The Note: Trump dumps Paris accord and the world dumps on him
Trump announced the U.S. will withdraw from Paris accord.
— -- WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY
THE TAKE with ABC News' Rick Klein
For all the mind-blowingly profound implications of President Trump's decision on Paris, the president's own explanation is stunningly simple – and a window into the politics that powered him to office, and that sustain him still. "I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris," Trump declared in the midst of a celebratory Rose Garden scene. Who wants to take the other side of that argument? Yes, when we talk about global warming, the globe makes Pittsburgh and Paris neighbors. (The two cities' mayors both happen to disagree with the president.) Yes, support for the notion of an urgent need to combat climate change is growing in the United States, with demographic underpinnings that will make it harder for Republicans to deny over time. But what Democrat running for office in the United States wants to campaign on the bumper sticker of "Paris accords"? The president framed his argument without hesitation or equivocation, ignoring voices inside his own Cabinet and family urging a different direction. Against that Steve Bannon-designed backdrop, condemnations and mocking headlines from Germany and France won't do what a range of CEOs, Jared and Ivanka, and even the pope himself couldn't. To change this policy direction, the underlying politics have to change. It has to matter to voters in Pittsburgh and well beyond as an issue that's about U.S. interests, or "America first" will remain a powerful slogan for Trump to wield.
TRUMP TAKES TRAVEL BAN TO THE TOP
When it comes to his Muslim-ban-turned-travel-ban, Trump just moved all his chips to the center of the table. The president is asking the Supreme Court to step in, take the 9th Circuit's finger off the pause button and flip the 4th Circuit's ruling on its head. It's a tall ask, but there are no other options left for the new president, who has suffered blow after blow from courts across the country to his executive order banning travel from six majority-Muslim countries. A refusal to undo the stay, or worse for Trump, an eventual decision on the merits ruling the ban unconstitutional in the coming weeks, could be the knock-out punch to a promise he has touted for 18 months. But the nine justices who could soon hold the fate of one of the president's core promises in their hands -- including Neil Gorsuch -- are slated to head home at the end of the month. And more than half of the justices need to give a thumbs-up to hear the full case on the merits, ABC News' Ryan Struyk writes. President Trump has called. Will SCOTUS deliver for him?
SLEEPER STORY with ABC News' MaryAlice Parks
With salt in the wounds and sand in their eyes, Democrats' newly minted "unity commission" will meet for the second time in San Antonio, Texas today and Saturday. The group already had a tall order to, you know, rebuild the party from a pile of ashes after 2016, and that was before Hillary Clinton herself threw shade and insults this past week. The group (one-third appointed by Bernie Sanders, one-third picked by the Clinton campaign and one-third by former party folks) is set to discuss the accessibility of the primary process and ways to bring new voters into the fold. After Clinton's comments, it's likely data sharing and budgets will have to come up too. She called the DNC's data "nonexistent" (its former data guy literally turned back around and called "bullsh--" and said her team in Brooklyn ignored the hard numbers). Clinton also, surprisingly, accused the national organization of being "bankrupt," a comment that left plenty of state folks scratching their heads. They have said loudly and uniformly since the election that they were completely abandoned and bootstrapped, so that's a problem too.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris," President Trump from the Rose Garden Thursday announcing his decision on the Paris accord.
WHAT TO WATCH TODAY
EPA's Scott Pruitt joins Sean Spicer at the podium today for the press briefing.
NEED TO READ with ABC News' Adam Kelsey
Kellyanne Conway won't say whether the president believes global warming is a hoax. Kellyanne Conway declined to say on "Good Morning America" today whether Trump believes global warming is a hoax when pressed by ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. http://abcn.ws/2slNzCa
U.S. intel agencies formally ask DOJ to investigate Russia-related 'leaks.' Looking to stem the tide of bombshell news reports linking Russian operatives with associates of President Trump, U.S. intelligence agencies have taken the significant step of formally referring as many as six recent leaks to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. http://abcn.ws/2qGnWKV
Democratic senators asked the FBI to investigate Jeff Sessions for perjury. Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Al Franken, D-Minn., issued a statement alleging that Sessions "provided false testimony" regarding his interactions with Russian officials. http://abcn.ws/2rYZAjp
Trump breaks campaign promise by not moving US Embassy to Jerusalem. President Trump delayed the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, putting off delivery of a major campaign promise to supporters for the time being. http://abcn.ws/2ru4vbt
Could Comey testimony be blocked by executive privilege? President Trump could try to block James Comey from testifying about their conversations by asserting executive privilege, which is "the right of a president to withhold information from those with compulsory power -- including special counsels and congressional committees -- but only when it's in the public interest to do so," says Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. http://abcn.ws/2suNXNV
Will the climate be affected by the U.S. plan to pull out of the Paris Accord? In his announcement Thursday that the U.S. will leave the Paris Agreement, President Trump described the temperature difference estimated as a result of the deal as "tiny." But tiny numbers have a significant long term effect when it comes to the climate. http://abcn.ws/2rZO876
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