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Campaign 2016 updates: FBI releases report on Clinton email investigation

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The FBI released a summary report of its findings after investigating Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

Meet the Donald Trump advisor who was once among Hillary Clinton’s most emphatic fans

The colorful California academic who helped inspire Donald Trump’s rants against free trade deals has had an interesting life full of interesting experiences that he details in his many books.

But one really stands out – so much so that Peter Navarro, an outspoken member of Trump’s economic advisory team, called it “sweet manna from heaven.”

It was the day Hillary Clinton came to San Diego to give his run for Congress a boost.

Clinton, of course, is now one of Navarro’s favorite villains. Navarro, a UC Irvine professor, rarely misses an opportunity to tear down her resume. His polished critiques of Clinton are one of the more potent weapons of the Trump campaign, which has struggled to attract credentialed economic thinkers. Navarro can often be found on cable news, on the radio and in the pages of major newspapers warning about how a Clinton administration would lead to more misery for a shrinking middle class.

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Donald Trump, courting black support, meets with leaders in Philadelphia

(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

Donald Trump has been courting African American voters recently, but has usually made those pitches before mostly white audiences. On Friday, he made a rare pit stop: a predominantly black community.

The Republican presidential nominee traveled to North Philadelphia, visiting African American elected officials and clergy at a charter school to discuss, among other things, healthcare, immigration and criminal justice reform.

Outside several dozen protesters lambasted Trump, calling him divisive for his plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and to ban Muslims from entering the county.

Trump, whose support among black voters lags drastically behind Democrat Hillary Clinton, has insisted for weeks that as president he would foster better schools, create jobs and build safer communities for African Americans.

Renee Amoore, deputy chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, attended Friday’s meeting in North Philadelphia.

Amoore, a supporter of Trump since the GOP primaries, dismissed the notion that Trump is not appealing to black voters, despite recent polls, such as a USA Today/Suffolk University survey that showed him at 4% support among African Americans.

“He’s here, in a black community -- that’s news,” Amoore said, noting that critics have assailed Trump for making pitches to black voters while speaking before primarily white audiences in recent weeks. “He is starting a conversation.”

Trump listened to stories of crime and underperforming schools in Philadelphia, taking notes, acknowledging problems and vowing to fix them, she said.

At one moment during the meeting, a woman whose daughter was killed in 2007 by a group of men in the country illegally told her story. Trump, as he has throughout the campaign and this week, stressed that he will deport those in the country illegally with criminal records.

“These are people who shouldn’t be in the country,” Trump told the group.

On Saturday, Trump is scheduled to travel to Detroit where he will meet with black clergy and elected officials.

Ahead of the visit, Clinton’s campaign on Friday sent an email blast to supporters noting, among other things, a housing discrimination lawsuit the Department of Justice filed against Trump in the 1970s.

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Kissinger and Shultz are staying out of the 2016 election

Henry Kissinger
(Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)

Veteran GOP foreign policy gurus Henry Kissinger and George Shultz said Friday that they would not be supporting Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton in this year’s race for the White House.

“We are not making any endorsement in the current presidential election,” the men said in a statement. “We are dedicated to fostering a bipartisan foreign policy and we will devote ourselves to this effort now and after the election.”

As scores of GOP foreign policy and national security experts have spoken out against Trump, with some endorsing Clinton, speculation had been mounting about Kissinger’s and Shultz’s intentions.

Shultz provided a window into his thinking in August, when asked about a potential Trump presidency during a roundtable with journalists at Stanford University.

“God help us,” he replied.

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Chris Wallace will be the first presidential debate moderator from Fox News

Chris Wallace will become the first Fox News journalist to moderate a presidential debate when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have their third scheduled faceoff on Oct 19 at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

Wallace, 68, is the anchor of “Fox News Sunday,” which airs on Fox TV affiliates as well as the Fox News Channel on cable.

“I am very excited to have the opportunity,” Wallace said on Fox News after the Commission on Presidential Debates announced the moderators. “Personally, I’m excited. I’m also excited because I will be the first Fox reporter to ever moderate a presidential debate, so I think that’s quite a statement for our news organization.”

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Putin praises DNC hack but says Russia didn’t do it

Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin
(Alexei Druzhinin / Associated Press)

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the hacks of Democratic National Committee files during this election season but denied the widely held suspicion that his nation was behind the espionage.

“Listen, does it even matter who hacked this data?’’ Putin told Bloomberg News on Thursday. “The important thing is the content that was given to the public.”

The 20,000 hacked documents contained embarrassing communications that suggested the party was actively trying to buoy eventual nominee Hillary Clinton and sink rival Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primaries. They were released at the start of the Democratic National Convention, leading to the resignation of party Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other top officials.

