Political Wire (original) (raw)

“House Democrats are seething over what is, by all indications, a nationwide Republican effort to elevate Democratic primary candidates viewed as more beatable in November,” Axios reports.

“A trio of obscure super PACs with progressive-sounding names have cropped up in recent months to support more left-leaning or scandal-tarnished candidates in key battleground districts.”

“Senate Republicans were noncommittal on backing President Donald Trump’s emerging deal with Iran, saying they are awaiting more information about the accord that is set to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and extend the ceasefire for 60 days,” NOTUS reports.

Semafor: “The GOP’s position on Iran has long disfavored dealmaking, with most Republican lawmakers railing against then-President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear pact with Tehran. Many of those same Republicans withheld judgment on Monday on the memorandum that Trump signed on Sunday, given the lack of available information about it.”

New York Times: “At the onset of the war, Mr. Trump predicted that his intervention would be over in short order, resulting only in a mild disruption to the U.S. economy, which he promised would rebound quickly. But the campaign eclipsed three months, and it unleashed a set of financial stresses on the country that are expected to persist, perhaps into next year.”

“Oil prices have started to recede, but fuel costs generally will not fall to prewar levels immediately, and it may be months before consumers see full relief at the gas pump.”

New York Times: “Days after the Trump administration completed a $14.2 million project to coat the Reflecting Pool’s concrete floor with dark blue waterproofing material, clumps of algae dotted the surface on Sunday and Monday, giving parts of the pool a green hue.”

“The pool was gleaming last week after the work, which was meant to fix two longstanding problems, leaks and algal blooms, before the country’s 250th birthday. But after several hot and humid days, the algae returned in force.”

“Trump has no earthly idea of what’s coming for him. They’re not telling him. The vote against him in November is gonna be like, breathtaking.”

— James Carville, quoted by Mediaite.

“President Donald Trump’s nomination of Todd Blanche to lead the US Justice Department was met with cautious optimism by a key Republican senator who has repeatedly split with the administration on other issues,” Bloomberg reports.

“Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he’s ‘generally satisfied’ with Blanche’s paperwork and plans to meet with him next week.”

“CIA Director John Ratcliffe told President Trump and other senior officials that intelligence gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies raised serious doubts about Iran’s willingness to make the nuclear concessions the U.S. is seeking in any final deal,” Axios reports.

“Ratcliffe isn’t the only skeptic in Trump’s top team. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have both expressed concerns and raised questions about the deal in internal discussions, while Vice President Vance and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner advocated for it.”

New York Times: “A decade before America’s 250th anniversary, Congress created a bipartisan commission to coordinate the festivities. The commission, named America 250, was supposed to build infrastructure projects, produce educational materials and facilitate “all fitting and proper activities” for the celebration.”

“But as July 4 nears, a separate organization called Freedom 250, created by President Trump, has taken over the handling of the biggest and boldest events…”

“The story of how there came to be two groups working on the anniversary celebrations — one created by Congress and the other by Mr. Trump — is a tale of government dysfunction and deep partisanship at what would normally be a moment of national unity. And behind the scenes, the power struggle has been driven by a president who is willing to push Congress aside and bring his own personal brand to the country’s marquee celebrations.”

“President Donald Trump’s White House hasn’t shared vital information with the Hill about the contours of the administration’s ceasefire deal with Iran. That’s created a vacuum, forcing Republicans to express varying degrees of skepticism about the accord,” Punchbowl News reports.

During the 2024 campaign, Vice President JD Vance vociferously defended his comments about “childless cat ladies,” but in his new memoir, he admits it was “boneheaded” and “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever said,” Mediaite reports.

The Economist: “On roughly 40 occasions since March, Donald Trump has claimed that he was close to a deal with Iran. This time, he was, at last, right. Overnight on Sunday both America and Iran announced an agreement that they claim will end their nearly four-month war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.”

“It will bring needed relief to a scarred region, and to global energy markets. But it will not resolve the issues that brought America and Iran to war in the first place.”

Aaron Blake: “President Donald Trump’s efforts to turn his second term into a big vanity project largely focused on himself are looking increasingly messy.”

“It would be one thing for him to go to such great lengths to build an elaborate White House ballroom and slap his name on buildings in the best of times; but Trump’s timing would seem exceedingly tone deaf, given most Americans are more concerned about their own pocketbooks than honoring a historically unpopular president.”

“And repeatedly in recent days and weeks, the administration’s initiatives have run into roadblocks and its efforts to embellish Washington, DC, (often by skirting the law) have looked rather haphazard.”

Bloomberg: “Trump is leaving the technical work to his vice president, who never wanted the war in the first place. Owning the end to a war he publicly opposed could make Vance a hero to the MAGA base and Republican lawmakers, who are anxious for the conflict to end before the November midterms…”

“But if the deal ends up collapsing, or leads to more turmoil in the Middle East, Vance would own that, too — a less-than-ideal outcome if you aspire to be Trump’s heir apparent. It’s too early to tell if this high-profile role will help Vance’s ambitions, or if the fragile deal will crumble into chaos.”

“The Justice Department’s senior leadership closed an investigation of Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery before career staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“A team of career lawyers who had spent months scrutinizing the deal were leaning toward recommending a lawsuit challenging it on the grounds that the combination of the two movie studios would be anticompetitive and violate antitrust law.”

New York Times: “On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the surge in energy prices had wiped out a year and a half of wage gains for the average American worker. On Friday, the public-markets debut of SpaceX made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.”

“That stark juxtaposition helps explain why many Americans, in survey after survey, say they no longer believe the U.S. economy is working for them. A few people are getting fabulously, unimaginably wealthy at the same time that entire generations of families worry they will never be able to afford to buy a house, raise children or enjoy a comfortable retirement.”

“Europeans once thought they could win favor with President Trump by lavishing praise on him and pandering to his foreign-policy objectives. Those days are long gone,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“As European leaders gather with Trump in person this week for the first time since the start of the Iran war, their goal will be simple: avoid a repeat of the cage match that took place on the White House lawn over the weekend.”

“In a private meeting last week, a group of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and family members of the late Virginia Giuffre pointed House Oversight Chair James Comer to allegations from the Justice Department’s Epstein files to further investigate, arguing that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s suggestion there were no more leads to pursue in the case is not true,” CNN reports.

“The group brought documents from DOJ’s released Epstein files – an email detailing a list of men from the late convicted sex offender’s orbit, as well as Giuffre’s 2015 testimony to investigators – to help the Republican chairman refine his own probe and to argue there are allegations against powerful men that the Justice Department could pursue.”

“President Trump’s deal to wind down the war with Iran set off alarm bells in Israel, where top officials are wrestling with the consequences of easing the pressure on Tehran and the risks of opening a rift with the U.S. over the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon,” the Wall Street Journal reports.