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Scott Bixby (now) and Tom McCarthy (earlier)

Donald Trump to announce his running mate on Friday, aide says – as it happened

Donald Trump.
Donald Trump. Photograph: Michael Conroy/AP

Today in Campaign 2016

Hillary Clinton speaks on race relations and policing at the Old State House in Springfield, Illinois.
Hillary Clinton speaks on race relations and policing at the Old State House in Springfield, Illinois. Photograph: Cengiz Yar/AFP/Getty Images
  • Donald Trump is suing former top aide Sam Nunberg for $10m in back and forth litigation, only days before the presumptive GOP nominee will announce his running mate. Nunberg, who left the campaign in August 2015 amid internal conflict, was sued by Trump in arbitration proceedings on 28 May over claims that he breached confidentiality.
  • The Trump campaign is alleging that his client leaked a New York Post story about a public spat between the then campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and press secretary Hope Hicks. The two reportedly engaged in a public argument on a weekday night in midtown Manhattan, with Hicks screaming: “I’m done with you!” The affidavit includes a denial by Nunberg that he provided the New York Post with a story about what he described as a “lovers’ quarrel” and describes Lewandowski and Hicks engaging in “a sordid and apparently illicit affair”.
  • Hillary Clinton gave a speech on racial tensions in the US on Wednesday in Springfield, Illinois, and told the crowd that Donald Trump threatened American democracy.
Clinton: Trump campaign a ‘threat to democracy’
  • Evangelical voters, long a key conservative voting bloc, are rallying behind Donald Trump, according to a survey that found 78% of rank-and-file white evangelicals say they plan on voting for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. The survey, conducted by Pew Research Center from 15-25 June, found that support for Trump among white evangelicals tops even that of 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, including more than one-third of the demographic that says they “strongly” support his candidacy.
  • Although that may be put to the test during the convention: The Republican party could be poised for a fractious proxy battle over LGBTI rights after activists on the party platform committee announced they had sufficient support to potentially force a vote on the convention floor. Republican supporters of more gay-friendly policies would use a “minority report” to the GOP platform to try to strip all references to LGBTI issues from the party manifesto. It would be replaced with a scaled-back, 1,200-word statement of conservative principles.

Black Republican senator Tim Scott talked openly on Wednesday about “the humiliation” of being pulled over by police officers seven times in one year, as well as his experiences being subject to extra scrutiny in Washington as an African American lawmaker.

Tim Scott smiles with his mother Frances Scott after winning his Senate race.
Tim Scott smiles with his mother Frances Scott after winning his Senate race. Photograph: Mic Smith/AP

Scott, from South Carolina, who is one of just two US senators who are black, gave an impassioned floor speech in the wake of last week’s fatal police shootings of two black men, in Minnesota and Baton Rouge, and the killing of five police officers in Dallas.

“While I thank God I have not endured bodily harm, I have however felt the pressure applied by the scales of justice when they are slanted,” Scott said. “I have felt the anger, the frustration, the sadness, and the humiliation that comes with feeling like you’re being targeted for nothing more than being just yourself.”

“Was I speeding sometimes? Sure,” he added of the times he was stopped by police.
“But the vast majority of the time, I was pulled over for nothing more than driving a new car in the wrong neighborhood or some other reason just as trivial.”

In one instance, Scott said, an officer suggested the car he was driving might be stolen. In another, Scott said he was trailed by police across several traffic lights only to be pulled over and told he had forgotten to use his turn signal on the fourth turn he took.

“I do not know many African American men who do not have a very similar story to tell – no matter their profession, no matter their income, no matter their disposition in life,” Scott said.

Donald Trump’s chief counsel, Alan Garten, has released a statement regarding the candidate’s

As is standard practice for all major businesses, organizations and other entities dealing with proprietary information, Mr. Trump requires employees to sign and adhere to strict confidentiality agreements. When the agreements are not adhered to he will enforce them to the full extent of the law, and Mr. Trump’s litigation track record on such matters is outstanding. With regard to Mr. Nunberg, this agreement specifically calls for arbitration, and Mr. Nunberg is simply looking for free publicity using categorically false claims.

Trump is suing former top aide Sam Nunberg for $10m in arbitration proceedings over claims that he breached confidentiality.

The Republican operative, who after leaving Trump’s campaign announced he would support Ted Cruz, countersued this morning in New York county supreme court, alleging that Trump was trying to silence him as part of a vendetta and trying to force proceedings into arbitration to shield “the ridiculous nature of the Trump campaign’s irrational and vindictive assault against me”.

