Subject: POLITICO's 2016 Blast: Trump takes shelter from tax talk, denies posing as own spokesman — Another snub for Sanders — The GOP beef still isn't squashed
From: "POLITICO's 2016 Blast" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 13 May 2016 14:34:58 -0600

By Henry C. Jackson | 05/13/2016 04:32 PM EDT

READ MY LIPS: No (old) tax returns. DONALD TRUMP dug in Friday against growing pressure to release his tax history. While it has become common practice for major party nominees to release their returns, Trump repeated Friday that voters have no right to see his returns before November. As POLITICO's Nick Gass reports, Trump told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that his tax rate is "none of your business."

Trump and his allies have staked out a variety of positions on the potential release of the apparently voluminous documents, Gass notes, but the real estate mogul has generally stuck by his contention that he'll release them once the latest audit wraps up, hopefully before November. Trump has faced more pressure since nearly wrapping up the GOP nomination. Former GOP nominee Mitt Romney - who came under similar pressure to release his returns - called it a "disqualifying" decision. Read more at: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706ba513aebcf7be6a5be3d0a824fe4f3f4373b2513fadf5d938 

Happy Friday - and greetings from Lawrence, Kan. - your humble Blast author's ancestral home. Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk to you all, and here's your 2016 Blast. Henry C. Jackson (@henrycjjackson) is here to guide you through the day's campaign news, so send your tips, complaints and college basketball trash talk to: [email-masked]. 

2) HEARING VOICES: A Washington Post report today brought an interesting allegation against DONALD TRUMP - that he impersonated a company spokesman for his own brands under an alias - sometimes "John Miller" and sometimes "John Barron." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706b82988916bb83ae6b5976b40e7ed6f45ddc8ac61364dea466 The Post story is well-sourced and its headline is pretty unambiguous: "Trump masqueraded as publicist to to brag about himself." But Trump immediately denied the allegation, which dates back to the early '90s. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706b4eb7ab740c1628993733bf6b626f96255336a3e9ac4cbd8d "I don't know anything about it," he said. 

3) GOT IN ONE LITTLE FIGHT ... POLITICO's Daniel Strauss reports that it may be the Democrats' convention in Philadelphia that gets ugly. BERNIE SANDERS supporters are seething at what they believe is an attempt by DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to stack the deck for HILLARY CLINTON supporters. The latest issue, over assignment of seats to a DNC committee, is reviving longstanding complaints from Sanders supporters that his success is not being properly recognized and that party forces are moving to diminish his influence. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706bfeb5373f818a219dacf18f40d0d16523139dd2d9480c6ff7 This probably won't help: CBS reports Democrats are beginning to pressure Sanders to leave the race. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706b36ed47059c2368b8050c4f75b55a380e853970e4e7621753 

4) STILL SALTY: A pair of stories today that remind you, if nothing else, DONALD TRUMP securing the Republican nomination isn't exactly healing a fractured Republican party. First, POLITICO's Kenneth P. Vogel and Ben Schreckinger report on some fallout from the NeverTrump movement: Trump allies would now like to see operatives and vendors who tried to keep him from getting the nomination elbowed out of lucrative contracts. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706beb99c059ed357f7dd981f11b53043529e59850298b7d97ba And POLITICO's Eli Stokols looks at what didn't change after yesterday's barrage of photo-ops and handshakes on the Hill: A still-fraught relationship between establishment Republicans and DONALD TRUMP, despite Thursday's
 attempt to play nice. It's still not clear that the two will be able to productively co-exist. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706b727371cb6066c32e91e66c886c7e9e1830cc9bb911a73ec5

