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Trump administration officials say the immigration fight with California is a political win. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took his most aggressive action yet to overhaul the nation’s vaccine policy. And a look at what makes this season’s Indiana Pacers team so remarkable.

Here’s what to know today.

Trump administration leans into the California protests

An immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles persisted yesterday and overnight as police used tear gas and flash-bangs in an attempt to disperse demonstrators. Here’s where things stand:

▪️ About 1,700 National Guard troops are on site in the greater Los Angeles area, and 700 Marines were activated to join them in their mission in Los Angeles, the military said in a statement.

▪️ California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Trump administration for deploying National Guard members over the weekend. The suit argues that Trump’s actions, without a request from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, was “unlawful” and should be rescinded.

▪️ L.A. Mayor Karen Bass suggested Trump may be using the city as a “test case” for stripping authority from state and local governments.

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The fight between the White House and California — in other words, Trump battling a blue state over his signature issue — is a political win, administration officials said. It’s a nationally watched saga of the sort that has long defined his career: a made-for-TV moment. “We’re happy to have this fight,” a White House official said.

Trump allies argue that what’s happening in L.A. is simply Trump carrying out the hard-line immigration agenda that was the centerpiece of his campaign, and advisers pointed to the fact that the president’s immigration policies continue to get high marks in most public polling.

Democrats and immigration activists have said the L.A. operation is illegal and inhumane and insisted that it’s all about politics — and not about sound public policy.

There has been some disagreement within the Trump administration, at least in public messaging, about how far to push in going after California Democrats. The clearest example may be Trump suggesting arresting Newsom if he continues to do what the administration considers to be interference “would be a great thing.” A senior White House official said such an action is “not being actively planned or considered.”

Read the full story here.

Kennedy guts CDC’s independent vaccine panel

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took his most aggressive action yet to overhaul the nation’s vaccine policy, firing 17 members of an independent vaccine advisory committee at the CDC. Kennedy claimed in a Wall Street Journal editorial that the committee — which makes recommendations to the CDC about who should get certain vaccines, including the schedule for childhood vaccinations — has been “plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine.”

Members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, known more commonly as ACIP, undergo an extensive vetting process before being appointed and are required to disclose conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from voting on vaccines for which a conflict exists.

Former CDC officials and public health experts called Kennedy’s action concerning and said it would sow confusion. Richard Besser, the former acting director of the CDC, said in a statement that the firings “should erase any remaining doubt that he intends to impose his personal anti-vaccine agenda on the American people.” Read the full story here.

What to watch for in New Jersey’s primaries

Voters in New Jersey will head to the polls today in the first high-profile primaries since the 2024 election. The biggest race on the ticket: governor. New Jersey’s gubernatorial race is one of two nationwide this year, along with Virginia, and both contests will be closely watched as early indicators of how voters are responding to President Donald Trump’s second term.

Because Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy can’t run for re-election due to term limits, both the Republican and Democratic parties have contested races for the nomination. Here’s what the NBC News politics team will watch for tonight:

→ Trump’s influence: On the Republican side, Trump-endorsed former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli is viewed as the frontrunner. The president’s endorsement could shed light on the size of the anti-Trump wing of the GOP wing in New Jersey, with longtime state senator (and standup comedian) Jon Bramnick, who has called for a return to civility and has sharply criticized Trump in the past, on the ballot. Rounding out the GOP primary ballot is Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac and contractor Justin Barbera.

→ Democrats’ path: In the Democratic primary, Rep. Mikie Sherrill has been viewed as the relative frontrunner and has emphasized her background as a Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor in her pitch to effectively take on Trump. Meanwhile, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who got a jolt of national attention when he was arrested last month at a federal immigration detention facility, has been pitching himself as a true progressive. Rounding out a crowded ballot in the unpredictable race is Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and teachers’ union president Sean Spiller, both of whom want to appeal to progressive voters; Rep. Josh Gottheimer, one of the more moderate members of Congress; and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney, who is stressing his blue-collar roots as a former ironworker.

Plus, NBC News and MSNBC data guru Steve Kornacki points out that court-imposed changes to the layout of the ballot could dramatically dilute the power of endorsements, which Sherrill has received a lot of.

Read the full story here.