Putin repeatedly insisted that his nation had nothing to the do with the matter. “We definitely don’t do this at a state level,” Putin said.

The U.S. presidential nominees have vastly differing approaches to confronting an increasingly aggressive Russia. Donald Trump has repeatedly praised Putin, while Hillary Clinton has argued that he is a dangerous force for upheaval in eastern Europe.

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FBI releases report on its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server

(Win McNamee / Getty Images)

The FBI on Friday released a summary report of its probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and her handling of classified materials.

The report, which previously had been shared with Congress, includes notes of the July 2 FBI interview with Clinton. Many parts of the report are redacted.

FBI Director James B. Comey on July 5 delivered a stinging public rebuke of Clinton even as he sought to explain why he and top bureau officials did not believe she should face criminal prosecution because there was no evidence she knowingly discussed classified emails over the system.

His long-anticipated recommendation to the Justice Department removed the most serious threat hanging over Clinton’s presidential campaign: the possibility of a criminal indictment.

“Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,” Comey told reporters at FBI headquarters.

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Jill Stein was supposed to speak in Ohio, but she flew to the wrong airport

Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein, shown visiting Los Angeles earlier this week, was delayed at an Ohio rally Friday because she flew to the wrong airport.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Presidential campaign rallies frequently start late – candidates get stuck in meetings or on phone calls; weather can delay travel. But a Jill Stein event Friday in Ohio was delayed two hours for an remarkable reason: The Green Party nominee flew to the wrong airport.

Stein had been scheduled to speak at Capital University in Bexley, outside Columbus, at noon, but she mistakenly flew to Cincinnati, according to the Columbus Dispatch, which reported she was driving from there to Bexley, about 125 miles northeast.

About 100 people showed up for the event, the paper reported, adding that pizzas were being delivered “to thank people for their patience.”

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Trump’s support among Latinos at 19%, poll finds

A bilingual sign stands outside a polling center in Austin, Texas.
(John Moore / Getty Images)

Donald Trump’s support among Latinos has hit 19%, according to a new poll, which also showed Latino voters paying attention to the election and more energized to vote than in the past.

Latinos have long preferred Democrat Hillary Clinton to Trump, and if the election were held today, she would win 70% of their vote, according to the Latino Decisions poll.

More telling perhaps is how engaged Latino voters are with the election.

Nearly eight in 10 Latinos are following election news several times a week, and 58% are talking about it with their family and friends, the poll said.

Immigration is second only to jobs/economy as the top issue Latinos believe the new president should address. Along with deportations, it is the top issue Latinos say is facing their community.

Three-fourths of Latinos say it is more important to vote this year than in in 2012, mainly to stop Trump and to support Clinton.

GOP strategists have said Trump needs to win about 40% of the Latino vote, but that has been elusive.

Trump’s poll numbers among Latinos have fluctuated dramatically, from a high of 30% at one point to a low of 13% at the time of the GOP convention in July.

Trump’s tough talk about Mexicans, immigrants and the border wall worries Republican leaders, who hoped this election could improve the GOP standing with Latinos.

The poll was conducted before Trump’s immigration speech Wednesday in Phoenix. It surveyed 3,729 registered Latino voters, in English and Spanish, between Aug. 19-30.

Voter turnout among Latinos has historically lagged among other voters. Outreach groups have fanned out to battleground states to register Latinos and nudge voters to the polls.

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Presidential debate moderators are chosen

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

The commission that sets the ground rules for presidential debates has announced the roster of moderators who will conduct the three presidential and single vice presidential debates.

Lester Holt, NBC’s evening newscast anchor, will moderate the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in New York. ABC’s Martha Raddatz and CNN’s Anderson Cooper will moderate the second debate on Oct. 9 at Washington University in St. Louis. Fox News’ Chris Wallace will moderate the final presidential debate on Oct. 19 at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

CBS News’ Elaine Quijano will moderate the vice presidential debate between Gov. Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Kaine on Oct. 4 at Longwood University in Virginia.

“These journalists bring extensive experience to the job of moderating, and understand the importance of using expanded time periods effectively,” the commission said. “We are grateful for their willingness to moderate, and confident that the public will learn more about the candidates and the issues as a result.”

The scheduling of the presidential debates became a source of controversy this summer when Trump accused the commission of colluding with Democrats to rig the schedule against him. The nonpartisan commission had set the schedule for the debates months in advance.

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Trump calls ‘Morning Joe’ hosts ‘crazy,’ ‘dumb’ and a ‘mess’ on Twitter

Donald Trump blasted one of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” hosts as mentally unstable and the other as a “mess” Friday in his latest tweet attacks prompted by the show’s criticism of his campaign.

Trump and the morning show hosts started feuding after his last appearance on the show in May.