In an affidavit obtained by the Guardian, Nunberg alleges the suit “is retaliation for my change of political opinion and the free exercise of my first amendment right to abandon my political backing of Mr Trump and to endorse and associate with US senator Ted Cruz publicly”.

President Barack Obama told reporters this afternoon that “deep divisions” along racial lines in the US are making reconciliation between African American communities and police increasingly difficult.

“Not only are there very real problems, but there are still deep divisions about how to solve these problems,” Obama told reporters at the White House after a nearly four-hour meeting with nearly 40 leaders from both black and law enforcement communities. “There is no doubt that police departments still feel embattled and unjustly accused. And there is no doubt that minority communities, communities of color, still feel like it just takes too long to do what’s right.”

“There’s still a diversity of views around this table, and that’s by design,” Obama continued. “Not everybody agrees on everything.”

The president committed to the roundtable after the assassination of four law enforcement officers in Dallas, which followed several high-profile shooting deaths of African American men at the hands of police.

Updated

We have more on Donald Trump’s apparent plan to announce his running mate this coming Friday at an event in New York.

Campaign chair Paul Manafort told reporters in Cleveland that Trump is planning to announce his vice presidential choice at an event at Trump Tower in New York, stoking the fires of veep-mania that has gripped followers of his presidential campaign.

Trump and his senior campaign staff - by which we mean his three eldest children - have all met with the presumptive frontrunners for the position in recent days, including New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Indiana governor Mike Pence and former House speaker Newt Gingrich.

Donald Trump questions Ruth Bader Ginsberg's 'mental capacity,' calls her 'a disgrace'

In an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier this afternoon, Donald Trump questioned the “mental capacity” of sitting supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, after the justice repeatedly criticized Trump as a “faker.”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Donald Trump.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Donald Trump. Photograph: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images

“She’s a disgrace to the supreme court,” Trump said. “For her to politicize the supreme court, and this is all the more reason why I hope I win. Because I’ve got 11 justices that are absolutely incredible justices. Highly respected by all, including liberal people frankly. For her to come out and to say the kind of things - there’s almost something wrong with her. I don’t think anybody has ever seen that before.”

When asked whether he was questioning Ginsburg’s mental state, Trump agreed.

“Yeah, I think I am. I think I am questioning, perhaps, her mental capacity,” Trump continued. “For her to do that was either a very dumb mistake - and she’s been criticized by people who that would always be on her side ... But honestly, for her, for her to have done was an absolute disgrace to the supreme court. And she owes the country, our country an apology. And she owes the supreme court of the United States an apology. It was disgusting.”

The New York Observer will reportedly no longer publish open letters about Donald Trump or his candidacy, according to Politico, after the paper’s publication of a highly critical open letter from a staff writer put its owner in the hot seat.

Columnist and editor-at-large Ryan Holiday published an open letter to his father, encouraging him not to vote for Trump, on Medium, but noted in the letter’s introduction that he had originally hoped to publish it in the Observer.

“I originally submitted this piece to the New York Observer where I am an editor-at-large and a columnist on media and culture,” Holiday wrote in the piece’s introduction. “Editorial decided it would no longer accept columns of this nature on this topic. I have the utmost respect for the leadership at the Observer, but I respectfully disagree with that decision.”

Entertainment writer Dana Schwartz’s “An Open Letter to Jared Kushner, From One of Your Jewish Employees” called on Observer owner Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, to explain his support of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee after numerous instances in which he was seen as courting the support of white supremacists and antisemites.

He probably means “swap”:

In an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier this afternoon, Donald Trump declared that he’s “not looking for an attack dog” in his search for a running mate. “Frankly, I’m looking for somebody that really understands what we’re talking about. Because I would rather have the whole thing be on policy, and I’ve said that before. People think of me as an attackert, but I would rather be talking about policy.”

Granted, Trump said the literal opposite in a conversation with the Wall Street Journal yesterday, so who knows.

Bad to worse for Sam Nunberg:

Former House speaker and current vice-presidential short-lister Newt Gingrich was flown to Indianapolis to meet with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald trump on a private jet on loan from Fox News host Sean Hannity, according to CNN.

