“He’s like Heath Ledger’s Joker — but without the operational excellence.”
— A senior G7 official, quoted by The Atlantic, about President Trump’s performance at the G7 summit.
Trump Says Any Agreement Will Be ‘Spur of the Moment’
President Trump said that any agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at next week’s summit would be “spur of the moment,” Reuters reports.
Said Trump: “I have a clear objective, but I have to say – it’s going to be something that will always be spur of the moment. You don’t know. This has not been done before at this level.”
He added: “I think within the first minute I’ll know. Just my touch, my feel. That’s what I do.”
Meanwhile, Axios reports Trump “is willing to consider establishing official relations with North Korea and even eventually putting an embassy in Pyongyang.”
McCain Voices Support for Allies
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) reached out to U.S. allies in the aftermath of President Trump lashing out at the G7 summit.
McCain tweeted: “To our allies: bipartisan majorities of Americans remain pro-free trade, pro-globalization & supportive of alliances based on 70 years of shared values. Americans stand with you, even if our president doesn’t.”
Kim Arrives In Singapore for Summit with Trump
“Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, arrived in Singapore on Sunday, two days ahead of his planned summit meeting with President Trump,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Kim arrived on an Air China flight, raising questions about the flight-worthiness of North Korea’s aging fleet of mostly Soviet-built planes. This is the farthest that Mr. Kim has traveled since he took power in 2011.”
Putin Ready for His Own Summit with Trump
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to meet President Trump as soon as Washington was ready, adding Vienna could be a possible venue for such a summit, AFP reports.
Said Putin: “As soon as the American side is ready this meeting would take place depending on my working schedule of course. The US president himself repeatedly said that he would consider such a meeting helpful. I can confirm this. It’s true.”
Trump Refuses to Sign G7 Statement
“President Trump upended two days of global economic diplomacy late Saturday, refusing to sign a joint statement with America’s allies, threatening to escalate his trade war on the country’s neighbors and deriding Canada’s prime minister as ‘very dishonest and weak,’” the New York Times reports.
“In a remarkable pair of acrimony-laced tweets from aboard Air Force One as he flew away from the Group of 7 summit toward a meeting with North Korea’s leader, Mr. Trump lashed out at Justin Trudeau. He accused the prime minister, who hosted the seven-nation gathering, of making false statements.”
Bloomberg: “His comments undermine the G-7, a bloc that was once a pillar of U.S. foreign policy and has long acted as a defender of the global economic system. It could also cause fresh friction with his northern neighbor as tensions percolate over efforts to redraw the North American Free Trade Agreement.”
2020 Hopefuls Already Scrambling for Donors
New York Times: “It will be months before Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris, Ms. Warren or most potential presidential aspirants will barnstorm across the farmlands of Iowa, dig into a low-country boil in South Carolina or field questions at a town-hall meeting in New Hampshire.”
“But with American presidential races requiring an ever-dizzying amount of money, an early, behind-the-scenes 2020 contest is already taking place: the New York money primary.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“As for North Korea, he bragged yesterday that he didn’t prepare for his summit with Kim Jong Un. Didn’t prepare! Of course, when has he ever prepared for anything? This guy didn’t bring a condom to fuck a porn star.”
— Bill Maher, quoted by the Daily Beast.
Coats Warns Russia Is Trying to Influence Midterms
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Atlantic Council that Russia “is attempting to influence the midterm elections in the United States in November as well as divide the transatlantic alliance.”
Coats said Russia had already undertaken an “unprecedented influence campaign to interfere in the US electoral and political process” in 2016 and has also meddled in France, Germany, Norway, Spain, and Ukraine.
He added: “These Russian actions are purposeful and premeditated and they represent an all-out assault, by Vladimir Putin, on the rule of law, Western ideals and democratic norms.”
