Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in a statement Wednesday that he is a member of an exclusive Rhode Island sailing club that lacks diversity.

Why it matters: Whitehouse has repeatedly spoken out against systemic racism and come under scrutiny this week for his family's affiliation with elite clubs. This is the second such club accused of lacking diversity that the senator has been linked to in recent days

Whitehouse on Monday defended his family's participation in the private Bailey's Beach Club, which was reported to only have white members. Both the senator and the club deny this allegation, but Go Local Providence is standing by its report.

Whitehouse said in a statement Wednesday that the matter made him reflect on his affiliations and that while the sailing club "does not have exclusionary rules for membership, it does lack diversity."

President Biden announced Wednesday that he was nominating Cindy McCain, the widow of former Senator John McCain, as ambassador to the United Nations World Food Programme, giving the post to a longtime Republican friend as he continues to emphasize the importance of bipartisanship in a deeply divided Washington.

Ms. McCain, who participated in a video supporting Mr. Biden’s candidacy during the all-virtual Democratic National Convention last summer, was seen as a “must do” for an ambassador posting in the Biden administration, according to sources familiar with the process, and has been undergoing the vetting process for some time.

In the video, Ms. McCain spoke about Mr. Biden’s “unlikely friendship” with her husband.

“My husband and Vice President Biden enjoyed a 30+ year friendship dating back to before their years serving together in the Senate,” she tweeted before the Democratic convention. “So I was honored to accept the invitation from the Biden campaign to participate in a video celebrating their relationship.”

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) will run the National Governors Association for the next year after a vote by their peers on Wednesday.

Hutchinson, currently the group’s vice chairman, will take over from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) as the incoming chairman. Murphy will become the NGA’s vice chairman, and next in line to oversee the organization the following year.

Hutchinson welcomed Murphy to the NGA’s leadership ranks.

“I look forward to working even closer with Gov. Murphy as he becomes Vice Chair of the National Governors Association,” Hutchinson said in a statement to The Hill. “Gov. Murphy showed a steady hand of leadership during the pandemic and has proven he can work across the aisle to get things done.”

The fatal stabbing of 31-year-old Bradley Arabie last week at Seattle’s City Hall Park, located immediately south of the King County Courthouse, was the final straw for Metropolitan King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn: On Tuesday, he introduced legislation to condemn the city-owned park, which is the site of a large homeless encampment, as a public safety hazard or nuisance property.

Under Dunn’s proposal, King County would acquire the park from the city of Seattle and request that Executive Dow Constantine relocate the park’s current residents to transitional or permanent housing, provide additional security, and fix damage done to the park as a means to abate health and public safety concerns, according to a copy of the legislation provided to The Seattle Times.

The proposal would also direct Constantine to explore future uses for the park as “an enclosed meeting and events space” that would become part of the courthouse campus. Dunn has requested an update to the council on the condemnation process by Sept. 1.

“The city of Seattle has no one to blame except for themselves for failing to abate the nuisance and keep that area safe,” Dunn said in a phone interview. “They’ve opened the door to a condemnation action by the county government … People have the right to a safe county courthouse and we shouldn’t have to fight this hard for it.”

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has said that Republican former President Donald Trump will be reinstated to the presidency "by fall, for sure."

Lindell made his comments during a Friday speech at the Health and Freedom Conference in Tampa, Florida. During his speech, Lindell said that his upcoming "cyber symposium" in July will reveal new evidence that voting machine fraud—orchestrated by China, he claims—stole the 2020 election from Trump.

This evidence, Lindell said, will convince the Supreme Court to vote unanimously to reinstate Trump into office by autumn.

"We're bringing in all the cyber guys. They're going to be there, then we're bringing all the media. Maybe even Fox will show up, what a concept," Lindell said of his symposium. "And then we're going to bring in all senators, governors—even the corrupt ones, [like Republican Georgia Governor] Brian Kemp—and legislatures, secretary of states and every single government official that wants to be there."