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Colorado Senate Candidate: I Want To Go Beyond Trump's Muslim Ban

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“It’s a much bigger issue than just a religious issue.”

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Robert Blaha, a Republican primary candidate in Colorado's Senate race, said on Tuesday that Donald Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the country doesn't go far enough.

"I want to go beyond just Muslims," Blaha said at a GOP meeting in Fremont County. "And I'll tell you why. The issue is not—the issue is partially a religious issue, but the real issue there is—the real issue is security. The real issue is we do not know who these people are. We don't know where they're coming from, we don't know whether a terrorist state. We do not have the ability as a government right now to vet these people."

Blaha, a businessman who is among the five GOP candidates running in the June 28 primary, pledged when he announced his campaign in January to voluntarily leave office after one term if he did not "reduce illegal immigration by 50 percent, drastically cut the deficit, and help fix this horrific tax system."

In his comments on Tuesday, Blaha, who has endorsed Donald Trump, said the U.S. shouldn't allow people into the country "when we do not know who they are."

"Until we can properly vet people and know who they are and know where they're coming from and know what their belief structures are they're coming out of, we cannot afford to take that risk," he said. "So it's bigger than just a religious issue, to me. It's a much bigger issue than just a religious issue. So we must secure the border, and we must not allow people to come into this country when we do not know who they are."


Drama! Trump Super PAC Strategist Suggests Roger Stone Is Jealous Of Him

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“I always kind of got jobs that Roger thought he should have.”

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

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Ed Rollins, the strategist and co-chairman of a super PAC backing Donald Trump, suggested on the Alan Colmes Show this week that longtime Trump ally Roger Stone is jealous of his success.

Rollins, who runs the pro-Trump Great America PAC, said he expects competition from other super PACs, but does not expect Stone to be much of a competitor. Stone tweeted earlier this month that Rollins "is an incompetent buffoon who can't find his ass with both hands."

"Well, I have a long history, it's not a good history with Roger Stone," Rollins said. "I'll bite my tongue and not say anything."

"We have a long history," Rollins added. "I always kind of got jobs that Roger thought he should have. I don't want to say it's jealousy, it maybe something else. But there is nothing I can do about it."

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper: Donald Trump Is "Kind Of A Blowhard"

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“Is that who we want our kids looking up to?”

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Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, says he believes the tightening of the race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is only temporary.

Speaking on Kilmeade and Friends on Thursday, he said Trump was a "bully" and "blowhard," and his support would fall when people looked at him more critically.

"Right now it's just a personality thing," Hickenlooper said. "He hasn't put any policies together. Once people start talking about some of these issues, is he someone we want our children to admire? He is kind of a bully, kind of a blowhard. Is that who we want our kids looking up to? Is that who we want our trading partners looking up to? Someone who is going to say, I am going to get rid of this treaty or get rid of that treaty."

Hickenlooper also he'd be willing to be Clinton's running mate.

"I love what I am doing," he said, citing his job as governor.

"I would have to be pushed pretty hard to do something else," he continued. "Again, candidly, vice president of the United States, if you can serve your country at that level, who wouldn't do that?"

Inside A White Nationalist Conference Energized By Trump's Rise

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BURNS, Tennessee — Jared Taylor used to hold his conference in hotels, but now he has to depend on the government for space — because privately owned hotels can, and have, prevented his group from meeting.

Now, each year, the white nationalist leader hosts his American Renaissance conference here inside Montgomery Bell State Park, a secluded space where, on Friday night, about 300 white nationalist activists gathered. Happy hour started right after Taylor's opening remarks on Friday evening.

I introduced myself to Taylor as he tried to adjust the fluorescent lights in the beige conference room that would play host to the weekend’s lectures. He had invited me to cover the conference and when I approached, he invited me to sit at a table near the front so we could talk.

We were unable to get a word in edgewise as soon as we sat down. First, a tall college-age man approached Taylor and asked shyly if he would autograph one of his books. Taylor did. He asked Taylor if he would translate into Japanese the "14 Words," a white supremacist slogan that is a cornerstone of the movement. (Taylor grew up partly in Japan, the son of missionary parents.) Taylor demurred.

Donald Trump, May 17, 2016.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

A second man came up, bearing a gift for Taylor: a round ceramic plate, about the size of a saucer, with markings on it. He made Taylor guess what it was. Part of a pulley system, maybe? No, the gift was a tribal Ethiopian lip plate, which the man had picked up on his travels. Taylor, who has written that Africa is an “utterly alien Africa of road-side corpses, cruelty, and anarchy,” accepted it with enthusiasm.

Most years, the American Renaissance conference is an obscure event in an obscure park, attended by a handful of the same fringe figures and elsewise only sparking the attention of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

That was before Donald Trump.

“I would like to invite you to cover an event in Tennessee next month that will help explain part of the voter enthusiasm for Donald Trump,” Taylor had opened his email to me. “I know you have been following his campaign, with a particular interest in the so-called ‘extremists’ who support him.”

This year, white nationalists can barely contain their excitement over the presumptive Republican nominee, and the AmRen conference reflected the moment. “Even if Trump loses, he’s already shown that immigration and economic nationalism and the whole concept of ‘America first’ works electorally,” Peter Brimelow, the founder of Vdare.com, said in his speech to the conference. “There are some elections where losing candidates blaze a trail for the future.” Brimelow asked how many in the audience had been to a Trump rally; about a quarter raised their hands, mostly young people.

Jared Taylor in Russia in 2015.

AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky

Taylor and others like him represent at this point the old guard of the more think-tanky side of white nationalism. Their movement has started to meld with the younger generation of white nationalists, who by and large consider themselves these days to be alt-right, a mostly online movement I wrote about in December. The alt-right, with its roots in internet ideologies like the Dark Enlightenment combined with good old-fashioned white nationalism, had taken off. “2015 has been huge,” Richard Spencer, the National Policy Institute chair and another luminary in the quasi-intellectual wing of the white nationalist movement, told me at the time.

Months later, their preferred candidate has locked up the Republican nomination without backing down (yet) on the hard-right immigration stances that attracted them to him in the first place, and their feeling of vindication is stronger than ever. There remains an ingrained defensiveness; many people at the conference were using a “nom de guerre,” and reporters were asked to sign a document promising not to take photos of people without their permission, as a condition for entry.