5) LISTEN UP: That was - well, that was an interesting week. May we suggest some outside help to make sense of it all? POLITICO's second "Nerdcast" ponders one of the big questions: Is DONALD TRUMP really making nice with the GOP? Listen to national editor Kristin Roberts, senior investigative reporter Ken Vogel, senior political correspondent Eli Stokols, senior politics editor Charlie Mahtesian and campaigns editor Scott Bland pick over that question - plus who Trump may be looking at for VP, what general election polling can tell us about how close the Fall race will be and why HILLARY CLINTON still can't put away BERNIE SANDERS. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706b1505039fb402cd73a89b4a9abe28dd54587c902a6daefbef

TRAIL MIX: Elsewhere on the campaign trail, DONALD TRUMP's former butler goes off, while Trump's energy plan runs through North Dakota. Bill Clinton picks a fight. Some BERNIE SANDERS bern too much. What TED CRUZ doesn't want. 

THE BUTLER DID IT: DONALD TRUMP's campaign disavowed a former butler after he said on Facebook that President Barack Obama should be killed by the military. (CNN) http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706b3c6ef647e3804b2059f9484ef6498e1846d1ae7192136f2e 

BLAST NOTE: This sentence above is pretty absurd.

CRAM SESSION: DONALD TRUMP has tapped Rep. Kevin Cramer, of North Dakota, to advise him on energy policy. He's a big skeptic of climate change. (Reuters) http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706bd8fc5ec6cddf4a8d80efea0102a5b8a5dde9f049b99967e4 

NOT A PRIME MEMBER: DONALD TRUMP accused Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos of using the Washington Post as a tax shelter. He also said he didn't think the paper's coverage is fair. (Gawker). http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706b29f30b6cea9b28a10c4c2f0d9f3da3b86faac66079d52f2e 

BIG DOG BARKS: Bill Clinton got into another heated exchange today about a crime bill that passed while he was President. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706bbd38310f18a425beaa52935122ec649d6ad5acc16abb80fa 

MAVERICK CHOICE: Irascible businessman/Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says he'd serve as HILLARY CLINTON's vice president. (Re/Code) http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706b23a0d67e16ab79aeaeff5b779df5fb1e6e41dedd3ff975a8

BLAST NOTE: Close enough. Plus it's Friday. Here's your Blast vice presidential selection theme: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706b89dacce595ebb57668ded61fedc3077fed573983035bd617 

BERNING UP INSIDE: These BERNIE SANDERS donors love him just a bit too much. (The Atlantic) http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706b428fdc5c23aad1e80f00b78808f89a6cf4a4cb5615ef5787 

NOT SUPREME: TED CRUZ says he doesn't want a Supreme Court appointment. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706ba9ec46d242d236c9e7adca76bdfb123b2b1a298ca77f2e99 

WHAT'S NEXT: HILLARY CLINTON heads to Kentucky this weekend. BERNIE SANDERS rallies in North Dakota today. 

THEY SAID IT: "He has elevated - he has created a dialogue around issues, which really is a powerful thing." - Ivanka Trump assessing her father, DONALD TRUMP's president candidacy. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706b34cf6d532277a571ef028c8d03b0bf1aba0b0b39bde38ad7 

MAGIC NUMBER: 3. That's the number of delegates, out of 45 offered, that Debbie Wasserman Schultz picked from BERNIE SANDERS' list for the Democratic National Convention's executive committee. 

FOLLOW @POLITICO'S politics team: @PoliticoCharlie, @POLITICO_Steve, @PoliticoAlex, @anniekarni, @GlennThrush, @EliStokols, @katieglueck, @schreckreports, @gdebenedetti, @Hadas_Gold, @ec_schneider, @kyledcheney , @theodoricmeyer, @MarcACaputo, @PoliticoKevin,@mikeallen, @dlippman, @Danielstrauss4, @henrycjjackson, @shanegoldmacher,@KristinPolitico, @PoliticoScott, @Patrick_C_Reis

There you go - now you're caught up on the 2016 race. You made it! YOU MADE IT!! This should be your mood rn: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=500a07711d10706b7c0b93863e3567914bb62c5de2f28cb75048d975e833bdf1 TBNR. We'll see you back here on Monday.

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