Today in Campaign 2016
- Donald Trump’s first town hall event featured him interrupting his first questioner, a self-described “manufacturing guy,” three times, although the questioners got the last laugh: “Number one: I’m opposed to the murder of unborn babies being legal,” a man asked (said?). “Number two: I’m opposed to our wasting our military in the Middle East on behalf of Zionist Israel.” Trump, slightly flummoxed at the two issues being brought up at an address putatively about US trade policy, responded to the second comment. “Lemme just tell you that Israel is a very, very important ally of the United States, and we are going to protect them 100%. One-hundred percent,” Trump said. “It’s our true friend over there, and we are going to protect Israel 100%.”
He also suggested that a passing plane might be a Mexican fighter jet:
- On the heels of (relatively less-well respected) Rasmussen’s survey depicting Trump up four points, (relatively well respected) Reuters/Ipsos releases the latest edition of their weekly tracking poll and it has Clinton up 10 points, 42-32. Whom to believe? The averages, we’re taught. RealClearPolitics hasn’t incorporated the latest Reuters yet and has Clinton up 4.9 points. HuffPost Pollster has baked in both Rasmussen and Reuters and has Clinton up 6.9 points.
- François Hollande of France, he of the 17% approval rating, told Les Echos that a Donald Trump presidency would be dangerous and “the best service the Democrats could render would be to get Hillary Clinton elected.” She’ll want to get this right into her swing-state ad buys.
- Vermont senator and perpetual presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been granted his second 45-day extension to file personal financial disclosure reports, putting the latest deadline for Sanders to file the forms well after the conclusion of next month’s Democratic National Convention. The request, filed with the Federal Election Commission today by the campaign’s legal counsel, cites Sanders’ “ current campaign schedule & officeholder duties” as the reason for the delay in filing the required report, which would provide limited detail of the senator’s assets and liabilities.
- Vice president Joe Biden told NPR News that Vermont senator Bernie Sanders plans on endorsing Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid:
VP Biden in sit down interview with us just now: "I've talked to Bernie. Bernie is going to endorse her." @NPRWeekend
— Rachel Martin (@rachelnpr) June 30, 2016
Donald Trump will be speaking on Sean Hannity’s show in ten minutes:
I will be interviewed by @SeanHannity tonight at 10pm on FOX! Enjoy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2016
Speaking at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, earlier this afternoon, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump jokes about Mexico attacking the US. Pointing out a plane flying overheard, he said: “That could be a Mexican plane up there.”
Trump has consistently criticised Mexico during his campaign and has pledged to build a wall between the two nations should he be elected president.
Donald Trump may not be a fan of journalism, but he’s apparently a big subscriber to blind-item gossip columns.
In a radio interview with Boston’s Howie Carr, Trump was asked about rumors that MSNBC’s Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are romantically involved.
Trump’s response:
Well, I haven’t seen that, but I, I heard it was in the New York Post. And the New York Post gets it right. So, they even endorsed me. So when I got an endorsement from the New York Post, I like them even more. When I saw that, it was - people are talking about that. That’s good, I hope they’re happy.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was once a darling of the morning show, but had a falling-out after Brzezinski apparently sided with House speaker Paul Ryan when he initially refused to endorse Trump’s candidacy.
I don't watch or do @Morning_Joe anymore. Small audience, low ratings! I hear Mika has gone wild with hate. Joe is Joe. They lost their way!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2016
Video explainer: Transgender people can now openly serve in the US military, defense secretary Ash Carter announced this afternoon. The historic change in military policy means that transgender individuals can no longer be separated, discharged, or denied re-enlistment or continuation of service just for being transgender.
Newt Gingrich, Chris Christie top Trump's veep list
Donald Trump’s campaign is honing in on potential running mates for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. The two men reportedly at the top of the list: Former House speaker Newt Gingrich and New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
According to the Washington Post, the two experienced politicians are joined on the short list by a half-dozen or so potential running mates, but both Gingrich and Christie have been asked to submit documents to the vetting committee, and with less than three weeks before the Republican National Convention in Cleveland begins.
The list is rounded by by Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, Tennesee senator Bob Corker and Indiana governor Mike Pence.
