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ABC News(WILMINGTON, N.C.) -- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump raised eyebrows Tuesday when he suggested there is "nothing" that can be done to stop Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court picks, except "maybe" the "Second Amendment people."

"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment," Trump said to the crowd of supporters gathered in the Trask Coliseum at North Carolina University in Wilmington. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.

"Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know."

 

.@realDonaldTrump: Maybe "2nd Amendment people" can do something about Clinton picking SCOTUS justices. https://t.co/nNZn2umKbl

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 9, 2016

After the speech, Clinton's campaign seized on the remarks.

"This is simple — what Trump is saying is dangerous," read a statement from campaign manager Robby Mook. "A person seeking to be president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."

ABC News reached out to the Secret Service for response to Trump's comment, and the agency said it was aware of the remarks.

The Trump campaign insisted the candidate's words referred to the power of "Second Amendment people" to unify.

"It's called the power of unification — 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power," read a statement, titled "Trump Campaign Statement Against Dishonest Media," from senior communications adviser Jason Miller.

Trump's running mate Mike Pence rose to the candidate's defense and said Trump was not insinuating that there should be violence against Clinton.

"Donald Trump is clearly saying is that people who cherish that right, who believe that firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens makes our communities more safe, not less safe, should be involved in the political process and let their voice be heard," Pence said Tuesday in an interview with NBC10, a local Philadelphia TV station.

Clinton's running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine told reporters Tuesday that Trump's comments "revealed this complete temperamental misfit with the character that’s required to do the job and in a nation."

"We gotta be pulling together and countenancing violence is not something any leader should do," Kaine said.

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, who led a 15-hour filibuster in June to force a vote on gun control measures, took to Twitter to voice his displeasure with Trump's comments.

"This isn't play," wrote Murphy. "Unstable people with powerful guns and an unhinged hatred for Hillary are listening to you, @realDonaldTrump."

And Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., who wrote in a tweet that because he believed Trump "suggested someone kill Sec. Clinton," called for a Secret Service investigation.

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.


Donald Trump Attacks Hillary Clinton After More Emails Released

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ABC News(NEW YORK) — The Trump campaign is responding to another newly released batch of emails belonging to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, calling it "more evidence hat Hillary Clinton lacks the judgment, character, stability and temperament to be within 1,000 miles of public power."

The conservative group Judicial Watch released 44 unseen emails Wednesday, totaling 296 pages — evidence it says of an inappropriate relationship between the State Department and Bill Clinton's philanthropic organization, the Clinton Foundation.

Judicial Watch obtained the documents as part Freedom of Information lawsuit against the State Department related to Clinton's top aide, Huma Abedin.

"She views public office as nothing more than a means to personal enrichment," the Trump campaign said in its statement released Tuesday night. It goes on to call her "corrupt" and accuses her of obstructing the FBI investigation against her, which is now closed.

Judicial Watch sent out a press release highlighting two emails in particular, both from early in Clinton's tenure, and both from an attorney at the Clinton Foundation named Doug Band. In one email, Band asks Clinton's aides to find a job for an associate. The name was withheld from the document. "It's important to take care of [Redacted]," Band wrote to Clinton's top aides Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin. Abedin replied that "Personnel has been sending him options."

State Department spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau said in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday that the Department hires political appointees through a "variety of avenues" and suggested there was nothing unusual about this exchange.

In another email, Band asked Abedin and Mills to connect a wealthy Clinton Foundation donor to officials within the State Department, saying the Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire is a "key guy there [Lebanon] and to us." Band also suggested that Abedin introduce the donor to the former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Jeffrey Feltman.

"Neither of these emails involve the Secretary or relate to the Foundation’s work," the Clinton campaign said in a statement early Wednesday. "They are communications between her aides and the President’s personal aide, and indeed the recommendation was for one of the Secretary’s former staffers who was not employed by the Foundation."

"State Department officials are regularly in touch with a range of outside individuals and organizations including non-profits, NGOs, think tanks, and others," Trudeau added in her statement.

State Department officials say these emails cover a widely known gap period, before March 18, 2009, where Clinton says her emails are missing due to technical problems she had with her email and record keeping. Some emails from that period have been recovered by State and the FBI, but not all of them have been made public. The State Department says it will do that eventually.

After reviewing Clinton's use of a private email account during her tenure as Secretary of State, FBI Director James Comey announced in July his investigators did not find any evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
 
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Rudy Giuliani Defends Donald Trump's Second Amendment Comments on "GMA"

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ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani Wednesday defended Donald Trump's controversial comments about the Second Amendment that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and others interpreted as a suggestion of violence against her.

"We know Donald Trump is not particularly indirect," Giuliani told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America. "If Donald Trump was going to say something like that, he'd say something like that.

