Sen. Bernie Sanders pushed back against former Vice President Joe Biden’s claim that he has “the most progressive record” of any candidate in the Democratic presidential field, citing Biden’s votes as a member of the U.S. Senate as evidence that his views were not always in line with the nation’s liberals, ABC News reports.
Said Sanders: “I think if you look at Joe’s record and you look at my record, I don’t think there’s much question about who’s more progressive.”
“There’s so many nicknames I’m inclined to give this guy. You can just start with clown.”
— Joe Biden, quoted by Politico, when asked if he had a nickname for President Trump.
“California will send legislation to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk requiring presidential candidates to submit five years’ worth of tax returns in order to appear on the ballot, joining 18 other states in a jab at President Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns,” CNN reports.
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi does not believe President Trump can be removed through impeachment — the only way to do it, she said this week, is to defeat him in 2020 by a margin so big he cannot challenge the legitimacy of a Democratic victory,” the New York Times reports.
Said Pelosi: “We have to inoculate against that, we have to be prepared for that.”
Washington Post: “Trump and his allies, seeking to amplify claims that the FBI spied on his 2016 campaign, are seizing on news reports and statements by Attorney General William Barr to launch a political rallying cry they view as an antidote to special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings.”
“Dismissed by critics as an outlandish conspiracy theory, so-called ‘spygate’ is fast becoming a central feature of the Trump campaign as it seeks to go on offense in the wake of a report that identified 10 instances of potential obstruction of justice by Trump. The campaign is publicly calling for criminal investigations into former FBI officials, making ‘spygate’ fundraising pitches and selling spy-themed merchandise. The goal, officials said, is to turn the Russia probe into a political winner that could help him secure another term.”
“The number of Hispanic immigrants who claim to have worked without legal documents for the Trump Organization continues to grow,” Univision reports.
“Univision News interviewed seven undocumented employees who claim to have worked producing Trump wine in the state of Virginia, putting in long hours from sunrise to sunset, without overtime pay.”
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) announced he would retire at the end of his term next year, the Casper Star Tribune reports.
Said Enzi: “I have much to get done in the next year and a half. I want to focus on budget reform. I don’t want to be burdened by the distractions of another campaign. After this year, I’ll find other ways to serve.”
Washington Post: “As the economy continues to grow past what many predicted was possible, some analysts and officials are wondering if the current state of the economy is too good to be true — and that experts must be missing warning signs.”
New York Times: “There is no disagreement among Democrats about the urgency of defeating President Trump. But Mr. Biden’s singular focus on the president as the source of the nation’s ills, while extending an olive branch to Republicans, has exposed a significant fault line in the Democratic primary.”
“Democrats, like Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, see the president as a symptom of something deeper, both in a Republican Party overtaken by Trumpism and a nation cleaved by partisanship. Simply ousting Mr. Trump, they tell voters, is not enough.”
“It’s a debate that goes beyond the policy differences separating a moderate like Mr. Biden from an insurgent like Mr. Sanders, elevating questions about whether the old rules of inside-the-Beltway governance still apply. And it has thrown into stark relief one of the fundamental questions facing the Democratic electorate: Do Democrats want a bipartisan deal-maker promising a return to normalcy, or a partisan warrior offering more transformative change?”
“Four in ten North Koreans are chronically short of food and further cuts to already minimal rations are expected after the worst harvest in a decade,” Reuters reports.
“Official rations are down to 300 grammes – under 11 ounces – per person per day, the lowest ever for this time of year, the U.N. said following a food security assessment it carried out at Pyongyang’s request from March 29 to April 12.”
The Guardian: “To supporters, Pence is a loyal lieutenant smoothing Trump’s rough edges while steering America right. To critics he is a hypocrite and sycophant, the Uriah Heep of Washington.”
“What’s his game? Why does a devout Christian agree to be Trump’s running mate and continue to be his apologist in chief? It might be pure craving for power. Pence has harboured ambitions of becoming president ‘since he was 16 and I’m sure it has not varied’, his biographer, Michael D’Antonio, said by phone this week.”
Politico: “The bottom-up evolution of the slogan is a source of encouragement for the Warren campaign, perhaps a sign that the former Harvard professor’s policy-heavy bid is breaking through. Since January, she’s rolled out plans to break up tech companies, forgive over $600 billion in student loan debt, enact a 2 percent wealth tax, provide universal child care and more — lapping the Democratic field on both the volume and scope of policy proposals.”
“She regularly goes into the weeds when taking questions at town halls and sometimes cautions voters that she’s going to ‘nerd out’ for a bit. Some of her supporters see the approach as a way to distinguish her as a heavyweight in a crowded 2020 field. And Warren’s embrace of “I got a plan” has coincided with a rise in her poll numbers over the past two weeks.”
“Presidential candidates once boasted about their ability to bridge Washington’s partisan divide, and to accomplish great things by bringing together different factions,” Politico reports.
“But with Republicans likely to maintain control of the Senate in 2020 — and a new norm taking root after three successive administrations that aggressively wielded executive orders to make policy — Democratic candidates for president are starting to point more frequently to the ambitious things they’ll ram through on their own.”
“A $2 trillion infrastructure deal outlined this week by President Trump and top Democrats is already losing momentum, as the president’s own chief of staff is telling people inside and outside the administration that the effort is too expensive and unlikely to succeed,” the Washington Post reports.
“The tentative accord to repair the nation’s roads, revitalize mass transit and expand broadband systems was reached at a private White House meeting Tuesday between Trump and Democratic leaders in Congress, who said they were pleasantly surprised by the president’s willingness to back a large-scale spending effort.”
“But the initiative has run into immediate opposition from Republicans who balk at the hefty price tag and from conservative allies who are pushing lawmakers to block it.”
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) sent a letter to the Justice Department’s inspector general, requesting an investigation into whether Attorney General William Barr has acted upon requests or suggestions from President Trump or other White House officials to investigate the President’s “perceived enemies,” CNN reports.
Harris’ letter comes days after a heated exchange between the California Democrat and the attorney general, in which Barr parsed words to answer Harris’ question about whether the White House has “asked or suggested” that he open an investigation into anyone.
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.