Talk Media News
 

Victoria Jones created and edits Quick Morning News. She is chief White House correspondent with Washington DC-based Talk Media News, where her insight and analysis are made available to over 400 news talk radio stations around the country and internationally.

 

Quick News

  • Trump: “It’s already over”
  • Clinton: “Look at the reality”
  • “Obama out” at WH correspondents dinner
  • Larry Wilmore gets tough at WH dinner
  • May Day marchers: Multiple issues
  • CIA chief: 9/11 28 pages: “Inaccurate”
  • Pentagon rips Benghazi Committee: “Speculation”
Trump: “It’s Already Over” (AP, NYT, Reuters, Hill, Hill, NYT, me)
• Front-runner Donald Trump said on Fox News Sunday that he will have essentially sealed the Republican nomination if he wins Indiana on Tuesday: “Yes, it’s over. It’s already over.” A new NBC/WSJ/Marist poll showed Trump 49% in Indiana, to 34% for Ted Cruz and 13% for John Kasich (even if Cruz/Kasich did a combo platter, it wouldn’t be quite enough)
 
• “We’re going the distance,” Cruz said on ABC Sunday, arguing that Trump won’t be able to get the majority of delegates required. “We’re going into Cleveland and it will be a contested convention.” Cruz touted his choice of failed 2016er Carly Fiorina for VP and Friday’s endorsement by Gov Mike Pence (R-Ind) (Cruz isn’t getting much bounce from Fiorina)
 
• On NBC, Cruz was asked repeatedly whether he would support Trump as nominee. He dodged multiple times, attacking the media for wanting him to “surrender” to Trump. He charged that NBC execs were “partisan Democrats.” Todd eventually said “the record” would show Cruz took no position (would be nice if journos asked as many follow-ups of Trump – scaredys)
 
• Trump, who has amassed 996 delegates to Cruz’s 565, according to AP, has momentum. Indiana has 57 delegates. The candidate who receives the most votes takes 27 from congressional districts, while the 30 others are awarded to the candidate who wins the most votes statewide

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• Trump hit the U.S.’s trade deficit with China: “We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country, and that’s what they’re doing,” he said (his diminishing of sexual assault – assault – down to an argument over currency shows again his attitude about women: money matters. women don’t)
 
• “The mainstream media wants this race to be over,” Cruz told a crowd in Lafayette, Ind, in one of his feistiest speeches in memory Sunday, lumping in “New York power brokers” and John Boehner with his usual opponents. Cruz, typically accessible to the press, didn’t take questions from reporters at his rally (rumors of low morale in the Cruz camp, too)
 
• Support for Cruz is softening among the delegates he courted, NYT reports, as people start to lean towards the likely winner – Trump. Meanwhile, Cruz pulled out a strategic win in Arizona over the weekend, nailing down a large majority of delegates, amid cheating accusations from Trump supporters
 
• Trump doubled down Sunday on his “woman” comments about Hillary Clinton. “I’m my own strategist, and I like what I said, and it’s true,” Trump said on Fox News Sunday. Clinton said on CNN she has “experience dealing with men who sometimes get off the reservation.” (backlash from Native Americans over that remark prompted apology and a Twitter apology)

 

Clinton: “Look At the Reality” (Reuters, AP, Politico, Hill, me)
• Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said on CNN Sunday that rival Bernie Sanders has been “helpful” in bringing millions of people into the party’s 2016 race, but: “There comes a time when you have to look at the reality.” Clinton won four of the last five races and is ahead in delegates (“helpful” sounded a bit condescending)
 
• But at a presser in DC on Sunday, Sanders urged superdelegates from states where he has won the majority of the vote to reconsider their support. “She will need superdelegates to take her over the top,” Sanders said. “The convention will be a contested convention.” (ooh – maybe Philadelphia will be where the action is – not Cleveland)
 
• Sanders said that to win the majority of pledged delegates, he needs 65% of remaining delegates in upcoming contests. (huge lift) He admitted that the road ahead is a “tough road to climb.” “In terms of superdelegates, obviously we are taking on virtually the entire Democratic establishment.”
 
• Clinton, on CNN Sunday, seemed to have moved on. “I certainly look forward to working with Sen Sanders in the lead-up to the convention, in the lead-up to the platform that will represent the Democratic Party,” she said. “It will be a progressive platform. I’ve run on a progressive agenda.” (so that sounds like she already thinks her agenda is The Agenda)
 
• Campaigning in Indianapolis, Clinton didn’t bother mentioning Sanders’ name. Instead, she criticized Donald Trump for embracing GOP economic policies that have left everyday workers behind. She took aim at Trump and Ted Cruz for using “dangerous” rhetoric about Muslims

• SecState John Kerry is in Geneva in an attempt to bolster a fragile, partial ceasefire in Syria. He’s due to hold urgent talks on the situation with the UN envoy to Syria and the Saudi and Jordanian FMs. Kerry said today, “We’re getting closer to a place of understanding.” (BBC)
 

 
“Obama Out” at WH Correspondents Dinner (WaPo, NYT, me)
• “It is an honor to be here at my last, and perhaps the last White House correspondents’ dinner.” “If this material works well, I’m gonna use it at Goldman Sachs next year. Earn me some serious Tubmans.”
 
