Welcome to THE TRAIL 2016, your daily rundown from The Hill on all the latest news in the White House, Senate and House races.
The Indiana primary is here and boy, did today get nasty.
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz came into the day with the stakes already high–a victory for Trump would all but seal the deal for his nomination and mount a likely death-blow to Cruz and the Never Trump effort, which pulled out all the stops in the Hoosier State.
But Trump took it up to level 11 by a National Enquirer report that Cruz’s father had been with Lee Harvey Oswald before the infamous killing of President John F. Kennedy.
Cruz did not take the accusation kindly, exploding in a tirade that bashed Trump as “utterly amoral,” a “bully” and a “narcissist.” And Trump responded with a statement calling Cruz “unhinged,” cementing this race’s descent into the middle-school cafeteria.
Stay with The Hill tonight and tomorrow for our coverage of the returns from Indiana on both sides of the aisle, as well as for our breakdown of the delegate math and our five takeaways from the busy night. We’ll also bring you stories about Senate Republicans grappling with the Trump reality, a look at Trump’s rise, and an interview with a House candidate facing the toughest of climbs.
RACE TO 1600 PENN
NO CONTACT: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Hillary Clinton argued that the FBI has not contacted her about its investigation into her use of a private server.
UNFRIENDLY FIRE: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: Ted Cruz accused network executives of tilting the scales for Donald Trump specifically naming Fox’s Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes.
COAL SHOWDOWN: The Hill’s Timothy Cama reports: Hillary Clinton has had a big 24-hours in coal country. Today, she slammed a former coal exec convicted on skirting mine safety laws, the morning after a man emotionally confronted her on how the shrinking coal economy has hurt his family. The appearances came as a sort of mea-culpa after March comments about clean energy putting the coal industry out of business, but DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz denied that she backtracked from those comments.
UNPREPARED:The Hill’s Jordan Fabian reports: President Obama panned Donald Trump as ill-prepared to serve in the Oval Office.
GEARING UP FOR NOVEMBER:The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Troy G. Clair, the chief of staff to the head of the Congressional Black Caucus, has taken a job with Hillary Clinton’s campaign, Buzzfeed News reported. He is serving as the state director for North Carolina for the Clinton campaign.
FREE-BIRDS: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has released the two delegates he won in the Nevada caucuses, meaning they are now free to support whichever candidate they choose at the Republican National Convention, CNN reported.
ODDS AND ENDS:
TROUBLE IN LIBERTARIAN PARADISE: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Ron Paul is no fan of Ted Cruz, who elbowed his son, Rand, out of the presidential race earlier this fall. The elder Paul panned Cruz as too “authoritarian” and said he wouldn’t vote for him.
SOME PROGRESS: The Hill’s Sarah Ferris reports: Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, a veteran of a months-long feud against Donald Trump, said Tuesday that he could move the needle with female voters despite controversial rhetoric.
NEVER TRUMP: The Hill’s Harper Neidig reports: A former John McCain speechwriter has decided that if forced to choose between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, he’d choose the Democrat.
WELL THAT’S SOMETHING SOMEONE SAID: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: A key Cruz surrogate used, a colorful comparison, to suggest that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are two sides of the same coin.
CONTROLLED BERN: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Jane Sanders, Bernie’s wife, doesn’t believe that her husband’s supporters could be wooed over to Donald Trump’s side.
POLL POSITION
KEEP ON BERNING: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: The majority of Democrats polled say they want Bernie Sanders to stay in the Democratic race until the convention.
NEW HEIGHTS: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Donald Trump has hit a new polling high, claiming 56 percent support among Republicans and GOP-leaning voters in a few NBC News/Survey Monkey poll released Tuesday.
WEEP-STAKES?:The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Ted Cruz’s selection of Carly Fiorina as his running mate has hardly registered with voters, according to a new poll. Sixty percent have no opinion on Fiorina’s addition to Cruz’s ticket or think it has “no impact” in a Morning Consult survey released Tuesday.
COAL COUNTRY LEADS: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump sport leads in West Virginia, which holds its primary next week, according to a new poll. Sanders holds an 8-point lead, while Trump’s is a mammoth 39-point lead.
THE DAILY TRUMP
ISRAEL APPEAL: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Donald Trump says he’s in favor of Israel’s controversial construction of new settlements in the West Bank. “I think Israel, they really have to keep going, they have to keep moving forward,” he told the Daily Mail.
DON’T WORRY MEXICO: The Hill’s Rafael Bernal reports: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told a Mexican newspaper Monday that Mexico should not worry about Donald Trump. Pelosi and a delegation of representatives met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto Monday, kicking off a three-country tour to discuss security, trade, migration and human rights.
DISGRACE: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Donald Trump slammed “disgraceful” comments from the father of his GOP presidential rival, Ted Cruz, who called on Christians to support his son in the Indiana primary.
FIRST BALLOT VICTORY: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, on Tuesday said that “it’s not a question” that the GOP front-runner will meet or exceed the 1,237 delegates necessary to avoid a contested convention.
IN ANOTHER WORLD: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Bernie Sanders slammed Donald Trump, saying the GOP front-runner talks about trade because it is a popular political talking point. “Donald Trump lives in his own world,” Sanders told ABC News.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I should go ahead and admit that, yes, my dad killed JFK. He is secretly Elvis, and Jimmy Hoffa’s buried in his backyard.”
—Ted Cruz, after Donald Trump referenced a national Enquirer report accusing his father of being with Lee Harvey Oswald before he shot President Kennedy.
CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS
GETTING PERSONAL: The Hill’s Jordain Carney reports: Democratic New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan released her first television ad for her Senate campaign, detailing how her son’s disability led to her getting involved in public service.
MONEY WATCH
DABBLING IN THE SENATE: The Hill’s Lisa Hagen reports: Freedom Partners Action Fund, a super-PAC and top Koch Brothers network group, released a $2 million TV and digital ad buy in Wisconsin knocking former Sen. Russ Feingold (D) over the opioid over-prescription scandal at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The super-PAC also launched a $1 million TV and digital ad buy hitting former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto (D) and dubbing her “another special interest politician.”
WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW:
(All times Eastern)
Bernie Sanders holds a rally in Louisville, Ky., at 7:30 p.m. today. He’ll hold an evening rally on Wednesday in Lexington, Ky.
Donald Trump will give post election remarks from Trump Tower in New York City at 9 p.m. today. He’ll also be on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” tomorrow.
Ted Cruz holds an election night party in Indianapolis at 7 p.m. today. On Wednesday, he’s scheduled to hold a 1 p.m. rally in Lincoln, Neb., and a 6:05 p.m. event in Spokane, Wash.
John Kasich will speak to reporters tomorrow at Washington-Dulles International Airport at 10:45 a.m, before what his campaign describes as a “full day of finance events.”
Hillary Clinton will speak at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies Leadership Network’s annual gala on Wednesday. The 6:30-9:30 p.m. event features President Obama as the keynote speaker. President Bill Clinton will campaign for Hillary Clinton in California.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Write us with tips, suggestions and news: Jonathan Easley, Ben Kamisar, Jonathan Swan, Lisa Hagen.
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