The Conversation -- June 3, 2024

Benjamin Mueller & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Dr. Anthony S. Fauci ... on Monday forcefully denied Republican allegations that he sought to cover up the possibility that the pandemic originated in a laboratory, calling the accusation 'absolutely false and simply preposterous.' In a tense appearance before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Dr. Fauci read out an email from February 2020 in which he encouraged a scientist worried about the possibility of a lab leak to report his concerns to the F.B.I. 'It is inconceivable that anyone who reads this email could conclude that I was trying to cover up the possibility of a laboratory leak,' Dr. Fauci testified.... In half a million pages of documents and more than 100 hours of closed-door testimony, [Republicans on] the panel has so far found nothing linking the 83-year-old immunologist to the beginnings of the Covid outbreak in China. But the panel has turned up emails suggesting that Dr. Fauci's former aides were trying to evade public records laws at the medical research agency he ran for 38 years until his retirement in December 2022." ~~~

     ~~~ Colby Hall of Mediaite: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was reprimanded by the GOP committee chair after she refused to refer to Anthony Fauci as a doctor as an insult to his work during Covid-19.... [Greene's largely baseless attacks on Dr. Fauci elicited] a series of points of order and calls for decorum from largely Democratic members of the subcommittee, and Dr. Brad Wenstrup, the Republican chair of the hearing, repeated inserting himself to reprimand Greene, who continued to hector Fauci before ending her time by calling for his imprisonment."

Laura Meckler & Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "Billions in taxpayer dollars are being used to pay tuition at religious schools throughout the country, as state voucher programs expand dramatically and the line separating public education and religion fades. School vouchers can be used at almost any private school, but the vast majority of the money is being directed to religious schools, according to a Washington Post examination of the nation's largest voucher programs. Vouchers, government money that covers education costs for families outside the public schools, vary by state but offer up to $16,000 per student per year, and in many cases fully cover the cost of tuition at private schools." See also Akhilleus' commentary on the Holy Grift in today's thread.

Lisa Neeham of Public Notice: "The morning after [Donald Trump's] conviction, [Speaker of House Mike] Johnson went on Fox & Friends to ... [say,] 'I think that the justices on the court -- I know many of them personally ... [will] set this straight, but it's going to take awhile.' Johnson went on to say 'this will be overturned, guys, there's no question about it. It's just going to take some time to do it.'... This remarkable statement highlights how Republicans have come to -- correctly -- count on the federal courts to ensure they stay in power.... Trump himself on Sunday evening pleaded for SCOTUS to prevent his sentencing next month, falsely claiming on Truth Social that the justices 'MUST DECIDE!']... All of this highlights how fragile American democracy is and how ill-equipped we are to deal with those who simply refuse to follow rules and norms."

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "The jury foreperson in the Manhattan criminal trial convicting ... Donald Trump had barely finished reciting 'guilty' as to each of 34 felony counts when the newly convicted felon and virtually an entire political party began trashing the verdict -- and, implicitly, the 12 jurors and judge.... The MAGA crowd has moved from attempting to delegitimize an election to attempting to delegitimize the judicial system -- from defaming election workers to defaming jurors. In keeping with other fascist movements, the MAGA cult attempts to undermine every institution and person resisting its authoritarian leader.... As the nation's chief executive, sworn to uphold the rule of law, [President] Biden properly stood up for the rule of law and defended jury service.... Meanwhile, Democrats must denounce the MAGA movement's coordinated assault on the rule of law.... It also might behoove America's chief prosecutor..., Merrick Garland, to condemn those vilifying judges and juries."

Dumber Speaks. Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post: "Eric Trump, son of Donald Trump, claimed his father's conviction on 34 felony charges last week is making 'certain segments' of the population more likely to vote for him. 'For the first time, they realize that the system's coming down, that he's the victim, he's the victim that oftentimes some of their communities were,' he told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. 'You see them swinging. Look at the African American vote, right? That's swinging over to Donald Trump in spades.'" MB: Many commentators recoiled at Eric's invocation of the racial slur "spades." I'm also wondering about "swinging over." All they swinging over on jungle vines?

Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "The Texas Republican party has gone off the deep end.... Just a few of the platform's planks: that the Bible should be taught in public schools.... That noncitizens who are legal residents of this country should be deported if they are arrested for participating in a protest that turns violent. That name changes to military bases should be reversed to 'publicly honor the southern heroes.' That doctors who perform abortions should be charged with homicide. That the United States should withdraw from the United Nations and that the international organization should be removed from U.S. soil. Then there is this audaciously undemocratic provision: To be elected to state office, a candidate must win not only a majority of votes, but also more than half of Texas's 254 counties.... This system would effectively mean Democrats -- who, as it is, haven't won a statewide office since 1994 -- would be shut out forever."

Really, Bob? Gregory Krieg & Eric Bradner of CNN: "Indicted Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey is expected to file for reelection as an independent, two sources familiar with the matter said Monday. His decision to file as an independent, first reported by The New Jersey Globe, comes the day before a New Jersey primary in which three Democrats and four Republicans are vying for their parties' nominations for the seat he currently holds. Menendez, who is facing federal corruption charges and is currently on trial in New York City, had announced in March that he would not run for a fourth full term as a Democrat, but left open the possibility of an independent bid if exonerated. He faces a Tuesday deadline to file as an independent."

Marie: Sorry, I have to go to the bank because there's a bank robbery is progress. That is to say, the bank is robbing me. But it's Bank of America, so what can I expect. So far, they've managed to extract thousands of dollars, and they can't figure out where the money went or exactly how much they stole. Don't know how long I'll be gone.

