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WASHINGTON — The political network affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers has reserved $30 million in an initial round of fall ads in key Senate races, a network source told BuzzFeed News, as the group's continued involvement in national politics comes into question.

The network will focus on Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, and likely Florida. The network is already the biggest outsider spender for Senate races this election cycle, spending $12.4 million on ads, including a new ad in Ohio released Tuesday.

The ad, which is part of $2.2 million buy, features an Ohio business owner criticizing Democrat Ted Strickland's economic record during his tenure as governor. Strickland is now running for Senate against GOP Sen. Rob Portman.

“The recession was hard for everyone, but Ted Strickland’s policies made things worse for Ohio...We are going to work to make sure every voter knows how Strickland’s tax and spend record made their lives harder," said James Davis, a spokesman for Freedom Partners Action Fund, the super PAC within the network.

The latest ad and plans for fall spending come after a detailed National Review story reported that the network would be reducing its involvement in national politics as part of a realignment. Network officials disputed the story, saying that getting involved in federal races to back lawmakers and candidates that support the Koch's free-market conservatism "is an important part of our comprehensive strategy" and that the ad reservations are unrelated to the story.

By the end of last year, the network had already spent about half of the $889 million it intends to spend on conservative causes and candidates for the two-year 2016 election cycle. But this year, the network decided to sit out the GOP presidential primary and likely the general election and focus on down-ballot races instead — though that shift, NR reported, might be part of a broader withdrawal from the federal campaign focus that has defined the network in recent years.

Ad spending in Senate races has so far remained lower compared to 2014, when network groups like Americans for Prosperity went on the air nearly a year before election day and spent millions attacking Democrats on Obamacare.

This time around, without the rocky Obamacare rollout narrative coinciding with the election, network sources say, groups have been focusing on building out their data operation known as i360 to reach voters and on growing their grassroots army for direct outreach — in addition to ads.

In swing states that also have key Senate races — Florida, Nevada, Ohio — the network has its biggest grassroots presence.

Overall, activists have been making tens of millions of individual voter contacts per election cycle and have already reached twice as many voter contacts this election compared to the last, the network source said.

The network itself now has about 1,200 staffers in 38 states.

Chris Geidner, BuzzFeed News legal editor, sat down with President Obama at the White House on Monday.

Jeremy Briggs / BuzzFeed

On a special, mini-episode of No One Knows Anything: The BuzzFeed Politics Podcast, Geidner discussed his interview and what Obama had to say about his judicial philosophy, battling state governments over transgender rights, and Donald Trump.

Listen here:

Watch Chris Geidner's interview with Obama:

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LINK: Sanders Campaign Considers Party Reform Fight

Hillary Clinton declared victory Tuesday in the Kentucky presidential primary, inching her closer to the party's nomination even as her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders won Oregon.

With more than 99% of the vote counted in Kentucky, Clinton was clinging to a 0.5% lead over her rival, making the race too close to officially call. But Alison Grimes, the Kentucky Secretary of State, said she believed Clinton would prevail.

"Kentucky will remain in the win column for the Clintons," she said in an interview on CNN.

Clinton later declared victory in a tweet. "We just won Kentucky!" she wrote. "Thanks to everyone who turned out."

But Sanders pulled off a victory in Oregon, beating Clinton by a comfortable single-digit margin, and vowed to stay in the race "until the last ballot is cast."

"We're going to take our fight into the convention," he told supporters gathered Tuesday night at a rally in Southern California.

Sanders had been favored to win in the progressive state of Oregon, but Clinton's win in Kentucky blunted the senator's recent momentum. She was joined on the campaign trail by former Gov. Steve Beshear and Kentucky's secretary of state, both prominent Democrats, and emphasized the state's economic progress during her husband's time in the White House.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, won the Oregon Republican primary where he ran unopposed, turning his full attention to the general election as the party's presumptive nominee with a jab at his chief Democratic rival.

LINK: Megyn Kelly And Donald Trump Meet For Interview After Long-Running Feud

Clinton has a commanding lead in terms of delegates and support among party leaders, and there are just a handful of states left before the Democratic nominating convention in July. The former secretary of state is widely expected to reach the 2,383-delegate threshold to clinch the nomination on June 7, when five states hold their primaries.

Despite a nearly insurmountable delegate deficit, Sanders has vowed to stay in it until the end, bolstered by fervent supporters who have also been slow — if not loathe — to migrate to Clinton's camp.

"Now some people say that we've got a steep hill to climb," Sanders said Tuesday night. "And that is absolutely true. But you know what, together, we have been climbing that steep hill from day one in this campaign. And we are going to continue to fight for every last vote until June 14th, and then we're going to take our fight into the convention."

Rich Pedroncelli / AP

That passionate devotion has led some to worry of a volatile mix at July's nationally televised Democratic convention in Philadelphia, particularly after what happened in Las Vegas, where things got heated on the floor of the Nevada state convention. Sanders supporters on Saturday threw chairs and erupted in jeers as they accused state party leaders of rigging the delegate system in Clinton's favor, prompting security guards to abruptly end the event.

“What Nevada shows is the kindling is there," Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist, told the New York Times of Sanders' support base. "The question is, what is he going to do with it?"

For his part, Sanders has dialed back his attacks on Clinton and said repeatedly that he would support the party's nomination.

California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota hold their contests on June 7, with the District of Columbia closing the primary season out on June 14.

AP

Ted S. Warren / AP

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has said he intends to get conservative, pro-life justices onto the Supreme Court bench.

