Hillary Clinton and President Obama get barbecue at Midwood Smokehouse after their rally in Charlotte yesterday. (Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post) THE BIG IDEA: Want to know why two-thirds of Americans do not consider Hillary Clinton trustworthy? Re-watch pretty much any public comment she’s made about her email use over the past 16 months and then watch James Comey’s speech yesterday. The FBI director shredded so many of the talking points that the former Secretary of State and her top aides have used over and over again throughout this scandal, including that she never emailed classified material; that information in the emails was classified retroactively; that none of the emails were marked as containing classified information; that there were definitively no security breaches; that she turned over all work-related emails to the State Department; that the set-up was driven by convenience; and that the government was merely conducting “a security review.” Rosalind Helderman, who has been covering this saga closely, writes that Comey “systematically dismantled” Clinton’s defenses. She juxtaposes Clinton quotes since last March against Comey quotes from yesterday. (Read her full piece here.) -- While Clinton dodged a legal bullet that could have been catastrophic to her candidacy, yesterday was neither vindication nor exoneration, and it certainly will not put the matter to rest. Instead, Comey’s declaration that she was “extremely careless” in handling classified material and should have known better will dog her through November. Though the FBI director said “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring a criminal case against Clinton, his nearly 15-minute speech was tantamount to a political indictment. FBI Director James Comey speaks at the bureau's headquarters yesterday. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) -- The Comey sound bite that may ultimately prove more damaging to Clinton than “extremely careless”: “To be clear, this is not to suggest that, in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences,” he said after announcing that the FBI is not recommending criminal charges. “To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now.” This lets Republicans make the case to the American people that they are the ones who should dole out the punishment. -- Most Americans – including elites in both parties – believe both Bill and Hillary Clinton think a different set of rules and standards apply to them than everyone else. This dates to the 1990s. -- Bigger picture: Yesterday was just the latest reminder that Clinton would probably be trailing in the polls if Republicans had nominated a stronger candidate. Donald Trump, rather than emphasize the damning revelations from Comey’s speech, instead chose to suggest that Clinton tried to “bribe” Attorney General Loretta Lynch and that the system is “rigged.” -- This morning’s clips might be the worst Clinton has faced since launching her campaign. Here are 10 reflective examples: Time Magazine: “FBI says Clinton Claim on Reading Emails Was False.” McClatchy: “Clinton’s handling of email went beyond carelessness, experts say.” Wall Street Journal A1: “For Clinton, Political Fight Over Emails Is Far From Over; FBI report raises doubts about her candor, undermines her argument that she has the sober judgment she says Trump lacks.” New York Times A1: “F.B.I. Critique of Hillary Clinton Is a Ready-Made Attack Ad.” (Sidebar on A13: “F.B.I. Findings Damage Many of Hillary Clinton’s Claims.”) Associated Press: “Clinton's claims about her emails collapsed under the FBI investigation.” Boston Globe A1: “Comey’s scathing assessment of her e-mail practices reinforced existing questions about her trustworthiness and a perception that she plays by her own set of rules. His rebuke will be used to raise doubts about Clinton’s claims that her competency and judgement make her the most qualified candidate to be president of the United States.” Bloomberg: “Clinton Needs a Dr. No.” From Al Hunt: “The FBI was right to recommend that no criminal charges be filed … But she still needs a cure for the reckless arrogance she displayed, an attitude that could produce more disasters if she reaches the White House. To protect herself as president, and to protect her presidency, Clinton needs a Dr. No. That's somebody more powerful than the smart loyalists she surrounds herself with, somebody with the stature to say: ‘Ma'am, you cannot do that.’” The Daily Beast: “FBI Director … Crushed Hillary Clinton’s Email Excuses.” The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald: “Washington Has Been Obsessed With Punishing Secrecy Violations – Until Hillary Clinton.” Some additional highlights from The Post’s team coverage— “Even without charges, FBI rebuke leaves a heavy political cloud