Ann Klenk

putting the deal right on JD‘s shoulders…

A disgrace.

President Trump answered ABC News' Rachel Scott when pressed about a peace deal, saying a "memorandum of understanding" is being formed between the U.S. and Iran. abcnews.visitlink.me/hGPkG4

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) doubled down on his support for Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner ahead of Tuesday’s primary, despite controversies surrounding the Democrat's campaign. “I am going to do everything I can to make sure that Graham Platner is the next senator from the state of Maine,” Sanders said during a conversation with CBS News’ @costareports at the National Press Club on June 8. “When you look at politics in general, there are no saints in the United States Senate,” Sanders added. Platner is facing allegations of "unsettling" behavior toward women he dated, and has also insisted that he did not know a chest tattoo he got as a Marine in 2007 is a widely recognized Nazi symbol. He has since had the tattoo covered up.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the extraordinary outbursts of the President of the United States against female journalists... well, actually against journalists in general and journalism. But it feels like he saves his most childlike behavior and irrational language for female reporters, calling them all kinds of names that kids in kindergarten are given times out for. It’s stunning to me to witness such behavior from any leader, any CEO, any person of influence or importance. I’ve never witnessed someone like this raging, this weekend with @meetthepress host @kwelkernbc, just last week in the Oval Office with @cnn’s @kaitlancollins, calling women stupid or piggy, telling them to “smile”, calling them darling, demeaning their credibility. Every good man should denounce this behavior. Every person should be able to stand up for their colleagues and say “No more.” Imagine this man screaming like this at your daughter, your wife, your sister, your mother... would you stand for it? No, you wouldn’t! And neither should any of us. It’s unacceptable and undignified. Period. End of story.

"Do you have evidence?" "That's not evidence." "There is no evidence." @kwelkernbc kept rebutting Trump's lies about January 6 and about election fraud, and he eventually wrapped up the interview, calling her "crooked." Here's the transcript of the astonishing final few minutes: WELKER: Do you think anyone who attacked police officers on January 6th should get taxpayer money? TRUMP: I wouldn't be inclined to say so, but I have to see it. I can tell you this: 97% of those people, you look at them, the FBI or whoever it was, cause you had a lot of crooked cops, you had dirty cops. Comey was a dirty cop. WELKER: Well, there is no evidence to – TRUMP: A guy like Bolton was a dirty cop – WELKER: But there is no evidence that-- but there's no evidence that people who – TRUMP: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Oh, you think Comey was a straight cop? WELKER: We had 170 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers. TRUMP: Comey was a dirty cop. WELKER: No, no, but the people who assaulted police officers. TRUMP: They had FBI – listen to me. They had FBI agents ushering them into the building. They had FBI "Go into the building." Those people are walking around, they're looking, "Oh, isn't this nice?" They weren't in-- they were being ushered into the building. WELKER: There's no evidence of that, sir. There's no evidence of that. TRUMP: You had a bunch of dirty cops, and frankly, what they did was weaponization of our government. WELKER: But sir, there-- there's no evidence of that. More than a thousand people pleaded guilty to crimes – TRUMP: No, well, yeah, no, there's none. You know what they do? WELKER: Would you – TRUMP: Try looking at the tapes one time. WELKER: Would you take it off the table? TRUMP: Look at the tapes one time. WELKER: Okay, but 172 people did plead guilty to assaulting police officers. TRUMP: You know why they pled guilty? WELKER: Should they be exempt – TRUMP: Because they told they were going to jail for 15 years – WELKER: – from receiving funds? TRUMP: – if they didn't. WELKER: Should they – TRUMP: They pled guilty because they were frightened. They went down. They were ushered into a building. Many of them were arrested without even going into the building. WELKER: You'd be okay with them receiving taxpayer dollars? TRUMP: The people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization. Many of those people should be compensated. Now, with that being said, the, as I understand it, the weaponization fund was going to set up a group of people, people that could be picked by anybody, fair people, smart people, and they will go on an individual case basis. WELKER: Okay. TRUMP: Now, I don't know what's going to happen with the weaponization fund. I love the idea, because people like you, the fake dirty press, the crooked press, people like stupid Biden, he's not smart enough to know what's going on, but people that surrounded him, surrounded his beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, what they did to the lives of people, they destroyed people. They sent people to jail who did nothing wrong. WELKER: All right, this is, just to be very clear, there's no evidence of what you're saying, but let me ask about Todd Blanche. TRUMP: There's a lot of evidence. WELKER: Let me ask about Todd Blanche. TRUMP: Listen – listen to me – listen to me. WELKER: Let's talk about Todd Blanche. TRUMP: There's tremendous evidence. There's nothing but evidence. WELKER: Well, it’s not been presented in a court of a law. TRUMP: The election was rigged. It was a dirty election. WELKER: Mr. President – TRUMP: And it's happening again right now in California. WELKER:  – you've never presented evidence – TRUMP: It’s happening right now in California WELKER: – that the 2020 election was rigged. TRUMP: Right now, it's look at what's happening in California. WELKER: Where's the evidence to that? TRUMP: It's four days – WELKER: The Republicans are doing well in California. TRUMP: In California, it's, no they're not. They're dropping fast because it's a rigged election. Let me tell you, it's four days and they aren't even close to coming up with the – WELKER: That's how they count the votes in California. TRUMP: Do you know why they're doing that? Because they're cheating on the election. WELKER: There's – What? Do you have evidence to support that? TRUMP: It's-- all I have to do is look. All I have to do is look. WELKER: But that's not evidence. TRUMP: And I listen. And I listen to people. And let's see what happens. WELKER: But sir, that's not evidence, and that's how they count the votes in California-- TRUMP: Do you think it's appropriate that they have an election and five days later, they're nowhere close to picking a winner? WELKER: State and local officials acknowledge they are slow. They're urging– TRUMP: No, they're crooked. WELKER: – they're urging the votes to be counted quickly. That's how they vote in California. TRUMP: They're crooked just like you're crooked, your press is crooked. And Meet the Press is crooked. WELKER: To be fair, I'm not crooked. But let's continue. TRUMP: Really? Well, you play right into their hands then. WELKER: Let's continue. TRUMP: You're either crooked or you're stupid. WELKER: Let's continue. TRUMP: You play right into their hands with this stuff. You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they're rigged. Do you know that I won an election in a landslide and I got 94% bad press. WELKER: But Mr. President – TRUMP: You know why I got that? WELKER: – you've never presented – TRUMP: Because you have no credibility. WELKER: -evidence. But you've never presented evidence it was rigged. Let's keep talking about, I want to talk about Todd Blanche. TRUMP: You have more evidence, there's more evidence than ever presented. WELKER: Let's talk about-- TRUMP: Your elections in this country – WELKER: – you went to court. TRUMP: We're like a third world country. WELKER: But sir – TRUMP: Your elections are crooked and you're crooked, and Meet the Press is crooked. WELKER: But Mr. President– TRUMP: And so is ABC and CBS and CNN. WELKER: But Mr. President-- TRUMP: You're a one-sided crooked network. Sorry. Let's call it quits because I've had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time. WELKER: Mr. President, let's – please, I traveled all the way to Wisconsin. TRUMP: I've sat in the rain with you-- WELKER: I traveled all –  I know. I traveled all the way-- TRUMP: I sat in the rain with you for an hour. WELKER: --to Wisconsin. TRUMP: On and off in the rain, and I've given you enough time. You ought to straighten out your press, because you know what? WELKER: Mr. President-- TRUMP: A country can never be great with a dishonest press. WELKER: – we traveled all – listen. We traveled all the way to Wisconsin for this interview.

