Tim Kaine Pens Higher Education Op-Ed

Time magazine published an op-ed from Tim Kaine today in which he touted the education plan proposed by Hillary Clinton. Kaine writes about the rising cost of a college education and the importance of being college educated in today’s workforce. He explained that the Clinton-Kaine plan will help students reduce their current debt and will provide tuition free education to students whose families make less than $125,000 per year. Kaine says, “The Clinton-Kaine ticket is fully committed to sending every child in this country to world-class schools with great teachers, no matter where they come from. But higher education is a distinct challenge—which is why our plan will help anyone willing to work for a quality, affordable college degree.” The full text of Kaine’s op-ed is below.

When I graduated from college in 1979, education costs were manageable for many working families. By the time my own kids started college in the 2000s, it was a very different story.

So what happened?

The cost of a higher education skyrocketed by every measure. American students and graduates hold more than $1.2 trillion in debt today—and each indebted graduate can expect to owe nearly $30,000.

If you’re a current college student reading this, I want you to know that Hillary and I know what you’re going through. As the father of three, a lifelong supporter of educational opportunity for all and a former teacher at the University of Richmond’s Law School, I want to make one thing clear: We can do better.

These questions of access and affordability aren’t new to us. Hillary Clinton’s first job out of law school was working for the Children’s Defense Fund, where she went door-to-door in the fight to help kids with disabilities get the schooling they deserve. I ran a technical school in Honduras, an experience that inspired my ongoing support for those kinds of programs here at home. And my wife Anne’s decades-long career fighting for kids and families recently culminated in her service as Virginia’s Secretary of Education.

The Clinton-Kaine ticket is fully committed to sending every child in this country to world-class schools with great teachers, no matter where they come from. But higher education is a distinct challenge—which is why our plan will help anyone willing to work for a quality, affordable college degree.

Our plan would make debt-free college available to everyone, and make tuition free for in-state students from families with income under $125,000. It will free millions of Americans from the existing debt they’re struggling to pay off. And because I know that a four-year degree isn’t the only path to success, we’ll open up new opportunities for students beyond traditional degrees.

Meanwhile, institutions and states alike will have to commit to lowering costs and raising their own investments in education if they want to continue receiving federal funding. From restoring year-round Pell Grants to supporting HBCUs and on-campus childcare, our plan leverages commonsense, sustainable changes for the public good.

After all, an American with a college degree will earn about $570,000 more in their lifetime than one without—but they’ll also be expanding our national economy and building up our middle class along the way. That’s the real beauty of this plan: When everyone does their part, it’s a win-win all around.

But then there’s Donald Trump’s plan—or lack thereof.

Though he brags about his own four-year degree from an Ivy League school, he has no intention of offering anyone else the same opportunity. Trump University, currently the subject of multiple class-action lawsuits, made a mockery of higher education while its namesake and his cronies unapologetically scammed thousands of student out of thousands of dollars.

Trump has long said that the United States spends too much on education. Instead of reconsidering how that money should be spent, he wants to all but nix the Department of Education, an agency that offers an array of resources to support our most vulnerable students. Hillary wants to build on what works there; Trump wants to pull the rug out from under everyone not in his tax bracket.

Hillary and I believe passionately in advancing educational opportunity from pre-k through higher education and career and technical training. Trump chose a running mate, Mike Pence, who as Governor of Indiana turned down millions of federal dollars that could have expanded access to preschool for low-income kids and cut funding for schools serving Indiana’s most vulnerable students.

When it comes to expanding access to higher education, the choice in November is clear. We’re siding with students and with every American seeking an affordable college degree.

I hope you join us!

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: Time

HFA Statement on Mike Pence Releasing His Tax Returns

In response to Vice Presidential Candidate Mike Pence’s release of his tax returns, HFA Deputy Communications Director Christina Reynolds said:

“We’re pleased to see that one member of the Trump ticket has decided to meet the long-held threshold for disclosure in a modern day presidential campaign. But it’s Donald Trump – who just this week attacked America’s generals and showered praise on Russia’s authoritarian leader – running to be our next president. Trump has continued to hide behind fake excuses to avoid coming clean with the American people, thumbing his nose at a basic level of transparency practiced by every major party nominee since 1976. As prominent Republicans have speculated, Trump’s returns could reveal further ties to Russia and its oligarchs, the truth about his personal wealth, or more lies about his charitable contributions. But we won’t know until we see them. According to a recent poll, more than than six in 10 Republicans are now asking: what is Trump hiding?”

Last month, Tim Kaine released 10 years of tax returns. On the same day, Hillary Clinton released her 2015 personal tax return, building on the Clintons’ tradition of making their returns public since 1977. You can view both Clinton and Kaine’s returns here.

Considering Trump has released his taxes under audit before, and his actions help determine the speed at which the IRS can complete the audit, why won’t Trump release his tax returns and what is he hiding? Here’s a few theories:

1. Trump may not be worth the $10 billion that he claims
2. Trump may pay little to no income tax
3. Trump is deeply in debt and owes more than a hundred million to a foreign bank
4. Trump wrongly undervalues his properties to local tax men
5. Trump is making a “flood of cash” from running for president
6. Trump is taking tax breaks he shouldn’t
7. Trump is hiding his lack of charitable donations

Here’s 5 FACTS we know about Trump’s tax returns:

1. In multiple years in which we know Trump’s tax rate, he paid a rate of 0%
2. Trump promised millions in charity, but reportedly gave less than $10,000 over a period of 7 years
3. Trump has accepted a grant intended for small businesses affected by 9/11
4. Trump has repeated accepted a tax break intended for middle-class people
5. Trump might not even be undergoing an audit in the first place – and he refuses to present a letter from the IRS, sent to every individual who is audited, to prove it

Prominent Republicans question what Trump is hiding in his tax returns:

George Will: “Perhaps one more reason why we’re not seeing his tax returns is because he is deeply involved in dealing with Russian oligarchs.”

Mitt Romney: “Either he’s not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is” or “There’s a bombshell in Donald Trump’s taxes.”

Mark Sanford: “I Support You, Donald Trump. Now Release Your Tax Returns.”

Is there ANY way to make Trump release his tax returns?  Last month, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Member Chris Murphy called for the Senate to vote on their bill, the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, to require presidential nominees to release their tax returns after their conventions.

In the meantime, media, pundits, and Americans across the country continue to challenge Trump to release his tax returns.

New York Times: Letters to the Editor: “Why Won’t Trump Release His Taxes?”

Washington Post Editorial: “Even Mike Pence appears to disagree with Trump on releasing tax returns”

Huffington Post: “Even Donald Trump’s Supporters Are Telling Him To Release His Tax Returns”

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: NPR

HFA Response to Commander-in-Chief Forum

Following Wednesday night’s Commander-in-Chief Forum on NBC, Hillary for America released several responses to criticisms levels against Hillary Clinton and proposals made by Donald Trump. All of HFA’s releases are presented below (Note: each release is separated by the bold title headers).

HFA Response to Commander-in-Chief Forum

In response to tonight’s forum, Hillary for America Chair John Podesta released the following statement:

“The difference tonight could not have been more clear. Hillary Clinton showed a firm command of the issues and the qualifications, experience and judgment to be commander in chief. In contrast, the nominee of the party of Ronald Reagan just attacked America’s generals and showered praise on Russia’s president. Trump sputtered his way through the forum, making clear his secret ISIS plan is no plan at all, doubling down on the idea that the military should have known better than to have men and women serve together and lying yet again about his early support for the war in Iraq.”

Hillary Clinton Has a Record of Supporting Our Veterans

Hillary Clinton has fought throughout her career to ensure that all veterans have access to the opportunities and tools they need to succeed upon returning home:

• Increased assistance for families caring for veterans. Hillary introduced the Heroes at Home Act of 2006 to enhance support for veterans suffering from PTSD and other mental health issues and she successfully amended the 2007 Defense Appropriations Act to establish a traumatic brain injury family caregiver training curriculum for DOD and VA hospitals.

• Expanded health care coverage for Reservists and National Guard members. Hillary worked across the aisle with Senator Lindsey Graham to expand access to military health insurance, ensuring that members of the Reserves and National Guard—and their families—had access to military health benefits even when they’re not deployed.
• Protected family members caring for wounded warriors. Hillary collaborated closely with Senator Chris Dodd to author and introduce new legislation that aimed to broaden protections afforded by the Family and Medical Leave Act to the family members of wounded service members. She is proud that the legislation was enacted as part of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act.
• Supported survivors of fallen service members. Working with Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Hillary introduced legislation to expand benefits afforded to surviving spouses. She joined with Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to introduce a bill to increase the gratuity paid to family members of fallen veterans from $12,000 to $100,000, a proposal that was enacted as part of the 2005 supplemental appropriations act. Hillary also served as an honorary chairman for the non-profit Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, which provides resources and support to family members of those who have died in military service.

• Fought for a GI Bill for the 21st century: Hillary was a proud cosponsor of the bipartisan and historic Post-9/11 GI Bill signed into law in 2008.  She also introduced a GI Bill of Rights to expand educational, housing and entrepreneurial opportunities for soldiers, veterans and their families.

• Joined efforts to build veterans rehabilitation center. Hillary joined with Republican Senator John McCain to personally raise money for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. Their efforts were critical to building the Center for the Intrepid, a new $50 million state-of-the-art physical rehabilitation facility in San Antonio, Texas, designed specifically to help seriously wounded service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Fought to recognize Gulf War Syndrome and ensure Gulf War Veterans got the treatment they needed.  She met with sick veterans and researched Gulf War Syndrome before President Clinton announced the formation of a committee to study the issue and was a point person for the administration on the issue.

On this campaign, Clinton has laid out comprehensive plans not only to support our veterans and troops, but also to specifically improve the lives of military families:

• Military Times: Clinton unveils plan for veterans, military personnel: “[T]he former secretary of state’s plan refutes Republican proposals to outsource much of VA’s operations, labeling such a move as “privatization” of the department that could leave veterans ‘vulnerable to a health care market poorly suited to their needs’ Instead, Clinton proposes revamping the Veterans Health Administration, offering better coordination with military health care, private physicians and other existing resources while still leaving VA in the lead role…. Clinton also vows to place stronger oversight on VA operations, to include regular meetings in the Oval Office with the department secretary, and promises a fully interoperable health records system between VA and the Defense Department…. On the issue of veterans suicide, Clinton promises increased funding for VA mental health staffing and training, expansion of department counseling programs and promotion of ‘better prescriber and treatment practices’ that offer more alternatives than medication. Clinton says she also will create a standing President’s Council on Veterans to coordinate services across government agencies, convene a White House summit inviting key service organizations and state leaders, and continue work with Obama’s Joining Forces initiative.”