Shocking News! Trump Is Bent! ~~~

~~~ ** Mob Boss at Work. Robert Faturechi, et al., of ProPublica: "Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against ... Donald Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, and a grant of shares and cash from Trump's media company. The benefits have flowed from Trump's businesses and campaign committees, according to a ProPublica analysis of public disclosures, court records and securities filings. One campaign aide had his average monthly pay double, from $26,000 to $53,500. Another employee [Allen Weisselberg] got a $2 million severance package barring him from voluntarily cooperating with law enforcement. And one of the campaign's top officials had her daughter hired onto the campaign staff, where she is now the fourth-highest-paid employee. These pay increases and other benefits often came at delicate moments in the legal proceedings against Trump. One aide who was given a plum position on the board of Trump's social media company, for example, got the seat after he was subpoenaed but before he testified.... To prove witness tampering, prosecutors would need to show that perks or punishments were intended to influence testimony." ~~~

     ~~~ Trump Threatens ProPublica. Sarah Rumpf of Mediaite: "ProPublica .. got a cease-and-desist letter from Trump attorney David Warrington, demanding that the article [linked above] not be published and warning if ProPublica and its reporters 'continue their reckless campaign of defamation, President Trump will evaluate all legal remedies.'"

Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here. More news linked below.

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National Crime Blotter

David Smith of the Guardian: "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew), a watchdog organisation, analysed more than 13,000 messages published by [Donald] Trump on his Truth Social platform and found him vowing revenge, retaliation and retribution against his foes.... [Trump] has threatened to use the federal government to go after [President] Biden during a second Trump administration 25 times since the start of 2023, the study found. These threats include FBI raids, investigations, indictments and even jail time. He has also threatened or suggested that the FBI and justice department should take action against senators, judges, members of Biden's family and even non-governmental organisations.... Many of his threats to Biden reflect Trump's now familiar tactic of reversing charges against his opponents, conjuring a mirror world in which he claims they are guilty of the very offence of which he is accused." Thanks to RAS for the link.

Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: In an interview that aired Sunday, "... Donald Trump ... told Fox News that he never called for his 2016 presidential campaign rival, Hillary Clinton, to be sent to jail.... 'I didn't say "lock her up," but the people said lock her up, lock her up,' Trump said.... However, there are several instances in which Trump did agree with calls for Clinton's jailing.... 'Every time I mention her, everyone screams, "Lock her up, lock her up,"' Trump told the crowd. 'You know what, I'm starting to agree with you.' In the weeks before the 2016 election, Trump even said he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton and seek to put her in jail for her use of the private email server.... In September 2020, Trump said 'I agree' during chants to lock up Clinton." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Daniel Dale of CNN finds more instances where Trump supported jailing Hillary Clinton, who has never been charged with a crime. For instance, "'You should lock her up, I'll tell you,' he said at a January 2020 rally in Ohio. At an October 2020 rally in Georgia, after the crowd chanted 'lock them up' in relation to the Biden family, Trump said, 'You should lock them up. Lock up the Bidens. Lock up Hillary.'"

Deplorable Men Cheers Trump. Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: "Sixteen thousand people erupted into rapture when Donald J. Trump walked into the Prudential Center in Newark at 10 p.m. Saturday to attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship match. He stayed until the grisly end, at 1:15 a.m.... He walked out to Kid Rock's 'American Bad Ass,' a rock-rap trailer park anthem that ... has become the unofficial soundtrack of Mr. Trump's quest to recapture the White House.... A moment after Mr. Trump took his seat, the stadium took up a spontaneous chant of President Biden's name preceded by an expletive.... Mr. Trump had designed his appearance on Saturday as a reset -- cheaper than staging a campaign rally and possibly just as effective in casting him as a persecuted hero. His campaign quickly cut his triumphant march into the arena into a video that it used to launch his new TikTok account.... The crowd ... was almost entirely male." (Also linked yesterday.)

Bloodshed, He Wrote. Rachel Leingang of the Guardian: A user wrote to right-wing talkshow host Dan Bongino, "'I see no way out of all this mess without bloodshed. When you can rig an election, then weaponize the government and the courts against a former President, what other alternative is there? I'm almost 70 and would rather die than live in tyranny.' That's a common version of how many people on the US right reacted to the Trump verdict, drawing on a 'mirror world' where Trump is seen as the selfless martyr to powerful state forces and Joe Biden is the dangerous autocrat wielding the justice system as his own personal plaything and a threat to American democracy. Calls for revenge, retribution and violence littered the rightwing internet as soon as Trump's guilty verdict came down.... Some posted online explicitly saying it was time for hangings, executions and civil wars.... For some, the convictions provide another reason to take matters into their own hands during a time when support for using violence to achieve political goals is on the rise." (Also linked yesterday.)

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Hunter Biden will go on trial on gun charges on Monday in Delaware within walking distance of his father's campaign headquarters in Wilmington, less than a week after ... Donald J. Trump's felony conviction in New York.... It is relatively rare for such gun charges to be brought against a first-time, nonviolent offender like Mr. Biden.... [Another trial], set to begin in September, involves a series of tax offenses related to his failure to file returns for a number of years.... The spectacle of Hunter Biden's trial, and its timing, creates significant headaches for President Biden's campaign, as it seeks to maximize the effect of Mr. Trump's conviction...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Biden Family Drama Will Play out in Court. Matt Viser of the Washington Post: In 2018, "when [Hallie Biden, Beau Biden's widow], found a newly purchased Colt Cobra .38 handgun in [Hunter Biden's truck], she ... put the gun in a shopping bag and drove a few miles to a high-end grocery store, where she tossed it into a trash can. That set off a chain of events that would trigger a flurry of frantic text messages, launch another dark chapter in a doomed and difficult romance -- and lead to Hunter Biden's federal trial beginning Monday.... The text messages, submitted by federal prosecutors as part of their case against Hunter Biden for lying on a gun purchase form, reflect the tortured nature of a Biden family drama that unfolded after the death of Joe Biden's son Beau of cancer in 2015." ~~~

     ~~~ Marshall Cohen of CNN: "The federal judge overseeing Hunter Biden's gun trial dealt his defense two setbacks Sunday, on the eve of jury selection, by blocking one of his expert witnesses and excluding a key piece of evidence the president's son hoped to use. The rulings from Judge Maryellen Noreika ... could make a tough case for Hunter Biden even more challenging to win. President Joe Biden's son has pleaded not guilty to illegally buying and owning a gun while abusing illicit drugs."

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post has some ideas on how to curb the effects of Supreme Court arrogance. Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

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Maryland Senate Race. RNC Rejects American Rule of Law. Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Lara Trump, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee and daughter-in-law of Donald Trump, slammed former Maryland governor Larry Hogan on Sunday after he'd urged Americans to 'respect' the verdict in the former president's hush money trial. Hogan is running for a Senate seat in Maryland and represents one of the GOP's best chances at taking back control of the chamber. Still, Lara Trump ... said on CNN's 'State of the Union' that Hogan 'doesn't deserve the respect' of any Republican for his comments. On Thursday, before the jury verdict was delivered, Hogan posted on X that Americans should 'respect the verdict and the legal process.'... CNN host Kasie Hunt asked the RNC co-chair if her comments meant that the committee would withhold money from Hogan's Senate campaign. Lara Trump did not answer directly." CNN's report is here.

Puerto Rico Governor's Race. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "Gov. Pedro R. Pierluisi of Puerto Rico lost his bid for a second term on Sunday, suffering a rare defeat by a sitting governor on the island after a rancorous primary. Mr. Pierluisi was defeated by Representative Jenniffer González-Colón, Puerto Rico's nonvoting member of Congress, in the primary for the governing New Progressive Party, which supports Puerto Rican statehood, The Associated Press reported. Four years ago, Mr. Pierluisi and Ms. González-Colón ran as allies on the same ticket, promising unity after a tumultuous period that included the resignation of a former New Progressive governor. But in challenging Mr. Pierluisi, her former ally, Ms. González-Colón cast his administration as out of touch and ineffective."