Both Gingrich and Christie present their bonuses and complications to a potential Trump ticket. Gingrich, a former speaker of the house, would add government experience and a long history in Washington to Trump’s inexperienced candidacy, but would undercut his outsider message, and, like Trump, is on his third marriage. Christie, known as a pugnacious debater, would fulfill the traditional “attack dog” role as a running mate, but his tenure as governor of New Jersey has been checkered by controversies.
Donald Trump has made his support for Brexit a standard stump line in the past week, but his voters have been left with a less than clear idea of the implications of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.
Trump, who was one of the few international political figures to actively support those seeking to leave the European Union, touted the referendum decision as a “great victory” in a press conference in Scotland the morning after the result. He has since bragged that “Crooked Hillary Clinton got Brexit wrong” and praised the vote as a decision by British voters to “take back control of their economy, politics and borders” in a major speech on trade policy Tuesday afternoon. He has even insisted he “stood with the people on the referendum while his Democratic rival “as always stood with the elites”. Trump has gone on to tie the vote to his own presidential campaign, saying: “Now it’s time for the American people to take back their future.”
Many of his supporters at a rally in a college gymnasium in Ohio shared Trump’s support for Brexit, seeing the vote as a step towards Great Britain being liberated from Europe.
Cathy Brown, a Trump voter who drove seven hours from outside Richmond, Virginia, though British voters “made a good choice to become free”. She celebrated the fact that the vote “means that people can make their own choices they can decide on a lot of things that were decided for them”. In her opinion, British voters will now “have say” on issues like “trade and open borders”.
Brown also dismissed concerns about the impact the deal will have on the US because now “we’ll be able to work out a deal that’s better to put us to work and get our people going” with the UK.
A new poll shows presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by double digits in a key swing state - and the gap remained much the same when third-party candidates were included in the survey.
According to the latest Loras College poll, 48% of Iowa voters say that they support Clinton, compared to 34% who support Trump in a head-to-head matchup between the two candidates, a 14-point lead for the former secretary of state. When Libertarian party nominee Gary Johnson and Green party candidate Jill Stein were added to the survey, Clinton’s lead narrowed slightly, 44% to Trump’s 31%, with Johnson winning 6% of Hawkeye State voters and Stein winning 2%.
A full 9% of Republicans surveyed told Loras that they would definitely or probably vote for Johnson instead of Trump, a massive outpouring of support for a third-party candidate.
“For Trump to win Iowa in November, he is going to need to attract those potential Johnson voters and the undecided,” said Christopher Budzisz, the poll’s director, in a statement. “While Clinton doesn’t appear right now as vulnerable to a loss of votes to a third party candidate, she does face her own potential pitfalls.”
In March, Donald Trump called NATO “obsolete” and said it would “have to be readjusted to take care of terrorism.”
TONIGHT on @ABCWorldNews-Trump tells @TomLlamasABC he "likes the idea" of NATO fighting ISIS https://t.co/GhdLu9MVmxhttps://t.co/yIP9u0P9jK
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 30, 2016
Joe Biden: Bernie Sanders will endorse Hillary Clinton
Vice president Joe Biden has told NPR News that Vermont senator Bernie Sanders plans on endorsing Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid:
VP Biden in sit down interview with us just now: "I've talked to Bernie. Bernie is going to endorse her." @NPRWeekend
— Rachel Martin (@rachelnpr) June 30, 2016
Al Gore’s daughter was among 23 people arrested during a protest of a pipeline under construction. The arrests happened yesterday at the site of Spectra Energy’s West Roxbury Lateral pipeline in Boston.
Karenna Gore was among demonstrators who tried to block construction activity on the site by lying in a trench dug for the pipeline and refusing to move until firefighters removed them, said protest group Resist the Pipeline & Stop the West Roxbury Lateral.
The group opposes the pipeline because of safety and climate change concerns.
Video: This afternoon, the US military ended its ban on openly transgender service members, in a speech given by US defense secretary Ash Carter.
Carter said effective immediately, US service members would be able to serve openly and could not be discharged simply based on gender identity.
Here’s video of Donald Trump being questioned about Muslims working at airport security:
Trump’s response: “We are looking at that. We’re looking at a lot of things.”
Donald Trump, on a “Mexican plane” getting “ready to attack”:
A woman asks Donald Trump to get rid of Transportation Security Administration workers with “heeby jobbies” at US airports, an apparent reference to hijabs, veils that cover the hair and neck of observant Muslim women.