Ted S. Warren / AP

Donald Trump on Wednesday released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court nominees to fill the seat left vacant by the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

The list released on Trump's campaign website includes:

Steven Colloton of Iowa; Allison Eid of Colorado; Raymond Gruender of Missouri;
Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania; Raymond Kethledge of Michigan; Joan Larsen of Michigan; Thomas Lee of Utah; William Pryor of Alabama; David Stras of Minnesota; Diane Sykes of Wisconsin; and Don Willett of Texas.

In a statement, Trump hailed Scalia as a justice "who did not believe in legislating from the bench" and a person that he held "in the highest regard."

The list of potential nominees, he added, is "representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value and, as president, I plan to use this list as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court Justices."

The list comes just days after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee told Fox News that he would get conservative justices who are anti-abortion rights onto the Supreme Court.

In the interview on The O'Reilly Factor last week, Trump explained his evolution on his stance on abortion, acknowledging that he was once pro-abortion rights, but only "in a meek fashion." Since then, however, he said his stance has changed.

"And the reason is I've seen...numerous situations that have made me go that way. I will protect it, and the biggest way you can protect is through the Supreme Court. Actually, the biggest way you can protect it, I guess, is by electing me president."

When pressed about whether his aim was to appoint justices that would overturn Roe v. Wade, Trump was non-committal.

"Well, they'll be pro-life and we'll see about overturning," Trump said. "I will appoint judges that will be pro-life."

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

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The Iowa congressman calls the Obama administration’s actions “an unconstitutional edict from the president, who is on his way out the door.”

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Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa on Tuesday called for civil disobedience in response to the Obama administration's guidance to public schools that they cannot discriminate against transgender students in settings like restrooms and locker rooms.

"We should call for civil disobedience here," King told Iowa radio host Simon Conway. "And there's no reason for us to follow an unconstitutional edict from the president, who is on his way out the door."

King, who has previously said he plans to hold hearings on the guidance, is among a group of Republican officials, including North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, to argue that the administration's action constitutes executive overreach. Though the guidance doesn't have the force of law, the Obama administration asserts that Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 includes transgender people in its ban on discrimination on the basis of sex.

In the radio interview, King reiterated that he plans to hold hearings on the topic, adding that he believed that the root of the administration's policy lay in new U.S. Commission on Civil Rights personnel needing "to find more things to do."

"More personnel needed to find more things to do and that is the root of this school policy or where Obama got it from," King said. "So we're going to explore that more fully. I need to be more astute at how movements begin. The genesis of these kinds of policies. So that we can go find them before they proliferate and become contagious across the countryside."

Earlier in the interview, the host speculated that his two daughters would likely not shower in the gym if transgender women were allowed into the women's changing room.

"Well, and that will probably change our culture," King responded. "We'll have a bunch of sweaty women around."

John Sommers Ii / Getty Images

Aug. 21, 2015 was a big day for Donald Trump's emerging presidential campaign. He drew his biggest crowd up to that point — 30,000 fans — to a rally in Mobile, Alabama, promising to repeal Obamacare and end birthright citizenship.

Yet Trump wasn't just politicking: On that same day, he incorporated four companies that seem related to a possible hotel project in Jeddah, the second biggest city in Saudi Arabia. He was president and owner of THC Jeddah Hotel Advisor and DT Jeddah Technical Services Advisor.

The Jeddah companies came to light in Trump's latest financial disclosure filings, released Wednesday by the Federal Election Commission. The documents do not detail the purpose of the Jeddah companies, and Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, Trump has named other hotel companies after the cities in which the projects were located. One example: THC Baku Hotel Manager LLC, used while trying to build a hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The new disclosure filings also reveal a raft of other projects Trump appears to have pursued during his presidential run — among them a tower in India and two resorts in Indonesia that paid him up to $10 million just to license his name.

The revelations highlight the potential challenges Trump may face as he seeks to disentangle his business dealings from his possible future as the head of the U.S. government. Since he announced his candidacy June 16, 2015, Trump has formed at least 46 companies that he controls.

Some of the companies are designed merely to hold other entities, sometimes so that another legal entity — not Trump himself — technically has control over the holdings.

The companies tied to the apparent project in Saudi Arabia may be the most puzzling. In August, Trump incorporated a total of 8 firms with the name Jeddah. Four were dissolved within months; the remaining four remain active. There has been no public disclosure about the purpose of any of the companies.

Trump's apparent business efforts in Saudi Arabia could raise eyebrows, especially because he said in February that the nation "blew up the World Trade Center," an apparent reference to the 9/11 attacks.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Another executive in Trump's company also did not return a call Wednesday.

Handout . / Reuters

Arizona will not be able to carry out executions with drugs that expire at the month.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Neil Wake said a legal challenge by death row inmates can go forward. The state had argued that the suit needed to be dismissed, and quickly, so the inmates could be executed with drugs that expire soon. The state says it has had trouble finding a new drug source.

The state's procedures call for a sedative, followed by a drug that paralyzes the inmate, and finally a drug that stops the heart and feels like fire in the veins.

But in recent executions, the state regularly did not follow its own procedures. The department of corrections deviated from them often, something the judge criticized.

"In recent history, the Department has deviated from its published execution procedures in ways ranging from minor to fundamental," Wake wrote in his order. "It has deviated in the course of an execution without explanation."