• Military.com/Virginian-Pilot: Clinton Offers Plans to Assist Military Families: “Arguing that the Pentagon has to be more sensitive to military families, Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton rolled out plans Tuesday to give service members more career flexibility and demand closer scrutiny of public schools teaching their children…. The former secretary of state proposes that members of military be able to more easily switch between active-duty, National Guard and reserve service ‘to make decisions good for their family and maintain a career with the military.’ She also would make permanent the Career Intermission Program that allows some military members to temporarily leave active duty for an extended period to pursue more education, care for children or tend to an ailing family member. Given the greater number of married couples who both are in uniform, Clinton wants the duty assignment process overhauled so that more spouses can serve near each other with neither losing ground in their career.”

• Bustle: 6 Feminist Points In Hillary Clinton’s Veterans Plan That Are Awesomely Inclusive: “This plan includes numerous points that are geared toward women, culminating in an inclusive proposal that, thankfully, addresses specific issues that women veterans face.

• TIME: Clinton: Stop For-Profit Colleges From Targeting Veterans: “Speaking before a roundtable with veterans in Reno, Nevada, Clinton focused her remarks on the so-called 90-10 rule. The rule requires for-profit colleges to accept at least 10% of their money from private dollars rather than federal financial aid and loans, with the idea of holding the schools more accountable to the open market. But an unintended loophole in the 90-10 rule means that federal military benefits like the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill can count toward schools’ 10%. That leads for-profit schools to aggressively target veterans in search of federal dollars, often deceptively. Proponents of a new bill say that veterans at many for-profit schools have high dropout rates and leave badly in debt. Clinton would plan to close the loophole.”

• WMUR: Clinton rolls out vets plan, promises to fight full-fledged privatization of VA

• Washington Post: Clinton promises better health care, other services, for female veterans

• ThinkProgress: As Republicans Call For Its Elimination, Clinton Releases Plan To Strengthen The VA

• Boston Herald: Hillary Clinton Vows ‘Zero Tolerance’ For VA Delays

Hillary Clinton op-ed in Military Times: Taking care of vets is ‘sacred responsibility’

Hillary Clinton’s Comprehensive Plan to Defeat ISIS and the Threat of Radical Jihadism

The threat we face from terrorism is real, urgent, and knows no boundaries. Hillary Clinton knows that ISIS cannot be contained, it must be defeated.  Doing so takes more than empty talk and a handful of slogans. It takes a real plan, real experience, and real leadership. Donald Trump lacks all three. He won’t even say what his plan to defeat ISIS is.

Hillary Clinton has laid out a comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS and keep American safe at home.  She understands that it’s not enough just to take out specific groups or leaders – we must have a comprehensive strategy to win the long game against the global terrorist network and its ideology.

First, we need to take out ISIS’s strongholds in the Middle East by intensifying the coalition air campaign, supporting our partners on the ground, and pursuing diplomacy to end Syria’s civil war and close Iraq’s sectarian divide, because those conflicts are keeping ISIS alive.

Second, we need to lash up with our allies to dismantle the global network that supplies money, arms, propaganda and fighters to the terrorists.  This means targeted efforts to root out ISIS hubs and affiliates and preventing terrorist organizations from establishing hubs elsewhere, choking off the networks that facilitate their growth and expansion.

And third, we need to harden our defenses at home, including by launching an intelligence surge to ensure law enforcement has the information they need to detect and disrupt plots, working with Silicon Valley to shut down terrorist propaganda online, and keeping guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists.  Hillary has also proposed establishing a “lone wolf” task force to identify and stop radicalized individuals who may or may not have contact and direction from any formal organization.

As we do all of this, we cannot allow terrorists to intimidate us into abandoning our values or allowing us to be driven by fear to embrace policies that would actually make us less safe.  Hillary knows that all communities need to be engaged in the fight against ISIS.  As the Director of the FBI told Congress recently, anything that erodes trust with Muslim-Americans makes the job of law enforcement more difficult.  American Muslims are on the front lines of efforts to combat radicalization, and we need to increase trust and cooperation with law enforcement.  Since 9/11, law enforcement agencies have worked hard to build relationships with Muslim-American communities. They are the most likely to recognize the insidious effects of radicalization before it’s too late, and the best positioned to help us block it. Hillary knows we should be intensifying contacts in those communities, not scapegoating or isolating them. And as we engage in this fight, we will be stronger with our allies and partners standing with us, particularly in the Muslim world, as we cannot win this fight alone.

Praise for Hillary’s Plan

• New York Times’ David Brooks: “This week we had a chance to watch Hillary Clinton respond in real time to a complex foreign policy challenge. On Thursday, six days after the Paris attacks, she gave a comprehensive antiterrorism speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. The speech was very impressive. While other candidates are content to issue vague calls to get tough on terror, Clinton offered a multilayered but coherent framework, not only dealing with ISIS but also putting that threat within the crosscutting conflicts that are inflaming the Middle East.… [Clinton] is thoughtful and instructive on both the big picture and the right way forward.”
• CNN: “Michael Desch, an expert in international security at Notre Dame University, said that Clinton’s speech was polished and showed her to be ‘head and shoulders’ above Republican candidates on framing an anti-ISIS strategy.”
• US News & World Report’s Dave Catanese: “A strong performance delivered with the poise of an incumbent president”
• Politico’s Roger Simon: “Hillary gives one of her best speeches ever on world terror. So presidential, they practically played ‘Hail to the Chief.’”
• Defense One’s Kevin Baron: “[Clinton’s speech is the] Most comprehensive and detailed Mideast/Isis plans I’ve heard from any US leader so far, of late”
• Quartz: “…talking about how to actually tackle Islamist extremism is complicated and politically fraught. It’s easier to play to fears about outsiders than to develop a substantive program. At least one US politician has given some thought to an idea about what to do: Presidential contender and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton delivered a speech today (Nov. 19) outlining her plan to battle the nexus of Islamist ideology that ISIL has created in the Middle East’s failed states… It’s a cohesive approach…”
• New York Times’ David Brooks: “This week we had a chance to watch Hillary Clinton respond in real time to a complex foreign policy challenge. On Thursday, six days after the Paris attacks, she gave a comprehensive antiterrorism speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. The speech was very impressive. While other candidates are content to issue vague calls to get tough on terror, Clinton offered a multilayered but coherent framework, not only dealing with ISIS but also putting that threat within the crosscutting conflicts that are inflaming the Middle East.… [Clinton] is thoughtful and instructive on both the big picture and the right way forward.”
• CNN: “Michael Desch, an expert in international security at Notre Dame University, said that Clinton’s speech was polished and showed her to be ‘head and shoulders’ above Republican candidates on framing an anti-ISIS strategy.”
• US News & World Report’s Dave Catanese: “A strong performance delivered with the poise of an incumbent president”
• Politico’s Roger Simon: “Hillary gives one of her best speeches ever on world terror. So presidential, they practically played ‘Hail to the Chief.’”
• Defense One’s Kevin Baron: “[Clinton’s speech is the] Most comprehensive and detailed Mideast/Isis plans I’ve heard from any US leader so far, of late”
• Quartz: “…talking about how to actually tackle Islamist extremism is complicated and politically fraught. It’s easier to play to fears about outsiders than to develop a substantive program. At least one US politician has given some thought to an idea about what to do: Presidential contender and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton delivered a speech today (Nov. 19) outlining her plan to battle the nexus of Islamist ideology that ISIL has created in the Middle East’s failed states… It’s a cohesive approach…”

Donald Trump: Not Fit to Serve as Commander-in-Chief

Donald Trump seeks our nation’s highest office, but he so utterly lacks the temperament required of the United States’ Commander-in-Chief it would be laughable if it weren’t so frightening. As Hillary Clinton reminded us in June, some of the comments he has made about world affairs are so ignorant, incoherent, and/or outrageous, it is hard to believe they actually came out of the mouth of a presidential nominee. As Hillary Clinton has said, Donald Trump is a loose cannon, and loose cannons tend to misfire.

Here are five reasons why Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to serve as president:

1. He wants more countries to have nuclear weapons:

COOPER:  So you have no problem with Japan and South Korea having nuclear weapons 
TRUMP:  At some point we have to say, you know what, we’re better off if Japan protects itself against this maniac in North Korea, we’re better off, frankly, if South Korea is going to start to protect itself

2. He has said he would order our military to carry out torture:

TRUMP: “Don’t tell me it doesn’t work — torture works… Waterboarding is fine, but it’s not nearly tough enough, ok?”

3. He has threatened to abandon our NATO allies:

TRUMP: “We don’t really need NATO in its current form. NATO is obsolete… if we have to walk, we walk.”

TRUMP, on whether he’d defend NATO allies from a Russian invasion: “Have they fulfilled their obligations to us? If they fulfill their obligations to us, the answer is yes.”

4. He won’t have to listen to our generals or ambassadors because of his “very good brain,” but he counts running the Miss Universe pageant as experience with Russia and he doesn’t understand Iran or its nuclear program:

TRUMP: “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things…my primary consultant is myself”

TRUMP: “I know Russia well. I had a major event in Russia two or three years ago, Miss Universe contest, which was a big, big, incredible event.”

TRUMP: “When those restrictions expire, Iran will have an industrial-size military nuclear capability ready to go.” (Politifact: False.)

TRUMP: “I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me.”

5. He praises dictators….

Vladimir Putin

TRUMP: “I will tell you, in terms of leadership, he’s getting an ‘A,’ and our president is not doing so well.”

Saddam Hussein

TRUMP: “You know what, he did well. He killed terrorists. He did that so good.”

Kim Jong Un

TRUMP: “And you’ve got to give him credit. How many young guys — he was like 26 or 25 when his father died — take over these tough generals…. It’s incredible. He wiped out the uncle. He wiped out this one, that one. I mean, this guy doesn’t play games.”

