KELI From Inkwell, this is the Independent News Drop. It's Sunday, May seventeenth. The time is six a.m. central. I'm Keli, and Hast is with me.
HAST Good morning. The Xi-Trump summit wrapping up in Beijing — we've got the read on what the symbolism told us.
KELI President Trump and China's Xi Jinping concluded their three-day meeting in Beijing on Wednesday, and most coverage framed it as a diplomatic win — two leaders breaking bread, visiting temples, striking a collaborative tone. But here's what you should watch for underneath that read. Both sides have every incentive to signal calm and openness in a face-to-face setting, and both have massive domestic audiences watching for strength, not concession. The real test isn't what happened in those rooms. It's whether either side moves toward actual policy shifts — tariff rollbacks, tech restrictions easing, or trade agreement language — in the weeks after they left. You'll know this meeting mattered if we see concrete action by early June. If the statements fade and the status quo holds, the summit was theater for both capitals.
HAST Staying stateside, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is pushing Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown to formalize her office's work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The sheriff's department already cooperates with federal immigration authorities, but Paxton wants it in writing — a formal partnership agreement. He's given Brown until December first to make it happen. Brown has pushed back in the past on broader immigration enforcement, saying her office's priorities are local public safety first.
KELI Different scale, but similar institutional tension. A new Oregon law gives the state power to block healthcare mergers and deals, but in five years, regulators haven't blocked a single one. ProPublica's reporting finds the state has approved every significant healthcare acquisition that's come before it, despite having legal authority to say no. The question now is whether that law is working as intended or whether the bar for blocking deals is simply too high, or the political will too low.
HAST On a different front entirely — Premier League football. Arsenal and Manchester City are heading into the final two matches of the season, with Arsenal up two points but City holding a slightly better goal difference. One match could shift the entire title race. City play Nottingham Forest next; Arsenal face Aston Villa. The margins here are razor-thin.
KELI Capitol Hill is preparing testimony this week on the Jeffrey Epstein case. Tova Noel, one of the prison guards who discovered Epstein dead in his cell in 2019, is set to appear before the House Oversight Committee. That testimony could address some of the long-standing questions around the circumstances of his death and the persistent theories that have circulated since.
HAST And in Louisiana, Senator Bill Cassidy lost his Republican primary race. Cassidy was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict President Trump after January sixth. Trump endorsed his opponent, Representative Julia Letlow, and Letlow won the nomination decisively. Cassidy's vote to convict has made him a target for Trump-backed challengers, and this marks another step in the consolidation of the Republican primary around Trump's preferred candidates.
KELI Before we close, a history note. On this day in 1973, the Senate Watergate Committee began its televised hearings — the proceedings that would eventually lead to President Nixon's resignation and reshape American views on executive power and congressional oversight.
HAST That's the Independent News Drop. We'll be back this evening. From Inkwell.