Gingrich, who served as a commentator for the right-leaning cable news network until yesterday, when Fox News cut ties with the former Georgia congressman “due to the intense media speculation about Gingrich’s potential selection as Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate,” has been vocally supported by Hannity, who declared on his eponymous late-night show that he “wouldn’t be happy with anyone but Newt” as Trump’s vice presidential pick.

Along with Gingrich, Trump is seen as weighing Indiana governor Mike Pence and New Jersey governor Chris Christie as potential running mates.

MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow is preparing for a potential Donald Trump presidency by studying the rise of the Third Reich.

Rachel Maddow and Hillary Clinton.
Rachel Maddow and Hillary Clinton. Photograph: Chuck Burton/AP

That’s according to an interview with Rolling Stone, in which the Rhodes scholar and liberal commentator made reference to “almost apocalyptic scenarios” if Trump were to be elected president.

“What is amazing is the Republican Party that picked him. They had 330 million people to choose from, and they’ve decided that he is the best one to be the standard-bearer of one of the two major parties of the greatest nation on Earth,” Maddow said. “Like, talk to me, Republican voters! What’s the worst-case scenario for America if he wins? It can be pretty bad. You don’t have to go back far in history to get to almost apocalyptic scenarios.”

“Over the past year I’ve been reading a lot about what it was like when Hitler first became chancellor,” Maddow volunteered, after interviewer Andy Greene asked her whether she felt like the current political climate was similar to a dystopian science-fiction novel. “I am gravitating toward moments in history for subliminal reference in terms of cultures that have unexpectedly veered into dark places, because I think that’s possibly where we are.”

Trump is suing his former top aide for $10m in back and forth litigation, only days before the presumptive GOP nominee will announce his running mate - read ex-aide Samuel Nunberg’s response to Trump’s lawsuit:

Video: Hillary Clinton gave a speech on racial tensions in the US this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois, and told the crowd that Donald Trump threatened American democracy.

Clinton: Trump campaign a ‘threat to democracy’

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, speaking in Abraham Lincoln’s hometown, said: “This man is the nominee of the party of Lincoln. We are watching it become the party of Trump.”

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has made another key hire, bringing on Matt Mowers, a former top Chris Christie aide.

Donald Trump shakes hands with Chris Christie.
Donald Trump shakes hands with Chris Christie. Photograph: Gene J. Puskar/AP

Multiple sources familiar with the campaign have confirmed that Mowers has joined the presumptive Republican nominee’s campaign.

Mowers, a former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party, led the New Jersey governor’s 2016 presidential campaign in the Granite State. Most recently, Mowers worked for Mercury Public Affairs, a political consulting firm led by former top Christie aide Mike DuHaime.

The hire shows not only the growing influence of Christie in Trump world but the increasing professionalization of the Trump campaign. He joins other political veterans who have recently signed on to Trump’s campaign. In recent weeks, Jason Miller, a well respected operative who worked for Ted Cruz, joined as Trump’s senior communications advisor and Mike Biundo, Rick Santorum’s 2012 campaign manager who worked for Rand Paul and John Kasich this cycle, was hired as a senior national advisor.

The growing number of hires have come in the aftermath of Trump’s June firing of longtime campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as longtime Republican operative Paul Manafort along with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner have speared efforts for Trump’s campaign to look like a more traditional GOP effort.

Evangelical Christians rallying behind Donald Trump, poll finds

Evangelical voters, long a key conservative voting bloc, are rallying behind Donald Trump, according to a survey that found 78% of rank-and-file white evangelicals say they plan on voting for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Donald Trump.
Donald Trump. Photograph: Steve Helber/AP

The survey, conducted by Pew Research Center from 15-25 June, found that support for Trump among white evangelicals tops even that of 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, including more than one-third of the demographic that says they “strongly” support his candidacy. Presumptive Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, garnered the support of a mere 17% of white evangelical Protestants, but enjoyed the support of more than two-thirds of religiously unaffiliated registered voters: Clinton leads among voters who expressed no religious preference 67% to Trump’s 23%.

Although white evangelicals have been a key Republican constituency since Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980, its demographic might is being challenged by the so-called “religions nones”, whose numbers swelled as younger Americans have aged into the electorate. Both groups make up roughly one-fifth of all registered voters in the US, with one-third of all Republican voters counting themselves as white evangelicals, and a quarter of Democratic voters being “religious nones”.