Texas. Jalen Beckford of CNN: "Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas announced Sunday that she's been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and warned her constituents that she'll likely be 'occasionally absent' from Congress while undergoing treatment.... The 15-term congresswoman, who mounted an unsuccessful bid for Houston mayor last year, faced a primary challenge from a onetime congressional intern earlier this year for the deep-blue 18th Congressional District. She prevailed with 60% of the vote."

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

Bibi's Choice. Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Netanyahu... now appears to be facing a stark choice between the survival of his hard-line, hawkish government and bringing home hostages held in Gaza while setting himself and Israel on a new course away from growing international isolation.... On Friday, [U.S. President] Biden outlined broad terms that he said were presented by Israel to the American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators who have been pushing for a deal to pause the fighting and free hostages in Gaza. Israeli officials confirmed that the terms matched a cease-fire proposal that had been approved by Israel's war cabinet but not yet presented to the Israeli public.... The leaders of two far-right parties in the coalition -- Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's minister of finance, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister -- have pledged to bring Mr. Netanyahu's government down if the prime minister goes along with the deal outlined by Mr. Biden before Hamas is fully destroyed. At the same time, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, two former military chiefs who joined the emergency government for the duration of the war, have threatened to withdraw the support of their centrist National Unity party by June 8 if Mr. Netanyahu fails to come up with a clear path forward. And opposition parties have begun organizing to try to topple the government."

Mexico. Natalie Kitroeff, et al., of the New York Times: "Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, won her nation's elections on Sunday in a landslide victory that brought a double milestone: She became the first woman, and the first Jewish person, to be elected president of Mexico. Early results indicated that Ms. Sheinbaum, 61, prevailed in what the authorities called the largest election in Mexico's history, with the highest number of voters taking part and the most seats up for grabs. It was a landmark vote that saw not one, but two, women vying to lead one of the hemisphere's biggest nations. And it will put a Jewish leader at the helm of one of the world's largest predominantly Catholic countries. Ms. Sheinbaum, a leftist, campaigned on a vow to continue the legacy of Mexico's current president and her mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which delighted their party's base -- and raised alarm among detractors. The election was seen by many as a referendum on his leadership, and her victory was a clear vote of confidence in Mr. López Obrador and the party he started.

The Conversation -- June 2, 2024

National Crime Blotter

A Crowd of Deplorable Men Cheers Trump. Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: "Sixteen thousand people erupted into rapture when Donald J. Trump walked into the Prudential Center in Newark at 10 p.m. Saturday to attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship match. He stayed until the grisly end, at 1:15 a.m.... He walked out to Kid Rock's 'American Bad Ass,' a rock-rap trailer park anthem that ... has become the unofficial soundtrack of Mr. Trump's quest to recapture the White House.... A moment after Mr. Trump took his seat, the stadium took up a spontaneous chant of President Biden's name preceded by an expletive.... Mr. Trump had designed his appearance on Saturday as a reset -- cheaper than staging a campaign rally and possibly just as effective in casting him as a persecuted hero. His campaign quickly cut his triumphant march into the arena into a video that it used to launch his new TikTok account.... The crowd ... was almost entirely male."

Bloodshed, He Wrote. Rachel Leingang of the Guardian: A user wrote to right-wing talkshow host Dan Bongino, "'I see no way out of all this mess without bloodshed. When you can rig an election, then weaponize the government and the courts against a former President, what other alternative is there? I'm almost 70 and would rather die than live in tyranny.' That's a common version of how many people on the US right reacted to th Trump verdict, drawing on a 'mirror world' where Trump is seen as the selfless martyr to powerful state forces and Joe Biden is the dangerous autocrat wielding the justice system as his own personal plaything and a threat to American democracy. Calls for revenge, retribution and violence littered the rightwing internet as soon as Trump's guilty verdict came down.... Some posted online explicitly saying it was time for hangings, executions and civil wars.... For some, the convictions provide another reason to take matters into their own hands during a time when support for using violence to achieve political goals is on the rise."

Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: In an interview that aired Sunday, "... Donald Trump ... told Fox News that he never called for his 2016 presidential campaign rival, Hillary Clinton, to be sent to jail.... 'I didn't say "lock her up," but the people said lock her up, lock her up,' Trump said.... However, there are several instances in which Trump did agree with calls for Clinton's jailing.... 'Every time I mention her, everyone screams, "Lock her up, lock her up,"' Trump told the crowd. 'You know what, I'm starting to agree with you.' In the weeks before the 2016 election, Trump even said he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton and seek to put her in jail for her use of the private email server.... In September 2020, Trump said 'I agree' during chants to lock up Clinton.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Hunter Biden will go on trial on gun charges on Monday in Delaware within walking distance of his father's campaign headquarters in Wilmington, less than a week after ... Donald J. Trump's felony conviction in New York.... It is relatively rare for such gun charges to be brought against a first-time, nonviolent offender like Mr. Biden.... [Another trial], set to begin in September, involves a series of tax offenses related to his failure to file returns for a number of years.... The spectacle of Hunter Biden's trial, and its timing, creates significant headaches for President Biden's campaign, as it seeks to maximize the effect of Mr. Trump's conviction...."

     ~~~ Michael Cavna of the Washington Post reviews political cartoonists' takes on Donald Trump's criminal convictions.

Not So Funny. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The question of how to create an empowered executive without making him an unaccountable monarch absorbed the framers when they designed the Constitution.... [But] as hard as they worked to establish checks and balances, the system they constructed to hold wayward presidents accountable ultimately has proved to be unsteady.... The notion that 34 felonies is not automatically disqualifying and a convicted criminal can be a viable candidate for commander in chief upends two and a half centuries of assumptions about American democracy. And it raises fundamental questions about the limits of power in a second term, should Mr. Trump be returned to office. If he wins, it means he will have survived two impeachments, four criminal indictments, civil judgments for sexual abuse and business fraud, and a felony conviction. Given that, it would be hard to imagine what institutional deterrents could discourage abuses or excesses.... After leaving office, he advocated 'termination' of the Constitution to allow him to return to power right away without another election and vowed to dedicate a second term to 'retribution.'"

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: Donald Trump "has already outlined a plan to appeal a verdict that on Friday he labeled 'a scam.' But ... several legal experts cast doubt on his chances of success, and noted that the case could take years to snake through the courts.... Appeals courts typically frown upon overturning jury decisions, barring some glaring error or misconduct." The reporters outline some of the possible bases for appeals. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There are many reasons Felonious Don will not serve jail time. Because he is (legally, if not actually) a first-time offender, the judge very well could let him off with a suspended sentence or no jail sentence at all. Trump could win a New York state appeal overturning his conviction. Trump -- and the court system -- could delay his incarceration with endless appeals till the day he dies or becomes too ill and enfeebled to live in jail. The Supreme Trumplodytes could step in and overturn his conviction. Trump could become president* again -- or president* for life -- and delay incarceration. Trump could abscond to a country that won't extradite him. I don't expect Donald Trump to go to jail, but I do think Justice Merchan could sentence him in such a way that he would end up under the court's supervision for the rest of his life as he negotiates maneuvers to avoid jail time.

