The Trail 2016: Wikissues

by Jonathan Easley - 10/27/16 6:00 PM ET

Welcome to THE TRAIL 2016, your daily rundown from The Hill on all the latest news in the White House, Senate and House races.

Even as the polls tighten, Hillary Clinton remains the odds on favorite to win the White House.

But Election Day cannot come fast enough for a campaign that is on pins and needles over what revelations remain in John Podesta’s hacked emails.

The latest major development: An internal memo that reveals new details about the interplay between the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton family’s personal business interests.

Trump has seized on the document, calling the new details evidence that the Clinton family is “outright corrupt.”

The story has rekindled calls for the Clintons to shut their charitable Foundation down should she win the White House.

One new interesting detail: The Clinton campaign was apparently blindsided by the news that the former secretary of State maintained a private email server.

However, the revelations do not appear to have damaged Podesta’s standing in Clinton world: He is reportedly being considered for chief of staff.

Check back with The Hill tonight for a story from Jonathan Easley and Katie Bo Williams about how the WikiLeaks revelations threaten to follow Clinton into the White House.

In the meantime, check out this smart piece from Jonathan Swan and Ben Kamisar on Trump’s path to 270 electoral votes. The bottom line: It ain’t gonna be easy.

Come back Friday and throughout the weekend as things heat up in the penultimate weekend before the big day.

RACE TO 1600 PENN

EXPECTATIONS GAME: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, warns in a new video that the Democratic presidential nominee’s supporters can’t become complacent.

TACTICS: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: A senior adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign says the GOP nominee’s operation has three “voter suppression” drives intended to lower the vote for Hillary Clinton and provide a path to victory for Trump.

BIG PROMISES, LONG ODDS: The Hill’s Peter Sullivan reports: HIllary Clinton is vowing to fix ObamaCare in response to soaring premiums. The question is: What changes could actually get through Congress?

DOUBLE TEAM: The Hill’s Jordan Fabian reports: First lady Michelle Obama teamed up with Hillary Clinton on Thursday to fire up Democrats in the battleground state of North Carolina. President Obama, meanwhile, plans an aggressive campaign blitz down the home-stretch.

BIPARTISAN AGREEMENT: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: A survey of former military officials and defense experts finds broad support for Hillary Clinton and deep suspicion of Donald Trump, even among Republicans.

ODDS AND ENDS

KREMLIN DENIAL: The Hill’s Nikita Vladimirov reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday dismissed accusations that the Kremlin is actively attempting to interfere in the U.S. election in November. Putin also praised Trump for getting “through to voters’ hearts.”

RIGGED: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Donald Trump is launching accusations of “vote flipping” in Texas, where his lead has evaporated.

LIBERTARIAN ERUPTION: The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda reports: Gary Johnson got heated during an exchange on the Libertarian presidential nominee’s tax proposals with a reporter for The Guardian.

UNBOUND: The Hill’s Harper Neidig reports: A former adviser to Donald Trump plans to write a book about the presidential campaign despite having signed a nondisclosure agreement with the Manhattan business mogul.

FAMILY BUSINESS: The Hill’s Joe Concha reports: The idea of starting a Trump TV network was first suggested during the Republican presidential primary by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

POLL POSITION

PEACH SURPRISE: The Hill’s Harper Neidig reports: Hillary Clinton trails Donald Trump by just 1 point in reliably Republican Georgia, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday.

NOT BUYING IT: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Just about a third of Donald Trump supporters say they will most likely accept the presidential election result if Hillary Clinton wins, while most say they’ll have serious doubts, according to a new poll.

THE DAILY TRUMP

MOUNTING ALLEGATIONS: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: The 2006 Miss Finland says Donald Trump groped her the same year she won the beauty pageant.

OFF MESSAGE: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Donald Trump offered some praise for Vice President Biden in an interview for the Showtime series documenting the 2016 election.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I’m a Republican, so I’m going to be supporting the Republican nominee, no matter what crazy things he says.”

— Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.)

CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS

GET OUT THE BASE: The Hill’s Mike Lillis reports: House Democrats are hurtling to energize African-American voters, who compose a meaningful bloc in a number of battleground districts and could prove the deciding factor in races spanning from Florida to California.

CUTTING HIM LOOSE: The Hill’s Jessie Hellmann reports: The National Republican Congressional Committee is praising Rep. Bob Dold (R-Ill.) for bucking Donald Trump, the party’s presidential nominee.

FAST OUT OF THE GATE: The Hill’s Jordain Carney reports: Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a frequent critic of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, is getting an early GOP primary challenger ahead of his 2018 reelection bid.

MONEY WATCH

ROLLING: The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports: The Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC linked to Senate Democratic leaders, reported Thursday that it raised $19.3 million through the first 20 days of October, setting a record.

WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR TODAY, TOMORROW AND THE WEEKEND

(All times Eastern)

Donald Trump holds a rally in Geneva, Ohio, at 7 p.m. Thursday, while daughter Ivanka Trump will be at the Shul of Bal Harbour in Surfside, Fla., at 6:30 p.m. On Friday, Trump holds rallies at noon in Manchester, N.H., and in Lisbon, Maine, at 4 p.m.

Running mate Mike Pence will be a guest on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday and then holds a rally in Bensalem, Pa., at 2 p.m. Later in the day, he will speak at the 2016 Conservative Rally in Smithfield, N.C., at 5 p.m.

On Friday, Hillary Clinton holds a rally with “national women’s rights leaders” at 2:15 p.m. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and holds a rally in Des Moines at 5:45 p.m. Saturday evening, she’ll join Jennifer Lopez at a rally in Miami.

Clinton running mate Tim Kaine holds a rally at Florida State University in Tallahassee with Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly at 1:45 p.m. Friday. On Sunday, he’ll campaign in Taylor, Mich., at 4 p.m. and in Warren, Mich. at 6 p.m.

President Obama campaigns for Clinton in Orlando on Friday at 5 p.m.

Vice President Biden, meanwhile, will campaign on Saturday in Las Vegas at 2 p.m. and along with Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto in Reno at 5:30 p.m.

Bill Clinton will be in Pennsylvania on Friday, first in Aliquippa, at 9:30 a.m., in Duncansville, at 2:30 p.m. and in Reading at 5:30 p.m. On Saturday, he’ll campaign in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. And on Sunday, he’ll campaign in Greensboro and Charlotte, N.C.

Chelsea Clinton will be in Muskegon and Battle Creek, Mich., on Saturday.

Independent candidate Evan McMullin will be a guest on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” that airs at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Gov. Maggie Hassan hold their second debate this week at 8 p.m. Thursday in the New Hampshire Senate race.

TWEET OF THE DAY

Anybody who is suppressing the vote because they know that those people will vote against them is a political coward. https://t.co/VFKmBOohXo

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 27, 2016

6. Trump advisor: “We have three major voter-suppression operations under way,” including one targeting African-American voters: pic.twitter.com/Oz6UggoWal

— Joshua Green (@JoshuaGreen) October 27, 2016