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Trump surrogates say GOP front-runner 'projecting an image' during primaries

 

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's top lieutenants told skeptical GOP leaders Thursday that their candidate has been "projecting an image" so far in the 2016 primary season and "the part that he's been playing is now evolving" in a way that will improve his standing among general election voters.
In a recording of the closed-door meeting obtained by the Associated Press, Trump's newly hired senior aide, Paul Manafort, made the case to Republican National Committee members that Trump has two personalities: one in private and one onstage.
"When he's out on the stage, when he's talking about the kinds of things he's talking about on the stump, he's projecting an image that's for that purpose," Manafort said, adding "You'll start to see more depth of the person, the real person. You'll see a real different guy."
Manafort said Trump had acknowledged the need to moderate his personality ahead of a possible general election campaign.
"The part that he's been playing is evolving into the part that now you've been expecting, but he wasn't ready for, because he had first to complete the first phase" he claimed. "The negatives will come down. The image is going to change."
The message was welcomed by some party officials but criticized by others who suggested it raised doubts about his authenticity.

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"He's trying to moderate. He's getting better," said former presidential candidate Ben Carson, a Trump ally who was part of the GOP's front-runner's RNC outreach team.
While Trump's top advisers were promising Republican leaders that the GOP front-runner would moderate his message, the candidate was telling voters he wasn't ready to act presidential.
"I just don't know if I want to do it yet," Trump said during a raucous rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Thursday that was frequently interrupted by protesters.
"At some point, I'm going to be so presidential that you people will be so bored," he said, predicting that the size of his crowds would dwindle if he dialed back his rhetoric.
As Trump continues to rail against "a rigged" nomination process, he sent Manafort and his newly hired political director, Rick Wiley, to help improve relationships with party officials at the RNC's spring meeting in Hollywood, Fla.
"He might not win some of these blue states, but you can make the Democrats spend money and time," Wiley said.
Trump's team also signaled to RNC members a fresh willingness to dip into the New York real estate mogul's personal fortune to fund his presidential bid, in addition to helping the national committee raise money, a promise that comes just as Trump launches his first big television advertising campaign in a month.
His campaign reserved about $2 million worth of air time in soon-to-vote Pennsylvania and Indiana, advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG shows.
"He's willing to spend what is necessary to finish this out. That's a big statement from him," Manafort said in the briefing.
Trump is increasingly optimistic about his chances in five states holding primary contests Tuesday: Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. He is now the only Republican candidate who can possibly collect the 1,237-delegate majority needed to claim the nomination before the party's July convention.
Chief rival Ted Cruz hopes Trump will fall short of a nomination-clinching delegate majority so that he can turn enough delegates to his side at the convention to give him the prize.
The political posturing came as Trump sparked new criticism by addressing the debate over which bathrooms transgender people should use.
Speaking at a town-hall event on NBC's "Today" show Thursday, Trump said North Carolina's bathroom law has caused unnecessary strife and transgender people should be able to choose which bathroom to use.
"There have been very few complaints the way it is," Trump said. "People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate."
Cruz lashed out at Trump's "support of grown men using women's restrooms." The Texas senator called Trump's position "a reckless policy that will endanger our loved ones."
Trump also said the plan to swap Jackson for Tubman on the $20 bill is an act of "pure political correctness." He and Carson have both suggested putting Tubman on the $2 bill instead.
 

