Today in Campaign 2016
- In comments that run counter to his previous stance on the signature issue of his presidential campaign, Donald Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that although undocumented immigrants living in the United States will get “no citizenship,” they will pay back taxes in exchange for possible legal status.
- “They’ll pay back taxes, they have to pay taxes, there’s no amnesty, as such, there’s no amnesty, but we work with them,” Trump said, in remarks set to air tonight on Hannity’s show. “Now, everybody agrees we get the bad ones out,” Trump said of his immigration policy, which heretofore has called for the construction of a 2,000-mile wall along the US southern border and a “deportation force” that would remove the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently estimated to live in the country. “But when I go through and meet thousands and thousands of people on this subject,” he continued, “and they’ve said, ‘Mr. Trump, I love you, but to take a person who’s been here for 15 or 20 years and throw them and their family out, it’s so tough, Mr. Trump.’ I have it all the time! It’s a very, very hard thing.”
- The Clinton campaign issued a statement on the exploding cost of EpiPens, which are used to ward off potentially fatal allergic reactions. A two-dose package cost less than $60 nine years ago; the cost is now closer to $400, AP reported. The product – and the conduct of the drug company that sells it – came under focus after members of Congress began demanding answers from EpiPen maker Mylan about the cost rises. Clinton called the price spike “outrageous” in a statement.
- Louisiana Republicans are exploring the possibility of booting infamous white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke from the party, although their attempts will likely come too late to prevent him from running for the US senate seat he’s currently pursuing.
- The director of Donald Trump’s Maryland and Northern Virginia campaigns has suggested that Hillary Clinton is severely ill and would not survive a year in office during a “Moms 4 Trump” event in Loudoun County, Virginia.John Jaggers, the Maryland and Northern Virginia state director for Trump’s campaign, continued the Republican campaign’s unfounded attack on Clinton’s health during a “Moms 4 Trump” rally in Loudoun County.
- “How many of you would wear a wool coat in August?” John Jaggers asked the a crowd of Trump supporters at Salamander Resort in Middleburg, Virginia, according to the Loudoun Times-Mirror. “The woman who seeks to be the first female president of the United States wears a wool coat at every single thing. Have you ever stopped to wonder why? It’s a big deal, folks.”
- Nigel Farage, the former head of the United Kingdom Independence Party and orchestrator of the Brexit vote that removed the UK from the European Union, spoke at Donald Trump’s rally in Jackson, Mississippi. Although Farage did not endorse Trump, he did echo the populist message of the Brexit vote to encourage supporters of Trump to vote to overthrow “modern global corporatism”.
- “I come to you from the United Kingdom with a message of hope and a message of optimism,” Farage said. That message: “If the ordinary decent people are prepared to stand up and fight for what they believe in, we can overcome the big banks, we can overcome the multinationals! And we did it!”
Rick Wilson, on Donald Trump’s amnesty stance:
Donald Trump supporters, who flocked to him in droves for a hard line, punitive ‘deport them all’ promise must have whiplash. His new handler Kellyanne Conway has pushed him to the left of the Gang of Eight and his new amnesty plan is sure to cause heartache with his nervous fans.
The Clinton campaign has issued a statement regarding Donald Trump’s apparent “softening” of his stance on undocumented immigrants:
“Yesterday in Texas, Trump doubled down on his dangerous immigration policies and once again falsely painted Latinos as criminals,” said Lorella Praeli, national director of Latino vote. “Here’s a message for Trump: Latinos can see through your cynical ploys - no play of words can hide the fact that you’ve built your entire campaign on a dangerous agenda that seeks to demonize immigrants, deport 16 million people, build a giant concrete wall and send a deportation force into our communities.”
Donald Trump: Hillary Clinton is 'a bigot'
Hillary Clinton is a bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings worthy of a better future.
This was Hope Hicks literally 8 hours ago. pic.twitter.com/31F0PjIqpx
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) August 25, 2016
Nigel Farage, the former head of the United Kingdom Independence Party and orchestrator of the Brexit vote that removed the UK from the European Union, spoke at Donald Trump’s rally in Jackson, Mississippi. Although Farage did not endorse Trump, he did echo the populist message of the Brexit vote to encourage supporters of Trump to vote to overthrow “modern global corporatism”.
“I come to you from the United Kingdom with a message of hope and a message of optimism,” Farage said. That message: “If the ordinary decent people are prepared to stand up and fight for what they believe in, we can overcome the big banks, we can overcome the multinationals! And we did it!”
