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By Eliot Nelson and Arthur Delaney
Bob Corker removed himself from Donald Trump’s running mate shortlist, leaving Newt Gingrich, Chris Christie and a giant foam “#1” hand. Someone broke into Mike Rounds’ district office and stole some books and a flag stand, presumably to set up a cable TV live shot from his hideout. And we’re officially downgrading Congress’ handling of the zika crisis from a “try inflating your tires” apathy to an outright “self-deportation” DGAF. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, July 6th, 2016:
Someone in the gallery dumped a lot of money on the Senate today.
GET USED TO HILLARY CLINTON MAKING SPEECHES IN FRONT OF THINGS DONALD TRUMP RUINED - Dave Jamieson: Hillary Clinton attacked Donald Trump’s business record in a fiery speech from this town’s famed boardwalk on Wednesday, arguing that the real estate mogul profited from his casinos here before exiting and leaving workers high and dry. It was perhaps the most stinging assault yet from the presumptive Democratic nominee on her opponent’s business dealings, delivered in a highly symbolic setting: the struggling casino strip that still bears Trump’s name, even though he no longer owns hotels here. After a local businessman who claimed to have been ripped off by Trump introduced her, Clinton mocked the faded Trump name along the boardwalk and called her opponent’s record ‘shameful.’ ‘You can just make out the word ‘Trump’ where it used to be written in flashy lights,’ Clinton said, referencing the shuttered Trump Plaza. ‘According to The Donald, isn’t he supposed to be some kind of amazing businessman? So it’s fair to ask, since he is applying for a job, what in the world happened here? His excuse for all this failure is that Atlantic City just went down hill, it’s not his fault. Don’t believe it.’” [HuffPost]
U.S. HAS PLENTY OF ZIKA MONEY, NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN, SENATE GOP TELLING ITSELF - Hopefully they’re right! Jennifer Haberkorn and Burgess Everett: “The Obama administration has so far distributed only one-sixth of the unspent Ebola funding that it diverted to combat the Zika virus, according to administration officials. The White House in April diverted $589 million to the Zika virus amid congressional squabbling over approving new emergency funding. Since then, the administration has distributed $90 million, according to Health and Human Services figures shared with POLITICO...Republicans on Capitol Hill argue that the slow pace of distributing the money supports their argument that they don’t have to fill the White House’s full $1.9 billion request right now. They see breathing room to deal with the Zika money after the August break. ‘It gives the public a little more safety because there’s more money there and available,’ said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).” [Politico]
AREA AWFUL MAN POSSIBLY EVEN MORE AWFUL - Curious what the Putnam County News and Recorder will have to say about this. Michael Calderone: “Former “Fox & Friends” co-host Gretchen Carlson alleged in an explosive lawsuit filed Wednesday that Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes fired her for rebuffing his sexual advances and challenging a sexist newsroom culture… ‘I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better,’ Ailes told Carlson, according to the suit. Carlson also accused Ailes of engaging in persistently sexist behavior. She said he ogled her in his office, asked her to turn around to view her backside, and commented repeatedly on her outfits and her legs.” [HuffPost]
Read the most damning portions of the suit.