More politics news:

• Republican Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee said he will resign from Congress for a private-sector job after the House’s next vote on the bill for Trump’s agenda.

• Republicans seeking to unseat Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia are leaning heavily into a familiar strategy: attacks over transgender athletes in women’s sports.

• Bradley Bondi, the brother of Attorney General Pam Bondi, lost his bid for president of the D.C. Bar, receiving 3,490 votes compared to opponent Diane Seltzer’s 34,982.

Read All About It

• Sly and the Family Stone frontman Sly Stone has died at the age of 82.

• Multiple people were killed and several others injured in a school shooting in the southern Austrian city of Graz.

• A 41-year-old man turned himself in to authorities in connection with a shooting on the Las Vegas Strip that killed two people.

• Federal authorities are taking over the search for a Washington state man accused of killing his three young daughters.

• A federal judge dismissed actor Justin Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit in his legal battle with “It Ends With Us” costar Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.

• Rates of appendix cancer have tripled among Gen X and quadrupled among millennials, a new study found.

Staff Pick: The Indiana Pacers are built different

The Indiana Pacers aren’t your typical NBA championship contender, and it’s not only because they’ve reached the NBA Finals by pulling off some of the most improbable comebacks in basketball history. It’s also because of how the team’s executives relied on a team-building strategy rarely used by championship teams.

Indiana isn’t an attractive enough market to entice elite free agents, and historically has not been bad enough to earn a high draft pick who might become a franchise cornerstone. That combination has forced the Pacers to lean heavily on the third way: trades. It is a high degree of difficulty and requires patience, something in short supply among team owners. Yet, by shrewdly identifying players other teams no longer wanted but they believed would work in Indiana, the Pacers have found a formula that has delivered three of their top-four scorers and the team’s first Finals appearance in a quarter-century. — Andrew Greif, sports reporter

NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

If you’re dealing with acne, rosacea or dark spots, azelaic acid just might be the solution for all three. And with Father’s Day fast approaching, here’s a list of the best gifts to order from Amazon right now.

Thanks for reading today’s Morning Rundown. Today’s newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson. If you’re a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign up here.

NEW YORK — The leaders of a sex-focused women’s wellness company that promoted “orgasmic meditation” have been convicted of federal forced labor charges.

A Brooklyn jury on Monday found Nicole Daedone, founder of OneTaste Inc., and Rachel Cherwitz, the California-based company’s former sales director, guilty after deliberating for less than two days following a five-week trial. The two each face up to 20 years in prison when sentenced later.

Prosecutors had argued the two women ran a yearslong scheme that groomed adherents — many of them victims of sexual trauma — to do their bidding.

They said Daedone, 57, of New York, and Cherwitz, 44, of California, used economic, sexual and psychological abuse, intimidation and indoctrination to force OneTaste members into sexual acts they found uncomfortable or repulsive, such as having sex with prospective investors or clients.

The two told followers the questionable acts were necessary in order to obtain “freedom” and “enlightenment” and demonstrate their commitment to the organization’s principles.

Prosecutors said OneTaste leaders also didn’t pay promised earnings to the members-turned-workers and even forced some of them to take out new credit cards to continue taking the company’s courses.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nina Gupta, in her closing statement last week, said the defendants “built a business on the backs” of victims who “gave everything” to them, including “their money, their time, their bodies, their dignity, and ultimately their sanity.”

“The jury’s verdict has unmasked Daedone and Cherwitz for who they truly are: grifters who preyed on vulnerable victims by making empty promises of sexual empowerment and wellness only to manipulate them into performing labor and services for the defendants’ benefit,” said Joseph Nocella, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Daedone’s defense team cast her as a “ceiling-shattering feminist entrepreneur” who created a unique business around women’s sexuality and empowerment.

Cherwitz’s lawyer, Celia Cohen, argued that the witnesses who testified weren’t forced to do anything. When they didn’t like the organization anymore or wanted to try other things, she said, they simply left.

“No matter what you think about OneTaste and what they were doing, they chose it. They knew what it was about,” she said in her closing statement last week. “The fact they are regretting the actions that they took when they were younger is not evidence of a crime.”

Lawyers for the defendants said their clients maintain their innocence and intend to appeal.

“We are deeply disappointed in today’s verdict,” the lawyers said in a statement Monday. “This case raised numerous novel and complex legal issues that will require review by the Second Circuit.”