"You know how speeches go. He was talking about how they [gun rights advocates] have the power to keep her out of office. That's what he was talking about," he added. "With a crowd like that, if that's what they thought he'd meant, they'd have gone wild."

Trump made headlines Tuesday when he said that gun rights advocates might be able to do something to stop Clinton from choosing the country's judges.

"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump said Tuesday at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. "Although the Second Amendment folks, maybe there is. I don't know."

Clinton's campaign seized on the remarks. "This is simple — what Trump is saying is dangerous," campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement Tuesday. "A person seeking to be president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."

The Secret Service also said it was aware of the remarks.

Trump stood by his remarks in an interview with Fox News Tuesday night. "There can be no other interpretation," he said. "I mean, give me a break."

Giuliani also hit Clinton over the Orlando shooter's father, who appeared behind her during a campaign rally this week.

"Why is he such an avid supporter? What is drawing him to Hillary Clinton?" he said of Seddique Mateen, whose son Omar killed 49 people at Pulse nightclub in June.

"I believe it's her soft stance on Islamic extremist terrorism."

He also defended Trump against 50 military experts who signed a letter saying they would not be supporting his presidential bid in November.

"They don't know Donald Trump the way I do. I've known him for 28 years," Giuliani said. "I know he is a responsible man, a very, very successful man, a man who achieved a great deal and can be trusted much better than Hillary Clinton, who has been found to be extremely careless with the use of national security information."

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Meet the Man Who Welcomes Obama to Martha's Vineyard

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Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(CAPE COD, Mass.) -- While President Obama and the first family mix up their routine each year on Martha’s Vineyard, every vacation begins the same way: with a greeting from Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., when they arrive in the Bay State.

Nearly every summer since 2009 -- the Obamas did not vacation on the island during the 2012 election -- Keating has welcomed the first family on Cape Cod, where the Obamas ditch Air Force One for a quick helicopter ride to the Vineyard.

Early on, his constituents caught on to the act, and bombarded his office with requests for him to air local grievances with the president. But Keating says he’s never talked business with Obama on the airstrip.

This year, he gave the golfer-in-chief his own Titleist Pro V golf ball, which is made in his Massachusetts district.

“Now when you really have to make a big shot, use this ball,” Keating said he told Obama in an interview with ABC News. “He told me he would.”

Keating said he’s quick to bring up the island when he crosses paths with Obama in Washington during the dog days of the legislative year.

“I remember when we had briefings [during the economic crisis] and it would be very serious, and if I got a moment to shake hands with him, I would say, ‘Don’t you wish you were in the Vineyard now?’ And he’d laugh,” Keating said.

While Obama may be saying goodbye to the White House, he won’t be leaving Martha’s Vineyard for good after this summer.

“I have assurances from both [Obamas] that after the term ends, it won’t end their love affair with the island,” Keating said.

As for the next president, Keating has already cornered one of the candidates.

During a recent visit to Capitol Hill, he posed a question to Hillary Clinton in jest: would she spend her summers in his district in exchange for his support?

“She said ‘Absolutely,’” Keating recalled.

Keating doesn’t have to twist arms with either family. The Clintons repeatedly summered on the island in the 1990s when Bill Clinton was president, and the Obamas took to the island before the 2008 election.

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Clinton Camp Formally Launches 'Republicans for Hillary' Effort

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iStock/Thinkstock(WESTCHESTER, N.Y.) — The Clinton campaign Wednesday announced the formal creation of a group to recruit Republican and independent voters dissatisfied with the GOP nominee, Donald Trump.

The launch of the group, "Together for America," comes after months of scattered efforts by the campaign and its allies to woo anti-Trump Republicans.

The group is composed of nearly 50 leaders in business, national security, foreign and economic policy, and politics, among other arenas, according to a list provided by the campaign. Their goal, however, is to eventually recruit grass-level support among conservatives, an aide said.

"Hillary Clinton understands the complex and volatile world we live in, and she has the temperament to be president and Commander-in-Chief.Donald Trump does not," the group's website says. "That’s why so many Republicans and independents are putting country over party and supporting Hillary for president."

A flood of prominent Republicans in recent weeks announced their support of Clinton over Trump, including GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman and former CIA Acting Director Mike Morell. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, has also announced his backing of the Democratic nominee.

This recruitment effort has been spearheaded by Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta. Former Wall Street executive Leslie Dahl has also helped with outreach to business leaders.

The Clinton campaign's initial efforts to recruit Republican voters began after Trump clinched the nomination in May when they first solicited Republicans to tell them why they can't back Trump.

"Are you a Republican who thinks @realDonaldTrump should not become president? Tell us why," the campaign tweeted.

Clinton and her vice presidential nominee, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, also embarked last week on a bus tour about jobs that was, in part, aimed at courting independents and conservative-leaning voters. The running mates specifically targeted counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania that have voted Republican in past elections.

