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Trump campaign CEO Stephen Bannon once criticized Mitt Romney's five sons for making time to serve as Mormon missionaries without having served in the military.

Bannon made the remarks in an October 2012 interview on Conservative Republican Forum Radio, when he was still chairman of Breitbart News and promoting his documentary, The Hope and the Change.

"Mitt Romney goes to the Republican convention, gives his acceptance speech, people give him a standing ovation, and he doesn't have the common decency to say one thing about our troops fighting in Afghanistan?" Bannon said. "This is a guy who avoided military duty in Vietnam; who has five sons who look like movie stars who have not served their country one day. Oh, but by the way all of them did their two years of Mormon missionary service — every one of them."

Romney obtained four draft deferments during the Vietnam war, three for his academic studies and one for his service as a Mormon "minister of religion." Donald Trump also received four draft deferments, including one medical deferment that his campaign has attributed to bone spurs in his feet.

Trump, meanwhile, has struggled throughout 2016 to win over traditionally Republican Mormon voters, and he acknowledged in a speech earlier this month that he's having a "tremendous problem in Utah."

Spokespeople for Bannon and the Romney family did not respond to requests for comment.

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WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday commuted the federal sentences of 111 people — making a total of 325 commutations in the month of August and 673 commutations during his presidency.

Obama, who has made the issuance of commutations to address harsh sentencing laws a key element in his presidency, ended August as he began it — by issuing a large batch of more than 100 commutations.

On Aug. 3, Obama issued 214 commutations — a move the White House announced as the most a president had issued in a single day since at least 1900.

On Tuesday, the president issued 111 more commutations. A BuzzFeed News review of the list provided by the White House details that all are serving sentences for convictions of drug crimes or drug-related crimes. The vast majority stem from cocaine, mainly crack cocaine, offenses, although a dozen of Tuesday's commutations include methamphetamine-related offenses and one — out of Florida — is of an LSD-related conviction.

About half of Tuesday's commutations set the prison sentences to end on December 28, 2016. Most of the others reduce the sentences to a shorter term of months, while the remainder set the sentences to end at a specific date in the future beyond 2016. Some come with conditions relating to drug treatment.

Tuesday's commutations are the latest in a series of such moves by Obama after announcing his support in 2014 for a clemency review process to address those serving harsh sentences that they would not be subject to if convicted today. The Clemency Project has led Obama to to grant a series of such commutations beginning in July 2015.

LINK: Read the full list of Tuesday's commutations from the White House.

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ERIE, Pa. — Hillary Clinton's running mate criticized Donald Trump's health disclosures on Tuesday afternoon, arguing that the doctor's note his campaign released last year is short of "credible" and the latest instance of his effort to "con" voters.

"The Trump campaign just feels like Trump's next big con," Sen. Tim Kaine said, linking what he described as an insufficient doctor's note, reportedly written in five minutes by a personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, to Trump's refusal to release his tax returns or shed light more light on his financial dealings abroad.

The Democratic vice presidential nominee launched the new broadside on Trump at a small campaign rally here in Erie, his first event on a four-day swing through Pennsylvania and Florida. With a folksy and warm way with voters, Kaine is an unlikely attack dog on the trail, but his speech here Tuesday amounted to the Clinton campaign's sharpest critique yet of Trump's personal health as well as his business dealings abroad, including 120 international projects and his former campaign manager Paul Manafort's reported ties to the Russian government.

"He's hiding his financial bill of health. He's trying to cover up his web of foreign engagements and conflicts and interests. And he won't even release credible information about his health," Kaine told the crowd of 300 gathered here on a pier overlooking Lake Erie.

"Donald Trump, it's time for you to come clean. Release your tax returns. Explain your business interests. Start telling the truth!"

Kaine also addressed accusations, fueled at various points this year by Trump campaign surrogates and some right-wing websites, that Clinton, 68, is suffering from a lack of stamina or an unknown disease. These claims, Kaine said Tuesday, are simply "conspiracy theories from the fringes of the internet."

"Can I give you an up close and personal on this? I have been on the trail with Hillary for five weeks and I can barely keep up with her," he said to scattered laughs across the pier, calling Clinton "one tough and healthy person."

"She has been running on full speed for 17 months."

At length, Kaine, cited the report about Trump's physician by NBC News that Dr. Harold Bornstein who, reclining in his office chair with a satisfied smile, told the network that he wrote his four-paragraph letter in just five minutes as Trump's limo idled outside his Manhattan office.

Bornstein's note does not address Trump’s family medical history or cholesterol level — details typically released by presidential candidates — but the letter does state "unequivocally" that Trump, a 70-year-old, would "be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."

"I'd like to see him go one-on-one with President Obama, but that's for another day," Kaine said. "This is either too funny or too true to be funny, I can't decide," he added of the NBC News interview. "[Bornstein] says the words he used, he used them because 'he thought they would make his patient happy.' I mean, is that the standard for what the American voter is entitled to?"

Trump has disclosed nothing further about his health, and his campaign aides have said he has no plans to do so unless Clinton discloses more. Clinton released a more detailed doctor's note last year, which provided information about her 2012 concussion, but has not disclosed details about her health since.

The level of disclosure from both candidates breaks with recent precedent. In 2008, for instance, Republican nominee John McCain, at age 72, allowed reporters to view 1,100 pages of his medical records. Trump and Clinton are 70 and 68, respectively.

Kaine argued on Tuesday that Clinton had already released "proper" and "detailed" medical information and has so far "met every test of disclosure we expect of a presidential candidate, and in many cases has gone even further."

While Clinton has faced questions about disclosure — regarding, for instance, paid speeches she delivered — she has released 39 years' worth of tax returns, and since this spring has questioned Trump's decision to keep his own private as proof that he is hiding something nefarious or unflattering from voters.

Or as Kaine put it to the crowd in Erie: "It's like he thinks we're gullible. It's like he thinks we're suckers. It's like he thinks we're larks and that he can con us."

"So, Erie, I'm here to say. Don't get tricked by Trump."

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In an October 2011 video segment with More magazine, Donald Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway praised then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a "compelling figure" during troubling times.

"She went ahead and did something pretty gracious and pretty powerful at the same time. She became the secretary of state for the man who beat her for the nomination," Conway said to Lesley Jane Seymour, the editor-in-chief of the magazine.

"Very gracious. She could have said no, she's got a lot of things to do and be. She's really caught a very compelling figure as secretary of state at a very troubling time, of course, around the world," Conway added. "And her stock has gone up. She's about as popular as her husband now which she never was. Bill Clinton was always more popular than her."

Conway predicted that Clinton would not run in 2016 but rather start an initiative similar to Clinton Foundation that would focus on women.

