Mike Segar / Reuters

Donald Trump's campaign has, in recent days, attempted to distance the Republican nominee from what was once his hallmark issue: casting doubt on President Obama's citizenship and his legitimacy to serve in the nation's highest office.

Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN on Friday that Trump "believes President Obama was born here." Trump has never publicly taken back his conspiracy theory and recently told reporters he just didn't discuss it anymore.

However in a 2014 interview with Trump biographer Michael D'Antonio, Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., offered a glimpse into just how deeply held his father's doubts about Obama's citizenship were — praising his father's "moral conviction" for raising the question in the face of very public criticism.

Asked by D'Antonio about his father's birtherism, Trump Jr. responded, "Don’t we want politicians to have strong opinions about things that aren’t swayed by public opinion?"

"The problem is that everyone’s trying to appease everyone, with 300 million people and every little opinion, and God forbid we offend the one person of the 300 million, and I don’t know how you make a decision," Trump Jr. added.

The interview took place for D'Antonio's book, The Truth About Trump. D'Antonio provided BuzzFeed News with a transcript of his exchange.

"I appreciate someone who has the moral conviction to stand by a belief, or even question it," Trump Jr. continued. "What’s wrong with questioning something these days? Whether it be political spectrum, across a racial divide, it’s increasingly difficult for – and this is coming from, I’m the white privileged son of a rich guy — there is a point where I’m not even allowed to have this conversation in America today, which again, I can have it, but it’s a no-win proposition for me."

Trump Jr. said his dad didn't care what polling showed.

"For someone like him, who knows no matter what he said he’s going to be criticized, to actually come out there and to utilize his very powerful soap box and to take a stance or to question a position — he very clearly could understand in certain circumstances maybe, 'hey, that’s not where polling numbers are showing things are going. I don’t care! Because I’ve gotta still question…’ Who’s wrong in that?"

Asked if his father cared about what people thought, he said he found it admirable and powerful he withered negative public opinion.

"He will be out there, and he will question these things in a way that you don’t see anyone doing today," he said. "Or certainly not anyone that has a brand, that has – there could be potentially ramifications to his business for taking these stances. And again, he’s got the conviction to say, ‘That’s fine. I don’t care. This is what I believe in.’ And to me, as an American, that’s a very powerful thing. That’s a very admirable quality."

Angelo Merendino / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Promising to deliver Donald Trump and the Republicans the highest percentage of black votes since 1965 Voting Rights Act, the founder of Black Men for Bernie is now launching Trump for Urban Communities.

Bruce Carter is touting the effort "largest ground game in the country" targeted at black voters — with a platform focused on urban investment, self-sufficiency, and resources for small businesses. "It's about teaching people how to fish instead of giving them a fish and walking away," Carter told BuzzFeed News in an interview.

He said he’s aiming to place 2,000 staffers in North Carolina, Florida, and Pennsylvania, hiring them to make direct voter contact and pitch Trump's gospel by setting up barbershops as "our information hubs." This would be an enormous project; by comparison, Hillary Clinton’s campaign had about 700 staffers total in recent months.

Carter believes his "partnership" with the Trump campaign is "ten times the value" of an endorsement. "A partnership means that both [sides] have an obligation to do something. It allows me to hold people accountable."

"It's about getting people to buy into the partnership. No other campaign has considered spending this kind of money."

Carter said he had assurances from top Trump aides that the candidate and campaign was committed to making the effort successful, but he didn't have specifics on what the Trump campaign plans to spend on Trump for Urban Communities. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. A website for the outreach strategy previewed by BuzzFeed News describes it as "a movement to ensure that Donald Trump wins the presidency and the Republicans retain Congress during the 2016 Election."

Carter criticized political parties and campaigns who send staff from outside of areas instead of hiring inside communities where people need help. "We're going to have train them and teach them how to market Donald Trump.”

The site also features video clips of Louis Farrakhan slamming Clinton as "a wicked woman," clashing with Barack Obama on the debate stage, and her using the term "superpredators" in a 1996 speech. "We cannot afford to allow a self-serving POTUS and the Democrats to prevail, especially in light of the Supreme Court appointments (one to potentially three) that will occur this election cycle," the site reads.

Carter, the story goes, joined the political revolution when his daughter woke him up to Bernie’s insurgent candidacy. He quickly sprung into action, self-funding a voter registration effort focused on young black men, traveling by wrapped bus to host rallies across the country — all while demonstrating a healthy disdain for Clinton.

Since supporting Sanders’ unsuccessful bid, Carter has been an outspoken critic of black voters' loyalty to the Democratic Party. He envisions a politics in which black voters' are courted by both parties, and sees Trump for Urban Communities as part of an evolution in political identity in which "the people are the true benefactors of that process."

His message echoes that of Trump, who has alienated black voters with his overtures, declaring that with failing schools and little opportunity, "What do you have to lose?"

Said Carter, "What we've gotten from the Democrat Party, it's been zero. So now it's like you have no option but to do something different if you want a different result."

Carter said his foray into organizing black support for the Republican ticket has been a quandary for black Republicans discouraged by the GOP's level of commitment to black outreach.

"Some black Republicans have asked me, 'Are you anti-Hillary or are you pro-Trump?' I'm not against anyone person, but I'm for a Trump partnership if it provides what we need for our community."

Carter said black Republicans seeking to make inroads with black voters have "great respect" for what Black Men for Bernie does, particularly for its ability to relate to communities of color and engage voters in the political process. "They are disappointed with level of outreach they have not done, and that they've not made greater effort to expand base with unfavorable candidate. There are people out in space who are not being given any direction."

Carter said that he'd been contacted by the Green and Libertarian parties after Bernie lost the nomination. Various black Republicans from around the country were looking to partner with him, but Clinton camp never reached out, he said, a circumstance, unlike that of his anger with the DNC's handling of Sanders' nomination, that he can reconcile: "Why would you reach out to something that you own? It's yours," he said.