The Clinton camp also this week expanded its battleground state map to include Arizona and Georgia, yet another sign of efforts to cut into Trump's voting bloc.

Top officials from Clinton's Brooklyn, New York, headquarters held calls with Arizona and Georgia state party officials to discuss making six-figure investments in the two states, according to a source.

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How Donald Trump Reached His 58 Percent Unemployment Stat for Black Youth

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ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Donald Trump has claimed several times that 58 percent of African-American youth are unemployed, which is more than double the government's monthly breakdown.

The discrepancy results from the use of different age groups and different interpretations of “unemployment.”

As for age groups, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics breaks down monthly unemployment numbers for people 16 to 19 years old, and then for those 20 and older. The groupings also take into account racial demographics.

So, according to BLS numbers, last month’s unemployment rate among 16- to 19-year-old black Americans was 25.7 percent, adjusted seasonally.

The Trump campaign takes a different view, detailing its methodology for ABC News. Trump economic adviser David Malpass said they started with BLS information from the full year of 2015 and broke out the numbers for 16- to 24-year-old African-Americans, a group that includes many people the federal government counts as adults.

The Trump campaign's "economic program is intended to improve the labor environment for young Americans, many of whom are getting left out," Malpass said via email, adding that the campaign’s methodology is more inclusive.

Beyond that, they also include not only people whom the Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies as labor force participants – or the employed and unemployed -- but also those not in the labor force, or people who have no job and are not looking for one, such as students. The federal government does not count them, as with retirees.

Then, after dividing that larger number by the population of that age group, the Trump campaign came up with 58.5 percent who were unemployed last year.

The decision to include people who are not in the labor force, by BLS standards, dramatically affects the statistics.

For campaign purposes, Trump did not specify the age group when he mentioned the 58 percent statistic in two different speeches this week and another in July. He just says "58 percent of African-American youth are not employed."

If the same methodology is used (the same data set and the same 16- to 24-year-old age grouping), but only those the BLS counts in the labor force are included, that would show that 9.8 percent of African-American youth were unemployed last year.

Malpass said the campaign includes those not in the BLS-defined labor force (the unemployed who are not looking for jobs) because that addresses the true state of the economy.

"Many of them would like to work if labor conditions were better," he told ABC News of people who are not looking for work.

"The official labor force statistics exclude many people who would like to work if there was a better economic environment,” he added. “One goal of the economic program is to strengthen the economy so that more people are attracted into the labor force, especially youths and minorities. They would benefit from the economic reforms, including faster growth, higher wages and more business investment.”

But at least one economist has a different view.

"It's not proper" to include those not in the labor force in any unemployment statistics, chief U.S. economist Michael Gapen of Barclays told ABC News.

"It's not appropriate to include people who are in school as part of the labor force and count them as unemployed," he said, citing one example. "They're consciously choosing other activities."

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Hillary Clinton Surrounded by Secret Service at Rally After Protester Breaks Past Barricades

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ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Hillary Clinton was surrounded by Secret Service agents Wednesday afternoon after a protester broke past barricades separating the Democratic nominee from supporters at a campaign stop in Des Moines.

Agents tackled the protester, who wore a shirt that read "Animal Liberation Now" and is a member of the animal rights organization, Direct Action Everywhere, in a buffer zone surrounding the stage. The protester was then led out of the gymnasium where the rally was held.

The intrusion marked the second time in less than a week that Clinton's security detail came to her aide. Last Thursday in Las Vegas, a group of protesters also from Direct Action Everywhere attempted to enter the area around the stage, prompting agents to move to Clinton's side.

Clinton continued her remarks uninterrupted as attendees behind the stage rose to witness the commotion.

Later during the event, another contingent of Direct Action Everywhere protesters held a sign that repeated the "Animal Liberation Now" demand. The group was removed from the event without incident.

Clinton's safety was in the news on Tuesday following a Donald Trump speech in which he said that "Second Amendment people" could do something to stop possible gun control measures should Clinton be elected president.

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Clinton Responds to Trump's 2nd Amendment Comments: 'Words Matter'

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ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Hillary Clinton responded to Donald Trump's controversial remarks about "Second Amendment people" protecting gun rights, which some saw as a veiled assassination threat against the former secretary of state.

"Words matter, my friends, and if you are running to be president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences," Clinton said at an event in Iowa this afternoon.

"Yesterday we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line," she said.

Clinton was referring to comments Trump made on Tuesday about the prospect of her picking Supreme Court justices.

"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment," he said to a crowd of supporters in the Trask Coliseum at North Carolina University in Wilmington. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.

"Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know."

Trump made an indirect reference to the comments at an event in Virginia, appearing to blame the media for spinning his comments into a threat against Clinton.

