| | | | Trump: I meant Obama founded ISIS, literally (he didn't) | | Donald Trump repeatedly made clear Thursday that when he says President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton founded ISIS, he means that literally.
Not only did Trump repeat his statements, first buzzing Wednesday night, throughout the day, he got into a strange back and forth with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday morning as the host tried to get Trump to explain he was speaking metaphorically. Trump insisted he wasn't. Your fill-in host Tal Kopan has the details.
From the transcript: HH: I know what you meant. You meant that he created the vacuum, he lost the peace.
DT: No, I meant he's the founder of ISIS. I do. He was the most valuable player. I give him the most valuable player award. I give her, too, by the way, Hillary Clinton.
HH: But he's not sympathetic to them. He hates them. He's trying to kill them
DT: I don't care. He was the founder. His, the way he got out of Iraq was that that was the founding of ISIS, OK?
Clinton hit back later Thursday, through Twitter, trying to turn the attack back on Trump as a way to question his fitness to be president. And the former ambassador to Russia under Obama tweeted that Trump's comment "echoes exactly a myth propagated by Russian state-controlled media and bloggers."
Peter Bergen writes on CNN, however, that Obama is not the founder of ISIS. | | | CNN's Sara Murray was a good sport as the Internet had some fun with CNN's fact-checking chyrons. | | DNC hack likely bigger -- Pelosi calls it 'electronic Watergate' | | The hacking of the servers of the Democratic National Committee was likely part of a bigger hack that targeted hundreds of officials' private email accounts, according to a blockbuster new report from The New York Times. A US official confirmed to CNN there was a breach of private email accounts of a number of Democratic party officials, some with direct ties to the campaign of Hillary Clinton.
Reacting on Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called it a big deal. "Let me just say this in terms of the presidential campaign: This is an electronic Watergate," Pelosi said. "This is a break-in."
She said she was sure the hack was committed by Russians. "The Russians broke in. Who did they give the information to? I don't know. Who dumped it? I don't know. But I do know that this is a Watergate-like electronic break-in. And anyone who would exploit for the purpose of embarrassment or something like that is an accomplice to that." Read more here, from your host. | | Drip, drip, drip continues on Clinton Foundation | | More news out Thursday afternoon calling into question the relationship between Hillary Clinton's State Department and the Clinton Foundation.
First, CNN's Drew Griffin, Pamela Brown and Shimon Prokupecz break the news that FBI and Department of Justice officials met several months ago to discuss opening a public corruption case into the Clinton Foundation, per a US official.
Three field offices agreed that an investigation should be launched after the FBI received notification from a bank of suspicious activity from a foreigner who had donated to the Clinton Foundation, the official told CNN, but the DOJ felt there was insufficient evidence.
Along those lines, Griffin also reports that Clinton's top aide at the State Department, Cheryl Mills, traveled to New York to interview candidates for a top job at the Clinton foundation while she was working for the government, raising fresh questions about the blurred lines that have dogged the Clintons in recent years. | | Time magazine had a blockbuster cover story this morning on Donald Trump's "meltdown," saying RNC Chairman Reince Priebus placed a call to Trump after his recent missteps and threatened to pull money away from his campaign and move it to down-ballot races.
Sources tell CNN the call wasn't confrontational. Priebus spoke to Trump about the direction of his campaign and his impact on down-ballot races, sources told CNN's Sara Murray and Jim Acosta. This particular conversation was described to CNN as part of the pair's regular contact and a broad overview of the state of the race and the ramifications of Trump's freewheeling style.
Still, the conversation was frank, with Priebus increasingly frustrated with the direction of Trump's campaign, according to multiple Republican sources. Read all about it.
Meanwhile, more than 70 Republicans are signing on to a letter to Priebus asking him to cut Trump off from RNC money and focus on holding the House and Senate, CNN's Anna Palmer reported. | | You've got to watch this interview | | CNN's Chris Cuomo got into a pointed exchange on CNN's "New Day" this morning with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. It's worth watching our highlight reel of the exchange, but here's a taste of the roughly 30-minute back-and-forth from CNN's Tom LoBianco and Rachel Chasson.
| | | It's August in Washington, and that means the President's summer playlist is news. The daytime and nighttime lists include oldies from the Beach Boys, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holiday as well as new music like "Acid Rain" by Chance the Rapper. The playlist also showcases artists who have performed at the White House including Janelle Monae, Sara Bareilles and Esperanza Spalding. | | Clinton takes on Trump's economic proposals | | Hillary Clinton delivered an economic speech on Thursday that served as a rebuttal to Donald Trump's own proposals -- including the location she chose. After Trump delivered an economic speech Monday in Detroit, Michigan, Clinton took to the Detroit suburb of Warren, Michigan, to do the same.
While she espoused her own economic and trade policies, Clinton used every opportunity to hit Trump. "He would give trillions in tax cuts to big corporations, millionaires and Wall Street money managers," Clinton said. "In his speech on Monday, he called for a new tax loophole -- let's call it the 'Trump Loophole'." Read more from CNN's Dan Merica and Jeff Zeleny.
In what was not a coincidence, a source told CNN that Clinton plans to release her 2015 tax returns as early as tomorrow, and the campaign will release running mate Tim Kaine's returns for 10 years -- all part of an effort to put pressure on Trump to do the same.
So what will Clinton's plan mean for pocketbooks? According to CNN Money, her proposals would raise the tax burden of the country's highest earners, per an analysis from the Tax Policy Center. The top 1% of households would see their tax burden go up by more than $78,000 on average, according to the report. The top 1% are defined as households making more than $730,000. All told, the top 1% would pay more than three-quarters of Clinton's tax increases. More here. | | | Donald Trump says if he doesn't end up winning the White House in November, there's always a "very, very nice long vacation." ... Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King says Hillary Clinton is someone he can "work with." ... BuzzFeed does a deep dive on Twitter's 10-year history with harassment. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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