(Bloomberg) -- Representative Jim Clyburn said the Minneapolis protests may have doomed Senator Amy Klobuchar’s chances of being Joe Biden’s running mate.
The South Carolina Democrat said Klobuchar’s past as head prosecutor in Hennepin County, where Minneapolis is located, could be a liability. “We are all victims sometimes of timing,” he said. “This is very tough timing for Amy Klobuchar.”
Minneapolis has been wracked by sometimes violent protests since the death on Monday of a black man in police custody. Biden on Friday denounced the unjust treatment of African Americans and assailed President Donald Trump’s leadership on questions of race.
During her presidential campaign, Klobuchar faced criticism from Black Lives Matter Twin Cities and other groups over her record as a prosecutor, particularly a case involving a black teenager who may have been wrongly convicted.
Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, helped Biden clinch the Democratic nomination in South Carolina and informally advises the campaign.
Rice Says Race Shouldn’t Drive Biden’s Choice (3:22 p.m.)
Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice said Friday that several African-American women were qualified to be Joe Biden’s running mate and would be an asset to the ticket — but that race wasn’t the most important consideration.
“What matters is that we have somebody who is talented, who is capable, who has integrity, and is ready to be a governing partner for Joe Biden,” she said in an Instagram interview with April Ryan of the American Urban Radio Networks. “It’s not race. I don’t even think it’s gender.”
The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is one of about a dozen women, several of them black, most often mentioned as a possible running mate for Biden, who has pledged to pick a woman. “I don’t think that’s the fundamental issue, whether it’s Kamala Harris or Val Demings or Stacey Abrams. America has seen strong, talented women of all backgrounds contribute. Look at Nancy Pelosi. Who wants to mess with her?”
Rice, who served in the Obama administration along with Biden, repeated her desire to serve the Democratic ticket any way she can -- either as vice president or by “licking envelopes and raising money.” She added: “I’m not looking for the next thing.”
She acknowledged that she’s been a lightning rod for attacks by President Donald Trump over her statements in the aftermath of the 2012 Benghazi attack and the conspiracy theory that Trump has called “Obamagate.” But she said it wouldn’t deter her from serving as vice president. “I can’t live like that. I can’t live worried about the lies that they’re going to tell,” Rice said. -- Gregory Korte
North Carolina Asks RNC for Convention Details (1:38 p.m.)
North Carolina’s health secretary wants the GOP to tell her if it’s going to flood the city with delegates for President Donald Trump’s nominating convention.
In a letter to Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen said convention planners indicated in a recent phone call that Trump wants a “crowd-like setting” at the Charlotte event without social distancing or face masks. “Is this still the intent?” she asked.
Cohen was responding to a letter the RNC sent to Governor Roy Cooper pressing for guidelines for holding the convention. In her response, Cohen pointed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations on mass gatherings, and noted that a Memorial Day NASCAR event was held without incident.
“The state continues to support the hosting of the Republican National Convention in Charlotte if it can be done safely,” she wrote.
In an interview on a radio show hosted by Pat McCrory, a former Republican governor, McDaniel said Cooper was turning the convention decision political. “I am frustrated because I was concerned it was going to get political, you know, it’s the Republican Convention coming to a state with a Democrat governor,” she said. -- Ryan Teague Beckwith
Warren to Appear at Fundraiser With Biden (12:32 a.m.)
Elizabeth Warren will join Joe Biden for a fundraiser next month that could serve as a trial run for the potential vice presidential pick.
The Massachusetts senator will appear at a June 15 joint fundraiser with Biden, according to an invitation obtained by Bloomberg News. Tickets begin at $250 and go up to $100,000.
Warren is one of several candidates to be Biden’s running mate who has or will join him for a virtual fundraiser, one of the ways his team has been testing chemistry without the ability to hold joint rallies, as they might have in another election cycle. Biden has fundraisers scheduled with Kamala Harris and Michelle Lujan Grisham and has recently appeared at events with Tammy Duckworth and Amy Klobuchar.
Warren’s appearance at the high-dollar fundraiser is a shift from the policy she adopted during her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, when she committed not to go to posh donor events. Instead, she relied on grassroots fundraising but left open the possibility of turning back to high-dollar fundraisers, which she’d attended during her Senate campaigns, in the general election. -- Jennifer Epstein
Biden Cancels Fundraiser with Mueller Deputy (11:26 a.m.)
Joe Biden’s campaign has canceled a fundraiser that was to feature Robert Mueller’s top deputy in the Russia investigation, a person familiar with the move said.
The event with Andrew Weissmann had been scheduled for June 2 and was to be a “fireside chat” with former New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram. Tickets started at $500 and went up to $5,600.
Allies of President Donald Trump argued during the Mueller probe that Weissmann, who was first appointed to a federal post by President George H.W. Bush, was not objective in his duties because he gave $2,300 to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
The Biden campaign declined to comment. -- Jennifer Epstein
Coming up:
The District of Columbia, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Indiana have primaries scheduled for June 2.
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