the most important bill of the year.”

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court held a rare Saturday session this weekend to discuss President TrumpDonald TrumpOne person shot in Washington state during violent election protest Pro-Trump protestors, counter-protesters and police clash in DC after day of election demonstrations COVID-19 infections spread rapidly as officials race to distribute vaccine MORE‘s election lawsuit, which aims to overturn the election results in the state.

The court took on the president’s request on Friday as the date for the official Electoral College vote draws near. The state Supreme Court is currently controlled 4-3 by conservative judges, The Associated Press reported.

The court made the decision to take the case following a state judge’s ruling against Trump. Initially, the court declined to take Trump’s case, and justices have publicly questioned whether Trump’s legal actions were appropriate, according to the AP.

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U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig, one of Wisconsin’s Trump-appointed federal judges, previously told The Associated Press that the president’s lawsuit was “bizarre” and “very odd.”

“It’s not lost on me that this is a political case, obviously, and that the relief that’s been requested, if that relief were granted, this would be a most remarkable proceeding and probably the most remarkable ruling in the history of this court or the federal judiciary,” Ludwig said on Thursday, the AP reported.

Trump’s lawsuit requested to have more than 220,000 absentee and early in-person ballots thrown out in Wisconsin’s Dane and Milwaukee counties, citing that proper requests were not made for the ballots and that clerks filled in missing information. On Friday, a circuit judge ruled that Trump’s arguments did not have merit, according to the AP.

A final decision from Wisconsin’s high court is still pending.

The Electoral College is set to cast its ballots Monday, which will solidify President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenPro-Trump protestors, counter-protesters and police clash in DC after day of election demonstrations Castro says ‘there’s still work to do’ on Biden Cabinet diversity Robert Zoellick says human rights, European relations to play key roles in Biden foreign policy MORE‘s win. 

The Nigerian military and police are working to rescue hundreds of students who are believed to be missing after gunmen stormed a secondary school on Friday, according to officials. 

Gunmen armed with AK-47s invaded the Government Science secondary school at 9:40 p.m. on Friday and gathered students while firing the rifles into the air, police in the northern state of Katsina said, according to The New York Times. 

The school, which witnesses and officials said usually holds about 800 students, still has about 400 students missing, a parent and school employee told Reuters, although the exact number of missing students is unknown. 

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Nigerian officials said more than 200 captured students were rescued, and authorities, including the army and air force, were trying to recover the missing students. 

Isah Gambo, a police spokesman, said in a Saturday statement obtained by the Times that the police confrontation with attackers allowed some students to jump the fence around the school and escape. 

Garba Shehu, a spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari said Saturday that the shootings by the school “sent hundreds of them fleeing and scrambling over the perimeter walls,” according to the Times. He said the military followed the assailants into the forest where they exchanged gunfire. 

Officials have not reported any student casualties but said an officer was taken to a hospital after being shot.

Buhari on Saturday denounced “the cowardly bandits’ attack on innocent children,” ordering security to be increased around schools. 

The school raid came weeks after more than 70 farmers were executed in northeastern Nigeria by Boko Haram members and years after the 2014 abduction of schoolgirls. It’s unclear who conducted Friday’s attack at the school.

Nigerian people are frustrated amid the strikes, accusing the government of not protecting its citizens, according to the news outlets. 

A panel of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted Saturday to recommend that the coronavirus vaccine created by Pfizer and BioNTech be administered to people age 16 and up, moving one step closer to getting the shot into the arms of millions of Americans.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices cast its vote during an emergency session on Saturday. The vaccine cannot be administered until CDC Director Robert RedfieldRobert RedfieldSunday shows preview: Nation gears up for inoculation following FDA approval of Pfizer vaccine US enters brutal stretch of pandemic, even with approaching vaccines CDC studies impact of ‘forever chemical’ exposure on COVID-19 antibodies MORE approves the recommendation, though that is anticipated to occur later this weekend.

The vote comes a day after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the Pfizer vaccine candidate for emergency use in the U.S.

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The panel made a series of recommendations to health care providers, including monitoring people with allergies for 30 minutes after an injection.

The CDC vaccine panel recommended that health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities should be the first in the U.S. to get the vaccine, while people older than 65, essential workers and those with underlying medical conditions will be immunized in a second phase. 

The Pfizer shots will have to be transported with dry ice to remain at below-freezing temperatures to maintain its efficacy. Data has shown the Pfizer vaccine to be 95 percent effective.

The Trump administration has already begun shipping the vaccine “to every state and ZIP code in the country,” the president said Friday, and governors will decide who gets vaccinated first.

Philanthropist Bill Gates warned Sunday that the failure of President TrumpDonald TrumpTrump decries Cleveland baseball team’s reported name change: ‘Cancel culture at work’ Trump says White House staffers shouldn’t be among first to get coronavirus vaccine Michigan to close legislative office buildings Monday due to ‘credible threats of violence’ MORE to formally recognize his defeat to President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenMichigan to close legislative office buildings Monday due to ‘credible threats of violence’ Adviser says Atlanta mayor turned down Biden Cabinet offer Buttigieg tops list for Biden Transportation secretary: CNN MORE and begin a White House transition process is “complicating” efforts to roll out a COVID-19 vaccine to the general public.

