Meltdown: Trump fumes, Pelosi snipes after meeting

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Trump shuts down infrastructure meeting with Democrats, demands end to 'phony investigations'

The president abruptly shut down a policy meeting with Democrat leaders after House Speaker Pelosi accused him of engaging in a cover-up on the Russia probe earlier in the day; John Roberts reports from the White House.

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On the roster: Meltdown: Trump fumes, Pelosi snipes after meeting - Time Out: Tarantino’s ninth movie - Poll: Biden is the only Dem with positive score - Trump approval doesn’t improve with economy - Clean up on E Street SW 

MELTDOWN: TRUMP FUMES, PELOSI SNIPES AFTER MEETING  
Fox News: “President Trump on Wednesday demanded Democrats end what he called their ‘phony investigations’ before he'll negotiate with them on issues like infrastructure, as he delivered a fiery statement from the Rose Garden after a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer was cut short. The president had met for mere minutes with the two Democratic leaders in a session scheduled to discuss a possible bipartisan infrastructure package. But moments before that sit-down, Pelosi had accused Trump of having ‘engaged in a cover-up’ regarding the Russia probe. Trump suggested the comments, and the numerous investigations into him, prevented them from negotiating. … The president said he wanted to pursue an infrastructure proposal, but ‘instead of walking in happily into a meeting, I walk in to look at people that have just said that I was doing a cover-up.’ … One source told Fox News Trump walked into the Cabinet Room and immediately made his comments to the Democrats in the room. Then, as Pelosi began talking, Trump turned on his heel and walked back to the Oval Office.”

Pelosi scrambles to tamp down Trump impeachment frenzy in caucus - Fox News: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her deputies scrambled Wednesday to tamp down calls from the rank-and-file for Congress to launch impeachment proceedings against President Trump, holding a closed-door meeting with Democrats to discuss their battles with the administration that threaten to escalate into a politically risky drive to remove him from office. Pelosi, D-Calif., has maintained her position that Democrats should not begin impeachment proceedings against Trump, but has faced pressure from members inside her caucus to reverse course -- especially after former White House Counsel Don McGahn was told to defy a subpoena earlier this week. ‘We had a very productive meeting,’ Pelosi told reporters after the session. ‘It was a respectful sharing of ideas.’ … When asked about her success in persuading members, Pelosi said: ‘It’s not a question of persuasion. We were just exchanging information and points of view.’”

Poll finds Americans want to see McGahn, Mueller testify - Monmouth University: “Most Americans would like to see special counsel Robert Mueller and former White House counsel Don McGahn appear before Congress to testify about the Russia investigation. The latest Monmouth University Poll also finds widespread public support for providing Congress an unredacted copy of Mueller’s report, while at the same time showing a preference for having the legislative branch move on to other issues. Public opinion on Russian interference in the 2016 election has not changed following the report’s publication. The poll also finds continued stability for President Donald Trump’s job rating, re-election prospects, and public appetite for impeachment. Two-thirds of Americans (67%) say that McGahn should appear before Congress to testify about what he knew as a key witness in the investigation. … The poll was taken before McGahn refused to appear for a scheduled House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.”

THE RULEBOOK: BALANCING ACT  
“In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason.” – Alexander Hamilton or James Madison, Federalist No. 55

TIME OUT: TARANTINO’S NINTH MOVIE
Time: “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is [Quentin] Tarantino’s most affectionate movie since Jackie Brown (1997), the picture that remains—the idolatry surrounding Pulp Fiction notwithstanding—his masterpiece. Tarantino is at his best when he’s motivated by affection, and for that reason, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ranks among his finest… This is a tender, rapturous film, both joyous and melancholy, a reverie for a lost past and a door that opens to myriad imagined possibilities. Like all of Tarantino’s movies, it’s filled with references you may or may not get: There are woolly, rambunctious Jack Davis caricatures from MAD magazine, nods to blond dream girls like Joey Heatherton and Anne Francis, allusions to the brutally electric spaghetti westerns of Sergio Corbucci. But what you don’t recognize, you can Google; new worlds await. This is a welcoming picture, not an alienating one, an open door into a vanished world that still feels vital.”

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SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval: 41.6 percent
Average disapproval: 53.2 percent
Net Score: -11.6 points
Change from one week ago: down 3.2 points 
[Average includes: CBS News: 41% approve - 52% disapprove; Monmouth University: 41% approve - 52% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 38% approve - 57% disapprove; Fox News: 46% approve - 53% disapprove; Gallup: 42% approve - 52% disapprove.]

POLL: BIDEN IS THE ONLY DEM WITH POSITIVE SCORE
Quinnipiac University: “With a 49 - 39 percent favorability rating, former Vice President Joseph Biden is the only presidential contender, Democrat or Republican, with a clear positive score. Favorability ratings for other Democrats are negative or mixed: 41 - 48 percent for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont; 32 - 41 percent for Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; 27 percent favorable for Sen. Kamala Harris of California, with 30 percent unfavorable; 20 - 32 percent for former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas; 23 - 31 percent for Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey; 23 percent favorable for South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, to 19 percent unfavorable; 8 - 45 percent for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. … Biden is the top pick for the party nomination among 35 percent of Democrats or voters leaning Democratic. Sanders has 16 percent, with 13 percent for Warren, 8 percent for Harris and 5 percent for Buttigieg.”

