[h=1]DONALD J. TRUMP STATEMENT REGARDING WEST VIRGINIA AND NEBRASKA PRIMARY VICTORIES[/h]"It is a great honor to have won both West Virginia and Nebraska, especially by such massive margins. My time spent in both states was a wonderful and enlightening experience for me. I learned a lot, and that knowledge will be put to good use towards the creation of businesses, jobs, and the strengthening and revival of their economies. I look forward to returning to West Virginia and Nebraska soon, and hope to win both states in the general election. Likewise, my time spent last week with the great people of Oregon will hopefully lead to another victory next Tuesday."
- Donald J. Trump
- Donald J. Trump
[h=6]- MAY 10, 2016 -[/h][h=1]STATEMENT REGARDING TRUMP DELEGATES FROM CALIFORNIA[/h]"Yesterday the Trump Campaign submitted its list of California delegates to be certified by the Secretary of State of California. Upon careful review of computer records, the inclusion of a potential delegate that had previously been rejected and removed from the campaign’s list in February 2016, was discovered. This was immediately corrected and a final list, which does not include this individual, was submitted for certification."
– California State Director, Tim Clark
– California State Director, Tim Clark
You conveniently left out the most important part of the story. Let me help you.(No need for thanks).
[h=1]Trump Campaign Corresponded With Its White Nationalist Delegate Long After "Database Error"[/h]
[h=3]Here are the emails from Monday, and William Johnson's signed pledge form.[/h]—By Josh Harkinson
| Tue May 10, 2016 6:50 PM EDT
On Tuesday, Mother Jones broke the story that the Trump campaign had selected William Johnson, a prominent white nationalist leader, as a California delegate. The Trump campaign responded with the following statement:
Yesterday the Trump campaign submitted its list of California delegates to be certified by the Secretary of State of California. A database error led to the inclusion of a potential delegate that had been rejected and removed from the campaign's list in February 2016.
Reached again by Mother Jones late Tuesday, Johnson said he would resign as a delegate if asked to do so by the campaign. "I accept Trump's explanation," he said, regarding the statement. "I don't want to gainsay the Trump campaign. If I am not removed from the database, I will resign."
Although the Trump campaign blamed a "database error" for including Johnson as a delegate, the campaign corresponded with him personally just over 24 hours ago. Trump's California delegate coordinator, Katie Lagomarsino, sent Johnson a congratulatory email on Monday, and when he asked for clarification about how to send his completed pledge form back to the campaign, she replied. Here is the email exchange (with the personal contact information redacted by Mother Jones):
Mother Jones also has a copy of the pledge form discussed in the email exchange, which Johnson signed and sent to the Trump campaign on Monday. You can see his pledge here.
Update, 6pm PDT: ABC News' Candace Smith reports that Johnson may remain a Trump delegate per California regulations:
You conveniently left out the most important part of the story. Let me help you.(No need for thanks).
Trump Campaign Corresponded With Its White Nationalist Delegate Long After "Database Error"
Here are the emails from Monday, and William Johnson's signed pledge form.
—By Josh Harkinson
| Tue May 10, 2016 6:50 PM EDT
On Tuesday, Mother Jones broke the story that the Trump campaign had selected William Johnson, a prominent white nationalist leader, as a California delegate. The Trump campaign responded with the following statement:Yesterday the Trump campaign submitted its list of California delegates to be certified by the Secretary of State of California. A database error led to the inclusion of a potential delegate that had been rejected and removed from the campaign's list in February 2016.Reached again by Mother Jones late Tuesday, Johnson said he would resign as a delegate if asked to do so by the campaign. "I accept Trump's explanation," he said, regarding the statement. "I don't want to gainsay the Trump campaign. If I am not removed from the database, I will resign."
Although the Trump campaign blamed a "database error" for including Johnson as a delegate, the campaign corresponded with him personally just over 24 hours ago. Trump's California delegate coordinator, Katie Lagomarsino, sent Johnson a congratulatory email on Monday, and when he asked for clarification about how to send his completed pledge form back to the campaign, she replied. Here is the email exchange (with the personal contact information redacted by Mother Jones):
Mother Jones also has a copy of the pledge form discussed in the email exchange, which Johnson signed and sent to the Trump campaign on Monday. You can see his pledge here.
