The Wall Street Journal reported U.S authorities were pressuring BNP Paribas to pay over $10 billion to terminate a criminal probe that the bank dodged U.S sanctions on May 29, 2014. Fiorina gave a paid speech to the bank six days later.

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Republican presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina -- a vocal critic of lifting economic sanctions on Iran as part of the nuclear deal -- delivered a paid speech to French bank BP Paribas in June of last year, six days after the Wall Street Journal reported the bank was the subject of a federal criminal probe for flouting U.S. economic sanctions on Iran.

According to a June 2015 financial disclosure, Fiorina was paid $48,000 for the speech on June 3, 2014. The Wall Street Journal's report, last updated on May 29, 2014, said that U.S. authorities were pressuring BNP Paribas to pay over $10 billion to resolve a criminal probe that the bank dodged U.S. sanctions.

"The push to secure a high-dollar penalty, along with a guilty plea from BNP, stems in part from what prosecutors viewed as the bank's longtime flouting of U.S. economic sanctions against Iran, Sudan and other countries, the people said. Investigators were also frustrated with what they believe was a sluggish start to the bank's internal investigation and slow response to requests by prosecutors for documents and interviews with employees, according to the people familiar with the discussions," the Journal reported.

Fiorina's campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

BNP Paribus pleaded guilty to the charges in late June and agreed to pay $8.9 billion.

Fiorina, who has come under scrutiny for HP's past dealings with Iran, has been an outspoken critic of the Obama administration's nuclear deal with the country.

"Iran has demonstrated over years that they cheat on every deal," Fiorina told Hugh Hewitt in July. "Iran will use the money they gain from sanctions being lifted to continue to fund enemies in the region."

When asked on "Fox News Sunday" about Hewlett-Packard's sales of printers to Iran, Fiorina claimed that she had no knowledge of the deal.

"'First, HP, you need to remember, was larger than each of the 50 states," Fiorina said. "It's a larger budget than any one of our 50 states, and a global enterprise. And so it's impossible to ensure that nothing wrong ever happens. The question is what do you do when you find out."

"Did you say -- are you saying you didn't know about it?" host Chris Wallace asked.

"Three years after -- in fact, the SEC investigation proved that neither I nor anyone else in management knew about it and the facts of the matter were the European subsidiary apparently was doing business with another company in the Middle East," Fiorina said. "That company was doing business with another company that was doing business with Iran. And when the company discovered this three years after I left, they cut off all ties with those companies."

“We’re basically saying that the status quo is fine, and I think the status quo makes us seriously ill as a nation and it can’t go on.”

Sean Rayford / Getty Images

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says he won't vote to fund the government unless changes are made to the way the government spends money.

"The biggest things that's going on in the next few weeks is obviously the spending comes to end," the Kentucky senator said Monday on WVFS radio. "So as our fiscal year winds up if we don't pass anything government does shutdown. But the other side of that coin is if we don't do anything and we keep open without reforms, I think what we're doing is abdicating our role as being in charge of the power of the purse."

"We're basically saying that the status quo is fine, and I think the status quo makes us seriously ill as a nation and it can't go on," continued Paul. "So I will stand fast and say, 'unless we pass individual appropriation bills, unless we reform the spending process then I can't vote to just continue government on as is."

A government shutdown looms at the end of the month unless Congress passes a spending bill.

Many conservative Republicans in Congress are seeking to tie a bill to fund the government to defunding Planned Parenthood. The organization has come under scrutiny after an anti-abortion group released a series of videos claiming to show Planned Parenthood staffers harvesting fetal tissue for sale. Planned Parenthood has denied the allegations.

Take a listen to the audio:

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Ben Carson said Monday that Islam’s view of religion and public life is “inconsistent with our principles and our Constitution.” However, in 2011 Carson wrote, “There is nothing at all in our founding documents forbidding or denigrating religious expression in public life.”

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Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has come under fire for saying that he would not support a Muslim for president, because he does not believe that Islam is "consistent with the Constitution."

In his 2011 book America the Beautiful, however, Carson repeatedly took a more inclusive approach -- and reminded readers that "there are 1.4 billion Muslims in the world and to paint them with a single philosophical brush is just as absurd as trying to characterize the diverse thinking of billions of Christians around the world."

The controversy around Carson began when the Republican told NBC's Chuck Todd that he "would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation" during an interview on Meet the Press on Sunday.

On Monday, he reiterated his position, telling The Hill: "I do not believe Sharia is consistent with the Constitution of this country [...] Muslims feel that their religion is very much a part of your public life and what you do as a public official, and that's inconsistent with our principles and our Constitution."

But passages from Carson's 2011 book America the Beautiful express a more nuanced view of Islam, and argue that America's Founders were supportive of religion being "a part of your public life and what you do as a public official."

"Freedom of religion is one of the basic tenets of the founding of our nation, and while we are primarily a Judeo-Christian nation, we are a nation of faith that encompasses many religions and beliefs," Carson argues in the book's third chapter, "Are We A Judeo-Christian Nation or Not?"