"They can take a little story that isn't a story and make it into a big deal. Happens so much. It happens so much," he said. "And speaking of that, remember this: We have so many things that we have to protect in this country. We have to protect our Second Amendment, which is under siege."

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How Hillary Clinton Has Spent $82 Million More on Television Ads Than Donald Trump

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ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Hillary Clinton is dominating Donald Trump in the ad battle on the television airwaves.

The Democratic nominee and her main Super PAC have spent almost $93 million on television advertising during the general election compared to only $11 million from a hodgepodge of outside groups backing the Republican nominee.

Indeed, Trump's campaign has yet to spend its first dollar on television advertising this election cycle. Meanwhile, Clinton’s campaign has spent almost $56 million so far, according to an ABC News analysis of data from CMAG/Kantar Media through the end of this week.

Outside groups like the National Rifle Association and two Super PAC have made small buys in some battleground states for Donald Trump. These numbers do not yet include a just-announced $3 million buy from the NRA that will double their contribution to the race.

The NRA Political Victory Fund has spent $3.2 million so far, while Rebuilding America Now PAC has dropped $5.8 million and Great America PAC has spent $1.5 million since the general election began.

Still, Trump’s haphazard outside funding effort is dwarfed by the operation of Hillary Clinton’s Super PAC, which has dropped an additional $37 million into the race so far. This brings Clinton's total team spending to nearly $93 million, with tens of millions in future reservations on the calendar.

The highest amounts of spending so far has happened in Florida and Ohio -– two crucial battleground states, only one of which would likely hand Hillary Clinton the White House. Clinton and her Super PAC have also made significant buys in other swing states, leaving Trump largely outgunned across the country.

Clinton and her Super PAC have spent $23 million vs. $2 million from Trump in Florida and $16 million vs. $2 million in Ohio. She's also spent at least $5 million in Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia -- often more than ten times more than what Trump's allies are spending in the state.

But the data shows what may be a dangerous trajectory for Trump. In recent weeks, Trump's allies' spending has dwindled from $2.2 million to only $1.4 million, while Clinton and her Super PAC have more than doubled their spending over the last three weeks from $6.3 million to $12.8 million.

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Disgraced Former US Rep. Mark Foley Spotted at Trump Rally

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United States Congress(FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) — Former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned from Congress in 2006 in disgrace after sending sexually explicit messages to teenage congressional pages, attended a rally for Donald Trump in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Wednesday.

Foley, who could be seen in the background in videos and photos of the event, raised his hand when Trump asked if the people featured in the seats directly behind the stage knew him.

"[H]ow many of you people know me?" Trump asked, adding, "A lot of you people know me. When you get those seats, you sort of know the campaign."

A longtime Republican presidential campaign advance staffer described the seating area behind the candidate to ABC News as a "tapestry" -- a backdrop of people often chosen by the campaign to reflect wide-ranging support for the candidate.

Foley's appearance comes as Trump continues to bash Hillary Clinton after Seddique Mateen -- the father of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen -- attended her rally in Kissimmee, Florida on Monday.

The Clinton campaign said that they had no prior knowledge of Sedique Mateen's presence at the rally, calling it an "open-door event for the public," and later added the Clinton "disavows his support."

[T]he people behind me, they’re all on television," Trump told the crowd at BB&T Center. "They're gonna be famous. And by the way, speaking of that, wasn’t it terrible when the father of the animal that killed the wonderful people in Orlando was sitting with a big smile on his face right behind Hillary Clinton?"

Following the Trump gathering, Foley confirmed to MSNBC his support of Trump's presidential bid, and said that the two have a longstanding relationship. "[H]e’s been a friend of mine for 30 years and one of my biggest contributors," Foley said.

According to campaign contribution records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, Trump gave at least $9,500 to Foley's political campaigns over a period of 10 years.

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New Hillary Clinton Emails Explained

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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — As the seemingly endless drip of emails continue to emerge from Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state, the story of her email use has become increasingly muddled, leaving many a casual reader confused by new developments.

ABC News will try here to put the most recent emails into context.

What Are the New Emails and Where Did They Come From?


A conservative, anti-Clinton group called Judicial Watch sued the State Department under freedom of information laws for emails from Clinton's top aide, Huma Abedin, during her time at the State Department. Judicial Watch has been publishing them as the State Department turns them over. They are separate from the 55,000 pages of emails Clinton has already turned over.

What's in the New Emails?


The new emails aren't necessarily to or from Clinton herself. Three emails that have gained wider attention this week were among her aides and they have caused critics to raise questions about impropriety between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation, something Clinton pledged would never happen once she became secretary of state.

Two of the emails were from a long-time aide to President Bill Clinton, Doug Band, who now works at the Clinton Foundation. One email shows he contacted Hillary Clinton's top aides asking them to find a job for an associate. The name was withheld from the document.

