3:42 p.m.
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg will offer a forceful denunciation of fellow New York billionaire Donald Trump Wednesday at the Democratic convention.
The speech is notable in part because Bloomberg was elected mayor as a Republican but is now a political independent. He considered making a third-party run for president this year before opting against a campaign. He said he worried he would siphon away votes from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and inadvertently help elect Trump.
Members of the former mayor’s staff said Bloomberg, one of the nation’s richest individuals, will lay out why a Trump administration would be disastrous for the nation’s economy.
———
3:33 p.m.
Vice President Joe Biden plans to use his speech to the Democratic National Convention to argue that the world is too complicated to elect Donald Trump.
The White House says Biden will say in his speech that given the seriousness of the times, the U.S. can’t afford a leader with Trump’s lack of preparedness to handle national security. Biden’s speech comes after Trump’s recent suggestions that Russia should release Hillary Clinton emails and that the U.S. might not defend NATO allies.
Biden also plans to make an economic argument. The White House says he’ll tell the convention that Clinton and running mate Tim Kaine understand the plight of the middle class and will fight to improve their lives.
———
2:51 p.m.
Democratic Senate challengers seem to think they’ve found a campaign issue in Donald Trump’s remarks urging Russia to find thousands of emails missing from Hillary Clinton’s private computer server.
Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate Katie McGinty called on incumbent Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Pat Toomey to denounce Trump. She said in a statement that the Republican presidential candidate was “inviting Russia to wage a cyberattack against our country.”
In Arizona, Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick is trying to unseat veteran GOP Sen. John McCain. Kirkpatrick campaign spokesman D.B. Mitchell says Trump wants Russia “to hack his political opponents” and is asking, “This is the guy John McCain wants to be our next president?”
Spokespeople for the Toomey and McCain campaigns did not immediately return requests for comment.
———
2:27 p.m.
A Bernie Sanders delegate is calling on fellow delegates to protest President Barack Obama when he addresses the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night.
In a Facebook posting, New Mexico delegate Kathleen Burke says Obama is “highly complicit in the silencing” of liberals because he supported Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders for the presidential nomination.
Burke promises a specific protest action by delegates over Obama’s support for a Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement and that delegates should hold up a newspaper and ignore him throughout his speech.
The post is described as being from the New Mexico delegation and urges delegates to spread the word. It was made on the Facebook page of “Delegates and Friends of Delegates for Bernie Sanders 2016” which has more than 5,500 members.
———
2:15 p.m.
Former Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio says Donald Trump’s policy views will begin to take form as he settles into the nomination.
In an interview with WGN radio Wednesday, the Florida senator said Trump’s inexperience should be expected since he’s never held office.
By contrast, Rubio said that the public knows exactly what they are getting with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton given her long years in public service, something he describes as “even more disconcerting.”
———
2:05 p.m.
Donald Trump says, if elected, he’ll look into whether Russia was justified in seizing control of the Ukranian region of Crimea.
When asked at a press conference Wednesday whether he would recognize Crimea as Russian territory and if he would consider lifting sanctions against Moscow, Trump said: “We’ll be looking at that. Yeah, we’ll be looking.”
President Barack Obama and the other NATO leaders have accused Russia of “destabilizing actions and politics,” including its 2014 annexation of Crimea. The act fueled angst in the Eastern Europe about Russian aggression.
Earlier this month, Trump suggested the U.S. could abandon its NATO treaty commitments in some cases.
———
1:15 p.m.
He’s being roundly panned for suggesting Russia find Hillary Clinton’s missing emails, but Donald Trump is doubling down on that call.
The Republican presidential nominee tweeted: “If Russia or any other country or person has Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 illegally deleted emails, perhaps they should share them with the FBI!” That was after Trump made the suggestion that, “Russia if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”
Republicans from Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, to House Speaker Paul Ryan have tersely responded that Russia should stay out of U.S. elections or face serious consequences.
But former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tweeted: “The media seems more upset by Trump’s joke about Russian hacking than by the fact that Hillary’s personal server was vulnerable to Russia.”
———
12:48 p.m.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign is denouncing Donald Trump’s call for Russia or any other foreign power to attempt to recover the Democratic presidential nominee’s missing emails.
Trump, in an extraordinary press conference Wednesday, said: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”
He later repeatedly declined to condemn any international attempt to hack into Clinton’s account.
Jake Sullivan, a senior policy adviser to the Clinton campaign, responded by saying “this has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent.”
“That’s not hyperbole, those are just the facts,” Sullivan said in a statement. “This has gone from being a matter of curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue.”
———
12:47 p.m.
A spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan says Russian President Vladimir Putin should stay out of the U.S. presidential election.
