The Note: Bernie Won’t Back Down

ByABC News
June 17, 2016, 9:27 AM

— -- NOTABLES

--SANDERS WILL JOIN EFFORT TO DEFEAT TRUMP IN A ‘VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME:’ Bernie Sanders did not formally concede or back his primary rival Hillary Clinton during a live online address to his fans last night, despite Clinton last week securing enough delegates to become the Democratic Party’s nominee. Sanders did, however, promise to join her and the Democratic party in a more active role in their effort to defeat Donald Trump. “The major political task that together we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly, and I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time,” he said in his remarks, which he filmed in a television studio in his hometown and read off of a teleprompter. ABC’s MARYALICE PARKS has more. http://abcn.ws/1Uz6NOh

--ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: Leave it to this candidate, and leave it to this political year, to create a new variety of candidacy. After his speech to supporters Thursday night, Bernie Sanders is still an active candidate for president. But that doesn’t mean he’s engaging in any campaign activity. He stated clearly that he wants to defeat Donald Trump. But, since he declined to endorse someone (can’t imagine who) actually running against him in the general election, he’s not yet saying how he wants to accomplish that. The broad goals of his “political revolution” – fighting for the working class, galvanizing a generation, even reforming the Democratic Party – might be things that Hillary Clinton and her team can get behind. But coming from a candidate who was beaten by Clinton in every measurable way – and, if the reminder is needed, never wanted to even be a Democrat until a year ago – Sanders is in danger of losing the leverage he accumulated relatively fast. The party would not countenance Clinton doing what Sanders is now; that’s an undeniable fact, as anyone who remembers 2008 would know. The question now becomes how long Sanders can keep his revolution going without wearing out his welcome.

--HAPPENING TODAY: Today, both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are off the trail, but Donald Trump remains in the bright red state of Texas for a rally tonight in Houston, ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE notes. He’s spent most of the week -- not in battleground states he will need in November -- but states that will remain red like Texas and Georgia. That changes tomorrow, though, when he heads to Las Vegas in critical Nevada.

THIS WEEK ON ‘THIS WEEK’: After the Orlando mass shooting, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch comes to “This Week” Sunday. Then, House Homeland Security Committee Chair Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, weighs in on how to combat the growing terror threat. And, the Powerhouse Roundtable debates the week in politics, with staff writer for The Atlantic Molly Ball, ABC News contributor and ESPN senior writer LZ Granderson, National Review editor Rich Lowry, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, and ABC News contributor and Republican strategist and pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson.

POWERHOUSE POLITICS PODCAST -- MICHAEL ERIC DYSON SAYS AMERICANS OF ‘GOOD CONSCIENCE’ SHOULD MARCH ON CLEVELAND: Author and activist Michael Eric Dyson is calling for a march on Cleveland for the Republican National Convention, saying that only massive protests next month can confront what he called the “monster” that is Donald Trump. Dyson told ABC’s RICK KLEIN and MARY BRUCE on ABC’s "Powerhouse Politics" podcast that he has spoken with black church groups and civil rights organizations, among other groups, which are “steadily coming together” to organize a presence at the convention. Dyson, who published a piece in this week’s New Republic titled “We Must March on Cleveland,” told Klein and Bruce that “those of us of good conscience must descend upon Cleveland,” ABC’s NOAH FITZGEREL notes. http://abcn.ws/1V0adpk LISTEN: http://apple.co/21V9721

DONALD TRUMP: ONE YEAR LATER

--REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: A YEAR OF COVERING TRUMP. One year ago Thursday, Donald Trump began his race for the White House. At the same time, ABC News assigned me to cover the Trump campaign and I had just one thought, ABC’s JOHN SANTUCCI writes. Why me? I say that because no one thought Trump was really going to run, and if he did, that he would stay in the race for so long. Yet, 50 states later, Donald John Trump, hailing from the same Queens, New York, neighborhood as I, is the presumptive Republican nominee. I still remember that first day and, as the candidate has said, the “famous escalator ride.” http://abcn.ws/1PwHp6g

--12 MONTHS, 12 KEY MOMENTS IN HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. ABC’s PAOLA CHAVEZ and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI note 12 key moments from the presumptive Republican nominee’s presidential campaign: http://abcn.ws/1UY95T7

--ALL THE TIMES HE’S FLIP-FLOPPED. Trump has been quite vocal throughout his White House bid and, during that time, has changed his stance on several issues. Trump's shift in tone on his proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, for instance, was not the first time he significantly altered his approach to a major issue during the campaign. ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY reviews some of his most notable reversals. http://abcn.ws/1shGBgJ

YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL

with ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and PAOLA CHAVEZ

PHOTOS OF CLINTON AND TRUMP TO BE MADE PUBLIC. Photos from more than a decade ago of former President Bill Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump will be released this fall by the Clinton Presidential Library, the National Archives told ABC News. The National Archives says the photos will be released on Sept. 9 at 9 a.m. and will be made available to the public. Some 555 photos were processed in response to the FOIA request and 496 will be published. The photos suggest that Trump and Clinton maintained some sort of relationship over several years, according to ABC’s MATTHEW CLAIBORNE. http://abcn.ws/23f7heA

TRUMP SAYS LGBT VOTERS LIKE HIM ‘VERY, VERY MUCH.’ Donald Trump celebrated the one-year anniversary of his entry into the presidential race Thursday night with a rally in Dallas, continuing his recent courtship of the LGBT community in the context of the Orlando massacre. "The LGBT community -- these are people that had a place -- this was a place of safety," he told the crowd, calling the attack at Pulse, a gay nightclub, an example of "what one sleazebag can do," referring to gunman Omar Mateen. Trump said the "LGBT community is starting to like Donald Trump very, very much lately," and claimed that his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, accepts donations from Middle East countries, which oppress LGBT citizens and women, ABC’s DAVID CAPLAN reports. http://abcn.ws/1rsViwb

TRUMP’S NEWFOUND LOVE FOR LGBT VOTERS. Donald Trump is now catering to a different group of voters in light of the deadly Orlando nightclub attack: LGBT voters. Even though he has repeatedly said throughout his campaign that he is against same-sex marriage, that hasn't stopped the presumptive Republican presidential nominee from saying he thinks he would be the better candidate for the gay community. ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY notes his argument is largely based around his efforts to curtail what he calls "radical Islam," which he blames for the Pulse nightclub shooting which left 49 people dead and 53 others injured. http://abcn.ws/2613QgG

MCCAIN SAYS OBAMA ‘DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE’ FOR ORLANDO ATTACK. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said Thursday that President Obama was "directly responsible" for the Orlando attack, a comment he later clarified as a criticism of the president's national security policies. ABC’s BENJAMIN SIEGEL reports the Arizona Republican told reporters at the Capitol that Obama was responsible for the Orlando terror attack that left 50 people dead in a gay nightclub, including the shooter, according to the Associated Press, before his office sent out a statement adding to his comments. http://abcn.ws/1UlZ6tt

WHO’S TWEETING?

@alfromDLC DC premier of @CrashPartyDoc at @AFIDOCS Documentary Series a sell out @tombrokaw @billclinton #crashpartydoc pic.twitter.com/QOLMiV93gn

@samsteinhp Paul Ryan suggests he’d sue Trump if he exceeds his presidential powers. Via @MEPFuller

@chrisdonovan Trump in a fundraising email Thursday celebrating 1st anniversary of his announcement: "My campaign has been one of honesty and substance."

@amychozick George W. Bush is back in demand, thanks to Donald Trump. @maggieNYT + @jmartNYT with the killer scoop