John Sommers Ii / Getty Images

Newt Gingrich is now an adviser and potential running mate to Donald Trump, but Trump hasn't always thought so highly of the former House Speaker.

In 2000, when Trump was considering a presidential run on the Reform Party ticket, Gingrich was one of a number of politicians Trump called out by name as an example of why Americans are distrustful of politicians and cynical about donating money to political candidates.

"The vast majority of Americans considers giving money to a politician to be an un-American activity," writes Trump in his book The America We Deserve. "They are deeply skeptical of those in high office, and usually for good reason. When Americans look to those at the top of the political game, especially in the past couple of years, their eyes roll."

"Whether it’s Bill Clinton discussing what the definition of 'is' is, or Newt Gingrich pouting because he had to exit a plane through the back door, there’s plenty to laugh at. Jay Leno will never run short of material," wrote Trump.

Trump is referring to the the famous "Cry Baby Newt" cover of Gingrich on the New York Daily News, which blamed the 1995 government shutdown on Bill Clinton making Gingrich sit in the back of Air Force One.

A new poll ahead of the Republican convention finds that Donald Trump continues to do badly with Hispanic voters who support Hillary Clinton over him by 48 points, larger than the margin between President Obama and Mitt Romney in 2012.

Courtesy Univision

The Univision News poll, conducted by Bendixen & Amandi, which surveyed 1,000 registered Latino voters in English and Spanish, pointed to Trump's policies and rhetoric. More than three quarters oppose the border wall.

Courtesy Univision

A nearly identical percentage of voters found Trump's attack against Gonzalo Curiel, the Mexican-American Judge presiding over his Trump University fraud case, offensive.

Courtesy Univision

And almost three quarters of Hispanic voters believe Trump is racist.

Courtesy Univision

Clinton's favorability ratings with Latinos have been relatively stable during the campaign and Trump's have consistently been anemic.

Courtesy Univision

As both candidates prepare to name vice presidential nominees, Democrats are more likely to consider a Hispanic VP as a boon to the ticket than Independents or Republicans. Cabinet officials Julian Castro and Tom Perez are often mentioned as options for Clinton.

Courtesy Univision

On the top issues that matter to Latinos, 58% trust Clinton more on the economy and 63% trust her more on immigration. Only 17% of Hispanic voters trust Trump on immigration.

Courtesy Univision

In the wake of the Orlando shooting, 60% of Latino voters support a so-called assault weapons ban, while 37% are against it.

Courtesy Univision

For Republicans concerned that recent election cycles have irreparably harmed them with the Hispanic electorate, 53% of Latinos validated that fear — they would not consider voting for a Republican candidate in the future.

Courtesy Univision

The No One Knows Anything podcast previews the Republican National Convention.

The Republican National Convention is just a few days away. BuzzFeed News reporters Tarini Parti and Rosie Gray joined the politics podcast No One Knows Anything to preview what to expect.

This week has seen delegates already in Cleveland — host city for the RNC — draft a very conservative party platform and continue to push for rules that would allow delegates to vote for a nominee other than Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, top leaders from the establishment GOP have agreed to speak at the convention despite their continued reservations about Trump.

Subscribe to No One Knows Anything on iTunes.

Aaron P. Bernstein / Getty Images

CLEVELAND — Ted Cruz allies pushing for reforms to the Republican nominating process that would favor grassroots conservatives failed to make a deal with the Republican National Committee after backroom negotiations on Thursday.

Conservatives led by former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli met privately with RNC officials, anti-Donald Trump delegates and Sen. Mike Lee in a conference room in the convention center, where the powerful convention Rules Committee met on Thursday. A recess was called in the morning due to an alleged “printer jam," which quickly became clear was cover for RNC officials, pro-Trump forces, and anti-Trump delegates to negotiate in private.

Cuccinelli's side wanted a set of changes to the Republican nominating process, including more closed primaries, that would empower conservative candidates and decentralize power within the RNC. On Thursday, Cuccinelli told reporters that he thought he had struck a deal with the RNC but that party officials pulled out over one issue: Cuccinelli's request for a a delegate bonus as an incentive for states to hold closed primaries.

"They yanked it," Cuccinelli said. "There was back and forth on the numbers after they had yanked what we believed was an agreed package." Cuccinelli said his side had come back with a lower percentage as the proposed bonus, but it was rejected.

RNC spokesman Sean Spicer refuted Cuccinelli's assertion. "What this came back to is every state has a right to have a closed primary right now. This would have allowed for bonus delegates to encourage states or to create incentive, and I think we got to a place where we thought we could do this. But negotiating isn't giving in to everything that everyone wants," Spicer said. "Part of what we have to do is represent different interests as well and other people's thoughts, so the consensus people were sharing with the RNC is here's what we think is a fair number to create that incentive."

Steve Duprey, a New Hampshire delegate and an ally of RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, also said it was more than the closed primary aspect that killed the deal and that ultimately Cuccinelli didn't have enough leverage to push his package through.

