The Note: Clinton and Trump Trade Attacks
— -- NOTABLES
--TRUMP CALLS CLINTON A ‘BIGOT’: Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton a "bigot" while addressing the crowd at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson, Mississippi, last night, ABC’s CANDACE SMITH reports. "Hillary Clinton is a bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings worthy of a better future,” Trump said as he appealed to African-American voters. http://abcn.ws/2bPpo6W
--CLINTON SPEAKS: Clinton later responded to Trump's remarks in a phone interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. “Oh, Anderson, it reminds me of that great saying that Maya Angelou had, that when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time," she said. "And Donald Trump has shown us who he is. And we ought to believe him. He is taking a hate movement mainstream." http://abcn.ws/2bPpo6W
--TRUMP SAYS HE'LL 'WORK WITH' UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS: Trump has suggested that he would maybe allow some undocumented immigrants to remain in the country under certain conditions, a shift from previous rhetoric calling for a deportation force. "You have somebody that has been in the country for 20 years," Trump said hypothetically at a Fox News town hall with Sean Hannity taped on Tuesday, the second half of which aired last night. "He has done a great job. Do we throw them out or do we work with them?" The crowd applauded for the latter option. When asked whether he would allow an exception for someone to stay in the U.S. who's proven to be a fair citizen, Trump said, "No citizenship. Let me go a step further -- they'll pay back-taxes, they have to pay taxes, there's no amnesty, as such, there's no amnesty, but we work with them." ABC’s ALANA ABRAMSON has more: http://abcn.ws/2bhMfJL
--ABC’s RICK KLEIN: Donald Trump took his old immigration proposal into the middle of Fifth Avenue and shot it. It’s still not clear how Donald Trump will replace it, but where he’s heading is stunning to anyone who watched Trump move to the hardest of hard lines – a giant wall and a deportation force – during the primaries where this was no small issue. The proposal he poll-tested with Sean Hannity’s audience is a near-total reversal from the concept of rounding up all undocumented immigrants. He may insist it’s “no amnesty, as such,” but a path to legalization for a large number people in the US illegally has been derided as just that to defeat previous proposals. (Does anyone doubt how Ted Cruz would have responded to this in the primaries? Or Trump himself, had this proposal come from Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio?) It may be that Trump never thought through the implications of his proposals until now, when the polls have made that task urgent. But this is no small reversal, at no small time in the campaign. The candidate who tells it like it is, is rewriting how he thinks things should be.
YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
BILL CLINTON DEFENDS FOUNDATION: 'WE'RE TRYING TO DO GOOD THINGS.' Wednesday, Bill Clinton made his first public comments about the would-be Clinton Foundation changes if Hillary Clinton is elected president, ABC’s MATTHEW CLAIBORNE notes. His remarks come after a string of attacks from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has called for the foundation to be shut down. “We’re trying to do good things,” said Bill Clinton in response to recent criticism. “If there’s something wrong with creating jobs and saving lives, I don’t know what it is. The people who gave the money knew exactly what they were doing. I have nothing to say about it except I’m really proud.” http://abcn.ws/2bGVeEf
BREAKING DOWN THE CLINTONS' FOUNDATIONS. Before President Bill Clinton left office, he started planning for his transition out of the White House by doing what many before him did -- starting a public charitable organization with the primary function of building the Clinton Presidential Library. He originally named it the William J. Clinton Foundation. But by the time he left office in 2001, his foundation was starting to grow rapidly, pioneering HIV/AIDS initiatives and attempting to combat global health crises with the help of governments, nonprofit groups and influential people. And in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) was started by former White House aide to Bill Clinton, Doug Band. Now, the various iterations of the Clinton Foundation are coming under scrutiny as part of the 2016 presidential campaign as Hillary Clinton runs for the White House. ABC’s MATTHEW CLAIBORNE gives a breakdown of the various branches of the famous family's foundation. http://abcn.ws/2bxi9CT
BERNIE SANDERS' NEW GROUP 'OUR REVOLUTION' LAUNCHES AMIDST INTERNAL TURMOIL. Bernie Sanders last night helped formally launch a new, much-anticipated organization, dedicated to continuing the legacy of his presidential campaign, writes ABC’s MARYALICE PARKS. But even before it gets off the ground, the organization has already been plagued by major internal turmoil, a number of last minute resignations and lingering questions about the size and scope of the donations the group will solicit. The senator addressed fans and volunteers via live-stream at 9 p.m. ET from a local studio in Vermont. The group, dubbed "Our Revolution," will function as a 501(c)(4), according to its website. http://abcn.ws/2bk3Eyy
TRUMP HANGING ON TO SLIM LEAD IN ARIZONA, NEW POLL SHOWS. Donald Trump is hanging on to a slim lead in the reliably red state of Arizona, according to a new CNN/ORC poll released yesterday. According to ABC’s RYAN STRUYK, the poll shows Donald Trump with 43 percent support and Hillary Clinton with 38 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson has 12 percent, while the Green Party's Jill Stein has 4 percent. http://abcn.ws/2bxdtNi
CLINTON TO RECEIVE 1ST CLASSIFIED BRIEFING OF CAMPAIGN SATURDAY. Hillary Clinton is expected to receive her first classified briefing as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee this weekend at an FBI facility in White Plains, a New York City suburb, according to sources with knowledge of the plans. This comes one week after her main rival, Donald Trump, received his first classified briefing as the Republican Party’s nominee. The FBI’s satellite office in White Plains is the closest secure FBI facility to Clinton’s home in Chappaqua, New York. Staffers from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will be leading the briefing, which, as with Trump’s briefing last week, is expected to cover major threats and emerging concerns around the world, ABC’s MIKE LEVINE reports. http://abcn.ws/2bFOuqg
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT TRUMP AND CLINTON’S HEALTH. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's latest attack on his White House rival Hillary Clinton: her health. Clinton “lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS,” Trump asserted at an event in Youngstown, Ohio, last Monday. “Go online and put down Hillary Clinton illness, take a look at the videos for yourself,” former New York mayor and Trump campaign surrogate Rudy Giuliani said this weekend on “Fox News Sunday.” The Clinton campaign knocked the attacks as “deranged conspiracy theories” and accused Trump of “parroting lies based on fabricated documents.” Neither Trump nor Clinton have released a detailed medical history. In recent presidential elections, candidates have been more transparent about their health. ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI has more. http://abcn.ws/2bhhQ1o