Need to Know: From Liz Cheney to Japan, we bring you the most important national and international stories for May 24, 2021.
1. Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney was interviewed by Jonathan Swan about her positions on Trump lying about the election, voter suppression laws, and the future of the Republican party. Cheney reminds us that even though she voted to impeach Trump and condemned his actions involving the insurrection and claims of a fraudulent election, she is still a Republican at heart.
2. POTUS is inviting the family of George Floyd to commemorate his death on the year-long anniversary. President Biden and the Democratic party hope to sign the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act into law very soon. Police reform is a mandatory topic being discussed in Congress and a bipartisan resolution will be posed soon.
3. The U.S. State Department is advising US citizens not to travel to Japan amid the Tokyo Olympics due to a rise of COVID cases in the nation. The Tokyo Olympics were postponed from 2020 to July-August 2021 yet, due to the constant high rise in COVID cases, many are protesting to cancel the 2021 Tokyo Olympics as well. The Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association garnered 350,000 signatures to cancel and/or postpone the games until Japan COVID cases decline. Only 2% of the Japanese population are vaccinated, but the government is seeking to change this number by opening up 2 vaccine centers in the major cities of Tokyo and Osaka.
4. Last Sunday, a Belarusian journalist named Raman Protasevich was arrested in Minsk due to his statements about the government. The President is very involved in his arrest and demanded an immediate international transparent and credible investigation of this incident. The White House is working with many international organizations to solve this issue.