The state deviated from its protocol in its last execution, one with disastrous results. It took the state nearly 2 hours to execute Joseph Wood, who "gulped like a fish on land" according to witnesses. The state ended up using 15 injections on Wood.

"[T]he inmates’ principal challenge is to the Department’s failure to commit to, and its deviation from, central aspects of the execution process once adopted," Wake wrote. "Those unlimited major deviations and claims of right to deviate threaten serious pain."

The inmates also challenge Arizona's use of a paralytic as part of its execution protocol. The inmates argued the paralytic has no legitimate purpose — except to mask any pain they may feel during the execution.

The state argued that the inmates needed to come up with an alternative way to be put to death if they don't want the paralytic. Judge Wake ruled that the inmates had come up with an alternative.

"The inmates have also adequately alleged that removing the paralytic from the three-drug protocol is a feasible, readily implemented alternative that would significantly reduce a substantial risk of severe pain," Wake wrote.

The second drug, the paralytic, suppresses the ability to breathe. It would also make it difficult to notice if an inmate was conscious during the execution, their attorneys argue.

But the judge was not convinced by all of the claims in the case. The inmates were joined by a First Amendment group, which wanted greater access to the execution procedure, as well as information on where the drugs came from.

"The public’s First Amendment right to view court proceedings does not reach... behind an execution to learn everything about the execution to come. If an inmate has rights to such information, they come out of the Eighth Amendment, perhaps as aided by procedural due process in an appropriate case, not the First Amendment," Wake wrote.

"The press has no such right, not without the Court making new law that extends beyond historical practice and legal authority."

The state has not said if it has been able to obtain another supply of execution drugs, although it has been looking. Last year, the state attempted to import a drug from India that the Food and Drug Administration insists is illegal to import. The FDA seized the drug.

An attorney with the attorney general's office indicated to the judge that the state would sue the FDA if it did not release the drug. So far, it has not done so.

Read the ruling:

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Journalists and Donald Trump’s campaign have begun discussions about setting up a more traditional method of covering his candidacy now that he is the presumptive Republican nominee.

According to a source familiar with the meeting, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and communications director Hope Hicks met with officials from the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) last Tuesday to discuss the mechanics of creating what is known as a protective pool — a rotating group of journalists who follow the candidate’s every move and report on his or her activities even on days with no public events.

The selected journalists, or “poolers,” circulate to a wide group of outlets regular reports with up-to-the-minute information on the candidate’s movements and interactions similar to how the press covers the president. Poolers travel with the candidate wherever he or she goes in the candidate's motorcade and aboard the campaign’s plane.

“We encourage campaigns to create a protective pool once there is a presumptive nominee and offer advice on how to do that but the campaign reporters take the lead on a pool,” said WHCA president Carol Lee, who added that the association traditionally meets with all presumptive nominees to discuss a protective pool.

Historically, a protective pool is formed at some point after a candidate becomes a presumptive nominee. Mitt Romney agreed to protective pool coverage in August 2012. During the 2008 campaign, a protective pool was formed around Barack Obama in June and around John McCain in July. Once a candidate has a protective pool, his or her every movement can be dissected by the press.

As it stands, Trump has favored an unconventional campaigning style with large scheduled rallies — instead of fundraising or retail-style events with voters — that wouldn’t normally be pooled.

Hillary Clinton has had a pool following her campaign since last April, but that pool is only called on when Clinton is actively campaigning and the poolers do not travel aboard Clinton’s charter plane. Reporters covering the Trump campaign have begun informal conversations amongst themselves and the campaign about forming a similar pool until a protective pool is formed.

Forming a protective pool to cover Trump could prove to be difficult given the candidate’s and his campaign’s treatment of the press covering him thus far. The campaign has severely limited the access reporters have at Trump’s events, confining journalists to a pen during his speeches and barring them from approaching the rope line as he exits. Trump’s tightly controlled press operation differs from many campaigns — a small group of aides, and Trump himself, reportedly handle many inquiries. The campaign has also refused to credential several outlets (including BuzzFeed News).

If it does happen, a pool will require more access and coordination between the campaign and reporters. Traditionally, journalists select which organizations and reporters are part of the pool.

Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — A group of top black Republicans is moving quickly to coalesce around Donald Trump — despite initial reservations about the presumptive nominee.

In Washington, party officials are already working to address black conservatives’ concerns and attempt to put Trump in front of black audiences this year. The message from the RNC is sunnier than most public polling: Trump, the line goes, could win 15 to 20% of the black vote in November.

Many black Republican operatives — a small but boisterous faction of the party — are skeptical of the candidate and his motives. But what was less than a month ago a palpable reluctance to support Trump has morphed to an effort to exert pressure on his campaign to begin to talk about issues of concern to black conservatives.

Last month, close to a dozen black Republicans descended on Holly Knoll, an estate in Gloucester County, Virginia, about 60 miles east of Richmond. The property belongs to the Gloucester Institute, which was founded by Kay Coles James, a top Bush administration official. The group of black conservatives began meeting three years ago, according to Elroy Sailor, a former senior adviser to Rand Paul’s campaign for president.

Now, however, the group is focused on the presidential election.

A source with direct knowledge of the retreat — which took place before the Indiana primary, when it looked like a brokered convention was still a possibility — said most of the discussion was focused on getting black Republicans more involved in electoral politics in the future. But those present agreed on what their next step would be, regardless of the primary outcome.

"Many people there had worked for or given to different presidential campaigns in the primary,” the source said, “but there was pretty strong consensus that we were going to support whoever the nominee was going to be — whether it was Cruz or Trump."

