Subject: DNC Clips 5.5.2016
From: "Palermo, Rachel" <[email-masked]>
To: "Palermo, Rachel" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 May 2016 04:52:01 -0700

WEATHER: 60F, Cloudy
POTUS and the Administration

Obama laments 'corrosive attitude' in U.S. politics<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/barack-obama-flint-michigan-visit-222811>
POLITICO // NICK GASS
President Barack Obama on Wednesday delivered a deeply emotional and at times personal plea to the people of Flint, Michigan, to find hope in their future and not get lost in anger over the water supply crisis that has poisoned many of their children with lead. In a speech that veered off script and went much longer than planned, the outgoing president also railed against Republicans not willing to invest in communities that have been left to crumble away. "It's not enough just to fix the water. We've got to fix the culture of neglect," Obama said, remarking that it has "degraded too many schools and too many roads and hurt too many futures." The speech, which came after the president spent much of the day visiting with members of the mostly African-American city of Flint, tapped into Obama's background as a community organizer and served as a potential preview of where the president might focus his efforts after leaving the White House.

Obama jabs at Trump on immigration<http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/278796-obama-jabs-at-trump-on-immigration>
THE HILL // JORDAN FABIAN
President Obama on Wednesday took a jab at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump over his harsh rhetoric about immigrants.  Speaking at an event honoring Asian-American and Pacific Islander students and leaders, Obama called on them to vote to push back against a "rising tide of bigotry" against immigrants. "If you doubt what's at stake, you obviously haven't been reading the papers," Obama said at the Asian Pacific American Institute of Congressional Studies gala in Washington. The president said if Asian-Americans exercise their political power, they can help the country "move beyond today's anti-immigrant sentiment" just like past generations did. "We've got to push back against anti-immigrant sentiment in all of its forms," he said. "Especially by those who are trying to stoke it just to seek political gain and just to try to get headlines." The president's line about headline seekers, a clear shot at Trump, drew a raucous ovation from the crowd gathered at the Washington Hilton.

Obama in Flint: water crisis is a 'tragedy that never should have happened'<http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/04/barack-obama-flint-michigan-water-crisis>
THE GUARDIAN // RYAN FELTON
The Flint water crisis was a "tragedy that never should have happened" in the US, Barack Obama said Wednesday during his first visit to the city since evidence of lead contamination emerged last fall, while residents jeered Michigan's governor in his first public remarks before the community. "Flint's recovery is everybody's responsibility," the president told a crowd of 1,000 gathered inside a high school gymnasium. "And I will make sure that responsibility is met." The president focused his remarks on what he called a "corrosive" mentality in politics that "contributed to this crisis". "Now, I do not believe that anybody consciously wanted to hurt the people," he said. "And this is not the place to sort out every screwup ... but I do think there's a larger issue.

Obama Blames Antipathy Toward Government for Flint Water Crisis<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-05-04/obama-blames-antipathy-toward-government-for-flint-water-crisis>
BLOOMBERG // ANGELA GREILING KEANE AND MIKE DORNING
Widespread water contamination in Flint, Michigan, was a "man-made disaster" brought about in part by a political preference for small government, President Barack Obama in a visit on Wednesday to the city. In a speech to about 1,000 residents, Obama urged them to resist assumptions that their children have been permanently harmed by consuming water with lead, and blamed "a mindset that believes that less government is the highest good, no matter what." He didn't mention Michigan's Republican governor, Rick Snyder, who addressed the audience earlier and professes the virtues of smaller government. Snyder has borne much of the blame for the contamination. "I do not believe that anybody consciously wanted to hurt the people in Flint, and this is not the place to sort every screw-up that resulted in contaminated water," Obama said. "This myth that government is always the enemy -- that forgets that our government is us, that it's an extension of us, ourselves. That attitude is as corrosive to democracy as the stuff that resulted in lead in your water."

Democrats

Dems: Trump wins us the Senate and Garland<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/democrats-trump-supreme-court-222797#ixzz47jyn1SwL>
POLITICO // EDWARD ISAAC DOVERE
Donald Trump threw a big party Tuesday night. So did every Democrat running for Senate.
The party's Senate candidates are brimming with excitement about spending the next six months hitting their opponents with Trump - and being able to tie their case together by saying that Republicans' opposition to President Barack Obama's Supreme Court pick means they want a President Trump to fill the vacancy. "Here's where we are: If I were Trump or I were [Mitch] McConnell or I were Paul Ryan, the first thing I'd say is, 'Listen, let's take one issue off the table quickly: Let's have hearings on Garland. Let's have a vote and put him on the court,'" Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in an interview Wednesday. He added, "Every Republican candidate will now have to answer for every racist and every anti-woman and every anti-immigrant statement. There are so many other issues than Trump, but Trump is the No. 1 issue."