Trudeau Slams Trump Over Tariffs
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “sharply criticized President Trump’s tariffs and promised Canada would answer with its own on July 1 unless the United States reversed course,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trudeau: “I highlighted directly to the president that Canadians did not take it lightly that the United States has moved forward with significant tariffs on our steel and aluminum industry. Particularly, they did not take lightly that it’s for a national security reason that for Canadians … who stood shoulder to shoulder with American soldiers in far off lands in conflicts from the first World War onwards, it’s kind of insulting.”
He added: “Canadians, we’re polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.”
Summer Zervos Case Might Be Most Dangerous for Trump
The Hill: “A ruling by a New York state judge this week said Trump can be deposed in the defamation lawsuit filed by Summer Zervos, the former contestant who has accused Trump of unwanted advances.”
“Some see the legal fight, which has received less publicity than other cases, as the most dangerous to Trump because it could lead to testimony where he’d risk lying or making a misstatement under oath.”
Macron Leaves a Mark
A Reuters photo shows the imprint of French President Emmanuel Macron’s thumb on the back of President Trump’s hand after they shook hands at the G7.
Democrats Seek Criminal Investigation Into Pruitt
Six House Democrats asked the FBI to launch a criminal investigation into EPA chief Scott Pruitt for reportedly using his office in a bid to secure work for his wife, the Washington Post reports.
In a letter, the lawmakers said Pruitt had used his office for “the personal gain of himself and his family, in violation of federal law.”
Quote of the Day
“The relationship that I’ve had with the people, the leaders of these countries has been — I would really rate it on the scale of zero to 10, I would rate it a 10.”
— President Trump, quoted by the New York Times, on his meetings with G7 leaders.
The One Policy Trump Really Believes
Jonathan Swan: “The biggest key to understanding Trump’s dogmatism on trade is that even as he switched political parties and changed his views on issue after issue, his one consistent stance over 40 years is that other countries are ‘ripping off the United States’ in trade deals, as he put it in 1987.”
“This is the one thing the president really believes, with his protectionist roots going back to the union-friendly environment where his father, Fred, courted Democratic pols.”
“Nobody can claim to be surprised about what Trump is now doing. It’s everything he promised during the campaign.”
The Washington Post quotes Trump at the G7 meetings: “We’re the piggy bank that everybody is robbing. And that ends.”
Father Separated from Child at Border Kills Himself
“A Honduran father separated from his wife and child suffered a breakdown at a Texas jail and killed himself in a padded cell last month, according to Border Patrol agents and an incident report filed by sheriff’s deputies,” the Washington Post reports.
“The death of Marco Antonio Muñoz, 39, has not been publicly disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security, and did not appear in any local news accounts. But according to a copy of a sheriff’s department report obtained by The Washington Post, Muñoz was found on the floor of his cell May 13 in a pool of blood with an item of clothing twisted around his neck.”
House GOP Makes Little Progress on Immigration
Playbook: “The push to craft a GOP immigration bill in the House is not going well, to say the least. The GOP leadership — including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — hosted a meeting yesterday between moderates and conservatives in the Capitol to try to craft a compromise to avoid a wide-ranging, bipartisan immigration debate that would come to the floor this month.”
“We spoke to a bunch of people after the meeting, who tell us this surprising nugget: the pathway to citizenship is not the thorniest issue at the moment. Interior enforcement — and how far Republicans should go on that front — is a big point of disagreement. That’s not to say the other items are all solved.”
“Meanwhile, the discharge petition is really spooking Republican leadership at the moment. The prospect that the Dream Act could pass the House a few months before the election could deeply split the leadership.”
Florida Had No Gun Background Checks for a Year
“For more than a year, the state of Florida failed to conduct national background checks on tens of thousands of applications for concealed weapons permits, potentially allowing drug addicts or people with a mental illness to carry firearms in public,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.
“The employee in charge of the background checks could not log into the system… The problem went unresolved until discovered by another worker in March 2017 — meaning that for more than a year applications got approved without the required background check.”
“Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam (R) has made it a priority to speed up the issuing of concealed weapons permits since he was elected in 2010… Now running for Florida governor as a Republican, Putnam’s campaign touts his expansion of concealed carry permits as one of his top accomplishments.”