Gates told CNN’s “State of the Union” that a lack of communication between the Trump and Biden teams  risked a slower distribution process for the vaccine, which is set to become available for some vaccinations this week.

“Yeah, the transition is complicating [things,] but the new administration is willing to rely on actual experts and not attack those experts,” Gates told host Jake TapperJacob (Jake) Paul TapperGore says he has no second thoughts about conceding to Bush 20 years ago Don’t expect any ‘media culpas’ over ignoring Hunter Biden before the election CDC director accepts advisory panel’s recommendation, clearing the way for vaccinations to begin MORE.

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“They’re laying out clear plans, so I think we’ll get through this in a positive way,” the Microsoft co-founder added. “I’m pleased with the people and priority that President-elect Biden and his team are bringing to bear on this problem.”

Gates’s comments refer to ongoing lack of planning occurring between the Biden transition team and White House officials. Administration officials have stuck with Trump’s claims that he won the election and media reports have indicated that many are avoiding discussing the issue with the president.

More than 16 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, and nearly 300,000 deaths have been linked to the virus in the U.S. Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine became available for some elderly citizens in the U.K. last week after it was cleared for use in that country as well.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen HahnStephen HahnFDA chief: Americans’ hesitancy to get vaccine a ‘significant problem’ Operation Warp Speed head says 40M doses of vaccine will be distributed by end of the month Sunday shows preview: Nation gears up for inoculation following FDA approval of Pfizer vaccine MORE said Sunday that distribution in the U.S. will “hopefully” begin on Monday, though the vaccine’s availability for the general public is not expected for months.

A dual U.S.-Saudi citizen was sentenced to six years in prison in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday on charges that include illegally obtaining U.S. citizenship, The Washington Post reported. 

Saudi Arabia sentenced Walid Fitaihi, who was arrested in November 2017, on charges of obtaining citizenship in the U.S. without official permission and tweeting support for the 2011 Arab Spring protests, a person close to Fitaihi’s family told the Post.

Two U.S. diplomats were present in the Saudi capital of Riyadh at Fitaihi’s hearing resulting in the sentencing, which he has 30 days to appeal. Saudi Arabia also instituted another six-year travel ban for him, his wife and six children, although all are U.S. citizens, according to the family source.

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The sentencing took place even though President TrumpDonald TrumpTrump taps Conway, Chao to government posts in waning days of administration Pelosi, Schumer hit Trump but cite ‘progress’ in COVID relief talks House GOP leader trolls Democrats over reduced majority MORE’s administration has vocally requested Saudi Arabia let Fitaihi go and allow his family to leave the country.

The president typically refrains from criticizing Saudi Arabia, but his officials appealed for Fitaihi’s release both publicly and privately, people briefed with the discussions told the Post. 

Fitaihi, who founded a prominent hospital in Saudi Arabia, was arrested along with hundreds of business executives, government officials and royal family members in 2017. His family members said he was held in custody without trial for almost two years and was tortured. Saudi officials deny he was tortured in custody. 

Last year, Fitaihi was released from custody although authorities kept him and his family under a travel ban. 

In October, Secretary of State Mike PompeoMichael (Mike) Richard PompeoUS citizen sentenced to six-year prison term in Saudi Arabia: report The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – Congress faces end-of-year crunch; Biden selects his Defense secretary Hong Kong police arrest 8 activists over anti-government protests MORE said U.S. and Saudi officials “discussed our concerns about American citizens, and we asked for listing the travel ban on Dr. Fitaihi.”

Fitaihi, a motivational speaker and television host, is one of at least three Americans in custody in Saudi Arabia, including Salah al Haidar, the son of a Saudi women’s rights activist, and Bader al Ibrahim, a physician and writer, according to the Post.

South Korea’s president warned Sunday that the government may be forced to issue its tightest restrictions on public life so far in the face of surging numbers of new COVID-19 cases.

Reuters reported that Moon Jae-in said during a news conference that South Korea could move to its third level of coronavirus-related restrictions if case numbers are not brought under control, a level that would mean an end to in-person classes for schools as well as a provision requiring only essential workers reporting to work in person.

“Unless the outbreak can be contained now, it has come to the critical point of considering escalating social-distancing measures to the third level,” he said, according to the news agency.

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The president’s remarks come as South Korea is seeing levels of new cases that are now higher than the first wave of COVID-19 cases earlier this year. The country reported just over 1,000 new cases on Saturday, the most health officials in South Korea have seen in one day.

“Our back is against the wall,” Moon continued, according to Reuters. “This is a crucial moment to devote all our virus control capabilities and administrative power to stopping the coronavirus spread.”

Moon’s government plans to fund extra nurses and hospital beds in facilities across the country in response to the wave of new infections, according to Reuters. Health officials have stated that outbreaks largely remain limited to the country’s densely-populated city centers thus far.

As noted earlier today, Machine Gun Kelly mentioned that he will be appearing at the June 15th edition of WWE RAW at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

It is now confirmed that the rap star will be serving as the official guest host for the 6/15 edition of RAW.

Below is the official announcement, courtesy of Machine Gun Kelly’s Instagram account:

back at it ???????????? ill be guest hosting @wwe June 15th!! tell to them let me get in the ring ????????????

A photo posted by Machine Gun Kelly (@machinegunkelly) on May 29, 2015 at 7:51pm PDT

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