Reid Epstein & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Post-verdict interviews with more than 50 Democrats -- including current and former members of Congress, statewide elected officials, veteran strategists, Democratic National Committee members and local officials -- revealed a party hungry to tell voters that Mr. Trump's conviction makes him unfit and worried that [President] Biden might not use the bully pulpit of the presidency to press that argument.... [Many] Democrats were much less cautious [that Mr. Biden], and happy to say what Mr. Biden did not. 'That Trump paid hush money to a porn star and jurors found he falsified business records to cover it up is just one short, tawdry chapter of a much bigger story: Trump is an aspiring tyrant who intends to rule, not lead, the United States,' said Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia.... Mr. Biden's comments on Friday about the conviction indicated that he plans to stick with his strategy: Leave the most biting attacks on Trump's legal troubles to allies and outside groups while emphasizing the rule of law." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Lisa Mascaro & Mary Jalonick of the AP: "Embracing Donald Trump's strategy of blaming the U.S. justice system after his historic guilty verdict, Republicans in Congress are fervently enlisting themselves in his campaign of vengeance and political retribution as the GOP runs to reclaim the White House. Almost no Republican official has stood up to suggest Trump should not be the party's presidential candidate for the November election -- in fact, some have sought to hasten his nomination. Few others dared to defend the legitimacy of the New York state court that heard the hush money case or the 12 jurors who unanimously rendered their verdict.... The swift, strident and deepening commitment to Trump despite his felony conviction shows how fully Republican leaders and lawmakers have been infused with his unfounded grievances of a 'rigged' system and dangerous conspiracies of 'weaponized' government, using them in their own attacks on President Joe Biden and the Democrats."

Ruth Marcus, Karen Tumulty & Dana Milbank of the Washington Post discuss the implications of the crimes Donald Trump committed.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times -- and her siblings -- have some thoughts about Trump's criminal conviction and his toadies' reactions to it. "The party of law and order evidently doesn't like any law it didn't order." (Also linked yesterday.)

Lois Beckett of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has spent years complaining that American police and the criminal legal system should be 'very much tougher', arguing that some criminals should not be protected by civil liberties, police should rough up suspects and a much wider range of people should face the death penalty for breaking the law.... Here's a recap of some of Trump's notable comments about 'felons' and 'criminals' -- and a look at how the convict himself has actually been treated." The contrast between the harsh treatment Trump recommends for felons and the kid gloves with which he has been treated is remarkable. Yet he's still a whiney baby as are his supporters.

     ~~~ Watch to the end (or at least watch the end). Thanks to RAS for the link.

This would be a good time to give some attention to one of the heroes of the day: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg:

     ~~~ Here's a New York Times profile of him, by Michael Gold & Jonah Bromwich, dated April 13, 2023. ~~~

     ~~~ Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post writes that the verdict vindicates Alvin Bragg, who "had weathered a tide of criticism for bringing charges against" Trump.

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Montana. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Law enforcement officers say they were pressured to lie when Gov. Greg Gianforte of Montana killed a [trapped] black wolf in 2021.... [Initially,] Mr. Gianforte was recorded as the killer of the animal ... and given a warning for not having taken a required trapping course. A spokeswoman for the governor said Mr. Gianforte had 'immediately rectified the mistake' by taking the course. A spokesman for the department said at the time that the matter had been handled as it would have been for anyone.... Law enforcement officers involved with recording Mr. Gianforte's wolf ... now say the procedures were anything put typical. They say that officials leaned on them to record the governor's hunting buddy, rather than governor himself, as the shooter..., and that the officials bristled when the [game] warden and his boss refused.... [After that, rumors disparaging the head of law enforcement for Montana's Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department, Dave Loewen, began to circulate. The department put Loewen on administrative leave.] Since the Montana Legislature was in session in Helena, the capital, at the time of Mr. Gianforte's kill, wolf experts doubt the governor could have set the trap and then made the 177-mile trip to shoot the wolf quickly enough to satisfy regulations designed to minimize suffering. [Gianforte, who should have received a fine and lost his hunting license, received neither punishment.]" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Weisman does mention that Gianforte is a dick. Well, he puts it more politely, writing that he is "a famously temperamental man who in 2017 was sentenced to 40 hours of community service and 20 hours of anger-management classes for assaulting a reporter the night before he won a seat in the House of Representatives." Gianforte body-slammed a Guardian reporter, knocking him to floor and breaking his glasses because the reporter asked the candidate a standard question about healthcare policy.

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China. The Far Side of the Moon. Liz Lee, et al., of Reuters: "China landed an uncrewed spacecraft on the far side of the moon on Sunday, overcoming a key hurdle in its landmark mission to retrieve the world's first rock and soil samples from the dark lunar hemisphere.... The successful mission is China's second on the far side of the moon, a region no other country has reached. The side of the moon perpetually facing away from the Earth is dotted with deep and dark craters, making communications and robotic landing operations more challenging."

Israel/Palestine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.

Aaron Boxerman of the New York Times: "A day after President Biden called on Israel and Hamas to reach a truce, declaring that it was 'time for this war to end,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday reiterated that Israel would not agree to a permanent cease-fire in Gaza as long as Hamas still retains governing and military power. In his statement, Mr. Netanyahu did not explicitly endorse or reject a proposed cease-fire plan that Mr. Biden had laid out in an unusually detailed address on Friday. Two Israeli officials confirmed that Mr. Biden's proposal matched an Israeli cease-fire proposal that had been greenlit by Israel's war cabinet.... 'Israel's conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas's military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,' Mr. Netanyahu's office said in the statement released on Saturday morning." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Here are President Biden's remarks, as delivered, regarding the Israel/Hamas peace plan. Via the White House. Includes his brief remarks, at the top, regarding the criminal conviction of Donald Trump. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Conversation -- June 1, 2024

Aaron Boxerman of the New York Times: "A day after President Biden called on Israel and Hamas to reach a truce, declaring that it was 'time for this war to end,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday reiterated that Israel would not agree to a permanent cease-fire in Gaza as long as Hamas still retains governing and military power. In his statement, Mr. Netanyahu did not explicitly endorse or reject a proposed cease-fire plan that Mr. Biden had laid out in an unusually detailed address on Friday. Two Israeli officials confirmed that Mr. Biden's proposal matched an Israeli cease-fire proposal that had been greenlit by Israel's war cabinet.... 'Israel's conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas's military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,' Mr. Netanyahu's office said in the statement released on Saturday morning." ~~~

     ~~~ Here are President Biden's remarks, as delivered, regarding the Israel/Hamas peace plan. Via the White House. Includes his brief remarks, at the top, regarding the criminal conviction of Donald Trump.

National Crime Blotter

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times -- and her siblings -- have some thoughts about Trump's criminal conviction and his toadies' reactions to it. "The party of law and order evidently doesn't like any law it didn't order."

     ~~~ Watch to the end (or at least watch the end). Thanks to RAS for the link.

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Donald Trump was given every opportunity to defend himself. It was a state case, not a federal case. And it was heard by a jury of 12 citizens, 12 Americans, 12 people like you, like millions of Americans who've served on juries. This jury was chosen the same way every jury in America is chosen. There's a process that Donald Trump's attorney was part of. The jury heard five weeks of evidence -- five weeks. And after careful deliberation, the jury reached a unanimous verdict. They found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts. -- President Joe Biden, in remarks Friday ~~~