Trump 'chalking' prompts hand-wringing at Wisconsin campus

The Donald Trump campus chalking conspiracy continues.
The University of Wisconsin Lacrosse is the latest campus where messages touting the polarizing developer's presidential bid were taken as "micro-aggressions" by college students apparently seeking shelter from disparate political beliefs.
"All Lives Matter," "Build the wall" and "Stop Illegal Immigration" were among the messages inscribed in chalk around the grounds earlier this month, prompting the school to send its "Hate Response Team" to investigate, according to EAGnews.org.
The investigative group even posted a message on its Facebook page to quell the worries of the student body.
"While we respect peoples’ right to express their opinions, we also recognize that some communities on campus experience these messages as discriminatory or hostile,” read the message.
“All manifestations of prejudice and intolerance are contradictory to our mission as a university. If you experience any bigotry on or off campus, please turn to trusted friends and/or campus resources for support. Again, please remember that members of our Hate Response Team are here to support the individual and collective impacted by hate/bias and to stand up against all forms of oppression.”
The HRT has also encouraged the student body at UW-LaCrosse to file reports on any “micro-agressions” or hate crimes they encounter.
Pro-Trump chalk messages have appeared on college campuses at Emory University, in Atlanta, Depaul University in Chicago, University of California San Diego and other schools around the country.
"The episodes at Emory and other campuses illustrate the power of a humble stick of chalk, a utensil used by college students for decades," the New York Times reported in a story about the phenomenon that ran on April 1.

James Comey: FBI spent over $1 million to unlock San Bernardino attacker's iPhone

The FBI paid a non-governmental third party over $1 million for technology that allowed the agency to unlock an iPhone 5C that belonged to San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook, according to a remark made by FBI director James Comey at a moderated discussion in London on Thursday.
When asked exactly how much his agency shelled out for the technology, Comey told the audience at the Aspen Security Forum, “a lot.” He added the figure is “more than I will make in the remainder of this job – which is seven years and four months – for sure.”
According to federal statue, the FBI director “shall receive compensation at the rate prescribed for level II of the Federal Executive Salary Schedule." As of January 2015, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management lists level II pay at $183,300 annually. Taking into account Director Comey’s remaining time in office, he stands to earn roughly $1.34 million.
The FBI chief first acknowledged that the agency purchased the unlocking method during a speech at Kenyon College on April 6. FBI and the Justice Department have declined to elaborate on exact details of the method or identify whether the assisting third party is a domestic or foreign entity.
Citing intelligence sources, Fox News has reported the FBI purchased what amounts to a "zero day" from this third party. This type of cybersecurity flaw is a previously unknown vulnerability to a specific piece of computer software that cyber actors exploit to gain access to a system or override certain functionalities.
As cybersecurity experts explain, “zero days” serve as the preeminent method of entry for hackers, given that their targets can't protect against flaws they don't know exist.
Comey said on Thursday that he feels as though the unlocking tool – which only works on iPhone 5Cs running the iOS9 operating system, according to his own statements – was worth it.
The bureau’s top official added that the purchase of third party tools for the purpose of unlocking encrypted devices is not the preferred road the FBI would like to travel in investigating crimes and terrorism cases.
“I'm hoping that we can somehow get to a place where we have a sensible solution, or set of solutions, that doesn't involve hacking and doesn't involve spending tons of money in a way that's unscalable,” Comey said.
He echoed there being a need for a continued national conversation over the issues surrounding universal encryption and how that factors into the privacy versus security debate.
“This will be a feature of our work - there will be other litigation, I'm sure - but it will be a feature of our work, increasingly, over the months and years to come,” Comey explained.
Justice Department officials have said that it is still unknown whether the FBI will disclose the vulnerability used to unlock Syed Farook’s iPhone 5C to Apple.  

'Monstrous interference': UK pols furious at Obama's plan to intervene in EU debate

