memeorandum: Trump's latest policy pitch: A massive birthday party for the nation (Meridith McGraw/Politico)

4:20 PM ET, May 31, 2023

Top Items:

Joseph Zeballos-Roig / Semafor:

As the debt ceiling deal clears its first major hurdle, its conservative opponents begin to admit defeat — The News — Hard-right Republicans spent much of Tuesday furiously denouncing Washington's new debt ceiling deal as it began moving through Congress, promising to use any means within their reach to derail it.

Edward Luce / Financial Times:

Game, set and almost match to Biden on the debt ceiling — Republican drama barely dents US president's agenda — Shakespeare foretold the tale of America's latest debt-ceiling crisis — full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The final deal, which will probably be passed this weekend …

Discussion: The Hill, New Republic, Axios, Los Angeles Times, Breitbart, Associated Press, Washington Examiner and Washington Post

Politico:
Playbook: McCarthy puts down a last-minute revolt

Discussion: Breitbart, New York Times, The American Conservative, acecomments.mu.nu, RedState, USA Today, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Political Wire and Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Democrats put potential headache of passing debt ceiling rule on McCarthy

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Roll Call, NBC News and CNN

Kwadington / The Hill:
Debt ceiling live updates: McCarthy braces for key test before final vote

Discussion: Politico, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Axios, UPI, New Republic, CNBC, The Daily Caller, GZERO, Yahoo News, RedState, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth and Newsweek

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:

Mike Pence is set to launch his presidential campaign next week — The former vice president will kick off his 2024 bid with a campaign video and a speech in Des Moines, Iowa. — Mike Pence plans to enter the GOP presidential nomination fray June 7 with a campaign video and a kickoff speech in Des Moines …

Discussion: Axios, Politico, Bloomberg, CBS News, USA Today, Washington Examiner, The Hill, The Daily Caller, The Arizona Sun Times, Fox News, Florida Politics, NewsNation and KRDO

Tom LoBianco / The Messenger:

Former Vice President Mike Pence to Launch Campaign for White House Within 2 Weeks (Exclusive) — Pence, who is polling in single digits, believes he has a lane with evangelicals in the GOP primaries. … Former Vice President Mike Pence is set to launch his run for the White House against his old boss …

Discussion: Fox News and Political Wire

Jill Colvin / Associated Press:
Mike Pence to launch campaign for president in Iowa June 7

Discussion: CNN, ABC News, National Review and PoliticusUSA

Greg Bluestein / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Georgia GOP convention: Mike Pence out, Kari Lake in

Discussion: The Hill and Insider

New York Times:

Trump White House Aides Subpoenaed in Firing of Election Security Expert — The special counsel is scrutinizing the dismissal of Christopher Krebs, who contradicted baseless claims by the former president that the 2020 election was marred by fraud. — The special counsel investigating …

Discussion: Washington Press, The Hill, Reuters, Rolling Stone, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, The Mahablog, The Messenger and Political Wire

Politico:

Tuberville's top military adviser bows out — Morgan Murphy says he resigned after a Washington Post story suggested he took credit for the senator's military nomination blockade. — Sen. Tommy Tuberville's (R-Ala.) national security adviser told POLITICO that he has resigned …

John Wagner / Washington Post:

Tuberville adviser resigns after report on role in stalling military promotions — The national security adviser to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has resigned after The Washington Post disclosed in a story that he presented Tuberville with the highly controversial strategy of stalling scores …

Discussion: The Hill and Political Wire

CNN:

EXCLUSIVE: Trump captured on tape talking about classified document he kept after leaving the White House — Federal prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which former President Donald Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document …

Discussion: Political Wire

Washington Post:
Mar-a-Lago prosecutors eye July episode with Trump surveillance cameras

Discussion: Vanity Fair, New York Daily News, New Republic and Daily Kos

Barbara Hoberock / Tulsa World:

Oklahoma Supreme Court rules two abortion ban laws unconstitutional — OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday tossed out two state laws outlawing abortion. — The state's high court found that Senate Bill 1503 and House Bill 4327 were unconstitutional.

Discussion: The Hill, UPI and The Daily Caller

Chris Casteel / The Oklahoman:
Oklahoma Supreme Court strikes down two state abortion bans

Discussion: CBS News and The Messenger

Gabrielle M. Etzel / Washington Examiner: Oklahoma Supreme Court overturns two abortion bans

Meridith McGraw / Politico:

Trump's latest policy pitch: A massive birthday party for the nation — The former president is proposing a yearlong bash to commemorate 250 years of independence. — Donald Trump's latest idea to enshrine American greatness is to throw the country “the most spectacular” birthday bash — one that will last all year.

Discussion: The Hill, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Daily Caller

Nadine El-Bawab / ABC News:

Tennessee woman gets emergency hysterectomy after doctors deny early abortion care — Tennessee's ban went into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned. — Mayron Hollis said she had just started taking contraceptives when she found out she was pregnant again a few months after giving birth in February 2022.

Chloe Xiang / VICE:

Eating Disorder Helpline Disables Chatbot for ‘Harmful’ Responses After Firing Human Staff — “Every single thing Tessa suggested were things that led to the development of my eating disorder.” — Chloe Xiang — The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) has taken its chatbot called Tessa offline …

Discussion: The Overspill

Lydia O'Connor / HuffPost:

DOJ Sues Jim Justice's Coal Operation Over $5 Million In Unpaid Fines — The judgments were related to health, safety and environmental violations. — The Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the coal empire of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice over $5 million in unpaid fines related …

Discussion: CNN, Associated Press, Fox News, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Washington Times, Politico, Political Wire and The Messenger

US Department of Justice:
United States Files Civil Action to Collect Unpaid Civil Penalties and Reclamation Fee Debts

Discussion: CNBC, UPI and The Daily Caller

Mariya Knight / CNN:

Woman who accused Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993 defects to Russia — A former staffer who accused Joe Biden of sexual assault has defected to Moscow and spoken to Russian state media in a news conference that lasted several hours. — Tara Reade drew headlines during the 2020 presidential race …

William Thornton / al.com:

Tommy Tuberville's musician brother ‘compelled to distance’ himself over ‘racial stereotypes, white nationalism’ — The brother of U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville is speaking out on social media, saying he is “compelled to distance” himself from some of the lawmaker's recent statements.