…and picks fights with our allies:

Then-British Prime Minister David Cameron

TRUMP: “It looks like we are not going to have a very good relationship. Who knows?”

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan

TRUMP: “Let’s take an I.Q. test… I think they’re very rude statements and frankly, tell him, I will remember those statements.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel

TRUMP: “What Merkel has done is incredible, it’s actually mind boggling. Everyone thought she was a really great leader and now she’s turned out to be this catastrophic leader. And she’ll be out if they don’t have a revolution.”

President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto

TRUMP: “I don’t know about the Hitler comparison [President Nieto made]. I hadn’t heard that, but it’s a terrible comparison. I’m not happy about that certainly. I don’t want that comparison, but we have to be strong and we have to be vigilant”

Pope Francis

TRUMP: “I don’t think [the Pope] understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico. I think Mexico got him to [criticize the wall] it because they want to keep the border just the way it is. They’re making a fortune, and we’re losing.

Trump’s Real History With Veterans

Despite Donald Trump’s occasional  lip service on the trail, Trump has been disrespecting our veterans for decades, continually proving he’s unqualified and temperamentally unfit to be commander-in-chief.

From planning to put the VA on a path to privatization, to firing reservists for their continued service to the nation, to lying about donations to veterans’ charities, to scamming veterans and their families through Trump University, to opposing the post-9/11 GI Bill, to insulting prisoners of war and our military, it’s clear veterans deserve better than Trump as their leader.

Trump Would Put the VA on a Path to Privatization:

• WSJ: “Donald Trump Says He Would Make VA System More Privatized”
• MSNBC: “Donald Trump Is Serious About Privatizing Veterans’ Care”

Trump Repeatedly Attacked A Gold Star Family

• NYT: “Donald Trump Criticizes Muslim Family of Slain U.S. Soldier, Drawing Ire”
• NYDN: “Gold Star families demand apology from Trump as he continues to blast parents of slain Muslim-American U.S. Army captain”
• Washington Post: “Republicans denounce Trump as confrontation with Muslim parents escalates”

Trump Businesses Have Fired Reservists For Their Continued Service to the Nation

• HuffPo: “Trump Institute Fired Veteran For ‘Absences’ After He Was Deployed To Afghanistan”
• CNN: “Iraq war veteran claims Trump University fired her for serving in the Army Reserve”
• HuffPo: “Third Veteran Dumped By Trump Because Of Military Service”

Trump Repeatedly Lied About Donations To Veterans Charities

• Washington Post: “Here’s how we found out about Donald Trump’s phantom $1 million donation to vets”
• Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum: “If character is supposed to be important in our presidents, this is evidence of the most contemptible kind of character imaginable. He tried to cheat a bunch of veterans!”
• CNN: Trump’s website boasted that he gave $1 million to the 1995 Nation’s Day Parade, but the event’s organizer said that’s about three times more than he actually gave.
• CNN: “After signing a deal to launch his brand of vodka, Trump went on CNN’s ‘Larry King Live’ in 2006 and described the venture, saying, ‘I’m giving the money to charity.’ … [T]he vodka company sent multiple press releases stating it would donate sales proceeds to the Walter Reed Society, a charity supporting programs at Walter Reed Hospital. The charity’s administrator tells CNN the donations amounted to about ’a few hundred dollars.’”

Trump Scammed Veterans Through Trump University

• CNN [VIDEO]: 40-year Navy veteran scammed out of more than $26,000 by Trump University
• Ex-Marine: “[Trump University] was a con. I’m 25-years-old, barely making $3,000 a month and they told me to increase my credit limit. I just maxed out three credit cards and I’m supposed to be able to qualify for loans to buy real estate? Those stupid principles have led me to borrow $700,000 of other people’s money and lose it all. I’m still paying off some of that debt to this day.”
• TIME: “The records indicate, for example, that Trump University collected approximately $40 million from its students–who included veterans, retired police officers and teachers–and that Trump personally received approximately $5 million of it”

Trump Attempted To Kick Disabled Veterans Who Were Vendors Off The Street Across Two Decades

• 1991: Trump Letter to State Assemblyman John Dearie: “While disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses?… Do we allow Fifth Ave., one of the world’s finest and most luxurious shopping districts, to be turned into an outdoor flea market, clogging and seriously downgrading the area?”
• 2004: Trump Letter to Mayor Bloomberg: “Whether they are veterans or not, they should not be allowed to sell on this most important and prestigious shopping street… I hope you can stop this very deplorable situation before it is too late.”

Trump Insults Our Military

• Trump: “Our military is a disaster.”
• NYT: “Donald J. Trump, who received draft deferments through much of the Vietnam War, told the author of a coming biography that he nevertheless ‘always felt that I was in the military’ because of his education at a military-themed boarding school.”

Trump on Armored Humvees: “If a bomb goes off our wounded warriors–instead of losing their legs, their arms, worse, they’re okay. They go for a little ride upward and they come down.”

Foreign Policy Experts, Allies, Republicans, Voters Share Concern Over Trump’s Pro-Putin Leanings

Donald Trump’s bizarre admiration for Vladimir Putin, his embrace of pro-Kremlin policies that undercut American interests and threaten our allies, and his campaign’s deep ties to Russia have been a cause for great alarm across the board.

Foreign Policy Experts and Analysts:

Op-ed by Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul: Why Putin wants a Trump victory (so much he might even be trying to help him): “Putin has rational motives for wanting Trump to win: Trump champions many foreign policies that Putin supports. Trump’s most shocking, pro-Kremlin proposal is to “look into” recognition of Crimea as a part of Russia…. Trump has demanded that other NATO members essentially pay us for protection… Trump has also disparaged our allies in Asia, creating new opportunities for Russian influence…. On the whole, Trump advocates isolationist policies and an abdication of U.S. leadership in the world. He cares little about promoting democracy and human rights. A U.S. retreat from global affairs fits precisely with Putin’s international interests.”

Reuters: Senior ex-CIA official: Putin made Trump ‘an unwitting agent’ of Russia: “A former top CIA official attacked Donald Trump on Friday as a danger to national security, saying President Vladimir Putin had made the Republican presidential candidate an ‘unwitting agent’ of Russia. Putin had flattered Trump into supporting positions favorable to Russia, Michael Morell, a longtime CIA officer and former deputy director of the agency, said in an opinion piece in The New York Times. ‘In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation,’ Morell said”

Politico: Is Putin playing Trump like he did Berlusconi?: “[T]he Berlusconi-Putin bromance has acquired a new resonance, as foreign policy analysts and even some U.S. officials see unsettling echoes in the recent long-distance kinship between the Russian leader and Donald J. Trump. It may even suggest that Putin is applying a specific method to the GOP nominee. In recent years Putin has befriended several major Western European politicians, including former leaders of France and Germany, who openly challenge U.S. and European policies toward Russia, including NATO’s buildup in Eastern Europe and economic sanctions punishing Putin’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.”

Slate’s Franklin Foer: Putin’s Puppet: If the Russian president could design a candidate to undermine American interests—and advance his own—he’d look a lot like Donald Trump.: “Donald Trump is like the Kremlin’s favored candidates, only more so. He celebrated the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU. He denounces NATO with feeling. He is also a great admirer of Vladimir Putin.”

United States Allies:

NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg on Trump’s NATO comments: “I will not interfere in the U.S. election campaign, but what I can do is say what matters for NATO. Solidarity among Allies is a key value for NATO. Two world wars have shown that peace in Europe is also important for the security of the United States.”

Estonian Foreign Ministry on Trump’s NATO comments: “Estonia’s commitment to our NATO obligations is beyond doubt and so should be the commitments by others.”

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics on Trump’s NATO comments: “We take our commitments seriously. We hope and expect that all our allies, big and small, take their commitments the same.”

Foreign Policy: Ukrainian Officials to Donald Trump: Please Stop Talking About Our Country: “Ukrainian Ambassador Valeriy Chaly to Washington told CNN on Monday that ‘everybody was surprised’ by Trump’s comments, which are ‘in contradiction with [the] official position of [the] White House, of the United States, and of Republicans before.’ … Chaly’s remarks came after former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk also condemned Trump’s comments on Ukraine, saying in a Facebook post on Sunday that the presidential candidate had violated ‘the very values of the free world, civilized world order, and international law.’ … Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov also lashed out at Trump, saying in a separate Facebook post that his “shameless statement…on possible recognition of Crimea as Russia is a diagnosis of a dangerous fringe politician.’”

AP: Trump’s Russia reset ideas alarming allies, many in US:  “Donald Trump’s flurry of offhand remarks and abrupt zingers on Russia — praising Vladimir Putin, dismissing NATO — have jolted the world, not to mention the U.S. presidential campaign. With Russia’s behavior rattling nerves in the U.S. and abroad, the Republican presidential nominee is accused of cozying up to a ‘dictator.’ Of threatening the very underpinnings of America’s relationship with Europe. And of naivete.”

Bloomberg: Trump’s NATO Skepticism Raises Alarm for Allies Near Russia: “Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump sent alarm rippling through Eastern Europe after he said the U.S. would only defend NATO states attacked by Russia if those nations “have fulfilled their obligations to us,” his strongest comments to date on the military alliance’s future if he enters the White House.”

Republicans:

Washington Post: Republicans are among a new list of foreign policy experts denouncing Trump: “Several Republicans are among a group of former cabinet officers, senior officials and career military officers who denounced Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday, calling his recent remarks on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Russia ‘disgraceful.’”

New York Times: 50 G.O.P. Officials Warn Donald Trump Would Put Nation’s Security ‘at Risk’: “Many of those signing it had declined to add their names to the letter released in March. But a number said in recent interviews that they changed their minds once they heard Mr. Trump invite Russia to hack Mrs. Clinton’s email server — a sarcastic remark, he said later — and say that he would check to see how much NATO members contributed to the alliance before sending forces to help stave off a Russian attack. They viewed Mr. Trump’s comments on NATO as an abandonment of America’s most significant alliance relationship.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham on Trump’s NATO comments: “Statements like these make the world more dangerous and the United States less safe. If Mr. Trump is serious about wanting to be commander-in-chief he needs to better understand the job which is to provide leadership for the United States and the free world…. I’m 100 percent certain how Russian President Putin feels — he’s a very happy man.”

