Politico: “Trump is approaching, and has possibly already passed, $100 million from donors who have given less than $200, according to an analysis of available Federal Election Commission filings, the campaign’s public statements and people familiar with his fundraising operation. It is a threshold no previous Republican has ever achieved in a single campaign. And Trump has done so less than three months after signing his first email solicitation for donors on June 21 — a staggering speed to collect such a vast sum.”

Said one GOP operative: “I’ve never seen anything like this. He’s the Republican Obama in terms of online fundraising.”

“Clinton counted 2.3 million donors as of the end of August, the result of decades of campaigning, a previous presidential bid and allies who painstakingly built her an email file of supporters even before she formally announced her second run. But Trump had zoomed to 2.1 million donors in the last three months alone, his campaign has said.”

“Those in Donald Trump’s orbit appear to be nervous about the swirling scandal around the Trump Foundation—and they should be: the stakes are incredibly high,” the Daily Beast reports.

“The allegations of a quid pro quo between Trump and Florida Attorney General, improper use of the charity for personal benefit, and employment of the charity for political purposes have serious penalties beyond mere campaign optics—the possible consequences range from hefty fines to jail time.”

“Over the past week, Donald Trump has staked out positions on women’s issues that tack far to the left of his party and his running mate, a marked shift from Republican orthodoxy and the presidential nominee’s past comments about mothers in the workplace,” the Washington Post reports.

“Trump, who has made inflammatory statements about women in the past and is lagging far behind in polls of female voters, released a plan to guarantee new mothers six weeks of paid leave and offer tax credits for child care. Trump also said that women should be able to access birth control over the counter, a direct contradiction of the platform his party adopted at its July convention.”

Hillary Clinton answered her opponent’s admission that Barack Obama was born in the United States with an ardent tribute to the president as a leader and a man of “class, grace, and integrity,” BuzzFeed reports.

Clinton did not refer to Donald Trump by name, but addressed Obama directly before an audience of thousands here in the Washington Convention Center, calling him “one of the best presidents our country has ever had,” even in the face of what she described as “hateful nonsense.”

She added: “I know I speak for not just everyone in this room, but so many tens of millions of Americans: Mr. President, not only do we know you are an America, you’re a great American. And you make us all proud to be Americans, too.”

For members: Why Trump’s Birther Charade May Finally Backfire

New York Times: “The essential question — Why promote a lie? — may be unanswerable. Was it sport? Was it his lifelong quest to court media attention? Was it racism? Was it the cynical start of his eventual campaign for president?”

“It might not matter. He kept doing it, even as his most senior aides assured the public that he had long since abandoned the fallacy.”

“He had not. He was disingenuous until the very end, telling a Washington Post reporter just 72 hours before that he was unready to concede the president’s place of birth. But he treated the weighty topic, as he does so much else, like a television cliffhanger, promising a major declaration on Friday.”

Washington Post: Trump’s stance on display: Never wrong, and never loved more by his supporters.

Sam Wang: “The narrowing of the race seems to be driven by a break in undecided voters toward Trump. Since early August, Donald Trump has gained about 4.0 percentage points, and is nearing his previous highs for the year. During the same period, undecided voters have decreased by a similar amount.”

“Until now, undecided voters have been running about 4 points ahead of where they were in 2012. Many of those undecideds were probably disaffected Republicans unwilling to support Trump, a radical candidate unlike any that the U.S. has seen in over 100 years. Trump is not saying a lot relative to his usual inflammatory and divisive statements. It appears that this approach is bringing home the Republican base – and increasing his favorability rating.”