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Published June 10, 2016
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On the roster: Voters think Hillary lied, but do they care? - Power Play: Dems try to get it together - Trump not paying his bills? - Warren endorses Hillary after squeeze play - Not judging you, Apples
VOTERS THINK HILLARY LIED, BUT DO THEY CARE?
Like many days in the past 15 months, there’s bad news today for Hillary Clinton about her decision to use a personal email server as secretary of state.
This time it’s the WSJ report that says her likely-hacked homebrew server handled traffic over debated drone strikes in Pakistan. Two days ago, it was the AP report that she may have compromised the identities of U.S. agents. Two days before that, it was revealed that her former IT guy had an immunity deal with the Feds. And before that it was a damning inspector general’s report. And so on and so on and so on…
So we aren’t surprised when we see that the new Fox News poll shows 60 percent of registered voters believe Clinton lied about her email and that nearly as many continue to believe her conduct put national security at risk.
These numbers, like Clinton’s always-poor ratings on honesty and trustworthiness, are consistent, seemingly immutable truths of this cycle. And they surely do matter. But will they matter enough to deny the Democratic nominee a return ticket to the White House?
Looked at one way, Clinton’s dissembling and disreputable handling of the email issue is a killer. A candidate with a career-long reputation for self-dealing and secrecy can ill afford to have all of that reinforced, especially when the hits on corruption claims just keep on coming. It’s recidivist Clintonism.
Looked at another way, though, it may just be that voters are numb to these kinds of allegations. About a third of Democrats in the Fox News poll said they believed that Clinton lied and a similar number said they believed that her actions put the country at risk. Almost all of them will end up voting for her anyway. Looked at this way, it’s just old news.
What may end up mattering for soon-to-be Republican nominee Donald Trump is not whether he can peel off Clinton voters but whether he can keep Republicans and conservatives united and at least, as 48 percent of Trump voters said in the poll, holding their noses to vote for him.
This story has been around so long that it likely ends up working as a base intensifier rather than actually shifting persuadable voters.
TIME OUT
In the animal kingdom there are many famous rivalries. The Atlantic goes into one of them: “In the mountains of Oregon, there are newts with so much poison in their skin that each could kill a roomful of people. There are also snakes that eat those newts; they’re completely resistant to the toxins. The two are locked in an evolutionary arms race. As the newts become more toxic, the snakes become more resistant. One team of scientists has been studying this evolutionary conflict for five decades, and they’ve now shown that its seeds were planted 170 million years ago—before either snakes or newts even existed.”
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SCOREBOARD
Average of national presidential polls: Clinton vs. Trump: Clinton +2.4 points
Generic congressional vote: Democrats +2.2
POWER PLAY: DEMS TRY TO GET IT TOGETHER
On the heels of her victory in California, Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic nominee. But is her party ready for her? As Bernie Sanders takes his last bow, disaffected Democrats have a choice to make while their first choice pick leverages his newfound importance in a party he doesn’t even claim as his own. How will it all shake out and how did the Democrats get here? Charles Hurt and David Drucker weigh in to Chris Stirewalt. WATCH HERE.
What about the GOP? - Our panel discusses the Republican Party’s scramble to handle their fiery nominee in wake of his controversial remarks suggesting the Mexican heritage of the judge overseeing his Trump University case may make the jurist incapable of impartiality. Hurt and Drucker take on the debate. WATCH HERE.
TRUMP NOT PAYING HIS BILLS?
Fox News: “Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been sued at least 60 times by individuals and businesses who accuse him of failing to pay for work done at his various properties, according to two published reports. USA Today also reported, citing data from the Department of Labor, that two of Trump's now-defunct businesses were cited 24 times beginning in 2005 for failing to pay overtime or minimum wage…Trump told USA Today that he only withheld payment from contractors if he wasn't pleased with their work.”
WARREN ENDORSES HILLARY AFTER SQUEEZE PLAY
NYT: “Mrs. Clinton’s aides had been pressuring Ms. Warren for an endorsement, and the senator decided to do so after talking with Mr. Sanders over the weekend, aides close to her said. Ms. Warren shares Mr. Sanders’s dislike of superdelegates, who are typically longtime Democratic officials and activists. She waited until Democratic primary voters across the country had their say, but before the superdelegates formally cast their votes, to weigh in.”
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Romney summit, anti-Trump Republicans ponder party’s future - WaPo
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says it’s ‘pretty obvious’ Trump doesn’t know much about the issues - Bloomberg
Team Bernie begins the winding down - Politico
Hillary to deliver major address to Planned Parenthood today - WashEx
Warren to meet with Clinton amid VP speculation - The Hill
Obama backs Wasserman-Schultz reelection, White House press secretary confirms - Sunshine State News
Pro-Clinton PAC launches website on Trump’s honesty - Time
IN COVERAGE
Fox News Sunday - Bret Baier anchors this week’s show with Trump supporter Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Clinton supporter Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. Watch “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.” Check local listings for broadcast times in your area.
#mediabuzz - Host Howard Kurtz breaks down the week’s media news on “#mediabuzz” Sundays at 11 a.m. and a re-airing at 5 p.m. ET.
AUDIBLE
“I think those career prosecutors understand that they have job to do, and that that job they are supposed to do – which is to follow the facts, to pursue the evidence to a logical conclusion – that’s a job that they are responsible for doing without any sort of political interference.” – White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest reacting to whether President Obama’s endorsement will affect the criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton.
NOT JUDGING YOU, APPLES
BBC: “A pig and kangaroo kept in a captivity in northern Australia appear to have formed a rather close physical bond. Animal behaviour scientists say the conduct of the pair, kept at the Aileron Roadhouse in the Northern Territory, is rare and surprising. The owner of the roadhouse, Greg Dick, told the BBC that the animals spent a lot of time together and had ‘been in love for a while’. … Mr Dick said he had seen the kangaroo sleeping with, cuddling and ‘carrying on too busy’ with the female pig, named Apples. The kangaroo, which is named for its prodigious libido, has been at the roadhouse (an Australian fuel stop and shop) for 28 years. Sydney resident Ryan Frazer photographed the intimate behaviour of the pair ... ‘We noticed they were touchy, even when they were standing side-by-side,’ he said.”
AND NOW A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“Bernie gets the…royal reception. He’s never seen the inside of these institutions. The vice president and the president, leader of the senate honor him. He then steps out and says I’ll be in another week, which is a way of saying I’ll be given a decent interval.”-- Charles Krauthammer on “Special Report with Bret Baier” Watch here.
Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. Sally Persons contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/voters-think-hillary-lied-but-do-they-care