“What the Brexit campaign did is we reached those people who’d been let down by modern global corporatism,” Farrage continued. “We reached those people who have never voted in their lives but believed by going out and voting for Brexit, believed they could take control of their country.”
“We were visited by one Barack Obama and he talked down to us - he treated us as if we were nothing,” Farrage said. “Having criticized and condemned his behavior, I could not possibly tell you how you should vote in this election... but I will say this: if I was an American citizen, I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton if you paid me!”
“In fact, I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton if she paid me!” Farage said, to loud cheers.
“The parallels are there,” Farrage said. “I think that you have a fantastic opportunity to here with this campaign.”
“You can beat Washington!” Farrage said in conclusion. “And you’ll do it by doing what we did for Brexit in Britain.”
“If you want change in this country, you better get your walking boots - you better get out there campaigning, and remember: anything is possible if enough decent people are prepared to stand up against the establishment!”
Donald Trump holds rally in Jackson, Mississippi
Watch it live:
Jeb Bush’s former communications director:
This is basically Jeb's position. Guess Trump is the biggest cuck of them all. https://t.co/7wbljRObtd
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) August 24, 2016
Too early for a #TBT?
No amnesty. Protect the rule of law! Let’s Make America Great Again https://t.co/u25yI5T7E8
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2015
Marco Rubio is totally weak on illegal immigration & in favor of easy amnesty. A lightweight choker - bad for #USA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2015
Wow, pres. candidate Ben Carson, who is very weak on illegal Immigration, just said he likes amnesty and a pathway to citizenship.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2015
Ted Cruz only talks tough on immigration now because he did so badly in S.C. He is in favor of amnesty and weak on illegal immigration.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 23, 2016
On the heels of news that Donald Trump now supports legal status for undocumented immigrants who pay back taxes and have not violated any laws while residing in the US, the Republican nominee will reportedly give a highly anticipated speech about immigration in Phoenix, Arizona, on 31 August.
First reported by the Arizona Republic, the speech will likely expand upon Trump’s “softening” of his rhetoric on immigration, which until this week stipulated that the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States would be deported from the country by a “deportation force,” with opportunity for re-entry by those who meet certain ideological strictures.
In comments to Sean Hannity set to air tonight, however, Trump indicated that undocumented immigrants who pay back taxes would be allowed to attain a legal residency status, although Trump characterized the move as “no amnesty”.
Flashback to November:
And here Donald Trump is, bragging about a poll that shows him losing in North Carolina:
Thank you for your support!#AmericaFirst #ImWithYou pic.twitter.com/N8FShwYt2g
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2016
Donald Trump now in favor of immigration reform: 'We work with them'
In comments that run counter to his previous stance on the signature issue of his presidential campaign, Donald Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that although undocumented immigrants living in the United States will get “no citizenship,” they will pay back taxes in exchange for possible legal status.
“They’ll pay back taxes, they have to pay taxes, there’s no amnesty, as such, there’s no amnesty, but we work with them,” Trump said, in remarks set to air tonight on Hannity’s show.
“Now, everybody agrees we get the bad ones out,” Trump said of his immigration policy, which heretofore has called for the construction of a 2,000-mile wall along the US southern border and a “deportation force” that would remove the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently estimated to live in the country.
“But when I go through and meet thousands and thousands of people on this subject,” he continued, “and they’ve said, ‘Mr. Trump, I love you, but to take a person who’s been here for 15 or 20 years and throw them and their family out, it’s so tough, Mr. Trump.’ I have it all the time! It’s a very, very hard thing.”
The remarks are the strongest evidence yet that Trump is softening his previous stance on illegal immigration, after a meeting with Latino Republicans over the weekend led multiple outlets to report that Trump had vowed to move beyond his pledge to deport all undocumented immigrants from the country, as well as US citizens born to undocumented immigrants.
But the Trump campaign threw cold water on those reports at the time. Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, said on Saturday: “Trump said nothing today that he hasn’t said many times before, including in his convention speech – enforce our immigration laws, uphold the constitution and be fair and humane while putting American workers first.”
Since fall of last year, Trump vowed to create a “deportation force” to eject undocumented migrants from the US, but campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, a new addition to the campaign after a leadership shakeup earlier this month, waffled on whether the candidate still embraced that idea on Sunday.
“As the weeks unfold, as the weeks unfold, he will lay out the specifics of that plan that he would implement as president of the United States,” Conway told CNN. Asked about whether those specifics included a “deportation force,” Conway replied: “To be determined.”
John Weaver, former senior strategist for the presidential campaign of Ohio governor John Kasich, told the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs that Trump’s newfound openness to legal status for undocumented immigrants reads highly familiar - despite Trump decrying the position as tantamount to amnesty during the Republican presidential primaries.
