The Note: Bernie Returns to Washington
— -- NOTABLES
--SANDERS HEADS TO THE WHITE HOUSE: President Obama will play peacemaker-in-chief today hosting Bernie Sanders at the White House later this morning, ABC’s SHUSHANNAH WALSHE notes. The White House has said Sanders' departure from the race should be on his terms, but it's almost certain it will be discussed today at the house Sanders wanted to be the next to reside in. Tonight, Sanders will hold a rally in Washington, DC. The Democrats there vote next week -- the very last voters to cast their ballots in this country. Hillary Clinton will be part of the discussion today, but she is off the trail. ABC’s ALEX MALLIN previews today’s meeting: http://abcn.ws/219UW9R
--ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: The sitting president of the United States, of course, has an outsized role in achieving party unity. But this president has something extra to offer now that his services are needed in this endeavor. Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders share something special: Both have run against Hillary Clinton, riding waves that crashed them into the establishment. Until now, the president has also resisted pleas to put a heavier thumb on the scale for Clinton, during a tense and often raucous primary season. He has particular credibility to broker peace now because Sanders is open to actually listening to his advice. Even a president can’t change the math, a fact that Sanders will have to acknowledge. But he can change the Democratic Party’s conversation to make sure it includes the views of the man who came way closer to the nomination than anyone could have honestly predicted.
--ALSO HAPPENING TODAY -- TRUMP SET TO HOST MAJOR DONOR GATHERING: Donald Trump will bring together a large number of campaign donors for a meeting today at Trump Tower. According to ABC’s JOHN SANTUCCI, the first-of-its-kind meeting, first reported by the New York Times, is another step forward for Trump as he builds out his operation for the general election. Sources within and close to the Trump campaign said the meeting would include members of Trump Victory, the joint coalition set up by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. http://abcn.ws/1TYVPmN
BEHIND THE SCENES -- DAVID MUIR SITS DOWN WITH HILLARY CLINTON ON HISTORIC NIGHT: THE MOMENT BEFORE CLINTON GAVE HER SPEECH IN BROOKLYN. When Hillary Clinton arrived Tuesday night at the Brooklyn Navy Yard's Duggal Greenhouse after clinching the Democratic nomination, her first glimpse of the celebratory crowd gave the former first lady chills. “Oh my gosh, look at this,” Clinton told ABC’s David Muir before their interview in a room perched above her screaming and dancing supporters. “So this is eight years ago to the day that you conceded and tonight you will go out there for a very different reason,” said Muir. “That’s right, that’s right. It’s almost hard to take in, it really is,” she answered. Before Clinton stepped on that stage to deliver her first speech as the nominee, Muir asked her whether the history of the moment was sinking in, ABC’s JOSH HASKELL writes. http://abcn.ws/1UF097K
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING -- WHY 'WEINER' DOCUMENTARY IS ALSO ABOUT TRUMP. Who knew a documentary on disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner would say so much about both parties' presumptive 2016 presidential nominees, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton? Elyse Steinberg and Josh Kriegman, the filmmakers behind the newly released Sundance award-winning documentary “Weiner,” were given unprecedented access to follow the scandal-plagued politician's failed shot at redemption during his 2013 campaign for New York mayor. ABC’s RICK KLEIN and ALI DUKAKIS got the inside scoop on how the duo's message is also aimed at Trump and what they think Huma Abedin, one of Hillary Clinton’s closest advisers and Weiner’s wife, hoped to gain from sharing such a candid look at her marriage. http://abcn.ws/1swxE2W
YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s PAOLA CHAVEZ and VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
RYAN URGES GOP UNITY BEHIND TRUMP. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, reaffirmed his support for Donald Trump in a closed-door meeting with House Republicans this morning, discussing his endorsement and comfort with Trump as the GOP nominee, according to officials who attended the meeting. “Speaker Ryan reconfirmed the detailed discussions that he's had with Mr. Trump, and he reconfirmed that he as Speaker...remains comfortable with Mr. Trump as our nominee,” Rep. Chris Collins, R-New York, told reporters, an account seconded by other members, ABC’s BENJAMIN SIEGEL reports. http://abcn.ws/1swhwys