Trump dodges, moving to airport security overall, and the event is over.
Questioner grills Donald Trump on defending 'Zionist Israel'
The fourth question - well, technically the third question, since Trump never allowed the first person to ask a question - comes from a man who says “we have something in common: respect for human life.”
Trump nods reticently.
“Number one: I’m opposed to the murder of unborn babies being legal,” the man says. “Number two: I’m opposed to our wasting our military in the Middle East on behalf of Zionist Israel.”
Trump, slightly flummoxed at the two issues being brought up at an address putatively about US trade policy, responds to the second comment.
“Lemme just tell you that Israel is a very, very important ally of the United States, and we are going to protect them 100%. One-hundred percent,” Trump says. “It’s our true friend over there, and we are going to protect Israel 100%.”
“As to number one, we are all with you,” Trump says succinctly.
“Wow, that was nasty! Are we all with Israel? Man!” Trump says, shaking his head, before taking another question.
Updated
A questioner asks Donald Trump about the likely “corporate backlash” of international companies who won’t be too keen on cutting into their profits by manufacturing and consuming within the United States.
“You’re gonna have a backlash where maybe people are gonna move from New Hampshire, but they’re gonna move to another state. Plenty to choose from!” Trump says. “My tax plan is cutting business taxes way down, and cutting taxes for middle income and everybody way down.”
“We’re gonna simplify our tax code, number one, and we’re gonna cut our taxes. We’re at the highest tax, we’re just about he highest taxes in the world,” Trump says, saying that “we’re gonna make corporations wanna come back.”
“Companies are actually leaving the United States and going to other countries to pick up their money cause they can’t get their money in. And that money could be used to rebuild the United States!” Trump says. “We’re gonna bring our money into the United States - trillions of dollars, we bring it into the United States!”
“We will do things that are going to be so miraculous - and it’ll be fast! You know, it won’t take a long period of time.”
Donald Trump’s first town hall event features him interrupting his first questioner, a self-described “manufacturing guy,” three times. Still no idea what his question was, although it seemed to be headed towards creating a culture of domestic consumption of goods.
Another questioner, an impassioned man whose company manufactured police badges before he lost business to China, calls current trade issues “unfair.”
“What are you gonna do for us?”
“We don’t play the game they play the game - they play the game to win, we play the game to survive,” Trump says of China. “We’re gonna start playing the game to win. So just hang in there - I know it’s not easy, but just hang in their, man.”
Donald Trump, speaking at a shuttered factory in Manchester, New Hampshire, emphasizes the importance of walking away from a deal as a negotiating tactic, citing the Iranian nuclear agreement as an example of a situation where his school of negotiation is superior to that of Secretary of State John Kerry.
“He never walked - he lost every single point,” Trump says. “We shoulda said no way, we shoulda left the room, we shoulda said we’re doubling your sanctions, and they would have been back on the television saying ‘please come back!’”
Donald Trump proposes 35% tariff on foreign-produced goods
“I want great deals for this country,” Donald Trump says in Manchester, New Hampshire. “Here’s my stance on trading: I wanna make great deals for the United States. Call it fair trade, call it free trade, call it whatever you want.”
“If companies leave… there’s going to be consequences,” Trump continues. “They’re not gonna make their air conditioners in Mexico, send ’em into the United States… and there’s no consequence. Well, now there’s a consequence. The consequence is now they’re going to pay a 35% tax.”
“We’re either going to keep ’em here, or they’re going to lose a hell of a lot of money,” Trump continues. “It’s very simple. They wanna go to another country, they gotta pay a tax to get their stuff back to this county.”
Donald Trump, speaking at a former Osram Sylvania manufacturing plant in Manchester New Hampshire, ties manufacturing woes to trade deals “pushed through” by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“Hillary Clinton pushed through the trade deal with South Korea that killed another 100,000 jobs, and she pushed it through,” Trump says. “We protect them - we have 28,000 soldiers on the line between North and South. And what happens, what happens if there’s a war? We get involved.”
“They are an economic behemoth - and we protect them, and they don’t reimburse us for what it’s costing,” Trump says. (Military officials have protested the idea that returning soldiers to the US would be cheaper than keeping them abroad.)
