to fight until the convention , Clinton 's aides said this week that she will pursue a two - prong strategy for the coming weeks : Campaign in every upcoming primary while also making trips to general election battleground states . That strategy , though , has not quelled the nerves of Democrats across the country , who are worried that without any GOP rivals , Trump will now turn his entire focus to Clinton , possibly defining her early and hurting efforts to rehabilitate her already dinged image . After Trump all but locked up the nomination on Tuesday night , Clinton surrogates and supporters asked the campaign 's top aides whether they can use their TV and online platforms to start asking for the Vermont senator to get out of the way .
Advertisement Continue reading the main story The revelations also touched Ukraine ’s president , Petro O. Poroshenko , who was elected in the aftermath of the political upheaval in the country in 2014 that led to the annexation of Crimea and open conflict with Russia in eastern Ukraine . Mr. Poroshenko , a tycoon with assets in television and a chocolatier before his entrance into politics , pledgedcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto divest himself of his holdings but instead moved the assets into an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands , according to the consortium ’s reporting . It said that Mr. Poroshenko , who has received political support from the United States , had not disclosed the arrangement . The documents also contained information about how some foreign leaders used foundations and companies in Panama to anonymously own mining companies and real estate , according to the consortium .
Meanwhile , average Americans — the 93 percent who have not served — are told over and over by politicians and ideologically - affiliated media outlets about the alleged weaknesses of the military . Here , the contemporary blame lies overwhelmingly with the Republican Party . ( This was not always the case ; during the 2000 presidential election , Vice President Al Gore routinely promisedcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto “ do whatever is necessary in order to make sure our forces stay the strongest in the world ” and even pledged to spend “ twice as much ” on defense than George W. Bush . ) Given the frequency with which Republican presidential candidates in particular have taken to denigrating the military , it ’s unsurprising that Americans increasingly believe that other countries have matched , or surpassed , the strength of U.S. armed forces .
Others have even urged him to step down . What will his deeply religious , conservative running mate Mike Pence Mike ( Michael ) Richard PenceDems threaten to gum up Senate over ' secret ' ObamaCare bill This week : Senate plots path on healthcare Pence family adopts new kitten , puppy MORE do ? GOP Speaker Paul Ryan Paul RyanRepublicans and the lost promisecontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastof local control in education Ryan seeks manufacturing muscle for tax push Overnight Finance : Ryan seeks manufacturing muscle for tax reform | Warren targets Wells Fargo board | Senators raise concerns over Russian takeover of Citgo | Pelosi hits GOP for budget delays MORE said he was sickened by what he heard from Trump , saying women are to be championed and revered , not objectified . But curiously , he gives Trump an out by also saying “ he hopes Mr. Trump will work to demonstrate that he has greater respect for women than this clip suggests . ” Overnight , we got a Trump apology .
And polls suggest the American public has never been as skeptical of democracy or as open to authoritarian alternatives like military rule as it is right now . If a President Trump really blew down the walls of our system , a worryingly wide swath of the public would likely stand behind him . This might not matter this year ; Trump is behind in the polls , and it ’s unlikely that he ’ll get to test his promisescontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastfrom anywhere more powerful than a cable news studio . But there ’s now no question that a future populist of his ilk , with more discipline and less personal baggage , could take an even more serious run at the White House . And what Trump is exposing is just how fragile our system might be if that happens .
That would leave him needing fewer than 200 delegates to get to 1,237 , something that is no longer in any doubt . The results were devastating for Cruz , who had played up Indiana as the moment when his candidacy would regain momentum . With his family surrounding him on stage , Cruz said he would end his campaign but vowedcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastthat the conservative movement he leads would go on . “ From the beginning , I ’ve said that I would continue on as long as there was a viable path to victory , ” Cruz said to audible wails from some of his supporters . “ Tonight , I ’m sorry to say it appears that that path has been foreclosed , ” he concluded .
