A new NBC News-Survey Money poll finds Joe Biden leads the Democratic presidential field with 25%, followed by Bernie Sanders at 16%, Elizabeth Warren at 16%, Kamala Harris at 14% and Pete Buttigieg at 8%.
House Judiciary Asks Hope Hicks to Clarify Testimony
“The House Judiciary Committee is examining the truthfulness of former White House communications director and Trump confidante Hope Hicks’ statements in the aftermath of new documents released on Thursday, asking her to clarify her testimony to the committee last month!” CNN reports.
“The FBI documents released earlier Thursday revealing that one day after the tape came out, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen spoke on the phone with then-campaign spokeswoman Hicks and candidate Donald Trump. Those conversations were apparently about adult film actress Stormy Daniels.”
Trump Plans to Slash Refugee Admissions to Zero
“The Trump administration is considering a virtual shutdown of refugee admissions next year — cutting the number to nearly zero,” Politico reports.
Labor Fight Roils Bernie Sanders Campaign
“Unionized campaign organizers working for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s presidential effort are battling with its management, arguing that the compensation and treatment they are receiving does not meet the standards Sanders espouses in his rhetoric,” the Washington Post reports.
“Campaign field hires have demanded an annual salary they say would be equivalent to a $15-an-hour wage, which Sanders for years has said should be the federal minimum. The organizers and other employees supporting them have invoked the senator’s words and principles in making their case to campaign manager Faiz Shakir.”
Debate Lineups Set
Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, who clashed at the first Democratic debate, will face off again on July 31, leaving the ideologically aligned Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren to appear together on July 30.
Joining Sanders and Warren on the first night, will be Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former congressman Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Gov. Steve Bullock, Rep. Tim Ryan, John Hickenlooper, John Delaney, and Marianne Williamson.
The next night, with Biden and Harris will be Julian Castro, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Mayor Bill DeBlasio, Sen. Michael Bennet, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and Gov. Jay Inslee.
Trump Picks Scalia as Labor Secretary
President Trump intends to nominate Eugene Scalia to serve as U.S. secretary of Labor, seeking to install a well-known figure in labor policy atop a department that recently lost its leader, the Wall Street Journal reports.
McConnell Is Nation’s Most Unpopular Senator
A new Morning Consult poll finds Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is America’s most unpopular senator with voters in his state with a 50% disapproval rating, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) coming in as a close runner-up at 48%.
By contrast, the poll shows Sen. Angus King (I-ME) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) leading the list of most popular senators with an overall 62% job approval rating.
EPA Won’t Ban Pesticide Tied to Kid’s Health Problems
The EPA announced it would not ban a widely used pesticide associated with developmental disabilities and other health problems in children, the New York Times reports.
“The decision not to prohibit the use of the pesticide, chlorpyrifos, comes after years of legal wrangling. It represents a victory for the chemical industry and farmers who have lobbied to continue using the substance, arguing it is necessary to protect crops.”
House Democrats Move to Tamp Down Internal Feud
“House Democrats are moving to quiet the searing internal feud that threatened to spin out of control last week — starting with the deletion of explosive tweets that helped spark the infighting and a joint statement of unity,” the Washington Post reports.
“The detente is expected to continue next week, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tentatively scheduled to meet Thursday with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — the most prominent member of the four-member ‘Squad’ of liberal freshman female lawmakers.”
One Democratic aide called it a “collective de-escalation.”
GOP Worried About Fallout from ‘Send Her Back’ Chants
“A reelection campaign dominated by incendiary chants of ‘send her back’ is a worst-case scenario for President Trump, warn senior Republicans who are moving swiftly to douse a political prairie fire sparked by the commander-in-chief’s use of the mantra to attack some Democrats in Congress,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“The rhetoric reeks of xenophobia and threatens Trump with key voters in critical 2020 battlegrounds.”
“Most Republicans in Congress did not publicly denounce the president… But these same Republicans were so alarmed by the ‘send her back’ chants… they made a special plea to Vice President Mike Pence to stop it from happening again.”
Trump Says U.S. Shot Down Iranian Drone
President Trump said that the U.S.S. Boxer, operating in the Strait of Hormuz, shot down an Iranian drone that he said had approached within 1,000 yards and ignored calls to stand down, Axios reports.
