Subject: DNC Clips 5.17.2016
From: "Price, Jenna" <[email-masked]>
To: "Price, Jenna" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 May 2016 04:40:34 -0700

WEATHER: 55F, Cloudy

POTUS and the Administration

House 2017 defense bill would face Obama veto: White House<http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-defense-obama-idUSKCN0Y72BM>

REUTERS // PATRICIA ZENGERLE

President Barack Obama's White House set up one last fight with the Republican-controlled Congress over defense spending on Monday, threatening to veto a 2017 defense authorization bill over its use of special war funds for day-to-day military programs. The House of Representatives draft of the $602 billion National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which sets spending policy for the Department of Defense, would shift $18 billion of wartime Overseas Contingency Operations, or OCO, funds to avoid automatic budget cuts to military programs. The Obama administration objects to the use of that money, saying it threatens U.S. security and unfairly spares the Pentagon from cuts faced by important civilian programs such as medical research and education.

Obama Defends Transgender Directive for School Bathrooms<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/us/politics/obama-defends-transgender-directive-for-school-bathrooms.html?ref=politics>

NEW YORK TIMES // JULIE DAVIS

President Obama on Monday made an impassioned argument for his administration’s decision to instruct public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity, saying that society must protect the dignity and safety of vulnerable children. The remarks were the president’s first public comments on a directive released Friday that has added fuel to a searing national debate over transgender rights. Mr. Obama said the guidance, issued by the Education and Justice Departments, represented “our best judgment” on how to help schools wrestling with the issue. “We’re talking about kids, and anybody who’s been in school, been in high school, who’s been a parent, I think should realize that kids who are sometimes in the minority — kids who have a different sexual orientation or are transgender — are subject to a lot of bullying, potentially they are vulnerable,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with BuzzFeed News.

Trump: Rescind Obama’s transgender directives, but ‘protect everybody’<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/16/trump-rescind-obamas-transgender-directives-but-protect-everybody/>

WASHINGTON POST // PHILIP RUCKER AND ROBERT COSTA

Donald Trump vowed Monday that if elected president he would rescind the Obama administration's new directives aimed at protecting transgender people against discrimination in schools and health-care coverage. But even as Trump accused the administration of federal overreach and argued that such matters should be addressed by the states, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee also sounded a more compassionate tone and offered a more nuanced outlook than many of his party's elected leaders. Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post that the government must act "to protect all people" and that he was eager to learn more about the movement for transgender rights. "It is a very, very small portion of the population, but as I said, you have to protect everybody, including small portions of the population," Trump said during the interview in his 26th-floor office at Trump Tower here in Manhattan.

Cuba and United States draw up roadmap for talks to deepen détente<http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-usa-idUSKCN0Y72FL>

REUTERS // SARAH MARSH

Cuba and the United States aim to reach new agreements on cooperation in law enforcement, health and agriculture over the coming months, a senior Cuban official said on Monday, as part of the former Cold War foes' drive to normalize ties. The Communist-ruled island and its northern neighbor reestablished diplomatic relations a year ago after decades of hostility and have since signed deals on the environment, postal services and direct flights. A bilateral commission met on Monday in Havana to establish a roadmap for talks over the rest of this year, which would include more high-ranking official visits, said Josefina Vidal, head of the Cuban delegation. In March, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president in 88 years to visit Cuba.

Supreme Court Sends Birth-Control Case Brought by Religious Employers Back to Lower Courts<http://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-sends-contraceptive-case-brought-by-religious-employers-back-to-lower-courts-1463409557>

WALL STREET JOURNAL // JESS BRAVIN AND LOUISE RADNOFSKY

The Supreme Court, unable to resolve the dispute between religious employers and the Obama administration over contraception coverage in the government’s health-care law, sent the matter back to lower courts to seek a compromise between the parties. The move Monday prolongs the four-year fight over whether the groups must offer contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act. It also highlights how Justice Antonin Scalia’s February death has hobbled the ability of the court’s eight remaining members to resolve the most contentious cases. In a brief, unsigned opinion that Chief Justice John Roberts summarized from the bench, the justices returned the contraception issue to the lower courts to review whether recent movement in the parties’ positions had paved the way to possible compromise. Days after the justices first heard arguments in the case in March the court issued an extraordinary order seeking an agreement between the sides.

House Challenge to Health Law Could Raise Premiums, Administration Says<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/us/politics/house-challenge-to-health-law-could-raise-premiums-administration-says.html?ref=politics>

NEW YORK TIMES // ROBERT PEAR

Victory for House Republicans in federal court last week could mean significantly higher health insurance premiums for millions of people if the decision is upheld on appeal, the Obama administration said Monday. And much of the cost for those higher premiums could be passed on to the federal government and taxpayers, administration officials and health policy experts said. The ruling by Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia would block the administration from reimbursing insurers for discounts provided to millions of low-income people under the Affordable Care Act. Without that money, insurers would have to increase premiums for many people purchasing insurance through the health law’s online marketplaces, the administration said.

Comey vows fight as FBI minority agent numbers slip<http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2016/05/james-comey-fbi-minority-agents-223234>

POLITICO // JOSH GERSTEIN

The numbers of minority FBI agents are continuing to drop at a slow clip, according to newly released statistics, but FBI Director James Comey says the bureau is working aggressively to reverse the decline. As of March, there were 581 African-American agents in the FBI, down from 606 at the end of 2014. In percentage terms, black agents went from 4.5% of the ranks in 2014 to 4.37% in the most recent report. The same data showed 882 Latino agents, down from 916 in 2014 — a decline from 6.81% to 6.63% over about 14 months. Speaking with reporters last week, Comey stopped short of predicting a turnaround in the trend, but he said he and others are putting up a fight to attract more minorities to the nation's premier law enforcement agency.

White House: Obama’s Commencement Remarks Not Aimed Just at Trump<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/05/16/white-house-obamas-commencement-remarks-not-aimed-just-at-trump/>

WALL STREET JOURNAL // BRYON TAU

President Barack Obama‘s comments about building walls and a ban on Muslim immigration at a commencement address over the weekend were aimed at the Republican Party broadly and not specifically at Donald Trump, the White House said Monday. White House press secretary Josh Earnest noted that Mr. Trump was not mentioned in Mr. Obama’s speech at the Rutgers University graduation ceremony and that the president’s comments were aimed at the GOP broadly. “I think what I’m trying to illustrate here is that this is the concerns that President Obama raised were not new but are concerns that extend broadly throughout the Republican Party,” Mr. Earnest said.

Top Cuba Diplomat: Obama Trip Positive, Created Momentum<http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/top-cuba-diplomat-obama-trip-positive-created-momentum-39157763>

ASSOCIATED PRESS // MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN

President Barack Obama's trip to Cuba advanced the normalization of relations between the Cold War foes and created momentum for more cooperation on agriculture, medicine and law enforcement, Cuba's top diplomat on U.S. affairs said Monday. Speaking after a meeting with U.S. officials in Havana, Director General of U.S. Affairs Josefina Vidal said President Raul Castro had seen his meeting with Obama as producing "positive results." Her portrayal contrasted with more negative characterizations of the visit, including those of former President Fidel Castro and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, who described Obama's trip as an "attack" on Cuba's traditions and values. Vidal said she and U.S. diplomats had agreed upon an agenda for Obama's remaining months in office that would include visits by high-level U.S. agriculture, health and security officials. She said Obama's visit, which included a forum with private business owners and a speech calling on the Cuban people to look toward a better future, would help both sides accomplish that agenda.

White House issues veto threat over House defense policy bill<http://thehill.com/policy/defense/280125-white-house-issues-veto-threat-over-house-defense-policy-bill>

THE HILL // KRISTINA WONG

The Obama administration Monday evening issued a veto threat on the House's defense policy bill, a day before lawmakers are set to take it up on the House floor. "If the President were presented with H.R. 4909, his senior advisors would recommend he veto the bill," said a statement of administration policy sent out by the Office of Management and Budget. "The Administration appreciates the House Armed Services Committee's continued support of our national defense and supports a number of provisions in H.R. 4909, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017," the statement said. "However, the Administration strongly objects to many provisions in this bill that impede the Administration's ability to carry out the President's defense strategy," it said.  The top concern listed is the House's bill usage of $18 billion from a war fund to pay for things in the base budget.  House Republicans are betting that the next administration will make up the shortfall in war funding when it takes office next year.

