Our live coverage has ended. Scroll through the posts below to see how the day unfolded.
President Trump’s White House will host its first iftar dinner, the sundown meal that breaks fasts during the holy month of Ramadan, tonight in the State Dining Room “for the Washington diplomatic community,” a White House spokesperson said.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said “30 to 40” people had been invited to the iftar, though Trump administration officials haven’t yet released a guest list or divulged many details about the event.
“We do not need an iftar dinner,” said Imam Yahya Hendi, the Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University.
In years past, White House iftars have invited not only diplomats but dozens of American Muslims from civil society, including corporate executives, scholars, activists and athletes.
But many American Muslims say they are reluctant to break bread with Trump, citing the President’s rhetoric and actions toward Muslims and other religious and racial minorities.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations plans to hold “NOT Trump’s Iftar” event outside the White House as the main event is taking place inside.
Alice Marie Johnson was just released from a federal prison in Alabama after President Trump commuted her sentence.
“I am just so thankful,” she told reporters. “I feel like my life is starting over again.”
Her release comes a week after Kim Kardashian West pleaded her case during an Oval Office meeting with Trump.
Johnson has already served 21 years of a life sentence after she was convicted on charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine and attempted possession of cocaine, according to the nonprofit Can-Do, which advocates for clemency for non-violent drug offenders.
In the Obama administration, the Department of Justice denied Alice Johnson’s petition for commutation three times.
The first rejection happened once during his first term and twice during Obama’s second term, including one only days before he left office.
Johnson’s petition never reached the Oval Office because the DOJ always recommended denying her request.
With news of the Alice Johnson commutation today, one question comes to mind: Why didn’t President Obama intervene in this case?
At the time, the Department of Justice recommended denying the petition, so it never reached the White House, a senior Obama administration official told CNN.
The official offered this reason for the DOJ denying the petition: Prosecutors said Johnson was heavily involved in a longstanding drug cartel that was connected to a lot of violence and crime. She was never charged with it, but that came up in the DOJ research on the case, the official said.
A current White House official said the Johnson case came to light as part of conversations between President Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner and CNN’s Van Jones, both of whom helped arrange the President’s meeting with Kim Kardashian West last week.
Vice President Mike Pence sang the praise of the job the federal government did handling hurricanes in 2017 — despite the recent report about the higher than reported death toll in Puerto Rico,
Pence said the 2018 hurricane season would be handled just as well.
“We are prepared, just as we were last year, with those historic and unprecedented hurricanes,” Pence said. “Mr. President, I know you well and I know you have no higher priority than the safety and the security of the American people.
There was no talk about Puerto Rico while cameras were in the room.
A Harvard University study estimated that 4,645 people died from Hurricane Maria and its aftermath in Puerto Rico.
President Trump, speaking at the 2018 hurricane response briefing, acknowledged Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who was participating via teleconference.
“We have Gov. Rick Scott of Florida there. He’s watching, he’s done a fantastic job,” Trump said before getting political but saying he wasn’t.
Scott announced he was running for Senate in April, but months before that, Trump said he wished the Florida Republican would.
While visiting Florida after Hurricane Irma, Trump said he hoped Scott would run. Here’s that clip:
President Trump went around the table at FEMA, praising members of his Cabinet individually, except one key Cabinet member got nothing more than a quick “thank you.”
“Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Thank You Jeff, thank you very much,” Trump said, making eye contact with him, before moving on to continue his circle of elongated praise of others.
Trump has repeatedly lamented picking Sessions as his attorney general. Sessions enraged the President when he recused himself from the Russia investigation.
Just yesterday, Trump tweeted this:
President Trump recognized his wife, first lady Melania Trump, at today’s hurricane briefing at FEMA headquarters.
The first lady hasn’t made an appearance in front of the press since May 10. She had a medical procedure to treat a benign kidney condition on May 14.
“Of course we have to start with our great first lady, Melania. Thank you, Melania. She’s doing great,” the President said. “She went through a little rough patch but she’s doing great.”
