Gov. Pat McCrory

Davis Turner / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — National Republicans aren’t in panic mode over the re-election prospects of North Carolina’s Gov. Pat McCrory’s amid backlash over the state's broad new anti-LGBT law.

But those Republicans operatives are telling governors and candidates to heed North Carolina as a cautionary tale.

Republicans closely involved in gubernatorial races are advising governors — who might be pushed to consider similar bills or asked about the law by reporters — to keep precise wording and perception in mind. They believe the broadly written bill in North Carolina created a PR nightmare for the governor, one that’s made it more difficult for him to explain his position to voters.

“If there’s an appetite in the state, something we’ve been advising is that perception needs to be on par with the wording,” said one such Republican granted anonymity to speak candidly about strategy in dealing with transgender-bathroom bills.

The law in North Carolina not only requires people to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificate, but it also mandates that state law supersedes all local non-discrimination ordinances.

Governors, especially those who have difficult re-election battles ahead — whether it’s this cycle or next — are being advised to distance themselves from the issue entirely.

Already, Republicans across the country are taking a more cautious approach in the aftermath of the backlash in North Carolina.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam expressed concern over a transgender-bathroom bill introduced in the legislature; South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley also quickly dismissed the need for such a bill; and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who serves as chairwoman of the Republican Governors Association, canceled an appearance at North Carolina’s Republican Party convention, citing a scheduling conflict. (Haslam, however, did sign a bill into law allowing counselors and therapists to refuse clients based on their beliefs. And Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a broad religious liberty bill into law that specifically included LGBT exceptions.)

On Wednesday, the state legislature in Missouri also decided not to bring a “religious freedom” bill up for a vote after Democrats in the state pounced on the issue.

The Republican Governors Association declined to comment.

Unlike other governors who have been able to dodge the issue, McCrory’s allies believe he had no choice but to act because conservatives in the state legislature were determined to stop a new ordinance in Charlotte that would have allowed transgender people to use the bathroom based on their gender identity. They didn’t, however, foresee the extent of the backlash it would create.

Nearly 100 major corporations signed a letter to McCrory after he signed the bill into law, asking him to repeal it. Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr also canceled concerts in the state. NBA commissioner Adam Silver warned the league might have to move its 2017 All-Star Game that’s supposed to take place in Charlotte, and on Thursday, the NCAA board of governors announced that cities bidding for league events like the Final Four cannot have laws in place that allow for discrimination.

Protesters demanding changes to the law have been rallying outside the state legislature this week, as a string of recent polls showed a majority of those surveyed disapprove of the bill.

And Democratic groups are already airing ads against McCrory, who is facing a tough re-election this year, focused on how the the legislation has cost the state hundreds of jobs and hurt the economy.

The Democratic Governors Association’s spot, which is backed by six-figures, features news anchors talking about the new law costing the state $1 billion in lost revenue and PayPal declining to invest in the state as a result of the law. (The RGA has responded with its own ad attacking Democrat Roy Cooper for being a career politician who likes to increase taxes.)

The DGA is using a similar attack line against Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who signed a controversial religious freedom law last year (that was later amended), making it clear that they will target any governor or candidate who makes a decision similar to McCrory and Pence and make the issue central to the race.

“You can make a strong argument that they both have damaged their states," said Jared Leopold, spokesman for DGA. "That's been compelling for folks. People want to move forward and these governors have been bad for businesses and the economy."

“You know, if you’re young, and in this era, and if you have any guilt about not having gone to Vietnam. We have our own Vietnam. It’s called the dating game.”

The Art of the Comeback

w.soundcloud.com

In a 1993 interview on The Howard Stern Show, Donald Trump said those who did not serve in the Vietnam War had their own Vietnam to deal with — dating.

"You know, if you're young, and in this era, and if you have any guilt about not having gone to Vietnam. We have our own Vietnam. It's called the dating game," he said during a discussion of Trump's well-publicized germaphobia and the ongoing AIDs epidemic.

"It's pretty dangerous out there Robin. It's like Vietnam," Trump said earlier in the interview.

"It is, it is," Stern said. "The dating scene is like Vietnam."

"Dating is like being in Vietnam," Trump said. "You're the equivalent of a soldier going over to Vietnam."

Trump himself never served in Vietnam after receiving five draft deferments—four while he was at college and another for bone spurs in his feet. His own campaign said the latter condition was minor and temporary.

While campaigning for president, in December 2015, Trump expressed guilt over not serving in Vietnam and said helping to build a Vietnam War memorial in New York was his way of making up for it.

Trump made similar comments on Stern's show in 1997, saying dating was dangerous because of women with sexually transmitted infections, comparing it, again, to Vietnam.

"I've been so lucky in terms of that whole world," said Trump. "It is a dangerous world out there — it's scary, like Vietnam. Sort of like the Vietnam era. It is my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave soldier."

Here's the full appearance:

w.soundcloud.com

View Entire List ›

John Locher / AP

One of the most important moments in this election happened at a high school library in Nevada.

Nearly a year ago, Hillary Clinton spoke to young undocumented immigrants and their families at Rancho High School in the working-class neighborhood of North Las Vegas, where 40% of the population is Latino. The setting was risky — just the kind of event that activists have turned into protests, with videos that travel far and wide.

Her words were directed at Jeb Bush.

She would offer a “path to full and equal citizenship” she said, while Bush, a favorite to win his party’s nomination, supported earned legal status — or as Clinton dismissed it, “second-class status.” That wasn’t unusual. Nor was her support for “comprehensive immigration reform.”

What she said next, however, was. “If Congress continues to refuse to act,” Clinton told the activists, she “would do everything possible under the law to go even further.” She wanted the parents of DREAMers, the parents of those seated around her, to be eligible for protection from deportation.

Clinton would prove to be very, very wrong about Bush. But she was correct about the driving issue of the election. The event would prove to be one of the most significant moments in the Democratic primary, and the policies Clinton outlined that day and as a result of that day will inform an election dominated by immigration policy, and the increasingly polarized approaches by both parties.

While Donald Trump talks of the wall and a far more restrictionist immigration policy, Clinton began her campaign with likely one of the most liberal immigration platforms ever adopted by a mainstream Democratic candidate.

And the entire event was conceived of and organized in a week.

After the campaign’s morning call, a top campaign official, Marlon Marshall, called the Nevada director Emmy Ruiz — at this point, brushing her teeth — with an idea. Clinton would head to Nevada the next week, and they wanted to do a roundtable with DREAMer activists.

Together, Ruiz and Jorge Neri, the Nevada organizing director, had held the same general election roles in 2012, when Obama won Nevada with the highest margin of any battleground state and 70% Latino support.

Now they were being asked to pull off the equivalent of 8-Mile-esque freestyle rap battle in a week — casual and informal, in front of real deal activists, with maximum news, with minimal disaster.

Just months before, DREAMer protesters had disrupted Clinton’s speeches all over the country, pressing her and other Democrats on deportation policy. In the eyes of the activists and many Latino Democrats, Clinton herself had erred seriously in the past, saying she would send most unaccompanied minors back to their home countries during the border surge of 2014, and in 2008, when she opposed driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants.

In North Las Vegas, the campaign invited activists just like these to sit in a small room with the candidate, for an hour, with dozens of reporters.

“You never know when someone is going to decide to become a YouTube sensation,” said Jose Parra, a former senior adviser to Harry Reid. “It was a definitely a risk, that amount of time is an eternity anywhere, let alone in front of rolling cameras.”

The young activists didn’t want the Clinton campaign to view their involvement as an endorsement. They are the type that are wary of participating in a high-profile event — the dangers of going home looking like a push-over or a sell out are too high. They came to the event expecting to come at Clinton strong, to keep her honest.

“We’re not one entity, this is not a photo op, we want her to be authentic with us,” said Blanca Gamez, who earned two degrees at UNLV, and has since endorsed Clinton of the sentiments she expressed to the Clinton campaign at the time.

Clinton has not been protested as often in the past year on immigration, as she likely would have been, if she stuck to an "immigration reform" and pathway to citizenship-only script. She also had a very simple advantage in a key state like Nevada and elsewhere: Staffers already had existing relationships with prominent and local activists.