Democrats

Supreme showdown: Democrats to stage mock Garland hearing, GOP scoffs<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/senate-merrick-garland-hearings-223238>

POLITICO // SEUNG MIN KIM

Top GOP senators dismissed the latest tactic from Senate Democrats in the ongoing contentious battle over confirming Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court: a mock hearing designed to tout the nominee’s attributes and shame the GOP for obstructing him. Fed up that Garland won’t be getting a confirmation hearing anytime soon, Senate Democrats plan to host a forum on Wednesday that features former top legal and government officials who know Garland personally and who will testify on behalf of the veteran jurist’s legal acumen and personal character. The event with Garland proxies is probably the closest Democrats can get to a hearing this year, considering Republicans in the majority refuse to hold an actual confirmation hearing and Garland is almost certainly not going to address his nomination fight publicly.

Rift Between Labor and Environmentalists Threatens Democratic Turnout Plan<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/us/politics/democratic-turnout.html?ref=politics&_r=0>

NEW YORK TIMES // JONATHAN MARTIN

Two of the Democratic Party’s most loyal constituencies, labor and environmentalists, are clashing over an effort to raise tens of millions of dollars for an ambitious voter turnout operation aimed at defeating Donald J. Trump in the November election. The rift developed after some in the labor movement, whose cash flow has dwindled and whose political clout has been increasingly imperiled, announced a partnership last week with a wealthy environmentalist, Tom Steyer, to help bankroll a new fund dedicated to electing Democrats. That joint initiative enraged members of the nation’s biggest construction unions, already on edge about the rising influence of climate-change activists. The building-trades unions view Mr. Steyer’s environmental agenda as a threat to the jobs that can be created through infrastructure projects like new gas pipelines.

Building trade unions denounce labor partnership with billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/16/building-trade-unions-denounce-labor-partnership-with-billionaire-environmentalist-tom-steyer/>

WASHINGTON POST // MATEA GOLD

A new super PAC partnership between billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, the AFL-CIO and major public sector employee unions has triggered an angry backlash among the building trade unions -- dividing organized labor just as it ramps up its 2016 political programs. In letters delivered Monday to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, the presidents of eight building trade organizations called on the AFL-CIO to cut ties with Steyer, whose opposition to an extension of the Keystone XL Pipeline infuriated unions that had championed the jobs that the oil pipeline would have created. "A growing trend within the federation seems to consistently minimize the importance of building trades jobs and our members’ livelihoods in the pursuit of a coalition strategy with outside organizations that has produced mixed results at best and disastrous results at worst for our members and their employment prospects in many instances throughout the country," the building trade presidents wrote in a letter obtained by The Washington Post.

Ralph Nader: Dem superdelegates are 'Hillary's cronies'<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/280077-nader-superdelegates-are-hillarys-cronies>

THE HILL // JONATHAN SWAN

Ralph Nader said Hillary Clinton is unfairly winning the Democratic nomination with unelected superdelegates and closed primaries that shut out independent voters who prefer Bernie Sanders. “If he had an open primary, he’d have beaten her,” Nader told The Hill in a Facebook Live interview on Monday. "It should be open to all voters. And that helped her; that gave her a big advantage." "The Democrats years ago didn’t want an insurgency like Bernie Sanders, so they rigged it," he added. "They’re called superdelegates. They’re members of Congress, they’re Democratic governors, they’re party hacks. ... Hillary’s cronies, mostly." Clinton leads Sanders among superdelegates, 524 to 40, according to The Associated Press. She's also leading him by nearly 300 pledged delegates and by more than 2 million votes.

Harry Reid: ‘I Will Be Blunt. I Want Alan Grayson To Lose.’<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/harry-reid-alan-grayson_us_573a27fae4b060aa781af541?utm_hp_ref=politics>

HUFFINGTON POST // AMANDA TERKEL

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was unusually candid about his feelings toward Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) in a fundraising appeal for Grayson’s Senate opponent. “I will be blunt. I want Alan Grayson to lose,” Reid wrote in an email sent out Monday. In case anyone isn’t clear about where Reid stands, the subject line of the email reads: “I want Grayson to lose.” Grayson is competing for Florida’s Democratic Senate nomination against Rep. Patrick Murphy, who is supported by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and much of the party establishment. The Senate seat is currently held by Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has said he won’t run for re-election.

DSCC buys $12 million more in Senate battleground ads<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/democrats-senate-ads-223236>

POLITICO // BURGESS EVERETT

The campaign arm for the Senate Democrats is launching its second round of general election ad buys, committing $12 million to three of the most contested Senate races on Monday evening, a source familiar with the buy told POLITICO. The bulk of the money, $8.2 million, will be spent in Pennsylvania. Democrats are looking to knock off GOP Sen. Pat Toomey after Katie McGinty won a bruising Democratic primary against former Rep. Joe Sestak, propelled in part by an endorsement and rare ad campaign on behalf of McGinty by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Alleigh Marre, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said, "It's going to take a lot more than $10 million from national Democrats" for Pennsylvania to elect McGinty to the Senate, referring to the $2 million the DSCC already committed to McGinty in the primary.

In shift, Pelosi defends ‘discreet’ Obama immigration enforcement<http://thehill.com/homenews/house/280103-in-shift-pelosi-defends-discreet-obama-immigration-enforcement>

THE HILL // MIKE LILLIS

Breaking with many House Democrats, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is defending the Obama administration for rounding up scores of asylum seekers earlier this year with plans to deport them. Democrats in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC)have ripped the operation, which led to the arrest of 121 undocumented immigrants in January, most of them women and children who had arrived recently from Central America. Pelosi has been a loud critic of the administration’s handling of the new arrivals, raising sharp concerns about the conditions at detention centers and the legal protections provided to the families. But concerning the arrests themselves, she says the administration is on sound footing. “There were no raids in January,” Pelosi told The Hill on Friday. “You know, people throw the term around, but in January fewer than, I think, 100 people were identified as those who should go back over the border. So they make it sound like they’re massive raids ... but that’s discreet enforcement.” The comments mark a shift from Pelosi’s position in January, when she criticized the deportations for risking the very lives of those affected.

Republicans

GOP senators: Fire top aide over Iran deal comments<http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/280112-gop-senators-fire-top-aide-over-iran-deal-comments>

THE HILL // JORDAIN CARNEY

Senate Republicans are demanding that President Obama fire a senior White House adviser over controversial comments he made about the Iran nuclear deal. Republican Sens. Mark Kirk (Ill.), John Cornyn (Texas) and John Barrasso (Wyo.) are urging the president to "dismiss Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes before he further tarnishes the office of president." "We are deeply disturbed to read ... Rhodes’s public admission to The New York Times that he spearheaded the charge to mislead elected lawmakers and the American people about the Iran nuclear deal and the negotiations that led to this agreement," the senators wrote in a letter sent to Obama Monday. They add that if Rhodes "conducted himself this way in a typical place of business outside Washington ... he surely would have already been fired or asked to resign."

House GOP unveils $622 million Zika bill<http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/280027-house-gop-unveils-622-million-zika-bill>

THE HILL // PETER SULLIVAN

House Republicans on Monday introduced a bill to provide $622 million in additional funding to fight the Zika virus this year. The measure is fully paid for, in part by shifting over unspent money that was intended to fight Ebola, the House Appropriations Committee said. The House is likely to vote on the bill, which would provide a fraction of the $1.9 billion requested by the White House, this week. Republicans had previously stated that funding could wait until next year, but Democrats have been increasing pressure on the GOP to act. Still, the path forward for funding to be signed into law is far from clear.