Still, the young alt-righters are reveling in the moment. Many were meeting in person for the first time, and there was a celebratory vibe, particularly on Saturday night for the conference’s banquet. The alt-right guys largely have the same look: a “fashy” haircut, cropped on the sides and longer on top, à la Macklemore. Spencer sports one and seems to have started the trend. One young alt-righter, Karl (not his real name), a twentysomething Texas man active in the Twitter community, seemed like a nice enough guy, friendly and polite. He said his favorite people to troll were Republican strategist Rick Wilson — a frequent target of alt-right trolls — and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol. (When I later found what I’m pretty sure is his Twitter account, I found a wall of hatred directed toward “faggots” and Jews.)

"We’re on the winning side for the first time in my experience."

Karl said that while the alt-right has mostly been going after conservatives online, there may be a shift to targeting liberals as the process continues. The alt-right still loves to target “cuckservatives,” but there’s a sense of having won the battle on the right; their candidate has the nomination and is turning his firepower on Hillary Clinton.

It’s impossible to say, though, whether white nationalists have formed a significant portion of Trump’s support. And while this crowd are largely pro-Trump ("Make America Great Again" hats were in evidence), it’s unclear to what extent Trump is aware of them. Spencer, for one, believes he is.

“There are really concentric circles in our movement,” Spencer said. “There’s a hard core of people who are coming to this conference. There’s a wider layer of people who are following us regularly, listening to our podcast, reading everything. There’s another layer beyond that that are reading tweets that are being influenced by mainstream media reports.” Spencer estimated the “hard core” at thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people — but estimated that this hard core was influencing hundreds of thousands, even millions of people.

“We’re on the winning side for the first time in my experience,” Spencer said. “I’m so used to being an avant-garde bohemian intellectual where I have no connection with politics, politicians are ignorant of our ideas or opposed to them.”

“I think Donald Trump unquestionably is aware of us,” Spencer said. “He’s on Twitter, he’s definitely aware of us.”

The Trump campaign did not return a request for comment.

In his opening talk, he had asked the audience how many were attending for the first time; many raised their hands.

Trump has been held to account somewhat for his white supremacist supporters; on CNN a few months ago he was asked about the endorsement of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke and declined to disavow him. (He later did.) But the stories keep popping up again and again; one of the most recent examples is William Johnson, a California lawyer and American Freedom Party leader who was selected as a delegate for Trump in California and later was removed/resigned from Trump’s slate amid an uproar.

This past weekend Johnson was at the conference, which he has regularly attended over the years.

“I was naive,” Johnson said. “I thought, Gee, I could participate in the electoral process just like everybody else. I thought I could participate and be productive and be a good example for the community and help promote my candidate, but that was not the case.”

William Johnson

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed News

Johnson said the experience hadn’t affected his enthusiasm for Trump, and said he expected more white nationalists to get involved in Republican politics.

“I do see them becoming involved in Republican politics because the Republican Party is now Trump’s party,” Johnson said.

In an interview, Taylor attributed the moment to both Trump and what he called the excesses of the left. Trump, Taylor said, “just has certain instincts, and some of his instincts are entirely healthy.” He is the first candidate in a while to “say anything at all that resonates with a white advocate.”

Taylor said attendance was high this year, “the kind of turnout we’ve had when we used to meet in more convenient places.” In his opening talk, he had asked the audience how many were attending for the first time; many raised their hands.

It was then that Taylor warned his audience that there were friendly and unfriendly journalists in attendance. He told attendees that the unfriendly media would try to portray the conference as hateful and ignorant, and that their job was to prevent us from being able to do that.

Be nice, Taylor basically told his audience, because they’re watching.

His conference’s final presentation on Saturday — a brisk PowerPoint on the history of the alt-right — was given by Paul Ramsey, a fiftysomething Oklahoman who makes YouTube videos popular among this set and who goes by RamzPaul.

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed News

Ramsey mentioned me several times by name. He put onscreen an article about Rush Limbaugh inadvertently praising the alt-right; he attributed it to me and to BuzzFeed News. (The Daily Beast’s Betsy Woodruff wrote the piece, and her picture and byline were shown onscreen.) He showed my December piece on the alt-right. He pointed me out and encouraged the audience to give me a round of applause for publicizing the movement.

The whole sequence reminded me of Trump’s coy routine toward his targets (“I won’t say who it was — OK, it was so-and-so”).

After Ramsey finished, the group began to file out, most headed for a nearby afterparty at a bungalow in the woods. A skinny young guy in an ill-fitting suit with close-cropped blond hair approached me and two other journalists. He asked me if I was who I am, and whether I was recording him. I answered him. He started talking vaguely. I asked him what he was trying to tell me.

“There’s more of us in New York than you think,” he said.

“We’re crashing the plane with no survivors,” he said. (This is a line delivered by Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, a connection I didn’t make at the time.)

I perceived this as a threat. Now, I’m not as sure. It struck me later that this could also have been the IRL version of the game the alt-right people play on the internet day in and day out — hurling slurs and threats, then chuckling at the normies and cucks who don’t get the irony.

The alt-right like to flatter themselves that they are simply an ultra-ironic, boundary-smashing, fun-loving group of “shitlords” who might send a few Jews some mean tweets about gas chambers, then roll their eyes at all these cucks alleging anti-Semitism. But it’s one thing to slap a Hitler mustache onto a rare Pepe — it’s another to seek out someone in person, even if you’re just quoting a movie.

The emboldenment, though, is happening as a bloody general election battle begins. What happens after November is unclear, especially if Trump loses and the movement risks going back to being just as fringe as it was before.

“That is the challenge,” Spencer said. “I think Trump is gonna win. But there’s a chance he could lose. Even if Trump wins, he could disappoint us. So the question is, we don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket, we want to make this beyond Trump.”

Johnson, the short-lived Trump delegate, echoed Spencer.