Carter said allegations that have dogged Trump, such as housing discrimination and former colleagues declaring that he's never cared about people of color don't bother him. He’s voting for him — "I would feel like a hypocrite if I didn't," he said — and doesn't believe voters care all that much. Or he's banking on that, anyway.

"The thought process is that people won't vote for Trump because he's racist or crazy and he's talked [negatively] about people," Carter said. Not so for black voters who are looking for an opportunity, he said. "They don't care about that."

The politics, he said, are transactional for once: Trump's campaign and the other Republicans needs votes and voters need him commit to policy and access to improve communities.

"For me, [if Trump] is racist or not racist, it's irrelevant — we don't have to be the best of friends. I don't know where it's going to go but there's going to be a chance for people's lives to get better. Under Democrats, it's shown that it won't happen."

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not return a request for comment at time of publication.

John Locher / AP

WASHINGTON — Democrats and Latino groups are getting ready to ramp up voter registration efforts during Hispanic Heritage Month, hoping that the traditionally successful post-Labor Day period is juiced by anti-Trump energy and calls for Latino voting power to finally perform at impressive levels.

But they also worry that young Latinos won't come out in high enough numbers.

"Bernie Sanders was telling voters the system is rigged," said Voto Latino president Maria Teresa Kumar. "When two candidates say the system is rigged and one of your candidates doesn’t make it, you’re suspicious."

Kumar didn't have to go far during the primary to see that sentiment up close, as her partner at Voto Latino Rosario Dawson whipped up young voters in support of Sanders, while trashing Hillary Clinton, the eventual nominee. Kumar acknowledged that it was an issue but looked forward to the work in front of Latino groups like hers that hope to bring young voters back into the fold.

"We haven’t had a discussion along those lines, but it has been challenging — she’s helping people register to vote now," she said of Dawson, before addressing charges of a rigged system. "When people say the system is against us, people are doing two things: discouraging you from voting and then getting up on Nov. 8 to vote."

Kumar detailed the vast reach of voter registration efforts as Voto Latino in conjunction with groups like Mi Familia Vota, launches a month of action that looks to blow 2015 efforts out of the water.

"Last year we had 130 organizations, which registered 10,000 voters," Kumar said. "This year we have 300 organizations to date and the goal is to get 500," she said of a coalition that includes Spotify, Twitter, and AirBnB as well as celebrities like Dawson and George Lopez and the Latino secretary of states in California, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and New York.

Voto Latino will also undertake an effort to have 24 celebrities and "changemakers" in Puerto Rico calling Orlando voters, with a deluge of Puerto Ricans who have high voter participation rates from the island rapidly moving into the city.

Everyone, from the Clinton campaign to immigration advocacy groups and the Democratic Party, has leaned into a message that Donald Trump has put forth racist and xenophobic rhetoric and policies levied against Mexicans and immigrants since the day he launched his campaign. Democrats also fear that message isn't enough from the campaign to get young Hispanics to vote.

They point to polls showing the Latinos most prone to dislike her are 18 to 35, with her unfavorables highest among that group and worry that she is lagging Obama's Hispanic support as the stretch run begins despite running against what they see as the most hostile presidential candidate to Latinos ever.

A Univision/Washington Post released Tuesday found Clinton behind Obama's 2012 showing in four key battleground states of Colorado (-13), Florida (-7), Nevada (-6) and Arizona (-6).

The poll found that close to half of Latinos polled in Florida (46%) and Nevada (49%), two states where the race is tight, said Clinton is a liar.

"Do you think she’s a liar, it’s split half say yes, half say no," one concerned Democrat said. "How is that helping the enthusiasm gap?"

Sylvia Manzano, a lead pollster at Latino Decisions, which saw its two principles join the Clinton campaign as consultants last year, said while their poll last week showed that 51% of Latinos are more enthusiastic to vote now than they were in 2012, 76% said it was more important to do so.

"I suspect people may not be feeling enthusiastic because of the [Trump] attacks," Manzano said. "But is it important? 76% say this election is really important, that’s worth paying attention to." Manzano said enthusiasm has a positive connotation, so while the enthusiasm of voters under 40 is low, 80% said it was more important to vote in November.

The large-scale repudiation of Trump by Hispanics, means the support is there for Clinton, but the turnout is key. A Latino Decisions national poll last week found her up with18-to-39-year-old voters, 68% to 18%.

Clinton will kickoff the key stretch for voter registration, which includes Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM), in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute on Thursday and the campaign is launching "Fe en Nuestro Voto," a national voter registration program aimed at the faith community from Sept. 19 to Sept. 25.

The campaign's HHM efforts will largely be concentrated in battleground states, where the Florida team will be hosting voter registration efforts at eight different Latino festivals, including in Orlando, Tampa, and Miami. There will be registration efforts in North Carolina as part of the recently launched faith and small business programs aimed at Hispanics, a tacos and beer night in Nevada for young Hispanics, and salsa lessons followed by phone banking in Colorado.

In fact, Colorado is a good example of the campaign's efforts to reach young Hispanics. Sandwiched around those salsa lessons, Lorella Praeli, the Latino vote director, will take part in a Facebook Live video featuring young Hispanics to discuss college affordability, one of Bernie Sanders' pet issues, and the campaign will host a "Get Out the Taco Truck and Vote" registration effort with Rep. Ed Perlmutter, after a Trump surrogate warned of the imminent danger of delicious taco trucks on every corner should Clinton win.

There is also a unique effort, powered by a popular Mexican rock band that has called Trump a racist, hitting swing states with large Latino populations. Maná's "Latino Power Tour" will make a dozen stops in the midst of ramped up Hispanic registration efforts and has partnered with Voto Latino to register concert-goers at its shows in cities like Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas, and Miami.

"We are suggesting and bringing awareness to the Latin community to use their power during the voting process as they are key in the next elections," said Maná frontman Fher Olvera in a statement to BuzzFeed News. "Today Latinos can rewrite the history of the United States."