Democrats in frenzy to take advantage of Trump's Republican ascension<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-in-frenzy-to-take-advantage-of-trumps-republican-ascension/2016/05/04/3011181a-1210-11e6-8967-7ac733c56f12_story.html>
WASHINGTON POST // PAUL KANE AND MIKE DEBONIS
Congressional Democrats set out on a mission Wednesday to tie Donald Trump to every possible Republican running in competitive down-ballot races, following the real estate mogul's elevation to the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee. In memos, in news releases and across social media, Democrats tried to take advantage of Trump's unchallenged hold on the presidential nomination by linking Republican incumbents to his controversial statements and proposals on the campaign trail. Democrats believe Trump's triumph will allow them to make electoral inroads that could flip the Senate to their control and provide major gains in the House. "The bottom line is, the battlefield is going to shift in our favor," Kelly Ward, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Wednesday. Her committee issued a memo to the Colorado news media highlighting Trump's positions and how they will play in the highly competitive race involving Rep. Mike Coffman (R), who represents Denver's eastern suburbs. The memo was headlined "Coffman and Trump: Welcome to the Trump ticket."

Democrats tie Trump to vulnerable GOP Senate candidates<http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/04/politics/donald-trump-senate-republican-democrats/>
CNN // TED BARRETT
Democrats got the Republican presidential nominee they hoped for this week as they work to take back control of the Senate. As soon as Donald Trump gained the presumptive nominee title -- following his Indiana primary win Tuesday -- Democrats swiftly moved to tie the GOP standard-bearer to vulnerable Republican Senate candidates. Many had kept a distance from the billionaire businessman even as they acknowledged they would eventually support whoever wins the GOP nomination. "This is no longer a drill," said a series of press releases from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington aimed at eight Republican senate candidates that argued GOP inaction on Judge Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court meant the unpredictable Trump could be the one to fill that vacancy. One of those targeted was Sen. Kelly Ayotte New Hampshire who is in a tight re-election battle against the Democratic governor of that swing state, Maggie Hassan.

Republicans
Hill GOP braces for Trump<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/trump-house-republicans-222812>
POLITICO // JAKE SHERMAN AND RACHEL BADE
Many of them are still in shock, and some of the chattiest of them won't answer their telephones. But slowly, Hill Republicans are coming to grips with a Donald Trump-driven Republican Party, and they are already strategizing how to navigate it. There have been informal conversations between figures in Trump's universe and top House Republicans, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the talks. Senior party officials don't expect the House GOP to fully embrace their party's nominee, but instead concentrate on Speaker Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) agenda, which stands in sharp contrast to Trump's sometimes harsh policy platform. In the Senate, all five Republican leaders indicated Wednesday that they would support Trump as the eventual nominee. And on both sides of the Rotunda, members from various corners of the House and Senate Republican conferences began jumping aboard the Trump Train - including at least two who endorsed Trump for the first time in POLITICO interviews Wednesday. "I am totally and completely looking forward to President Trump - he's our nominee," said Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), a committee chairwoman who is leaving Congress to run for Macomb County public works commissioner in the heart of Reagan Democrat country. "I believe in the good sense of the American people, the voters, and clearly the voters in our party in enormous numbers have chosen Trump as the nominee. ... It's over."

Mitch McConnell issues tepid endorsement of Donald Trump<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-222826#ixzz47jxWOsVX>
POLITICO // HANNA TRUDO
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered a lukewarm endorsement of Donald Trump on Wednesday, a day after the real estate tycoon knocked his rivals out of the Republican presidential primary. "I have committed to supporting the nominee chosen by Republican voters, and Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee, is now on the verge of clinching that nomination," McConnell said in a terse, 75-word statement issued at around 8 p.m. "Republicans are committed to preventing what would be a third term of Barack Obama and restoring economic and national security after eight years of a Democrat in the White House," the Kentucky Republican continued. Trump now has "the opportunity and the obligation to unite our party around our goals," McConnell concluded.

George W. and George H. W. Bush to skip convention<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/278781-george-w-bush-to-skip-convention>
THE HILL // BEN KAMISAR
Both Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush will not attend this summer's Republican convention, spokesmen confirmed to The Hill.  The younger George Bush's spokesman, Freddy Ford, told The Hill in an email that the most recent Republican president "does not intend to attend" the convention in Cleveland. Ford also told The Associated Press that Bush does "not plan to participate in or comment on" the presidential race. George H.W. Bush's spokesman confirmed that the former president would not be attending either, citing his age. Neither Bush attended the 2012 Republican convention. Many speculated the younger Bush chose not to appear at that convention to avoid links with nominee Mitt Romney, as Bush's favorability rating had not yet recovered from his time in office.  But now, Bush is looked upon more fondly by Americans, topping President Obama's favorability rating in 2015.

