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.”
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.”
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:
Trump may not be worth the $10 billion that he claims
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.
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.”
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.
On Wednesday during the RNC, Governor Mike Pence, running mate of Donald Trump, commented that as president Trump would stand with our allies. Trump than contradicted Pence saying that the United States may not defend NATO members in the Batlics, even against a Russian attack. Trump’s comments about NATO have come under fire in recent weeks. He has been criticized for waffling on the pledge to defend our allies. In a statement, Hillary for America Senior Policy Advisor Jake Sullivan criticized Trump’s views on NATA and accused him of being too close to Russian president Vladimir Putin. A copy of the statement is below.
“Tonight, Mike Pence said Donald Trump would stand with our allies. Tonight, Donald Trump flatly contradicted him.
For decades, the United States has given an ironclad guarantee to our NATO allies: we will come to their defense if they are attacked, just as they came to our defense after 9/11. Donald Trump was asked if he would honor that guarantee. He said… maybe, maybe not.
Ronald Reagan would be ashamed. Harry Truman would be ashamed. Republicans, Democrats and Independents who help build NATO into the most successful military alliance in history would all come to the same conclusion: Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit and fundamentally ill-prepared to be our Commander in Chief.
The President is supposed to be the leader of the free world. Donald Trump apparently doesn’t even believe in the free world.
Over the course of this campaign, Trump has displayed a bizarre and occasionally obsequious fascination with Russia’s strongman, Vladimir Putin. And he has the policy positions – and advisors – to match. Just this week, we learned that the Trump campaign went to great lengths to remove a plank from the GOP platform about aid to Ukraine that would have offended Putin, bucking a strongly held position within his own party. Previously, he celebrated the Brexit vote, and in turn, casually predicted the disintegration of Europe. And now, he won’t even commit to protecting our NATO allies against a Russian invasion. It is fair to assume that Vladimir Putin is rooting for a Trump presidency.
More broadly, Trump has apparently decided that America lacks the moral authority to advance our interests and values around the world. He has adopted the logic and positions of China, Russia, and Iran. And there will be plenty of time in the days ahead to address his strategy to strengthen our coalition against ISIS, which apparently can be summed up in one word, ‘meetings.’
The choice in this election is clear. Hillary Clinton will defend our allies. She will protect our people. And she will uphold a bipartisan tradition of American foreign policy that has made us the greatest force for peace, progress, and prosperity the world has ever known.”
As the Republicans gathered this week to nominate Donald Trump as their presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton and her team hammered Trump in a series of web videos. In the series, Clinton and her allies go after Trump’s running mate Governor Mike Pence, his business practices, and released several videos using his own words to contradict him. The most powerful of the series is a video that includes a series of quotes from Trump praising Clinton over the years. See all the videos from the campaign on the official Hillary Clinton YouTube and The Briefing YouTube channels. Several of the videos are embedded below.
On Saturday, Republican Donald Trump formally announced his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Hillary for America unveiled a fact sheet about Pence yesterday, and today, Deputy Communications Director Christina Reynolds released a statement about his choice and comments he made about Hillary Clinton during his speech. Read the statement below.
“We were prepared to respond with the many ways in which Mike Pence is the most extreme pick in a generation—a doubling down of Trump’s divisive rhetoric and policies. But after publicly waffling over his own choice, Trump spent more time today making false attacks on Hillary Clinton—several of which could also be leveled against Pence—and talking about his own businesses than his own running mate. It turns out, you can force Trump to make a choice and give him a speech, he’s always going to be Trump.”
On Friday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced that he has chosen Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate. The Clinton campaign were ready to strike with a video and release attacking Trump’s choice. The Campaign cited Pence’s stance on LGBTQ rights, immigration reform, women’s rights, and workers’ rights. The campaigns release concludes, “Voters deserve better than the divisive policies and disastrous economic proposals of the Trump and Pence Republican ticket.” Read the full reaction on The Briefing and watch the video below.
Hillary Clinton Speeches 