Still, Latino groups worry that the Hispanic vote was talked up by Democrats but commensurate resources were not allocated to them. Antonio Gonzalez, a 30-year veteran of Latino vote efforts who now runs the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project said last cycle Obama's team did a lot of voter registration themselves, but this time around Clinton's team didn't put a similar focus into registration.

"Hillary and her donor class were worried about Bernie, they figured we have Trump so the Mexicans will register themselves," Gonzalez said. "The Latino vote didn’t grow, donors didn’t do it, groups didn’t do it. Groups like us, you can’t run a car without gas."

NCLR president Janet Murguia, who once drew Obama's ire by calling him the deporter-in-chief, said that while NCLR's voter registration funding dropped from $7 million in 2012 to $1.5 million now, her organization zeroed in on the importance of registering young Hispanic voters in partnership with mitú and a voter registration app, as well as a high school senior registration curriculum.

"It's very reasonable to be concerned about our young cohort of millennials, particularly some who perhaps were Bernie supporters," she said. Pointing to the Obama years, she added, "remember some of the younger millennials were disillusioned because some promises were made and not fulfilled and they want to know what is going to be different."

Many doing the work around the country hope the stakes of the election will ultimately be so high that they lead young Hispanics to the polls.

"I usually love this game of trying to get people to participate," Voto Latino's Kumar said. "But speaking to moms who are saying their kids come home crying because they hear in school they will get deported — but they're born in America — how are we going to heal after this?"

HUD Secretary Julian Castro, a top Clinton Latino surrogate who was on her shortlist for vice president, said in the end Trump's toxic rhetoric will bring young Latinos to Clinton.

"I’ve never heard out there as much of a groundswell to vote in the Latino community as I’ve heard this cycle," he said. "I’m convinced the vast majority of Bernie voters, including Latinos who supported Bernie, are going to come out for Hillary in November, because of their front row seat to how bigoted Trump and his campaign has been."

Which is part of the rub. Many Democrats privately worry that Clinton needs to have more of a positive message for why Hispanics should support her, but ultimately many believe Trump will be enough.

In its poll of 3,729 registered Latino voters, Manzano of Latino Decisions said that in looking at why 80% of voters under 40 said they felt it was important to vote in this election, she noticed a key motivating factor.

Only 23% said they were voting to support Clinton — 51% said they were doing it to stop Trump.

Handout / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Army officials have informed Chelsea Manning that they will provide her with gender transition surgery, her lawyer tells BuzzFeed News.

A lawyer for Manning, the ACLU's Chase Strangio, spoke with Manning on Tuesday after she was informed of the military's decision. Manning, serving a 35-year prison sentence for violating the Espionage Act, received a recommendation from her psychologist in April that she receive surgery related to her gender dysphoria.

“I am unendingly relieved that the military is finally doing the right thing. I applaud them for that. This is all that I wanted — for them to let me be me,” Manning said in a statement provided by her lawyers.

"But it is hard not to wonder why it has taken so long. Also, why were such drastic measures needed? The surgery was recommended back in April 2016. The recommendations for my hair length were back in 2014," Manning continued in the statement. "In any case, I hope this sets a precedent for the thousands of trans people behind me hoping they will be given the treatment they need."

Strangio said Manning was told on Tuesday that the military made a determination that the Department of Defense's instruction for "In-Service Transition" applies to her. Additionally, according to Strangio, Manning was shown a treatment plan that included information about surgery and the medical team necessary to move forward with that surgery.

Strangio added, however, that Manning was told that she must continue to keep her hair short, as required under male grooming standards, until she receives the surgery.

Asked to confirm the information provided by Manning's lawyer, Army spokesperson Wayne Hall told BuzzFeed News only, "We cannot and will not discuss the medical needs of individuals."

The decision ends a hunger strike that Manning began on Sept. 9, but it does not, at this point, end a hearing scheduled for Manning on Sept. 20 relating to charges resulting from Manning's suicide attempt earlier this summer.

"Thankfully the government has recognized its constitutional obligation to provide Chelsea with the medical care that she needs and we hope that they will act without delay to ensure that her suffering does not needlessly continue," Strangio said in a statement.

Strangio added, however, that Tuesday's news doesn't alleviate all of the concerns of Manning's lawyers. First, he said, they will continue to monitor the situation to see how quickly the military moves forward with the recommended surgery. Second, Strangio noted, "Certainly, we're going to move forward with our litigation on the hair issue, as that remains a matter of concern." Finally, Strangio said it is the hope of Manning's lawyers that "all charges related to her suicide attempt and the investigation that followed are dropped."

No prison inmate — at the state or federal level — has received gender transition surgery. The issue of gender has been highly charged, leading to extensive litigation even in more traditionally liberal states like Massachusetts and California. Although a settlement reached in a California case brought by the Transgender Law Center provided for surgery for Shiloh Quine, Quine's lawyers told BuzzFeed News on Tuesday that the surgery is set for this fall but has not yet happened.

Activists opposed to Manning's imprisonment updated an ongoing petition after the announcement of Tuesday's news, stating, "Chelsea Manning ends hunger strike after Army agrees to provide her with needed health care. But they're still threatening to punish her for attempting to take her own life."

Supporters cheer as Donald Trump speaks during a rally Tuesday in Clive, Iowa.

Evan Vucci / AP

DES MOINES — "Donald Trump looks like a bull," Walt McDowell said as he stood in a scrum of the presidential candidate's supporters in Iowa.

McDowell spoke to BuzzFeed News at a Trump campaign rally just outside of Des Moines Tuesday afternoon. It was a smaller and calmer rally than some the candidate has held recently — there was essentially no line to get in, nor were there protests — but one topic did come up again and again: presidential health.