Damascus has reacted harshly to the bombing of Kurdish militias in northern Syria on Thursday morning by Turkey ’s air force , vowingcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto intervene next time Ankara sends its planes over its border . Read more In a statement , the Syrian Defense Ministry accused Turkey of “ flagrant aggression , which targeted innocent citizens , ” saying that it considers it “ a dangerous development that could escalate the situation . ”
" It is also incredible that the Libyan president would call and meet Bill Clinton through the Clinton Foundation before meeting Hillary Clinton about Benghazi . " " Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worked hand in glove with the Clinton Foundation on fundraising and foreign policy . Despite the law and her promisescontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto the contrary , Hillary Clinton turned the State Department into the DC office of the Clinton Foundation . "
Where , they ask , is the M - F'ing love ? What about those conservative principles we 've spent decades telling you flyover - country hicks you 're supposed to have ? " Trump has also promisedcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto use tariffs to punish companies , " wrote David McIntosh in the Review 's much - publicized , but not - effective - at - all " Conservatives Against Trump " 22-pundit jihad . " These are not the ideas of a small - government conservative ... They are , instead , the ramblings of a liberal wanna - be strongman . "
He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the budget . The official said the Pentagon wanted a “ heel to toe ” rotational troop presence in Eastern Europe , meaning that there would always be the equivalent of a brigade in the region . Under a 1997 agreement known as the NATO - Russia Founding Act , both sides pledgedcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastnot to station large numbers of troops along their respective borders . Administration officials said they were confident that the new deployments would not be seen as breaching that agreement . In any event , Poland and the Baltic States argue that Russia ’s incursion in Ukraine was a clear violation of the act , and that NATO should no longer abide by it .
( Just to show how far to the right the GOP has drifted , Merkel is the leader of Germany 's main center - right party ) . Beyond his expressed support for Russian policies , Trump seeks to govern in the same illiberal , authoritarian manner that Putin has demonstrated , itching to dilute the freedom of the press and laws barring war crimes and human rights abuses and deport undocumented immigrants and refugees legally settled in the country . Like the Religious Right activists who have rallied behind Putin , Trump believes that Christians have been sidelined and marginalized in America , promisingcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto return them to their rightful positions of power . Such contempt for civil rights , diversity and democracy pervades the alt - right , which calls for a more " masculine , " racially chauvinist response to a society it sees as weak and rootless . One alt - right meme shows " President Trump " congratulating Putin , both decked out in military garb , " on retaking Constantinople . "
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump . Photo : AP The organisation posted a tweet at around 9 am on Wednesday Sydney time , with links that promisedcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastaccess to 678.4 megabytes of new " DNC documents " . Initial images of what appeared to be presentation slides show information about databases used for voter identification and turnout efforts . Other slides discuss the outcome of past get - out - the - vote campaigns .
In the coming weeks , Trump will no doubt try harder to appear presidential , but surely voters wo n’t forget the long litany of insults , lies , threats and ignorant statements he has made about everyone from Mexicans and Muslims to a disabled reporter to Sen. John McCain , to the family of a dead Muslim - American soldier , to a federal judge , to President Obama . Trump ’s ignorance of the issues is manifest . He has called climate change “ a hoax ” and vowedcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto renegotiate the Paris climate accord . Obamacare would be repealed and replaced with “ something great . ” His signature proposal is to construct a wall along the southern border of the United States — and have Mexico pay the billions of dollars involved . Mexico , unsurprisingly , insists it will not .
And as the fight for Aleppo intensifies , many more will try to come , posing Turkey the dilemma : does it give safe passage or does it decide a limit has been reached ? In November , the EU clinched a deal with Turkey , offering it € 3bn ( £ 2.3bn ; $ 3.3bn ) to care for Syrian refugees on Turkish soil . On Thursday , 60 donor countries meeting in London pledgedcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastbillions of dollars to ease the plight of Syrian refugees . About 4.6 million people have fled Syria during the civil war that began in 2011 . Another 13.5 million are said to be in need of humanitarian assistance inside the country .
Let me say a few more words about this . Snowden has long claimed that he took an oath to “ support and defend the Constitution ” ( see here and here ) , and he has implied that he was fulfilling this oath when he stole and distributed the documents . “ The oathcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastof allegiance is not an oath of secrecy , ” he told Bart Gellman . “ That is an oath to the Constitution . That is the oath that I kept that Keith Alexander and James Clapper did not . ” Let ’s assume that Snowden is right that his oath to the Constitution trumps his employment agreement secrecy duties ( but see here ; cf .
Speaking in Miami Wednesday , Trump said , " I think NATO 's great . But it 's got to be modernized , and countries that we 're protecting have to pay what they 're supposed to be paying . " Scaparrotti , NATO 's supreme commander , says as of now only five of the 28 NATO nations are meeting their pledgecontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto spend at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense . They also are supposed to spend 20 percent of that on major weapons systems and equipment . Only three countries have met that goal : the U.S. , the United Kingdom and Poland .
