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McCain: "I Don't Get" Trump's Attack On New Mexico Governor

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“If there’s ever a person who’s what we want in the Republican party, a female Hispanic governor who is very effective and very popular, I mean, that’s what we want and yet, he was harshly critical of her.”

Jim Watson / AFP / Getty Images

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John McCain said last week that he didn't get Donald Trump's attack on Republican Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico.

In a Friday interview with his daughter on America Now with Meghan McCain, the Arizona senator was asked how Republican leaders can unite the party. In saying he didn't know the answer, McCain brought up Trump's criticism of Martinez, whom the presumptive Republican nominee said on Wednesday was "not doing the job."

"With ours, Meghan, I honestly don't know exactly what to say," McCain said of uniting the GOP. "When I saw that Donald Trump criticized harshly the governor of New Mexico who I happen to know and campaigned for. I mean, if there's ever a person who's what we want in the Republican party, a female Hispanic governor who is very effective and very popular, I mean, that's what we want and yet, he was harshly critical of her. I don't get it. All I can tell you is, I don't get it."

McCain, who said earlier in May that though he disagreed with Trump on some issues he would support "the nominee," went on to say that he hoped Trump would try to unite the party.

"I hope that we can unite the party. I hope that there will be that effort made by the Trump people and Trump himself, but frankly, I've never seen anything like this," he said. "I've been wrong in my predictions every time, so there's no reason in me predicting what's gonna happen."

McCain continued, "But there are divisions within our society that we haven't seen since I think the Great Depression. And a lot of that has to do with great disappointment that people have about their lives. We've never really totally recovered from the 2008 recession. There's a whole lot of reasons for it but it certainly did catch a lot of the so-called establishment by surprise, including this one."


Gary Johnson On Trump’s Deportation Plan: “That's Wacko”

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The Libertarian nominee hit back at Donald Trump on Tuesday for calling him a “fringe candidate.”

Kevin Kolczynski / Reuters

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Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson hit back at Donald Trump on Tuesday for calling him a "fringe candidate," saying in a radio interview that Trump's deportation plan is "nuts" and "wacko."

"Obviously we're fringe candidates," Johnson said on Fox News radio's Tom Sullivan Show. "We're Republicans that served in heavily Democrat states and got re-elected. So, that makes it really fringe. And it's really fringe to have somebody stand up and say that immigration is really a good thing, and that all the things that he's saying, regarding deporting eleven million illegal immigrants, is nuts. That's wacko."

Johnson said the United States should make it as easy as possible for undocumented immigrants to get work visas if they pass a background check and get a social security card.

"They are not murderers and rapists," continued Johnson. "They are the cream of the crop when it comes to workers. Statistically, they commit far less crime than U.S. citizens."

Mark Cuban Questions Whether Trump Is Actually A Billionaire

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“I’m not so sure Donald knows what he’s not good at.”

Ezra Shaw / Getty Images

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Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban on Wednesday questioned whether Donald Trump is actually a billionaire, saying Trump's lack of transparency with his finances makes his net worth difficult to determine.

"I know what I'm good at, and I know what I'm not good at. I'm not so sure Donald knows what he's not good at," Cuban said on 77 WABC's Bernie and Sid.

Cuban said Trump was good at putting his name on big buildings and licensing his name on hotels, but it isn't clear how much money that has made him. "He's good at that. Whether or not that's made him a billionaire, I don't know," Cuban said. "He's not transparent enough for us to actually know."

Cuban said he went over Trump's FEC filings and saw Trump was "horrible" at many aspects of business.

"I think he's good at real estate; I do give him a lot of credit there. I think he's good at branding real estate," he said. "I don't think he's very good at brands for non–real estate products. And, to me, it's more a reflection of desperation.

"So when you're putting your name on steaks, and you're putting your name on water, you're putting your name on playing cards, you're putting your name on all this nonsense, right? You're not gonna make big bucks, no matter what. It's not like Trump Steaks were gonna make him $100 million. It's not like it was gonna make him $5 million."

"I asked, 'What the hell are you doing?' Are you that desperate for money?' Seriously," Cuban said, saying Trump couldn't say no if someone was going to write him a check.

Later in the interview, Cuban said he has more money than Trump.

"It's not even close, I do," Cuban said. "Before all the Trumpians jump on me on who has more money, the reason I know is when you file your federal election campaign reports, you have to list all your cash and liquid securities and bonds. You have to list them one by one. So we know without any question that as of May 27, Donald doesn't have more than $165 million in cash and securities and bonds.

"And trust me, I've got a lot of more than that in cash, securities, and bonds," he continued. "And so you know, I'm willing to bet dimes against dollars that that's pretty much what he's got."

Cesar Chavez's Son: Not True That My Father Would Have Supported Sanders

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On Sunday, David Villarino, a son-in-law of labor leader Cesar Chavez, introduced Bernie Sanders to a crowd in Bakersfield, California.

