Axios

Biden names Erika Moritsugu as senior AAPI liaison

President Biden has named Erika Moritsugu as deputy assistant to the president and Asian American and Pacific Islander senior liaison, the White House announced Wednesday. Driving the news: The decision follows weeks of pressure from AAPI leaders to include more Asian American representation at the Cabinet level and in senior administration roles. Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.Last month, Democratic Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) threatened to oppose Biden’s “non-diversity” nominees unless he made a commitment to appoint AAPI voices in senior executive branch positions.Details: Moritsugu, the vice president at the National Partnership for Women & Families, will be responsible for outreach to the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. “Moritsugu will bring her experience and expertise to the Biden-Harris Administration where she will be a vital voice to advance the President and the Administration’s priorities,” the White House said in a statement.What they’re saying: “I applaud President Biden for swiftly addressing my concerns and creating a new senior-level AAPI liaison position at the White House,” Duckworth said in a statement Wednesday. “I know first-hand that President Biden will benefit from her counsel, policy expertise and strong relationship-building skills, especially as his Administration seeks to make sure AAPI leaders are present at the highest levels of government.”Background: Moritsugu has previous experience in the federal government and on Capitol Hill, including serving as general counsel to Duckworth and as deputy legislative director to former Senator Danny Akaka (D-Hawaii), CBS News reports.She was also an assistant secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Obama administration.Editor’s note: This story has been updated with Sen. Duckworth’s statement. More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free

Reuters

Brazil must show Amazon protection is working, top donor Norway says

Brazil must demonstrate it can reduce the ongoing deforestation in the Amazon before Norway will resume payments in support of preserving the world’s largest rainforest, the Norwegian environment minister told Reuters. Norway worked closely with Brazil to protect the vulnerable ecosystem between 2008 and 2018, paying $1.2 billion into the Amazon Fund, which pays Brazil to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation. But rainforest destruction has surged since Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January 2019, weakening enforcement and calling for development of the Amazon, and also changing the fund’s governance.

Associated Press

Wisconsin Treasurer Godlewski launches US Senate bid

Wisconsin Treasurer Sarah Godlewski joined the growing ranks of Democrats running for U.S. Senate on Wednesday, launching her bid for the seat in the battleground state currently held by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson who has yet to say whether he will seek a third term. Godlewski, a native of Eau Claire who was elected treasurer in 2018, announced her candidacy in a video where she also lambastes Johnson as a conspiracy theorist more loyal to former President Donald Trump than the citizens of Wisconsin. Godlewski said she will help bolster small businesses, fight climate change, raise the minimum wage, lower prescription drug costs, reform the criminal justice system and get rid of the Senate filibuster.

Bloomberg

NBA’s Houston Rockets Face Cyber-Attack by Ransomware Group

(Bloomberg) — The Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association are investigating a cyber-attack against their networks from a relatively new ransomware group that claims to have stolen internal business data.The Rockets confirmed the attempted intrusion. Tracey Hughes, a spokesperson for the team, said the attack hasn’t impacted operations.“It appears that the unknown actors attempted to install ransomware on certain internal systems at the Rockets,” Hughes said in a statement. “However, our internal security tools prevented ransomware from being installed except for a few systems that have not impacted our operations.”Ransomware is a type of malicious code that typically encrypts a victim’s data. The hackers then demand a ransom to decrypt the information. More recently, ransomware gangs have also stolen data and threatened to make it public unless the victim pays a fee.In this case, it’s unclear if the attackers encrypted any of the basketball team’s networks.But the hacking group, which goes by the name Babuk, claims on its dark web page to have stolen 500 gigabytes of Rockets’ data — including contracts, non-disclosure agreements and financial data — and is threatening to publish it if the team declines to pay.Hughes, the Rockets spokesperson, said the team is aware of the hackers’ claims but didn’t comment on their veracity or the scope of the compromise.The extortion ad on Babuk’s dark web page was removed on Wednesday. Babuk is just the latest hacking group to use pages on the dark web to try to publicly extort victims into paying ransom demands.Babuk was discovered early this year and has already compromised at least “five big enterprises,” including one victim who paid as much as $85,000 after negotiations, according to security researchers at McAfee Inc. The group advertises on both English-speaking and Russian-speaking dark web forums, focusing on the Russian sites to recruit affiliates and distribute its malware.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

The Week

Biden faces GOP backlash after reports of Afghanistan decision

The Wrap

Matt Gaetz Sidesteps CNN Report of Drug-Filled Parties by Accusing Network of ‘Propaganda’