over Clinton.” (Philip Rucker, Abby Phillip and Anne Gearan) Glenn Kessler revised an Aug. 2015 fact check to give Clinton a “Four Pinocchio” rating, instead of Two Pinocchios, based on new information about whether she sent or received classified information. “Clinton’s email problems might be even worse than we thought.” (Chris Cillizza) “FBI: No evidence Clinton’s email was hacked by foreign powers, but it could have been.” (Karen DeYoung) “Six things we learned from the FBI investigation.” (Mark Berman) “It’s time for Hillary Clinton to face the music – and the media.” (Margaret Sullivan) If you missed it, watch Comey’s full statement: | | FBI Director James Comey FULL STATEMENT on Hillary Clinton Email Investigation (C-SPAN) |
(Read the FBI release here and an annotated transcript here.) The Trump campaign posted a 1-minute video on Facebook juxtaposing Clinton and Comey. (Watch it here.) The RNC released its own web video on YouTube: | | Tale of Two Press Conferences |
-- The new push on the right: Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) called for a fresh, independent investigation of Clinton's use of email, saying in a statement that the defunct independent counsel statute should be revived to "make an independent and impartial decision" about whether she should be charged. (David Weigel) -- A reminder from the left, via Salon: “The George W. Bush email scandal the media has conveniently forgotten; Back in 2007, the White House ‘lost’ more than five million private emails.” WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: | | Trump: Saddam Hussein killed terrorists 'so good' |
-- Trump again praised Saddam Hussein in North Carolina last night. "Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. Right? He was a bad guy, really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists! He did that so good," Trump told a crowd of 2,000 in Raleigh. "They didn't read them the rights -- they didn't talk, they were a terrorist, it was over, Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism. You want to be a terrorist, you go to Iraq. It's like Harvard. Okay? So sad." (Jenna Johnson) Trump has made similar comments, saying in October that the world would be "100 percent" better if dictators like Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi were still in power. In February, he said: “whether you like Saddam Hussein or not, he used to kill terrorists.” Paul Ryan rushed to distance himself during a Fox News interview, calling Hussein “one of the 20th century’s most evil people.” The Clinton campaign condemned the riff in a late-night statement: “Trump’s cavalier compliments for brutal dictators … again demonstrate how dangerous he would be as commander-in-chief and how unworthy he is of the office he seeks,” said policy adviser Jake Sullivan. Related, from Franklin Foer in Slate: "Putin's Puppet: If the Russian president could design a candidate to undermine America's interests--and advance his own--he'd look a lot like Trump." -- Speaking of Saddam: A long-anticipated and scathing 2.6 million-word report was released this morning on why Britain joined the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. “In exacting detail, the report lays out a series of failures and misjudgments in a war initially sold to the public on both sides of the Atlantic as a vital intervention to rid [Hussein] of weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were ever found... In making their case to the public, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and other British officials described the intelligence case against Saddam “with a certainty that was not justified.” In their private deliberations, they ignored warnings that the invasion of Iraq could be a boon to Islamist extremists.” (Griff Witte has more.) -- Cellphone video has emerged of white cops fatally shooting an African American father of five outside a Baton Rouge convenience store. Alton Sterling was killed while pinned down by officers, Travis M. Andrews and Michael E. Miller report. The police were responding to a call “from a complainant who stated that a black male who was selling music cd’s and wearing a red shirt threatened him with a gun” outside the Triple S Food Mart. Watch the footage here. (Warning: It is graphic.) GET SMART FAST: Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy will meet today with the House sergeant-at-arms to decide whether to conduct a formal investigation into the behavior of Democrats during last month’s sit-in. The Majority Leader said the 26-hour protest “went beyond the rules” on several fronts, and he thinks some form of punishment may be needed. (Paul Kane and Karoun Demirjian) Pfizer has agreed to disclose a written code of conduct for the marketing of its opioid drugs, including a warning that narcotic painkillers carry serious