“Emmy and Jorge knew all the players,” said national political director Amanda Renteria, who also took an active role in planning the event. Neri’s “life’s work has been immigration reform,” Ruiz said — he had the relationships with activists, he was trusted. Jorge Silva, a skilled operative in Reid’s office who eventually joined the campaign and worked on the event, also had longstanding connections with activists.

“To be honest, they knew how skeptical we were of her stance on policies,” said Astrid Silva, an activist whose story was elevated by Harry Reid to rally support for the DREAM Act. (She knows Jorge Silva well enough from the experience that she affectionately calls him primo — cousin — because of their shared last name.)

“We expressed to them for a really long time how skeptical we were, not only of Clinton, but of all the candidates,” she added.

The activists even offered to tell the campaign the kinds of questions they’d be asking — the answers they wanted, often answers not given by politicians — before the event. We don’t want anything, was the message that came back from the campaign.

If that sounds risky, the campaign took other precautions.

To avoid a damaging “YouTube” moment, Jorge Silva spoke with the activists about the dual role activists can play: one outside the room, yelling toward it versus another sitting down at the table and getting things done, a message recently echoed by President Obama on the subject of the Black Lives Matter movement.

To make the conversation flow, Neri and Jorge Silva made sure the activists jotted down their stories, which were put into a memo given to Clinton. During the roundtable, she deftly went from DREAMer to DREAMer, at times prodding them to reveal more details of their family story — details she clearly already knew, like whose parents were eligible for DAPA, and who had an exemplary GPA.

(This is pretty normal for campaign or political staffers to do for people like a senator or President Obama. “I hate when people say she studies an issue, it makes her sound like she’s in the books,” Renteria said. “Her studying comes from listening to real people.”)

For Ruiz, the roundtable was the beginning of a process of engaging the activists, which she said was followed by “partnership, then endorsement, to now fighting for her.”

While those moments included the influential roundtable, there were also quiet, under the radar days in a long but eventually victorious Nevada campaign. At Table 54 restaurant in Las Vegas in December during a lunch before the holidays, Ruiz and Neri went outside for a policy call with senior advisor Maya Harris. Also on the call were the DREAMers Astrid and Blanca Gamez.

“You need activists yelling and you need those sitting at the table,” Astrid Silva said. “Here in Nevada we’ve had the role of being both, being heard and providing real solutions.”

Policy calls like that eventually led to what the roundtable participants viewed as a breakthrough.

At an immigration townhall days before the February Nevada caucus, Clinton said she would move to work on immigration in her first 100 days as president and addressed a question that Sanders, who spoke before her, hadn’t quite answered. Clinton, she said, would end the laws that require undocumented immigrants to leave the country for three- and 10-year periods before returning. (Both candidates have connections to the law. Bill Clinton signed the bill that included the 3- and 10-year bar, while Sanders voted for it.)

Blanca Gamez, who brought up the 3- and 10-year bar, was pleased by Clinton saying she would move to change the law.

“You saw the growth and progression since May, her evolving as a person and as a candidate and taking into account what we said and what our families said,” Gamez said.

The spring roundtable not only momentarily won over immigration activists quite comfortable opposing Clinton, but even surprised two well-known DREAMers who would eventually join the Sanders campaign.

Cesar Vargas, who has taken Clinton to task on immigration since going to work for Bernie, called on Clinton to go beyond Obama administratively, just a day before the roundtable. After the event, Erika Andiola told BuzzFeed News she was “happy,” calling it “a really great step recognizing what she could do.”

Chuck Rocha, a consultant for the Sanders campaign, said the May 5 event reinforced the importance of the Latino vote in 2016 and credited her campaign.“It was about understanding that the tip of the spear is the DREAMer movement,” he said.

With some exceptions in caucus states (Nevada and Colorado), Clinton has won Latino voters by wide margins, especially in the country’s most Latino states. Although Sanders has dominated with young voters, Clinton’s successful coalition — older voters, the affluent, and most importantly, people of color — reflects the idea of “the Obama coalition” or in other words, an increasingly diverse Democratic Party.

“The reason it’s been very difficult for Sen. Sanders to tap into our communities is because we started these conversations early,” Renteria said.

As Clinton moves to lock up the nomination after a strong showing on Tuesday, the challenge will be how she can bring over Sanders supporters still passionate over a hard-fought campaign. Rocha said it’s imperative for unity to happen eventually to defeat the Republican nominee.

“No matter who wins the nomination, neither one of them can win the general without the other one’s percentage of the Latino vote in those states,” he said.

Clinton will want the support of Bernie supporters like Jose Macias, a Nevada activist for Fight for 15, the minimum wage campaign. This support may not seem totally imminent: Macias stingingly likened Clinton’s support for a $12 federal minimum wage to those who would say “all lives matter” in response to the “black lives matter” movement.

Still, Macias, who was impressed by the May 5 event that featured activists he has worked with in Nevada, said he would support Clinton if Sanders loses.

He framed it as a choice on issues that matter to individuals, rising above the particular candidate.

“As a Bernie supporter, I will support Hillary if she is the nominee and people will do the same thing if they’re passionate about immigration or raising the minimum wage, black lives matter or education,” he said. “In the end, they will go out not for the candidate, but for the things they believe in.”

And if the DREAMer roundtable served as a flag planted in the Democratic primary, the contrast will perhaps be the sharpest policy gulf in a general election matchup with Trump or Ted Cruz, who have both called for building a wall along the border and deportations of those in the country illegally.

“That wall image, that got said a year ago, is a tangible way for people out there to get it,” Renteria, who is Mexican-American said. “My son said, ‘They’re going to throw Mexicans over that wall.’”

The policy shift to the left, though, isn’t without its perils. Daniel Garza, executive director of the LIBRE Initiative, which is backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, has often criticized Trump and Cruz for their immigration policies, but said Clinton will struggle to forge consensus on immigration now that she has said she will go further than Obama did.

“No matter what she promises, she isn’t going to deliver unless she reconciles her positions with Republicans” in Congress, Garza said.

Still, the Clinton campaign believes the general election contest will be decided by those in the middle, and that those who are anti-immigrant will never support her.

“We’re going to talk to people on the fence and educate them on why immigration is important and why these changes need to happen,” Neri said.

Gamez said in Nevada she sees signs of a Latino community offended and taken aback by the Republican frontrunner Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric. Last week, when she worked a citizenship fair, she asked “Why now?” to a 40-year resident only now choosing to become a citizen and vote.

The response? “Because of this election, I have to be here for my brothers and sisters.”

While Clinton may have the political and policy advantage, immigration and Latino issues may never come completely naturally. As she began speaking at the roundtable, she said Cinco de Mayo was an “especially appropriate day to be having this conversation.” (It’s a holiday that produces a shrug from most Mexican-Americans and Hispanics; it’s mostly used by Americans as an excuse to get drunk and eat Mexican food.)

But, at least with this group of skeptical DREAMers turned ardent surrogates, Clinton’s relationships led to trust and a different kind of familiarity.

Minutes before the roundtable last year, Astrid Silva introduced Clinton to the group. When it came to Juan Salazar, who owns a pool company with his father and used to sell tacos, she lapsed into an old nickname introduced him as “Taco Juan,” which Clinton couldn’t get enough of.

“What? I love tacos,” Clinton said. “What kind of tacos?”

And now when she sees Silva, the question comes fast.

“How’s Taco Juan?”

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is announcing a proposed federal rule on Friday that senior administration officials say would effectively “ban the box” for many federal agency jobs.

The rule will prohibit federal employers from asking questions about criminal history until later in the employment process for the affected jobs — a move administration officials say is their part to advance the "ban the box" effort. The phrase is a reference to the check box many job application forms include asking about whether a person has any criminal arrest and/or conviction history.

In a call with reporters, Beth Cobert, the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, said that the proposed rule would bar criminal history questions from being asked "until a conditional offer of employment has been made."

Requirements to report criminal history on job applications often makes securing employment significantly harder, which advocates say becomes a hindrance for reintegrating people with such history into their communities.

