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“The friendship between former first lady Michelle Obama and former President George W. Bush was on display again Thursday at the Obama Presidential Center’s opening ceremony in Chicago,” CBS News reports.
“Ahead of the ceremony, Bush gifted Obama a tin of Altoids in a callback to one of their viral moments at the funeral for Sen. John McCain in 2018. The former president was caught sneaking Obama what was later said to be a cough drop during the funeral.”
“When Gavin Newsom made the startling announcement on Monday that he and his wife were under federal investigation, the California governor turned to a well-worn strategy: making political hay out of confrontation with President Trump,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Newsom, a Democrat, said in a social-media video that Trump was behind the Justice Department probe ‘because I am considering running for president.’ Less than three hours later, Newsom’s political-action committee sent out a fundraising plea urging supporters to help him ‘stand up to Trump and fight off this political witch hunt.'”
“Since Trump’s return to the White House, Newsom has used his bully pulpit to position himself as one of the most prominent faces of the Democratic Party’s resistance to the president.”
Mediaite: Gavin Newsom rages at Trump amid DOJ investigation.
The Economist: “The news is full of how an ignominious peace deal with Iran exemplifies a decline in American power. That conclusion could hardly be more wrong.”
“On June 12th the Trump administration ordered Anthropic to block foreigners from Fable and Mythos, its latest and most capable frontier AI models. In an instant, everyone learned that the American government can decide who may use the world’s most important technology. You don’t get much more powerful than that…”
“America must decide how to wield this vast new power. The rest of the world must decide what to do about it. Even as it plans for an unreliable America in everything from defence to trade, it now has to cope with a new way of being captive to the world’s biggest economy.”
Fast Company: Trump keeps kneecapping the U.S.’s most promising AI models.
President Trump privately called Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick a “pussy” after Lutnick pushed back on Trump’s obsession with tariffs at the height of the “Liberation Day” chaos, Politico reports.
Said Trump: “I remember when you were thirty-five, you were a killer. And now, you’ve got your beautiful wife, and your big house, and you’re just soft. And you’re a pussy. You know what you are? You’re a pussy.’”
“The Reflecting Pool on the National Mall has become the country’s most high-profile science experiment, with workers battling against nature,” The Atlantic reports.
“After a week of combat, they have essentially killed off one type of algae infesting the pool, only to create the conditions for a new type to take over. And Scenedesmus, a genus of green algae nicknamed ‘Skinny Dead Mouse’ by scientists, is now flourishing.”
“The Justice Department on Friday refused to issue a signed declaration from acting Attorney General Todd Blanche verifying that it no longer intends to pursue President Donald Trump’s ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund,'” ABC News reports.
“The DOJ’s refusal comes after a federal judge last week gave the administration seven days to verify in a declaration that it wouldn’t create the controversial fund.”
CNBC: DOJ rebuffs judge’s request to put in writing it won’t move forward with anti-weaponization fund.
“The Air Force on Friday unveiled the Boeing 747-8 that will serve as the new Air Force One, giving the public the first look at the $400 million luxury plane the U.S. accepted as a gift from the Qatari government last year,” CBS News reports.
“The Air Force said in a release that the aircraft will begin ‘commissioning flights’ before entering into active service to transport the president.”
NewsNation: White House officials bid farewell to Air Force One planes used since 1990.
President Trump raged on Truth Social on Friday about his fragile peace deal with Iran.
Said Trump: “We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did. They are FINISHED! We’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!”
He added: “The War has diminished Iran! It doesn’t, any longer, have an Air Force, a Navy, Antiaircraft Equipment, Radar, or practically anything else, and yet the Dumocrats say that Iran is better off now than it was four months ago. Can you imagine getting away with that??? How stupid can some people be???”
“If you give Donald Trump an IQ test with the other 45, 46, presidents that the United States has had, I guarantee he’d be either near the top or at the top. The entire American media in 2016 had convinced me, at least, that he was not a smart person.”
— Vice President JD Vance, quoted by the Daily Beast.
Wall Street Journal: “Within days of the pool’s reopening, algae blooms coated the floor with a thick residue reminiscent of the neon green slime left behind by the Ghostbusters. Some of that algae has floated to the top and is streaking the surface.”
“That has attracted a parade of onlookers eager to see and, in some cases, diagnose the situation. The pool’s evolving shades of green have caused a stir on social media with many mocking the results of Trump’s pet project.”
New York Times: “In the first three months of the year, President Trump’s brokerage accounts placed more than 3,600 trades, as they bought and sold a wide variety of stocks and bonds, according to a disclosure form released last month.”
“On the surface, it appeared to be an unusual trading spree. In prior months, Mr. Trump typically reported a couple hundred trades or fewer. One disclosure last year showed only 25.”
“The cost to repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has ballooned to more than $14.65 million — exceeding the original estimated cost of the no-bid contract by more than $4 million, according to federal contract data,” ABC News reports.
“In addition to the repainting by Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the National Park Service paid $1.74 million to Green Water Solutions, an Ohio-based company, earlier this year to install a ‘nano bubble’ system to kill algae, using a similar no-bid contract to speed up the work in time for Fourth of July celebrations.”
Mediaite: Owner of company responsible for part of Trump’s Reflecting Pool renovation pleaded guilty to bribery.
“The relationship between President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans neared a breaking point this week as he upended their efforts to speedily confirm one of his own nominees and said he would not sign the renewal of a key surveillance law unless they agree to new terms,” Associated Press reports.
“The open tensions are an almost complete reversal from a year ago when Senate Republicans worked closely with Trump on a complicated effort to push through his massive package of spending and tax cuts.”
“You know, they call it a memorandum of understanding. It’s actually an instrument of surrender. We started a war and we surrendered. Let’s be very clear about that. And let’s give Trump credit where credit’s due. He did what Lyndon Johnson did not do in do in Vietnam — just get out. He didn’t do what Bush and even Obama did in Afghanistan — just get out. You understand? I think the best thing Biden ever did was just leave Afghanistan, and I’ll give Trump credit. He saw this thing was going the wrong way, and he just quit and got out, and then sometimes you gotta do that.”
— James Carville, on NewsNation.
Bloomberg: “Both countries have cast the memorandum of understanding — signed by the two countries’ leaders on June 17 — as a victory for their side. Analysts suggest that Iran came out on top by securing new sanctions relief and funds for reconstruction.”
“The U.S., on the other hand, only secured the reopening of a waterway — the Strait of Hormuz — that was operating normally before the war, and got concessions on Iran’s nuclear program that Tehran has made before.”
Los Angeles Times: Long list of U.S. concessions to Iran raises specter of a “lost war.”
“Assessments that Ukraine has reached a turning point in the conflict with Russia may well prove premature. But the towering dome of black smoke that hung over Moscow this week after a Ukrainian drone onslaught showed that Kyiv still has plenty of cards to play, no matter President Trump’s earlier appraisal of its prospects in the war,” the New York Times reports.
“The strikes on Moscow left part of the city’s biggest oil refinery in flames. An immense blast sent the top of a fuel storage vessel soaring into the air — and blew the roof off the idea that Russia could continue to shield Muscovites from the war.”
Bloomberg: Ukraine’s biggest strike on Moscow brings fears of fuel shortage.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked a firestorm of criticism on Friday by declaring “all of Lebanon must burn” after four Israeli soldiers were killed by Hezbollah in the country, Mediaite reports.
“Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a fresh ceasefire, after fighting between the two foes once again threatened to derail a broader diplomatic push to end the war in the Middle East,” the Financial Times reports.
Semafor: US warns Israel against disrupting deal with Iran.
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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