“Donald Trump has transformed the Republican Party so it is no longer a conservative movement — which in many respects is also globalist — and so he is now creating a nationalist feeling within the Republican Party. The epic battle from here on out is going to be between globalism and nationalism,” he said. “And nationalism will win out.”

Bernie Sanders Gets In Snippy Exchange With California Radio Hosts

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“All right, look, if you don’t like government, my friend, that’s fine,” the Democratic presidential candidate said in a contentious interview on the John and Ken Show on KFI radio.

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HOST: "You didn't answer the main question about what jobs have you created. It's pretty vague, your background. What have you done in your life?"

SANDERS: There's nothing vague—

HOST: I'm not really clear on what kind of jobs you've had, besides Senator.

SANDERS: I have been in the U.S. House of representatives and actually before that, I was a mayor of 8 years. You ever been to Burlington, VT?

HOST: Yeah, but have you ever not been paid by taxpayers?

SANDERS: All right, look, if you don't like government my friend, that's fine. I'm proud of the record I've established as a mayor, making Burlington, VT, one of the more beautiful small cities in America, proud of my record in the House, proud of my record in the United States Senate. You don't like government? That's your point of view. I am proud of what I have accomplished.

HOST: All right, let me ask you about that because obviously your proposals expand government a lot, cost a lot of money, when it comes to free health care, free college educations, when we look at the government and we see the VA feeding cockroaches to veterans in Chicago—

BERNIE: All right, you know—

HOST: We see the TSA--

BERNIE: Hold on—

HOST: What is it that you see about the government that we don't between let's say the TSA and the VA for example?

BERNIE: What I see is—apparently you love the work that Wall Street is doing—

HOST: No, no, you're generalizing.

BERNIE: Wait a second! Can I respond to you?

HOST: No, we don't, but you're generalizing, that's not fair. What do you know about us?

SANDERS: Why did you just—you just told me that the VA is feeding cockroaches. I was chairman of the Veterans committee. Millions of veterans every day are getting high-quality, uh, health care. Now, in some instances, the health care is inadequate and people are doing a bad job—of course, it's a huge healthcare system. You don't think that happens in private hospitals? You don't think that happens in private doctor's offices? So the answer is, yeah, if the question is, do I believe that government should play an important role in making sure that elderly people can live in dignity so that we have decent social—

HOST: That wasn't my question!

SANDERS: Excuse me! Can I—excuse me!

HOST: My question was about—

SANDERS: Wait a minute, you know, you invited me on the program. And I'm happy to be on the program. And I'd like to answer your questions, but I have to respond. I do believe that government should make sure that all of our people earn a decent minimum wage by raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. Yeah I do believe the United States should join every other major country on earth in guaranteeing health care to all people.

HOST: My question about the VA was, it's pretty clear from the scandal the last couple of years that the veterans are waiting weeks and sometimes months. Sometimes, they're dying before they get an appointment and sometimes the supervisors are lying about the waiting lists and lying about the response time. And in Chicago, they're breathing in black mold at the nursing home and they're being served cockroaches. It seems like there's a lot of dysfunction spread around the country. What I want to know is, it would help get more support for your ideas if we saw the TSA running properly, the VA running properly, and similar agencies that the public has to deal with.

SANDERS: Well, I think it goes without saying that we want all of our government agencies to run as cost-effectively and as efficiently and as well as possible.

HOST: Why don't they?

SANDERS: Excuse me. But if you all think that the private sector today is doing just a great job, let's talk about Wall Street's greed which drove this country into the worst economic recession and the fraud, the rampant fraud that exists on Wall Street who paid $5 billion, Goldman Sachs paid $5 billion to the government as a settlement because they were selling worthless subprime mortgage packages. You can talk about corporations that are shutting down all over America and moving to China where they pay people a few bucks an hour and bring their products back into this country.

HOST: No!

HOST: What I think John's trying to ask you is, you want us to put more trust in government and shift more of the economy to government.

SANDERS: Look, look, I got your point. You don't like government and I appreciate it. We have a different—

HOST: That's not—

HOST: No.

SANDERS: Okay, my friend, look, I believe, you know, that we should make government run as efficiently and as effectively as possible, but I do not agree with anybody who thinks that we should privatize the VA. I was chairman of the VA. I talked to the American legion and the VFW and the Disabled Veterans of America. You ask them how their members feel about the VA and whether or not they want to privatize it. And what I will assure you is they will tell you, 'Yeah, the VA has its problems. It needs to be improved. We all agree with that. But it should not be privatized.'

HOST: Why do you think—

SANDERS: I have to apologize because I really have to run but I would love to continue the conversation, do you think we can do that again?

HOST: Set it up whenever you have a chance.

Trump Withheld Alimony From Marla Maples When She Threatened His Presidential Ambitions

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“Our purpose was to send a message that she was playing close to the fire. That should slow her down,” Trump’s lawyer said at the time.

Timothy A. Clary / AFP / Getty Images

When Donald Trump publicly floated the idea of running for president in 1999, his ex-wife Marla Maples made it clear she would spill the beans on her ex-husband if he were to make it to the general election.

"If he is really serious about being president and runs in the general election next year, I will not be silent," Maples told London Telegraph. "I will feel it is my duty as an American citizen to tell the people what he is really like."

The reaction from Trump and his attorney was swift and brutal. They launched a full-court effort in the press to discredit Maples and withheld an alimony payment to "send a message." The episode illustrates how Trump uses character assassination and threats to quash any opposition. Maples has largely remained silent on Trump's 2016 candidacy.

"She's pretty upset that she hasn't been in the limelight," Trump told reporters about Maples, according to the Associated Press. "But she got a little limelight today. I guess she wants her day in the sun."

"It's too bad the venom that she's got, and I thought I was very nice to her," Trump said of Maples to Fox News' Neil Cavuto. "I've taken good care of her. But she's got a lot of venom and it's too bad. And it's just not becoming of her, but I think she'll probably be more responsible."

"I mean you have a confidentiality agreement; you're not allowed to talk," continued Trump. "And she goes out and says, 'I wouldn't this, I wouldn't that.' So I say, 'Why am I paying money to somebody that's violated an agreement?' But we'll see what happens in the future and if in the future she continues I guess I`ll have to take very strong measures."