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump are visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency Headquarters in Washington this afternoon for a briefing to discuss preparedness ahead of the 2018 hurricane season, which officially began on June 1.
This is the first time Melania Trump will be in front of press cameras since May 10.
The first lady attended a Monday event at the White House with the President, honoring more than 40 Gold Star Families. It was her public debut since having a medical procedure for a benign kidney condition on May 14. The Monday event was closed to the press, however.
Americans are Googling the War of 1812 right now. A lot. (See the Google Trends screenshot above.)
Why?
President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a testy phone call last month over new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. The call included one moment during the conversation in which Trump made an erroneous historical reference to the War of 1812, sources familiar with the discussion told CNN.
What Trump said
According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a “national security” issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, “Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?” referring to the War of 1812.
The problem with the comment
British troops — not Canadians — burned down the White House during the War of 1812. Historians note the British attack on Washington was in retaliation for an American attack on York, Ontario. At the time, the territory was a British colony.
Kim Kardashian is just getting started.
The reality television star-turned-prison reform advocate tweeted that Trump’s decision on Alice Johnson would give hope to “so many others who are also deserving of a second chance,” and said she would continue to work with organizations working on their behalf.
She added that her work here is not finished:
President Trump will hold bilateral meetings while at the upcoming G7 in Canada.
He will meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron, NEC Director Larry Kudlow told reporters.
CNN reported moments ago that President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau had a testy phone call on May 25 over new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration targeting steel and aluminum imports coming from Canada, including one moment during the conversation in which Trump made an erroneous historical reference, sources familiar with the discussion told CNN.
The White House just issued a statement confirming President Trump commuted Alice Johnson’s sentence.
The White House said Johnson had “accepted responsibility for her past behavior” and was a model prisoner who rehabilitated herself in prison.”
Here’s the statement in full:
Alice Marie Johnson wrote a piece for CNN last month in which she detailed her time in prison and what it was like when Kim Kardashian took up her case.
She also made clear that though her punishment may have been different had she committed the crime today, but she still, in fact, committed a crime.
Kim Kardashian West began advocating for the release of Alice Johnson after she watched a video from Mic about the Tennessee woman’s case.
Kardashian West went to the White House last week and met with Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner in an attempt to convince him to pardon her.
Kim Kardashian went to the White House last week to meet with President Trump. Her agenda was to push for a pardon for Alice Johnson, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1996 on charges related to cocaine possession and money laundering.
Alice Johnson, the 63-year-old Tennessee woman who was sentenced to life in prison in 1996 on charges related to cocaine possession and money laundering, has at least one celebrity advocate: Kim Kardashian West.
The reality TV star met with Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Oval Office last week in an attempt to convince him to pardon her.
“I would like to thank President Trump for his time this afternoon. It is our hope that the President will grant clemency to Ms. Alice Marie Johnson who is serving a life sentence for a first-time, non-violent drug offense,” Kardashian West said in a statement after the meeting. “We are optimistic about Ms. Johnson’s future and hopeful that she — and so many like her — will get a second chance at life.”
President Trump has commuted the sentence of Alice Johnson, according to two White House officials.
She is expected to be released from prison soon.
Johnson is a 63-year-old Tennessee woman who was sentenced to life in prison in 1996 on charges related to cocaine possession and money laundering.
This follows a White House meeting with Kim Kardashian, who pressed for her release.
Trump last week said Thursday that he is considering pardoning Martha Stewart and pardoning or commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Both were stars with Trump on NBC’s “The Apprentice” franchise.
Stewart served a five-month term between 2004 and 2005 for lying and obstructing justice in a 2001 stock sale. Blagojevich is the former governor of Illinois who is serving a 14-year prison term for corruption.
The President told reporters that Blagojevich had said something “stupid” but that it was similar to what other politicians have said and called the 18-year sentence “really unfair.” He added that “plenty of other politicians could have said a lot worse.”