“He has jack rabbit trailed his way to John Kasich’s correct view on immigration,” Weaver said. “But, alas it won’t last. It’s like George Wallace joining the editorial board of the New York Times. Not going to last.”
Updated
When asked to explain a comment he made last week expressing regret for previous statements, Donald Trump told WFLA that he did not want to get into specifics regarding any regrets he might have.
“I don’t want to talk about that,” Trump said. “I just think that every once in a while I could probably do, I could make statements maybe a little bit differently. A lot of people like my statements, frankly - a lot of people said, ‘oh, don’t even say that, we love your statements.’ I’m a very honest person. I’m an honorable person. But if I soften things up in terms of statements that would be okay.”
Any guesses, commenters?
Arizona senator Jeff Flake, on Donald Trump’s chances:
One: I don’t think he can win if he continues to run this kind of campaign. And two: I don’t think he should win as he continues to campaign as he is, taking the kinds of positions he’s taking and the language he’s using.
Video: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared at a rally in Tampa, Florida, and indicated his intent to put tariffs on Chinese products.
He also said that he would bring cases against China in the US and at the World Trade Organization. “We’re not playing games any more,” he told the crowd.
Donald Trump reverted to form today.
After a week where the Republican nominee stuck tightly to a script and used teleprompters, Trump went back to his former freewheeling style at a rally in Tampa, Florida. Using his prepared remarks in the same way John Coltrane used the sheet music to My Favorite Things, the Republican nominee went on a number of memorable riffs. Voters learned that many of the Hollywood celebrities supporting Hillary Clinton “weren’t very hot any more,” that Trump’s much vaunted border wall would also have “protection for tunnels” and that in a succinct summation of his message “everything is bad.”
With the hire of new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway last week, Trump had started to resemble a more traditional candidate. The teleprompters which he once disdained became a staple of rallies and the campaign’s press office would send out prepared remarks for every speech. It was a far cry from the “let Trump be Trump” philosophy which guided the nominee’s first campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and it was far more effective than efforts of replacement Paul Manafort to rein the outspoken real estate developer. Trump even expressed a statement of regret last week in North Carolina, the closest he has ever come to an apology for his multitude of controversial remarks in the course of his campaign.
However, Trump’s remarks Wednesday were classic unscripted statements from the candidate. He stoked controversy by hinting at unfounded rumors about Hillary Clinton’s health when he apparently misspoke that his Democratic rival was “premedicated” in lieu of saying “premeditated” as was in his prepared remarks. Trump dwelled on the phrase and suggested that he liked “premedicated” better. It was a return to form for the Republican nominee and one that was received to cheers from his supportive crowd. The question as Trump moves forward with yet another reinvented campaign team is whether this was a brief lapse in style or if it simply further evidence that no operative can tame the bombastic populist on the stump.
The director of Donald Trump’s Maryland and Northern Virginia campaigns has suggested that Hillary Clinton is severely ill and would not survive a year in office during a “Moms 4 Trump” event in Loudoun County, Virginia.
“How many of you would wear a wool coat in August?” John Jaggers asked the a crowd of Trump supporters at Salamander Resort in Middleburg, Virginia, according to the Loudoun Times-Mirror. “The woman who seeks to be the first female president of the United States wears a wool coat at every single thing. Have you ever stopped to wonder why? It’s a big deal, folks.”
Jaggers continued on this theme, telling the audience that “this woman is very, very sick and they’re covering it up”.
“You’re not so much talking about Hillary Clinton being president for eight years, you’re talking about Tim Kaine being president for eight years,” Jagger said. “Because that’s what we’re dealing with here.”
The Trump campaign - including the candidate himself - have made numerous references to online conspiracy theories that Clinton’s health is failing. Clinton has revealed four times as much medical documentation as Trump, whose only release regarding his own medical history was a one-page letter from his personal physician stating that he “will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”.
Updated
A decade after its reputation was shredded by Hurricane Katrina, Barack Obama praised America’s federal disaster relief agency for embracing a “change of culture” as he surveyed recovery efforts following the latest natural disaster to hit Louisiana.
In 2005 former president George W Bush told Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job”, in response to Katrina. Ten days later Fema had become shorthand for incompetence and Brown was forced to quit, a setback from which Bush’s standing never fully recovered.
On Tuesday Obama toured flood-ravaged southern Louisiana and singled out the current administrator of Fema, Craig Fugate, “as somebody who I can’t brag enough about, one of the best hires I made as president”, crediting him with professionalising the organisation and turning it around.
