The Note: What Scott Walker Said About Iran, Same Sex Marriage and More
— -- NOTABLES
--SCOTT WALKER CHALLENGES PRESIDENT OBAMA TO GAME OF CARDS ON IRAN: Republican presidential candidate and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is sharply critical of the Iran deal and says he'd like to challenge President Obama to a game of cards on the issue. "I'd love to play cards with the president on this issue," Walker told ABC's DAVID MUIR in an exclusive interview, "because it seems to me that every time he folds on the things that are important to us, the reality is that I'd be willing to negotiate with Iran if they were willing to do things like fully dismantle their illicit nuclear infrastructure." Though Walker says he is not opposed to negotiating with Iran under the right terms, which he said should include Iran first recognizing Israel as a legitimate state, he believes that the Obama's administration's handling of the negotiations has given "new life" to Iran through the easing of some sanctions -- calling the negotiations one of the biggest failures of the "Obama-Clinton doctrine." http://abcn.ws/1eXHpA9
--WALKER OPPOSES GAY MARRIAGE, BUT SUPPORTS SAME-SEX COUPLE IN HIS OWN FAMILY: When it comes to same-sex marriage, Scott Walker's politics and his heart don't always agree, ABC's JORDYN PHELPS notes. Though he is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage -- and recently called for a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court's decision ruling same sex unions legal in all 50 states -- he told ABC's DAVID MUIR during an exclusive interview that he does support a married same-sex couple within his own family. "I love them, so I support them," Walker said of his wife Tonette's cousin and her partner. "Love's gonna be the focus of everything we do with our family and our close friends," Walker told Muir while seated beside his wife and two sons, who support same-sex marriage, for an interview at the governor's mansion in Madison, Wisconsin. http://abcn.ws/1Ty1iwZ
--WALKER'S SONS AND WIFE DISH ABOUT HIS MOST EMBARRASSING HABITS: He wants to be the most powerful person in the world, but can you really be commander-in-chief and wear jean shorts? Scott Walker thinks he can, though his sons wish he wouldn't, ABC'S JORDYN PHELPS notes. When ABC's DAVID MUIR asked Walker's 19-year-old son, Alex, to tell America one thing people don't know about his 47-year-old dad, he pointed to his dad's sense of style -- an endless source of embarrassment to himself and his older brother. "He still wears jean shorts and embarrasses Matt and I quite a bit -- a lot," Alex Walker said, turning to his brother for agreement. For Scott Walker's wife, Tonette, there's perhaps no quicker way that her husband could embarrass her on the campaign trail than to sing. http://abcn.ws/1HZgyix
IT'S A DEAL: IRAN AGREES TO HALT NUCLEAR PROGRAM. U.S. led negotiations between Iran and six world powers have concluded with a final, historic agreement that will temporarily cut off Iran's pathway to making a nuclear bomb in exchange for the relief of crippling economic sanctions levied by the U.S. and United Nations, ABC's JUSTIN FISHEL and MOLLY HUNTER report. Iran has agreed to significantly reduce its stockpile of enriched nuclear material and cease further enrichment, effectively extending the time it would take Iran to build a bomb from a few months to one year, over to 10 years. Upon verification that Iran is keeping its commitments to dismantle much of its nuclear program, major economic sanctions will be lifted, effectively releasing more than $100 billion in frozen Iranian assets. MORE DETAILS OF THE DEAL: http://abcn.ws/1CBt2g3
--WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE IS SAYING: President Obama made a televised address to the nation from the East Room of the White House this morning. "This deal is not built on trust," Obama said. "It is built on verification." Obama said the only other way to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is with the use of military force. "Consider what happens in a world without this deal," he said.
--WHAT ISRAEL IS SAYING: Reaction from Iran's sworn enemy, Israel, has been swift and strong. Even before the formal announcement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that the agreement is an "historic mistake." His office released a statement accusing the US and the other powers of making "far-reaching concessions," saying that "Iran will receive hundreds of billions of dollars with which it can fuel its terror machine."
