President Trump sent North Korean leader Kim Jong Un an “excellent” letter, the North’s state-run news agency reported Sunday, quoting Kim as saying he would “seriously contemplate it,” the AP reports.
Kim “said with satisfaction that the letter is of excellent content,” Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency reported.
NBC News: “Unlike primary voters in every other recent presidential election, Democrats are still so rattled by the 2016 election that they keep telling pollsters they’ll vote for whichever candidate they think has the best chance of beating President Trump, whether or not they like that candidate most.”
“The problem is that no one, whether it’s the amateur pundit-voters or the professional prognosticators, can actually predict the future enough to know who it will take to beat the president some 500 days from now.”
Said pollster Patrick Murray: “Electability is in the eye of the beholder. Voters are not very good at predicting electability… It really is ill-informed, but we know that it’s not facts —but perception — that drive voter behavior.”
Sen. Kamala Harris reiterated her support for impeachment proceedings against President Trump but admitted to CBS News there is tension within the Democratic party over moving forward.
Said Harris: “This is the tension which is, do you stand to fight for these principles that were part of the — the spirit behind the design of our democracy, checks and balances, accountability? Or do you stand with strategy, which is what is the ultimate goal and if it’s saying that this guy should not be in office and if this could hurt the chances of winning an election, should you hold off?”
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“The House Judiciary Committee appears to have reached a deal with former White House aide Annie Donaldson that would allow her to not appear before the committee by a Monday deadline and answer written questions instead,” CNN reports.
“The testimony of Donaldson, who was chief of staff for then-White House counsel Don McGahn, has been of high interest to House Democrats given her first-hand knowledge of key events. Donaldson said she took copious notes, which the committee believes will bolster its probe into potential obstruction of justice.”
“President Trump’s last-minute decision to pull back from a retaliatory strike on Iran underscored the absence of appealing options available to him as Tehran races toward its next big challenge to the United States: building up and further enriching its stockpile of nuclear fuel,” the New York Times reports.
“Two weeks of flare-ups over the attacks on oil tankers and the downing of an American surveillance drone, administration officials said, have overshadowed a larger, more complex and fast-intensifying showdown over containing Iran’s nuclear program.”
“A new report of sexual assault committed by President Trump has come to light, but several major newspapers didn’t find the story important enough to place on their front pages,” Media Matters reports.
President Trump said Saturday that he was delaying planned weekend federal immigration raids to see if Congress can “work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
In a tweet, Mr. Trump said he was taking the action at the “request of Democrats,” adding that if no compromise with Republicans is reached within two weeks then “Deportations start!”
“Boris Johnson refused multiple times to answer questions at a Tory leadership hustings about why the police were called to his girlfriend’s house in the early hours of Friday morning following a domestic disturbance,” Politico reports.
Meanwhile, The Guardian reports the neighbor who contacted the police over a late-night altercation between Johnson, and his partner, Carrie Symonds, has gone public with his side of the story.
President Trump praised national security adviser John Bolton after the U.S. this week backed away from a potentially deadly confrontation with Iran, Politico reports.
Said Trump: “I disagree very much with John Bolton. His attitude in the Middle East and Iraq — was going into Iraq, I think that was a big mistake and I’ve been proven right but I’ve been against that forever. John Bolton is doing a very good job but he takes a generally tough posture.”
He added: “I have other people that don’t take that posture, but the only one that matters is me.”
President Trump “claimed again not to know the latest women to publicly accuse him of sexual assault, E Jean Carroll, after his claim on Friday that he had never met her was disproved by a photograph of them together at a party,” The Guardian reports.
“The photo was included in the New York magazine article in which Carroll, a writer and celebrated advice columnist, made public her allegation that Trump assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.”
Said Trump: “I have no idea who this woman is.”
“For those of you that have your phones on, if somebody starts tweeting about me – a 6ft 3 child in the White House – can you let me know?”
— London Mayor Sadiq Khan, quoted by The Independent.
