The Latest: Clinton, Trump battle for blue Michigan

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. presidential race (all times EDT):

4:55 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is rushing to secure Michigan and bolster the Democratic Party’s blue wall of upper Midwestern states that have backed the party’s presidential nominee for two decades.

She’s sending in reinforcements as Donald Trump aims to upend her path to a winning 270 electoral votes.

Clinton is rallying Democrats on Friday in Detroit, where a large turnout of black voters has long been crucial to success. Former President Bill Clinton met with black ministers there on Wednesday night.

Clinton’s campaign notes both Michigan and Pennsylvania do not have in-person early voting, requiring them to intensify turnout efforts in the days leading up to the election.

But it shows some concerns by Democrats that Trump could break through there.

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4:25 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is linking Donald Trump to white supremacists.

She says Trump has spent his campaign “offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters.” She highlighted his endorsement by the official newspaper of the Ku Klux Klan. Trump’s campaign has denounced the newspaper.

Clinton is campaigning Thursday in North Carolina, where she’s trying to rally black voters.

She singled out in particular Trump’s comments about the Central Park Five, a group of young black men wrongfully convicted in a racially charged 1989 rape case. While the men were cleared by DNA evidence and another person confessed to the crime, Trump has suggested he still believes they’re guilty.

Clinton said that to Trump, “those kids will still and always be guilty, no matter what the evidence says.”

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4:15 p.m.

President Barack Obama had to do one thing before launching into his second Florida campaign rally of the day for Hillary Clinton.

It’s called the “swoop.” It’s a tradition at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, where Obama headlined the early-vote rally, and it mimics the movement of an osprey.

The university’s sports teams are called Ospreys.

Before criticizing Republican Donald Trump as someone who would “do damage to our democracy,” Obama took a few steps back from the lectern and motioned his arms as if they were bird wings. He said he’d been practicing the move backstage.

Obama told Clinton’s supporters they “have five days to decide the future of America” and urged them to not wait until Election Day to vote. Florida has early voting.

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4 p.m.

Hillary Clinton says that on the heels of her hometown Chicago Cubs World Series victory, “maybe we’ll see even more history made in a few days.”

Clinton is campaigning Thursday in North Carolina on one of the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Clinton, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs, noted that women couldn’t vote the last time the Cubs won in 1908. But she said “women are making up for that in this election.”

The Democratic nominee is seeking to become America’s first female president.

Clinton is in North Carolina to encourage early voting, particularly among black voters.

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3 p.m.

Melania Trump says that, if she becomes first lady, she’d focus on combatting online bullying as part of her work as an advocate for women and children.

The wife of Donald Trump said Thursday in a rare appearance on the campaign trail that, “Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers.” She spoke at a rally outside Philadelphia.

She said that it’s “absolutely unacceptable” when children are mocked, bullied and attacked online anonymously.

Mrs. Trump’s goals may seem at odds with her husband, who has a long history of using Twitter to insult people.

Mrs Trump said: “We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other.”

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2:45 p.m.

Melania Trump is celebrating her immigrant story as she delivers a rare speech on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania.

Mrs. Trump says that, growing up in her native Slovenia, “America was the word for freedom and opportunity.”

Speaking Thursday outside Philadelphia, Mrs. Trump described her decision to move to the United States and eventually earn citizenship “as the greatest privilege in the world.”

Mrs. Trump was introduced by her husband’s running mate’s wife, Karen Pence, who praised Mrs. Trump as “amazing” and “strong”

She said: “I know that America will fall in love with her, just as much as she loves the American people.”

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2:15 p.m.

Ivanka Trump says issues such as jobs and security are just as important to women as specific “women’s issues.”

Donald Trump’s daughter is campaigning in New Hampshire on behalf of her father. She is a powerful voice for Trump when it comes to softening his image with women.

She is talking up his plans to make child care more affordable and promising he’ll make “radical leaps” toward eliminating wage inequality.

But she says there are few specific “women’s issues.” She said “women’s issues are jobs, women’s issues are security, women’s issues are the major issues affecting this country.”

Ivanka Trump’s Thursday stop in New Hampshire is her first since the presidential primary.

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1:40 p.m.

Ted Cruz isn’t mentioning Donald Trump as he campaigns in Iowa with Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence.

The Texas senator appeared Thursday with Pence at a rally outside Des Moines.

