Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - June 24, 2016
From Ballotpedia
|
Friday's Leading Stories
- On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court split in a deadlocked vote over President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration in United States v. Texas, leading the presidential candidates to respond with statements condemning or celebrating the decision. (The New York Times)
- Hillary Clinton said in a statement, “Today’s deadlocked decision from the Supreme Court is unacceptable, and show us all just how high the stakes are in this election. As I have consistently said, I believe that President Obama acted well within his constitutional and legal authority in issuing the DAPA and DACA executive actions.” She added, "This decision is also a stark reminder of the harm Donald Trump would do to our families, our communities, and our country. Trump has pledged to repeal President Obama’s executive actions on his first day in office. He has called Mexican immigrants 'rapists' and 'murderers.' He has called for creating a deportation force” to tear 11 million people away from their families and their homes.” She called the ruling “heartbreaking” in a tweet earlier in the day. (Talking Points Memo, USA Today)
- Bernie Sanders said in a statement, “Today’s deadlocked immigration ruling means that more than 4 million aspiring Americans in the United States will be left waiting for much-needed answers to our broken immigration system. We cannot let their future, and the future of so many more vulnerable people, fall into the bigoted hands of Donald Trump. We must ensure that millions of families are no longer separated by unjust deportations. We must stop the raids, decouple local law enforcement from immigration enforcement, end family detention and close down private detention centers that currently house thousands of immigrants.” (Bernie Sanders for President)
- Donald Trump said in a statement, “Today's 4-4 Supreme Court ruling has blocked one of the most unconstitutional actions ever undertaken by a President. The executive amnesty from President Obama wiped away the immigration rules written by Congress, giving work permits and entitlement benefits to people illegally in the country. This split decision also makes clear what is at stake in November. The election, and the Supreme Court appointments that come with it will decide whether or not we have a border and, hence, a country.” (Donald Trump for President)
- On Friday morning, Trump compared the political climate in the United States to that in the United Kingdom, which voted to leave the European Union on Thursday. He said, "I think I see a big parallel. People want to take their country back, and they want to have independence in a sense." Trump continued, “You're going to have many other cases where they want to take their borders back, they want to take their monetary back, they want to take a lot of things back — they want to be able to have a country again.” Trump also issue a statement on Friday pledging to “strengthen our ties with a free and independent Britain, deepening our bonds in commerce, culture and mutual defense.” (CNBC)
- The Republican National Committee released the names of the 112 members of the convention rules committee on Thursday. According to Politico, the committee “is stacked with officials who publicly support making Trump the nominee.” (Politico)
Polls
- In a national poll released by Rasmussen Reports on Thursday, Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by five points, 44 percent to 39 percent. The poll also found that “Clinton now earns the support of 80% of her fellow Democrats, while Trump has the backing of 70% of Republicans. Both findings are down slightly from last week. The two are in a near tie among voters not affiliated with either major party, but 31% of these voters still like someone else or are undecided.” (Rasmussen Reports)
- Monmouth University tested six potential vice presidential candidates for the Democrats and Republicans each “and found that most would have no appreciable impact on voter support,” according to a poll released on Thursday. Among undecided voters, 50 percent said they would be more likely to vote for Clinton if Sanders were on her ticket. On the Republican side, only one potential candidate stood out: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Forty-two percent of respondents said they would be less likely to vote for Trump with her on the ticket. (Monmouth University)
- In a poll released by Public Policy Polling on Thursday, Trump leads Clinton, 48 percent to 46 percent, in a head-to-head matchup in North Carolina. With Gary Johnson and Jill Stein added to the mix, Clinton and Trump tie with 44 percent each. (Public Policy Polling)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- The Clinton campaign released an endorsement letter on Thursday featuring the names of leading tech executives who have endorsed her, including Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings, and Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Priorities USA Action, a pro-Clinton super PAC, released an ad on Thursday that features Dante Latchman, a teenager with a disability, criticizing Trump’s mocking of a disabled reporter. “I don’t want a president who makes fun of me. I want a president who inspires me, and that’s not Donald Trump,” Latchman says in the clip. The ad will stream online and air in Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire and North Carolina as part of a $500,000 ad buy. (TIME)
- In 2010, Clinton sent an email to top aide Huma Abedin in response to her recommendation that she register a government email account. “Let’s get separate address or device but I don’t want any risk of the personal being accessible,” wrote Clinton. The email was provided to the State Department in 2015 by Abedin but not included in the 55,000 pages of emails Clinton submitted to the agency. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Robert Kagan, “a prominent neoconservative intellectual and early promoter of the Iraq War,” is headlining a fundraiser for Clinton in July. Kagan previously said of Clinton in 2014, “I feel comfortable with her on foreign policy. If she pursues a policy which we think she will pursue it’s something that might have been called neocon, but clearly her supporters are not going to call it that; they are going to call it something else.” (Foreign Policy)
- According to a review of her calendar as secretary of state, The Associated Press “identified at least 75 meetings with longtime political donors and loyalists, Clinton Foundation contributors and corporate and other outside interests that were either not recorded or listed with identifying details scrubbed. The AP found the omissions by comparing the 1,500-page document with separate planning schedules supplied to Clinton by aides in advance of each day's events. The names of at least 114 outsiders who met with Clinton were missing from her calendar, the records show.” Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said on Thursday that the discrepancy "simply reflect a more detailed version in one version as compared to another, all maintained by her staff." (The Associated Press)
Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders said on Friday morning that he will vote for Hillary Clinton. "The issue right here is I'm going to do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump. I think Trump in so many ways would be a disaster for this country if he were to be elected president. We do not need a president whose cornerstone of his campaign is bigotry, is insulting Mexicans and Latinos and Muslims and women,” he said. (CNBC)
- In a speech on Thursday, Sanders encouraged his supporters to continue the “political revolution” his campaign has launched. Although he referenced a few policy points that have been a point of contention between him and Clinton, Sanders named “killing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, banning the sale of assault weapons, ending the gun show loophole, and expanding instant background checks” as the issues he wanted to see addressed in the Democratic Party platform. (Politico)
Republicans
- Politico reported on Thursday that former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is joining CNN as a political commentator. (Politico)
Donald Trump
- Trump national finance chair Steve Mnuchin announced on Thursday that Trump has forgiven $50 million in loans he contributed to his presidential campaign. He also praised Trump’s recent fundraising efforts this month, saying, “We've really ramped up the effort this month. We've had some successful events in New York ... [and] those events have raised approximately $10 million in conjunction with the RNC." (CNBC)
- Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld endorsed Trump on Thursday. “Mrs. Clinton is a known known. Donald Trump is a known unknown who’s a recent entry into the equation. And I am a lot more comfortable with a known unknown, who I will support, than with a known known who is unacceptable,” he said in an interview. Rumsfeld served under the George W. Bush administration. (The Huffington Post)
- Rebuilding America Now, a super PAC supporting Trump, released an ad on Thursday that suggests Hillary Clinton is not committed to women’s issues because of her response to allegations that her husband sexually assaulted women. The ad is set to air across the nation. (The New York Times)
- In an interview on Thursday, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said that Trump had “no more than four names” on his shortlist for vice president. “These are the absolute, very best -- they're people that everyone will know. They're household names. They're people that he has said will help him achieve his legislative agenda," he added. (CNN)
Third Party Candidates
Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party)
- Gary Johnson commented on the Obama administration’s immigration policies in an interview on Thursday. “I think that what Obama has done is what needs to happen, although I would not want to be deporting and breaking up families like has happened. But the executive orders that he has implemented — I agree with. They’re all OK,” he said. (The Washington Times)
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
