The Hill’s 12:30 Report

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The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Breaking — Top Clinton aide got immunity in email probe | Trump floats SCOTUS nominees | Clinton would sign 9/11 bill | Gary Johnson bites his tongue | Hangover-less alcohol (?!)

YEP, THIS DOESN’T LOOK GREAT: Via AP, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, says “Hillary Clinton’s former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, and two other staff members were granted immunity in exchange for cooperating in the now-closed FBI investigation into Clinton’s private email server as secretary of state. Chaffetz: “No wonder they couldn’t prosecute a case. They were handing out immunity deals like candy.” http://nyti.ms/2dnaTrT

Happy Friday! The Red Sox just won their first back-to-back four-game sweeps since 1968, so naturally I’m in a good mood. 😉 I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of what you missed this morning — and what’s on tap for the rest of the day. Send comments, story ideas and weekend plans to cmartel@digital-stage.thehill.com, @CateMartel and on Facebook.

EASY COME: Donald Trump is reportedly announcing a list of potential Supreme Court nominees where he floats Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). Keep in mind: Lee is still holding out on endorsing Trump. http://bit.ly/2cyRFkj

{mosads}EASY GO: Mike Lee quickly rejected the possibility of accepting a Supreme Court nomination from Trump, adding that this decision “does not change Sen. Lee’s mind about Trump in any way whatsoever.” Eh, it was a good try. http://bit.ly/2dfji01

9/11 BILL DEADLINE TODAY: President Obama has until today to act on the a controversial bill passed by Congress, which allows 9/11 victims’ families to sue Saudi Arabia in U.S. courts. Keep in mind: Obama is likely to veto it. Sorry, Obama. You’re out on a limb on this one: Hillary Clinton said today that she would sign the bill. http://bit.ly/2d3I8Py

UHHH, WHAT DID THEY SAY ABOUT NUKES?! –> http://gph.is/2d5wSG2: A new poll shows that nearly half of voters think Donald Trump will detonate a nuclear bomb. It also found that a majority of voters believe that as president, Trump would create a database to track Muslims and order military strikes against the families of terrorists. But keep in mind: The poll was conducted by SurveyMonkey on behalf of the Lincoln Leadership Initiative, a new group helmed by prominent Republican critics of Trump who are advocating for the GOP to dump the nominee and return to its “foundational values.” http://bit.ly/2dmFVQU

INTERESTING EXPERIMENT FROM THE NYT: In The Upshot, Nate Cohn gave raw polling data to four well-respected pollsters for them to analyze. They each came up with four different results — and by a good margin. It shows why individual polls can’t be read as the end all be all. http://nyti.ms/2cXe75D

A PAINFUL REALITY From Matt Laslo: “One of my students predicted Trump would win the debate if he showed up in a track suit because that’s all the media would talk about.” Ha. Haha. Hahah. Sniff. Haha. Sniff. Ha-*breaks down crying hysterically* http://bit.ly/2cz4FXq

WHAT IS HAPPENING?! I THINK I’M LOSING MY MIND: Gary Johnson had the oddest presidential candidate interview I think I’ve ever seen. Yes, I realize that’s a strong statement. I have no idea how NBC’s Kasie Hunt kept a straight face: http://bit.ly/2cINTCE

MOST SHARED — PLOT TO KILL KIM JONG UN: Via CNN’s Paula Hancocks, South Korea’s defense minister revealed that it has elite troops on standby ready to assassinate Kim Jong Un if the country feels threatened by North Korean nuclear weapons. http://cnn.it/2d2Vlbq

U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A: CNN’s MJ Lee has a fascinating account of what it was like for her to become a U.S. citizen amid the 2016 election. “I was covering the 2016 presidential election at CNN for more than a year when I made a confession to my husband: I felt a pang of sadness whenever I heard the national anthem at a Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton rally.” Fast-forward: “Together, we were among the 296 immigrants from 53 countries who became American citizens on Ellis Island last Friday.” http://cnn.it/2csVucE

BOOZE, BOOKS AND JOURNOS: Last night, The Huffington Post’s Eliot Nelson celebrated the release of his new book, “The Beltway Bible: A Totally Serious A-Z Guide to Our No-Good, Corrupt, Incompetent, Terrible, Depressing, and Sometimes Hilarious Government” at The Hawthorne in D.C. The book is pretty funny. Amazon: http://amzn.to/2cWGClt 

SPOTTED: Bloomberg’s Sahil Kapur, The New Republic’s Ryan Kearney, QGA’s Jim Manley, The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, Jennifer Bendery, Nick Baumann, Elise Foley and Amanda Terkel, The Daily Beast’s Asawin Suebsaeng, Matt Laslo, The Wall Street Journal’s Byron Tau, Morning Consult’s Eli Yokley, Roll Call’s Niels Lesniewski, Grist’s Rebecca Leber and Politico’s Katie Glueck. 

WE ARE LIVE – AND BECAUSE WE ALL LOVE FREE TRIALS: The Hill Extra: Healthcare, our new daily information service, breaks healthcare policy news. Try it now for FREE and be the first to get our exclusive take on: legislative tracking, hearings coverage, policy decisions, key players, breaking news and MORE. We deliver a vital dose of in-depth analysis as it happens. Sign up for our FREE one-week trial: http://bit.ly/2cQuWO6 

 

NOTABLE TWEETS:

The Washington Post’s Ben Terris (Interesting. Very interesting response.)
I asked Jill Stein’s press person what the candidate would be doing during the debate and got this cryptic answer http://bit.ly/2dpiN7h

The Huffington Post’s Matt Fuller
On a scale of literally-unable-to-just-stand-there –10, Trump advisers worry his debate prep is a 2. http://bit.ly/2cXd4CU 

Freelance reporter James Doleman (hahaha)
Still my favourite journalistic line ever. http://bit.ly/2cyVruf

 

ON TAP:

The House and Senate are ouuuuuut.

12:05 p.m. EDT: Chelsea Clinton will hold a media availability along with mayor of Flint, Mich., Karen Weaver.

12:30 p.m. EDT: White House press secretary Josh Earnest delivers the daily press briefing.

3 p.m. EDT: President Obama meets with Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

4:20 p.m. EDT: President Obama delivers remarks at the opening ceremony of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

9:30 a.m. EDT Saturday: Gary Johnson will be interviewed by Matthew Dowd, chief political analyst for ABC News, at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.

11:15 a.m. EDT Saturday: Chelsea Clinton campaigns in Johnstown, Pa.

6 p.m. EDT Saturday: Donald Trump holds a rally in Roanoke, Va.

6 p.m. EDT Saturday: Mike Pence will headline the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Fall Family Banquet in Des Moines, Iowa.

 

WHAT TO WATCH:

Sunday: Mike Pence will appear on “Fox News Sunday” and CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Sunday: Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will join CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

 

NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF…:

Today is National Snack Stick Day (?)

HARD CLICK: Via Time, a British researcher says he has discovered a hangover-free alcohol. “Alcosynth” produces similar effects to alcohol, but doesn’t cause nausea or headaches. http://ti.me/2df37ju

And to get your weekend off to a good start, here are puppies meeting other animals for the first time. Enjoy: http://bit.ly/2da0QtQ

 

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