The president also shrugged off political criticism over his own response to the tragedy, which struck while he was on holiday last week, killing at least 13 people in the region and displacing thousands. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visited Baton Rouge last Friday, handing out water and diapers.
“First of all, one of the benefits of being five months short of leaving here is I don’t worry too much about politics,” said Obama, wearing a checked shirt with rolled-up sleeves and an unbuttoned collar, standing in front of piles of waterlogged debris. “The second thing I have seen historically is that, when disasters strike, that’s probably one of the few times when Washington tends not to get political.
“I guarantee you nobody on this block, none of those first responders, nobody gives a hoot whether you’re Democrat or Republican. What they care about is making sure they’re getting the drywall out and the carpet out, there’s not any mould building, they get some contractors in here and they start rebuilding as quick as possible. That’s what they care about. That’s what I care about.”
The storm and its flooding have damaged an estimated 60,000 homes and forced thousands to seek temporary housing. More than 115,000 people have registered for federal disaster aid. Obama said federal support is at $127m so far. At least 40 state highways remained closed.
Video: At a private fundraiser on Sunday in Provincetown, Massachusetts, for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Cher praised Clinton while comparing Donald Trump to Stalin and Hitler.
“Do you remember Fun With Dick and Jane? It’s like racist Fun With Dick and Jane! ‘We’re going to build walls!’ He doesn’t mean: ‘We’re going to make America great again.’ He means: ‘We’re going to make America straight and white.’”
A new CNN/ORC poll shows that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are down to the wire in North Carolina, a onetime red state that has become the site of an intense battle between the Democratic and Republican parties in recent elections.
Clinton leads Trump by a single point, 44% to his 43%, in North Carolina, within the poll’s margin of error, while Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson currently polls at 11%. (Green nominee Jill Stein failed to make the ballot in North Carolina.)
Meanwhile, in blood-red Arizona, Trump only leads Clinton by five points, 43% to 38%, followed by Johnson at 12% and Stein at 4%. The state has not voted for a Democrat in two decades, but its large Latino population and Trump’s virulent stance on immigration has pushed the race closer than anticipated.
Republicans may attempt to kick David Duke out of the party
Louisiana Republicans are exploring the possibility of booting infamous white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke from the party, although their attempts will likely come too late to prevent him from running for the US senate seat he’s currently pursuing.
According to the Daily Beast, an upcoming meeting of party bigwigs in Louisiana this weekend will feature a measure that would ban former felons and individuals with connections to racist organizations from running for office as Republicans - which would mean two strikes against Duke, who was convicted of mail fraud in 2002 and whose connections with white nationalist organizations have been well documented.
In July, Duke announced plans to run for a US senate seat from the Pelican State, declaring in a video that his belief in “respect for the rights and heritage of European Americans” and seeing in Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump a kindred spirit.
“I’m overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embrace most of the issues that I’ve championed for years” said Duke. “We must stop the massive immigration and ethnic cleansing of the people whose forefathers created America. I was the first major candidate in modern times to promote the term and policy of ‘America First’.”
Opinion, from Dr. Celine Gounder: Parkinson’s, seizures, sedatives - wild rumors about the Democratic candidate’s health signal fear among Trump supporters that they’re heading for defeat.
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s health has been under scrutiny in recent weeks, not by medical professionals but by politicians and supposed pundits playing doctor on TV. Clinton’s personal physician, Dr Lisa Bardack, has repeatedly said: “Secretary Clinton is in excellent health and fit to serve as president of the United States.” Meanwhile, conspiracy theories about Clinton’s supposed ill health have gone viral. There’s no evidence these claims are true.
I’m a doctor. I don’t play at being a doctor. I don’t diagnose patients in the absence of unbiased, reliable information, such as performing a physical exam or reviewing tests. When I write or am interviewed on television or the radio, I’ll talk about what new research will mean for patients and the science behind the latest guidelines. I’ll explain why we’re seeing increasing rates of certain diseases and whether policies to combat them make sense. I don’t talk about individuals except to say what one might expect more generally with regard to a particular medical illness.
But the scientist in me understands that the real issue here isn’t Clinton’s health. Conspiracy theories signal fear; in this case, Trump’s realization that Clinton may well be the next president of the United States.
This is not the first time rumors of illness have been deployed to attack a seemingly untouchable political adversary. At a time when Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis had a 10-point lead over then vice-president George HW Bush in the polls, reports circulated that Dukakis suffered severe depression after losing his first re-election campaign. When asked if Dukakis should release his complete medical records, Ronald Reagan did little to dispel those rumors,saying: “Look, I’m not going to pick on an invalid.”