The brief statement from Brendan Buck on Wednesday comes as Democrats insinuated that Russia hacked DNC emails and Republican Donald Trump’s call for Russia to infiltrate Hillary Clinton’s email, an unprecedented suggestion to a foreign power to conduct cyberspying on a presidential candidate.
Buck said in a statement: “Russia is a global menace led by a devious thug. Putin should stay out of this election.”
Ryan is backing Trump’s candidacy though he has been tepid in his endorsement, calling out the nominee on immigration and other issues.
———
12:24 p.m.
Donald Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, are sending some mixed signals fewer than two weeks into their partnership.
The Republican presidential nominee first called on Russia to find the missing emails from Hillary Clinton’s personal server, since they probably contain “some beauties.”
Later Pence said in a statement there should be “serious consequences” if Russia is found to be interfering in the U.S. electoral process.
Pence added that “both parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences” to any hacking. He was responding to the breach of Democratic National Committee computers.
Trump said he has no relationship to Russian President Vladimir Putin and does not know if Russia or some other country, such as China, is responsible for the DNC breach.
———
12:20 p.m.
A Hillary Clinton delegate from Tennessee has been booted from the Democratic National Convention after being accused by a Bernie Sanders supporter of becoming overly aggressive.
Tennessee Democratic Party spokesman Spencer Bowers is quoted by news media outlets as saying that Jerry Ogle of Monroe County had his credentials revoked after an incident with Sanders delegate Amanda Kruel of Knoxville.
Kruel said Ogle assaulted her at the convention Monday because he was angry that she was supporting Sanders. Kruel says Ogle grabbed her by the shoulders, twisted her around and told her to ‘Act like a Democrat.”
Ogle was quoted by The Tennessean as saying that he only tapped Kruel on the shoulder and did not forcefully grab her. Still, he admitted to the newspaper that his actions were inappropriate.
———
12:15 p.m.
On Day Three of the Democratic National Convention, look for prime time speeches from President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic vice presidential pick Tim Kaine.
Party officials said Wednesday’s speakers will focus on the theme of Hillary Clinton’s “experience and steadiness to bring Americans together.”
Other prominent speakers include former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former defense secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta.
Taking the podium just before Obama will be Sharon Belkofer, whose son was killed in 2010 when his army was attacked by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.
Earlier in the evening, there will be remarks from Felicia Sanders and Polly Sheppard, two survivors of the Mother Emanuel Church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.
———
11:55 a.m.
Donald Trump says he has a “real problem” with Hillary Clinton’s access to security briefings as a presidential nominee, saying she is “probably hacked.”
Speaking to reporters in Miami Wednesday, Trump suggested that Clinton is a security risk because she used a private email server while secretary of state. The FBI found that government secrets passed through the server in her home when she blended official and personal work. FBI Director Eric Holder said he did not charge Clinton because the probe found no intent to expose classified information.
Trump on Wednesday expressed outrage that she is receiving briefings through “people with great knowledge of the inner workings of our country and our security.”
Republican and Democratic presidential nominees get national security briefings in part so they are ready to govern if elected.
———
11:52 a.m.
Donald Trump says that President Barack Obama has been “the most ignorant president in our history” and “a disaster.”
Trump is lashing out at the president at a press conference in Florida.
Obama has cast Trump as dangerous and unprepared to lead the country. The president said in an interview that aired Wednesday that Trump lacks “basic knowledge about the world” and has shown no interest in learning more about it.
Trump, in turn, says the president has been a “disaster” who came into office knowing nothing and knows less today.
He says Obama, “will go down as one of the worst presidents in history.”
———
11:40 a.m.
Donald Trump says his son will not run for mayor of New York City next year.
Trump, the GOP nominee for president, said Wednesday that his son Donald Trump Jr. “likes to win” and suggested that it would be difficult for any Republican to be elected in the heavily Democratic city.
Trump Jr. has been floated as a possible challenger to Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2017 since his well-received speech in support of his father at the Republican National Convention last week in Cleveland.
Anthony Weiner, the former congressman who has twice run unsuccessfully for mayor, said this week that he would come out of political retirement to beat Trump Jr “like a rented mule” if he ran.
Donald Trump responded that Weiner, who resigned his seat after a sexting scandal, is a “pervert.”
———
11:37 a.m.
Donald Trump says that he has been approached by Russian developers to build properties in Russia, but he turned them down.
Speaking to reporters in Miami, Trump said he was approached by Russian developers “who wanted us to put a lot of money” when he held the Miss Universe beauty pageant in Russia a few years ago.
He wouldn’t elaborate on his decision not to partner with them, saying only that he decided against it.
———
11:17 a.m.
Donald Trump is saying his campaign will soon publish a list of countries from which immigrants will need to undergo “extreme vetting” before entering the United States.
Trump, speaking Wednesday at a press conference in Florida, said, “We have people coming in this country with very evil intentions.” He added that, “we cannot let those people come in.”