The proposed rule, Cobert said, would apply to applicants for jobs in the competitive service, which she said accounts for roughly half of the 200,000 hires made in 2015 by the federal government.

“The rule would affect tens of thousands of individuals,” Cobert said. “As the nation’s largest employer, the federal government should lead the way and serve as a model for all employers, both public and private.”

The excepted service — jobs that primarily relate to the intelligence community, national security, or law enforcement — would not be covered by the new rule, Cobert said, and covered agencies would be able to seek exemptions from the rule on a case-by-case basis.

The move comes at the end of a week the Obama administration has highlighted as Re-Entry Week — focused on efforts to help prepare incarcerated individuals for their life after returning to their communities and to help address barriers to re-entry for those who are or have returned to those communities.

On the call, Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett called the proposed rule "a big step" toward supporting re-entry efforts, "one that will truly make a difference."

Cobert noted that the proposed rule — which will be the default for competitive service jobs once it goes into effect — "builds on current practice at many agencies, which already choose to collect information on criminal history at late stages of the hiring process." She said, "The proposed rule takes the important step to formalize, expand, and codify this best practice."

Jarrett also highlighted two other efforts being taken by the administration, announcing that President Obama will sign a presidential memorandum establishing the Federal Interagency Reentry Council, which builds on prior efforts by Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. Jarrett said the council will "lead the government’s work on the rehabilitation and reintegration of Americans returning to their communities."

She also said that 112 employers and organizations have signed on to the White House's Fair Chance Business Pledge.

Jarrett described the pledge as "a call to action for all employers to improve their communities by eliminating barriers for those with criminal records and creating a pathway for a second chance." Among the provisions in the pledge is an agreement to "ban the box," as well as other human resources efforts to prevent those with a criminal record from unnecessarily not being considered by employment.

Among the 112 companies and organizations to sign the pledge are Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Xerox, Best Buy, Kellogg Company, American Airlines, Starbucks, Koch Industries, Pepsi, Coca Cola, and Staples — as well as the ACLU, Catholic Charities USA, and NAACP.

Asked whether there was consideration of whether to take action to require federal contractors to "ban the box," Jarrett said, "The president has supported federal legislation that would ban the box for federal contractors. He thinks that’s the best approach."

Jarrett also noted, however, that the Department of Labor in 2013 adopted earlier guidance from Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to, in her words, "recommend that contractors refrain from inquiring about convictions on job applications." That Labor Department directive, she assed, also warned there are scenarios in which criminal records-based exclusions could violate civil rights protections.

As part of the week's mission to promote the federal efforts and the coordination with private companies on their re-entry support, Attorney General Loretta Lynch will be visiting a federal prison in Talladega, Alabama, as well as attend a Re-Entry Week "Fair Chance" event in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday.

“I’ll tell you one thing Mr. Trump, had that been your daughter, those words would never have come out of your mouth. And you would never have thought about it.”

Charles Wenzelberg / ASSOCIATED PRESS

w.soundcloud.com

Indiana talk radio host Greg Garrison, the prosecutor in boxer Mike Tyson's 1992 rape trial, criticized Donald Trump on his radio show Thursday for suggesting Tyson's victim was to blame for the incident and for touting Tyson's endorsement in the state earlier this week.

"Mr. Trump, tough is one thing, a serial rapist is quite something else," Garrison said on his show on WIBC 1070 AM. "A 17-year-old girl, her clothes ripped off her, torn, all because in her naïveté at 17 – the fact that her brother and her father were huge Mike Tyson fans made her feel that she would be absolutely safe with him – and boy was she wrong."

"I've been thinking about this all night," he continued." Kept me up. You know how I feel about this election stuff. I don't want to throw rocks at anybody. I have my differences with Mr. Trump. I got a couple with Mr. Cruz. But this is where I want you to listen to me with both of your ears open. "

Garrison then turned to Trump's 1992 comments on NBC Nightly News, uncovered by BuzzFeed News, in which he suggested Desiree Washington wasn't actually a victim of rape and that Tyson had been "railroaded" in the case.

"I see a news piece from back some time ago when Mr. Trump appears to have suggested it was her fault," Garrison said Thursday. "I'll tell you one thing Mr. Trump, had that been your daughter, those words would never have come out of your mouth. And you would never have thought about it."

Garrison added that Trump needed to think before touting Tyson's endorsement.

"So what does that mean about Mr. Trump," he said. "The leader of the free world needs to be rid of that kind of stuff and maybe considered in his information before he speaks or ingratiates himself to a the likes of a thug like Mike Tyson.

The radio host, who said he liked a lot of what Trump says, added the comments made him question Trump's competence to be president.

"In Indiana, really, did nobody in your entourage know that snake raped a kid, in this town," asked Garrison. "I think I'd beef up my intelligence operation a little bit. Things literally fly off the top of his head. I have to wonder, is that person a good commander-in-chief, the leader of the free world?"

David Becker / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Indiana governor Mike Pence endorsed Ted Cruz on Friday — but he didn't sound happy about it.

"I'm not against anybody, but I will be voting for Ted Cruz in the upcoming Republican primary," Pence said on the Greg Garrison radio program. Pence spent the first part of the interview praising Donald Trump, saying he "particularly wants to commend Donald Trump" for giving "voice to the frustration of millions of working Americans."

Pence, who is up for re-election this year, went on to emphasize that he'll support the Republican nominee — leaving unsaid the fact that this is likely to be Trump.

Pence's sort-of-endorsement is the latest in a string of tepid statements of support for Cruz by a series of Republicans who have been left with no other viable non-Trump choices, and who often share a strong distaste for Cruz. South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, who has joked about murdering Cruz, begrudgingly endorsed him last month, while acknowledging "he is certainly not my preference." Neil Bush, the brother of George W. and Jeb Bush, joined Cruz's finance team but said Cruz wasn't his first, second, or even third choice. Mitt Romney said he would be voting for Cruz in Utah — but did not endorse him.

And it comes at a make-or-break moment for the Cruz campaign, which has to win Indiana in order to realistically prevent Trump from clinching the nomination before the convention. Cruz has been pulling out all the stops in Indiana ahead of Tuesday's primary there. In an unusual move, he announced the addition of a running mate, former candidate Carly Fiorina, to his ticket on Wednesday in Indianapolis, a strategy that distracted attention from his losses in five eastern primaries on Tuesday but risks being interpreted as a sign of desperation.

And Cruz publicly cut a deal with John Kasich, pulling out of Oregon and New Mexico to clear a path for him there while Kasich returned the favor for Cruz in Indiana, with both candidates seeking to team up to deny Trump delegates. But in a matter of days, the pact appeared on shaky ground as both candidates publicly distanced themselves from it. Kasich earlier this week encouraged his voters in Indiana to still vote for him — going against the entire point of the deal — and Cruz insisted to reporters in Indiana on Thursday that "there is no alliance" and that “John Kasich made the decision, in his own political self-interest, to withdraw from Indiana and to go compete elsewhere." (Top Kasich strategist John Weaver tweeted shortly thereafter, "I can't stand liars.")

"I don’t think there was ever an alliance. It was a simple agreement on allocation of time and resources," said one Republican with close knowledge of the deal. "But everybody tried to put all these other things on it like they’re working together, like they’re a team now."

"It wasn’t explained very well to the media," the source said.

And even days after the deal was made, there are still attempts being made to explain it.

"Kasich has clear path in [New Mexico and Oregon] and we have a clear path in [Indiana]," Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe said on Twitter on Thursday. "Not spending time or money there; nor are they in [Indiana]; pretty simple."

“When I was a prosecutor, I would’ve gone in and cuffed this guy,” Christie said.

Mel Evans / AP

w.soundcloud.com

Chris Christie says he can't take his eyes off the video showing NFL draftee Laremy Tunsil smoking marijuana out of a gas mask.

Christie, a notorious Cowboys fan, spent much of Friday morning filling in for Boomer Esiason on the Boomer & Carton show on WFAN radio and analyzing Thursday night's first round of the NFL draft. The video of Tunsil, a top prospect ultimately drafted by the Miami Dolphins, showed him smoking from a bong connected to a gas mask.

