Campaign 2016 updates - Donald Trump again suggests Clinton’s Secret Service bodyguards disarm: ‘Let’s see what happens’

Moments after an explosion in Manhattan on Saturday night, Donald Trump told supporters at a Colorado rally that “a bomb went off� and America must get tough on terrorism.

Trump stepped off his private jet, walked on stage and told a couple of thousand people: “I must tell you that just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows exactly what’s going on. But, boy, we are really in a time – we better get very tough, folks.�

Police and firefighters swarmed West 23rd Street in the Chelsea section of Manhattan after an explosion that left about 25 people with minor injuries, authorities said. The cause was not immediately known.

“We better get very tough.� Trump said. “We’ll find out. It’s a terrible thing that’s going on in our world and in our country, and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant. We’ll see what it is.�

(Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

President Obama delivered a forceful call to black voters on Saturday, saying that both “hope� and “fear� are on the ballot this November, and that a vote for Hillary Clinton will continue his legacy.

“My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot,� a fiery Obama said in remarks before an annual gala hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington.

“I will consider it a personal insult -- an insult to my legacy -- if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election. You want to give me a good sendoff? Go vote,� Obama said to thunderous applause.

Obama, who this week campaigned for Clinton in Philadelphia, dismissed Donald Trump‘s campaign as offering “fear� to a nation that has made progress over the last eight years.

“Hope is on the ballot and fear is on the ballot too,� he said, adding that Trump would set the country back by opposing, among other things, the Affordable Care Act, a key pillar to the president’s tenure in office.

A day earlier, Trump, for years a vocal leader in the “birther� movement questioning Obama’s citizenship, sought to end the discussion by delivering a terse statement, affirming the Obama was born in the United States. Many have viewed Trump’s birther comments, which date back to 2011, as racist attacks on the nation’s first African American president.

“I am so relieved the whole birther thing is over,� Obama quipped at the gala.

Clinton, who in most national and swing state polls, has a commanding lead when it comes to the support of blacks, received an award at the gala Saturday night. In her brief remarks, she did not mention Trump by name, but there was no need, everyone in the auditorium knew whose comments she was subtly denouncing.

“Mr. President, not only do we know you are an American, you’re a great American,� she said.

A New York Times reporter responds.

(Evan Vucci/Associated Press)

Donald Trump on Saturday provided a false narrative about Hillary Clinton’s immigration policy, asserting she wants to “abolish borders,� misstating her position on an issue that is crucial to his candidacy.

“Clinton is the first person in history to run for the presidency who is proposing to abolish the borders around the country that she is supposed to protect,� the Republican presidential nominee said in Houston to family members of people killed by people in the country illegally.

The Democratic nominee supports a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally. None of Clinton’s proposals suggests abolishing borders, as Trump claimed.

Indeed, her plan calls for boosting border security and “detaining and deporting those individuals who pose a violent threat to public safety.�

On Friday, Trump falsely claimed that Clinton had begun the birther movement which raised questions about President Obama’s citizenship.

Critics said the fringe group was a racially motivated effort to delegitimize America’s first black president. Trump publicly questioned Obama’s citizenship for five years before he finally backed down Friday without explanation or apology.

Since he announced his candidacy, Trump has highlighted the stories of individuals who have family members who were killed by people in the country illegally.

Among his surrogates is Jamiel Shaw, whose son, a high school football standout in Los Angeles, was killed in 2008 by a man in the country illegally.

During the Republican primary season, Trump insisted that his administration would use a “deportation force� to find and expel everyone in the country illegally. He also questioned the constitutional guarantee of U.S. citizenship to anyone born here.

He has dialed back in recent weeks, saying that mass deportations are unlikely and that he would focus on deporting those here illegally who have criminal records. That’s essentially the same policy that Clinton has proposed and that the Obama administration already follows.

Donald Trump invoked the possibility of a violent assault on Hillary Clinton once again on Saturday, a day after he suggested that her Secret Service bodyguards disarm and “let’s see what happens.�

In a post Saturday morning on Twitter, Trump falsely accused Clinton of trying to take away Americans’ 2nd Amendment rights, just as he did Friday night at a Miami rally where he said her Secret Service agents should “drop all weapons.�

“Will guns be taken from her heavily armed Secret Service detail? Maybe not!� Trump tweeted.

Trump said Friday night that Clinton’s Secret Service detail should disarm because she supports gun control. “What do you think, yes?� he asked the crowd. “Take their guns away. She doesn’t want guns. Let’s see what happens to her. Take their guns away, OK? It would be very dangerous.�

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(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence appears to be in good health.

A letter released by Pence’s doctor Saturday notes that the 57-year-old governor of Indiana is in “excellent general and cardiovascular health� and “medically able to maintain [his] high level of professional work.�

“You live a healthy lifestyle and maintain an excellent diet and exercise program,� wrote Michael F. Busk, a physician at the St. Vincent Health, Wellness and Preventative Care Institute in Indianapolis who has been Pence’s doctor since 2013.

Pence’s medical letter was released after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, along with Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, and her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, released partial health records this week.

Busk’s letter noted that Pence’s father was a smoker who died from a heart attack. Busk added that Pence does not smoke and his visits to a cardiologist found his heart in good health.

The only medication Pence takes is Claritin, an antihistamine sold over the counter, for seasonal allergies, Busk said.

Trump, 70, takes a statin, a drug for lowering cholesterol, along with a low dose of aspirin. He disclosed medical notes this week that also showed him overweight.

(Lynne Sladky / Associated Press)

Donald Trump suggested Friday that Hillary Clinton’s Secret Service bodyguards “should disarm immediately� because of her support for gun control, saying: “Let’s see what happens to her, OK? It would be very dangerous.�

Trump’s comment, which the Clinton campaign called an invitation to commit violence against the Democratic presidential nominee, came at a Miami rally thick with racial politics on the day he finally conceded that President Obama was born in the United States.

After falsely accusing Clinton of opposing the 2nd Amendment (she supports the right to own firearms, but supports tighter gun controls), the Republican nominee said his rival “goes around with armed bodyguards like you have never seen before.� He suggested that that her Secret Service agents “drop all weapons.�

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(David Horsey / Los Angeles Times )

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