6.7 President Trump, on next week’s summit with North Korea: “I’m very well prepared. I don’t think I have to prepare very much. It’s about attitude. It’s about willingness to get things done.”
6.7 The Washington Capitals win the Stanley Cup, defeating Las Vaegas, 4 games to 1
6.4 Eric Trump in Westchester Magazine:“ My father’s life became exponentially worse the minute he decided to run for president.”
6.4 Mueller says Manafort has been tampering with witnesses
6.4 Trump disinvites the Eagles. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney: “Disinviting them from the White House only proves that our President is not a true patriot, but a fragile egomaniac obsessed with crowd size and afraid of the embarrassment of throwing a party to which no one wants to attend.”
6.4 Americans used more than 100 million hot-coffee cups per day in 2015, and that number is expected to rise to 133 million per day by 2025
6.4 “When he says that he’s a victim, all of his billions of dollars melt away and the power of the presidency becomes irrelevant,” said Michael D’Antonio, a Trump biographer. “What people see and hear is a white man who might have been sitting on his porch complaining about how he was cheated on something. There’s an emotional logic to it that is much more powerful than any exploration of the reality could produce.”
6.4 Supreme Court rules in favor of baker who would not make wedding cake for gay couple
6.4 Knut Heidar in the Post: there is an easy way to ensure voting rights: automatic voter registration. In Norway, all citizens registered in the public census are — if qualified — eligible to vote. Prior to an election, they receive a notification card with the election time and date and the location of their local polling station. It is the duty of the state to update the register, which is identical to the public census. No individual action is required. The register is also used for tax lists, public health care systems, passport issuances and many other public services.
6.4 Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) went to a shuttered Walmart in Brownsville, Texas, that has been converted into a detention center for immigrant children who have been separated from their parents. He asked for a tour. Instead, the government contractor that runs the converted store called the cops. An officer filled out a police report, and the senator was asked to leave.
6.3 Guatemala’s Fuego volcano erupts; at least 62 people are dead
6.3 “He probably does,” Rudy Giuliani said, when asked on ABC’s “This Week” if Trump has the ability to pardon himself. “He has no intention of pardoning himself, but he probably — not to say he can’t.”
6.3 In a letter to Mueller, Trump’s lawyers at the time — John Dowd and Jay Sekulow — pushed an expansive view of presidential power. They argued that Trump has authority to “order the termination of an investigation by the Justice Department or FBI at any time and for any reason,” and also that as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, the president could “even exercise his power to pardon if he so desired.” “The intent behind the letter is rather obvious — this is position bargaining,” said Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University Law School. “But the position laid out is not as strong as claimed. The letter, for example, suggests that the president can refuse to comply with a subpoena. The existing case law favors the special counsel in forcing the president to appear.”
6.3 “In no case can he be subpoenaed or indicted,” Giuliani said to the HuffPost. “I don’t know how you can indict while he’s in office. No matter what it is.” Giuliani said that impeachment would be the remedy for a president’s illegal behavior. “If he shot James Comey, he’d be impeached the next day,” Giuliani was quoted as saying. “Impeach him, and then you can do whatever you want to do to him.”
6.3 Robert Samuelson at the Post: What’s powering the economy is the economy. Its forward momentum is less the product of any sophisticated economic theory or partisan policy than the pragmatic rebuilding of purchasing power and confidence. Consumer debt burdens have declined; jobs have increased; incomes have risen. The forward motion is not spectacular, but it is steady.
6.3 AP: “Nearly four years after protests in Ferguson raised concerns about racial profiling of blacks in Missouri, a report from the state attorney general shows that African-American drivers are 85 percent more likely to be pulled over than whites — the highest percentage in the 18 years the state has compiled data.”
6.1 John Brennan in the Post: “Mr. Trump, however, has shown highly abnormal behavior by lying routinely to the American people without compunction, intentionally fueling divisions in our country and actively working to degrade the imperfect but critical institutions that serve us. Although appalling, those actions shouldn’t be surprising. As was the case throughout his business and entertainment careers, Mr. Trump charts his every move according to a calculus of how it will personally help or hurt him. His strategy is to undercut real, potential and perceived opponents; his focus is to win at all costs, irrespective of truth, ethics, decency and — many would argue — the law. His disparagement of institutions is designed to short-circuit legitimate law enforcement investigations, intelligence assessments and media challenges that threaten his interests. His fear of the special counsel’s work is especially palpable, as is his growing interest in destroying its mandate.”
6.1 Washington Post: The U.S. lost track of 1,475 immigrant children last year.
6.1 The summit is back on!