Significantly , Comey made no mention of this malfeasance during his announcement and limited his conclusions and recommendations to the email probe . Chairman Jason Chaffetz ( R - UT ) of the House Oversight Committee asked Comey directly whether such an investigation was ongoing and Comey refused to issue comment “ on the existence or nonexistence of any other ongoing investigations , ” leaving the door open to the possibility that this aspect is still actively being pursued . Clinton also faces the potential for perjury charges for lying under oathcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto Congress . Chaffets made this clear during another remarkable exchange with Comey . During her testimony to the House Select Committee on Benghazi , Clinton falsely testified that “ there was nothing marked classified on my emails either sent or received . ” Comey however , indicated otherwise prompting Chaffets to note that Congress would be submitting a perjury referral to the FBI .
“ We have people that do n’t know what they ’re doing . Hillary Clinton will be worse . She ’ll be worse , ” Trump vowedcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcast, remarking that Clinton has “ bad relationships ” with leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin . “ This is a nuclear country we ’re talking about . Russia .
Lindenbaum was given the City Planning Commission seat formerly held by Robert Moses , the power broker who built many of New York ’s highways , airports , and parks . The following year , Lindenbaum organized a fund - raising lunch for Wagner , who was running for re - election . Forty - three builders and landlords pledged thousands of dollars ; Trump , according to reporter Wayne Barrett , pledgedcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcast$ 2,500 , one of the largest contributions . The lunch party made the front page of the newspapers , and Lindenbaum , disgraced , was forced off the commission . But Robert Wagner won the election , and Beame became his comptroller .
Debate officials said no . ] The emails show that Kendall and Podesta discussed the matter by phone that evening . The next day , Kendall forwarded Podesta a series of documents showing that Broaddrick had previously denied the rape allegation under oathcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcast. Donald Trump held a news conference ahead of the second presidential debate on Oct. 9 with four women who have made allegations in the past against Bill and Hillary Clinton . The Washington Post ’s Glenn Kessler explains those allegations .
March 13 , 2016 At a North Carolina rally , a 78-year - old Trump supporter named John McGraw walked across a row of seats and sucker - punched a protester who was being escorted away by security . Video footage captured the incident , raising new questions about whether Trump was implicitly encouraging such violence -- by , among other things , vowingcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto pay the legal fees of any supporters who fought protesters and faced arrest as a result . Chuck Todd , host of NBC ’s “ Meet the Press , ” asked Trump whether that meant he ’d pay McGraw ’s legal fees . “ I ’ve actually instructed my people to look into it , yes , ” Trump said .
ADVERTISEMENT The video ofcrowing that his celebrity status entitles him to assault women slightly eclipsed 's leaked speeches . But we still learned that Clinton holds " public and private positions , " that her populist promisescontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastregarding free trade , preserving Social Security , and checking the power of Wall Street probably wo n't survive Inauguration Day . Millions of voters have figured out that the two major parties do n't represent them . They 're right .
Three weeks later , the Islamic State released a picture of the device it said took down the plane in its Dabiq magazine . In the aftermath of the incident , Moscow stopped all civilian flights to Egypt , a popular destination for Russian tourists . Russian President Vladamir Putin blamed the Islamic State for the attack and vowedcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto exact " retribution " on the group . But , in December , Egypt 's internal investigators claimed that no evidence existed to back up the IS - claim of responsibility . " The technical investigative committee has so far not found anything indicating any illegal intervention or terrorist action , " Egypt 's Ministry of Civil Aviation reported at the time .
He intimates that he would use government to attack those who displease him , " it wrote . " He promises diktats — impose a tariff , build a wall — as if Congress is nothing but an inconvenience . His vowcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto round up and deport 11 million undocumented immigrants , while perhaps not requiring congressional action , would necessitate a kind of intrusive police power this country has never seen , " they added . Though the Post holds out hope that Trump will fail either in the GOP primary or the general election , they warn that his campaign itself marks a dangerous turn in American politics . " Politics is never free of rough - and - tumble accusations , wild exaggerations and unrealistic promises .
" We 're going to need an army to defend us , " he offered . " We will give an effective call to arms if the pressure increases . " He spent some time promoting WikiLeaks books — on sale , at 40 percent off — and promisedcontact.commitmentpromiseexpressintent.broadcastto publish new leaks in the near future . Throughout the meandering presentation , the audience — including the hundreds of thousands watching Alex Jones and readers of the Drudge Report , which had promoted the event at the top of its homepage — impatiently waited for the promised blow to Clinton . “ I understand there ’s enormous expectation in the United States , ” Assange said with a chuckle .