WASHINGTON: The Latest on the presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton (all times EDT):
1:50 p.m.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest says President Barack Obama doesn’t think Trump is a role model for Americans, and the president has “made that clear in a variety of settings.”
Asked whether Trump might be a role model in any setting, not just as president, Earnest added:
“There are hundreds of millions of Americans that, by the way they live their lives every day, are role models for our kids. Based on the president’s deep concern about the rhetoric of the Republican nominee, I feel confident telling you that he would not be comfortable with describing the nominee in that way.”
The question came after Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire said Monday that Trump is a role model for kids, then reversed herself, saying he is not.
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1:20 p.m.
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey says Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump isn’t a role model for his children, nor is his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
The Pennsylvania senator’s comments come after Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire said Trump is a role model for kids and then reversed herself, saying he is not. Both Toomey and Ayotte are in competitive re-election contests.
On Trump, Toomey said he’s not a role model for his children, “but honestly, neither is Hillary Clinton, I mean, the serial dishonesty, the repeated lies to the American people, to the families of Benghazi victims, the list is endless, and the serious ethical challenges.”
Toomey, who has declined to endorse Trump, said he is not a role model because of “the vulgarity and gratuitous insults of people.”
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1 p.m.
Former President Bill Clinton wants voters to know that his wife shouldn’t be held responsible for spiking incarceration rates that stemmed in part from a crime bill he signed into law.
Bill Clinton had barely begun his remarks Tuesday at Ohio University when a man at the rally began yelling at him about the 1994 law.
As Hillary Clinton’s supporters started to drown out the man, the former president waved them off and engaged him. Bill Clinton said his wife “didn’t vote for the bill” or try to put “millions of your people in prison.”
He noted Hillary Clinton has called for a criminal justice overhaul.
The former president did offer one defense of his decision on the 1994 law: He said it was popular at the time across all income and racial lines.
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12:55 p.m.
Donald Trump is condemning the “tremendous problem with regulations” that he says are damaging the nation’s energy business.
The Republican presidential candidate held a roundtable Tuesday with around a dozen oil and gas industry leaders in Denver. At the event at the Denver Energy Center, he acknowledged that some regulations are needed for safety or environmental reasons.
But he warned that if his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, wins in November, she will “double the regulations and put you all out of business.”
He also repeated his promise to protect the nation’s mining industry.
Trump’s energy plan calls for a reliance on federal fuels and a vow to cut bureaucracy.
12:45 p.m.
President Barack Obama is postponing a planned Florida rally for Hillary Clinton because of Hurricane Matthew.
Obama had been scheduled to appear for Clinton on Wednesday in Miami Gardens. He was expected to emphasize the need for Democrats in Florida to make sure they’re registered to vote ahead of Election Day.
But Clinton’s campaign says the event is postponed.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch for South Florida.
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12:30 p.m.
Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton are holding a family town hall meeting in Philadelphia’s suburbs, pointing to ways the Democratic presidential nominee would try to help children and families.
The Clintons were joined on stage with actress Elizabeth Banks as the former secretary of state vowed to help provide paid family leave and sick days for working mothers.
Responding to a question about Donald Trump’s views on women, Hillary Clinton notes that her opponent “insulted Miss Universe. I mean how do you get more acclaimed than that?”
Clinton has made Pennsylvania one of her top targets on the 2016 battleground map and is appealing to women as she tries to become the nation’s first female president.
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9:50 a.m.
Democrat Tim Kaine has invited civil rights leader Jesse Jackson to be a guest at Tuesday’s vice presidential debate.
Kaine has also invited former Virginia state Sen. Henry Marsh, a civil rights attorney and mentor to Kaine; Lily Habtu, a survivor of the 2007 Virginia Tech mass shooting, and Okianer Christian Dark, a law professor who Kaine represented in a fair housing case.
Also joining Kaine will be Carol Schall and Mary Townley, a lesbian couple who were plaintiffs in a lawsuit that led to Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage being overturned. Their daughter, Emily Schall Townley, is also a guest.
Kaine is a former civil rights lawyer and Virginia governor. He is now a U.S. senator.
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9:30 a.m.
Donald Trump’s campaign manager says Trump has paid “hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes over decades.” How much of that was federal income tax, however, remains unclear.
In an interview Tuesday on CBS “This Morning,” Kellyanne Conway lists the types of taxes Trump has paid: excise, payroll, real estate, property and state and local taxes.
When the anchor interjects that she left out income taxes, Conway says, “Well, he certainly has, in years that he made a profit, like anybody else.”
The New York Times has reported that Trump claimed a loss of nearly $916 million in a single year on his personal tax filings and this could have allowed him to avoid federal income taxes for nearly two decades. Trump’s campaign has not denied the report.
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8:30 a.m.
Vice President Joe Biden is criticizing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for remarks suggesting that soldiers who suffer from mental health issues might not be as strong as those who don’t.
Biden says, “How can he be so out of touch.” In a CNN interview Tuesday, the vice president also said Trump is “not a bad man.” But he added: “His ignorance is profound, so profound.”
Trump made the reference Monday as he discussed his commitment to improving mental health services for veterans.
He said, “When people come back from war and combat, and they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over, and you’re strong and you can handle it. But a lot of people can’t handle it.”
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8:10 a.m.
Donald Trump’s campaign manager says Trump’s running mate will put in a “fiery performance” in the vice presidential debate.
Speaking Tuesday on CBS “This Morning,” Kellyanne Conway says even though Mike Pence is “known as low key,” he will fight to defend the Republican candidate and will go after his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Pence faces off against Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine, on Tuesday night in the only vice presidential debate.
Even though Pence and Kaine have campaigned for more than two months, many people say they still don’t have a feel for either man. In a recent Associated Press-GfK poll, more than half of registered voters said they didn’t know enough about Kaine to venture an opinion about him, and about 44 percent said the same for Pence.