"It's unbelievable," Christie said. "Because the bong hits aren't enough. Give me the gas mask too. It's incredible. I can't take my eyes off it. It's unbelievable."

Earlier in the interview, Christie, who opposes marijuana legalization, said, "When I was a prosecutor, I would've gone in and cuffed this guy," adding, "I would've been all over it."

Christie also expressed sympathy towards Tunsil, saying, "Poor kid in that respect. I mean, he did it. But who's the guy that hates him enough that they had access to the video and put it on. I mean, wow."

In the interview, Christie and regular host Craig Carton also joked about Knicks head coach Kurt Rambis, who in February, was caught having liked pornographic photos on Twitter.

"Live and let live," Christie said, before the two men joked about what it would be like if they viewed similar pictures on Carton's phone.

"Oh, what is she doing there?" said Carton. "Oh, what is that upside down?"

"I didn't know a human being could do that," Christie quipped.

"That's flexibility," Carton replied.

Here's the full interview:

w.soundcloud.com

View Entire List ›

West Wing fans, prepare to FREAK OUT.

It was just another briefing for the White House press corps on Friday...

White House

When who should walk in but C.J. MOTHERFUCKING CREGG.

White House

Yes, to the delight of The West Wing fans/nerds everywhere, Allison Janney showed up for a surprise White House visit to briefly reprise her iconic role as press secretary C.J. Cregg, aka everybody's favorite character.

(If you disagree with me on this, you're just plain wrong and I will fight you.)

White House

She even had an explanation for the whereabouts of the usual spokesperson, Josh Earnest: "Josh is out today. He has...I believe it's a root canal."

I GET IT!! I GET IT!! LIKE FROM THAT ONE TIME IN THE SHOW WHEN C.J. HAD A ROOT CANAL AND COULD ONLY SAY "WOOT CANAL" AND JOSH LYMAN HAD TO FILL IN AND IT DIDN'T GO WELL!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!

White House

View Entire List ›

“I think she’s been through more than any woman should have to bear—, everything public.”

Art of the Comeback

Donald Trump and his campaign staff in recent days have signaled that they plan to attack Hillary Clinton for the martial indiscretions of her husband.

Trump tweeted on Friday that Hillary Clinton was "one of the all time great enablers!" Similarly, Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson said the campaign was willing to bring up Monica Lewinsky.

"I think that depends on Hillary Clinton," Pierson said on MSNBC Live when asked about Lewinsky. "

"This came about because she called Donald Trump a sexist," she continued. "It boggles my mind that if a woman is criticized, all of a sudden that makes you a sexist. That is simply not the case."

A BuzzFeed News review shows Trump used to speak much differently about Bill Clinton's affair. In a series of late1999 interviews, the year Hillary Clinton began exploring a run for Senate in New York, Trump expressed sympathy for her for having endured so much.

Trump, who at the time was considering his own run for office as a Reform Party presidential candidate, was often asked about Clinton's run and how he had praised her just two years earlier in his book Art of the Comeback.

In one October interview, he called independent investigator Ken Starr "crazy" and "a total wacko" and praised Clinton as tough.

"I don't view it as that," Trump told Geraldo Rivera on CNBC in November when asked if he thought Clinton was a carpetbagger. "I actually think she's a very, very nice lady. I— met her a number of times. I met her with my son. She couldn't have been nicer. I think she's a very, very good person. I think she's— had a very tough life the last few years. I mean, what could be tougher than that? I mean, can you imagine those evenings when he's just being lambasted by this crazy Ken Starr, who is a total wacko? There's the guy. I mean, he is totally off his rocker. And can you imagine being lambasted like that all day and then saying, 'Darling, what are we having for dinner?' It's got to be pretty tough."

"And I think she's a very nice lady," said Trump earlier in the interview. "I wish she was running someplace else. I'd support her."

In another interview that year, Trump said Clinton was wonderful and expressed sadness for what Clinton had to endure in public.

"I think she's gone through terrible times," said Trump on CNN in November to Wolf Blitzer. "I think she's been through more than any woman should have to bear—, everything public. I mean, women go through this on a private basis and can't take it—. She's on the front page of every newspaper every week with what went on in Washington. I think she's a wonderful woman."

Trump, who said he'd support friend New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani over Clinton, said he thought Clinton was qualified to be senator.

"I think she is. I mean, I think frankly that if she ran from another state I think I'd support her because she's really a very terrific woman," continued Trump. "I know her. She stays in Trump Tower when she's in New York. I mean, she stays in Trump Tower. Not because of me, but because of somebody else, she has an apartment in Trump Towers, so at least she has good taste."

In a discussion with Tony Snow on Fox News Sunday in December of that year, Trump again expressed sympathy for Clinton and said he wished she ran in a different state so he could support her.

"I think Rudy has been an incredible mayor, the best we've had in New York City," said Trump. "And unfortunately in this case, we have term limits, so he can't be mayor anymore, all right? And he's running for his next step, I guess, although he hasn't announced either. He's running for his next step and his probable opponent will be Hillary Clinton, who's a very nice lady. I really think she's a lovely lady. And I think she's gone through a lot."

"Don't you have a picture of her with your family back here?" asked Snow.

"Yeah," he replied. "I mean, she was so nice to my sons. We met at the Plaza Hotel, and she was so nice to my sons, it was incredible. I mean, I really like her."

In 2000 book, Trump took it a step further, attacking Bill Clinton's detractors at length.

"I got a chuckle out of all the moralists in Congress and in the media who expressed public outrage at the president's immoral behavior," wrote Trump in The America We Deserve. "I happen to know that one U.S. senator leading the pack of attackers spent more than a few nights with his twenty-something girlfriend at a hotel I own. There's also a conservative columnist, married, who was particularly rough on Clinton in this regard. He also brought his girlfriend to my resorts for the weekend. Their hypocrisy is amazing."

“What does she want me to do, tell him I don’t want his endorsement? Should I do that? You think I should do that? I don’t think so.”

w.soundcloud.com

Donald Trump responded to criticism from Carly Fiorina that he was touting in Indiana the endorsement of Mike Tyson, who was convicted of rape in the state.

"Well, a lot guys have endorsed me, a lot of people," Trump said on the Mike Slater Show on Friday. "I noticed that Mike Tyson endorsed me over the internet and we will take the endorsement."

"Look, he's a tough cookie," Trump continued. "He had difficulty, but a lot of people had difficulty, but Mike Tyson did me endorse me. What does she want me to do, tell him I don't want his endorsement? Should I do that? You think I should do that? I don't think so. So, I really know nothing about it other than I heard Mike Tyson endorsed me."

On the same show earlier in the day, and in other appearances, Fiorina had taken Trump to task for touting Tyson's endorsement.

"I'll take Mike Pence over convicted rapist Mike Tyson," she said. "Not a tough guy, not a champ."

Trump defended Tyson in 1992 when he was convicted of rape (for which he spent three years in prison), saying Tyson was "railroaded" in his case and suggesting the victim hadn't been raped at all.

“She knocked on his door at 1 a.m. and was up and dancing at eight the next morning.”

View Video ›

Donald Trump's rivals Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina have hammered the frontrunner this week for touting the endorsement of former heavyweight-boxing champion Mike Tyson in Indiana — a state where Tyson was convicted in 1992 of raping a beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington.

Trump controversially suggested in 1992 Tyson could pay the victim with money from a fight to avoid serving a jail sentence and as reported earlier this week by BuzzFeed News said in the early '90s that Tyson was "railroaded" in his case, and that the victim had willingly entered Tyson's room.

In another instance in late 1992, Trump discussed the case at length in an interview with Charlie Rose. The topic centered around a New York magazine profile in which Trump said his mother was angry at him for defending Tyson. In the piece, Trump said Tyson told him the victim "wanted it real bad."

Wrote New York magazine in their cover profile of Trump:

Donald is discussing his buddy Mike Tyson. Tyson told Trump the woman who put him in jail "wanted it real bad." Trump feels Tyson is doing time on a bad rap: "She knocked on his door at 1 a.m. and was up and dancing at eight the next morning." This speech is another of the set pieces he is so fond of delivering. When he defended Tyson and suggested a payoff and community service for the champ, his mother got so angry she raised her voice to him for the first time in his 46 years.

