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06/07/2016 08:11 AM EDT


By Heather Caygle (hcaygle@politico.com or @heatherscope)

With an assist from Seung Min Kim

UNITY TRAIN DERAILS BEFORE IT LEAVES STATION: Well, that was fast. Just weeks after Republicans called for unity around nominee Donald Trump, GOP lawmakers are trying to distance themselves as fast as they can from his latest controversy. But that can be a tricky thing to do since most have pledged to support Trump come November.

Burgess and Seung Min canvassed the Capitol to see how Trump's controversial comments questioning a judge's abilities based on his ethnicity are playing: "In the first major test of relations with Capitol Hill Republicans since Trump became the party's nominee, his attacks on federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel are sapping any goodwill he had accumulated in private meetings and phone calls with congressional Republicans."

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who's in a tough race of her own in New Hampshire, is a prime example of the bind many GOP lawmakers find themselves in: "I felt that his comments were wrong and offensive, and I've urged him to retract them," Ayotte said. But: "I've said he's our nominee; I plan to vote for him, but I'm not endorsing," she added. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f2285adb1b8696dbdb03455005ce960695c9c3932bbbab9ae2c6cfe771c301f

TRUMP GETS SASSED: While most GOP lawmakers are reluctant to outright dismiss Trump, one of his most ardent opponents, Sen. Ben Sasse, isn't giving up, even tweeting yesterday that Trump's latest remarks are "the literal definition of 'racism.'" But while his casual twitter style may appeal to followers, the Nebraska Republican's antics may not be sitting so well with his GOP colleagues and some folks back in the home state.

"It's forced and somewhat contrived for somebody who doesn't have much to show," said David Kramer, a former Nebraska GOP chairman, in a Sasse profile out this morning from Burgess and Seung Min.

Let's talk cow placenta: The Seung Min-Burgess dive goes much deeper than Sasse's "never Trump" stance, even bringing us a little ditty about life in the country: "During the interview, Sasse was the most animated when he recounted his 14-year-old daughter Corrie's one-month stint working on a farm, where she helped deliver more than 200 baby calves. It prompted Sasse to tweet to his 47,000 followers about fresh cow placenta."

Read their can't-miss story: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f2285adb1b8696dfe9173db13ba62d959e835ad3f6221d0d9fa45582fea764e

RYAN ROLLS OUT ANTI-POVERTY PLATFORM: House Speaker Paul Ryan and crew are heading east of the Anacostia River this morning to unveil the first of several policy platforms he'll be rolling out in the coming weeks as part of a new GOP agenda. But John Bresnahan got an early look at the plan and found the proposal has a lot of familiar GOP ideas in shiny new packaging.

More from Bres: "House Republicans call for the use of more 'public-private partnerships' to fight poverty, better technology, and vastly improved metrics in measuring the effectiveness of federal programs, as well as more oversight by Congress into the hundreds of billions of dollars funneled to low-income Americans annually."

"Some of the language in the GOP report would likely win support from progressive groups, if they looked past the Republican policy recommendations. ... Yet House Republicans are also using their new anti-poverty plan to push proposals they know get little - if any - support from Democrats and the Obama administration, or presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton if she wins the White House." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f2285adb1b8696df9c8d4f40a05a038a57e26198a282eb1b47f89065f424690

WELCOME TO TUESDAY, June 7. Good morning and thanks for reading POLITICO's Huddle, your go-to tipsheet on all things Capitol Hill.

Your Huddle host has yet to score tickets to see Hamilton (a girl can dream!) but I can appreciate a good play on words. Hats off to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, which named its new baby camel "Alexander Camelton" after the country's first treasury secretary. Pic: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f2285adb1b8696dc44f4ac1e1db04cf09c9cacd51d667381216308397242f40

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate gavels in at 10 a.m. to continue work on the defense authorization bill with a break for weekly party lunches at 12:30 p.m. The House meets at 12 p.m. with votes on several noncontroversial bills postponed until 6:30 p.m.

AROUND THE HILL - At 10 a.m. Sen. Dick Durbin and colleagues will discuss medical research funding in the defense bill in S-115 in the Capitol. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer holds his weekly pen and pad at 11:15 a.m. in H-144 in the Capitol.

And for all you TMZ wannabees, actress Helen Mirren will be testifying about efforts to return stolen art to Holocaust victims during a 1 p.m. Senate hearing in 106 Dirksen. Mirren stared in a movie about the issue, Woman in Gold, last year.

