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Clinton to counter Trump's 'trash-talking' in national security speech – live
Clinton to counter Trump's 'trash-talking' in national security speech – live
(35 minutes later)
6.16pm BST
18:16
How positive are you on Twitter? If you’re Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, Vox has the answer:
What I learned analyzing 4,000 Trump and Clinton tweets https://t.co/9cFy4Wp9mB pic.twitter.com/71UH7QJMs8
6.12pm BST
18:12
It’s generally considered polite, or helpful anyway, to include a link to a video stream or somesuch when you tweet teasers like this:
Crooked Hillary Clinton, who I would love to call Lyin' Hillary, is getting ready to totally misrepresent my foreign policy positions.
Clinton’s speech is scheduled to begin around 2.30pm ET. A video feed, not yet live, is here.
6.05pm BST
18:05
Sanders nabs New Hampshire superdelegate
Martha Fuller Clark told NH1 News on Thursday that “I am announcing today that I will be voting for Bernie Sanders as my role as a super delegate at the convention in July.”
“The reason for that first and foremost is that we saw that 60% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary went for Bernie, 70% of the voters in my district went for Bernie. And I feel obligated to support that vote at the convention,” she added. NH1’s report continues:
Until now the vice-chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party and longtime state senator from Portsmouth had stayed neutral in the race between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Fuller Clark becomes the first super delegate in New Hampshire to support Sanders. Six of the state’s eight super delegates have long backed Clinton, including Gov. Maggie Hassan, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Annie Kuster. But NHDP chairman Ray Buckley and Fuller Clark had stayed neutral.
“The reason I’m doing it now is because the DNC has informed me that I cannot stay neutral until the convention,” Fuller Clark explained.
Here’s the state of the Democratic race for delegates:
5.58pm BST
17:58
Obama has wrapped his commencement address at the Air Force academy. He didn’t wade into politics, though he alluded to “a debate going on in our country about our nation’s role in the world”:
The USA remains the most powerful nation on Earth and a force for good. We have big challenges in our country... these are challenges we have to address. But look around. We have the world’s strongest economy... our colleges and universities attract the best talent... our values... inspire people everywhere, including immigrants who come here.... our standing in the world is higher, and I see it in my travels... so make no mistake, the United States is better positioned to lead in the 21st century than any other nation. And here’s another fact. Our military is by a mile the strongest anywhere in the world.
Obama argued against isolationism and the notion that the United States should abandon its postwar alliances. He called for “smart, steady, principled American leadership”:
History teaches us from Pearl Harbor to 9/11 that oceans cannot protect us. ... we cannot turn inward. We cannot give in to isolationism. That’s a false comfort. As Americans we have to keep leading...
He also argued against “panic”. “When we panic, we don’t make good decisions,” said Obama, holding up the successful eradication of ebola in West Africa, without sealing US borders or canceling all flights, as an example of cool performance under pressure. “We’ve got to engage with the world, we can’t pull back.”
5.52pm BST
17:52
Venezuelan president calls Sanders 'revolutionary friend'
Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, who last month declared a 60-day state of emergency and ordered army exercises in the face of drastic food shortages, crumbling infrastructure and soaring crime, has weighed in on the US presidential election, calling Bernie Sanders “our revolutionary friend”.
Maduro said that the US elections were unfair, otherwise Sanders would be winning.
The lines have been drawn.North Korea endorses Trump. Venezuela endorses Sanders. https://t.co/KnMefgdSCH
5.26pm BST
5.26pm BST
17:26
17:26
Intelligence officials 'nervous' about briefing Trump
Intelligence officials 'nervous' about briefing Trump
Some U.S. intelligence officials are concerned that Donald Trump’s “shoot from the hip” style could pose national security risks as they prepare to give him a routine pre-election briefing once he is formally anointed as the Republican presidential nominee, Reuters reports:
Some U.S. intelligence officials are concerned that Donald Trump’s “shoot from the hip” style could pose national security risks as they prepare to give him a routine pre-election briefing once he is formally anointed as the Republican presidential nominee, Reuters reports:
Eight senior security officials told Reuters they had concerns over briefing Trump, whose brash, unpredictable campaign style has been a feature of his rise as an insurgent candidate. Despite their worries, the officials said the “Top Secret” briefing to each candidate would not deviate from the usual format to avoid any appearance of bias.