"We as a nation welcome all nonviolent people of every faith, and there was never any intention by our founders of excluding religion from our public or private lives," Carson continues. "They did not want us to embrace a theocracy, but neither did they want us to eschew religious principles."

Elsewhere in the chapter, Carson explicitly rejects the idea that the Constitution sees no role for religion in the public sphere.

"I believe the problem arises from misinterpretation of what our founders intended with respect to government and religion," Carson writes. "They never wanted to see the government endorse a specific religion, but neither did they want to see faith and religion suppressed."

"There is nothing at all in our founding documents forbidding or denigrating religious expression in public life," Carson concludes.

In a later chapter, Carson tells the story of a dinner-party conversation with "an expert on Islamic culture."

"I was recently at a university-hosted dinner for a well-known expert on Islamic culture, and I asked him if it were possible for Islam and Christianity to peacefully coexist," wrote Carson. "It was clear that the question made him very uncomfortable, but he answered it honestly and said, unfortunately, it is not possible because some Islamists believe that Christians and Jews are infidels who should either be converted or at the very least avoided."

"It is very important to remember, however, that there are 1.4 billion Muslims in the world and to paint them with a single philosophical brush is just as absurd as trying to characterize the diverse thinking of billions of Christians around the world."

Still, Carson's book is not entirely uncritical of Islam.

"I have no problem with Muslims or other religious groups who want to practice their religion in their homes, which may be vastly different from traditional Judeo-Christian religion," he writes, "as long as they don't try to impose that on others or violate our laws."

Elsewhere, Carson suggests that "the real problem with Islam is its radical faction, which has grown dramatically in recent years," and acknowledges that "the vast majority of Muslims don't subscribe to this philosophy."

He complains, however, that this majority is "not very vocal, just as the vast majority of Germans did not subscribe to Hitler's insanity, but instead remained silent, paving the way for some of the most monstrous acts against humanity ever committed."

Ultimately, however, Carson's book departs significantly from his recent rhetoric.

"As a Christian, I am not the least bit offended by the beliefs of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and so forth," Carson writes. "In fact, I am delighted to know that they believe in something that is more likely to make them into a reasonable human being, as long as they don't allow the religion to be distorted by those seeking power and wealth."

"Those in positions of leadership in our society must familiarize themselves with the religions of all their citizens, and they must begin to emphasize the commonalities that unite us as people of faith," he concludes. "Common objectives placed on the forefront of public policies will help people work together and bond us together as a nation in spite of our religious differences."

In an audio recording published by the Washington Free Beacon, confidant Taylor Branch recalled a conversation in which Bill Clinton revealed that Bill thought Hillary would be uncomfortable with gay people “acting out.”

Timothy A. Clary / AFP / Getty Images

Bill Clinton told a close friend in 1999 that Hillary had a "conservative religious temperament" and was unlikely to be comfortable around those pushing for the expansion gay rights during her campaign to be a New York senator, according to audio recordings unearthed by the Washington Free Beacon.

Clinton confidant Taylor Breach can be heard on the recordings recalling a conversation he had with Bill Clinton in which Clinton expressed regret over signing the Defense Against Marriage Act and said Hillary was "put off" by gay rights.

"[Bill] came in and he said, 'You know I've had much more contact in my life with gay people than Hillary has,'" Branch says on the recordings. "He said, 'I think she's really a little put off by some of this stuff.'"

Branch recalls how Bill told him that some of the issues around gay rights were hard for him to swallow, but that Bill told him that Hillary "emotionally speaking still finds the issue harder to swallow" than he did. According to Branch, Bill said it could be difficult for Hillary in New York politics "how far she'll be asked to go," and said Hillary's "conservative religious temperament" would make her uncomfortable with gay people "acting out or pushing her to the limit."

Hillary Clinton, who came out in support of same-sex marriage in 2013, was against it during the 2008 presidential race. Marriage equality has been a central part of her current campaign.

Listen to the audio:

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LINK: Hillary On Marriage Equality: From Avoidance To Opposition To Silence To Support

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“…to tap on those kind of base instincts I find very disturbing.”

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Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the self-described socialist running for president in the Democratic primary, says Donald Trump is tapping into the anger of many "right-wing Republicans" who think President Obama is a foreign-born Muslim.

"I can't tell you all of the reasons why Trump is as popular as he is, but clearly he is tapping an anger in America," Sanders said on Boston Herald Radio on Monday.

"What concerns me about the way he is doing it is to tap that anger and say 'look you see all these Mexicans who come into this country,'" he continued. "I mean making outrageous statements like you know 'we all know' - or something to the effect that - 'Mexicans are rapists and they're all criminals or whatever they are' and just the other the day when somebody asked right here in New Hampshire I guess, what was it 'that we all know that President Obama is a Muslim who wasn't born in this country,' I mean total nonsense and not rejecting that."

Sanders said Trump was tapping into the instincts of people who believe these things, something he finds disturbing.