Cruz campaign signs off with a message: ‘To be continued’<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/16/cruz-campaign-signs-off-with-a-message-to-be-continued/>

WASHINGTON POST // DAVID WEIGEL

In the days since his campaign for president ended — indeed, in the Indiana concession speech that ended it — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has continued to talk like a candidate. He used much of a news conference on Capitol Hill to restate the "jobs, freedom, security" themes of his campaign, and he ended it by hinting strongly that he'd run again. In interviews with Texas Monthly and the Texas Tribune, Cruz pointedly declined to endorse Trump and described his campaign as more of a movement. "I think it is important that the Republican Party remain a conservative party, that we stand for principles and values that we not become neither hot nor cold but simply lukewarm," Cruz told the Tribune, “and I’m going to do everything I can to empower and motivate courageous conservatives across the country to ensure that that’s the case.”

Conservative watchdog seeks Clinton testimony on email case<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/hillary-clinton-emails-223239>

POLITICO // JOSH GERSTEIN

A conservative group engaged in a series of lawsuits seeking emails from Hillary Clinton's private server is asking a federal judge to order her to give a sworn deposition. Judicial Watch filed the request Monday with U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth. Lamberth had previously agreed to allow the group to take discovery in the case in an effort to establish why Clinton used a private server and whether it was to put records beyond the reach of the Freedom of Information Act. "Mrs. Clinton’s testimony will help the courts determine whether her email practices thwarted the Freedom of Information Act,” Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton said in a statement. Earlier this month, another federal judge hearing a separate Judicial Watch case, Emmet Sullivan, approved a discovery plan to take depositions from seven current and former State Department officials.

Mark Cuban: I hope Trump doesn't close door for other businessmen<http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/280097-mark-cuban-hopefully-trump-doesnt-close-door-for-other>

THE HILL // JESSE BYRNES

Mark Cuban said Monday he hopes Donald Trump doesn't end up closing the door for others with backgrounds in business from being able to have future political success. "I think he did open a door. I think he set a path for entrepreneurs, for business people, but I hope he just doesn't shut it through his actions," Cuban said with a laugh during an interview with MSNBC's Steve Kornacki. Cuban said "without question" it seems more doable for a businessperson to have success in politics after Trump's White House bid. The Dallas Mavericks owner drew several parallels between the qualities he argued would make a businessperson a good president.

Republicans escalate feud with IRS chief<http://thehill.com/policy/finance/280104-republicans-escalate-feud-with-irs-chief>

THE HILL // NAOMI JAGODA

The feud between Republicans and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner John Koskinen has reached its boiling point, with the House taking a step toward impeaching him. Republicans are focusing on allegations that Koskinen engaged in misconduct related to Congress’s investigation of a recent political targeting controversy. Koskinen took office shortly after it was revealed that the IRS had subjected conservative groups’ applications for tax-exempt status to increased scrutiny. The House Judiciary Committee announced Friday that it will hold two hearings in the coming weeks to examine alleged misconduct by Koskinen. The first hearing, on May 24, will involve the presentation of the House Oversight Committee’s findings of its investigation into Koskinen. The IRS commissioner has also been asked to testify. The second hearing, which will take place sometime in June, will involve outside experts commenting on the Oversight Committee’s findings and speaking about any further action Congress should take.

Koch network spends big to save Republican Senate<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/280126-koch-network-spends-big-to-save-republican-senate>

THE HILL // JONATHAN SWAN
The Koch brothers's donor network is making its most aggressive intervention yet into the 2016 cycle, booking $30 million worth of advertising to save the Republican Senate. It’s the beginning of what’s expected to be a significantly larger buy, as the network of 700-some donors led by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch sets about the task of keeping the Senate in Republican hands and supporting candidates who have purist free market beliefs. The Kochs view Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as both supporting big government and crony capitalism, and so the network has refused to spend a penny at the presidential level. Instead, the Koch donors are turning their attention down ballot. They've already spent $12.4 million on Senate races — not counting the new $30 million buy — which exceeds what any other conservative outside group has spent on congressional races, a comparison of Federal Election Commission reports by The Hill shows. A Koch network official told The Hill on Monday that the new $30 million TV and cable buy, which covers August and September, will help Republican Senate candidates in five battleground states: Ohio, Wisconsin, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Kasich: I'm not endorsing Trump (yet) -- or serving as his VP<http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/16/politics/john-kasich-third-party-interview-anderson-cooper/index.html>

CNN // THEODROE SCHLEIFER

John Kasich signaled Monday that he still harbors deep uneasiness with Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, declining to endorse him and reiterating that he will not serve as Trump's vice president. Even now that he's left the race, Kasich is resisting calls to serve as Trump's No. 2, portraying his pitch and Trump's as fundamentally incompatible. Kasich said he was "not inclined" to run with Trump and that he had "not changed my mind." "Those are two very inconsistent messages, so it would be very hard for me -- unless he were to change all of his views and become a uniter -- for me to get in the middle of this thing," the Ohio governor told CNN's Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview, his first since leaving the race. "Because, you know, I'm undecided here about what I'm gonna do in this race."

Kasich rules out ‘Stop Trump’ third-party bid<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/16/kasich-rules-out-stop-trump-third-party-bid/>

WASHINGTON POST // DAVID WEIGEL

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), whose named has been bandied about by the Republicans looking for a third-party "Stop Donald Trump" candidate for president, told CNN that he had already ruled it out. "I've had a phone call with somebody that wanted me to run, consider running as a third-party candidate," Kasich said. "I'm not gonna do that... I just think running third party doesn't feel right. I think it's not constructive." Kasich, the last Trump rival to exit the 2016 primaries, had been contacted by Mitt Romney and other would-be eminence grises who are trying -- with no success thus far -- to put a new candidate on the ballot and spare conservatives from backing the Republican ticket.

Rand Paul plays catch up in money chase as he’s expected to clinch Kentucky Senate nod<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/05/17/rand-paul-plays-catch-up-in-money-chase-as-hes-expected-to-clinch-kentucky-senate-nod/>

WASHINGTON POST // ELISE VIEBECK

For Rand Paul, back in Kentucky after a failed presidential bid, it’s all about the money. The Republican senator is expected to easily win his Senate primary on Tuesday, setting the stage for what the GOP hopes is a repeat performance of his home state colleague Mitch McConnell’s crushing defeat against Alison Lundergan Grimes in 2014. Issues like the Senate’s inaction on President Obama’s latest Supreme Court nominee, or even Donald Trump — Paul has said he will support the Republican nominee — have received little attention from his two primary opponents. But Paul needs to start fundraising in earnest for what may turn out to be a tough general election against likely Democratic rival Jim Gray, the mayor of Lexington. Gray, who gained personal wealth from running his family’s Lexington-based construction firm, raised $750,000 and loaned his campaign $1 million in the first quarter of the year while Paul raised $530,000. Both Paul and Gray had $1.5 million cash on hand, though Gray later cut a check on his first statewide television ad buy.

Impeachment hearings are latest victory in conservative war on IRS<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/05/17/impeachment-hearings-are-latest-victory-in-conservative-war-on-irs/>

WASHINGTON POST // LISA REIN

The House Judiciary Committee’s decision to hold hearings a week from today on whether to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen is a victory for the chamber’s far-right caucus, still smarting over the agency’s treatment of conservative groups. Over five years, House Republicans have slashed the IRS budget, passed bills banning employee bonuses and prohibiting employees fired for misconduct from getting rehired. The GOP has vowed to simplify the tax code, pounced on agency management failures and assailed customer service failures caused by the budget cuts. And last week, anti-IRS lawmakers convinced previously hesitant House leaders to start the unusual process of removing the tax collector from office. One of the biggest questions now is whether the 76-year-old tax commissioner will show up for the grilling. IRS officials said Monday they have made no decision on whether Koskinen will accept the Judiciary committee’s invitation to appear May 24 and at a hearing in June.

Reince Priebus, fool<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/reince-priebus-fool/2016/05/16/decae58a-1b88-11e6-9c81-4be1c14fb8c8_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // RICHARD COHEN

I don’t know Reince Priebus, the head of the Republican Party (such as it is). He may be a very nice guy, what with a wife and kids and probably a car or two. Still, after watching him on the Sunday interview shows, I have concluded that the man has no pride, no shame and, almost certainly, no future. After Donald Trump loses the presidential election, the name Priebus will, like Quisling or even Boycott, take on a separate meaning: fool. Priebus went from TV studio to TV studio, four in all, on a trudge of abasement, a ride of shame. He was asked about Trump’s womanizing, his attempts in the past to pass himself off as someone else (“John Miller,” “John Barron”), his misogyny and his plan to bar all Muslims from the country (details to follow). The Mexican wall, did that come up? His belittling of John McCain, was that mentioned? His mockery of a physically handicapped reporter, did someone mention that? There is so much to offend, so much to defend: the king’s ransom of insults and moronic plans, the childish take on torture, the misunderstanding of the Constitution, the veritable conviction of all Mexicans on the charge of rape, the distrust of NATO, the off-the-cuff suggestion that Japan and South Korea get their own nuclear weapons, and, for a moment or two, the notion that women who seek abortions should be somehow punished.

