Today in Campaign 2016
- Donald Trump parted ways with controversial campaign manager Corey Lewandowski after a gathering of campaign members, including people in Trump’s family, to discuss possibly reworking the beleaguered campaign’s strategy. “The Donald J Trump Campaign for President, which has set a historic record in the Republican primary having received almost 14 million votes, has today announced that Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign,” said campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks. “The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future.”
- Donald Trump senior adviser Michael Caputo resigned from the campaign after sending out a delighted tweet following news that campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was fired this morning. “I regret sending out a tweet today alluding to the firing of Corey Lewandowski. In hindsight, that was too exuberant a reaction to this personnel move,” Caputo wrote in a letter to campaign chair Paul Manafort obtained by CNN. “I know this is a distraction from the kind of campaign you want to run, so I’m resigning my position as Director of Communications for Caucus Operations at the 2016 Republican Convention. Let’s make this immediate.”
- The US Senate failed to advance new restrictions aimed at curtailing gun violence on Monday, as lawmakers voted down four separate measures just one week after a terrorist attack in Orlando marked the deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s history. Democrats and Republicans had put forth competing amendments to both strengthen background checks and prevent suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms. But all four bills fell short of the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle in the Senate, in a near replica of a vote held in December when a pair of shooters killed 14 people and wounded 22 more in San Bernardino, California.
- According to filings just released by the Federal Election Commission, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign only had $1.3 million in cash on hand at the beginning of the month, and raised a paltry $3.1 million during the filing period. The filings paint a dismal picture of Trump’s fundraising operations. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee largely self-funded his primary campaign in the form of repayable loans to his campaign, but has stated that he will be soliciting donations for the general election campaign. For donors already concerned about Trump’s reported lack of interest in fundraising, these latest numbers are unlikely to soothe their worries. With $3.1 million raised, the campaign also took on more than $2.2 million in loans, giving the self-described billionaire $1.3 million on hand. In comparison, presumptive rival Hillary Clinton’s latest campaign filings show that the former secretary of state’s presidential campaign has nearly $42.5 million in cash on hand, after raising $26.4 million last month.
Another gem in the Donald Trump campaign filings:
For a campaign with a mere $1.3 million on hand, spending $423,371.70 to rent Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s own Palm Beach estate, seems... extravagant.
Trump campaign filings: Only $1.3 million cash on hand at June's start
According to filings just released by the Federal Election Commission, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign only had $1.3 million in cash on hand at the beginning of the month, and raised a paltry $3.1 million during the filing period.
The filings paint a dismal picture of Trump’s fundraising operations. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee largely self-funded his primary campaign in the form of repayable loans to his campaign, but has stated that he will be soliciting donations for the general election campaign. For donors already concerned about Trump’s reported lack of interest in fundraising, these latest numbers are unlikely to soothe their worries.
With $3.1 million raised, the campaign also took on more than $2.2 million in loans, giving the self-described billionaire $1.3 million on hand. In comparison, presumptive rival Hillary Clinton’s latest campaign filings show that the former secretary of state’s presidential campaign has nearly $42.5 million in cash on hand, after raising $26.4 million last month.
It’s a poor showing historically as well: In May 2012, then-nominee Mitt Romney raised $23.4 million and had more than $17 million in the bank.
After the failure of four gun-control-oriented amendments in the Senate this evening, Connecticut senator Chris Murphy vowed to fight on:
Dear gun lobby - I'm not going anywhere. I'm not backing down. I'm not giving up. And I got millions of folks with me. #Enough
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) June 20, 2016
In an interview with Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump explained his decision to fire campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, the controversial former captain of Trump’s campaign who helped steer the candidate to a 37-state primary victory.
“We ran a small, beautiful, well-unified campaign,” Trump said. “It worked very well in the primaries ... But we’re going to go a little bit of a different route from this point forward. A little different style.”
Trump declared that there were no hard feelings, telling O’Reilly that “Corey’s terrific,” and lauded Lewandowski’s numerous appearances on cable news shows today, in which he refused to speak ill of his former boss or reveal whether he had signed a non-disclosure agreement.
“I watched him before,” Trump said. “He was terrific toward me. Said I was a talented person. And he’s a talented person. He’s a good guy. He’s a friend of mine. But I think it’s time now for a different kind of a campaign.”
In a statement, Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus announced this evening that the Republican party has raised $155.8 million this cycle, including $11 million in May. The party currently has $19.9 million cash on hand.
By comparison, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has nearly $42.5 million in cash on hand, after raising $26.4 million last month.
“The resources we’ve raised this cycle have allowed us to continue building the best-staffed, most wide-reaching, and most data-driven ground game in our Party’s history,” said Priebus.
Roughly 98% of the donations to the RNC were made in amounts of $200 or less, with the average donation last month pegged at $75.
Donald Trump’s tax bill - mysterious though it may be - just got a little bit heavier. New York City has announced today that is is rescinding the property tax break for homeowners who earn taxable incomes under $500,000 that Trump has enjoyed for three years.
The move, prompted by a request from Trump’s attorney, adds $1,046.41 onto Trump’s tax bill, according to the Wall Street Journal. Whether or not Trump was ever eligible for the tax break, however, is still unclear.
“We can’t discuss whether or not he’s eligible or ineligible,” said Sonia Alleyne, a spokesperson for the city’s finance department.
Trump has claimed a personal net worth exceeding $10 billion, although his refusal to release his tax returns, in addition to the revelations that on several occasions he paid no federal income taxes in the 1970s and 1990s, have increased scrutiny on the state of the real estate tycoon’s opaque personal fortune.