CARLSON’S CASE LIKELY NOT ISOLATED - Michelle Fields: “Fox News’ on-air talent are unsurprised by the news that former host Gretchen Carlson has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes. ‘We thought it would happen after she was taken off of Fox and Friends,’ said one Fox News source who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. ‘She kept quiet because Roger gave her the afternoon show, but everyone at Fox knew it was eventually coming. He hated her and would tell people that she was ‘”a crazy, vindictive bitch.”’ Other sources inside Fox confirmed that Carlson had first threatened to file the lawsuit after Ailes removed her as host of Fox & Friends. But Carlson held off filing a suit when Ailes agreed to give her the afternoon show...Carlson also claims that Ailes demanded sex as a way to improve her standing at Fox News and told her to ‘turn around so he could view her posterior.’ That demand wasn’t made exclusively to Carlson. One female Fox News contributor, who asked to remain anonymous, said that she had a similar encounter with Ailes.” [HuffPost]
DELANEY DOWNER - Members of Congress and their staff can get free blood testing on Wednesday, one week after facilities managers discovered high levels of lead in an office building next to the Capitol. “Blood lead level testing will be available to House Members and Staff, with a valid congressional badge, at no cost to the individual or office,” the Architect of the Capitol, which maintains the Capitol building and surrounding campus, said this week in an internal announcement. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) contrasted Capitol custodians’ speedy reaction with lawmakers’ inaction on national water infrastructure problems exposed by the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. “I understand the concern that my colleagues and their staffers have expressed,” Kildee, who represents Flint, said in a statement. “But for Flint residents, who have had high levels of lead in their water for two years, it is long past time that Congress get serious about this serious health threat.” [HuffPost]
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TRUMP’S VP SHORTLIST EDITS ITSELF - Bob Corker and Joni Ernst look forward to spending more time with their self-respect. Frank Thorp V, Carrie Dann and Kelly O’Donnell: “Just one day after appearing on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker withdrew his name from consideration to be the Republican’s VP pick. Shortly after news of Corker’s decision broke, POLITICO reported that Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst - who met with Trump on Monday - told the presumptive GOP nominee that she’s ‘focused on Iowa,’ all but taking her name out of consideration...Ernst, a swing-state senator who is viewed as a rising star in the party, will enjoy a high-profile speaking slot at the Republican National Convention later this month. And officials close to Ernst’s decision-making process said she wants to remain helpful to the GOP ticket.” [NBC News]
Jared Kushner: “My father-in-law is not an anti-Semite.”
BERNIE BOOED - Actually, they were saying “Booooooo-y we sure do need single-payer healthcare ― go get ‘em, Bernie!” Sam Stein and Amanda Terkel: “ Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) received a tough reception from House Democrats on Wednesday morning, with many encouraging him to endorse Hillary Clinton and some showering him with boos when he declined to do so. Coming a day after the FBI announced that it would not bring charges against Clinton for her use of a private email account while at the State Department, Sanders’ meeting with the House Democratic caucus illustrated the fraying patience that a faction of the Democratic Party has for his still-going campaign. Several sources in the room confirmed the boos, with one member saying that lawmakers ‘were visibly annoyed that he was making this about him and not about winning an election for the American people.’ A high-ranking aide called it a ‘lousy presentation’ that was filled with ‘platitudes and no specifics…’” [HuffPost]
JASON CHAFFETZ <3s JAMES COMEY - Jen Bendery: “Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is hauling FBI director James Comey to Capitol Hill on Thursday to explain why he didn’t recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for using a private email server as secretary of state...it was just last month ― before the FBI reached conclusions that Republicans don’t like ― that Chaffetz was raving about Comey being the most competent, reliable person to lead the Clinton probe. ‘I do think that in all of government, he is a man of integrity and honesty,’ he said of Comey during a June 6 appearance on Fox News’ ‘Outnumbered.’ ‘His finger is on the pulse of this,’ Chaffetz continued. ‘Nothing happens without him, and I think he is going to be the definitive person to make a determination or a recommendation.’ Asked if he thought Republicans would accept an FBI recommendation not to indict Clinton, he replied, ‘Oh, probably. Because we do believe in James Comey.’” [HuffPost]
