Donald Trump releases names of potential Supreme Court nominees

Bernie Sanders usually runs through something of a political enemies list during his stump speeches -- Donald Trump, deep-pocketed campaign donors on Wall Street, the family that owns Wal-Mart.

During his rally in San Jose on Wednesday, he also left no doubt that he considers the leadership of the Democratic Party -- the party whose presidential nomination he chose to seek -- as his opponent as well.

“In every state where we are running, we have had to take on Democratic governors and senators and members of Congress and mayors,” Sanders told a crowd of thousands at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. “Literally almost the entire Democratic establishment.”

He added, “And in state after state, the people have stood up and helped defeat the establishment.”

Although Sanders is running for the Democratic nomination, the Vermont senator often kept the party at arm’s length throughout his career, identifying as an independent but caucusing with Democrats on Capitol Hill.

The remarks from Sanders came days after chaos at the Nevada state convention, where his supporters accused Democratic leaders of unfairly awarding Hillary Clinton more delegates. Clinton, the front-runner in the battle for the nomination, had won the state’s caucuses earlier this year, but the disputes over the weekend fed lingering resentment that the party establishment has treated Sanders unfairly throughout the primary.

It’s unlikely Sanders will be able to win the nomination -- he trails by a significant number of delegates, and Clinton has won 3 million more votes than him. But if schisms from the primary persist, it could make it more difficult for Democrats in a general-election battle with Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Hoping to reassure Republicans worried that he might be too liberal, Donald Trump on Wednesday named 11 conservative judges from outside the Washington Beltway as his likely choices for a Supreme Court justice should he be elected president.

For a presidential candidate to release such a list before the election – or, in Trump’s case, even before formally winning the nomination – is highly unusual.

The move comes as Trump is seeking to unify Republicans. Presenting a list of judges well known on the right could help him with a significant constituency: social conservatives who have been skeptical of his past support for liberal stands on issues such as abortion.

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At Bernie Sanders’ first mention of the “leadership of the Democratic Party,” boos cascaded through the arena. He upbraided Democrats for several minutes, each line widening the gap between Sanders, with his loyal followers, and the rest of the party whose presidential nomination he seeks.

The caustic late-season battle between Sanders and Hillary Clinton has broadened into a war between Sanders and the Democratic establishment, one amplified by a collision of circumstances.

Unlike most runners-up, Sanders, a lifelong independent, has little desire to preserve his standing in the Democratic Party for future presidential bids. That reduces the ability of party leaders to pressure him to tone down his antagonism as the Democratic contest closes. It makes him more apt to paint Clinton and the party as his targets.

And as the boos of thousands underscored Tuesday night in Carson, many of his followers are loyal to Sanders alone, not the Democratic Party.

Many of them appear to have bought the notion forwarded by Sanders that only he is working for the sort of economic and social advances that many in the party have long sought. Many seem wedded to the questionable math Sanders pushes to persuade them that theirs is a winning campaign and that any other outcome would prove that the Vermont senator -- and they -- had been robbed by an underhanded system.

All that suggests Democrats may face more difficulty this year than they have in the past in binding the primary’s wounds en route to the November election.

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Vice President Joe Biden downplayed Democratic concerns about an increasingly unruly primary race and said Sen. Bernie Sanders has the right to continue waging his campaign against Hillary Clinton.

“Bernie Sanders is a good guy. Let Bernie run the race,” Biden said during a stop for ice cream in Ohio on Wednesday, video of which has already gone viral. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Biden did say that Sanders should be “more aggressive” in speaking out against the type of behavior his supporters engaged in during the Nevada Democrats’ state convention, but he didn’t pin it on the candidate himself.

“Hillary was still in this in May, in June [of 2008],” Biden recalled.

“I’m confident that Bernie will be supportive if Hillary wins, which the numbers indicate will happen. So I’m not worried. There’s no fundamental split in the Democratic Party.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest offered a similar line earlier in the day, positing that there was also “hand-wringing” among Democrats over party unity at the same point of the 2008 primary process.

“There are going to be strong feelings on both sides,” he said. “One of the lessons of the election in 2008 is not to confuse the passion of the primary with disinterest in the general election.”