It’s Trump — and they’re going to work with him, using the resources and connections at their disposal.

The latest gathering at Holly Knoll was the third such meeting between the conservatives. Separately from the retreat last month, organizers say the braintrust of black conservatives is comprised of established leaders like Michael Steele, former Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, former presidential candidate Herman Cain, former Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts, and Coles James. Younger black Republican operatives also are part of the group — including Charles Badger, an outreach specialist for Jeb Bush’s campaign and Ayshia Connors, who was recently elected to head up the Congressional Black Republican Association.

The group believes a slate of proposals or advice will reach Trump’s desk with the help of influential people in his orbit, including Dr. Ben Carson.

“We think there’s a large group of people waiting to see how [Trump] will evolve,” said Sailor, who confirmed the retreat took place. “But our leadership present at our last retreat know the problems in our communities, and we have solutions. We expect by passing (along) our institutional knowledge that you will see our fingerprint on good policy” in the Trump campaign.

Sailor said of the movement, which includes influential leaders and emerging operatives, is akin to “building a farm team.”

He and others say they’re prepared to advise Trump on everything from transition to staffing his campaign with experienced black operatives. At a future meeting, Sailor said there will be time slotted to help funnel black staffers to the RNC, or Trump’s campaign.

Still, there is plenty apprehension about his candidacy — from the re-emergence of white supremacist groups, to an endorsement by former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke (which Trump eventually, but not immediately, disavowed) and a racist threat toward President Obama by one of Trump’s former employees.

“I’ll be honest, there are mixed emotions,” said Sean P. Jackson, the chair of the Black Republican Caucus of Florida. “Part of it is some people just don’t think he’s trustworthy and are discontented with the rhetoric he has portrayed in these past eight months. They feel there’s racist sentiment based on his lack of immediate disavowal of David Duke.”

At the RNC, officials aren’t ignoring these concerns. An RNC source said dozens of black activists and party officials called the RNC in recent weeks frantic about what to do or say about Trump. Others have voiced their concerns publicly. But the message out of Capitol Hill is clear: Trump can reasonably get between 15 to 20% of the black vote in the general election against Hillary Clinton, the party’s new national director of African American initiatives and media has been telling concerned parties, according a source familiar with the discussions.

But they agree he needs to speak up on a range of issues — and fast.

The RNC is mapping out a plan for Trump. Telly Lovelace, the RNC’s new director of African-American initiatives and media, has been engaged in negotiations for Trump to appear at gatherings of the NAACP and National Association of Black Journalists, for instance, this summer. “Both the RNC and DNC are being extended invitations for the candidates to speak to convention attendees,” Aprill O. Turner, an NABJ spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. Republicans predict he’ll address the issues of criminal justice, job creation, and school choice. (Some party officials and activists say they want to hear from Trump on those issues before they do any work to get him elected.) They also acknowledge he is as unpredictable a candidate as they’ve seen.

An RNC official also said a small percentage of black staffers who went through its Republican Leadership Institute are set to bolster the party’s organizing operation in some key states.

The RNC said they’re going to unite the party around Trump. "The Republican National Committee is committed to providing the necessary resources to help Mr. Trump defeat Hillary Clinton this November,” Lovelace wrote in an email statement to BuzzFeed News. “The RNC will work to unite the Republican Party — including African-American Republicans — to support and help elect all Republican candidates this cycle."

A Trump spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the campaign’s black outreach. But several of the black Republicans BuzzFeed News interviewed for this story said Trump representatives told them the campaign’s priority was to close out primary process before pivoting to strategy on black voters.

A veteran black Republican strategist backing Trump said the party can't go back to getting just 6% of the black vote, as Mitt Romney did in 2012. The strategist said Trump’s campaign will target black independents and Democrats who are displeased with Clinton. “The trick is going to be figuring out can we get them to support Trump or at least get them to stay home,” the strategist said.

Many other Republicans interviewed by BuzzFeed News sound more like Jackson. “I need Trump to be sincere about wanting to focus on key issues important to the black community, and to get serious about appointing a liaison to work directly with us,” he said. “We just haven’t gotten that far yet.”

Niger Innis, a Sailor ally, said Trump had “tremendous appeal” to the black community, especially to young black men who are underemployed or not employed at all. “There’s been a lot of talk about the angry working-class white men” fueling Trump’s emergence, he said, “but there’s a lot of frustrated, angry black men out there, too.”

Tarini Parti contributed reporting.

Maria Bryk / Newseum

WASHINGTON — Sen. Al Franken believes the prospect of Donald Trump winning the presidency will bring Democrats together, despite the long and sometimes rough primary fight between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

"Bernie’s a friend of mine, I admire Bernie. I heard him the other night say he’s going to do everything he can to make sure Trump doesn’t win," Franken, a progressive from Minnesota, said during a live taping of No One Knows Anything: The BuzzFeed Politics Podcast.

"So the party will come together at the convention," Franken went on. "I’m sure Bernie will speak at the convention, have his night, and I think we’ll be united going forward because the alternative is so awful."

It was one of Franken's longest national interviews since joining the Senate in 2009. Franken talked about his upcoming book about his time as a politician, his past as a satirist, and the speculation that his future could include a slot on the Democratic ticket in the fall. He also talked about his approach to policy — and gave a sharp take on the Republican Party's struggles with Donald Trump.