~~~ President Remarks on Convicted Felon. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden took on his newly convicted opponent on Friday, declaring that a New York jury's guilty verdict against ... Donald J. Trump should be respected and denouncing efforts to undermine the justice system as 'reckless,' 'dangerous' and 'irresponsible.' Breaking his long silence over Mr. Trump's legal troubles, Mr. Biden directly and unambiguously characterized the putative Republican nominee as a lawbreaker whose conviction amounted to a victory for the rule of law. And he rejected assertions that the prosecution was a political witch hunt, noting that it was not a case brought by his own administration.... Mr. Biden focused on the orchestrated efforts by the former president and his allies to discredit the prosecution and the judgment of the jury by painting the process as a political persecution that supposedly treated Mr. Trump unfairly... 'Our justice system has endured for nearly 250 years, and it literally is the cornerstone of America. Our justice system ... should be respected, and we should never allow anyone to tear it down...." ~~~

Michael Gold & Matthew Haag of the New York Times: On Friday, Donald "Trump, in a rambling and misleading 33-minute speech, derided the trial as 'rigged' and made numerous false statements about what had taken place in court.... Mr. Trump, who said he would appeal the verdict, continued to attack people who testified against him in the seven-week trial, specifically his former fixer, Michael D. Cohen, the star witness for the prosecution. He also admitted that he had gotten 'very upset' with his lawyers. He called the judge, Juan M. Merchan, the 'devil.'" This was the pinned item in a liveblog, also linked yesterday. Here are a few of the reporters' observations:

