Bill Clinton Hands the GOP a New Talking Point
Rick Klein: “What the heck were they thinking? Maybe they weren’t – and that’s the problem, of course. At the very least, the fact that a private meeting occurred between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton was the product of a series of major errors in judgment. The former president and his team made a massive political error – an utterly unforced one – in not realizing how such an encounter, even a brief one, would be perceived in the summer of an election year. The attorney general and her team miscalculated the optics and perhaps the legality of the situation in allowing any such discussion, when everyone knows the FBI in the midst of an investigation of Hillary Clinton’s handling of her emails.”
“Lynch’s announcement that she would defer to the FBI’s recommendations on the case doesn’t resolve anything. (In what scenario would it have been alright for her to insert her judgment for the FBI’s?) Donald Trump gets a new and powerful talking point. Bill Clinton again shows how his immense value can easily be outweighed in the other direction. And Clinton campaign staffers in Brooklyn have every right to be as upset with all of this as career prosecutors in Washington.”
41 on 41
A new documentary tells the story of George H.W. Bush as told by 41 people who know him.
Trump Has Little Organization In Pennsylvania
“Nearly everyone can agree that Donald Trump’s path to the White House goes through Pennsylvania,” Politico reports.
“But local party leaders in some of the state’s most pivotal counties say there’s been almost no outreach from his campaign so far, and there’s scant evidence of any Trump-driven ground organization. What infrastructure is in place lags behind the Democratic coordinated campaign on behalf of Hillary Clinton.”
Biden Says Sanders Will Endorse Clinton
Clinton Way Ahead In Iowa
A new Loras College poll in Iowa finds Hillary Clinton crushing Donald Trump in the presidential race, 48% to 34%.
In the U.S. Senate race, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) is barely aheaad of challenger Patty Judge, 46% to 45%.
Quote of the Day
“What they’ve asked me to do is to speak all three nights. I turned it down.”
— Donald Trump, talking about the GOP convention with the New York Times while insisting “it would get high ratings” if he did.
GOP Has Upper Hand In Florida Senate Race
Politico: “Now, Republicans smell blood in the water, and they’re looking to damage Murphy so badly that Democrats are forced to spend heavily on his behalf ahead of the state’s Aug. 30 primary — or abandon the race altogether. The GOP is adopting a strategy that’s been used against it repeatedly in recent election cycles: Propping up a politically toxic, outside-the-mainstream candidate in the other party’s primary, in this case firebrand liberal Rep. Alan Grayson.”
“The reversal of fortunes in Florida could hardly have come at a better time for Republicans, after weeks of negative headlines about their presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump, and increasing concerns about a down-ballot disaster for the party.”
A Third Choice?
“Every day I check the news, but every day our two presidential candidates are still Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.”
Lynch Will Accept FBI Advice on Clinton Email Probe
Attorney General Loretta Lynch “plans to announce on Friday that she will accept whatever recommendation career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director make about whether to bring charges related to Hillary Clinton’s personal email server,” the New York Times reports.
“Her decision removes the possibility that a political appointee will overrule investigators in the case.”
“The Justice Department had been moving toward such an arrangement for months — officials said in April that it was being considered — but a private meeting between Ms. Lynch and former President Bill Clinton this week set off a political furor and made the decision all but inevitable.”
How Boris Johnson Was Brought to His Knees
A must-read in the Telegraph:
By noon, Mr Johnson, the front-runner for the Tory leadership, was no longer a runner at all, ousted by what was being called a “cuckoo nest plot”. Having been comprehensively stitched up by his running mate and several other “supporters”, he threw in the towel, his ambitions in ruins.
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“We’re going to have to do things that are unthinkable almost. Unthinkable, when you look at what’s happening to us, when you look at what’s going on in this country and around the world, and we don’t want, you know they’re allowed to cut off heads and they’re allowed to chop off heads and we can’t water board. So people can have disagreements, but I feel we have to get much, much, tougher, stronger and smart.”
— Donald Trump, in an interview with NH1.
Gingrich and Christie Top Trump’s VP Short List
“Donald Trump’s campaign has begun formally vetting possible running mates, with former House speaker Newt Gingrich emerging as the leading candidate followed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie,” the Washington Post reports.
“Given Trump’s unpredictability, campaign associates caution that the presumptive Republican nominee could still shake up his shortlist. But with little more than two weeks before the start of the Republican National Convention, Gingrich and Christie have been asked to submit documents and are being cast as favorites for the post inside the campaign.”
‘He’s Not Like Other Republicans’
This new ad from Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) is pretty telling.
Obama’s Rising Approval Isn’t Helping Clinton
Amy Walter: “President Obama has gotten a bump in his numbers, but they aren’t transferring to his party. Nor do they seem to be related to better feelings among Americans about the state of the economy or the direction of the country. In fact, the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found Trump with a ten point advantage over Clinton on the question of who’d best ‘deal with the economy.'”
“At this point, at least, Americans seem to be making clear distinctions about their feelings of the president and those in his party. Yes, Hillary Clinton’s fate is tied somewhat to Obama’s success. The worse they feel about him and his Administration, the harder it is for her to convince Americans to support a third Democratic term in the White House. But, it’s also true that she has her own liabilities that make it difficult for Obama’s approval ratings to “transfer” to her. She represents not only the “status quo” but she’s a candidate with deep and enduring negatives that even a popular president can’t erase.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“That could be a Mexican plane up there — they’re getting ready to attack.”
— Donald Trump, quoted by The Hill, pointing to an airplane that was flying over his rally.
Pence Being Considered for Trump’s Veep
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) is “in play” as a possible contender to be named Donald Trump’s running mate at next month’s GOP convention, sources familiar with the vice presidential search tell NBC News.
Pence was made aware several weeks ago through an intermediary that he was being considered for the VP slot.
Quote of the Day
“It’s time to move on. This man has paid the price.”
— Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), in an interview with WTOP, on former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) after the Supreme Court overturned his corruption conviction.
