Principals

1. Biden’s D-Day address
2. Tim Scott’s new super PAC push
3. Emmer talks crypto
4. NYT/Siena poll: Trump takes a hit
5. Hunter Biden’s exes testify
6. Texas Dems launch PAC

PDB: Court hits pause on Trump’s Georgia case

Mitch McConnell in NYT: ‘We Cannot Repeat the Mistakes of the 1930s’ … Israel strike hits Gaza school … US moves forward with Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAI antitrust probes

— edited by Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann and Morgan Chalfant

Biden marks D-Day in Normandy

President Biden is about to give a speech marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day after meeting with veterans of the D-Day landing, kicking off a multi-day swing through France during which he’ll highlight the transatlantic alliance in the face of a hostile Russia and its war in Ukraine. Biden is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while in Normandy and on Friday will give a speech at Pointe du Hoc — where US troops attacked German bunkers during the war — about standing up to dictators and what national security adviser Jake Sullivan characterized as the “dangers of isolationism.” That speech is sure to have a political tinge to it, as Biden seeks a contrast with alliance-busting Donald Trump. Foreign policy, however, has become a liability for Biden, writes Politico, as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza feed domestic frustrations.

Tim Scott courts Black voters with new super PAC push

A super PAC aligned with Sen. Tim Scott is making a new push to boost Donald Trump with Black voters, Shelby Talcott reports. The Great Opportunity PAC, led by longtime Scott aide Jennifer DeCasper, is planning to spend over $14 million on events, ads, direct mail, and canvassing on the presidential election as well as key Senate races. Scott told a group of reporters that there’s “a racial shift that we haven’t seen in probably three decades” occurring this cycle that his group plans to help shepherd along. “Working class Americans are banding together, being fused together, by the issues that they’re confronting on a daily basis, and those issues are more pronounced in the African American community,” he said. The election campaign plans to focus on Black men, but will look for chances to court Hispanic voters as well.

Congress’ No. 1 crypto is feeling good about 2024

Congress’s Mr. Crypto couldn’t be more excited about how the 2024 race is shaping up for the industry he’s long championed, writes Kadia Goba. “Under the next administration, I think you’ll see some actual crypto-friendly, stablecoin-friendly, digital asset-friendly laws being put on the books,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer tells her. The GOP has embraced the crypto world full on this cycle, with Donald Trump himself rebranding as a fan. Emmer, who’s been a crypto advocate going back a decade, argues it will give the party an edge with a block of young single issue voters, not to mention crypto industry donors who are looking to spend big this cycle. When lawmakers see “what people can raise if you’re actually working with the industry, they’re gonna want to learn about it,” he says.

NYT/Siena poll: Guilty verdict hurts Trump at margins

President Biden gained about two points against Donald Trump since the former president’s guilty verdict, according to a New York Times/Siena survey that recontacted former respondents. The two are effectively tied, 47-46, among registered voters. Especially notable, according to NYT polling reporters Nate Cohn and Ruth Igelnik: The shift was highly concentrated among disengaged, younger, and nonwhite voters who Trump has had the most success converting since 2020. These more marginal voters also tend to be harder for pollsters to contact, prompting Cohn to speculate that it’s likely Biden’s post-verdict gains were greater than the poll indicated. Overall, about one-quarter of Biden voters who had switched to Trump in their prior polling switched back to Biden when contacted again.

Hunter Biden’s exes testify about his drug use

Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial quickly turned personal. His former wife and girlfriend were each called to the witness stand on Wednesday and delivered what The New York Times described as “vivid and gut-wrenching testimony” about his crack cocaine addiction. His ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, testified about often searching his car for drugs between 2015 and 2019, while ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan said Biden sometimes smoked crack as often as every 20 minutes and that she saw him smoking it weeks before the gun purchase in question. Under questioning from his attorney Abbe Lowell, however, Kestan said she had “no idea” what Biden was doing during October 2018 — the month when he bought the gun. Hallie Biden, Beau Biden’s widow who had a relationship with Hunter Biden, may testify as soon as Thursday.

New PAC wants to make Texas Democrats competitive again

A group of Texas Democrats are launching the Agave Democratic Infrastructure Fund, a PAC to build a “sustainable” and election-winning party in a state where Democrats have lost every statewide race. “We’re focused on a 10-year time horizon, creating conditions where Democrats can win,” said Luke Warford, Agave’s co-founder and the party’s 2022 nominee for state Railroad Commissioner. Other ambitious Democrats have worked on this and come up short. Agave’s plan is to raise $4 million for this cycle, doing polling and candidate training work that will improve the party’s performance; a “pilot program,” said Warford, for the long-term goal of winning statewide races in the next decade. “A longer term vision is what makes sense for Texas,” said Dylan Doody, executive director of the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee.

– David Weigel

According to Gallup, 62% of the global workforce is not engaged or actively disengaged at work, costing the global economy an estimated $8.9 trillion per year. How will global leaders respond? On Wednesday, June 12, guided by new survey data from Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2024 Report, Semafor’s editors will provide a pulse check on how workers around the world are feeling.

You’ll hear policymakers, business leaders, and Gallup experts discuss topics including rising loneliness, work-life balance, competition in the labor market, the mental health crisis in the office, and why Gen Z is looking at trade schools over traditional degrees. RSVP for in-person or livestream.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner was “blindsided” by Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to appoint two controversial House Republicans, Reps. Ronny Jackson R-Texas, and Scott Perry, R-Pa, to fill vacancies on the House Intelligence Committee.

Playbook: President Biden’s speech tomorrow at Pointe du Hoc is “heavily inspired” by Ronald Reagan’s speech at the same location in June 1984.

