The Note: Trump Trips Up Immigration Messaging
— -- NOTABLES
TRUMP SAYS IMMIGRATION SPEECH COMING WEDNESDAY IN ARIZONA. Donald Trump tweeted Sunday night that he will be making a speech on illegal immigration on Wednesday in Arizona. The announcement comes after a week in which his language has sometimes shifted on illegal immigration, leading members of Trump's campaign to come out trying to explain his stand, and Trump himself blaming the media for suggesting he's softening his hardline approach on the subject. http://abcn.ws/2bt08oL
ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: “Nothing has changed about Donald Trump’s position on dealing with illegal immigration,” Mike Pence declared on CNN. “I think that he's been very clear on this,” Chris Christie echoed on ABC’s “This Week.” Trump gets a chance to prove his surrogate/partners right on Wednesday, with his delayed immigration speech in Arizona. So far, to be precise, Trump’s words have changed (and changed – a “softening” became a “hardening” by the end of the week), suggesting policies that are in the process of changing themselves. Trump has to sort it out – deportation force? path to legal status? – if he aims to talk about what he wants to be in the days to come, whether that’s the Clinton Foundation to the economy, which is the subject of his latest ad. If there are two Donald Trumps, the latest iteration of the duo features one who can’t stay out of the other’s messaging way.
TRUMP CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCES $10 MILLION AD BUY. Donald Trump’s campaign announced a new TV ad buy today that is an estimated $10 million – the campaign’s largest ad buy to date. The new ad hits Hillary Clinton on jobs and the economy, ABC’s JOHN SANTUCCI reports. The campaign is expanding its ad buy from four states to nine states, including Colorado, Iowa and New Hampshire. Mitt Romney lost in eight of these nine states, but the Trump campaign is aiming to change that. https://youtu.be/4obk0P2YCFg
WEEKEND ON THE TRAIL
CHRISTIE: TRUMP HAS BEEN ‘COMPLETELY CONSISTENT’ ON IMMIGRATION. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who chairs Donald Trump’s transition team, deflected questions on whether the Republican nominee is softening his stance on immigration, insisting that the candidate has been "completely consistent" on the issue. "This is a guy who’s been very consistent on no amnesty, no legalization, for folks who have come into the country illegally, and that’s always been the underpinning of his policy, along with the building of the wall on the United States Mexican border," the New Jersey governor told Martha Raddatz on ABC's "This Week." ABC’s NICKI ROSSOLL and STEVE TURNHAM has more. http://abcn.ws/2bYQIjr
CLINTON FOUNDATION OFFICIAL REQUESTS STATE LUNCH INVITATION, SPECIAL SEATING FOR FOUNDATION ALLIES, EMAILS SHOW. A series of newly released State Department emails obtained by ABC News offers fresh insight on direct contact between the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton's inner circle while she was Secretary of State, ABC’s JONATHAN KARL, DEVIN DWYER and BENJAMIN SIEGEL reports. The emails -- released as part of a public records lawsuit by conservative group Citizens United and shared exclusively with ABC -- reveal what the group claims is new evidence Foundation allies received special treatment. In one December 2010 email chain with Clinton's closest aide Huma Abedin, then-top Clinton Foundation official Doug Band offers names for a State Department lunch with Chinese President Hu Jintao scheduled for January 2011.On the list were three executives from organizations that have donated millions to the Clinton Foundation, including Dr. Judith Rodin, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation. Nearly two weeks later, Band followed up on email, specifically requesting Rodin be seated at Vice President Joe Biden’s table. "I'll ask," Abedin replied. http://abcn.ws/2bpXbIe
