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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - July 1, 2016
From Ballotpedia
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Friday's Leading Stories
- On Friday, The New York Times reported that U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch is expected to announce “that she will accept whatever recommendation career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director make about whether to bring charges related to Hillary Clinton’s personal email server.” The expected announcement is a response to Lynch’s meeting with former President Bill Clinton at an airport in Phoenix on Monday. According to CNN, “The meeting is raising questions about whether the independence of the Justice Department, which is conducting an investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server, might have been compromised.” When asked about the meeting, Lynch said, "I did see President Clinton at the Phoenix airport as he was leaving and spoke to myself and my husband on the plane. Our conversation was a great deal about grandchildren, it was primarily social about our travels and he mentioned golf he played in Phoenix." (The New York Times, CNN)
- Donald Trump commented on the meeting, saying, "It was really a sneak. You see a thing like this and, even in terms of judgment, how bad of judgment is it for him or for her to do this? Who would do this?"
- On Thursday, Donald Trump commented on the Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down a Texas law that the justices ruled places an undue burden on a woman’s right to have an abortion. Trump told “The Mike Gallagher Show” that under a Trump administration, the Supreme Court would have voted to uphold the restrictions. Trump said, “If Scalia was living, or if Scalia was replaced by me, you wouldn’t have had that. It would have been the opposite.” During the interview, Trump also criticized Chief Justice John Roberts for voting to uphold ObamaCare on two occasions. Trump said, “He could have killed it twice and he didn’t. That was so bad, and almost not recoverable, in my mind.” (The Hill)
- On Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden told NPR’s Rachel Martin that Bernie Sanders will endorse Hillary Clinton. Vox reported that it is unclear if Sanders told Biden that he will endorse Clinton or if that it was “simply Biden’s impression based on their conversation.” (Vox)
- When asked about Biden’s statement, Sanders said, "I said, 'Right now, my hope is that we can reach an agreement on some very important issues and I can go forward to the millions of people who supported me and say, look, this is the progress you have made. This is where we're going to go as a country.' So I hope it happens. As of this moment, we're not there quite yet." (CNN)
Polls
- According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday, Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump 42 percent to 32 percent in a head-to-head general election matchup. When Gary Johnson and Jill Stein are added to the race, Clinton leads with 42 percent support. Trump follows with 31 percent support. Johnson and Stein come in at 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively. (Reuters/Ipsos)
- According to Public Policy Polling, Clinton (48 percent) leads Trump (44 percent) by four percentage points in a head-to-head matchup. In a four-way race, Clinton leads with 45 percent support. Trump comes in second with 41 percent support, and Johnson and Stein come in at 5 percent and 2 percent, respectively. (Public Policy Polling)
- An IBD/TIPP poll also shows that Clinton (44 percent) leads Trump (40 percent) by four percentage points in a head-to-head matchup. In a four-way race, Clinton leads with 37 percent support. Trump comes in at 36 percent support. Johnson comes in third with 9 percent support, and Stein follows with 5 percent support. (IBD/TIPP)
- A Rasmussen Reports poll released on Thursday shows Trump (43 percent) with a four-point lead over Clinton (39 percent). (Rasmussen Reports)
- Iowa: According to a Loras College poll released on Thursday, Clinton (48 percent) leads Trump (34 percent) by 14 percentage points among registered voters in Iowa. When Stein and Johnson are added to the race, Clinton leads with 44 percent support. Trump follows with 31 percent support. Johnson and Stein have 6 percent support and 2 percent support, respectively. (Loras College)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- On Thursday, French President François Hollande endorsed Hillary Clinton. He wrote, “[T]he best thing the Democrats can do is to get Hillary Clinton elected.” He added that electing Trump “would complicate relations between Europe and the U.S." (Politico)
- On Wednesday, the State Department asked U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras for an extra 27 months to release the emails of Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, Melanne Verveer, and Michael Fuchs—Clinton’s former State Department aides. In his request for more time, State Department FOIA official Eric Stein wrote that "the Department discovered errors in the manner in which the searches had been conducted in order to capture documents potentially responsive to Plaintiff’s requests.” (Politico)
- David Bossie, who serves as President of Citizens United, the group that brought the lawsuit against Clinton, said, "This is totally unacceptable; the State Department is using taxpayer dollars to protect their candidate Hillary Clinton. The American people have a right to see these emails before the election. If transparency is truly important to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, they will order the production of all of these records as ordered by the court by July 21, 2016. The conflicts of interest that were made possible by the activities of Hillary Clinton’s State Department in tandem with the Clinton Foundation are of significant importance to the public and the law enforcement community."