On Friday, the “Morning Joe” panel of guests lambasted Trump’s campaign for operating a single field office in Florida. Host Joe Scarborough pointed to the 2012 election as an example of the stark difference between Trump’s campaign and past efforts in Florida — former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had 48 field offices, President Obama had 102.

“The state parties are looking for the presidential campaign to come in and put the infrastructure in place,” panelist and former RNC Chairman Michael Steele said.

Trump fired back that his campaign has recruited an army of volunteers that want to #MAGA — “Make America Great Again.”

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Road trip: Bernie Sanders hits the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton

Former Democratic presidential contender Sen. Bernie Sanders will campaign for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire this weekend, as the Democratic Party continues to unify in ways that have eluded the GOP.

The senator will stump for his former rival at a Labor Day event at Lebanon High School where he’ll talk economics in what promises to be a fiery speech.

Sanders will contrast “Clinton’s plan to building an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top, and Donald Trump’s plan, which would benefit himself and other millionaires and billionaires,” the campaign said.

Clinton is striving to maintain a decisive lead over Trump amid continued questions about her family’s foundation and her private email server.

But Democrats have largely rallied behind their candidate in a show of party loyalty that Republicans have not mustered for Trump.

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The Internet wonders: Who doesn’t want #TacoTrucksOnEveryCorner?

Twitter users jumped on the #TacoTrucksOnEveryCorner hashtag after a top Latino supporter of Donald Trump suggested the idea as a consequence of not cracking down on illegal immigration. The consensus? It sounds like a great idea, not a punishment.

“My culture is a very dominant culture,” founder of Latinos for Trump Marco Gutierrez said on MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes.” “It is imposing and it’s causing problems. If you don’t do something about it, you’re going to have taco trucks on every corner.”

But instead of fearing the influx of an unlimited taco supply, Twitter users embraced the idea. Actress Eva Longoria asked, “Hey, what’s wrong with #TacoTrucksOnEveryCorner?”

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Hillary Clinton releases new plan to crack down EpiPen, other drug price hikes

Hillary Clinton announced a new plan Friday to crack down on drug companies that substantially hike the prices of prescriptions, reacting to public outcry over the 500% increase for EpiPen’s lifesaving allergy treatment injector.

Clinton’s proposal would fine companies that jack up prices, and would ease the way for competitors at home and abroad to offer alternatives.

“It’s time to move beyond talking about these price hikes and start acting to address them,” Clinton said.

“All Americans deserve full access to the medications they need — without being burdened by excessive, unjustified costs,” she said.

While acknowledging that the pharmaceutical industry is an “incredible source of American innovation and revolutionary treatments,” Clinton said she is “ready to hold drug companies accountable when they try to put profits ahead of patients.”

The plan comes after Mylan increased the price for a two-pack of EpiPen injectors to $608, from $94, sparking outrage from public officials and consumers.

The drug is in widespread use to deliver emergency doses for patients with allergies.

In announcing her new plan, Clinton also pointed to the 5,000% price hike on pyrimethamine, a drug from Turing Pharmaceuticals that is used to fight an AIDS-related disease.

The proposal will become part of Clinton’s broader effort to lower prescription drug prices, the campaign said. Studies show prices on more than 400 drugs have jumped 1,000% in recent years.

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Is the election over yet? No, that’s why we made you this quiz

(European Pressphoto Agency / Associated Press)

Emails, insults, allegations. Repeat. And just when it seems that one storyline is the biggest yet, another obliterates it from conversation.

This past week was no different. The campaigns of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump continued to dominate headlines, tweets and television reports, no doubt continuing to fuel debates among friends and family on both sides of the aisle.

But how much did you pay attention to? If you’re one of the few who’s not suffering from election fatigue, test your knowledge. And if you feel that you’ve somehow missed out on the spectacle, rest easy. We have 66 more days to go.

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Latinos for Trump founder: ‘You’re gonna have taco trucks on every corner’

Marco Gutierrez’s comments came after several of Donald Trump’s Latino advisors resigned following his immigration speech in Phoenix.

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No more nation of immigrants: Trump plan calls for a major, long-lasting cut in legal entries

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Donald Trump’s immigration speech generated intense speculation about whether he would soften his hard line on illegal immigration, but instead, the real change came with his unexpected, full-throated advocacy of a long-term cutback on legal immigrants.

Trump had previously flirted with the idea of cutting legal immigration, but Wednesday’s speech in Phoenix marked his first public embrace of the full restrictionist position.

Trump broke sharply from the Republican Party’s long-standing positions and adopted the most openly nativist platform of any major party presidential candidate in decades.

If Trump is elected, the shift he advocates would greatly reduce immigration overall and move the U.S. from an immigration philosophy of allowing strivers from around the world to take advantage of American opportunities to one focused on bringing in people who already have money and job skills.

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