July 31, 2016

Charles Koch Calls on Donors to Reduce Focus on Politics

Koch brothers aim to effect change without lawmakers' help

By REBECCA BALLHAUS
Jul 30, 2016 10:06 pm ET

COLORADO SPRINGS—Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch opened a gathering of about 400 conservative donors involved in his sprawling network by calling for a reduced focus on politics.

Speaking at the luxurious Broadmoor resort, the billionaire voiced concern about “an increasingly stagnant two-tiered society, with the rich and politically connected doing well, and most everybody else stuck down below.” But those seeking to overhaul institutions, such as the education system, err in “looking to politicians,” he said.

“I recognize reluctantly that politics needs to be a piece of this strategy,” Mr. Koch said. “But we’ve got to keep in mind … that if we just focus on politics, we’re going to continue to lose. We’re going to continue to deteriorate.”

Mr. Koch said he and his brother had crafted the massive donor network to be able to effect change without lawmakers’ help. “That puts us in position to make progress in spite of the current political situation, where we don’t really in some cases have good options,” he said. The Koch network has said it won’t spend money to support Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump or to attack his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

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No paywall to the above article:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/07/30/charles-koch-calls-on-donors-to-reduce-focus-on-politics/

July 31, 2016

Meet the rising Dem star positioned to help Clinton on gun control

By Sarah Ferris and Jordain Carney - 07/30/16 02:06 PM EDT

PHILADELPHIA — As he crisscrossed Philadelphia this week for the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) couldn’t walk far without being recognized.

The freshman senator from Connecticut said he was repeatedly stopped by people who watched his 15-hour filibuster on the Senate floor last month to protest the nation’s gun laws.

That included celebrities: When Murphy went up to introduce himself to former NSYNC singer Lance Bass on the convention floor, Murphy was surprised when he replied, “Oh, I know who you are."

“I feel like I've accomplished everything I need in politics,” Murphy joked about his star-struck moment on Twitter, which quickly went viral.

After watching their colleague win a standing ovation during his prime-time address on Wednesday night, many Democrats are sure that this is only the beginning for Murphy.

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http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/289835-meet-the-risking-dem-star-positioned-to-help-clinton-on-gun-control

July 31, 2016

Koch officials skeptical of Trump's alleged meeting invite

July 30, 2016, 05:44 pm


COLORADO SPRINGS — Donald Trump claimed on Saturday that he turned down a meeting with billionaires Charles and David Koch, but top Koch network officials immediately challenged Trump's claim.

"You'll have to ask the Trump campaign where they get their information from," said Koch network spokesman James Davis, responding to questioning over whether Trump was telling the truth in his tweet. "We remain focused on the Senate," he said.

Following reports that the Koch network rejected outreach from Trump allies — both Trump and the Kochs were in Colorado Springs Friday — the GOP presidential nominee tweeted on Saturday that it was actually he who rejected the meeting.

"I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch," Trump said. "Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!"

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http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/289886-koch-officials-skeptical-of-trumps-alleged-meeting-invite

July 31, 2016

NFL refutes Trump claim that it sent him a letter bashing debate schedule

By Nick Eilerson July 30 at 8:19 PM

Donald Trump complained Friday that Hillary Clinton and her fellow Democratic cronies were rigging this fall’s presidential debates by scheduling them alongside NFL games. That claim was easy to disprove — the debate schedule was determined almost a year ago by a private group made up of both Democrats and Republicans.

On Saturday, Trump doubled down on his bogus grievance. In an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” the GOP presidential hopeful said the NFL voiced its dismay about the conflicting primetime slots in a letter to Trump.

“I’ll tell you what I don’t like,” Trump told George Stephanopoulos. “It’s against two NFL games. I got a letter from the NFL saying, “This is ridiculous.'”

Just one problem with that: The NFL says it never sent him a letter. CNN’s Brian Stelter approached the league about the matter and got this response:

Brian Stelter ✔
@brianstelter

Top @NFL spokesman tells me: "While we'd obviously wish the debate commission could find another night, we did not send a letter to Trump."

5:40 PM - 30 Jul 2016
1,406 1,406 Retweets 1,236 1,236 likes

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/07/30/nfl-refutes-trump-claim-that-it-sent-him-a-letter-bashing-debate-schedule/?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

July 31, 2016

Koch political network plans to invoke Hillary Clinton in Senate ads

By Matea Gold July 30 at 6:12 PM

COLORADO SPRINGS — The Koch political network, which has steadfastly refused to engage in the 2016 presidential contest, plans to invoke Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in paid messages to voters as part of its campaigns supporting GOP Senate candidates, top officials said Saturday.

“We are going to tie the Democrat candidates to Hillary Clinton and the failed policies that she supports, and highlight the differences with the Republican candidates that we favor and that we’re supporting,” said Mark Holden, chairman of the board of Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the network’s funding arm.

In Ohio, for example, Koch-backed groups may hit Democratic Senate contender and former Ohio governor Ted Strickland on his energy stance, comparing his position to that of Clinton's.

