The Trail 2016: Berning embers

by TheHill.com - 06/23/16 5:38 PM ET

Welcome to THE TRAIL 2016, your daily rundown from The Hill on all the latest news in the White House, Senate and House races.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were largely off the grid on Thursday, making it a prime opportunity for Bernie Sanders to remind the political world that he’s still on the scene.

It’s a strange interim period for Sanders, who acknowledged this week that Clinton will in all likelihood be the Democratic presidential nominee — even as he refuses to leave the race and throw his support behind her.

Sanders’s return return to Capitol Hill has been awkward. His colleagues are struggling with how to deal with a senator who began last year as an outsider with little influence and now returns with cult status and a national profile.

Sanders is following through on his promise to push to reform the Democratic Party – even though some Democrats are irked that a senator who only joined the party to run for president is making such strong demands.

In an op-ed on Thursday in the Washington Post, Sanders laid out the changes he hopes to see in the party’s platform at the convention next month. His supporters, meanwhile, are plotting how to rid the Democratic primary of superdelegates.

Still, Sanders is signaling that at some point, he intends to work to bring the party together in their shared opposition to Trump. In an address to a major Latino group on Thursday, Sanders vowed to do everything he can to ensure that Trump doesn’t win the White House.

Sanders continues the media blitz on Thursday night, first with an address to supporters in New York City called “Where We Go From Here,” and later in an appearance on the “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” On Friday, he’ll hold another “Where We Go From Here” rally in Albany, N.Y.

Check back at The Hill tonight to find out what Sanders said in his address and for reaction from Democrats.

And be sure to read Alex Bolton’s report on how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell worked to protect his party’s vulnerable senators in the heated gun control debate. Then come back for more stories tonight, tomorrow and over the weekend, including one on Hillary Clinton’s spiritual life.

RACE TO 1600 PENN

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES PART I: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports: Republicans are wondering why Donald Trump is leaving the campaign trail to open new golf courses and a hotel in Scotland.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES PART II: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: CNN has snapped up recently fired Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Trump slammed the network just hours after they announced the hire.

IMMIGRATION: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar and Jesse Byrnes report: Hillary Clinton joined President Obama in denouncing the Supreme Court’s deadlock, which blocks the White House’s immigration actions. Donald Trump praised the ruling, saying it blocked “executive amnesty” for now.

HELP FROM MY FRIENDS: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: President Obama is campaigning for Hillary Clinton over email.

POOR TASTE: The Hill’s Julian Hattem reports: A senior aide to the-secretary of State Hillary Clinton once joked about a donor’s appointment to an intelligence board.

ODDS AND ENDS

MEDIA WARS: The Hill’s David McCabe reports: Facebook is training its employees to deal with their political biases after the company was accused of burying political stories favorable for conservatives.

PAC WARS PART I: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports: A super-PAC supporting Hillary Clinton is making the case that Donald Trump is “full of hate.”

PAC WARS PART II: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: A super-PAC supporting Donald Trump compared Bill Clinton to Bill Cosby.

ANGLING FOR BUSINESS SUPPORT: The Hill’s Harper Neidig reports: Hillary Clinton is touting a bipartisan group of corporate leaders who support her over businessman Donald Trump.

POLL POSITION

VEEPSTAKES PART I: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: Bernie Sanders would give Hillary Clinton the biggest bump as her vice presidential pick, while Marco Rubio would do the same for Donald Trump a new poll finds.

RED STATE TROUBLES: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump in Arizona, where a Democratic presidential candidate has won only once in the last 64 years.

SWING STATE: The Hill’s Jessie Hellmann reports: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are running neck-and-neck in North Carolina, the lone battleground state Mitt Romney carried in 2012.

SPLIT: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Most voters think the Republican Party will remain divided through the general election in November.

THE DAILY TRUMP

VEEPSTAKES PART II: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Donald Trump said Thursday that Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are ‘high on the list for something.’

FROM THE WHITE HOUSE: The Hill’s Harper Neidig reports: President Obama says Donald Trump isn’t nearly the businessman he thinks he is.

WORK IN PROGRESS: The Hill’s Paulina Firozi reports: After a false start, Donald Trump’s campaign is up with LyingCrookedHillary.com.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Susan Collins for vice president. It would be nice. That would bring the country together. That’s a bipartisan ticket.”

— The View co-host Joy Behar urging Democrat Hillary Clinton to tap Republican Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) as her running mate.

CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS

MOVING TOWARD UNITY: The Hill’s Mike Lillis and Cristina Marcos report: Hillary Clinton is vowing to launch a 50-state strategy and coordinate closely with congressional Democrats as they seek to gain House and Senate seats in November.

N.C. SENATE: The Hill’s Lisa Hagen reports: Incumbent Republican Sen. Richard Burr has only a narrow lead over Democratic challenger Deborah Ross in the Tarheel State.

GOING IT ALONE: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports: Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who might be the most vulnerable Republican up for reelection, highlighted the points where he breaks with Donald Trump in a new campaign ad.

FLORIDA HEAT: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Rep. Patrick Murphy’s campaign is furiously pushing back against a damaging report that claims he wildly overstated his qualifications.

MONEY WATCH

DEBT FORGIVENESS: The Hill’s Jonathan Swan reports: Donald Trump says he has “extinguished” more than $50 million in loans he made to his campaign, fulfilling the pledge he made to self-fund in the primary.

WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR TODAY, TOMORROW AND THE WEEKEND:

(All times Eastern)

Bernie Sanders will give a speech called “Where We Go From Here” at 7 p.m. in New York City. He will appear on “Late Night with Stephen Colbert” on CBS at 11:35 p.m. On Friday morning, Sanders will appear on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. He will hold another “Where We Go From Here” rally on Friday at 1 p.m. in Albany, and later campaign for Eric Kingson in the 24th Congressional District primary. Doors open at 4 p.m.

Donald Trump will hold a press conference in Turnberry, Scotland, at 3 p.m. on Friday. He will take part in a ceremonial ribbon cutting on his new golf courses and hotel at Trump Turnberry at 4 p.m., followed by a photo op at the Turnberry Lighthouse. He will return to New York on Saturday.

Hillary Clinton will address the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis, Ind., on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. On Monday, Clinton will campaign in Ohio with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Bill Clinton will host a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in Chicago on Friday.

TWEET OF THE DAY