- On Thursday, the Alliance for Retired Americans endorsed Clinton. Alliance President Robert Roach Jr. said, “Hillary Clinton has been a champion for retirees throughout her distinguished career. Her life’s work exemplifies the Alliance’s mission to enhance the quality of life for all Americans. She has pledged to strengthen and expand Social Security, and she will oppose efforts to cut, privatize or shift Medicare costs to retirees. We are confident she will work to rein in the uncontrolled prices of prescription drugs which are far outpacing the rate of inflation and forcing too many retirees to choose between food and medicine.” (The Hill)
- Vice President Joe Biden will campaign with Clinton next Friday in Scranton, Pennsylvania. According to CNN, “Biden was born in Scranton, and Clinton's father grew up there.” (CNN)
Bernie Sanders
- After the Pentagon announced that transgender individuals will be able to openly serve in the United States Military, Bernie Sanders expressed his support for the policy change. He tweeted, “It's long past time we opened the military to openly transgender people. Glad to see this step toward equality.” (Twitter)
- On Thursday, The Washington Post highlighted a video from the 1990 House race in Vermont that shows Sanders criticizing the media for paying too much attention to Trump, a point that Trump’s opponents have made throughout the current election cycle. In the video, Sanders said, “I remember teaching at Hamilton College in the spring and having kids do research papers on how much time Time and Newsweek put in to the coverage of third-world starvation as opposed to the life and times of Donald Trump. And you know what the answer was? This was before his divorce, when he really got the news! Far more attention was paid to Donald Trump than to the holocaust -- and I use that word wisely in a temple -- in the third world right now.” (The Washington Post)
Republicans
- On Thursday, The Hill reported that “[a] coalition of delegates, lawyers, rules experts and PACs has formed in what participants say is the most coordinated effort to date to dump Trump from the Republican ticket.” Virginia delegate Beau Correll said, “This is a laser-guided bomb aimed right at the foundation of the Trump campaign.” According to The Hill, “No one at the RNC or within the Trump campaign is expressing any degree of panic over the uprising.” RNC strategist Sean Spicer said that the movement to oppose Trump at the convention is nothing more than “tweets and media fascination.” (The Hill)
- On Thursday, Solomon Yue, an Oregon delegate on the convention rules committee, proposed a rule that would keep the 2012 convention rules in place in an effort to prevent delegates from voting against Trump. According to NBC News, “The proposal states ‘any amendments’ to the party rules will not ‘take effect’ until after this year's convention ends.” (NBC News)
Donald Trump
- New Jersey Governor Chris has taken an important role in Donald Trump’s campaign and is being vetted as a possible running mate for Trump. According to The New York Times, “Already, Mr. Christie has begun the task of designing a government on Mr. Trump’s behalf. Chosen to lead Mr. Trump’s transition efforts, Mr. Christie has taken a role that some of his allies liken to that of a White House chief of staff, soliciting views on what a potential administration should look like.” Christie has also been an integral part of fundraising efforts, and he encouraged Trump to fire former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. (The New York Times)
- The Washington Post also reported that Christie is on Trump’s list of possible running mates, but they listed former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich as Trump’s top choice. Sens. Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Indiana Governor Mike Pence were also identified as being on Trump’s short list. (The Washington Post)
- When asked if he is being vetted during a press conference on Thursday, Pence said, "You¹d have to talk to their campaign about who they’re looking at or who they’re not looking at. I’ll cut to the chase. I haven’t spoken to Donald Trump since before the Indiana primary and I certainly have never spoken to him about that topic." According to NBC News, “Officials close to the governor stress that Pence has had absolutely no direct contact with the Trump campaign since before Indiana's primary in April.” (NBC News)
- Despite his claim that he forgave over $45 million in personal loans to his campaign, NBC News reported that “the FEC showed no filing from the Trump Campaign forgiving the loan.” (NBC News)
- Trump responded to the report in the following tweets: "The very dishonest @NBCNews refuses to accept the fact that I have forgiven my $50 million loan to my campaign. Done deal!... I have self funded my winning primary campaign with an approx. $50 million loan. I have totally terminated the loan!"
- The next filing deadline on July 20, 2016, will reveal if Trump forgave the loan. Former FEC Chairman Michael Toner said, "It would be disclosed on the campaign's next FEC report.”
- Trump will meet with the Senate Republican Conference on July 7, 2016, at 10:30 a.m. at the headquarters of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. (Politico)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- On Wednesday, during an interview with Fox Business’ Kennedy, Jill Stein thanked Kennedy for covering her campaign and Gary Johnson’s campaign. Stein said, “By covering us, you’re making it possible for us to rise further in the polls. And I think it’s very likely that we can get to that 15 percent” needed to participate in the general election debates. Kennedy then asked Stein if she was upset that Hillary Clinton is running as the only woman in the race who understands what women need. Stein replied, “The cause of women is not served by someone who, you know, argued to push down living wages in Haiti, for example, where she took the impoverished wage of sixty cents an hour and lead the charge to push it down to 40 cents an hour. The cause is not served by providing healthcare for children but not for their parents. How are sick parents going to take care of their kids? By providing childcare but neglecting our need for jobs in order to need the childcare in the first place. So there’s a much bigger story to be told here about how we really meet the needs of women, and children, and our families.” (Fox Business)
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