Some Trump surrogates are also calling on Clinton to release her medical records. Trump has not released his, and a letter from his physician reads as if Trump had written it himself: little in the way of detail but plenty of superlatives like “astonishingly excellent” and “extraordinary”. Meanwhile, in contrast to Clinton and every other presidential candidate in the last 40 years except Gerald R Ford, Trump has yet to release his tax returns.
The scientist in me knows that attempts to debunk conspiracy theories – whether they’re about Clinton’s health or the myth that vaccines cause autism – are at best futile and may in fact backfire. We pick and choose those facts that add up to the truth we’ve already chosen to believe. The more someone tries to disprove the reality we’ve constructed, the more we dig in our heels.
In 2008, questions about President Obama’s citizenship intensified with his likelihood of clinching the Democratic nomination. So long as the odds of winning the election remain in Clinton’s favor, we can expect to see more conspiracy theories emerge between now and November.
Trump’s done. That was quite a speech.
Seeing Trump going off script off teleprompter for the first time in weeks felt strangely like being reunited with an old friend
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 24, 2016
The music came on before Trump had finished - almost like his staff decided it was time for the ad-libbing to end
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) August 24, 2016
Updated
“The drugs are not going to be flowing across like gravy,” if Donald Trump is elected president, he promises.
“We’re going to have a peaceful nation. A rising standard of living. This is what I promise you. Let’s get out there and win on November 8th.”
If I don’t win, it will be worse than ever before. You will see. You will see. But hopefully you won’t get a chance to see.
– Donald Trump
Updated
Trump: 'we're going to build a wall, don't worry'
We’re going to build a wall, don’t worry about it... we’re going to build a wall, and Mexico is going to pay for it, 100%.... and we’re going to have protection for tunnels, so people can’t tunnel under... Mexico’s gonna pay for it.
Donald Trump disses Cher, not by name:
The only people enthusiastic about [Clinton’s] campaign are Hollywood celebrities – in many cases celebrities that aren’t even hot anymore – Wall Street special interests...
Video of Cher attacking Trump at a Clinton fundraiser earlier this week made its way onto Facebook. He must have heard about it.
Scott Baio nods approvingly. https://t.co/cwbIQlJbDs
— Philip Bump (@pbump) August 24, 2016
Hillary was just with Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. Trump was endorsed by Jon Voight and Scott Baio. https://t.co/aNssdhiwzr
— Joe Perticone (@JoePerticone) August 24, 2016
Jon Voight won an Oscar! https://t.co/WCFfGEigYV
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 24, 2016
Trump boasts that he fills arenas, thought he his speaking in a room not full:
Trump: "We've beaten Elton John's records, he has pianos, I don't have pianos"
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 24, 2016
.@HillaryClinton crowd at same venue last month, pre-DNC pic.twitter.com/E49IITmds5
— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) August 24, 2016
Updated
Trump now dogwhistling on rumors about Hillary Clinton's health talking about her "premedication"
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 24, 2016
Trump: Clinton deleted emails 'to hide evidence of her crimes'
Trump picks up on the AP report that half of Clinton’s meetings as secretary of state with non-governmental figures were with people connected to donations to the Clinton foundation.
Trump:
She sold favors. She sold access... it looks like 50% of the people that saw her had to make contributions... wait till you see what she did for all of those people... the people she met with outside of government [crowd: Lock her up!] the people she met...she even deleted 33,000 emails to hide evidence of her crimes....
The FBI did not act. I am so disappointed. .. How did they let that happen? She was so guilty. She was so guilty. The world is laughing at us folks.
Trump on Hillary Clinton: She lied to Congress 100%. Everybody agrees . . . let Congress act today.
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 24, 2016
Updated
Trump: The only thing that comes into our country is drugs
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 24, 2016
Explains why my iPhone fell apart into a pile of cocaine the other day. https://t.co/SzowlgBM4R
— Kyle Feldscher (@Kyle_Feldscher) August 24, 2016
Trump said polls show he is gaining ground with African American and Latino voters. That assertion is not buttressed by discernible reality, however.
Trump says I don't know if you've seen polls I'm improving w/ Latinos. He's not. https://t.co/0Z8VLP79wP
— Adrian Carrasquillo (@Carrasquillo) August 24, 2016
Clinton 73, Trump 22 w/ Latinos according to NBC News/Survey Monkey. Clinton +12, Trump -10 since May https://t.co/5ZhsMMGN7C via @julito77
— Adrian Carrasquillo (@Carrasquillo) August 23, 2016
Trump to African American voters: 'what do you have to lose?'