“When you have large numbers of unemployed bc workers, incomes go down across the country - just across the entire country. It just affects so much and so many other people, so many other lives and so many other businesses,” Trump continues. “Our whole standard of living goes down - we have workers for 18 years, they haven’t received an increase.”
“It’s a much better system, the way it used to be,” Trump says, of domestic production of goods that cost the consumer more. “We’re better off if they’re not quite as cheap.”
At the former Osram Sylvania plant in Manchester, New Hampshire, Donald Trump recalls other closed manufacturing operations in the region while reading statistics and names from a sheet of paper on his lecture.
“People from Mexico took their jobs,” Trump says, of a closed Ethan Allen manufacturing plant. “Regional job losses have been fantastically poor, fantastically bad and disgraceful.”
“It’s just, it’s not very hard to explain, it’s not very hard to understand. What is very difficult is to figure out why people did this. Why? ... We have a $500 billion trade deficit with China, a massive trade deficit with Japan,” Trump says. “They send us millions of cars, we send them beef. You oughta take a look at a chart sometime, take a look at the difference between what we send them and what they send us.”
“That could be a Mexican plane up there - they could be getting ready to attack,” Trump says, responding to an overhead plane.
Donald Trump mentions the heroin crisis facing states like New Hampshire, shocked that hard drugs could be a problem in a state with beautiful natural features.
“You look at these beautiful trees and these beautiful streams and these beautiful lakes? This is not heroin country,” Trump says.
Trump also promises the group that he will “take a few questions,” making this, as far as we can recall, Trump’s first town hall-style meeting since he became the Republican party’s presumptive presidential nominee.
Donald Trump holds event in Manchester, New Hampshire
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is holding an event - initially reported as an address on trade, but currently postulated as a “town hall”-style event - in Manchester, New Hampshire:
The event, which is not open to the public, is sparsely attended.
Donald Trump is running late to his campaign event in New Hampshire today, possibly because he is tweeting responses to an NBC News story that questions whether his campaign has filed the required documents to forgive the $50 million in loans he has personally provided to his presidential campaign:
The very dishonest @NBCNews refuses to accept the fact that I have forgiven my $50 million loan to my campaign. Done deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2016
I have self funded my winning primary campaign with an approx. $50 million loan. I have totally terminated the loan!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2016
The reason I put up approximately $50 million for my successful primary campaign is very simple, I want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2016
Bernie Sanders gets additional extension for personal financial disclosure
Vermont senator and perpetual presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been granted his second 45-day extension to file personal financial disclosure reports, putting the latest deadline for Sanders to file the forms well after the conclusion of next month’s Democratic National Convention.
The request, filed with the Federal Election Commission today by the campaign’s legal counsel, cites Sanders’ “ current campaign schedule & officeholder duties” as the reason for the delay in filing the required report, which would provide limited detail of the senator’s assets and liabilities.
The new deadline for filing the disclosure reports is now in the middle of August.
Fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, assigned to chair the New Hampshire delegation to the Republican convention, is at the Trump event in New Hampshire. Semper fidelis.
Corey Lewandowski is at Trump speech
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 30, 2016
Holding a boom box over his head https://t.co/OLStmD3A1i
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) June 30, 2016
Spotted at Trump's New Hampshire event. fired former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski 👀👀👀 --> pic.twitter.com/RRxq0qwMcf
— Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) June 30, 2016
How you can tell Corey Lewandowski is no longer working for Trump campaign: He shows up to speeches wearing shorts. https://t.co/iZyFXtIJ0M
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) June 30, 2016
Updated
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a race.
If your only sources of information are the Drudge Report and Donald Trump’s Super Pac.
Trump super PAC fundraising off Drudge pic.twitter.com/XPVarDfhhh
— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) June 30, 2016
Biden to hit trail with Clinton
Following an appearance Tuesday by president Barack Obama with Hillary Clinton in North Carolina, vice president Joe Biden will join Clinton Friday in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Updated
Anyone had enough Thursday poll numbers yet? But wait there’s more.
RABA Research, which gets a B- in FiveThirtyEight’s pollster ratings, gives Clinton a slight 41-38 lead in a new poll of voters in Ohio, which a Republican has never won the White House without winning.
Ohio voters supporter governor John Kasich’s decision not to endorse Trump by a margin of 48-39, the poll found.