White evangelicals prefer Trump to Clinton on nearly every issue, according to the survey, ranking Trump as the candidate who would do a better job of dealing with gun policy (79%), defending against terrorist attacks (78%), dealing with immigration (75%) and selecting supreme court justices (74%). Only when asked which candidate would do the better job of fixing race relations in the US did white evangelicals say that Clinton would come out on top, 46% to Trump’s 44%.

The survey represents good news for Trump, whose policy history, including past embraces of abortion rights, same-sex marriage and religious tests to enter the US, and personal peccadilloes – three marriages and statements referring to avoiding sexually transmitted infections as his “own personal Vietnam” – turned off many evangelical leaders during the Republican primaries.

With the accession of Clinton, who is highly unpopular among white evangelicals, to the Democratic nomination, however, many appear to be holding their noses: 45% of white evangelical Protestants told Pew that their support for Trump is mainly a vote against Clinton, compared to 30% who said they are voting for Trump because they support him.

The Huffington Post has been trying to locate Donald Trump’s state campaign offices. But they don’t exist sometimes:

An attorney for Nunberg tells the Los Angeles Times that Trump’s effort to silence Nunberg is “a cautionary tale of what the American people face”:

Video: Clinton calls Trump a threat to the democracy

Clinton: Trump campaign a ‘threat to democracy’

Ben Jacobs flags an exhibit in the Trump lawsuit: the Page Six story:

Trump winning 0% of black voters in swing states – poll

Wall Street Journal editor Neil King is highlighting some subheadlines from the latests NBC/WSJ/Marist survey.

Donald Trump appears to be winning white voters in Ohio by 10 points – but the race is tied owing to the fact that Trump’s support among black voters there is zero (0) percent.

Trump appears equally as unpopular among black voters in Pennsylvania, where the poll has Clinton leading by 9 points overall.

Ohio displays a large gender gap, with the candidates favored by co-genderists by about 15 points each.

Why sue Nunberg now? Trump’s mad at him, the Washington Post reports:

Updated

The AP report on the Nunberg lawsuit says Nunberg says Trump wanted to cover up “an apparent affair” between campaign staffers:

In a court filing obtained by The Associated Press, Nunberg accuses Trump of trying to silence him “in a misguided attempt to cover up media coverage of an apparent affair” between senior campaign staffers. The document cited a New York Post story about a public quarrel between the staffers published last month.

Here’s from the Page Six report:

Donald Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks and campaign manager Corey Lewandowski were seen having a public screaming match on the street in Manhattan on Wednesday night.

Onlookers were stunned to see Hicks, 27, hollering at Lewandowski, 42, in plain view of passersby on 61st Street near Park Avenue.

One witness told us, “Hope was screaming at Corey, ‘I am done with you!’ It was ugly, she was doubled over with her fists clenched. He stood there looking shocked with his hands on his head.”

Other sources insist the street showdown was about how to handle the announcement that seasoned political operative Paul Manafort would be taking an even larger role in Trump’s campaign, and how Lewandowski’s role would be defined going forward.

Another source told us, “It was a campaign-related disagreement. They were arguing how the announcement about Manafort taking more responsibility would be handled. There is an internal struggle to define what Corey’s role would be.”

Updated

Trump is suing former political adviser Sam Nunberg, according to multiple sources.

Nunberg, an associate of the Republican dark-arts political strategist Roger Stone, himself a former Trump adviser, was cut loose by the campaign last August for old racist Facebook posts.

Hunter Walker of Business Insider uncovered the posts, in which Nunberg wrote about calling Rev. Al Sharpton’s daughter “N---!” and made mocking references to Barack Obama’s African heritage using racially loaded language.

Nunberg was a source for a GQ profile of Hope Hicks published last month. Author Olivia Nuzzi is tweeting details of Nunberg’s nondisclosure agreement:

Updated

Trump hits former aide with $10m lawsuit

Trump’s suing a former aide, unidentified as yet, AP reports:

Updated

The Trump running mate search narrows to three four two(?):

Here’s a Clinton video clip:

Hillary Clinton gives interviews to the press but she hasn’t held a press conference since last year. So there’s some balking at her criticism of Trump’s handling of the press:

What do you do when you’re up against Mitch McConnell, Joni Ernst, and Kevin McCarthy?

If you’re the Democratic party convention planners this year, you deploy Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Michelle Obama and Corey Booker, the Washington Post reports:

Clinton up 9 points in Pennsylvania, poll finds

Here’s a poll that contradicts with a poll from earlier today! Reminder: pay attention to the averages.