"She's doing things at a time when many women are overly-glamorized or are known for what they're wearing, not what they're thinking — or how many Facebook friends they have, rather than how many foreign leaders they meet. So, it's pretty compelling. It's pretty compelling I have to say," Conway said.

"Hillary Clinton's really out there in a much more understated role," added Conway.

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PHOENIX — Arizona Spanish-language television networks, radio stations, and newspapers in the state are banding together to register Latino voters over the next 10 weeks — a potential boon for Hillary Clinton's campaign in the somewhat longshot state of Arizona.

Ben Monterroso of Mi Familia Vota brought together the networks, which include Univision and Telemundo stations in Arizona as well as Azteca America and many radio stations. Before now, the networks have only come together in 2012 because of an “emergency” — the hardline, so-called “show me your papers” SB1070 immigration law.

“This today, to me, is also an emergency,” Monterroso said of the election, where Democrats and immigration groups hope Latino voters will come out to repudiate not just Donald Trump but also Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

“We have seen Arpaio disrespecting and going against our community for many years,” Monterroso said, of the controversial sheriff currently up for re-election while also facing legal trouble. ”The fact that Donald Trump is using Arpaio as one of his validators is a motivating reason why our community should participate in the elections and why I believe the Spanish-language media doing their part to inform, motivate and invite participation is crucial.”

“I think it’s smart,” said Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, a former top Bernie Sanders surrogate who embraced Clinton shortly after the end of the primary. “Spanish-language media, from los periodicos chiquitos en cada pueblo — small weekly papers — radio, and TV, for them to get into registration and participation is smart.”

The effort will include registration, phonebanking, a focus on early voting, and 2,500 PSAs and radio spots that will feature personalities from the Spanish-language networks to get out the vote.

The reason the initiative could have a lasting impact, Grijalva said, is because the community is fed up with the state serving as the tip of the spear on anti-immigrant bills and sentiment for over a decade. “We’ve been the petri dish for every kind of law that is anti-immigrant and anti-Latino as a reaction to this accumulation of Arpaio, [former Gov. Jan Brewer,] border militarization, and the racial profiling,” he said.

Monterroso, who has worked to register Hispanics for decades, convened a meeting at the Mi Familia Vota offices in Phoenix in July, as representatives of each organization attended in person or via conference call.

The 20 partners are Azteca America, Contacto Total, Entravision Radio: La Tricolor 103.5 FM, Jose 106.9 and 107.1 FM & ESPN 710 AM, La Voz, Mary Rabago Productions LLC, Mujeres Unicas LLC, Onda 1190-AM, Prensa Hispana, Telemundo Phoenix, Telemundo Tucson, Telemundo Yuma, Teleritmo, TeleXitos Phoenix, TeleXitos Tucson and Univision Arizona, including UniMás Arizona and Univision’s radio stations: Que Buena 105.9 FM, Mas Variedad 106.3 FM and Latino Mix 100.3 FM.

Monterroso noted that it is unusual to bring together competitors for a major initiative. “I’ve been doing this so long, but I’ve never felt the support that I feel now, I’ve never felt the understanding from so many people that this work is important."

The announcement comes as Trump is set to give a Wednesday speech on illegal immigration in Phoenix, one the campaign required a new venue for because of the demand to attend the event. But along with his enthusiastic supporters, Trump will once again be protested by Latino and immigrant groups.

One Arizona, a coalition of community groups, launched an emergency drive to register 1,000 new voters when they heard Trump was coming to Phoenix.

“I might be one of few people saying this,” Grijalva said, “but participation is going to come as a consequence of what is being done to us.”

Jonathan Bachman / Reuters

Donald Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, said in the policy speech Trump is set to deliver on immigration Wednesday evening, there will be no path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the US and no path for legalization unless immigrants are outside the country.

Pence added that Trump would call for the immediate and quick deportation of those who had committed crimes.

"I think what you're gonna hear from Donald Trump tonight is the same principles and the same policies that he used when he put illegal immigration and ending illegal immigration at the center of the national debate in the Republican primaries," Pence said on the Laura Ingraham Show on Wednesday.

"We're gonna build a wall. We're gonna have secure borders. We're gonna have e-verify system, we're gonna end sanctuary cities. We're gonna get people out of this country in short order who represent a threat to our families and our communities."

"But it's all gonna be on that foundation that rejects amnesty and says there's no path to citizenship, there's no path to legalization unless people are outside the country," Pence added.

Pence also called Trump's forthcoming Mexico trip "nothing short of presidential leadership."

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

WASHINGTON — The North Carolina voting restrictions struck down by a federal appeals court earlier this summer will remain off the books for November's election, following a Supreme Court order on Wednesday.

The closely divided justices denied North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory's request to halt enforcement of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down five voting restrictions while the state seeks Supreme Court review of the decision.

Among the provisions in the law that the appeals court has ordered the state not to enforce are limits on the type of photo ID required for voting; reductions to the amount of early voting in the state; and elimination of same-day registration, out-of-precinct provisional voting, and preregistration that allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to indicate an intent to register when they turned 18.

McCrory asked that the justices allow the state to enforce three of those provisions — the voter ID provision, the reduction in early voting, and the elimination of the preregistration — this election while seeking Supreme Court review of the 4th Circuit's ruling.

The Obama administration and organizations that had sued the state over the law opposed the stay request.

Justice Clarence Thomas would have granted the stay as to all three provisions.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito would have granted the stay as to all of the provisions except for the preregistration provision — which would have had little to no effect at this point on this year's eligible voters.

In other words, as to the voter ID and early voting parts of the law, there was a 4-4 split on whether to grant McCrory's request and allow the state to enforce those provisions this fall.

It takes a majority of the court to grant a stay, however, which meant that five justices would have needed to have voted for a stay in order for it to be granted.

Notably, no justice provided a so-called "courtesy" fifth vote in support of the stay request — a move that Justice Stephen Breyer did take earlier this month when a the case of a transgender student presented the same scenario: four justices willing to vote for a stay, which is all that would be needed for the court to take the appeal when the cert petition is before the justices but not enough justices to grant a stay while that appeal is decided. In such circumstances, a justice can — as Breyer did in the earlier case — provide a "courtesy" fifth vote in order to allow for a stay while the cert petition can be considered.

On Wednesday, however, none of the four other justices — Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan — did so, leaving the 4th Circuit's injunction against North Carolina's voting restrictions in place.

In a statement, McCrory took aim at his opponent for the governorship, Attorney General Roy Cooper, along with the "four liberal justices" voting against McCrory's request.

"North Carolina has been denied basic voting rights already granted to more than 30 other states to protect the integrity of one person, one vote through a common-sense voter ID law," McCrory said in the statement. "Even without any support from our state's attorney general, we were pleased that four justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, agreed with this right while four liberal justices blocked North Carolina protections afforded by our sensible voter laws."