Hillary Clinton's one-word statement on the Senate's failure to pass gun-control legislation
Enough.
Stanley Almodóvar III, 23 | Amanda Alvear, 25 | Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 | Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 | Antonio Davon Brown, 29 | Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 | Ángel L. Candelario-Padró, 28 | Juan Chávez-Martínez, 25 | Luis Daniel Conde, 39 | Cory James Connell, 21 |Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 | Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 | Simon Adrián Carrillo Fernández, 31 | Leroy Valentín Fernández, 25 | Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 | Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 | Juan Ramón Guerrero, 22 | Paul Terrell Henry, 41 | Frank Hernández, 27 | Miguel Ángel Honorato, 30 | Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 | Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 | Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 | Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25 | Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 | Alejandro Barrios Martínez, 21 | Brenda Lee Márquez McCool, 49 | Gilberto Ramón Silva Menendez, 25 | Kimberly Morris, 37 | Akyra Monet Murray, 18 | Luis Omar Ocasio-Capó, 20 | Geraldo A. Ortíz-Jiménez, 25 | Eric Iván Ortíz-Rivera, 36 | Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 | Jean Carlos Méndez Pérez, 35 | Enrique L. Ríos, Jr., 25 | Jean C. Nives Rodríguez, 27 | Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 | Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 | Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan, 24 | Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 | Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 | Martin Benítez Torres, 33 | Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 | Juan P. Rivera Velázquez, 37 | Luis S. Vielma, 22 | Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velázquez, 50 | Luis Daniel Wilson-León, 37 | Jerald Arthur Wright, 31.
Informal adviser Roger Stone seems to be siding with Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law in the reputed power struggle that saw campaign manager Corey Lewandowski booted from the campaign this morning:
I think @IvankaTrump and the support of @jaredkushner are two of the @realDonaldTrump campaign's greatest assets #MakeAmericaGreatAgain
— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) June 21, 2016
If you missed it... Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a blistering dissent on Monday as the US supreme court ruled that evidence of a crime could be used even though police illegally stopped the defendant when obtaining it.
The court’s opinion came in a case in which a detective illegally stopped Edward Strieff as he walked out of a house in South Salt Lake, Utah. Police had received an anonymous tip that the house he walked out of contained “drug activity”, but did not have a particular reason to suspect Strieff. A name check revealed an outstanding “small traffic warrant” for Strieff, and police arrested and searched him on that basis. He was found to be carrying methamphetamine.
Justice Clarence Thomas said the officer’s actions did not represent “flagrant police misconduct”. The court voted 5-3 to reinstate Strieff’s drug-related convictions.
But in an extraordinarily forceful dissent, Sotomayor contended that evidence obtained from an illegal stop is tainted and undermines the fourth amendment, which protects people from “unreasonable searches and seizures”.
She wrote: “The court today holds that the discovery of a warrant for an unpaid parking ticket will forgive a police officer’s violation of your fourth amendment rights. Do not be soothed by the opinion’s technical language: this case allows the police to stop you on the street, demand your identification, and check it for outstanding traffic warrants – even if you are doing nothing wrong.
“If the officer discovers a warrant for a fine you forgot to pay, courts will now excuse his illegal stop and will admit into evidence anything he happens to find by searching you after arresting you on the warrant.”
Alot has changed since Vampire Weekend headlined Bernie Sanders’ huge Manhattan rally in Washington Square Park and Grizzly Bear did the same across the river in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.
Hillary Clinton is now the presumptive Democratic nominee, having achieved the number of delegates needed to cross the finish line. Sanders intends to continueon to the convention in Philadelphia next month, though many of his supporters are now having to reassess who they should support in the general election. And that includes some of his celebrity supporters.
“It’s the end of the road for Bernie,” Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig said on his biweekly Beats 1 show Time Crisis on Sunday.
His guest, Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear, was a little more reluctant. “I hate to hear that,” Droste said. “It’s realistic, but I hate to hear it.”
Senate fails to pass gun-control measures one week after Orlando attack
The US Senate failed to advance new restrictions aimed at curtailing gun violence on Monday, as lawmakers voted down four separate measures just one week after a terrorist attack in Orlando marked the deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s history.
Democrats and Republicans had put forth competing amendments to both strengthen background checks and prevent suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms. But all four bills fell short of the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle in the Senate, in a near replica of a vote held in December when a pair of shooters killed 14 people and wounded 22 more in San Bernardino, California.
The series of votes on Monday evening came in the aftermath of 12 June massacre at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Florida, which left 49 people dead and another 53 injured. Senate Democrats had secured the votes following a 15-hour filibuster last week demanding action against gun violence, a politically vexing issue that has yet to produce any major legislative breakthroughs in more than two decades.
The chamber first voted on dueling proposals related to the federal background checks systems.
Updated
Senator Dianne Feinstein’s amendment, Amendment #4720, has failed in a 47-53 vote.
Sponsored by Democrats, this amendment would have prohibited anyone on the terror watch list from buying a gun. Omar Mateen, the man who killed 49 people and injured 53 more in a gay nightclub in Orlando last weekend, was at one time on the terror watch list but had been taken off after being investigated by the FBI.
Senator John Cornyn’s amendment, Amendment #4749, has failed in a 53-47 vote.
Sponsored by Republicans, this amendment would have enabled the justice department to delay an individual on the FBI’s terror watch list from completing a gun purchase for a period of 72 hours. Within that time frame, the attorney general would have to prove to a judge that there was probable cause that the individual should be barred from buying a gun.