The latest NBC / WSJ / Marist poll has Clinton up 9 points, 45-36, on Donald Trump in Pennsylvania. This morning Quinnipiac had the race in a statistical tie, with Trump at 43% and Clinton at 41%.

N.B.: NBC and Q-Pac both have ties in Ohio (18 electoral votes, historically a Republican must-win).

Here’s one more number: Monmouth University is out with a poll of likely voters in Colorado (9 EVs) showing Clinton with a 13-point lead over Trump in the state, 48-35.

And now we have Wisconsin (10 EVs, solid Democratic lately but much talked about) too. Clinton up 6 points among registered voters:

Updated

Clinton says that if we have a fierce debate and persevere, “We will become stronger still, like steel tempered by fire.”

She wraps up by quoting Lincoln on Americans as “the last best people on Earth.” Cue Rachel Platten.

Clinton: “My life’s work is built on the conviction that we are stronger together...

Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of Donald Trump supporters. We may disagree... but I believe like anyone else, they’re trying to figure out their place in a fast-changing America... that’s why we’ve got to reclaim the promise of America for all our people, no matter who they vote for.

Clinton: Trump campaign an 'ugly' 'threat to democracy'

“This man is the nominee of the party of Lincoln. We are watching it become the party of Trump. And that’s not just a huge loss for our democracy, it is a threat to it. Because Donald Trump’s campaign adds up to an ugly, dangerous message to America. A message that you should be afraid.”

Clinton says 'divisive' Trump campaign is 'dangerous'

“At times like these, we need a president who can help pull us together, not split us apart,” Clinton says. “And that is why I believe Donald Trump is so dangerous. His campaign is as divisive as any we have seen in our lifetimes. It is built on stoking mistrust and pitting American versus American.”

She cites his Muslim ban, plan for a Muslim database, his “demeaning” women, “promotion of an anti-Semitic image” and “the months that he spent” trying to discredit the citizenship of the first black president.

She quotes Trump from last night saying he can relate to the African American experience.

“Even this, the killing of people, is somehow all about him.”

She goes on to criticize Trump’s plan on immigration, his plan for a deportation force. She says Trump scares children and encourages violence at his rallies, and threatens violence if he’s not elected.

She hits Trump for calling Judge Gonzalo Curiel, born in Indiana, a Mexican. “IT was a cynical calculated attempt to fan the flames of racial division and designed to undermine people’s faith in our judicial system. Why would someone running for president want to do that.

“He’s said as commander-in-chief he would order our troops to commit war crimes and insisted they would follow those orders... he’s banished members of the press for criticizing him. Is there any doubt he would do the same as president?

“Given what we have seen and heard, do any of us think he would be restrained?

“And he has shown contempt for and ignorance of our constitution.” She recounts the story of Trump telling congress members last week that he wanted to protect “Article 12” of the constitution which doesn’t exist.

“He either didn’t care enough to answer it seriously, or he didn’t know where to begin.

“The first oath any president takes is to protect and defend the constitution,” Clinton says. “To do that with any meaning, you’ve got to know what’s in it, and you have to respect what’s in it.”

White House press secretary Josh Earnest takes a question about justice Ginsburg’s criticism of Donald Trump.

He said he avoids controversies over justices’ utterances such as last year when the late justice Scalia suggested that African American students might perform better in “slower-track” schools.

“I believe that our future peace and prosperity depends on whether we meet this moment with courage,” Clinton says.

“We do need to listen to those who say ‘Black Lives Matter.’ ... They have every reason to feel that way and it’s absolutely unacceptable. Everyone in America deserves to be treated with respect and dignity.”

She says five Latinos lost their lives in interactions with police last week. We must listen to police too, she says.

She names the five officers killed in Dallas. “They were protecting a peaceful march... making sure their fellow citizens could exercise their right to protest authority.”

Updated

Clinton: 'America’s long struggle with race is far from finished'

“America’s long struggle with race is far from finished,” Clinton says.

“There is too much violence and hate in our country. Too little trust and common ground. It can feel impossible to have the conversations we need ot have to fix what’s broken. And despite being the richest nation on earth, we have too much economic inequality.”

Updated

Clinton’s talking about Abraham Lincoln calling for the abolition of slavery in a 16 June 1858 speech at the Illinois statehouse, where she speaks today.

“I’m here today in this place because the words Lincoln spoke all those years ago still hold resonance for us now. Remember he said, ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand’.”