"And the reason for that is sad to say that what polls show is there many, many Republicans, right-wing Republicans who actually still believe - to this day - that Barack Obama was not born in America or that he is not a Christian and you know to tap on those kind of base instincts I find very disturbing," he said.

Sanders, meanwhile, said his supporters and campaign were nothing like Trump's.

"What we are trying to do is something very, very different, yeah. We're talking about anger in America, people are angry," stated the senator. "You would be angry. The average male today makes $700 dollars less in real inflation accounted for income than he made 42 years ago. How does that happen with all of the productivity that we have seen? People are angry. They should be angry and we're trying to provide constructive answers to say that the middle class and working class in this country deserve a fair shake. We're trying to do things very, very differently than the way Trump does it."

Take a listen to the audio:

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Make Halloween great again.

yandy.com

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Huckabee offered the apology to Matt Bevin, a Kentucky Republican who lost to Mitch McConnell in the 2014 race for U.S. Senate and is now running for governor.

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Mike Huckabee said on Friday that he apologized to current Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin for supporting Mitch McConnell over him in the 2014 Republican Senate primary.

Huckabee said that he offered Bevin the apology at the rally celebrating Rowan County clerk Kim Davis' release from jail.

Asked by Iowa radio host Jan Mickelson about McConnell's opposition to shutting down the government in an attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, Huckabee said Republicans in Washington were not elected to "sit back and give more power to Obama, which is what they've done."

Huckabee said he had endorsed McConnell in his run for re-election because the Senate majority leader and his wife, Elaine Chao, the secretary of labor under George W. Bush, were longtime acquaintances.

"I supported McConnell because I've known him a long time, I've known his wife Elaine Chao when I was governor and she was secretary of labor," Huckabee said. "I did not know Matt Bevin."

When he endorsed McConnell in August 2013, Huckabee wrote that "there is nobody" who has fought Obama "more effectively" than McConnell, dubbing him "Barack Obama's #1 obstacle."

But Huckabee said in the interview on Friday that the "surrender" of Republicans in Washington to Obama made him wish he had supported Bevin.

"But at the rally for Kim Davis in Kentucky when I was there, Matt was there," Huckabee recalled. "I walked up to him, I looked him in the eye, and I said, 'Matt, I owe you an apology. I did not know you. I didn't support you. I should have. I wished I had of. And I owe you an apology because I picked the wrong horse.' He was grateful that I was willing to say it to his face, but I'm very frustrated with the lack of Republican leadership and the surrender to this president."

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On a day when he repeatedly invoked Donald Trump, including during a private meeting with Hispanic business leaders, Bush was also interrupted by immigration activists asking for the real Jeb Bush to please stand up.

Adrian Carrasquillo / BuzzFeed News

HOUSTON - Speaking at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Monday, Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was interrupted by immigration activists who chanted about the importance of the Latino vote and asked him if he stands with them or against them.

Holding up a sign that showed Bush taking selfies with Hispanic students juxtaposed with another of him giving a low-five to Donald Trump, the protesters said they wanted the real Jeb Bush to stand up.

At first it seemed Bush would continue his speech as the first activists began chanting. But as the group of 20 or so protesters got into place, Bush responded.

"I've been for comprehensive immigration reform regardless of the political ramifications," Bush said to loud applause from the crowd of Hispanic business leaders.

Bush was then able to continue undeterred and seemingly stronger after the confrontation, aided by security that only allowed the interruption to last five minutes, quickly escorting the protesters out.

He said he was glad to move on to honoring women entrepreneurs, which was the focus of the luncheon, and invoked Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner who has sparred with Bush repeatedly.

"If one of the candidates is looking to "Make America Great Again" he should just look at the Latina entrepreneurs in this country," Bush said.

The protesters, from Mi Familia Vota Texas, SEIU Texas and Immigrant Families and Students In Struggle, argued to BuzzFeed News that he says different things to different crowds and were particularly upset about his recent use of the term anchor babies, his steadfast opposition to Obama's executive actions on immigration, and how he has previously supported a path to citizenship but now is in favor of a more limited earned legal status.

Trump was clearly on Bush's mind Monday.

Earlier in the day, during a half-hour-long private meeting with 75 Hispanic business leaders, Bush brought him up as well, according to three sources at the meeting.

After opening the question and answer session with greetings in Spanish, Bush joked, "Is Donald trump here? Is he going to tell me speak English?"

Bush was referring to Trump's controversial comments on the trail that Bush should speak English, which they butted heads on during the second GOP debate last week as well.

Becoming serious, Bush told the business leaders he was not going to apologize for how he is, and the country needs someone who is going to bring it together, not divide it.

During his luncheon remarks, Bush again brought up the issue. He noted that the protesters' signs showed him at the same Florida school where he spoke to students in Spanish.

"Donald Trump said I should not speak Spanish to them when they speak Spanish to me," he said, as the crowd buzzed. "They speak English, too, in case you're worried. They're bilingual."