An isolated crusade to clean up Congress<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-isolated-crusade-to-clean-up-congress/2016/05/16/983a3264-1b9d-11e6-9c81-4be1c14fb8c8_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // DANA MILBANK

In February, when Rep. David Jolly introduced his quixotic plan to ban members of Congress from soliciting campaign contributions, the Florida Republican had only six co-sponsors. Then, three weeks ago, “60 Minutes” did a sympathetic piece on Jolly’s idea, giving national attention to the scandal of lawmakers spending 30 or more hours a week dialing for dollars. And now? The number of co-sponsors on Jolly’s bill has jumped from six all the way up to — um, eight. No senator has come forward with similar legislation. Jolly, appearing Monday morning at the National Press Club with his lead Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Rick Nolan (Minn.), was not surprised. “We’ve got six more co-sponsors than I thought we might have,” he said. It’s “a heartbreaking reflection on what the priorities of the Congress are. . . . A member’s political survival depends on raising money — that’s the reality.” Jolly speaks the truth. Lawmakers know what needs to be done to clean up the corrupt system — but nothing happens.

Rubio goes on late-night Twitter rant over Washington Post article<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/marco-rubio-twitter-washington-post-223248>

POLITICO // LOUIS NELSON

Sen. Marco Rubio fired off a late-night tweetstorm Monday night, slamming a pair of Washington Post stories on his supposed post-presidential campaign plans and describing the newspaper’s sources as “just people who want to sound like they are in the know.” Rubio (R-Fla.) kicked off his online rant at 11:17 p.m. Monday, tweeting a link to a Washington Post story headlined, “5 people who are never going to be Donald Trump’s vice president.” Along with a link to the story, which lists Rubio among the five who would turn down a spot on Trump’s ticket, the Florida senator added his own commentary on the Post’s sourcing. “Funny to read about unnamed ‘people close’ to me who claim to know my thinking on future plans,” he wrote on Twitter. “They just make it up.” Less than 10 minutes later, Rubio linked to another Washington Post story: “Rubio gives up on Senate: ‘He hates it.’” The Florida senator said that story, published last October, also didn’t hold much water. “Flashback to another article quoting a ‘longtime friend’ saying I ‘hate’ Senate,” Rubio wrote on Twitter. “Words I have NEVER said to anyone.” Rubio went on to reiterate that he intends to wrap up his Senate term in January and return to private life in Florida, a plan he claimed to have stated “like 1000 times.”

Portman and Strickland fail the Trump test<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/portman-strickland-ohio-senate-223231>

POLITICO // BURGESS EVERETT

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have made 2016 the ultimate year of the political outsider, an environment in which getting tagged as a creature of Washington or a political hack is the last thing a candidate can afford. Some, in fact, are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to avoid the dreaded label. And Exhibit A is the Ohio showdown between Sen. Rob Portman and former Gov. Ted Strickland, one of the most competitive Senate races in the country. Portman is a prominent GOP fundraiser and a backroom deal maker in the Senate. He’s a former congressman, a onetime U.S. trade representative and the director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. Yet it’s the guy running against him, Portman insists, who’s the actual insider. “He’s not only an insider who lost his election — first thing he does is come to Washington to cash in — but he’s also someone who’s totally ineffective, which is the worst kind of insider,” Portman says of Strickland. No, no, says Strickland, a former governor, congressman, top official for a liberal Washington think tank and political consultant. Portman is the real insider. “The fact is, I probably need the paycheck more than he does. … As you know, he’s pretty wealthy. He is the insider’s insider,” Strickland shoots back. Six months before Election Day, the battle between the two Buckeye State heavyweights has taken on a comical flair. Despite their long careers in politics, Portman and Strickland are both laser-focused on winning the argument about who has more political baggage, and how it will play with voters.

Trump, Republicans agree: ObamaCare helps us<http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/280115-trump-gop-agree-obamacare-helps-us>

THE HILL // ALEXANDER BOLTON

Donald Trump and Senate Republicans believe ObamaCare will re-emerge as an explosive political issue before the November elections. At a private strategy meeting on Thursday, Trump and Senate Republicans agreed that President Obama’s signature law could be a millstone around Hillary Clinton’s neck. Republicans point to reports of rising premiums in arguing the public will turn firmly against the reform law. They say a fight over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could help elect a GOP president this fall and keep the Senate in Republican hands. “I’m expecting big [premium] increases and for the Obama administration to try to hide them all the way through the election,” Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who attended the meeting with Trump, told The Hill in an interview. “This healthcare law has been devastating to the Democratic Party.” Trump’s rise in the GOP has been a shock to many senators, who have openly worried about their prospects with the wealthy businessman at the top of their ticket. Republicans are defending 24 seats in this year’s election, including in Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Florida — which Obama won in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

2016 Democrats

Mountains of mud set to fly in White House race<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/05/16/opposition-research-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-white-house-race/84447002/>

USA TODAY // FREDREKA SCHOUTEN

In a downtown Washington office, a cluster of researchers at a Democratic super PAC are poring over Trump University lawsuit filings, reading newspaper clips and even watching old episodes of The Celebrity Apprentice. Less than two miles away, the Republican National Committee’s research staff is busy with more than 500 public-records requests about Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s tenure in public office. Republicans have built a text-searchable database of every scrap of video she’s appeared in since the 1980s, and the RNC even posted a staffer in Little Rock, Ark., for more than a year to make almost daily trips to The William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in the hopes of uncovering new and damaging information about the former first lady. The mud is about to fly as Clinton and GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump grow closer to a general-election showdown. Voters already are getting a taste of how ugly it will be.

Clinton looks to bounce back with Kentucky win<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/05/16/hillary-clinton-kentucky-oregon-sanders-trump/84452636/>

USA TODAY // HEIDI M PRZYBYLA

Hillary Clinton hopes to avoid another round of primary defeats that, while doing little to diminish her delegate lead over Bernie Sanders, magnify her difficulty in unifying the Democratic Party. Primaries in Oregon and Kentucky, which vote on Tuesday, could extend her losses after the Vermont senator carried Indiana and West Virginia earlier this month. While Sanders is expected to win in Oregon, the Clinton campaign sees an opportunity in Kentucky, a state she carried easily in her primary campaign eight years ago. Throughout the campaign, Clinton has struggled with working-class, white voters, however, particularly in communities hit hard by manufacturing job losses in the Rust Belt. It’s a group that's also boosting Republican Donald Trump’s candidacy.

Clinton Hints at the Role Her Husband Would Play<http://www.wsj.com/articles/clinton-hints-at-the-role-her-husband-would-play-1463437993>

WALL STREET JOURNAL // LAURA MECKLER

Hillary Clinton leaned hard on her husband’s popularity in Kentucky as she worked to win Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary here, repeatedly invoking his presidency and promising he would have a role in her administration. “I want to help bring back the kind of economy that worked for everybody in the 1990s,” she told more than 100 people crammed into a diner here Monday. “I’ve already told my husband that if I’m so fortunate enough to be president and he will be the first gentlemen, I’ll expect him to go to work…to get incomes rising.” Bill Clinton, who hails from nearby Arkansas, has long been able to relate to Kentucky voters. He won the state twice, and headlined six events of his own in the run-up to the primary. Warm feelings for him were palpable. At the diner stop, Mrs. Clinton ran into one man wearing a vintage 1992 Clinton-Gore sweatshirt. “Boy, that’s an original,” she told him.