Trump: 'I’m running against two parties'
A last tidbit from Trump’s Mike Gallagher interview this morning. The candidate is talking about the difficulty he has had wringing endorsements out of some former rivals and other influential Republicans. “It’s almost – in some ways, like, I’m running against two parties,” Trump says. Again via CBS News’ Sopan Deb:
Trump to @radiotalkermike: "It’s almost – in some ways, like, I’m running against two parties." pic.twitter.com/U5V2BB7sy7
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) June 30, 2016
Libertarian ad asks, 'you in?'
The Libertarian presidential ticket of former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson and former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld offers “a credible alternative to Clintrump” in a new video ad.
They talk about their records as governor – cutting taxes, building schools, balancing budgets, reducing unemployment – and their successes as Republicans in blue states.
“They think like America thinks,” the ad says, billing the pair as “two of the most successful governors working together for a better America.”
“The difference between the two of us and the other candidates running for president is that we’ve been there, and done that,” the pair takes turns saying.
The tag line: “What say, America, you in?”
(h/t: @bencjacobs)
In which @GovGaryJohnson and Bill Weld make their first pitch. Worth a watch. LOVE the portmanteau "Clintrump" https://t.co/Mni075W1Bu
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) June 30, 2016
Updated
The Donald Trump campaign has changed its plans for his Manchester, New Hampshire, event this afternoon. Instead of a speech about trade closed to the public, Trump will hold a town hall open to the public, the campaign now says:
Trump advance staffer says the event in Manchester, NH is going o be a town hall not a trade speech pic.twitter.com/BPeCcWXHg2
— Alan He (@alanhe) June 30, 2016
More state polling, more iffy – no let’s just call it bad – news for Trump. This time it’s Loras College with Clinton up 14 points, 48-34, in Iowa. Trump’s unfavorability in the poll is 69%.
There’s actual election news, meanwhile, in Iowa, where the state supreme court has ruled against an an expansion of voting rights for convicted criminals, the Des Moines Register reports:
The 4-3 decision upholds what critics say is one of the harshest felon disenfranchisement laws in the nation, and means the state will not see a significant shift in voter eligibility ahead of the 2016 election.
Bernie Sanders has received an additional 45-day extension on filing a personal financial disclosure report.
“There is good cause for this extension due to Senator Sanders’ current campaign schedule and officeholder duties,” his lawyer writes:
Lawyer for @BernieSanders cites "campaign schedule & officeholder duties" for Bernie not disclosing personal $ info pic.twitter.com/6PedXpKn7S
— Dave Levinthal (@davelevinthal) June 30, 2016
Asked about the impromptu (?) Bill Clinton-Loretta Lynch meeting, White House press secretary Josh Earnest says Lynch’s work speaks for itself, the New York Times reports:
WH and @PressSec sounds pretty uncomfortable with Bill Clinton-Loretta Lynch meeting while declining to criticize it
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) June 30, 2016
White House won't say whether Loretta Lynch meeting with Bill Clinton was appropriate. But @PressSec says Lynch's record speaks for itself
— Mark Landler (@MarkLandler) June 30, 2016
Your opponent has: $1M in bank, no org, 70% unfave, bitterly split party.
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) June 30, 2016
And your fmr potus husband has a visit w the ATTORNEY GENERAL.
Updated
Trump: 'Why am I not doing better in the polls?'
New state-level polling by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner research points up potential flaws in Donald Trump’s strategy to remake the electoral map by winning Rust Belt states including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Hillary Clinton leads Trump by 15 points in Michigan and nine points in Pennsylvania, the pollster finds:
GQR polls:
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) June 30, 2016
MI: Clinton+15
WI: Clinton+12
FL: Clinton+11
NC: Clinton+10
PA: C+9
OH: Tie
NH: Tie
NV: Tie
AZ: Trump+6https://t.co/6z2C9fVpgD
Trump’s plan to win New York state looks even worse in a new Siena College poll of Empire state voters. It gives Clinton a 23-point, 54-31 lead.
