Today’s notice: White House access is back. A nitty-gritty look at the political strategy of the populist left. D.C.’s homeless problem after the Trump law enforcement surge. More on the seniority war in the House Democratic Caucus. Ballroom money questions. And: Lee Greenwood’s royalty checks.
THE LATEST
Breaking overnight: Federal Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the White House to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” press credentials to journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico.
“Nothing in the record that predates this suit suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” Kelly wrote in the 14-day temporary restraining order.
Trending
How the Democrats’ new kingmakers get it done: Endorsements from prominent, nationwide progressives — like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), or Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Ro Khanna (D-California) — carry outsize weight in the modern Democratic Party. As we look ahead to the midterms and beyond, it’s helpful to learn the similarities and differences among these modern power players’ endorsement strategies.
The Washington Sun’s Stephen Neukam crunched the numbers and found some interesting results. Sanders and Khanna endorsed early this cycle, a median of around 100 days out from primaries. Warren’s median was 82 days. AOC’s stamp of approval was much closer to the primary date.
In Michigan, for example, Sanders and Khanna endorsed the eventual Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, more than 400 days before the primary election, while AOC popped her endorsement 33 days before.
What it means to get these endorsements: Progressive politicians’ networks give — and give big, Stephen writes. He’s got charts, too. They show that donors who have already contributed to the likes of Sanders or AOC dig deep and give again to the candidates they back. The result is not the huge sums a single billionaire can drop into a race, but rather a steady stream of smaller dollars that have turned progressive challengers into primary winners.
“Organizing is great, but even that requires money,” one Democratic strategist told The Sun. “Because progressive voters are extremely invested, a little money goes a lot further with them.”
More: Republicans Break With Trump After Immigration Crackdowns Hit Home • Democrats Brace for a Crypto PAC Cash Avalanche • Flock Changes Search Rules Ahead of Senate Hearing on Privacy Concerns
Open tabs:
- Angry Outbursts, Slurs and Firings: Tumult Rocks a Key Senate Campaign (NYT)
- Raman takes big lead over Bass in latest poll for LA Mayor’s race (LAT)
- Behind the Oil-and-Gas Industry’s Blitz to Try to Defeat a Diesel Export Ban (WSJ)
- Trump officials weigh rolling back beef import plan as midterm panic spreads (Politico)
FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
Actually, from Joint Base Andrews: It was quite a sight to behold when Donald Trump greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping when Xi’s plane touched down for his first state visit to the U.S. in more than a decade. The Sun’s Ben T.N. Mause was there and reports a military cordon stood at attention alongside American dignitaries in front of a sprawling phalanx of F-22 and F-16 fighter jets, as B-1 bombers circled overhead. Tonight is a state dinner and, if one can imagine it, even more diplomatic pomp.
More: China Is Holding Sensitive F-35 Parts That Were Meant to Be Shipped to the U.S. • Trump Administration Publicly Invites Putin to Attend the G20 Summit
FROM THE DISTRICT
Homelessness after the Trump takeover: There are fewer large encampments, but the city’s homelessness problem remains as challenging as ever. The Sun’s Raymond Fernández spoke to policymakers, advocates and people living on the streets about what a year of presidential attention to the issue has meant. “It’s not just like we’re out here randomly,” one woman living outside D.C.’s MLK Memorial Library, a site that has become less welcoming to her, said.
FROM A POTENTIAL FUTURE
Committee chair squeeze: We’ve already told you about House Democrats beginning to hash out new rules for managing the chamber if they win control in November. The latest idea from some in the caucus: making dues payments to the DCCC a requirement to hold a House committee chair. The Sun’s Kadia Goba and Oriana González report that this esoteric idea — chairs are currently encouraged to pay the dues — is actually another sign of bubbling caucus frustration over seniority that could bedevil a possible Democratic majority next year.
“It’s crazy that these chairs do nothing to get the majority and sit back and expect that because they have always been, they will always be,” one House Democrat fumed.
FROM THE HILL
First on The Sun: Democrat wants ballroom funding answers. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire) is asking the U.S. Secret Service how the reported diversion of more than $350 million dollars from its budget to Trump’s ballroom has impacted the service’s operations.
In a letter obtained by The Sun, Hassan writes to USSS Director Sean Curran asking if the money’s rerouting has altered “the ability of the Secret Service to carry out its essential responsibilities to protect the President as well as to safeguard the U.S. financial infrastructure.”
Trump said yesterday the ballroom itself is ahead of schedule.
“The entire left portion, the north portion, has been built structurally, and it will start to be covered up now with very powerful glass,” the president boasted. “It’s going to be something.”
FROM AUDI FIELD
The politicians who play ball with the press: The annual Congressional Women’s Softball Game last night was a high-scoring affair that, as usual, pit members of Congress against journalists. As it should be, the Bad News Babes beat Team Congress like a drum, with the final score of 22-16. The Sun’s Manuela Silva was in the stands and reports that Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia) was the MVP of the congressional team and the squad was cheered on from the sidelines by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California). There were also free McNuggets and Georgetown Cupcakes.
NEW ON THE WASHINGTON SUN
Lee Greenwood’s payday: The musician’s spouse was nominated to be ambassador to Barbados, so The Sun’s Dave Levinthal looked at her required disclosure forms. What he found was just how lucrative the song “God Bless the USA” has been for Lee Greenwood — he earned up to $1 million in recent months from royalties paid for the tune, which is a regular at Trump events.
Less lucrative was the version recorded about Canada, which Greenwood produced at George H.W. Bush’s behest in 1989. That one only brought in up to $1,000 in recent royalties.
More: Thune Ramps Up Spending in Texas as Paxton Struggles in Polling • Democrats Block Rand Paul’s Effort to Grant an Ex-Fauci Assistant Immunity • Iowa Judge Tosses Trump’s Suit Against the Des Moines Register and Pollster
NOT US
- The All-In-ification of Trump’s AI agenda, by Zachary Basu for Axios
- MAGA Podcasters Are Tuning Out Trump. We Tracked What They Are Talking About Now. By Neil Mehta, Brian Whitton and Sabrina Rodriguez for The Wall Street Journal
- Texas DPS failed to send voter registration applications to county election officials, by Natalia Contreras for The Texas Tribune
- Tim Scott to Senate Republicans: We’re still in this, by Burgess Everett for Semafor
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The newsletter was produced by Thomas Burr and Andrew Burton.
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