Priebus: I think Trump knows 'this is a different ball game now'<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/278787-priebus-i-think-trump-understands-this-is-a-different>
THE HILL // REBECCA SAVRANSKY
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Wednesday that he thinks presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump knows things will change heading into the general election. "I get the sense that he understands that this is a different ball game now," Priebus said on Fox News on Wednesday, noting that he's spoken to Trump a couple of times since he easily won the Indiana primary and Priebus declared him the presumptive nominee. Ted Cruz and John Kasich both suspended their campaigns in light of the results. "This is not primary season. This is not pointing fingers at each other. This is about winning the White House, about our country, about Hillary Clinton, and I think he gets that," Priebus said. Priebus admitted that this was a contentious primary but said Trump will now have the opportunity to "be presidential" and to talk to the American people about his ideas. "It was 17 candidates. Feelings are still very raw," Priebus said. "I'm not pretending that this isn't going to take a while. We had campaigns that were serious operations, that were very deep and a lot of money was spent." But Priebus said the Republican candidates now won't be focusing on one another but rather on the Democratic opponent.

Nikki Haley signals support for Trump<http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/05/nikki-haley-donald-trump-222819>
POLITICO // DANIEL STRAUSS
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday tried to dispel any speculation that she would be Donald Trump's running mate, but she also signaled she would support him in the general election. "I have great respect for the will of the people, and as I have always said, I will support the Republican nominee for president," Haley said Wednesday, according to the Charleston Post and Courier. "To the members of the press who are asking, while I am flattered to be mentioned and proud of what that says about the great things going on in South Carolina, my plate is full and I am not interested in serving as vice president." Haley's comments came a day after Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out of the GOP primary for president and the same day that Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced that he was ending his campaign, leaving front-runner Trump on a certain course for the Republican nomination. Haley has often been mentioned as a vice presidential prospect. She previously supported Sen. Marco Rubio and then Cruz after Rubio dropped out of the primary.

Vulnerable GOP senators duck and cover from Trump<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/2016-senate-republicans-say-nothing-on-trump-222795#ixzz47jzAfsj7>
POLITICO // JOHN BRESNAHAN
At 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Sen. Rob Portman - facing a tough reelection battle against a popular former Democratic governor - strongly reaffirmed his support for John Kasich as the GOP presidential nominee. Twenty minutes later, news broke that Kasich was out of the race. Kasich's decision was just a formality, but it left businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump without any opponent and cemented his hold on the GOP presidential nomination. For Portman and other Senate Republicans up for reelection in 2016, the clock has run out. There's no place left to hide on Trump. Like it or not, the next five months will mean a steady diet of Trump, Trump and more Trump. With 24 GOP-held Senate seats up for grabs in November - including in swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire - Trump is a wild card that Republicans have tried to avoid dealing with for months. They're still ducking the question, but they can't avoid the reality for long. These GOP senators will head into the general election with Trump on the top ticket, and Democrats using every chance they can to tie them to him.

2016 Democrats

How the Rest of the Democratic Delegate Race Could Unfold<http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/03/30/upshot/clinton-sanders-delegate-calculator.html>
THE NEW YORK TIMES // GREGOR AISCH, JOSH KATZ and K.K. REBECCA LAI
Democratic delegates are awarded proportionally, and in states that have voted so far, Hillary Clinton has won more than half of the vote. The absence of winner-take-all states on the Democratic side makes it very hard for Bernie Sanders to close the delegate gap. If Mrs. Clinton maintains her current level of support in the remaining races, she will earn a majority of the pledged delegates by June 7. To have a shot at overtaking Mrs. Clinton in pledged delegates, Mr. Sanders would need a series of landslide victories in the few remaining contests, increasing his vote share to about 70 percent, on average. Mr. Sanders is also significantly trailing Mrs. Clinton in superdelegates, the 714 Democratic Party officials whose support counts toward the nomination. Superdelegates are free to switch candidates at any time before the convention in July; in past elections, they have supported the candidate who has received the most pledged delegates. If all superdelegates vote for the candidate with the most pledged delegates, Mrs. Clinton will get to 2,383 delgates.

Hillary Clinton Is Taking Fire From Two Rivals<http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-clinton-is-taking-fire-from-two-rivals-1462406215>
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL // LAURA MECKLER AND COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON
Hillary Clinton is now fighting a two-front war for the presidency, facing an emboldened, combative Donald Trump while fending off Bernie Sanders, who promises to take his campaign all the way to the Democratic National Convention in July. Mr. Trump, by contrast, has cleared the Republican field and can direct his firepower at Mrs. Clinton alone. He signaled Wednesday that he would pick up Mr. Sanders's line of attack against the Democratic front-runner. "Bernie actually said she's unqualified because she's got bad judgment, and it's true," Mr. Trump told Time magazine. Mrs. Clinton is also attacking Mr. Trump on a daily basis, and Wednesday she told CNN the U.S. can't afford to take a risk on a "blustering, bullying guy." "He is a loose cannon, and loose cannons tend to misfire," she added.