Trump's lawyer, Jay Goldberg, was even harsher in his criticism of Maples, saying, "The 15 minutes of glory ended when she left Donald's side. So this is a perfect way to attract publicity. All of her actions stand for the proposition 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.'"

Goldberg even took a shot at Maples' intelligence, saying, "Ms. Maples didn't have the capacity to understand, participate, or take a role in the business world. The public is quite aware of the difference in capacity, mental capacity, between Marla Maples and Ivana Trump."

Then, Trump, who the Daily News reported was enraged by Maples' comments, said he wouldn't pay the remaining $1.5 million of his alimony, the balance of the pair's divorce settlement which was due that week.

"We notified the court that we are not paying and that we are putting the check in an escrow account," Trump's lawyer said to the Daily News.

Maples' lawyer, William Beslow, said the payment was overdue and that Maples "respects the privacy of her marriage." They also hit back at Trump's team for going after her.

"One has to ask, 'Why now are Mr. Trump's representatives maligning Ms. Maples?' and the truth is clear," Beslow stated. "They're hoping to discredit Ms. Maples, so that if she chooses to say anything in the future, Mr. Trump can shrug it off as the words of an angry person whose intelligence should be questioned."

The pair headed to court over the missed payment, but a Manhattan judge declined to consider Trump's claims that Maples violated her prenuptial agreement.

"The interview reveals no details about the marriage," Maples' lawyer said. "In all other respects, she is as free as anyone to make statements about Mr. Trump.

Trump's lawyer then claimed Trump had no intention of withholding alimony, but wanted to send a message.

"It was never our intention to withhold the $1.5 million check," Goldberg said to the New York Post. "Our purpose was to send a message that she was playing close to the fire. That should slow her down."

Goldberg took a parting shot at Maples, who he called a failure.

"She's certainly a woman scorned," he said. "She's unhappy because she was a failure here in New York. She didn't accomplish anything. She got no roles, except The Will Rogers Follies, which Donald got for her."

Jennifer Bretan, a spokeswoman for Maples, blasted Trump to the Post.

"It's the sign of real insecurity that Donald Trump feels the need to authorize his mouthpiece to strike out against an ex-wife who he has basically been holding financially hostage. "

Meanwhile, Maples' lawyer, Beslow, took a last shot at Trump.

"Ms. Maples left Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump did not leave Ms. Maples," Beslow said.

RNC Chair: Nominating Clinton Is One Of The Biggest Blunders In Democrat's History

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“I think it’s one of biggest political blunders perhaps in their party’s modern history,” Reince Priebus said of the Democratic Party.

Joe Skipper / Reuters

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Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus said on Friday that he believes the Democratic Party's likely nomination of Hillary Clinton is one of the biggest blunders in the recent history of the party.

"I think, honestly, and I know I'm on the air, if it was just you and I, and we're having a beer, I promise you I'd tell you the same thing," Priebus told the Mike Gallagher Show on Friday. "They have decided to serve up probably the worst candidate that they could possibly serve at a time when, you know, they had an opportunity, we had an opportunity, and open seat for president. I think it's one of biggest political blunders perhaps in their party's modern history. It's unbelievable."

Earlier, the Priebus spoke about Donald Trump clinching the nomination, saying the primary's drama was actually great for the party.

"It's been an incredible primary season, no one can with a straight face say this was not something, I think, for the ages. Certainly full of drama, and a lot of excitement too. You know drama and excitement and difficulties are not — they are actually synonymous with winning. The intrigue and the interest is through the roof. We're excited about moving forward with our presumptive nominee. "

He added his party would move on to "taking on Hillary, who's in a ditch and can't get out."

Here's Audio Of Trump Supporting The Ouster Of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak

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Like his reversal on interventions in Libya and Iraq, Trump now says U.S. support for Mubarak’s removal was a mistake.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

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Donald Trump has been critical in recent years of President Obama's handling of the Arab Spring in Egypt, once tweeting, "We should have backed Mubarak instead of dropping him like a dog."

At the time Mubarak was ousted in February of 2011, however, Trump expressed his approval of the development. In audio obtained by BuzzFeed News, Trump tells reporters at the Conservative Political Action Conference that Mubarak leaving office was a good thing.

"Well, I think probably, the whole story with Egypt is a very interesting story right now. It hasn't played out, let's see what happens. Let's see what the end result is," Trump said. "So far, things are looking alright. I understand Mubarak is leaving. He announced just now while I was on an airplane? Well that's good. He lives in tremendous estates all over the world. Supposedly, he's taken $50 to $70 billion. Is this the kind of a leader they want? I don't think so."

Trump, who now places blame on Obama for Mubarak's ouster, said Obama had no role in the incident.

"I don't think he has handled it, these events are beyond him," Trump said.


Tech Company: We Will Put Up $10 Million For Bernie-Trump Debate

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Spencer Platt / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — A technology investment company has offered to put up the $10 million for charity that Donald Trump said on Thursday would be needed to hold a debate with Bernie Sanders.

[Update at 4:38 p.m.: Shortly after the publication of this report, Trump's campaign released a statement that he would not be participating in a debate with Sanders.]

Trump told late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel earlier this week that he would participate in a debate with Sanders.

After Sanders agreed to do so, Trump, on Thursday, said $10 million would need to go to charity for him to actually participate in the debate.

"Yesterday, Mr Trump asked for a $10 [million] donation to charity in order to accept Mr Sanders' challenge to debate him," Richie Hecker, chairman and CEO of Traction and Scale, told BuzzFeed News in a statement. "We are willing to offer that $10 [million] donation in return for the opportunity to host the debate."

Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images

The proposal is unusual because neither party has formally chosen its nominee, and because Sanders is extremely unlikely to be the Democratic Party nominee given that Hillary Clinton has significantly more pledged delegates than Sanders and the overwhelming number of unpledged delegates have said they will back her at the convention.

Hecker said his aim, if the offer is accepted by both Sanders and Trump, is to hold the debate on Monday, June 6 — the day before the California primary — at the "largest venue" in the state of California that they can secure. Traction and Scale presents itself as a technology investment firm aimed at investing in companies that are focused on making people's lives easier, citing simple product design and smart data use and products that engage communities.