Bloomberg: “Florida’s reputation as America’s tightest — and wildest — swing state should stay intact, as a battle over felons’ voting rights seems destined for the courts. At the least, it’s increasingly looking like Florida’s 1.4 million disenfranchised ex-convicts won’t be the potent voting bloc they might’ve been.”
“Seven months ago, almost two-thirds of voters approved Amendment 4, which restores registration rights to many felons. Florida had been one of three states, along with Kentucky and Iowa, where those convicted of a felony were permanently prohibited from registering without going through a lengthy clemency process, and many saw Floridians’ vote as bringing the state into the U.S. mainstream. Only those convicted of murder and sexual offenses still are excluded.”
Oregonian: “If the state Senate approves the landmark plan, Oregon would join seven other states with paid family or medical leave, Williamson said. That seemed likelihood, given House Bill 2005 was negotiated by businesses and paid leave advocates.”
“But it was thrown into doubt this week when Senate Republicans staged their second walkout this session, this time to block a scheduled vote on a climate change bill.”
“Republicans’ absence could kill not only that carbon-capping plan, House Bill 2020, but also paid family medical leave and a slew of other policy proposals, since any bills that have not passed both chambers would be wiped out after the June 30 state constitutional deadline for the Legislature to adjourn.”
Bill Maher made the case for Oprah Winfrey to run for president on his show last night.
Washington Post: “Joe Biden’s advisers have been preparing him for an onslaught. Bernie Sanders is looking to cut a clear contrast on policy. Pete Buttigieg hopes to appear as “something completely different.” And Elizabeth Warren is all but certain to arrive in Miami next week with yet another new plan.”
“As for the 16 other candidates preparing to take the stage at the first Democratic debates, most can’t wait for a second chance to make a first impression.”
“Nearly four years after Republicans captivated the nation with a 12-debate series starring Donald Trump that paved the way for a White House win, Democrats will finally get their chance to counterprogram with their own attempt at a ratings blockbuster. Unlike in 2015, when Democrats scheduled their debates on weekends, party leaders have done everything they can to elevate the importance of the event.”
New York Times: “For the first time in recent memory, a vote had been demanded on every amendment in a spending package, extending an already unwieldy and gridlocked process painfully late.”
“Dinners were rescheduled. Meetings — and a congressional baseball practice — were missed. Bleary-eyed members made pacts to keep one another awake on the House floor, as a series of two-minute votes last week rolled well into 1 a.m.”
“And almost everyone was mad at Rep. Chip Roy, the freshman Republican from Texas who was leading a campaign to force dozens of votes late into the night — a campaign that would span two weeks of House session.”
South Bend Tribune: ““One by one, people at the ‘Justice for South Bend’ rally Friday night confronted Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski, calling for everything from firing police officers to requiring more training programs for the city’s police force.”
“As the 150 or so demonstrators circled in, the event billed as a march actually spent its first 40 minutes in a tense discussion in front of police headquarters on West Sample Street.”
Shirley Newbill asked Buttigieg to act on her son’s death: “I have been here all my life, and you have not done a damn thing about me or my son or none of these people out here. It’s time for you to do something.’
Said another woman: “You’re running for president and you want black people to vote for you? That’s not going to happen.”
New York Times: “He heard from his generals and his diplomats. Lawmakers weighed in and so did his advisers. But among the voices that rang powerfully for President Trump was that of one of his favorite Fox News hosts: Tucker Carlson.”
“While national security advisers were urging a military strike against Iran, Mr. Carlson in recent days had told Mr. Trump that responding to Tehran’s provocations with force was crazy. The hawks did not have the president’s best interests at heart, he said. And if Mr. Trump got into a war with Iran, he could kiss his chances of re-election goodbye.”
Washington Post: “Trump’s decision to call off the strikes, citing the potential casualties, came as a surprise to Pentagon officials who had spent the late afternoon gearing up for the operation.”
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.
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