Trump:
To the African American voter – great people – to the Hispanic voter, who have been absolutely treated terribly, I say, what do you have to lose? What? I will fix it. I will be able to make you, when you walk down the street in your inner city or wherever you are, you’re not going to be shot, your child isn’t gonna be shot.
I say to the African American parent, you have a right to walk down the street of your city without having yourself or your child shot. And that’s what’s happening right now. To the Hispanic parent, you have a right to walk outside without being shot. You have a right to a good education. You have a right to own your home. You have a right to have a good job. ...
I’m asking for the honor of your vote so that I can fight for you. That’s African American voters, that’s Hispanic voters, that’s every voter.
I will fight to give every Hispanic citizen in this country a much better future, a much better life, and they know it.
Updated
Trump is talking about his ability to create jobs in the state of Florida.
“Hillary Clinton wants to pass more terrible trade deals,” he says. “We are going to stop the TPP, totally renegotiate Nafta... and protect every last American job. We’re going to protect your jobs. They’re not going to be disappearing from you any more.”
Now Giuliani is booed, for saying something nice about Barack Obama. Giuliani says he disagrees with Obama policy but “I believe he’s an essentially honest man. [Boos] I do. I do. [More boos] OK, we can disagree.”
His point is that he thinks Obama must regret making Clinton secretary of state because she is not honest, Giuliani says.
Giuliani says Clinton has “committed numerous federal felonies.”
Do they think we’re stupid? Yes, yes they do! The Clintons have always thought we were stupid... Boy, what they were doing back in Arkansas? Whoa! Man.
Rudy Giuliani says the Clinton Foundation scandal will be bigger than Watergate
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 24, 2016
Updated
As Giuliani continues, NBC News catches up briefly with the candidate:
Asked Trump just now about his new outreach efforts to minority voters. "I think we're doing really great with minority voters," he said.
— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) August 24, 2016
As it began to pour, I then asked what specifically he was doing to reach out to minority voters. Trump said "absolutely, always."
— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) August 24, 2016
In fact Sessions will introduce Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who has been trafficking of late in Hillary Clinton illness conspiracy theories.
Senator Jeff Sessions pops up at the Trump event. Appears he will be introducing the candidate. “This movement is dealing with a lot of issues,” he says. He means immigration, jobs, wages and trade. Issues like that. Live stream here.
Here’s a new Clinton ad featuring a New England clothing manufacturer calling out Trump for manufacturing clothes that bear his brand outside the USA:
Clinton calls on EpiPen maker to 'immediately reduce the price'
The Clinton campaign has issued a statement on the exploding cost of EpiPens, which are used to ward off potentially fatal allergic reactions. A two-dose package cost less than $60 nine years ago; the cost is now closer to $400, AP reported.
The product – and the conduct of the drug company that sells it – came under focus after members of Congress began demanding answers from EpiPen maker Mylan about the cost rises.
Clinton calls the price spike “outrageous” in a statement:
“That’s outrageous -- and it’s just the latest troubling example of a company taking advantage of its consumers. I believe that our pharmaceutical and biotech industries can be an incredible source of American innovation, giving us revolutionary treatments for debilitating diseases. But it’s wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them.
“That’s why I’ve put forward a plan to address exorbitant drug price hikes like these. As part of my plan, I’ve made clear that pharmaceutical manufacturers should be required to explain significant price increases, and prove that any additional costs are linked to additional patient benefits and better value. Since there is no apparent justification in this case, I am calling on Mylan to immediately reduce the price of EpiPens.
“In addition, when it comes to treatments like delivering epinephrine that have been available for decades, my plan encourages the production of alternative products. That’s how we can harness the power of competition to keep drug prices at a level that all Americans can afford.”
Meryl and Michelle
We’re about to watch Donald Trump campaign in Tampa, Florida. Here’s a live video stream of the rally:
A couple tight races in North Carolina, to believe a new Monmouth University poll, which has Hillary Clinton two points up on Donald Trump in the presidential race, and incumbent Republican senator Richard Burr two points up on challenger Deborah Ross in the US senate race.
HuffPost Pollster’s average has Clinton 1.4 points up on Trump in the state, which voted for Barack Obama in 2008 but mostly has voted Republican since Nixon.
BREAKING: North Carolina
— MonmouthPoll (@MonmouthPoll) August 24, 2016
Prez: HRC 44, DJT 42, GJ 7#NCSEN: Burr 45, Ross 43https://t.co/X34FlLsFKM
Average of polls post-convention in NC was +1.4 Clinton. Monmouth has her up 2. So that seems about right.
