The Latest on the U.S. presidential campaign. (all times EDT):
11:10 a.m.
House Speaker Paul Ryan is airing a campaign ad in which he says he is “committed to securing our borders” with an image of a fence as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump repeatedly promises to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The ad comes a day after Trump thanked Ryan’s primary challenger Paul Nehlen (KNEE-lin) in a tweet. Nehlen, a longshot candidate who hopes to knock out Ryan, defended Trump in the face of criticism over his dispute with Muslim parents of a decorated Army veteran killed in Iraq in 2004.
The primary is Aug. 9.
Ryan’s ad, the third in his race against Nehlen, is titled “A Safe America.” The incumbent speaks directly to the camera, calls the U.S. an exceptional nation and vows to do what’s necessary to protect the U.S. from terrorists who “want to destroy our freedom and security.”
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10:15 a.m.
Donald Trump’s son says that his father’s comments about the family of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq were “honestly blown out of proportion.”
Speaking Tuesday to CBS This Morning, Eric Trump said his father is “a great patriot,” who “doesn’t want to see more Americans dead.”
The Republican nominee had implied that Ghazala Khan, mother of Capt. Humayun Khan, stood silently alongside her husband at the Democratic National Convention because her Muslim religion restricted her from speaking. That comment and others Trump made about the family prompted criticism from fellow Republicans and demands for an apology from the families of fallen soldiers.
Eric Trump added Tuesday that Pat Smith, the mother of a Benghazi attack victim who is highly critical of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, has not received the same amount of airtime as the Khan family.
Clinton’s policy, he said, “crippled Libya and Syria and Iraq.”
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9 a.m.
A Republican congressman from New York says he will vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton in November.
Richard Hanna asked, in an op-ed published in The Post-Standard newspaper of Syracuse, New York, “where do we draw the line,” responding to Donald Trump’s attack on the parents of a slain Muslim-American soldier.
“He is unfit to serve our party and cannot lead this country,” Hanna said. “He is unrepentant in all things.”
While he noted that he disagrees with Clinton on many issues, he concluded that she “has stood for causes bigger than herself for a lifetime.”
Hanna doesn’t have to worry about a backlash from Republican voters for supporting Clinton. He’s not seeking re-election.
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8:10 a.m.
Hillary Clinton says she raised $63 million for her campaign last month.
The Democratic presidential nominee raised another $26 million in July for the Democratic National Committee and state parties.
Clinton has been focusing on improving her online fundraising, and the campaign says it saw its best 24-hour period in that area last week as she accepted the nomination. She raised $8.7 million online that day, the campaign says.
Both Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — who earlier said he raised $35.8 million in small donations last month — must report their fundraising information to federal regulators by Aug. 20.
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3:27 a.m.
For Donald Trump, it’s become a familiar pattern. The Republican nominee can’t let go of a perceived slight, no matter the potential damage to his presidential campaign or political reputation.
Trump spent the days after winning the Republican nomination criticizing a U.S. district court judge’s Mexican heritage. The morning after accepting the Republican nomination at the party’s convention, Trump re-litigated months-old grievances with primary rival Ted Cruz.
Now, he’s sparring with an American Muslim family whose son was killed in Iraq.
Republican leaders have urged Trump to drop his attacks on Khizr and Ghazala Khan. It’s not just the optics of picking a fight with a military family that has GOP officials eager for Trump to move on, but the timing of his attacks: Election Day is three months away.
[SOURCE:- LYNBURG NEWS & ADVANCE]
