WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on the U.S. presidential race (all times EDT):
10:45 a.m.
Donald Trump is meeting with participants in a new Republican Party initiative meant to train young – and largely minority – campaign volunteers.
More than a dozen members of the Republican Leadership Institute were meeting with Trump Thursday morning at Trump Tower in New York City.
The meeting comes as Trump tries to increase his outreach to black and Latino voters, saying his economic policies would help minorities.
Trump said: “We have great relationships with the African-American community.”
He claimed that Democrats have been “very disrespectful” toward minorities and taken their support for granted. Polls show minorities overwhelmingly favor Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Ben Carson, a Trump ally, and Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee’s communications director, were among the other prominent Republicans present.
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9:20 a.m.
Donald Trump’s campaign manager is contrasting the Republican presidential nominee’s immigration stance with that of former primary rival Marco Rubio. Kellyanne Conway says that Trump “is not for amnesty.”
Trump took a tougher stance on immigration than Rubio did during the Republican primary campaign. On CNN Thursday, Conway rejected a suggestion that Trump is now adopting a position similar to that of Rubio and other primary rivals.
She described Rubio as a leader of the bipartisan Senate “Gang of Eight” that favored a pathway to citizenship for some immigrants now in the country illegally.
She said: “Their plan was amnesty.”
Rubio has offered lukewarm support for Trump as he seeks reelection to his Senate seat from Florida.
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3:45 a.m.
It’s a conspiracy: The 2016 campaign features one candidate who warned against the “vast right-wing conspiracy” and another who was a leader of the so-called “birther” movement.
Donald Trump and his surrogates hint at a mysterious “illness” afflicting rival Hillary Clinton. She’s warning of murky ties between Trump and the Russian government, suggesting that her Republican opponent may be a puppet of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rumors and innuendo which have been long confined to the far reaches of the Internet are dominating the presidential race.
Clinton plans to speak in Reno, Nevada, on Thursday in an address that will accuse Trump of supporting an “alt-right” campaign that presents “a divisive and dystopian view of America.”