Hecker, who earlier had been encouraging Michael Bloomberg to run for president, spoke with BuzzFeed News about his latest gambit, saying that "if you have the opportunity to host" such an event, why wouldn't you do so.

Laying out the details, Hecker's statement adds:

We would host the debate as a physical event and live stream it to the world. As a technology incubator and investment company, Traction and Scale builds transformative user experiences and will host the debate on our cutting-edge mobile technology. We have distribution to 250MM Americans on social media through this channel.

The debate format would focus on compromise and solutions. We would invite the candidates to look at the forum less as a debate, and more as a negotiation for the future of America. We believe that Mr Sanders and Mr Trump collectively represent the voice of the American people. We are confident that convening the voice of the people in a nonpartisan forum will spark the revolution and make America great again.

Noting that "the format we're going to use will be different," Hecker said this debate would be "a very powerful change to the process."

Asked whether they had contacted either the Trump or Sanders campaigns, Hecker said no, noting, "This election has been fought in the press so it seemed like the perfect forum to accept the challenge."

He said that, while the aim would be to stream the event on the internet, he expected that there would be TV coverage as well.

Ed Rendell: Democrats Are Short About $10 Million For Convention

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Matt Rourke / AP

In recent days, Ed Rendell, the former Pennsylvania governor and chairman of the Philadelphia 2016 Host Committee for the Democratic National Convention, has said the party is "$15 to $16 million" short of its $64 million goal, according to a source who spoke with Rendell.

Reached by BuzzFeed News, he said the figure is actually more like $9.5 million.

"Including pledges from companies I know are going to write the check, we're $9 to $10 million down," Rendell said. "It's a legitimate gap but we're touching every base to fill it."

The former Democratic National Committee chairman said context is necessary; in 2012, the federal government chipped in $18 million. The city of Philadelphia is not giving any money, which he said would have been up to $7.75 million.

"So we're down $25.75 million," he said. "It's been a heavy lift."

Rendell also said there is one more person to blame: Donald Trump, whose polarizing ascension has made corporations skittish about giving to the RNC; corporations often give to both party conventions evenly, so if companies reduce RNC contributions, they're likely to reduce DNC contributions, as well.

"So we’ve had three blows," he joked. "The fed, the city, and the Trumpster."

Rendell said he was confident Democrats would have the full $64 million by July 25. In 2012, the Charlotte convention ended up $25 million short, a bill that was footed mostly by the DNC. "We're determined to not let that happen," he added.

(One difference between this time and last time, however, is that Democrats have lifted the ban on lobbyist and political action committee donations to conventions — an Obama-era change that made fundraising for the event more difficult.)

Rendell, a Hillary Clinton supporter, also shared his concern that Bernie Sanders supporters could cause problems at the convention — not outside, where their protests wouldn't be escalated in clashes with counter-Clinton supporters, who he said won't engage them, but inside where Sanders delegates have no affinity or allegiance to the Democratic Party.

Clinton delegates, he argued, are mostly former 2004 John Kerry delegates, 2008 Clinton delegates, and 2012 Obama delegates.

"They have a stake in the party," he said, but "95% of the Bernie delegates don’t give a shit about the Democratic Party or somebody other than Bernie winning the presidency. They could be disruptive in the convention hall — that would be a terrible outcome."

Trump Criticized Obama For Not Intervening During 2009 Iran Protests

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Donald Trump, who has routinely criticized U.S. intervention in the Middle East, attacked President Obama in 2011 for not backing Iranian demonstrators who had protested the country's presidential election results two years earlier.

In a Youtube video uploaded by Trump in October 2011, he criticized Obama’s handling of the then-recent intervention in Libya, before pivoting to his response to the 2009 Iranian protests.

“If Obama would’ve backed the people of Iran two years ago when that county had a big, big problem—and the protesters were making headway—like he backed the protesters in the United States—as they call themselves occupy —we wouldn't have any problems in Iran,” Trump said, “believe me.”

“That country would've been turned over so fast, instead he abandoned those people," Trump added. "And you know what the end result is. And Iran has only gotten stronger. The man doesn't know what he’s doing.”

This wasn’t the first time Trump suggested he would have preferred the United States to take an active role in overthrowing Middle Eastern dictators. He had previously expressed support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, as well the intervention in Libya in order take out Muammar Gaddafi. Additionally, Trump praised the overthrow of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Contrary to his previous positions, Trump now says the overthrow of Mubarak was a mistake, and calls the decisions to intervene in Iraq and Libya disasters.


Trump's California Drought Plan: "We're Going To Start Opening Up The Water"

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The Republican presidential candidate suggested California should stop “taking the water and shoving it out to sea.” The comment suggests he’d divert water away from wetlands and toward farms.

Chris Carlson / AP

The Republican presidential candidate made the comments during a rally in Fresno, California, where many attendees hoisted "farmers for Trump" signs. Early on, he said California has "a water problem that is so insane. It's so ridiculous."

"They're taking the water and shoving it out to sea," Trump exclaimed.

Trump was referring to California's long-running drought, which is now in its fifth straight year and covers 94.5% of the state. Trump did not go into detail on his drought plan but did promise that if elected he would address it.

"If I win, believe me we're going to start opening up the water so that you can have your farmers survive so that your job market will get better," Trump announced.

Later, Trump cast doubt on the existence of the drought, recalling a conversation with farmers who told him water was being pumped into the ocean.

"When I just left 50 or 60 farmers in the back and they can't get water, and I say, 'how tough is it, how bad is the drought?'" Trump recalled. "There is no drought, they turn the water out in to the ocean. And I said 'I've been hearing it.'"

Chris Carlson / AP

The specific problems mentioned by Trump included "a certain kind of three inch fish" — a reference to the delta smelt that lives in central California. The fish is controversial; officials listed it as threatened in 1993, leading to frustration among farmers who say billions of gallons of water are sent downstream to maintain its habitat.

When Trump mentioned the fish, the crowd broke out in boos.

Trump's "shoving" comment also seemed to be a reference to how much water California devotes to environmental uses. The state generally allocates 10% of it's water to cities, 40% to agriculture, and 50% to "environmental" uses such as rivers and wetlands. About 7% of the state's water is used just to keep seawater out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, according to KPCC.

