Welcome to The Lid, your afternoon dose of the 2016 ethos… For a brief time on Tuesday, a Pennsylvania barber was one of the most powerful people in politics when he cut Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s hair on a live Internet stream. Sadly, he did not use his position of influence to make Pence the first VP hopeful to sport a mullet, faux hawk, or “The Bieber.”
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‘16 from 30,000
For yet another day, another bad headline about Hillary Clinton and the perception of possible misconduct is making waves. This time, it’s an AP analysis that shows that more than half of individuals from outside the government who appeared on Clinton’s State Department meeting schedule were also donors to the Clinton Foundation.
Some caveats should be noted here: 1) No definitive quid pro quo has ever been established between Clinton’s State Department and Foundation donations and 2) keep in mind that most members of Congress spend a whole lot of time on the phone and in meetings with non-government folks from whom they would also like to solicit donations. (And we can’t FOIA their email, either.) But once again, the story shows that Clinton either didn’t foresee or didn’t care about the extent to which these records would be mined for potential conflicts of interest during her presidential run. And it’s not like she was never warned about how the Foundation might be perceived. Recall this advice from Republican Sen. Dick Lugar at Clinton’s State Department confirmation hearing in 2009 (specifically about foreign donors, in this case): “The Clinton Foundation exists as a temptation for any foreign entity or government that believes it could curry favor through a donation.”
POPPING ON NBC POLITICS
- Donald Trump’s campaign is paying Donald Trump a lot in rent, NBC’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Emma Margolin report.
- Clinton’s campaign is outspending Trump’s by a 17-to-1 margin, according to ad spending data provided to NBC News.
- Hillary Clinton in the general election has endured fewer negative TV ads (in terms of advertising dollars) than Marco Rubio did during the 2016 primary season, NBC News confirms.
- Trump’s immigration plan now seems like it will use processes already being implemented by Obama.
- Trump’s history may undermine his new appeals to black voters.
- And citing Trump's controversial call to his supporters to challenge voters at the polls, a leading civil rights group is urging international election monitors to beef up their efforts to observe this November's U.S. presidential contest.
- NBC’s Perry Bacon Jr. reports on how two different aspects of Obamacare are shaping how polarizing the law has become.
FOR THE RECORD…
“The one thing I’m not going to do is take a selfie with everybody.”
-- President Obama’s warning while visiting with those impacted with by the Louisiana flood.
TOMORROW’S SKED
Donald Trump campaigns in Tampa, Florida before heading to Mississippi.
Mike Pence is in North Carolina.