Villarino told the crowd if he was alive today, Chavez would support Sanders for president.

That energetic proclamation did not sit well with Paul Chavez, Cesar Chavez's son and president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation, who told BuzzFeed News the family largely supports Hillary Clinton.

"The fact of the matter is most of us in the family that continue to work closely in the movement that my father began strongly support the candidacy of Hillary," he said.

Paul Chavez said that support goes up to his mother, Helen Chavez, 88, who is in the hospital fighting an infection. Nevertheless, he said his mother has asked his sister to talk to him about running public service announcements for Clinton, urging people to get out to vote.

"The same day she received her ballot, she voted for Hillary and sent it back in," Paul Chavez said, referring to the imminent California primary. "She's always talking to people, 'Are you registered to vote? You gotta vote for Hillary, we gotta stop Trump,'" he said of the presumptive Republican nominee.

His mother told him that if she weren’t sick, she would be walking precincts for Clinton today, "the way she did for Bobby Kennedy back in the day."

The pushback from the Chavez family comes as the Democratic primary winds down, with the big prize of California set to be decided on June 7. While Clinton is expected to surpass the number of delegates she needs to win the Democratic nomination that day, Sanders has not ceded any ground and continues running hard against her, forcing the campaign to run a primary and general election campaign at the same time.

Clinton has embraced the moral authority of the farm workers movement, deploying Dolores Huerta — who worked with Cesar Chavez — around the country as a Hispanic surrogate, and calling her one of her heroes in a Spanish-language ad that aired in California, Illinois, and Florida. The ad also highlights the endorsement of the United Farm Workers union.

(Huerta has been criticized by Rosario Dawson, a high-profile Sanders surrogate who has repeatedly slammed Clinton.)

Sanders, who has made Latino voters a priority during his stops in California, spent time with another member of the Chavez family during Memorial Day weekend when Chavez's nephew Federico Chavez gave him a tour of Forty Acres, a storied national park in Delano, California, where the father of the farm workers union first organized workers.

Still, Paul Chavez called his father a "practical idealist" who would have seen a lot to like in Clinton's worldview.

"He believed this country was big enough and great enough to offer its share of bounty to all of us, but he also knew you had to go to work everyday and provide results on a daily basis," Paul Chavez said, before pointing to Clinton's work for immigration policy, collective bargaining for farmworkers in California, and early childhood education for Latino children. "When I think about that and the work and track record of Hillary there is no question in my mind who my father would support."

Ultimately, Paul Chavez said Clinton will faceoff with Trump, whom he likened to former California governor Pete Wilson, who mobilized Latinos angry over Prop 187 in 1994, a year after the death of Cesar Chavez. He expects the same result.

"When the community feels under attack it will stand up and it will protect itself," he said, again pointing to lessons learned from his father.

"My father used to say the best organizer is the grower and the supervisor who do things to incite farm workers."

Federal Judge OKs Louisiana's Request For No Executions Until At Least 2018

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The Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La.

Judi Bottoni / AP

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday approved Louisiana officials' request that a stay on executions in the state be extended into 2018.

The delay was approved by U.S. District Court Judge James J. Brady in ongoing litigation brought by two death row inmates, Jessie Hoffman and Christopher Sepulvado.

The state had filed the unopposed request earlier in the day on Tuesday. Although Brady's approval of the order is dated Tuesday, it was not posted on the court's docket until Wednesday.

Prior to this week's order, all proceedings in the case had been on hold through July 11, 2016.

"Counsel were in agreement that a continuance of the stay for another year was appropriate," attorneys for the state wrote. However, "given that a twelve month stay would put all parties back in the position of dealing with a legislative session and possible conflicts resulting from same, it would be prudent to extend the stay for eighteen months or until approximately January 8, 2018."

Brady granted the request, extending the stay through Jan. 8, 2018, on which date he scheduled a status conference in the case.

The lawsuit, initially brought in 2012, has been on hold since early 2014, with the stay of the case having been extended several times. In January 2014, Brady had denied the state's motion to dismiss the case, holding that Hoffman and Sepulvado stated several claims in their complaint that, while they might not ultimately succeed, are "plausible on its face." Brady allowed Eighth Amendment and equal protection claims brought by the inmates regarding the state's lethal injection protocol and a claim seeking protections giving them access to the courts to proceed to trial.

Louisiana has only held two executions in the past 15 years, the most recent in 2010. As of Jan. 1, however, the state had more than 80 people on death row.

While the case currently only includes two of those people, others could join the challenge if the state attempted to set an execution date for them.

Read the order:

Katie McGinty Falsely Claimed To Be First Member Of Her Family To Go To College

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The Democratic Senate candidate has often said she is the first member of her family to go to college. But commencement records and her brother’s Facebook page show he enrolled and graduated before her.