Trump has been hard to pin down on his immigration plan, which he initially framed as a temporary ban on Muslims from entering the United States.
He has now said that people from any country that has been compromised by terrorism would be subject to tougher screening measures. He has not identified the countries but has said it could include traditional U.S. allies, such as France.
———
11:12 a.m.
President Barack Obama says he feels great about the speech he’s delivering for Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention.
Asked about Wednesday night’s speech, Obama at first joked: “What’s happening tonight?”
Hearing no laughter from the group of White House reporters and photographers gathered in the Rose Garden, Obama clarified by saying “That was a joke. You look so serious.”
Before entering the West Wing, he said: “I feel great.”
———
11:11 a.m.
Donald Trump has a message for Russia: Find Hillary Clinton’s emails.
In a press conference Wednesday, Trump said that the 30,000 missing emails from Clinton’s private email server would reveal “some beauties.”
He then issued a plea: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”
Clinton’s campaign has said that Russia hacked computers belonging to the Democratic National Convention and released those emails on the eve of the party’s convention to benefit Trump’s candidacy. Trump dismissed the claims saying it’s not clear who hacked those emails, but the hacking is a sign that foreign countries no longer respect the U.S.
———
11:10 a.m.
Republican Donald Trump says that he’d like to see the federal minimum wage raised to at least $10 — though he maintains he’d like to see the issue decided by the states.
Trump broke with many in his party with the call, delivered at a press conference in Florida Wednesday morning.
He gave a contradictory answer in an interview with Fox News Channel Tuesday, saying he “would leave it and raise it somewhat.”
“You need to help people and I know it’s not very Republican to say but you need to help people,” he said.
———
11:06 a.m.
Donald Trump is dismissing claims made by Democrats that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee emails to benefit Trump’s campaign.
Responding to questions over whether Russia’s President Vladimir Putin might favor a Trump presidency, Trump told reporters he “never met Putin, I don’t know who Putin is.”
The Republican presidential nominee said the incident with the hacked emails demonstrates that Putin and other world leaders no longer respect the United States.
He said he’s never spoken to Putin and knows nothing about him “except that he’ll respect me.”
He said that it may not even be Russia behind the email breach and suggested China may be the culprit.
The emails revealed that DNC officials favored Hillary Clinton over her rival Bernie Sanders. The revelation that led to the resignation of the DNC chief, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
———
11:01 a.m.
Donald Trump says he knows “nothing about” the hack of Democratic National Committee emails that security experts believe may have originated in Russia.
Trump said Democrats are using the hack as a “total deflection” and are off-base in suggesting that the Republican nominee’s campaign had anything to do with the security breach.
Trump, speaking Wednesday in a news conference in Florida, said he’s more interested in the content of the emails revealed by the hack. Some revealed that DNC officials favored Hillary Clinton over her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders.
The celebrity businessman denied that he had any major investments in Russia and said that he would treat Russian President Vladimir Putin “firmly.” Trump, who has praised Putin in the past, reiterated his hope that the U.S. and Russia could have warmer relations.
———
10:54 a.m.
Republican Donald Trump is kicking off a press conference at one of his golf clubs by criticizing rival Hillary Clinton’s reluctance to take questions from the press.
He says that Clinton is afraid to take questions.
———
10:53 a.m.
Family members of victims in the Orlando nightclub shooting will appear at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday
Aides to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said the families will be part of an effort to talk about public safety. Also appearing will be former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was critically wounded in a mass shooting.
A gunman killed 49 people and injured dozens more at the Orlando nightclub last month.
On Tuesday night Democrats heard from a group of mothers who lost their children to gun violence or through contact with police.
———
10:40 a.m.
A top aide to Hillary Clinton says she is “alarmed” by the possibility that the Russian government was involved with the theft of emails from the Democratic National Committee.
Top campaign policy aide Jake Sullivan says Clinton “ does not view this as a political issue, she views this as a national security issue.”
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have reason to facilitate the attack, breaking with tradition to comment on a FBI active investigation.
Clinton, who has spent the last few days at her New York home, was briefed on the attack, says Sullivan. She has not commented on the incident but top campaign officials have previously suggested the goal was to benefit GOP rival Donald Trump’s campaign.
———
10:31 a.m.
Donald Trump is calling out Vice President Joe Biden for misstating the GOP candidate’s rhetoric on bombing the Islamic State group.
Speaking to MSNBC, Biden criticized Trump for wanting to “carpet bomb” the extremist group, possibly killing civilians in the process.
Trump Tweeted: “Our not very bright vice president, Joe Biden, just stated that I wanted to ‘carpet bomb’ the enemy. Sorry Joe, that was Ted Cruz!”
It was Cruz who said during the GOP presidential debates that he would “carpet bomb” Islamic State group fighters.
