Dr. Oz to helm White House press briefing 

Pentagon bars journalists from entering its press office citing re-designation

Revocation of access newest attempt by Trump’s defense department to restrict reporting on military affairsJournalists may no longer enter the Pentagon’s press office, which has been designated as a classified space amid growing moves to restrict press access to the defense department.“This is the most transparent war department in history. No amount of spin from the Fake News media will change that,” Jose Valdez, the acting defense department press secretary, said in a social media post. “The Pentagon Press Office has been redesignated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility due to speechwriters from the Office of the Secretary of War sharing the facility.” Continue reading...

Pentagon Bars Reporters From Its Press Office

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has repeatedly curtailed journalists’ access in the Pentagon.

Why House Democrats are "closely" watching California's congressional primaries

House Democrats are looking to Tuesday's primaries in California as a major test of the anti-incumbency sentiment among their voters.Why it matters: This will be the first time in the 2026 election when multiple House Democrats in their 70s and 80s face off against primary insurgents who have hammered them for their lengthy tenures.California Democratic Reps. Mike Thompson, Doris Matsui and Brad Sherman — all 70 or older — are among those facing tough primary fights with younger Democratic challengers.Their Democratic colleagues are watching "all of them closely," one senior House Democrat said, as well as the LA mayor's race and the state's gubernatorial election."Just to see the anti-incumbent sentiment," another senior House Democrat told Axios.State of play: June 2 is California's jungle primary, in which all candidates for a given office run in one contest and the top two vote-getters — regardless of party — advance to a runoff in November.Often, that dynamic matches up the top-performing Democrat and Republican. However, in several deeply blue House districts, the incumbent is more likely to face another Democrat in the fall.This year, an unusually large number of incumbents are facing well-funded challengers who are going after their lengthy tenures and arguing that it is time for a new generation of Democratic leaders.These are the House races that Democrats have their eyes on:California's 4th District: Thompson, a 75-year-old member of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition first elected in 1998, is trying to fend off 35-year-old venture capitalist Eric Jones.Both Democrats have raised huge sums, with Thompson bringing in just under $3 million as of March 31 and Jones raising over $3.2 million over the same period, including a $364,000 personal loan.Jones has tried to harness anti-incumbency sentiment, with ads declaring that "too many Democrats have been in Washington so long, they're not up to the fight," and hitting Thompson as "corrupt" and "ineffective."Thompson, for his part, has played up his anti-Trump bona fides and hit Jones on his corporate background by depicting him as a "lapdog for big corporations."California's 7th District: 81-year-old Rep. Doris Matsui, who took office in 2005, is facing a stiff challenge from progressive former Sacramento City Council member Mai Vang, 41, who has been endorsed by the Sacramento Bee.Matsui has raised eyebrows with a red box on her website (a method campaigns use to signal super PACs) touting GOP candidate Zachariah Wooden, in what progressives say is a tactic to box Vang out of the runoff.Inclusion PAC — an outside group whose only listed donor, a local union, also donated to Matsui's campaign — has filed with the FEC to spend over $100,000 on ads promoting Wooden.This is another race defined by negative campaigning, with Vang's red box advocating "purely negative messaging against the incumbent."California's 32nd District: Rep. Brad Sherman, a 71-year-old who has been in office since 1997, is being challenged by Jake Levine, a 42-year-old former Biden administration official.Levine's campaign has, perhaps more than any other primary insurgent's, made Sherman's length of service a central issue in its messaging, running multiple ads targeting the incumbent's 30-year tenure.Sherman's campaign has largely ignored Levine — his red box encourages PACs not to mention him — and has focused on portraying him as a hard-charging, anti-Trump crusader who delivers for his district.Zoom out: Several incumbents below retirement age are also facing credible progressive primary challengers, including Reps. Ami Bera in the state's 3rd District and Jimmy Gomez in the 34th District.There are a slew of hotly contested open primaries as well, including to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in the 11th District.In the 22nd District, State Assembly member Jasmeet Bains has the backing of House Democrats' campaign arm to take on GOP Rep. David Valadao, but first she has to defeat progressive Randy Villegas.

Nebraska House Candidate Who Worked for Democrats’ ‘Preeminent Dark Money Hub’ Now Campaigns on Getting ‘Dark Money out of Politics’

Nebraska Democrat Denise Powell made tens of thousands of dollars working as a consultant for left-wing dark money groups like the Sixteen Thirty Fund. Now, as a candidate for the state's Second Congressional District—and as some of her clients fend off a lawsuit from Nebraska's attorney general—she's campaigning on a pledge to "get dark money out of politics once and for all." The post Nebraska House Candidate Who Worked for Democrats’ ‘Preeminent Dark Money Hub’ Now Campaigns on Getting ‘Dark Money out of Politics’ appeared first on .

White House distances itself from Freedom 250 amid concert controversy

The White House is putting distance between itself and Freedom 250 amid growing controversy surrounding the organization’s planned National Mall concert series, even as President Donald Trump remains a central figure in its celebrations and the administration promotes the group as part of its efforts to celebrate the nation’s birthday. The White House said on […]

The Morning Briefing: It's Primary Day in California — Raise a Glass to the Underdogs

Morning news brief

DOJ says it will pause its 'anti-weaponization' fund after judge's ruling, Trump says he urged Israel, Hezbollah to hold fire amid rising tensions over Lebanon, Californians vote in state's primaries.

'Dangerous paradox': Trump losses 'piling up' as list of allies bucking White House grows

President Donald Trump is now on a losing streak, and it's coming as a result of his own party members. Speaker Mike Johnson met with the president at the White House on Monday, and, not long after, it was revealed Trump would no longer fight to establish a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund to pay out alleged victims of government overreach.Punchbowl News reported that the GOP is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Trump's political endorsement can boost or sink primary candidates, but his brand is so toxic in the general election that more and more lawmakers are making it past their primaries and pivoting against Trump. Trump's ballroom has also become a political sticking point for Republican lawmakers. The unpopular $1 billion funding demand from Trump came after he said he would fully fund the ballroom himself with sponsors and donors. The third potential Trump failure is about his new "golden fleet" of 20 to 25 battleships that Trump demanded the U.S. Navy build. Trump initially requested 34 ships. The Trump fleet of ships won't be finished before the end of Trump's term. The House Armed Services Committee is beginning the markup for the 2027 defense reauthorization budget this week. Trump initially asked for $66 billion for the fund, but the full program is expected to cost $1.5 trillion. Republicans also still haven't delivered funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CPB). Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told Punchbowl that he can't pass ICE and CPB funding with the weaponization fund in the budget. Outside of his GOP allies in Congress, Trump is also fighting with longtime ally with Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Axios, Trump reportedly yelled at the embattled prime minister, calling him "f—— crazy" for bombing Lebanon at a time when he's desperately trying to end their war against Iran. Trump's Iran war bungle continues to haunt him as he struggles with a humiliating failure. One of Iran's major sticking points in negotiations is that Netanyahu stop bombing Lebanon. These failures all come amid a slew of legal battles Trump keeps losing over the Kennedy Center, the slush fund and his ballroom.