Democratic US presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is advancing into states the Democrats have not won in decades, confidently expanding her offensive against Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump and aiming to help her party win back control of US Congress.
There is a new US$2 million push in Arizona, aides said on Monday, including a campaign stop in Phoenix by first lady Michelle Obama, one of Clinton’s most effective surrogates.
An additional US$1 million is going into efforts in Missouri and Indiana, both states with competitive Senate races, a small amount of TV time is being bought in Texas and media appearances are scheduled in Utah.
At the same time Clinton is showing new signs of confidence, she faced fresh revelations about her use of a private server as US secretary of state and hacked e-mails from a top campaign official’s personal account.
The new questions highlight a dual reality of the presidential race: Even as Clinton has a growing advantage, she has been unable to put the biggest controversy of her campaign behind her.
With her lead increasing, Clinton is unlikely to need any of the normally solid-red states to win the White House. However, her team believes that a wide presidential margin of victory would help end Trump’s political movement and undermine his intensifying claims that the election is rigged.
On the other side, Trump’s campaign dramatically expanded its ad buys in seven battleground states and announced plans to launch a US$2 million advertising blitz in long-shot Virginia.
“Donald Trump is becoming more unhinged by the day and that is increasing prospects for Democrats further down the ballot,” said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, who cited early voting and registration numbers to predict record voter turnout.
Democrats are not the only targets of Trump’s rhetoric about the legitimacy of the election system.
In a Monday morning blitz of tweets, he lashed out at Republicans who have tried to tone him down, calling his own party’s leaders “so naive” and claiming without evidence that major fraud is real.
“Of course there is large-scale voter fraud happening on and before election day. Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive.” he tweeted.
There is no evidence to back up Trump’s claims. A study by a Loyola Law School professor found that out of 1 billion votes cast in all US elections between 2000 and 2014, there were only 31 known cases of impersonation fraud.
Trump’s tweets show he is continuing to play a scattershot defense rather than make his case to voters, with just three weeks left and much ground to make up in opinion polls.
Rather than campaigning in the tightest battlegrounds, Trump spent much of Monday out of sight before speaking in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a state where Clinton is viewed as having an edge.
Clinton was spending the day with advisers near her home in New York, preparing for the final presidential debate tonight.
Clinton’s e-mail use is certain to return as an issue in the face-off and Trump was given new ammunition.
According to FBI records released on Monday, US Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy, a close aide to Clinton during her time as US secretary of state, contacted an FBI official seeking to change an e-mail’s classification.
Notes on the conversation describe discussion about a quid pro quo in which the e-mail’s classification would be changed and “State would reciprocate by allowing the FBI to place more agents in countries where they are presently forbidden.”
The records indicate that Kennedy made that suggestion, but both the FBI and the State Department said that it was the unidentified FBI official.
Neither the declassification nor the increase in agents occurred.
In an online video, Trump called the records proof of collusion between the FBI, the Department of Justice and the State Department “to try to make Hillary Clinton look like an innocent person.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number