WHAT BERNIE WANTS -- AND WHAT HE CAN OFFER. Without waiting for California’s crucial primary results to come in, Bernie Sanders said late Tuesday that he was nonetheless going to compete in the next primary, in Washington, D.C., and beyond. The news highlighted a potentially tumultuous time ahead for Democratic voters as Hillary Clinton, just hours before, celebrated a historic feat as the first woman to claim the mantle of presumptive Democratic nominee. Despite the public rhetoric and promises, it is clear that the Sanders campaign’s daily operations are changing dramatically and winding down. ABC’s MARYALICE PARKS and RICK KLEIN report senior advisers to lower-level staff members, many in the Sanders universe talked late Tuesday night as though it was an end of an era for them. http://abcn.ws/24zVfeZ
NOTED: SANDERS’ SOLE SENATE ENDORSER SAYS ‘WE HAVE OUR NOMINEE’. Bernie Sanders’ only Senate supporter, Sen. Jeff Merkley, said the Democratic Party now has made its choice, and as a result he is urging others to unite around that presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton. Merkley, of Oregon, said he believes Sanders will stay in the race until all Democratic voters have had a chance to make their preference known, which will happen after Washington D.C. holds its primary next Tuesday. “He didn't make that successful ascent although he came very close,” Merkley said of Sanders. ABC’s MARY BRUCE and ALI ROGIN have more. http://abcn.ws/1swrLCM
HOW CLINTON AND SANDERS BACKERS ARE TRYING TO COME TOGETHER ON PARTY PLATFORM. Democratic officials in Washington D.C. are huddling to begin the difficult work of bringing the party together, launching into a reconciliation process less than 24 hours after Bernie Sanders vowed to continue his campaign despite Clinton’s new status as the presumptive nominee. A panel of 15 party leaders and policy experts —- six chosen by the Clinton campaign, five from the Sanders campaign and four from party leadership -– has tried to woo Sanders supporters by scheduling multiple forums for discussion about the party’s platform, which Sanders backers are trying to push to the left over the coming weeks, ABC’s KATHERINE FAULDERS, NOAH FITZGEREL and RYAN STRUYK report. http://abcn.ws/25MZW7Q
WHAT’S BEHIND TRUMP’S BEGRUDGING USE OF TELEPROMPTERS? Donald Trump’s sweep of the five primaries Tuesday night came as no surprise, and even though he was in a celebratory mood, the night wasn't a total success. During his victory speech, he did something he is loath to do: use a teleprompter, ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY writes. The speech marked the fourth time in his presidential campaign that he has used teleprompters and the first at a primary-night speech. http://abcn.ws/1OdvHT8
WHAT CLINTON’S NOMINATION MEANS FOR WOMEN’S GROUPS. On Tuesday night in Brooklyn, not too far from where she launched her second presidential campaign a year ago, Clinton reached her arms up toward an actual glass ceiling and celebrated a historic feat: After a grueling primary season, Clinton became the first female presumptive presidential nominee of a major party in American history. But for groups pushing for more women to take part in and run for public office, Tuesday night was a historic moment that has been a long time in the making. And it could not have come at a more pivotal point in American politics, ABC’s MERIDITH MCGRAW writes. http://abcn.ws/1OdtV4d
NOTED: CLINTON’S NOMINATION COINCIDES WITH ANOTHER FEMALE POLITICIAN’S HISTORIC VICTORY. Hillary Clinton’s shattering this week of the highest, hardest glass ceiling in politics comes almost a century after another female politician celebrated a historic victory. In 1916, Montanan Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to Congress. Rankin, a Republican, found her calling in the women's suffrage movement before heading to Washington, ABC’s MARGARET CHADBOURN notes. http://abcn.ws/24AcpJB
WHO’S TWEETING?
@pkcapitol: Alternate reality: Speaker Cantor jousts with GOP nom Trump, opening path for W&M Chairman Ryan to run 3rd party. http://wapo.st/1U3j13l
@politico: .@ClaireMC: Todd Akin would be 'perfect' VP for @RealDonaldTrump: http://politi.co/1UibxIb
@amandacarpenter: If Clinton gets cleared, people will think Obama saved her. A special prosecutor is the most fair, just wait to resolve the issue.
@FirehouseStrat: .@OnBackground and @AlexConant will talk to @kilmeade at 9:20am today. Listen live here: http://bit.ly/1FDxMMp
@AJentleson: "it's surprising to see Grassley dismiss these vacancies as a 'manufactured crisis' undeserving of public attention" http://dmreg.co/25MfgRV