He lauded Pence and pushed for the re-election of Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley. But the onetime bitter rival of Trump never mentioned the Republican nominee by name in a 14-minute speech. He did say though that “we’re going to defeat Hillary Clinton in the presidential election.”

Cruz’s remarks echoed the speeches he gave when he ran for Republican nomination. He called for taking “the boot off the back of the necks of small businesses” and repealing “every word” of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

Cruz won the Iowa caucuses.

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1:25 p.m.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine says he has “really despaired” over recent comments from Republicans about impeaching running mate Hillary Clinton if she becomes president.

Some Republican lawmakers are threatening to block Clinton’s Supreme Court nominees, investigate her endlessly, or even impeach her should she win the White House.

Kaine said Republican lawmakers making those kinds of comments think their party will do poorly on Election Day and don’t understand the proper role of legislators.

The Virginia senator made the remarks in an interview on Fox News Radio set to air Thursday evening.

He also said that if he becomes vice president, he would view Joe Biden as a role model. Biden beat out Kaine to be Barack Obama’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election.

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12:55 p.m.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says Republicans should stop talking about moving to impeach Hillary Clinton if she is elected president.

In a statement Thursday, Pelosi said any effort to impeach Clinton “would be a brazen attempt to nullify the vote of the American people” and would be a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.

Pelosi’s comments came after some Republicans threatened to block Clinton’s Supreme Court nominees, investigate her endlessly or even impeach her over her use of private emails as secretary of state.

Pelosi said that instead of spending resources on “years of frivolous investigations,” Republicans should work with Clinton and other Democrats to create jobs by investing in infrastructure, education and innovation.

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12:45 p.m.

Donald Trump is once again criticizing President Barack Obama for campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

Trump said that as he was boarding his aircraft at Miami International Airport on Thursday, he spotted Air Force One across the tarmac.

Trump said he asked himself “I wonder who that could be?'” He added “it’s our president and he’s down here campaigning for Crooked Hillary.”

Trump asked: “Shouldn’t he be back at work?”

Trump was speaking at a rally in Jacksonville, Florida.

Obama was campaigning for Clinton in both Miami and Jacksonville on Thursday. He is expected to campaign for the Democratic nominee most days before Tuesday’s election.

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12:40 p.m.

Donald Trump is saying that questions surrounding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server would follow her into the White House and she would “be under investigation for many years.”

Speaking Thursday in Florida, Trump said: “Here we go again with the Clintons — you remember the impeachment and the problems.”

The Republican presidential candidate added, “That’s not what we need in our country, folks. We need someone who is ready to go to work.”

Trump, was campaigning in Jacksonville as part of a two-day Florida swing. He has relentlessly attacked Clinton in recent days after FBI Director James Comey announced that the bureau was looking into emails that may be connected to Clinton’s private server.

Over the summer, Comey declined to recommend criminal charges against the Democratic nominee.

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12:25 p.m.

President Barack Obama says Florida Sen. Marco Rubio needs better friends.

At a Florida rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Obama noted that Rubio indicated this week that he has cast an early ballot for Republican Donald Trump.

Obama noted that Rubio had referred to Trump as a “con artist” when they ran against each other for the Republican nomination. Obama said Rubio had also said that friends don’t let friends vote for con artists.

The president said of Rubio: “Obviously, he didn’t have good enough friends.”

Obama urged Clinton supporters to help elect Democratic congressman Patrick Murphy to the Senate to replace Rubio.

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12 p.m.

President Barack Obama says Republican Donald Trump would abuse his presidential powers if he is elected president on Tuesday.

Obama says anyone who disrespected women or the Constitution before becoming president won’t change after being elected. He says the only difference is the person will have more power to carry out the “twisted notions” that the person had before taking office.

Obama is rallying supporters of Democrat Hillary Clinton at a get-out-the-vote event Thursday at Florida International University in Miami, in the battleground state of Florida.

Alluding to Trump’s past as host of a reality TV show, Obama said the presidential election isn’t “Survivor” or “The Bachelorette.”

Obama said the election counts and he’s urging Clinton supporters to not wait until Election Day to vote. Florida has early voting.

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11:55 a.m.

Hillary Clinton will hold her final pre-election rally in Philadelphia on Monday, seeking to motivate voters in a key battleground state that does not offer early voting.