The GQR poll’s 11-point lead for Clinton in Florida marks the third time this month a survey has found Clinton ahead by double digits in the state, FiveThirtyEight’s Harry Enten points out:
Three polls this month in Florida give Clinton a double-digit lead. Obama never had any poll that gave him a double-digit lead in FL in 2012
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) June 30, 2016
People with local knowledge don’t quite believe all GQR’s numbers, however. Nevada journalism dean Jon Ralston thinks Clinton is up by “middle single digits” in the state, instead of tied with Trump, as GQR depicts:
@Timodc @jbarro NV data conflicts with at least three other polls I have seen. Very odd.
— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) June 30, 2016
@Timodc @jbarro Hillary in middle single digits up statewide.
— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) June 30, 2016
Trump, for his part, registered surprise Thursday morning that he was not doing better in the polls. Trump told radio interviewer Mike Gallagher, “I go to Ohio, we were there two days ago, and Pennsylvania and near Pittsburgh and we – I was in West Virginia, the crowds are massive.
And you know, I walked out of one and I said, ‘I don’t see how I’m not leading.’ You know, you see the kinds of crowds. We have thousands of people standing outside trying to get in... And I’m saying, you know, ‘Why am I not doing better in the polls?’
Trump tells @radiotalkermike that he is baffled that he is not leading in polls. (h/t to @BuzzFeedAndrew) pic.twitter.com/3PHeP1s4rx
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) June 30, 2016
Updated
Trump hires three new pollsters – report
The Donald Trump campaign is more than doubling its roster of pollsters, with three new hires who previously backed the Ted Cruz, Chris Christie and Rick Perry presidential campaigns, respectively, the New York Times reports:
Kellyanne Conway, a veteran pollster who has had a long working relationship with Mr. Trump, is among those joining the effort.[...] Mr. Trump’s team is also expected to bring on Adam Geller, who works with Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, and Michael Baselice, who was the pollster for former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and for the state’s governor now, Greg Abbott.
Trump previously paid two pollsters.
The Democratic national committee has denied a report that the party is looking into options for moving Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech at the national convention in Philadelphia from the Wells Fargo Center (seats 19,500) to a larger venue.
The BillyPenn local media site exclusively reported that the Democrats were looking for a larger venue, quoting US Representative Bob Brady:
Philly Congressman Bob Brady said nothing has been finalized but “there’s talk about it.
“It’s a good idea by the way, too,” said Brady, who is honorary vice chair of the DNC. “It engages people and gets people involved.”
But a DNC press secretary told BillPenn, “This is absolutely incorrect. There is no talk of changing venue.”
Trump addresses abortion ruling
CBS News’ Sopan Deb flags a section from Trump’s Mike Gallagher interview in which the candidate is invited to weigh in on the Supreme Court’s striking down a restrictive Texas abortion law three days ago.
“You wouldn’t see that” under a Trump presidency, Trump says. “And - and people understand that.”
After 3 days, Trump FINALLY weighs in on SCOTUS TX abortion ruling: Says if he's elected, you wouldn't see that. pic.twitter.com/Ql7HIQFyMR
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) June 30, 2016
Uh fact-check: Decision was 5-3, conservative justice would've made it 5-4, decision would be same. #math https://t.co/wiYd1ah2K6
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) June 30, 2016
Updated
Hillary Clinton’s top aide’s husband likes the idea of a Christie pick:
There is no way we are this lucky. https://t.co/HAquxRNLvA
— (((Anthony Weiner))) (@anthonyweiner) June 30, 2016
The Republicans are ready to nominate Trump for president and Democrats are doubting their luck?
Chris Christie being vetted for Trump ticket
New Jersey governor Chris Christie is being vetted as a potential running mate for Donald Trump, CNN reports.
New Jersey Governor @ChrisChristie is being vetted as Donald Trump’s possible running mate, CNN's @jamiegangel confirms.
— Edward Mejia Davis (@TeddyDavisCNN) June 30, 2016
Mike Murphy, who ran Jeb Bush’s Right to Rise political action committee, says guessing whom Trump will pick is hard:
My thoughts on "'4x2' Questions with Mike Murphy featuring University of Southern California's Bob S...": https://t.co/pFyfNwh7u5
— mike murphy (@murphymike) June 30, 2016
Here’s a shortcut to get the Christie vetters started:
April 2016: Christie has lowest job approval rating to date, poll shows
A new Rutgers Eagleton survey released Thursday found the governor’s approval has dipped to 26 percent, a drop of three percentage points since quitting the presidential race in February.
