“Justice Clarence Thomas said Monday that he has ‘no idea’ where rumors started that he was going to retire from the Supreme Court this summer,” the Washington Post reports.
“Thomas, 70, did not actually say during a conversation before the Supreme Court Historical Society that he was staying on the court. But he made it sound as though rumors of his departure were groundless.”
President Trump has been greeted with giant projections of USS John McCain and Obama approval ratings on London landmarks during his state visit.
“A small group of House Republicans is leading a long-shot bid to get embattled Rep. Steve King (R-IA) back on his committee assignments after the Iowa Republican was booted for making racists remarks earlier this year,” Politico reports.
“The cadre of hard-line conservatives, spearheaded by Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), among others, has been trying to round up signatures for a draft petition that would force the GOP to consider reinstating King. The effort, however, has failed to garner enough support in the caucus.”
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Authorities investigating Flint’s water crisis have used search warrants to seize from storage the state-owned mobile devices of former Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and 65 other current or former officials, the AP reports.
One warrant lists all content from Snyder’s cellphone, iPad and computer hard drive.
“A key witness in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference has been indicted by federal officials on child pornography charges,” the Washington Post reports.
“George Nader, who had a previous criminal record on such charges, was charged in federal court in Virginia, and is expected to make an initial court appearance in New York.”
“Nader played an unusual role as a kind of liaison between Trump supporters, Middle East leaders, and Russians interested in making contact with the incoming administration in early 2017.”
The House Judiciary Committee announced that it would hold a series of hearings on the Mueller report beginning on June 10, Axios reports.
The first hearing will be titled, “Lessons from the Mueller Report: Presidential Obstruction and Other Crimes,” and will feature former White House counsel John Dean, whose cooperation in the Watergate scandal famously made him a star witness against President Richard Nixon.
Kevin Hassett told CNBC that the Trump administration’s tariffs on China and Mexico have nothing to do with his departure as the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Said Hassett: “This is something that’s been in the works for a little while.”
“Connecticut is poised to become the seventh state in the U.S. to provide paid time off to new parents and caregivers, adding further fuel to paid family leave as an issue in the 2020 elections,” the HuffPost reports.
“Democratic governor Ned Lamont plans to sign the bill ‘ASAP’… When he does, Connecticut will join New York and New Jersey in offering the benefit, effectively making the New York metropolitan area a paid family leave zone for new parents.”
“Lawmakers in the Louisiana House on Sunday refused to set a minimum age to marry in the state, an idea that drew strong opposition from the chamber’s conservatives,” the AP reports.
“The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s request to fast track a decision on whether it will hear a case over the president’s rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program,” The Hill reports.
“The justices, in an unsigned order, denied the request filed on behalf of the administration last month to expedite their decision on whether to review the case.”
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) “spoke on the phone with Hillary Clinton” last week, the Daily Beast reports.
“It was the first time the two had spoken about the 2020 campaign.”
The National Rifle Association slammed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who has yet to meet DNC’s new qualifications for later debates, suggesting she will “say anything” to get on the debate stage.
From the NRA tweet: “Gillibrand called us the worst org in the country, but when she represented NY20, she wrote us: ‘I appreciate the work that the NRA does to protect gun owners rights, and I look forward to working with you for many years.’ Now that she’s looking to crack 1%, she’ll say anything.”
Washington Post: “On her way to capturing the Republican nomination in 2014, now-Sen. Joni Ernst released one of the most memorable ads of the cycle. In it, she bragged about having castrated hogs while growing up on an Iowa farm and pledged to use those pork-cutting skills to ‘make ’em squeal’ in Washington.”
“On Monday, a new Democratic challenger to Ernst sought to turn her words against her.”
Proclaims Theresa Greenfield (D) in a video announcing her 2020 Senate bid: “Listen folks, she didn’t castrate anyone. She cast a vote to let the corporate lobbyists keep feasting like hogs at the trough.”
“Inflation hit 130,000 per cent in Venezuela last year, the country’s central bank has said in a rare official acknowledgement that the economy is in meltdown,” the Financial Times reports.
“In a series of spreadsheets published on its website, the bank said that Venezuelan gross domestic product contracted by 22.5% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018 — the most recent period for which figures were available.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan writes in The Observer that it is “un-British to be rolling out the red carpet” for President Trump.
“This is a man who tried to exploit Londoners’ fears following a horrific terrorist attack on our city, amplified the tweets of a British far-right racist group, denounced as fake news robust scientific evidence warning of the dangers of climate change, and is now trying to interfere shamelessly in the Conservative party leadership race by backing Boris Johnson because he believes it would enable him to gain an ally in Number 10 for his divisive agenda.”
“That’s why it’s so un-British to be rolling out the red carpet this week for a formal state visit for a president whose divisive behaviour flies in the face of the ideals America was founded upon – equality, liberty and religious freedom.”
Los Angeles Times: “There is a prevalent sense that for all her seeming potential, California’s charismatic U.S. senator has fallen short of expectation. The disappointment, observers say, stems in part from Harris’ failure to present a compelling case for her candidacy beyond her background as a prosecutor, her buoyant personality and a deep contempt — shared by others in the contest — for Trump.”
“Backers say Harris’ slow-and-steady approach is the right one for this early stage of the campaign, arguing that consistency on the trail and fundraising matter more than catchy sound bites or viral moments.”
“The leading liberal candidates — including Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — used their speeches in San Francisco to take digs at Joe Biden, who continues to lead in early national polls and skipped the convention to campaign in Ohio,” the Washington Post reports.
“Leftist candidates and activists have concluded they can no longer wait for Biden to fade on his own, as some once hoped.”
“Nor can they count on Democratic congressional leaders to fight Trump with all the tools at their disposal, without some prodding… But the power of their newly emboldened movement remains unclear. Even here in deep blue California, it faces hurdles. Late Saturday, the state party overwhelmingly elected a labor leader from the mainstream ranks of the party as its new chairman. He defeated a liberal activist backed by many Sanders supporters.”
Dave Weigel: “Bernie’s clout in the party might be overrated.”
Jared Kushner wouldn’t answer Jonathan Swan directly when asked if he disapproves of President Trump’s promotion of birtherism:
SWAN: Have you ever seen him say or do anything that you would describe as racist or bigoted?
KUSHNER: So, the answer is un — uh, no. Absolutely not. You can’t not be a racist for 69 years, then run for president and be a racist. What I’ll say is that, when a lot of the Democrats call the president a racist, I think they’re doing a disservice to people who suffer because of real racism in this country.
SWAN: Was birtherism racist?
KUSHNER: Um, look I wasn’t really involved in that.
SWAN: I know you weren’t. Was it racist?
KUSHNER: Like I said, I wasn’t involved in that.
SWAN: I know you weren’t. Was it racist?
KUSHNER: I know who the president is, and I have not seen anything in him that is racist. So, again, I was not involved in that.
SWAN: Did you wish he didn’t do that?
KUSHNER: Like I said, I was not involved in that. That was a long time ago.
Aaron Blake: “So for Kushner to dismiss it as trivial is to bury his own head in the sand. Kushner may not be a senior White House adviser without it. But of course, he didn’t really dismiss it; he actively sought to distance himself from it — which pretty much says it all.”
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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