Clinton: Trump's Foreign Policy Would be 'Disastrous'<file:///C:\Users\PriceJ\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary%20Internet%20Files\Content.Outlook\CQR00TNK\Hillary%20Clinton%20blasted%20her%20likely%20general%20election%20foe%20on%20Monday,%20saying%20Donald%20Trumpâs%20comments%20about%20some%20of%20Americaâs%20closest%20allies%20show%20his%20foreign%20policy%20would%20be%20âdisastrous.â%20The%20Democratic%20front-runner%20was%20responding%20to%20comments%20Trump%20ma>

ROLL CALL // JOHN BENNETT

Hillary Clinton blasted her likely general election foe on Monday, saying Donald Trump’s comments about some of America’s closest allies show his foreign policy would be “disastrous.” The Democratic front-runner was responding to comments Trump made on British television that appeared to fly in the face of the long-established “special relationship” between the U.K. and the United States. “It looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship,” Trump told Piers Morgan in an interview aired on ITV Monday. Clinton used Trump’s latest blast about a foreign leader to take a swipe at the man she almost certainly will face in the general election.

Clinton senior adviser attacks Trump on foreign policy<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/trump-foreign-policy-jake-sullivan-clinton-223247>

POLITICO // ANNIE KARNI

Hillary Clinton and her campaign officials so far have focused on Donald Trump’s tax plan and the economy as they begin the difficult task of defining and attacking the presumptive Republican nominee. But on Monday evening, Clinton’s senior policy adviser, Jake Sullivan, began to outline how the campaign will take on Trump's "America First" foreign policy, calling him a “tremendously dangerous risk” and someone who vacillates wildly on his basic beliefs. “It is very, very difficult to pin down where he stands on a lot of these policies,” said Sullivan, who participated in an hourlong foreign policy discussion with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, at the Asia Society in Manhattan.

Clinton fires back at critic: ‘It’s time that people stop listening to Republican propaganda’<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/16/clinton-fires-back-at-critic-its-time-that-people-stop-listening-to-republican-propaganda/>

WASHINGTON POST // ABBY PHILLIP

Hillary Clinton fired back at a woman who stood during a rally here Monday to disagree with a line in Clinton's stump speech about Kentucky’s Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. The exchange unfolded as Clinton discussed improvements that had occurred in the state on issues such as education, implementing the Affordable Care Act and lowering the unemployment rate — all of which she attributed to Bevin’s predecessor, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear. “Your governor did such a great job and your current governor is trying to undo it all,” Clinton said, referring to Bevin and Beshear. But the woman, who had been sitting quietly in the audience, stood and shouted toward Clinton: “That is not true.”

Clinton Testimony Tied to Benghazi Records Sought by Group<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-05-16/clinton-testimony-on-benghazi-sought-by-conservative-group>

BLOOMBERG // ANDREW HARRIS

Hillary Clinton’s sworn testimony is sought by a conservative watchdog group seeking records related to the September 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound at Benghazi, Libya. Judicial Watch made its request known in a filing late Monday with U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who previously said the Washington-based group could engage in “limited discovery” in its 2014 lawsuit. The case involves the U.S. State Department’s response to a demand for information tied to the terrorist assault that left U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead. The case threatens to provide another distraction for Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, and revive Republican criticism of how she handled Benghazi while serving as secretary of state. Clinton already is under scrutiny for her use of a private e-mail address to conduct public business.

College once led by Jane Sanders closing due to ‘crushing' debt<http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/280101-college-once-led-by-jane-sanders-closing-due-to-crushing-debt>

THE HILL // JESSE BYRNES

A Vermont liberal arts college once led by Jane Sanders, the wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, announced Monday it is closing, citing "crushing" debt incurred during her tenure. Burlington College cited the debt from its 2010 purchase of more than 30 acres of land from the local archdiocese in announcing its decision to close, according to a statement reported by media outlets. Jane Sanders served as president of the school from 2004 to 2011. Her husband, a former mayor of Burlington, served in the House between 1991 and 2007 and has since served in the Senate. Officials said the school, which was placed on probation in 2014 by its accrediting agency for not having enough resources, is unlikely to be reaccredited, despite selling some property last year.

Sanders Nevada revolt puts Democrats on notice<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/nevada-sanders-clinton-223243>

POLITICO // GABRIEL DEBENEDETTI AND DANIEL STRAUSS

When hotel security kicked the raucous Nevada Democratic Party convention out of the facility on Saturday night, Hillary Clinton and Democratic leaders across the country were put on notice: Expect serious turbulence before arriving in Philadelphia this summer. For several chaotic hours, legions of Bernie Sanders’ backers lashed out in anger and frustration over Clinton’s delegate win there. The Paris Las Vegas hotel finally managed to shut down the event, but another group of angry Sanders fans descended on the state Democratic headquarters the next morning. To the state party officials across the nation who saw videos from the convention on the Internet and on cable news Monday morning, the Nevada debacle served as a jarring reminder that the party is still a long way from united after its long slog of a primary.

Bernie Sanders Supporters Voice Ire at Nevada Democratic Party<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/us/politics/bernie-sanders-supporters-nevada.html?ref=politics>

NEW YORK TIMES // ALAN RAPPEPORT

Thrown chairs. Leaked cellphone numbers. Death threats spewed across the Internet. No, this is not the work of Donald J. Trump supporters, some of whom have harassed critics of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. It was angry supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders who were directing their ire at the Nevada Democratic Party — and its chairwoman, Roberta Lange — over a state convention on Saturday that they think was emblematic of a rigged political system. “It’s been vile,” said Ms. Lange, who riled Sanders supporters by refusing their requests for rule changes at the event in Las Vegas. “It’s been threatening messages, threatening my family, threatening my life, threatening my grandchild.”

Democrats Get Physical<http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/democrats-get-physical>

ROLL CALL // STEPHANIE AKIN

A campaign rally in California is cut short by a unruly crowd. Outside, protesters shout obscenities and rip in half a young girl's campaign poster. A celebrity, Wendell Pierce of "The Wire" fame, is jailed after he pushes a man during a political disagreement, then grabs his girlfriend by the hair. A delegate at a Nevada political convention lay motionless on the floor as someone yelled into a public address microphone, "We need a medic to the front!" Such stories have become all too familiar after the rowdy, and sometimes violent political demonstrations that followed Donald Trump's rise to the top of the Republican ticket. Except these recent melees all involved Democrats. Reports of aggressive altercations between supporters of Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernard Sanders have increased in recent weeks as the Democratic primary enters its last leg, suggesting a liberal counterpart to the politically disenfranchised conservative voters whose passions Trump was able to harness during his primary campaign.

Senate makeup limits Clinton’s VP choices<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/senate-makeup-limits-clintons-vp-choices>

MSNBC // ALEX SEITZ-WALD

Presidential nominees have many competing considerations to weigh when choosing a vice presidential nominee, but one of the biggest for Hillary Clinton will be the makeup of the Senate. Most of Clinton’s best VP prospects are found in the upper chamber, since Democratic governors have been decimated in recent years and few House members have the proper profile. But at least three of the likely Democratic nominee’s top potential choices – Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown and Cory Booker – are senators from states with Republican governors, meaning they would almost certainly be replaced in Congress by a Republican, which could alter the balance of power in the Senate. That may be enough to keep Clinton and her team focused on senators from states with Democratic governors, such as Virginia’s Tim Kaine or Minnesota’s Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar, or non-senators, like Labor Secretary Tom Perez or HUD Secretary Julian Castro. Democrats have a good chance to recapture the Senate in November, but selecting one of these candidates would mean one fewer Democratic vote for a hypothetical Clinton administration next year.

Can Hillary Clinton, Goldwater Girl, Win Over Republicans?<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/opinion/campaign-stops/can-hillary-clinton-goldwater-girl-win-over-republicans.html>

NEW YORK TIMES // EMMA ROLLER

“How did a nice Republican girl from Park Ridge go wrong?” That was the question Hillary Clinton posed in March 1992, when she visited her old high school in suburban Park Ridge, Ill., with her husband, who was then running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Mrs. Clinton made her first forays into politics as a teenager in Park Ridge, as an ardent supporter of Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, the ultraconservative Republican nominee for president in 1964. Now she’s the one running for president. The Goldwater Girl chapter is in the past, though it is something the veteran Democratic politician talks about as formative to her political identity. “My political beliefs are rooted in the conservatism that I was raised with,” she said in a 1996 interview. What can Hillary Clinton’s past as a Goldwater Girl tell us about her effort to win over Republicans in the general election? The Clinton campaign seems to be subtly tapping into her conservative past in the hopes of appealing to anti-Trump Republicans in the general election. In recent weeks, her campaign has started courting Jeb Bush’s donors, and has sent out a flurry of news releases playing up the “risk” posed by a Donald J. Trump presidency and quoting Republicans who have voiced concerns about their presumptive nominee.