Clinton: America can't take a chance on 'loose cannon' Trump<http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/04/politics/hillary-clinton-anderson-cooper-interview/>
CNN // TOM TOBIANCO
Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she is certain that Americans won't take a chance with Donald Trump in November because he is a "loose cannon." "I don't think we can take a risk on a loose cannon like Donald Trump running our country," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview. "I do think he is a loose cannon, and loose cannons tend to misfire."
In the interview, which aired one day after Trump became the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, Clinton also weighed in on the ongoing Democratic primary and comments she made about the coal industry in March, when she said "we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business."

Clinton: GOP is now the party of Trump<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/278795-clinton-gop-is-now-the-party-of-trump>
THE HILL // CAITLIN YILEK
Hillary Clinton continued a series of video attacks against Donald Trump on Wednesday as the two candidates look toward the general election.  The new video on the Democratic front-runner's Twitter account explains what the "party of Trump" stands for.  The minute-and-a-half video shows clips of the presumptive Republican nominee's comments on Muslims, the Islamic State and abortion. Many Democrats hope that Trump working as the standard-bearer for the GOP will bode well for their chances of regaining the majority in Congress.

Clinton camp: 'Unfathomable' that hacker breached email server<http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/278791-clinton-camp-unfathomable-that-hacker-breached-email-server>
THE HILL // EVELYN RUPERT
Hillary Clinton's team quickly shot down a claim from a Romanian hacker that he had breached her private email server while she was secretary of State.  "There is absolutely no basis to believe the claims made by this criminal from his prison cell. In addition to the fact he offers no proof to support his claims, his descriptions of Secretary Clinton's server are inaccurate. It is unfathomable that he would have gained access to her emails and not leaked them the way he did to his other victims," the Clinton camp wrote in a statement. Romanian hacker Marcel Lehel Lazar, known as "Guccifer," told several news outlets that he had easily hacked into her email server on more than one occasion. His hack into the email account of a close Clinton ally first brought her private email to light.  Clinton has claimed throughout the investigations into her use of a private server that it was never infiltrated by foreign hackers as critics accuse her of putting confidential materials at risk.  Lazar was recently extradited to the United States and is currently in prison in Alexandria, Va., facing other cybercrime charges.

Hacker 'Guccifer': I Got Inside Hillary Clinton's Server<http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hacker-guccifer-i-got-inside-hillary-clinton-s-server-n568206>
NBC NEWS // CYNTHIA MCFADDEN, TIM UEHLINGER and TRACY CONNOR
The Romanian hacker who first exposed Hillary Clinton's private email address is making a bombshell new claim -- that he also gained access to the former Secretary of State's "completely unsecured" server. "It was like an open orchid on the Internet," Marcel Lehel Lazar, who uses the devilish handle Guccifer, told NBC News in an exclusive interview from a prison in Bucharest. "There were hundreds of folders." Lazar was extradited last month from Romania to the United States to face charges he hacked political elites, including Gen. Colin Powell, a member of the Bush family, and former Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal.

Bernie Sanders fans may not love Hillary Clinton. But they won't vote for Donald Trump.<http://www.vox.com/2016/5/4/11593434/bernie-sanders-poll-trump-clinton>
VOX // JEFF STEIN
Democrats hoping to bring the party together after a bitter and contentious primary between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders may have found their answer: Donald Trump. Trump has become the presumptive Republican nominee after rivals John Kasich and Ted Cruz suspended their presidential campaigns. From the perspective of Democratic Party unity, Trump's march to the nomination is great news: Sanders's supporters have made a lot of noise about going "Bernie or bust," but a poll out from CNN on Wednesday finds they prefer Clinton to Trump by an 86-to-10 margin. That's about the same ratio of Clinton supporters who voted for John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008, according to Emory political scientist Alan Abramowitz. And it's still early: As we move to the general election, Abramowitz says, Democrats are even more likely to swing behind their nominee.

Sanders won't stop amid worries he's hurting Clinton<https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/05/04/bernie-sanders-soldiers-against-odds-raising-concern-zombie-damaging-hillary-clinton/I7tb0xx54OTPQGz03DnyqM/story.html>
THE BOSTON GLOBE // ANNIE LINSKEY
Bernie Sanders made one thing very clear Wednesday: He's staying in the Democratic race, even if it bloodies the party's frontrunner. While crisscrossing Kentucky on a rainy spring day, he took a verbal shot at Hillary Clinton as he visited a new campaign office in Bowling Green, then greeted voters at a stop in Elizabethtown and held a rally in Lexington. And just in case anyone thought he would tone it down in the name of Democratic unity, his nine-car motorcade even made a detour back into Indiana - where he inflicted a fresh wound on Clinton with his surprise win in that state's primary Tuesday - to buy a new bullhorn. Sanders stands virtually no chance of capturing the nomination because Clinton's lead in delegates is too great. But the Vermont senator continues to hammer Clinton, and over the next two weeks he stands a good chance of winning three more states, West Virginia, Oregon, and Kentucky, which will put him in position to drag out the primary contest until the last states vote June 7. That stubbornness wins him love from supporters, but it's also a gift to the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who sewed up the nomination with a knockout win in Indiana and can count on a month-long head start for the general election.