Yuri Cortez / AFP / Getty Images

Donald Trump on Wednesday met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico hours before he was to deliver a highly anticipated speech on immigration policy.

That much is known. But what was actually said regarding a key tenet of the Republican nominee's campaign — that Mexico will pay for a controversial border wall — was in dispute after both men gave differing accounts.

Appearing alongside Peña Nieto on Wednesday, Trump told reporters that he brought up his pledge to build a border wall, but that the two did not discuss who would pay for it.

"Who pays for the wall?" Trump said. "We didn’t discuss that."

Hours later, however, Peña Nieto tweeted that they did indeed discuss payment and that he "made clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall."

In response to the conflicting accounts, Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller issued a statement, calling the meeting "the first part of the discussion" and "not a negotiation, and that would have been inappropriate."

"It is unsurprising that they hold two different views on this issue, and we look forward to continuing the conversation," Miller added.

The controversy over who said what erupted following a Wednesday afternoon news conference in Mexico City with Trump and Peña Nieto. Trump's last minute visit to Mexico was prompted by an invitation from the Mexican president, who also reached out to Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton.

During the news conference, Trump was relatively subdued and praised Peña Nieto, saying it was "a great, great honor" to meet him. He also praised Mexicans, saying he has both employees and friends from the country and they are "spectacular, spectacular hardworking people."

The border wall — which Trump has insisted Mexico will pay for — came up at the end of the conference. The candidate provided few details beyond repeatedly saying he didn't talk about payment with Nieto.

Yuri Cortez / AFP / Getty Images

Mexico and border security generally have played a central role in Trump's campaign, with the candidate frequently blasting what he describes as a massive inflow of undocumented immigrants and the outflow of jobs. He has also said that some Mexican immigrants bring drugs and crime to the US, and are rapists.

Peña Nieto mostly avoided criticizing Trump, but did call out some of the candidate's remarks.

"The Mexican people have felt hurt by the comments that have been made," Peña Nieto said.

During an interview Wednesday night with Mexican news program Noticieros Televisa, Peña Nieto characterized his decision to meet with Trump as an effort to confront challenges and "address threats made against Mexico."

"Some of Donald Trump’s positions are a threat for Mexico," he added.

Trump also touched on jobs Wednesday during his speech in Mexico City, but appeared to take a more moderate stance than he has become known for on the campaign trail. Though he said the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) "has been a far greater benefit for Mexico than for the United States," and that the goal should be to "keep jobs in our hemisphere."

He echoed Peña Nieto's own comments about secure borders being mutually beneficial as well.

"No one wins in either country when human smugglers and drug traffickers pray on innocent people," he said.

Trump went on to outline five points that he said would benefit both countries. The points included improving NAFTA, dismantling drug cartels, securing the border, and ending illegal immigration "not just between our two countries, but including the illegal immigration and migration from Central and South Americans and from other regions."

Earlier, Peña Nieto also mentioned border security, noting that "every year millions of dollars of weapons" come to his country from the US. He also noted that 1 million people move across the border legally every day — a statistic Trump himself later mentioned during his own remarks.

Trump concluded by saying that the "the bond between our two countries is deep and sincere."

"Both of our countries will work together for mutual good," he said, "and most importantly for the mutual good of our people."

Wednesday night, Trump continued his focus on immigration during a speech in Phoenix, Arizona. In the speech, Trump outlined a series of policies he said would stem the flow of undocumented immigrants into the US.

Trump's visit to and comments about Mexico tipped off a brief-but-contentious Twitter exchange with Clinton, who Wednesday afternoon slammed Trump for vilifying Mexicans.

Trump fired back, criticizing Clinton for not visiting Mexico or the flood-ravaged Louisiana, while also calling Mexicans "quality people."

But Clinton blasted Trump again, saying "diplomacy isn't as easy as it looks."

Clinton's running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, also appeared to react to Trump's comments, tweeting Wednesday afternoon that "we should do everything we can to keep immigrant families together — not threaten to tear them apart."

The meeting between Trump and Peña Nieto also met with some criticism in Mexico. Wednesday afternoon, Mexican journalist Jenaro Villamil tweeted "not even Lopez de Santa Ana would have accepted and starred in the humiliation" experienced by Nieto.

Villamil's comment was a reference to the Mexican general who, after letting his soldiers rest during battle, insured Texas' independence from Mexico in 1836.

LINK: Donald Trump Promises “There Will Be No Amnesty” In Immigration Speech

Stephen Bannon

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WASHINGTON — Near Capitol Hill, staffers for Breitbart News, the right-wing news site run by Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon, work out of a $2.35 million townhouse frequently referred to as “the embassy.”

It’s not a secret in Washington, but that home is owned by a foreigner: Moustafa El-Gindy, a man with a colorful history in Egyptian business and in politics as an anti-Muslim Brotherhood campaigner who has not shied away from publicity.

How exactly Breitbart began renting from the home’s Egyptian owner is unclear, but he owns the property, according to the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue records. According to records, the recordation date for the property was Sept. 16, 2009. The facts of the house’s ownership attracted notice in 2014 when an anti-Breitbart blog posted about it.

Over the years in Egypt, El-Gindy has tried to institute the traditional jalabiya as national dress; was among a delegation visiting Gaza and meeting with Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political wing; and attempted to trigger a Ministry of Culture investigation into a book about the sexual life of the prophet Muhammad. Last year, El-Gindy opposed a natural gas deal with Israel, saying he was against “normalization” with Israel. El-Gindy, a member of parliament, has gone through several political iterations.

And for Breitbart, the relationship appears to be more than just a simple landlord-renter agreement; the site has repeatedly written about El-Gindy without disclosing the relationship, often referring to him as a “senior Egyptian statesman.” One former Breitbart staffer told BuzzFeed News that El-Gindy does stay in the house sometimes.

Other than on Breitbart, El-Gindy hasn’t appeared much in the US media. He gave an interview to Foreign Policy in the early days of the 2011 revolution that toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak in which he said his vision for Egypt after the revolution was to be more like Turkey and talked about relations with Israel: “The reality is that for the last 30 years there was no real peace with Israel. There was peace between Mubarak and them, but there was no peace between the nation of Egypt and the Israelis.” He appears to have been visiting D.C. around the time of that interview, according to a New Yorker piece.

El-Gindy has discussed the situation in Egyptian media over the last few days — after a Guardian story drew attention to his ownership of the home — saying that he rented out the house because of tourism slowing in Egypt and that he has no connection to Trump. In one interview, El-Gindy blamed the story on Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood. “I am just a landlord,” he told another reporter.