Here's how Hillary Clinton's allies plan to go after Trump<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-clinton-super-pac-223245>

POLITICO // GABRIEL DEBENEDETTI

The coming ad assault against Donald Trump from pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Priorities USA Action is likely to drill a three-pronged message deep into the minds of swing state voters, if the group’s leaders have their way. The three central tenets of the message will be that the real estate investor is a divisive character, that he’s too dangerous to vote for, and that he’s a con man, Priorities’ chief strategist Guy Cecil explained to POLITICO on Monday — two days before the organization started its run of television advertising that’s set to effectively stay on the air straight through Election Day in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Virginia. The effort is kicking off this week by educating swing-state voters about Trump. “One of the biggest misconceptions about Donald Trump is [that he has] virtually universal name recognition, that voters are completely clued into this race, that they know Donald Trump, that they know about his career, that they’ve seen the more outrageous positions he’s taken. The fact of the matter is knowledge about Donald Trump is a mile wide and an inch deep. In fact, most Americans who have been busy living their lives, who have not been watching cable coverage, [know] very little about Donald Trump,” said Cecil, noting that the group has found that clips tend to prove most effective when voters see or hear the presumptive GOP nominee directly.

Conservative watchdog seeks Clinton testimony on email case<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/hillary-clinton-emails-223239>

POLITICO // JOSH GERSTEIN

A conservative group engaged in a series of lawsuits seeking emails from Hillary Clinton's private server is asking a federal judge to order her to give a sworn deposition. Judicial Watch filed the request Monday with U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth. Lamberth had previously agreed to allow the group to take discovery in the case in an effort to establish why the former secretary of state and likely Democratic presidential nominee used a private server and whether it was to put records beyond the reach of the Freedom of Information Act. "Mrs. Clinton’s testimony will help the courts determine whether her email practices thwarted the Freedom of Information Act,” Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton said in a statement. Earlier this month, another federal judge hearing a separate Judicial Watch case, Emmet Sullivan, approved a discovery plan to take depositions from seven current and former State Department officials. He signed an order saying a deposition of Clinton "may be necessary," but he did not immediately order one nor did the conservative group seek one in that FOIA case.

From Bernie Sanders Supporters, Death Threats Over Delegates<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/us/politics/bernie-sanders-supporters-nevada.html>

NEW YORK TIMES // ALAN RAPPEPORT

Thrown chairs. Leaked cellphone numbers. Death threats spewed across the Internet. No, this is not the work of Donald J. Trump supporters, some of whom have harassed critics of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. It was angry supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders who were directing their ire at the Nevada Democratic Party — and its chairwoman, Roberta Lange — over a state convention on Saturday that they think was emblematic of a rigged political system. “It’s been vile,” said Ms. Lange, who riled Sanders supporters by refusing their requests for rule changes at the event in Las Vegas. “It’s been threatening messages, threatening my family, threatening my life, threatening my grandchild.” The vicious response has come as millions of new voters, many of whom felt excluded by establishment politicians, have flocked to the insurgent campaigns of Mr. Sanders and Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump has all but locked up the nomination, but many backers of Mr. Sanders remain enraged as his hopes of being the Democratic candidate dwindle.

2016 Republican

Former Trump girlfriend rebuts NY Times story on history with women<http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-idUSKCN0Y71L6>

REUTERS // MEGAN CASSELLA AND SUSAN HEAVEY

A woman at the center of a New York Times piece detailing Republican Donald Trump's history with women took issue with the story on Monday, saying she never had a negative experience with the billionaire and does not believe he ever mistreated women. Rowanne Brewer Lane, a former model who dated Trump for several months starting in the late 1990, said her words were mischaracterized in the Times article, which used dozens of interviews to show what it said was a pattern of unsettling personal behavior by the presidential candidate with women. The Times story said Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 election, asked Lane to change into a bikini shortly after meeting her at a pool party at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. According to the article, he then introduced her to the crowd outside, saying, "That is a stunning Trump girl, isn't it?" On Monday, Lane told the same story in a series of television interviews but said she had been flattered by his comment.

Donald Trump to meet with Henry Kissinger<http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-kissinger-idUSKCN0Y803S>

REUTERS // ERIC BEECH

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing three people close to Trump. The meeting in New York comes after weeks of telephone conversations between Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, and Kissinger, who was a top adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, the Post said. Last week, Trump met with former Secretary of State James Baker, who told a congressional hearing on the same day as the meeting that Trump's foreign policy proposals would make the world a less stable place.

Donald Trump to meet with Henry Kissinger, GOP’s foreign-policy eminence<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/16/donald-trump-to-meet-with-henry-kissinger-gops-foreign-policy-eminence-2/>

WASHINGTON POST // ROBERT COSTA AND PHILIP RUCKER

Donald Trump is scheduled to meet here Wednesday with former secretary of state Henry Kissinger as the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee looks to develop his foreign-policy expertise, according to three people close to Trump. Kissinger has long been the GOP’s preeminent elder statesman on world affairs, in particular on the U.S. relationship with China. Trump declined to comment. Kissinger’s spokesperson was not reachable. Meeting with Kissinger has become a rite of passage for many ambitious Republicans, especially those who land on the party’s presidential ticket. Sarah Palin had a high-profile meeting with him in 2008 when she became the GOP vice-presidential nominee, seeking his counsel and association with his credentials.

Trump hires former Scott pollster Tony Fabrizio<http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/florida/2016/05/8599300/trump-hires-former-scott-pollster-tony-fabrizio>

POLITICO // MARC CAPUTO

After resisting hiring a pollster for months, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has signed up veteran political strategist Tony Fabrizio, sources tell POLITICO. Fabrizio, who advises the Florida U.S. Senate campaign of U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, was the top strategist who masterminded Gov. Rick Scott’s improbable Florida win in 2010. Fabrizio also played a top advisory role in Matt Bevin's 2015 win in Kentucky. Scott and Bevin have a common link to Trump: They were both outsider businessmen who bucked the establishment. Fabrizio has also polled for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and GOP presidential candidates Bob Dole in 1996 and Rick Perry in 2012 and also advised and surveyed for dozens congressmen and senators.

For Donald Trump, every vice is a virtue<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/for-donald-trump-every-vice-is-a-virtue/2016/05/16/4ace3e64-1b9b-11e6-8c7b-6931e66333e7_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // CATHERINE RAMPELL

I’ve finally figured out why Donald Trump posed as his own spokesman, “John Miller.” It’s because he says he gets only the best people, and Trump happens to be the best, most talented flack there is. No one approaches The Donald’s vertiginous spin-room virtuosity. He’s such a naturally gifted spin doctor that he could probably start his own medical school. Throughout this campaign, Trump has managed to recast matters that would be considered liabilities in any other politician — any other human being, really — into enviable assets. Every vice is a virtue, every weakness a strength, every embarrassment a Trumpian triumph. Take, for example, his tax returns. Or lack thereof. Trump has offered many excuses for not releasing his returns, contra 40 years of norms for major-party presidential candidates. The rationale that he has returned to lately, however, is his supposed “continuous” audit.