"It's important to take care of [redacted]," Band wrote to Abedin and Cheryl Mills, another top Clinton aide. Abedin replied, "Personnel has been sending him options."

When pressed Wednesday, the State Department would not say who the emails referred to, citing privacy concerns. "We feel confident that all the rules were followed," State Department spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau said Wednesday.

In the second email, Band asked Abedin and Mills to connect a Clinton Foundation donor, a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire, to officials in the State Department, saying the donor is a "key guy there [Lebanon] and to us." Band also suggested that Abedin introduce the donor to former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman.

A third email shows that Cheryl Mills, who was keenly aware of Clinton's use of private email, received notice of a "significant" freedom of information request seeking all email accounts attached to Clinton's name at the State Department. The department ended up falsely reporting back to that requester that no such records were found. That inaccurate response, which was later noted in a State Department's Inspector General report, raises questions in the eyes of Clinton critics as to why Mills didn't speak up, knowing what she did.

What Are the Presidential Campaigns Saying?


Donald Trump's campaign released a statement last night calling the emails from Doug Band "more evidence that Hillary Clinton lacks the judgment, character, stability and temperament to be within 1,000 miles of public power." It went on the say, Clinton "views public office as nothing more than a means to personal enrichment," calling her "corrupt."

The Clinton camp denied that any impropriety occurred.

"Neither of these emails involve the secretary or relate to the foundation’s work," the Clinton campaign said in a statement early today. "They are communications between her aides and the president’s personal aide, and indeed the recommendation was for one of the secretary’s former staffers who was not employed by the foundation."

Speaking at a rally today in Abingdon, Virginia, Trump incorrectly claimed that “a thousand ... or something” new emails were released Tuesday. In reality, Judicial Watch released closer to 500.

“A couple of very bad ones came out, and it’s called pay for play,” Trump said. “And some of these were really, really bad and illegal. If it’s true, it’s illegal. You’re paying and you’re getting things.”

Despite this claim, there has been no concrete evidence linking State Department favors to foreign donors in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation.

Neither campaign has commented on the Mills email, but Michael Short of the Republican National Committee said that email contradicts her previous deposition that she had no "specific recollection" about a Freedom of Information Act request regarding Clinton's email accounts.

"The disconnect between these new revelations and her sworn testimony suggests Mills gave a misleading account under oath to hide an attempted cover up of Clinton’s reckless email arrangement," Short said in an email to ABC News.

Are There More Emails to Come?


Yes. The FBI says it recovered thousands of emails Clinton did not turn over and that many of them are work related. That means the State Department will have to release them, and it says it will, though it hasn't said when that will happen. The State Department said this week that the FBI has turned over the emails and that it is determining which of them are fit for public release.

Is the FBI Investigating Inappropriate Links Between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation?


The FBI has not acknowledged any additional open investigation into Hillary Clinton. Despite calling her actions "extremely careless," FBI Director James Comey announced in July it would not recommend criminal charges against Clinton for her use of a private email server for official State Department business.

He later stated in public testimony that he wouldn't “comment on the existence or nonexistence of other investigations."

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Donald Trump: President Barack Obama 'Is the Founder of ISIS'

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ABC News(NEW YORK) --  Donald Trump made a startling accusation against President Barack Obama during a Florida rally Wednesday night, telling supporters that the commander in chief is the "founder of ISIS."

"ISIS is honoring president Obama," the Republican presidential nominee said during a rally at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. "He is the founder of ISIS. He founded ISIS. And, I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton.

Trump's declaration was met with chants of "Lock her up!" from rally-goers.

In addressing Obama, Trump included the president's middle name, calling him Barack Hussein Obama -- a move that's typically been employed by those who claim Obama is secretly a Muslim.

"Radical Islamic terrorism," Trump said. "And people don’t like saying that. Our president refuses to use the term. Every time another event happens, I keep saying, I wonder if he’s gonna say it this time. And he doesn’t say it."

He also took aim at Clinton, for her refusal to use the term. "And Hillary won’t say it either," he said. "She doesn’t wanna say it, cause she doesn’t wanna offend the president, because then bad things could happen to her if she offends the president. Bad things could happen to her. So she’s afraid to say it. Hillary’s afraid to say it. She did say that she would say it because of me, but she’s afraid to say it. But, we have a real problem with radical islamic terror. It's’ what it is. It’s terror."


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Ronald Reagan's Daughter Blasts Trump's 'Verbal Violence'

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Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — In a Facebook post directed at the Republican presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan's daughter blasted Donald's Trump's "glib and horrifying comment" on the Second Amendment.

"I am the daughter of a man who was shot by someone who got his inspiration from a movie," the post begins, referring to the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan by John Hinckley, Jr.

Trump made the controversial remarks at a campaign stop on Tuesday. "Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment," he said to a crowd of supporters in the Trask Coliseum at North Carolina University in Wilmington. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.

"Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know," he added.

Trump has since come under fire from critics who say that the remarks encouraged violence.

In the Facebook post, Patti Davis, the eldest child of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, echoed this line of criticism, while invoking her family's experience with the 1981 shooting, which wounded the president and three others in Washington D.C.

"Your glib and horrifying comment about "Second Amendment people" was heard around the world," the post reads. "It was heard by sane and decent people who shudder at your fondness for verbal violence. It was heard by your supporters, many of whom gleefully and angrily yell, "Lock her up!" at your rallies. It was heard by the person sitting alone in a room, locked in his own dark fantasies, who sees unbridled violence as a way to make his mark in the world, and is just looking for ideas."

A federal judge ordered John Hinckly Jr. to be released last month, after he spent 35 years in a psychiatric hospital for the assassination attempt.

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Hillary Clinton Expected to Release 2015 Tax Returns

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Michael Davidson for Hillary for America(NEW YORK) — Hillary Clinton will release her 2015 tax returns in the coming days, possibly as soon as Friday, a source close to the Democratic presidential nominee told ABC News Thursday.

Her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, is expected to release his returns from the last 10 years, the source added.

The Clinton campaign has hammered opponent Donald Trump over his refusal to release his tax documents, and this move is likely to increase the pressure on him to do so.

Clinton has already released her tax returns from previous years.

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Hillary Clinton to Deliver Economic Rebuttal to Donald Trump

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ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- Three days after Donald Trump delivered his economic speech in Detroit, Hillary Clinton will be in the Motor City herself to deliver her own speech on the economy.

In her remarks, the Democratic presidential nominee is not expected to roll out any new policies, instead focusing predominately on her opponent’s plan, which, according to an aide, she will cast as “wildly unrealistic” and self-serving.

“She will make the case that with her plan, the middle class wins, while Trump’s plan is a win for himself and his millionaire and billionaire allies, friends and family,” the aide said about Clinton’s speech, scheduled at the tool and engineering company, Futuramic.

Clinton, meanwhile, will contrast Trump’s economic plan with elements of her own plan that she has released throughout the campaign. These include a $275 billion investment in infrastructure to create jobs, tuition-free college for families making less than $125,000 a year, and a tax increase on the wealthy. (Clinton has pledged not to raise taxes on people making $250,000 or less a year.)

Speaking at the Detroit Economic Club on Monday, Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, called his economic plan "the biggest tax reform since [Ronald] Reagan" and called for tax-exempt child care expenses, four income tax brackets instead of his previous call for three, and abolishing the estate tax, which critics call the death tax.

“It will present a night-and-day contrast to the job-killing, tax-raising, poverty-inducing Obama-Clinton agenda,” Trump said during his speech on Monday.

Clinton -- who earlier this week said Trump is simply trying to "repackage trickle-down economics" -- is on Thursday expected to specifically target a provision in Trump’s tax plan that could deliver a tax cut to large corporations.

Clinton, according to an aide, will coin this provision the “Trump Loophole” and say that it’s simply a way for him to allow his own companies and business ventures to pay less taxes.

While criticizing Trump’s tax plan, Clinton is also likely to taunt the real-estate mogul for not releasing his tax returns. Releasing tax returns has become a common practice among presidential candidates. A source close to Clinton said Thursday that the Democratic nominee will release her 2015 tax returns as early as this week.

Trump has refused to release his tax returns because he said they are being audited.

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Trump Doubles Down on Claims that Obama, Clinton Are 'Founders' of ISIS

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ABC News(MIAMI) -- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump doubled down on his attack against President Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, accusing them again of being the “founders” of ISIS.

“I call President Obama and Hillary Clinton the founders of ISIS. They are the founders,” Trump said at a National Association of Home Builders event in Miami, Florida, Thursday morning.

“In fact, I think we will give Hillary Clinton, you know if you're on a sports team, Most Valuable Player, MVP,” Trump said. “ISIS will hand her the Most Valuable Player award. Her only competition is Obama, between the two of them.”

He first made these accusations against Obama and Clinton Wednesday night at a Florida rally.

A senior administration official would only respond “Seriously?” when asked for comment.

The Clinton campaign condemned Trump’s comments as an example of his “trash-talking the United States.”

“It goes without saying that this is a false claim from a presidential candidate with an aversion to the truth and an unprecedented lack of knowledge,” Jake Sullivan, the Clinton campaign’s senior policy adviser, said in a statement released after Trump’s speech.

Sullivan added: "What's remarkable about Trump's comments is that once again, he's echoing the talking points of Putin and our adversaries to attack American leaders and American interests, while failing to offer any serious plans to confront terrorism or make this country more secure."

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Major Changes in States' Photo ID Laws Ahead of Election

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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Two key court decisions handed down Wednesday in two states had opposite effects on the ability of voters to cast their ballots in the fall.