But Holden said the network has no plans to run an explicit campaign opposing Clinton’s efforts to reach the White House, saying: “We are going to differentiate on policies alone. It’s not going to be anti-Hillary.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/07/30/koch-political-network-plans-to-invoke-hillary-clinton-in-senate-ads/?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

July 31, 2016

Trump: Muslim soldier was a hero but his father 'has no right' to criticize me

Source: The Hill

Donald Trump praised a Muslim U.S. soldier killed in Iraq but continued to criticize the man's father, who spoke out against Trump at the Democratic National Convention.

After a day of backlash about his comments regarding the family of Humayun Khan, Trump released a statement late Saturday night honoring him.

"Captain Humayun Khan was a hero to our country and we should honor all who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our country safe. The real problem here are the radical Islamic terrorist who killed him, and the efforts of these radicals to enter our country and do us further harm," Trump said.

“While I feel deeply for the loss of his son, Mr. Khan who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution, (which is false) and say many other inaccurate things. If I become President, I will make America safe again.”

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Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/289894-trump-praises-muslim-soldier-but-says-father-has-no-right

July 31, 2016

Why would Russia interfere in the U.S. election? Because it sometimes works.

And America is no stranger to the tactic.

By Paul Musgrave

In the wake of the release of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee, and the assessment by some intelligence experts that Russia leaked the documents in hopes of tilting the election in favor of Republican Donald Trump, observers have expressed furor that a foreign government would seek to influence American politics.

“That the Russians would be happy burglarizing the emails of a major party to try to affect the outcome of our presidential election .?.?. is very serious and an unprecedented development,” former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley told Fox Business. Slate’s Franklin Foer called it “a strike against our civic infrastructure” that violates “a clear set of rules designed to limit foreign interference in our elections.”

Without context, that outrage is naive. Foreign governments have regularly sought to shape our politics. And the United States, in addition to overtly sponsoring regime change, has honed interference in other countries’ elections into something of an art form. Such interventions will always be appealing to their perpetrators because they can succeed, especially if they find willing accomplices in the targeted country.

What is unprecedented in the United States, though, is Trump’s response. Never before has an American politician actively encouraged foreign intervention in a U.S. election — as Trump did with his invitation to Russia to hack into Hillary Clinton’s emails. It’s Trump, not Russia, who has violated established norms.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/07/26/why-would-russia-interfere-in-the-u-s-election-because-it-usually-works/?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

July 31, 2016

Fox seeks to extend cable news domination in post-Ailes era

By Joe Concha - 07/31/16 06:00 AM EDT

Fox News dominated the cable news landscape for 20 years under Roger Ailes, but faces questions about whether it can extend its reign going forward.

The shocking departure of Ailes amid allegations of sexual harassment has left Rupert Murdoch, the 85-year old executive chairman of 21st Century Fox, in charge. But with a myriad of other major media properties to attend to and age considerations, Murdoch's role running day-to-day operations out of Nee York will only be in an interim capacity.

A source familiar with the situation says it will be "multiple months" before any permanent successor to Ailes is decided upon. The same source says there's no rush to make a decision because current to management at the network is stable in the hands of Murdoch, Bill Shine ( executive vice president of programming) and Jay Wallace (executive vice president of news and editorial).

Rivals of Fox see an opportunity, while longtime political fans of the network, who saw it buttress the conservative political movement, are openly worried the network could shift under new leadership.

more
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/289757-fox-seeks-to-extend-cable-news-domination-in-post-ailes-era

July 31, 2016

Khizr Khan responds to the latest from Trump: ‘Typical of a person without a soul’

By Stephanie McCrummen July 31 at 12:58 AM

Two days after delivering one of the most memorable speeches of the 2016 campaign season — a moment one commentator described as the ‘fulcrum’ of the election — Khizr Khan was checking into a D.C. hotel, preparing for television appearances Sunday morning and still trying to come to grips with the sudden spotlight.

“I was in line, and a group of people gathered behind me and one of them said, ‘Sir, can we shake your hand?’” Khan said in a phone interview from his hotel room in Washington late Saturday night.

Khan was still overwhelmed by the response to his speech. He had paid tribute to his son Humayun Khan, a 27-year-old Army captain killed in Iraq in 2004, and had asked Donald Trump whether he had ever read the U.S. Constitution or visited Arlington National Cemetery. All of it had amounted to the most direct and personal challenge so far to the GOP presidential nominee’s rhetoric concerning Muslim immigrants in America.

Khan said it is the massive response to his speech, not the speech itself, that is “causing the trouble to Trump.”

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/khizr-khan-responds-to-the-latest-from-trump-what-he-said-originally--that-defines-him/2016/07/31/450f78dc-56d6-11e6-b7de-dfe509430c39_story.html

July 31, 2016

Manafort Says Trump Could Win Connecticut and Oregon

Trump adviser Paul Manafort told the Washington Post that Pennsylvania is “wide open,” and that if Trump wins its 20 electoral votes, his path to victory would become “a lot more varied and hers more limited.”

He added: “We can carry Michigan, we can compete in Wisconsin and win. Iowa is in play. If they think they’ve got Colorado, they’re smoking something.”

Manafort went on to describe Connecticut and Oregon — two reliably blue states — as within reach for Trump: “Those are not states that are on my front burner, but she’s going to have to put resources into those states in order to carry them.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2016/07/30/manafort-says-trump-could-win-connecticut-and-oregon/