Sanders can't win with pledged delegates, but aides hope he can block Clinton<http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/04/politics/bernie-sanders-delegate-math-hillary-clinton/>
CNN // TOM LOBIANCO
It is mathematically impossible for Bernie Sanders to win enough delegates in the remaining Democratic contests to secure the nomination, but his aides see a path through a convention battle in Philadelphia that would target the party's superdelegates. The Democratic nominee must win 2,383 delegates to secure the nomination, but with only 933 delegates up for grabs in the remaining contests, it is impossible for Sanders to get there just by winning contests against front-runner Hillary Clinton. The Vermont senator has racked up 1,444 delegates, according to the latest CNN delegate tally, but would need to win more than 100% of the remaining delegates. Asked about this hurdle Wednesday, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver dismissed it. "The truth is, no one is going to the convention with the requisite number of pledged delegates to win. The superdelegates are going to decide this race," Weaver said on CNN's "New Day."

2016 Republicans

With Donald Trump in Charge, Republicans Have a Day of Reckoning<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/05/us/politics/trump-gop.html?_r=0>
NEW YORK TIMES // PATRICK HEALY, JONATHAN MARTIN, AND MAGGIE HABERMAN
Republican elected officials, donors and strategists grappled uncomfortably on Wednesday with the inevitability of Donald J. Trump<http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/donald-trump-on-the-issues.html?inline=nyt-per> as their presidential nominee, an unexpectedly sudden denouement that left many in a state of political paralysis and others vowing to oppose the party's new standard-bearer. While some called for unity, many Republican leaders refrained from falling in line behind Mr. Trump, with dozens avoiding inquiries about where they stood or saying they wanted Mr. Trump to detail his policies or tone down his language first. Others tied themselves in knots as they praised and criticized Mr. Trump in a single breath, or suggested that they could abide Mr. Trump but loathed his agenda.

Donald Trump takes the reins of a divided Republican Party<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trump-takes-the-reins-of-a-divided-republican-party/2016/05/04/48df48ca-122a-11e6-93ae-50921721165d_story.html>
WASHINGTON POST // PHILIP RUCKER, ROBERT COSTA, AND JOSE A. DEL REAL
Donald Trump assumed control of the Republican Party on Wednesday as its presumptive presidential nominee after Ohio Gov. John Kasich exited the race, moving swiftly to consider vice-presidential prospects and plan for what is expected to be a costly and vicious six-month battle for the White House against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump, who has proudly touted how he has self-funded his campaign, said he would begin actively seeking donations for his campaign and raise money for the national party, part of the arduous task of coalescing a party deeply divided over his toxic brand of politics. Party leaders are scrambling to stave off a parade of prominent Republicans endorsing Clinton, but already there were notable defections. The two living Republican past presidents, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, have no plans <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/04/bush-41-and-43-have-no-plans-to-endorse-trump/> to endorse Trump, according to their spokesmen.

Trump's improbable coup leaves Republican Party in an identity crisis<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-improbable-coup-leaves-republican-party-in-an-identity-crisis/2016/05/04/e7764f62-1228-11e6-81b4-581a5c4c42df_story.html>
WASHINGTON POST // KAREN TUMULTY AND ROBERT COSTA
Donald Trump has demolished just about every pillar of Republican philosophy, leaving the party to grapple with an identity crisis deeper than anything it has seen in half a century. The GOP has chosen as its 2016 standard-bearer a candidate who has flouted a litany of its once-sacred conservative principles. Trump is disdainful of free-trade agreements, leery of foreign intervention, less than strident on social issues and a champion of protecting entitlements. Trump has also shattered Republican efforts to appeal to minorities and women by taking extreme positions on building a wall along the Southern border and barring Muslims from entering the country - and offending women with a series of insulting comments.