Franken is a prominent liberal and prominent Clinton supporter, a position that has sometimes put him in the center of criticism from Sanders backers who helped Bernie overwhelmingly win the Minnesota presidential caucus earlier this year. Franken walked a careful line in the BuzzFeed interview, praising Sanders' campaign while also discussing his own support for Hillary.

While a strong progressive, Franken has embraced the Democratic Party establishment, emerging as one of the party's top fundraisers and policy-focused wonks. He praised Sanders for their many shared beliefs while also noting their strong tactical differences when it comes to making progressive change.

"I don’t think it’s for me to tell Bernie what to do," Franken said when asked if Sanders should drop out.

He said the Sanders campaign has been good for the Democratic party.

"I think he’s helped her in many ways. She’s a much better candidate," he added. "And he’s brought forward issues that many of us believe in if maybe his prescription for getting something done isn’t something that I, as a U.S. senator, think is in any way plausible of getting done."

The interview with Franken was held on May 11, several days before the raucous Nevada Democratic convention which led some Clinton supporters in Democratic Senate caucus to call on Sanders to step back. (On Wednesday, Clinton supporter Sen. Dianne Feinstein worried that the ongoing Sanders campaign could lead to a 1968-like scene at July's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.) A top Franken aide Thursday the Senator had nothing to add to his Sanders comments in the podcast.

Franken's name has been bandied about as a potential vice presidential pick for Clinton. Franken laughed off the speculation.

"I’m very happy in my current job serving the people of Minnesota," Franken quipped when asked about the VP chatter. "That’s the answer you’re supposed to give. It’s not gonna happen."

Listen to Franken's sitdown with BuzzFeed News:

The basic take on Franken is that he came to Washington and became very boring. Expectations that a bomb-throwing political satirist in the Senate would turn into a kind of six year-long comedy sketch were met instead with a wonky Franken who barely does national interviews. He's become a prominent voice on progressive policy, however, becoming the public face of liberal efforts to push net neutrality and other privacy issues.

He's also become a strong advocate for strengthened mental health programs he said can help keep people out of prison.

Drug addiction has also been a central focus for Franken for much if his adult life, starting with the famous Stuart Smalley character that actually emerged from his own experiences at Al-Anon, the program for families of alcoholics.

Franken told BuzzFeed News he's not ready to sign on to efforts to legalize marijuana, preferring instead to see it decriminalized.

"I’m not sure," Franken said when asked what it would take to make him a legalization supporter.

Franken is writing a book, due to be released in the next year. It will be his first book published as a politician, and Franken suggested it will be different from the bestselling titles he published during his decades as a comedian and political satirists. Books like Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look At The Right and Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations did not pull punches when it came to take on specific politicians.

Franken said his new book won't match that tone.

"I think anyone’s who’s expecting me to say bad things about my colleagues are gonna be disappointed," he said. "But there are going to be plenty of things about how broken sometimes the system is, but also how you actually can achieve things here if you work hard enough hand that’s why it’s worth it got do this it really is. I get things done all the time."

In the interview, however, he had plenty to say about Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

"He appeals to people’s xenophobia and he’s captured some of the same anger that people feel who haven’t seen their families be better off for a long long time," Franken said of Trump. "And he’s captured that anger, and I’m not saying he’s not smart, he’s just not very curious."

Asked about the media's treatment of the Republican, Franken deadpanned, "I don’t think they’ve given him enough airtime."

Listen to this episode of No One Knows Anything and subscribe on iTunes.

Danny Johnston / ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday considered whether the state has to disclose where it obtains its lethal injection drugs, with some justices asking questions skeptical of the state’s position that the information can be kept secret. The majority of the justices remained silent throughout the arguments.

In 2013, the state signed a contract with death row inmates, agreeing to disclose information about where the drugs come from. Just two years later, however, the legislature changed the law, making that information confidential.

After a lower state judge said the new law didn't invalidate the state's agreement, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge appealed to the State Supreme Court.

On Thursday, Solicitor General Lee Rudofsky argued the information is irrelevant.

"They don't want it for any reason of relevancy," Rudofskey said. "There is clearly an effort going on to stop manufacturers and suppliers through intimidation and threats from selling to [the Arkansas Department of Corrections]."

In recent years, manufacturers have taken steps to keep their drugs out of the hands of death penalty states, leading some to go to less reputable sources. Arkansas purchased illegal lethal drugs from a supplier in the U.K. in 2011, and eventually had to turn the drug over to the DEA.

The state insists that this time the drug is FDA-approved, and that the contract they signed in 2013 is no longer valid.

"There is no current contract," Rudofskey said. "There may have been a contract in 2013, but it doesn't extend in perpetuity."

"But we also have a unique constitutional provision that says the state has to publish who pays for everything," Justice Rhonda Wood said. "How can the legislature pass a law that says you can't release the information?"

"I think the argument is that the legislature has created a situation that undermines that mandatory transparency requirement," Justice Courtney Goodson said.

The state said the legislature was responding to an "emergency," and that if it is in violation, "it is not a consequence for this court to enforce, it's a consequence for the people to enforce by voting them out if they think they haven't followed the constitution."

The inmates' attorney, John Williams, argued that allowing the state to pass laws to circumvent agreements it has made "would end settlement agreements as we know them."

"But there's a new law," Justice Goodson responded. "Does the contract continue forever?"

Williams responded that there's no limiting provision in the agreement, so it does continue forever.

