General
Theresa May resigns after Brexit failure
George Parker, Financial Times
Theresa May has announced her resignation as Conservative leader, clearing the way for a new UK prime minister to pick up the formidable challenge of delivering Brexit and reuniting a shattered party. Mrs May said in an emotional statement in Downing Street that she would resign as Tory leader on Friday June 7, triggering a leadership contest that will start the following week which former foreign secretary Boris Johnson is favourite to win.
Bank CEO charged with approving loans for Manafort to score senior Trump post
Natasha Bertrand, Politico
A Chicago bank executive arranged roughly $16 million in loans for Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort after the 2016 presidential election in the hopes of scoring a top administration post, according to a federal indictment released on Thursday. Stephen Calk, then the CEO of the Federal Savings Bank of Chicago, “sought to leverage his control over” Manafort’s proposed loans in order to obtain a senior administration position, prosecutors wrote in court documents unsealed in the Southern District of New York.
Twitter Bans #Resistance-Famous Krassenstein Brothers for Allegedly Operating Fake Accounts
Will Sommer, The Daily Beast
Twitter has permanently banned prominent anti-Trump brothers Brian and Ed Krassenstein, alleging that two of the biggest stars of #Resistance Twitter had broken the site’s rules about operating fake accounts and purchasing fake interactions with their accounts. “The Twitter Rules apply to everyone,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.
Mike Huckabee’s Epic Fight to Keep Beachgoers Off His Patch of Florida Sand
Stephanie Mencimer, Mother Jones
Not long after his failed 2008 presidential bid, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee bought a beachfront plot in the Florida Panhandle and built a three-story, 10,000-square-foot mansion, with six bedrooms, seven-and-a-half bathrooms, and a pool. By planting his flag in the Florida sugar sand, Huckabee was escaping Arkansas income taxes and joining other rich Republicans who owned houses in this particular part of Walton County, including Karl Rove.
White House & Administration
Team Trump, Including a Fox Host, Go All-In on Pushing Doctored Pelosi Videos
Justin Baragona, The Daily Beast
Just hours after having multiple senior aides vouch for his calm state of mind after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused him of a temper tantrum, President Trump took to Twitter late Thursday to push an edited video of the top Democrat supposedly “stammering” through a news conference, jumping on a conspiracy-theory bandwagon that had been raging on social media throughout the day. The video, which was first aired by the Fox Business Network and appeared to have been cleverly edited to make Pelosi’s speech seem impaired, came after several doctored videos purporting to show a “drunk” Pelosi slurring her words spread like wildfire on social media, all while Trump tried to convince the public that Pelosi was not to be taken seriously because she is “crazy” and “a mess.”
‘He always brings them up’: Trump tries to steer border wall deal to North Dakota firm
Nick Miroff and Josh Dawsey, The Washington Post
President Trump has personally and repeatedly urged the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to award a border wall contract to a North Dakota construction firm whose top executive is a GOP donor and frequent guest on Fox News, according to four administration officials. In phone calls, White House meetings and conversations aboard Air Force One during the past several months, Trump has aggressively pushed Dickinson, N.D.-based Fisher Industries to Department of Homeland Security leaders and Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the commanding general of the Army Corps, according to the administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal discussions.
Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amendment Issues
Charlie Savage, The New York Times
Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks leader, has been indicted on 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act for his role in obtaining and publishing secret military and diplomatic documents in 2010, the Justice Department announced on Thursday — a novel case that raises profound First Amendment issues. The new charges were part of an expanded indictment obtained by the Trump administration that significantly raised the stakes of the legal case against Mr. Assange, who is already fighting extradition proceedings in London based on an earlier hacking-related count brought by federal prosecutors in Northern Virginia.
Trump returns to Japan for a visit heavy on sumo and symbolism
Noah Bierman and Victoria Kim, Los Angeles Times
President Trump leaves Friday for his second trip to Japan — with a return visit planned next month — as both governments seek to repair an alliance that has seen cracks in the last two years. The three-day visit will feature several firsts, including the first meeting between newly crowned Emperor Naruhito and a foreign leader, and the first appearance by a U.S. president at a sumo match as part of a state visit.