As he did in a speech to Hispanic evangelicals earlier this year, also in Houston, Bush focused on his work in education in Florida that improved the high school graduation rate by 50% during his time as governor, helping Latino students.

"Don't let anybody tell you that kids can't learn," he said. "It's up to us to organize ourselves around them so that they do."

But with where Trump has dragged the Republican primary on immigration, Bush was forced to talk about where he stands in relation to the increasingly rightward tilt of the candidates on immigration.

He said he was for an immigration overhaul, which "apparently is somewhat out of the mainstream currently in my party."

"Yeah, we need to enforce the border, of course we do," Bush continued, adding that it should be easier for people to come to the country legally than illegally.

But, he said, "we don't need to build a wall, we don't need to deport every person that is in this country. That would cost hundreds of millions of dollars."

Earning legal status over time — while not receiving federal government assistance — is "the dignified American way," he added. Bush framed himself as the one that can forge consensus, while calling out the politics of "striking fear in people's hearts."

The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce did not hide its annoyance with the protest, telling BuzzFeed News in a statement that it "does not protest, especially against candidates that have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to the Hispanic community."

"While we do not see eye to eye on all issues with any of the presidential hopefuls, those who treat our community with respect deserve the same," the statement read. "We thank Governor Bush for addressing our members, and look forward to our other planned engagements with candidates from both parties."

While the protesters were booed by some Hispanic business leaders — the members support both parties — privately, those who met with the former Florida governor told him they too want to see more of the real Jeb Bush.

Asked when he was going to communicate to the rest of the community that his story is "inextricably linked" to Latinos because of his Mexican-American family, Bush said Hispanic issues are already a core part of his campaign.

"We're in the beginning process, I'm going to be ramping it up," he said, according to sources in the meetings, and pointed to his campaign manager Danny Diaz and head of Latino engagement, Jose Mallea, who was in the room, as evidence of this focus.

After the protest, and after the repeated Trump mentions, Bush sought to separate himself not just from Republicans he doesn't agree with, but also the president.

Calling Obama a "gifted man," he said the president has used his talents to divide the country, the same way some in his party are doing, but argued that he would be more inclusive.

"We need a candidate that does this with joy in his heart. That will campaign like this," Bush said, opening his arms wide, "and not like this," he concluded, bringing his arms closely together.

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In a speech on Monday evening, Walker said he felt he was being “called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive, conservative message can rise to the top of the field.” He encouraged fellow Republicans to drop out of the race to focus on a single candidate.

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Beginning at 4:09 p.m., more people were talking about Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is dropping out of the race, than were talking about the rat that carried a pizza slice down the NYC subway steps. Small victories!

The big story on Twitter on Monday afternoon was pizza rat — until news broke that Scott Walker would be leaving the presidential race.

Steve Pope / Getty Images

For most of the late afternoon, pizza rat was Twitter's obsession:

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Two Walker announcements, two super-short statements from the AFL-CIO.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka at the White House in 2013.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — It's no secret that organized labor and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker are not close. And when it came time for Walker to drop his bid for the Republican presidential nomination Monday, the AFL-CIO did not mince words.

But the labor confederation did take the opportunity to do some trolling.

Here's AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka's statement on the day Walker entered the presidential race, July 13, 2015.

And here's Trumka's statement from Monday, the day Walker dropped out.

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In this image released by NBC, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, left, appears with host Jimmy Fallon on Monday.

Douglas Gorenstein / AP

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina on Monday took a few jabs at her competitors, defended her record as a business executive, and sang an ode to her lazy dog, Snickers.

It was all in a night's work during her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Enjoying a surge in popularity after a commanding performance in the most recent Republican debate forum, Fiorina played it mostly straight, using her brief late night appearance to address her improving standing in the crowded field of GOP candidates.

"When people get to know me, they tend to support me, and that’s what you see in the polls," she told Fallon.

Douglas Gorenstein / AP

Fiorina's once single-digit support among Republican voters shot up to 15% in the days following the primetime debate, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Monday. She is now the second place GOP candidate behind Donald Trump, whose own support dropped from 32% to 24%.

Fiorina got laughs when she criticized Trump for earlier statements indicating his willingness to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who she described speaking with during an event in Beijing.

"The two of them have a lot in common, actually," she said, describing Putin as "kind of busting out of his shirt — he’s a barrel-chested guy and proud of it."

Fiorina also addressed Republican candidate Ben Carson's recent controversial statements regarding a Muslim possibly running for and winning the presidency.

During an interview on Meet the Press over the weekend, the retired neurosurgeon said he doesn’t believe Islam is consistent with the Constitution and would not support the idea of a Muslim in the White House.

Fiorina told Fallon "that's wrong."

She noted that the Constitution states that religion cannot be a test for office, adding: "It is also true that this country was founded on the principle that we judge each individual and that anyone of any faith is welcome here."

