Today in one sentence: The judge overseeing convicted felon Trump’s trial involving “willful retention” of classified documents in violation of the Espionage Act refused to hand off the case to a more experienced judge despite two more senior colleagues on the federal bench in Florida urging her to do so; the Supreme Court upheld a Trump-era tax on overseas investments; Louisiana’s Republican Governor signed legislation requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom; Trump will get the final word in his debate with Biden; Russia and North Korea signed a new pact that includes a pledge of "mutual help" in the event of "aggression" against either country; and the Biden administration redirected a shipment of advanced air defense missiles to Ukraine.

1/ The judge overseeing convicted felon Trump’s trial involving “willful retention” of classified documents in violation of the Espionage Act refused to hand off the case to a more experienced judge despite two more senior colleagues on the federal bench in Florida urging her to do so. Two judges called Judge Aileen Cannon shortly after she took on the case. The first told her the case would be better handled by a jurist closer to Miami’s busiest courthouse, which had a secure facility approved to hold the sort of highly classified information that might be used in the case. The second call came from Cecilia Altonaga, the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida, who told Cannon the optics of her overseeing the trial would be bad. Cannon presided over the legal battle between the Justice Department and Trump’s lawyers regarding the classified documents that the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago. Although Cannon granted Trump’s request to temporarily block federal investigators from using documents with classified markings and appoint a “special master” to review all 11,000 documents, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals twice reversed her decisions. Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, has little trial experience and has indefinitely postponed the trial and declined to set a date for it to begin even though both the prosecution and the defense said they’re ready to start. Should Trump win the presidential election in November, he could order the Justice Department to drop the case. Trump faces 40 federal charges for keeping classified government documents at Mar-a-Lago and then obstructing government efforts to retrieve them. (New York Times / CNN / Daily Beast / Axios)

2/ The Supreme Court upheld a Trump-era tax on overseas investments. At issue was whether the government could levy a one-time tax on investment proceeds that had not been received, or realized, as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Charles and Kathleen Moore challenged their $15,000 tax bill related to an investment in an India-based company, arguing that there was no income to tax because they had received no payments or dividends from the company. They maintained that the tax was in violation the 16th Amendment, which authorizes Congress to collect taxes on income. The ruling ended a lawsuit that many experts feared could destabilize the nation’s tax system. By preserving the current income tax structure, it avoided the fiscal chaos that analysts and economists had warned about. (NPR / CNN / Associated Press / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News)

3/ Louisiana’s Republican Governor signed legislation requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. “This bill mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom — public elementary, secondary and post-education schools — in the state of Louisiana, because if you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses,” Gov. Jeff Landry. Civil rights groups, meanwhile, vowed to challenge the law in court. The organizations called the new law “blatantly unconstitutional.” (USA Today / Washington Post / Axios / New York Times / CNN / Associated Press)

4/ Trump will get the final word in his debate with Biden. Although Biden won the coin toss, he chose to stand on the right side of the stage from the viewer’s perspective. Trump then chose to deliver the last closing statement, which means Biden will go first at the conclusion of the debate. The June 27 debate will be the first presidential debate between an incumbent and a former president. Their microphones will be muted unless it is their turn to speak. The second debate will be hosted by ABC on Sept. 10. (CNN)

  • The Los Angeles man making an independent run for president despite discovering a dead worm in his brain failed to qualify for next week’s debate. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fell short of the benchmarks both for state ballot qualification and polling. (Associated Press / Axios)

✏️ Notables.

  1. Russia and North Korea signed a new pact that includes a pledge of “mutual help” in the event of “aggression” against either country. Putin and Kim Jong-un agreed that if either country found itself in a war, then the other would provide “military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay.” (New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg)

  2. The Biden administration redirected a shipment of advanced air defense missiles to Ukraine by temporarily pausing deliveries to other allies. Patriot and NASAMS surface-to-air missiles will both be sent to Ukraine as part of a “difficult but necessary decision” to reprioritize planned deliveries. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico / New York Times)

  3. The White House canceled a high-level U.S.-Israel meeting after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video falsely claiming the U.S. was withholding weapons. “We genuinely do not know what he is talking about,” a White House spokesperson said. (Axios / CNN)

  4. Notably next: Supreme Court gets ready to drop its bombshells. Abortion rights, gun rights, and the Justice Department’s case against convicted felon Trump all hang in the balance. (Axios)

  • 📅 The WTFJHT Calendar: Now until then.

  • 📺 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.

Five years ago today: Day 882: The best is yet to come.