Can Biden’s bipartisanship float? - Politico: “Joe Biden is making his bipartisan bona fides a centerpiece of his presidential campaign… [But] when the former vice president talks about the GOP having an ‘epiphany’ and working with him if and when he beats President Donald Trump, lawmakers in both parties are skeptical. … The centrist wing of the GOP has been hollowed out not just by retirements and death but by the party’s sharp turn right in recent years. The number of Republicans eager to collaborate with a Democratic president might be relegated to Collins and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on some days… And the Senate Republicans that remain in the relative middle of the GOP say that while their party may have changed, so has Biden as he runs as a standard progressive.”

Economists question Warren’s agenda - WaPo: “[Elizabeth] Warren has outpaced the field in outlining specific policies and detailing how she would pay for them. … Since launching her presidential campaign, Warren has rolled out a domestic platform that, so far, her campaign estimates would cost a combined $3 trillion over 10 years… But some economists are beginning to question the math behind Warren’s proposals. Warren’s campaign claims that the wealth tax would raise $2.75 trillion over 10 years, enough to cover her spending plans with hundreds of billions of dollars to spare. She also has proposed a $1 trillion corporate tax on the most profitable companies. … Even as economists debate the feasibility of an ‘ultra-millionaires tax,’ Warren has found it to be an effective political weapon on the stump.”

TRUMP APPROVAL DOESN’T IMPROVE WITH ECONOMY
Quinnipiac University: “The nation's economy is ‘excellent,’ 22 percent of American voters say in a Quinnipiac University National Poll today, the highest ‘excellent’ rating for the economy. Another 49 percent of voters say the economy is ‘good.’ The total 71 percent for ‘excellent’ and ‘good’ is the highest total number for American voter attitudes on the economy in almost 18 years. Some 52 percent of American voters say they are better off financially today than they were in 2016, while 21 percent say they are worse off and 23 percent say they are the same. But American voters give President Donald Trump a negative 38 - 57 percent approval rating, compared to a negative 41 - 55 percent approval in a May 2 survey by the independent Quinnipiac University National Poll. American voters give Trump mixed grades for his handling of the economy as 48 percent approve and 45 percent disapprove.”

Even though more Americans credit Trump policies to economy - CBS News: “Most Americans remain confident about the U.S. economy and in their own financial situation, and more now give President Trump's policies credit for a strong economy than did so last year. Seven in 10 Americans say the economy is in good shape, including a quarter who say it is very good. Nearly all Republicans and most Democrats and independents share this view. Americans increasingly give the president credit for the economy. Forty-one percent of those who say the economy is good say President Trump's policies are mostly responsible, up from 32% at the beginning of 2018. Republicans give the President relatively more credit for the economy than Democrats do. Forty-one percent of Americans approve of how Donald Trump is handling his job as president.”

He's making trade a focal point of 2020 campaign - U.S. News and World: “The formal kick-off for President Donald Trump's 2020 reelection is still weeks away, but for all intents and purposes it began Monday night under an airplane hangar in just the type of rural Pennsylvania town he'll need to turn out in droves if he's to win again. Using the hourlong Montoursville, Pennsylvania, speech as a guide, it's clear the heart of the president's campaign pitch will be centered around trade policy and the tariffs he's imposing to lure companies back to the U.S. … Trade policy is a complex and obtuse issue for most voters, save those who directly buy and sell products internationally. But for Trump, it's an essential way to convey economic progress and signal to his largely white, blue-collar base that he's fought for them against moneyed elites and the forces of globalism that have changed the face of their towns.”

Team Trump outspending Dems on Facebook - NYT: “Mr. Trump spent particularly heavily on Facebook ads at the beginning of the year, when the number of Democratic candidates was smaller. But the playing field has shifted. Since entering the race late last month, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has pumped more than $1 million into Facebook ads, outspending Mr. Trump’s campaign for three of the past four weeks. So far this year, Mr. Trump has spent about $5 million on Facebook advertising. Early in the year, Mr. Trump’s Facebook spending exceeded that of all of the Democratic candidates put together, though Democrats’ collective spending eventually surpassed Mr. Trump’s total.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Investigation into Gov. Ralph Northam’s racist yearbook photo ends without answers - WashEx

Pergram: House Dems and some ‘GOT’ fans have something new in common - Fox News

Nevada could become the next state to ditch Electoral College - NPR

Pa. District 12 special election: State Rep. Fred Keller (R) defeated Democrat Marc Friedenberg - Roll Call

Trump-backed Kentucky Gov. Bevin wins GOP primary - Fox News

AUDIBLE: HE SAID, HE SAID  
“I think everyone knows he’s lying. But that’s typical Kevin.” – Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., firing back at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s claims that Amash voted more with Speaker Nancy Pelosi than with Republicans.

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CLEAN UP ON E STREET SW  
The DC Line: “A critical wastewater system backed up and flooded four floors of DC’s $215 million forensic sciences laboratory in Southwest DC after a careless employee left a faucet running, The DC Line has learned. The incident — which had not been disclosed to the public — occurred over Halloween weekend last year, when someone in one of the biohazards laboratories on the building’s fourth floor left the water gushing from one of the specialty sinks, city officials confirmed. The sinks are typically where employees wash up after autopsies, animal exams, and crime-scene evidence tests. The runoff caused three 325-gallon tanks … to back up through other sinks in the building, flooding the first, second, third and fourth floors… The flood either caused or exacerbated leaks in a critical wastewater pipe that is supposed to keep potentially toxic waste from emptying into the city’s sewers and ultimately into the Potomac River.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“Whatever name it is, I think it's a mistake for conservatives to run another candidate with the explicit intent essentially of blocking Trump from winning. Either he's going to win, he's the nominee of the GOP, chosen by the people, he's either going to win or not. And if he doesn't win, he should not be able to claim he was stabbed in the back. That would be a terrible mistake in the future.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) speaking on “Special Report with Bret Baier” on May 31, 2016.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.