Embattled Florida Republican representative Matt Gaetz is lashing out at CNN as the network reports two women have come forward to say they attended boozy parties with him and a “who’s who” of local Republican leaders. CNN reported Wednesday that according to the two women, drugs and alcohol were abundant and party attendees were asked not to document any part of the events, at which, at least sometimes, CNN says, “money would change hands.” The network reviewed receipts from Gaetz and associate Joel Greenberg from 2018 and 2019. One woman told CNN she believed Gaetz himself used recreational drugs. Also Read: Bill Maher’s Got Some Shocking New Fun Facts About Matt Gaetz (Video) Beginning Tuesday, Gaetz lashed out at CNN, calling the network “propaganda” and citing a new undercover tape from right-wing outfit Project Veritas that shows a CNN employee seemingly discussing his impression of his employer’s agenda-setting power. In the video, the CNN employee says, “If the agenda say, is to like get, like Matt Gaetz right now — he’s like this Republican — he’s a problem for the Democratic party because he’s so conservative and he can cause a lot of hiccups in passing of laws and whatnot…” Gaetz tweeted that segment and criticized another CNN reporter for covering the allegations of misconduct against him after the clip came out. Also Read: Kimmel Is Pretty Amused by Trump’s Half-Hearted Defense of Matt Gaetz (Video) The New York Times reported last month that the Justice Department is investigating whether Gaetz, 38, violated federal sex trafficking laws by having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paying for her to travel over state lines. According to the Times, the investigation was opened under Attorney General William Barr in the final months of Donald Trump’s presidency. It’s part of a larger investigation into Greenberg, a former Florida county tax collector indicted last summer on multiple federal charges, including for the sex trafficking of a minor. Greenberg has pleaded not guilty. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing and vowed not to resign. Read original story Matt Gaetz Sidesteps CNN Report of Drug-Filled Parties by Accusing Network of ‘Propaganda’ At TheWrap

The Week

Late night hosts list things more dangerous than Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, including COVID-19

“In the last few months, we’ve gotten all sorts of vaccines — Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Montero — but for at least a little while, it looks like there’s gonna be one less,” Trevor Noah said on Tuesday’s Daily Show. “The FDA has temporarily halted the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while they look into six cases of rare blood clots in people who got that vaccine.” And sure, “you don’t want the vaccine for one disease to give you another disease,” he said, but “you’re more likely to get struck by lightning 10 times” than get blood clots from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Noah listed dangerous symptoms of COVID-19, including, yes, blood clots. The odds of getting blood clots from the Johnson & Johnson shot is “less than one in a million,” Stephen Colbert said at The Late Show. “To put that in perspective, it’s slightly better odds than you have of getting to visit Willy Wonka’s Fantabulous Chocolate Factory — which, for the record, kills or maims four out of the five children who set foot inside.” He also caught up on the latest Matt Gaetz troubles — the only “feel-good story on the news horizon,” he deadpanned — and tried to dissuade Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson from running for president. The FDA and CDC are only “recommending a ‘pause'” in Johnson & Johnson vaccinations, though “anyone who’s ever been dumped was like ‘Oh boy, we know what pause means,'” Jimmy Fallon joked on The Tonight Show. “Johnson & Johnson is owned by the same family who owns the New York Jets, so don’t think of this as a pause, think of it more like a 50-year rebuild. And today if you had a Johnson & Johnson appointment in New York, they gave out Pfizer instead. Yeah, it’s like going to a restaurant and hearing, ‘We’re out of Coke, is Dom Pérignon okay?'” “I blame the second Johnson — he never graduated high school,” Jimmy Kimmel said on Kimmel Live. “But now the White House is scrambling to restore confidence in vaccines. Public trust is already a major obstacle to achieving herd immunity, so what does this setback mean?” Well, “six out of 7 million means getting the vaccine is safer than not getting the vaccine,” he said. “You got it? Then get it.” Well, Lin-Manuel Miranda is still going to get his shot, The Late Show sang. Late Night’s Seth Meyers regretted not making that same Hamilton joke. More stories from theweek.comCDC panel wants more data before deciding whether to resume use of Johnson & Johnson vaccineThe GOP’s economic confusionThe girl at the center of the Matt Gaetz investigation also reportedly went on his scrutinized Bahamas trip

Reuters

U.S. Vice President Harris plans visits to Mexico and Guatemala

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday she intends to visit Mexico and Guatemala soon as part of her plan to use diplomatic efforts to slow migration to the U.S.-Mexican border. President Joe Biden, who has moved away from predecessor Donald Trump’s hardline immigration approach, gave Harris the job of leading U.S. efforts with Mexico and Central America’s Northern Triangle countries – Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala – to stop migrants from crossing into the United States.

Reuters

U.S. Senate confirms Biden nominee for No. 2 State Dept post

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Joe Biden’s nominee Wendy Sherman to be deputy secretary of state, the number two position at the department. The Senate backed the nomination by 56-42, as a handful of Republicans joined Biden’s fellow Democrats to vote in Sherman’s favor. Sherman, 71, a foreign policy veteran, ran into Republican resistance because she helped negotiate the 2015 international nuclear agreement with Iran, which was fiercely opposed by Republicans as well as some Democrats.