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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - June 23, 2016
From Ballotpedia
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Thursday's Leading Stories
- Donald Trump delivered a speech on Wednesday attacking Hillary Clinton on several different fronts by contrasting his policy of “America first” with Clinton’s “policy of globalism” and referencing allegations made against her in Peter Schweitzer’s Clinton Cash. (Politico, The New York Times)
- On Clinton’s honesty: “Hillary Clinton who, as most people know, is a world class liar – just look at her pathetic email and server statements, or her phony landing in Bosnia where she said she was under attack but the attack turned out to be young girls handing her flowers, a total self-serving lie. Brian Williams’ career was destroyed for saying far less.”
- On Clinton using politics for personal profit: “Hillary Clinton has perfected the politics of personal profit and theft. She ran the State Department like her own personal hedge fund – doing favors for oppressive regimes, and many others, in exchange for cash. Then, when she left, she made $21.6 million giving speeches to Wall Street banks and other special interests – in less than 2 years – secret speeches that she does not want to reveal to the public. Together, she and Bill made $153 million giving speeches to lobbyists, CEOs, and foreign governments in the years since 2001. They totally own her, and that will never change.”
- On Clinton’s foreign policy: “No Secretary of State has been more wrong, more often, and in more places than Hillary Clinton. Her decisions spread death, destruction and terrorism everywhere she touched. Among the victims is our late Ambassador, Chris Stevens. He was left helpless to die as Hillary Clinton soundly slept in her bed -- that's right, when the phone rang at 3 o'clock in the morning, she was sleeping. Ambassador Stevens and his staff in Libya made hundreds of requests for security. Hillary Clinton’s State Department refused them all.
- On appealing to Sanders supporters: “We will never be able to fix a rigged system by counting on the same people who rigged it in the first place. The insiders wrote the rules of the game to keep themselves in power and in the money. That’s why we’re asking Bernie Sanders’ voters to join our movement: so together we can fix the system for ALL Americans. Importantly, this includes fixing all of our many disastrous trade deals. Because it’s not just the political system that’s rigged. It’s the whole economy.”
- Clinton responded to Trump’s speech on Wednesday, describing it as full of “outlandish lies and conspiracy theories.” She said, "He's going after me personally because he has no answers on the substance. In fact, he doubled down on being the king of debt, so all he can do is try to distract us." Defending her work with the Clinton Foundation, she said, "It's no surprise that he doesn't understand these things. The Clinton Foundation helps poor people around the world get access to life-saving AIDS medicine. Donald Trump uses poor people around the world to produce his line of suits and ties." (CNN)
Democrats
- After New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) was nominated to chair the New York state delegation to the Democratic National Convention and approved by a voice vote, supporters of Bernie Sanders said they planned to file a legal challenge to the proceedings of his nomination. “By virtue of them not following the rules, that vote is null and void. There’s overwhelming documentation that people were motioning and he just moved forward,” said at-large delegate Nomiki Konst. (Politico)
Hillary Clinton
- Brent Scowcroft, who served as a national security adviser under two Republican presidents, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, endorsed Hillary Clinton on Wednesday. He said in a statement, “Secretary Clinton shares my belief that America must remain the world’s indispensable leader. She understands that our leadership and engagement beyond our borders makes the world, and therefore the United States, more secure and prosperous. She appreciates that it is essential to maintain our strong military advantage, but that force must only be used as a last resort." (Politico)
- The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that security features of Hillary Clinton’s private email server were temporarily disabled in December 2010. In January 2011, the server was also temporarily shut down due to concerns with an attempted hack of the system. (The Associated Press)
- Next Monday, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will join Clinton at a campaign event in Cincinnati, Ohio, where they “will discuss their shared commitment to building an America that is stronger together and an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top." (CNN)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders is scheduled to deliver a speech on Thursday to his supporters about “where we go from here.” An aide to Sanders denied that the speech would offer a concession or endorsement. (The Hill)
- In an interview on C-SPAN, Sanders discussed the possibility that he would speak at the Democratic National Convention. “It doesn’t appear that I’m going to be the nominee, so I’m not going to determine the scope of the convention. I've given a few speeches in my life. It would be nice to speak at the Democratic National Convention. If for whatever reason they don't want me to speak, then whatever. But I do think I'll speak at the convention,” he said. (The Washington Post)
- Sanders wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post on Thursday outlining the “real change” he and his supporters are seeking through economic, campaign finance, criminal justice, and environmental policy. (The Washington Post)
- On Wednesday evening, Sanders briefly joined in the House Democrats’ sit-in seeking a vote on gun control legislation, appearing on the floor and participating in a march across the Capitol with other senators to show solidarity. (The Hill)
Republicans