CLINTON ALLIES DISPUTE COMEY’S FINDINGS - Mike McAuliff: “Comey’s assertion was that Clinton used several servers and numerous mobile devices while she was secretary of state. The point is important because Clinton argued in the first place that she set up the email system because she did not want to carry multiple phones...sources familiar with Clinton’s set-up have told The Huffington Post that Comey is just plain wrong. According the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Clinton had just one server while she was at the Department of State. That one server was set up in Clinton’s Chappaqua, N.Y., home in March 2009, and it was the server she used until June 2013. At that point, the data was migrated to an external service run by a company called Platte River Networks. Platte River may well have used many servers, but that was well after Clinton had departed the State Department.” [HuffPost]
President Obama must have a hard time on D.C.’s health exchange: “Affordable Care Act rules that allow health insurance companies to charge higher premiums to tobacco users are undermining the law’s aim of expanding health coverage, a study published Wednesday suggests. Smokers eligible for the Obamacare exchanges were 7.3 percentage points less likely to have health coverage than nonsmokers in 2014, Yale University researchers found by analyzing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other sources.” [HuffPost’s Jeffrey Young]
HOUSE REPUBLICANS CAN’T SHAKE GAY THOUGHTS - Jen Bendery: “For the past two months, GOP lawmakers in the House haven’t missed an opportunity to slip anti-LGBT provisions into bills. They passed a National Defense Authorization Act with language to let government contractors fire people for being gay or trans. They tried to pass a 2017 water and energy spending bill with a provision barring the Obama administration from blocking funds to North Carolina over its transgender bathroom law. When Democrats tried twice to strip the anti-LGBT provision from NDAA, Republicans overruled them...The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform plans to meet July 12 to take up the so-called First Amendment Defense Act. It’s a sweeping bill that would let the people in charge of any taxpayer-funded entity — whether a business, a school or a nonprofit organization — ignore laws that conflict with their religious beliefs about marriage. That means a government contractor, for example, could fire an employee for being in a same-sex marriage.” [HuffPost]
Bookish, organized and patriotic man burglars senator’s office: “A 45-year-old man accused of breaking into U.S. Sen. Mike Round’s office in Sioux Falls on Tuesday faces charges including burglary and grand theft. Police say Donald Hallor, of Sioux Falls, will appear in court Wednesday. A Sioux Falls police spokesman didn’t have information about a potential motivation for the alleged break in. Police spokesman Sam Clemens said in an email that property allegedly taken from Rounds’ office included books, a flag stand and office supplies.” [AP]
DOLLY PARTON NOT SHERMANESQUE ENOUGH - Chuck Campbell: “Although Dolly Parton had some positive comments about Hillary Clinton in a recent New York Times interview, her statement that she would ‘be behind’ Clinton if she were elected was not the same as an endorsement. However, right- and left-leaning news sites took her comments as an endorsement and have been roundly criticizing/praising her presumed political stance to the point that Parton herself issued a clarification. Posting on her Facebook page Tuesday afternoon, Parton said, ‘This morning while I was watching the news I saw many reports that I had endorsed Hillary Clinton. ... I have not endorsed Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump,’ she said.’” [News Sentinel]
BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR - Here’s Bruce Springsteen dueting with a four-year-old.
NOTHING MATTERS - Both of these people probably lead better lives than you. Have a nice Wednesday! Patrick Smith and Craig Silverman: “A woman who has been ridiculed for a book she wrote about her gap year in Africa is in a relationship with Donald Trump’s top fundraiser. Louise Linton, who attracted widespread criticism for her description of life in Zambia, is dating Steven Mnuchin, the recently appointed national finance chair for Trump’s presidential campaign. The couple have been pictured together at events and mentioned in several celebrity gossip columns, and are listed as being on the Dinner Committee for an event held by Conservation International in LA in March.” [BuzzFeed]
COMFORT FOOD
- Workshopping Mike Huckabee’s terrible Hillary joke.
- Jonah Hill stars in hilariously awful commercial for a London skateboard store.
- “Hotel California” performed with traditional Chinese instruments.
TWITTERAMA
@NYTMinusContext: yelling profanities and running away
@morninggloria: “Ugh, I mean, like, whatever. This dude, I guess. He’s fine.” (5 minutes of drawn out sighs)
-Governor Walker at the Republican Convention
@daveweigel: Current WMATA status: Slightly faster than being pulled on a wagon by a circus strongman with the bit in his teeth.
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com).
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