Axios: Donald Trump is seeking information from a shortlist of potential vice presidential picks for vetting purposes. The list includes: Sens. J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, and Tom Cotton; Reps. Elise Stefanik and Byron Donalds; North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum; and Ben Carson.

WaPo: Biden’s effort to take credit for growing Black wealth faces challenges.

White House

• Biden nominated Julie Smith, currently the US ambassador to NATO, to serve as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.

Congress

• Senate Republicans blocked a vote on legislation that would make it a federal right to have access to contraception. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins voted with Democrats to move the bill forward, but that wasn’t enough for it to overcome the filibuster.
• House Republicans sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department for Hunter Biden and James Biden, claiming they made false statements to Congress. The Oversight Committee’s top Democrat called the move a “last-ditch effort to distract from the exoneration of President Biden.”
• The House passed the GOP funding bill for the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction in a mostly party-line vote.
• A large bipartisan congressional delegation is traveling to Normandy for the 80th D-Day anniversary, a group that includes House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Sens. Jack Reed, Lindsey Graham, Joe Manchin, and Ted Cruz are among senators attending.
• Jeffries rebuked Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., for saying that “during Jim Crow, the Black family was together” and “voted conservatively.” Donalds told CNN he was referring to the “historic timeline” of Black marriage rates and voting patterns to criticize later Democratic policies, and not as “nostalgia.”
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has suggested the Supreme Court should punish at least two Democratic senators – Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island – over their calls for Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from cases involving Donald Trump. McConnell said on the Senate floor that the senators, who are members of the Supreme Court bar, are bound by court rules which “provide for discipline against those who engage in conduct unbecoming an officer of the court.” Blumenthal and Whitehouse are on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
• The House Ethics Committee has found that Rep. Bill Huizenga violated campaign finance recordkeeping rules but chose to close an inquiry into the Michigan Republican, saying it needed better guidance for all lawmakers.

Outside the Beltway

• New York’s Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has ordered a delay in a congestion pricing plan that would require drivers who enter Manhattan’s business district to pay tolls. — NYT
• Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is withdrawing the state from California’s emissions standards, spurring calls of overreach from Democrats.
• Disney and a tourism oversight district are nearing final approval on a deal that would see the entertainment giant invest $17 billion into its Florida resort and a possible fifth theme park at Walt Disney World. The deal comes after the two sides in March settled two years of litigation in state court that began after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ takeover of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District after Disney’s opposition to the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay’ law. A federal lawsuit filed by Disney is still pending.

Economy

The US and 13 other countries that are partnered through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework signed agreements under the economic pact addressing the clean economy and anticorruption, the Commerce Department announced early this morning. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who is in Singapore for an IPEF meeting, also headlined an investor forum on clean technology, where large investment companies and startups identified $25 billion in capital for clean energy infrastructure projects in the Asia Pacific region.

Regulation

An appeals court panel struck down a rule requiring hedge funds and private-equity firms to disclose quarterly fees to investors, in a blow to the SEC.

Courts

• An appeals court in Georgia put a hold on Donald Trump’s case in Fulton County while it considers his effort to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis, “all but guaranteeing the trial will not be held before this year’s election.” — The Hill
• The NYPD is preparing to revoke Trump’s license to carry a gun. — CNN

Polls

A Quinnipiac poll of registered voters in Georgia found they agree with Trump’s conviction by a 50-44 margin — but support Trump over Biden by a 49-44 margin.

On the Trail

• Donald Trump will speak at the Business Roundtable’s meeting in Washington on June 13, CNBC reported. His campaign said he plans to participate in a “moderated discussion” about “how he will restore prosperity to the American economy, like he did during his first term.”
• Trump’s campaign hired Gina Barr as its Black outreach director, Semafor’s Kadia Goba reported.
• Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who just lost a congressional primary in Maryland, is launching a PAC to support candidates challenging pro-Trump Republicans.

National Security

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, who was at the center of controversy stemming from his secretive hospitalization earlier this year, is stepping down.

Foreign Policy

• The “Five Eyes” countries are warning that China is “aggressively recruiting” Western fighter pilots. — FT
• The EU elections began today.

Technology

• The Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into whether Microsoft structured a deal with startup Inflection AI to avoid a government review of the transaction. — WSJ
• Nvidia on Wednesday became worth more than Apple, and is only second to Microsoft.
• NASA and Boeing finally launched its Starliner crew space capsule.
• A former software engineer for Meta has sued the social-media company, alleging it discriminated against him and illegally fired him in retaliation after he investigated users’ allegations that it was censoring Palestinian censors and activists. The parent of Facebook and Instagram reportedly said Ferras Hamad was fired in February because of “data access policies,” and not bias.

Media

• Sally Buzbee’s ouster at The Washington Post followed a dispute she had with chief executive Will Lewis over coverage of a phone hacking story that involved him. — NYT
• President Biden is sitting for an interview with ABC’s David Muir, while NBC News anchor Lester Holt will air an interview with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tonight.
• The White House’s relationship with The Wall Street Journal is “under serious strain” after the publication ran a story casting doubt on Biden’s mental acuity. — Politico
• Chinese-origin app NewsBreak has been writing fake news using AI. — Reuters

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul threatened to subpoena former White House press secretary Jen Psaki if she doesn’t voluntarily testify in his panel’s Afghanistan investigation.

What the Right isn’t reading: North Carolina Republicans are pushing for a constitutional amendment that would make clear only US citizens can vote in elections.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Editor-at-Large: Steve Clemons

Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Robert Garcia is a Democratic congressman from California.

• A California AI safety bill was driven by fears Trump would reverse efforts to rein in technology.
• Carbon removal won’t save the planet.
• World’s largest solar farm brings China’s Uyghurs into the spotlight.