Trump calls for nationwide 'stop-and-frisk' policy

KING’S SPEECH: DONALD TRUMP’s coalition assembled in Cleveland today to push back on the idea that his campaign espouses racist ideas — and that effort included a prominent speaking role for black boxing promoter Don King. King then, promptly, used a racial epithet in what the New York Times characterized as a “a bizarre, freewheeling speech as the grinning Republican presidential nominee looked on just a few feet away.”

As POLITICO’s Shane Goldmacher and Matthew Nussbaum report, “King, whom top GOP officials had pushed not to speak at the Republican convention due to a past manslaughter conviction, was given the prime slot of introducing Trump at a forum billed as a pastors' leadership conference. King, who clutched and waved the flags of Israel and the United States, was introduced by MIKE PENCE at the New Spirit Revival Center.”


Happy Wednesday. Oh, and happy 2016 Blast. Hot take: "The King’s Speech" was a great movie. Colin Firth is one of the generation’s best actors. Henry C. Jackson (@henrycjjackson) is here to guide you through today’s campaign news, so please send your tips, complaints and underrated Colin Firth acting turns to: [email protected]

2) FRISK, FOREMOST: DONALD TRUMP is calling for the controversial “stop-and-frisk” policing practice to be instituted nationwide, billing it as a means to combat violent crime in America’s inner cities. In a pre-taped interview on Fox News scheduled to air Wednesday night, Trump responded to a question about what he could do to address “violence in the black community” and “black-on-black crime.” Trump responded by proposing that “stop-and-frisk” policing, in which an officer is empowered to stop an individual and frisk them for weapons or any other illegal contraband, be adopted nationwide. The practice has been widely criticized by minority groups as profiling.

3) REACTING TO TULSA: In his first extended comments on the shooting of an unarmed black man in Tulsa, Okla., last week, DONALD TRUMP suggested that the officer who shot and killed Terence Crutcher may have “choked” when she fired her gun. “Speaking at a church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, the Republican presidential nominee said, ‘This young officer [Betty Shelby], I don't know what she was thinking. I don't know what she was thinking, but I'm very, very troubled by that. I'm very, very troubled by that. And we have to be very — we have to be very careful.’ He added, ‘Now, did she get scared? Was she choking? What happened? But maybe people like that, people that choke, people that do that, maybe they can't be doing what they're doing, OK? They can't be doing what they're doing.’”

Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, accused HILLARY CLINTON of attempting to politicize police shootings. “It’s just unbelievable that she would do that before we even know the facts, the details,” Conway said of Clinton. For her part, Clinton said today that “too many people have lost their lives that shouldn’t have.”

3) STATES OF PLAY: Things are tightening up in Wisconsin, where a new poll shows HILLARY CLINTON and DONALD TRUMP in a 2-percentage-point race in a state where Clinton has generally led in polling. “Clinton (holds) a razor-thin 2-point lead over Donald Trump in the latest Marquette University poll of likely voters out Wednesday. Of the 677 voters surveyed who said they are likely to cast their ballots in November, 44 percent said they would support Clinton and 42 percent for Trump.”

In New Hampshire, Clinton is showing more strength: “A new Monmouth University poll of likely voters her with a with a 9-point advantage over Trump, 47 percent to 38 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson is at 10 percent, Green Party nominee Jill Stein garners 1 percent, and another 3 percent of likely voters are undecided. New Hampshire will award only 4 electoral votes this fall.”

BLAST NOTE: While we’re on the subject of important swing states: Do check out this dispatch from POLITICO’s Gabriel Debenedetti explaining why North Carolina is very much in play and why. And, as a supplement to that, check out this North Carolina related tweetstorm from former GOP operative Mark Braden.

5) STRENGTHENING THE FOUNDATION: Former President Bill Clinton has been prepping for a big moment of his own — defending his foundation as it has stirred controversy in the 2016 race. As POLITICO’s Annie Karni reports Clinton will offer a staunch defense of his foundation’s work during a speech today, “an emotional farewell … his last big opportunity to counter accusations that the philanthropy served as a vehicle for wealthy foreign donors to curry access with his wife’s State Department.” As Karni notes, between his appearances on stage this week at the Clinton Global Initiative Clinton was, characteristically, still working on the speech that will be a “personal reflection” on his 15 years at the Clinton Foundation.

TRAIL MIX: In today’s campaign news, DONALD TRUMP sees the death of "Never Trump," HILLARY CLINTON is seeing double, BERNIE SANDERS is trying to deliver. Clinton gets some advice, an Obama shows his hand, TIM KAINE reassures and Bono is still hasn’t found what he’s looking for.

WHEN BUSH COMES TO SHOVE: The Bush family has resisted the urge to publicly reject DONALD TRUMP but, as the election nears the family is showing its hand. But the decision to speak out also plays into Trump’s hands.

AR-P-G: Sheriff Joe Arpaio fires shot at President Barack Obama, argues DONALD TRUMP still hasn’t acknowledged that Obama’s birth certificate is legit.

NEVER NO MORE: DONALD TRUMP says the “Never Trump” movement is dying and on a respirator.

SEEING DOUBLE: HILLARY CLINTON is reportedly preparing for two different DONALD TRUMPs as she preps for Monday’s debate, one more irascible than the other. (CBS)

BERN FOR HER: ABC looks at whether BERNIE SANDERS can deliver young voters for HILLARY CLINTON.

LET TRUMP TRUMP: Democrats’ debate advice to HILLARY CLINTON is to step back and wait for the GOP nominee to mess up, basically.

THANKS, BRO: Malik Obama, half brother of Barack Obama, is backing DONALD TRUMP. (USA Today)

YES WE KAINE: VP nominee TIM KAINE assured some Hollywood bigwigs that HILLARY CLINTON would win in November. (Deadline)

STUCK IN A MOMENT HE CAN’T GET OUT OF: U2 frontman Bono says that DONALD TRUMP is potentially the worst thing to ever happen to the United States. “This is really dangerous,” he said. (Huffington Post)

THEY SAID IT: "I'm storing up what I'm learning about him from people. I intend to interrogate his three children." — HILLARY CLINTON on her running mate, TIM KAINE in an interview with People.

MAGIC NUMBER: 20,000. That’s the number of dollars former DONALD TRUMP campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was paid in August — a figure his campaign says is a severance agreement.

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There you go — now you’re caught up on the 2016 race. TBNR. We’ll see you tomorrow.