Trump said his mother was not amused with his defense of Tyson.

"I think that's probably the first time that my mother absolutely got angry at me," Trump told Rose. "I really mean that. My mother was so crazy when I came out in defense of Mike Tyson."

Again remarking that his mother was livid at him, Trump added that he had problems with how Tyson's defense was handled.

"She didn't exactly like the fact that I was defending Iron Mike, but I watched what happened to Mike Tyson," said Trump. "I watched how badly he was represented by an attorney in Washington that was charging him $3, $4, or $5 million against a local attorney, the best within 100 miles, that the state hired who just ate the other man's lunch. I watched the way he did it."

Trump then questioned if the rape even had occurred, suggesting the victim made it up.

"I heard about a girl that late in the evening knocked on his door, was taken in, was raped perhaps, perhaps not," said Trump. "I don't know. Again, I think he was badly represented, but I did see that number one, she knocks late in the night. Number two, she's dancing in a beauty contest at 8 a.m. I saw the tapes. I see the big smile on her face. She's dancing happily at 8 a.m. Then Mike Tyson's in jail for four, five, or six years. I had a real problem with that case. I had a real problem with Mike Tyson's lawyers. I had a real problem with Don King. I just think that he was really fed out to the wolves."

Trump noted Tyson still denied the charges and said he believed if Tyson hadn't testified would have been found not guilty.

"He to this day denies it," said Trump, when asked by Rose if Tyson should have gone to jail if found guilty. "I don't know that it happened. I think that as they said if he didn't testify, he would have been exonerated totally. The jury said that. Mike was arrogant. He was a horrible witness from what I understand. I'm not surprised. I would say that generally speaking, you don't put Mike on as a witness but he was a horrible witness. To get four, five, or six years, I think that there was just too many circumstances. Again, she was in a beauty contest. She was dancing with a big smile on her face at 8:00 a.m."

Trump said Tyson was thrown in jail before being found guilty and deserved another chance.

"I watched Mike," he staid. "I've been with Mike. I've seen him. People really take advantage of this man. I want to tell you something. I think this is one of those examples. Now, I know we have a system of juries. We have a system where if you're found guilty, you're guilty, but somebody like me and maybe who has a little bit more independent streak can say, 'Hey, Mike Tyson in my opinion should really be given another break.' They put him in jail before he was even guilty as far as I was concerned."

Paul Sancya / AP

DETROIT — For 30 minutes on Sunday night, speaking from the dais of an NAACP dinner here in Detroit, Hillary Clinton presented the audience of 6,000 with a distinct and cutting image of her likely opponent in the general election.

It was Donald Trump, she reminded the predominantly black crowd, who "led the insidious birther movement to discredit the president's citizenship" only a few years ago. And it was Donald Trump, she said, who played "coy" and declined to disavow David Duke and other white supremacists who have supported his campaign.

"We cannot let Barack Obama’s legacy fall into Donald Trump’s hands," Clinton declared, moving people in the sprawling COBO Center to their feet.

In recent weeks on the campaign trail, Clinton has talked increasingly about an all but certain match-up against Donald Trump and what she argues is his "divisive" and "dangerous" vision for America. On Sunday, delivering the keynote address at the Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner for the NAACP, Clinton spoke in personal and urgent terms about what Trump's election might mean for the Obamas and their legacy.

"We have to bring our country together," Clinton said. "That mission feels more urgent than ever now that the Obama presidency is coming to a close."

"We’ve been blessed to have this strong, thoughtful leader sitting in the Oval Office and an exceptional first lady by his side. They have made us proud," Clinton said, calling it a "tremendous honor" to serve in his administration. "They have represented America to the world with style and grace, and it is up to us to make sure that when they leave the White House, the concerns and priorities they’ve championed, the hopes and dreams that Americans have entrusted to them, don’t also leave."

As Trump attempts to secure the GOP nomination and professionalize his presidential campaign, seeking at turns to soften his tone and appeal to a broader swath of the country, Clinton has warned voters against his possible shifts.

"Trump keeps saying things like, 'You know, I didn't really mean it. It was all part of my reality TV show. Running for president will be on your screen,'" Clinton said at a rally late last month in Rhode Island. "Well, if we buy that, shame on us."

Clinton argued on Sunday night that a Trump presidency would threaten Obama's policies, and the spirit of his historic election as the first black president: "We have to look at our great country. Look at this amazing gathering. People from every background. Every race. Every religion. Coming together as one people, one nation," Clinton said. "There is no other place like it in the world. I went to 112 countries as your secretary of state."

"There is no place like America," she continued. "Let’s not endanger the promise, the potential, the dream of our country by giving into these voices of hatred. Instead, let us remind ourselves of how far we have come together."

The election, she said, came down to a simple choice. "It’s about unity versus division. Compassion versus selfishness. And love vs. hate," Clinton said. "The stakes don’t get much higher than that."

Attorney General Loretta Lynch, right, talks with her deputy chief of staff Shirlethia Franklin, left, and counselor James Cadogan during a flight to the Talladega Federal Correctional Institution in Talladega, Ala., on Friday, April 29, 2016.

Evan Vucci / AP

Attorney General Loretta Lynch is already more than halfway through her expected time as the head of the Justice Department.

She’s only been there a year. She has a limited period of time to make her mark on the office — in a period dominated by crises, from attacks from Charleston to San Bernardino to police protests from Chicago to Baltimore.

Quietly, beneath that series of events, she has an overarching mission: When it comes to the Department of Justice, she said in a wide-ranging interview with BuzzFeed News, “the position — on a whole host of issues — should always be toward inclusion and equality.”

From police accountability to the national re-examination of criminal justice priorities to LGBT anti-discrimination efforts to Black Lives Matter protests, Lynch kept returning to an aim of advancing inclusion and equality in describing her efforts at the helm of the Justice Department.

The interview came at the tail end of an unusual trip intended as capstone to Justice Department’s National Reentry Week: Lynch, a sitting attorney general, visited a medium-security federal prison in Talladega, Alabama, on Friday. Then she flew to Mobile, Alabama, to meet with the U.S. Attorney, Kenyen Brown, for a few events aimed at promoting reentry programs that Brown has long backed.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch, left, shakes hands with Derrick Cash during a visit to Talladega Federal Correctional Institution on Friday, April 29, 2016, in Talladega, Ala.

Evan Vucci / AP

“One of the benefits of being attorney general is that you get to pick a week — and name it something,” she joked to a group of inmates at a substance abuse treatment program in Talladega.

This was Lynch trying to wrest control of the news cycle and push an affirmative story — how the Justice Department is trying to reintegrate people who have served time back into society.

It’s “what we call ‘re-entry,’ but what is really helping people get back home,” Lynch told a group of inmates in a classroom at the start of her tour of the prison. Later, she spent about a half-hour with five inmates in a sit-down roundtable discussion, talking about the programs they participate in, the work-related certifications they’ve obtained, and how several of the men maintain connections with their children and grandchildren.

“We sit in Washington, and we try and figure out what works and what doesn’t work,” she told the inmates, “but in order to do that we have to hear from people who are actually in the programs.”

Both prison and Justice Department staffers spoke constantly about how unusual it is for men serving sometimes lengthy prison sentences — many for violent crimes — to be given direct access to the attorney general of the United States. The unusual nature of the visit was clear throughout the morning. When Lynch asked if she could walk out into the rows of inmate workers at a facility where inmates were making Army trousers, she was told that she could not.

“Almost one in three Americans has had some contact with the criminal justice system,” she said on the flight home of what she called a critical juncture for discussion of reentry issues. “When you reach that saturation point, people begin to understand, in a very visceral way, the difficulties of reentry.”

The current moment — in which drug sentencing laws are being reexamined, and the federal government is removing initial hiring questions about criminal background for many jobs — could be a huge shift in criminal justice policy. But it also can prove to be tricky politics. The relatively nascent coalition between progressives, libertarians or libertarian-minded conservatives, and some corporate interests to transform the criminal justice system is fairly untested on a national political scale.