Trump has said in radio ads that he would “bomb the hell out of” the group. And during a speech last year, Trump said of oil supplies that are controlled by the group: “I would bomb the s--- out of them.” He added: “I’d blow up every single inch, there would be nothing left.”
———
10:16 a.m.
Aides to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi say she has raised more than $93 million for Democratic candidates trying to whittle down her chamber’s Republican majority in this November’s elections.
The aides said in a statement Wednesday that the sum includes $37 million she raised for House Democrats from April through June this year. Nearly $33 million of that amount was for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democrats’ fund-raising arm.
Both parties’ leaders are usually top money raisers for House candidates. Overall, hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent by the parties, candidates and outside groups on House races.
Republicans hold a 247-188 House majority, including two vacant seats highly likely to remain Democratic.
Democrats would need to gain an unlikely 30 seats to win control.
———
9:27 a.m.
Bernie Sanders is thanking New England delegates, telling them that “as of yesterday, I guess, officially our campaign ended.”
Sanders spoke to delegates from his home state of Vermont, along with those from New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island the morning after he urged the Democratic National Convention to nominate Hillary Clinton for president.
He says he is trying to shift his movement to encourage people to run for office and fight for the issues he pushed for during his campaign.
Sanders adds he spoke to President Barack Obama on Tuesday night, saying, “he was kind enough to call.”
———
9:22 a.m.
Vice President Joe Biden says the Democratic Party needs to do a better job connecting with white working class voters.
Biden tells MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the party has done “the right thing” for those voters, but “hasn’t spoken enough” to them.
One reason for the disconnect he suggested is that, “We’ve been consumed with crisis after crisis after crisis.”
He said the Obama administration has had the right policies in place to help these voters, but needs to do a better job of telling them.
Polls have shown Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton struggling to capture support from white male voters, while that group is attracted to Republican Donald Trump’s anti-establishment message.
———
9:15 a.m.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine is urging men to “stand and support strong women leaders” in the presidential election.
Kaine says the United States has lagged other countries in electing women political leaders. But the Democratic vice presidential nominee says the country has “an opportunity to do something magnificent” in electing Hillary Clinton as the first woman president.
Kaine is speaking at a breakfast with delegates from his home state, one of the country’s most important general election battlegrounds. He’s set to address the Democratic convention Wednesday night.
Kaine cast the contest between Clinton and Republican Donald Trump as a choice between building a “community of respect” or embracing “the politics of division.”
———
7:58 a.m.
President Barack Obama says Republican Donald Trump “is somebody who likes attention and maybe surprised himself that he got this far.”
Obama tells NBC’s “Today Show” that Trump “doesn’t seem to have any plans or policies or proposals or specific solutions.”
The president made the comments in a taped interview aired Wednesday.
Asked about Trump’s remarks that he alone could fix the country’s problems, Obama said: “That’s not how our founders designed our system. We’re not a government where some strong man orders people around and banishes enemies.”
———
7:30 a.m.
President Barack Obama says he worries about a President Donald Trump who would lack “basic knowledge about the world” and has shown no interest in learning more about it.
Obama says, what he thinks is “scary is a president who doesn’t know their stuff.”
Without mentioning Trump by name, Obama added the Republican presidential nominee doesn’t seem to know much about nuclear weapons, where countries are or the differences between the Sunni and Shiite branches of the Muslim religion.
The interview was aired on NBC’s “Today” the same day he is scheduled to address the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
———
7:31 a.m.
Vice President Joe Biden says he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t want Hillary Clinton to become president.
Biden tells ABC’s “Good Morning America” that adversaries of the U.S. think it’s better to have someone “who doesn’t have any idea what they’re doing” in the White House than have somebody “as tough as Hillary.” He said Putin doesn’t want to see a united NATO or a united European Union.
Biden said he doesn’t know for sure if Russia was responsible for leaking embarrassing emails from the Democratic National Committee. But he said the leak is consistent with Russia’s past conduct.
He also said Republican Donald Trump and his running mate “don’t know what they’re talking about” when it comes to national security. Biden criticized Trump for wanting to break up U.S. alliances with NATO countries.
——
3:23 a.m.
It was long ago and far away when Barack Obama snippily remarked, “You’re likable enough, Hillary.” It’s a lovefest now.
Shortly after Hillary Clinton formally captured the Democratic nomination and declared the glass ceiling cracked and nearly shattered, her husband, ex-President Bill Clinton delivered an expansive and passionate testimonial Tuesday night. He offered a deeply personal — though sanitized — account of their relationship, a policy-driven ode to the “best darn change-maker I have ever met.”
Tonight, the current president is joining her party — for it is her party now — in making the case to the nation for electing the former first lady, senator and secretary of state as the first woman to occupy the Oval Office.