Sen. @ossoff.senate.gov asks Jay Clayton — Trump’s nominee to oversee U.S. intelligence — a simple question: who won the 2020 election? Clayton declines to answer for nearly 2 mins. OSSOFF: Isn't it humiliating to be unable to answer this question? To have to indulge the president's delusions?

Stay tuned. I hope to have a paper coming out soon on this topic. Funded by @arnoldventures.bsky.social, this study has the longest list of authors, and the most person-hours of research effort, of any I’ve work on.

A very fancy visual graphic showing the difference between the normal Marine One landing spot (on lawn that is current unusable) vs where Trump will be choppering in and out for the next few months (and using a motorcade to go back and forth).

Wow. The House has *passed* the Trump-backed plan for year-round daylight saving time. States would be able to opt out. The bill heads to the Senate. This is a huge development for those of us on the sunshine policy beat. with the great @annalissroy.bsky.social

New: Trump officials, having criticized Medicare’s billing-code system, are now asking the public to help change it. The American Medical Association’s CPT codes are a “monopoly,” the administration says, calling for suggested fixes or even alternatives.

New: Trump is set to resume his Marine One helicopter flights — but from the Ellipse, not the White House lawn, which has been rendered unusable. And instead of walking out the White House doors, now he'll take a motorcade. with @jakespring.bsky.social @danlamothe.bsky.social

New: RFK Jr is facing a Hatch Act complaint after intervening in congressional races. @wyden.senate.gov has asked the Office of Special Counsel to investigate RFK Jr’s phone calls + offers to third-party candidates, where RFK Jr said he would help them if they dropped out.

Lindsey Graham has passed away after a brief illness, his office told me tonight. The longtime senator and staunch Trump ally had just returned from Ukraine. Will have more in a story soon.

Breaking - the Trump admin has released its proposal to fence Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House. The proposal also acknowledges plans to fence Pennsylvania Avenue, too.

New: a Trump plan would fence Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House. The new permanent fences would be at 15th and 17th St NW and allow Secret Service to more easily close the area if they think there's a security risk. Plan comes amid questions about White House security vs public access.

Trump's planned 250-ft arch just cleared a key hurdle, getting preliminary OK from a federal panel. The panel heard nearly 3 hrs of public opposition from architects, veterans and others before voting to advance the project. “I think it’s long overdue," said Paul Ingrassia, a Trump appointee.

Trump has argued he doesn’t need Congress to approve his planned 250-ft arch … … because Congress a century ago authorized a pair of columns that were never built there But the arch Trump wants to build — see the drawing — would be much larger in scale and visual impact (Graphic by Júlia Ledur)

New: Trump is speeding up helipad construction, hoping to finish before Xi arrives in September Teams are now working 24/7, adding $900K in cost Trump also remaking part of the White House driveway in multi-million-dollar project More at @washingtonpost.com with Sarah Blaskey, Jonathan O'Connell

"Trump’s role transformed what might have been a narrow disciplinary dispute into something larger: a politically charged test of FIFA’s independence, with the Americans’ World Cup path hanging in the balance." Rick Maese & @ddiamond.bsky.social nail it -> wapo.st/3QZfAPR

Doctors HATE him

had to read this Epoch Times subject line twice this morning

This is interesting by ESPN's Brian Windhorst: the Knicks' dominance in the playoffs had some financial implications for all NBA teams. Fewer playoff games → less revenue for the league → lower salary cap than expected.

DC official urged the Trump administration: build the president's arch somewhere else. Putting the 250-ft arch by Arlington National Cemetery would be "divisive," the city’s top preservation officer wrote. He recommended a site by Nationals Park instead. More at @washingtonpost.com.

New: House Democrats allege that some donors who meant to give money to America250 — the bipartisan anniversary group — were misled and steered to Trump-backed Freedom 250. @rephuffman.bsky.social: "I do know the elements of fraud, and there is evidence of all those elements here." with Ben Binday

almost done w the audio book and it’s an amazing volume worth the listen and read!

Looking forward to speaking with Peter Canellos tonight at Bethesda's Wonderland Books about his new book on Samuel Alito, his extensive research and reporting on the Supreme Court, and whether he too overheard someone saying something about someone retiring.

Trump is honoring a president today who he sees as a peer — Teddy Roosevelt. The White House has increasingly compared Trump and Roosevelt, too, befuddling historians. Columbia University's Tim Naftali: "The two men would hardly have been simpatico."