"We haven't lost on anything," he said, pointing to Cuccinelli-backed proposals that have already failed when they came up for vote before the Rules Committee Thursday afternoon.

Cuccinelli's maneuvers have been seen as behind-the-scenes moves from Cruz's circle to obtain favorable conditions for his presumed 2020 campaign; Cuccinneli endorsed Cruz and was in charge of his delegate hunting operation. But a senior Cruz aide told BuzzFeed News that Cruz wasn't kept aware of the negotiations as they went on on Thursday.

Asked about whether these moves were designed to help Cruz, Cuccinelli told reporters he was focused on bringing the Republican party "to a position where it is friendlier to the grassroots conservatives that really make up the heart of this party and that do the work of this party day in and day out in state and local races."

Anti-Trump forces were well represented in the meetings on Thursday morning: Sen. Mike Lee, a member of the Rules Committee who has vociferously criticized Trump and refused to endorsed him, entered a conference room in the convention center where the Rules Committee meeting is being held. Inside the room were Cuccinelli and Kendal Unruh, a Colorado delegate and leader in the Free the Delegates movement that is seeking to allow delegates to vote their conscience. Lee, who is considered a potential supporter of Unruh’s “conscience clause” proposal that would enact a rules change allowing delegates to vote their conscience, declined to speak to reporters on his way in.

Priebus also joined in the meetings, along with other RNC officials like general counsel John Ryder, though reporters staking out the meeting did not witness Priebus going inside. Asked if Priebus attended, national committeeman Bruce Ash, who is also trying to quell anti-Trump forces, said, “I can’t help you but I will say I’ve talked to him a lot in the past day.” And another delegate confirmed to BuzzFeed News that Priebus was in the meeting.

Meanwhile, members of Trump’s campaign staff lingered nearby. Campaign chairman Paul Manafort told reporters he was “not worried at all” about the anti-Trump plan in question, as he walked toward the lower floor of the convention center. The anti-Trump delegates are trying to secure 28 votes to would send the measure — a clause that would allow delegates to vote their conscience — to the convention floor. Manafort stopped to huddle with RNC spokesman Sean Spicer, and then entered a conference room where he was later joined by Trump spokesman Jason Miller.

The printer jam ruse caused the Rules Committee to be called into recess until 1 p.m., meaning the two sides had a limited amount of time to come to an agreement before the proposals came to the Rules Committee to be voted on. Lee was seen leaving the meeting around 12:20 p.m.

Though the conversations on Thursday focused on the Cuccinelli-led proposals and not the issue of delegate unbinding, the result of the negotiations — and subsequent votes in the Rules Committee — could be a harbinger of things to come.

As of Wednesday night, Unruh told BuzzFeed News she was still confident about the minority report. “I know I have the 28 votes,” she said in an email. And reached by phone on Thursday, a Free the Delegates source said he was feeling good about what was happening in the room.

But doubts have emerged about how much support Unruh really has for the measure, especially as it has emerged that the RNC has enacted a whip operation — in other words, people actively working to get delegates to vote a certain way — against the proposal. The RNC is projecting a confident stance on the issue, with Spicer telling reporters “the numbers aren’t there” on Thursday.

Unruh told BuzzFeed News in a text message on Thursday, as the meeting was ongoing, that her conscience clause was not being negotiated over in the meeting. “This has nothing to do with unbinding,” Unruh said. “Or the conscience clause.” And Graham Hunt, one of the delegates in the meeting, told reporters it was a discussion between grassroots activists and not about unbinding delegates. “This isn't a meeting of free the delegates,” he said. “I think it's been a great meeting and will further the progress that's going to be done.”

When the committee reconvened on Thursday, the Cuccinelli-backed proposals failed, including an amendment proposed by fellow Cruz supporter Morton Blackwell that would eliminate a RNC rule that gives the RNC extra powers between elections, which got just 23 votes when it came up — an indication of how much resistance there is on the committee to RNC leadership.

It appeared that Cuccinelli’s proposals could be a way for the RNC to appease some anti-Trump delegates in exchange for them abandoning their efforts to unbind delegates, but with the failed deal, that's no longer an option.

When the committee reconvened at 1 p.m., committee chair Enid Mickelsen acknowledged that the delay was not due to a printer jam but instead because of the meetings.

"Obviously we did not stand adjourned for 3 hours for a jammed copier," Mickelsen said, but said the meeting was moving forward "deal or no deal."

Spicer later told reporters that the printer jam excuse was "frankly just a misunderstanding" and "we should have been clearer."

(Georgia Department of Corrections via AP)

Georgia is preparing to execute John Conner on Thursday, ending a two-month death penalty hiatus for the United States. If Conner is put to death, he would be the sixth person executed by Georgia this year, putting the state on equal footing with Texas.

His lawyers on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his execution — likely Conner's last opportunity to stop the scheduled 7 p.m. execution from going forward. The state has opposed Conner's request.