Donald Trump Won't Self-Fund General-Election Campaign<file:///C:\Users\palermoR\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary%20Internet%20Files\Content.Outlook\4O6A3N3E\Donald%20Trump%20Won%25E2%2580%2599t%20Self-Fund%20General-Election%20Campaign>
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL // MONICA LANGLEY AND REBECCA BALLHAUS
Donald Trump won't self-fund his general-election campaign, and will instead create a "world-class finance organization," the presumptive Republican nominee said in an interview on Wednesday. For a campaign expected to cost more than $1 billion, "I'll be putting up money, but won't be completely self-funding, as I did during the primaries," Mr. Trump said on Wednesday. The New York businessman, who did receive some mostly small unsolicited donations, lent his campaign $36 million of the $47 million he spent through March. That plan represents a shift for Mr. Trump, who has for months portrayed his Republican opponents as "puppets" for relying on super PACs and taking contributions from wealthy donors that he said came with strings attached.

Trump: I want to raise $1B for the GOP<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/278789-trump-i-want-to-raise-1b-for-the-gop>
THE HILL // MARK HENSCH
Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he wants to raise $1 billion or more for the GOP before the general presidential election. "We're going to try to raise over $1 billion," he told host Lester Holt on "NBC Nightly News." "I hear the Democrats may try to raise up to $2 billion. "I'm not even sure that's necessary," Trump added of his estimate. "I have a big voice. I go onto shows like yours and speak the truth and people seem to go along with it." Trump said that he relishes battling Hillary Clinton after eliminating the Republican presidential field and becoming the party's presumptive nominee. "Hillary will be a lot easier to beat than many of the governors and senators and others I have beat," he said. "Bernie Sanders said she is not qualified to be president because she has bad judgment," Trump added. "I agree with that.

How Donald Trump Becomes the GOP Nominee: The Path to 1,237 Delegates<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-gop-nominee-path-1237-delegates/story?id=38885129>
ABC NEWS // LAUREN PEARLE AND RYAN STRUYK
While the Republican field has now been cleared for Donald Trump, the road ahead is still messy for the front-runner to become the official nominee at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, in July. Currently, Trump has 1,012 bound delegates, plus an additional 43 unbound delegates who are free agents -- though they have told ABC News they support Trump. Most likely, Trump will hit and far surpass the needed 1,237 in total delegates on June 7, when delegate-rich states like New Jersey and California cast their ballots. He is predicted to take most of the 228 delegates up for grabs on that day. Before June 7, though it is mathematically impossible for Trump to clinch the nomination with only bound delegates, he could still hit the winning delegate number with unbound (free agent) delegates after the primaries in Oregon and Washington, which happen in late May.

Trump, lone survivor in Republican White House race, now must unify party<http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-idUSKCN0XU0TP>
REUTERS // STEVE HOLLAND
Donald Trump on Wednesday became the last man standing in the race for the Republican U.S. presidential nomination and faced the challenge of repairing deep fissures in the party, as his sole remaining rival, John Kasich, ended his campaign. Anointed the presumptive nominee after winning Indiana on Tuesday and driving his closest rival, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, from the race, the 69-year-old New York billionaire planned to set up a vice presidential selection committee and step up efforts to seek unity among a wider group of Republicans ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Trump's win in Indiana cleared the way for him to prepare for a likely general election match-up against Democrat Hillary Clinton. The former secretary of state lost the Indiana primary to tenacious challenger U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, but remains on course to become her party's nominee. Trump told NBC News he would probably work with the Republican National Committee to raise about $1 billion for the general election campaign.

Ted Cruz's $10 million donor backs Donald Trump<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/05/04/ted-cruz-donor-toby-neugebauer-backs-donald-trump/83937626/>
USA TODAY // FREDREKA SCHOUTEN
Toby Neugebauer, a wealthy energy investor, likes Ted Cruz so much that he deposited $10 million into a super PAC designed to boost the Texas Republican's presidential ambitions. On Wednesday, Neugebauer was in Donald Trump's camp after the reality TV star's big win in the Indiana primary Tuesday ended the campaigns of Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. "Today, I am a Trump supporter," Neugebauer told USA TODAY. "I am excited about the voters he turned up." Several Republican donors, including Neugebauer, are moving to unite behind the brash billionaire who vanquished 16 other candidates to emerge as the GOP's standard-bearer, even as his positions on health care and trade and his harsh rhetoric about women and some immigrants prompted fierce opposition from the party's establishment wing. "I am going to do what I can to help him," said Stanley Hubbard, a Minnesota broadcasting magnate who had contributed money to a super PAC that spent heavily to thwart Trump in early contests. "He wasn't my first choice, but I think you'll find he'll moderate himself" in the general-election campaign.

Seven pols who could be Donald Trump's VP pick (and two who won't)<https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/05/04/seven-pols-who-could-donald-trump-pick-and-one-who-won/YJcJ8pCj4mbX8QJjNaNPmL/story.html>
THE BOSTON GLOBE // JAMES PINDELL
Donald Trump, after winning the Indiana primary this week and becoming the party's presumptive nominee, has begun openly talking about his parameters for selecting a running mate. First, the person would have to be a Republican (Sorry to former US senator Joe Lieberman, who has said kind words about Trump). Secondly, Trump said he is looking for someone with political experience. "I have the business, let's call them talents, and I think I'll probably go the political route," Trump told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday. "Somebody that can help me with legislation and somebody that can help me get things passed and somebody that's been friends with the senators and congressmen and all so we don't have to go the executive order route as much as Obama did, you know, where he can't get anything approved so he just keeps signing executive orders."