In Texas, a state considered by civil rights activists to have some of the most restrictive voter photo ID laws in the country, a judge agreed to a proposal that will allow citizens without sufficient photo ID to still vote with a regular ballot.

Now, Texan voters who don’t have one of seven types of approved state-issued photo IDs will need to sign a declaration saying that there was a “reasonable impediment” to getting one, and then they will be able to show an alternate form of identification to cast a regular ballot.

Meanwhile, a similar policy was already in place in Wisconsin, but that measure was revoked just hours after the Texas agreement was reached.

The legal activity in the two states did not come as a shock to Jennifer Clark, council in the democracy program at the Brennan Center, a non-partisan policy group that focuses on voting and judicial rights.

“There isn’t much that’s surprising now considering all the litigation that we've seen surrounding all of these photo ID laws,” she told ABC News.

Latest in a Long String of Cases

The strict photo ID requirements have been controversial in Texas for five years now. The seven forms of ID -- which include driver’s licenses, passports, military IDs with photos, handgun licenses and other state-issued licenses -- were specified in 2011, with the law being passed by a Republican-controlled state legislature and the state’s Republican governor.

Critics of the law, including judicial rights groups like the Brennan Center, which is serving as the plaintiff's attorneys in the Texas case that reached an agreement Wednesday, take issue with the fact that Texas does not allow student IDs from state universities and other provisions that are accepted in other states.

"Our democratic process depends on ensuring that eligible citizens can cast their votes without undue discriminatory hurdles," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement following the agreement.

"The court’s interim remedy order is a very important step toward a process designed to provide that opportunity for hundreds of thousands of eligible Texans," she said.

Rolling Back Provisions in Wisconsin

A similar legal battle has been ongoing in Wisconsin for about two years, and during that process, a judge had approved an “affidavit option” where someone without a photo ID could get an exception to the law and proceed to vote.

The difference between that option and the one that was approved yesterday in Texas is that the Texas voters would still have to provide some form of ID to back up their declaration, whereas Wisconsin voters wouldn’t.

On Wednesday, a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals judge issued a stay order, meaning that the “affidavit option” is not going to be available until the entire case is heard.

Reid Magney, the public information officer for the Wisconsin Elections Commission, told ABC News “we don’t know what the timing will be” on the appeal, so it is unknown if the stay order will remain in place for the November election.

Clark said that though the stay order is not permanent, the court’s decision is an indication “that they were going to strike it down completely.”

Far from the Only Ones

Wisconsin and Texas are only the latest states to reach new decisions in recent weeks. Similar decisions that either got rid of the state’s photo ID requirement, like in North Carolina, or called on states to offer declarations of identity for people without photo IDs, like in North Dakota, were made in the last month.

The flurry of activity comes as little surprise for Clark.

“I think that it’s clear based on the amount of activity ... that courts feel the pressure of deciding these things with enough advanced notice so that states can get the electoral mechanisms in order,” Clark said.

She added: “I don’t think courts feel comfortable waiting until the fall to make these kinds of decisions.”

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Hillary Clinton Blasts 'Outlandish Trump-ian Ideas' in Economic Speech

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ABC News(WARREN, Mich.) -- Hillary Clinton took aim at Donald Trump's economic plan during her own address Thursday on her plans for the U.S. economy.

She slammed his "outlandish Trump-ian ideas that even republicans reject" and compared several of the policies that he presented during his economic speech earlier this week with her own proposals.

"I just wish my opponent in this election saw the same Michigan I do," she said at an event in Warren, Michigan, Thursday afternoon. "When Donald Trump visited Detroit on Monday, he talked only of failure, poverty, and crime. He’s missing so much of what makes Michigan great."

"He hasn't offered and credible solutions for the very real economic challenges we face," she said.

"If I am fortunate enough to be your president, I will have your back every single day," Clinton said.

Clinton stressed her commitment to small business owners, citing her father's drapery printing business. She used that as a way into discussing Trump's business history and instances where his corporation got into fights with smaller companies.

"There are companies that were left hanging because he refused to pay their bills," she said. "It wasn't because Trump couldn't pay them -- it was because he wouldn't pay them, and that's why I take it personally."

She also called on two of the best-known American Olympians to take a dig at Trump's plan to build a wall along the southern border.

"If Team USA was as fearful as Trump, Michael Phelps and Simone Biles would be cowering in the locker room afraid to come out to compete. Instead, they’re winning gold medals. America isn't afraid to compete!" she said.

During his speech at the Detroit Economic Club on Monday, Trump called his economic plan "the biggest tax reform since [Ronald] Reagan" and called for tax-exempt child care expenses, four income tax brackets instead of his previous call for three, and abolishing the estate tax, which critics call the death tax.