The subject was recently ignited following Hillary Clinton's pneumonia diagnosis and struggle to walk after falling ill at a 9/11 Memorial ceremony, but in conversations Tuesday about half the people who spoke with BuzzFeed News said that both the former secretary of state and Trump should release their medical records.

"It's important that we know we have a healthy president," Mary Baker, of Treeport, Louisiana, said.

Mary Baker, who attended Tuesday's rally, thinks both candidates should release their medical records.

Jim Dalrymple II, BuzzFeed News

Baker said both candidates releasing their medical records was the only fair thing to do. It was a popular idea; like Baker, Brian Sandvig — a Des Moines resident who stayed after the rally to get an autographed campaign sign — said all candidates should release their medical records. The stakes in the presidential race are too high not to have all available information, he said.

"We're voting for the next leader of the free world," Sandvig said. "It's important that the candidate has a clean bill of health. The voters should know."

Brian Sandvig, right, and his mother Karen Sandvig attended Tuesday's rally in Des Moines.

Jim Dalrymple II, BuzzFeed News

Keith Acheson, also of Des Moines, went even further, saying both candidates should release all relevant information including both medical records and tax returns — something Trump has refused to publish.

"I want to know everything that I can," he said.

Others at the rally, however, seemed not to care about medical records, even as they said health was an issue that mattered to them. Instead, many of Trump's supporters quickly turned to Clinton and their concerns that they didn't have the full story about her health.

"Something seems to be wrong with her more than pneumonia," Bruce Huckfeldt, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, said. "But you're never going to get to the bottom of anything with the Clintons."

Bruce Huckfeldt attends a Trump rally in Des Moines Tuesday.

Jim Dalrymple II, BuzzFeed News

Huckfeldt took a more moderate stance when it came to medical records, pointing out that they could contain outdated-but-sensitive information and suggesting a doctor could provide a more limited evaluation. Still, he agreed that voters needed to know if the two major party candidates are healthy.

"If there's something that's not going to let them do their job for the next four years," he said, "we should know that."

Other Trump supporters said they didn't need to see medical records to make decisions about the candidates' health.

"I couldn't care less about medical records," Terri Beals, of Chrisman, Indiana, said. "I feel for Mrs. Clinton, for what they have to go through. I'm not going to vote for her, but I don't fault her."

McDowell, who compared Trump to a bull, said the release of the candidates' medical records wouldn't matter, arguing it was apparent who was healthy and who was not.

"I don't think it's important," McDowell said. "We look. We can tell. We can see when they cough. We see when they stumble."

LINK: Hillary Clinton Says She Is “Feeling So Much Better” After Falling Ill At 9/11 Memorial

LINK: Trump Supporters Fire Back At Clinton Over “Basket Of Deplorables” Label

LINK: Clinton Regrets Saying Half Of Trump Supporters Are In The “Basket Of Deplorables”

Mark Kauzlarich / Reuters

Libertarian Gary Johnson on Tuesday announced that he will be the first third-party presidential candidate to appear on the ballot in all 50 states, plus Washington DC, since 1996.

“With a majority of Americans wanting a choice other than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, today we now know for certain that on Election Day, every voter in America will have that alternative option," Johnson said in a statement, referring himself and his running mate, former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld.

Gaining ballot access in all 50 states and DC is a "monumental task," he added, noting that the only other tickets to do so are the two main political parties.

Ballot access laws are a major hurdle for third-party candidates. Jill Stein is running for the Green Party, but has not gained ballot access in all 50 states.

The Libertarian party last achieved the nationwide feat in 1996 with candidate Harry Browne. Also on the ballot in all 50 states that year was Reform Party candidate Ross Perot.

For the Reform Party in the 2000 election, Patrick Buchanan appeared on all 50 state ballots, but not in D.C. The Libertarian Party also secured nationwide ballot access in 2000 with Browne running again, but Arizona's Libertarian Party opted to instead run L. Neil Smith.

Chris Geidner/BuzzFeed

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for a transgender student who was barred under his Virginia school’s policy from using the boys' restroom urged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow a lower court ruling in his and the Obama administration's favor to stand.

The student, Gavin Grimm, who had used the boys' restroom previously, was barred from using the boys' restroom after the school district adopted a policy limiting restroom use to students' "biological sex." After the policy was implemented, Grimm, represented by the ACLU, sued the district.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals held in Grimm's favor earlier this year, ruling that the Obama administration's pro-transgender schools policy — that sex discrimination bans include a ban on anti-transgender discrimination — is a permissible reading of regulations implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

The Gloucester County School Board in Virginia asked the Supreme Court in late August to hear its appeal of that decision. On Tuesday, lawyers for Grimm opposed that request.

"Title IX entrusts the administrative agency with responsibility for making policy judgments about when to permit differential treatment on the basis of sex," the lawyers wrote. "The Department of Education's reasonable interpretation of its own regulation falls squarely within that delegation of authority and is worthy of deference."

The 4th Circuit ruling led a district court to issue an injunction against Gloucester County School Board, barring it from enforcing its policy. This summer, however, the Supreme Court granted the school district a stay of that injunction pending the outcome of the school district's certiorari petition — meaning the school could once again enforce its policy for the time being.

Tuesday's filing by Grimm's lawyers came 15 days after the school district's certiorari petition was filed — despite the fact that parties have 30 days to respond to such requests for review.

“We are filing our brief early so that the Supreme Court can consider the request for review as soon as possible,” ACLU attorney Joshua Block, the counsel of record in the case, said in a statement. "We hope the Supreme Court rejects the school board’s request to hear the case and that Gavin will finally be able to attend high school without being singled out and stigmatized every time he has to do something as basic as using the restroom. Every day that the stay remains in effect, Gavin loses another day of his senior year that he will never get back."

Read the brief in opposition:

Evan Vucci / AP

New York's attorney general has opened an investigation into the Donald J. Trump Foundation to determine if the Republican presidential nominee's personal charity follows state law.