The 12 Signs That Trump Will Win the White House<http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-signs-he-will-win-213870#ixzz47jv6HiKq>
POLITICO // MATT LATIMER
Unless the #NeverTrump people have been hiding a mad scientist with a DeLorean in a warehouse somewhere and haven't gotten around to telling anybody, Donald J. Trump is now the certain Republican nominee for president of the United States. True to form, having learned nothing from their yearlong string of overconfident and embarrassingly wrong predictions about voter behavior and preferences, the D.C. pundit class has already proclaimed him a general election loser. Not so fast. For the handful of polls that have Trump losing by double digits, there's one or two that foretell a much closer race. And if enough major chips fall the tangerine billionaire's way, he may get his shot at repainting the White House metallic gold. Want to know if you should join Lena Dunham on a house-hunting trip in Canada? Here's a month-by-month guide of the signs of a looming Trump victory.

Ted Cruz's zombie campaign<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/ted-cruzs-zombie-campaign-222818>
POLITICO // KYLE CHENEY
Ted Cruz's run for president is over, but this weekend, his operatives will fight on, heading to a pair of state conventions to push the campaign's preferred delegates to the Republican National Convention. According to a GOP source familiar with the Cruz campaign's decision, staff will be on the ground in North Carolina and South Carolina, where 56 delegates will be selected. Some will even fan out next week when a dozen more states - including Cruz's home state of Texas - pick their national delegates. It's an effort, two Cruz sources told POLITICO, to pack the convention full of conservatives who can stand up to any attempt by Donald Trump to weaken conservative planks of the GOP platform or rework the rules that govern the presidential nomination process. "It's still important that we have a conservative convention ... I think we would be doing Ted Cruz a disservice if we gave up that fight," said Rob Uithoven, who helmed Cruz's operation in western states. "It'll be even more difficult now with the campaign suspended to try to get our [delegates] elected." Uithoven sent a letter Wednesday to the Cruz leadership teams in each of the western states he oversaw urging the delegates he helped elect to attend the national convention rather than cede the floor to Trump.

Trump: I'm open to Cruz as VP<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/278793-trump-im-open-to-cruz-as-vp>
THE HILL // MARK HENSCH
Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he would consider making Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) his running mate. "I respect Ted," he told host Bill O'Reilly on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor." "He was a very strong competitor. He really competed hard and tough." "He's certainly a capable guy," the presumptive GOP presidential nominee added. "It's something we can think about." Trump defeated Cruz in Tuesday's Indiana GOP presidential primary, making him the presumptive nominee. Cruz suspended his Oval Office bid shortly afterward, saying that his results in the Hoosier State "foreclose" his path to the Republican presidential nomination. Trump on Wednesday said that he does not resent Cruz for their often bitter contest against each another.

No, Ted Cruz did not endorse Hillary Clinton<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/05/04/ted-cruz-website-pro-hillary-endorsement/83949882/>
USA TODAY // STEPH SOLIS
Ted Cruz has been full of surprises lately, but an endorsement for Hillary Clinton isn't one of them. Some thought otherwise when they went to tedcruz.com less than a day after the Texas senator suspended his presidential campaign. It's not Cruz's real campaign website, which remains alive and well at tedcruz.org. It's unclear at this point who is behind the fake page, which confused (and amused) some voters. Back in February, then-presidential hopeful Jeb Bush became the victim of a website prank pulled by Donald Trump. Except Trump took over Bush's official campaign website after the Bush campaign let the website domain expire.

Analysis: Ted Cruz Maybe Should Have Been Less Of A Jerk To Everyone<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-maximal-jerk_us_572a49cfe4b096e9f09017bb>
HUFFINGTON POST // JASON LINKINS
Last night, after the Indiana primary results were called, almost immediately, for reality television star and R'lyehian love-pillow Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz - thought to be the last hope of the "#NeverTrump" movement if we weren't counting John Kasich (and we weren't) - bowed out of the race, elbowing his wife in the face in the process. Cruz vacates the race after winning a handful of states and demonstrating some degree of savviness when it comes to meticulously working the delegate selection process. This probably will give him hope to believe he might give this whole running-for-president thing another try in 2020. There is one thing he might consider doing differently, however: Maybe don't be a huge prick to everybody. Maybe just cut back on the whole being-a-prick thing by, like, 50 percent. Give that a try. Think about it: At a time when Cruz needed everything possible to break his way in Indiana to forestall Trump running the tables and making it certain he'd get the number of delegates he needed to claim the GOP nomination outright, you got former Speaker of the House John Boehner describing Cruz as "Lucifer in the flesh." Boehner went on to say, "I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life."