Gold: "Trump starts by claiming that 'if they can do this to me, they can do this to everyone' and calls the prosecutors in his trial 'bad' and 'sick' people. Then he immediately retreats to his dark rhetoric on immigration.... Trump is now complaining about the gag order in the case, which he falsely attributed to President Biden.... The court, he says, 'is in total conjunction with the White House and the D.O.J.,' a claim for which there is no evidence[.]"

Jonah Bromwich: "Prosecutors had asked that Trump be placed under a gag order for the duration of the trial, so it is not totally unsurprising that the former president has seemed to violate it here, lashing out his former fixer, Michael Cohen.... But this could be dangerous for Trump, who still has to undergo sentencing, where a judge often takes a defendant's post-verdict conduct into account."

Benjamin Protess: "Trump claims that Michael Cohen got into legal trouble not because of his affiliation with the former president, but because of his own crimes. While it's true that Cohen pleaded guilty to personal financial crimes, he was also charged with his role in paying hush money for Trump. And federal prosecutors concluded that Cohen did so at Trump's direction."

Jonathan Swan: "Trump claims, implausibly, that he never thought of Michael Cohen as a fixer. He says he thought of him purely as a lawyer. In reality, Trump assigned Cohen to do many jobs that had nothing to do with lawyering, such as threatening contractors and trying to rig an online CNBC poll to make Trump seem more popular than he really was."

Maggie Haberman: "Trump is now doing a sweeping rejection of all investigations into him, including the investigation into his efforts to thwart the transfer of power after he lost the 2020 election."

Gold: "Trump is now falling back on very familiar territory: his screed against migrants who are crossing the border illegally, who he broadly depicts as criminals, mentally ill people and terrorists. Border authorities have said most of those crossing are families fleeing poverty or conflict."

Bromwich: "Trump seemed to be seeking to draw a connection between his points about migrants and the judge in his case. Justice Merchan was born in Colombia but raised in Queens, the same borough as Trump."

Swan: "We're now in the phase of the speech when Trump is falsely claiming that kids can't have Little League games any more because undocumented immigrants are setting up too many tents."

Gold: "After 33 minutes, Trump walks away without answering questions from the dozens of reporters here."

Reid Epstein: "Michael Tyler, a spokesman for President Biden's campaign, said that Trump's remarks today showed that he was 'confused, desperate, and defeated' following his felony conviction. 'Trump is consumed by his own thirst for revenge and retribution,' Tyler said. 'He thinks this election is about him. But it's not. It's about the American people: lowering their costs, protecting their freedoms, defending their democracy.'"

[MB re: the gag order: Some on-air commentators have noted that Justice Merchan has not lifted the gag order, so it is still in effect. Trump himself seems to think he is still subject to the gag order because during his fake press conference, when he defamed Michael Cohen, Trump said he could not say Cohen's name because he was under a gag order. Trump then described Cohen without uttering his name, leaving no doubt about who he was disparaging, just as a bratty eight-year-old might do after his mom told him not to say bad things about the neighbor's kid.]

Daniel Dale of CNN: "... Donald Trump said he was going to hold a 'press conference' on Friday in the wake of his Thursday conviction in Manhattan on felony charges of falsifying business records. Instead, Trump delivered a rambling monologue that was filled with false claims on subjects ranging from the Manhattan trial to immigration to tax policy. Here is a fact check of some of the inaccurate or unsubstantiated claims he made." Read on.

Philip Nieto of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump claimed witnesses in his hush money trial were 'literally crucified' following his criminal conviction by a New York jury.... [Trump said,] 'You saw what happened to some of the witnesses that were on our side. They were literally crucified by this man [i.e., Justice Merchan] who looks like an angel. But he's really a devil.'" MB: Even though I oppose capital punishment, I would like to have seen those crucifictions Judge Merchan ordered. Definitely need cameras in the courtroom. (Also linked yesterday.)

Bad. Republicans Attack U.S. Justice System. Mary Jalonick of the AP: "Republican lawmakers reacted with immediate fury on Thursday as a New York jury convicted ... Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election, speaking out with near unanimity in questioning the legitimacy of the trial and how it was conducted. House Speaker Mike Johnson said it was a 'shameful day in American history' and the charges were 'purely political.' Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance said the verdict was a 'disgrace to the judicial system.' And Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, said that the decision was 'a defeat for Americans who believe in the critical legal tenet that justice is blind.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Stephen Neukam of Axios: "A top Trump advisor warned Maryland Republican Larry Hogan that his Senate campaign in the state is over after the state's former governor told voters to 'respect the verdict.'... Former President Trump initially planned to refrain from attacking Hogan, despite their strained past.... [But] Hogan's call to respect the rule of law seems to have incensed at least one top Trump advisor. 'You just ended your campaign,' said Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump advisor, on X in response to Hogan's comments." MB: Chris Hayes noted last night that Hogan released the tweet during the half-hour or so that the court had notified the public that the jury had reached a verdict but before the jury announced the verdict; that is, Hogan didn't know what the verdict was when he urged people to respect whatever the jury concluded. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Andrew Egger, in the Bulwark, reports more right-wing responses to the verdict.

Worse. Jonathan Nicholson of the Huffington Post: "Eight Republican senators said Friday they would try to slow down the Senate's business in response to the verdict.... 'The White House has made a mockery of the rule of law and fundamentally altered our politics in un-American ways. As a Senate Republican conference we are unwilling to aid and abet this White House in its project to tear this country apart,' said the eight senators in a letter. Signatories included Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)." ~~~

    ~~~ Marie: This is remarkably nonsensical. No one in the federal government had any control over what a Manhattan D.A. and a Manhattan jury did. A normal senator would blame Donald Trump for breaking the law and embarrassing their party by paying off a porn star to cover up a one-night stand with her in order to win the 2016 election; instead, these ridiculous senators pout and stamp their baby feet and blame "corrupt Democrats." Or something.

