As President Trump heads to Florida for the official launch of his 2020 campaign, a new poll shows him trailing several of his potential Democratic opponents in the key state.
Former Vice President Joe Biden leads Trump by 9 points among Florida voters in a survey released by Quinnipiac on Tuesday, with Biden scoring 50 percent to Trump's 41 percent. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also leads Trump by six points, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) leads him by four points.
Several other potential Democratic contenders were within the margin of error of Trump, with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg beating Trump by one percentage point. During the 2016 election, Trump carried Florida by a slim margin of just over one percent.
In this poll, 44 percent of Florida voters said they approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, with 51 percent disapproving. It's not all bad news for the president, though, as 62 percent of Florida voters said Congress shouldn't begin impeachment proceedings against him, and 54 percent of voters said they're better off financially today than they were in 2016.
This comes after Trump fired three pollsters following reports of poor internal polling, including one reportedly showing Biden beating Trump by seven points in Florida. Biden during an event on Monday predicted he will beat Trump in Florida, also saying he hopes to compete in traditionally-red states like Texas and South Carolina. Still, he cautioned at an event on Tuesday per CNN that "I don't believe the polls right now, guys."
Quinnipiac's poll was conducted from June 12 through June 17 by speaking to 1,279 Florida voters over the phone. The margin of error is 3.3 percentage points. Read the full results at Quinnipiac. Brendan Morrow
A protester armed with pictures of President Trump and Jeffrey Epstein with the words "CHILD RAPIST" disrupted Trump's Wednesday night rally in Greenville, North Carolina.
CNN reports that the man was "removed in a more aggressive manner than most protesters and pulled down behind a sign where he remained for a while as supporters took pictures." After the demonstrator was taken away with his hands behind his back, Trump said he was going "home now to mommy, and he gets reprimanded and that's the end."
Epstein, a financier, was arrested earlier this month and charged by prosecutors in New York with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy. More than a decade ago, Epstein was accused of sexually abusing girls, but pleaded guilty to felony prostitution charges instead and received a lenient 13-month jail sentence.
In 2002, Trump told New York magazine, "I've known Jeff for 15 years, terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." After Epstein's arrest, Trump said he "knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. I had a falling out with him. I haven't spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you." Earlier on Wednesday, MSNBC aired footage from NBC's archives showing Trump and Epstein in 1992, laughing at a party. Trump appears to point at a woman and say "she's hot," and is also seen grabbing another woman in attendance. Catherine Garcia
President Trump continued to lob insults at four Democratic congresswomen, calling them out by name during a rally Wednesday night in North Carolina.
On Sunday, he tweeted racist comments targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), saying they need to "go back" to their home countries. The lawmakers — all outspoken Trump critics and women of color — are fueling "the rise of a dangerous, hard left," Trump said Wednesday.
After blasting Omar — who came to the U.S. from Somalia as a child and is a naturalized American citizen — and accusing her of "launching vicious anti-Semitic screeds," the crowd erupted in chants of "Send her back!" This not only echoed Trump's tweets, but also "Lock her up!" the longtime rallying cry of Trump supporters aimed at Hillary Clinton.
Trump referred to Ocasio-Cortez as "Cortez" because "I don't have time to go with three different names," and said she is a liar and behind "outrageous attacks against the men and women of law enforcement." He also asked if Pressley is "related in any way to Elvis" (who spelled his last name with just one "s") and said she "thinks that people with the same skin color all need to think the same. She said we don't need any more brown faces that don't want to be brown voices. ... Can you imagine if I said that? It would be over, right? It would be over." Catherine Garcia
The Democratic National Committee announced on Wednesday which 2020 presidential candidates will take the stage during CNN's primary debates later this month.
The candidates are: Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.); former Vice President Joe Biden; Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.); Montana Gov. Steve Bullock; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro; New York Mayor Bill de Blasio; former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.); Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii); Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.); Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.); former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.); former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas); Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio); Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); author Marianne Williamson; and businessman Andrew Yang.
As with the first debate in June, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass) and Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam did not qualify for this round. Newcomers to the race Tom Steyer, a billionaire investor, and former Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Penn.) also did not make the cut.
The debates will be held in Detroit over two days: July 30 and 31, with both starting at 8 p.m. E.T. On Thursday night, CNN will hold a live drawing during Anderson Cooper 360 to determine the candidate lineup for each night. Catherine Garcia
The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for their refusal to hand over subpoenaed documents related to the Trump administration's attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
The 230-198 vote was along party lines. Before the vote, Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said he did "not take this decision lightly. Holding any secretary in criminal contempt of Congress is a serious and sober matter, one that I have done everything in my power to avoid. But in the case of the attorney general and the secretary, Secretary Ross, they blatantly obstructed our ability to do congressional oversight into the real reason Secretary Ross was trying for the first time in 70 years to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census."
After weeks of back and forth, with the Department of Justice saying it was giving up the census fight only to have President Trump say he was considering an executive order to ensure the question was included, Trump announced last week he will instead have federal agencies turn over to the Commerce Department records on how many citizens and non-citizens are in the U.S. Catherine Garcia
The House on Wednesday afternoon voted overwhelmingly to table a resolution proposed by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) on whether to immediately consider articles of impeachment against President Trump, effectively killing the measure.
The final vote tally was 332-95 in favor of tabling. Every Republican voted to table, while Democrats were somewhat split with 95 showing support for considering impeachment, while 137 were opposed.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has long opposed immediately pursuing impeachment against Trump, fearing it will harm the Democrats' legislative agenda. Her camp seemingly held firm on Wednesday.
Green's resolution was focused primarily on the president's recent racist tweets targeting four Democratic congresswomen. It made no mention of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into 2016 Russian election interference, which has generally been the driver behind calls for impeachment in the past. Instead, Green said Trump had simply brought "contempt, ridicule, disgrace, and disrepute" upon the office of the presidency. Tim O'Donnell