Waiting for Kasich<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/kasich-dropping-out-president/481308/>
THE ATLANTIC // NORA KELLY
Landmark Aviation sits 30 miles away from the White House, a mini private airport for those who won't deign to wait in line at Dulles. This is the place-a bleak airport on a foggy post-primary morning, with sleek jets idling beyond the lobby's large windows-that the John Kasich campaign chose for his reintroduction: as the only guy standing between Donald Trump and the Republican nomination, and the one who'd wrest it from the billionaire in July. Politicians typically use places like this, austere as they are, to embark on new and bold ventures. What could be bolder than staying in a presidential race when voters really don't want you? The Ohio governor had outlasted 16 others to make it to this moment near Washington, D.C.-the city where he worked as a young congressman, and where he aspired to be by next year. He kept his head down. He was nice when others turned bitter. And his campaign would (quixotically) continue. Kasich's chief strategist had said as much after dismal returns on Tuesday night, and reporters gathered Wednesday morning to hear how it would go. But Kasich never arrived, and news shortly leaked that he would drop out of the U.S. presidential race. The candidate's plane, like his campaign itself, hadn't successfully made it out of Ohio.

Carson floats Cruz as attorney general to go after Clinton<http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/05/ben-carson-ted-cruz-attorney-general-clinton-222814#ixzz47jzuOOUp>
POLITICO // BRIANNA GURCIULLO
Ben Carson has a plan for Ted Cruz now that the Texas senator has dropped out of the GOP presidential race: attorney general, then Supreme Court justice under a Trump administration.
When Fox News Radio's John Gibson asked Carson on Wednesday whether it would be "smart" for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump to offer Cruz a position on the Supreme Court, he said yes. "I think he would be terrific on the Supreme Court, or I think he would be a terrific attorney general. Or he could be both," Carson said. "He could be attorney general first, you know, go ahead and prosecute Hillary, and then go on the Supreme Court." Gibson went on to ask the former presidential candidate whom Trump should choose as his running mate. "I wouldn't advise him to pick me," Carson said. "I would advise him to pick someone who really is willing and able to take a significant part of the load."

Editorials/Op-Eds

John Kasich Exits an Ugly Campaign Season<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/05/opinion/john-kasich-exits-an-ugly-campaign-season.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>
THE NEW YORK TIMES // THE EDITORIAL BOARD
John Kasich's suspension of his presidential campaign eliminates the last remaining, and most reasonable, Republican opponent to Donald Trump. Mr. Kasich, the Ohio governor, polled higher than Mr. Trump against Hillary Clinton. That became his sole rationale for remaining in the race as he almost cheerfully racked up primary losses, winning only his home state and fewer total delegates than did Senator Marco Rubio, who dropped out in March. In a brief speech on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Kasich focused mostly on the people he met on the campaign trail. He said that their stories reminded him that "the spirit, the essence of America lies in the hearts and souls of us." He did not mention his opponents or any specifics about his future. "As I suspend my campaign today, I have renewed faith, deeper faith, that the Lord will show me the way forward and fulfill the purpose of my life," he said.

A Trump reboot? Impossible.<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-trump-reboot-impossible/2016/05/04/d226103a-1209-11e6-8967-7ac733c56f12_story.html>
WASHINGTON POST // EDITORIAL BOARD
NOW THAT a reality-television star has all but secured their nomination<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cruz-quits-race-trump-win-in-indiana-puts-him-in-sight-of-nomination/2016/05/03/316d0364-10b6-11e6-8967-7ac733c56f12_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-banner-main_indiana-1015pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory>, Republicans are scrambling to adjust - or hoping that Donald Trump will change. Not surprisingly, GOP Chairman Reince ("Winning is the antidote to a lot of things") Priebus was one of the first to hail the "presumptive @GOP nominee<https://twitter.com/Reince/status/727665447684820992>" Tuesday night on Twitter and call for party unity. Former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal<http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/03/politics/bobby-jindal-vote-donald-trump-unhappy/> - who last fall recognized Mr. Trump as a " narcissist<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/09/10/bobby-jindal-donald-trump-is-an-unstable-narcissist/>," "an egomaniac," "a carnival act" who "believes in nothing<http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/09/jindal_trump_is_an_egomaniac_d.html>" and is "absurd," "insecure and weak" and "dangerous" - now says he will vote for the man. The Wall Street Journal editorial page<http://www.wsj.com/articles/indiana-trump-1462329300>, previously eloquent in its opposition, urges Mr. Trump to behave "in a way that reduces his epic unfavorable numbers with many voters."