The state argued that the inmates weren't entitled to the information because they have not come up with a better alternative for how they should be executed, a requirement under recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. The inmates responded with five proposals, including the firing squad — a proposal the state said was not viable.

"It's been done in other states before," Williams said. "Recently there was a prisoner who was escaping from an Arkansas prison, and a corrections officer shot and killed him while he was running away. Surely if they can do that, they can do it in a controlled environment like a firing squad."

Arkansas has not carried out an execution in more than 10 years.

Jared Harrell/BuzzFeed News

DeRay Mckesson said Hillary Clinton's policy platform on racial justice can still be improved upon and that his next step could be working with a former high-ranking government official committed to social justice, he told BuzzFeed News Thursday.

Mckesson was interviewed by BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith Thursday, appearing at BuzzFeed’s headquarters in New York as part of its new “Breakfast at BuzzFeed” speaker series. "Breakfast at BuzzFeed" has also interviewed renowned HIV/AIDS researcher Dr. Anthony Fauci and former New York Times editor Jill Abramson.

Mckesson, the well-known activist who will also soon embark on an organizing project in Baltimore, said although Campaign Zero influenced Clinton’s platform on a national standard for police use of force and alternatives to policing, but it’s “not enough." He also said it’s important the movement pushes candidates around issues of racial justice, including presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

"One of the things Hillary said to us is she talked about the importance of communities being involved, and that was, like, a big deal for her. And we said, 'Well, we don't see that in your platform.' Where are you giving communities any oversight or any authority? So we saw that dissonance. We pushed her on The New New Deal [but] I think there's a little more to go with her."

He described Bernie Sanders as a "real model" when it comes to addressing a full-range of issues.

"She's only talked about three or four issues, but in a more expansive fashion, where has Sanders addressed a wide-range of issues," Mckesson said. "But the question remains how to get things done what their priorities are."

"Hillary... has been slow to talk or address anything with regards to race. With that said, when she has, she's addressed [them] so much deeper than Bernie," he said.

Intrigue over what Mckesson will do next has intensified after his unsuccessful run to become mayor of Baltimore, where he raised $300,000 but received only a small percentage of the vote.

Mckesson suggested the movement will continue be a force in the presidential election, pushing candidates around policing and other matters of racial justice. "People have pushed Trump. It seems that he will be the nominee, and it's important that we apply pressure to anyone who’s might be the nominee."

He balked at a question about meeting with Trump, saying he wasn't sure if a private meeting with him was the best tactic to engage him. "When he talks about race it’s usually in the realm of deportation and walls which isn’t helpful," he said.

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WASHINGTON — A top adviser to Donald Trump met with a group of some of the most conservative House members Thursday morning, reassuring them that the billionaire will stick to the GOP platform and the list of potential Supreme Court justices he released earlier this week.

In a closed-door meeting, Paul Manafort "alleviated a lot of concerns" raised by House Freedom Caucus' board members, said Tennessee GOP Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a Trump endorser who set up the meeting. Conservatives have been skeptical of Trump, given his past support for liberal positions and contributions to Democrats.

"He suggested that there weren't going to be any changes to the party platform," DesJarlais said in an interview with BuzzFeed News. "Manafort answered a lot of policy questions and there was good two-way dialogue."

"The Trump team recognizes the importance of the House Freedom Caucus. Ultimately, a vast majority of members will support Trump," he said.

Immigration, foreign policy, fiscal policy, and some social issues came up during the meeting.

DesJarlais is still working with the Trump campaign to schedule a time for the full Freedom Caucus, which now has nearly 40 members, to meet with the presumptive nominee. "I think it's a priority for Mr. Trump," he said, but scheduling has been tough because of "high demand."

Manafort also met with a group of House Republicans who have endorsed Trump. During Trump's visit to Capitol Hill last week, one of those Trump endorsers Rep. Duncan Hunter told Politico he felt snubbed when Trump didn't meet with the group.

But DesJarlais said the push to meet with Trump is only so that members can go home and make a better pitch to constituents.

"The one thing I would say is that Trump has an underestimated charisma. When you meet him, you can promote him better when you go back home."

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Clinton also said Donald Trump is not qualified to be president.

Hillary Clinton made it clear in an interview with CNN on Thursday that she will be the Democratic nominee and that her general election opponent, Donald Trump, is not qualified to be president.

Clinton has an insurmountable lead in pledged delegates over her rival Bernie Sanders, but the primary race continues, with the Vermont senator vowing to stay in the race through the convention.

"I will be the nominee for my party, Chris," Clinton stated flatly in an interview CNN's Chris Cuomo. "That is already done, in effect. There is no way that I won't be."

Clinton said Sanders will have to do his part to help unify the party, citing her endorsement in 2008 of Barack Obama as an example.

Asked if she felt Trump is qualified to be president, Clinton answered, "No, I do not."

"I think in this past week, whether it's attacking Great Britain, praising the leader of North Korea, a despotic dictator who has nuclear weapons, whether it is saying pull out of NATO, let other countries have nuclear weapons. The kinds of positions he is stating and the consequences of those positions, and even the consequences of his statements, are not just offensive to people, but they are potentially dangerous," Clinton said.

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A decade before he launched his presidential bid, Donald Trump was a reality TV sensation in search of a new gimmick for the upcoming season of The Apprentice. In the summer of 2005, he thought he had found it: pit black contestants against white ones in the televised battle for boardroom supremacy.

Trump floated the prospect of racially segregated Apprentice teams during his short-lived syndicated radio show on July 11, 2005.

