The Trail 2016: Words matter

by Lisa Hagen - 07/19/16 6:10 PM ET

Welcome to THE TRAIL 2016, your daily rundown from The Hill on all the latest news in the White House, Senate and House races.

Questions over whether the speech given by Melania Trump was plagiarized continued well into Tuesday, with television networks playing an almost continual loop of side-by-side video showing similarities between the supermodel’s speech and Michelle Obama’s 2008 address to the Democratic National Convention.

Melania Trump’s prime-time debut was supposed to paint Donald Trump in a softer light and show that the person who arguably knows him best believes he can unite the country in turbulent times. But the bright spot of the convention quickly dimmed and was overshadowed by plagiarism claims and then shift, unequivocal denial from Trump’s team.

Trump’s campaign doubled down that Melania’s speech didn’t plagiarize parts of the first lady’s speech. Campaign manager Paul Manafort instead tried to shift the blame onto Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the media — a frequent target of the presumptive GOP nominee.

The campaign isn’t planning to punish anyone involved in drafting the address. But those within his party, from Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, are urging the campaign to fire a staffer to stop the bleeding and move on to the rest of the convention.

Trump hopes to shift the attention away from the speech, but even if he does, there’s still a possibility for convention chaos. The campaign will face one final — and loud — effort from the anti-Trump delegates as he becomes officially nominated tonight.

From The Hill’s reporter Jonathan Easley in Cleveland, some of these rumored efforts include getting former GOP rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on the convention ballot and circulating petitions to prompt parliamentary procedures that could hold up the convention and embarrass Trump.

Stay with The Hill for on-the-ground coverage of tonight’s jampacked lineup of speakers and come back the rest of the week for live updates on the latest out of Cleveland.

RACE TO 1600 PENN

REPUBLICAN FOR CLINTON?: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), speaking from the Republican National Convention, said she may vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton for president. She noted it’s “extremely unlikely,” but wouldn’t rule it out.

FALLING IN LINE: The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports: Former Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.), long regarded as one of the most principled conservatives in Congress, on Tuesday quashed rumors that he might challenge Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.

VEEP ALERT: The Hill’s Harper Neidig reports: A Hillary Clinton campaign aide appeared to confirm on Tuesday that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee plans to announce her running mate on Friday. But Karen Finney later tweeted that no announcement is set.

ODDS AND ENDS:

DEBATE FALLOUT: The Hill’s Lisa Hagen reports: A university in Ohio is withdrawing as the host of the first presidential debate of the general election season over safety concerns, according to the Dayton Daily News.

GOP PLATFORM: The Hill’s Reid Wilson reports: The Republican Party’s platform formally endorses laws requiring voters to show identification when they cast ballots. But not everyone’s happy with the party’s platform. A group of gay Republicans is lashing out at their party for “drafting the most anti-LGBT” platform in GOP history through a full-page ad in USA Today.

UNION ENDORSEMENT: The Hill’s Lydia Wheeler reports: Labor union Unite Here announced that it is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president in the lead-up to the Democratic National Convention next week.

RNC PROTESTS: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Dozens of demonstrators were surrounded by police Tuesday afternoon during the largest protest yet at the Republican National Convention. The chaotic scene involved several relatively small but vocal protest groups in a square just blocks from the convention site.

POLL POSITION

DEAD HEAT: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Donald Trump is within 1 point of Hillary Clinton nationally, according to the NBC News/SurveyMonkey Weekly Election Tracking poll.

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Hillary Clinton has a 12-point lead over Donald Trump in New York — a sizable edge but closer than recent presidential elections in the state.

THE DAILY TRUMP

HAND OVER THE PHONE: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports: Republican pollster Frank Luntz has a message for Donald Trump: hands off the cell phone and stay off Twitter. “If you are tweeting after midnight, nothing good will come from it.”

FROM WALL STREET TO WHITE HOUSE: The Hill’s Harper Neidig reports: Donald Trump is reportedly planning to nominate Steve Mnuchin, his campaign’s finance chairman and former partner at Goldman Sachs, for Treasury secretary if he wins the White House in November.

REAGAN REMINDER: The Hill’s Nikita Vladimirov reports: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Donald Trump’s running mate, says Trump reminds him of former President Ronald Reagan.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“This concept that Michelle Obama invented the English language is absurd.”

— Katrina Pierson, Donald Trump’s spokeswoman, told The Hill when asked about the plagiarism accusations in Melania Trump’s prime-time convention speech.

CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS

WHITE HOUSE WEIGHS IN: The Hill’s Jordan Fabian reports: President Obama and Vice President Biden on Tuesday announced they are endorsing California Attorney General Kamala Harris in the state’s Senate race between two Democratic candidates.

TRUMP TIES: The Hill’s Lisa Hagen reports: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is taking aim at vulnerable Republican senators and tying them to Donald Trump during the Republican National Convention this week.

BADGER STATE SHOWDOWN: The Hill’s Lisa Hagen reports: Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) campaign on Tuesday launched a new TV and digital ad that knocks his Democratic opponent, Russ Feingold, over his national security record.

LOW ATTENDANCE: The Hill’s Jordain Carney reports: A handful of Senate Democratic hopefuls are planning to skip next week’s Democratic National Convention due to conflicting schedules or to campaign in their home states including Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.), former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.).

STAYING AFLOAT: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) kayaked with veterans at a wharf more than a mile away from the Republican National Convention. But the vulnerable GOP senator, who has held multiple events this week on the sidelines of the convention, insisted he wasn’t attempting to avoid Donald Trump in his home state.

MONEY WATCH

SAVE THE SENATE: The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports: Wealthy GOP donors, worried about how Donald Trump might affect the fight for the Senate majority, held a discussion Monday with party leaders about keeping control of the chamber even if Trump loses the White House.

MAKING HISTORY: The Hill’s Jonathan Swan reports: The National Republican Congressional Committee will announce its best six-month fundraising cycle in the group’s history. The NRCC, boosted by the fundraising efforts of House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), raised $47.6 million between January and the end of June, an official said.

DONALD DONOR: The Hill’s Jonathan Swan reports: A Hindu-American industrialist has emerged as one of Donald Trump’s biggest financial backers, saying his partnership with Trump proves the presumptive GOP presidential nominee is not a racist.

WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW:

(All times Eastern)

Republican National Convention speakers tonight include: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Donald Trump Jr., Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former presidential rivals Ben Carson and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, Tiffany Trump, pro golfer Natalie Gulbis, and soap opera star Kimberlin Brown.

Republican National Convention speakers on Wednesday include: Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, video address from U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Eric Trump, Newt and Callista Gingrich, and Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.

TWEET OF THE DAY