Updated
Senator Chris Murphy’s amendment, Amendment #4750, has failed in a 44-56 vote.
Sponsored by Democrats, this amendment would have required background checks on all firearm purchases except for gifts and loans between family members. It would have closed loopholes within the system that currently allow for purchases at gun shows and private sales without a background check.
Updated
The Trump Victory Fund, the joint effort between presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican party, transferred a mere $3.06 million to the Republican National Committee in May, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
By comparison, Mitt Romney’s Romney Victory sent the Republican National Committee $25.9 million in May 2012.
Senator Chuck Grassley’s amendment, Amendment #4751, has failed in a 53-47 vote.
This amendment would have poured more resources into the existing federal background checks system. Designed to encourage better prosecution of violations of the current system, it would not have expanded background checks such as the so-called “gun-show loophole.”
Updated
Looks like someone’s gunning for a role as Donald Trump’s new campaign manager:
Corey who...?
— OMAROSA (@OMAROSA) June 20, 2016
Senate votes on new firearms restrictions one week after Orlando mass shooting
A renewed debate over gun laws takes center stage in Washington this evening as the Senate holds a rare vote on new firearm restrictions. Washington refocused on gun control, a politically toxic issue on both sides of the aisle, after an attack on an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in which 49 people were killed and 53 more injured. The shooting, which took place early on June 12, was the deadliest mass shooting in US history.
Senate Democrats responded to the attack by mounting a near-15-hour filibuster, with the aim of securing votes on expanding background checks and barring suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms. Republicans offered competing measures on both proposals, a breakthrough remains unlikely. None of the four amendments on offer is expected to clear the 60-vote threshold. A nearly identical vote was held in December, yielding no result. That vote was spurred by the San Bernardino shooting, in which two shooters killed 14 and injured 22 at a holiday party.
The four amendments up for consideration:
- Grassley amendment #4751: sponsored by Republicans, this amendment would pour more resources into the existing federal background checks system. Designed to encourage better prosecution of violations of the current system, it would not expand background checks.
- Murphy amendment #4750: sponsored by Democrats, this amendment would require background checks on all firearm purchases except for gifts and loans between family members. It would thus close loopholes within the system that currently allow for purchases at gun shows and private sales without a background check.
- Cornyn amendment #4749: sponsored by Republicans, this amendment would enable the justice department to delay an individual on the FBI terror watch list from completing a gun purchase for a period of 72 hours. Within that time frame, the attorney general would have to prove to a judge that there was probable cause that the individual should be barred from buying a gun.
- Feinstein amendment #4720: sponsored by Democrats, this amendment would prohibit anyone on the terror watch list from buying a gun.
Updated
FEC filing: Clinton campaign has $42.5 million on hand, raised $26.4 million in May
According to the latest campaign filings submitted by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, just released this afternoon by the Federal Election Commission, the former secretary of state’s presidential campaign has nearly $42.5 million in cash on hand, after raising $26.4 million last month.
That’s an increase in cash on hand of more than $10 million, from $30.1 million at the beginning of the last reporting period. At the same time, the campaign raised $19.5 million in donations from individual contributors.
“Unforced errors have no place on a general election campaign for the White House.”
Here's why @MichaelRCaputo says he resigned from the Trump campaign after gloating about @CLewandowski_ firing. pic.twitter.com/01DfzVnfUd
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) June 20, 2016
According to a dishy New York Magazine story, quoting sources familiar with the campaign, Donald Trump’s ex-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was fired after a meeting this morning that was orchestrated by Trump’s adult children with the express purpose of ousting the controversial campaign chief.
According to two sources briefed on the events, the meeting was a setup. Shortly after it began, the children peppered Lewandowski with questions, asking him to explain the campaign’s lack of infrastructure. “They went through the punch list. ‘Where are we with staffing? Where are we with getting the infrastructure built?’” one source explained. Their father grew visibly upset as he heard the list of failures. Finally, he turned to Lewandowski and said, ‘What’s your plan here?’
Lewandowski responded that he wanted to leak Trump’s vice-president pick.
Trump, shocked by Lewandowski’s lack of ideas to right the seriously damaged campaign, fired him, and Lewandowski was escorted from the building by Trump security.
“The real lesson here is everyone is expendable except for the kids,” New York Magazine quotes an adviser as saying. “It’s tribal.”
Sidenote: Donald Trump apparently has his running mate picked out already.
Donald Trump senior adviser Michael Caputo has resigned from the campaign after sending out a delighted tweet following news that campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was fired this morning.
Ding dong the witch is dead! https://t.co/pSqQwmAGz1 pic.twitter.com/5dE7GMeEK6
— Michael Caputo (@MichaelRCaputo) June 20, 2016
“I regret sending out a tweet today alluding to the firing of Corey Lewandowski. In hindsight, that was too exuberant a reaction to this personnel move,” Caputo wrote in a letter to campaign chair Paul Manafort obtained by CNN. “I know this is a distraction from the kind of campaign you want to run, so I’m resigning my position as Director of Communications for Caucus Operations at the 2016 Republican Convention. Let’s make this immediate.”
“I wish you success in the months ahead. I continue to believe Donald Trump must be elected president in November. With you at the helm, I know he can. Call if I can help.”
Texas senator Ted Cruz has joined colleagues Mike Lee of Utah and Jeff Sessions of Alabama by sending a letter this afternoon to President Barack Obama requesting that the US not pick sides as the United Kingdom prepares to take a public vote on whether to remain in the European Union.