Worst. Friends in High Places. Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called for the U.S. Supreme Court to 'step in' to overturn the guilty verdict against former President Trump in his New York hush money trial.... 'I think that the Justices on the court -- I know many of them personally -- I think they are deeply concerned about that, as we are. So I think they'll set this straight,' the Louisiana Republican added.... 'It's going to take a while ... this will be overturned, guys, there's no question about it....'" MB: So forget the entire U.S. criminal justice system. Abandon all of it. Rather, Mike Johnson's "friends" will find an excuse to erase the verdict. Gare-an-teed. There's no appeal to actual justice or accountability here. It's all about who ya know.

Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's campaign announced on Friday evening that he had raised nearly $53 million in the 24 hours after his felony conviction, shattering online records for Republicans and raking in enough cash to help him close what has been a substantial financial gap with President Biden.... It would nearly match, in a single day, the $58 million that Mr. Trump's main fund-raising arm raised online in the last six months of 2023, according to federal records."

Brian Beutler has some thoughts on Trump's conviction. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: I have no idea* what caused Donald Trump to decide to turn on Michael Cohen. But it was one of the biggest miscalculations of his ignominious career. It dwarfs the Trump "University" grift and other Trump scams. Cohen was a thug who would have continued to serve Trump. But Trump abandoned Cohen, so Cohen turned on Trump. Cohen met with investigators from the Manhattan D.A.'s office at least 20 times, providing the D.A. with the basic framework of the criminal case against Trump. And it was Cohen's Congressional testimony that caused New York Attorney General Letitia James to open an investigation into Trump's business practices. That investigation resulted in civil fraud charges and eventually a judgment against the Trump Organization in the amount of $454 million, plus other penalties. That is to say, if not for Michael Cohen, Trump might not yet be a convicted criminal and he would likely be half-a-billion dollars richer. ~~~

     ~~~ *Update: Cohen said on MSNBC yesterday that Trump dumped on him because Trump figured he could get away with the hush-money payoff by placing all the blame on Cohen. This makes sense because Trump would not have known at the time that investigators would find evidence that Trump had engineered the conspiracy to quash Stormy Daniels' story.

Donie O'Sullivan & Sean Lyngaas of CNN: "On online forums that have previously been linked to mass shootings, people are threatening violence and attempting to publicly identify the 12 New York jurors who on Thursday decided to convict ... Donald Trump. The calls for retribution began immediately after the verdict was announced. Experts who track online extremism told CNN the volume of violent rhetoric in the last 24 hours is as high as it was after the FBI's search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago property in August 2022.... Overnight..., anonymous internet users on sites that are known havens of hate and harassment began sharing names, home addresses and other personal information belonging to people they say might have been members of the jury, a practice known as doxxing."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors tried for a second time on Friday to ask the judge overseeing ... Donald J. Trump's classified documents case to bar him from making any statements that might endanger F.B.I. agents involved in the proceeding. The move by the prosecutors came three days after the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, denied their initial request to keep Mr. Trump from attacking the agents on the procedural grounds that they had failed to properly inform Mr. Trump's lawyers about their intentions. The dispute ... began about 10 days ago when Mr. Trump falsely claimed on social media that the F.B.I. had authorized agents to kill him during their August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago.... The motion prosecutors filed on Friday was nearly identical to their initial submission. It included [a] statement from Mr. Trump's lawyers that Judge Cannon had asked for...."

Dan Mangan & Anthony Cusumano of CNBC: "The Florida federal judge overseeing the criminal classified documents case against ... Donald Trump has been the target of more than 1,000 complaints in just one week this month raising allegations of her handling of the case, a top appeals court judge revealed in an order. The complaints against Judge Aileen Cannon have come to light amid renewed criticism by some legal observers and Trump opponents that she is slow-walking the criminal case against the former president to ensure it does not go to trial before the presidential election. 'Many of the complaints' against Cannon filed with the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals 'request that the Chief Circuit Judge remove her from the classified-documents case and reassign the case to a different judge,' Chief Judge William Pryor wrote in a May 22 order posted on the appeal court's website.... Pryor, in his May 22 order..., wrote that he 'has considered and dismissed four of those orchestrated complaints as merits-related and as based on allegations lacking sufficient evidence to raise an inference that misconduct has occurred.' He also wrote that neither he nor the appeals court's Judicial Council has the authority to remove Cannon from the case under the Rules for Judicial-Conduct and Judicial-Disability Proceedings."

Keith Alexander of the Washington Post: "The D.C. board that oversees attorney discipline recommended Friday that Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and personal attorney to ... Donald Trump, not be allowed to practice law in the nation's capital. The decision by the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility followed lengthy hearings in 2022 and follow-up court filings last year in which a law licensing discipline committee determined that Giuliani violated the terms of his license to practice law in the nation's capital when he filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania trying to block certification of the results in the 2020 presidential election."

Tracey Tully & Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "In May 2019, a top official in the U.S. Department of Agriculture got a call on his cellphone from Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey. The conversation was brief, the senator was curt, and the message was clear: 'Stop interfering with my constituent.' Ted A. McKinney, then the under secretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, testified about the exchange on Friday during the third week of Mr. Menendez's bribery trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan.... At the time of the call, Mr. McKinney and others at the U.S.D.A. had been publicly sounding the alarm about a deal Egypt had brokered that granted a halal meat monopoly to a New Jersey startup run by Wael Hana, a longtime friend of the senator's wife, Nadine Menendez.... It was the first time that jurors had heard directly from a witness who attributed conduct to the senator that is central to the government's claim in an indictment that alleges a sprawling bribery conspiracy: that Mr. Menendez was willing to flex his political muscle to win favorable treatment for allies.... Mr. Menendez, in a brief comment to reporters outside the courthouse, said, 'You wait for the cross and you'll find the truth.'"

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The Navys former second-highest-ranking officer and commander of naval forces for Europe and Africa was arrested Friday on federal bribery charges for allegedly awarding a sole-source contract to a company in 2021 in exchange for a $500,000-a-year job and stock options, the Justice Department announced. Retired four-star Adm. Robert P. Burke, 62, of Coconut Creek, Fla., faces the prospect of becoming only the second U.S. admiral to be found guilty of committing a federal crime while on active duty, after he was arrested on a five-count indictment returned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington. Burke was arrested with Yongchul 'Charlie' Kim, 50, and Meghan Messenger, 47, founders of the New York-based technology services firm Next Jump, prosecutors announced." CNN's report is here.

