Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - August 31, 2016
From Ballotpedia
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Wednesday's Leading Stories
- Roughly 30 of the 14,900 deleted emails that the FBI recovered from Hillary Clinton’s private email server may pertain to the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, The Associated Press reports. A lawyer for the State Department requested to have until the end of September to review the documents and redact classified information before releasing them. (The Hill, Time)
- Donald Trump will meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico before his speech on immigration in Arizona today. Peña Nieto had sent invitations to both Trump and Hillary Clinton last Friday. Trump tweeted on Tuesday, “I have accepted the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto, of Mexico, and look very much forward to meeting him tomorrow.” (CNN, The Wall Street Journal)
Polls
- A Public Policy Polling poll shows Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump 42 to 37 percent. Gary Johnson registered at 6 percent, while Jill Stein took 4 percent. (Public Policy Polling)
- According to a Huffington Post/YouGov poll, 54 percent of Republican voters think Donald Trump “was not the GOP’s best option” for president, while 37 percent of Democratic voters think Hillary Clinton “was not the Democrat’s best option.” (Huffington Post)
- Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by eight points in Pennsylvania, 48 to 40 percent, in a Monmouth University poll. In the Pennsylvania Senate race, Democrat Katie McGinty leads Republican incumbent Pat Toomey by four points, 45 to 41 percent. (Monmouth)
- A Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 56 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of Hillary Clinton, while 63 percent have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump. (The Washington Post)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- The conservative group Judicial Watch submitted 25 questions to Hillary Clinton about her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state. A U.S. District Judge ordered Clinton to answer all 25 questions under oath. According to Judicial Watch, Clinton has until September 29, 2016, to respond. (Bloomberg, Time)
- The editorial board of The New York Times called for the Clinton Foundation to cease accepting financial donations from foreign entities and corporations and for Hillary, Bill, and Chelsea Clinton to cut all ties to the Foundation if Clinton wins the general election in November. The board wrote, “A wiser course would be to ban contributions from foreign and corporate entities now. If Mrs. Clinton wins, Bill and Chelsea Clinton should both end their operational involvement in the foundation and its affiliates for the duration of her presidency, relinquishing any control over spending, hiring and board appointments. … The Clinton Foundation has become a symbol of the Clintons’ laudable ambitions, but also of their tangled alliances and operational opacity. If Mrs. Clinton wins, it could prove a target for her political adversaries. Achieving true distance from the foundation is not only necessary to ensure its effectiveness, it is an ethical imperative for Mrs. Clinton.” (The New York Times)
- Clinton’s campaign is outspending Donald Trump on general election ads by a 10-to-1 margin. Not including satellite spending, Clinton has spent a total of $75 million on ads, while Trump’s campaign has spent $7.7 million. (NBC News)
Republicans
Donald Trump
- Donald Trump Jr. said that his father’s stance on immigration has not changed. In an interview with CNN, he said, “[Trump] wasn’t softening on anything. He didn’t change his stance on anything. What he did was, and what he’s done all along is, he's speaking with the people. He’s not lecturing them like most of the politicians you see today. He’s actually having a conversation. Unlike our opponent, who basically will take into account only those who contribute millions and millions of dollars to her campaign.” (USA Today)
- Media organizations such as The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Politico, and the Huffington Post will be part of the Trump’s campaign’s press pool rotation in September. These organizations had previously been considered “blacklisted” by the Trump campaign, according to Politico. In a press pool rotation, “each day, a reporter from one outlet provides the others with a running summary of the candidate's activities and remarks on the campaign trail,” CNN writes. (CNN Money, Politico)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- In an interview with Yahoo News, Jill Stein called “undemocratic” the requirement by the Commission on Presidential Debates that presidential candidates must reach 15 percent in national polls to participate in general election debates. “American people are begging for other choices. Let’s insure that we have a real debate here, then let the chips fall as they may,” said Stein. She also commented on supporters of Donald Trump, saying, “Most of Donald’s supporters don’t even support him. Most are motivated by dislike of Hillary Clinton. Let’s let them know they have another choice.” (Yahoo News)
Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party)
- B. Wayne Hughes, Jr., a major Republican donor, contributed $117,000 to the Gary Johnson Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee with Johnson’s campaign and state Libertarian parties. Hughes told Reason.com, "$117,000 is a lot of money, but I think Gov. Johnson is the candidate who is going to speak truth and light into a situation where it's in short supply." (Reason)
See also
- Presidential election, 2016
- Presidential candidates, 2016
- Presidential debates (2015-2016)
- Important dates in the 2016 presidential race
- Polls and Straw polls
- 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards