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Democratic Senate candidate Katie McGinty has often claimed on the campaign trail to be the first member of her family to attend college. Records reviewed by BuzzFeed News, however, reveal that McGinty's older brother graduated from college eight years before she entered.

"I was the first in my family to go to college, and I did so with the help of a scholarship," wrote McGinty, who is challenging Republican incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, in a Feb. 25 Facebook post.

"As the ninth of 10 kids and the first in my family to go to college, I've been privileged to live the American dream," she is quoted as saying in a January AP story.

As recent as late April, she said "even though I was number nine, I was the very first one to go to college in my family," in a speech to the NAACP.

According to commencement records, however, her brother, John McGinty graduated from La Salle University, a four-year college, in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts. John P. McGinty's LinkedIn account, which is no longer publicly accessible, also listed him as having attended La Salle from 1970-1973, after attending the Community College of Philadelphia from 1968-1970. His Facebook page also lists him as a member of the La Salle class of '73 and as a member of the Temple University class of 1978, where his page says he got a Master's in education.

Katie McGinty entered Saint Joseph's University in 1981.

McGinty sometimes phrases the claim differently, saying she was "first in her family to go to a four year college," which is how it appears on her campaign website and in a May 23 press release. On Wednesday, she tweeted, "Lauren: Katie understands what I'm going through. She was the 1st in her family to go to a 4-year college and didn't hold anything back". The claim was also included an April 28 fundraising email for the McGinty campaign from Vice President Joe Biden.

When reached for comment, McGinty campaign spokesman Josh Levitt said, "As Katie has said, she was the first in her family to attend and graduate from a four-year college. Her brother completed a two-year program then applied the credits to receive his bachelors."

John McGinty could not be reached for comment.

Mitch McConnell: Trump's Insults Need To Stop, Add No Value

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“It is something about him that I don’t care for.”

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a radio interview on Thursday that he is bothered by Donald Trump's use of personal insults.

Asked on 1099AM's WBAL News Now with Bryan Nehman if he was worried by Trump's temperament, McConnell said, "It does, I don't like that."

"I think that ought to stop," he said. "I don't think it adds any value whatsoever to the discourse. It is something about him that I don't care for."

Earlier in the interview, McConnell said he was backing Trump because "he won, he got the most votes," and it was his job to respect the will of the voters. McConnell added that the alternative of Hillary Clinton isn't better than Trump.

McConnell did not directly answer if he thought Trump was a conservative or a Republican, but said Trump would have to operate in a "right-of-center world."

"I think he will have to operate in what I call the right-of-center world," said McConnell. "And that includes a lot of people like Ryan, myself, and others who clearly are conservatives. The president is not a dictator in our country. You can't just do whatever you want to, you have to work in the system. And the system in our party is right of center."

The RNC's New Hispanic Media Director Bashed Trump Nonstop For Months

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After the Republican National Committee Hispanic Media Director left Wednesday because of discomfort with working to elect Donald Trump, the RNC moved quickly to announce a replacement: commentator and journalist Helen Aguirre Ferré.

Before the announcement, Aguirre Ferré deleted tweets critical of Trump — both from when she worked for Jeb Bush's campaign and long after, when it was clear Trump would be the Republican nominee. She was also very critical of Trump in a multitude of Spanish-language interviews, from Al Punto — a Sunday political show in the mold of Meet The Press, with influential Univision anchor Jorge Ramos — to local stations in Florida.


Aguirre Ferré has said she is #NeverTrump, often retweeting people who say they are Never Trump and called him "crazy" on Twitter.

She was also taken aback by the infamous Chicago rally that involved widespread protests and some violence between protesters, Trump fans, and police; and Trump's comments about protesters (that they should not be roughed up too much, but that he would pay for legal fees). In an English-language appearance on Newsmax TV the day after the incident and ahead of the Florida primary, she echoed her deleted tweet (above), calling Trump "one of the principle instigators of the violence that we’re seeing."

"I think it’s more than clear, Donald Trump has contributed to this and there is very clear evidence in his speeches and his rallies that he does instigate that violence, and then he will say I will pay for your attorney or don’t rough them up too much," she said.

The "introduction of that from a political candidate is so dangerous and so divisive and even when he speaks in defense of this he’s come back to illegal immigration and immigrants as if immigrants were a problem with the violence yesterday," she added, noting that he didn't denounce violence against journalists attributed "to people working for Donald Trump or part of the campaign."

In Spanish-language interviews, Aguirre Ferré did not hold back, making clear that she thought Trump was bad for the Republican Party.

In a Nuestra Tele Noticias appearance last summer she said Trump's was an "absurd," "anti-immigrant" plan and that he held many points of view at odds with Republican voters like that "he’s in favor of abortion, he’s against traditional marriage."

While Trump has lots of money, she said, he "values people for their bank account not their value as a human."

"Donald Trump is a recent Republican, you can’t tell me he speaks for the party, I reject that," she continued.

And she made it clear that she never thought the day would come when she would work to help elect Trump as the party's standard bearer.

"He has never been that and he never will be," she said.

But it is Aguirre Ferré's stances on Trump's comments about Hispanics that speak to the difficulties the RNC now has. Simply put, Latino Republicans have long speculated that any serious, experienced operative would hold anti-Trump views, whether they are Spanish-language television surrogates or those looking to join the RNC.

Supporting a different candidate is one thing; operatives do that all the time as the primary turns to the general election. But Aguirre Ferré has been on Spanish-language television as an expert saying that Trump's policies and comments are anti-immigrant and anti-Latino. Now she will be making the argument that Trump should be elected and Hispanics should support him and not Hillary Clinton.

She has tweeted that those who associate with or support Trump have a history of violence against Hispanics. In a tweet that she didn't delete, she said it was "terrible" that two men who beat a homeless Hispanic man had this justification: "Trump is right."

She's said that other candidates were wrong in trying to adopt Trump's style. Latino voters, she said, would reject this strategy and punish the candidates. Those who are "treating Hispanics badly, they don’t deserve to be the nominee," she told NTN.

Months later, once Bush was out, she took issue with Trump's comment that women who have abortion should be punished (which Trump later retracted). The comment, Aguirre Ferré said on Al Punto, would consolidate support against him from women.

"I'm not going to tell you he's a misogynist, but I do think there is something that makes him uncomfortable about strong, independent women," she said, referring to his criticism of women, including Megyn Kelly of Fox News.

"In the case of abortion, Donald Trump held every viewpoint possible including supporting partial-birth abortion, something even many who are pro-choice oppose," she concluded.

In May, she said many Republicans would not unify around Trump and pointed to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan as someone whose job it was to keep the majority.

"Anyone who knows Paul Ryan, knows that he doesn't have a lot in common with Donald Trump ideologically, or in his moral character either."

Aguirre Ferré did not answer requests for comment by time of publication but told the Washington Post, "Hillary Clinton offers a third term of the Obama administration and those policies have been a failure. We can’t afford another Clinton/Obama presidency."

Yet, on A Fondo from Miami on May 3, when Ted Cruz had dropped out and it was clear Trump would be the presumptive Republican nominee, she said she still hadn't made up her mind.

"I think I'm going to be one of those people who isn't going to know until the last moment who I'm going to vote for," she said.



Paul Ryan Folds

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Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images

He's voting Trump.

Hillary Clinton Attacks Trump On "Dangerously Incoherent" Foreign Policy Positions

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Mike Blake / Reuters

Hillary Clinton took on Donald Trump's foreign policy positions during a pointed speech in San Diego on Thursday, calling them "dangerously incoherent."

Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, said a Trump presidency would not only destabilize the United States, but the rest of the world, whether enemy or ally.

“Donald Trump’s ideas aren’t just different they are dangerously incoherent,” Clinton said. "They're not even real ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds, and outright lies.”

She mocked Trump’s experience, saying foreign policy is not the same as running the Miss Universe pageant in Russia or closing a golf deal.

Clinton's foreign policy speeches often are heavy on policy, focusing on how, for instance, Europe might better respond to the threat posed by ISIS terrorist attacks. On Thursday, her speech was filtered through Trump himself, and drawing sharp contrasts between the broad contours of his policies and hers.

And, as she repeated the presumptive Republican nominee, she drew sustained laughter from her audience — even on some of the graver and more gravely delivered points.

The speech was heavy on such stark subject matter. Russia and China, she said, would celebrate a Trump presidency, on the basis of his questioning the value of American alliances. Clinton asked the audience to picture Trump making decisions about sending family members to war, or with the U.S. arsenal at his disposal.

"He's not just unprepared,” Clinton said. “He's temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability, and immense responsibility."

In recent weeks, Clinton has increased and sharpened her rhetoric against Trump, calling him unqualified for the office in a recent interview. On Thursday, she said he didn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief.

“This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes because it’s not hard to imagine Donald Trump taking us into war just because somebody got under his very thin skin," Clinton said. "We cannot let him roll the dice with America."

Mark Cuban: Trump "Appears To Never To Have Met A Lie He Didn't Love"

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“From what I see today, I think he would be a puppet president.”

Mike Stone / Reuters

Billionaire businessman and investor Mark Cuban, who earlier this week questioned Donald Trump's billionaire status, told BuzzFeed News in a subsequent interview that Trump would be a "puppet president" and called the presumptive nominee out for his tendency to lie.

"From what I see today, I think he would be a puppet president," Cuban said in an email. "He would be so dependent on everyone around him because of his lack of depth of knowledge and fear of failing, that the quality would be completely dependent on two things: One, what stresses does he run into his first year, two, who does he place around him. He isn't a problem solver. He will be completely dependent on those around him. And he isn't good at hiring either. That's why he puts family (and he gets credit for having such smart, accomplished kids) in so many important positions. That's not feasible here.

"So if he places the wrong people around him and he is incapable of solving problems, we could see some crazy things happen as Republicans distance themselves and Democrats attack," he continued. "On the flip side, if he gets the right people in place, we may not know he is there and the Republicans tell him what to do and he does it."

Last July, Cuban called Trump "probably the best thing to happen to politics in a long, long time," citing his tell-it-like-it-is attitude and willingness to speak his mind rather than deliver canned political answers. Cuban said he stands by part of that assessment today.

"I love the fact that he wasn't a traditional politician and he shook up politics," Cuban said "Hate the fact that he hasn't taken learning what's needed seriously enough, and he appears to never to have met a lie he didn't love."

Cuban and Trump have a bit of a history of taunting one another dating back to the mid-2000s, when they each had similar television shows airing on rival networks. Trump has called Cuban unattractive, said he had a bad television show, had no-personality, called him a "total loser" on Howard Stern who could never date his daughter, and even said he couldn't pick between having his daughter date Cuban or Osama Bin Laden.

Cuban said he had no hard feelings over Trump's repeated disses of him.

"Business is business," said Cuban, "that's one of the things I like about Donald. He can mix it up and then move on. That's actually a positive quality he has."

"I like the guy. He is just fun to pick on because he is so thin-skinned."

Cuban said Trump was "morally good" but lacked any self-awareness. "I think he tries to be nice," he said. "But he has absolutely zero self awareness. None. Zip. So we see the public Donald Trump , the candidate, as being different than the in-person Donald Trump."

Cuban added that the presidency isn't something Trump can brand. "Donald is trying to brand the presidency with what he sees himself as and what he thinks people want. This is a position where you don't bring a brand, the brand comes to you based on your results," he said.

Clinton Brings On Joaquin Castro's Chief Of Staff As Deputy Political Director

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Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Carlos Sanchez, the chief of staff of Rep. Joaquin Castro in Texas, will take a leave of absence and join Hillary Clinton's campaign as deputy political director, BuzzFeed News has learned.

Sanchez, a seasoned political operative among the tight-knit group of Hispanic Washington operatives, will report to the campaign's highest ranking Latina, Amanda Renteria, who serves as national political director.

In his role, Sanchez will be in charge of managing the campaign's regional political directors across the country. Renteria's political work has involved a focus on key coalitions, like Hispanics, that Clinton needs to win the White House.

"It's pretty exceptional that you have two Latinos as political directors," said Joaquin Guerra, a Democratic strategist from San Antonio. "And we're well-represented with Renteria from California and Carlos from Texas."

(As for his time with Castro, Guerra argued that Sanchez gave the up-and-coming congressman cache, when he came over from Nancy Pelosi's office.)

The Laredo, Texas, native already did one tour with Clinton's campaign before the Texas primary, serving as communications director, where she won over 70% of the Latino vote.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox Challenges Trump To Debate

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“I’m willing to come here, to come here, to the States, if it’s for a debate.”

Marcus Donner / Reuters

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Former Mexican President and noted Trump dogger Vicente Fox challenged Donald Trump to a debate on Thursday.

"I'm willing to come here, to come here, to the States, if it's for a debate," Fox stated on WABC radio's Election Central with Rita Cosby. "A direct personal debate with him."

"Yes, we can use national broadcasting, public broadcasting," Fox added. "With you, we can do that debate."

Fox said he hoped the debate would lead to Trump listening and engaging in a discussion with facts and numbers and not just be "lying and cheating to people, saying blah, blah, blah."

"No, this is not a show and I don't want his $10 million he says he'd race for a debate," added Fox, a reference to Trump saying he'd debate Bernie Sanders for millions in charity (before backing down). "No charge on my side. But, the thing is we should listen to what we're saying and that will be very exciting and very interesting for everybody to hear about."

A Trump spokesperson did not immediately return a request comment about whether he'd agree to the debate.

Earlier this year, Fox bashed Trump in an expletive-filled rant, comparing him to past Latin American strongmen and said he believed Trump would lead to a war with Mexico.

Koch Groups Are Still Spending Millions, But Choosing Door Knocks Over More Ads

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Alex Wong / Getty Images

RALEIGH, N.C. — When Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers first ran for her House seat in 2009 as a fresh face for the conservative movement, she brought a new wave of activists to the army of volunteers affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers’ political operation.

That year, Americans for Prosperity, the largest Koch-funded group, saw its first major growth spurt in North Carolina — one that eventually led to its current roster of more than 200,000 engaged activists across the state.

Seven years later, the same activists Ellmers energized are now working against her.

The network’s six-figure digital and direct mail campaign against Ellmers marks the first time the group created by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch has openly jumped into a primary with the express intent of defeating a Republican member of Congress.

"It's a warning shot to Washington that we don't care if there's an ‘R’ after your name," said Donald Bryson, state-director of AFP-NC, before a round of door-knocking Tuesday morning.

Bryson was knocking on doors in the newly created congressional district that has pitted two GOP incumbents — Ellmers and Rep. George Holding — against each other in a special election next week. The complaint against Ellmers? That "conservatives can't trust her" based on her votes on government spending. The group was ahead of schedule, having already hit 12,000 doors a week out from the election.

AFP's involvement in the primary comes as the influential network of wealthy donors largely sits out of the presidential race and pushes back on reports that the Kochs are scaling back their role in national politics. Questions about their level of involvement emerged after a lack of change in policy from the GOP-controlled Senate they helped elect and a sustained liberal campaign attacking the brothers and their company for their political contributions.

But through a multi-million dollar ad campaign focused mainly on Senate races, a voter data platform used by most Republicans in tough races, and a well-trained army of more than 2 million activists, the Koch’s political operation plans to remain engaged in the 2016 election — albeit in a more subtle way compared to past election cycles.

The network has spent about $15 million on ads in Senate races — mainly through its super PAC Freedom Partners Action Fund and AFP — and has reserved $30 million in airtime for the fall in five key states so far: Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Florida. The amount is lower than past election cycles, but sources involved maintain that the infrastructure they have created overtime can move numbers without spending hundreds of millions on ads, as it believes it has done in North Carolina against Ellmers.

"TV is still important — we are clear about that," said Tim Phillips, president of AFP. "But it has shown diminishing returns."

AFP regularly tracks the effectiveness of its ads and grassroots efforts in deciding how best to use its resources. In Ohio, where one of its biggest state chapters is gearing up for a tight Senate and presidential race, the group found a negative 5% swing in Democrat Ted Strickland's favorability over two days last month, according to data shared with BuzzFeed News.

The drop came after the group’s staff and volunteers made more than 660,000 door knocks and direct phone calls against Strickland’s record.

“We’re committed long-term to building a robust infrastructure that can change policy,” Phillips said. “The tactics we use in any given year may change.”

After reportedly spending $125 million in 2014 election cycle, the group reviewed its spending in different states and found that the impact from ads was not consistent.

In Iowa, AFP found that a high percentage of viewers remembered an ad they ran in August, but it didn’t move numbers against Democrat Bruce Braley and actually ended up hurting now Republican Sen. Joni Ernst’s favorability slightly.

During the same month, in Louisiana, two different ads — one focused on environmental regulation and another on veterans criticizing the Affordable Care Act — had varying results. The environmental ad, which claimed the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations were killing jobs in Louisiana, barely moved numbers while the veterans ad did.

Despite the group’s findings, some within the network continued to push for more ad spending this election cycle to boost certain Republicans on the federal level, making the case that although not all ads move numbers, many help set the narrative for races, as the themes in the ads were later echoed by the media and campaigns. Many of those donors were also disappointed when the network passed up on the opportunity to take on Donald Trump.

But impressed with the wins on the state level in recent years, the network’s leadership and more policy-focused donors have been more willing to invest resources into improving that infrastructure, which can also be used to get out the vote for Senate and presidential races.

Based on a review of Federal Election Commission reports and sources affiliated with the campaigns, at least 16 Senate campaigns — including those of Sens. John McCain, Ron Johnson, Mark Kirk, Kelly Ayotte, Richard Burr, Rob Portman and Pat Toomey — are using the data platform called i360 created by the Koch’s political operation.

With an increasing focus on grassroots activity this cycle, Phillips declined to give an estimate of how much AFP would end up spending, adding that it would be “significant,” as the group continues to identify potential races it could still get involved in. The group is also debating the nature of the involvement in each of the races — sticking to issue advocacy or expressly calling for the victory or defeat of a candidate in ads. “We are continually reassessing,” he said. “This has been such an unpredictable last 15 months.”

Beyond AFP’s involvement in Senate races, Phillips named North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as two “courageous” governors on policy who are in tough re-election races, but he did not indicate if the group’s approval of the two will translate to financial support. AFP ran ads thanking McCrory last year, and its state chapter is doing some issue advocacy against the governor’s Democratic challenger Roy Cooper. A recent door hanger AFP sent out called out Cooper, the state’s attorney general, for supporting “President Obama’s harmful new EPA rules.”

AFP has also sent mailers thanking Republican Reps. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas and Rod Blum of Iowa — both are facing primary challengers.

Overall, the network was expected to spend $889 million in two-year 2016 election cycle. By the end of last year, it had spent nearly half. Asked about the budget now six months into 2016, James Davis, a spokesman for Freedom Partners, the umbrella group for the network, wrote in an email: “The budget was a projection two years out that covered a broad range of activities we would consider. However we make investment decisions on an evolving basis and we are comfortable we’ll raise enough to fully fund all of our network priorities.”