President Obama looks set to wade into the contentious debate in the United Kingdom over whether or not the nation should remain a member of the European Union – and some Brits are angry at the president’s intrusion into a delicate UK issue ahead of a major vote.
Obama will arrive in London late Thursday for a three-day trip. On Friday he will meet Prime Minister David Cameron -- who is reportedly keen to get Obama’s backing ahead of the June 23 referendum, in which Britons will choose to remain or leave the European Union.
Cameron is in a difficult position, backing the “Remain” campaign, while many within his own Conservative Party are campaigning for the “Leave” or “Brexit” (British-Exit) campaign. Polls have shows the race is tight, with the Remain campaign holding an edge as small as one percent.
The White House has said Obama is willing to offer his opinion and may announce that he favors Cameron's position – that Britain should remain in the European Union.
"If he's asked his view as a friend, he will offer it," U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said. "As the president has said, we support a strong United Kingdom in the European Union."
Those calling for Britain to leave the European Union are not happy at that news, with U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage saying Obama should stay home.
‘A monstrous interference,” Farage told Fox News Thursday. “I’d rather he stayed in Washington, frankly, if that’s what he’s going to do.”
“You wouldn’t expect the British Prime Minister to intervene in your presidential election, you wouldn’t expect the Prime Minister to endorse one candidate or another. Perhaps he’s another one of those people who doesn’t understand what [the EU] is,” Farage said.
In March, a letter sent from Conservative MP and former cabinet minister Liam Fox, and co-signed by over 100 MPs from four different political parties, asked the U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. to persuade Obama not to intervene, calling any such intervention “extremely controversial and potentially damaging.”
“It has long been the established practice not to interfere in the domestic political affairs of our allies and we hope that this will continue to be the case,” the letter to Ambassador Matthew Barzun read.
“While the current U.S. administration may have a view on the desirability or otherwise of Britain’s continued membership of the E.U., any explicit intervention in the debate is likely to be extremely controversial and potentially damaging,” the letter said.
London Mayor Boris Johnson -- who was born in New York and has expressed strong support for the UK-U.S. relationship -- accused Obama of hypocrisy.
"I just think it's paradoxical that the United States, which wouldn't dream of allowing the slightest infringement of its own sovereignty, should be lecturing other countries about the need to enmesh themselves ever deeper in a federal superstate," Johnson said Tuesday.
Cameron however, has said that the advice of allies was welcome, saying “listening to what our friends say in the world is not a bad idea.”
"I struggle to find the leader of any friendly country that thinks we should leave," he said Wednesday.

Vladimir Putin Cartoon

Russian envoy to NATO warns US over Baltic Sea incident involving destroyer

Russia's ambassador to NATO accused the U.S. Wednesday of trying to intimidate Moscow by sailing a Navy destroyer in the Baltic Sea, and vowed Russia would respond to future incidents with "all necessary measures."
Alexander Grushko spoke following a meeting of the NATO-Russia council in Brussels, the first in nearly two years. The meeting, which involved Grushko and ambassadors from NATO's 28 member states, ran over its allotted time by about 90 minutes, but produced no major breakthroughs.
"It's better to talk than not to talk," Grushko told reporters, before adding that relationships between NATO and Russia would not improve "without real steps on NATO's side to downgrade military activity in the area adjacent to the Russian Federation."
Reuters reported that U.S. ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute pressed Grushko about the April 11 incident in which two Russian Su-24 attack aircraft buzzed the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea. The destroyer was conducting flight operations with a Polish helicopter when the jets approached came within 1,000 yards of the destroyer at a height of 100 feet. The following day, a Russian jet came within just 30 feet of the destroyer.
"We were in international waters," Lute told Grushko before reiterating that the incident had been dangerous, according to Reuters. U.S. officials told Fox News last week that they believed the incident breached a 1972 agreement meant to prevent such near-misses from occurring. Grushko insisted that the Russian aircraft "were acting fully in line" with international agreements
Grushko told reporters the USS Cook's presence in the Baltic was a NATO attempt "to exercise military pressure on Russia", then added, "we will take all necessary measures, precautions, to compensate for these attempts to use military force."
Secretary of State John Kerry said last week that under U.S. rules of engagement, the Cook could have opened fire on the planes. The Russian jets did not appear to be armed at the time.
The NATO-Russia Council was founded in 2002 as a forum for consultations between the former Cold War foes, but before Wednesday, had last met in June 2014, when the Kremlin's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine sent relations with the West into a tailspin.
NATO has suspended practical cooperation with Russia because of the Crimean annexation and what it views as Russia's support for the armed insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
"NATO and Russia have profound and persistent differences," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who chaired the council, told reporters afterward. "Today's meeting didn't change that."