French president backs Clinton for president
François Hollande of France, he of the 17% approval rating, told Les Echos that a Donald Trump presidency would be dangerous and “the best service the Democrats could render would be to get Hillary Clinton elected.”
She’ll want to get this right into her swing-state ad buys.
Hollande tells the interviewer that a Trump presidency would complicate European-US relations and says that Trump’s slogans differ little from those of the extreme right in Europe and in France: fear of migration, stigmatization of Islam, challenging representative democracy and denouncing elites, even though Trump himself is a wealthy elite.
Trump calls Clinton-Lynch meeting 'a massive story'
In a radio interview snagged by BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski, Donald Trump weighs in on the chance (?) Bill Clinton - Loretta Lynch meeting in Phoenix on Tuesday.
Trump says the meeting shows how “the system is rigged” and calls it one of the biggest stories of the year:
“It is an amazing thing. I heard about it last night,” Trump says on the Mike Gallagher Show. “They actually went onto the plane as I understand it. And it was really a sneak. And it was really something they didn’t want publicized.
“I think it’s so terrible. I think it’s so horrible. I think it’s the biggest story, one of the biggest stories of this week, of this month, of this year. [...]
“It’s a massive story now. It’s all over the place.”
Clinton sets sights on eastern Nebraska
Like Maine, Nebraska splits its electoral votes by congressional district. Two go to the state winner and one goes to the winner of each congressional district. In 2008 Barack Obama snagged an electoral vote in Nebraska’s second congressional district – Omaha and environs. But they voted for Mitt Romney in 2012.
Clinton is hoping to take Omaha back for the Democrats. The campaign has announced it will begin airing two ads in the district focusing on Clinton’s “dedication to helping children” and on the children’s health insurance program, which Clinton helped create as first lady.
INBOX: Hillary for America to Begin Airing Ads in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 30, 2016
Here’s the CHIPs ad:
Said it before: Attempting to reestablish Obama 2008 map. https://t.co/UrJkTU1iEw
— Josh Putnam (@FHQ) June 30, 2016
Clinton up 10 in Reuters/ Ipsos tracking poll
Polling! Am I right? On the heels of (relatively less-well respected) Rasmussen’s survey depicting Trump up four points, (relatively well respected) Reuters/Ipsos releases the latest edition of their weekly tracking poll and it has Clinton up 10 points, 42-32.
Whom to believe? The averages, we’re taught. RealClearPolitics hasn’t incorporated the latest Reuters yet and has Clinton up 4.9 points. HuffPost Pollster has baked in both Rasmussen and Reuters and has Clinton up 6.9 points.
Ipsos asked 1,247 registered voters nationally: “If the 2016 presidential election were being held today and the candidates were as below, for whom would you vote?”
In the head-to-head Clinton-Trump matchup, 14% of respondents said neither. Clinton showed 75% support among Democrats and Trump showed 70% support among Republicans.
In a four-way race with the Libertarian and Green Party candidates, Clinton’s lead on Trump widened to 11 points, 42-31.
Trump had a 61% unfavorability rating in the poll, compared with Clinton’s 54% unfavorability rating.
The poll also asks for party preference in local congressional races. Democrats have quite a lead in the poll – 44-33.
Updated
Republican-leaning pollster has Trump ahead
Rasmussen Reports – a pollster with a mean-reverted bias of two points toward Republicans, according to FiveThirtyEight (which gives Rasmussen a lackluster C+ in its pollster ratings) – has released a new national poll in which Donald Trump leads Hillary Clinton by four points, 43-39. The same poll last week had Clinton up five points, 44-39.
Someone walks up to me and says there is one national poll that has the Republican ahead. Without knowing anything else, I'd say Rasmussen.
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) June 30, 2016
Polling averages have Clinton up by five or seven points, depending on which average you consult.
The national poll, conducted by telephone and online, surveyed 1,000 likely voters on 28-29 June. The margin of sampling error was +/- 3%. Read further here.
Drudge tweeted the poll and Trump has RT’d it to his fans hungry for good polling news.
43-39 https://t.co/TkQYb6V2do
— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) June 30, 2016
Unfortunately for Trump, there’s very bad polling news ahead (stay tuned for an update on Reuters’ tracking poll)...
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Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch meet
Former president Bill Clinton “walked over” to a plane carrying attorney general Loretta Lynch for a chat on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International airport Tuesday Monday, the AP reports.
