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Death by Tax Cuts: The Republican Health Care Plan

Donald Trump hosted a celebration in the White House Rose Garden for House Republicans after they passed their party's health care plan by the thinnest of margins. They were celebrating what Trump called a "win," without any thought about consequences.

Statement from CBC Chairman & Top Judiciary Democrat on White House Voter Fraud Investigation

Today, the Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Congressman Cedric Richmond (D-La.), and the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), released the following statement on President Trump’s creation of the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity to investigate voter fraud. Vice President Mike Pence will be the chair of the commission and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach will be the vice chair.

We Need to Protect Our Right to Vote

Cristóbal J. Alex, President of Latino Victory Fund issued the following statement in response to Trump’s signing of an executive order that would roll back voting protections for people of color all across the country:

New Orleans Begins Removing Second Confederate Monument

By Madison Park, Keith Allen and Jason Hanna CNN (CNN) -- As police stood between opposing crowds, a crew lifted a statue of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis from its pedestal before dawn Thursday in New Orleans -- the latest in a contentious plan to dismantle four Confederate monuments in the city. The statue, which stood for 106 years, is the second Confederate monument to come down after the New Orleans City Council voted to remove the four landmarks in 2015. After years of heated public debate and legal battles, recent court decisions paved the way for the city to relocate the four monuments. Dozens of people -- a crowd opposed to the monument's removal as well as those backing it -- gathered early Thursday at the Davis statue before the operation began, at times screaming insults and threats at each other. Police separated the sides with barriers. As the statue was lifted shortly after 5 a.m. (6 a.m. ET), those who wanted it removed cheered and sang the chorus from "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye." One person held a sign that read, "Bout Time." The monument's supporters at that point watched mostly in silence, some holding up Confederate banners. Earlier, some monument supporters chanted, "President Davis," and one man saluted the statue. It wasn't immediately clear how long it would take workers to remove the pedestal. The city government kept quiet about the timing of the removal, citing what it said were threats that some had made toward contractors who would do the work. But word about the plans spread Wednesday when the principal of a nearby school told parents in a letter that she'd been told the removal would happen overnight, and that they should know a street would be blocked off in the morning, CNN affiliate WGNO-TV reported. Part of a larger controversy The New Orleans monuments are part of the larger controversy surrounding Confederate symbols, which some say represent slavery and racial injustice. Supporters say they represent history and heritage. The issue became especially prominent after the 2015 massacre of nine black parishioners in a Charleston, South Carolina, church by a self-described white supremacist. "These monuments have stood not as historic or educational markers of our legacy of slavery and segregation, but in celebration of it," New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a statement released Thursday morning. "To literally put the Confederacy on a pedestal in some of our most prominent public places is not only an inaccurate reflection of our past, it is an affront to our present, and a bad prescription for our future. We should not be afraid to confront and reconcile our past." Jefferson Davis statue dedicated in 1911 The Davis statue stood on top of a roughly 12-foot column and depicted the Confederate president with his right arm outstretched, towering over the street also named after him. Davis lived in New Orleans after the Civil War and died there in 1889. The statue was dedicated in 1911. In 2004, the words "slave owner" were painted on the base of the monument. How they extracted the statue Police had cordoned off the 6-foot tall bronze statue of Davis with a chain-link fence to keep protesters out. Workers wore helmets as well as what appeared to be tactical vests and face masks. Cardboard and tape covered contractors' names on equipment involved in the controversial operation -- the same methods used during the first Confederate landmark removal April 24. Around 4 a.m., two workers approached the Davis statue in a work lift and wrapped part of it in green plastic. They tied the statue's torso with yellow straps, securing it to a crane. One worker dislodged the statue's base from the column using a long flat tool. Two more statues scheduled for removal Last month, the city dismantled the first of its four monuments scheduled for removal -- an obelisk commemorating the Battle of Liberty Place. The monument marked a deadly fight between members of the Crescent City White League, a group opposed to the city's biracial police force, and state militia after the Civil War. The remaining two monuments -- those of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard -- are also scheduled for relocation. Landrieu's office has not revealed when the two remaining statues will come down. The mayor's office said the city has secured private funding to remove the moments. Landrieu said the statues will be put in storage while the city looks for a suitable place to display them, such as a museum. CNN's Nicole Chavez and Emanuella Grinberg contributed to this report.

5 Things for Thursday, May 11: Comey, North Korea, Betsy DeVos

"Peanuts" is going Canadian. Maybe our neighbors to the north can help Charlie Brown finally grab that football. Here are the 5 things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.

Day After Comey Firing, Sean Spicer To Miss White House Briefing

But on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer will not conduct the White House press briefing. Instead, that job will fall to deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who conducted her first briefing just last week.

Trump Adviser Icahn May Have Broken Trading Laws: Senators

The lawmakers sent a letter on Tuesday to the SEC and two other regulators pointing to "troubling" evidence, including "massive" profits Icahn reportedly reaped in the market for renewable fuel credits.

Amazon To Build Homeless Shelter In New Seattle HQ

Amazon is trying to do its part to help with Seattle's homelessness crisis.

Trump Weighs Rhetoric And Reality In Afghanistan Troop Decision

Trump's official national security team is lining up behind sending more troops to Afghanistan

The primary opposition to the proposal has come from Steve Bannon

Al Gore, Trump Discuss Paris Climate Deal By Phone

The discussion was described as a cordial talk

Gore previously met with Trump in New York in December

Donald Trump Isn't Being Defensive Over Firing James Comey.

President Donald Trump's Twitter feed provides a near-constant window into what he's thinking at any time. Which is what makes Trump's tweetstorm Wednesday morning -- in the wake of his decision to fire FBI Director James Comey -- all the more revealing.

Quickly Catch Up On The Comey Firing

The President has fired the FBI director. Here's everything you need to know about this Washington bombshell. (You can also get "5 Things You Need to Know Today" delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)

Trolls, Eat Cake. How One Women Is Taking Aim At Online Harassers

That's one woman's approach to dealing with trolls.

Republicans Feel Heat for Excluding Women From Health Care Group

Senate Republican leaders continue to face criticism for appointing 13 men to a working group on health care and not including a single woman in the negotiations.

Trump's Tweets On The Sally Yates Hearing Not Entirely Accurate.

Between 6:41 p.m. and 6:50 p.m. ET Monday night, President Donald Trump sent four tweets focused on the Senate subcommittee hearing on Russia's meddling into the 2016 election that featured testimony from former acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Trump Made One Of His Own Tweets Into A Twitter Header.

Trump briefly topped @realDonaldTrump with a note he sent at 6:41 p.m. ET after former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing and said there was no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.