Bloomberg: “He’s at the NBA Finals. He’s hosting UFC fights on the White House lawn. He’s planning a rally featuring himself for the country’s 250th birthday celebrations. He — and his border policies — loom over the World Cup.”

“He hosted the Kennedy Center Honors, popped up at the US Open, was the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl, and almost single-handedly made Kid Rock a thing again. (His NBA Finals trip was also a presidential first.)”

“Trump is not just the chief executive or commander-in-chief. He’s a cultural force in a way that few, if any, presidents have been before.”

NOTUS: “A growing number of federal agencies are either refusing to provide the Government Accountability Office access to information or ignoring the congressional watchdog altogether…”

“Officials at a May meeting cited the Office of Management and Budget, Housing and Urban Development, the Commerce Department, the Education Department and the Small Business Administration as particularly noncooperative.”

Sen. John Cornyn was not consoled when President Trump professed on social media that the senior Republican from Texas would “remain my friend for a long time to come” after the president had enthusiastically endorsed the man who defeated Mr. Cornyn, ending his Senate career, the New York Times reports.

Said Cornyn: “If that’s the way friends treat you, you wonder about his enemies.”

He added: “It’s going to make things harder, certainly more expensive in Texas, and make it harder around the country. I don’t say that with any sort of desire for vengeance; I just think that’s the way it’s going to be. He’s going to have the most miserable two years of his life in the last two years of his term, I think, because I think November is going to be a disaster.”

“President Trump and his allies have discussed pushing lawmakers to pass a resolution aimed at voiding his first-term impeachments,” the Wall Street Journal reports. 

“The resolution would allow Trump to claim a symbolic victory on a matter that has dogged him since his first term, part of a broader effort to burnish his presidential legacy. It would have little legal significance, however, because the Constitution provides no procedure for undoing an impeachment, according to experts.”

Washington Post: “The Kennedy Center’s board voted to fight a federal judge’s order to remove President Donald Trump’s name from the performing arts center, less than 36 hours before the deadline to take it down.”

New York Times: “The White House welcomed reporters and influencers from around the world onto the South Lawn for half an hour on Thursday morning to inspect the towering, claw-like superstructure that has been built there for the Ultimate Fighting Championship bout that President Trump is hosting on his 80th birthday this weekend.”

“While the president sat inside the White House, fulminating about the war in Iran — “We will be taking Kharg Island,” he threatened online — dozens of people wandered dazedly inside the monsterama he built out back, trying to get a sense for how Sunday’s showdown will play out. It is sure to be a night unlike any other in Washington history.”

CNN: “The numbers ‘8647’ — a phrase generally used to signal opposition to President Donald Trump — appeared etched into the grass on the National Mall on Thursday, days before massive crowds are expected in the area for a UFC match on Trump’s birthday on Sunday.”

“Congress is increasingly defying Donald Trump’s agenda as Republicans race against a ticking clock to keep their trifecta heading into November,” Politico reports. 

“Trump’s made a spate of calls for sweeping changes that have fallen flat on the Hill in recent months. His push to eliminate the filibuster doesn’t have the votes, a fact Senate Majority Leader John Thune has repeated. Calls to replace the Senate parliamentarian landed on deaf ears. And it’s a big zilch on his push to eliminate the blue slip privilege on judicial nominations.”

NBC News: “Jacob Reses, the chief of staff to Vice President JD Vance, will leave the administration at the end of the summer.”

Sarah Fitzpatrick: “Behind the scenes, Justice Department and other Trump-administration officials have quietly assured allies that plans for some form of payout remain on track.”

“I spoke with eight people familiar with the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund—including current and former Justice Department officials, current and former members of Congress, a defense attorney, and political operatives close to the administration. All said that Justice Department officials and people close to the White House have indicated that the payout idea has not actually been scrapped.”

“Rather, they say, officials are exploring whether elements of the fund can be reactivated while also examining alternative arrangements to make sure loyalists get compensated.”

Michael Scherer: “The Trump administration broke an agreement to fund the bipartisan semiquincentennial celebrations, saying they will not ‘light taxpayer money on fire.'”

“Knives are out in some capacity. I mean, people are stabbing people. Like, it’s chaos. The chaos is like creeping back.”

— A political operative close to the White House, quoted by Politico.

Associated Press: “President Donald Trump’s planned UFC fight on the White House’s South Lawn has required a monumental effort from more than seven federal agencies, hundreds of staff working onsite daily and at least $60 million, according to a legal filing that offers a glimpse into the preparations.”

President Trump is “increasingly frustrated with everyone, from his own team to the Senate,” an operative close to the White House told Playbook.

Said the source: “He’s pissed, and people are not recognizing the level of pissed that he is.”

The operative added: “He does not like being put in a box. When you put him in a box, then Trump’s going to blow the box up.”

“Trump is increasingly turning to a small group of loyalists and informal advisers who can reach him directly amid a broader understaffed and closed-off White House operation.”

NOTUS: “President Donald Trump’s big birthday bash for America is hitting more speedbumps, as at least six states plan to sit out the Great American State Fair.”

“Days after an exodus of musical acts, officials from Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Oregon told NOTUS they won’t officially send a delegation to the 16-day fair, one of the most high-profile celebrations of the nation’s 250th birthday this summer.”

“At least three other states — Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington — remain uncommitted just two weeks before the fair is scheduled to open June 25 on the National Mall.”

Washington Post: “For George H.W. Bush’s first medical checkup as president in 1989, he was seen by five specialists, the White House said at the time. His son George W. Bush was seen by 12 in his first presidential checkup, White House officials said a dozen years later.”

“President Donald Trump appears to have set a new bar: 22 medical specialists assessed him as part of his latest checkup.”

“That figure is nearly double the number of specialists who assessed Trump for his past medical checkups as president, according to a review of publicly available statements by Trump’s doctors.”

Axios: “President Trump’s top aides so feared leaks about their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files that they held multiple damage-control meetings in the classified confines of the Situation Room, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan write in Regime Change, their hotly awaited book about Trump’s second term.”

“In a New York Times Magazine excerpt, posted today ahead of the book’s publication on June 23, the two Times reporters describe in cinematic detail how top Trump officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, gathered in the Situation Room last summer to debate how to manage the growing scandal.”

“The White House is now abuzz over the leak about leak control.”

Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump

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