Saying that “we’re reexamining things,” Lynch said: “I think that’s a very, very good thing. I think it’s something we always have to be committed to doing: Are the choices that we made in the past still the right ones for today?”

Attorney General Loretta Lynch tours a factory where inmates work during a visit to the Talladega Federal Correctional Institution in Talladega, Ala., on Friday, April 29, 2016.

Evan Vucci / AP

While the Justice Department directed attention this past week at the reentry process, much of the public attention over the past year and a half when it comes to criminal justice issues — since the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri — has been on the police side of the process.

Does the attorney general think the country is learning from the events — including attention paid to other “police-involved shootings” — since then?

“I do,” she said. “I actually do.”

Because of the ever-present video capabilities that many people have on their phones today, Lynch said, “[W]e do have viral videos of extremely difficult acts to watch — people being shot, people losing their life, being harmed — it has caused a lot of turmoil because people are rightfully frustrated.”

While she called it “unfortunate” that it took “painful” moments like Brown’s death or those of others — including Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, and Sandra Bland — to draw attention to different elements of black people’s interactions with police forces across the country, Lynch said that now the issues cannot be ignored.

“Because now, people who have — for whatever reason, this is not part of their experience — that have tended to say, ‘No, this isn’t a problem,’ ‘I don’t think it’s as bad as you say,’ ‘Oh, it can’t be that serious.’ No one can really hide behind that shield anymore, and so we have to face this,” Lynch said. “I always liken it to the civil rights era, when television showed what was happening to the marchers, particularly the kids — actually, in parts of this state — drawing national attention to it, and people had to come up with solutions.”

Steve Helber / AP

Those videos, and the moments of protest created in their wake, Lynch said, have “led to a conversation, the likes of which we really haven’t been able to have, on the issues of community involvement, police accountability, race and the criminal justice system, the economy and the criminal justice system, poverty, joblessness, all these things are being talked about.”

Lynch sounded an optimistic note, too, saying, “[W]e see law enforcement stepping up and being accountable, we see local law enforcement dealing with officers who have crossed the line, we see community members being involved in police training and police discussions.”

Whether all police efforts at “stepping up and being accountable” are going well is another question. Last week, after news came out that the City of Cleveland had reach a $6 million settlement with the family of Rice — shot by police seconds after they drove up to the 12-year-old, who was carrying a toy gun — the Cleveland police union responded that they hoped the family would use some of the money “to help educate the youth of Cleveland in the dangers associated with the mishandling of both real and facsimile firearms.”

The videos have also galvanized a new generation of activists — loosely organized under the phrase Black Lives Matter — that have dominated the 2016 campaign and thrust forward criminal justice issues into the national discourse. The activists have not always been received with universal warmth. President Obama recently said that, for the Black Lives Matter movement, “you can’t just keep on yelling” after you’ve gotten the attention of those in leadership positions. Earlier in the month, former President Clinton — who last year apologized for some of the tough-on-crime policies he pursued as president — had an aggressive, and at points dismissive, response to protesters challenging him on actions taken by his administration and a term, “superpredator,” once used by his wife in the 1990s.

Lynch isn’t frustrated with the Black Lives Matter activists.

“I don’t comment on what other people say about the movement or anything like that, because they have their own perspective,” she said, “but what I would say is that we, in this country, have a strong tradition of a protest movement being often the forefront, raising issues, airing issues, bringing them to the light, bringing them to the forefront, and that it’s an incredibly important role to play — particularly when young people are involved with them, because they will continue that work.”

That “work,” she continued, “has many dimensions. I think activists are needed in a whole variety of fronts,” saying that people are needed “to raise those issues,” “to talk about policy about those issues,” and “to implement policy” that is adopted in response to such discussions.

“There’s a whole lot of work out there to be done — and I think the protest movement is an important part of that.”

Criminal justice issues, of course, aren’t the only issues getting the attorney general’s attention.

Over the weekend, Ted Cruz — locked in an uphill battle with Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination — attacked Trump on Meet the Press for, in his words, “agreeing with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that grown men should be allowed to use little girls' restrooms.”

That’s not how Loretta Lynch would put it.

Lynch’s Justice Department is one of the key agencies advancing that Obama administration position — first adopted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — that sex discrimination bans for the workplace and schools should be read to include a ban on anti-transgender discrimination, including allowing people to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

"If we’re going to have the view that we’re going to protect everyone in this society equally, we have to mean it."

The Justice Department decided under Attorney General Eric Holder that Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination covered gender identity, and Lynch’s Justice Department filed a brief before a federal appeals court supporting a student’s claim regarding the education argument. Lynch said the department is “very gratified” that the court recently affirmed the department’s position.

“To me, this is really an issue of equality and fundamental fairness and what kind of a society do we want to be,” she said, unprompted. “We decided over 200 years ago that we wanted to be an inclusive society, and we wanted to guarantee equal rights for all. For that to mean something, we have to be careful, we have to be vigilant, so that when people, for whatever reason, are either [made to] feel like they’re on the outside — a particular group — or are placed on the outside, that that doesn’t happen. And transgender issues are no different, to me, in that regard.”

She said she believes that the among the roles of the Justice Department is to protect the vulnerable: the elderly, children, and human-trafficking victims. “Our transgender family members and friends are also incredibly vulnerable to discrimination, in terms of the laws that we see, but also to abuse,” she said.

Lynch called the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act “a tool to deal with that” when transgender people are being targeted. “But then, this to me is all a part of the whole: If we’re going to have the view that we’re going to protect everyone in this society equally, we have to mean it.”

Asked if that would include the Justice Department similarly adopting the view of the EEOC that sexual orientation-based discrimination is a type of sex discrimination barred under existing civil rights laws, Lynch hedged on the issue. “We’re looking at that issue, also, and we’ll definitely come to a conclusion soon as to what position to take,” she said. “But I think that overall, the position — on a whole host of issues — should always be toward inclusion and equality.”

The issue is that there isn’t much time left. Obama will leave office in less than a year.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

Lynch made it clear that she’s going to keep pressing forward at advancing her mission of increasing inclusivity and equality — the next endeavor is a review of women in the criminal justice system.

The men in the Talledega prison talked a lot “about the effect of the programs that they’re in on their families,” Lynch said. “We find that, when you incarcerate a woman who’s a mother, it really does tear a family apart. So, we want to see: What are we doing to keep them connected?”

Outside of that new initiative, Lynch said that she aims to carry through initiatives that she and Holder before her have begun over the next nine months. If the tenor of news lately is fairly dark, Loretta Lynch is optimistic about the effect of the things that already have happened and that programs she has put in place “will go on beyond” her time running the department.

“We now have discussions on these really hard, very difficult issues that have been difficult to have before and … we’re having more of a conversation than ever,” she said. “It’s not a perfect situation by a long shot. There is still tension, there is still mistrust between law enforcement and community members, but what we see is situations where we come together and build bridges, it can be done.”

For example, she said efforts like the projects highlighted during National Reentry Week, law enforcement and community empowerment efforts, and other police training efforts will continue over the remaining months and, she hopes, into the next administration.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the cases that we’re talking about, for example, in the Title VII field,” she said. “But I think, for me, when you look at the direction of the law, it always moves toward equality. It is slow and painful. Many times it is difficult. We don’t get there overnight.

“But I think the work that we’re doing here, and over the next nine months is going to contribute to that.”

“At a certain point, when that sucker comes by you, you gotta shoot,” Trump said of Russian planes barrel-rolling over U.S. Air Force planes.

Gabrielle Lurie / AFP / Getty Images

w.soundcloud.com

Donald Trump said on Monday that, "at a certain point," the United States should shoot at Russian planes that barrel roll over U.S. Air Force planes.

Commenting on a Russian SU-27 that conducted a barrel roll over a U.S. aircraft on Friday, the second such maneuver a Russian plane has conducted in the past month, Trump told Indiana radio host Charly Butcher that Obama should first call Putin to object.