Sen. Tom Cotton: “Vladimir Putin was a KGB spy and he never got over that. He does not have America’s best interests at heart and he does not have any American interests at heart. I suspect, after this week, when Donald Trump is the nominee and he begins to receive classified briefings, similar briefings to what I receive as a member of the Intelligence Committee, he may have a different perspective on Vladimir Putin and what Russia is doing to America’s interests and allies in Europe and the Middle East and Asia.”

BuzzFeed: “Earlier this month, [Rep. Adam] Kinzinger said he could not vote for Trump after the GOP nominee said that the US did not need to come to the defense of NATO members if attacked. This week, he called for an investigation into Trump and his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, for alleged ties to Russia. ‘There’s been this affection in this campaign for Russia and Vladimir Putin, so in my thought, I have concerns for the chief advisor of Donald Trump having done work for a pro-Russian government in Ukraine,’ Kinzinger said on CNN this week.

TIME: GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans on Wednesday denounced Russia’s potential involvement in the U.S. presidential election without specifically criticizing GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who earlier called on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails. ‘Russia is a global menace led by a devious thug. Putin should stay out of this election,’ said Brendan Buck, spokesman for Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, in an email.”

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Trump’s NATO comments: “I think he’s wrong on that.”

Politico: Trump’s competitors don’t want Putin’s approval: “Republican presidential candidates trailing Donald Trump are making it clear they don’t want the same endorsement the billionaire businessman and entertainer got from Russian President Vladimir Putin…. No thanks, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said in so many words on the Sunday political talk shows. Even Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and GOP presidential candidate, weighed in.”

Huffington Post: GOP Figures Disgusted By Trump Urging Russian Cyberattack: “[I]f any of his various statements at the press conference really stood out, it was probably the part where he called for state-sponsored Russian hackers to conduct cyber espionage on the United States for his electoral benefit… Inboden was hardly alone in registering his disgust with Trump. GOP strategist Stuart Stevens, who advised Mitt Romney, the party’s nominee in 2012, suggested that Trump’s remarks would have merited an immediate court-martial if they’d been made by anyone answering to the commander in chief”

American Voters:

Washington Post: Russian meddling in U.S. election backfiring on Putin, hurting Trump: “Those voters [of Eastern European descent] for whom McCain fought so hard in 2008 are still out there. They normally would be very inclined to vote for someone like Trump — on paper, they look just like his core supporters — but Putin’s clear preference for him over Clinton (combined with Trump’s naiveté on all things Russia) gives them great pause.”

New York Times: Ukrainian-Americans, Long Fond of the G.O.P., Greet Donald Trump With Despair: “Ukrainian-Americans have felt at home in the Republican Party since Franklin D. Roosevelt and Stalin divided control of Europe at Yalta. But across the United States — and especially in swing state Ohio, where Mr. Trump became the party’s nominee — they are watching the 2016 presidential race with a mix of confusion and fear. ‘The party’s dead as far as I’m concerned,’ Mr. Szmagala declared.”

Former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen: Trump’s Putin bromance is driving away Eastern European-American voters: “In July, during the Republican convention, I pointed out here that Donald Trump’s questioning whether he would come to the defense of Central and Eastern European countries if Russia attacked them – and Trump’s changing the GOP platform to strip out the provision of defensive weapons to Ukraine – could cost him millions of once-solid Republican votes in key swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida.”

Donald Trump Supported the Iraq War, No Matter How Many Times He Claims Otherwise

This completely bogus Trump claim has been fact checked so many times it’s hard to believe we still need to say this, but one more time can’t hurt: Donald Trump supported the Iraq War before it started. In fact, in 2002, Trump said he supported invading Iraq. While Hillary Clinton has clearly stated that her vote was a mistake, Donald Trump continues to lie about his own stance on the war nearly every time he opens his mouth.

Here’s what Trump himself has said on the matter:

Donald Trump, 2000: “I’m no warmonger. But the fact is, if we decide a strike against Iraq is necessary, it is madness not to carry the mission to its conclusion.”

BuzzFeed: In 2002, Donald Trump Said He Supported Invading Iraq

In a 2002 interview with Howard Stern, Donald Trump said he supported an Iraq invasion. In the interview, which took place on Sept. 11, 2002, Stern asked Trump directly if he was for invading Iraq. “Yeah, I guess so,” Trump responded. “I wish the first time it was done correctly.”

The Hill: Trump day after Iraq invasion: It’s ‘a tremendous success’: “Republican primary front-runner Donald Trump claimed on the second day of Operation Iraqi Freedom that it appeared to be “a tremendous success from a military standpoint.” Speaking to Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on March 21, 2003, Trump predicted the war would continue to bolster Wall Street.

Bill O’Reilly: “All right, let’s stay in Iraq for a minute. You’re given this intelligence from five different agencies. You don’t move against this guy?”

Trump, 2004: “Perhaps, if I was given that… if that intelligence was actually given, perhaps.”

BuzzFeed: Trump In 2006: Clinton Should Be Forgiven For Iraq Vote “Based On Lies Given To Her”

Donald Trump is already going after Hillary Clinton for her vote to authorize the Iraq War in 2002, but in an interview in 2006, he said she should be forgiven because her vote was based on misinformation.

Maureen Dowd, New York Times: [Trump] thinks John McCain has lost the 2008 election by pushing to send more troops to Iraq but that Hillary should be forgiven for her “horrendous” vote to authorize the war. “Don’t forget that decision was based on lies given to her,” he says. “She’s very smart and has a major chance to be our next president.”

And here’s what reporters and fact checkers have to say:

BuzzFeed: There’s No Record Of Donald Trump Being Against The Iraq War Before It Started

An extensive BuzzFeed News review was unable to find any Trump statements on the Iraq War before the invasion in March 2003, but did find two statements he made the week the war started, one calling it “a mess” and one saying it would have a positive impact on the stock market.

PolitiFact: Donald Trump was not ‘loud and clear’ in Iraq War opposition

Trump often repeats this line, and we’ve rated a similar Trump claim Mostly False, because he didn’t appear to take any public position on the war until after the March 2003 invasion. In this more recent version of the statement, he also said he stated his opposition to the war “loud and clear.” But the public record of his positions is thin.

FactCheck.org: Donald Trump and the Iraq War

There is no evidence that we could find, however, that he spoke against the war before it started, although we did find he expressed early concerns about the cost and direction of the war a few months after it started.

New York Times: In Fact | Donald Trump Opposed Iraq War — but After It Started

Donald J. Trump took a moment to separate himself from his rivals by declaring that he had gone on the record with his opposition of the Iraq war some 11 years ago — in July 2004. The claim, however, left out the reality that his opposition came well after the war was already underway. The war began in March 2003.

FLASHBACK: Support For Libyan Intervention Was Widespread, Included Trump and Pence

Donald Trump and his allies love to attack Hillary Clinton over the Libyan intervention. Curiously, they never seem to mention that Trump himself supported it. Repeatedly. And on his own video blog. And his running mate, Mike Pence backed the intervention as well, publicly thanking then-Secretary Clinton for her efforts on Libya.

• BuzzFeed: Trump Claims He Didn’t Support Libya Intervention — But He Did, On Video

• Trump, 2011: “I can’t believe what our country is doing. Qaddafi in Libya is killing thousands of people…. But we have go in to save these lives; these people are being slaughtered like animals. It’s horrible what’s going on; it has to be stopped. We should do on a humanitarian basis, immediately go into Libya, knock this guy out very quickly, very surgically, very effectively, and save the lives.”

• Trump, 2011: “[At] this point, if you don’t get rid of Gadhafi, it’s a major, major black eye for this country.”

• BuzzFeed: Mike Pence Publicly Thanked Hillary Clinton In 2011 For Her Efforts On Libya. Pence: “I also want to thank you, specifically, for the efforts by the administration and your offices to further isolate Libya during a time of extraordinary tragedy in the streets, tragedy of which I think we’re probably only partially aware.

Donald Trump’s lies and hypocrisy aside, the reality is that in 2011, support for the Libyan intervention was widespread, at home and abroad. There was strong bipartisan support from U.S. leaders at home for the administration’s effort to impede Qadhafi’s brutality, and our closest NATO allies, partners in the region, and Libyan people were all making urgent calls for U.S. action.

Top Republicans were making calls for bold American leadership in this international crisis:

Feb. 22, 2011 – John McCain and Joe Lieberman: “The horrific situation in Libya demands more than just public condemnation; it requires strong international action. … Some Libyan diplomats have bravely called for a no-fly zone to stop the Qaddafi regime’s use of airpower to attack Libyan civilians.  We support this course of action.”

Feb. 24, 2011 – Marco Rubio: “We should immediately engage willing partners to limit the regime’s ability to wage war against its own citizens.  These measures could include (but are not limited to) pressing bordering nations to stop the flow of mercenaries into Libya, finding ways to restore severed communications, imposing a no-fly zone to protect civilians against aircraft attacks, and mobilizing a humanitarian relief effort.”

Feb. 28, 2011 – Lindsey Graham: “What I would suggest is that we really keep implementing U.N. sanctions on the economic side, on the travel side, go after assets. And a no fly zone would make a lot of sense to me.”

Feb. 28, 2011 – Susan Collins: “I do believe our allies may be able to join together with us to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya to help protect the people from Gadhafi,” she said. “Any actions that we take I believe should be in concert with our allies.”

March 1, 2011 – By unanimous consent, the Senate adopts a resolution urging the UN Security Council to take “further action to protect civilians in Libya from attack, including the possible imposition of a no-fly zone over Libyan territory.”

March 7, 2011 – Newt Gingrich: “Exercise a no-fly zone this evening, communicate to the Libyan military that Gadhafi was gone … All we have to say is that we think that slaughtering your own citizens is unacceptable and that we’re intervening. And we don’t have to send troops. All we have to do is suppress his air force…”

March 13, 2011 – John McCain: “First, the president [Barack Obama] should recognize Libya’s transitional national council, which is based in Benghazi but representative of communities across the country, as the sole legitimate governing authority of Libya, just as France has done.  Second, the president should take immediate steps to implement a no-fly zone in Libya with international support.”