In 2014, the foundation reported $1.27 million in assets and receiving just two donations, none of them from Trump himself. One was for $477, 400 from New York ticket man Richard Ebers, the other was for $20,000 from Long Island carpet company Prestige Mills.

The investigation comes after a series of reports in the Washington Post that Trump has used the foundation in ways that are unusual and appear to defy tax law. For years, the foundation has primarily given away other people's money, the Post reported this week. The foundation appears to have used its funds to purchase gifts for Trump, and in several instances, recorded donations could not be verified by the charities that should have received them.

An earlier Washington Post report on a donation by the foundation to Florida's attorney general — who was investigating Trump for fraud — resulted in the businessman paying a penalty tax to the IRS.

On Tuesday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman told CNN his office has corresponded with the Trump Foundation to inquire into its practices amid concerns that it "may have engaged in some impropriety."

A source familiar with the matter told BuzzFeed News the attorney general had opened the investigation following "troubling transactions," and that the office was working to determine if the foundation was following state laws regulating charities.

A spokesman for the Trump campaign said the inquiry was motivated by politics.

"Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is a partisan hack who has turned a blind eye to the Clinton Foundation for years and has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president," Jason Miller, senior communications advisor for the campaign, told BuzzFeed News in a statement. "This is nothing more than another left-wing hit job designed to distract from Crooked Hillary Clinton’s disastrous week."

Schneiderman has described Trump University, which is currently in the midst of a lawsuit, as a scam. And in July, he told New York delegates at the Democratic National Convention that Trump's business practices have left a "trail of broken contracts, unpaid bills...and ruined lives," Syracuse.com reported.

Andrew Kelly / Reuters

In private, Condoleezza Rice criticized Bush administration Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to Colin Powell last year in an exchange about the handling of the Iraq War, according to Powell’s personal emails seen by BuzzFeed News.

The two former secretaries of state corresponded briefly after journalist Bob Woodward disputed Rumsfeld arguing that he had always been skeptical of creating a democracy in Iraq.

The website DCLeaks.com — which has reported, but not confirmed, ties to Russian intelligence services — obtained Powell’s emails. It may be the latest example of a Russian entity potentially trying to influence the US presidential election — in July, the FBI said it believed Russia was behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee’s internal emails right before they party’s convention.

Powell initiated the 2015 exchange by emailing Rice, who was the national security adviser at the time of the Iraq invasion, with a link to Woodward’s comments.

“First, we didn’t invade Iraq to bring democracy — but once we overthrew Saddam, we had a view of what should follow,” Rice responded. “If Don and the Pentagon had done their job (after claiming the rights to lead post-war rebuilding—things might have turned out differently).”

“Don should just stop talking,” she added. “He puts his foot in his mouth every time.”

Powell replied by seconding Rice’s critique, saying “the boys in the band were brain dead.”

“Doug and Paul claims they had a plan (turn Iraq and our Army over to Chalibi) and leave,” Powell wrote, appearing to reference Bush administration officials Doug Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, and the late Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi, who died last year.

“43 knew what had to be done,” Powell continued, referring to President George W. Bush, “specifically rejected the Chalibi crowd and as you say the boys in the band were brain dead.”

Rice and Powell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

w.soundcloud.com

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said Wednesday that Hillary Clinton is "cold-hearted" and "cruel" for comments she made at a private fundraiser last week.

Priebus blasted Clinton in a radio interview with Mike Gallagher for claiming the “basket of deplorables” supporting Donald Trump—a group Clinton said made up “half” of Trump’s support and included racists, xenophobes, and homophobes—were “irredeemable.” The Clinton campaign issued a statement on Saturday expressing regret for saying “half,” but stood by criticism of Trump’s “prejudice and paranoia.”

“The irredeemable part, to me, is even more offensive,” Priebus told Gallagher. “There's no such thing as irredeemable. Only a cold-hearted person, cruel person would believe [that]. I can go on and on.”

Thinking “that someone else is irredeemable is a pathetic, nasty view that I do not want to be associated with in any way,” Priebus said.

Clinton’s remarks were “especially bad when you have an enthusiasm gap on top of it. You're already losing the enthusiasm war, which is very important on election day and before that," he added. "Now you've energized your opposition even more so. You energize people that are trying to make their decision as to who to choose and people who are in the process of deciding.”

Scott Olson / Getty Images

w.soundcloud.com

Sam Clovis, Donald Trump’s national campaign co-chairman, said Monday that there will be many undocumented immigrants who will voluntary leave during Trump's first term in office.

“If we enforce the law, we will have a lot of self-deportation that will go along with this because then people will understand, yes, we're serious about this,” Clovis told Philadelphia radio host Scott Adams in an interview posted Monday. "If we are able to get e-verify in place where we can send letters of notice to employers that may have people working for them unknowingly that are illegal, then I think we'll have employers that will help start this process to make sure that all their employees are legal."

“If there's no work here and other things, then I think people will deport themselves,” Clovis said. “I think we'll be able to get on top of this in the space of our first term.”

Trump has said he will focus on deporting criminal immigrants who are here illegally, but he and his campaign have been less clear about what he will do with undocumented immigrants with no criminal record.

Clovis shot down the idea that Trump would “go and round up everybody on the first weekend and throw them out."

"That’s not going to happen. That's not the way it works," Clovis said.

While Trump was blasting Hillary Clinton during a speech, Rev. Faith Green Timmons interrupted and said she did not want him to get political.

Donald Trump campaigned in Flint, Michigan, on Wednesday.

Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images

He was invited to speak at the Bethel United Methodist Church, where his remarks were carried live on television.

Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images

Then this happened:

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Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images

Hillary Clinton’s campaign released new information about the Democratic nominee’s health on Wednesday afternoon, including the results of a complete physical exam and more details about her recent pneumonia diagnosis.

Aside from the pneumonia diagnosis, Clinton's physical exam was “normal” and she is in “excellent mental condition,” according to her physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, the chair of internal medicine at CareMount Medicinal in Mount Kisco, New York.