NBC

After hitting her familiar campaign refrain of secretary-turned-CEO-of-Hewlett-Packard — and the testament it lends to her ability to lead as president — Fiorina ended her segment with a crowd pleaser: A song to the tune of "Rock Around the Clock." To her dog.

"My name's Snick and you're going to have to carry me," she closed out to loud applause.

Watch the whole number here:

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Andrew Burton / Getty Images

Joe Biden is an authentic politician.

But let’s leave that aside for a minute, because this conversation we’ve been having lately — about authenticity, who has it and who doesn’t, and the intangibles a politician may or may not possess — can obscure, for instance, the realities of a presidential bid.

Biden has run twice; neither campaign went particularly well. He will turn 73 this year; Ronald Reagan was first sworn into office at age 69. The last three late entrants to a presidential primary — Rick Perry (2011), Fred Thompson (2007), Wesley Clark (2003) — bombed.

Each of those races accelerated the financial and organizational demands, as well as the scrutiny, of a presidential campaign, and now here we are.

Biden would enter the race against Bernie Sanders, who has proven to be an incredible small-donor fundraiser ($1 million in one recent day), and Hillary Clinton, whose campaign has already far surpassed $60 million combined between her campaign and super PAC. There is a finite amount of Democratic political money, and Biden has never been an expert fundraiser. One person estimated to the Washington Post that he would need to raise $30 million in campaign contributions to run in the first four states of the primary, and for a companion super PAC to raise three times that sum. During the 2008 presidential cycle, he raised $11.3 million.

He would need to staff a campaign, as well, in at least some collection of early states. Last month, Biden’s would-be advisers indicated he would eschew Iowa and New Hampshire — states in which Clinton has poured staggering human and financial resources, and where Sanders enjoys natural support among the predominately white and either union-friendly or college-educated liberal electorates — for the state of South Carolina.

But his targeted coalition, per these same advisers, would be comprised of “Reagan Democrats, Jews, an LGBT base (…) and Rust Belt voters.”

That’s not actually a huge group of people in 2015 (a constant source of debate: Should Democrats worry that they’re losing, perhaps forever, the white working class?). More relevantly, though, about half of the voters in South Carolina’s last two contested Democratic primaries were black. That’s not necessarily a challenge for Biden, who is viewed favorably by black voters, but it’s also not a part of the strategy floated with less than five months before the primary begins.

There is the question of message, too. Biden seems likely to argue he would extend Barack Obama’s legacy, a role Clinton also implicitly seeks to fill. And Obama, the only one who can really arbitrate that dispute, seems unlikely to do so in public, in addition to reportedly preferring Clinton as his successor. She, meanwhile, has worked this year to systematically reverse or shift centrist positions she and Bill Clinton championed in the 1990s and 2000s. But Biden largely shares Clinton’s policy profile. They are both longtime establishment Democrats. He wrote the 1994 crime bill. He voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement. He’s taken credit for writing an early version of the Patriot Act. He too opposed driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants in 2007.

The difference between them, then, is the essential quality of Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton as public figures, their diametrically opposed sources of strength and weakness: his openness and her control.

And now let’s consider this virtue that Biden possesses, authenticity, and the way it often works in politics.

Eventually, if a candidate does well enough — the authentic candidate — things begin to shift a little, and the goodwill that propels this person fades and frays and twists, until this quality that we demanded becomes something else.

There is an off-color joke, maybe a line that doesn’t go quite right — Joe Biden Said X And The Response On Twitter Was — then two, then three, because presidential campaigns play out over the course of many months — “spontaneous” becomes “unpredictable” — "moments of candor" become "gaffes" — "the 'Uncle Joe' persona" reappears — Does Joe Biden Have An X Problem? — “donors privately worry” — “senior advisers acknowledge” — I’m Sorry, But It’s 2015, And I Don’t Think We Should Have A President Who — and on and on until, at least for some period of time, “authenticity” is no longer the virtue, but the cudgel.

“I don't understand why everyone's so mad at me,” Biden tells someone in the pages Double Down, after he said — inconveniently for the campaign — that he supported same-sex marriage.

Campaigns don’t always handle authenticity so well, and neither do the media nor Twitter, in avenues that go beyond politics, and in ways that have always existed, but are probably accelerated by the current intensity of the news landscape. Sometimes the candidate (or the athlete or the actress) becomes a little too authentic. The issue isn’t that this person is fake; it’s that this person has said the incorrect thing at the incorrect time. These conditions benefit a certain kind of person: someone who is controlled, but feels authentic.

Biden isn’t that. He is someone who speaks about loss in a precise and striking way; he is also someone who tells the president something’s a big fucking deal. National politics offer a risky proposition: Your personality can sometimes be flattened by the process (Mitt Romney), or by a moment (Rick Perry), into a narrow set of traits. But who can know beforehand whether that will happen or in which direction?

All of this isn't to say Biden couldn't win (he could), or emerge dignified and eloquent (he can) — just that presidential campaigns are long (132 days until Iowa) and entail difficult realities, including this Socratic method approach to personality. There would, for Biden, be the very real challenges of money, organization, and message — and the danger that what we actually want is something that only looks like authenticity.