risk of addiction. (Lenny Bernstein) Deutsche Bank analysts said calculations from a so-called “yield curve” suggest there is a 60 percent chance of a U.S. recession occurring in the next 12 months. The findings attach the highest probability to an economic contraction since the financial crisis. (Wall Street Journal) South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to six years in prison for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend. The former Olympian and double amputee has claimed it was “accidental,” saying he mistook her for an intruder before firing shots through a bathroom door. (Fred Barbash) A federal appeals court ruled that consumers may buy certain types of health insurance that do not meet the standards of the Affordable Care Act, striking down an Obama-issued rule that barred the sale of such insurance as a stand-alone product. (New York Times) Chipotle’s chief marketing officer is on administrative leave after being charged with cocaine possession. The 53-year-old executive has been in charge of rehabilitating the chain’s tattered public image after E coli outbreaks. (Elahe Izadi) Georgia’s Supreme Court said the Ku Klux Klan can continue its efforts to “adopt” a state highway, dismissing the state's appeal of a lower court ruling. (CBS News) The Marine Corps announced major changes to its physical fitness testing and weight requirements for incoming service members, allowing women to weigh up to seven pounds more than before and giving them the option to replace pull-ups with push-ups on the test. The changes come as the military moves to fully integrate women in all combat jobs for the first time. (Dan Lamothe) Drones flown by hobby pilots have been impeding the efforts of larger planes to fight the wildfires in California. Some large aircraft have been grounded out of safety concerns. (Wall Street Journal) Liberal titan Abner J. Mikva, who served as a congressman, federal judge, and mentor to President Obama, died on July 4 in Chicago. He was 90. (Emily Langer) Pope Francis met with the parents of the 19-year-old American exchange student who was killed in Rome hours after arriving in the city. A spokesman said Francis expressed his “feelings of deep sympathy and compassion” to the grieving parents. (Peter Holley) Egypt announced it is “abolishing” daylight savings time this year, moving to cancel the time-change practice just three days before was is set to begin. The last-minute announcement could cost the national airline $2 million. (Adam Taylor) The UAE ambassador met with State Department officials to protest the treatment of an Emirati businessman in Ohio, who was handcuffed on suspicion of being an Islamic State terrorist when he tried to check into a hotel. (Carol Morello) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to sub-Saharan Africa, the first official visit by an Israeli head of state in three decades. Bibi wants to create a multilateral, trading relationship with the 54-country African Union. (Ruth Eglash) The University of Tennessee-Knoxville agreed to pay $2.48 million in a sexual assault suit involving student athletes, ending a dispute that pitted eight young women against the football program. It is the school’s third financial settlement involving the athletics department in just two years. (The Tennesseean) A 60-year-old British woman has become the subject of a high-profile legal dispute over whether she can use her deceased daughter’s frozen eggs to carry her own grandchild. A London appeal's court sided with the woman last week. She says it was her daughter’s “dying wish.” (Lindsey Bever) Florida authorities are investigating a bizarre death in which they were called to the scene of a “burning mannequin” outside a craft store – only to discover that the body on fire belonged to a human man. The coroner is trying to determine whether the man was already dead before he was set on fire. (Sarah Larimer) A California cardiologist published a new study suggesting that Abraham Lincoln’s “crazy” wife – who was temporarily institutionalized and referred to as “the hell cat” by White House staffers -- was actually suffering from an ailment caused by a vitamin B-12 deficiency. (Michael E. Ruane) It's now been five years since Casey Anthony was acquitted of murder charges in the death of her 2-year-old daughter. Now, the 30-year-old – whom some have called the most hated woman in America – is “bored.” (People)