Conner was sentenced to death 34 years ago. According to court documents, Conner, who was 25 at the time, went to a party with friends, where he drank and smoked pot. After returning home, Conner and another man, J.T. White, went for a walk with a near-empty bottle of bourbon, searching for more alcohol.

Conner claims that while they were walking, White remarked that he would like to have sex with Conner's girlfriend, who they had left behind at the house.

"So I got mad and we got into a fight and fought all the way over to the oak tree and I hit him with a quart bottle," Conner said. "I was down there at him right there in the ditch where he was at, and he was swinging trying to get up or swinging at me to try to hit me one. And there was a stick right there at me, and I grabbed it and went to beating him with it."

Conner left White in the ditch, and returned home to tell his girlfriend they needed to leave town. Conner returned later to make sure White was dead.

Conner was sentenced to death for killing White, and later pled guilty killing another man: Jesse Smyth.

Conner's attorneys asked the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to spare his life, pointing to his horrific childhood and violent father.

“For young John Wayne Conner, normalcy included extraordinary familial violence that frequently involved knives and guns; regular drug and alcohol abuse; and brutal physical, sexual and emotional abuse," the clemency application read. "Having been raised in almost unimaginable circumstances of poverty and violence, Mr. Conner initially fell into the pattern modeled by those in his family."

The Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency on Wednesday. Conner's attorneys have also argued in court that he is intellectually disabled.

"After his arrest in 1982, he was evaluated at Central State Hospital following a jailhouse suicide attempt," they wrote. "The evaluation revealed a suicidal man with a 'history of mental illness' exhibiting symptoms of schizophrenia, autism, 'psychomotor retardation' and severe drug and alcohol dependence."

Attorney General Sam Olens' office responded that "there has been no genuine change in the facts or the law since relief was denied in his prior" requests.

On Thursday, the Georgia Supreme Court declined to halt his execution. Two justices wrote that they would grant a stay of execution "solely to decide whether, under the specific facts and circumstances of this case, his execution more than 34 years after being sentenced to death would qualify as cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution."

Conner's attorneys on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution and to review the Georgia Supreme Court's decision.

If Georgia executes Conner Thursday evening, it will be the most executions in a year for the state since the death penalty was reinstated. Georgia, like other active death penalty states like Missouri and Texas, uses a single drug called pentobarbital. Other states that would like to carry out the death penalty have been unsuccessful getting the drug.

Read the U.S. Supreme Court's order denying John Conner's request for a stay of execution:

Read the second denial:

Read the certiorari petition:

Read the state's brief in opposition:

Read the second certiorari petition:

Read the state's brief in opposition to the second petition:

*Charlie Brown music plays.*

Just a few months ago, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie burst on the scene as a enthusiastic surrogate for Donald Trump.

Mike Segar / Reuters

(Besides the whole is he a hostage or not thing.)

In fact, Christie told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace he would be a little "bothered" if passed over for the job.

“I’m a competitive person, so I’m not gonna say it won’t bother me if I'm not selected,” he said. “Of course it bothers you a little bit, because if you’re a competitive person like I am and you’re used to winning like I am, again, you don't like coming in second. Ever.”

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John Sommers II / Reuters

When Indiana Gov. Mike Pence ran for Congress in 1990, his campaign came under fire from Arab-American groups for a political ad that was labeled racially-insensitive.

Pence, who is reportedly a finalist to be chosen as Donald Trump’s running mate, later expressed his regrets about his behavior in that race in an op-ed titled “Confessions of a Negative Campaign.”

The ad, which BuzzFeed News was unable to obtain and view but was widely reported on in local press at the time, featured a man with a heavily Middle Eastern accent wearing a black robe, white headdress, and sunglasses thanking Pence’s opponent Rep. Phil Sharp for not weaning the U.S. off a dependence on foreign oil. Sharp was the chairman of a House Subcommittee on Energy and Power at the time.

"My people would like to thank you Americans for buying so much of our oil,” says the man in the ad to Sharp, while thanking him for taking oil and gas PAC money.

"Oh, thank you, Phil Sharp!,” the Middle Eastern man says.

The Washington-based Arab American Institute called the ad offensive. Pence defended the ad, telling the Associated Press, "This ad is not about Arabs. It is about Phil Sharp's failure to lead."

The Daily Journal, a local newspaper in the district, ran an editorial criticizing the spot. “Pence’s political ads insulting to arabs,” the headline read, before a scathing editorial comparing it to running an ad with blackface or an Italian man dressed as a mob boss.

More than 200 people gathered in a local Greek Orthodox church to protest the ad, which was called a “racist depiction of their culture.”

“It’s degrading,” said a women of Syrian heritage. “What’s so funny?” another asked. “It’s a cheap shot,” declared a Arab-American college professor.

Pence’s campaign manager said the ad meant “no malice” towards Arab-Americans.

Local editorials were run blasting the ad, with even Republican voters writing in to local papers to say they were offended. “Using it shows poor judgement,” wrote the Indianapolis News, comparing it to anti-Semitic caricatures. Letter after letter to editors blasted the ad.