DNC CHAIR: TRUMP SHOULD DISTANCE HIMSELF FROM ALT-RIGHT'S 'RENAISSANCE OF RACISM.' Democratic National Committee Interim Chair Donna Brazile called on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to distance himself from the so-called alt-right movement and the racist language of some of his supporters, ABC’s NICKI ROSSOLL notes. "This sort of alt-right movement is very disturbing, it's almost like a renaissance of racism," Brazile told ABC’s Martha Raddatz on “This Week” Sunday. “There’s no question Donald Trump has had ample opportunity to distance himself from the kind of racist language that comes from some of his supporters,” she said. “I know you can’t choose your supporters out there … but he should distance himself.” http://abcn.ws/2bILYAo
MAJORITY OF VOTERS THINK CLINTON WOULD DO MORE THAN TRUMP FOR MINORITY COMMUNITIES. Despite GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's recent pitches for African-American and Hispanic support, nearly two-thirds of Americans believe Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would do more to help minority communities if elected president. ABC News together with our partners at SSRS survey research firm asked our online opinion panel about Trump's recent appeals to minority voters. Sixty-four percent said Clinton would do more for minority communities as president while 36 percent chose Trump. Asked to give a one-word response to a video of one of Trump's recent appeals to African-American and Hispanic voters, 56 percent reacted with a negative word, such as "liar," "lies," "disgusted," or "stupid." ABC’s NICKI ROSSOLL has more. http://abcn.ws/2bv3g0g
KAINE CALLS OUT TRUMP OVER TWEETS ABOUT DWYANE WADE'S COUSIN. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine reacted to Donald Trump tweeting about NBA star Dwyane Wade's cousin being the victim of gun violence, saying the only appropriate reaction is sympathy. Kaine also criticized Trump for calling his running mate, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, a bigot, according to ABC’s JESSICA HOPPER. "My reaction is we just ought to be extending our sympathy to the family. That's the only reaction that is appropriate right now and maybe a sadness about this gun violence issue…” Kaine said of Trump’s tweet. Wade's cousin, Nykea Aldridge, was killed Friday in Chicago's Parkway Gardens neighborhood when two men exchanged gunfire nearby, according to police. http://abcn.ws/2bZNr44
KAINE TELLS FLORIDA POLITICIANS TO STOP 'SOCIAL DARWINISM ME FIRST' TRUMP. Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine met with Florida mayors and elected officials Saturday, encouraging them to deliver the state for his running mate Hillary Clinton by contrasting the Clinton-Kaine ticket from what he called a "Social Darwinism me first" Donald Trump. Kaine made the remarks in Pembroke Pines, Florida, ABC’s JESSICA HOPPER notes. "We are running against a guy who is kind of a social Darwinism, me first everybody else move aside guy and that's a sharp distinction," Kaine said. http://abcn.ws/2bptDYn
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
CLINTON ARRIVES AT FBI OFFICE FOR CLASSIFIED BRIEFING. Hillary Clinton spent Saturday morning at an FBI facility near her New York home meeting with staffers from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence who briefed her on major threats and emerging concerns around the world. Clinton arrived at the office in White Plains, New York, which is roughly 20 minutes from her Chappaqua home, about 9 a.m. The meeting lasted more than two hours and Clinton attended it alone, a campaign aide said, ABC’s JOSH HASKELL and LIZ KREUTZ write. The briefing comes 10 days after her main rival, Donald Trump, received his first classified briefing as the Republican Party’s nominee. http://abcn.ws/2bGfSVS
WHO’S TWEETING
@Reince: Still ducking Foundation scandal. 268 days since @HillaryClinton held a press conference http://gop.cm/i1KSpP
@aabramson: Anthony Weiner has definitely deleted his Twitter account. Happy Monday all.
@TheBradMielke: Don't look now but @JohnKasich is in New Hampshire, in what #manypeoplearesaying is the first campaign stop of 2020.
@HenryJGomez: Here's the new @realDonaldTrump ad, airing in Ohio and elsewhere: http://bit.ly/2c2u4GC
@amychozick: Hillary Clinton and the election year the boys (and girls) were "kicked off the bus," by @jimrutenberg https://t.co/EuAmMp8tXr