Eight senior security officials told Reuters they had concerns over briefing Trump, whose brash, unpredictable campaign style has been a feature of his rise as an insurgent candidate. Despite their worries, the officials said the “Top Secret” briefing to each candidate would not deviate from the usual format to avoid any appearance of bias.
Most of the officials asked for anonymity to discuss a domestic political issue. [...]
Most of the officials asked for anonymity to discuss a domestic political issue. [...]
“People are very nervous,” said one senior U.S. security official.
“People are very nervous,” said one senior U.S. security official.
Intelligence and other security and foreign policy officials are also trying to determine “who on (Trump’s) team are trustworthy, the official added. “We’ve never had a situation like this before. Ever.”
Intelligence and other security and foreign policy officials are also trying to determine “who on (Trump’s) team are trustworthy, the official added. “We’ve never had a situation like this before. Ever.”
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Read the full piece here.
Read the full piece here.
5.24pm BST
5.24pm BST
17:24
17:24
Obama addresses Air Force academy
Obama addresses Air Force academy
Obama is starting his commencement (!) address at the US Air Force academy. Watch live here.
Obama is starting his commencement (!) address at the US Air Force academy. Watch live here.
5.08pm BST
5.08pm BST
17:08
17:08
Trump decries misrepresentation of his 'foreign P'
Trump decries misrepresentation of his 'foreign P'
Donald Trump thinks CNN’s talking heads don’t know enough about his “foreign P”:
Donald Trump thinks CNN’s talking heads don’t know enough about his “foreign P”:
Do you ever notice that @CNN gives me very little proper representation on my policies. Just watched-nobody knew anything about my foreign P
Do you ever notice that @CNN gives me very little proper representation on my policies. Just watched-nobody knew anything about my foreign P
In the defense of whoever was on CNN, it’s hard to find much detail about Trump’s foreign P. The seven “position” categories on his campaign web site include only one with a nexus to foreign P – “US-China trade reform”.
In the defense of whoever was on CNN, it’s hard to find much detail about Trump’s foreign P. The seven “position” categories on his campaign web site include only one with a nexus to foreign P – “US-China trade reform”.
The site does host a transcript of a ballyhooed speech Trump made on foreign P back in April. Critics thought the speech a disorienting hodgepodge of contradictory prescriptions.
The site does host a transcript of a ballyhooed speech Trump made on foreign P back in April. Critics thought the speech a disorienting hodgepodge of contradictory prescriptions.
“Beyond stating that he would call for a summit with NATO allies and another one with Asian allies to “discuss a rebalancing of financial commitments, but take a fresh look at how we can adopt new strategies for tackling our common challenges,” there were no specifics,” Tufts professor Daniel Drezner wrote:
“Beyond stating that he would call for a summit with NATO allies and another one with Asian allies to “discuss a rebalancing of financial commitments, but take a fresh look at how we can adopt new strategies for tackling our common challenges,” there were no specifics,” Tufts professor Daniel Drezner wrote:
Trump doesn’t really have any useful ideas or strategies to offer for how to improve American foreign policy. What he does have, however, is a really stinging indictment of the existing foreign policy establishment. This certainly resonates with a lot of Americans, even people who wouldn’t otherwise symathize with Trump.
Trump doesn’t really have any useful ideas or strategies to offer for how to improve American foreign policy. What he does have, however, is a really stinging indictment of the existing foreign policy establishment. This certainly resonates with a lot of Americans, even people who wouldn’t otherwise symathize with Trump.
Updated
Updated
at 5.14pm BST
at 5.14pm BST
4.55pm BST
4.55pm BST
16:55
16:55
Michigan governor won't endorse Trump
Michigan governor won't endorse Trump
The Republican governor of Michigan, a state on the list of those that Trump, with healthy ambition, has claimed he would put in play in the general election, will not step forward to endorse Trump, the Detroit News reports:
The Republican governor of Michigan, a state on the list of those that Trump, with healthy ambition, has claimed he would put in play in the general election, will not step forward to endorse Trump, the Detroit News reports:
Gov. Rick Snyder has sidelined himself in the race for president, choosing not to make an endorsement of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Gov. Rick Snyder has sidelined himself in the race for president, choosing not to make an endorsement of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
The Republican governor also did not endorse in the March 8 primary, saying he was consumed with addressing Flint’s lead-contaminated water crisis.
The Republican governor also did not endorse in the March 8 primary, saying he was consumed with addressing Flint’s lead-contaminated water crisis.