Although only a tiny portion of the network’s budget, jumping into the Ellmers primary was also a way for the Koch network to continue to build its voter data and experiment with its grassroots capabilities ahead of the November election, where it will try to boost Republicans in at least five states.

“The special election aspect of the primary provided a unique opportunity for us to test and experiment,” Bryson said while knocking on doors. “We know the one thing that moves people the most is this — that personal contact makes all the difference.”

Sources: Too Early To Say If Paul Ryan Will Fundraise And Campaign For Trump

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Alex Wong / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Speaker Paul Ryan endorsed Donald Trump Thursday after a few weeks of holding out, but it's unclear how involved he will be in the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's campaign.

The speaker's office is still debating how closely tied they want to be with Trump when it comes to fundraising and campaigning. Trump has been struggling to put together a fundraising operation that can keep up with Hillary Clinton and could use help from Ryan, who is well-connected with top donors and has already raised millions for House Republicans.

Sources familiar with Ryan's thinking told BuzzFeed News that it's still too early to say how involved the speaker will be and that Ryan's primary focus is going to remain campaigning for House members.

Ryan has distanced himself from some of Trump's offensive comments, but his endorsement came on the same day that Trump said in an interview that the judge presiding over lawsuits against Trump University has an "inherent conflict of interest" because of his Mexican heritage.

The speaker's decision to back the billionaire was widely expected after he told reporters last week that his staff had been talking to Trump's campaign almost daily.

In a column for his hometown newspaper, Ryan said Thursday that despite their differences, their common ground — Trump backing House Republicans' "bold" policy agenda, which is set to be released in the coming days — would unite the party.

"It’s no secret that he and I have our differences," Ryan wrote. "I won’t pretend otherwise. And when I feel the need to, I’ll continue to speak my mind. But the reality is, on the issues that make up our agenda, we have more common ground than disagreement."

"For me, it’s a question of how to move ahead on the ideas that I — and my House colleagues — have invested so much in through the years. It’s not just a choice of two people, but of two visions for America. And House Republicans are helping shape that Republican vision by offering a bold policy agenda, by offering a better way ahead."


Gary Johnson: I Would Look Into Pardoning Snowden If I Were President

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“I don’t want to see him in prison.”

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Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson said in an interview on Thursday that he'd look into pardoning NSA leaker Edward Snowden if he is elected president.

"Well, by face justice, I don't want to see him in prison," Johnson told The Hardline on NewsMaxTV.

"If I were president of the United States, I would certainly look into actually pardoning Edward Snowden," Johnson continued. "This is someone who has divulged information that we would not know about currently and that's the United States government spying on all of us as U.S. citizens."

Donald Trump has called Snowden a "traitor," and Hillary Clinton has said he should face trial.

In the interview on Thursday, Johnson said that he agreed with former attorney general Eric Holder's comments that Snowden performed a "public service" by leaking U.S. intelligence secrets because his actions began a broader public policy debate on domestic surveillance.

"At the end of the day, really, I agree attorney general Holder's statement, it's pretty darn accurate," said Johnson of Holder's comments. He cited American Revolutionary era figures now hailed as heroes who were viewed differently in their time.

Paul Ryan: "I Completely Disagree" With Trump's Attack On Federal Judge

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Ryan endorsed Trump on Thursday.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

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House Speaker Paul Ryan says he completely disagrees with comments made by Donald Trump accusing the judge who presides over the fraud case against Trump University of a conflict of interest because of his "Mexican heritage."

Ryan, who endorsed Trump on Thursday, told WISN's Up Front With Vicki McKenna: "Look, the comment about the judge the other day just was out of left field for my mind. It's reasoning I don't relate to. I completely disagree with the thinking behind that."

"And so, he clearly says and does things I don't agree with, and I've had to speak up on time to time when that has occurred, and I'l continue to do that if that's necessary," Ryan continued. "I hope it's not."

Trump told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's "Mexican heritage" and membership in a Latino lawyers' association presented an "absolute conflict" in the case. "I'm building a wall. It's an inherent conflict of interest," Trump said to the Journal.

Still, Ryan said he supported Trump because Hillary Clinton would not be a partner on advancing conservative principles. "It really kind of comes down to that at the end of the day," Ryan said.

Prominent California Lawyers Rip Trump's Attack On Federal Judge

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WASHINGTON — In the wake of Donald Trump's continued attacks on the Mexican heritage of a federal judge in California overseeing a lawsuit pending against Trump University, prominent lawyers in the state are starting to speak out.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Trump continued with prior ethnicity-based criticism of U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, saying the judge has "an absolute conflict" in the case because he is "of Mexican heritage" and belongs to a Latino lawyers' association.

"That is a truly outrageous, baseless and egregiously offensive position," Theodore Boutrous Jr., a partner with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and global co-chair of the firm's litigation practice, told BuzzFeed News.