Cruz wrote that he, Lee and Sessions were “disturbed to see your Administration seeking to pressure the United Kingdom into remaining in the European Union,” writing to the president that his joint press conference with Prime Minister David Cameron last month “made it clear that you will use the power of the presidency to intervene in Britain’s decision, and that you place negotiations with Britain at ‘the back of the queue.’”
Regardless of the outcome of the referendum, Cruz wrote, “citizens of the United Kingdom should know that we will continue to regard our relations with the United Kingdom as a central factor in the foreign, security, and trading policies of the United States. The United States, as a nation founded on the sovereign and democratic voice of the American people, must respect the sovereignty of other democratic peoples, and their inalienable right to determine their own destiny. Any interference in their decision can only harm our relationship.”
Police: Man arrested at Las Vegas rally said he wanted to shoot Donald Trump
A federal agent has filed a report stating that a man who allegedly attempted to grab a police officer’s gun at a Donald Trump rally on Saturday intended on shooting the candidate, according to the Associated Press.
Michael Steven Sandford, a 19-year-old California native, was arrested on Saturday after allegedly trying to seize a police officer’s sidearm from its holster. Sandford reportedly told his arresting officers that he had driven from his home stat with the goal of shooting Trump. Before he arrived at the Treasure Island Casino, where Trump was holding a rally, Sandford told officers that he had gone to a Las Vegas shooting range in preparation.
According to a report filed by Secret Service special agent Jason Swierkowski, Sandford approached a Las Vegas police officer to say he wanted an autograph from Trump before attempting to grab the officer’s gun.
Roughly 1,000 people joined in on a conference call meant to gauge interest in a long-shot rules change before the Republican National Convention next month, with the goal of preventing presumptive nominee Donald Trump from acceding to the party’s presidential nomination.
According to CNN, the conference call took place on Sunday and was organized by New Jersey Republican Steve Lonegan, in the hopes of raising money and hackles in the face of Trump’s nomination. Lonegan, Ted Cruz’s former New Jersey campaign chair who once described Trump as “Hillary Clinton with a penis,” clearly sees an opening after weeks of terrible press and polls that have Trump on the defensive while his general election campaign is still in the crib.
Lonegan estimated that at least 250 of the people on the call were convention delegates, with the power to push for a change in rules that would unbind delegates and allow them to “vote their conscience,” presumably with the goal of removing Trump from the top of the ticket in favor of a more electable nominee.
“We’re walking into a disaster with this guy,” Pat Brady, John Kasich’s former Illinois campaign chair, said of the call. “If there’s a chance we can clean up the mess, I want to be part of it.”
A super Pac tied to Donald Trump raised $1m in May, doubling its previous month’s haul. Hillary Clinton’s main outside group, meanwhile, raised $12m... and it now has more than $52m on hand.
Trump super PAC in May: $1 million
— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) June 20, 2016
Clinton super PAC in May: $12 millionhttps://t.co/ppjYDtwXuI https://t.co/AOGozB73fr
NEW: Clinton super PAC @prioritiesUSA raised $12.1 million in May, its best month yet in 2016. $52 million on hand. https://t.co/RYTJDF7K7t
— Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) June 20, 2016
Clinton lapping Trump in Ohio ground game
Henry J Gomez writes in Cleveland.com that “Hillary Clinton is off to a faster start than Donald Trump is in Ohio – and it isn’t even close”:
Trump is poorly organized in this region – he’s not particularly well organized anywhere – and hasn’t visited the Buckeye State since March. Conversely, Clinton’s stop Tuesday will be her second in eight days.
Consider some other numbers.
Democrats say they now have 150 full-time employees on the ground in Ohio.[...] The Republican National Committee has more than 50 paid employees on the ground in the state – less than what was expected by this point. [...] Matt Borges, the Ohio Republican Party chairman, had been among Trump’s most vocal critics and these days seems motivated more by a desire to protect Portman’s seat in the Senate.
Read the full piece here.
Who’s in charge?
Donald Trump Jr says "Paul [Manafort] has been in charge for a few weeks now." Lewandowski said Manafort had been in charge since April 7
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 20, 2016
Clinton 'very proud' of guns filibuster
Hillary Clinton said she was very proud of Democratic senators who mounted a filibuster last week to demand a vote on new gun safety laws. The senate was scheduled to vote Monday evening on universal background checks for gun purchases and on barring suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms.
Clinton to supporters on today's Senate guns votes https://t.co/ocwzOGkqEL pic.twitter.com/J05tq7srUJ
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) June 20, 2016
Corey Lewandowski has just completed an extensive, half-hour-long interview with CNN’s Dana Bash in which he insisted that nothing was going wrong with the Trump campaign and said he has no regrets.
Lewandowski said that 16 other campaign managers had tried to steer their candidates to victory, but only he “had the privilege” of doing so, and that if someone would have told him beforehand how it all came out, he would have asked, “is that possible”?
Pressed to explain how Trump hoped to succeed in a presidential bid with a campaign staff of dozens, little cash on hand and no national ad buys, Lewandowski pointed to the Republican primary, in which political groups tied to the Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio campaigns in particular vastly outspent the Trump camp, only to lose.
“What you have to understand is, Donald Trump has the ability to bypass the mainstream media,” Lewandowski said. “He has Twitter, Facebook, Instagram [to] get his message out.... You can’t just look dollar-to-dollar. If money was the measure of success, Donald Trump wouldn’t be the nominee – Jeb Bush would.”