It was unclear how exactly Trump would deliver on his water promises. Though endangered species listings are federal designations, California's overall system is the product of a byzantine web of state and local agencies, regulations, and century-old water rights.


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Alabama's Chief Justice Goes To Federal Court To Seek Civil Rights Protections

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Roy Moore

Butch Dill / AP

WASHINGTON — Alabama's embattled chief justice, Roy Moore, is now seeking protection from the federal courts under a key federal civil rights law — an ironic twist in the already winding career of the conservative firebrand lawyer.

Moore, who strongly fought against the state having to abandon its ban on same-sex couples' marriage in recent years, was disqualified from sitting as the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court earlier this month after the state's Judicial Inquiry Commission filed ethics charges against him.

The six charges filed on May 6 were the result of an administrative order Moore issued on Jan. 6 in his capacity as the head of the state's courts. The order purported to tell probate judges in the state that they remained subject to an order that they uphold the state's ban on same-sex couples' marriages — despite the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that declared such bans to be unconstitutional and subsequent federal court order that applied specifically to Alabama's ban and its probate judges.

"In issuing his Administrative Order of January 6, 2016, Chief Justice Moore flagrantly disregarded and abused his authority as the chief administrative office of Alabama's judicial branch in substituting his individual opinion for that of the Court," the commission wrote.

Under the state's Constitution — Section 159, to be exact — Moore is disqualified from sitting on the court until the charges are resolved by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary.

In response, however, Moore now has gone to the same federal courts whose rulings he earlier argued were inapplicable to him and the Alabama Supreme Court during the legal battles over same-sex couples' marriage rights — to get those courts to issue an order that he be allowed back on the Alabama Supreme Court.

Moore asserts in his complaint: "This is a civil rights action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 1983" — the federal law that allows individuals to bring lawsuits when they allege that state officials have violated their constitutional rights — "challenging the constitutionality" of the Alabama constitutional provision.

"The Fourteenth Amendment forbids a state from depriving Chief Justice Moore of life, liberty or property without due process of law," his lawyers from the Judicial Action Group and Liberty Counsel argue in the complaint. "Chief Justice Moore has no adequate remedy at law to satisfy the harm caused to him by operation of Section 159 of the Alabama Constitution and the Defendants’ application and enforcement of same against him."

The provision, his complaint argues, "disrupts the orderly functioning of the Alabama judiciary, deprives an individual judge of property and liberty interests in judicial office, and irreversibly stains and stigmatizes the name and reputation of any judge against whom the JIC files a complaint."

The case, filed in the Middle District of Alabama, was assigned to Judge W. Harold Albritton III, nominated to the bench by President George H.W. Bush.

This is not Moore's first brush with ethics charges based on a failure to follow federal courts' orders, either. The same panel that will consider the new charges unanimously voted to remove Moore from office in 2003, the result of his refusal to follow a federal court's order to remove a statue of the Ten Commandments from his courtroom. He was later re-elected.

Read Moore's complaint:


Marco Rubio Says He's Sorry For Implying Donald Trump Has A Small Dick

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Marco Rubio said he's sorry for implying Donald Trump has a small penis.

Chris Carlson / AP

Speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper in a piece that aired Sunday, the Florida senator said he had apologized to Trump for the remark made in February.

Rubio said he regretted taking the "below the belt" jab at the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

"I apologized to him for that," Rubio explained. "I said, 'I'm sorry that I said that. It's not who I am and I shouldn't have done it."

The apology was done behind the cameras during one of the subsequent debates, Rubio said, because he didn't want "any political benefit" from the apology.

The size of Trump's penis became an actual, legitimate, real life, no-foolin' issue in the campaign in February when Rubio made light of what he said were Trump's small hands.

"And you know what they say about men with small hands," Rubio told rowdy supporters, pausing for effect as the crowd laughed. "You can't trust him."

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In the next presidential debate, Trump took some time at the podium to address the size of his hands and his "something else."

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Rubio told Tapper that he didn't like how the joke reflected on his own character.

"It embarrassed my family. It's not who I am," Rubio said. "What I didn't realize was it isn't who I am and if you're not being who you are it doesn't come across well."

Rubio said the comment came at a moment in the election where it was increasingly evident that none of the attacks or criticisms levied at Trump were working.

"This guy is out there every day mocking people, saying horrible things about people, but if you respond to him somehow you are hitting below the belt?" he said. "And he can do that because of whatever reason, he can do that. But I couldn't do that.

"It isn't who I am, it isn't what I do, and by doing that I ended up hurting myself, not him."

You can watch the CNN interview here:

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LINK: Donald Trump Would Like You To Know He Has A Big Penis

Campaign Chairman: Clinton Knows Email Setup Was A "Mistake"

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Eric Thayer / Getty Images

In a memo to top supporters, Hillary Clinton's top official sought to clarify the campaign's response to a new report from the State Department inspector general and move past a controversy that has dogged the candidate now for 15 months.

The 600-word letter from John Podesta, Clinton's chairman and longtime adviser, addresses the IG report's various findings, but comes back to a single point again and again: that Clinton knows the use of a personal email server was a "mistake."

"And she has taken responsibility for that mistake," Podesta wrote to several hundred of the campaign's most active supporters and financial backers.

The memo, obtained by BuzzFeed News, went out by email over Memorial Day weekend, five days after the release of the highly critical IG report. The investigation, separate from an ongoing FBI inquiry, concluded that Clinton failed during her tenure as secretary of state to comply with record-keeping policies.

In the days after the IG's findings became public, Clinton made appearances on four television networks to push back on the report as nothing new. "There may be reports that come out, but nothing has changed," she said. “It's the same story.”

(The IG report included some new details of how Clinton’s email arrangement was set up, including correspondence from within the State Department.)

The Podesta memo takes a more contrite posture, reminding backers three separate times that Clinton has called the email setup a mistake and continues to do so in the wake of the IG report. "The secretary has once again acknowledged this was a mistake," Podesta writes. "If she could go back, she’d do it differently."

