| | | | Christie falsely says Trump dropped birther talk | | New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie sought to erase Donald Trump's years of birtherism today when he told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" that Trump hasn't been pushing the falsehood that President Barack Obama was born outside the United States. Here's the exchange:
Christie: "It's just not true that he kept it up for five years."
Tapper: "Sure he did."
Christie: "It's simply not true."
Tapper: "It is true."
Christie: "No, Jake. It wasn't like he was talking about it on a regular basis ... And when the issue was raised, he made very clear the other day what his position is."
What's the verdict? The Washington Post's fact-checker Glenn Kessler gives Christie "four Pinocchios" -- in other words, labeling Christie's claim completely false, while listing many instances since 2011 in which Trump has fueled the birtherism conspiracy theory. | | Trump camp's birtherism falsehood: Clinton started it | | Donald Trump still hasn't answered questions about why -- after five years of pushing the bogus conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States -- he suddenly dropped it Friday.
But his campaign surrogates -- running mate Mike Pence, campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, RNC chair Reince Priebus and transition team head Chris Christie -- fanned out across the Sunday shows to muddy the waters by accusing Hillary Clinton of starting "birtherism." Priebus told John Dickerson that "Hillary Clinton herself" and "everyone around" Clinton pushed it. Conway told NBC's Chuck Todd that it "makes a huge difference" who started birtherism, while deflecting questions about the conspiracy theory making up five years of Trump's political identity. Pence told ABC's Martha Raddatz that the birther movement traces "all the way back to Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2008." | | "You'll have to ask him that." -- Donald Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, on why Trump decided Friday to drop five years of bogus questions about President Barack Obama's place of birth. (Trump ditched the journalists in his press pool before he could be asked Friday.) | | | RNC chair: Back Trump or face payback in 2020 | | Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus fired a warning shot Sunday at Republicans like Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who haven't endorsed Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
Here's what Priebus said, to John Dickerson on CBS' "Face the Nation," while reminding candidates they took a pledge to support the nominee: "Those people need to get on board. And if they're thinking they're going to run again someday, I think that we're going to evaluate the process -- of the nomination process and I don't think it's going to be that easy for them."
When a threat sounds like a question: More from Priebus: "If a private entity puts forward a process and has agreement with the participants in that process, and those participants don't follow through with the promises that they made in that process, what -- what should a private party do about that if those same people come around in four or eight years?"
Why this matters: Kasich, in particular, has sounded like a 2020 candidate lately -- and one convinced the party will want a drastic break from Trump's style. Many top Republicans feel that way.
Here's Matt Borges, a Kasich ally but -- importantly for the GOP's hopes in presidential races -- the Ohio Republican Party chairman: | | | And here's Stuart Stevens, the chief strategist for Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign: | | | Jimmy Fallon messed up Donald Trump's hair and Trevor Noah dumped a bunch of balloons on Bill Clinton. Much more in "the week in politics" -- a collection from CNN's photography staff. | | Clinton's effort to reach millennial voters | | From John King's "Inside Politics" forecast: It's no secret Hillary Clinton has issues with younger voters, and she is looking to turn the tide. On Monday, Clinton will travel to Ohio to make her case to millennials by retracing some of her early work as a lawyer. Abby Phillip of The Washington Post says trying to get younger voters to relate more to Clinton is the big goal.
"The focus of the speech is going to be about her early years -- what she did after she left college -- the focus on idealism and reminding young voters that she was kind of like them," said Phillip. "And also like someone else, a young community organizer from Chicago, Barack Obama." Will this humanize her? Make her seem more like a real person and less like a politician? Stay tuned. | | | Libertarian Gary Johnson didn't make the cut for the first debate, but says he's fighting to get into the second one. ... Tim Kaine says he won't call Donald Trump's supporters "irredeemable." ... Kaine does say Trump was inciting violence against Hillary Clinton by suggesting she drop her Secret Service protection. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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