Again and again, Lewandowski insisted to Bash that what looks on the outside like a disastrous campaign – tanking polls, acute party discomfort and now a major reshuffling that took insiders by surprise – is actually a campaign playing by its own rules.
“The money is pouring in,” Lewandowski said of fundraising efforts. “People want to come onboard.. they want to join the Trump train.”
Challenged to explain why he was dismissed, if the campaign is in fact going so well, Lewandowski said “I don’t know the answer to that.” Asked to speculate, he reverted to praise of the candidate and the candidacy, prompting Bash to note that while he was “a good soldier”, the version of reality he was describing was so at odds with the reality most people recognize that for “somebody to watch this, they might think they’re on another planet”.
“The campaign’s moving in the right direction, that’s the most important thing,” Lewandowski said.
sounds from this Lewandowski interview like he left because campaign was going so well there was nothing left to do
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) June 20, 2016
This @DanaBashCNN interview with Lewandowski is becoming quietly epic. He's sounding as if he was just hired, not fired.
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) June 20, 2016
Lewandowski 'honored' 'thankful and grateful' – 'it’s been so amazing'
Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has given a gracious interview to MSNBC in which he says he has no regrets about working for the Trump campaign, that he will continue to support Trump and that’s it’s “been an honor to be part of this from the beginning”.
Lewandowski told MSNBC’s Ali Vitali that he would still serve as chairman of the New Hampshire delegation to the Republican convention and that he looked forward to doing so because the convention would be so unique and have “so much flair” – “it’s going to be so different”.
Asked whether there was anything he would have done differently, Lewandowski said, “I never look back and say what I could’ve done differently. I want to work as hard as I can, and I’ve tried to do that to the best of my ability, and giving 100% of my effort is the best I can do”.
Lewandowski says he is “honored. I’m so honored. Thankful and grateful. It’s been so amazing”.
And Lewandowski has an interview coming up on CNN..
Just spoke w/ Corey Lewandowski. He tells NBC exclusively that he's "honored" for time spent with campaign; "no regrets."
— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) June 20, 2016
When I asked if it was fair for the past 6 weeks of rough news to be pinned on him he told me the buck stops with him as camp mgr. #nbc2016
Lewandowski also pushed back on NBC reports that family members pushed for his firing.
Lewandowski: 'Trump is a great candidate'
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski tells CNN that not only is Trump “a great candidate”, he is “better than Hillary Clinton ever will be”:
Corey Lewandowski statement: "I stand by the fact that Mr. Trump is a great candidate and is better than Hilary Clinton ever will be."
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) June 20, 2016
Cleveland’s Quicken Loans arena finishes with basketball for the year (the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors Sunday night, in Oakland, to win the NBA championships) and turns to politics – see you in a month!:
Goodbye @NBA finals; hello @GOPconvention Cool time lapse video from @theQArena
— susan swain (@cspanSusan) June 20, 2016
h/t @SteveScully https://t.co/j36MUFEnCW
Updated
Clinton leads Trump by 7 points in new poll
For the past month, Donald Trump has been steadily falling in the polling averages - and the latest numbers to come from Monmouth University don’t offer good news for the presumptive Republican nominee.
In mid-May, Trump was averaging 43% of the vote share after a string of three polls put him slightly ahead of Democrat Hillary Clinton. Since then, Trump has fallen back behind Clinton (a position he has held in most polls for the past year) and worse still for Trump, Clinton’s lead has grown.
The poll released today from Monmouth asked a random sample of 803 registered voters who they would vote for “if the election for President was [held] today” - only 40% of respondents said Trump while 47% chose Clinton. Trump may take solace in the fact that after a similar decline in March this year, the businessman’s polling averages rebounded.
Responses highlighted the unpopularity of both candidates. In total, 57% of respondents said they had an unfavorable opinion of Trump (a view held by 22% of those who identified as Republican) and 52% said they had an unfavorable view of Clinton (11% of Democrats in the survey said the same). When the voters were given a longer list of candidates, 9% said they would choose Libertarian party candidate Gary Johnson and 4% said they would choose the Green party’s presidential nominee Jill Stein.
The poll by Monmouth (which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points) tried to test voter fluidity too by asking whether respondents might change their minds. Only 69% of the people who took part in the poll said they were certain about their intentions for November.
As pollsters often do, Monmouth included some questions which relate to recent news event - since they conducted the poll from June 15 to 19, respondents would have likely been thinking about the Orlando shooting. One in five of those interviewed said they support “banning all Muslims from entering the U.S.” and one in three said they were in favor of “a blanket ban on the immigration of any person who lives in a country where there has been a history of terrorism against the west”.
Lewandowski blames rival for campaign woes
Fired Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has disclaimed responsibility for the difficulties the Trump campaign has encountered, blaming rival Paul Manafort, who, Lewandowski tells the Associated Press, was in charge:
Reached on Monday, Lewandowski deflected any criticism of his approach, pointing instead to campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
“Paul Manafort has been in operational control of the campaign since April 7. That’s a fact,” Lewandowski said, declining to elaborate on his dismissal.
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks described Lewandowski’s departure as a “parting of ways.” A person close to Trump said Lewandowski was forced out largely because of his poor relationship with the Republican National Committee and GOP officials. That person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss internal deliberations.
"Paul Manafort has been in operational control of the campaign since April 7," Lewandowski tells the @AP https://t.co/BnhwrcRWPm
— Jill Colvin (@colvinj) June 20, 2016
Lewandowski was escorted from Trump Tower by security, according to multiple sources.
And Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, appear to have been key proponents of the “ditch Corey” movement:
Trump source suggested final straw was "conflict between Corey and Hope which Ivanka didn't like" https://t.co/UjxY0ery7e
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 20, 2016
Lewandowski escorted out of Trump Tower by security per @KatyTurNBC / @AprilDRyan @KristalHigh @rolandsmartin
— Lauren Victoria (@LVBurke) June 20, 2016
I'm told the person who convinced Trump to fire Corey is Ivanka - who met with her dad and said get rid of him or she can no longer help
— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) June 20, 2016
I'm told that also intimately involved in getting Corey out was Trumps son in law Jared, who has a large and growing behind the scenes role
— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) June 20, 2016
This is the top story on the website of the Jared Kushner owned New York Observer right now pic.twitter.com/UcD339be2o
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 20, 2016
Updated
Poll reveals many 'undecided' voters – or are they 'neither'?
A poll released today could shed some light on a crucial set of voters in the 2016 election: the undecided voters. Presidential candidates will be fiercely fighting over those voters between now and November while trying to shore up the support of those who say they have already made up their mind.
But the poll, which comes from CNBC and was published today with the headline “25% of voters in 2016 race remain undecided”, might not be all that useful. For starters, that 25% headline figure includes the 14% of respondents who said they planned to vote for “neither” candidate (they sound pretty decided to me and underscore just how much this election is shaping up to be an unpopularity contest).
What’s more, no poll should be treated as gospel by itself and 25% seems strikingly high when compared to other recent surveys. A Rasmussen poll published last Thursday found that just 4% of voters were undecided and in a Reuters/IPSOS poll (also published on Thursday), 7% of respondents either said they didn’t know which candidate they would vote for in November or else refused to answer the question.
There could be several reasons why CNBC’s number is so high - their poll was based on only 801 registered voters (the poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points) or it might be that their question wording was different to other polls and influenced responses. It’s hard to say since the company still hasn’t published their underlying data.
Lewandowski’s Twitter profile remains loyal:
Our news story on the Lewandowski ouster, by Guardian politics reporter Ben Jacobs, is now up on the site – read it here:
Some Trump insiders say they were not given a heads up before Lewandowski’s ouster – but the Trump campaign did inform the Republican National Committee, Time’s Zeke Miller reports:
RNC was given a heads up on Trump campaign shakeup (which hasn't been the case previously)
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) June 20, 2016
Awkward? Corey Lewandowski, the deposed Trump campaign manager, is still slated to chair the delegation that New Hampshire will send to the Republican convention in support of Trump, the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs reports:
Just talked to New Hampshire Republican Party and was told Lewandowski is still slated to be delegation chair as of now.
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 20, 2016
According to NHGOP rules, Trump campaign cannot remove Corey as NH delegation chair to the convention. Can replace him only if he resigns.
— Ryan Williams (@RyanGOP) June 20, 2016
Trump campaign: cash-poor, zero ads
As the Clinton campaign and outside groups supporting her ramp up ad spending in swing states higher into eight figures, the Trump campaign visibly does nothing (Note: Trump has apparently deleted a tweet sent early Monday morning boasting about two weekend fundraisers in which “I raised a lot of money for the Republican National Commiittee”).
Here’s NBC’s Mark Murray on Trump versus Clinton on ad spending:
Trump campaign, by the numbers
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) June 20, 2016
- trailing HRC by 6pts in RealClear avg
- Just $2.4M in bank
- Zero ad spending in battleground states
Clinton's battleground ad buy is now up to $20.9M, and here are the market-by-market spending numbers https://t.co/9Idi58f0Rj
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) June 20, 2016
Bombing the planes on the runway right now. Trump has $0 in ads. https://t.co/57tiWrYMw2
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) June 20, 2016
Trump still needs $$$$ and for him to not say stuff like he did about Curiel. Maybe ditching Corey L. helps. Or maybe the problem is Trump.
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) June 20, 2016
In which Trump in March vows loyalty to Lewandowski, and attacks Ted Cruz in February for firing his communications director (for spreading a false story about Marco Rubio and the Bible):
Wow was Ted Cruz disloyal to his very capable director of communication. He used him as a scape goat-fired like a dog! Ted panicked.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 23, 2016
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) June 20, 2016
Who will replace Lewandowski?
Apparently that has not been decided yet. Or it’s currently unknown or unclear.
You don't fire campaign manager w/out his replacement already lined up. That shd be the story. Now it's just more drama.
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) June 20, 2016
The Apprentice: Campaign Manager Edition
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) June 20, 2016
So when does Ivanka take over as campaign manager?
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) June 20, 2016
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Lewandowski just “ran the tour” for Trump, NBC News quotes an unnamed source as saying:
Trump camp source downplays Corey's success: he "ran the tour. The tour manager for the Stones doesn't get inducted into the hall of fame."
— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) June 20, 2016
UPDATE:
Actually, Ian Stewart was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame https://t.co/ZAJROUcgtd
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 20, 2016
Trump had said things were fine between the two big personalities near the top of the campaign:
Trump insisted in our recent interview that Corey & Manafort got along great. Otherwise, "I get rid of one." pic.twitter.com/z55c6use4n
— Michael C. Bender (@MichaelCBender) June 20, 2016
Campaign shake ups aren't new (gore '00, McCain '07, HRC '08), but has any WINNING campaign done major shakeup this deep into campaign?