- Bruce Ash, the chair of the Standing Committee on Rules of the Republican National Committee (RNC), wrote a letter to his fellow RNC members imploring them to unite behind Donald Trump and stop attempting to organize an effort to change the rules. “I pray we avoid drama such as what occurred at the 2012 convention rules committee. We have our county’s future and the future of our party in our hands. Can you imagine the rage if Trump is denied the nomination? The RNC created a level playing field to select our 2016 nominee. Against 17 contestants Donald Trump surprised the political world and out-performed everyone,” Ash wrote. (Politico)
- The RNC reported on Wednesday that it has raised $5 million since Tuesday through its joint fundraising committee with Donald Trump. Three million dollars were raised online and Trump pledged to match those funds up to $2 million. (Politico, The Washington Post)
Donald Trump
- The Washington Post published an article about the increasing influence of Donald Trump’s three adult children, Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr., and son-in-law Jared Kushner on the Trump campaign. (The Washington Post)
- The Trump campaign is in the process of planning a whip campaign for the Republican National Convention to block efforts on the floor that would prevent Trump from becoming the nominee. “In a Tuesday night conference call led partly by Trump’s top adviser Paul Manafort and including 200 staffers and volunteers, Trump’s senior convention aides sketched out a whip operation led by a half-dozen operatives with deep convention experience. The effort will rely on a team of 150 volunteers and paid staff to keep the convention’s 2,472 delegates in line, and it will utilize a database with information on many of the delegates,” Politico reported. Eight “regional whip” leaders will be announced in the coming days. (Politico)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- In an interview on CNN on Wednesday, Jill Stein discussed why the Green Party should appeal to voters this election cycle. She said, “The majority of Hillary Clinton supporters don't support her – they actually oppose Donald Trump. At the same time, about 60% of voters are clamoring for another voice and another choice...who is actually an honest broker.” Stein continued, “I think you could say the Green Party is Bernie Sanders. The difference between Bernie Sanders and myself is he was trying to have a revolutionary campaign inside a counterrevolutionary party." (CNN)
Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party)
- Gary Johnson and his running mate, Bill Weld, participated in a televised town hall on CNN on Wednesday night, discussing both domestic policy and national security issues. (CNN)
- Johnson on potentially being a spoiler: “I'd feel just fine. I do believe that we've got - the two-party system is a two-party dinosaur and that they're about to come in contact with the comet here. I think that that's a real possibility. Look, there are extremes on both sides. And I think most Americans are Libertarian. It's just that they don't know it, and this is an opportunity tonight to describe that.”
- Johnson on gun control regulation: “I don't think our position would be making it easier. We're not looking to roll back anything. But with regard to keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, with regard to keeping guns out of the hands of potential terrorists - Bill talked about establishing a thousand-person taskforce to potentially address that, a hotline. Look, we should be open to these discussions.”
- Johnson on abortion rights: “Well, what people don't understand right now, it is the law of the land. The law of the land currently is not Roe v. Wade. It's Casey v. Planned Parenthood. And the law of the land is, is that a woman has the right to have an abortion up to the point of viability of the fetus, and the Supreme Court has defined viability of the fetus as sustaining the life of the fetus outside of the womb, even if by artificial means. That's the law of the land. We're not looking to change the law of the land in any way. And bottom line, what a difficult decision.”
- Weld on abortion rights: “I think it's OK for the government to be involved in ensuring clinic access, because that's guarding a fundamental constitutional right of the individual. So that's not the nanny state; that's good government, not bad government.”
- Johnson on Trump’s immigration proposals: “Well, I find both of his statements just incendiary, and I am speaking as a border state governor. The deportation of 11 million illegal immigrants is really based in misinformation. Building a fence across the border borders on insanity. We should make it as easy as possible for somebody that wants to come into this country and work to be able to get a work visa. I'm not talking about a green card; I'm not talking about a citizenship, but a work visa that should entail a background check and a Social Security card so that applicable taxes get paid.”
- Johnson on heroin maintenance programs: “The idea was to reduce death, disease, crime, and corruption, and that's what's happened in Zurich. And the citizens of Zurich have re-upped on that program. So I hate to say it, but it's prohibition, it's quality, quantity unknown that kills people.”
- Johnson on tax policy: “But if I could wave a magic wand, I would eliminate income tax, I would eliminate corporate tax, I would abolish the IRS, and I would replace it all with one federal consumption tax. If we have zero corporate tax in this country, I believe that tens of millions of jobs will get created in this country for no other reason - why you would start up, grow a business anywhere but the United States, given a zero corporate tax rate? And what do you replace all that with? Like I say, you replace it with one federal consumption tax.”
- Weld on Hillary Clinton: “Old friend. Nice kid. Knew her in her 20s. We shared an office in the Nixon impeachment, real bond, lifelong. Seriously. Not kidding.”
- Weld on free trade: “You may lose at the margin some low-wage jobs. But free trade over the long haul, even the intermediate haul, is going to increase the wage level in the United States. And the notion that Mr. Trump has of let's impose these huge unilateral tariffs, we tried that with the Smoot-Hawley tariff in the 1920s and it croaked the world economy.”
See also
- Presidential election, 2016
- Presidential candidates, 2016
- Presidential debates (2015-2016)
- Important dates in the 2016 presidential race
- Polls and Straw polls
- 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards
