

**Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.**



On the roster: Buttigieg struggles with racial unrest in South Bend - Time Out: ‘You simply must meet Thomas, Thomas’ - Border bill showdown ahead - Audible: Ouch… - They thought they were pretty slick



BUTTIGIEG STRUGGLES WITH RACIAL UNREST IN SOUTH BEND

Fox News: “A town hall featuring South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg devolved into chaos Sunday as the city struggled to respond to a deadly police-involved shooting last week. In his opening remarks, the 37-year-old Buttigieg, a Democrat and candidate for president, said he would send a letter to the Justice Department requesting that its civil rights division look into the June 16 shooting of 54-year-old Eric Logan, who was black. The mayor added that he would notify the local prosecutor that he'd like an independent investigator appointed. Buttigieg also admitted that the city's efforts to recruit more minority police officers and require officers to use body cameras ‘have not succeeded and I accept responsibility for that.’ Prosecutors said the shooting of Logan was not recorded by Sgt. Ryan O'Neill's body camera.”



Biden seeks atonement with Reverend Al - NYT: “Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Saturday sought to tamp down anger over his praise for the bygone civility of a Senate that included notorious segregationists, stopping just short of an apology while asserting that his reference to never being called ‘boy’ by one of the senators was not racial in nature. Appearing on the Rev. Al Sharpton’s MSNBC program after addressing the South Carolina Democratic convention, Mr. Biden said he grasped why some may have taken offense to his reference but ‘to the extent that anybody thought that I meant something different, that is not what I intended.’ He added: ‘I do understand the consequence of the word ‘boy.’ But it wasn’t said in any of that context at all.’ … But in his interview with Mr. Sharpton, with whom he has a warm relationship, Mr. Biden explained that the term was meant as a pejorative against him because he was only in his 30s when he served with Mr. Eastland, the longtime chair of the Judiciary Committee.”



John Ellis: How the political press will pick the Democratic nominee - Boston Globe: “Democratic primary voters and caucus-attendees are of two minds about the 2020 presidential general election campaign. A majority of them want it to be like one of those hockey games where the players drop their gloves and start fighting the moment the puck is dropped. They want a candidate who welcomes a bench-clearing brawl with President Trump. And they want the melee to be about something big: an explicit and unapologetic liberal agenda, devoid of global-oney and neoliberal trims. At the same time, a greater majority of Democratic voters simply want to beat Trump and worry about the rest later. Anything that might endanger his defeat is therefore disqualifying. Whatever general-election voters in the key states need to hear to vote against Trump, that’s the Democratic platform. … Enter the polls. Polls are the MRIs of ‘electability’ and provide pseudo-scientific precision to forecasting future outcomes. They enable TV talking heads to winnow candidates out and, to paraphrase the late Senator Fred Harris, ‘winnow candidates in.’”



Bernie pitches free money for existing student loans - Roll Call: “Sen. Bernie Sanders will introduce legislation Monday to zero out student debt for millions of borrowers. The proposal — the College For All Act — would relieve the debt of all borrowers and would be paid for by a series of taxes on Wall Street, The Associated Press reported. The Vermont senator’s bill follows a signature proposal unveiled by rival presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren in April to forgive $50,000 of debt for every household with incomes less than $100,000 a year, and thousands in debt for households with incomes less than $250,000. The Massachusetts senator would finance debt relief with a tax on the wealth of multi-millionaires. Sanders’ plan would tax the buying and selling of stocks, bonds and derivatives — which he has argued has the added bonus of reducing speculative trading. … The Sanders plan reaches 45 million people and cancels 100 percent of student loans; the Warren plan reaches 42 million people, 95 percent of borrowers, and cancels 75 percent of student loans.”



Beto bags big brain - Politico: “Beto O’Rourke was pummeled for his relatively light policy footprint when he first entered the presidential race. But over the past two months, the former Texas congressman has released a raft of extensive proposals on issues ranging from climate change and immigration to voting rights and government reform. Now, O’Rourke has hired a former Obama administration official and policy executive at the left-leaning Center for American Progress to oversee his campaign’s expanding policy arm. Carmel Martin, a former assistant secretary for policy and budget at the Department of Education, has joined O’Rourke’s campaign as his national policy director, an O’Rourke adviser confirmed to POLITICO. Her hiring is a boon to O’Rourke, who is seeking to regain his footing in the Democratic primary.”



Welp… - Politico: “Joe Sestak, a retired three-star Navy admiral and former two-term congressman from Pennsylvania, on Sunday became the latest Democratic contender to announce a bid for the presidency. Sestak, in a video released on his campaign website, drew heavily on his naval career… Sestak said two of his ‘primary objectives’ were ‘putting a brake on climate change and putting an end to an illiberal world order’s injustices, from China’s control of the 5G network to Russian interference in democratic elections.’ On his website, Sestak also released a number of policy plans on health care, jobs and economic protections, climate change and environmental protections, and other key issues.”



THE RULEBOOK: OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND

“A government continually at a distance and out of sight can hardly be expected to interest the sensations of the people.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 27



TIME OUT: ‘YOU SIMPLY MUST MEET THOMAS, THOMAS’

WSJ: “It’s a hard time to be a Founding Father if your name isn’t Alexander Hamilton. The runaway Broadway success of ‘Hamilton: An American Musical’ has meant that Thomas Jefferson isn’t even the sole attraction in his own home-turned-museum, Monticello. Visitors can take a standard house tour—or a $40 ‘Hamilton Takeover’ one that focuses on Jefferson’s political adversary. Long after its 2015 Broadway debut, ‘Hamilton’ continues to make the Revolutionary period hip, and to the dismay of many history buffs, steal the limelight from other Founding Fathers. Fans of the other giants of early American history have been trying to fight the tide and grab some attention for their overlooked favorites. It hasn’t been easy. On a recent afternoon, Monticello tour guide Carrie Soubra stopped in the library of Jefferson’s sunlit private suite to try to shore up the former president’s reputation, taking a dig at Hamilton along the way. Yes, the musical portrays Jefferson as a self-absorbed patrician, she said, but he trusted the voice of the people more than his rival did.”



Flag on the play? - Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.



SCOREBOARD

Trump job performance

Average approval: 44.5 percent

Average disapproval: 52 percent

Net Score: -7.4 points

Change from one week ago: up 1.4 points

[Average includes: Monmouth University: 42% approve - 51% disapprove; USA Today/Suffolk: 49% approve - 48% disapprove; Fox News: 45% approve - 53% disapprove; NBC/WSJ: 44% approve - 53% disapprove; Gallup: 43% approve - 55% disapprove.]



WANT MORE HALFTIME REPORT?

You can join Chris and Brianna every day on Fox Nation. Go behind-the-scenes of your favorite political note as they go through the must-read headlines of the day right from their office – with plenty of personality. Click here to sign up and watch!



BORDER BILL SHOWDOWN AHEAD

The Hill: “The House and Senate are set to take up competing bills this week that would provide President Trump more than $4.5 billion in new funding tied to the U.S.-Mexico border. The looming clash comes as Congress is expected to leave town at the end of the week for the July 4th recess, making it unlikely they’ll resolve the standoff over the bills before the break absent an 11th hour agreement. The House and Senate bills both provide the administration with more than $4.5 billion, including new money to help shore up a Health and Human Services (HHS) unaccompanied children program set to run out of money. But they split over the details, including money for the Pentagon, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Lawmakers had hoped to get a bill to Trump’s desk before leaving for the break, after the funding was yanked out of the disaster aid package because of a disagreement over immigration-related provisions.”



Biden says ‘Dreamers’ should be citizens - AP: “Weighing in on immigration before first Democratic debates, Joe Biden is proposing that Congress grant immediate citizenship to more than 800,000 U.S. residents who were brought to the country illegally as children. The former vice president and Democratic polling leader introduced some of his immigration priorities Monday in a newspaper op-ed that blisters President Donald Trump for an ‘assault on the dignity’ of the Latino community through policies and rhetoric designed to ‘scare voters’ in 2020. … Biden, who launched his 2020 campaign in April, calls for streamlining the asylum system for migrants and spending more on electronic security at borders instead of building Trump’s proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall. And he blasts Trump’s latest threats of mass deportation and his decision to cut aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, three Central American nations that are sources of the increasing wave of migrants to the U.S. border.”



PLAY-BY-PLAY

Harris looks ahead to Nevada - Las Vegas Review Journal



House Oversight to vote to subpoena Kellyanne Conway - Politico



Kushner’s answer to Dems’ online juggernaut is ready to deploy - Politico



AUDIBLE: OUCH…

“Pete has a black problem. I don’t know of one black person out of Indiana that supports him.” – Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, talking about South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg with The Daily Beast.



FROM THE BLEACHERS

“Interesting question for you, Chris… Take the supposition that Lincoln had gone the other direction, and West Virginians had not been granted statehood. Play that forward to the Presidential elections of the last 20 years, what kind of difference would it have made, if any, in the Electoral College? Just curious.” – Dave Kovatch, Rhodelia, Ky.



[Ed. note: Now that is my kind of alternative history, Mr. Kovatch! I suppose the largest political effect would have been that Virginia, especially in the first half of the 20th Century would have been dramatically less Democratic and less Southern in attitude. Charleston, Wheeling and Parkersburg would have been among the unified commonwealth’s largest cities in 1940. However, by then, both states were on the same page when it came to presidential elections. Franklin Roosevelt was quite popular on both sides of the Alleghenies. The schism would have kicked in after 1964 when Virginia followed its former confederates into the Republican Party while Mountaineers stayed true blue for another 40 years. By 2008, though, West Virginia had returned to its Republican roots and Virginia had gone home to Mr. Jefferson’s party. If the 55 western counties were still voting with their 95 eastern counterparts it would probably be enough to make Virginia still a Republican-leaning swing state. Taken together, the two Virginias would have gone for Donald Trump by two points thanks to his astonishingly lopsided victory in the west. Then again, with 16 electoral votes – as many as Georgia and Michigan – a unified Virginia would attract even more attention and Democrats would presumably pay special attention. Whatever the case, I’m grateful each day that President Lincoln did right by West Virginia. Mountaineers should always be free.]



Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.



THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE PRETTY SLICK

Fox News: “A band of 21 conspirators stole $3.9 million worth of used of cooking oil, known as ‘yellow grease,’ from restaurants in three states and transported it across the country, according to a federal indictment unsealed in North Carolina on Thursday. The thieves targeted multiple eateries in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia over five years. They pumped the oil from restaurant storage tanks into trucks and sold it. … Used cooking oil has become a valuable commodity for biodiesel companies. The oil rendering industry loses between $45 million and $75 million to oil theft each year, U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon Jr. said in the release. A 100-pound load of ‘yellow grease’ is estimated to be worth around $25, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.”



AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…

“Let’s recognize that there are many people of good will for whom ‘Washington Redskins’ contains sentimental and historical attachment — and not an ounce of intended animus. So let’s turn down the temperature.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Washington Post on Oct. 17, 2013.



Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.