Principals

1. Biden’s pre-debate felony ad
2. US-India
3. More Americans want US engaged abroad
4. Netanyahu dissolves war cabinet
5. VP auditions
6. Biden fundraiser
7. WaPo rebrand

PDB: Mike Johnson, Richard Hudson meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago today

Biden hosts Stoltenberg … Midwest, Northeast brace for heat wave … NYT: Surgeon general asks Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms

— edited by Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann and Morgan Chalfant

New Biden ad hits Donald Trump on felony convictions — and more

The Biden campaign is playing the felon card as part of a $50 million June ad buy. A new TV spot, “Character Matters,” references not only Trump’s 34-count conviction in Manhattan, but the jury decision that found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation against E. Jean Carroll, and the $355 million civil fraud ruling against his business. “This election is between a convicted criminal who’s only out for himself, and a president who’s fighting for your family,” the ad’s narrator says over an image of Trump’s mugshot from the Fulton County election interference case. It’s the most direct aim the Biden campaign has taken at Trump over his various legal issues, which they had largely sidestepped before the recent verdict. The campaign said the ad is intended to set up a contrast ahead of the candidates’ CNN debate.

Senators tell Biden to up pressure on India over Sikh murder plot

A group of Democratic senators is asking the State Department to increase pressure on India over a failed assassination plot against a Sikh activist in New York, Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant writes. Sen. Jeff Merkley and four other senators are writing to Secretary of State Antony Blinken today asking the State Department to undertake a “strong diplomatic response” to ensure any Indian officials involved in the plot are held accountable. They also requested a briefing from the Biden administration on the status of its engagement with India’s government about the issue. “The Administration must match words with actions to hold Indian officials involved in the plot accountable, and to send a clear message that there will be consequences for such behavior,” the letter states. It comes as national security adviser Jake Sullivan is in India for meetings on technology cooperation.

More Americans want US engaged around world

The share of American adults who think it’s better for the US to be more engaged internationally is on the rise, according to new polling commissioned by the Ronald Reagan Institute. Fifty-four percent of US adults say so, up from 42% last November, as America and its allies grapple with global crises like the Gaza war. Sixty-six percent of Democrats say the US should be more engaged in international events, while fewer Republicans — 49% — agree, though that still represents a plurality in the survey. It also finds broad support for NATO — more than six in 10 Americans have a favorable view of the alliance — but a similar share believe that NATO allies should do more, a signal of Donald Trump’s rhetoric about allies needing to spend more on defense resonating.

— Morgan Chalfant

Netanyahu dissolves war cabinet

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the country’s war cabinet. The move was expected after the centrist former general Benny Gantz quit last week over what he called Netanhyahu’s failure to form a strategy for the Gaza war. Netanyahu was also facing pressure to include hardline religious politicians in the cabinet. The news followed the Israeli military declaring a temporary pause in fighting in southern Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to enter, a pause which highlighted divisions between the armed forces and Netanyahu: “We have a country with an army, not an army with a country,” Netanyahu said. Israel has come under international pressure in recent months — including from the US and other allies — to do more to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

— Tom Chivers and Jeronimo Gonzalez

Trump VP candidates fan out on TV

With four weeks to go until the RNC convention, Donald Trump’s potential running mate picks are blanketing the airwaves. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum reversed himself after previously saying he wouldn’t do business with Trump. “If you asked me that same question today I’d be like, absolutely,” he told Fox News. Sen. Tom Cotton defended Trump’s comments about possibly pardoning Jan. 6 rioters and said he’d entertain an invitation to serve on the ticket. And Rep. Byron Donalds told NBC he would be up to the task of stepping in as commander-in-chief if necessary: “I’m actually pretty intelligent.” Sen. Marco Rubio’s interest may be less overt but he’s “all in,” The Wall Street Journal reports. Meanwhile, Politico has a run down of the Republicans who aren’t on Trump’s shortlist, like South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.

A record haul for Biden in Hollywood

President Biden’s Hollywood fundraiser raked in over $28 million, the largest haul for a Democratic candidate in a single evening. The event featured appearances by George Clooney and Julia Roberts, as well as an on-stage discussion between Biden, Jimmy Kimmel, and Barack Obama. It was a Trump pile on: Biden warned of the prospect of Trump picking more Supreme Court nominees, while Obama jabbed at Trump for asserting he’d “done more for the Black population” than any president since Abraham Lincoln. “One thing he did, for example, was make them feel even better about the first Black president,” Obama joked. Afterwards, the New York Post claimed Biden had to be led offstage by Obama after “freezing up”; in a sharp retort, the White House said the paper was twisting a short video clip of Biden lingering over his applause.