March 30, 2011 – Marco Rubio, to Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid: “I am writing to seek your support for bringing a bi-partisan resolution to the Senate floor authorizing the President’s decision to participate in allied military action in Libya. Furthermore, this resolution should also state that removing Muammar Qaddafi from power is in our national interest and therefore should authorize the President to accomplish this goal. To that end, the resolution should urge the President to immediately recognize the Interim Transitional National Council as the legitimate government in Libya.”

NATO Allies and Regional Partners were ramping up their efforts to defend the Libyan people:

Feb. 23, 2011 – France– The Guardian: “Nicolas Sarkozy is leading the calls for a NATO-imposed no-fly zone to be enforced over Libya to ‘prevent the use of that country’s warplanes against [its] population.’ Sarkozy, the current president of the G8 and G20 economic forums, has also called for the European Union to impose sanctions against Libya and suggested that the assets of the family of the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, should be frozen.”

Feb. 27, 2011 – Italy– Associated Press: “Italy has effectively suspended a treaty with Libya that includes a nonaggression clause, amid turmoil in the North African nation, the foreign minister said Sunday. The suspension removes a possible obstacle to Rome taking part in any peacekeeping operations in its former colony, or allowing the use of its military bases.”

Feb 28, 2011 – Britain– PM David Cameron: “We must not tolerate this regime using military force against its own people. In that context I have asked the Ministry of Defence and the Chief of the Defence Staff to work with our allies on plans for a military no-fly zone. Mr Speaker, it is clear that this is an illegitimate regime that has lost the consent of its people. My message to Colonel Qadhafi is simple: Go now.”

March 10, 2011 – Libyan Rebels – CNN: “The head of the interim government in eastern Libya pleaded Wednesday for the international community to move quickly to impose a no-fly zone over Libya, declaring that any delay would result in more casualties. ‘It has to be immediate action,’ Mustafa Abdul-Jalil told CNN in an exclusive interview in this eastern opposition stronghold. ‘The longer the situation carries on, the more blood is shed. That’s the message that we want to send to the international community. They have to live up to their responsibility with regards to this.’”

March 12, 2011 – Arab States – New York Times: “The Arab League asked the United Nations Security Council on Saturday to impose a no-flight zone over Libya in hopes of halting Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s attacks on his own people, providing the rebels a tincture of hope even as they were driven back from a long stretch of road and towns they had captured in the three-week war. The extraordinary move by the 22-nation bloc — an extremely rare invitation for Western military forces on Arab territory — increases the pressure on the Obama administration…”

Trump: Generals Have Been ‘Reduced to Rubble’

Donald Trump wants to be Commander-in-Chief, but he continuously insults and disrespects our United States’ military on the campaign trail – and even before. Just now, he said our generals have been “reduced to rubble.”

At a rally in Urbandale, IA he said, “so our military is weak.” [Urbandale IA, 1/15/16]

At a rally in Harrington, DE he said, “the military is in shambles.” [Harrington DE, 4/22/16]

At a rally in Westfield, IN he said, “we don’t win with our military.” [Westfield, IN, 7/12/16]

At a rally in Wilmington, NC he said, “our military is depleted… we can’t beat ISIS.” [Wilmington, NC 8/9/16]

Trump has called the United States’ military a disaster, said “the generals aren’t doing so well” and proclaimed he knew more about ISIS than the generals do.

Trump’s alarming rhetoric goes all the way back to the Reagan Administration, when Trump took out ads saying, “the world is laughing at America’s politicians as we protect ships we don’t own, carrying oil we don’t need, destined for allies who won’t help.”

This type of denigration of our our military has been called out left and right, from political leaders to those who serve and worry about what a Donald Trump presidency would mean for the military:

Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: “At no time in my career have I been more confident than this instant in saying we have the most powerful military on the face of the planet.”

Sen. Tim Kaine: “Trump has been going around saying repeatedly the American military is a disaster. That’s a direct quote…[T]here’s 1.6 million people who serve in the military of this country voluntarily during a time of war, and one of them is one of my kids When I hear Donald Trump say the American military is a disaster, I want to go through the screen and shake the guy…We do not need a commander in chief who is going to talk about our troops with disrespect and contempt. We ought to have a commander in chief who talks about our troops with respect and gratitude. That’s why Secretary Clinton is down in Hampton today meeting with veterans and military families.”

An Open Letter On Donald Trump From GOP National Security Leaders: “Recognizing as we do, the conditions in American politics that have contributed to his popularity, we nonetheless are obligated to state our core objections clearly: His vision of American influence and power in the world is wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle. He swings from isolationism to military adventurism within the space of one sentence. His advocacy for aggressively waging trade wars is a recipe for economic disaster in a globally connected world. His embrace of the expansive use of torture is inexcusable.”

Reuters: Trump’s ‘America first’ speech alarms U.S. allies

Slate: Current, Former Soldiers Say Trump Would Be an Epic Disaster as Commander in Chief

It is understandable that Trump is confused about all of this. After all, it doesn’t sounds like he’s consulting with many experts about the state of our military, he just has the TV on.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

Trump Campaign Attempts to Mislead on Immigration Plan

Hillary for America Campaign Manager Robby Mook responded to the Trump campaigns attempts to gloss over Donald Trump’s plan to deport 16 million people with the following statement:

“Donald Trump has stated very clearly throughout his campaign that he will deport everyone who is undocumented, something that was reinforced in his speech in Arizona last Wednesday. Beyond forcibly removing every single undocumented person from this country, Trump has also promised to rescind DACA and DAPA, and deport American citizens who are born to undocumented immigrant parents. What we saw today is Mike Pence and Trump’s top campaign officials attempt to mislead voters about their mass deportation policy by using soft words to describe harsh tactics – one of the oldest tricks in the book. Immigrant families know the meanings of ‘humane’ and ‘fair’ and can see straight through their cynical ploys. Trump’s message to immigrant families is clear: everyone must go.”

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: Politico

Clinton Statement on National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Endorsement

Hillary Clinton received the endorsement of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. The group’s co-founder and CEO Chance Mitchell said that “the stakes have never been so high for the future of the LGBT business community. Hillary Clinton is the progressive champion our businesses and our families need to thrive.” Clinton released a statement thanking the group for their endorsement and reinforcing her support for the LGBTQ community. A copy of Clinton’s statement is below.

“I am honored to have earned the first-ever endorsement of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

For nearly 15 years, the NGLCC has paved the way for LGBT-owned and –allied businesses to succeed, grow, and find new clients and partners.  Just this month, they brought together a record-breaking number of LGBT business leaders at their annual convention.

The stakes in this election could not be higher for LGBT Americans. When Donald Trump says he’ll ‘make America great again,’ that’s code for ‘take America backwards.’ He has said he would appoint judges who would overturn marriage equality. The man Trump chose as his running mate signed a law that opened the door for Indiana businesses to discriminate against LGBT people and said marriage equality could cause ‘societal collapse.’  As we’ve seen in North Carolina, discrimination isn’t only wrong – it’s bad for business.  North Carolina’s egregious HB2 measure has caused companies to pull jobs and millions of dollars out of the state.

We have our work cut out for us.  As President, I’ll keep fighting for equality and opportunity for LGBT Americans by passing the Equality Act.  And I want to be the small business president and make things easier for small businesses every step of the way. In America, if you can dream it, you should be able to build it – no matter where you come from, what you look like, or who you love. That’s why I have a comprehensive plan to make it easier to start a business, get the financing to grow, file taxes and work with the federal government, and provide good benefits to workers.

I am proud to stand with the NGLCC in this election and every day.”

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: NBC News

Clinton Campaign Responds to Resignation of Paul Manafort

Hillary for America responded to the resignation of Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort. Their statement, video, and release are below.

Statement from Robby Mook on Manafort’s Resignation and Trump’s Continued Pro-Kremlin Ties

Friday, Hillary For American Campaign Manager Robby Mook issued the following statement on the resignation of Trump’s Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort and the many continuing ties between Trump and his campaign and pro-Kremlin forces:

“Paul Manafort’s resignation is a clear admission that the disturbing connections between Donald Trump’s team and pro-Kremlin elements in Russia and Ukraine are untenable.  But this is not the end of the story.  It’s just the beginning.  You can get rid of Manafort, but that doesn’t end the odd bromance Trump has with Putin. Trump still has to answer serious questions hovering over his campaign given his propensity to parrot Putin’s talking points, the roster of advisers like Carter Page and Mike Flynn with deep ties to Russia, the recent Russian government hacking and disclosure of Democratic Party records, and reports that Breitbart published articles advocating pro-Kremlin positions on Ukraine.  It’s also time for Donald Trump to come clean on his own business dealings with Russian interests, given recent news reports about his web of deep financial connections to business groups with Kremlin ties.”

HFA also released a new video on Donald Trump’s tendency to echo Vladimir Putin’s talking points:

BACKGROUND

Trump Campaign Advisers’ Russia Connections Extend Far Beyond Manafort

Carter Page, Trump’s pro-Putin foreign policy adviser, built his career on deals with Russia’s state owned gas company, Gazprom, and traveled to Moscow just last month.

Washington Post: Trump adviser’s public comments, ties to Moscow stir unease in both parties

“In early June, a little-known adviser to Donald Trump stunned a gathering of high-powered Washington foreign policy experts meeting with the visiting prime minister of India, going off topic with effusive praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump. The adviser, Carter Page, hailed Putin as stronger and more reliable than President Obama, according to three people who were present at the closed-door meeting at Blair House — and then touted the positive effect a Trump presidency would have on U.S.-Russia relations. A month later, Page dumbfounded foreign policy experts again by giving another speech harshly critical of U.S. policy — this time in Moscow.”

Bloomberg: Trump’s New Russia Adviser Has Deep Ties to Kremlin’s Gazprom

A globe-trotting American investment banker who’s built a career on deals with Russia and its state-run gas company, Carter Page says his business has suffered directly from the U.S. economic sanctions imposed after Russia’s escalating involvement in the Ukraine. When Donald Trump named him last week as one of his foreign-policy advisers, Page says his e-mail inbox filled up with positive notes from Russian contacts. “So many people who I know and have worked with have been so adversely affected by the sanctions policy,” Page said in a two-hour interview last week. “There’s a lot of excitement in terms of the possibilities for creating a better situation.”

