The Note: Clinton to Take on Trump on the Economy
— -- NOTABLES
--CLINTON TO DELIVER ECONOMIC SPEECH AS REBUTTAL TO TRUMP: Three days after Trump delivered his economic speech in Detroit, Hillary Clinton will be in the Motor City herself to deliver her own speech on the same topic. The Democratic nominee, according to an aide, will cast her opponent’s economic plan as “wildly unrealistic” and self-serving, ABC’s LIZ KREUTZ notes. “She will make the case that with her plan, the middle class wins, while Trump’s plan is a win for himself and his millionaire and billionaire allies, friends and family,” the aide said. Clinton will lay out elements of her own plan, which she has released throughout the campaign. These include investments in infrastructure to create jobs, tuition-free college for families making less than $125,000 a year, and a tax increase on the wealthy.
--CLINTON EXPECTED TO RELEASE 2015 TAX RETURNS: Clinton will release her 2015 tax returns in the coming days, possibly as soon as Friday, a source close to the Democratic presidential nominee told ABC News today. Her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, is expected to release his returns from the last 10 years, the source added. More from ABC’s LIZ KREUTZ and JOSH HASKELL: http://abcn.ws/2bafJLD
--TRUMP CALLS OBAMA ‘THE FOUNDER OF ISIS': Donald Trump made a startling accusation against President Barack Obama during a Florida rally Wednesday night, telling supporters that the commander in chief is the "founder of ISIS,” ABC’s DAVID CAPLAN reports. "ISIS is honoring President Obama," the Republican presidential nominee said during a rally at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla. "He is the founder of ISIS. He founded ISIS. And, I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton. Trump's declaration was met with chants of "Lock her up!" from rally-goers. In addressing Obama, Trump included the president's middle name, calling him Barack Hussein Obama -- a move that's typically been employed by those who claim Obama is secretly a Muslim. http://abcn.ws/2bhSdNs
--ANALYSIS -- ABC's RICK KLEIN: "Certainly I want to do the debates," Donald Trump told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren Wednesday. But does he, and will he? The Commission on Presidential Debates set the dates and locations for the debates months ago - terms the Clinton campaign has already accepted. Trump says he is just now engaging with the commission to negotiate. But the commission says it does not negotiate things like dates and moderators with the campaigns. In any event, one campaign has agreed to the dates, football conflicts or not. Thinking back to the primaries, he may think he has leverage he does not. Plus, there's a downside, if it means having to swim into Hillary Clinton's policy depths. (He wasn't quite as good a debater as he seems to remember himself being.) The only reason the debates would happen is if Trump decides he absolutely needs them. And that will almost certainly mean following the commission schedule through the fall.
BY THE NUMBERS -- TRUMP'S CHALLENGE? IT'S NOT JUST TEMPERAMENT. Questions about Donald Trump’s temperament have dominated recent criticisms of his candidacy for president. But two other concerns may be doing the most damage: Doubts about his qualifications for office and his honesty and trustworthiness. Hillary Clinton has faced the most questions about trustworthiness – making it perhaps a surprise that it’s a major problem for Trump as well, writes ABC’s CHAD KIEWIET DE JONGE. http://abcn.ws/2bfkTmR
YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ADAM KELSEY and ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
CLINTON RESPONDS TO TRUMP'S 2ND AMENDMENT COMMENTS: 'WORDS MATTER.' Hillary Clinton responded to Donald Trump's controversial remarks about "Second Amendment people" protecting gun rights, which some saw as a veiled assassination threat against the former secretary of state, notes ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY. "Words matter, my friends, and if you are running to be president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences," Clinton said at an event in Iowa Wednesday afternoon. "Yesterday we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line," she said. http://abcn.ws/2b71bv4
CLINTON SURROUNDED BY SECRET SERVICE AT RALLY AFTER PROTESTER BREAKS PAST BARRICADES. Hillary Clinton was surrounded by Secret Service agents Wednesday afternoon after a protester broke past barricades separating the Democratic nominee from supporters at a campaign stop in Des Moines. Agents tackled the protester, who wore a shirt that read "Animal Liberation Now" and is a member of the animal rights organization, Direct Action Everywhere, in a buffer zone surrounding the stage, writes ABC’s ADAM KELSEY. http://abcn.ws/2b8Xd6k
HOW CLINTON HAS SPENT $82 MILLION MORE ON TELEVISION ADS THAN DONALD TRUMP. Hillary Clinton is dominating Donald Trump in the ad battle on the television airwaves. The Democratic nominee and her main Super PAC have spent almost $93 million on television advertising during the general election compared to only $11 million from a hodgepodge of outside groups backing the Republican nominee. Indeed, Trump's campaign has yet to spend its first dollar on television advertising this election cycle, reports ABC’s RYAN STRUYK. http://abcn.ws/2bfS3mz
THE ROTATING 'CLEAN UP' CREW CALLED IN TO BAIL DONALD TRUMP OUT OF TIGHT SPOTS. The latest uproar over comments made by Donald Trump was followed by a familiar face: A surrogate explaining what the GOP presidential nominee meant. Wednesday morning it came in the form of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who told ABC News' "Good Morning America" that Trump's comments about Second Amendment supporters stopping Hillary Clinton from picking Supreme Court justices was not a suggestion of violence against her. ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY has more: http://abcn.ws/2aH1f0W
HOW TRUMP REACHED HIS 58 PERCENT UNEMPLOYMENT STAT FOR BLACK YOUTH. Donald Trump has claimed several times that 58 percent of African-American youth are unemployed, which is more than double the government's monthly breakdown. The discrepancy results from the use of different age groups and different interpretations of “unemployment,” notes ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY. As for age groups, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics breaks down monthly unemployment numbers for people 16 to 19 years old, and then for those 20 and older. http://abcn.ws/2aLJr7M
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
NEW HILLARY CLINTON EMAILS EXPLAINED. As the seemingly endless drip of emails continue to emerge from Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state, the story of her email use has become increasingly muddled, leaving many a casual reader confused by new developments. ABC’s JUSTIN FISHEL puts the most recent emails into context: http://abcn.ws/2aTttZM