"Normally, an Obama, let's say a president, because you want to make at least a call or two, but normally Obama would call up Putin and say, 'Listen, do us a favor, don't do that, get that maniac, just stop it.' But we don't have that kind of a president. He's gonna be out playing golf or something," Trump said.

"But I don't know, at a certain point, you can't take it," the businessman continued. "I mean, at a certain point, you have to do something that, you just can't take that. That is not right. It's against all, you know, when you talk about Geneva convention, there's gotta be things that are against it. You can't do that. That's called taunting. But it should certainly start with diplomacy and it should start quickly with a phone call to Putin, wouldn't you think?"

He went on to say that, if diplomacy didn't work, the U.S. should open fire.

"And if that doesn't work out, I don't know, you know, at a certain point, when that sucker comes by you, you gotta shoot," Trump said. "You gotta shoot. I mean, you gotta shoot. And it's a shame. It's a shame. It's a total lack of respect for our country and it's a total lack of respect for Obama. Which as you know, they don't respect."

“So, I think like a lot of Americans, we are gonna have to begin to spend the summer studying the candidates and decide who’s best for the future of the country.”

BRIAN BLANCO / Reuters

w.soundcloud.com

Rep. David Jolly of Florida, a Republican running for Senate in the state, says he doesn't know if he's going to vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in November.

"So, I'm gonna tell you something you rarely hear in elected official say, I don't know," Jolly told AM970 The Answer's Effective Radio when asked what he's going to do in the presidential election. "I truly don't know."

The Florida congressman continued, saying he didn't even know what Trump would be standing for in November. He also noted that he had strong policy differences with Clinton.

"Here's why, if you're asking me in April my position on Donald Trump in November, I don't know what Donald Trump is going to be standing for in November," stated Jolly. "So I'm certainly not going to take a position five or six months out. You know when Donald Trump made his call to ban all Muslims, I went to House floor and called on him to drop out of the race."

"I have strong reservations about some of Donald Trump's solutions to some of the security issues we face as a country," he continued. "Those are real reservations. Now, I will tell you I also have strong disagreements with Secretary Clinton over her view of foreign policy. So, I think like a lot of Americans, we are gonna have to begin to spend the summer studying the candidates and decide who's best for the future of the country."

Jolly hoped Republicans would find a candidate other than Donald Trump.

"I'm a Republican, and I hope we can find a conservative leader that would alter some of the course where our current president has taken us. Whether Donald Trump is that person, I am no way prepared to make that decision in April."

Jolly's campaign manager clarified his position in a statement to BuzzFeed News.

"David Jolly is on the record saying he will never support Hillary Clinton in November. His position has not changed," Max Goodman, Jolly's campaign manager said.

Matt Rourke / AP

BuzzFeed News has learned that Jorge Neri will take the reins in Nevada for Hillary Clinton's campaign, the state where he served as organizing director during her momentum-shifting caucus win, according to two sources with knowledge of the campaign's plan.

Michelle White, who served as the Nevada political director, will be deputy state director. The Clinton campaign confirmed both moves.

The news comes on the heels of the announcement that former Nevada state director Emmy Ruiz will run Colorado for Clinton in the general election. Ruiz and Neri worked together to deliver Nevada for Obama in the general election in 2012, with 70% of the Latino vote, and used their early arrival and relationships in the Hispanic community in the state to win in February for Clinton.

"These are two political pros who happen to be Latino, who know the game — and are at the top of their game — who understand the critical nature of ensuring Latinos are part and parcel with the political program," said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist close to the Clinton campaign.

Neri is currently based in Nevada where he is preparing for the convention. And the campaign would be wise not to fall into a trap other Democrats are falling into, Cardona argued. Democrats, who believe a matchup with the Republican frontrunner Trump would be a "cakewalk" or that Clinton would "wipe the floor with him," she said.

"It's going to be tough slog no matter who the Republican nominee is," she said. "I'm happy to see they’re not taking it for granted."

Ruiz will have her work cut out for her in Colorado, where Bernie Sanders had a big win with almost 60% of the caucus vote, said James Mejia, a Democratic strategist in Colorado, who has not endorsed in the primary.

"Sanders won resoundingly in Colorado which was a big surprise to a lot of people," he said.

Part of that successful strategy was an up-and-coming young Latina, who worked with the state's sizable Chicano population, running the state for him, Mejia said, of Sander's state director Dulce Saenz. He believes Ruiz can play a similar role.

"The Latino community in Colorado is going to be much less critical of a campaign when one of our own rising stars is at the helm working to make things happen," he said, also noting that Clinton's operation will have to work hard in the state, ignoring the conventional wisdom that a matchup with Trump would be easy for her.

That work will have to be guided by an understanding that Colorado's Hispanic voter profile is different than Nevada's. Where Nevada is much more heavily immigrant, Colorado has more second and third generation Latinos who are U.S. born. In the state, 60% of Hispanics speak only English at home.

Mejia pointed to Ken Salazar, one of Colorado's Latino leaders, whom he described as a "fifth or sixth generation Coloradan."

"We’re Latinos who are fighting to maintain the culture as opposed to those Latinos coming in fighting to enter the mainstream," he said.

Trump, a longtime friend of Tyson, opined at length about the trial on television, in newspapers, and in magazines.

View Video ›

Donald Trump, who repeatedly advocated for Mike Tyson during the boxer's 1992 rape trial in Indiana, said on Monday that he knows nothing about it.

"Do you still think Mike Tyson got a raw deal when he endorsed you?" Trump was asked.

"I don't know anything about it. I know he endorsed me. I heard he endorsed me," Trump stated. "I don't know anything about his trial. I really don't."

Trump, a longtime friend of Tyson, opined at length about the trial on television, in newspapers, and in magazines.

Trump has claimed Tyson was "railroaded" in the case and on several occasions offered criticism of Tyson's defense attorney. Trump said in 1992 that Tyson could pay the victim with money from a fight to avoid serving time in prison. Trump also called into question whether the victim had been raped at all.

Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina have criticized Trump numerous times this week for touting the endorsement of Tyson in Indiana, the state where Tyson was convicted in 1992.

Chris Geidner/BuzzFeed

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday sent an order to the Alabama courts that they review whether the process the state uses to sentence someone to death remains constitutional after a ruling from the justices earlier this year that struck down Florida's similar sentencing process.

Also on Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear a California death penalty case. The action in Bart Johnson's case in Alabama, however, is a sign that the justices are paying close attention to the state-by-state effects of their movements on capital punishment.

In the California case, the justices declined — over the noted dissent of Justice Stephen Breyer — to hear a challenge on whether decades-long delays in executions can lead to a violation of the Constitution. Breyer, who has repeatedly raised concerns about the death penalty more broadly and the potential constitutional implications of delays, drew significant attention to the California case with his dissent.

But it is Johnson's case that could, ultimately, serve as a much stronger signal of where the Supreme Court stands on capital punishment issues today.

On Jan. 11, the court had denied certiorari in Johnson's case, refusing to consider a question about whether prejudicial media coverage relating to the killing at issue required the court to grant a change of venue for Johnson's trial.

The next day, though, the court struck down Florida's death sentencing scheme — in which juries made a recommendation, but the judge was responsible for deciding the sentence. In Hurst v. Florida, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the court, "The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death. A jury’s mere recommendation is not enough."

Alabama’s death sentencing scheme is similar to Florida’s, though not precisely the same. (The court previously had upheld Alabama's law, but it had done so by relying on two cases out of Florida that were overturned in part by the Hurst decision.) Soon after the Hurst decision, three justices — Sotomayor, Breyer, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — signaled that they believed Alabama's system was thrown into question by Hurst.

On Feb. 5, Johnson's lawyers asked the court to consider rehearing his case. "These same Sixth Amendment concerns [at issue in Hurst] require action in Mr. Johnson’s case—a case in which the judge made the findings necessary to impose the death penalty," the lawyers wrote.

Lawyers for the state opposed the request. They argue that Alabama's scheme is different from Florida's scheme because the law in Alabama "requires a jury to unanimously find the existence of an aggravating circumstance — at either the guilt phase or the sentencing phase — before a defendant can be sentenced to death."