El-Gindy, who got his start in the tourism industry, first appeared on the Egyptian political scene in 2005, and was elected as an independent member of parliament. That year, the Muslim Brotherhood won 20% of the seats in parliament.

“People were looking for alternatives to the authoritarian regime of Mubarak and to the Muslim Brotherhood, he appears as one of those alternatives,” Hudson Institute senior fellow and Egypt expert Samuel Tadros, who tweeted on Monday night that he was “not at all surprised” about El-Gindy’s involvement with Breitbart, said of this period.

El-Gindy won a seat in parliament in 2005 as an independent and later joined the liberal El Wafd party, serving until 2010. In 2010, El-Gindy led an aid convoy of MPs to Gaza, where they were to meet with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, according to reports. In 2010, El-Gindy lost his seat in parliament in elections just a few months before the revolution began in 2011. During this time he left Egypt for the United States, according to Tadros. Upon returning to Egypt, El-Gindy joined a socialist party and backed the 2011 revolution. After winning re-election in the next round of elections, El-Gindy joined the anti-Muslim Brotherhood National Salvation Front. In the most recent elections, El-Gindy ran as part of the For the Love of Egypt list backed by Egypt’s authoritarian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who came to power in a military coup in 2013.

El-Gindy has also been involved with the Pan-African Parliament and has served as the second vice-president in its Bureau representing North Africa.

“He’s a typical Egyptian politician,” Tadros said. “Outside of being against the Muslim Brotherhood there’s not an ideological bone in the guy.”

Breitbart editor in chief Alex Marlow did not immediately respond to a request for comment; neither did Bannon.

A message sent to El-Gindy’s Facebook page was not immediately returned.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

Kirk Irwin / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Texas and 12 other states injected themselves on Wednesday into the ongoing legal battles over North Carolina's anti-LGBT law — by asking a federal judge to put those lawsuits on hold for now.

The law, HB 2, was passed earlier this year, and one of the provisions — the subject of several lawsuits — limits public restroom usage to people's "biological sex," using a definition that targets transgender people unable to get their birth certificate changed to reflect their gender identity.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, joined by 10 other state attorneys general and two governors, specifically asked U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder to put the Justice Department's pending challenge to that law on hold while other cases proceed.

The Obama administration has asked Schroeder to halt enforcement of the anti-transgender provision, and he heard arguments over that request on Aug. 1. Putting the cases on hold as Paxton and the other states' officials asked in the unusual filing on Wednesday (or denying the Obama administration's request, a move the brief also supports) would mean that the anti-transgender law would remain in effect for the time being.

Paxton and the state officials cite an injunction issued in the case that Texas and several other states brought against the Obama administration's pro-transgender policies as a key reason for judge in North Carolina to issue a stay in that case — despite the fact that the injunction issued in the Texas case specifically exempted previously initiated litigation from that order.

The legal fight that has erupted over transgender restroom usage in the past few years has, generally, taken three forms of cases: those filed by individuals challenging anti-transgender policies; those filed by states or state officials challenging the Obama administration's position that existing civil rights laws protect transgender people from discrimination; and those filed by the federal government challenging anti-transgender actions, policies, or laws.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder, hearing several of the many challenges to the North Carolina law, issued a narrow injunction this past week in a case brought by students and employees of the University of North Carolina against the state and university. In the injunction, he ordered the school and government not to enforce the part of HB 2 that limits public restroom usage to people's biological sex — but only as to the people who brought the lawsuit.

A big part of Schroeder's decision was based on a prior decision of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals — where appeals from federal courts in North Carolina are heard — holding that the Obama administration's interpretation that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects transgender people from discrimination is a permissible interpretation of the regulations implementing that law. The school district in that case — Gloucester County School Board v. G.G. — currently is seeking Supreme Court review of the 4th Circuit's decision.

Schroeder has not, however, yet ruled on the more broad request by the Justice Department to halt all enforcement of that anti-transgender provision in HB 2.

The move by Paxton and the other state officials on Wednesday of asking to file a brief before Schroeder's court opposing the Obama administration's request was unusual because it came nearly a month after Schroeder held arguments in the matter. Paxton was joined on the brief by the attorneys general of Arkansas, Arizona, West Virginia, Alabama, Wisconsin, Georgia, Nebraska, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Utah — as well as the governors of Kentucky and Mississippi.

While ostensibly an opposition to the Justice Department's request for an injunction, the brief also was unusual because the state officials used it to urge Schroeder to put the North Carolina cases on hold — pressing the arguments that prevailed in front of the judge in Texas before Schroeder in North Carolina and arguing to Schroeder that the injunction should influence what he does next in the cases before him.

"While the Injunction [in the Texas case] does not specifically prevent DOJ from continuing this litigation," the state officials note, "and this Court has acknowledged the same" — referencing Schroeder's order from this past week — "it nonetheless supports ... staying these proceedings" until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the appeal of the Gloucester case and until the 4th Circuit addresses an appeal of Schroeder's injunction regarding the individual plaintiffs and UNC.

Additionally, Paxton and the other state officials argue that the injunction in the Texas-led federal challenge supports "denying the [injunction] requested" by the Justice Department. "Indeed, now that the federal policies at issue are subject to a nationwide injunction, will be inspected again by the Fourth Circuit, and also scrutinized by the Supreme Court, granting the United States’ preliminary injunction motion would bestow upon North Carolina the distinction of making it the only State unable to enforce its policy regarding access to intimate areas," the brief argues.

The same group of state officials sought to file a brief in one other case on Wednesday, supporting the Highland Local School District's school board in Ohio in its request for a preliminary injunction against the Education Department.

Read the Texas-led brief:

Ross D. Franklin / AP

PHOENIX — Talk of a humane appoach, or a "softening" on immigration by Donald Trump, gave way to his trademark tough talk of building a wall and rounding up "criminal aliens" during an immigration policy speech Wednesday at the Phoenix Convention Center, ending an 11-day trial balloon by his campaign.

Earlier in the day, Trump visited Mexico at the invitation of its president, Enrique Peña Nieto. Afterward, the Mexican leader said that he told Trump his country would not pay for a wall along the border as he has said Mexico would, after Trump saying the issue didn't come up.

For Trump's raucous fans in the crowd, the Mexico trip was wonderful, showcasing the statesman side of the Republican nominee. But they were ecstatic that instead of pivoting on immigration, he completed a 360 back to his original position.

"When he first started last year he was foot in the sand, we need to go at these issues as hard as possible," said Patrick Blair, a Trump supporter, who develops surgery centers. "At the town hall with [Fox News' Sean Hannity] he was talking about softening, so I thought he would back off 10%, but he did not and I'm happy with what he came out with, a lot of details, he had 10 points — it was more than I thought he would have."