Bardack detailed the results in a two-page letter shared by the campaign.

Clinton, 68, received a CT scan on Friday, the letter said. The result showed mild and noncontagious bacterial pneumonia, which Clinton is treating with a 10-day regimen of the medication Levaquin. "She is recovering well with antibiotics and rest. She continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as president of the United States,” Bardack wrote.

In her most recent physical exam, Clinton had a blood pressure of 100/70, heart rate of 70, and a cholesterol of 189 (LDL of 103, HDL of 56).

The campaign’s disclosure of Clinton’s medical records comes three days after she was videotaped struggling to walk and being assisted into a van as she abruptly exited a 9/11 memorial service in New York City on Sunday. The campaign later revealed she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days earlier on Friday.

Clinton has spent the early part of this week recovering at her home in Chappaqua, New York. She is expected to resume campaigning on Thursday. Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, stood in for her Wednesday at a campaign rally in Las Vegas, telling voters that he had just spoken with her and "she's feeling great."

"It's a crazy time we live in when people think there's something unusual about getting the flu," he said, making reference to the pneumonia, a spokesman said later. "Last time I checked millions of people were getting it every year."

Bardack, Clinton’s personal physician since 2001, released a detailed summary of the candidate’s health through the campaign on July 28, 2015. The letter released Wednesday was presented as "a summary update" on the previous disclosure.

The 2016 letter indicates that not much about Clinton’s health condition has changed in the intervening 14 months. She still takes the same two medications regularly, Armor Thyroid and Coumadin, as well as occasional doses of vitamin B12 and antihistamines, which Clinton said she “upped” last week to “try to break through” her seasonal allergies after suffering a coughing attack on stage.

Clinton’s vitals were also roughly the same as those released last year, with a blood pressure of 100/70, compared with 100/65 in 2015, and a heart rate of 70, compared with 72 in 2015. Her respiratory rate of 18 was the same both years, Bardack said.

Bardack also said Clinton’s vaccinations remained up to date — including Prevnar and Pneumovax, she said, which both help prevent pneumonia.

Campaign aides also released medical information about Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine, the 58-year-old senator from Virginia. His evaluation was conducted by Brian P. Monahan, the attending physician of the US Congress.

Kaine’s physician, Dr. Monahan, reported that the vice presidential candidate is in “overall excellent health” and had his most recent physical in February, the results of which were normal with a blood pressure of 120/81, a pulse of 71, and a total cholesterol of 224 (LDL 138, HDL 65).

His physician recommended Kaine add a vitamin D supplement to his diet.

Monahan also noted a history of breast cancer on Kaine’s maternal side and a history of prostate cancer on his father’s side, as well as a left atrial enlargement.

Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images

CANTON, Ohio — Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested his rival Hillary Clinton lacks the stamina to lead a large rally, days after her campaign revealed that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia.

"It's hot and it's always hot when I perform because the crowds are so big," he told a crowd in Canton, Ohio.

He then followed up by asking: "You think Hillary would be able to stand up here for an hour and do this? I don't know. I don't think so."

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CNN

A BuzzFeed News reporter at the Ohio rally, meanwhile, disputed Trump's assertion that it was hot inside the venue.

Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday, but her campaign didn't reveal her condition until Sunday, after she was caught stumbling while leaving a 9/11 memorial.

Trump has largely refrained from addressing Clinton's health, but Wednesday marked the first time he did so in a negative light. Though his comments were vague, several supporters in the audience held theories that were quite specific.

"Hillary has a serious medical problem that they are not disclosing,” Dave Sumser told BuzzFeed News. He speculated Clinton actually suffered a seizure on Sunday and has Parkinson’s disease. Still, he noted, “All you can do is speculate.”

While there is no evidence to support the claims, he suggested, “She might not make it to Election Day."

In contrast, Sumser and other supporters in the arena believe Trump’s vigor at Wednesday’s rally — and his busy schedule — demonstrate his fitness.

“I think Trump is in good health personally,” Sumser said. “Look at how many rallies he is doing a week — sometimes two a day.”

Another man told BuzzFeed News that Trump was “strong as a horse.”

For his part, Trump taped a segment with Dr. Oz, set to air Thursday, during which he discussed his own health exam results. His campaign also said the results would be released publicly.

One audience member told reporters that Trump said he wanted to lose 15 pounds and discussed why he eats fast food. Trump also purportedly said he never exercises.

Nancy Ley said she believed Clinton “is covering up an illness that she has had a long time." She cited a YouTube video that claims Clinton has Parkinson's disease as the basis for the speculation. She thought both candidates should release their full medical records.

“I thought he was healthy, because his wife cooks for him and she is beautiful and thin,” Ley added. “Anybody who can do what he does is healthy. He was in Flint, Michigan, and now he’s here. I can’t imagine.”

Trump later told the crowd Clinton was "lying in bed, getting better." When the crowd booed, he added: "We want her better, we want her back on the trail."

Several Trump backers noted Clinton’s stumble on Sunday.

“If someone is going to be president, you don’t want them to keel over,” Alex Stone said. “Trump doesn’t have any problem getting into a van and Hillary does.”

But Jennifer Burn dismissed the health conspiracies and theories on both sides, noting that both candidates are seniors.

“Everybody has health issues,” said Burn. “They are not spring chickens.”

LINK: Donald Trump Shares The Results Of His Physical Exam With Dr. Oz

LINK: Hillary Clinton Releases Additional Information About Her Health

Bill Clinton at a campaign event Wednesday in North Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Logan, West Virginia. Prestonsburg, Kentucky. Fargo, North Dakota.

These are the places Bill Clinton spent the final weeks of the Democratic primary campaigning for his wife. They were mostly white, sometimes small, often forgotten towns — tucked away in coal country or some other part of the country not often visited by candidates or former presidents. Many of the voters in these places support Donald Trump now. Two decades ago, they were Bill Clinton people.

