Trump’s Worst Campaign Day

Even on a terrible day for his campaign, Donald Trump dominated the political world. With his campaign manager charged and arrested Tuesday in a simple battery case involving a reporter that revealed not just the campaign’s treatment of the press, but also bold-faced misstatements about the incident, Trump stood by his man, saying Corey Lewandowski done nothing before claiming he was only protecting the candidate, arguing, without evidence, that the reporter had touched him and suggesting he would bring a criminal counter-charge. He would repeatedly mock the incident on the campaign trail and Twitter throughout the day in an effort to stir up his supporters to his defense. Trump’s rivals condemned his campaign’s treatment of the press and the violence between his supporters and protestors at Trump events, as John Kasich said he would have fired or suspended Lewandowski after the charge. Democrats, meanwhile, watched gleefully as they watched the GOP front-runner do even more damage to his favorability rating with women.

Trump’s bad day extended to the evening with an appearance in a CNN town hall in which he appeared to vacillate on the notion of nuclear nonproliferation, alternately saying he did and and didn’t want Japan and South Korea to obtain nuclear weapons for self-defense—ultimately settling on allowing them to have the weapons. He repeated his call for Saudi Arabia and the two Asian countries to pay the U.S. for their defense as well. He found himself on shaky ground again on the role of the government, offering education as a central government responsibility before denouncing the Common Core education standards.

Trump and his rivals, meanwhile, backed away from their pledges to support the eventual nominee. The pledge was merely symbolic in 2015, designed to try to keep Trump from running a third-party race. Instead it created endless news-cycles of ‘will you still support him now that he said___’ for his rivals.

Plaintiffs in a Hillary Clinton email lawsuit got a boost Tuesday when a second federal judge ordered discovery to determine why the State Department didn’t produce Clinton’s emails in response to Freedom of Information Act requests sooner. The latest legal step could extend the legal wrangling over the case for months, or even years.

Here are your must-reads:

Must Reads

Donald Trump’s Campaign Manager Charged for Grabbing Reporter
Trump stands by his man [TIME]

How to Tell Who Won the Fight Between Apple and the FBI
TIME’s Massimo Calabresi writes that it’s too soon to know for sure

Rubio Working to Play a Role at GOP National Convention
Candidate works to keep his delegates after campaign suspension [Associated Press]

Stands on Social Issues Tear at the Two Main Conservative Bases
Ideological rifts move to the states [Washington Post]

Bernie Sanders Targets Hillary Clinton’s Superdelegates
Sanders campaign grasps for a path to victory [Wall Street Journal]

Sound Off

“No, I don’t anymore. No, we’ll see who it is.” — Donald Trump backing off his GOP loyalty pledge in a CNN town hall

“How do you know those bruises weren’t there before?” — Donald Trump at a press conference Tuesday about the bruises seen on the reporters’ arm after the incident with his campaign manager

Bits and Bites

Donald Trump Threatens Legal Action Over Charge Against Campaign Manager [ABC]

President Obama Talks Drug Abuse With Doctors and Addicts [TIME]

Mark Kirk Becomes First GOP Senator to Meet With Merrick Garland [Associated Press]

Scott Walker Endorses Ted Cruz for President [TIME]

Lew Says Announcement on Woman on US Currency Coming Soon [Associated Press]

All Three Republican Presidential Candidates Back Away From Pledge to Support Eventual Nominee [Washington Post]

Supreme Court Tie Vote Leads to a Victory for Unions [Associated Press]

Second Judge Grants Discovery in Clinton Email Lawsuit [Politico]