| | | | | Rep. Mia Love, wearing a jersey for the Salt Lake Bees, waits for the pitch during Thursday's Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park in Washington. Credit: Alex Edelman/Getty Images | | | Trump and Eldest Kids Sued: New York files suit, accusing them of violating charity laws
Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Dems beat Repubs 21-5
All-Star Game Uniforms are Super "Govster": The players' attire will display Washington landmarks in Sunday's game | | | | Kate Bennett is off. Her section will return next week. | | What Washington Is Talking About:
The Demos won Thursday night's Congressional Baseball Game, the Justice Department released the inspector general's report on James Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, and President Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is heading to jail to wait for his trial.
What America Is Talking About:
A roller coaster in Daytona Beach, Florida, derailed Thursday, leaving six people hospitalized, including two who fell from one of the ride's cars.
Reminder:
Father's Day is Sunday.
Poll of the Day:
A Monmouth University poll released Thursday found most Americans don't believe North Korea gave up more concessions than the the United States following Trump's summit with Kim Jong Un. The poll found 33% of American adults believe the United States and North Korea both equally made concessions, 29% believe the United States gave up more, and 19% believe North Korea gave up more, while 16% don't know. | | Credit: Monmouth
Trump's Fox Interview:
Trump strolled out to the North Lawn of the White House this morning for a "Fox & Friends" cameo and to answer questions from the press. He made a number of inaccurate comments on a range of issues, but the line that stood out most to me was what he said about the North Korean leader:
"He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same." 👀
Trump later said he was being sarcastic, which is how he commonly deflects criticism over remarks he makes (such as when he said Democrats were "treasonous" for not standing during the State of the Union or praising Chinese President Xi Jinping's consolidation of power and suggesting the United States try it). The thing is, these "jokes" aren't funny, words matter, and they especially matter when you're President of the United States.
Trump and Eldest Kids Sued:
The New York attorney general has filed suit against Trump, the Trump Foundation and his eldest children/the foundation's other directors, Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka. The lawsuit accuses them of violating state and federal laws, and claims the foundation is "little more than a checkbook for payments from Mr. Trump or his business to nonprofits, regardless of their purpose or legality." Among the allegations in the suit are that $100,000 from the foundation was actually used to settle a legal dispute regarding Mar-a-Lago, and $10,000 was used to purchase a painting of Trump that was displayed at the Trump National Doral in Miami.
Natalie Portman Calls Ex-College Mate J-Kush a "Super Villain":
The star was on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" on Thursday night and asked about Jared Kushner. They were both at Harvard University at the same time. She said the two were "friendly," that he wasn't that great of a student, and that he's become a "super villain." Oof.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game:
Thursday night's Congressional Baseball Game honored those injured during a shooting at last year's practice in Alexandria, Virginia, with ceremonial first pitch honors going to four of the five hurt -- David Bailey, Crystal Griner, Zack Barth and Matt Mika. Also seriously wounded, Rep. Steve Scalise wrote in the program that the game was "a powerful testament to unity, friendship, and our refusal to let an evil act stop us from carrying out our shared purpose."
The first pitch was a ground ball to Scalise, who threw it in for the first out of the game. Members of Congress wore custom jerseys of teams from their home states, but Scalise, who's gone through multiple surgeries and had to relearn to walk because of injuries from the shooting, wore a "USA 1" jersey. | | Credit: Alex Edelman/Getty Images
Republicans had a much deeper bench -- 41 players on their roster compared with the Democrats' 24 -- but ultimately, the Democrats came out ahead. They won bigly, 21-5. The game raises money for charity. Last year's brought in more than $1.5 million. | | Credit: Alex Edelman/Getty Images
All-Star Game Uniforms are Super "Govster":
The MLB All-Star Game will be Sunday in Washington, and the league unveiled the uniforms today. The National League one features the Capitol dome and the American League the Washington Monument. | | Credit: MLB
And the socks, made by Stance, are pretty wild. | | Credit: MLB
'LBJ' Crossing the Delaware:
Inspired by billboards that have popped up across the country of teams begging LeBron James to come play, ESPN asked artists to do mock-ups for various teams. My personal fav was the Philadelphia one by fellow BYU grad (go Cougs) Matthew Shipley, who depicted James as POTUS No. 1 in an homage to Emanuel Leutze's famous "Washington Crossing the Delaware." You can see the mock-ups for all the other teams here. | | Credit: Matthew Shipley for ESPN
LMM Hangs With BHO:
"Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda posted a photo Thursday with former President Barack Obama. "Stopped in DC to visit an old friend," Miranda tweeted. "Hamilton" is playing at the Kennedy Center through September 16. When the show was in Houston last month, the cast performed for former President George H.W. Bush at his office there. | | Credit: @Lin_Manuel/Twitter
Political Cartoonist Whose Work Was Critical of Trump Fired:
Rob Rogers, a former political cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, said the newspaper fired him Thursday. Many of Rogers' recent cartoons were not published by the paper, and he told our Jake Tapper last week that he believed it was because management wanted him to be "less negative to Trump." Rogers shared this cartoon of Trump praising Kim titled "Summit" (the Post-Gazette did not run it) on social media Wednesday.
| | Credit: @Rob_Rogers/Twitter
Street Art Sighting:
This World Cup-themed mural of Trump, Russian President Vladamir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte as soccer players was spotted Thursday in Rome. It's by a street artist known as TV Boy. | | Credit: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images
If you spot political street art, tweet me @hunterschwarz, tag me on Instagram @hunterschwarz or email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com with your sighting so I can feature it in COVER/LINE.
P.S.:
OK, so Christina Aguilera's new album, Liberation, is here. I often say she's an amazing singer but a spotty pop star. She doesn't play ~the pop game~ like I wish she did. She seems to have an aversion to embracing the sort of music she came up making during the teen pop explosion of the late '90s/early '00s. I guess I began this era with high hopes that she'd deliver some bops, something we could all stand for, but this album just doesn't have the hits. I'm not prepared to deliver my ultimate opinion yet on "Liberation," but my first thought listening was that Aguilera is not the "Genie in a Bottle" we want her to be, but she's liberated nonetheless, on her terms. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the album. HMU at coverlinehunter@cnn.com.
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Happy Friday and don't forget to call your dads this weekend. Shoutout to my dad, whose love of politics and Arizona Republic subscription I credit with inspiring me to be a political reporter. Love you, father. Schwarz out. | | | | | | |
