Welcome to THE TRAIL 2016, your daily rundown from The Hill on all the latest news in the White House, Senate and House races.
This week, the quest for the White House has been dominated by race and on Thursday, that heated issue came to a head as both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump sought to cast the other as someone who incites racism and bigotry.
Before her highly anticipated speech linking Trump to the “alt-right” movement, the Democratic nominee’s campaign launched a video likening Trump to the Ku Klux Klan, which featured clips of other white-supremacist leaders voicing support for the GOP nominee.
Trump’s campaign was quick to push back, blasting out a statement from Pastor Mark Burns, a black surrogate, calling on Clinton to disavow the video. And the GOP nominee preemptively attacked her Reno, Nev., address, saying she was using the speech as a distraction from her own controversies surrounding the Clinton Foundation by accusing his supporters of being “racists.”
Clinton’s speech piled on to the candidates’ back and forth; she accused Trump of embracing conspiracy theorists and pointed to the addition of former Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon to his campaign as a prime example that the alt-right has infiltrated the mainstream GOP
“The de facto merger between Breitbart and the Trump Campaign represents a landmark achievement for the ‘alt-right.’ A fringe element has effectively taken over the Republican Party.”
Trump hit back yet again, accusing her on Twitter of “race-baiting” and reiterating in an interview with CNN that “she’s a bigot.”
Come back to The Hill tonight for our story on how the new batches of emails and emerging reports on the Clinton Foundation continue to hound Clinton’s campaign and check back with us tomorrow and throughout the weekend for all the twists and turns of the presidential race and previews of next week’s primaries in Florida and Arizona.
RACE TO 1600 PENN
EARLY EMAILS: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports: The State Department must start releasing the additional 15,000 emails uncovered during the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private server starting on Sept. 13, according to Reuters. That date is a full month earlier than agency officials had hoped to begin the release.
AIR WAR: The Hill’s Niall Stanage reports: Hillary Clinton has buried Donald Trump in an avalanche of negative TV ads in an effort to kill off the GOP presidential nominee’s campaign before he starts to fire back.
DISARM SECRET SERVICE: The Hill’s Lisa Hagen reports: Donald Trump called on Hillary Clinton to tell Secret Service agents to “drop all weapons” if she’s elected president, continuing to accuse the Democratic presidential nominee of wanting to “take away your guns.”
ODDS AND ENDS
ALL IN THE FAMILY: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Chelsea Clinton plans to stay on the Clinton Foundation’s board of directors, according to a new report.
BILINGUAL BASHING: The Hill’s Mark Hensch report: A progressive advocacy group is hammering Donald Trump in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida and North Carolina with radio ads that address listeners in both English and Spanish.
BUSH NOT BUYING IT: The Hill’s Jessie Hellmann reports: Former GOP rival Jeb Bush is dismissing talk of Republican nominee Donald Trump pivoting on immigration as “all a game.”
WHO YOU GOING TO CALL?: The Hill’s Caitlin Yilek reports: Hillary Clinton is voicing her support for “Ghostbusters” star Leslie Jones after her website was hacked and nude photos of the actress were leaked.
POLL POSITION
CLINTON CRUISES NATIONALLY: The Hill’s Kyle Balluck reports: Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 10 points in a national poll released Thursday.
CLINTON UP IN MICHIGAN: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Hillary Clinton owns a 7-point edge over Donald Trump in Michigan as they race for the presidency, according to a new poll.
THREE’S COMPANY: The Hill’s Jessie Hellmann reports: The majority of American voters want to see Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson participate in the debates, a new poll on Thursday shows.
GOP VOTERS WANT TAX RETURN RELEASE: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: A majority of Republicans say that GOP nominee Donald Trump should release his tax returns, according to a new poll.
THE DAILY TRUMP
TRUMP THE BUILDER: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Donald Trump is using the same wording he once mocked Jeb Bush for using. Trump tweeted a list of problems in the black community before saying, “I will fix it, promise.”
KNEW IT ALL ALONG: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Allies of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) say the former GOP candidate saw Donald Trump’s “softening” on immigration coming.
CATHOLIC CRITICISMS: The Hill’s Jonathan Swan reports: A Catholic group is furious about comments made about the church by Donald Trump’s campaign CEO, former Breitbart News head Steve Bannon.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“His latest paranoid fever dream is about my health. And all I can say is — Donald, dream on.”
— Hillary Clinton, addressing the unfounded rumors about her health during a speech in Reno, Nev., on Thursday.
CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS
TRUMP TIES: The Hill’s Jordain Carney reports: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is knocking vulnerable GOP incumbents for refusing to stand up to Donald Trump amid a string of recent controversies.
TWO OF A KIND: Democratic Senate candidate Ted Strickland’s campaign launched a new TV ad Thursday, linking Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) to Donald Trump and highlighting both Republicans’ support of defunding Planned Parenthood and overturning Roe v. Wade.
MONEY WATCH
COSTLY CLINTON FUNDRAISER: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Tickets for Hillary Clinton’s fundraiser late Wednesday in northern California cost $200,000 per person, according to a new report.
WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR TODAY, TOMORROW AND THE WEEKEND
(All times Eastern)
Tim Kaine appears on CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” at 11:35 p.m. today. He will hold a voter-registration kick-off at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee on Friday.
Mike Pence holds a campaign rally in Purcellville, Va. at 3 p.m. Saturday.
TWEET OF THE DAY
Write us with tips, suggestions and news: Jonathan Easley, Ben Kamisar, Jonathan Swan, Lisa Hagen.
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