Watchdog group Public Citizen found that White House ballroom donors won more than $50 billion in government contracts after giving to the project. One of the authors of the report says, "the donations from these companies... are no gift, they're a grift."

As grocery prices continue to rise nationally, the House passed an appropriations bill that would cut $141 million in funding for a program that helps pregnant women and children purchase healthy foods. wapo.st/4ocfEIf

More than half of the publicly identified donors to President Trump’s White House ballroom project have won new or expanded federal contracts worth more than $50 billion, according to a report from a government watchdog group. wapo.st/4o9GMHL

The National Park Service ordered the removal of three quotes at the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston after visitor complained to staff about a quote related to women’s suffrage as being “woke” feminist ideology, according to people familiar with the matter. wapo.st/49GBrC0

Last night, a top editor at another outlet asked me whether there's any indication that President Trump is privately pressuring the Ellisons to clean house at CNN, assuming Paramount seals the WBD deal. My response: The pressure is happening right in front of our faces. Yesterday in the Oval Office, after The Daily Caller's Reagan Reese asked Trump about his widely detested "anti-weaponization" fund, Trump pivoted to... attacking CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who was standing near Reese. He employed sexist tropes and repeated his usual complaints about CNN. When Collins pressed for answers, he told her to "be quiet," then went on, "But CNN, in particular CNN, does such false reporting," Trump went on, "but now they have new ownership, so maybe it'll straighten it out. I doubt it. It's hard to straighten garbage out." That's the president's message to Paramount CEO David Ellison, right there, live from the Oval Office. It's as if the president is saying to Paramount, "I doubt you'll do anything. Prove me wrong." But the reporting continues, unabated and unconstrained. Collins led "The Source" last night by saying Trump's defense of the fund "has only intensified what seems to be shaping up to be a pretty big intraparty fight..."

#BREAK: CBS NEWS has terminated Scott Pelley's contract.