Why Donald Trump’s Surprising Wins in These Wealthy Suburbs Matter<http://time.com/4337390/donald-trump-connecticut-republican-win/>

TIME // TESSA BERENSON

Fairfield, Connecticut, doesn’t look like the Donald Trump country you’re used to seeing. The stately homes in Greenfield Hill, with its two-acre zoning requirement, and the charming waterfront in Southport, with sailboats docked in the calm waters of Long Island Sound don’t gibe with the raucous rallies thrown by the Republican frontrunner. But these wealthy Connecticut suburbs are as much hotbeds of Trump support as some coal-mining counties in Kentucky. Statewide, Trump won the April 26 primary with 58% of the vote, including all but three cities in Fairfield County, home to some of the richest communities in America and a place that many expected would go for a more moderate candidate like Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has since dropped out. “They normally go with an established, moderate candidate,” said James Millington, chairman of the Fairfield Republican Party. “But when the numbers came in on primary night, we saw something that we’ve never seen before.” “We have a lot of corporate executives, highly educated people and very successful people in business, hedge funds and everything that make up our community in Fairfield, and people that I spoke to thought that they would probably break to Kasich,” he added. “And they clearly did not.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda Reminds Donald Trump That ‘Immigrants Get The Job Done’<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lin-manuel-miranda-penn-commencement_us_573a5fe0e4b077d4d6f3d749>

HUFFINGTON POST // MARINA FANG

Echoing a line from his hit Broadway musical “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda on Monday condemned presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s nativist ideology, reminding the graduating class of the University of Pennsylvania of the stories and contributions of immigrants to America. “In a year when politicians traffic in anti-immigrant rhetoric,” he said, “there is also a Broadway musical reminding us that a broke, orphan immigrant from the West Indies built our financial system, a story that reminds us that since the beginning of the great, unfinished symphony that is our American experiment, time and time again, immigrants get the job done.” While Miranda was not referring to Trump directly in his commencement address, the sentiment was clear, and his remarks were met with a standing ovation from the students and the university’s president. The Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner did not throw away his shot, drawing on themes from “Hamilton” to encourage students to tell diverse stories.

Donald Trump Hires Pollster as Campaign Strategist, Sources Say<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/us/politics/donald-trump-hires-pollster-as-campaign-strategist-sources-say.html>

NEW YORK TIMES // MAGGIE HABERMAN AND ASHLEY PARKER

Donald J. Trump has hired the veteran pollster Tony Fabrizio as a strategist for his campaign, two people briefed on the hiring said on Monday evening. It is the first time that Mr. Trump has had a pollster in that role for a sustained period of time. Mr. Fabrizio, who recently worked on the presidential campaign of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, joined the Trump campaign in recent weeks, according to the people briefed on his hiring, who asked to remain anonymous to speak about a move that had not yet been announced. Mr. Fabrizio has decades of presidential campaign experience, including working on Bob Dole’s campaign in 1996 with Paul Manafort, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump. Mr. Fabrizio also worked on the 2012 presidential campaign of former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and on Rick Scott’s successful campaign for governor of Florida in 2010. Having a pollster may make it difficult for Mr. Trump to continue a talking point — that he does it all without polls because the news media does them free. Such news polls don’t conduct the type of deep targeting that campaign surveys do, and Mr. Trump is entering a new phase, a general election, in which his negative ratings are high.

Donald Trump’s Alaska Campaign Team Includes Convicted Felon<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-alaska-felon_us_573a9252e4b077d4d6f3e279>

HUFFINGTON POST // CHRISTINA WILKIE

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign team in Alaska includes a former state lawmaker who served prison time for corruption. Republican Tom Anderson, who was named Monday as Trump’s press representative in the state, was convicted in 2007 of bribery, extortion, money laundering and conspiracy for accepting bribes from a private prison company in exchange for advancing the company’s interests in the Alaska legislature. He served four years in federal prison and was released in 2011.  Anderson was listed as the press contact on Monday’s announcement naming an assortment of state Republicans to Trump Alaska 2016, the campaign organization for the presumptive GOP nominee. He is now a managing partner of Optima Public Relations, a firm founded by his father, Tom Anderson Sr., in 2011 — weeks before Anderson was released from prison. Anderson also hosts “The Tom Anderson Show,” a morning radio program. On Monday, he teased a scoop ahead of the formal release of “who the Policy Platform Committee members and Honorary Co-Chairs will be for the Trump Alaska 2016 organization. Don’t miss it. Big names!”

Donald Trump is Not Expanding the GOP<http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-polling-turnout-early-voting-data-213897>

POLITICO // SHANE GOLDMACHER

Donald Trump likes to say he has created a political movement that has drawn “millions and millions” of new voters into the Republican Party. “It’s the biggest thing happening in politics,” Trump has said. “All over the world, they’re talking about it,” he's bragged. But a Politico analysis of the early 2016 voting data show that, so far, it’s just not true. While Trump’s insurgent candidacy has spurred record-setting Republican primary turnout in state after state, the early statistics show that the vast majority of those voters aren’t actually new to voting or to the Republican Party, but rather they are reliable past voters in general elections. They are only casting ballots in a Republican primary for the first time. It is a distinction with profound consequences for the fall campaign. If Trump isn’t bringing the promised wave of new voters into the GOP, it’s far less likely the Manhattan businessman can transform a 2016 Electoral College map that begins tilted against the Republican Party. And whether Trump’s voters are truly new is a question of urgent interest both to GOP operatives and Hillary Clinton and her allies, who have dispatched their top analytics experts to find the answer.

In Adjacent Pennsylvania Counties, Republicans Are Split on Donald Trump<http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-adjacent-pennsylvania-counties-republicans-are-split-on-donald-trump-1463445389>

WALL STREET JOURNAL // AARON ZITNER AND DANTE CHINNI

In this city of shuttered factories and falling incomes, Donald Trump’s swagger and promises to get tough with trading partners have rallied Republicans and shown signs of drawing working-class voters to the party. A short distance away, in the thriving office parks of Montgomery County, Republicans worry that those same qualities are repelling upper-income GOP voters. That’s the tricky electoral math that Mr. Trump faces in an expected general-election push to win Pennsylvania and industrial Midwest states that haven’t backed a Republican for president in decades. Mr. Trump’s working-class appeal has helped add new Republicans to the voter rolls in the area around Reading, one of the nation’s poorest cities. But in adjacent and more populous Montgomery County, which borders Philadelphia, Republicans fear Mr. Trump could amplify a recent tilt into the Democratic camp. Democrats in recent months there have made bigger gains than the GOP in voter registration.

Poll: More Republicans trust Trump than Ryan<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/280123-poll-more-republicans-trust-trump-than-ryan>

ROLL CALL // LISA HAGEN

More than half of Republican voters trust presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump to lead the party over Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), a new national poll released Tuesday finds. A NBC News/SurveyMonkey online tracking poll found that six in 10 Republicans and GOP-leaners trust Trump more than the speaker, while only four in 10 trust Ryan more. Republicans who describe themselves as very conservative are more trusting of Trump than of Ryan -- 63 to 34 percent -- compared to those who describe themselves as conservative or moderate. Last week, Trump and Ryan met to attempt to mend fences. The House speaker still hasn’t endorsed the real estate mogul, but Ryan said the two will have additional conversations in the coming months. The Wisconsin Republican also said both men are “totally committed to working together to achieve” party unity. The poll was conducted May 9-15 and surveyed 14,100 adults, including 12,507 who say they’re registered voters, via online. The margin of error was 1.2 points.

Donald Trump Borrows From Bernie Sanders’s Playbook to Woo Democrats<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/18/us/politics/donald-trump-bernie-sanders-campaign.html>

NEW YORK TIMES // ASHLEY PARKER AND JONATHAN MARTIN

Donald J. Trump recently coined a dismissive nickname for Senator Bernie Sanders: “Crazy Bernie.” But that has not stopped Mr. Trump from borrowing lessons from Mr. Sanders — the Vermont senator whom he also frequently praises from the stump — on how to run against Hillary Clinton, his likely opponent in the general election. On a range of issues, Mr. Trump seems to be taking a page from the Sanders playbook, expressing a willingness to increase the minimum wage, suggesting that the wealthy may pay higher taxes than under his original proposal, attacking Mrs. Clinton from the left on national security and Wall Street, and making clear that his opposition to free trade will be a centerpiece of his general election campaign. As Mr. Trump lays the groundwork for his likely showdown with Mrs. Clinton, he is staking out a series of populist positions that could help him woo working-class Democrats in November. But in doing so, he is exacerbating the trepidation some Republicans already feel about his candidacy at a moment when the party typically rallies to its nominee.

