The Note: Trump's Fiery Immigration Speech
— -- NOTABLES
--TRUMP SLAMS 'OPEN BORDER POLICY' IN LONG-AWAITED IMMIGRATION SPEECH: Donald Trump gave his long-awaited immigration speech in Phoenix last night after touching down in the U.S. following a surprise visit to Mexico. He explained his plan to "break the cycle of amnesty and illegal immigration," including building a wall. Trump launched into his immigration policy discussion by saying that the focus should be on improving the lives of Americans and their security. "When politicians talk about immigration reform, they usually mean the following: amnesty, open borders, lower wages, immigration reform. [It] should mean something else entirely. It should mean improvements to our laws and policies, to make life better for American citizens. But if we're going to make our immigration system work, then we have to be prepared to talk honestly and without fear about these important and very sensitive issues," Trump said. He referenced the trip to Mexico at the start of his speech, saying that he had just "returned from a very important and special meeting" with Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto, who Trump said "truly loves his country, Mexico,” ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY and JOHN SANTUCCI report. http://abcn.ws/2bD4aMT
--TRUMP 'DIDN'T DISCUSS' BORDER WALL PAYMENT WITH MEXICAN PRESIDENT: Donald Trump said that while he had a "substantive, direct and constructive" meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, they "didn't discuss" who would pay for the border wall that Trump has made a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. Trump arrived in Mexico City Wednesday and took the podium for a joint press conference alongside Pena Nieto, noting the "tremendous feeling" he has for Mexican-Americans, note ABC’s CANDACE SMITH, MORGAN WINSOR and MEGHAN KENEALLY. "I was straightforward in presenting my views about the impacts of current trade and immigration policies on the United States" Trump said, noting later that "We are united by our support of Mexicans." http://abcn.ws/2cfmzzn
--ANALYSIS -- TRUMP LANDS BACK WHERE HE STARTED ON IMMIGRATION: Donald Trump hinted at a new immigration policy that would be a softening, but also a hardening, of his previously stated policies, ABC’s RICK KLEIN writes. He meandered through all of that territory, and to both sides of the US-Mexico border, to land back where he started on a signature issue. His anger-tinged speech Wednesday night in Phoenix carried high expectations of a new tone and fresh policies, but brought little of either. If anything, despite a mostly friendly foray to Mexico City earlier in the day, Trump's newly articulated policies represented a substantial strengthening of his commitment to rooting out illegal immigration, as well as ridding the United States of those immigrants themselves. "Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation," Trump declared. "Otherwise we don't have a country." Even by Trumpian standards, Wednesday's events capped a dizzying policy journey. The day's frenzy started with a surprise acceptance of an invitation to visit Mexico, where Trump was courteous and even complimentary toward his hosts. Trump seemed like a downright conventional politician as he talked of a "constructive conversation" and "shared goals." Gone, for a few hours, was the Mexico he's portrayed over the past year-and-a-half as a menacing enemy -- siphoning American jobs and wages, taking advantage of free-trade agreements, and sending rapists and drugs across a porous border. MORE: http://abcn.ws/2caiTf1
--ON GMA -- TRUMP A 'DIPLOMATIC EMBARRASSMENT,' TIM KAINE SAYS: Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, today called Donald Trump a “diplomatic embarrassment” when asked on “Good Morning America” about the real estate mogul’s trip to Mexico Wednesday, ABC’s JESSICA HOPPER notes. "I think it was kind of a diplomatic embarrassment,” Kaine said of Trump’s unexpected meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. “He’s been talking for a year about we’re going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it and then he goes and he sits down and goes eyeball to eyeball with the president of Mexico and, what, he forgets suddenly to bring it up or he’s too afraid to bring it up or he chokes in the meeting. "It’s just kind of an indication that the guy talks out of both sides of his mouth.” http://abcn.ws/2bFK431
YESTERDAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC’s ADAM KELSEY
HILLARY CLINTON HITS TRUMP FOR 'DROPPING IN' ON MEXICO: Hillary Clinton used her first public event in nearly a week to bash Donald Trump for “dropping in” on Mexico, saying building relationships takes more than “a photo op.” “You don't build a coalition by insulting our friends or acting like a loose cannon. You do it by putting in the slow, hard work of building relationships," the Democratic presidential nominee said during remarks at the American Legion's national convention in Cincinnati. "Getting countries working together was my job every day as your secretary of state. It's more than a photo op. It takes consistency and reliability,” report ABC’s LIZ KREUTZ and JOSH HASKELL. http://abcn.ws/2bVMBWG