Explaining to listeners that he "wasn't particularly happy" with the show's most recent season, Trump said he was mulling "an idea that is fairly controversial — creating a team of successful African-Americans versus a team of successful whites. Whether people like that idea or not, it is somewhat reflective of our very vicious world.”

The idea — which he had also raised on Howard Stern's show a couple months earlier, according to a 2005 Entertainment Weekly article — drew an avalanche of coverage, commentary, and question-mark headlines at the time.

"Will next Apprentice play race card?" asked UPI.

"Will The Apprentice become a battle of the races?" mused MSNBC.com.

(In a bizarre bit of time-capsule trivia, multiple critics suggested Trump was inspired by a reality show that ABC had recently yanked before airing, Welcome to the Neighborhood, which would have allowed three white families in suburban Texas to choose their new neighbors from among a group of contestants that included Koreans, African-Americans, pagans, and a same-sex couple with an adopted black child.)

Renee Graham, a black Boston Globe columnist, wrote that Trump's idea would make for "nothing short of revolutionary, must-see TV."

In dividing the ''Apprentice" teams by race, there would finally be a reality show nervy enough to deal with one of the more difficult dilemmas of our own reality, and where the ultimate stakes would be far more important than just determining who gets to be the Donald's latest lackey.

But for the most part, Trump's proposal was panned by critics and commentators, and a rep for the billionaire moved quickly to tamp down the uproar, assuring reporters, "it's just an idea." Sure enough, Trump never went through with it.

Tara Dowdell, a black communications consultant who appeared on season 3 of The Apprentice, recalled being "floored" when she first heard Trump's casting idea in 2005. But in retrospect, she says, it seems like the whole episode foreshadowed a 2016 campaign strategy that has cynically fanned the flames of racial resentment and xenophobia.

"Best-case scenario, it was huge blind spot. Worst-case scenario, it showed [Trump's] willingness to exploit race and be divisive — to do anything to promote himself," Dowdell told BuzzFeed News. "The presidency can't be one crazy, ill-advised publicity stunt after another."

She added that she is especially amused now by the presumptive GOP nominee's claims that he will bring the country together: "He has the audacity to say he's a uniter when he proposed Apprentice: The Race War?"

Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton after announcing he had received the wrong execution drugs.

Sue Ogrocki / ASSOCIATED PRESS

A grand jury investigation into Oklahoma's execution mistakes found that the department of corrections "failed to do its job," according to Attorney General Scott Pruitt's office.

"A number of individuals responsible for carrying out the execution process were carless, cavalier and in some circumstances dismissive of established procedures that were intended to guard against the very mistakes that occurred," Pruitt said in a statement.

The grand jury began investigating Oklahoma’s execution methods in October, after the state called off an execution due to obtaining the wrong drug. Shortly thereafter, it was disclosed that the state had used the incorrect drug in an execution in January.

"People of the state of Oklahoma are sick and tired of being ridiculed nationally and internationally about" 2014's botched execution, Oklahoma County Judge Donald Deason said from the bench of an earlier execution that went awry. He said the public needs to know "that somebody has looked into the monkey business that has been going on at the Oklahoma Department of Corrections."

Since then, three state officials resigned: Warden Anita Trammell, who oversaw the prison where executions take place, the head of the Department of Corrections Robert Patton, and Gov. Mary Fallin’s general counsel, Steve Mullins.

While the grand jury investigated, BuzzFeed News discovered that the department of corrections was informed it had used the wrong drug in April 2015 — months before it was made public, and months before it obtained, and nearly used, the wrong drug in another execution.

Patton attempted to carry out three executions during his short tenure in Oklahoma. Each time, there was a major screw-up. BuzzFeed News reported that many errors Patton made in Oklahoma were similar to ones made during his time at his previous job in Arizona.

After the grand jury began, the department and the governor's office hired two high-power outside lawyers to represent them. One of the attorneys attempted to quash subpoenas in the investigation, but that request was denied.

Emails sent by an internal affairs agent who worked with Patton speculated that he may have been "forced out" as a "fall" guy for execution mistakes.

“The pharmacist is the one who substituted the drug without telling us,” agent Stephanie Burk wrote in an email obtained by BuzzFeed News.

“The doctor should have caught it too before it was used on Warner. He/she caught it before it was used on Glossip, which started this latest mess. He/she felt so bad and apologized profusely. But someone had to take the fall and you can’t fire the pharmacist or the doctor, so…"

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Democratic outside group Senate Majority PAC is launching its first TV ad buy in Pennsylvania, attacking Sen. Pat Toomey for his connections to Wall Street.

The ad, which was first shared with BuzzFeed News, opens with two cats scratching each others' backs. "You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours," a narrator says in the 30-second spot. "You know what it means. So does Pat Toomey. Toomey got rich working on Wall Street. Then he got elected and kept working, for Wall Street."

The ad, which is backed by $1.2 million, goes on to slam Toomey -- who worked in investment banking before being elected to Congress -- for supporting measures to repeal provisions in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform legislation.

“If Pat Toomey had his way, millionaires would pay less in taxes while working families paid more, and big banks would have free rein to continue their risky practices that crashed the economy,” said Shripal Shah in a statement, noting that Toomey has received more than $2.5 million in campaign contributions from the securities and investment industry. “Toomey’s agenda is great for Wall Street, but it’s wrong for Pennsylvania.”

The ad will air on cable and broadcast in the Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton media markets.

Recent polls show Toomey in a dead heat with Democrat Katie McGinty.