Podesta also takes up one of the report's key findings: that Clinton's email practices did differ significantly from past secretaries of state, contrary to the candidate's frequent argument that, broadly, her email use was not "unprecedented."

Clinton used a non-government account to conduct State Department business, as did former secretary of state Colin Powell. But no other former secretary of state has maintained government correspondence on a private home-based server.

Although Clinton argued again in a Univision interview on Wednesday that her use of a personal account was "not at all unprecedented," the memo from Podesta alludes to the distinct aspects of her arrangement. At the time, he writes, "she believed she was following the practices of other secretaries and senior officials."

The IG report concluded that Clinton had an "obligation" to discuss such an arrangement with State Department officials, including for security reasons, but found "no evidence" that she "requested or obtained guidance or approval to conduct official business via a personal email account on her private server."

The report came as an unwelcome development for Clinton's campaign, just days before officials expect to clinch the Democratic nomination when polls close on June 7. The email scandal, dragging into its second year, has not helped Clinton fight the perception that she is untrustworthy or too often mired in controversy.

"We understand the questions about Secretary Clinton’s email practices," Podesta writes in his memo. But, he adds, "voters will look at the full picture of everything she has done throughout her career. We have faith in the American people."

Read the full memo below:

To: Interested Parties
From: John Podesta, Campaign Chair
Date: May 28, 2016



As Hillary Clinton nears the point where she will officially clinch the Democratic nomination for President, we intend to spend the coming months focused on the issues of greatest concern to the everyday lives of working families.

However, we know that our opponents will continue to try to distract us with attacks, including on issues like Secretary Clinton’s use of personal email while at the State Department.

Since last year, Secretary Clinton has said her use of a personal email server was a mistake. And while there have been ongoing reviews of this matter, the completion of the Inspector General’s examination gets us one step closer to resolving this.

While the rules surrounding use of a personal email account were clarified after Secretary Clinton left office – and the Inspector General recommends the State Department take measures to even further clarify them – the Secretary has once again acknowledged this was a mistake. And she has taken responsibility for that mistake – including in many interviews she’s done since the report’s release.

What she thought would be a convenient way to communicate with family, friends and colleagues – by using one email account for both her work related and personal emails – has turned out to be anything but convenient. If she could go back, she’d do it differently.

Parts of the report underscore what Secretary Clinton has said all along about her email practices as Secretary of State. For instance, the report confirms Secretary Clinton’s email account was well-known by many State Department officials throughout her tenure, and there is no evidence of a breach of her email server.

Had Secretary Clinton known of any concerns about her email setup at the time, she would have taken steps to address them. She believed she was following the practices of other Secretaries and senior officials.

What has also been missed in a lot of the discussion is that the report brings to light the longstanding and systemic problems in the government’s electronic recordkeeping systems.

Secretary Clinton believed her emails to and from officials on their state.gov accounts were automatically captured and preserved in the State Department’s electronic system.

It was not until the Department contacted her in 2014 that she learned this was not the case. And since then, she has taken unprecedented steps to ensure public access to her emails -- providing the Department with all of her work-related emails, totaling 55,000 pages, and calling for their release.

Secretary Clinton also agrees with the Inspector General’s recommendations that electronic recordkeeping practices and policies need to be upgraded. Printing out 55,000 pages of emails is not a good use of time or resources, nor should it be the standard for preserving records given technology available to us today.

There is a lot at stake in this election. This week Donald Trump officially clinched enough delegates to become the Republican nominee. That means an unqualified loose cannon is within reach of the most powerful job in the world.

While we understand the questions about Secretary Clinton’s email practices, we are confident that voters will look at the full picture of everything she has done throughout her career. We have faith in the American people. They know we have to be focused on solutions that will make a real difference in people’s lives.

Hillary Clinton will continue to dedicate her campaign to getting results on behalf of America’s working families. She rejects the strategy of pitting Americans against each other in favor of an approach that recognizes how much stronger we are when we come together. With your help, we will take that message across the country and earn a great victory this November.


Justices Make Moves In Death Penalty Challenges — But Avoid Hearing Any New Cases

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Chris Geidner/BuzzFeed

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday morning took action in three different death penalty cases with a series of moves that prevent the justices from having to hear any of those cases next term.

The justices rejected a request from a Louisiana death row inmate that the high court review the constitutionality of the death penalty itself, but, in another case, tossed out an Arizona death sentence and, in a third case, asked Alabama to review its death sentencing procedures.

The actions come as the nation's high court has slowed down in its granting of new cases for next term in the wake of its continued status as an eight-justice court. Since Justice Antonin Scalia's death on February 13, the court has only granted certiorari a handful of new cases for next term.

The justices' moves on Tuesday in the pending death penalty cases continued that trajectory.

The court tossed out Shawn Patrick Lynch's death sentence, granting his case and summarily reversing the Arizona Supreme Court's ruling that upheld his death sentence. The court held — in a brief, unsigned decision — that prior U.S. Supreme Court decisions determined that Lynch should have been able to inform the jury in the sentencing portion of his trial that, if not sentenced to death, he would not have been eligible for parole.

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, dissented from the decision, writing that the move "perpetuates the Court's error" in the prior cases and calling the decision a "remarkably aggressive use of our power to review the States' highest courts."

In the Alabama case, the justices granted Corey Wimbley's certiorari petition, vacated the judgment of the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upholding his death sentence, and sent the case back to that court to review the case in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision earlier this term declaring Florida's death sentencing procedures to be unconstitutional. In that case, Hurst v. Florida, the justices held that Florida's procedures were unconstitutional because, while juries made a recommendation, the judge was responsible for deciding the sentence in death penalty trials.

Earlier this month, the justices sent another case, that of Bart Johnson, back to Alabama courts for a similar review.

Finally, however, the court declined the request to take on the death penalty itself. In Lamondre Tucker's case, the Louisiana death row inmate asked the justices to hear his case to consider whether the death penalty, at least as to murder convictions, is unconstitutional in all cases.

The justices denied certiorari. In this case, however, the dissent came from the more liberal side of the court. Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, reiterated the call he made this past June — writing that the court should have heard Tucker's case "to confront the ... question ... whether imposition of the death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments."

