the friday brief
3 things that matter
U.S. Carrier Strike Group Enters Caribbean as DOJ Indicts Raúl Castro
On May 20, U.S. Southern Command announced that the USS Nimitz carrier strike group had entered the southern Caribbean. The same day, federal prosecutors in Miami unsealed an indictment charging former Cuban leader Raúl Castro and five co-defendants with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of aircraft, in connection with the 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue civilian planes. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the charges at Miami's Freedom Tower on Cuba's Independence Day. The strike group includes the Nimitz, Carrier Air Wing 17, the guided-missile destroyer USS Gridley, and the replenishment oiler USNS Patuxent. A U.S. official described the deployment to CNN as "a show of force, not as a platform for major military operations."
Kevin Warsh Sworn In as 17th Federal Reserve Chair
Kevin Warsh is sworn in today as chair of the Federal Reserve, succeeding Jerome Powell after Powell's eight years in the role. The Senate confirmed Warsh on May 13 in a 54-45 vote, the narrowest margin for a Fed chair since Senate approval became a requirement for the role in 1977, with Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania the only Democrat in favor and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York not voting. Powell's term as chair expired on May 15, and because Warsh had not yet been sworn in, the Federal Reserve Board named Powell chair pro tempore to fill the interim. Powell will remain on the Board of Governors, where his term runs until January 2028. Warsh inherits inflation that has run above the Fed's 2% target for more than five years and sustained White House pressure for lower interest rates.
Bolivia's Capital Under Siege as Protests Deepen
Two weeks of road blockades led by the Bolivian Workers' Central, peasant unions, and miners have left La Paz short of food, fuel, and medicine, with authorities reporting at least four deaths, three after emergency vehicles were blocked from reaching medical centers and one in clashes with police. The protests began over Law 1720, which allowed agricultural land to be used as collateral for bank loans, and continued after President Rodrigo Paz annulled the law on May 13. Demands have since expanded to include wage increases, labor reform, and Paz's resignation, less than six months into his term, as Bolivia faces its worst economic crisis in forty years, with year-on-year inflation reaching 14% in April. On May 20, in his first public appearance in nearly a week, Paz announced a cabinet reshuffle but ruled out resignation, saying he would serve out his five-year term and would not negotiate with the protesters demanding he step down.
1 thing to know
The Anti-Weaponization Fund and the Audit Bar
On May 18, the Department of Justice settled the lawsuit President Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization had filed against the IRS over the 2019 leak of his tax returns, a suit that had sought $10 billion in damages. Under the settlement, the plaintiffs received a formal apology and, in the department's words, "no monetary payment or damages of any kind," and they dropped the suit with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.
The more consequential provision came a day later. On May 19, the department posted a one-page addendum, signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, declaring the IRS "forever barred and precluded" from pursuing examinations or claims against Trump, his family, and his businesses, covering returns filed before the settlement date. The DOJ said the bar applies only to existing matters and not to future filings. Danny Werfel, who served as IRS commissioner from 2023 to 2025, told Politico he was "unaware of a single precedent where the IRS has agreed in advance to permanently forgo examination of previously filed tax returns for a specific person or business."
As of 2024, Trump was contesting a long-running audit, tied to a $72.9 million refund, that the New York Times reported could have cost him more than $100 million. Separately, the settlement created a $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund," drawn from the Judgment Fund, to compensate future third-party claimants who say they were victims of government "lawfare and weaponization." A group of House Democrats has filed a motion to block the settlement.
1 thing to try
The Pre-Trip Read
A trip begins before departure, and the right book starts it early. The idea is to pair the destination with something from the place rather than about it from elsewhere: a memoir set there, a novel by a native author, a slim regional history. For Turin, Natalia Ginzburg's Family Lexicon. For Jaipur, Alka Joshi's The Henna Artist. For Tokyo, Mieko Kawakami's All the Lovers in the Night. Read in the weeks beforehand, the place arrives ahead of the plane.