A rightfully tough @jaketapper piece on Jill Biden's book, which includes the below. I'd add two things. For starters, it's not true. The Dem strategists behind the last two Dem presidents - @JamesCarville and @davidaxelrod - are fine minds and both thought there were better options than an 82-year-old Biden running for 4 more years. As did many others. Second, Jill is not being totally honest about the nature of the conversations w her husband in that period: the "imploring" was more about dodging Kamala than believing Biden was the best option "As Jill Biden tells it, in 2023, 'the best Democratic minds hadn’t thought' anyone else other than Joe Biden could beat Trump and 'they implored him to run.' "They did? Who? Which best Democratic minds implored him to run?" #selection-3511.13-3515.76" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">archive.ph/WtMPc#selectio…

Every day, people ask me about CBS and parent company Paramount. It happened again just now at an airport in Chicago. There's no avoiding the topic, since Paramount is trying to buy CNN's parent Warner Bros. Discovery. So let me share what I say when I'm asked. I say CBS News is complicated right now. Paramount's corporate interests make it a lot more complicated. But the journalistic output is strong, and that's what matters most. I say, judge the programming, not the people. It's fair to be skeptical of the changes Bari Weiss and co. are implementing. It's fair for the press to scrutinize Paramount's cozy relationship with the Trump administration. But some of the narratives about CBS News in the David and Larry Ellison era are quite frankly out of control. CBS News has not gone MAGA, despite a flood of progressive claims to that effect. (I suspect that the people who act like Trump owns CBS now don't watch much CBS. Of course, it doesn't help that some conservative activists talk like CBS is "theirs" now. I doubt they're watching, either.) The CBS newsroom is still doing what newsrooms do, despite the sometimes deafening noise about Weiss and her overhaul of the network news operation. But there's a lot of misinformation on social media about what CBS is actually airing and reporting. My humble advice: Watch and read for yourself. I watched last night's "Evening News," and Tony Dokoupil led with Trump's "retreat" amid backlash to the "anti-weaponization fund." Dokoupil showed video of January 6 rioters storming the Capitol in his tease. He didn't shy away from the latest bad news for the president. In other words, the reality of CBS News does not match many of the perceptions. Pointing that out is not a defense of Weiss or a dodge of the mini-scandals and self-inflicted wounds that have piled up in the nine months since Ellison hired her. It's just a statement of fact.

I truly wish @PBS would hire the team that @60Minutes has fired, including those-soon-to-leave Scott Pelley etc. and create their own version of this iconic program. Ratings would be huge. Good will would be even larger.

#SCOOP: Scott Pelley had a meeting with CBS News leadership at 5pm ET to discuss a path forward after his protest in 60 Minutes all-hands. The two sides did not find common ground and it now seems likely he will either resign or be fired, though neither has happened yet. More to come… @PuckNews

Disappointing that electronic media have ignored the best comparison to America250: our 1976 Bicentennial. President Gerald Ford was in the midst of a highly competitive contest with Jimmy Carter yet Ford resisted demeaning the ceremonies for partisan purposes. But America had higher standards back then. Here’s an idea: TV could use videotape archives to show how a dignified POTUS handled the situation.

GOP lawmakers are bucking Trump on his White House ballroom, shelving plans to spend $1 billion to secure the new facility and other areas of the presidential compound. The “Trump battleships” are steaming into a wave of skepticism at the House Armed Services Committee as lawmakers prepare to mark up the FY2027 defense authorization bill this week. (All puns intended.) The House may vote this week on a discharge petition for a Ukrainian aid bill that Trump is certain to oppose. Several dozen House Republicans could back the measure anyway. And after Trump — bogged down in negotiations to end the war with Iran — said Israel had agreed to halt its military assault against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared he’d continue IDF operations in the southern part of the country. Trump reportedly yelled at Netanyahu over the offensive. Most prominently, Republicans are also in the process of killing Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, a direct rebuke to the president.

🚨 THE ACCUSATION JUST ESCALATED. Media reporter Oliver Darcy says some CBS insiders no longer believe the upheaval at 60 Minutes is simply a management dispute. They believe it's connected to a much bigger prize. 🔥 According to Darcy, insiders are drawing a direct line between the dismantling of 60 Minutes and David Ellison's effort to secure government approval for a major media merger. The theory goes like this: 60 Minutes has become one of the most politically sensitive properties in American media. Remove the friction. Remove the controversy. Remove the headaches. And it becomes easier to get a deal approved. To be clear, this is what insiders are alleging, not a proven fact. But that's why the firings, departures, and internal revolt at 60 Minutes are generating so much attention. Because the question is no longer: "Why were these journalists pushed out?" The question some inside CBS are now asking is: "Who benefits from 60 Minutes becoming less confrontational?" And in media, that's usually where the real story begins.

Hegseth blocked the promotion of seven Navy officers to admiral including two women and two Black men in a highly unusual move by a defense secretary. The final list of 22 one-star nominees includes no women and only two nonwhite men. @GregJaffe @katekelly nytimes.com/2026/06/01/us/…