On Wednesday afternoon in North Las Vegas, the 42nd president laid out his theory on why they wouldn't vote for him now, drawing a line from Hillary Clinton's email "hullabaloo" to what he described as Republican efforts to distract people ("Please don't think!") and fuel the "road rage" felt by white working-class and blue-collar communities — people Trump treats, he said, like a "pawn in a game."

"They voted for me," Clinton said of the places he visited in the late spring — "small-town and rural areas," he told the crowd, "that have been too poor too long."

"They wouldn't today, though. Because they're into their anger now."

With a laugh and a shake of the head, Clinton contended that some "won't even admit" that President Obama's Affordable Care Act has helped them get coverage.

Wednesday’s speech — a long and winding version of Clinton’s usual campaign trail pitch — came as a stand-in for what was supposed to be a Hillary Clinton rally. The former secretary of state cancelled three days of events this week after a medical episode on Sunday and revealing a recent pneumonia diagnosis.

Instead, voters in Nevada heard Bill Clinton make the case that the email controversy has been a key piece of Republican efforts to create a "constant state of feeding the anxiety and anger that is out there," he said. "We don't need to feed our road rage. We need to slow the car down and think about our common future."

As he has at other events, Clinton pointed to endorsements from national security officials as proof his wife did not endanger the country by setting up a personal email server. ("Would they have endorsed? No.") The email "hullabaloo," in his telling, has been settled: "We were told this was the biggest problem since World War II," he said. "Now we know that essentially what happened was what happened."

But for many of the country's frustrated voters, Clinton said, "if you make it about all this stuff... it saves them the trouble of thinking and it taps into the road rage."

"How many of you were raised as children with your momma telling you do not ever make a decision when you're mad, you'll make a mistake. Right?" Clinton added. "This is about road rage: 'Please don't think, choose anger not answers, choose resentment not responsibility and empowerment, chose walls not bridges.' Well that's the choice you got. When you cut right to the chase, that's the choice you got."

His summary of the GOP: "Just attack, attack. Because we can't let people think!"

Flanked by two posts showing the campaign's slogan, "Stronger Together," Clinton noted that his wife had even worked in many of the communities that form the heart of Trump's base, including to provide legal services in the Arkansas Ozarks.

Still, Clinton said, the anger in America's depressed economies is deserved.

"We understand why they're mad. None of us have done enough to help coal country build a new economy. They oughta be mad at everybody," he said.

"They've sacrificed a long time."

During the primary, Clinton kept up a heavy schedule of campaign travel, holding more than 150 public events through the end of May. Many were in places like West Virginia and Kentucky, where the former president spent most of his time making the case that Hillary Clinton was the only candidate in the race who had put forward a comprehensive plan to put billions into revitalizing areas like coal country.

"So I went down there, I said, look — Hillary sent me here to tell you, if you want to vote to make America great like it was 50 years ago, have at it. Do it. But if she wins, she's coming back for you," Clinton said, describing the campaign's efforts there as something of note. "I really can't remember a time when a candidate for president made that kind of outreach to people who were so violently opposed to her."

"I'm just trying to talk to people," he said. "I'm not a very good speechmaker anymore."

The comment drew laughs across the crowd. But Clinton, putting on a gravely serious voice, urged them, "No, listen."

"Go talk to people and tell them that 'Stronger Together' beats the living daylights out of driving a stake through the heart of our common future and our common humanity," Clinton said. "Tell people that."

Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images

Hillary Clinton is still struggling to win younger voters — many of them supporters of her former rival Bernie Sanders — according to a new poll of swing-state voters aged 18 to 34.

The online poll, paid for by NextGen Climate and conducted by Global Strategy Group the last week of August, shows Clinton with 38% support from young voters in a four-way race — only a three-point increase over a similar survey conducted in early July.

In a two-way race between Clinton and Trump, Clinton increased her support by four points, 44% from 40% in the July survey.

By comparison, Republican nominee Donald Trump only has 20% support in a four-way race, and 23% in a two-way race.

The poll conducted in July found that 21% of young voters were "Sanders holdouts." Clinton only cut into that margin by five points in the most recent survey — with 16% still refusing to vote for Clinton in a four-way race.

While younger voters might be tepid in their support for Clinton, they are fervently against Trump. According to the poll, 73% view Trump as racist and 70% view him as unfit to be president.

Among things Trump has said or done, young voters found his mocking of a reporter's disability to be the most offensive, with 72% finding it "very offensive."

"Millennials’ views of Donald Trump hasn’t changed — but their awareness of the differences between Trump and Hillary Clinton on the issues has," said Jamison Foser, strategic adviser to NextGen Climate. "Clinton’s lead has grown and favorability has increased as young voters learn more about the candidates’ policy positions, suggesting that as bad as things are for Trump, they can still get worse."

The poll is based on 1,652 online interviews conducted from Aug. 24 to Aug. 30 with adults aged 18 to 34 in Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Hampshire, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Ohio.

View the full poll results below:

Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images

w.soundcloud.com

Donald Trump Jr. said on Thursday that the media has built up Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and that if Republicans acted the way Clinton has, the media would be "warming up the gas chamber" for them.

“The media has been her number one surrogate in this," the younger Trump told radio host Chris Stigall on 1210 WPHT radio in Philadelphia. "Without the media, this wouldn’t even be a contest, but the media has built her up. They’ve let her slide on every in-discrepancy, on every lie, on every DNC game trying to get Bernie Sanders out of this thing.

"If Republicans were doing that, they’d be warming up the gas chamber right now."

He added, "It's a very different system, there's nothing fair about it."

Earlier, Trump Jr. said the media and the American Left were trying to make it so the debate moderators weren't fair to his father.

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Mike Pence said in a local television interview aired on Wednesday that his running mate Donald Trump no longer questions President Obama's citizenship.