OFF THE HILL - Speaker Ryan unveils the first tenant of his GOP policy agenda, an anti-poverty platform, at House of Hope City of Help in Southeast D.C. at 9:00 a.m. Hoyer, Sen. Sherrod Brown and Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Gwen Moore will hold their own anti-poverty event at the Center for American Progress starting at 9:30 a.m. Livestream here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f2285adb1b8696d3c7b06f8de9dd185af4309f66c1800b89ad24afc0310141b


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THE LONE HOLDOUT NO MORE: Hours after the AP announced Hillary Clinton had locked up the Democratic nomination, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is finally ready to endorse Clinton for president. "I'm a voter in California and I have voted for Hillary Clinton for president of the United States and proud to endorse her for that position," she told Good Morning America today as voters in her home state head to the polls. Pelosi was one the last major Democrats who had yet to endorse Clinton. Watch her on GMA: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f2285adb1b8696d1094a33b25578fdbbd9539886437371601183a7a6ee29a62

TESTER TALKS TWO-WOMEN TICKET, isn't so sure it works -- Voters may be on the verge of electing the first female president but would they be on board with an all-women ticket if Elizabeth Warren joined Hillary Clinton as her VP pick? Well, the verdict is out, at least if you ask Sen. Jon Tester. "Is the country ready for two women? I don't know, you know? I don't know," Tester, who chairs the DSCC, told reporter Todd Zwillich in response to Warren running mate rumors.

SOMEBODY'S GOING DOWN TODAY: Despite all the crazy twists and turns this election has entailed, it's kind of amazing to think not one GOP incumbent has lost. But that's all going to change after today as North Carolina GOP Reps. Renee Ellmers and George Holding face off in for the chance to represent the state's redrawn 2nd district.

"Now, Trump is putting his own name on the line in another campaign after recording a late robocall to help GOP Rep. Renee Ellmers in her primary - and his first House endorsement could hardly have come at a better time for Ellmers," write Elena Schneider and Scott Bland.

And over on the West Coast: Two Democrats could be the final two candidates standing in the race to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer come November. "All California candidates run in the same primary regardless of party, and the top two advance to the general election. State Attorney General Kamala Harris has led every poll since she joined the race ...

"But increased Democratic turnout because of the race between Hillary Clinton and Sanders, depressed Republican turnout because Trump already locked up the nomination, an energized Latino electorate, and a state Republican Party that failed to identify and coalesce around a single main contender for the seat have all combined to boost Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez into a comfortable second place in every poll, too." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f2285adb1b8696d079c657548ad5c24a519de6680d96858b30655f03f92abf1

A PERSONAL VENDETTA? President Obama's nominee to be the ambassador to the Bahamas, Cassandra Butts, died while waiting to be confirmed by the Senate. And in the meantime, it seems Sen. Tom Cotton held her nomination up out of dislike for the president.

Frank Bruni on his conversation with Butts before she died: "She told me that she once went to see [Cotton] about it, and he explained that he knew that she was a close friend of Obama's - the two first encountered each other on a line for financial-aid forms at Harvard Law School, where they were classmates - and that blocking her was a way to inflict special pain on the president."

"When Butts died on May 25 - she had acute leukemia, but didn't know it and hadn't felt ill until just beforehand - the Bahamas had gone without an ambassador for 1,647 days." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f2285adb1b8696d5fffce41a5786e2a4de6cf48e6e1ece3ba4792ce001b2b67

FARM REPORT: Because Huddle can never get enough congressional baseball news, Alex Gangitano brings us this little write up about why lawmakers participate in the goodwill game year after year, even with those early morning practices: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f2285adb1b8696d25f13850c3c6a8afb769fbfcb6e4f7702b63d5cd08d3beff

THE NUMBERS DON'T ADD UP: Turns out all those years Rep. Patrick Murphy claimed to work as a CPA-a job he touted as a handy skill to rein in government spending- don't exactly add up. And now the flub, the latest in a series of padded resume claims, could hurt him as he vies for Marco Rubio's Senate seat.

More from Daniel Ducassi: "Though he said he 'spent several years' as a CPA for the firm, and his 2012 campaign website said he 'joined the respected accounting firm of Deloitte and Touche as a CPA' after he graduated, he had his CPA license for about nine months while he worked for the firm at its Miami office, according to Murphy's Colorado CPA licensure records and his LinkedIn profile."

Mums the word: Turns out Murphy's campaign wasn't so keen on commenting: "The Murphy campaign took more than 48 hours to provide an on-the-record statement that did not answer any of the questions POLITICO Florida asked." Read it: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f2285adb1b8696d0cd7b14077fb3aaca0b28c6a74593607175ebec864c0def6

MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Casey Becker was the first to answer that George McGovern was the last Democrat to secure his party's nomination as a result of the California primary in 1972.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - I'll take today's question. Who was Speaker of the House when lawmakers first used the chamber they're in today, where did he die (hint: it was overseas) and why was he there? The first person to correctly answer will get a mention in tomorrow's Huddle. Email me: hcaygle@politico.com

HELP ME HELP YOU -- Know any hot gossip, scoops, tips or transitions happening on the Hill? Send 'em my way hcaygle@politico.com or @heatherscope.

GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f2285adb1b8696d0f16c7af4ad89cce0c7f61e891e94375deed9be0b551bf1f

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