Update, 6pm PDT: ABC News' Candace Smith reports that Johnson may remain a Trump delegate per California regulations:
GREAT Work as usual Vidswaps, in giving the real story. Here's more about the disgusting Racism of the Drumpf campaign.
[h=1]A white nationalist is among Donald Trump's pledged delegates in California[/h]
(Associated Press)
James Queally and Seema MehtaContact Reporters
A Los Angeles attorney who advocates for the creation of a “white ethno-state” is on an official list of Donald Trump's Republican convention delegates published Monday night by state election officials.
William Johnson, a self-described white separatist who is the chairman of the American Freedom Party, is among the delegates pledged to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee published by the California Secretary of State's office.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, Trump’s campaign said Johnson’s inclusion on the published list of delegates was an error.
“Upon careful review of computer records, the inclusion of a potential delegate that had previously been rejected and removed from the campaign’s list in February 2016 was discovered,” Tim Clark, Trump’s California campaign director, said in the statement. “This was immediately corrected and a final list, which does not include this individual, was submitted for certification.”
But state officials said the billionaire may not have any way to formally cut him from the list. Sam Mahood, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office, said California election code deals with selection and certification of delegates, but not their removal.
“They submitted a delegate list to our office yesterday, which was the deadline,” Mahood said. “They attempted to submit a revised list today, which we informed them we would not be accepting because it’s past the deadline.”
In practice, Johnson could simply not attend the Republican National Convention, where he would be replaced by an alternate delegate.
A spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.
In California, Republican voters seeking to become convention delegates apply directly to their candidates’ campaigns, which then sort through the submissions and select their slate of delegates. These names are later submitted to the Secretary of State’s office.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
Democrats wasted little time in attacking Trump after Mother Jones broke the news of Johnson's inclusion on the delegate list Tuesday afternoon.
“Donald Trump is the candidate that will Make America Hate Again,” Mark Paustenbach, national press secretary for the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. “Trump’s racist, xenophobic candidacy continues to fuel a resurgence of white nationalism in the United States, and to elevate a man like this shows that Trump has neither the temperament nor judgment to serve as president.”
In an interview with The Times, Johnson said he received an email from the Trump campaign on Tuesday afternoon confirming that his name “was erroneously listed as a potential delegate.”
Johnson said he had advocated for Trump in recent months, setting up robo-calls supporting the candidate in seven different states, but not California. Johnson said he also created a “crisis hotline to be able to handle people who have been traumatized or vandalized supporting Trump.”
Johnson, who unsuccessfully ran for a judgeship in Los Angeles County in 2008, did not mince words when asked by a reporter to explain his politics.
“I would like a separate white ethno-state.... I think diversity and multiculturalism is a failure, and I think it's going to destroy civilization,” he said.
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the American Freedom Party as an organization founded by “racist Southern California skinheads that aims to deport immigrants and return the United States to white rule.” Joanna Mendelson, an investigative researcher with the California branch of the Anti-Defamation League, said groups like the American Freedom Party highlight a tonal shift in the white supremacist movement, away from brash displays of violence and toward a subtler approach.
“What these individuals do is they kind of use pseudo-intellectual racism to articulate their views, and they attach themselves to national topics, be it immigration or the elections currently, and insert themselves into the conversation,” she previously told the Los Angeles Times. Johnson was one of the keynote speakers at Camp Comradery last year, a national gathering of white separatists in Bakersfield, according to Mendelson and the American Freedom Party’s website.
Trump, who has often been criticized for his controversial statements about Mexicans and a call to deny Muslims access to the country, ran into trouble earlier in his campaign when he was slow to disavow an endorsement from David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
Trump's other California delegates include more established figures like House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Harmeet K. Dhillon, vice chair of the state's Republican Party.
------------
FOR THE RECORD
4:39 p.m.: An earlier version of this article misspelled the first name of Harmeet K. Dhillon, vice chair of the California Republican Party, as Harmeey.
------------
With Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz dropping out of the race, California's June 7 primary will serve as little more than a coronation for Trump.
Brian Levin, director of Cal State San Bernardino's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, said Johnson is well-known in extremist circles, and his appearance among Trump's delegates highlights the way this year's election cycle has served to legitimize voices that were previously considered fringe.
“This white nationalist is someone that any respectable, mainstream candidate should leave skid marks running from,” Levin said.
Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in Southern California.
Times staff writers Michael Finnegan in New York and David Lauter in Washington contributed to this report.