A BIG STOP IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE FIFTH COLUMN: -- A former Virginia National Guardsman was arrested for plotting a terrorist attack on behalf of the Islamic State. Rachel Weiner and Joe Heim report some very scary details: "When Mohamed Bailor Jalloh walked into the Blue Ridge Arsenal gun store and indoor target range in Chantilly, Va., on Friday to purchase a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, he had no idea that his every move was being monitored by the FBI. Jalloh, 26, spent about 10 minutes in the shop before attempting to buy the assault weapon, but he was told that he did not have the required three forms of identification to make the purchase, said Earl Curtis, the store’s owner. Jalloh told employees that he would return. 'As soon as he walked out the door, the FBI came in,' Curtis said in an interview Tuesday. Jalloh came back the next day and bought a different assault rifle for about $1,200, Curtis said. ... In addition to the assault weapon, he had recently purchased a 9mm Glock handgun." "Prosecutors said Jalloh had told someone close to him that he wanted to carry out an attack in the style of Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people in a 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood. He told that person he 'thinks about conducting an attack all the time, and was close to doing so at one point,' according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Alexandria." At an April 9 meeting watched by the FBI, Jalloh allegedly praised Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, who killed five U.S. service members in Chattanooga, Tenn., last year. “You have to pick a action and take it cuz time is not on your side,” he wrote to an ally, according to the affidavit. Jalloh, a native of Sierra Leone, is a U.S. citizen. British Home Secretary Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street yesterday following a Cabinet meeting. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images) -- In London, Conservative politician and Home Secretary Theresa May won the first round of voting in the race to become Britain’s next prime minister. “May had campaigned for Britain to remain in the E.U. but has vowed to uphold the voters will to leave," Erin Cunningham reports. "She has presented herself as a unifying candidate who can bring together the two camps within the Conservative Party [though] she has come under fire for saying that she would not be able to guarantee the status of E.U. migrants already living in the United Kingdom …. Another round of voting is scheduled for Thursday and will whittle the field down further.” Trump campaigns last night in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Sara D. Davis/Getty Images) THE DAILY DONALD: -- For the fourth day, Trump’s deleted Star of David tweet made news. “For some, Trump’s tweet and the ensuing backlash has highlighted an enduring problem the presumptive GOP nominee has not been able to put to rest: His occasional posting of racially-charged messages on social media that could be avoided with more careful research and vetting,” writes Sean Sullivan. “For others, it has served as troubling reminder that Trump’s campaign, which has centered on calls to deport immigrants and ban Muslims, has attracted strong support among the white nationalist movement." “There have been too many instances. That’s what bothers people,” said GOP fundraiser Lisa Spies. “What’s inexcusable is that it’s happening over and over again.” Speaker Ryan also denounced the tweet: “Anti-Semitic images, they’ve got no place in a presidential campaign,” Ryan said in a Wisconsin radio interview, adding: “I don’t know what flunky put this up there. They’ve obviously got to fix that.” (Elise Viebeck) Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is Jewish, also faced blowback: An entertainment writer at the New York Observer, where Kushner is publisher, criticized his tacit approval of the tweet in an open letter. "Please do not condescend to me and pretend you don’t understand the imagery of a six-sided star when juxtaposed with money and accusations of financial dishonesty,” wrote Dana Schwartz, who is also Jewish. "I’m asking you, not as a ‘gotcha’ journalist or as a liberal but as a human being: how do you allow this? Because, Mr. Kushner, you are allowing this." (In turn, Kushner released a statement calling Trump an “incredibly loving and tolerant person who has embraced my family and our Judaism since I began dating my wife.") Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke said there was “no way” the Star of David shape was a sheriff’s star, dismissing the claim made by the Trump campaign as they've sought to ameliorate the damage. “Of course later the campaign made the excuse, ‘Well, no, that’s like a sheriff’s badge.’ Well, no way, folks,” Duke said of the tweet on his radio show. Earlier in the broadcast, Duke praised Trump for his Star of David post, saying the information was “all true.” (Buzzfeed) -- Five questions we still cannot answer about Trump’s supposed charity donations, from David Fahrenthold (who has been doggedly chasing this story): “For weeks, The Post has been trying to confirm a claim that Trump …. has given millions of dollars of his own money to charities. So far, we’ve failed. First, The Post looked in public records. The proof wasn’t there. The Post then looked through an internal list compiled by Trump’s campaign … The proof wasn’t there, either. So The Post looked for evidence of those personal donations, surveying 207 charities (so far) that seemed to have the closest ties to Trump. All of that turned up just one personal donation … during a period of more than seven years. It was worth less than $10,000. It happened in 2009. And there’s a chance it’s actually a bookkeeping error.” As a new week begins, here are some questions we still haven’t been able to answer: Before that $1 million gift to a veterans’ charity in May, when was the last time Trump gave a dollar of his own money to charity? Trump’s staffers have not responded to repeated requests for information. Meanwhile, Trump’s son Eric – who runs a charity of his own – defended his father Sunday, saying he contributes “so much to every charity,” though he declined to provide further details. Has Trump ever donated his own money to the Eric Trump Foundation? “So far, neither Donald Trump nor Eric Trump have offered evidence to confirm that. Tax documents, in fact, show money going the other way. In 2014, Eric Trump's charity paid $87,700 to Donald Trump's golf course in Loudoun County, Va., as payment to use the course for an Eric Trump Foundation fundraiser.” Did Trump ever give away any money to the ALS association after taking part in its “Ice Bucket Challenge” fundraiser? “In the midst of the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ craze of 2014, Trump filmed a video on the roof of Trump Tower, with Miss Universe and Miss USA dousing him in Trump water. The Donald J. Trump Foundation, however, gave nothing to the ALS Association in the year of Trump’s ice bucket video.” Bob Corker warmed up the crowd for Trump in Raleigh. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) -- Veep finalist Bob Corker (the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) spent all day at Trump’s side, huddling with him at Trump Tower and then flying together to North Carolina. Corker’s visit is the latest in a series of meetings hosted by Trump, as he seeks to vet potential vice presidential contenders. From Robert Costa: “One Republican described the rapport between Trump and Corker as ‘natural and strong even if they aren’t the closest of friends’ and said they share maverick instincts and an aversion to the hawkish tilt on foreign policy that has dominated their party. Trump has publicly stated for months that he appreciates Corker’s willingness to defend parts of his non-traditional approach to foreign policy and to argue his case to wary colleagues in the Senate cloakroom.” -- Newt Gingrich gets his tryout today. He will accompany Trump to Ohio. (Cincinnati Enquirer) BHO and HRC, together again, in Charlotte. (Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post) MORE ON THE DEMOCRATIC RACE: -- Obama declared himself “ready to pass the baton” to Clinton during their first joint appearance of the campaign. “My faith in Hillary Clinton has always been rewarded,” POTUS told thousands in Charlotte. "There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than her. Ever. And that’s the truth." Neither Obama nor Clinton mentioned the FBI investigation in their remarks. “Obama instead recounted his growing confidence in Clinton’s abilities from the time they were primary rivals to her tenure as secretary of state," Juliet Eilperin and John Wagner report. "As they came out on stage together, Obama smiled broadly, and appearing relaxed, pumped his fist and helped lead chants of ‘Hillary, Hillary, Hillary.’ The two embraced after Clinton’s remarks.” -- Comey’s announcement also overshadowed an attempt by Clinton to create a Sister Souljah moment in D.C. yesterday. HRC got audibly booed when she told the NEA convention in Washington that charter schools can be a force for good. Clinton told the union officials that there are “some successful charter schools whose approaches should be studied and replicated. … When schools get it right, whether they’re traditional public schools or public charter schools, let’s figure out what’s working and share it with schools across America. Rather than starting from ideology, let’s start from what’s best for our kids.” Education beat reporter Emma Brown notes that Clinton — a longtime supporter of both charters and unions — has tried to bridge this divide before. -- Trying to woo Bernie Sanders voters, Clinton will promise a three-month moratorium on repayment of federal student loans during an Atlantic City speech today. From Anne Gearan and Abby Phillip: “Clinton has frequently told audiences she wants to find other ways to help student borrowers refinance loans