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) August 24, 2016
“In the contest for governor, Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper holds a significant 52% to 43% lead over incumbent Pat McCrory,” according to Monmouth:
A key element in the governor’s [minus-one approval] rating is his support for House Bill 2 or HB2, the controversial law that prohibits local governments from allowing for transgender public restrooms.
Updated
Donald Trump had very encouraging words for former Texas governor Rick Perry at a fundraiser last night, at the tacit expense of senator Ted Cruz.
Trump was asked about the possibility of Perry running to unseat Cruz in 2018, the Texas Tribune’s Patrick Svitek reports:
“I’ve been hearing a lot about that and I don’t know if he wants to do it, but boy, will he do well,” Trump said of Perry. “People love him in Texas, and he was one great governor.”
“I don’t know what he’s going to do but you are one popular guy all over, but in Texas in particular,” Trump said to Perry, who was in the room.
Is it possible that Trump remembers that Cruz declined to endorse him from the stage of the Republican national convention? Read the full Tribune piece here.
Here's Perry and Trump at his fundraiser last night in Austin, per a lawmaker who was there: https://t.co/l2sIkWENmY pic.twitter.com/LS6RVel7fA
— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) August 24, 2016
Trump campaign buys thousands of copies of Trump title
The Trump campaign bought thousands of copies of the candidate’s latest book at full sticker price, according to a new Daily Beast report on recent FEC filings:
On May 10, the Trump campaign paid Barnes & Noble $55,055, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission. That amounts to more than 3,500 copies of the hardcover version of Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again, or just over 5,000 copies of the renamed paperback release, Great Again: How to Fix Our Crippled America. [...]
Paul Ryan (not that one), of the nonpartisan nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, said that Trump would have to forgo accepting royalties for sales on the book in order for the transaction to be legal, under Federal Election Committee rules.
Clinton to receive intelligence briefing
Intelligence officials will brief Hillary Clinton this Saturday, NBC News reports:
BREAKING: @NBCNews confirms @HillaryClinton will get her first intelligence briefing as a nominee this Saturday near her New York home.
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) August 24, 2016
Trump received his first briefing as nominee a week ago. The briefings have been described as broad overviews and “vanilla” by a former CIA officer who has participated. Trump told reporters that day that he does “not so much” trust intelligence work “from the people that have been doing it for our country.”
Farage to say Brexit 'proved' Trump victory 'can happen'
Farage previewed his speech in an interview with local radio station Super Talk Mississippi, in which he claimed Republicans could beat Hillary Clinton if they followed his example.
“I am going to say that I have been part of a political revolution in the UK. They all said it couldn’t happen – the media, the politicians, the businesses. We were wasting our time. We were whistling in the wind. We were going to lose and the EU was going to be here for ever. And you know what? With our well aimed stone, like David, we have hit that big Goliath and bumped him over.”
The former UKIP leader said he was invited to the state by governor Phil Bryant after meeting at the Republican national convention, but was planning to use the coincidence of his visit with the Trump rally to urge his supporters to fight harder.
“I am going to say to people in this country that the circumstances, the similarities, the parallels between the people who voted Brexit and the people who could beat Clinton in a few weeks time [sic] here in America are uncanny,” he added. “If they want things to change they have get up out of their chairs and go out and fight for it. It can happen. We’ve just proved it.”
Here’s a tidbit we’d missed in the latest Clinton emails:
Huma Abedin is a hero and we should all recognize it. https://t.co/sL8W9c4ykx pic.twitter.com/KPt8H86kQ7
— Christopher Price (@topherchris) August 23, 2016
Trump still determined to win New York – report
This seems representative of the kind of intelligent resource allotment, far-sighted strategizing and general grip on reality that the Trump campaign is known for.
The campaign’s new leadership has advised employees that the effort to make good on Trump’s promise to win his home state is “full steam ahead,” the New York Post reports:
The message Friday from Jim Murphy, Trump’s national political director and a veteran GOP strategist, came just minutes after the disclosure of the forced resignation of Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who had replaced also-ousted campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in June.
“Murphy said that Mr. Trump still wants an all-out, full-steam-ahead, top-speed effort in New York, he wants to win his home state, that nothing has changed as a result [of Manafort’s ouster] and that the resources will be made available,’’ said a source close to the Trump campaign.
