memeorandum: NASCAR probes noose found in Bubba Wallace's garage in Talladega (Rebecca Falconer/Axios)

12:45 PM ET, June 22, 2020

Top Items:

The President's Shock at the Rows of Empty Seats in Tulsa — Inside the campaign, advisers believe disappointing attendance at the rally shows genuine fear of the coronavirus and the reality of Mr. Trump's sliding poll numbers. — President Trump and several staff members stood backstage …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN, Raw Story, Washington Post, Defense One, Progress Pond and The Week

Kevin Liptak / CNN:

Trump aides debate future size and look of signature rallies after Tulsa debacle — Why Trump was upset before Tulsa rally started — (CNN)Swaths of empty blue seats and a vacant overflow venue in Oklahoma have led President Donald Trump's aides to begin debating what his signature campaign rallies …

Discussion: Florida Politics and The Daily Beast

CNN:

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump ‘pissed’ at Trump campaign manager over his rally crowd size predictions, source says — Washington (CNN)Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are “pissed” at campaign manager Brad Parscale over his predictions of a much larger crowd than the one that turned …

Discussion: The US Sun, POLITICUSUSA, The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Raw Story, The Week, Al Jazeera, Mashable and courthousenews.com

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Inside Trump's Oklahoma debacle — Donald Trump's campaign advisers had it all mapped out: A blowout rally in Oklahoma — coupled with a withering ad launched days earlier questioning Joe Biden's mental acuity — would finally shift the focus to the elusive Democrat amid the worst stretch of Trump's presidency.

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite, HuffPost, NBC News, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Beast and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Ken Meyer / Mediaite:

Fox & Friends Host Questions Wisdom of Trump Rally: 'I Don't Know Who Thought It Was a Good Idea' — Fox & Friends acknowledged that it might not have been wise for President Donald Trump to hold an indoor campaign rally in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

David Siders / Politico:
Trump's ‘trench warfare’ reelection campaign begins

Discussion: NBC News, The Daily Beast, POLITICUSUSA and The Sun

Yahoo News:
Tulsa rally failure may spark Trump campaign team shakeup

Discussion: Raw Story, Daily Kos and NBC News

Associated Press: Trump rally highlights vulnerabilities heading into election

Mike Allen / Axios:

Sarah Sanders says John Bolton was “drunk on power” — One former top West Wing official tells Axios that national security adviser John Bolton was unpopular even before the leaks from his tell-all, “The Room Where It Happened,” which is out Tuesday. — Axios has a first look …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The US Sun, The Hill, The Week, The National Interest, POLITICUSUSA, Political Wire, ABC News and Breitbart

Conor Finnegan / ABC News:

Bolton says he hopes Trump is 1-term president, warns country imperiled by his reelection — Here are the many headlines from ABC's interview with Trump's former top aide. — President Donald Trump's longest-serving national security adviser John Bolton condemned his presidency …

Discussion: Vanity Fair, The Hill, POLITICUSUSA, Outside the Beltway, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, The Week, Breitbart and Bloomberg

Politico:
What Donald Trump really thinks of European leaders

Discussion: ABC News, The Hill and One America News Network

USA Today:
Exclusive: John Bolton says Trump's White House was ‘like living inside a pinball machine’

Discussion: The Hill, The Week and WHDH-TV

Rebecca Falconer / Axios:
NASCAR probes noose found in Bubba Wallace's garage in Talladega

Discussion: NPR, One America News Network, The Wrap, Variety, Just The News and Breitbart

Franco Ordoñez / NPR:
Bolton: Trump And China's Xi Talked ‘Frequently’ About Trump's Reelection

Discussion: The Hill

John Bolton / NPR:
Transcript: NPR's Full Interview With John Bolton

Discussion: The Guardian, Fox News and Mediaite

Con Coughlin / Telegraph:
John Bolton exclusive interview: Trump does not represent the Republican cause that I want to back

Discussion: Axios, IJR, Fox News, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, Twitchy, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Wall Street Journal:

Attorney General Barr, Berman at Odds Over Letter Criticizing New York City Mayor — Geoffrey Berman, the former top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, refused to sign letter criticizing Mayor de Blasio for enforcing social-distancing rules to block religious gatherings but not protests

New York Times:

For Barr, Standoff With Prosecutor Adds to String of Miscues — The attorney general has found himself at odds with the White House on high-profile issues in recent weeks. — WASHINGTON — From the onset of his tenure, William P. Barr has been billed as the attorney general that President Trump was looking for.