— amy walter (@amyewalter) June 20, 2016
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NBC News reports that Trump dumped Lewandowski over the phone:
Trump informed Lewandowski he was out in a phone call today, @KellyO reports
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 20, 2016
"Lewandowski" is ancient Aramaic for "Scapegoat"
— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) June 20, 2016
Reminds me of that time on The Apprentice where Mr Trump fired Gary Busey for not selling enough sno-cones, cuz it sure wasn't Trump's fault
— mike murphy (@murphymike) June 20, 2016
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Lewandowski ouster takes some in Trump camp by surprise
The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs detects some gaps in Trump’s internal communications around this major campaign overhaul:
I just talked to a high ranking Trump source who had "no idea what was going on"
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 20, 2016
I'm told by sources that Trump surrogates and campaign staffers were not told in advance about the Lewandowski news. Found out through media
— Jose A. DelReal (@jdelreal) June 20, 2016
Step 1: Drop campaign manager on Monday AM without telling top backers first
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) June 20, 2016
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit https://t.co/cjJE9cWzGp
Trump, again eschewing trad.
— David Catanese (@davecatanese) June 20, 2016
pol rules, didn't even attempt to bury Lewandowski on a summer Friday. Goes AM Mon. to ensure it drives week.
Fair or not, dropping a campaign manager can calm the waters. But this isn't how you do it https://t.co/eYSuTjy67r
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) June 20, 2016
Updated
Saturday: still on the Trump train.
Thank you Las Vegas, Nevada! #Trump2016 #TrumpTrain pic.twitter.com/qiea8bj12e
— Corey Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) June 18, 2016
Monday: ejected.
Fierce internal rivalry split Trump campaign
The departure of Corey Lewandowski from the Trump campaign began, in retrospect, in early April, when Trump hired Paul Manafort, 67, a longtime political fixer, to sort out his delegates woes.
At the time it appeared that Manafort’s main job might be to drive home the nomination for Trump even if the candidate fell short of a delegate majority. Texas senator Ted Cruz had succeeded in installing sympathetic delegates in states such as Louisiana that Trump had won cleanly, frustrating the Trump campaign.
With Trump’s strong performance in the late spring allowing him to clinch ther nomination outright, Manafort’s role shifted from convention manager to something more like a campaign manager – Lewandowski’s turf. But whatever his role, Manafor posed a clear threat to Lewandowski from the start, the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs wrote:
Lewandowski had become an increasingly controversial figure after being charged with committing misdemeanor battery against a female reporter for conservative news site Breitbart.com. In a separate incident, Lewandowski accosted a protester in a crowd at a rally. Despite Trump’s willingness to unabashedly stand by Lewandowski, the candidate’s growing issues with delegate selection and preparing for a contested convention have put Lewandowski increasingly in the line of fire.
In an interview on Friday, Manafort further asserted his independence from Lewandowski, saying: “I work directly for the boss.”
Worth noting that prior to this, the Manafort-Lewandowski tension had reached a certain equilibrium
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 20, 2016
Where did Lewandowski come from? The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington profiled the controversial operative in early April:
When Donald Trump decided towards the end of 2014 to make a bid for the most powerful job in the world, one of his first tasks was to appoint a manager to run his presidential campaign. The name he landed on was pure Trump: a former lobbyist for the seafood industry who had never run a national campaign, who had staged debates in public with a cardboard cutout, and whose only claim to fame was sneaking a gun into the US Capitol.
And so it came to pass that Corey Lewandowski became the behind-the-scenes mastermind of one of the most bewildering political campaigns in history. In no small part, Trump’s unlikely rise from maverick outsider to frontrunner on the verge of securing the Republican party nomination must be credited to this 42-year-old, who himself has undergone an astonishing ascent from the relative obscurity of New Hampshire politics to stand at the real estate billionaire’s side.
A Fox News anchor:
Trump campaign says @PaulManafort is now fully in charge.
— martha maccallum (@marthamaccallum) June 20, 2016
Updated
Senior Trump insider celebrates Lewandowski departure
Wait – what happened to “we wish him the best in the future”?
Lackluster message discipline here from the Trump campaign – a senior Trump adviser and New York state director tweets, “ding dong the witch is dead”:
Ding dong the witch is dead! https://t.co/pSqQwmAGz1 pic.twitter.com/5dE7GMeEK6
— Michael Caputo (@MichaelRCaputo) June 20, 2016
Lewandowski exit suggests Trump realizes campaign has imploded. Question is whether Manafort can quickly rebuild, esp before convention.
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) June 20, 2016
Updated
Corey Lewandowski, the now-former Trump campaign manager, was a controversial figure inside the campaign for an abrasive personal style and outside the campaign, most notably, for being investigated for battery after he manhandled a reporter at a press conference in March.
Lewandowski, 43, is a graduate of the New Hampshire police academy and served as a trainee with the state police. His work in conservative political circles prior to the Trump campaign included managing voter-registration for Americans for Prosperity, an outside political group backed by funding from the Koch brothers.
Although Lewandowski has not known Trump long – they met at a political event in 2014 – he was known for dogged loyalty to his boss, and the essence of his work on the presidential campaign, to many outside observers, was to stick close to Trump, making sure that the candidate had what he needed and had none of what he didn’t want.
That role led to an altercation with reporter Michelle Fields at a news conference in Florida. When Fields, the a reporter with Breitbart, attempted to asked Trump a question, Lewandowski grabbed her and pulled her away. When Breitbart published an opinion piece defending the Trump campaign in the incident, and otherwise failed to stick up for Lewandowski, in her judgment, she quit.