For most of Trump's supporters like Blair, they came for the wall, and they got what they wanted, along with a plan to triple the number of ICE deportation agents. Trump even called them a "deportation task force" for those who have evaded justice — "like Hillary Clinton," he said.

Trump also said he would end the so-called "catch and release" of undocumented immigrants and have zero tolerance for "criminal aliens" whom he would begin deporting on day one. He did not specify how that policy would differ from that of the Obama administration, which has prioritized the removal of criminals. Just last week, as Trump openly pondered an immigration pivot before ultimately abandoning it, he noted that Obama had deported a record number of immigrants.

But the lingering questions didn't bother his supporters much, even some who differ with him on his trademark policy proposal.

"He really doubled down tonight," said Michael Toppeta, who works in information technology, voted for Gary Johnson in 2012 and has supported Ron Paul in the past. "Even though I don't agree with the wall, it's not unreasonable," he said, adding that defending the Second Amendment and protecting the conservative balance of the Supreme Court are two big reasons he supports Trump.

Carol Walters, who came from Chicago and has lived in Arizona for 14 years, wasn't in the middle of the crowd. She sat in a wheelchair toward the back, but she loved what she heard and said the wall is necessary because the United States is being flooded with undocumented immigrants.

"They're on welfare, food stamps, all the freebies, who's paying for that? You and I," she said. Leaning in, she said when undocumented immigrants go to the emergency room, they should pay some of the bill. "They should at least have some of it," she said.

"After what he did in Mexico I'm very happy. I thought it was the best performance. It was presidential two men with opposite backgrounds discussing issues — I thought he was very professional about it," Walters added.

Blair, like Walters, has developed a harder edge to his political views. He voted for McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012, but laughed when he said he was one of the ones in the crowd who mercilessly booed when McCain's name was mentioned as a primary winner Tuesday by a Trump warm-up act.

The Mexico trip was a pleasant surprise, Blair said.

"People in Mexico weren't happy with what he said and the healing has to start sometime, he put an olive branch out," Blair said kindly, of the reaction to Trump's comments that Mexico sends criminals and rapists across the border.

But then added, "Mexico is our friend, we don't want a third-world enemy at our Southern border."

It was the kind of talk Willie Martinez, 25, standing out as one of the few Hispanics at the back of the room, had to hear for himself.

The West Phoenix native went to a high school that was 93% Latino, and he was a former Bernie Sanders supporter before turning to Hillary Clinton now. He came to the rally because he wanted to see if the media was fairly painting Trump's statements or just cutting them up into sound bites.

The media — a constant target of Trump, his campaign, and his supporters (who yelled "do your job!" Wednesday night) — gained one fan in Martinez.

"For the most part the media is pretty much right," he said after the rally, as satisfied Trump supporters walked past him. "He's just as crazy as people are saying he is."

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In the early 1990s, Trump campaign CEO chairman Steve Bannon was hired to fix a troubled Arizona project to simulate the surface of Mars. Biosphere II was plagued with problems — soaring costs, internal conflicts — and years of legal proceedings would follow.

In 1994, a former employee, Abigail Alling was indicted for damaging the facility during a break-in that she said was intended to warn crew members that new management, including Bannon, couldn’t safely run the project.

As part of Alling’s defense, her attorneys presented a partial transcript of a conversation Bannon had on April 17, 1994 — four days before Bannon delivered his grand jury testimony in the case against Alling — in which Bannon discusses his plan to deliver a “reality check” to her and “kick her ass.” The conversation was recorded by Biosphere II engineer William Dempster.

Bannon initially denied making the disparaging comments about Alling, according to court documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News. In the recordings obtained by BuzzFeed News, Bannon referred to her as a “bimbo,” “self-centered,” and “deluded.” In the recordings, he vows to take comments the woman made about the safety of the research facility they worked at and “ram it down her fucking throat.”

Bannon made the remarks, which were reported at the time by the Tucson Citizen and have been resurfaced by several news outlets this year, in the course of legal action involving Biosphere II, an Arizona research facility where Bannon was working as a consultant and interim director.

“I have never had an engineering mishap at sea and I am not about to have a 29-year-old bimbo criticize the people at this place for running something — compare it to the Challenger — compare us to the Rockwell — the O-rings — do you realize how mad that made me?” Bannon is heard saying on one part of the recording.

In another part of the conversation, Bannon says, “She thinks she’s a goddess. She thinks she’s above us all. She thinks she’s transformed something that we are not worthy of. Well you know what, I don’t buy that. I think she’s a self-centered, deluded young woman and she is about to get a reality check that I’m going to deliver to her.”

At one point, Bannon said he was going to take how the facility was run while Alling was still an employee and “ram it down her fucking throat.’

Alling did not did not return a request for comment on this story. Dempster declined to comment. A Bannon spokeswoman did not return a request for comment.

Bannon originally was brought on to Biosphere II as a consultant to cut costs in 1993. In 1994, after he was not allowed by the management to audit the project’s records, Biosphere II’s financial backer got a court order to take control of the project and an order to bar the current management employees from the premises. Bannon was then given full control of the project.

A partial transcript of a pretrial interview with Alling’s lawyer submitted by the defense in support of its motion to dismiss the case show that Bannon initially denied making the comments. The interview took place before he was aware that his conversation had been taped.

Alling’s defense attorney, Jesse Smith, asked Bannon in a pre-trial interview if he was aware that, though he was not under oath in the interview, that because it was a criminal prosecution the consequences were the same in that giving a “knowing false answer” or failing to tell the whole truth “could be construed as an obstruction of justice” (No formal allegations of obstruction of justice were ever raised).

Bannon replied, “Yes, sir.” He repeated that answer when asked if he would conduct himself as if he were under oath.

Later in the interview, he said, twice, “I’ve never referred to Ms. Alling as a bimbo.”

Bannon was asked if he’d said he planned to ram anything “down her effing throat. Teach her a lesson. Anything like that?” He answered that he didn’t “think words like that were used” and similarly denied having heard his associates, such as fellow banker Martin Bowen, use such language to describe what they intended to do at the grand jury proceedings four days later.

Though he admitted that he was “probably not very complimentary” toward Alling in his conversation with Dempster, Bannon repeated later in the interview that, “I did not use any terminology, I believe, like that. But I was, with Bill [Dempster], ah, it was very, um, ah, I was very vocal about, ah this being, um, that these charges being, um, you know, pursued by us and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Asked again, he admitted, “I may have used terminology particular like that last that you just mentioned, but I did not, never said it in relation to a grand jury. Never said it in relation to any event that was coming up.” He also said no when Smith asked if he’d said she was “going to get some very rough lessons here in relation to the grand jury proceedings.”