With the greatest threat to his wife’s presidential campaign, in many people’s opinions, being a potentially aggressive investigation by Lynch’s justice department into Hillary Clinton’s email practices, Clinton’s decision to engage Lynch could appear inappropriate, an effort to curry favor, or, cynics might even think, to prejudice the investigation.
Lynch told reporters they did not talk about the emails and did talk about his grandkids, AP reports:
Lynch was traveling with her husband and said her conversation with the former president “was a great deal about his grandchildren” and their travels. The former president, who recently became a grandfather for the second time, told her he had been playing golf in Arizona and they discussed former Attorney General Janet Reno, whom they both know.
“There was no discussion of any matter pending for the department or any matter pending for any other body. There was no discussion of Benghazi, no discussion of the State Department emails, by way of example,” Lynch said in Phoenix.
Former top Barack Obama adviser David Axelrod called the meeting “foolish”:
I take @LorettaLynch & @billclinton at their word that their convo in Phoenix didn't touch on probe. But foolish to create such optics.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) June 30, 2016
Republican senator John Cornyn raised the prospect of a conflict of interest on Lynch’s part:
Lynch & Clinton: Conflict of interest? An attorney,cannot represent two parties in a dispute and must avoid even the appearance of conflict.
— JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) June 30, 2016
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Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. Donald Trump appears not to have filed paperwork to forgive personal loans he made to his campaign, raising questions about whether donations to the campaign could still be used to pay back Trump personally. Last week, with some fanfare, Trump announced that he was writing off $45m in debt, but “the FEC has posted no record of Trump converting his loans to donations,” NBC News reports, and “the Trump campaign has also declined requests to share the legal paperwork required to execute the transaction, though they suggest it has been submitted.”
Fox News poll shows 9-point swing toward Clinton
A Fox News poll of registered voters nationwide released late Wednesday had Hillary Clinton up 44-38 over Trump in a head-to-head matchup. The poll has been trending dramatically in Clinton’s favor in the last two months. In May, it had Trump up by three points, 45-42. Real Clear Politics’ polling averages currently have Clinton 6.1 points ahead.
Republican senator not quite on Trump train
Utah senator Mike Lee, the first senator to endorse Ted Cruz for president, described in unprecedented detail last night why he was not ready to endorse Trump. “We can get into that if you want,” Lee says. Then he really gets into it:
GOP Sen. Mike Lee goes off on radio host who says he should be supporting Trump. https://t.co/cmzRcWupAZ pic.twitter.com/vop1B0XMv9
— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) June 30, 2016
Obama: ‘If in fact Brexit goes through’
At a summit of North American leaders in Canada Wednesday, Barack Obama suggested that the Brexit might not actually happen:
I think there are some general longer-term concerns about global growth if in fact Brexit goes through and that freezes the possibilities of investment in Great Britain, or in Europe as a whole.
Here’s that handshake again:
Speaking of Brexit, maybe keep an eye on British politics today:
Trump campaign in hot water for soliciting foreign donations
Trump’s campaign has been asking foreign politicians for donations to help make America great again – possibly violating federal election rules in the process.
On Wednesday, two campaign finance watchdog groups, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, said they will lodge a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Trump’s campaign has violated federal law by soliciting donations from politicians in Scotland, Australia and Iceland, among others.
“Donald Trump should have known better,” said Paul S Ryan, deputy executive director of Campaign Legal Center. “It is a no-brainer that it violates the law to send fundraising emails to members of a foreign government on their official foreign government email accounts, and yet, that’s exactly what Trump has done repeatedly.”
Romney says family wants him to run
Two-time Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told an audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival Wednesday that members of his family are still pushing for him to enter the race a third time as a third-party candidate, if only to thwart the accession of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Trump to the presidency.
“My wife and kids wanted me to run again this time,” Romney said. “I got an email from one of my sons yesterday, saying ‘You gotta get in, Dad. You gotta get in.’”
But Romney said a third-party candidate could not win and he did not sound like he was going to try.
Trump has a news conference scheduled for this afternoon in Manchester, New Hampshire. He will talk more about trade, his campaign advises. Here’s Lauren Gambino’s fact check of his last trade speeches. It’s not open to the public.
Thank you for reading and please join us in the comments.
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