“I’ve stayed out of the whole thing, and I’m going to continue to,” Snyder said Wednesday in an interview with The Detroit News Editorial Board at the Mackinac Policy Conference. “I’ve got important things I want to work on in Michigan.”
“I’ve stayed out of the whole thing, and I’m going to continue to,” Snyder said Wednesday in an interview with The Detroit News Editorial Board at the Mackinac Policy Conference. “I’ve got important things I want to work on in Michigan.”
Read the full piece here.
Read the full piece here.
4.48pm BST
4.48pm BST
16:48
16:48
Veepwatch update:
Veepwatch update:
BREAKING: @JohnKasich HAS A BEARD NOW https://t.co/WOmrOkuJNX pic.twitter.com/StUaOLH2Lr
BREAKING: @JohnKasich HAS A BEARD NOW https://t.co/WOmrOkuJNX pic.twitter.com/StUaOLH2Lr
4.47pm BST
16:47
In advance of Hillary Clinton’s big speech on national security, her campaign rolls out a video called “The Trump Doctrine,” attacking the presumptive Republican nominee’s foreign policy “thinking” as chaotic and dangerous:
(h/t @kasie)
4.43pm BST
16:43
Before long, Barack Obama is to deliver the commencement address to graduates of the U.S. Air Force Academy. You can watch here:
4.42pm BST
16:42
Students defending Trump University beholden to Trump – report
Former students put forward by Donald Trump’s campaign to help deflect criticism of his defunct real estate seminars have business ties to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, the Associated Press reports:
The campaign posted a web video Wednesday defending Trump University after a federal judge unsealed documents in a long-running lawsuit filed by ex-students who claim they were fleeced. The seminars ended in 2011 amid a flurry of complaints and state fraud investigations.
“The students on this video are representative of the many students who were overwhelmingly satisfied with Trump University,” the campaign said. “Rather than listen to the media spin, listen to the hard-working students who can attest first-hand to the truth about Trump University.”
The testimonials were recently filmed at Trump Tower in New York features Casey Hoban, a Connecticut bottled-water entrepreneur who said he earned “incalculable” profits on real estate deals after attending one of Trump’s two-day courses about a decade ago.
Not disclosed by the campaign is that Hoban is also a Trump family acquaintance whose protein-infused water is stocked at some of Trump’s golf courses, restaurants and resorts.
Hoban told The Associated Press that his business relationship with the Trump organization bloomed after he attended a charity event held last year held by a Trump family foundation. Trump’s son Eric Trump later tweeted Hoban a personal thank you for his $25,000 donation.
That largesse led to an invitation for Hoban and his family to visit Trump Tower last year for a personal tour of campaign headquarters, where they posed smiling for a photo holding Trump for President placards.
Hoban told the AP that he had only met the Trumps a couple of times and that his budding business relationship with the Trump empire had nothing to do with his offer to the campaign to issue a public endorsement of Trump U.
“Absolutely not, from the bottom of my heart,” Hoban said. “I offered to support Trump University because I did some amazing investments after going to that class. I thought it was a way to tell the world that after going to that class at Trump University I prospered.”
The campaign’s video also featured Michelle Gunn of Tennessee, who said she made back her Trump University tuition on her very first real estate deal. [...]
Read the full piece here.
4.28pm BST
16:28
The outgoing head of Hispanic relations for the Republican national committee told colleagues she was uncomfortable with Donald Trump’s views on immigration and immigrants.
Now it appears that her replacement, Helen Aguirre Ferre, has also had qualms – though she has scrambled to delete the incriminating evidence on Twitter, the Washington Post reports:
Appearing May 8 on Univision’s “Al Punto,” a Sunday public affairs program hosted by the network’s popular anchor Jorge Ramos, she agreed with other panelists who said that a segment of the Republican Party would not unite around Trump.
#VIDEO ¿Se unirá el partido republicano a @realDonaldTrump? Opinan @helenaguirrefer @FbianNunez https://t.co/UNQlDUdd8s
More recently, Aguirre Ferre deleted at least one tweet critical of Trump, but a cached copy of the tweet from mid-May shows that it linked to a poll suggesting Miami-area Cuban Americans would leave the GOP if the businessman won the nomination.
Read further here.