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the adviser who joined Trump this week for his first classified intelligence briefing, has been paid by Kremlin-run RT and sat next to Putin at the outlet’s 10th anniversary gala.

Washington Post: He was one of the most respected intel officers of his generation. Now he’s leading ‘Lock her up’ chants.

Like Trump, Flynn has advocated forging closer ties with Russia. In interviews with The Washington Post, Flynn acknowledged being paid to give a speech and attend a lavish anniversary party for the Kremlin-controlled RT television network in Moscow last year, where he was seated next to Russian President Vladi­mir Putin…. Asked why he would want to be so closely associated with a Kremlin propaganda platform, Flynn said he sees no distinction between RT and other news outlets. “What’s CNN? What’s MSNBC? Come on!” said Flynn, who also has appeared occasionally as an unpaid on-air analyst for RT and other foreign broadcasters.

Politico: The Kremlin’s Candidate

At a moment of semi-hostility between the U.S. and Russia, the presence of such an important figure at Putin’s table startled current and former members of the Obama administration. “It was extremely odd that he showed up in a tuxedo to the Russian government propaganda arm’s party,” one former Pentagon official told me.

Daily Beast: Trump Embraces Ex-Top Obama Intel Official

Three former U.S. officials said that a trip Flynn took last December to Moscow—where he was filmed sitting at the head table next to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a formal dinner—set off alarms within military and intelligence circles over whether Flynn had notified the U.S. government about his foreign travel, as his security clearance requires.

Mike McSherry, an aide who helped lead Trump’s convention strategy, worked alongside Manafort and Gates to lobby for Putin puppet Yanukovych.

BuzzFeed: Ukraine Lobbying Contract Linked To Manafort Also Involved Another Trump Aide

“Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort is not the only Trump aide to have been involved in lobbying for Ukraine’s pro-Russian ex-president. Mike McSherry, a senior vice president at Mercury Public Affairs who helped lead the Trump campaign’s convention committee strategy last month, is listed in Mercury’s lobbying disclosure forms as having represented a Brussels-based nonprofit group linked to former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine.”

Howard Lorber, a Trump economic adviser, traveled with Trump to Moscow in the 1990s seeking real estate deals

Washington Post: Another Trump adviser with deep ties to Russia

This week Donald Trump released a new roster of economic advisers, including a businessman with extensive investments in Russia who tried to get a Trump Tower built in Moscow. It’s the latest in a long list of relationships that give Trump a financial stake in warm U.S.-Russian relations. Businessman and investor Howard Lorber already donated $100,000 to the Trump Victory fund, has been named as one of Trump’s “best friends” and even appeared once on “The Apprentice.” He is also president and chief executive of the Vector Group, a holding company that has various business interests in Russia. In 1996, Lorber brought Trump to Moscow to look for opportunities for Trump to lend his famous name to development projects there. “Howard has major investments in Russia,” Trump told Russian politician Alexander Ivanovich Lebed after his trip to Moscow with Lorber, according to a 1997 profile of Trump in the New Yorker.

Boris Epshteyn, a senior Trump adviser and surrogate, moderated a 2013 forum at the “Invest In Moscow!” Conference and has echoed Kremlin talking points on TV.

Huffington Post: When It Comes To Donald Trump’s Russia Ties, It’s All About The Aides

And there’s also Boris Epshteyn, a Trump surrogate who frequently appears on television and describes himself as a senior adviser to the campaign. The Russia-born investment banker and attorney moderated a panel at an October 2013 conference in New York City called “Invest in Moscow!” The panel was mainly comprised of Moscow city government officials, like Sergey Cheremin, a city minister who heads Moscow’s foreign economic and international relations department…. “In Russia, where business and the state are so closely linked, business dealings automatically imply ties to people high up in government as well,” said Kathryn Stoner, an expert in U.S.-Russia relations at Stanford University.

Talking Points Memo: Trump Surrogate Pushes Pro-Putin Line That Russia Hasn’t Seized Crimea

A surrogate for Donald Trump’s campaign argued on Sunday that Russia has not seized Crimea from Ukraine, even though Vladimir Putin seized the region more than two years ago. While discussing the GOP nominee’s recent remarks about Putin on CNN Sunday, campaign surrogate Boris Epshteyn said, “First of all, Russia did not seize Crimea.”

Richard Burt, who has been an adviser to Trump and helped write his first major foreign policy speech, has deep ties to Russia as well.

Reuters: Former Reagan aide helped write Trump foreign policy speech

“I was asked to contribute material” for Trump’s April 27 speech at the Center for the National Interest, a Washington, D.C., think tank, said Richard Burt.

Vice: How Putin’s American Fixers Keep Russian Sanctions Toothless

Richard Burt, a former Reagan White House official who now works at the lobbying firm McLarty Associates, serves on the US-Russia Business Council board. According to the Wall Street Journal, Burt, who has argued against unilateral sanctions against Russia…

Michael Caputo, a former top Trump adviser who also recently resigned, did public relations work for Putin years ago, promoting his image in the Western world.

Washington Post: Inside Trump’s financial ties to Russia and his unusual flattery of Vladimir Putin

An adviser who helped run Trump’s efforts in the New York primary, Michael Caputo, lived in Russia in the 1990s. Caputo also had a contract for several months in 2000 with the Russian conglomerate Gazprom Media to improve Putin’s image in the United States. Caputo declined to comment but told the Buffalo News, his hometown paper, that he was “not proud of the work today. But at the time, Putin wasn’t such a bad guy.”

Trump’s Russia Problems Run Deep, Concerning Experts

Trump’s policies align closely with Putin’s agenda, contrary to American interests.

Op-ed by Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul: Why Putin wants a Trump victory (so much he might even be trying to help him)

Putin has rational motives for wanting Trump to win: Trump champions many foreign policies that Putin supports. Trump’s most shocking, pro-Kremlin proposal is to “look into” recognition of Crimea as a part of Russia…. Trump has demanded that other NATO members essentially pay us for protection… Trump has also disparaged our allies in Asia, creating new opportunities for Russian influence…. On the whole, Trump advocates isolationist policies and an abdication of U.S. leadership in the world. He cares little about promoting democracy and human rights. A U.S. retreat from global affairs fits precisely with Putin’s international interests.

Vox: Trump’s policies are objectively pro-Russia

Nothing Russia could do, on its own, would help its foreign policy more than what Trump is proposing. He is literally suggesting the United States transform global politics to make it more favorable to Russian interests.

Slate: Putin’s Puppet: If the Russian president could design a candidate to undermine American interests—and advance his own—he’d look a lot like Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is like the Kremlin’s favored candidates, only more so. He celebrated the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU. He denounces NATO with feeling. He is also a great admirer of Vladimir Putin.

Trump personally has business ties with Russian oligarchs.

Donald Trump on his Miss Universe Contest in Moscow: “Almost all of the oligarchs were in the room.”

Donald Trump Jr.: “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”

CNN: That time a Russian billionaire paid Trump $95 million for a mansion

Washington Post: Former Mafia-linked figure describes association with Trump

On the 24th floor of Trump Tower, in an office two floors below Donald Trump, Felix Sater was trying to revive his career. The Russian-born businessman had already done a stint in prison for stabbing a man in the face with the stem of a margarita glass, and he was now awaiting sentencing for his role in a Mafia-orchestrated stock fraud scheme… Trump and his lawyers have said that he was not aware of Sater’s criminal past when he first signed on to do business with Sater’s firm, Bayrock Group. Sater’s involvement in the stock fraud was kept secret for years by federal prosecutors because of his role as an informant. But even after elements of Sater’s background were disclosed in a 2007 New York Times article, he remained in close proximity to Trump — at one point using Trump Organization office space and business cards.

Washington Post: “Putin canceled at the last minute, but he sent a decorative lacquered box, a traditional Russian gift, and a warm note, according to Aras Agalarov, a Moscow billionaire who served as a liaison between Trump and the Russian leader. Still, the weekend was fruitful for Trump. He received a portion of the $14 million paid by Agalarov and other investors to bring the pageant to Moscow. Agalarov said he and Trump signed an agreement to build a Trump Tower in the heart of Moscow — at least Trump’s fifth attempt at such a venture.”

Trump and his campaign have been aligned with the Russians while they attempt to defeat Hillary Clinton.

New York Times: Spy Agency Consensus Grows That Russia Hacked D.N.C.

American intelligence agencies have told the White House they now have “high confidence” that the Russian government was behind the theft of emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee, according to federal officials who have been briefed on the evidence.

AP: Donald Trump encourages Russian hackers to spy on Hillary Clinton

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said. “I think you’ll be rewarded mightily by our press!”

Washington Post: Trump allies, WikiLeaks and Russia are pushing a nonsensical conspiracy theory about the DNC hacks

Trump campaign surrogates are fueling a conspiracy theory that a murdered Democratic National Committee staffer was connected to the hacking of the DNC, a theory being pushed by WikiLeaks and the Russian state-controlled press.

BuzzFeed: Exclusive: How Ukraine Wooed Conservative Websites

Several conservative bloggers repeated talking points given to them by a proxy group for the Ukrainian government — and at least one writer was paid by a representative of the Ukrainian group, according to documents and emails obtained by BuzzFeed. The Ukrainian campaign began in the run-up to high-stakes Ukrainian parliamentary elections last year, and sought to convince skeptical American conservatives that the pro-Russian Party of Regions, led by President Viktor Yanukovych, deserved American support. During that period, articles echoing Ukrainian government talking points appeared on leading conservative online outlets, including RedState, Breitbart, and Pajamas Media. [emphasis added]

Some experts have gone as far as to say that Putin is explicitly using Trump to further his agenda.

Reuters: Senior ex-CIA official: Putin made Trump ‘an unwitting agent’ of Russia

A former top CIA official attacked Donald Trump on Friday as a danger to national security, saying President Vladimir Putin had made the Republican presidential candidate an “unwitting agent” of Russia. Putin had flattered Trump into supporting positions favorable to Russia, Michael Morell, a longtime CIA officer and former deputy director of the agency, said in an opinion piece in The New York Times. “In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation,” Morell said”

Politico: Is Putin playing Trump like he did Berlusconi?