“I’m one Republican who won’t vote for him,” one letter said of the ad.

The Indianapolis Star labeled it the worst commercial of the year.

In the end, Pence lost the race. Years later he wrote about how he regretted how he campaigned.

"It was a terrible experience. A bloodbath. But I own the responsibility,” Pence said to the Indian Business Journal in 1994 on his campaign. "We lost the race, and lost our mission--to honor God, and love your neighbor as yourself. We scarcely did that."

Asked about the efforts, the Clinton campaign provided the following statement to BuzzFeed News:

"Our volunteers and staffers across the country are taking the campaign into their own hands and reaching out to voters wherever they are. After the launch of Pokemon Go last Thursday, our organizers innovated and used the app to find other players to register them to vote and continue to do so. Whether it's Twitter, Facebook, Pokemon Go or whatever comes next, we expect our organizers will use whatever tools they can to register and commit voters to support Hillary Clinton."

Not to be left out, Donald Trump's campaign placed its own Pokémon campaign content on Facebook — portraying Clinton as one of the Pokémon monsters to be captured.

View Video ›

Facebook: video.php

The "Crooked Hillary" Pokémon's next evolution, per the Trump campaign, "Unemployed."

Via Facebook: DonaldTrump

Earlier Thursday, Trump had told the Washington Examiner that he was aware of the game — but was not playing it.

"I don't, but people are playing it. No question about it," Trump said. "I do not. I wish I had time."

The 2016 campaign, where all your memes and internet moments go to die.

Aaron P. Bernstein / Getty Images

During his first successful run for Congress in 2000, now-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence wrote on his website in a section on LGBT issues that money from a program to help those with HIV/AIDS should go to organizations "which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior."

Pence is reportedly a finalist to be Donald Trump’s running mate.

Pence also wrote that he opposed same-sex marriage and extending minority protections to LGBT individuals. BuzzFeed News first tweeted about the section last year.

Here's how the section read:

• Congress should oppose any effort to put gay and lesbian relationships on an equal legal status with heterosexual marriage.

• Congress should oppose any effort to recognize homosexual’s as a "discreet and insular minority" entitled to the protection of anti-discrimination laws similar to those extended to women and ethnic minorities.

• Congress should support the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act only after completion of an audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus. Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.

The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program according to its federal page "works with cities, states and local community-based organizations to provide HIV care and treatment services to more than 512,000 each year, reaching approximately 52% of all those diagnosed with HIV in the United States."

Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Activist Erica Garner said she believes she was used for ratings by ABC News after storming out of a taping of a presidential town hall hosted by the network Thursday.

Garner, an activist who is planning a march as the two-year anniversary of the death of her father, Eric Garner, approaches, took her bag and stormed off set, according to eyewitnesses.

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Erica Garner said the agreement with ABC News was that she'd get to ask a question about the Justice Department's investigation into her father's death — something the network refutes.

“That was the agreement before I called my brother and sisters and before we got on the train to head to D.C. to do the town hall," she said.

She added that she was particularly annoyed because she cleared her schedule to come to Washington amid planning for the two-year anniversary of her father's death.

Mary Altaffer / AP

Eric Garner died in 2014 on Staten Island after a New York police officer put him in what was been described as a chokehold. His comment during the struggle, "I can't breathe," became a rallying cry for the demonstrations that followed.

"I’m doing a march," Erica Garner said. "I could have done a whole different thing with my day other than to come to D.C. based on a lie."

Ashley Kershaw, an attendee of the town hall, described a tense atmosphere in the 150-person seat theater as Garner exited the stage and began screaming within earshot of the president.

"It was uncomfortable. People were looking around and you could definitely hear her screaming," Kershaw said. "The president shifted in his chair for a second but you could tell he was trying to ignore it."

It wasn't her intention to embarrass the president, Erica Garner said, but she had to be "belligerent just to be heard."

In a private moment with Obama she asked about the federal investigation into her father's death, she said.

“He did acknowledge" what happened to her father, she said. "It showed me that he's human and sees what’s going on but still it wasn’t enough. I felt like my voice didn’t matter in that conversation" on air.

The version of what was promised to Erica Garner and her family is disputed by ABC News. But Erica Garner told BuzzFeed News she was also angered by another development: The network sat her next to family members of Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, who were killed in an ambush days after a grand jury decided not to indict Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who applied the chokehold immediately before Eric Garner's death.

Erica Garner was not comfortable with ABC News' decision.

The producers 'said they thought that I knew," Erica Garner said. “I don’t have nothing against [them] personally. They tried to tie it to my dad and I don’t think it had anything to do with my father."

Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter network, said the ordeal at the town hall taping was symptomatic of a lack of progress under the nation's first black president.

Mary Altaffer / AP

"Too much talk and not enough action from the president," Cullors said. "The movement has been meeting with him for years and yet we haven't seen an improvement for Black Lives. It's time the president commits to take executive action and defund law enforcement agencies that continue to violate the civil and human rights of black people."