with interest rates that are often far higher than home mortgages or car loans. During the hiatus, borrowers would receive help and advice to save money, the preview material provided to education advocates said. Clinton frequently talks of the advantages of loan repayment plans that are tied to income, which would be one of the refinancing options along with help reducing fees and resolving delinquent debts. Clinton also plans to use the moratorium to crack down on for-profit colleges and loan servicers, whom she accuses of often taking advantage of borrowers.” She will use the setting, Atlantic City, to slam Trump's business acumen and poor record of running casinos. She'll also accuse of him "cheating workers." -- In good timing for HRC, USA Today fronts this story --> “Trump casino empire dogged by bad bets in Atlantic City,” by Karen Yi: Records “shine light on an era marked by battles with regulators who often doubted statements by Trump, yet allowed him to keep operating.” The paper’s review “also found Trump’s casinos repeatedly broke state rules, leading to more than a million dollars in fines. ‘The record before us is laced with hyperbole, contradictions and generalities,’ then New Jersey Casino Control Commission member Valerie Armstrong said in a 1988 hearing over Trump’s [Taj Mahal] bid … Inconsistencies in Trump’s testimony, Armstrong said, ‘make it difficult to evaluate adequately the licensee’s fitness for licensure.’” Paragraph du jour: “Trump's Castle and Trump Plaza separately filed for bankruptcy in 1992. The casinos eventually reorganized under Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts and filed again for bankruptcy in 2004 and then reorganized as Trump Entertainment Resorts and filed again for bankruptcy in 2009. … In all, Trump’s Atlantic City casino properties filed for bankruptcy protection five times.” -- The Clinton campaign previews her visit to Atlantic City with this new video: | | Who got hurt? | The Briefing |
-- A remarkable imbalance: The Clinton campaign has aired 20,000 TV ad spots since June 8, when she became the presumptive nominee. Trump has run zero TV ads in this time. “Those figures don’t include ad spending by the candidates’ allied super PACs, either,” the Wall Street Journal's Rebecca Ballhaus notes. “Priorities USA Action, the primary super PAC backing Mrs. Clinton, has aired 11,500 ads since June 8, according to the Center for Public Integrity. Great America PAC, the most active pro-Trump group so far, has not aired any ads on broadcast or national cable TV, but has run ads on satellite and local cable TV.” Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, a potential HRC VP pick, addresses a women's summit last month. (Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) -- “If Clinton wins, Thomas Perez does, too. The only question: What job does he get?” Great profile from Mary Jordan: “Just before the United flight took off, the pilot needed to balance the jet’s weight and asked for volunteers to move to the back. So Labor Secretary Thomas Perez stopped writing his speech, packed up his papers and moved to the cramped last row. As he walked the length of the plane, no other passenger recognized the Cabinet member, who has quietly gained stature in the Obama administration and is widely expected to hold a top job in a Hillary Clinton administration; his name is even being raised as a possible candidate for vice president. One of the reasons Perez is not widely recognized is that the highest elected office he has held was in Maryland as president of the Montgomery County Council — and that was a decade ago.” THE LATEST ON THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION: -- Delegates hoping to snatch the nomination from Trump in Cleveland continue to fail. A key procedural move requires 56 votes on the Rules Committee; fewer than 10 members of the panel support it, however. From Ed O'Keefe: “Leaders of ‘Free the Delegates,’ a coalition of various groups hoping to stop Trump at the Republican convention … conceded (last night) that they're far short of the votes needed to change GOP nomination rules and reopen the battle. Despite near-daily conversations with delegates worried about Trump's presumed nomination, ‘There’s just a lot of pressure, a lot of fear, a lot of ‘I’m with you in theory, but I’m trying to get the courage to come out and support it,’ [group leader Kendal Unruh] … told members on a weekly conference call." -- Meanwhile, John Kasich tells Dan Balz that the delegates should “search their own consciences” and decide whether to support Trump in Cleveland. “They have to weigh their responsibilities against their consciences and then make a decision about what they want to do,” the Ohio governor said yesterday. Kasich, who pledged during the primaries to support the eventual nominee, has