ROLE REVERSAL: While Donald Trump and the Republican Party are moving quickly to unite and get their act together, Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are looking to minimize the damage inflicted by Bernie Sanders’ escalating attacks. A little more than a month ago, the Republicans looked as if they were headed for a contested convention and, if Sanders remains true to his words, it will be the Democrats who are in for a long, hot summer. One bit of solace for the Democrats – when they finally united behind one candidate in ’08, they quickly rode a wave that took them right into the White House. Could the same happen for Hillary, or will she remain scarred from the Bern?
TRUMP AND THE TENNESSEAN TALK: Trump has been criticized in the media and his former primary opponents for being on the wrong side of a number of foreign policy issues – so he met with Foreign Relations Chairman Senator Bob Corker (TN) yesterday in an effort to burnish his image here and to “get know each other” – or did he have something else in mind? Hmmm…Corker says there is no reason we should think he is being considered for Trump’s Veep, but Washington tends to disagree. We’ll take Corker’s own advice and just let that “chill.”
REID’S NOT-SO-SUBTLE VEEP SUGGESTION: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned Clinton she should not pick a senator from a Republican-controlled state as her Veep. The Democrats are in a heated battle to regain control of Senate majority this election cycle and if she chooses a Democratic senator on the ticket, this would pave an easy path for the Republican governor of the state to appoint a Republican to fill the senate seat, ultimately forcing Democrats to win an extra seat to reclaim the majority. Democrats would need a net gain of five seats to win the Senate back outright, but would only need four if they were able to retain the White House; Senators Elizabeth Warren (MA), Sherrod Brown (OH), and Cory Booker (NJ) might want to file away their resumes.
STAYING AFLOAT: Speaker Paul Ryan and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew struck a tentative deal on the Puerto Rico debt crisis with House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop and now the task of shepherding the bill through the House begins in earnest tomorrow. The ‘‘Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act” or PROMESA will be considered by the Natural Resources Committee and is expected to pass out of Committee - we expect a full floor vote in the House in mid-June. That is, unless Bernie Sanders’ opposition to the legislation garners enough support on the left to sink the bill…
WATCH IT BERN: After Bernie Sanders was told to cool his jets by the Democratic establishment and Party Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz, he went along to endorse her primary opponent, Tim Canova, a former Capitol Hill staffer, anti-establishment candidate and stalwart Sanders supporter. Although the rallies and events are still packed to the brim, Sanders ties to his adopted party are likely to be burned when he returns to the Senate.
EVADING THE HOUSE: IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said thanks, but no thanks, to a “misconduct” hearing request by House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz. House Republicans plan to lay out their case to impeach Koskinen for allegedly failing to comply with a congressional subpoena. Lawmakers summoned Koskinen to the Hill to answer questions from Chaffetz and his oversight panel regarding accusations that he failed to preserve documents lawmakers requested for its probe of the IRS tea party scandal - and that he was less than truthful when asked about erased back up tapes containing copies of emails belonging to former IRS official, Lois Lerner.