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Week, Fox News, The Dispatch, Wall Street Journal and CNN

Asha Rangappa / The Daily Beast:
Bill Barr's Above the Law. The Only Answer Is to Impeach Him.

Discussion: Raw Story and courthousenews.com

The Atlantic:
Three Plausible—And Troubling—Reasons Why Barr Tried to Force Berman Out

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story, Stanford Law School and Lawfare

RI.gov:

Statement from Treasurer Magaziner about the State's Name — PROVIDENCE, RI —Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magazine today made the following announcement about his office's use of the state's name: — “Today, I am announcing that the Office of the General Treasurer will remove the words …

Hans Nichols / Axios:

Kevin Hassett to leave White House this summer — White House adviser Kevin Hassett will leave the administration this summer, after returning in March to help the president respond to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, according to two administration officials.

Discussion: Fox News, Raw Story and The Hill

Jeff Stein / Washington Post: Kevin Hassett, senior Trump economic adviser, to leave White House

Thomas Franck / CNBC:
Larry Kudlow says a second wave of coronavirus cases 'isn't coming'

Discussion: The American Independent, Raw Story and Washington Post

Veronica Stracqualursi / CNN:
White House adviser: Trump administration preparing for possible second wave of coronavirus in the fall

Discussion: Axios, The Hill and The Week

Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times:

News Analysis: Joe Biden is no Hillary Clinton, and that's a problem for President Trump — Joe Biden is old. He has a paper trail reaching back half a century. He is, by his own admission, a “gaffe machine” who regularly trips over his own tongue. — He is not, however …

Alexi McCammond / Axios:
Pennsylvania swing voters tire of Trump's inability to heal the country

Discussion: Fox News and Raw Story

Adam Entous / New Yorker:

What Fiona Hill Learned in the White House — The senior fellow at Brookings and expert on modern Russia had hoped to guide the U.S.-Russia relationship. President Trump had other ideas. — The Brookings Institution is one of many think tanks in Washington, D.C., where scholars …

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

TikTok Teens Are Obsessed With Pizzagate — The Comet Ping Pong conspiracy theory has been widely discredited, but it lives on with Gen Z. — BEAST INSIDE — NEWSLETTERS — Right Richter — See what's happening with the extreme right wing from the safety of your inbox.

Discussion: Gothamist

Judd Legum / Popular Information:

A Schlapp in the face — Since the murder of George Floyd, Verizon has been an outspoken advocate of the Black Lives Matter movement. In dozens of tweets and statements, Verizon has said that, as a company, it is not enough to express support for racial justice.

NBER: Black Lives Matter Protests, Social Distancing, and COVID-19

Robin Pogrebin / New York Times:

Roosevelt Statue to Be Removed From Museum of Natural History — The equestrian memorial to Theodore Roosevelt has long prompted objections as a symbol of colonialism and racism. — The bronze statue of Theodore Roosevelt, on horseback and flanked by a Native American man and an African man …

Discussion: NPR, Observer, Spectator USA, American Museum …, The Gateway Pundit, New York Post, Fox News, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Althouse, The US Sun, IJR, Breitbart, Axios, Redstate, fox8.com, Gothamist, Townhall, The Guardian, Disrn, The Week, Twitchy and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Gabriel Debenedetti / New York Magazine:

Are We Headed for a Voter-Suppression Catastrophe in November? Marc Elias, the Democrats' top election lawyer, sees the potential for disaster. — Marc Elias hears the question constantly: “Is Donald Trump going to try to cancel, or move, the election?” He has an answer ready: No, he can't.

Bryan Pietsch / New York Times:

Tennessee Newspaper Apologizes for ‘Utterly Indefensible’ Anti-Muslim Ad — The full-page ad, which appeared in Sunday's editions of The Tennessean and claimed “Islam” would detonate a nuclear device in Nashville, “should have never been published,” the editor said.

Discussion: The Tennessean, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, New York Post and Deadline, more at Mediagazer »

Scott Detrow / NPR:

Kamala Harris Is Seen As The Clear Front-Runner To Be Joe Biden's Running Mate — More than a month before former Vice President Joe Biden's stated deadline for naming his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris is seen as the consensus front-runner to become the Democrat's vice presidential nominee.