not lived up to his commitment and shows no signs of doing so. Asked directly if he is likely to back Trump before the convention, he said, “Probably not. Unless I see a Saul-to-Paul transformation on the road to Damascus, I don’t see it happening. . . . I may still support him, but I’m going to have to see changes.” -- Two more GOP foreign policy luminaries endorsed Clinton: Stephen Krasner and David Gordon, who served as senior officials in George W. Bush’s State Department, said they cannot back Trump. (Politico) -- Scott Walker, who wants to run again in 2020, announced he will speak at the convention. The Wisconsin governor confirmed his speaking role yesterday, indicating that Clinton will be the focus of his speech. "If someone doesn't cast a vote for the Republican nominee, they are effectively casting a vote for her and that's part of what I'd be willing to talk about," he told WKOW. -- Paul LePage, a relatively early Trump endorser, said he now plans to skip the convention. “If I felt that he needed me there, I’d have gone, but I think it’s pretty much established,” the Maine governor, a Trump delegate, said in a radio interview. (WVOM) -- Also making headlines: A white nationalist group has reversed course and will no longer send a team to "protect Trump supporters" attending the convention, NBC reports. The convention “isn’t really a proper hill to die on with [delegates] not being true supporters,” said a spokesman from the Traditionalist Worker Party. -- A potentially significant development in Ohio: The Libertarian Party missed the deadline in Ohio to apply for recognition as a minor party. The party will instead to try to collect signatures so that Gary Johnson can appear as an independent candidate. (Columbus Dispatch) -- A D.C. superior court judge allowed a legal battle between Trump and Jose Andres to continue, rejecting a request from the celebrity chef to throw out a breach-of-contract lawsuit. Trump filed the suit after Andres backed out of a deal to open a restaurant in Trump’s new D.C. hotel, citing his rhetoric on Mexican immigrants. (Emily Heil) -- A 61-year-old woman said she was tossed from a Mexican restaurant in New York for donning a “Make America Great Again” hat and a Trump campaign button. The co-owner reportedly ordered the woman and her friends out of the restaurant, saying “we don’t serve Trump supporters here.” (New York Post) SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ: — ZIGNAL VISUAL: In a rarity, Clinton generated more tweets than Trump yesterday. It was driven by Comey's announcement. All five of the most tweeted stories about Clinton were about the emails. Here's a chart from our analytics partners at Zignal Labs showing how the day played out: Moments from Trump's N.C. rally: White supremacist David Duke is not helping Trump's claim that the shape in his now-deleted tweet was a sheriff's badge: Members of the Trump family continue to play footsie with some prominent voices in the fever swamps of the right: Debbie Wasserman Schultz drew attention to the open letter from a New York Observer reporter to Kushner: The Clinton campaign remembered this moment from earlier in the year: Republicans reacted to the Comey announcement: A few shots of Clinton and Obama on the campaign trail: A comment from a former aide to Ted Cruz: The Clinton campaign released a video of Obama touting her credentials (click to watch): One reporter's reaction to the campaign calling it an "interview": Watch a clip of Obama singing Malia a happy birthday: | | Obama sings "Happy Birthday" to Malia 🎁🎉 #news #politics #cnn |
A funny scene on the House floor: Finally, a few extra Fourth of July posts for good measure: | HOT ON THE LEFT “San Diego police investigating 'random' violent attacks on homeless people,” from The Guardian: “Police in the southern California city , which has long grappled with a large homeless population … said the department is also investigating whether three attacks, which occurred within a 24-hour period, could be connected to a series of separate assaults against homeless people in the city in recent weeks. At least seven other homeless people have faced attacks in the last two weeks." | | HOT ON THE RIGHT “Ottawa shuts down kids' lemonade stand over permit, sparking criticism” from The Guardian: “To the young entrepreneurs – ages 7 and 5 – it seemed like a win-win situation: Hawk ice-cold lemonade to pedestrians and cyclists on a hot day and rake in money to help pay for summer camp. But their business plan was swiftly derailed by officials in Ottawa, who cited the girls’ lack of a permit to shut down the C$1-a-glass lemonade stand. Business was just beginning to pick up … when a passerby stopped to ask them if they had a permit for their lemonade stand. It wasn’t long after that a uniformed official with the National Capital Commission, a federal agency, arrived on the scene.” |