Erica Garner intended to ask about the length of Justice Department investigations, including the one Obama reportedly assured her was still open.

She said Obama assured her the investigation is still open and said he can’t put pressure on the Justice Department — or put his thumb on the scale — because of politics. He also told her she should be hopeful, according to Erica Garner.

"I just wanted to ask what he can do about it," Erica Garner told BuzzFeed News.

She also said she felt she had been "used for ratings," and she was upset that the broadcast didn’t acknowledge her dad despite her family being in attendance. As she sat in her seat, Erica Garner grew agitated as the conversation veered into "respecting officers," so-called black-on-black crime, and even gun control.

“Well, my dad wasn’t killed by a gun," she said.

Asked why her emotions boiled over so close to the grim anniversary, Erica Garner paused.

“I’m tired," she said. "I'm tired and I'm exhausted. I've exhausted every avenue trying to pursue justice for my dad. I've spoken to a rep from the DOJ. I've spoken on panels — whoever you can think of I’ve spoken with them. I’m tired of having this conversation. I’m tired. And I think the only way do this is to shut shit down. That’s not what I wanted to do or intend to do, but it’s a shame that I have to be loud and act 'ghetto' to get my point across. But I will be not be used and I will not be silent."

Backstage, Garner was seen pacing, clearly aggravated that she'd been "railroaded" by ABC News on the two-year anniversary of her father's death at the hands of the NYPD.

Reached by BuzzFeed News, a spokeswoman for ABC News said the taping went overtime to accommodate more people.

"We took an extra 30 minutes to get to as many people as we could during the town hall," Heather Riley, ABC's vice president of communications, said. "The president spoke to several people after the event ended, including at length with Erica Garner."

There were 150 invitees in the room, according to ABC News. Eyewitnesses said the exchange between Erica Garner and Obama lasted about three and a half minutes. On Thursday evening the White House confirmed the visit.

"After the ABC-hosted town hall that was taped this afternoon, the president had a brief opportunity to visit with Erica Garner who was upset that she didn't get called on to ask a question," an official said.

Reggie Harris, Erica Garner's political director, said ABC News reached out to Erica Garner to attend and their team wasn't immediately "enamored" with the idea, as she'd already met with the president. They came wanting to participate in the conversation on air, he said.

According to Harris, ABC News said it couldn't promise anything, but eventually acquiesced.

"I asked them, 'Short of a camera going out, if any questions get asked today, will you promise me one of those question will be Erica's?" Harris said. "They said, unequivocally, yes."

Aaron P. Bernstein / Getty Images

Donald Trump announced Friday morning on Twitter that he has chosen Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate.

Trump said he would hold a news conference Saturday at 11 a.m. He had postponed an event scheduled for Friday after the attacks in Nice, France.

The announcement on Twitter Friday ends speculation about Trump's choice. Multiple sources — including NBC News, CBS News, CNN, and ABC News — reported on Thursday that Trump would announce that he had chosen Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. Trump told Fox News on Thursday evening, however, that he had not yet made his "final, final" decision yet.

Trump tweeted he would delay the announcement after a driver in a truck plowed through a crowd in Nice, France, killing at least 60 people.

In order to assume the role of Trump’s running mate, Pence must forgo running for re-election as Indiana’s governor. Under Indiana law, the deadline for him to withdraw from the governor’s race is Friday.

Trump did not specify when he plans to make the announcement. The Republican National Convention is next week in Cleveland.

If ultimately chosen, Pence will have beaten out other finalists, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in what had turned into a public audition in recent weeks. The Indiana governor appeared alongside Trump at a rally in Westfield, Indiana on Tuesday, saying during his introduction, "Let us resolve here and now that from this day forward we will unite we still stand together we will not regress, until we make this good man our next president."

On Wednesday, Trump, along with his children, met with Pence and his family at his home in Indiana.

A former talk-radio host and congressman, Pence is well-regarded among those in the conservative movement. On Thursday morning, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Trump should pick a "movement conservative" as his running mate, and that Pence was clearly a good choice.

In 2015, he signed Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which, among other provisions, allowed business owners to refuse service to same-sex couples on religious grounds. The law caused a public outcry, with LGBT advocates saying it condoned discrimination and businesses — including the NCAA — mounting opposition to the law. Pence ultimately signed into law clarifications that the law did not allow for discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Late last year, Pence joined more than half of the nation's governors in opposing the resettlement of refugees from Syria in his state, citing concerns over security. Pence barred state agencies from assisting in the relocation of Syrian refugees, but a federal judge later blocked his order.

LINK: “Smoking Doesn’t Kill” And Other Great Old Op-Eds From Mike Pence

Sen. Mike Lee

Jim Urquhart / Reuters

CLEVELAND — Anti-Donald Trump delegates lost their battle to stop Trump's nomination at next week's convention, losing a critical vote in the powerful convention Rules Committee over whether delegates can vote their conscience.