Four justices are required to vote to hear a case, however, and that apparently did not happen in Tucker's case. For now, then, Breyer's question will go unanswered.

The court took no action on two other pending capital case petitions, both out of Texas: Duane Buck's case, raising issues of effective assistance of counsel and racism in the capital trial context, and that of Bobby James Moore, raising questions about standards for proving intellectual disability.

Trump Swears He'd Rather Discuss Policy Than Bill Clinton's Sex Scandals

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“I’d like to talk about policy more than anything else.”

In an interview with KABC this week, Donald Trump said he would much rather be talking about policy than allegations of sexual misconduct against Bill Clinton.

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REPORTER: You've talked also about Bill Clinton being an abuser of women. Do you think voters really care about decades-old sex scandals?

TRUMP: I don't know, we're gonna find out in about six months.

REPORTER: But it's an issue that you're gonna...

TRUMP: Well, it's an issue. Look, when they bring something up with me, where they say "sexist," which I'm not, then I bring that up to them. I'd like to talk about policy more than anything else. I mean, I'd love to stay on policy and you know cut taxes, and do lots of great things, and get rid of crime, and knock out ISIS, and all of the things we have to be doing. That's where I'd rather be focusing my energy.

Barbara Boxer Has More Analysis Of Why Young People Support Bernie Sanders

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“However, my point is, young people, they want to be aspirational.”

Drew Angerer / Getty Images

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California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who last week said young people support Bernie Sanders because he reminds them of their grandpa, continued her analysis of Sanders supporters this week, saying in a radio interview that she believes young people are "taken" with Bernie Sanders' lofty policy proposals.

"I think that Bernie has put out a wish list of things that I think that they're about $19, $20 trillion of things he wants to do," Boxer said Tuesday on the The Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC. "Bernie has put out proposals that add up to about $20 trillion. To put that in perspective, that is larger than the national debt. So you have to ask yourself, to yourself, 'how are we going to pay for this?' Bernie's answer is always, 'the billionaires, the billionaires.' So, I looked up how many billionaires there are — 500 approximately in America. You can't do it. You have to go after the middle class people, cause that's where the majority, that's where the dollars are."

"It's not going to be possible to do everything he says. However, my point is, young people, they want to be aspirational," Boxer continued. "And, I understand it. And, frankly, if Bernie and his people would now, it seems to me, start to find where they agree with Hillary and they can build a wonderful platform, they can work together, it's a positive. But I understand why young people were taken with that."

Donald Trump Called Daryl Hannah "A Six" Who Needs A Bath During A 1993 Spat

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“I see her a lot at Knicks games, and, I tell you, she doesn’t even understand basketball,” Trump said of Hannah.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

Donald Trump's response to women who criticize him is often to malign their physical appearance. He has attacked Rosie O'Donnell's weight, ridiculed Carly Fiorina's face, and retweeted an unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz.

In the early '90s, it was actress Daryl Hannah who drew the ire of Trump after she questioned his success in real estate. In a 1993 interview with Harper's Bazaar, Hannah said she didn't like how her stepfather, Jerrold Wexler, was commonly known as "the Donald Trump of Chicago."

"He was soft-spoken, modest; he avoided publicity. The only reason to compare him to Donald Trump is that he was successful in real estate—and Donald Trump isn't even successful in real estate anymore!"

In response, Trump shot off a letter to the magazine mocking Hannah's appearance and questioning her intelligence. Harpers Bazaar told BuzzFeed News they never printed Trump's letter, but newspapers across the country reported the details.

Reported the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Trump ripped off a letter to the magazine noting, "This has been the best business year of my life." He challenged the magazine to "pit my real-estate record against Wexler's any day."

Trump added: "The big question is: What does John Jr. see in Daryl, if anything. I have seen her on many occasions, and she is, quite simply, a 'six' - and badly in need of a shower or a bath.

"I see her a lot at Knicks games, and, I tell you, she doesn't even understand basketball."

Trump concluded by saying that her then-boyfriend, John F. Kennedy Jr. should ditch the actress.

"I hope John F. Kennedy junior has dumped her," Trump said.

A Trump spokesperson declined to comment.

Appeals Court Won't Reconsider Ruling In Favor Of Obama Admin's Policy On Trans Students

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Dominic Holden/BuzzFeed

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Tuesday announced that it will not be reconsidering an earlier ruling in favor of the Obama administration's policy that transgender students are protected under an existing civil rights law — a move that could send the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In mid-April, a three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision that "the [Education] Department's interpretation of its own regulation [interpreting Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972] as it relates to restroom access by transgender individuals, is entitled to … deference and is to be accorded controlling weight in this case."

The case was brought by a transgender student, Gavin Grimm, against the Gloucester County School Board, which had passed a policy that restricts students to restrooms reflecting their "biological gender." Grimm is represented by the ACLU, and the school board is represented by private lawyers.

The school board asked the full 4th Circuit — en banc — to reconsider the case, but the court announced on Tuesday that it had denied the request. The order stated that none of the judges requested a vote on whether to rehear the case en banc and, as such, the request was denied.

Judge Paul Niemeyer, who was the dissenting judge on the three-judge panel, wrote an opinion dissenting from the court's decision not to rehear the case.

"While I could call for a poll of the court in an effort to require counsel to reargue their positions before an en banc court, the momentous nature of the issue deserves an open road to the Supreme Court to seek the Court’s controlling construction of Title IX for national application," Niemeyer wrote.

The school district must now decide if it is going to ask the Supreme Court to do so and grant review of the 4th Circuit's decision.

Grimm, however, said in a statement that he hopes the case will be over now.

"Now that the Fourth Circuit's decision is final, I hope my school board will finally do the right thing and let me go back to using the boys' restroom," Grimm said in a statement. "Transgender kids should not have to sue their own school boards just for the ability to use the same restrooms as everyone else."

The decision also comes just days after Texas and 10 other states sued the Obama administration over its policies and guidance providing for transgender protections under existing civil rights laws. In addition, several lawsuits are pending in federal courts in North Carolina, consequences of that state's anti-LGBT law passed earlier this year.

Read the order and dissent:

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