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Anthony Weiner's new sexting scandal has lost him another gig.

On Wednesday, it was announced Weiner's recurring segment on the Fernand Amandi Radio Show on News Radio 610 WIOD Miami, known as "Weiner Wednesday" would be put on hiatus.

"I think it is clear Anthony Weiner has a problem beyond a normal peccadillo or vice; this is clearly is an issue that needs and requires psychological treatment and medical attention and professionalism," Armandi said.

"We will be putting the 'Weiner Wednesdays' segment on hiatus for the time being and hope that Anthony Weiner gets the help that he clearly needs, given this situation continues to happen," he added.

Weiner was recently placed on "indefinite leave" from NY1, where he was a regular contributor. The New York Daily News also announced it had dropped the former congressman as a columnist.

Weiner did not return a request for comment.

DOVER, N.H. — Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine on Thursday likened Donald Trump's view of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans to the discrimination once faced by 19th and 20th century Irish, Italians, and European Jews entering the United States.

Kaine launched the attack in response to the strict immigration speech from Trump late Wednesday night in Phoenix delivered mere hours after his far more conciliatory visit with Mexico's president, Enrique Peña Nieto.

"He went on a rampage with words of division, trashing people who are Mexican-American basically — saying things about them that people have said about the Irish or about the Italians or about Jews coming from Central and Eastern Europe,” Kaine told a group of volunteers at a Democratic Party office here in Dover, kicking off a day of campaign stops in New Hampshire.

"Pretty much any group that's come into this country that has made our nation such a fantastic nation — they faced a few people who were saying bad things about them, who said 'no Irish need apply," said Kaine. "That was the speech that Donald Trump gave last night."

The comments only add to the picture painted with increasing intensity by Kaine and his running-mate Hillary Clinton of Trump as a candidate who trades in racism and prejudice.

Last week, in a major address in Reno, Clinton highlighted her opponent's ties to the alt-right movement, which has nativist, white nationalist elements, and has become known for its online harassment of minorities. The next day, during a visit to a historically black college in Florida, Kaine went further, saying that Trump held "Ku Klux Klan values" and that his campaign was "pushing their values."

For months, Democrats up and down the ballot have denounced Trump's campaign as one grounded in hate and division. But as the race has closed in on its final two months, Clinton and Kaine have become more aggressive in their attacks. While they are both careful to avoid the designation itself, they have in effect made the case that Trump is racist.

“There’s an old Mexican proverb that says, ‘Tell me with whom you walk, and I will tell you who you are,’” Clinton said during the Reno speech, which outlined the various alt-right figures Trump has associated with this year.

“Well," she said, "we know who Trump is.”

On Wednesday, after weeks of hinting at a softening of his immigration policies, Trump promised a wall would be built and that a deportation force would be established. He also said the current legal immigration system — the type and level of workers accepted into the United States — would be updated to protect American workers.

The campaign dispatched Kaine to offer a response to the speech in six back-to-back morning news shows — the latest in a recent series of searing attacks from the Virginia senator, not known as a politician who relishes negative campaigning.

At a campaign event later on Thursday afternoon, a quick meet-and-greet at a Democratic Party office in Laconia, N.H., Kaine again described Trump's speech as one that could have been taken from a long-past chapter of U.S. history.

"You could print that speech with Irish-Americans in it, and somebody gave that speech in 1850. You could print Italian-Americans in it, and somebody gave that speech in 1860 or 1870. You could put Jewish folks from Central and Eastern Europe and somebody probably gave that speech in the late 1800s," he said.

"Trashing people from other countries and saying that they're bad or their criminals or whatever — yeah, that speech has been given in the history of this country."

Speaking at both events after brief remarks from his wife Anne Holton, Kaine warned that Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the country could just as well apply to other groups, naming Mormons in particular, a group of typically Republican voters who this year have largely opposed the GOP nominee.

"Look, if it's Muslims this week, it could be Mormons next week. It could be somebody else the week after that," he said. (Clinton allies, now actively courting support from Republicans and Independents, have also signaled that Utah, where a large share of Mormons live, might be more competitive than ever this fall.)

Kaine, echoing his comments on the six morning news shows Thursday, also described Trump as cowardly for balking in the meeting with Peña Nieto on his promise to somehow force Mexico to pay for a wall along the US border.

"When he sat down and he looked President Peña Nieto in the eye, he didn't have the guts to bring that up. Then he flew back and boy, when he got back here — 'We're gonna make Mexico do this!'" Kaine bellowed, imitating Trump.

"He had the chance to sit down and look the other leader in the eye, it was like he choked, he caved, he lost his confidence, he lost his will," Kaine said. "We all know people like that. They're gonna talk a good game but when the chips are down — [when] it's the point where if you've got an opinion, if something matters to you, you say it — they fold like an accordion."

"And that's what Donald Trump did yesterday," he said.

Kaine did not address in great detail the policies Trump put forward in Wednesday's speech, only telling Democrats here that they would boil down to even more deportations. "He has made the very center of his campaign, we're gonna be deportation nation," Kaine said, arguing that the U.S. should strive to be an "innovation nation" and "inclusion nation."

"Donald Trump wants us to be the deportation nation," he said again.

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In the wake of Donald Trump's hardline immigration speech Wednesday night, Republicans throughout the party largely abandoned discussion of a late push to win over Latinos, and seemed instead to focus on a new question: Which white voters can the candidate still reach?

Trump's much-hyped speech in Phoenix came after two roller-coaster weeks in which the nominee flailed and flip-flopped on the immigration issue, and suggested he was "softening" his stance. This brief flirtation with moderation led many to speculate that Trump was courting Hispanic voters — a theory that was buoyed by the candidate's last-minute meeting with the Mexican president Wednesday.

But interviews with a wide range of Republicans — from unabashed Trump supporters to #NeverTrump bitter-enders — suggested few in the party are still clinging to that hope.

Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary and a reluctant Trump supporter, praised the nominee's visit to Mexico, which he said made Trump "appear more presidential" and could help win over "college-educated voters, a group with whom he's greatly underperforming."

But as for courting Latinos, Fleischer said, "I'm afraid it's too late. He likely has already made too many Hispanics think he doesn't want them in the country. They're not listening to his next sentence. He's already lost too much support that his words now won't make any meaningful difference."

David Kochel, an Iowa-based Republican operative and former campaign strategist for Jeb Bush, interpreted Trump's immigration speech as a "decision to play directly to [his] already secured base."

"It has to be their calculation that they can drive up turnout in white working-class areas of battleground states to dizzying heights," Kochel said. "Otherwise this move makes no sense 69 days from the election." In any case, he added, "The 'softening' of Trump's immigration policy died tragically on Wednesday night in Phoenix. Foul play is suspected."