Here’s Clinton now. That live stream is here.

Democratic operatives are downplaying what Indiana governor Mike Pence might bring to the Trump ticket:

Ben Carson doesn’t like Ruth Bader Ginsburg weighing in on the presidential race.

Could all of those Trump favorites heading to Indiana – Christie, Gingrich, Sessions – mean a rally is in the offing?

Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear at a campaign rally in Springfield, Illinois, shortly. Here’s a video feed:

The Republican party could be poised for a fractious proxy battle over LGBTI rights after activists on the party platform committee announced they had sufficient support to potentially force a vote on the convention floor, writes Guardian politics reporter Ben Jacobs:

Republican supporters of more gay-friendly policies would use a “minority report” to the GOP platform to try to strip all references to LGBTI issues from the party manifesto. It would be replaced with a scaled-back, 1,200-word statement of conservative principles.

The vehicle used by activists was a proposal by Boyd Matheson of Utah for a shorter, more concise platform. Traditionally, both parties have adopted long laundry lists of policy statements, and the Republican platform in 2012 totaled 33,000 words. The Utah Republican thought the GOP should adopt something far shorter, similar to the party’s 1860 platform.

Quicken Loans Arena is decorated to welcome the Republican National Convention on July 11, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Quicken Loans Arena is decorated to welcome the Republican National Convention on July 11, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. Photograph: Angelo Merendino/Getty Images

However, within an hour of activists claiming they had more than the 28 signatures needed to trigger a minority report, Matheson recanted his support for the initiative.

At a press event, Matheson told reporters that the effort “had been hijacked in its last stages by those who may use it for divisive purposes and for a specific agenda”.

Read the full piece here:

Also taking meetings with Trump’s children: Chris Christie and Newt Gingrich, NBC News reports.

Update: Plus senator Jeff Sessions:

Updated

Running mates?

Chez Pence. Trump has now driven away.
Chez Pence. Trump has now driven away. Photograph: Michael Conroy/AP

Updated

Bayh makes senate run official

It’s a big day for Indiana. Former Democratic senator and governor Evan Bayh has announced he will run again for a US senate seat being vacated by a retiring Republican, in confirmation of reports earlier this week. Bayh’s entry to the race makes the state a possible pick-up for Democrats in their effort to win a senate majority in November.

Bayh in May.
Bayh in May. Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP

“With the challenges facing Indiana and our country, I can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch as partisan bickering grinds Washington to a halt,” Bayh said in a statement, continuing:

Hoosier families deserve more and I’ve decided to run to take their cause to the U.S. Senate.

It’s time for Indiana common sense – the principle that guided my work as Governor, when we crossed the aisle to cut taxes, reform welfare and create a scholarship program to help Hoosier families afford college. It’s how we supported our veterans and worked with business leaders to help create jobs, all while balancing the budget and building a surplus to protect taxpayers. It’s why I support a Constitutional amendment to balance the budget, fought in the Senate to cut red tape for small businesses and took on China to combat their unfair trade practices that take away our jobs. It wasn’t easy and there were immense frustrations but it’s not enough to just hope things get better.

One of the reasons I decided to retire was to spend more time with my twin boys and my wife. I am proud of that decision and cherish the time I’ve had with them. Now, I see their future – and all of Indiana’s future – put at risk by a broken political system. I’ll work every day to put progress ahead of partisanship and to earn the support of Hoosiers so that we can get back to getting things done for Indiana.

(ht @bencjacobs)

Updated

Who's Mike Pence?

Mike Pence, a lawyer, former six-term congressman from Indiana and talk radio host, was elected governor of Indiana in 2012 on a wave of support from Tea Party activists and social conservatives. His popularity as governor encountered a hiccup in 2015 when he signed a so-called “religious freedom” law, which nominally banned the government from “burdening” the exercise of religion but practically gave businesses a green light to deny services to same-sex couples. The law was amended under pressure.

In Congress, where he served for two years as chairman of the House Republican conference, Pence supported a balanced budget amendment and won broad support among conservatives for an immigration reform plan that would have required undocumented migrants to leave the US and apply for a special guest worker visa before returning (one critic, Pat Buchanan, branded the plan “stealth amnesty).

Pence burnished his credentials as a principled fiscal conservative by voting against Medicare Part D, a popular program to help cover the cost of prescription drugs. He was named 2005 Man of the Year by the conservative Human Events weekly.