[T]he Berlusconi-Putin bromance has acquired a new resonance, as foreign policy analysts and even some U.S. officials see unsettling echoes in the recent long-distance kinship between the Russian leader and Donald J. Trump. It may even suggest that Putin is applying a specific method to the GOP nominee. In recent years Putin has befriended several major Western European politicians, including former leaders of France and Germany, who openly challenge U.S. and European policies toward Russia, including NATO’s buildup in Eastern Europe and economic sanctions punishing Putin’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Even top Republicans have raised serious concerns about Trump’s relationship with Putin’s Russia.

New York Times: 50 G.O.P. Officials Warn Donald Trump Would Put Nation’s Security ‘at Risk’

Many of those signing it had declined to add their names to the letter released in March. But a number said in recent interviews that they changed their minds once they heard Mr. Trump invite Russia to hack Mrs. Clinton’s email server — a sarcastic remark, he said later — and say that he would check to see how much NATO members contributed to the alliance before sending forces to help stave off a Russian attack. They viewed Mr. Trump’s comments on NATO as an abandonment of America’s most significant alliance relationship. Mr. Trump has said throughout his campaign that he intends to upend Republican foreign policy orthodoxy on everything from trade to Russia, where he has been complimentary of President Vladimir V. Putin, saying nothing about its crackdown on human rights and little about its annexation of Crimea.

Washington Post: Republicans are among a new list of foreign policy experts denouncing Trump

Several Republicans are among a group of former cabinet officers, senior officials and career military officers who denounced Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday, calling his recent remarks on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Russia “disgraceful.” The open letter, released first to The Washington Post, takes issue with Trump statements that appear to question the alliance, encourage Russia to hack and release Hillary Clinton’s deleted State Department emails, and seem to recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, which the United States considers illegitimate.

Trump has praised Putin for a decade, and Putin has returned the favor.

Trump, 2007: “[Putin’s] doing a great job. In rebuilding the image of Russia and also rebuilding Russia period. Forget about image.”

Trump, 2011: “I often speak highly [of Putin] for his intelligence and no-nonsense way…. Putin has also announced his grand vision: the creation of a ‘Eurasian Union’ made up of former Soviet nations that can dominate the region. I respect Putin…”

Trump, 2013, on Putin’s NYT op-ed denouncing American exceptionalism: “I thought he did an amazing job…. He’s making him look like a — he’s the professor and the President is a school child… He really becomes with this letter, almost, the world leader”

Trump, 2013: “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow – if so, will he become my new best friend?”

Washington Post on Trump’s 2013 Miss Universe Contest in Moscow: “Putin canceled at the last minute, but he sent a decorative lacquered box, a traditional Russian gift, and a warm note”

Trump, 2014: “Putin has become a big hero in Russia with an all time high popularity.”

Trump, 2015: “In terms of leadership, [Putin’s] getting an ‘A,’ and our president is not doing so well.”

Putin, 2015 on Trump: “He’s a really brilliant and talented person, without any doubt.”

Trump, 2016: “[Putin] called me a genius, I’m going to disavow it? Are you crazy? Can you believe it? How stupid are they.”

AP, 2016: Russia’s Putin Reaffirms Praise for Trump, Calling Him ‘Bright’

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: The Washington Post

Clinton Campaign Calls for Trump’s Tax Returns

On Thursday, Hillary for America released information and a new television ad calling the lack of tax returns from Donald Trump into question. While Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine have made their tax returns public, Trump has yet to do so. View the ad and read the HFA’s release below.

Donald Trump’s Tax Returns: What’s He Hiding?

For 40 years, major party nominees have publicly released their tax returns – a simple and basic disclosure, made to the American people as they determine which candidate is best fit for the presidency. In accordance with this decades-old tradition, Hillary Clinton has made nearly 40 years of tax returns available to the public over the course of her career, dating back to 1977. You can find the past 9 years of her returns here.

Unfortunately, Donald Trump refuses to release his tax returns, despite his promise in 2014 that he “absolutely” would release them if he ran for president. Watch Trump promise to release his returns here.

TRUMP: “If I decide to run for office, I’ll produce my tax returns, absolutely, and I would love to do that.” 

Of course, Trump changed his mind when he actually became a candidate for president.

TRUMP: “I want to release my tax returns but I can’t release it while I’m under an audit.”

TRUMP: “There’s nothing to learn from them.”

TRUMP: “It’s none of your business.”

Contradicting his own logic, Trump has released his tax returns while under audit in the past – when the disclosure of his tax returns would benefit his business interests – such as his application for a license to open a casino.

CNN: “Donald Trump insists he won’t release his tax returns during his 2016 presidential run because those returns are the subject of ongoing Internal Revenue Service audits.  When he’s had casinos on the line, it’s been a different story.”

Further, Trump has the ability to slow down the audit of his tax returns depending on his rate of response to the IRS – meaning he may be able to make his poor excuse, that his audit prevents his tax return disclosure, last as long as he wants.

WSJ: “Donald Trump says he will release his tax returns when an IRS audit concludes… the Republican presidential nominee omits one major point: He and his attorneys have substantial knowledge about when the audit will end and some ability to slow the process.”

Considering Trump has released his taxes under audit before, and his actions determine the speed at which the IRS can complete the audit, why won’t Trump release his tax returns and what is he hiding? Here’s a few theories:

1. Trump may not be worth the $10 billion that he claims
2. Trump may pay little to no income tax
3. Trump is deeply in debt and owes a hundred million to a foreign bank
4. Trump wrongly under values his properties to local tax men
5. Trump is making a “flood of cash” from running for president
6. Trump is taking tax breaks he shouldn’t
7. Trump is hiding his lack of charitable donations

Here’s 5 FACTS we know about Trump’s tax returns:

1. In multiple years in which we know Trump’s tax rate, he paid a rate of 0%
2. Trump promised millions in charity, but reportedly gave less than $10,000 over a period of 7 years
3. Trump has accepted a grant intended for small businesses affected by 9/11
4. Trump has repeated accepted a tax break intended for middle-class people
5. Trump might not even be undergoing an audit in the first place – and he refuses to present a letter from the IRS, sent to every individual who is audited, to prove it

Prominent Republicans question what Trump is hiding in his tax returns:

George Will: “Perhaps one more reason why we’re not seeing his tax returns is because he is deeply involved in dealing with Russian oligarchs.”

Mitt Romney: “Either he’s not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is” or “There’s a bombshell in Donald Trump’s taxes.”

Mark Sanford: “I Support You, Donald Trump. Now Release Your Tax Returns.”

Is there ANY way to make Trump release his tax returns?  Yesterday, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Member Chris Murphy are calling for the Senate to vote on their bill, the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, to require presidential nominees to release their tax returns after their conventions.

In the meantime, media, pundits, and Americans across the country continue to challenge Trump to release his tax returns.

New York Times: Letters to the Editor: “Why Won’t Trump Release His Taxes?”

Washington Post Editorial: “Even Mike Pence appears to disagree with Trump on releasing tax returns”

Huffington Post: “Even Donald Trump’s Supporters Are Telling Him To Release His Tax Returns”

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Memo: Trump Unfit To Be Commander In Chief

Today, Jake Sullivan, Hillary for America Senior Policy Advisor, released the following memo outlining the campaign’s arguments as to why they believe Donald Trump is unfit to be president. The full release and video are below.

To: Interested Parties
From: Jake Sullivan, Hillary For America Senior Policy Adviser
Re: Trump Unfit To Be Commander In Chief
Date: Monday, August 15, 2016

This is not a normal election. Simply put, Donald Trump is unfit to be our commander in chief. This isn’t overcranked campaign rhetoric – national security experts across the political spectrum are issuing the same warning.

Trump is erratic. He’s thin-skinned. He’s vindictive. He praises dictators and displays a strange affinity for Putin. He trash talks America and threatens to abandon our allies. He uses dangerous rhetoric and proposes dangerous policies that play into the hands of terrorists. He talks casually about nuclear weapons. He knows nothing about foreign policy and he has no interest in learning.

Last week, we got yet another clear and alarming reminder of his lack of fitness for the job.  Reading off the talking points of Vladimir Putin and our other adversaries, Trump falsely claimed that Barack Obama founded ISIS. The world noticed. Just days later, the leader of Hezbollah – a terrorist organization that seeks Israel’s destruction – approvingly quoted Trump’s comments.

Hillary Clinton is uniquely qualified and prepared to assume the role of commander in chief. And Donald Trump is uniquely unqualified. She has serious plans to make our country more secure, and a record of leadership to back it up. He has neither. She is proud to call herself an American and of her work as a public servant. He calls America a third-world country.

The choice is clear. It’s not a choice between a Democrat and a Republican, but between a responsible leader who will keep us safe, and a volatile man who threatens our security.

Background:

Arrogance And Ignorance: A Dangerous Combination

When it comes to foreign policy – just like everything else – Donald Trump is convinced he knows more than anyone in the room. Asked who he consults to help shape his views, Trump explained that he mostly just relies on himself because he has “a very good brain.” His lack of interest in learning from others is reflected in his lack of knowledge of basic facts on foreign affairs:

• Donald Trump on who he speaks to on foreign policy: “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things.”

• Donald Trump on foreign policy experts: “Honestly, most of them are no good.”

• Donald Trump: “I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me.”

• Washington Examiner: Trump says he has a secret plan to beat the Islamic State

• USA Today: Trump attributes Russia knowledge to hosting Miss Universe pageant there

• Boston Globe Editorial: “Not only did Trump not know the basics of the US nuclear triad (the Pentagon’s land, sea, and air contingent of nuclear forces)…”

• Times of Israel: Trump can’t differentiate between Hamas, Hezbollah

• Washington Post: Trump’s top example of foreign experience: A Scottish golf course losing millions

• Donald Trump: “Don’t tell me [torture] doesn’t work — torture works. (It doesn’t.)

• Weekly Standard: Trump Confuses Iran’s Quds Forces and Kurds Fighting ISIS

Proposals Trump Has Made Would Make Us Less Safe

Donald Trump has offered a lot of rhetoric but very few actual proposals. The few plans he has put forth – like his Muslim ban – are out of step with our values and our common sense. From suggesting we should abandon our allies to calling for bringing back torture, Trump’s policies would make us less safe. Some align with Vladimir Putin’s interests and not with American interests; others play into ISIS’ hands:

• Donald Trump: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.