"Throughout our history as a country, courts have repeatedly rejected such unfounded attacks on judges based on their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and sexual orientation," Boutrous said. "It's the last sad refuge of a biased litigant who thinks he is going to lose a case. It's un-American."

Trump, in the Wall Street Journal interview, claimed, "I'm building a wall. It's an inherent conflict of interest."

Eugene Volokh, a law professor at UCLA and prominent libertarian academic, scoffed at the claim, explaining to BuzzFeed News why Trump's approach "can't be the law."

"Trump’s theory is, apparently, that anyone can get any judge disqualified for 'conflict of interest' just by saying things that the judge finds offensive enough," Volokh wrote. "Don’t like the Jewish judge on your case? Say things that are critical of Jews, and now the judge presumably has to step aside because of a conflict of interest. Don’t like the female judge? Say things that women tend to find offensive. Don’t like the judge who was a Republican activist? Say nasty things about Republicans."

That just doesn't work, he continued. "For obvious reasons, that is not the law, because it can’t be the law. Judges can’t be disqualified from a case because of their ethnicity, or because of their ideology, or because you say things that are offensive to them or their ethnic group."

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Trump In 2014 On Women In The Army: "It Is Bedlam"

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In a 2014 interview, Donald Trump lamented that the presence of women in military academies and in the army had led to chaos.

Trump was being interviewed by Michael D'Antonio for the book, The Truth About Trump, and—in an audio recording of the interview obtained by BuzzFeed News—discussing how his life at the New York Military Academy was different from the drug-fueled counterculture of the 1960s, before pivoting to the current state of the army.

“I went to a military academy, which was from a different planet,” Trump said. “We didn't have women in the academy at that time. Today you have women, which is a whole other story, women in the army and you see what's going on. It's like bedlam.”

In the recording, D'Antonio agreed before Trump reiterated:

“It is bedlam. It's something that people aren't talking about but what's going on is bedlam, bringing women in the army.”

After D'Antonio pointed out sexual assault in the military, Trump continued:

“Raped and they can't even report it because—So, again, the whole thing is… Look, our country is so...” he said, trailing off.

Trump has expressed disapproval of a co-ed military in the past, tweeting in 2013 the number of military rapes with the question, “What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”

Via Twitter: @realdonaldtrump

Last August Trump said he would be open to allowing women in combat roles, but added in December that it was a "tricky subject."

Trans Activist Introduces Clinton: I'm Here To Prove Many In Community Support Hillary

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David Mcnew / AFP / Getty Images

CULVER CITY, Calif. — Samantha Ronson, celebrity DJ, was picking the music. Actresses Sally Field, Elizabeth Banks, and Debra Messing were hanging out backstage. But the most noteworthy speaker here at Hillary Clinton’s star-studded women’s rally may have been Theresa Sparks, the transgender activist.

Until Friday's event, Clinton, often introduced by a familiar staple of elected officials, had never prominently featured a transgender person at a campaign rally.

Sparks, the executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, told the crowd of 500 gathered in the gymnasium of West Los Angeles College that much of the trans community supports Clinton. "I support Hillary. Many of my community support Hillary," she said. "And I’m here to prove that."

“I am a proud transgender woman,” Sparks said. “I’m here to tell you trans women are women. This means that trans issues are women’s issues, and women’s issues are trans issues.”

Earlier this spring, Bernie Sanders was praised for becoming the first ever presidential candidate to be introduced at a rally by a transgender person. He featured two transgender activists, Andrea Zekis and Jenny Seibert, at events in Oregon and Washington.

Angelica Ross, a black transgender woman and activist, spoke at a New York fundraiser for Clinton in March at the invitation of the campaign.

Clinton, however, drew criticism last month for not responding to a questionnaire sent to presidential candidates by a transgender rights group, Trans United Fund. Sanders completed the survey, promising to expand federal transgender protections should he become president.

The Vermont senator is campaigning aggressively in California this weekend ahead of Tuesday’s primaries, hoping to secure a win that would help him forge on in the race in spite of Clinton’s lead in votes, pledged delegates, and superdelegates.

After Clinton did not respond to the Trans United Fund survey, the chair of the group’s organizing committee, Hayden Mora, said he and other leaders felt “feel disappointed and perplexed” by Clinton’s silence.

At the Culver City rally — one stop in a packed schedule of events across California featuring Clinton and her husband — Sparks said she supports the former secretary of state because she “proudly plays the woman’s card,” a reference to Donald Trump’s frequent quip that Clinton's only appeal is that she is a woman.

Once having been a “proud and privileged white man,” Sparks said, she has a “unique perspective” on women’s issues. “After I began living my truth,” she said, she became aware of discrimination against women, in the workplace and at home, “to a degree I had no idea existed.”

“In my former self, I had no idea,” Sparks said. “Hillary’s on the right side of this. She will prove that she’s on the right side of history.”

This story has been updated with fuller quotes from the event.


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