Trump wanted the likes of Jack Welch, Michael Eisner, and Ted Turner to negotiate U.S. economic policy with Germany and Japan.

Steve Pope / Getty Images

In his 1990 book Surviving at the Top, Donald Trump proposed giving constitutional authority to negotiate trade deals to an economic council comprised of a smorgasbord of top business leaders from the 1990s.

"I think America should call on its corporate leaders, independent dealmakers, and other nonpolitical public figures who emerged during the past two decades to help us forge a new relationship with the rest of the world," wrote Trump. "I'm suggesting that these people form a kind of all-star panel that would oversee America's negotiations with Japan, Europe, and other areas needing special attention. The blue-ribbon volunteers would be vested with as much authority as our Constitution would permit."

Trump's proposed members to run this powerful commission were a who's who in the 1990s' business world, including names like Jack Welch of General Electric, Disney's Michael Eisner, and CNN's Ted Turner.

Trump said if he was on the council, he'd put a 20% tariff on Japanese and German goods and "other countries that don't play by the rules," saying that the money could be used to pay down the national debt.

"If I were selected to serve on this council, I know the first thing I'd propose: the imposition of a 20 percent tax on imports from Japan, German, and other countries that don't play by the rules," Trump wrote. "That money - which would amount to billions of dollars - could reduce the federal deficit and pay for education, housing, and medical care in poor areas throughout America. So what if the Japanese slapped a tax on us in response? The fact is, the effect would be negligible because we buy a whole lot more from the Japanese than we sell them."

Here's the full passage from the book:

In the era since the Vietnam war we have witnessed the rise of a generation of driven, intense, and sometimes ruthless individual who came out college and totally rewrote the rules of doing business in this country. Yet in our dealings with the rest of the world we've to often become a bunch of suckers.

That's why I'm now making a modest proposal.

I think America should call on its corporate leaders, independent dealmakers, and other nonpolitical public figures who emerged during the past two decades to help us forge a new relationship with the rest of the world. I'm suggesting that these people form a kind of all-star panel that would oversee America's negotiations with Japan, Europe, and other areas needing special attention. The blue-ribbon volunteers would be vested with as much authority as our Constitution would permit.

Listed below are some of the people I'd choose for this job. I have watched them work, and in some cases I've negotiated with them one-on-one. I can assure you that, if given a free rein, they could reverse America's eroding economic status and enhance our country's stature as a role model for the rest of the world in a matter of months.

Jack Welch, of General Electric
Henry Kravis of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the country's leading practitioner of leveraged buyouts
Steve Ross of Time Warner
Martin Davis, chairman of Paramount Communications
Bob or Sid Bass, investors extraordinaires
Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney
Ron Perelman, another LBO wizard, who owns Revlon
Ted Turner, the broadcaster
Carl Icahn, the boss of TWA

If I were selected to serve on this council, I know the first thing I'd propose: the imposition of a 20 percent tax on imports from Japan, German, and other countries that don't play by the rules. That money - which would amount to billions of dollars - could reduce the federal deficit and pay for education, housing, and medical care in poor areas throughout America. So what if the Japanese slapped a tax on us in response? The fact is, the effect would be negligible because we buy a whole lot more from the Japanese than we sell them.

Even as I write this, I can hear the howls of protest from the foreign businessmen who'd be affected - and can see them pounding on the doors of senators and congressmen, demanding to be heard. But I wouldn't feel pressured by those tactics, as the politicians involved no doubt would. Rather, I would take that strong reaction as an indication that I'd done the right thing.

“I personally believe that this theory that Darwin came up with was something that was encouraged by the adversary, and it has become what is scientifically, politically correct.”

Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images

In a speech delivered in 2012, Ben Carson said the big bang theory was part of the "fairy tales" pushed by "high-faluting scientists" as a story of creation.

Similarly, Carson, a noted creationist, said he believed the theory of evolution was encouraged by the devil.

"Now what about the big bang theory," said Carson at speech to fellow Seventh-day Adventists titled "Celebration of Creation," about the theory for the origin of the universe.

"I find the big bang, really quite fascinating. I mean, here you have all these high-faluting scientists and they're saying it was this gigantic explosion and everything came into perfect order. Now these are the same scientists that go around touting the second law of thermodynamics, which is entropy, which says that things move toward a state of disorganization.

"So now you're gonna have this big explosion and everything becomes perfectly organized and when you ask them about it they say, 'Well we can explain this, based on probability theory because if there's enough big explosions, over a long period of time, billions and billions of years, one of them will be the perfect explosion," continued Carson. "So I say what you're telling me is if I blow a hurricane through a junkyard enough times over billions and billions of years, eventually after one of those hurricanes there will be a 747 fully loaded and ready to fly."

Carson added that he believed the big bang was "even more ridiculous" because there is order to the universe.