A proposed "conscience clause" written by Kendal Unruh, a Colorado delegate and leader of the Free the Delegates movement which seeks to unbind delegates from Trump, was resoundingly voted down shortly before 10 p.m. on Thursday night. The Rules Committee chair, Enid Mickelsen, did not even have to call a standing vote that would provide an exact vote count, because the voice vote was clearly a win for the anti-unbinding side. The clause was the centerpiece of Free the Delegates' campaign.

The anti-Trump side would have needed 28 votes in order to send the amendment out of the committee for a wider vote at the convention. They didn't get close to that.

Anti-Trump delegates also lost by a wide margin a previous vote affirming the binding of delegates. Only a dozen members of the Rules Committee voted against binding delegates.

"Does anybody need any information on the conscience clause?" Unruh joked as she introduced her amendment to the committee.

"The right to conscience isn't just something we've decided is a cool idea," Unruh said. "It's something that's the basis of our nation."

"All I'm asking is that you regard this as the sanctity of the vote that is reflected and the duty and the obligation of each delegate to cast the ballot according to their conscience," Unruh said. "That's their God-given right."

RNC loyalists on the committee had asked the chair earlier in the evening to push through the remaining amendments instead of taking a recess for the night, in an apparent move to force a vote on the most controversial issues after everyone had already been meeting for hours.

Unruh had been saying as recently as Wednesday that she was confident she would have the votes for a minority report. "I know I have the 28 votes," she told BuzzFeed News. But RNC officials and Trump campaign officials were both telling reporters that the Free the Delegates movement had no chance.

"Anti-Trump people get crushed at Rules Committee," Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort tweeted on Thursday. "It was never in doubt: Convention will honor will of people & nominate @realdonaldtrump."

Eric O'Keefe, a leader of the Delegates Unbound group that is also opposing Trump's nomination, told BuzzFeed News that a plan was "in development" now that the conscience clause has been lost. Delegates Unbound later released a statement saying "Donald Trump is right: the process is rigged."

On Thursday night, Rules Committee members who opposed the Free the Delegates movement urged everyone to get behind Trump.

"It's over folks," said Steve Scheffler, a delegate from Iowa who is also the director of the Iowa branch of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. "Let's get behind our nominee."

One delegate from Hawaii who wore a Make America Great Again hat became tearful while asking his colleagues to back the nominee.

"I'm only as good as my word, and I ask you to be as good as your word," he said. "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

One delegate who emerged as a strong anti-Trump voice in the committee was Utah senator Mike Lee, who backed the conscience clause and opposed the binding amendment. Lee repeatedly went back and forth to confer with Unruh throughout the debate.

Lee gave an impassioned speech accusing Trump of silencing delegates.

Lee said that a nominee must win on "two levels" — in the primaries, as well as among the delegates.

"I hope that whoever our nominee will be this time will in fact win over the delegates," Lee said.

"This problem, this angst, as we will see in a few days isn't going to go away just because we paper over it with rules," Lee said. "So I say to Mr. Trump and those aligned with him, make the case, make the case to those delegates who want to have a voice, make the case that they should use their voice to support him. Don't make the case that their voices should be silenced."

Speaking to reporters after the meeting adjourned, Lee did not rule out the prospect of some kind of delegate action on the floor of the convention despite the loss in the Rules Committee, saying "we'll see" and that people shouldn't "assume the problem's gonna go away" because the Rules fight is over.

"It didn't turn out how I wanted it to but by the end it wasn’t a huge surprise that it turned out the way it did," Lee said of the vote on unbinding. "I studied this issue for weeks," he said of his decision to join the unbinding cause. "I made the decision on basis of reading a lot of material, historical analysis of the rules, the rules themselves."

Unruh also vowed to fight on, telling reporters she was still seeking enough names for the minority report, and that there would now be a floor fight.

"This was decorum of the process, this was trying to play by the rules, so Trump and the RNC chose to have a floor fight," Unruh said.

John Sommers Ii / Getty Images

Newt Gingrich channeled his inner Donald Trump Thursday night when he responded to the terror attack in Nice, France.

Speaking with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Gingrich called for every person of Muslim background in the United States to be tested for his or her belief in Sharia law, and said those that do believe in Sharia should be deported.

"Let me be as blunt and as direct as I can be: Western civilization is in a war," Gingrich said. "We should, frankly, test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported. Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization."

Gingrich added that he is "perfectly happy" to have "modern Muslims" who don't believe in Sharia "next door."

"Anybody who goes on a website favoring ISIS, or Al Qaeda, or other terrorist groups, that should be a felony, and they should go to jail," Gingrich continued. "Any organization which hosts such a website should be engaged in a felony. It should be closed down immediately.”

Multiple news outlets reported Thursday that Gingrich lost out on becoming Trump's running mate to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. Trump announced on Thursday evening that he is postponing his VP announcement, adding that he hadn't made his "final, final" decision yet.

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“A good T in the P is all this election really needed.”