Pollster estimate for NY President: Trump vs. Clinton: Clinton 51%, Trump 33% https://t.co/S6PglKLgCY
— Tom McCarthy (@TeeMcSee) August 24, 2016
(h/t: @bencjacobs)
Update: some trolling from camp Clinton:
We welcome Donald Trump's further investment in New York. Why not Connecticut?https://t.co/ooZchfGcrp
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) August 24, 2016
Updated
Farage to appear with Trump
Anti-EU British politician Nigel Farage is scheduled to appear with Donald Trump at a rally Wednesday, a week after the US presidential candidate branded himself Mr Brexit and tapped one of the leading American supporters of the Brexit to run his campaign.
Farage will appear with Trump to “tell the Brexit story,” Sky News reported. Trump is to appear at an evening rally in Jackson, Mississippi.
The appointment last week of Stephen Bannon, former chairman of the Breitbart web site, as “CEO” of Trump’s campaign has seen the example of the Brexit vote, which Breitbart enthusiastically advocated, rise to the fore in the Trump campaign narrative.
Trump hopes to ride to victory a populist wave of nationalist enthusiasm and identity politics comparable to the movement behind Britain’s June vote to leave the European Union. As leader at the time of the UK Independence party (Ukip), Farage was a key promoter of the Brexit.
In a further parallel with Brexit politics, the Trump campaign has argued in recent days that it enjoys support not reflected in the polls, from undercover voters who are shy about admitting their support for the controversial nominee.
They will soon be calling me MR. BREXIT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2016
Farage expressed “massive thanks” to Bannon and Breitbart for their favorable coverage of the Leave campaign.
“And can I just say a massive thanks to Breitbart, on both sides of the pond?” Farage told Bannon after the vote. “Because you guys have been fair with me, and given me a chance to make my arguments. I thank you guys very much indeed for that.”
Farage spoke at CPAC last year and made a cameo at the Republican national convention last month.
Updated
Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. Donald Trump son Eric Trump has said it would be “foolish” for the presidential candidate to release his tax returns. It was not clear why the Trump scion thinks that. Trump’s tax returns could hold central truths about who Trump is and how he operates. Trump’s campaign manager in April called on him to release his tax returns. Trump in 2012 called on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns. Every major presidential nominee from either party since 1976 released his tax returns. Hillary Clinton has released hers. Is it foolish for the public to demand that Trump release his tax returns? Or would it be foolish to elect Trump president without putting him through the kind of basic vetting banks perform for the average home loan?
"It would be foolish to do. I'm a big proponent of not doing it" - @EricTrump, on his father releasing tax returns.
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) August 24, 2016
on @CNBC now
AP has more:
Eric Trump, said Wednesday on CNBC not much can be learned from tax returns. He said his father’s returns are massive and “you would have a bunch of people who know nothing about taxes” looking through them and making “assumptions on things they know nothing about.”
“Ignorance is disqualifying” – Eric Trump. Speaking of transparency, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook is on TV again this morning defending his candidate from allegations of impropriety attached to meetings she took as secretary of state. “More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money — either personally or through companies or groups — to the Clinton Foundation,” the AP has reported.
Mook accuses the journalists of “cherry picking” – although when it’s half cherries, you can see how they’d end up picking some.
Clinton Campaign Mgr. Mook blasts AP report: To cherry-pick a very small number of meetings is pretty outrageous https://t.co/SlOyW6GF9a
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 24, 2016
Trump is scheduled today to host a rally in Jackson, Mississippi, an 80% African American city and capital of the state with the nation’s highest proportion of black residents, as AP has it: “It is unclear whether Trump will address black voters directly; so far, his appeal to them has been delivered before white audiences in mostly white cities.”
African American voters have been handling Trump with a mix of skepticism and horror – and that includes Republican voters, AP reports:
“Any minority who would vote for him is crazy, ought to have their head examined,” said Ike Jenkins, an 81-year-old retired business owner in the predominantly black suburb of East Cleveland.
Foluke Bennett, a 43-year-old from Philadelphia, went further, labeling the GOP standard-bearer’s remarks as “racist,” pointing, among other things, to his referencing African-Americans as “the blacks.”
But eight percent in this new NBC/Survey Monkey poll is the highest share of the African American vote for Trump we can remember seeing in any survey this cycle:
Latest poll shows Trump trails Clinton by 79 points among African-American voters #Decision2016 pic.twitter.com/DKgCGyKOVd
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 24, 2016
In case you missed it, Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, an immigration hard-liner, seemed to join Trump last night in the candidate’s dance away from earlier calls for a deportation force for undocumented migrants. At this rate Trump will be calling for a path to citizenship in time for the first debate:
Sessions was asked about Trump's "softening" immigration stance comments in his press pen gaggle. c/o @SopanDeb pic.twitter.com/jdOnxU4s9f
— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) August 24, 2016
Thanks for reading and please join us in the comments.