"Well, I mean, it's even more ridiculous than that 'cause our solar system, not to mention the universe outside of that, is extraordinarily well organized, to the point where we can predict 70 years away when a comet is coming," he said. "Now that type of organization to just come out of an explosion? I mean, you want to talk about fairy tales, that is amazing."

Later, Carson said he personally believed Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was encouraged by the devil.

"I personally believe that this theory that Darwin came up with was something that was encouraged by the adversary, and it has become what is scientifically, politically correct," said Carson.

"Amazingly, there are a significant number of scientists who do not believe it but they're afraid to say anything," Carson added, saying he would be writing a book, "The Organ of Species," that shows how the organs of the body refute evolution.

Carson, whose views on creation have caused controversy in the past, is outspoken about his beliefs. He even once famously debated leading atheist Richard Dawkins.

Watch the two videos below:

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“I wish I had a better answer than ‘he simply blew us off,’ but, he simply blew us off. He never made his appointment,” John Heubusch, the executive director of the Reagan Foundation told BuzzFeed News.

Reagan Library / Via youtube.com

Nearly all of the Republican candidates took time to do an interview with the Reagan Presidential Foundation the day of the debate at the Reagan Library, but one candidate was notably absent: real estate mogul Donald Trump.

"I wish I had a better answer than 'he simply blew us off,' but, he simply blew us off. He never made his appointment," John Heubusch, the executive director of the Reagan Foundation told BuzzFeed News.

"There were two others we had planned to do but because of scheduling difficulties, they didn't happen," he added. "Mike Huckabee and Rand Paul. In both cases, the candidates tried to do the interviews but the first debate had already started."

Heubusch asked the candidates a series of questions about the debate, Ronald Reagan, and the other candidates in videos that were uploaded to the foundation's YouTube channel.

Trump's staff had committed to do the interview after he arrived for the walkthrough of the debate stage, but Trump missed the debate walkthrough and subsequently missed the interview.

"His staff noted for us that he was going to try to do the interview during that time frame," said Heubusch. "But for reasons unknown to us, he never made it to the walkthrough at all which meant he couldn't do the interview either. So there was never a specific time that his team agreed to have him do the interview but there was the expectation that he would try in accordance when he was scheduled to be here for the walkthrough."

Trump has flowered Reagan with praise throughout his campaign, even citing Reagan as a justification for changing his position on several issues.

"Look, Ronald Reagan was a Democrat. In fact, he was on the liberal side of being a Democrat," Trump told ABC News This Week earlier this year. "And he changed, and he did a very good job. And I worked with him, and he liked me a lot, and I liked me a lot. But I worked with him. And he was a terrific guy, but he was a Democrat, and George, he was sort of a liberal Democrat, and he changed. And I have evolved, and I have evolved very strongly, and I'm a conservative and I have tremendous support, but I also have a lot of support among Democrats."

A Trump aide didn't return a request for comment.

LINK: All the candidates' interview with the Reagan Library can be watched here.

“But in the big picture, there are people who vote and they have no idea what our Constitution says.”

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says he doesn't want everyone to vote, singling out many in the electorate as uninformed on the founding tenets of the Constitution.

"I know that most politicians say we want everyone to vote, I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't want everyone to vote," Huckabee told the Jen and Don Show earlier this week.

"If they're so stupid -- that's right, if they're gonna vote for me they need to vote, if they're not gonna vote for me they need to stay home. I mean, it's that simple," Huckabee continued, to the laughter of the radio hosts.

The Republican presidential candidate, who currently lags near the bottom or middle of recent national and state polls, said many voters don't know what the Constitution says.

"But in the big picture, there are people who vote and they have no idea what our Constitution says," he said. "They have no idea what the limitations of government are supposed to be. The fact that the 10th Amendment expresses it very clearly, that if it's not expressly written in our federal charter called the Constitution those power stay to the states. "

"We have allowed over the last 230 years our government to become centralized, the anathema to what it was intended to be and now we have states who are serving the federal government rather than the federal government serving the interests of the states. We have reversed it. "

Take a listen to the audio:

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Under current law, Cubans who come to the U.S. are given an quicker path to permanent legal status than other immigrants.

Charlie Neibergall / AP

Rand Paul said on Monday that he would probably end America's current policy of giving Cuban immigrants a quick path to permanent legal status and "just make the policy consistent with the rest of immigration policy."

The Republican presidential candidate made the comment in response to a question from Iowa radio host Jan Mickelson, who asked whether the rule of giving "automatic sanctuary status" to Cubans who migrate to the United States -- a rule Mickelson called a "legacy of the Cold War" -- was "likely to change."

Paul said he would be surprised if the policy changed, but suggested that, given the power, he would change it.

"There's a great inertia on change in policy," the Kentucky senator said. "The President's changing some policy with regard to Cuba but most of the policy that does linger from the Cold War I think will probably remain until there's sort of a political election where people say they're ready for it to change. I'd probably at this point just make the policy consistent with the rest of immigration policy."

