Washington Post: “Surveillance video from his shop shows one of the men prying open the heavy steel manhole cover, as a car that seems to be accompanying them sits nearby with its headlights pointed their direction. The trio soon slipped out of sight, into the bowels of the city.”
“That May 5 encounter marked the first in at least three recent incidents in which groups of people have been captured on camera climbing into — and out of — parts of the city’s sprawling sewer system.”
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Shannon Mullen: “We don’t know what Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, wrote in his sexually explicit texts with women other than his wife—six, according to his campaign; a dozen, according to an ex-aide—but do we need to?”
“The glaring question that the texts pose to voters about the presumptive Democratic nominee at this point in a pivotal midterm race is: Are we really going to do this again?”
Wall Street Journal: “Russia’s inability to break through the stalemate in Ukraine is becoming so evident that significant voices in the Russian establishment have publicly started to call for an end to the conflict.”
“The big question is whether President Vladimir Putin will acknowledge this reality and abandon his aspiration to extinguish Ukrainian independence.”
NewsNation: “Republicans hoping to keep control of Congress in a tough election year have been thrown off-balance by President Trump’s focus on foreign policy, pet projects, and statements dismissing the importance of the midterms and cost-of-living issues.”
NOTUS: “After the third apparent assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in late April and the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in September, Democratic lawmakers condemned escalating political violence. But they did not call for moving any of their gun control priorities.”
“The lack of action shows how legislating on firearms has become nearly impossible on Capitol Hill, and how both parties have dug into their own rhetoric. Republicans continue to rally their base around opposition to any firearms control, while Democrats counter that steps should be taken to combat violence but have shown little appetite for that highly politicized fight ahead of the midterms.”
New York Times: “The general counsel’s office at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts told employees in a memo on Thursday to ‘immediately’ remove President Trump’s name from the institution’s branding on official forms and other documents.”
“The mandate came days after a federal judge ruled that the board’s decision to add the president’s name to the building had been unlawful.”
NBC News: “The team assembled by the Justice Department to ramp up investigations into President Donald Trump’s political enemies includes several lawyers and FBI special agents who backed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.”
“The investigation is looking into the actions of officials who served in the Obama and Biden administrations… One potential avenue is to seek charges under a broad federal crime that would portray Trump as the victim of government overreach…”
“The Senate ground to a standstill on Thursday morning as Republicans found themselves short of the votes to defeat a motion offered by Democrats that would bar President Trump from establishing a fund to compensate his political allies,” the New York Times reports.
“The proposal, offered by Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, would send the $70 billion immigration crackdown bill back to committee and prohibit the creation of the fund.”
Steve Bannon warned Republicans on his podcast: “We’re going to lose the Senate in the fall anyway.”
He explained: “The old way of putting a couple hundred million dollars in and buying TV ads on Fox and CNN doesn’t work anymore. That’s old school. Does not work. There’s been a new day, and the Senate’s got to understand that, or we’re going to lose the Senate. There is no enthusiasm for going door to door, having voter engagements, canvassing, to actually lead to victory.”
CNBC: “The sprawling, 19.3-acre, $850 million campus blends museum exhibits chronicling former President Barack Obama’s political rise and presidency with contemporary art, public gathering spaces, athletic facilities and a branch of the Chicago Public Library.”
“The center is also poised to redefine the scale of the modern presidential project, setting new marks for construction time, cost and admission price. A general museum ticket will cost $30, making it the most expensive presidential museum or library to visit.”
New York Times: “The next act in the drama over Black representation will be driven in part by Democratic leaders, some of them Black, who face a difficult decision. Do they preserve the majority-Black, overwhelmingly Democratic districts in blue states like New York, Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey?”
“Or do they maximize Democratic representation in the House by diluting urban districts dominated by Black voters and expanding their boundaries into the suburbs. Doing the latter would allow them to target Republican House members in those states.”
“Those new districts would remain Democratic, though less so, but they may no longer be majority-Black. So Black voters could lose power in two ways — by losing the number of districts they dominate and by losing the number of Black voices in Congress.”
“House Republicans aren’t having the best luck seeking higher office,” Semafor reports.
“Dusty Johnson of South Dakota and President Donald Trump-endorsed Randy Feenstra of Iowa both lost gubernatorial primaries this week, joining statewide primary losers Buddy Carter in Georgia and Wesley Hunt and Chip Roy in Texas.”
“Those losses may multiply.”
“Trump backed South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pam Evette over Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman in the state’s gubernatorial race. Rep. John Rose is an underdog to Sen. Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee’s governor race. Rep. Mike Collins is facing Derek Dooley for Georgia’s Senate nomination. And Arizona Reps. David Schweikert and Andy Biggs are facing off in their own gubernatorial primary.”
Quinnipiac Poll: “Sixty-one percent of Americans think the United States today is not living up to the ideal stated in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, while 35 percent think the United States today is living up to that ideal.”
“John Bolton, a former national security adviser turned outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, is expected to plead guilty in a case involving his alleged mishandling of classified materials,” the Washington Post reports.
A must-read: Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State by Michael Lewis.
An inside look at the early days of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, as told by the public servants it targeted.
The author to Politico: “Every now and then the world hands you the material for a wild story. The collision between the Trump Administration and the civil service is one of those moments.”
Bloomberg: “Iran said there had been no recent progress in talks with the US over an interim peace deal, while fighting persisted in Lebanon despite Washington’s declaration of a ceasefire between Israel and the country.”
Bloomberg: “A major perk of Donald Trump’s settlement with his own administration is now a big fat target for Democrats. The hits are about to come fast and hard.”
“Trump’s immunity from IRS audits (for him, his family, and businesses) is set to be a central line of questioning to Scott Bessent when the Treasury secretary testifies on the Hill later this morning, and it will also be targeted in charged amendment votes in the Senate.”
“The votes could force Republicans on record about another controversial and highly unusual piece of the deal between Trump and his own administration.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
