Trump: Will be fair with aliens
And firm, he says; wall stays
AKRON, Ohio — Republican Donald Trump promised Monday to be “fair but firm” toward the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.
Trump’s shift in tone raised questions on whether he’s backtracking from previous pledges to push for mass deportations.
The New York businessman, whose hard-line approach to immigration and fierce rhetoric propelled him to the GOP presidential nomination, insisted that he’s not “flip-flopping” on the issue as he works to broaden his support 2½ months before the general election.
In a meeting with Hispanic activists on Saturday, Trump indicated he was open to considering allowing those who have not committed crimes, beyond their immigration offenses, to obtain some form of legal status — though attendees stressed Trump has yet to make up his mind.
“The impression I got was that the campaign is working on substantive policy to help the undocumented that are here, including some type of
status so they would not be deported,” said Pastor Mario Bramnick, president of the Hispanic Israel Leadership Coalition, who was in attendance.
Any walk-back on immigration would mark a reversal for Trump. During the GOP primary, Trump vowed to use a “deportation force” to round up and deport the millions of people living in the country illegally — a proposal that excited many of his core supporters but alienated Hispanic voters who could be pivotal in key states.
During his primary campaign, Trump assailed all his Republican rivals for being too weak on immigration. He kicked off his campaign by saying that Mexico was sending criminals and rapists into the country, vowed that Mexico would pay for his planned border wall, and called for the “mandatory return of all criminal aliens.”
Trump said in an interview with Fox & Friends on Monday that he was “working with a lot of people in the Hispanic community to try and come up with an answer.”
“We want to come up with a really fair but firm answer. It has to be very firm. But we want to come up with something fair,” he said.
Later, he told Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly, “I just want to follow the law.”
“The first thing we’re gonna do, if and when I win, is we’re gonna get rid of all of the bad ones. We’ve got gang members, we have killers, we have a lot of bad people that have to get out of this country. We’re gonna get them out,” he said.
“As far as everybody else, we’re going to go through the process,” he said, citing the policies of President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush as examples.
Asked whether Trump’s plan still included a deportation force, his new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said Sunday that it was “to be determined.”
“Even Sen. Jeff Sessions,” a hard-liner on immigration, “he doesn’t deport 11 million people in his plan,” Conway said on CNBC on Monday.
The new tone from Trump comes as he continues to struggle in the polls with nonwhite voters. Since reshuffling his campaign leadership last week, Trump has already expressed “regret” for remarks that he has made during the campaign that might have been hurtful, and he expanded his outreach to black voters.
Trump had been scheduled to deliver a speech on the topic Thursday in Colorado but has postponed it.
Trump’s campaign has pushed back on the notion that he’s reversing course. “Mr. Trump said nothing today that he hasn’t said many times before, including in his convention speech,” spokesman Steven Cheung said after the meeting.
At a rally in Akron, Ohio, on Monday evening, Trump made clear he had no interest in compromising another piece of his immigration plan — a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We’re going to build the wall, folks,” Trump said at the rally. “That wall will go
up so fast your head will spin. You’re going to say, ‘He meant it!’”
He also extended his pitch to black and Hispanic voters, whom he described as living in poverty in neighborhoods that are more dangerous than war zones.
“What do you have to lose?” Trump asked again and again.
Also on Monday, a lawyer for Trump’s wife, Melania Trump, said he informed several news organizations, including the Daily Mail, that they could face legal action for publishing articles that Melania Trump contended were defamatory.
In an email, the lawyer, Charles Harder, said Melania Trump “has placed several news organizations on notice of her legal claims against them, including the Daily Mail among others, for making false and defamatory statements about her supposedly having been an ‘escort’ in the 1990s.”
He said no suit had been filed, but added, “That may change.”
Harder represented former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan in the invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against Gawker Media that ultimately resulted in Gawker’s filing for
bankruptcy.
Among the news outlets that Harder said had been sent notices were Inquisitr (which apologized to Melania Trump and retracted an article about her that was published within the past week), Politico and Liberal America.
CLINTON FOUNDATION
Former President Bill Clinton defended the work of his charitable foundation Monday, telling supporters that it had “improved millions of lives around the world” but needs to change if his wife, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, wins the White House.
The former president outlined the Clinton Foundation’s accomplishments and planned shift in scope in an email to about 500,000 supporters.
Hours earlier, Trump called the foundation “the most corrupt enterprise in political history” adding, “It must be shut down immediately.” He bore down again during the speech later in Akron, telling a crowd that if elected, he would have a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the foundation.
Bill Clinton announced last week that the foundation will no longer accept contributions from foreign governments and corporations if his wife is
elected. The ex-president, who oversees the foundation with daughter Chelsea Clinton, also said he would hold his final Clinton Global Initiative meeting next month in New York regardless of what the election’s outcome might be.
“Since Hillary began her presidential campaign in 2015, Chelsea and I have made it clear that the work the Clinton Foundation started should continue if Hillary is elected, but that changes would be necessary,” Bill Clinton said in the email. “While it would be presumptive to assume a victory in November, now that Hillary is her party’s nominee, it would be irresponsible not to plan for it.”
The changes aim to address criticism from Republicans and some Democrats that the foundation has created a significant conflict of interest as Hillary Clinton seeks the presidency. While Trump has donated to the foundation previously, he has accused Hillary Clinton of creating a “pay-for-play” scheme at the State Department through the work of the foundation.
The ex-president said in the event of another Clinton presidency, the foundation’s work, funding and his role in it would raise questions that would need to be resolved
“in a way that keeps the good work going while eliminating legitimate concerns about potential conflicts of interest.”
If Hillary Clinton is elected, the former president said, the foundation would accept contributions only from U.S. citizens, permanent residents and U.S.-based independent foundations, whose names would continue to be disclosed on a quarterly basis. He said the official name would be changed from the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation to the Clinton Foundation. And he said he would step down from the board and no longer raise money for it.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, pushed back Monday against charges that she’s physically unfit for the White House.
She said the accusations are part of a “wacky strategy” by Trump and an “alternative reality” that’s not focused on the kinds of issues that are most important to voters.
“I do feel sometimes like this campaign has entered into an alternative universe,” she said in an appearance on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live taped Monday afternoon. “I have to step into the alternative reality and, you know, answer questions about, am I alive, how much longer will I be alive, and the like.”
The comments marked the first time Clinton has addressed rumors about her health, which have been encouraged by Trump and his backers.
A senior Clinton aide also said Monday that Clinton has reserved nearly $80 million in additional television advertising across eight key states in coming months.
The new ad reservations include $3 million more for the remainder of August and nearly $77 million for September and October in eight states, the aide said. The campaign is targeting Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In addition, Clinton is continuing to advertise in the Omaha market in Nebraska, one of only two states that awards its electoral votes based on performance in congressional districts.
The Trump campaign, by contrast, launched its first general-election TV ad last week, saying it planned to spend $4.8 million on a 10-day buy in four states: Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The Clinton aide spoke on the condition of anonymity to share campaign strategy more freely.
The disparity in TV ads reflects fundraising by Clinton that until recently had been far more robust than that of Trump, as well as a strategy by Trump to generate more exposure through television interviews and social media.