![](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/05\/18\/USAT\/2a2abce0-aaa0-4a00-ae00-10a3ef0af509-Pompeo.jpg?width=540&height=&fit=bounds&auto=webp\")
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Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Capitol Hill on April 21, 2021. (Photo: Joshua Roberts\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n Happy Monday, OnPolitics friends!\u00a0<\/p>\n Remember him?\u00a0Gordon Sondland, a hotel magnate who served as former President Donald Trump\u2019s ambassador to the European Union,\u00a0filed a $1.8 million lawsuit Monday against former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for legal fees.\u00a0He\u00a0contends Pompeo assured him his legal fees would be covered when he was subpoenaed for testimony about Trump\u2019s dealings with Ukraine during the former president’s first impeachment.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, our current president’s honeymoon phase may be over.\u00a0For President Joe Biden, the second 100 days are turning out to be harder than the first.<\/p>\n It’s Mabinty, with the news of the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n Biden, whose verbal missteps and chronic foot-in-mouth moments have been the stuff of legend for much of his political career, has stayed surprisingly on message since moving into the Oval Office in late January.\u00a0<\/p>\n As president, not only is Biden careful in what he says and how he says it, \u201che does exceptionally well in terms of getting out his message,\u201d said expert Stephen Frantzich, a retired political science professor at the U.S. Naval Academy\u00a0and author of a book about political candidates\u2019 verbal stumbles.<\/p>\n Now that he\u2019s president, Biden seems to understand that \u201cthe microphone is always on and whatever he says is going to be captured,\u201d Frantzich said.<\/p>\n After coming out as a lesbian and being a victim of an alleged rape by a fellow military member\u00a0Kaylie Harris\u00a0died by suicide.<\/p>\n Her mother, Carey\u00a0Harris, later learned some damning truths: Her daughter\u00a0had filed a sexual assault complaint against a fellow service member. The assault allegedly occurred\u00a010 days after she’d disclosed\u00a0her sexual orientation on\u00a0Facebook. Kaylie had expressed\u00a0thoughts of suicide and was under\u00a0counseling and a do-not-arm order. And finally, a misstep by the military led to her daughter coming into contact with her alleged assailant, despite a protective\u00a0order designed to keep them apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n Harris’ death represents a confluence of currents that have ripped\u00a0the military for decades: sexual assault, suicide and integrating LGBTQ troops. Her family believes she would have survived if the military had taken her reports more seriously. They view the alleged assault that upended her life as a hate crime and want military law changed to protect LGBTQ troops.<\/p>\n “There are so many points of failure,”\u00a0said Jennifer Dane, executive director of the Modern Military Association, an advocacy group for LGBTQ troops and veterans. “This is another example of leadership failure. It’s awful.”<\/p>\n She noted that Harris’ superiors had multiple chances to intervene\u00a0and her purchase of the weapon she used to take her life could have been prevented.<\/p>\n The alleged assault is under investigation by the service’s Office of Special Investigations, said Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read more of USA TODAY’s Tom Vanden Brook’s story on military suicide.\u00a0<\/p>\nPresident Biden learns that words matter<\/h2>\n
More news to know today:\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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‘This is another example of leadership failure’<\/h2>\n