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Libertarian vice presidential nominee Bill Weld on Thursday called the Republican delegates who added an anti-pornography measure to the GOP platform "hypocritical" and the "very worst of the movement conservative."

Appearing on the Michael Smerconish Show, Weld was asked about the NY Times’ report on the anti-porn measure and it being called “a text that can seem almost Victorian in its moralizing."

"No, I don't think pornography is a public health crisis," Weld told the Michael Smerconish Show on SiriusXM radio channel 124. "You know what those Victorians did when they got home after being, lording it over everybody about pornography."

"I'm not so sure I want to remember," interjected Smerconish. Weld did not immediately respond to a request from BuzzFeed News asking what exactly he thinks the Republican delegates did after passing the anti-porn measure.

"It's so hypocritical," Weld continued in the radio interview. "It's the very worst of the movement conservative. It's the social equivalent of the nanny state."

Weld said Republicans get angry over Democrats telling Republicans what to do with the economy, but do the same with social issues.

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For years in the 1990s, Donald Trump's running mate Mike Pence hosted a local radio show in Indiana.

Here's the introduction to that show. The clip was played on the Howie Carr Show on Friday.

Take a listen:

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Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Hillary Clinton for her role in leading the United States to intervene in Libya, but his recently announced running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, expressed praise and support directly to Clinton for her efforts to remove Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi.

On March 1, 2011 — two and a half weeks before the NATO intervention began — Clinton testified before a House Foreign Affairs Committee. In that hearing Pence specifically thanked Clinton for her efforts on Libya.

"I want to thank the Secretary of State for her testimony and her service to the country. It’s good to see you back before the committee," Pence said. " I also want to thank you, specifically, for the efforts by the administration and your offices to further isolate Libya during a time of extraordinary tragedy in the streets, tragedy of which I think we're probably only partially aware."

"I want to continue to encourage and urge the administration to stand with those that are standing in that now bifurcated country to use all means at our disposal to provide support," he continued. "I certainly associate myself with Mr. Royce’s comments about isolating radio communications and – and would express appreciation for your efforts at Geneva and elsewhere to facilitate a coordinated international response, including a no-fly zone. Qadhafi must go. I’m grateful to hear the secretary of state and the administration take that position unambiguously."

Trump has claimed throughout the campaign that he would have opposed the Libyan intervention in 2011 and that the country would be better off if Muammar Qadhafi were still in power. As BuzzFeed News first reported earlier this year, Trump, on his video blog and in appearances on cable news, pushed for intervening in Libya in 2011 on humanitarian grounds.

After the invasion began, Pence was more mixed on the administration's performance. He said he agreed with enforcing a no-fly zone but said he disagreed with the Obama administration not getting a resolution to use force from Congress. He also said he wished the U.S. had taken the lead role in fighting conflict, instead of yielding the lead to the NATO.

"I certainly support the decision to enforce a no-fly zone. With the want and slaughter of civilians which was taking place at the hands of Muammar Qadhafi I think the international community responded in a proper way," said Pence on local radio. "I'm disappointed the president consulted with the U.N. and didn't consult or seek a resolution for the use of force from the Congress. It's also disappointing for me to see the U.S. yield the lead role to French in this matter. The French essentially are leading the world community into confronting Muammar Qadhafi."

Rick Scuteri / AP

Rep. Raul Grijalva, one of Bernie Sanders' early elected backers, will hold his first events as a surrogate for Hillary Clinton in Nevada on Sunday with a message that only Democratic unity can defeat Donald Trump in November.

Grijalva will kick off a voter registration event where he will help register Latino voters in Las Vegas, visit a Hispanic church, and attend a unity BBQ hosted by Rep. Dina Titus, commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, and state senator Tick Segerblom, who was one of Sanders' lone elected supporters in Nevada.

He will also participate in a video teleconference with former Sanders supporters in Northern Nevada.

Grijalva, who released a long statement a month ago when he announced his support for Clinton after primary voting ended detailing the ways Sanders had changed the trajectory of the Democratic party, echoed those points in an interview with BuzzFeed News but said his message to Sanders supporters is that they must come together to defeat Trump because he is an affront to the progressive policies they have fought in the trenches for.

"I think people that are grieving the fact that Bernie is not our nominee should grieve," he told BuzzFeed News.

"We have to ensure that we defeat Donald Trump — implicit in that is that you have to support Hillary Clinton. I don’t see supporting Hillary Clinton as taking a step back, or dropping issues we believe in. By supporting her we provide a margin that is going to be very necessary; progressive, young, voters of color, particularly Latino, are going to play a huge role in helping to beat the real, palpable threat of Donald Trump's twisted populism."

And Grijalva said his state of Arizona, the oft-mentioned Clinton dream state where a large Latino population has not been fully tapped electorally, could be unlocked if she is able to unite disparate generations of Latino voters. He argued that Democratic victory is possible in Arizona if younger Hispanics drawn to Sanders message vote in November because of the prospect of Trump.