Trump is now talking about his Washington construction projects *more often* than topics like wages and health care He invoked his DC building projects on nearly 80% of days in June analysis with @ence.bsky.social and Lydia Sidhom

Congrats to the great @stephaniemlee.bsky.social, whose terrific story on CrossFit vs. Big Soda is being anthologized in @siricarpenter.bsky.social's collection, "The Best Science Stories and How They Work."

Trump has started building his latest White House addition: a helipad on the South Lawn, per people familiar. It's intended to resolve a years-long problem — the new Marine One helicopters run the risk of scorching the lawn. w @danlamothe.bsky.social

Appreciate the print editors who planted this story on A1

"opening bell"

how do you say “Groundhog Day” in Persian

According to "people with knowledge of the park's plans," Lafayette Park will not reopen until at least August. When it was closed for renovations in January, officials said it would reopen in May. Earlier this month, Trump said it would reopen by July 4th.

Trump personally inspected Lafayette Square’s renovations this morning, White House official tells pool reporter Gerren Keith Gaynor

NEW at @thebulwark.com Got a chance to tell a genuinely heartwarming story about a young man and the medical breakthrough already changing his life But it’s also a warning about what we might lose because of Trump’s attacks on federally funded science www.thebulwark.com/p/these-are-...

Trump has a new side project: counting the number of trees in a public park across the street from the White House. He wants Lafayette Square to feature 47 trees — to match his 47th presidency, per people familiar. with @jakespring.bsky.social

Americans when they hear Europeans don't have air conditioning

Trump gets an arch.

"The reporters were probably aware that they weren’t going to break them, but I want to give them credit for trying and for being relentless about it."

does anyone know where i can find a high quality, full-length copy of the NPR morning edition theme music (the 1996-2018 version), along with the transition clips? i can’t find one. (please don’t reply with the various youtube videos that aren’t full length lol)

The famous “Barbie Pond” in DC’s Logan Circle neighborhood has a new theme: Reflecting Pool. (Complete with “blue paint,” a hydrogen peroxide bottle, and rubber ducks that have seen better days.)

Garrett Graff (@vermontgmg.bsky.social), who wrote a defining book about Watergate, calls JD Vance's comments "shockingly a-historical" and an "immature understanding of what Watergate was and wasn’t." (But Garrett agrees with Vance that Nixon would've survived Watergate in the modern era.)

Speaking at Nixon’s library, Vance dismisses his Watergate scandal and compares Nixon to Trump today. “It’s not just that he got out of Vietnam, but that he got out of Vietnam from a position of strength. Okay?” Vance said, making a comparison with Trump’s war against Iran.

Update — a top Trump aide set this in motion, as White House tries to get third-party candidates out of tight races. James Blair asked RFK Jr. to call the Iowa candidates because Blair heard they respected him, according to two people familiar with the matter. with @iarnsdorf.bsky.social

EXCLUSIVE: RFK Jr encouraged a third-party candidate to “make an agreement” to exit a contested Iowa congressional race and help GOP win the seat. “I can’t go into specifics because there’s legal prohibitions about that,” RFK Jr. said, per audio obtained by The Post.

The White House and its contractors must explain their Reflecting Pool actions, Democrats say. “I’m launching an investigation because taxpayers deserve swift answers — and a refund,” @merkley.senate.gov told The Post.

New: The Trump administration is now arguing that any federal structure the government wants to build — including Trump’s 250ft arch — doesn’t have to follow height limits that have long capped most DC construction at 130ft tall.

Trump's rivalry with Obama has entered a new chapter: their libraries. With Obama's center opening this week, Trump has ramped up his mockery — like depicting it as a giant trash can. Historians said Trump's the first president to mock another's library.

Why is Trump extending his foreign trip to dine at Versailles tonight? Because for the president — fixated on gold furnishings and adornments, often to excess — the gilded French palace has long been a model for his own projects.

Trump speaking here at G-7 about the recent dips in the stock market following his attacks on Iran TRUMP: the one president I did not want to be was the late great Herbert Hoover

New @washingtonpost.com this morning Trump is planning another change to the White House grounds: fencing Lafayette Square, per 3 ppl familiar The new permanent fence would make it easier to close the public park if White House thinks there’s a security risk

Sorry, people with pets. Or children. Or who want a full night's sleep.

Meanwhile, in DC: residents are being advised of a loud fireworks show starting at *11:30 pm.*