You may have seen headlines about a now-dominant strain of the coronavirus spreading that is more contagious than the original. According to researchers, a mutation occurred in the virus as it began spreading in Europe in early February and it rapidly became the dominant form. This news comes from a research paper from scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and has not been peer reviewed. There is some skepticism that any mutations have changed the general contagiousness or lethality of COVID-19. Sarah Kaplan, reporter at the Washington Post, joins us for what to know.

Next, a crazy story about how an ex-Green Beret led a failed attempt to oust Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. The original plan was to have some 300 armed volunteers sneak into Venezuela, raid military bases, and capture Maduro. That plan never happened and it seemed like everything went wrong. Jordan Goudreau, owner of Silvercorp USA, reportedly hatched the plan with Venezuelan opposition officials. There is still much to be known, but there is no indication that any U.S. officials sponsored Goudreau’s actions. Karen DeYoung, senior national security correspondent at the Washington Post, joins us for how this whole plot fell apart.

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