Mr Fixit? Trump denies Ailes role

Knows from TV. Photograph: Jim Cooper/AP

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1. Calling in Oz?

Roger Ailes, who took a $40m severance from Fox News last month following allegations that he serially sexually harassed subordinates, has found a new job, multiple media outlets reported.

No Ailes role, Trump says

You think these guys were hard? Photograph: ddp USA/REX/Shutterstock

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Summary

Ailes is playing debate coach to Trump as the candidate prepares for three one-on-one encounters with Hillary Clinton beginning next month, said the reports, which the Trump camp denied.

Solo act. Photograph: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

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Summary

He is not advising Mr Trump or helping with debate prep. They are longtime friends, but he has no formal or informal role in the campaign.

– Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks

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2. Have the swing states already swung?

New polls found Hillary Clinton with an eight-point lead in Virginia (about average) and a nine-point lead in Florida (above average). In the Florida poll, Trump was at -17 with white women, a group Mitt Romney won by 10 points.

These guys don’t count. In Belgrade Tuesday. Photograph: Alexa Stankovic/AFP/Getty Images

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3. Trump: ‘I don’t want to pivot’

Wow -- this Donald Trump intvw w/ @news8news, via @alivitali: "I don’t want to pivot." pic.twitter.com/1xpshEcaWe

— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) August 16, 2016

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4. FBI turns over Clinton docs

Just to keep things exciting, the Clinton emails scandal continues to simmer, with the FBI handing over documents to Congress thought to include classified notes on Clinton. Republicans said they would read the documents carefully.

Dark history of Trump’s rightwing revolt

84 days, baby. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

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5. Kiev days

The Guardian’s Luke Harding recalls meeting Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in 2007, when Manafort was working out of an anonymous office in Kiev for future president Viktor Yanukovych.

How Manafort got a strongman elected

Operator. Photograph: Brian Snyder / Reuters/Reuters

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Summary

He doesn’t work statesmen. He works dictators and all-round bastards. He sells the unsellable product. If you have a dead horse and you need to sell it, you call him. He works bad guys. They pay more, of course.

– A former Ukrainian political operative, on Manafort

Manafort denies wrongdoing

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...and another thing:

Kaine sings "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains" in Asheville, N.C. Bonus: his wife, Anne Holton, clogging. pic.twitter.com/sy0wb1yP9S

— Thomas Kaplan (@thomaskaplan) August 16, 2016