Sanders, Cruz resist pressure after NY losses, vow to fight to conventions

The Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz campaigns vowed to fight all the way to their respective party conventions despite losing big in Tuesday’s New York primaries – rebuffing taunts from their rivals that they’re just about mathematically eliminated from the race.  
Indeed, after coming in a distant third in New York, Cruz has no real path to overtake Donald Trump in the Republican race before the July convention. On the Democratic side, Sanders would have to win 73 percent of the remaining delegates and uncommitted superdelegates to catch Hillary Clinton.
Clinton could actually lose every remaining primary in the coming weeks and still clinch the nomination. Next up are primaries in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware next week. Clinton moved quickly to cast herself as the all-but-certain nominee.
"The race for the Democratic nomination is in the home stretch, and victory is in sight," she told supporters at her victory party in Manhattan on Tuesday night. A campaign aide, on the sidelines, said Sanders has no mathematical chance of a comeback.
Trump declared at his own victory party across town, “We don’t have much of a race anymore.”
Yet Cruz and Sanders were recalibrating their approach and their rhetoric, seemingly preparing to press on.

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Appearing to acknowledge he could no longer clinch the nomination pre-convention, Cruz said Wednesday: “We are definitely headed to Cleveland. And in Cleveland, the people are gonna prevail.” 
His campaign is likely back to concentrating on the delegate-selection process in order to strengthen its position going into Cleveland.
If Cruz – and Ohio Gov. John Kasich – can hold Trump under the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination before then, the Texas senator aims to have delegate allies in place from across the country who would peel off from Trump and support him after the first round of voting. Further, his campaign is courting “unbound” delegates in several states – most recently in Pennsylvania, which votes next week and does not bind most its delegates to the primary results – in hopes they would also flock to him in the event of a floor fight.
The maneuvers have only strengthened Trump’s resolve to go on a huge winning streak in the coming weeks, racking up delegates in hopes of reaching the 1,237 threshold and ruling out the possibility of a contested convention. According to The Washington Post, an internal Trump memo projects Trump would get more than 1,400 delegates on the first round of balloting to secure the nomination.
Right now, Trump has 845 delegates, Cruz has 559 and Kasich has 147.
Meanwhile, Sanders, presuming he cannot clinch the nomination himself before the Philadelphia convention, is pursuing a tricky strategy.
"We're going to go to the convention,” campaign manager Jeff Weaver said on MSNBC. But the Sanders campaign seems to be relying on the prospect of winning over superdelegates, the party insiders and officials free to support whomever they want.
Clinton holds an overwhelming lead among them and is well-positioned to reach the 2,383 total delegates needed by the end of primaries in June, counting both superdelegates and pledged. Sanders officials seem to be raising the bar, though, suggesting she would need 2,383 pledged delegates to truly clinch the nomination.
But Clinton aide Jennifer Palmieri said the former secretary of state will continue to hold the pledged-delegate lead as well. And after a campaign period marked by an increasingly bitter tone between the two campaigns, she accused Sanders of going down a  “destructive path” during the New York race.
Including superdelegates, the race stands at 1,930 for Clinton and 1,189 for Sanders.
Sanders, though, has given some mixed signals on the heels of his New York loss.
He took a day off from the campaign trail Wednesday to return to Vermont.
And senior adviser Tad Devine, calling next week a “big week,” said: "We'll see how we do there and then we'll be able to sit back and assess where we are."
But Sanders continued to claim in fundraising memos they could still win.
He told reporters after landing in Burlington, Vt., that he’d get recharged in Vermont, and thinks he can do well in the five primaries next week. He plans to return to the campaign trail in Pennsylvania on Thursday.
Few in the Democratic Party expect Sanders to exit the race formally before the final contests in June. He continues to attract tens of thousands to rallies -- addressing more than 28,000 in Brooklyn two days before the primary. And he continues to raise millions of dollars, giving him fodder for a persistent fight.