Are pollsters ready for Donald Trump?<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/are-pollsters-ready-for-donald-trump-223240>

POLITICO // STEVEN SHEPARD

He ran away with the Republican presidential nomination, but America’s pollsters are still trying to figure out Donald Trump. Ten months after the New York billionaire announced his White House bid, pollsters are grappling with his force-of-nature candidacy and the many questions it raises for their industry. Will he produce a surge of new voters that they can’t predict? Will voters be less likely to admit to live pollsters that they intend to support him in November? And given the talk of a potential third-party candidacy, how would that prospect scramble the polls? With the polling industry in a state of unprecedented flux — torn between longstanding, gold-standard practices that are gradually giving way to largely untested new approaches — the uncertainty surrounding a November matchup between Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton dominated talk in the hallways here at this past weekend’s American Association for Public Opinion Research annual conference. After a number of high-profile misses in recent years, the additional layers of uncertainty in 2016 raise the prospect that pollsters could muff the most closely watched election in a generation.

Trump’s bizarre, dangerous neediness<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-bizarre-dangerous-neediness/2016/05/16/32a86be4-1b9a-11e6-9c81-4be1c14fb8c8_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // EUGENE ROBINSON

Donald Trump’s opponents in the primaries were right to call him a con artist, a narcissist and a pathological liar. Just ask “John Miller.” That’s one of the names Trump used with journalists to burnish his status as a bold-faced Manhattan celebrity; he also called himself “John Barron.” Both personae were supposedly publicists who just wanted to explain what a wonderful guy Mr. Trump was and how beautiful women seemed unable to resist his charms. Last week, The Post ran an article about the “Miller” and “Barron” ruses, which took place years ago, and posted a 1991 recording of “Miller” explaining why Trump was dumping Marla Maples. “He’s coming out of a marriage, and he’s starting to do tremendously well financially,” the imaginary publicist says to a reporter from People magazine. “Actresses just call to see if they can go out with him and things.” Madonna is ostentatiously name-dropped as someone who “wanted to go out with him.” The voice is Trump’s. He denies it, for some reason — “I don’t think it was me,” he said Friday, “it doesn’t sound like me” — but the timbre, cadence and word choice on the recording are pure Trump. It could only be him or his evil twin (as if he needed one).

Conservatives make a deal with the devil<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/conservatives-cave-to-the-cave-man/2016/05/16/314bbf6e-1b89-11e6-9c81-4be1c14fb8c8_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // MICHAEL GERSON

In the category of credit where credit is due, Donald Trump has been exactly right in one important respect. He attacked the Republican establishment as low-energy, cowering weaklings. Now Republican leaders are lining up to surrender to him — like low-energy, cowering weaklings. The capitulation has justified the accusation. It would be impolite to name names. So I should not mention that former Texas governor Rick Perry, who now angles for Trump’s vice presidential nod, once said: “He offers a barking carnival act that can be best described as Trumpism: a toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued. Let no one be mistaken — Donald Trump’s candidacy is a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded.” I should resist the temptation to recall how Rep. Peter King (N.Y.), who now (reluctantly) backs Trump, once asserted he is “not fit to be president, morally or intellectually.”

Some conservatives are still plotting to stop Trump at the GOP convention<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/some-conservatives-are-still-plotting-to-stop-trump-at-the-gop-convention/2016/05/16/117166ee-1954-11e6-9e16-2e5a123aac62_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // ED O’KEEFE AND DAVID WEIGEL

The top ranks of the Republican Party may be coalescing around Donald Trump, but grass-roots conservative activists are still trying to find a way to stop him at the party’s convention in July. Angered by Trump’s shifting views on taxes, the minimum wage, national security and how little he discusses social issues, conservatives across the country are studying the party rule book for last-ditch moves they could make when the convention begins in Cleveland. Veteran Republican campaign operatives familiar with convention planning are offering to educate delegates on how they can act as free agents, even if the Republican National Committee insists that delegates adhere to the results of their state primary. Some even talk about convening somewhere other than the convention site.

Editorials/Op-Eds

Should Republicans endorse Donald Trump?<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-donald-trump-republicans-endorse-edit-0517-md-20160516-story.html>

CHICAGO TRIBUNE // THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Life is full of unpleasant but inescapable obligations: Paying your taxes. Laughing at your boss' jokes. Waiting for the cable guy. Some tasks are even more unpleasant but, thankfully, optional. For Republican officeholders and candidates, endorsing Donald Trump for president falls into the latter category. Having been around for 169 years, we at the Chicago Tribune know something about the rewards and risks of making endorsements for office. We spend a lot of time each election compiling questionnaires for candidates, evaluating their answers, interviewing them and debating their merits. Then, in almost every race, we give one candidate our imprimatur.

The Crippled Supreme Court<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/opinion/the-crippled-supreme-court.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>

NEW YORK TIMES // THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Every day that passes without a ninth justice undermines the Supreme Court’s ability to function, and leaves millions of Americans waiting for justice or clarity as major legal questions are unresolved. On Monday, the eight-member court avoided issuing a ruling on one of this term’s biggest cases, Zubik v. Burwell, which challenges the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employers’ health care plans cover the cost of birth control for their employees. In an unsigned opinion, the court sent the lawsuits back to the lower federal courts, with instructions to try to craft a compromise that would be acceptable to everyone. This is the second time since Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February that the court has failed to reach a decision in a high-profile case; in March, the court split 4 to 4 in a labor case involving the longstanding right of public-sector unions, which represent millions of American workers, to charge collective bargaining fees to nonmembers.

The rank nihilism driving the GOP’s acceptance of Trump<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-rank-nihilism-driving-the-gops-accepatance-of-trump/2016/05/16/f6e02c14-1b9e-11e6-b6e0-c53b7ef63b45_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // EDITORIAL BOARD

The past weekend brought yet more evidence of Donald Trump’s contempt for truth and essential political standards. Yet the reality-television star continued to consolidate GOP support, a fact punctuated by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus’s tour on Sunday morning television, in which he argued that the “sort of traditional review and analysis of individual candidates has not applied to Donald Trump,” because Mr. Trump is a different kind of candidate — “a total outsider that’s going to cause an earthquake in Washington.” In fact, it is all the more important that voters see Mr. Trump’s full business and financial record precisely because he lacks a history of public service on which to judge his suitability. How, then, can Mr. Priebus argue that basic standards, such as honesty and transparency, do not apply? Because, he explained, voters do not seem to care about them — at least not so far. And if voters don’t care, Mr. Priebus doesn’t care: “We want to win in November, and Donald Trump is someone who has been winning.” This is not the first time that the chairman has exposed the rank nihilism that is driving Republican leaders’ acceptance of Mr. Trump, and Mr. Priebus is far from alone. Even Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) — a war hero whose service Mr. Trump ridiculed, a man who disagrees with Mr. Trump on issue after issue, not to mention on how the nation’s politics should be conducted — has somehow found his way to backing the billionaire. But winning cannot excuse lying, debasing the country’s politics and driving wedges among its people.

The Supreme Court avoids a showdown in the Obamacare contraception case<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-supreme-court-avoids-a-showdown-in-the-obamacare-contraception-case/2016/05/16/43852d96-1b89-11e6-9c81-4be1c14fb8c8_story.html>

WASHINGTON POST // EDITORIAL BOARD

Articulating his view of judicial restraint during an address to Georgetown University law graduates in 2006, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said that the Supreme Court should keep its rulings limited strictly to the issues squarely before it, because, as he put it, “if it is not necessary to decide more to a case . . . it is necessary not to decide more.” That doctrine of avoidance goes double for cases in which it is impossible for the court to decide anything at all — or so it would seem based on the justices’ hyper-cautious disposition Monday of a controversial case involving religious-freedom objections to the contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act. Certain religiously affiliated nonprofit groups that provide health-insurance coverage to their workers object to a workaround the government devised to accommodate their theological opposition to contraception. In essence, it would allow groups that fill out a written notification form to have their employees obtain contraception coverage through a separate insurance account. However, the groups argued that even that minimal step forced them actively to promote a process that ends in the provision of contraception, thus imposing a “substantial” burden on their free exercise of religion.