He said the drone was “immediately destroyed.”
Cucinelli Bores His Way into Trump’s Inner Circle
Politico: “The outspoken immigration hard-liner enjoys a direct pipeline to Trump, according to four people briefed on the arrangement, and has met multiple times with the president and with White House senior adviser Stephen Miller to discuss the administration’s plans to stem the tide of migrants across the U.S. border.”
“Ken Cuccinelli, who has also spoken with Trump by phone, has been told he’ll be involved with top immigration decisions, even those that are outside the scope of his agency.”
“The newly formed relationship is so tight that Cuccinelli’s boss, acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, was not even aware of the meetings with Trump, one of the people said. It’s an extraordinary position of power for an official with little relevant policy experience and whose job is to run an agency responsible for processing immigration paperwork and vetting asylum applicants, not border enforcement.”
Democrats Rate Field Better Than 2016
Pew Research: “Today, roughly two-thirds of Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters (65%) say they have an excellent (23%) or good (42%) impression of the Democratic candidates as a group. By comparison, in September 2015, only about half of Democratic voters (51%) said the same.”
“The current positive evaluations of the 2020 field are roughly on par with levels expressed at a similar point in the 2008 election cycle, when 64% of Democratic voters said they had a positive impression of the field.”
Trump’s Racism Is Part of His Larger Con
Matthew Yglesias: “It’s wrong to characterize the racist incitement as a ‘distraction’ since it is important on its own terms. But it is worth understanding that there is a controversial aspect of the Trump administration that Trump is happy to talk about — the racist aspect — and then there is a whole other set of controversies lurking hidden below the water line that Trump doesn’t like to talk about.”
“In the fight Trump wants to have, he casts himself as a champion of the typical white American Christian who is beset by various alien forces and politically correct elites. But when you bring the entire iceberg into view, you see a version of Trump that is much more reflective of Trump’s entire business career — a scam artist who profits off the misplaced trust of his fans just as much as anything else.”
Some In White House Trying to Kill Spending Deal
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he and congressional leaders have “reached an agreement’”on overall spending levels in a two-year deal to raise the budget caps, in addition to settling on a two-year debt limit increase, Politico reports.
Playbook: “There are high-ranking officials in the White House who seem to be trying to kill this deal. They are downplaying the potential for a compromise coming together, and saying it is not as close as everyone thinks. Furthermore, senior Republican sources on Capitol Hill said today that this deal is not good for the GOP, and the White House and Pelosi are not as close as everyone lets on. It’s tough to keep track of what’s what with this crew, but there’s a lot of noise.”
‘This Is Not About Omar Anymore’
Adam Serwer: “Omar must be defended, but not because of her views on Israel, gay rights, or progressive taxation. You needn’t agree with her on any of those things; in fact, you needn’t like her at all. But she must be defended, because the nature of the president’s attack on her is a threat to all Americans—black or white, Jew or Gentile—whose citizenship, whose belonging, might similarly be questioned.”
“This is not about Omar anymore, or the other women of color who have been told by this president to ‘go back’ to their supposed countries of origin. It is about defending the idea that America should be a country for all its people. If multiracial democracy cannot be defended in America, it will not be defended elsewhere. What Americans do now, in the face of this, will define us forever.”
Trump Claims He Was ‘Not Happy’ with Rally Chant
President Trump told reporters that he disagreed with the “send her back” chant directed at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) at his campaign rally last night, saying, “I was not happy with it — I disagreed with it,” the Washington Post reports.
He was pressed on why he didn’t stop the chant and responded, “I think I did — I started speaking very quickly.”
“In fact, the president did not start speaking immediately but rather remained silent as the chants were heard.”
FBI Saw Trump Closely Involved In Hush-Money Scheme
“The FBI believed then-candidate Donald Trump was closely involved in a scheme to hide hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claimed an affair with Trump, court documents from the closed campaign finance case against former Trump-fixer Michael Cohen show,” NBC News reports.
Wall Street Journal: “The documents reveal a series of conversations Mr. Cohen had with Mr. Trump, campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks, National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard and American Media Inc. chief executive David Pecker as he was working to arrange payments to two women who alleged affairs with Mr. Trump, including Stephanie Clifford, a former adult-film actress known as Stormy Daniels.”
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