Republicans and conservatives remained sharply divided over the wisdom and effectiveness of Trump's immigration tough talk — but there was little disagreement about its intended audience. While right-wing Trump boosters like Ann Coulter celebrated on Twitter Wednesday night, several Hispanic campaign surrogates openly discussed rescinding their support for Trump.

"I thought a lot about union members, veterans, and moms in Rust Belt states and how they might be receiving this speech ... I could easily visualize countless heads nodding 'yes,'" said Keith Appell, a conservative strategist who supports Trump.

Greg Mueller, Appell's business partner and fellow Trump supporter, hailed Wednesday as "one of the best days of [Trump's] campaign."

Cato Institute immigration policy analyst Alex Nowrasteh, meanwhile, said, "Trump's aim was to shore up his base — in late August. ... The speech was one big dog whistle to anti-immigration populists."

Nowrasteh, who opposes Trump, added, "After this speech, nobody can claim Trump has softened his policy. When he loses in November it will be because his immigration stance is wildly out of step with voters."

Thomas B. Shea / AFP / Getty Images

Snapchat head of news Peter Hamby, who spent years at CNN as a reporter covering politics, ripped into the cable news industry on Thursday for its coverage of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

How the news media covers Trump — especially the wall-to-wall coverage of his early campaign on cable — has been a point of major debate this election cycle, with many pointing fingers at CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News for turning over their platforms to Trump in the summer of 2015.

In his the seventh episode of his Snapchat original series, "Good Luck America," Hamby, who left CNN for Snapchat in April 2015, says Trump "has brought out the worst impulses of the media this year, and the media seem to be loving every minute of it."

"Are you watching the same shit I'm seeing on TV every day? Because the news media is a mess," Hamby says at the top of the episode.

The episode highlights some notable (and comedic) examples of TV news journalists going soft on Trump, including Bloomberg's Mark Halperin asking the candidate if he owns jeans. At one point, Hamby says, "you can even kiss Donald Trump's ass on live television" before playing a clip of MSNBC's Joe Scarborough praising Trump on air.

Hamby argues that Trump has been good for the news business, which has led to countless hours of coverage of his candidacy. While there has been some quality reporting on the candidate, it doesn't get as much attention as the ridiculous coverage, he added.

The episode is available through Snapchat Discover, which is viewed by 100 million users each month, according to the company. Nielsen research commissioned by the company showed that the app reaches 41% of all 18-34 year-olds in the US every day.

“You guys should demand better from the news," Hamby concludes. "The powers that be might actually mix it up if they thought it would get people under the age of 60 to watch TV.”

Check out some clips of the episode:

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On Saturday, Donald Trump will sit down for an interview with Wayne T. Jackson, a pastor in Michigan as part of his tentative black outreach efforts — and black Republicans are fuming.

For one thing, they say, Jackson isn’t conservative and doesn’t support Trump. But Jackson also presided over a ordination ritual some time ago that became a source of viral controversy.

The video published in 2013 shows Jackson mounting two male bishops on the ground as part of an “consecration” ceremony; the video drew scrutiny, with some criticizing it as sexual, and others saying it wasn’t sexual, but had no place in the church. Now it’s leading some conservative black Republican evangelicals and strategists to question the Trump campaign's commitment to black outreach.

In interviews with black Republicans, several speaking on the condition of anonymity said they didn’t understand why the Trump campaign decided to go with Jackson, an unknown in black Republican circles. “We feel like they’re being ignored, that the campaign just doesn’t want to work with us.”

RNC strategist Telly Lovelace fielded a flood calls from black Republicans wanting to express their displeasure with the campaign's decision. Lovelace, two sources said, responded saying it was just that — the campaign's decision. Reached by BuzzFeed News, Lovelace declined to comment. A phone call to Jackson’s church was not answered and the voicemail inbox was full.

Jackson’s interview with Trump will be shown on Jackson’s Impact Network, which bills itself as as the only black “founded and operated national Christian TV network.” Jackson’s church is no longer called Impact Ministries International (churches often change names). Now called Great Faith Ministries, Jackson says he doesn’t support Trump, but that he owes it to his viewers and to Trump to allow him to address black voters. He told The Detroit News he plans to ask Trump if he is a racist.

Black conservatives have a litany of names they believe the campaign should have reached out to, including Rev. Gary Plummer, a prominent Detroit pastor who is the director of missions for the Church of God In Christ, and Rev. Roland Caldwell of Burnette Inspirations Baptist Church. At the same time, they understood that part of Trump’s strategy is to not spend the ad dollars in favor of free media like what Impact Network offers.

“You’ve got people in Detroit like Rev. Keith Butler who is a known entity national and locally, with credibility and credentials with Republicans,” said Raynard Jackson, the founder and chairman Black Americans for a Better Future PAC. “For the campaign to go with to self-professed Democrat who stated that he is not a Trump supporter of Trump is problematic.”

The selection showed the Trump campaign didn’t vet properly, said Rev. Ralph Chittams, the senior vice chairman for the Republican Party of the District of Columbia and an associate minister with the Forest Hill New Redeemer Baptist Church. Trump's campaign did not immediately respond on Thursday to an email message seeking comment on either the sentiment in this story or the video.

“In my network, our question is why would Mr. Trump, in his first foray reaching out to the black community go talk to this clown, the humping Bishop?” Chittams told BuzzFeed News. “To me, there’s no sexual connotation to what he did. But find me one seminarian who doesn’t think it wasn’t pure and utter foolishness that has no Biblical foundation whatsoever.”

Evangelicals have long criticized the ordination ritual, saying it had no biblical grounding.

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In the ceremony, Jackson tells the men, “You got to be buried… you got to die.” With the contemporary gospel song “I Give Myself Away” playing in the background, the men first laid face down on the ground. In the video depicting the ritual, Jackson circles them a number of times, appearing to grab their ankles. When the two men were covered, face down, in white sheets, Jackson then covered them in another red sheet, and promptly laid on top of each of them, one at a time, to the audience's approval. After being helped up, Jackson removed the sheets.

Jackson defended the act to Fox 2 Detroit as nonsexual, saying the bishops were being consecrated under his authority. “For somebody to take that and try to use that, you know, in a perverted way, we pray for them. We walk in love,” he said in an interview with Fox 2 Detroit. He lambasted detractors, saying, “if you're ignorant about something, you need to shut up.”

Some evidence shows that Jackson’s supporters worked to have the videos removed from the internet. Before one, on a YouTube channel titled “Exit Churchianity,” a script reads “Attention Wayne Jackson defenders: A false DMCA complaint was filed against this video, so I filed a counter-notice to pursue legal action. In response, YouTube RESTORED this video. So if you try to censor criticism of this video by filing a false DMCA complaint, I will pursue legal action against you. LET IT BE KNOWN.”