Daedone co-founded OneTaste in San Francisco in 2004 as a sort of self-help commune that viewed female orgasms as key to sexual and psychological wellness and interpersonal connection.

A centerpiece was “orgasmic meditation,” or “OM,” which was carried out by men manually stimulating women in a group setting.

The company enjoyed glowing media coverage in the 2010s and quickly opened outposts from Los Angeles to London. Portrayed as a cutting-edge enterprise that prioritized women’s sexual pleasure, it generated revenue by providing courses, coaching, OM events, and other sexual practices for a fee.

Daedone sold her stake in the company in 2017 for $12 million — a year before OneTaste’s marketing and labor practices came under scrutiny.

The company’s current owners, who have rebranded it the Institute of OM Foundation, have said its work has been misconstrued and the charges against its former executives were unjustified.

They maintain sexual consent has always been a cornerstone of the organization. The company didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill heads into Tuesday’s primary as the favorite to win the Democratic nomination for governor of New Jersey. She has blanketed the pricey New York and Philadelphia metro airwaves with television ads, she enjoys the backing of much of the party’s establishment, and she had opened double-digit leads in two polls that were released several weeks ago.

There is uncertainty, though. Credible public polling has, overall, been limited and infrequent. And court-imposed changes to the layout of the primary ballot could dramatically dilute the power of the endorsements Sherrill has received from key county Democratic organizations.

Sherrill’s opponents have each made inroads. But, at least so far, that seems to have had the effect of keeping them in one another’s way, preventing one from emerging as the clear alternative to Sherrill. Consider the state’s political geography.

You can draw a line south of Mercer and Monmouth counties, roughly where Route 195 would be on a map. Below that is South Jersey. Democratic politics here are dominated by an old-fashioned political machine that is backing the lone South Jersey candidate in the field: former state Sen. Steve Sweeney.

The trouble for Sweeney is that only about 30% of all primary votes will come from tis region. And because South Jersey is part of the Philadelphia media market, he’s not well-known in the rest of the state, which is served heavily by the New York market.

And to the extent he is known, Sweeney’s connection to the South Jersey machine is a liability. According to a May Insider NJ poll, conducted by StimSight Research, more Democratic voters said the term “typical machine politician” applies to him than any other candidate. No wonder he has lagged far behind in polling.

Then there’s vote-rich North Jersey, where the other candidates can all claim some advantage. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is likely to win his city — the state’s largest — overwhelmingly. Newark is also the seat of Essex County, which has more registered Democrats than any other county. More than 40% of Essex’s population is Black, which should further boost Baraka, the lone Black candidate in the race. Nearby Union County, which has the second-highest share of Black residents, could offer another trove of votes.

Baraka has also made a wider play for the party’s progressive base. He has run hard to the left, and he burnished his anti-Trump credentials when he was arrested at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility last month. Coupled with deep Black support, that could be the makings of a potent coalition in a statewide primary.

But Baraka has encountered traffic in the progressive lane thanks to the presence of Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, who is also embracing left-wing themes and has framed his candidacy as a war on the Democratic establishment. Insider NJ’s poll asked Democrats whether any of the candidates stood out to them as being “a true progressive.” Baraka and Fulop were cited more than anyone else — by far. In other words, they are each garnering support the other could badly use.

Another candidate, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, has pitched his message more toward the middle, promising tax cuts and emphasizing cost-of-living issues. Gottheimer won his House seat by flipping what had been a reliably Republican district, and he has amassed an enviable campaign bankroll. He figures to perform strongly in suburban Bergen County, his political base, and he has been endorsed by Bergen’s official Democratic organization.

But when he entered the race, Gottheimer was counting on his perceived electability to gain the support of multiple major county organizations in North Jersey — not just his home county. Those organizations retain the feeling of old political machines, with their own formidable turnout operations and the ability to spend on their preferred candidates’ behalf. Last year, Gottheimer seemed to notch a big one, when leaders from Hudson County (which includes Fulop’s Jersey City) gave him their support. It was, he hoped, the first of many big dominoes to fall. But that deal crumbled apart over the winter, and the Hudson organization instead endorsed Sherrill.

