| | | | Clinton Foundation to limit donations if Clinton wins | | The Associated Press' Ken Thomas reports: "The Clinton Foundation will no longer accept foreign and corporate donations if Hillary Clinton is elected president. Former President Bill Clinton tells staff members on Thursday that it will also hold its final Clinton Global Initiative meeting in September in New York, regardless of the outcome of the November election."
Also ending: Bill Clinton's paid speeches. His spokesman tells CNN's Dan Merica he has none on the calendar through November and won't give any if Hillary Clinton is elected. | | Trump's first ad buy: $4 million in four states | | Donald Trump's campaign has placed its first ad buy of the general election, going on the air with $4 million over a 10-day period this month in four swing states. Trump's campaign as of midday had secured $1.4 million in Florida; $985,000 in Pennsylvania, $830,000 in North Carolina and $745,000 in Ohio, according to data from CMAG/Kantar Media, a company that tracks political advertising. The specific ads haven't been released yet, CNN's Theodore Schleifer reports.
Hillary Clinton has spent much more -- with more than $67 million in general election TV ads so far, plus $34 million from the pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA.
It's a late start for general election advertising. Politico's Alex Isenstadt reported today that to a handful of Trump aides, "particularly distressing was that Trump had failed to purchase commercial time during the widely watched Rio Olympic Games. Clinton had bought an $8 million package of TV ads to appear on NBC."
The first ads come amid a campaign shake-up that CNN's Maeve Reston analyzed today, writing that it portends a risky pivot: a bare-knuckled, outsider-focused effort where no tactic for taking down Clinton will be off-limits. | | Were Trump's charity donations funded by others? | | On-air, Donald Trump told guests on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" that he'd be making contributions to their charities out of his own pocket. But The Washington Post's David A. Fahrenthold and Alice Crites report today that didn't actually happen. They tracked every gift Trump promised over 82 episodes and seven seasons of the show -- a total of 21 pledges worth a combined $464,000 -- and couldn't find a single one that actually came from him.
The must-read portion comes at the end, as The Post analyzes Trump's major increase in on-air charitable promises in 2012. The newspaper reports: "But, in 2012, the Trump Foundation's records show a large gift from NBC, the network that aired the show. That was more than enough to cover all the foundation's gifts to 'Celebrity Apprentice' contestants' charities, both before 2012 and since.
"For NBC, Trump's 'personal' donations made for better TV. They added will-he-or-won't-he drama to show's boardroom scenes, added uplifting notes to the 'firings,' and burnished the reputation of Trump, the show's star.
"Did NBC give Trump's foundation money, so that Trump could appear to be more generous on-camera?
"An NBC spokeswoman declined to comment." | | | Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's response to CNN host Brianna Keilar's assertion that Trump is losing -- "Says who?" Cohen told Keilar, leading her to point to "all" polls in the race -- is getting attention. It was part of a trend of Trump world asserting his larger crowd sizes are more important than polls -- a belief that was mocked on Twitter by Mitt Romney pollster Neil Newhouse and former George W. Bush press secretary Dana Perino. | | Bayh's Indiana voter status: Inactive | | A scoop on the Indiana Senate race from CNN's Manu Raju: Election officials in Indiana have concluded that Evan Bayh is an "inactive" voter in their state after they failed to establish his residency in Indianapolis, creating a new problem for the Democratic former senator and governor as he mounts a late effort to win back his old Senate seat in a race against GOP Rep. Todd Young. According to records obtained by CNN, Bayh has been listed as an inactive voter twice since leaving office -- once in July 2014 and the second time last week.
Tar Heel trouble for the GOP: National Review's Alexis Levinson looks at why North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr could be in trouble against Democratic former state senator Deborah Ross: He's barely begun campaigning, isn't yet running ads and he's sharing a ballot with two unpopular figures in Donald Trump and Gov. Pat McCrory, who's up for re-election and is hobbled by the "bathroom bill." | | Kasich returns to New Hampshire with eye on 2020 | | | Ohio Gov. John Kasich is getting his New Hampshire band back together with an eye on another run for president in 2020, the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Henry Gomez reports. He'll be there August 28-29 for a reunion with his key supporters and a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Sununu. It'll be Kasich's first trip back to the Granite State since his second-place finish in the primary there in February. | | | The most surprising government agency to lampoon Donald Trump this week? The New York City Parks Department. The department issued a short response after an arts group called Indecline hoisted a life-size, naked Trump statue in Union Square park Thursday. "NYC Parks stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small," said Sam Biederman, a parks spokesman. From CNN's Theodore Schleifer. | | | Bill Clinton and Melania Trump prepared for "first dude/lady" duty by submitting cookie recipes to Family Circle magazine. ... Louisiana's largest newspaper wants President Barack Obama to cut his vacation short to tour the flood-ravaged state. ... Bernie Sanders will launch his new organization, "Our Revolution," next week. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
Post a Comment