• Donald Trump has some foreign policy experience because “he has spent years meeting with leaders form around the world: Miss Sweden, Miss Argentina, Miss Azerbaijan.” Trump may succeed in closing Guantanamo because: “Trump knows a thing or two about running waterfront properties into the ground.” (Trump jokes scattered throughout the routine)
 
• Obama tweaked the press for giving Trump the “appropriate amount of coverage, befitting the seriousness of his candidacy.” Obama’s most personal jab at a journalist was aimed at Jake Tapper. He noted that several journalists had left the WH beat recently, then added: “Jake Tapper left journalism to join CNN,” prompting Tapper to raise a wine glass (laugh all the way to bank)

 

 
• “Hillary trying to appeal to young voters is a little bit like your relative who just signed up for Facebook. ‘Dear America, did you get my poke? Is it appearing on your wall? I’m not sure I’m using this right. Love, Aunt Hillary.'”
 
• On Ted Cruz: “He went to Indiana – Hoosier country – stood in a basketball court, and called the hoop a ‘basketball ring.’ What else is in his lexicon? Baseball sticks? Football hats? But sure, I’m the foreign one…”
 
• Back to Trump: “The guy wanted to give his hotel business a boost, and now we’re praying that Cleveland makes it through July.” “With that I just have two more words to say: Obama out.” [and then he dropped the mic, literally]

 

Larry Wilmore Gets Tough at WHCD (WaPo, me)
• “Welcome to Negro Night here in Washington DC. Or as Fox News will report, ‘Two thugs disrupt elegant dinner in DC.” (And we were off. Larry Wilmore wasn’t going to make the evening easy for the 3,000 or so easy-living people gathered at the DC Hilton Saturday night. He hammered the press over poor standards, racism, and he ripped pols of all stripes)
 
• To Obama: “I saw you hanging out with NBA players like Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors. That was cool. You know, it kind of makes sense too, because both of you like raining down bombs on people from long distances.” (awkward reax as people realized this wasn’t going to be a comfy night)
 
• “Speaking of drones, how is Wolf Blitzer still on television?” Ask a follow up question!” “Hey Wolf, I’m ready to project tonight’s winner: Anyone that isn’t watching ‘The Situation Room.” (there were boos and hisses – but come on, Blitzer’s a droner, it’s how he talks, always has)

 

• Invite a black comedian, expect jokes about race and deal with them – or don’t. Don’t blame the comic for doing his job in our country where race is still a majorly challenging issue. Don’t be surprised if he ends his routine with a message to Obama: “Yo, Barry. You did it, my ni**a. You did it.”
 
• “MSNBC is here tonight. Yep, which actually now stands for ‘Missing a Significant Number of Black Correspondents’ … MSNBC got rid of so many black people, I thought Boko Haram was running that network.” (very uncomfortable in the room – but MSNBC did it)
 
• One running gag that the crowd liked was the Ted Cruz as Zodiac Killer one. “There’s a joke going around the internet that Ted Cruz is actually the Zodiac Killer. I’m not making that up. I mean that is not fair, man, Lucifer is horrible – but he’s not the Zodiac Killer.”
 
• “C-Span, of course, is carrying tonight’s dinner live… Which is ironic because most of the viewers are not. It is true, guys. C-Span is the number one network among people who died watching TV and no one’s found them yet. No, but it is good to be on C-Span. I am glad I am not on your rival network, ‘No Input HDMI-1.”
 
• “I am confused with Bernie Sanders’s stance on guns. He seems to be anti-gun everywhere except Vermont. Bernie doesn’t care who gets a gun in Vermont. [fake whispers] There are no black people in Vermont.” (Bernie crowd wasn’t quite sure what to do with that)

 

May Day Marchers: Multiple Issues (AP, Reuters, me)
• Hundreds of May Day marchers chanting slogans and carrying signs – and at least one Donald Trump pinata – took to the streets of Los Angeles on Sunday calling for immigrants and worker rights and decrying what they see as hateful presidential campaign rhetoric (well, criminals and rapists, walls, banning Muslims, fat pigs, throwing out 11 million people – ummm)
 
• It was one of several events in cities nationwide to call for better wages for workers, an end to deportations and support for an Obama admin plan to give work permits to immigrants in the country illegally whose children are American citizens. Demonstrators repeatedly called out Trump for his remarks about immigrants, workers and women
 