Here’s her dig for Lewandowski:
Hey @CLewandowski_ I hear @BreitbartNews is hiring https://t.co/YKOZqRdi0p
— Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) June 20, 2016
Updated
Trump drops campaign manager– report
Corey Lewandowski has left his post as campaign manager for Donald Trump, according to the New York Times. Lewandowski “will no longer be working with the campaign” and “we wish him the best in the future”, the Trump campaign told the Times in a statement.
The Donald J. Trump Campaign for President, which has set a historic record in the Republican Primary having received almost 14 million votes, has today announced that Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign,” the campaign spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said in a statement. “The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future.”
Good morning and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. Donald Trump is gathering the top minds of his campaign, including family members, in Manhattan on Monday to discuss possibly reworking his political strategy, Bloomberg News reports. The meeting follows weeks of falling poll numbers, Republican defections and general clumsiness emanating from campaign headquarters on East 56th street.
An Olivia Nuzzi piece in GQ this morning, “The mystifying triumph of Hope Hicks”, captures a startling snapshot from inside the campaign, in the telling of Trump attorney adviser Sam Nunberg. Here’s a paragraph:
A 42-year-old operative who’d worked for the Tea Party group Americans for Prosperity, Lewandowski was now the campaign manager. Hicks was told she couldn’t work for both the political and corporate branches of the Trump team. She had to choose: Join the campaign or go back to the kids’ floor of Trump Tower. Hicks, who hates to disappoint, nonetheless told Lewandowski he’d have to find a new press secretary, which apparently set him off. “He made her cry a bunch of times,” Nunberg said. In Nunberg’s telling, Lewandowski said to Hicks, “You made a big fucking mistake; you’re fucking dead to me.” Lewandowski declined to either confirm or correct Nunberg’s recollection. “I don’t recall the specifics of that,” he told me. “I can say definitively that I don’t recall the specific incident that you’re referring to.”
Trump and NRA disagree on guns for clubgoers
Trump this morning has sought on Twitter to repair what had looked like a disagreement between him and the National Rifle Association over whether clubgoers ought to be armed. At a rally last Thursday in Atlanta, Trump, talking about the mass shooting at the Orlando club Pulse, said clubgoers should be armed.
That’s not what the NRA thinks. “I don’t think you should have firearms where people are drinking,” said Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s chief executive officer said on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday.
Now, true to form, Trump is denying that he said what he said:
When I said that if, within the Orlando club, you had some people with guns, I was obviously talking about additional guards or employees
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2016
We watched and blogged Trump’s Atlanta speech; here’s what he said:
If some of those great people that were in that club that night, had guns strapped to their waist, or strapped to their ankle... you would have had a situation folks that would have been always horrible, but nothing like the carnage”
Senate to vote on gun safety bills
A renewed debate over gun laws will take center stage in Washington on Monday, as the Senate prepares to hold rare votes on new firearm restrictions, Sabrina Siddiqui reports:
With Republicans offering competing measures on both proposals, a breakthrough remains unlikely. None of the four amendments on offer is expected to clear the 60-vote threshold. A nearly identical vote was held in December, yielding no result.
Wall Street does not want Warren for veep – report
Politico quotes unnamed sources – “Big Wall Street donors”, reportedly - who don’t want Hillary Clinton to pick Senator Elizabeth Warren as a running mate, because the banks think Warren is dangerous:
If Clinton picked Warren, her whole base on Wall Street would leave her,” said one top Democratic donor who has helped raise millions for Clinton. “They would literally just say, ‘We have no qualms with you moving left, we understand all the things you’ve had to do because of Bernie Sanders, but if you are going there with Warren, we just can’t trust you, you’ve killed it.’”
But Warren’s appeal as running mate is plain. Listen to her bully Trump this weekend in New Hampshire:
Warren calls Trump a 'thin-skinned, racist bully'... @morningmika: The Clinton campaign is smart to bring her on https://t.co/omhQ46YoLj
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) June 20, 2016
Every day it becomes clearer that he is just a small, insecure money-grubber who doesn’t care about anyone or anything that doesn’t have the Trump name splashed all over it. Every day it becomes clearer that he is just a thin-skinned racist bully. And every day it becomes clearer that he will never become president of the United States.
A winner in Cleveland – get it?
.@Reince statement on Cavs win "just the first winner Cleveland will produce this summer!"
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) June 20, 2016
Trump touts fundraising
As he falls behind in staffing up his campaign, producing ads, conducting polls, etc etc, Trump at least did some fundraising over the weekend, in cooperation with the Republican National Committee. It was teamwork that Trump is eager to tout:
The weekend in Texas and Arizona wss fantastic. I raised a lot of money for the Republican National Committee @Reince.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2016
But as David Drucker of the Washington Examiner, points out, Trump is not conducting any voter turnout or data work in-house. It’s all on the RNC this year, “so every $ he raises for party is really for him”:
The RNC *is* Trump's infrastructure. It's all for Trump: https://t.co/qfi1OrJgIt https://t.co/WIEXLR7R7J
— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) June 20, 2016
Grandma again
Chelsea Clinton and her husband announced on Saturday the birth of their second child, a son named Aidan, the second grandchild of Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.
The younger Clinton and her husband, Marc Mezvinsky, said in a statement that they were “overwhelmed with gratitude and love as we celebrate the birth of our son”.
Clinton, 36, is the only child of the former secretary of state and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, and lived in the White House from the age of 12 to 20. Her first child, Charlotte, was born in September 2014.
This is the kind of thing you do in your last year in office:
.@POTUS trolls Jeter https://t.co/iUblGiKVss
— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) June 20, 2016
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