Presidential Race. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "The Ohio General Assembly has passed a legislative fix that ensures President Biden will be on the state's ballot in November, averting a crisis that had been brewing for weeks over what is typically a minor procedural issue. The secretary of state in Ohio, a Republican, had said that he planned to exclude Mr. Biden from the ballot because the president would not be officially nominated by his party until after a state deadline for certifying presidential nominees.... The General Assembly resolved the issue by passing a bill that pushes back the deadline to accommodate the date of the Democratic nominating convention. Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, is expected to sign the bill over the weekend, pending a legal review, according to a spokesman.... Mr. DeWine [had] ... called a special legislative session to fix the problem, saying that legislators had failed 'to take action on this urgent matter.'"

Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "The Social Security Administration's inspector general is resigning after five tumultuous years capped by a new draft report by an independent watchdog group that found she tried to obstruct the largest of multiple investigations into her office. Gail Ennis, a Trump administration appointee who took office in January 2019, announced her departure in an email to her staff of 500 early Friday. Bipartisan pressure had been building in Congress for President Biden to fire her after reports of falling productivity and morale, complaints of whistleblower retaliation and blowback from her handling of an anti-fraud program run by her office...."

Lauren Irwin of the Hill: "West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat, officially filed as an independent Friday. 'My commitment to do everything I can to bring out country together has led me to register as an independent with no party affiliation,' Manchin posted on the social platform X. Manchin announced in November that he wouldn't be running for reelection this year, after serving in the Senate since 2010. Before coming to Congress, he served as the governor of West Virginia from 2005-10.... Manchin did not say what he plans to do after he leaves office at the end of this term.... The West Virginia senator, 76, had long toyed with the idea of a possible third-party bid for the White House but ruled it out this cycle...." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here.

Andrew Gumbel of the Guardian: "Neighbors of Samuel Alito and his wife described how a disagreement over political lawn signs put up in the wake of the 2020 presidential election quickly devolved into 'unhinged behavior towards a complete stranger' by the supreme court justice's wife.... Then a large black car, part of the Alitos' security detail, started parking in front of [Emily Baden's] mother's house instead of theirs.... Baden and her husband both say that the security detail's car showed up in front of her mother's house again two weeks ago, after the New York Times broke the story about an upside-down American flag hanging on the Alitos' flagpole.... 'I couldn't say who was in the car because of the tinted glass, and nobody ever said anything. I took it as a general threat,' [Emily Baden] said. 'The message was, we could do terrible things to you, and nobody would be able to do anything about it. When it comes to justices at the supreme court, they make the laws, but the laws don't apply to them.'"

Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama's mother and a linchpin of the Obama family who moved into the White House and provided stability and care for the family's two young daughters during a tumultuous time in Washington, died on Friday. She was 86. Her death was announced in a statement by Ms. Obama, former President Barack Obama and other members of the family." (Also linked yesterday.)

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Texas v. Women. Kate Zernicke of the New York Times: "The Texas Supreme Court on Friday unanimously rejected a challenge to the state's strict abortion ban, ruling against a group of 22 women and abortion providers who sought to expand the exceptions for medical emergencies under the law. While the challenge will continue in trial court, the state's attorney general, Ken Paxton, would almost certainly appeal any loss there, and the high court's decision Friday made clear that he would ultimately prevail.... While the case revolves around the question of what counts as an exception -- unlike other lawsuits, it did not seek to overturn a state ban -- it has changed the political debate around abortion by underscoring the potentially devastating medical consequences of abortion bans even for women who were not seeking to end unwanted pregnancies."

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

Aamer Madhani & Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Joe Biden said Friday that Hamas is 'no longer capable' of carrying out another large-scale attack on Israel as he urged Israelis and Hamas to come to a deal to release remaining hostages for an extended cease-fire. Biden addressed the nearly 8-month-old Israel-Hamas war as the Israeli military confirmed on Friday that its forces are now operating in central parts of Rafah in its expanding offensive in the southern Gaza city. 'This is truly a decisive moment,' Biden said as he spoke of a three-phase deal that Israeli officials have offered Hamas. 'Israel has made their proposal. Hamas says it wants a cease-fire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it.'" (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The top four congressional leaders formally invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Friday to address a joint meeting of Congress, in a show of bipartisan unity that masked a fraught behind-the-scenes debate over receiving him. The invitation, which set no date, came amid deep political divides in the United States over the war between Israel and Hamas, which has intensified after Israel's recent attacks in Rafah. Speaker Mike Johnson had been pressing to issue the invitation for weeks, seeking to hug Mr. Netanyahu closer.... Even before the invitation went out on Friday afternoon, the prospect of Mr. Netanyahu's visit to the Capitol had divided Democrats."

Ukraine, et al. Edward Wong of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken left open the possibility on Friday that President Biden could allow Ukraine to use U.S.-made weapons to strike at a broader array of targets inside Russia, going beyond attacks he has approved on launch sites the Russians are using for their current assault on the Kharkiv area. 'Going forward, we'll continue to do what we've been doing, which is: As necessary, adapt and adjust,' Mr. Blinken said at a news conference in Prague at the end of a two-day meeting of top diplomats from member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Mr. Blinken was responding to a reporter's question on whether the United States might give permission for Ukraine to use U.S.-made weapons to strike deeper into Russia. The phrase 'adapt and adjust' is one that Mr. Blinken used in a news conference on Wednesday in Chisinau, Moldova, to suggest that Mr. Biden was about to make a major policy shift and grant Ukraine permission to use the weapons to strike in Russia...."

News Lede

New York Times: "Darryl Hickman, who worked with top directors as a child actor in the 1940s, shifted to television roles in the '50s, and succeeded Robert Morse as the star of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying' in the early '60s, died on May 22 at his home in Montecito, Calif. He was 92."