“It will present a night-and-day contrast to the job-killing, tax-raising, poverty-inducing Obama-Clinton agenda,” Trump said during his speech on Monday.

Clinton -- who earlier this week said Trump is simply trying to "repackage trickle-down economics" -- is expected to specifically target a provision in Trump’s tax plan that could deliver a tax cut to large corporations.

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With Bernie Sanders Out, Young Adults See Third-Party Appeal, Poll Says

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ABC News(NEW YORK) -- With Bernie Sanders out of the presidential race, Hillary Clinton has moved to consolidate her support in his broad base of young voters. But much of that backing is grudging, with turnout an open question and support for third-party candidates posing a potential risk to Clinton.

She easily leads Donald Trump among 18- to 29-year-old registered voters in the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll, 57-31 percent, making them her single best age group. That 26-point margin doesn’t match Barack Obama’s record-setting support from young voters in 2008 (66-32 percent), but it beats the gap in his 2012 result (60-37 percent).

Still, that doesn’t mean young voters are happy about it. Just 22 percent say they’re satisfied with a choice of Clinton and Trump, with a majority “very” dissatisfied. Twice as many of those 30 and older are satisfied, 43 percent.

That dissatisfaction could influence turnout, often a concern with young adults. They account for 21 percent of all adults but just 14 percent of likely voters in the survey, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates.

It also encourages a look elsewhere. When Libertarian Gary Johnson and Jill Stein of the Green Party are included, Clinton leads Trump by 19 points among under-30s, 43-24 percent, with 16 percent supporting Johnson and 10 percent supporting Stein – their best among any age group.

These margins have changed little from before the conventions, suggesting that their unifying influence among partisans was somewhat lost on more independent young voters. Indeed, in combined data since June, 24 percent of Clinton’s young supporters in a two-way matchup move to a third-party or independent candidate in the four-way trial heat.

Such results reflect ambivalence toward Clinton among young Sanders supporters. Given a four-way race, only 53 percent of Sanders supporters age 18-29 pick Clinton (again in combined June, July and August polling), compared with 72 percent of Sanders’ supporters age 30-plus.

On the Republican side, where Trump has less support from under-30s in the first place, losing about one in seven young Trump supporters to third-party choices in a four-way contest, compared with the one in four Clinton loses. Among older Trump supporters, just one in 10 leaves him in the four-way matchup.

Notable, too, is that Clinton loses some young voters both to Johnson and Stein; Trump, to Johnson only.

Summertime flings don’t always endure. In ABC News-Washington Post polling in early August 1996, 20 percent of 18-29s favored Ross Perot over Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, compared with 12 percent of those 30 and older. But young voters’ support for Perot dwindled to 10 percent by Election Day, similar to other age groups.

Further, in 2000, Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan both peaked among young voters (and among likely voters overall) in late July. Where the under-30s land this year – and how many of them turn out – could be critical to the election outcome.

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Former GOP Staffers Urge RNC to Drop Donald Trump Support or Risk Democratic Landslide

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ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Frustrated former Republican elected officials and party staffers are urging the Republican National Committee to stop supporting Donald Trump and instead focus all available resources on winning down-ballot races.

In a draft letter with more than 70 signatories that is expected to be formally sent next week, they warn of "the catastrophic impact" they predict Trump's campaign will have on other Republicans who are running this year.

“We believe that Donald Trump’s divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning this election into a Democratic landslide, and only the immediate shift of all available RNC resources to vulnerable Senate and House races will prevent the GOP from drowning with a Trump-emblazoned anchor around its neck,” they write in the draft letter to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus obtained by ABC News.

The signatories include five former Republican members of Congress and Republican staffers who previously worked at the RNC, on Capitol Hill and served in several Republican administrations.

Former Sen. Gordon Humphrey from New Hampshire leads the list of elected officials, along with former Rep. Tom Coleman of Missouri, Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma, Chris Shays of Connecticut and Vin Weber of Minnesota. The rest are former GOP staffers and delegates.

In the letter, the signatories write that “Trump’s divisive and dangerous actions are not only a threat to our other candidates, but to our Party and the nation.”

“Every dollar spent by the RNC on Donald Trump’s campaign is a dollar of donor money wasted on the losing effort of a candidate who has actively undermined the GOP at every turn. Rather than throwing good money after bad, the RNC should shift its strategy and its resources to convince voters not to give Hillary Clinton the ‘blank check’ of a Democrat-controlled Congress to advance her big government agenda,” they write.

They list Trump's attacks on Gold Star families, his refusal to release his tax returns, his suggestions that "a hostile foreign government" intervene in the election -- referring to Russia -- and his controversial comments about how Second Amendment supporters could stop Hillary Clinton from picking Supreme Court justices as examples of his missteps in the past month.

The letter goes on to call Trump's loss "likely" and to say that "Trump's chances of being elected president are evaporating by the day."

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

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