The Justice Department Argues That Congress Can’t Sue The Trump Administration At All
Zoe Tillman, BuzzFeed News
In defending President Donald Trump’s decision to order billions of dollars in federal funds moved around to pay for a wall along the US–Mexico border, the Justice Department made the sweeping argument Thursday that Congress shouldn’t be able to sue the administration at all. Appearing before a federal judge in Washington, DC, Justice Department official James Burnham argued the US Constitution simply did not give one branch of government — in this case, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives — the tools to sue another branch.
U.S. Proposes Tariffs on Nations With Undervalued Currencies
Shawn Donnan and Jenny Leonard, Bloomberg
The Trump administration is proposing tariffs on goods from countries found to have undervalued currencies, in a move that would further escalate its assault on global trading rules. The proposal, laid out in a Federal Register notice released on Thursday, would let U.S.-based companies seek anti-subsidy tariffs on products from countries found by the U.S. Treasury Department to be engaging in competitive devaluation of their currencies.
Senate
Senate Passes $19.1 Billion Deal on Disaster Aid
Andrew Duehren, The Wall Street Journal
The Senate passed a $19.1 billion disaster aid package on Thursday, ending a monthslong impasse with an agreement that includes more assistance for Puerto Rico but no money for the southern border as sought by President Trump. Passage came after Mr. Trump agreed to support the legislation without any border funding.
Sens. Alexander, Murray Release Health Legislation Targeting High Bills, Drug Costs
Rachel Bluth, NPR News
In a year already marked by a wide variety of congressional health care legislation, Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., on Thursday released the details of a plan they hope will help bring down health costs and eliminate surprise medical bills for patients. Alexander and Murray are the chair and ranking member, respectively, of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
House
Democrats’ Wall Funding Lawsuit Runs Into a Skeptical U.S. Judge
Andrew M Harris, Bloomberg
A U.S. House of Representatives attempt to block President Donald Trump from spending about $6.1 billion on a southern border wall ran into what could be a major obstacle of its own Thursday — a skeptical federal judge. The Democrat-led chamber asked U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington to bar the administration from reallocating the money from other Defense Department projects in the wake of Congress’s outright refusal to give the president all the funding he sought for the project.
Here Are the GOP’s Secret Talking Points Defending Alabama’s Abortion Law
Daniel Newhauser, Vice News
In the days since Alabama’s passage of the most restrictive abortion law in the nation, national Republicans have tried to distance themselves from its most controversial provisions that would outlaw abortion even in the case of rape or incest. Now, there are clear signs that is changing.
House Passes Bill Making Big Changes to U.S. Retirement System
Anne Tergesen and Richard Rubin, The Wall Street Journal
Americans could see the most significant changes in more than a decade to their retirement plans under legislation the House of Representatives passed Thursday, with measures designed to make it easier for employers to offer 401(k)-type accounts and for participants to convert their balances into a steady lifetime income. Lawmakers have been discussing many of the retirement changes for years, with a significant portion of the U.S.’s burgeoning community of retirees at risk of outliving their money.
2020
“Everything Old Can Be New Again”: Inside the G.O.P. Operation to Take Down Joe Biden
David M. Drucker, Vanity Fair
Any day now, if you haven’t seen it already, a video will surface of Joe Biden sounding downright Trumpian on the subject of immigration. “This isn’t amnesty,” Biden says in the clip, arguing that if “illegal aliens” want to earn their place in America, they need to pay a fine and learn to speak English, damnit.
GOP challenger Bill Weld turns up heat on Trump: ‘Seems he would prefer an Aryan nation’
Will Steakin, ABC News
President Donald Trump’s lone Republican primary challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, ratcheted up his attacks on the president Tuesday night. Speaking at the first in a series of Kennedy Institute events focused on the 2020 election cycle, Weld levied a number of his harshest verbal jabs yet, saying earlier this week that the president preferred an “Aryan nation.”
Waiting for Obama
Edward-Isaac Dovere, The Atlantic
Barack Obama is literally more popular than Jesus among Democrats. Unfortunately, neither the former president nor any of the party’s 23 candidates currently seeking the 2020 nomination know quite what to do with that information.
The Secret of Bernie’s Millions
Michael Kruse, Politico
Early on in his eight years as the mayor of this city, when he typically dressed in a tieless ensemble of work boots and corduroys, Bernie Sanders one day left City Hall and found a ticket on the windshield of his rusty Volkswagen Dasher. The offense: This was the mayor’s spot, and surely, a cop had thought, this was not the mayor’s car.