• Five Seattle police officers were injured and at least nine people arrested on Sunday night, after demonstrators hurled projectiles and Molotov cocktails and broke windows, authorities said. Mayor Ed Murray blamed the “senseless violence” on a “different crowd” from those who had attended an earlier peaceful May Day immigration march
 
• In San Francisco, marchers rallied at Fisherman’s Wharf for immigrant and worker’s rights and to demand justice for several men fatally shot by city police. About 300 people, including members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, held signs that read “Long Live May Day” and “Stop Police Terror”
 
• Meanwhile, social justice advocates in Durham, New Hampshire, made the rejection of racism, xenophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment the themes of their annual rally. “The Trump effect has taken over the media and silenced our voices,” Tomas Kennedy, an organizer of the planned Miami march, said in a statement (not sure it’s silenced voices)

 

• President Obama will speak with several TV anchors from around the country today to push his nomination of Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court
 

CIA Chief: 9/11 28 Pages “Inaccurate” (HuffPo, Hill, NBC News, me)

• CIA director John Brennan on NBC on Sunday defended the govt’s decision to withhold 28 pages of the 9/11 Commission Report. “This chapter was kept out because of concerns about sensitive methods [and] investigative actions,” Brennan said, adding that when the findings were issued, the probe into 9/11 was still underway (not now, though)
 

• Brennan said the 9/11 Report contains “a combination of things that are accurate and inaccurate.” Ultimately, he said, the joint inquiry “came out with a very clear judgment that there was no evidence that the Saudi govt as an institution, or Saudi officials or individuals, had provided support to al Qaeda.” (so nobody from Saudi, then? if so, let us see)
 

• Former Sen Bob Graham (D-Fla), part of the original Commission inquiry and who helped write the 28 pages, wants them released. He believes FBI withheld info about a Saudi family in Florida that he says had numerous connections to the hijackers. Two weeks before the attacks, the family returned to Saudi Arabia – Graham believes that means they could have had advance warning

• Brennan described America’s “very strong” relationship with Saudi Arabia. “There are some differences about how some of these regional issues should be addressed, and that’s very healthy,” he said. Brennan traveled with President Obama on his recent visit to the kingdom (ok, sounds like a defense of Saudi policy as reason for not releasing)
 

• Meanwhile, House and Senate lawmakers are backing a bill that would let families of terror victims sue foreign states that helped fund or support terrorist attacks in the U.S. In response to the bill, which Obama has lobbied against, the Saudi govt threatened to sell off hundreds of billions of dollars worth of American assets (this drip drip for the 28 pages won’t go away, John)

• The CIA has received largely negative reax online for live-tweeting the killing of Osama bin Laden as it happened five years ago. It shared details of the mission and intel that led to America’s most wanted man being found. Some posted memes and gifs of people rolling their eyes and putting their heads in their hands. A few offered messages of support (BBC)

 

Pentagon Rips Benghazi Committee: “Speculation” (Politico, me)

• The Pentagon’s Assistant SecDef Stephen Hedger has complained in a letter to the Benghazi Committee, saying its repeated requests for docs and interviews are straining the dept’s resources. He also implied that the panel is grasping to make assertions based on theory rather than facts. DoDers would like a meeting with the committee (fly on wall)
 
• Hedger said that DoD interviewees “have been asked repeatedly to speculate or engage in discussing on the record hypotheticals.” “This type of questioning poses the risk that your final report may be based on speculation rather than a fact-based analysis.”Panel Republicans said the letter is “further proof the Benghazi Committee is conducting a thorough, fact-based investigation.”
 
• In one example in the letter, the committee wants to talk to a man who posted on Facebook that he was a mechanic on an air base in Europe night of the attack. He claimed that planes could have been deployed. Pentagon: claims easily dismissed by many high-level military officials already interviewed. Democrats: the man hash-tagged: “”ifyouvoteforhillaryyouarebeyondstupid” (lol)
 
•The panel also wanted to talk to a man simply known as “John from Iowa” who claimed on the radio that he was a remotely piloted aircraft operator and saw a feed of the attack. When the DoD said they couldn’t find him, the GOP-led committee asked to talk to all such operators on the ground in the area that night. DoD thinks it’s unnecessary (this must be a joke, right?)
 
• “Republicans continue to squander millions of taxpayer dollars chasing right-wing conspiracy theories and forcing Pentagon officials to waste their time on this partisan fishing expedition,” said Rep Elijah Cumming (D-Md), the committee’s ranking member

 

• Puerto Rico’s governor said Sunday that the island will default on a $422 million payment due to its creditors by the end of business today. The missed payment may open the door to larger and more consequential defaults on general-obligation bonds, which are protected by the island’s constitution (Bloomberg)
 
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Victoria Jones – Editor

 

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