1/ Judge Aileen Cannon denied convicted felon Trump’s effort to dismiss his classified documents case, but did agree to delete a paragraph in the federal superseding indictment that alleges he mishandled classified materials after he left the White House and obstructed attempts to retrieve them. Cannon said that special counsel Jack Smith’s inclusion of a paragraph, which alleges Trump showed a classified document in September 2021 about an “ongoing military operation” was “not going well” to someone without a security clearance, was “not appropriate,” because it’s not directly related to the charges Trump is facing. Trump isn’t charged with disclosing classified materials; only with illegally retaining them. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)

2/ Attorney General Merrick Garland called the attacks on the Justice Department by Trump and his allies “baseless, personal and dangerous.” For the second time this month Garland has publicly pushed back against threats by House Republicans to defund special counsel Jack Smith – who is prosecuting Trump for attempting to overturn the 2020 election and illegally retaining classified documents and obstructing efforts to retrieve them – as well as conspiracy theories that the Justice Department was involved in the Manhattan District Attorney’s prosecution of Trump. Garland said the department was facing threats of violence “like never before,” adding that the “continued unfounded attacks against the Justice Department’s employees are dangerous for people’s safety. They are dangerous for our democracy. This must stop.” Meanwhile in a letter to House Republicans, the Justice Department said it had found no emails between DOJ leadership and District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office about any Trump case, calling it “conspiratorial speculation.” (Axios / Politico / NBC News / ABC News / Politico)

3/ House Democrats launched a task force to prepare for the so-called Project 2025, a 920-page policy blueprint compiled by the far-right Heritage Foundation for how a second Trump administration could expand the power of the presidency to act unilaterally while dismantling layers of the federal government. At its core, Project 2025 proposes purging thousands of civil servants and replacing them with Trump loyalists. “This stuff is going to be coming at us at lightspeed. And if we are on our heels and reacting to it, we could lose our democracy,” Jared Huffman said, one of the lawmakers spearheading The Stop Project 2025 Task Force. “So we’re going to need to be ready to confront it in real time. And those plans need to begin now.” Huffman added: “The stakes just couldn’t be higher.” (Politico / Associated Press / Axios / HuffPost / The Guardian)

  • In Trump’s orbit, some muse about mandatory military service. “Only 1 percent of the U.S. population serves in the armed forces. Some in the former president’s camp say it’s time more young adults put ’some skin in the game.’” (Washington Post)

4/ A federal judge ruled that Florida could not prohibit transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming care. Judge Robert Hinkle said the state’s policies were “unconstitutional” because “gender identity is real” and that a “widely accepted standard of care” includes puberty blockers and hormone treatments. Hinkle added that “transgender opponents are of course free to hold their beliefs, but they are not free to discriminate against transgender individuals just for being transgender.” (Associated Press / ABC News / New York Times)

  • 📌 Day 806: The Florida Senate passed a plan that would ban gender-affirming care for children diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The bill, SB 254, prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from undergoing surgeries or hormone therapies associated with gender-affirming care. The legislation comes after the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine – at the urging of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis – adopted rules that barred all doctors from treating minors with the surgeries and prescription treatments in November. Those rules went into effect last month. Florida is one of 13 states that have enacted bans on transgender care. (Politico / Miami Herald)

5/ Hunter Biden was found guilty on three counts related to his illegal purchase of a handgun when he was using narcotics. Hunter Biden, a private citizen who has never sought elective office or been part of a presidential administration, is the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of a crime. He faces up to 25 years in prison. The charges were brought by special counsel David Weiss, who was appointed by Trump, after a plea deal fell apart in the courtroom last July. Weiss said he brought the case because nobody “is above the law.” Trump – who has continued to falsely claim his conviction on 34 felony counts of election interference involving falsified business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star was “rigged” and that “this is all done by Biden and his people” – baselessly suggested without evidence that Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict was a “distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family.” Joe Biden, meanwhile, said he will “respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.” Earlier this month, Biden said he would not pardon his son. (Associated Press / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / NPR / Axios / ABC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CBS News)


  • 📅 The WTFJHT Calendar: Now until then.

  • ⛔️ June 19: Juneteenth – No WTFJHT.
    📺 June 27: Biden-Trump debate.
    ⛔️ July 4: Independence Day – No WTFJHT.
    ⚖️ July 11: Trump is sentenced.
    🐘 July 15: Republican National Convention.
    🇮🇱 July 24: Netanyahu addresses joint session of Congress.
    🫏 Aug. 19: Democratic convention.
    ⛔️ Sept. 2: Labor Day – No WTFJHT.
    📺 Sept. 10: Biden-Trump debate.
    📆 Oct. 6: Last day to register to vote in some states.
    ⛔️ Oct. 14: Indigenous Peoples’ Day – No WTFJHT.
    🗳️ Nov. 5: Presidential Election.