• Donald Trump: “It’s really rather amazing, maybe Syria should be a free zone for ISIS, let them fight and then you pick up the remnants.”

• Vox: Donald Trump: make America great again by letting more countries have nukes

• Donald Trump: “We don’t really need NATO in its current form. NATO is obsolete… if we have to walk, we walk.”

• BBC: Trump says US may abandon automatic protections for NATO countries

• Politico: Trump calls Geneva Conventions ‘the problem’

• Donald Trump: “The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families”

• Donald Trump: “Don’t tell me it doesn’t work — torture works… Waterboarding is fine, but it’s not nearly tough enough, ok?”

• Donald Trump: “The case could be made, that let [Japan] protect themselves against North Korea. They’d probably wipe them out pretty quick….Good luck, folks, enjoy yourself. If they fight, that would be terrible, right? But if they do, they do.

• AP: Donald Trump encourages Russian hackers to spy on Hillary Clinton

• Politico: Trump changed views on Ukraine after hiring Manafort

• New York Times: “It is not clear that Mr. Manafort’s work in Ukraine ended with his work with Mr. Trump’s campaign. A communications aide for Mr. Lyovochkin, who financed Mr. Manafort’s work, declined to say whether he was still on retainer or how much he had been paid.”

• Mother Jones: Is Donald Trump’s Campaign Manager Still on the Payroll of a Ukrainian Political Leader?

• New York Times: “Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials.”

• New York Times: “A separate deal also funneled Russian-linked oligarchic money into Ukraine… Mr. Deripaska agreed to pay a 2 percent annual management fee to Mr. Manafort and his partners, and put $100 million into the fund…”

Dangerous Rhetoric: Trump Praises Dictators, Bashes America And Our Leaders, Stokes Islamophobia

The Trump *candidacy* alone is undermining our national security.  He is the nominee representing one of America’s two major political parties.  His words matter.  Whether he’s praising dictators, channeling the talking points of our enemies, attacking American leaders and those who have sacrificed the most for our country, or stoking Islamophobia, those words are doing harm to our friends and emboldening our adversaries:

• Donald Trump: “You’ve got to give [Kim Jong Un] credit. How many young guys — he was like 26 or 25 when his father died — take over these tough generals…. It’s incredible. He wiped out the uncle. He wiped out this one, that one.”

• NBC News: Trump Calls Tiananmen Square Protests a ‘Riot,’ Defends Calling Crackdown ‘Strong’

• Donald Trump: “I will tell you in terms of leadership [Putin] is getting an ‘A,’ and our president is not doing so well.”

• Washington Post: Donald Trump praises Saddam Hussein for killing terrorists ‘so good’

• Huffington Post: Trump Once Praised Tyrants For Not Being Politically Correct

• International Business Times: Donald Trump: US becoming a ‘third-world country’

• Washington Post: The 100-plus times Donald Trump assured us that America is a laughingstock

• New York Times: Donald Trump Calls Obama ‘Founder of ISIS’ and Says It Honors Him

• ABC News: Hezbollah Leader Echoes Trump That Obama, Clinton Founded ISIS

• Donald Trump: “We don’t even really know who the leader [of ISIS] is.” (We do.)

• Donald Trump: “Our military is a disaster.”

• Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin: Trump insults Gold Star mom, freaks out U.S. allies

• Donald Trump: “[John McCain’s] not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured, ok? I hate to tell you.”

• BuzzFeed: Trump: I Don’t Regret McCain Comments, My Poll Numbers Went Up

• Donald Trump on our generals: “Well, they don’t know much, because they’re not winning.”

• Washington Post: Donald Trump says he ‘always wanted to get the Purple Heart’

• Reuters: Trump’s Anti-Muslim Rhetoric Is Fueling More Islamophobic Incidents

• Washington Post’s David Ignatius: Trump’s Islamophobia propels the Islamic State

Independent and Republican Experts Agree: Trump Is Uniquely Dangerous

When all of this is taken together, it paints a striking picture: Donald Trump isn’t a normal presidential nominee. He is a uniquely dangerous candidate. The result? Foreign policy experts across the board – from lifelong Republicans to apolitical national security officials – are speaking out to say they cannot accept the prospect of a Trump presidency:

• New York Times (8/8/16): 50 G.O.P. Officials Warn Donald Trump Would Put Nation’s Security ‘at Risk’: “He does not encourage conflicting views. He lacks self-control and acts impetuously. He cannot tolerate personal criticism. He has alarmed our closest allies with his erratic behavior. All of these are dangerous qualities in an individual who aspires to be president and commander in chief, with command of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.”

• Washington Post (8/8/16): Former GOP national security officials: Trump would be ‘most reckless’ American president in history

• Washington Post (8/4/16): Republicans are among a new list of foreign policy experts denouncing Trump: “We find Trump’s comments to be reckless, dangerous, and extremely unwise.  They contradict a core, bipartisan principle found in every U.S. administration — that our security in North America is indivisible with our democratic allies in Europe.”

• Washington Post (3/3/16): Trump is ‘fundamentally dishonest,’ say GOP national security leaders in open letter: “[Trump’s] vision of American influence and power in the world is wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle. He swings from isolationism to military adventurism within the space of one sentence.”

• Former Acting CIA Director Mike Morell: In sharp contrast to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump has no experience on national security. Even more important, the character traits he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief…. In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.”

• GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger: “I’m an American before I’m a Republican. I’m saying for me personally, how can I support that? Because he’s crossed so many red lines that a commander in chief or a candidate for commander in chief should never cross.”

• GOP Rep. Richard Hanna: “[Trump’s] unhinged. It’s difficult to imagine why anyone could support him. He comes across as a demagogue. He comes across as a guy who, frankly, Putin has made a fool of.”

• ABC News: Gen. John Allen Says Donald Trump Could Cause ‘Civil Military Crisis’: “What we do have to do, George, is listen to what he’s been saying about our military,” Allen said. “He’s called it a disaster. He says our military can’t win anymore. That’s a direct insult to every single man and woman who’s wearing the uniform today.”

• Defense One: Former Bush Officials — Negroponte and Donley — Endorse Clinton. Former Air Force Secretary Michael Donley: “Her deep experience in public service, even temperament, willingness to listen to others and unifying message stands in stark contrast with Donald Trump, who has sown divisiveness at home, confused our allies abroad and shown repeatedly that he lacks the temperament, judgment, character and common decency the American people deserve and should expect in their leadership.”

• PoliticsUSA: Former Reagan/Bush Ambassador Calls Trump Incompetent As Republicans Flock To Clinton: “The Republican nominee for President has no government experience and has done nothing in his career to demonstrate that he is competent to be President. He has made repeated misstatements and inaccurate statements. He has insulted minorities, women, a war hero and Gold Star parents. He is unqualified and unfit to be President.”

• Republican foreign policy expert Max Boot: “Trump is an ignorant demagogue who traffics in racist and misogynistic slurs and crazy conspiracy theories. He champions protectionism and isolationism — the policies that brought us the Great Depression and World War II.”

• Former CIA Director Michael Hayden: “The jihadist narrative is that there is undying enmity between Islam and the modern world so when Trump says they all hate us, he’s using their narrative … he’s feeding their recruitment video.”
• Senior Romney Adviser and foreign policy expert, Gabriel Schoenfeld: Donald Trump’s rhetoric is helping ISIS — and vice versa

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

Clinton Statement on Social Security Act Anniversary

Today marks the 81st anniversary of the Social Security Act, the program that guarantees an income source for retired Americans. Hillary Clinton released a statement celebrating the act and vowing to defend it as president. Clinton attacks Republican proposals to privatize Social Security saying that it defies the original intent of the act. A copy of Clinton’s full statement is below.

“For eighty-one years, Social Security has been America at its best. It reflects our shared belief that every American should be able to retire with dignity after decades of hard work. That no American should face poverty because he or she is disabled. That we are stronger together.  

Social Security benefits 59 million Americans today—but Republicans are relentlessly trying to attack and undermine this bedrock American guarantee. They want to cut benefits and gamble seniors’ retirement security on the stock market through privatization.

And Donald Trump is no different—just look who he chose as his running mate. Mike Pence spent his time in Congress championing efforts to dismantle Social Security—and to privatize it even faster than President George W. Bush and Paul Ryan proposed.

We cannot and we will not stand for that. When I served in the Senate, I helped lead the fight against the Bush privatization scheme. Instead of cutting or privatizing Social Security, we will defend and expand it.

When President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, he said it ‘represents a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but is by no means completed.’ Social Security works, but we can make it better. Millions of women—and men—who are widowed or who take time out of the paid workforce to raise a child or care for a sick family member are being left behind. As President, I’ll expand benefits to cover these hardworking Americans, because no one should have to live in poverty because their spouse died or they did the vital work of taking care of a loved one.  

Social Security isn’t just a program—it’s a promise. And I won’t stop fighting until every American shares fully in that promise.”

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News Source: The Huffington Post

Clinton, Kaine Campaign in Miami

Hillary Clinton and her newly announced running mate, Senator Tim Kane, appeared at their first joint campaign rally since yesterday’s announcement. Speaking in Miami, Florida, the event served as an introduction of Kaine to her supporters and the American people. While Clinton introduced Kaine and praised his public service record, she wasted no time going after Republican Donald Trump and his running mate saying, “I have to say, Senator Tim Kaine is everything that Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not.”

Kaine then took the stage and spoke about a number of topics including religion (he is Catholic while Clinton is Methodist), family, and the military. He spoke about how is son, a Marine, will soon be deployed, and he criticized Trump’s waffling support of America’s military veterans. Kaine followed Clinton’s lead in attacking Trump’s business record, his record in supporting the military, and his thin skin. He acknowledged that some people may not know who he is joking, “Now, I know for a lot of you, this might be the first time you’re hearing me speak. And hey, let me be honest, for many of you, this is the first time you’ve even heard my name.” He continued, “But that’s OK because I’m excited for us to get to know one another.” A video from the event is below.

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Campaign Manager Robby Mook and State Representative Brian Sims held a fundraising event. The event was billed as a LGBT and Allies Convention Kick-Off in preparation of the DNC beginning on Monday.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

News Source: Politico, The New York Times