Republican operatives and evangelicals say there is real outreach to be done with black Republicans.

“We’re all catching all kinds of grief simply by being members of the party of Lincoln. Come talk to us,” Chittams said.

Raynard Jackson said it’s embarrassing to loyal black Republicans that the Trump campaign would look past Marvin Winans of Perfecting Church is “political malpractice.”

Added Chittam, “We want to support the nominee, but that nominee needs to talk to black conservatives and Republicans, and not this Democrat. He needs to come to talk to us and earn that support. Give us the reason to support you.”

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WASHINGTON — Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy Thursday acknowledged that Donald Trump may not be the best messenger for Republicans going into November’s elections, and bluntly warned Republicans should be prepared to try and find ways to work with Hillary Clinton if she wins the presidency.

Asked during an interview on C-SPAN’s Newsmakers program about whether Trump, Louisiana senate candidate David Duke, and a growing number of pro-Trump white supremacists have hurt the GOP’s brand, Cassidy said Republicans' electoral woes this fall aren’t so much a question of policy, but rather Trump himself.

“The message that we have is pretty good… it may turn out that Mr. Trump is not the messenger. Maybe he is. But it really seems to boil down to Mr. Trump’s personality being not what people like, as opposed to some of the issues,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy also warned that if Clinton does win in November, Republicans will have to find areas to work with her. “I hope we find common ground as how to progress as a nation,” pointing to mental health reform and overhauling how the government responds to public health emergencies as two areas on which he and Clinton already agree. He predicted Speaker Paul Ryan will find ways to work with Clinton.

“There will be common ground… Ryan is a great American. He is going to work with whomever he needs to work [with] to make something happen,” Cassidy said.

On Duke, Cassidy dismissed the white supremacist’s Senate bid, noting that most Republicans have disavowed Duke. “This is the longest conversation I’ve have about David Duke since he announced his candidacy. In Louisiana, it’s a non-event,” Cassidy said.

Meanwhile, Cassidy and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are discussing moving legislation this month aimed at boosting funding for disaster relief for areas of his state devastated by recent flooding.

“I have spoken to Mitch McConnell already … how can we get that community development block grants out sooner, how can we get the resources we need to rebuild out sooner,” Cassidy said. Although FEMA is already moving significant resources into the region, the cleanup remains slow. Amid the height of hurricane season, local officials worry that a massive storm could wreak havoc on cleanup efforts and devastate the region.

According to Cassidy, he is eyeing legislation that would be proportionally modeled on disaster legislation Congress has passed in recent years for flooding in South Carolina and other states. Although many conservatives have long resisted supplemental funding bills, Cassidy appeared hopeful the Senate will take it up, and said during his discussions with the Majority Leader, McConnell “seemed to feel like we were on the right track.”

“I hope we can accomplish that in September before the [October] deadline” for appropriations bills, Cassidy said, explaining that it could be rolled into a larger disaster bill that deals with other hard hit parts of the country, as well as addressing the Zika virus.

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PHOENIX — One of the most influential Hispanic pastors in the nation has informed the RNC that he will not endorse or be a part of Donald Trump's Hispanic advisory council after a fiery Arizona immigration speech, that already claimed five supporters who were part of the council.

Mark Gonzales, who founded both the Hispanic Prayer Network and the Hispanic Action Network, which counts thousands of Latino evangelical churches as members, sent a text to the RNC Wednesday night after Trump had doubled down on his hardline stances of deportations and avoiding a softening of his plan that he and advisors had floated in the days before the speech.

"I texted them just to be official that I would not be giving an endorsement and serving on the council was out of the question," Gonzales told BuzzFeed News.

Gonzales joins five other Hispanic Republicans who withdrew from the council or are reconsidering their support of Trump after his Phoenix speech. Politico first reported that Jacob Monty, Alfonso Aguilar, and Pastor Ramiro Peña were out on Trump, with Monty resigning from the council and Peña calling it a "scam." Massey Villarreal and Grace Flores Hughes soon followed on Thursday.

Aguilar, who went from being a vocal opponent of Trump, to a consistent surrogate on cable news, said he and others tried to give the candidate a second chance. He said the loss of Gonzales' public support was one of the bigger losses for Trump moving forward.

"That’s a big one," Aguilar said. "He has a big coalition of Christian pastors, in terms of grassroots, Mark Gonzales is big. He’s the kind of person who mobilizes people."

Gonzales says he will still vote for Trump, because Hillary Clinton isn't an alternative, but he had been waiting to hear the long-awaited immigration speech to decide if he would serve on the campaign's council.

"It was a complete disappointment," Gonzales said. "We were hoping he was going to go in a different direction than he did, but it was enforcement only measures dealing with only the bad of immigration — he completely left out the good immigrants bring to America."

Most of all, the speech, littered with red meat that had hardline conservatives like Ann Coulter whooping it up on Twitter, lacked the compassion Trump's surprise trip to Mexico suggested was coming, Gonzales said.

"Compassion is more than just a word, man. Compassion is something you demonstrate, compassion was seen in Mexico, but there was no compassion in Arizona," he said.

Gonzales had seen this before. He remembers a speech Mitt Romney gave in 2012 suggesting that immigrants should self-deport themselves back to Mexico, when he told his wife that Romney had just lost the election.

The scene played out again Wednesday night.

"She saw my face," a dejected Gonzales said, telling her, "This speech Donald Trump is giving is going to cost him the election."

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Donald Trump’s Arizona campaign chair, Phil Lovas, says Trump doesn’t currently have a plan for dealing with undocumented immigrants.

“Well, what he has said is, we are going to secure the border. Once the border is secure, and that includes building the wall, and that includes increasing the number of ICE agents, establishing a lawful new immigration system, and I think the words he used were 'we will find a way to consider the appropriate disposition of those who remain,’” said Lovas on Bruce St. James and Pamela Hughes on KTAR radio on Friday.

The campaign chair said Trump would channel Mitt Romney, who in 2012 said undocumented immigrants would “self-deport” from the United States.

“He talked about e-verify. If we shut off the magnets in terms of job opportunities and those things for people who are here illegally, Mitt Romney made this point four years ago. People would self-deport. If you cannot find a job and you cannot find opportunity in this country, you are likely to probably leave. If the job opportunities are not there, they will self-deport," added Lovas.

Still, he said, Trump has currently no plan on what do with those here illegally.

“At the end of that, once we have secured the border, built the wall, at that time if there are people who are here illegally, we will figure out what to do with them,” he said. “He didn't have a plan necessarily for those folks right now, but he said we would address that in the future. “