“Those are issues of the past," the Republican vice presidential nominee said in the interview with ABC7 WWSB which was posted online Thursday. "Donald Trump and I both accept that the president was born in the United States of America. Questions were raised in prior campaigns over the last 4 and 8 years by various sources. And they’ve all been answered.”

Trump, who in 2011 and 2012 was a leader of the birther movement that peddled conspiracy theories about Obama's birthplace, has not retracted his skepticism that the president was born in the United States.

Pence was also asked in the interview about former Secretary of State Colin Powell's comment in private emails leaked this week that the birther theories were "racist."

“Well, look, I think those are all the issues of the past," he replied. "What we’re talking about in Scranton today as the crowd is gathering here tonight, what Donald Trump is talking about in Michigan and will be in Ohio tonight is really the future. We’re talking about this country. We’re talking about rebuilding American strength at home and abroad. I certainly have great, great respect for Secretary Powell and I know those emails came out today and he expressed frustration with Hillary Clinton as well.”

Pence was also asked about the birther issue earlier this week by CNN's Wolf Blitzer. In that interview, he said, ""You know, we're just not talking about that issue. It's a four-year-old issue."

In the interview on Wednesday, Pence also said Trump would release his tax returns after an audit was complete, though there is no rule preventing Trump from releasing them beforehand.

"He’ll release those tax returns as soon as that routine audit is completed and the American people have access to that as they do with my tax returns already," Pence said. "But look, that piece in Newsweek is just the latest example of the kind of hit journalism that frankly we’re seeing often from the national media in this campaign.”

An interview with Donald Trump Jr. conducted by a local Pennsylvania television station was abruptly cut off by an aide when the topic turned to a Washington Post story about Donald Trump spending his foundation's money at auction to buy a portrait of himself.

"You're a director of the Trump Foundation charity, did you sign off on charity money for a portrait?" asked WTAE local news.

"No, I don't know anything about that," responded Trump Jr.

"So how come you didn't know—," asked WTAE.

"All right, that's it," a voice off-camera then immediately cuts in. "We have to move on to the next one."

"I'm not involved in it," Trump Jr. said.

Two separate Washington Post stories found Trump spent Trump Foundation money to buy a football helmet and portrait at a charity auction, possibly violating tax against self-dealing. A BuzzFeed News article in July also found Trump bought a $120,000 luxury trip at a charity auction with Trump Foundation money.

Earlier in the interview, Trump Jr. said his father hasn't released his tax returns because he is under audit and doesn't want people in the country going through them.

"What we don't want to do is create a story where then every want-to-be-auditor in the country is going through and saying, 'What if? What if?' There's nothing there," he said.

Joanne Carole / ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — When Hillary Clinton's campaign launched their DREAMer voter initiative titled "Mi Sueño, Tu Voto" (“My Dream, Your Vote”), the lynchpin of the program was to mobilize undocumented youth who have often served as the face of the immigration movement, and use them to persuade neighbors and friends to vote because the DREAMers cannot.

Now the campaign is looking to retrofit that idea for a crucial group of voters: Puerto Ricans in Orlando and along the I-4 corridor in the true swing state of Florida. The idea is to use residents on the island to connect with Floridians to impress upon them why they should vote, amid Puerto Rico's struggles with Zika and a financial crisis.

"We've heard from Puerto Ricans that people on the island are dependent on those in Florida," said Latino vote director Lorella Praeli at a briefing ahead of Clinton's return to the trail after a case of pneumonia and a speech Thursday to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. She said the campaign is working on identifying leaders to help creating the initiative now for mobilization efforts.

The fight for Florida is intense, with polls showing the state as a toss up. There are more than a million Puerto Ricans in Florida; 1,000 relocate to the state from the island every month, U.S. citizenship in hand. The Clinton campaign has five offices in the Orlando area and three in areas with large Puerto Rican populations, in Kissimmee, Deltona, and south Orlando. On Sept. 24, the campaign will host its first caravana, a staple of Puerto Rican politics, featuring a procession of trucks, music, and bullhorns.

But there are challenges. While the campaign leans on the fact that Puerto Ricans on the island have high voter-participation rates, there is also a culture of voting in person, so the campaign not only has to get them to vote, but is also emphasizing early voting, which boosted Clinton during the primary. And as the Orlando Sentinel detailed in a recent report, 30% of Latinos in Orlando, Tampa and Central Florida reject party affiliation, "with only 68 percent of Latino adults in Central Florida registered to vote in their district, compared with 80 percent across the general, statewide population."

Democratic strategist Jose Parra, who is from Florida, said the key to the campaign's program to reach Puerto Ricans will be in the implementation because of every day realities that may take precedence over voting, presenting a challenge for the Clinton campaign trying to squeeze every drop of Latino votes out of the Sunshine state.

"You have all these things Puerto Ricans are dealing with — there's a shortage of housing in central Florida because of the influx of people, rents are extremely high," Parra said. "They're living the immigrant experience, housing is expensive and it may not be close to work."

But the Clinton campaign won't be alone. Voto Latino, which is in the midst of a Hispanic Heritage Month voter registration push, recently launched a similar program to have celebrities and influencers in Puerto Rico call Florida residents to get them to vote.

Praeli said the campaign will also be sending Puerto Rican supporters in New York to Pennsylvania to volunteer in the key state.

Clinton went to Puerto Rico in the Fall of 2015 for a roundtable on the island's health crisis — before Zika exploded in the national consciousness and recent reports that one in four residents will contract the disease, which can be deadly and is dangerous for pregnant women.

She recently went to Florida to address the issue, as the campaign's national political director Amanda Renteria has, when she visited the island to meet with officials to discuss the disease. Puerto Rico is also struggling through a financial crisis related to its debt and lobbied for bankruptcy protection before a financial control board was instituted by Congress.

"Folks know she has been with Puerto Rico in the crisis," Renteria said. "While Trump believes in bankruptcies for himself — he has a hard time talking about how to help Puerto Ricans."