Trump pulls EVEN with Hillary in new national poll as Clinton stumbles and he's gained 12 points on her in the past week
Clinton are in a statistical tie in the latestReuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday, showing a tight battlefor the White House as the two likely nominees turn theirattention to the Nov. 8 election.
The narrowing poll numbers are the result of both a gain byTrump and a drop by Clinton in the days since the New York realestate mogul effectively secured the Republican nomination whenhis two remaining rivals quit last week.
The national poll found 41 percent of likely voterssupporting Clinton and 40 percent backing Trump, with 19 percentundecided. The online survey of 1,289 people was conducted overfive days in the last week and has a credibility interval of 3percentage points.
While the general election campaign has hardly begun, thepoll marks a shift from a similar Reuters/Ipsos survey conductedover the five days before Trump effectively became the nominee.That poll showed Clinton at 48 percent and Trump at 35 percent.
+4
CLOSING IN: Donald Trump is in a statistical dead heat with Hillary Clinton in a new Reuters national poll
+4
FALLING OFF: As Clinton continues to battle Bernie Sanders, she has lost a dozen percentage points to Trump since he became the GOP's presumptive nominee
DEAD HEAT: With a margin of error of 3 percentage points, The 41-40 poll result is a statistical tie
The former U.S. secretary of state's loss in the Democraticprimary election to Bernie Sanders in West Virginia on Tuesdaysignaled possible trouble for her in industrial states inNovember.
Trump has taunted Clinton in recent days, saying she 'can'tclose the deal' against primary opponent Sanders, a U.S. senatorfrom Vermont.
But Trump still does not have some senior Republicans onboard for his own campaign after primary election battles inwhich he promised to build a wall on the Mexican border to haltillegal immigration, and temporarily ban Muslims from enteringthe United States.
Several Republican leaders – including House ofRepresentatives Speaker Paul Ryan – are withholding theirsupport from Trump.
The former reality TV star will face pressure to tone downhis rhetoric and clarify his policy positions when he visitsRepublican lawmakers on Thursday.
Trump's campaign has largely lacked policy specifics and hehas often said the positions he has staked out are merelyopening salvos for future negotiations with both Democrats andRepublicans.
But he may be considering an overhaul of his tax proposal, amove that could bring down the price tag and keep it in linewith conservative ideologies.
His tax plan, which carries a $10 trillion sticker price,has been under scrutiny as he has worked to tone down remarksabout raising taxes on wealthy Americans, saying the rich mightsimply get a smaller tax cut than he originally proposed.
.
+4
UNITY? House Speaker Paul Ryan is meeting with Trump on Thursday in a bid to unify the Republican party behind the billionaire businessman-turned-politician
+4
TRUMP TRAIN, ILLUSTRATED: The red line indicates Donald Trump's level of support, and the blue line is Clinton's, in Reuters polling data stretching over the past month
A possible rework of the plan has been led by conservativeeconomists Larry Kudlow, who hosts a program on CNBC, andStephen Moore, who works with the conservative think tankHeritage Foundation.
'I have worked a little bit with Larry Kudlow to help try totweak the plan to try to just... provide the maximum amount ofeconomic juice and to reduce the cost,' Moore told Reuters.
'What we were working with the campaign a little bit on is howcan we get that cost down, cut it by half or more, withoutdisrupting the main growth elements of the plan.'
Trump's attention to tax is another sign that the economywill play a major part in the election.
For Clinton, 68, her failure to win over voters deeplyskeptical about the economy underscored how she still needs tocourt working-class voters in the Rust Belt, including keystates such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. West Virginia has one ofthe highest unemployment rates in country.
Sanders, who has vowed to take his campaign all the way tothe Democrats' July convention in Philadelphia, has repeatedlysaid he is the stronger candidate to beat Trump in November, andfollowing his West Virginia win, he emphasized economic themes.
In West Virginia, roughly six in 10 voters said they werevery worried about the direction of the U.S. economy in the nextfew years, according to a preliminary ABC News exit poll. Thesame proportion cited the economy and jobs as the most importantissue.
.
- New Reuters poll has Clinton barely ahead of Trump by a 41-40 margin
- Margin of error is 3 percentage points, making it a statistical tie
- Trump trailed Clinton by 13 points a week ago, vaulting up after he became the Republican party's presumptive presidential nominee
- Clinton has struggled against Bernie Sanders as coal-heavy Rust Belt voters remain deeply skeptical about jobs and the economy
Clinton are in a statistical tie in the latestReuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday, showing a tight battlefor the White House as the two likely nominees turn theirattention to the Nov. 8 election.
The narrowing poll numbers are the result of both a gain byTrump and a drop by Clinton in the days since the New York realestate mogul effectively secured the Republican nomination whenhis two remaining rivals quit last week.
The national poll found 41 percent of likely voterssupporting Clinton and 40 percent backing Trump, with 19 percentundecided. The online survey of 1,289 people was conducted overfive days in the last week and has a credibility interval of 3percentage points.
While the general election campaign has hardly begun, thepoll marks a shift from a similar Reuters/Ipsos survey conductedover the five days before Trump effectively became the nominee.That poll showed Clinton at 48 percent and Trump at 35 percent.
+4
CLOSING IN: Donald Trump is in a statistical dead heat with Hillary Clinton in a new Reuters national poll
+4
FALLING OFF: As Clinton continues to battle Bernie Sanders, she has lost a dozen percentage points to Trump since he became the GOP's presumptive nominee
DEAD HEAT: With a margin of error of 3 percentage points, The 41-40 poll result is a statistical tie
The former U.S. secretary of state's loss in the Democraticprimary election to Bernie Sanders in West Virginia on Tuesdaysignaled possible trouble for her in industrial states inNovember.
Trump has taunted Clinton in recent days, saying she 'can'tclose the deal' against primary opponent Sanders, a U.S. senatorfrom Vermont.
But Trump still does not have some senior Republicans onboard for his own campaign after primary election battles inwhich he promised to build a wall on the Mexican border to haltillegal immigration, and temporarily ban Muslims from enteringthe United States.
Several Republican leaders – including House ofRepresentatives Speaker Paul Ryan – are withholding theirsupport from Trump.
The former reality TV star will face pressure to tone downhis rhetoric and clarify his policy positions when he visitsRepublican lawmakers on Thursday.
Trump's campaign has largely lacked policy specifics and hehas often said the positions he has staked out are merelyopening salvos for future negotiations with both Democrats andRepublicans.
But he may be considering an overhaul of his tax proposal, amove that could bring down the price tag and keep it in linewith conservative ideologies.
His tax plan, which carries a $10 trillion sticker price,has been under scrutiny as he has worked to tone down remarksabout raising taxes on wealthy Americans, saying the rich mightsimply get a smaller tax cut than he originally proposed.
.
+4
UNITY? House Speaker Paul Ryan is meeting with Trump on Thursday in a bid to unify the Republican party behind the billionaire businessman-turned-politician
+4
TRUMP TRAIN, ILLUSTRATED: The red line indicates Donald Trump's level of support, and the blue line is Clinton's, in Reuters polling data stretching over the past month
A possible rework of the plan has been led by conservativeeconomists Larry Kudlow, who hosts a program on CNBC, andStephen Moore, who works with the conservative think tankHeritage Foundation.
'I have worked a little bit with Larry Kudlow to help try totweak the plan to try to just... provide the maximum amount ofeconomic juice and to reduce the cost,' Moore told Reuters.
'What we were working with the campaign a little bit on is howcan we get that cost down, cut it by half or more, withoutdisrupting the main growth elements of the plan.'
Trump's attention to tax is another sign that the economywill play a major part in the election.
For Clinton, 68, her failure to win over voters deeplyskeptical about the economy underscored how she still needs tocourt working-class voters in the Rust Belt, including keystates such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. West Virginia has one ofthe highest unemployment rates in country.
Sanders, who has vowed to take his campaign all the way tothe Democrats' July convention in Philadelphia, has repeatedlysaid he is the stronger candidate to beat Trump in November, andfollowing his West Virginia win, he emphasized economic themes.
In West Virginia, roughly six in 10 voters said they werevery worried about the direction of the U.S. economy in the nextfew years, according to a preliminary ABC News exit poll. Thesame proportion cited the economy and jobs as the most importantissue.
.