4.13pm BST
16:13
Trump weighs in early on Hillary Clinton’s national security speech in which she reportedly plans to attack his fitness for office. “Zero” and “zilch”, he tweets, about her talent and decision-making ability:
Crooked Hillary Clinton has zero natural talent - she should not be president. Her temperament is bad and her decision making ability-zilch!
In drawing a contrast with Trump on national security, Clinton will be mining a key area of concern among voters about Trump, according to polls:
Clinton to hit Trump on foreign policy, one of her top polling advantages over him https://t.co/FjypGtHwKf pic.twitter.com/pF8eS87RME
4.01pm BST
16:01
Trump's attacks on judge alarm legal experts
Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the federal judge overseeing class-action fraud cases against Trump University. The judge, Gonzalo Curiel, is Latino, born in Indiana; Trump said last week that Curiel “happens to be, we believe, Mexican”.
And that kind of talk has “set off a wave of alarm among legal experts,” the Washington Post reports, “who worry that the Republican presidential candidate’s vendetta signals a remarkable disregard for judicial independence”:
That attitude, many argue, could carry constitutional implications if Trump becomes president. [...]
Trump’s strikingly personal attacks on Curiel are highly unusual and have prompted questions about how he would react to adverse judicial decisions should he become president. Trump’s remarks also stand out because he has a personal financial stake in the case.
“Having a presidential candidate embroiled in litigation totally unrelated to the political system . . . that is what is so novel about this. And then you add to this the personal criticism,” said Arthur Hellman, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “It’s personal all the way, and that’s what makes this different.”
Jon Ralston, the dean of Nevada journalism, reminds the world that Brian Sandoval, the Latino governor, has endorsed Trump:
Reminder: The highest-ranking elected NV Latino, @GovSandoval, is supporting a guy who called a judge a "Mexican." https://t.co/aGV0kXv3Y0
By way of contrast, the Republican Latina governor of neighboring New Mexico, Susana Martinez, has withheld support from Trump and found herself in a position similar to judge Curiel: under attack from Trump. “The governor has to do a better job. She’s not doing the job,” Trump said at a rally in Albuquerque on 24 May.
Martinez had told Republican donors that as a Latina she has been offended by Trump’s remarks about immigrants.
Updated
at 4.11pm BST
3.42pm BST
15:42
Sanders shows dramatic gains in California poll
Another poll of likely California voters, another two-point race: The Field Poll has released a survey conducted on 26-31 May of 571 Democrats and found Hillary Clinton a whisper “ahead” of Bernie Sanders, 45-43 –– with a 4.1-point margin of error.
Clinton led the same poll by 11 points in January and six points in April. That’s a trend line to make Sanders supporters smile.
NBC’s poll released yesterday measured a 47-45 race. But how indicative might these polls be of the California result? At times this primary season, polling has come up short. A polls-based forecast by FiveThirtyEight in March had Clinton’s chances of winning Michigan at 99%; Sanders won the state by 1.5 points.
The mechanics of the the California primary could produce a result that defies the polls – to Sanders’ disadvantage. The Boston Globe’s James Pindell points out that non-Democrats in the state may participate in the Democratic contest, but to do so, they will have to undergo some ballot shuffling. As non-Democrats, many would first be issued a “no party preference” ballot, which they will then have to turn in in exchange for a ballot listing the Democratic races.
The extra step could derail the process for some independent voters trying to vote for Sanders. And there are apparently a lot of them:
This is impt.NBC/WSJ/Marist poll showed Sanders leading among indies, 68%-26%. Clinton ahead with Dems, 57%-40%. https://t.co/6IIfKl3IxC
Sanders held a rally in the heart of Silicon Valley on Wednesday, but he did not mention the tech industry, writes the Guardian’s Nicky Woolf:
In Palo Alto, a crowd of 4,000 responded rapturously to the senator’s speech. But what, precisely, is the Bernie appeal in Silicon Valley?
The answer, according to people at the rally, was that the vast wealth being created here, and the income inequality and unaffordable housing which follows, has made this fertile ground for a message of economic egalitarianism.
“In Palo Alto, there are the people who do really well here, and everyone else is struggling to make ends meet,” said Vatche Bezdikian, an anesthesiologist on his way to lunch on University Avenue, the main street, where Facebook first rented office space. He was voting for Sanders, he said, because “a rising tide lifts all boats”.
“I think there’s definitely a Libertarian slant in Silicon Valley, but also a liberal slant,” said Waynn Lue, the founder of a technology startup. “People here believe in what Bernie Sanders is saying.