Republicans are using a similar line of attack against the former state environmental protection secretary who went on to work in the private sector.

“In state government, Katie McGinty helped steer millions of tax dollars to benefit corporations,” a narrator says in a recent ad released by Toomey's campaign. “Those corporations later hired her. Some closed their plants, killing Pennsylvania jobs. But McGinty? She still got paid."

Mary Altaffer / AP

The next two months will be instructive on whether the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump will seek to engage communities he has angered — like Latinos.

In the next two months, Trump will likely have opportunities to speak at the national conferences for major Hispanic organizations like the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR).

Already this weekend, Trump (and Hillary Clinton) will send video messages for the meeting of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) in Anaheim, the largest Hispanic evangelical group in the nation.

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, the NHCLC leader, said that while he "completely repudiates the rhetorical hyperbole and demagoguery" employed by Trump "about Latinos, immigrants and Mexicans," it is critical for the candidate to speak to the Hispanic community and for organizations to invite him.

That's the plan at NALEO and LULAC, who have sent formal invitations to the candidates, but who have had difficulties getting responses from the Trump campaign.

"We think it’s important for anyone who wants to be president to speak to the constituency of NALEO," said Arturo Vargas, its executive director of the conference which begins June 23 in Washington, D.C. "The men and women at the front lines of America’s challenges, to create a partnership with the people the running school districts, cities, and counties."

LULAC envisions a grand plan: partnering with Univision so that its influential anchor, Jorge Ramos, can interview the nominees individually at a town hall during its conference being held in Washington this July, according to sources with knowledge of the plan.

That pitch presents an obstacle. Although LULAC is the oldest Hispanic organization in the nation, the candidate butted heads with Ramos last summer, speaking over him, refusing to answer his questions, and kicking him out of a press conference, where he snapped "Go back to Univision!"

"With Ramos doing the questioning it won't just be a free pass to talk to the community," said Brent Wilkes, LULAC executive director.

Not everyone is doing backflips to get Trump to speak. NCLR, the civil rights organization that has blasted Republicans for blocking immigration legislation and drawn Obama's ire for labeling him the "deporter-in-chief," is holding a board meeting in two weeks to decide whether it wants to invite Trump at its conference in Orlando in late July.

The conversation — expected to be a "spirited" one — will center on whether Trump should have to answer for the comments he has made, viewed as offensive, or whether the organization should even extend its platform to him at all.

“It’s a dilemma, no question,” said NCLR's Lisa Navarrete.

This point of view is perhaps unique to Trump, but not exclusive to NCLR, said Rev. Rodriguez.

"These are great organizations for our community but some demagoguery out of the Trump campaign has been so negative to the Latino community, that outside of faith groups, some groups have told me 'God bless you, but we won’t provide space for him in our events,'" he said.

"To say there’s bad water would be an understatement."

NBC, Trump said, wasn’t happy with the idea.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

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In early 2005, Donald Trump explained to radio host Howard Stern that he had considered hosting a version of his show The Apprentice pitting black contestants vs. white ones.

Trump thought the concept, which BuzzFeed News reported Thursday Trump pushed the idea on his syndicated radio show, would be the highest rated show on television.

"On The Apprentice there was a concept, okay, thrown out by some person, nine blacks against nine whites," said Trump. "And it would be nine blacks against nine whites, all highly educated, very smart, strong, beautiful. Do you like it? Do you like it, Robin?"

"I think you're gonna have a riot," Stern co-host Robin Quivers said, after Stern said he liked the idea.

"It would be the highest-rated show on television," interjected Trump.

Stern went on to ask Trump a series of questions.

"Very dark blacks, or light-skinned blacks?" Stern asked.

"Assortment," Trump responded, "against whites."

When a laughing Quivers asked how many blondes, Trump added he wanted all nine whites to be blonde.

"This was a thought that was given to us, and I don't think NBC is thrilled with the idea, with the concept," says Trump.

"Wouldn't that set off a racial war?" asks Stern.

"Actually, I don't think it would," responded Trump. "I think it would be handled very beautifully by me. Because, as you know, I'm very diplomatic... Also, I think you'd have 35 million people a night watching."

Stern said that on some level the idea was wrong, but he'd watch it. "You'd have to, because you want to know when the riots start," Quivers said.

"There's something wrong with it, but I don't know, maybe we should think about it," Trump said.

LINK: Donald Trump Wanted A White-Versus-Black Season Of “The Apprentice”

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WASHINGTON — The National Rifle Association has invited some members of Congress to discuss Second Amendment issues with Donald Trump in a "small round table discussion" next week, according to an invitation obtained by BuzzFeed News.

"America is at a critical point in our nation's history," says the invitation from Chris Cox, executive director of the group's Institute for Legislative Action. "It's no exaggeration to say that the freedoms we enjoy are at stake in this year's election."

The discussion will focus on "hunting and related issues in the sportsmen's community." It will take place at the Capitol Hill Club on the afternoon of May 25.

The meeting will follow the NRA's annual meeting in Kentucky this week. Trump is expected to address NRA supporters in Louisville Friday.

Trump and his aides have been meeting with members and Hill staff in recent weeks to "alleviate" any concerns about his policy proposals and rhetoric now that he is the presumptive nominee. The Queens native often notes that he has a concealed carry permit, but in the 2000s, often struck a significantly more gun-control-friendly tone than he does now.

The NRA did not immediately respond to confirm the scheduled meeting.