And Gottheimer kept missing out, too. Besides Bergen’s, his only other party endorsement comes from tiny rural Warren County in the northwest corner of the state.

Instead, it was Sherrill and her perceived electability that those county machines decided to go in with. Like Gottheimer, she also flipped a longtime GOP seat en route to Congress and has been a potent fundraiser. Her background as a Navy fighter pilot has also been a key selling point. Outside of Bergen’s, Sherrill has won the endorsement of every major county machine in North Jersey — which as a region will produce about 70% of all votes in the primary.

The near-unanimous show of establishment support has created a sense of momentum around Sherrill’s campaign and sent a signal to donors and other influencers to get on board. And that’s on top of the practical get-out-the-vote advantage it provides her.

That having been said, there’s a major ingredient missing this year: “the line.” In the past, county parties would have been able to provide Sherrill with a highly preferential spot on primary ballots. But a court ruling undid that power last year. To what extent that dulls the power of the machines in primary elections is something everyone will be watching for in Tuesday’s results.

Still, Sherrill has managed to avoid the downsides of being associated with establishment politics. Only 20% of Democrats say the term “typical machine politician” fits her — half the percentage who said the same about Sweeney in the same Insider NJ poll. That poll also found that an outright majority of Democrats said she could win the November election, far more than anyone else.

Each major candidate will have pockets of deep support Tuesday. In polls and endorsements, though, Sherrill has shown the potential to perform well across the board, even in counties where she isn’t the top vote-getter. If she can realize that potential Tuesday, victory will be hers.

But it has to be said that we are flying blind here. If the dynamics of the race have shifted in the last few weeks, there has been almost no public polling that would catch it. And the demise of “the line” has pushed the primary further into uncharted territory. The history of New Jersey Democratic primaries says Sherrill should win — but is history still worth anything in 2025?

Airplane tickets are getting cheaper, but it’s getting more expensive to bring your family to an airport lounge.

Capital One is the latest company to limit access to booming airport lounges to combat overcrowding.

Starting Feb. 1, Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders will no longer be able to automatically take a guest into lounges or bring authorized second card users.

They will instead have to pay $125 annually for each additional cardholder to keep their lounge access, $45 per adult guest per visit and $25 per guest 17 or younger. The $125 fee also includes second cardholder access to a network of Priority Pass lounges.

“As airport lounges continue to grow in popularity across the industry, we’ve seen our customers increasingly encounter wait times to enter them,” Capital One said in a statement. “It is important to us that we maintain a great airport lounge experience for our Venture X and Venture X Business customers, while continuing to deliver best-in-class premium travel cards at an accessible price point.”

Primary cardholders will have to spend at least $75,000 per calendar year to bring up to two complimentary free guests to Capital One lounges and one guest to Capital One Landings, smaller lounges built for travelers who tend to spend less time at the airport, like those heading to short flights.

The $75,000 spending requirement for complimentary guests matches what American Express announced two years ago, also a measure to minimize crowding and keeping the clubs feeling exclusive.

Credit card companies have ramped up their airport lounge networks in recent years, opening new locations to handle demand. And airport lounge access has been a central perk attached to rewards cards, which generally come with an annual fee.

The Venture X card, which launched in 2021, is $395 a year, less than the $695 a year American Express charges for its Platinum card or the $550 JPMorgan Chase charges for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, both of which come with airport lounges.

“When it comes to lounges, Capital One is a challenger brand; they’re an underdog,” said Henry Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group.

Capital One has lounges at Denver International Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport and Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. It plans to open one this year at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and one of its Landings at LaGuardia Airport.

But the new restrictions show Capital One isn’t immune to its popularity leading to big crowds.

“Like Amex, like Chase, these lounges have become victims of their own success,” Harteveldt said. “No lounge operator wants them to be as overrun as the public areas of the airport.”

Airlines have also raised prices to access airport lounges and built larger ones to accommodate the influx.

Delta Air Lines, for example, has made sweeping changes to its lounge access policies, like getting rid of unlimited visits in favor of annual caps.

And last summer, Delta unveiled its first Delta One lounge, dedicated for customers in its highest class of cabin. It plans to open a new one in Seattle later this month.

American Airlines and United Airlines have also expanded their airport lounges and opened new top-tier ones for customers traveling in premium classes on long-haul flights.

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