"He’s a pandemic threat to the Latino community," Grijalva said. "The verbiage, scapegoating, the blatant racism, that’s a target," he added, saying that for young Latinos it would be a vote to defend their family in a place like Arizona where immigration concerns are real. "That’s not just reverse fear-mongering, it's just the reality, man."

But while Grijalva argued supporting Clinton is a necessary next step, three high-profile Latino staffers who helped craft Sanders' immigration message during the primary all hesitated to endorse her candidacy.

Arturo Carmona, deputy political director for Sanders, said he was focused on stopping Trump, who he called "one of the most destructive and dangerous" threats to Latinos ever.

"I’m going to do everything I can to support in that effort, to continue to build the progressive movement, particularly from a Latino and multicultural lens," he said, but would not endorse Clinton at this time, saying he would revisit the issue after the convention.

Like Carmona, Cesar Vargas who worked in Latino outreach for Sanders, pointed to victories in the Democratic platform as a sign of the type of work that can be done besides endorsing Clinton.

Sanders Latino spokesperson Erika Andiola, who like Vargas and Carmona was a national immigration activist before joining the Sanders campaign, declined to discuss supporting Clinton in the wake of Sanders endorsement of her.

"I don't have any comments on that at this moment," she said.

But Vargas suggested endorsements are overrated. While Trump's rhetoric concerns him, a competitive election does not.

"Secretary Clinton became a way better candidate because of Senator Sanders and Senator Sanders became a better candidate on immigration because of Secretary Clinton and the great work her Latino staffers did," he said.

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Donald Trump on Saturday formalized the selection of Mike Pence as his running mate, appearing on stage in New York City with the Indiana governor two days ahead of the Republican National Convention.

Trump said that Pence would help him fix America's "rigged system."

"I’ve found the leader who will help us deliver a safe and prosperous society," he said. "Indiana Governor Mike Pence is my first choice."

On Friday, Trump tweeted his announcement, settling weeks of speculation about his vice presidential pick. Other finalists included New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Trump praised Pence's gubernatorial accomplishments, citing his work to reduce unemployment and increase the labor force in Indiana.

"I answered this call for two reasons," said Pence, who spoke to Trump on July 13. "I know from firsthand experience that strong Republican leadership can bring about real change, and Hillary Clinton must never become president of the United States of America."

Pence spoke briefly about his personal background and acknowledged that he had initially affiliated with the Democratic Party. He said he was deeply inspired by former President Ronald Reagan and switched parties.

He called Trump a builder, a fighter, and a patriotic American who "has set aside a legendary career to build a stronger America."

Trump on several occasions drew contrasts between Pence and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, saying his vice presidential pick "will never be afraid to speak the name of our enemy."

"I joined this ticket because the choice could not be more clear," said Pence.

The joint appearance was originally scheduled for Friday, but the Trump campaign rescheduled it for Saturday, citing the Bastille Day Attack in Nice, France. Multiple reports, however, said Trump was second-guessing Pence as his vice presidential pick up until Thursday night, with CNN saying Trump was asking his advisers if he could "get out of it."

LINK: “Smoking Doesn’t Kill” And Other Great Old Op-Eds From Mike Pence

LINK: It’s Official: Trump Picks Pence As His Running Mate

Eduardo Munoz / Reuters

As executive director of a conservative think tank in Indiana, Mike Pence wrote an editorial sharply criticizing then-President George H.W. Bush for signing the 1991 Civil Rights Act

The act was supported by 93% of the Senate and 88% of the House of Representatives. Only 33 Republicans voted against the bill. The bill was passed in response to a handful of cases in the Supreme Court that made it harder for women and minorities to win discrimination cases against employers.

While the bill passed through Congress with overwhelmingly bipartisan support, it was opposed strongly by many in the conservative movement, including commentators like Pat Buchanan who argued it would create "reverse discrimination." Bush had previously vetoed a more comprehensive version of the bill in 1990, saying he feared it would establish quotas.

Pence's 1992 op-ed in a local Indiana paper, uncovered by BuzzFeed News, is an early example of the activism that would make Pence a favorite among many in the conservative movement. Donald Trump's decision to pick Pence as his running mate was made in part to appeal to conservatives who had been hesitant to back him.

His op-ed focused on calls to remove Vice President Dan Quayle from Bush's ticket. Pence was strongly opposed to such efforts saying, unlike Bush, the vice president was in touch with the base of the party.

"Whether it was Bush's cynical reversal of the 'no new taxes' pledge or his vacillation on the 1992 (sic) Civil Rights (quota) Act, he has managed to alienate a sizable portion of the Reagan Republican coalition," wrote Pence, then working at the Indiana Policy Review. "Somehow, miraculously, Dan Quayle has managed to keep his distance from these objectionable acts and has, more than any other politician in America, engendered real credibility as a spokesman for the strong-defense, free-market, and tradition-driven platform of that coalition."

Editorials placed by Indiana Policy Review in a number of local newspapers also blasted the bill after it was passed.

Here's Pence's below:

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