TRUMP'S MEXICO TRIP CREDITED TO SON-IN-LAW JARED KUSHNER. Trump's voyage to Mexico Wednesday is thanks to efforts by the billionaire's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, according to senior level sources close to Donald Trump. Ivanka Trump's husband, who is a real estate mogul in his own right, had been working to plan the trip for several weeks. “Jared executed this thing beautifully from start to finish,” one senior level adviser with direct knowledge told ABC News. Kushner was one of only a handful that joined Trump yesterday, along with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Jeff Sessions, ABC’s JOHN SANTUCCI and MEGHAN KENEALLY note. http://abcn.ws/2c1wTdO
MEXICAN PRESIDENT CONTRADICTS TRUMP’S CLAIMS THEY DIDN’T TALK ABOUT PAYING THE WALL. Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto and Donald Trump offered slightly different accounts of what happened in their closed-door meeting yesterday afternoon. During a joint press conference that immediately followed their meeting, Trump said, "we didn't discuss who pays for the wall," referring to Trump's campaign promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. But Nieto took to Twitter Wednesday evening to give his account, ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY notes. In two tweets written in Spanish posted more than an hour after the press conference, Nieto wrote that "at the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump, I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall." From there, the conversation turned to other topics and continued in a "respectful manner," he wrote. http://abcn.ws/2cfTmUR
DONALD TRUMP SET TO RECEIVE 2ND CLASSIFIED BRIEFING FRIDAY. Donald Trump is set to receive another classified briefing from U.S. intelligence officials Friday, two weeks after he said he didn’t trust veterans of the intelligence community and then received his first classified briefing from some of them about major threats and emerging concerns around the world, write ABC’s MIKE LEVINE and JOHN SANTUCCI. The Republican presidential nominee is expected to receive his second classified briefing at the FBI’s field office in New York City, a senior campaign official told ABC News. http://abcn.ws/2bD1Vb0
TRUMP NARROWS HILLARY CLINTON’S LEAD IN NEW NATIONAL POLL. Donald Trump is tightening the gap between himself and Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, according to a new national poll from Fox News released Wednesday. Clinton received 48 percent support to Trump’s 42 percent, a smaller gap than the 10-point spread in the same poll earlier this month, ABC’s RYAN STRUYK writes. When including Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein, the lead is cut to just 2 percentage points – 41 to 39 percent, with 9 percent for Johnson and 4 percent for Stein. http://abcn.ws/2bD1rOO
NOTED: CLINTON CAMP INVADES RED STATE ARIZONA WITH MAJOR AD BUY. The Clinton campaign is looking to turn up the heat with an ambitious ad buy in Arizona -- a state that no democratic presidential candidate has won in the past 20 years. On Friday, the campaign will begin airing negative ads against Donald Trump in the Grand Canyon State, according to a senior campaign official. Bill Clinton was the last Democrat to carry the state in 1996, when Ross Perot was on the ballot. The six-figure ad buy will begin with their previously released spot titled, "Role Model" -- which an aide described as their "most effective ad of the summer." ABC’s LIZ KREUTZ has more. http://abcn.ws/2bFsgVB
WHAT WE’RE READING
FBI WARNS TRUMP AND CLINTON STAFFERS TO BEWARE OF FOREIGN SPIES IN US. Be careful when you're meeting new people in the nation's capital and elsewhere, because you could be a prime target for foreign spies. That's the warning FBI agents gave to presidential campaign staffers Wednesday during two separate security briefings in Washington, D.C., according to sources. While the briefings were portrayed as routine, they come amid increasingly aggressive efforts by foreign governments to access U.S. secrets and potentially influence upcoming elections here, ABC’s MIKE LEVINE reports. Wednesday’s unclassified briefings were held just blocks from the White House, in the building shared by rival transition teams for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the sources said. http://abcn.ws/2bW5wmJ
IN CASE YOU MISSED --
DONALD TRUMP AND MEXICO'S FORMER PRESIDENT VICENTE FOX SPAR ON TWITTER BEFORE VISIT. Donald Trump and Mexico’s former President Vicente Fox engaged in a bitter back-and-forth just hours before the Republican presidential nominee visited the country Wednesday. It all started during an interview with CNN, when Fox called Trump a “false prophet” while deriding his planned meeting with Mexico's current President Enrique Peña Nieto. "Trump is using Mexico, is using President Peña to push his sinking poll numbers," Fox said on CNN's "New Day." ABC’s MORGAN WINSOR has more: http://abcn.ws/2cbZGKs
WHO’S TWEETING?
@TheBradMielke: Tim Kaine tells @GStephanopoulos he respects Kaepernick's ability to express his beliefs...but "I'd do it differently."
@alex_mallin: On @GMA, @timkaine reacts to tightening poll numbers saying "we've gotta make our case every day."
@brianefallon: This speech proves no softening. So the only possible reason Trump didn't confront Mexico's president about the wall is he chickened out
@AnnCoulter: I hear Churchill had a nice turn of phrase, but Trump's immigration speech is the most magnificent speech ever given.
@JoshuaHoyos: Mexican president @EPN: No date has been set for Hillary Clinton’s visit as he has not received a response from the Clinton team