THE BUZZ
HILLARY CLINTON TO DONALD TRUMP: 'BASTA! ENOUGH!' Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton slammed Donald Trump yesterday over immigration in a passionate address to an influential Hispanic advocacy organization, ABC's RYAN STRUYK. "I have just one word for Mr. Trump: Basta! Enough!" she said, referencing comments about Mexican immigrants from the Republican candidate's announcement speech. "It was appalling to hear Donald Trump describe immigrants as drug dealers, criminals and rapists," she said to the National Council of La Raza. "When people and business everywhere rejected his hateful comments, did he apologize? No. He doubled down. It is shameful and no one should stand for it." http://abcn.ws/1CCGwb2 VINE: https://vine.co/v/evE3BIjHvTv
CLINTON ATTACKS SCOTT WALKER, JEB BUSH AND MARCO RUBIO IN ECONOMIC POLICY SPEECH. Hillary Clinton wants you to know her economic policy will be nothing like those proposed by the GOP. While delivering her first major economic policy speech of her campaign on Monday, Clinton called out Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker by name to contrast her policies -- focused on strengthening the middle class and increasing wages -- against those of her front-running Republican rivals, ABC's LIZ KREUTZ reports. In her remarks, delivered at the New School in downtown Manhattan, Clinton first took aim at former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for his recent comment that "people need to work longer hours." (A remark Bush's campaign said was about unemployment.) "You may have heard Governor Bush say last week that Americans just need to work longer hours. Well, he must not have met very many American workers," the democratic presidential candidate said. Clinton then went after Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, calling his tax reform plan a "sure budget busting giveaway for the super wealthy." And lastly, Clinton went after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker -- who entered the presidential race Monday -- for his "mean-spirited, misguided attacks" against workers. "Republican governors like Scott Walker have made their names by stomping on workers' rights," she said. http://abcn.ws/1HXXsLF
NOTED: CARLY FIORINA SAYS CLINTON HAS 'BLOOD ON HER HANDS'. In an interview on Fox News last night, presidential candidate Carly Fiorina accused Hillary Clinton of having blood on her hands when it comes to the Benghazi deaths, ABC's KATHERINE FAULDERS notes. "Do you remember -- we now know on the night of September 11th, the State Department, the White House knew this was a pre-planned terrorist attack. two days later, Hillary Clinton stands over the bodies of the fallen and talks about a video. Susan Rice goes on television and says it's a video, it's a demonstration. Hillary Clinton later denies that she had anything to do with those talking points. False. She never revealed a private server in her basement until it was discovered," Fiorina told Fox's Megyn Kelly. "And then, when it was discovered, she wipes it clean nearly two years after she leaves the department of State. Megyn, I now think we now have enough information to understand that Hillary Clinton as secretary of state has engaged in gross dereliction of duty. She has engaged in a cover-up, and she has blood on her hands."
DONALD TRUMP ASKS FBI TO INVESTIGATE EL CHAPO RELATED THREAT. Presidential candidate Donald Trump has asked the FBI to look into a threatening tweet he received in the wake of a post on the social network he wrote about Mexican drug lord El Chapo, who recently escaped from prison, ABC News has learned. Sources tell ABC News Trump contacted the FBI's Office in Manhattan on Monday. The tweet from user @ElChap0Guzman, originally in Spanish, reads: "Keep [expletive] around and I'm gonna make you swallow your [expletive] words..." It was not clear who owns the account. Trump has been tweeting about El Chapo's escape to bolster his claims on immigration and border security. "I'm fighting for much more than myself," Trump said in a statement Monday. "I'm fighting for the future of our country which is being overrun by criminals. You can't be intimidated. This is too important." A massive manhunt is currently under way for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who escaped over the weekend from a maximum security prison in Mexico, ABC's JOHN SANTUCCI reports. http://abcn.ws/1K4nbzt
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
WHY PRESIDENT OBAMA FREED 46 DRUG OFFENDERS. President Obama granted commutations of sentences for 46 drug offenders Monday, saying "their punishments did not fit the crime," according to ABC's ARLETTE SAENZ. "I'm commuting the sentences of 46 prisoners who were convicted many years or, in some cases, decades ago. These men and women were not hardened criminals, but the overwhelming majority had been sentenced to at least 20 years. Fourteen of them had been sentence to life for non-violent drug offenses," the president said in a video. "Their punishments did not fit the crime and if they were sentenced under today's laws, nearly all of them would have already served their time. "America's a nation of second chances, and I believe these folks deserve their second chance," he said. The 46 individuals receiving commutations faced non-violent, drug-related charges, including intent to distribute cocaine. While their sentences have been commuted, the drug convictions themselves will stand. The president wrote a personal letter to each of the individuals whose sentences were commuted Monday. http://abcn.ws/1HYeOYT
WHO'S TWEETING?
@DannyLopezDiaz: Governor Bush on President Obama's appeasement of Iran: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki_hh-9FTyw …
@ssavett: .@MartinOMalley: Donald Trump a 'hate-spewing character' http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/martin-omalley-donald-trump-hate-spewing-character-120039.html...via @gdebenedetti
@GovMikeHuckabee: Shame on the Obama admin for agreeing to a deal that empowers an evil Iranian regime to carry out its threat to "wipe Israel off the map."
@tackettdc: Bob Corker, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman, skeptical of Iran nuclear deal. Live Updates http://www.nytimes.com/live/iran-nuclear-deal-live-updates/bob-corker-senate-foreign-relations-chair-is-skeptical...
@mkraju: Cruz writes that Rand undermined his 21-hour Obamacare speech. But Rand tells me Cruz wrote him a thank-you note. http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/ted-cruz-2016-book-gop-senator-challenge-120067.html...