Clinton’s campaign said Thursday that she will be making her closing argument. She will be joined by President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton.

The campaign said Clinton “will urge Pennsylvanians to make history on Tuesday by electing her president.”

Pennsylvania offers 20 Electoral College votes. Because the state does not offer early voting, Election Day turnout is key.

Clinton is also appearing at a Katy Perry get-out-the-vote concert in Philadelphia on Saturday.

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11:40 a.m.

President Barack Obama is getting down into the nitty-gritty as he campaigns in Florida for Hillary Clinton.

Obama is urging Clinton supporters at a get-out-the-vote rally in Miami to take advantage of the opportunity they have to vote early, before Election Day on Tuesday.

In fact, he noted, there’s a location just minutes away from Florida International University, where the rally was taking place. Then he ticked off the exact street address.

The rally is the first of two that Obama is headlining in Florida on Thursday. He has another later in the day in Jacksonville.

Democrats are campaigning hard to help Clinton win Florida, a presidential battleground that Obama narrowly won twice. A victory there would almost assure Clinton the presidency.

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10:40 a.m.

Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence is declining to say whether Paul Ryan should be re-elected as speaker of the House.

Pence’s comments in an interview in National Review are startling because Pence and Ryan served together in the House and have been seen as close allies and friends. Ryan heaped praise on Pence when Donald Trump selected him as his running mate.

But Trump was angered when Ryan announced last month he would no longer campaign for or defend him. And Ryan is facing rumblings of a leadership challenge from House conservatives frustrated he is not backing the nominee more strongly.

The National Review reports that Pence declined three times to answer whether Ryan should be re-elected as speaker, while insisting that “my respect for Paul Ryan is boundless.”

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10:30 a.m.

Melania Trump is heading out onto the campaign trail.

Donald Trump’s wife will deliver a get-out-the-vote speech Thursday outside Philadelphia. She plans to focus on her husband’s vision for American women, children and families.

Her remarks are expected to be a response to Hillary Clinton’s attacks on the Republican nominee as anti-woman. Suburban women like the ones Mrs. Trump will address are critical to Trump’s hopes in the state.

Mrs. Trump has been largely absent from the campaign, and has said her priority is raising the couple’s 10-year-old son, Barron.

Thursday’s event at the Main Line Sports Center in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, is her first solo appearance of the campaign. It will be her first speech since she addressed the Republican National Convention in July.

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9:50 a.m.

Eric Trump says Wisconsin’s Republican Sen. Ron Johnson can help execute his father’s vision as president, working from the inside in Washington while Donald Trump brings an outsider’s perspective.

Eric Trump spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday before a series of campaign stops for his father in western Wisconsin, including a couple where he will join with Johnson.

Johnson has pitched himself as a Washington outsider, even though he is the incumbent running for re-election. He spent his career in the business world before knocking off three-term Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in 2010. They are meeting in a rematch this year.

Eric Trump says his father needs people like Johnson from “inside Washington” who can execute the “macro vision” Donald Trump would set.

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9:30 a.m.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says his group did not get emails related to Hillary Clinton’s campaign from a state actor.

U.S. intelligence has blamed Russia for the hacked emails from campaign chairman John Podesta. In a statement Thursday, Assange said Wikileaks’ sources of the emails “are not state parties.” It does not say how it obtained the documents, noting only that the original sources are Podesta “and his correspondents.”

The wording of the statement does not rule out the possibility that the emails were obtained by a state actor and then provided to another party who then passed them on to WikiLeaks.

Assange says WikiLeaks will not reveal the identity of its sources.

The Podesta emails have shed light on some of the inner workings of the Clinton campaign.

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3:45 a.m.

Hillary Clinton has swept into normally Republican Arizona, buoyed by one of the largest crowds of her campaign and exhorting supporters to help her beat GOP rival Donald Trump.

Trump, meanwhile, campaigned with rare discipline Wednesday as he sought to close his gap with Clinton before next week’s election.

“‘Stay on point, Donald, stay on point,'” Trump, campaigning in Florida, teasingly quoted his staff as saying. “No sidetracks, Donald. Nice and easy. Nice and easy.'”

Trump can’t win the election without carrying Florida, underscoring how narrow his path to the White House is. Despite tightening polls, Clinton still has more options, which was underscored by her decision to make that late stop in Arizona, which has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate only once since 1952.

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