Labor Day pitches start crucial election month
Clinton, Trump meet press on campaign flights
CLEVELAND — Setting the stage on Labor Day for a critical month in their presidential campaign, Donald Trump softened his stance on immigration while Hillary Clinton blasted Russia for its suspected tampering in the U.S. electoral process.
In a rare news conference aboard her new campaign plane, Clinton said she is concerned about “credible reports about Russian government interference in our elections.”
“We are going to have to take those threats and attacks seriously,” she told reporters traveling with her from Ohio to Illinois, aboard her campaign plane for the first time.
She said Russian President Vladimir Putin appears “quite satisfied with himself” and said Trump “has generally parroted what is a Putin-Kremlin line.”
Meanwhile, Trump extended a rare invitation to journalists to accompany him on his private plane from Cleveland to Youngstown, Ohio. The billionaire businessman appeared to pivot from his hard-line position on immigration, saying, “I’m all about jobs now.”
Any immigrants who want full citizenship must return to their countries of origin and get in line, he said, but he would not rule out a path to legal status for the millions living in the U.S. illegally, as he did in a policy speech last week.
“We’re going to make that decision into the future,” Trump said.
Clinton powered through a coughing fit at a Labor Day festival at a Cleveland park, sharply criticizing Trump’s recent trip to Mexico as “an embarrassing international incident.” Unwilling to let him modify his immigration stances, she said his address later that night in Arizona amounted to a “doubling down on his absurd plan to send a deportation force to round up 16 million people.”
Clinton’s 25-minute question-andanswer session was her first extensive availability with reporters since early December. Beyond Russia, she answered questions about the ongoing controversy surrounding her use of a private email server while secretary of state, which Trump has used to cast doubt over her ability to protect classified information.
“I take classification seriously,” she said.
Trump said Monday he will “on occasion” invite journalists to travel with him.
The two campaigns arrived in Cleveland within hours of each other, underscoring Ohio’s quadrennial role in presidential campaigns. No Republican has won the White House without carrying the state, and the airport offered vivid imagery of that crucial role.
The planes of Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, were on the tarmac as Clinton and her vice presidential pick, Tim Kaine, arrived in separate planes.
The month culminates in the first presidential debate Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Trump said he does plan to take part in all three debates.