Pence has had something of a falling out with conservatives since his congressional days, summarized by Jim Geraghty in the National Review:

But his political instincts seem to have failed him since then. He expanded Medicare after Obamacare was enacted, insisting that a couple window-dressing changes meant he was fighting the president’s health care law. He proposed a state-run news service, then abandoned the idea in the face of outrage. He was blindsided by opposition to his signing of Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Right before the Indiana primary, Pence hemmed and hawed and offered a halting, half-hearted endorsement of Cruz.

Pence won the 2012 Indiana gubernatorial race by a three-point margin and would have to beat the same Democrat again to win reelection. Polling has them neck-and-neck.

Indiana is reliably Republican in presidential elections, but it’s not un-swingable – the Hoosiers fell for Obama in 2008. It has 11 electoral votes to give.

But Pence would have to forgo a reelection bid – and perhaps a future in politics (unless they win) – if he joined Trump’s ticket. The governor has said he would finish his current term, which ends in November, even if called by Trump to the campaign trail (in a move known as the Chris Christie).

Pence and wife Karen have been married 30 years and have three adult children.

Updated

Trump family pays visit to Pence home

This feels like more than just a social call. Read Scott Bixby’s coverage of the Pence-Trump rally last night here.

Pence introduced Trump in Westfield, Indiana, on Tuesday. “Wow. Wow. Whoa!” Trump said onstage, apparently impressed by the fiery speech delivered by Indiana’s governor.

Pence was all smiles after a one-on-one meeting with Trump Tuesday night:

Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. A Quinnipiac University poll of three swing states released this morning showed Donald Trump gaining significant ground on Hillary Clinton, a week after the FBI director released details of an investigation of Clinton’s use of private email.

Live interviewers working for Quinnipiac surveyed voters via land lines and cellphones from 30 June to 11 July. With a 3.1% margin of error, the results were:

  • Florida: Trump at 42% to Clinton’s 39, compared to a 47-39% Clinton lead June 21;
  • Ohio: Clinton and Trump tied 41-41%, compared to a 40-40% tie June 21;
  • Pennsylvania: Trump at 43% to Clinton’s 41%, compared to June 21, when Clinton had 42% to Trump’s 41%.

The participation in the race of the Libertarian and Green party candidates seems to nudge it in Trump’s direction, especially in Pennsylvania, where a two-point edge for Trump became a six-point gap.

A new McClatchy-Marist poll out Wednesday had Clinton’s lead nationally over Trump shrinking to three points. Polling averages have Clinton’s lead nationally at 4.3 points and 4.5 points.

Clinton has a rally planned for Springfield, Illinois, today. Trump has no public events scheduled and had planned to hold fundraisers in California at week’s end.

Trump on Ruth Bader Ginsburg: ‘Her mind is shot’

In a very early morning tweet, Trump escalated his feud with supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who on Tuesday called him a “faker”. Trump replied that Ginsburg, 83, ought to resign because “her mind is shot”.

Trump on the African American experience: ‘I can relate’

Donald Trump has accused the Black Lives Matter movement of “dividing America” amid renewed tensions surrounding police brutality and race relations, while suggesting he identified with African Americans who felt as though the system was stacked against them.

Asked what he would say to African Americans who feel as though the system was biased against them, Trump drew an analogy with his own campaign.

“Well, I’ve been saying, even against me the system is rigged,” Trump told O’Reilly. “When I ran for president I could see what is going on with the system, and the system is rigged.

“I can really relate it very much to myself.”

GOP moves to include Trump ‘wall’ in official platform

Republicans shaping the party’s official platform in advance of next week’s convention have moved to formalize a commitment to building a wall along the Mexican border, CNN reported. “That is why we support building a wall along our southern border...” the new language, yet to be officially adopted, reads.

The speaker slots at the convention are filling up, meanwhile: former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arkansas senator Tom Cotton are now signed up, joining members of the congressional leadership and senators Ted Cruz and Joni Ernst.

Trump and Pence try trail chemistry

Indiana governor Mike Pence, a possible Trump running mate, delivered a fired-up introduction for Trump at a rally Tuesday in Westfield, Indiana (read Scott Bixby’s live-blog coverage here). “Donald Trump gets it. Donald Trump hears the voice of the American people,” Pence said. “Donald Trump knows that the boundless potential of the American people awaits, and we can make America great again!”

Then Pence hit Twitter:

... and another thing:

Updated

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