WASHINGTON (AP) – The latest developments in the 2016 campaign for the presidency. All times EDT:
2:45 p.m.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is equating Donald Trump’s comments about a U.S.-born judge of Mexican heritage with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s description of herself as a “wise Latina.”
Republicans have widely criticized the presumptive GOP presidential nominee’s claim that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel can’t preside fairly over a case involving Trump University because the judge is of Mexican heritage and Trump wants to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters Wednesday the public shouldn’t “have any more trouble with what Trump said” than with Sotomayor’s remarks.
In a 2001 speech, Sotomayor, then a judge on the appeals court, spoke of ethnicity and gender affecting judicial decisions, saying: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”
Grassley said, “I don’t hear any criticism of that sort of comment by a justice of the Supreme Court.”
At her confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court in 2009, Sotomayor denied racial bias and said the remark was a rhetorical device gone awry.
Grassley has come under criticism for blocking confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama’s nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court, insisting that the decision rests with the next president.
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12:58 p.m.
Vice President Joe Biden says it’s up to Bernie Sanders to decide when to end his increasingly futile campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Asked Wednesday if it was time for the Vermont senator to halt his effort, Biden said: “Oh, let him make that decision. Give him time.”
Asked how much time Sanders should have to make that decision, Biden said, “I’m being graceful.”
Biden answered a reporter’s questions as he left the House chamber after an address to Congress by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Hillary Clinton has won enough support from elected delegates and superdelegates – Democratic lawmakers and party leaders who can back whomever they’d like – to capture the nomination at the party’s national convention next month. She won contests in four of six states Tuesday, as the race for the Democratic nomination all but drew to a close.
Sanders has come under growing pressure from Democrats to drop his bid so the party can unite against the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
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11:33 a.m.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada will meet Thursday with Bernie Sanders. The meeting comes amid growing calls from Senate Democrats for the Vermont senator to end his presidential candidacy and unite behind Hillary Clinton.
Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said Wednesday that Sanders should “stand down.” Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania said Democrats must “come together and unify.” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said Hillary Clinton’s nomination was historic and she would like to see Sanders wind down his candidacy sooner rather than later.
Other Senate Democrats were still trying to give Sanders space to do things on his own terms. Reid himself has stopped short thus far of saying Sanders should drop out, although he said last week that “sometimes you just have to give up.”
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11:20 a.m.
One of Donald Trump’s first supporters in the House says that Speaker Paul Ryan has reaffirmed his support for the presumptive Republican presidential candidate in a closed-door meeting with fellow GOP lawmakers.
New York Rep. Chris Collins says that Ryan opened Wednesday’s session by telling lawmakers that he remains comfortable backing Trump. Collins said “there was no controversy in the room” over the comments, but no applause, either.
It was Ryan’s first meeting with House Republicans since endorsing Trump last week after initially withholding his support.
It also came a day after Ryan called Trump’s assertion that an American-born judge of Mexican descent couldn’t handle a Trump lawsuit fairly the “textbook definition of a racist comment.” But Ryan said he would continue supporting Trump.
Trump’s comments prompted many congressional Republicans to chastise him.
A Ryan aide said the speaker described his thinking behind his Trump endorsement to his colleagues and told them he would continue criticizing the billionaire when needed. The aide said Ryan’s remarks were greeted by applause.
The aide spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private remarks.
-Associated Press writer Alan Fram in Washington
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10:55 a.m.
Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign is downsizing as it reaches the final primary next week in Washington, D.C.
About half of the staff is being laid off with most of the jobs involving field staff and advance aides. That’s according to two people familiar with the plans.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the layoffs. Campaign officials declined comment.
Sanders had previously reduced his staff and redeployed most of his team to California ahead of Tuesday’s primary.
Hillary Clinton has secured enough pledged delegates and superdelegates combined to secure the Democratic nomination.
Clinton defeated Sanders in California, New Jersey and two other states Tuesday.
The cuts represent a winding down of Sanders’ campaign at the end of the primary calendar and as he shifts to influence the party’s platform at the Democratic convention.
-Associated Press writer Ken Thomas in Los Angeles
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10:30 a.m.
Donald Trump’s media relationship with Joe Scarborough has gone from friendly to a full-on feud.
The MSNBC “Morning Joe” host, a former Republican congressman, on Wednesday ripped into Trump for acting like a “bush-league loser” and a bigot, and said he wouldn’t support his candidacy.
“Don’t use Hillary Clinton as a threat against me,” Scarborough said, looking into the camera. “Don’t use Hillary Clinton as an excuse, as a blank check to say racist things about people born in Indiana. No, Donald, you don’t get to play in that way. I’m not scared of you.”
Trump was a regular “Morning Joe” guest during the first few months of his campaign, and Scarborough boasted about taking his campaign seriously when others didn’t. Critics wondered if the relationship was too friendly.
Trump responded with a tweet on Wednesday: “Nobody is watching @Morning_Joe anymore. Gone off the deep end – bad ratings.”
“Morning Joe” was up 63 percent in viewers in May compared to May 2015, according to the Nielsen company.
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6:13 a.m.
Hillary Clinton crowned a precedent-shattering quest for the Democratic presidential nomination with a strong victory in delegate-rich California.
For Clinton, it was the fourth victory in half a dozen contests Tuesday. Although she had already garnered enough delegates to assume the mantle of leadership for the party at its convention in Philadelphia next month, the electoral triumphs gave her even greater momentum heading into the fall general election campaign against real estate mogul Donald Trump, who’s set to be named the Republican standardbearer at the GOP convention in Cleveland.
Clinton’s rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, pledged anew late Tuesday to “continue the fight” all the way to the Philadelphia convention. But at the same time, he acknowledged that overcoming Clinton at this juncture would be a “very, very steep fight.”
3:25 a.m.
Donald Trump is tightening his grip on the Republican nomination for president, winning at least 297 delegates in Tuesday’s primaries – the last five contests of the primary season.
Six delegates in California are still left to be allocated because of incomplete results in individual congressional districts.
With no one else left in the race, Trump easily won all five Republican primaries Tuesday.
He has 1,536 delegates. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.