GOOD READ FROM ELSEWHERE: -- Vanity Fair, “The Hillary Confidant You Can’t Escape,” by James Warren: “In the past year, [Sidney] Blumenthal has been much in the public eye because hundreds of his private e-mails to Clinton—by turns gossipy, fawning, and conspiratorial—turn out to be among the material on the private server Clinton used … [But] Blumenthal has known the Clintons since their Arkansas days, [and has long served] them as an all-purpose adviser and defender, on and off the books. The juggling act that he has tried to pull off is complicated: on the one hand, an ink-stained philosopher, like Seneca, bringing wisdom to the halls of power; on the other, a practitioner of the down-and-dirty politics he observed growing up in Chicago … Be that as it may, few people appear to have had the ear of the woman who may be the next president quite the way Blumenthal has. ‘He’s really, really smart, but he also feeds their own conspiratorial and negative impulses,” says a serving aide to Hillary Clinton. “And with her, he always feeds a reflexive distrust of many people, especially the press.’” DAYBOOK: On the campaign trail: Clinton is in Atlantic City, N.J. Trump holds an event in Cincinnati, Ohio. At the White House: No public events are scheduled. On Capitol Hill: The Senate meets at 10 a.m. to work on a sanctuary cities bill. The House meets at noon for legislative business. | QUOTE OF THE DAY: Clinton praised Obama as “someone who has never forgotten where he came from”: “And Donald, if you’re out there tweeting, it’s Hawaii.” |
NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.: -- A day of classic (and miserable) July heat and humidity is in store, the Capital Weather Gang forecasts: “Hot and very humid. That’s the story today as morning temperatures rise into and through the 80s, and afternoon highs reach the low 90s under partly sunny skies. The high humidity (dew points mainly in the low 70s) will have afternoon temperatures feeling more like the mid-90s to near 100. A light breeze does little to cool us down. We do have a 20 percent chance of a late afternoon or evening thunderstorm." -- The Nationals, sloppy and lethargic, lost 5-2 last night to seal another series loss to the Brewers. (Jorge Castillo) -- The Nats will send four players to the All-Star Game in San Diego, tied for the most in the D.C. history of the franchise: Bryce Harper was voted in as a starter for the third time in his career. Wilson Ramos and Daniel Murphy were chosen as reserves. Stephen Strasburg is the only Nats pitcher to make the team. (Chelsea Janes) -- Arlington’s corroded Memorial Bridge is undergoing a major overhaul, after receiving a $90 million grant to fund a “massive” reconstruction project. The federal funds mark a major step toward restoring the deteriorating span, but it will not fully fund the project, which officials estimate will cost $250 million. (Michael Laris) -- Maryland adults who provide alcohol to underage minors can be held civilly liable for any death or harm that comes to the young people as a result, according to precedent set in a new court ruling. (Lynh Bui) -- The highest-ranking officer charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray opted for a bench trial, leaving his fate in the hands of a Baltimore judge. Lt. Brian Rice faces counts of manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and assault and misconduct in office in connection with Gray’s death last year. (Derek Hawkins) -- A Prince George’s County ice cream truck driver was shot on Independence Day, in an incident that police believe to be a botched robbery attempt. The driver remains in critical condition. (Justin Wm. Moyer) VIDEOS OF THE DAY: Check out all the faces Obama made while campaigning with Clinton: | | Obama's Many Faces on the Campaign Trail |
BuzzFeed compared the time it takes to register voters to the time it takes to carve an ice sculpture: | | Ice Carver Vs. Registering Voters |
A Noah's Ark model is due to open in Kentucky: | | Noah's Ark model set to open in Kentucky |
Check out this timelapse of NASA's Juno spacecraft approaching Jupiter: | | Timelapse: Watch NASA's Juno approach Jupiter |
More footage here: | | NASA's Juno probe enters Jupiter orbit |
Bubaker Habib, a local contractor for the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, speaks about his time working with Amb. Chris Stevens during the days leading up to the attack and what prompted him to tell his story: | | I was in Benghazi when Chris Stevens died. Honor him with truth not lies. |
Finally, watch Guillermo from Jimmy Kimmel's show light 5,000 charcoal snakes on fire for the Fourth of July: | | Happy 4th of July! Guillermo Lights 5,000 Charcoal Snakes At Once |
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