Under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, Cubans who reach the United States can become legal permanent residents after one year even if they don't meet normal requirements for a green card.

In the interview, Paul added that, while he would dispose of this policy, he thinks that "ultimately capitalism will overwhelm Cuba when the Castros are gone."

"My hope is that they will see so much of flow of products from America that it will overwhelm them with wanting to be like us," he said.

Paul has previously clashed with fellow GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio over his support for lifting the trade embargo with Cuba.

Rubio, whose parents are Cuban immigrants and who opposes lifting the embargo, argued in December that, when it comes to America's policy on Cuba, Paul "has no idea what he's talking about."

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“…compared to other countries our economic system does work better than any economic system has ever worked in the history of man.”

Sean Rayford / Getty Images

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says he hopes Pope Francis' message to Congress during his visit to the United States isn't "overly critical" of the capitalist system and our country.

Still, Paul said he's interested in learning what his opinions are.

"You know, I hope it's a message that's not overly critical of our country or the system that's made us the richest country in the world and also the most humanitarian," Paul told Catholic Radio on Tuesday. "I don't know enough to understand what he's been saying about capitalism and I hope it's not directly an insult to our country or to our system, but I am interested in learning more about what his opinions are and seeing exactly what he has to say."

While the pope's critiques of capitalism have riled some free market advocates, Paul said it's important to note the wealth engineered by capitalism. The pope is set to address Congress on Thursday.

"Yeah, I think it's also very important though that we understand how we are the most humanitarian country in the world," said the Kentucky senator. "You know, Cuba doesn't create great wealth. They don't have the ability to help people around the world. In 2014, Americans privately gave away $214 billion and that's because of the great wealth of the great engine of capitalism."

"And while capitalism does make people rich, it also makes the poorest people in our country richer than any poor people in any other country in the world," Paul continued. "And that doesn't mean that everybody's got an easy life in our country, but compared to other countries our economic system does work better than any economic system has ever worked in the history of man."

Take a listen to the audio:

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First, Republicans will try to pass a spending bill that defunds Planned Parenthood. It’s expected to fail, and when it does, Mitch McConnell is expected to try to pass a spending bill at the last minute. “I honestly do not know what’s going to happen,” McCain says.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Senate Republicans are moving forward with a high-wire act to avoid a government shutdown: voting on a spending bill that includes a measure to defund Planned Parenthood — and then, after that fails, a last-minute effort.

The short-term spending bill that will fund the government through Dec. 11 will likely fail in the Senate, because Democrats have made it clear they will oppose efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is then expected to put a "clean" spending bill — which does not include the Planned Parenthood part — up for a vote in a last-minute effort to avert a shutdown.

"We're going to first pass a short-term (continuing resolution) into December," McConnell told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

"It should also give all those who have been offended and appalled by the Planned Parenthood videos an opportunity to defund a portion of Planned parenthood funding," he added.

Senate Republicans' decision to move ahead without waiting for any action from the House comes as the lower chamber remains paralyzed due to conservative members' demand that any bill to fund the government include a measure to defund Planned Parenthood.

Time is short, with the Sept. 30 deadline looming large, and Pope Francis' visit and Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur also constraining Congress this week.

McConnell didn't give a timeframe of when the Senate would take up the clean continuing resolution. "First we're going to take the vote on Thursday and see what happens."

White House hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz, who is leading the efforts to use the spending bill as leverage to defund Planned Parenthood, said the GOP leadership needs to "stand for something" and make defunding the group more of priority.

"The only way to actually defund Planned Parenthood is to include it in must pass legislation like the continuing resolution," he told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday.

"It's the reason why leadership wants a show vote because they know they'll lose instead of exercising their constitutional authority to stop giving taxpayer funds to a private organization that is not part of the government," he said. "This is important to understanding just how radical and extreme President Obama's position is."

Although the Senate is pushing ahead, it's uncertain if Speaker John Boehner, who is under pressure from a group of loud, conservatives in his caucus, will be able to muster enough support for a spending bill that does not include defunding Planned Parenthood.

When asked if he would expect Boehner to take up the Senate's clean bill, Sen. John Thune — the No. 3 ranking Senate Republican — responded with just one word: "Hopefully."

"After the Pope's visit, we'll return to it and be on it next week trying to get it done before Wednesday," Thune said.

Coming out of a GOP Senate caucus lunch meeting Tuesday afternoon, Sen. John McCain told reporters he didn't know if even a clean continuing resolution would be enough to avoid a shutdown. "I honestly do not know what's going to happen."

The push to defund the group follows the release of a series of undercover videos accusing Planned Parenthood of selling aborted fetuses' organs and tissues. The group has denied the claims and Democrats have called the videos a smear campaign based on false, doctored videos.

Senate Democrats on Tuesday accused Republicans of risking a government shutdown over pet causes.

"It's a re-run of issues that have been considered before," said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin. "You have to ask yourself at some point, 'What is the goal of the Republican leadership in the House and Senate?' You would think firstly it would be to keep our government running."