<<Yawn.>>Trump has gained in many polls with repub voters since clinching the nomination. Hillary will gain with dems after Bernie endorses her.Trump pulls EVEN with Hillary in new national poll as Clinton stumbles and he's gained 12 points on her in the past week
- New Reuters poll has Clinton barely ahead of Trump by a 41-40 margin
- Margin of error is 3 percentage points, making it a statistical tie
- Trump trailed Clinton by 13 points a week ago, vaulting up after he became the Republican party's presumptive presidential nominee
- Clinton has struggled against Bernie Sanders as coal-heavy Rust Belt voters remain deeply skeptical about jobs and the economy
Clinton are in a statistical tie in the latestReuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday, showing a tight battlefor the White House as the two likely nominees turn theirattention to the Nov. 8 election.
The narrowing poll numbers are the result of both a gain byTrump and a drop by Clinton in the days since the New York realestate mogul effectively secured the Republican nomination whenhis two remaining rivals quit last week.
The national poll found 41 percent of likely voterssupporting Clinton and 40 percent backing Trump, with 19 percentundecided. The online survey of 1,289 people was conducted overfive days in the last week and has a credibility interval of 3percentage points.
While the general election campaign has hardly begun, thepoll marks a shift from a similar Reuters/Ipsos survey conductedover the five days before Trump effectively became the nominee.That poll showed Clinton at 48 percent and Trump at 35 percent.
+4
CLOSING IN: Donald Trump is in a statistical dead heat with Hillary Clinton in a new Reuters national poll
+4
FALLING OFF: As Clinton continues to battle Bernie Sanders, she has lost a dozen percentage points to Trump since he became the GOP's presumptive nominee
DEAD HEAT: With a margin of error of 3 percentage points, The 41-40 poll result is a statistical tie
The former U.S. secretary of state's loss in the Democraticprimary election to Bernie Sanders in West Virginia on Tuesdaysignaled possible trouble for her in industrial states inNovember.
Trump has taunted Clinton in recent days, saying she 'can'tclose the deal' against primary opponent Sanders, a U.S. senatorfrom Vermont.
But Trump still does not have some senior Republicans onboard for his own campaign after primary election battles inwhich he promised to build a wall on the Mexican border to haltillegal immigration, and temporarily ban Muslims from enteringthe United States.
Several Republican leaders – including House ofRepresentatives Speaker Paul Ryan – are withholding theirsupport from Trump.
The former reality TV star will face pressure to tone downhis rhetoric and clarify his policy positions when he visitsRepublican lawmakers on Thursday.
Trump's campaign has largely lacked policy specifics and hehas often said the positions he has staked out are merelyopening salvos for future negotiations with both Democrats andRepublicans.
But he may be considering an overhaul of his tax proposal, amove that could bring down the price tag and keep it in linewith conservative ideologies.
His tax plan, which carries a $10 trillion sticker price,has been under scrutiny as he has worked to tone down remarksabout raising taxes on wealthy Americans, saying the rich mightsimply get a smaller tax cut than he originally proposed.
.
+4
UNITY? House Speaker Paul Ryan is meeting with Trump on Thursday in a bid to unify the Republican party behind the billionaire businessman-turned-politician
+4
TRUMP TRAIN, ILLUSTRATED: The red line indicates Donald Trump's level of support, and the blue line is Clinton's, in Reuters polling data stretching over the past month
A possible rework of the plan has been led by conservativeeconomists Larry Kudlow, who hosts a program on CNBC, andStephen Moore, who works with the conservative think tankHeritage Foundation.
'I have worked a little bit with Larry Kudlow to help try totweak the plan to try to just... provide the maximum amount ofeconomic juice and to reduce the cost,' Moore told Reuters.
'What we were working with the campaign a little bit on is howcan we get that cost down, cut it by half or more, withoutdisrupting the main growth elements of the plan.'
Trump's attention to tax is another sign that the economywill play a major part in the election.
For Clinton, 68, her failure to win over voters deeplyskeptical about the economy underscored how she still needs tocourt working-class voters in the Rust Belt, including keystates such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. West Virginia has one ofthe highest unemployment rates in country.
Sanders, who has vowed to take his campaign all the way tothe Democrats' July convention in Philadelphia, has repeatedlysaid he is the stronger candidate to beat Trump in November, andfollowing his West Virginia win, he emphasized economic themes.
In West Virginia, roughly six in 10 voters said they werevery worried about the direction of the U.S. economy in the nextfew years, according to a preliminary ABC News exit poll. Thesame proportion cited the economy and jobs as the most importantissue.
.