Discussion: Political Wire

Tom Vanden Brook / USA Today:

Suspected Chinese spies, disguised as tourists, attempted to infiltrate Alaskan military bases — ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Chinese citizens posing as tourists but suspected of being spies have made several attempts in recent years to gain access to military facilities in this vast state studded …

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller, Bloomberg, UPI and The Messenger

New York Times:

Climate Shocks Are Making Parts of America Uninsurable. It Just Got Worse. — The largest insurer in California said it would stop offering new coverage. It's part of a broader trend of companies pulling back from dangerous areas. — Christopher Flavelle, who has long covered the impacts …

Discussion: KOIN-TV, Wall Street Journal, Orange County Register, E&E News, NewsNation, Cafe Hayek and How Things Work

New York Times:

James Beard Foundation, Whose Awards Honor Chefs, Is Now Investigating Them — The group behind “the Oscars of the food world” created a new process to weed out nominees with problematic pasts. But that process has troubles of its own. — In more than 25 years of covering food …

Discussion: KRDO

Mike Allen / Axios:

Scoop: Chris Christie to announce GOP presidential campaign next week … - Being joyful and hitting a more hopeful note aimed at America's “exhausted majority.” — Being authentic — a happy warrior who speaks his mind, takes risks and is happy to punch Donald Trump in the nose.

Olafimihan Oshin / The Hill:

Blue Jays pitcher apologizes for sharing video calling for boycott of companies supporting LGBTQ+ rights — Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass apologized Tuesday for sharing a video that called for the boycott of major companies that publicly support the LGBTQ+ community.

Discussion: CBC News, Washington Post, USA Today, Louder With Crowder, MLB.com, New York Post, TheBlaze, Fox News, Twitchy and Breitbart

Bloomberg:

Turkmenistan in Talks With US to Tackle Giant Methane Leaks — American officials are negotiating a deal to help Turkmenistan curb its vast methane emissions, potentially sealing a major breakthrough in the global fight against climate change and notching a diplomatic coup for President Joe Biden.

Ej Dickson / Rolling Stone:

AI Deepfakes of True Crime Victims Are a Waking Nightmare — TikTok accounts are posting horrifying artificial intelligence-generated clips of murder victims — mostly children — describing their own ghastly demise … She recounts that one day, she was hungry and wouldn't stop crying …

Peter Schorsch / The Daily Beast:

Leaked Audio From a Ron DeSantis Donor Event Is Really Bad News for His Campaign — Team DeSantis tried to hype poll numbers to deep-pocketed supporters. But the data actually points to a Trump primary victory. … When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gathered top allies with deep pockets …

Discussion: Raw Story and Florida Politics

Meg Kinnard / Associated Press:

Nikki Haley's husband to deploy with National Guard to Africa as she seeks 2024 GOP nomination — Nikki Haley's husband will soon begin a yearlong deployment with the South Carolina Army National Guard to Africa, a mission that will encompass most of the remainder of his wife's campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, CBS News and NBC News

Associated Press:

US safety agency to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles and set tougher standards — The U.S. government's auto safety agency plans to require that all new passenger cars and light trucks include potentially life-saving automatic emergency braking and meet stricter safety standards within three years.

Discussion: New York Times, NHTSA, The Hill, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, The Verge, The Daily Caller and KRDO

Alex Henderson / Raw Story:

GOP being crushed in Wisconsin as state ‘shifts leftward’: report — Democratic strategists once regarded Wisconsin as a reliably blue state. Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis lost California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Maine and Florida to Republican George H.W. Bush …

Discussion: Politico

Matthew D. Taylor / Bulwark+:

Roger Stone and the Key to Trump's Evangelical Support — TRUMP ADVISER AND MAD-HATTER political operative Roger Stone made a strange declaration at a recent gathering of pastors at the Trump National Doral resort in Miami, Florida: He claimed that he was the subject of a modern prophecy about a …

Thomas Catenacci / Fox News:

US govt sent $1.3 billion to China, Russia for gender equality, cat experiments and Wuhan lab research — 'Washington's continued spending is so out of hand, it is losing track of Americans' hard-earned taxpayer dollars,' GOP Sen. Ernst says — The U.S. government has given Chinese …

Discussion: Washington Times

The Texas Tribune:

This class president is the model of a successful Texas teen. After a ban on trans health care, she can't wait to leave the state. — For one Round Rock teen, getting accepted to Harvard was her ticket out of a state that she says is hostile to trans youth.

Char Adams / NBC News:

Majority of Americans favor affirmative action in colleges as Supreme Court seems poised to end it — A new poll found that 63% of Americans don't think the Supreme Court should ban affirmative action in college admissions. — Most Americans say the Supreme Court should not ban colleges …

Discussion: Power Line, The Hechinger Report, Fox News, WCBD News 2, Claremont Review of Books, KTLA, NewsOne and KRDO

NBC News:

House Oversight chair prepares to hold FBI director in contempt over document in Biden probe — Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky, said the panel will vote on holding Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over a document the panel is seeking for its investigation into the Biden family's business dealings.