The Washington Post weighs a rebrand

The Washington Post is shopping for a new brand, Semafor’s Ben Smith reports. The paper is in talks to bring aboard admaker David Droga to commission an image-redefining marketing campaign as it looks to broaden its audience. A rebrand would mean an end to the Post’s resistance-era slogan. Droga and Post CEO Will Lewis were both expected to attend the ad industry festival in Cannes this week, but Lewis is reportedly staying behind as he deals with mounting controversies. Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that Lewis and incoming Post editor Robert Winnett “used fraudulently obtained phone and company records in newspaper articles” when working for The Sunday Times in London, while the Post highlighted Winnett’s ties to an actor accused of stealing a forthcoming memoir from Tony Blair in 2010.

Ben and Max are in Cannes to cover media and marketing’s biggest annual gathering, where many of the most powerful people in media come to make deals, rub shoulders, win awards, and sip Aperol spritzes on the Côte d’Azur.

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Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Speaker Mike Johnson and NRCC Chair Richard Hudson are going to Mar-a-Lago today to meet with Donald Trump.

Playbook: New Politico Magazine/Ipsos polling finds 21% of independents say Trump’s conviction in Manhattan make them less likely to vote for the former president in November, while 43% of Americans believe the charges were meant to help President Biden.

WaPo: Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy phoned Johnson to ask about why he tapped former Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., to serve on the House Intelligence Committee. Johnson said he was urged by Trump to do so.

Axios: Some of Biden’s aides have doubts about him running for president at all due to family turmoil.

White House

• President Biden is hosting NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg for a meeting at the White House today.
• First lady Jill Biden opened up about Hunter Biden’s conviction, saying it was “a tough week for my family.” — NBC

Congress

• The House is out this week. The Senate returns this evening, with a planned procedural vote on a judicial nominee.
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would schedule a vote on legislation banning bump stocks after the Supreme Court struck down a Trump-era ban late last week.
• Some House Republicans are peeved about losing a quiet space to bond over cigars now that Rep. Tom Cole is no longer chair of the Rules Committee (and gave up his hideaway). — Axios

Outside the Beltway

• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore this morning will issue a mass pardon of more than 175,000 marijuana convictions. — WaPo
• Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s government has been stockpiling mifepristone for its residents in case Donald Trump is elected and attempts to cut off access to the drug. It’s one of several pre-emptive steps officials and activists are taking to resist a potential Trump administration. — NYT
• Indiana Republicans nominated pastor Micah Beckwith to be the next lieutenant governor, bucking the preferred choice of Sen. Mike Braun, who is the gubernatorial nominee.

Polls

• President Biden’s support among Black voters in Pennsylvania and Michigan — two key swing states he won in 2020 — has declined about 20 percentage points in each state since the last election, according to new USA TODAY/Suffolk University polling. However, Donald Trump has only made small gains among the demographic.

On the Trail

• CNN announced rules for the upcoming June 27 presidential debate between President Biden and Donald Trump, including plans to mute the microphone of the candidate who is not speaking.
• The Biden campaign is planning more than 30 events for volunteer mobilization and voter outreach centered around the upcoming Dobbs anniversary. — NBC
• Trump spent the weekend courting Black voters at a church and conservatives at a Turning Point conference in Detroit.
• Trump mistakenly identified his former White House doctor Rep. Ronny Jackson as “Ronny Johnson” while boasting about “acing” a cognitive test while in office.
• House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good lost the support of one of the group’s members, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, in his primary race against a Trump-backed opponent. — Politico

Foreign Policy

• Ukraine was unable to win over key nations from the Global South during a peace conference in Switzerland over the weekend; Only 83 out of 100 countries and organizations participating signed onto a final statement, with India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa all skipping out.
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered a strong endorsement of President Biden’s leadership skills.

Technology

AI chatbots still can’t always say who won the 2020 election. — WaPo

Big Read

Ex-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci outlines the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in a passage of his upcoming memoir, adapted by the Atlantic. Chinese doctors and scientists seemed scared to speak freely out of fear of government retribution, and the need for a vaccine against the new virus was immediately recognized, he said. mRNA drew a lot of optimism. And then there appeared to be a need to praise Donald Trump for his job handling the crisis. In a late-night call with Trump, Fauci says he wanted the president not to underplay the seriousness. “That always comes back to bite you,” he said. He thought Trump heard him. However, Trump publicly said things were under control while Fauci said things would worsen.

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: A Democratic candidate running to be a local commissioner in Fort Bend County, Texas was charged with faking racist attacks on social media against himself.

What the Right isn’t reading: A Republican state representative in Kansas has been temporarily barred from practicing law by the state Supreme Court for violating professional standards in his handling of a murder case.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Editor-at-Large: Steve Clemons

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

David Weigel is a politics reporter for Semafor and the author of Americana. He recently wrote about House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good’s primary struggle against a Trump-backed candidate.

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