Read further:
Related: Sanders' golden ticket in Silicon Valley: 'People here believe in what' Bernie says
3.07pm BST
15:07
Amanda Holpuch
Hillary Clinton plans to attack Donald Trump’s national security plans in a major speech on foreign policy on Thursday, as the frontrunners campaign in California ahead of the state’s primary next week,” writes the Guardian’s Amanda Holpuch:
Clinton’s campaign said the speech, which will be delivered in San Diego at 11.30am local time, will draw a clear line between the former secretary of state’s plans and those outlined by Trump, which include having Mexico pay for a border wall that its president, Enrique Peña Nieto, said his country would not support, and temporarily banning Muslims from entering the US.
Clinton campaign senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan said the speech would outline why Trump was “fundamentally unfit” to be president.
“And you will hear in her speech a confidence in America and our capacity to overcome the challenges we face while staying true to our values – a strong contrast to Donald Trump’s incessant trash-talking of America,” Sullivan said.
Clinton’s campaign has said it expects to secure the final delegates she needs to officially become the party’s nominee after the California and New Jersey primaries on 7 June.
Read further:
Related: Hillary Clinton speech to attack Donald Trump's 'dangerous' foreign policy plans
2.44pm BST
14:44
Rebecca Carroll
“Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has been fairly straightforward regarding how he feels in general about black people in America,” writes Rebecca Carroll for Guardian opinion:
“– he failed to swiftly and effectively disavow former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke in May, referred to the Black Lives Matter movement as “trouble” last fall, and during the course of his campaign other things have surfaced, such as his idea to air a “white v black” season of The Apprentice.
Publicly, however, his most brazen racist remarks have been directed primarily at Muslims (a relatively small percentage of whom are black) and Mexicans. If it’s a backhanded political strategy to court the black vote (which he will ultimately need), he has underestimated the strength of our bond with other groups who have been marginalized and discriminated against.
Read the full piece here.
2.11pm BST
14:11
Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. In a big speech about national security today, Hillary Clinton is to “rebuke a litany of dangerous policies that [Donald] Trump has espoused”, her campaign said, and describe a “confidence in America” in “strong contrast to Donald Trump’s incessant trash-talking of America”.
On the topic of talking smack: Barack Obama on Wednesday afternoon said the presumptive Republican nominee would mess up the economic recovery and voting for him “makes no sense”. Trump supporters: illogical!
Clinton will speak in California, where she and Bill Clinton will be campaigning until the big primary on Tuesday. Bernie Sanders could score a come-from-behind victory in the state: a detailed NBC/WSJ poll released on Wednesday had the race neck-and-neck, with Clinton up by only two points, 49-47, in a survey with a 4.2-point margin of error.
There’s lots of very interesting information in the poll, including this geographic breakdown:
Fascinating geographical breakdown in NBC/WSJ/Marist poll of Calif https://t.co/NVSJpHqBK7 pic.twitter.com/NpA6VDZahG
Seasoned Democratic senators Harry Reid (Nevada) and Barbara Boxer (California) both called on Sanders to exit the race on Wednesday. Sanders needs to recognize that “sometimes you just have to give up”, “math is math” and “I think he better do a little mathing”, Reid said. Boxer railed against Sanders’ dismissal of Clinton supporters.
“I love Bernie, he’s my friend for a long time,” she said. “But you can’t just diss everybody who supports Hillary Clinton.”
Meanwhile, AP reports: “Three days before Puerto Rico’s primary, Sanders is digging in on his opposition to a House deal to rescue the US territory from $70bn in debt. Sanders said Thursday that he will introduce his own legislation to help the island.”
On the other side of the divide, the head of Hispanic media relations at the Republican National Committee told colleagues she is uncomfortable working on behalf of Donald Trump. Now she has resigned, the New York Times reported:
Ruth Guerra, who is of Mexican descent and was in charge of carrying the party’s message to Hispanic voters, is joining the American Action Network, a Republican-aligned “super PAC”, she confirmed in a brief interview on Wednesday.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that Trump is not changing the GOP, in an interview flagged by the Washington Examiner.
“He’s not going to change the Republican Party,” McConnell said. “We’ve had nominees before who were not deeply into Republican politics and philosophy. Trump is not going to change the institution; he’s not going to change the basic philosophy of the party.”
Thank you for reading and please join us in the comments!