The court rarely rehears cases ever, let alone cases in which it had denied the request to hear the case in the first place. But the court did so on Monday, despite the state’s opposition, taking the precise actions that were sought by Johnson's lawyers, led by Randall Susskind at the Equal Justice Initiative.

The court granted the rehearing request, and then granted the certiorari petition, vacated the Alabama court decision below, and sent the case back to the Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama "for further consideration in light of Hurst v. Florida."

While the request might not seem like much, it means that a majority of the eight justices on the court — so, at least five — decided that Hurst — itself an 8-1 decision only opposed by Justice Samuel Alito — likely has implications for Alabama's death sentencing scheme.

This is made all the more significant in light of the court's current slowdown in accepting new cases, an issue detailed by Robert Barnes in The Washington Post on Sunday. The court took no action, for example, on two other death penalty-related petitions under review out of Texas: one case challenges the state's standards for determining intellectual disability, the other challenges the appeals court's standard for review of constitutional challenges to trial procedures in death penalty cases.

Monday's order in Johnson's case also could signal that other states with similar elements to their sentencing scheme — including Delaware, Montana, and Nebraska — could face additional scrutiny in the federal courts. Delaware's Supreme Court already is reviewing its state's sentencing scheme in light of the January ruling.

The Supreme Court's order in Johnson v. Alabama:

Clinton speaks with Bo Copley

Jim Young / Reuters

WILLIAMSON, W.V. — Outside the Williamson Health and Wellness Center, at the Pike Street intersection of this small coal town, dozens of protesters crowded police barricades, huddled together beneath shared umbrellas, their “TRUMP” signs dripping with rain. They wanted Hillary Clinton to leave West Virginia.

“Hillary, go home! Hillary, go home!”

Inside the site of the small campaign event, held as part of a two-day swing through Appalachia, their chants sounded in the background as Clinton and Sen. Joe Manchin led a 12-person roundtable discussion on the collapse of the coal industry. (“Go! Go! Go! Go!” they shouted.) About 50 minutes in, one of the participants — a 39-year-old coal worker who lost his job, a father of two young girls and one boy — tried to explain to Clinton why "those people out there" were so angry.

In stark terms, Bo Copley, a former maintenance planner for a subsidiary of Arch Coal, told Clinton that voters here had been deeply put off by the comments she made earlier this spring about the decline of coal. “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business,” Clinton said at the time, before adding, “And we’re going to make it clear that we don’t want to forget those people.”

The remark was seen as a significant misstep for Clinton, who performed well in this part of the country against Barack Obama in 2008, and whose husband connected well in his own campaigns with many of the working-class white voters who now identity with Trump. Clinton moved quickly to explain and apologize directly to Manchin, one of her key backers in the region, both by phone and by letter.

But Copley, who said he spoke as the “voice” of the protesters on Pike Street, came to the event with more questions — setting off 15 minutes of tense and unusually candid conversation between a voter, U.S. senator, and presidential candidate.

View Video ›

Facebook: video.php

“The reason you hear those people out there, saying some of the things that they say," Copley started, "is because when you make comments like, ‘We’re gonna put a lot of coal miners out of jobs,’ these are the kinds of people you’re affecting.”

Copley took out a picture of his family and slid it across the table.

“This is my family,” said Copley as Clinton picked up the photo. “My hope is in God, that’s my future. I want my family to know that they have a future here in this state — that this is a great state. I’ve lived my entire life here. West Virginians are proud people. We take pride in our faith in God. We take pride in our family. We take pride in our jobs. We take pride in the fact that we’re hard workers.”

Copley and his wife, Lauren, came to the roundtable at the invitation of Dr. Dino Beckett, another participant in Monday's roundtable. (Their kids play soccer together. Copley coaches three neighborhood teams.) Copley stopped often to catch himself from crying as he described what’s happened to families like his here in Mingo County, once one of the country’s top coal-producers. In the past four years, Mingo’s coal mining employment has dropped by half. The county has seen the largest growth in unemployment in that period of any in the state.

“I just wanna know how you can say you’re gonna put a lot of coal miners out of jobs, and then come in here and tell us how you’re gonna be our friend,” he said. “Because those people out there don’t see you as a friend.”

“I know that, though,” Clinton said, her voice low. She apologized several times, but not without qualifications, insisting that the comment was simply a “misstatement.”

“I don’t know how to explain it other than what I said was totally out of context from what I meant. Because I have been talking about helping coal country for a very long time, and I put out a plan last summer. It was a misstatement, because what I was saying was the way things are going now, we will continue to lose jobs.”

Clinton’s campaign plan would invest about 30 billion dollars in coal country, focusing on health and retirement benefits, infrastructure, and education.

Clinton looked at Copley as she spoke. “I don’t mind anybody being upset or angry — that’s a perfect right for people to feel that way,” she said. “I can’t take it back, and I certainly can’t get people who for political reasons — or very personal reasons, painful reasons — are upset with me.”

“But here’s what I want you to know. What I want you to know is I’m gonna do everything I can to help no matter what happens politically,” she said. “That is just how I am made.”

Manchin, who’d been watching the exchange from other side of the table, offered Copley his own assessment. “Bo, I know just sitting here, I know what you’re gettin’ from outside. You know what I’m gettin’ from outside, right?” he said, referring to political pressure he's faced for supporting Clinton. “You’re hearing it every minute.”

“So, if we’re brave enough to say listen, ‘I know you’re mad — you might be mad at me, mad at Bo, but we still love you, we’re just trying to make it better for you.’ I can’t run,” Manchin continued. “If I’m worried about that politically, I’m worried about myself more politically than I am about my state, and I’m not gonna do that.”

Copley responded with a laugh. “I don’t think they’re mad at me,” he said. “I think they’re looking at me as a voice at this point."

Clinton and Manchin agreed this was a good thing.

“If I can be candid," Copley said, "I think still supporting her hurts you. It does.”

“I know,” Manchin replied. If West Virginians feel like they have the wrong guy in Washington, he told Copley, they’d vote him out. “They’ll send me back home. I miss my state. I love my state,” he said, to Clinton’s laughter. “Send me back home."

After the roundtable, Copley told reporters Clinton hadn’t won him over.

Manchin, though, said the event had been a success. "It was a real conversation," he said afterward. "We all cried!" But as Copley spoke to the press, the senator walked over, gave him a hug, and acknowledged the power of his message to Clinton.

“You spoke for the whole state," Manchin said.

“It is not an opinion that Mike Tyson is a rapist.”

Aaron Bernstein / Reuters

w.soundcloud.com

Ted Cruz on Monday said Donald Trump is "divorced from reality and truth" for accusing him of lying about Mike Tyson's rape conviction.

"Donald Trump was talking recently, he was talking about Mike Tyson and Donald said something to the effect of, 'Cruz says Tyson is rapist. That's why we call him Lyin' Ted.' And Donald is so divorced from reality and truth. It is not an opinion that Mike Tyson is a rapist," Cruz said on the Mike Gallagher Show on Monday night.

Tyson was convicted of rape in Indiana in the early '90s. Trump advocated for Tyson publicly during the trial. On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Trump: "The Cruz campaign is making an issue of your support for Mike Tyson back during the time of the rape conviction in 1992. Your reaction to that?"

"It just shows what a liar he is," Trump responded. "So, Mike Tyson over the Internet endorsed me. He said, 'I endorse Mr. Trump.' He said that. That was it. No big deal, I didn't have a meeting or anything, I haven't seen Mike in years, but he said he endorsed me. So, Cruz is now saying, 'oh, he was a rapist.' This guy is a real liar. That's why we call him Lyin' Ted Cruz. I mean, the greatest liar that I've ever lived, except he gets caught every time."

Speaking on the radio on Monday, Cruz said Trump's statements show his deception.

"He was tried in front of a jury of his peers, he was convicted and served three years in prison for rape," said Cruz. "And yet, Donald is this bizarre reality show campaign of deception. When someone observes that someone convicted of rape and served in prison for rape is a rapist, Donald just says, 'it's a lie.' And sadly the media acolytes just let Donald get away with trying to deceive people. I believe truth matters, it matters a great deal."