Julián Castro Wants To Redefine Which Immigrants Have ‘Merit’
Steve Inskeep, NPR News
Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro has a plan to change immigration policy in the U.S. The former Housing and Urban Development secretary wants to address immigrant detention, family reunification and the immigration court system. In stark contrast to current policy, he also wants to decriminalize crossing the border illegally, a plan he outlined in a Medium post in April.
Return of the Republican civil war?
Alex Isenstadt and James Arkin, Politico
A prominent conservative group is trying to lure a staunch ally of President Donald Trump into a primary race against Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, threatening to inflame intra-party tensions in a state crucial to the party’s 2020 strategy. The Club for Growth is attempting to nudge Rep. Mark Walker, a third-term evangelical pastor, into the 2020 Senate race.
Friess considering run for Wyoming US Senate seat
The Associated Press
A wealthy Republican political donor from Wyoming says he’s thinking about running for U.S. Senate in 2020. Republican Sen. Mike Enzi recently announced he will retire at the end of his current term.
States
Republican governors walk tightrope between building Chinese trade relationship and offending Trump
Tim Craig, The Washington Post
Gov. Matt Bevin gathered 400 Chinese political and business leaders here to deliver a simple message: U.S. states, and especially Kentucky, want a lucrative relationship with them that rises above President Trump’s ongoing trade dispute with China. But when the Republican governor tried to deliver a personal message from Trump, whom he had spoken to Wednesday night, the audience only laughed.
Florida election vendor says it has proof it wasn’t breached by Russians
Kim Zetter, Politico
A Florida-based maker of voter registration software says it has proof that neither its employees’ email accounts nor its systems were penetrated in a Russian cyberattack in 2016 — an attack that could have allowed hackers to prevent voters from casting ballots during the presidential election if successful. The company, VR Systems, said in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) this month that an analysis by a cybersecurity firm found that it had not been breached, despite allegations to the contrary in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election interference.
Republican mega-donor demands Missouri Gov. Parson veto eight-week abortion ban
Jason Hancock, The Kansas City Star
One of the most prolific donors in Missouri Republican politics is calling on Gov. Mike Parson to veto wide-ranging legislation that criminalizes abortion after eight weeks of pregnancy. Joplin businessman David Humphreys said Thursday that he’s never entered the public debate over abortion, and doesn’t “really want to now.”
Why This Political Fight In Michigan Should Matter To Democrats Everywhere
Jonathan Cohn, HuffPost
Mechanic Jay Buni knows all about the “damn roads” that his state’s new Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has vowed to fix. Buni is co-owner and operator of Express 1 Auto Repair, which sits near a pair of rutted streets that are among the five most dilapidated in southeast Michigan, according to a Detroit television viewer survey.
Advocacy
U.S. Beer Industry Blames Trump Tariffs for 40,000 Job Losses
Joe Deaux, Bloomberg
The U.S. beer industry is blaming a jobs hangover on the Trump administration’s tariffs. A report by two trade groups showed U.S. beer-industry jobs dropped 40,000 since 2016 as metal tariffs boosted aluminum-can costs, leading to a drop in investment.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
Trump’s leniency on war crimes weakens national security
Ted Lieu and Ruben Gallego, Los Angeles Times
George Washington said, “Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable, procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.” The United States has the best military in the world, in part because our soldiers abide by, and believe in, good order and discipline.
Commander in chief Donald Trump’s pardon is warranted
Duncan Hunter, USA Today
As commander in chief, President Donald Trump’s constitutional authority includes ensuring that America’s warfighters receive a fair legal process when accused of crimes. Accordingly, when prosecutorial conduct becomes so corrupt that this is not possible, the President has every right to act.
Research Reports and Polling
Notes on the State of the Senate
Kyle Kondik, Sabato’s Crystal Ball
Republicans have to defend 22 Senate seats this cycle to the Democrats’ 12, yet the GOP remains favored to hold the chamber in large part because so many of the seats they are defending are in states that seem certain to vote Republican for president, and strongly so. Of the 22 seats that the Republicans are defending, 15 are in states that Donald Trump won by 14 points or more in 2016.
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