Donald Trump told the government that his myriad businesses have flourished with rising revenues since his improbable political success, according to financial documents released Wednesday.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee said revenue at his businesses grew $190 million over the last 17 months, and he had $557 million in earned income.

The 104-page filing with the Federal Election Commission provides an overview of the billionaire’s assets and revenues and his roles with hundreds of corporate shell companies. It provided little evidence that Trump’s combative campaign hurt his business prospects, despite regular talk of boycotts early in his campaign.

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She was responding to Donald Trump telling the New York Times magazine that “there are places in America that are among the most dangerous in the world. You go to places like Oakland. Or Ferguson. The crime numbers are worse. Seriously.”

Thousands of supporters converged on the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds on Wednesday to hear from the Vermont senator, who the night before won Oregon’s primary and fell barely short in Kentucky.

There were some tough words for Hillary Clinton in the crowd, including this sign that echoes Donald Trump’s nickname for the Democratic front-runner.

Then there were some “Hillary for prison” buttons on sale, a popular Republican slogan.

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Donald Trump has released a list of 11 possible choices to fill the vacancy left on the Supreme Court by the death of Antonin Scalia.

Trump’s announcement, an unusual step for a presidential candidate, comes as President Obama battles with the Republican-controlled Senate over his Supreme Court pick, Judge Merrick Garland of the federal appeals court in Washington, who has not received a hearing on Capitol Hill.

In recent weeks Republicans, including the Trump, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, have said that the next president should be able to choose the new Supreme Court justice.

The 11 names listed by Trump during an appearance in New Jersey are Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado, Raymond Gruender of Missouri, Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, Thomas Lee of Utah, William Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of Minnesota, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and Don Willett of Texas.

Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmentalist who dropped more than $74 million on congressional and gubernatorial campaigns in 2014, now has his sights on Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

NextGen Climate Action Committee, Steyer’s political action organization, released a 30-second television ad on Wednesday, titled “Wall,” which hits Trump for calling Mexicans “rapists” and vowing to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Steyer, flanked by young people — he has launched a voting registration effort targeted at millennials — urges Californians to register ahead of the May 23 deadline and vote in both the June 7 primary and November general election. The ad is in both English and Spanish.

“We can stand up to the bigotry and ignorance that Trump represents by registering to vote,” Steyer said in a statement.

The San Francisco Democrat is considered by many political observers to be a potential California gubernatorial candidate in 2018.

Last month, Steyer’s grouped released a television ad that attacked both Trump and then-GOP candidate Ted Cruz for their skepticism about climate change.

Democratic leaders cannot accept the violence and intimidation seen over the weekend from Bernie Sanders supporters at Nevada’s Democratic convention, the Democratic National Committee chair said Wednesday.

“We as candidates, we as Democratic Party leaders ... need to make sure that we can take all the steps we need to ensure that the process is not only run smoothly but that the response from supporters of both candidates is appropriate and civil,” Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said on CNN’s “New Day.”

Angry Sanders supporters threw chairs, vandalized buildings and issued death threats against the Nevada state party chair during the convention after Hillary Clinton won more pledged delegates than Sanders. The DNC called on Sanders to condemn the acts, which he did. But he also criticized the party for not accepting apparent shifts in the party that have surfaced during his campaign.

On Wednesday, Schultz asserted that a credentials committee evenly split supporters of Sanders and Clinton at Nevada’s convention. She said it’s the same process that helped elect President Obama to the White House in 2008.

“We have a process set up that is eminently fair,” Schultz said.

(Charlie Neibergall / Associated Press)

A new joint fundraising deal between Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee will allow donors to write checks as high as $449,400 in support of Trump and the GOP.

The deal marks a shift for Trump, who until now has touted his ability to self-fund the campaign, though he has accepted small donations all along.

Republicans in 11 states will benefit from the fundraising agreement — Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Wyoming and Connecticut.

That list is notable for its lack of swing states, perhaps to protect down-ballot candidates from being tied to closely to Trump as Republicans wrestle with whether his divisive candidacy will hurt the party’s chances in congressional races.

“By working together with the RNC to raise support for Republicans everywhere, we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, keep Republican majorities in Congress and in the states and make America great again,” Trump said in a statement.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Bernie Sanders won Oregon’s Democratic primary while falling barely short of another victory in Kentucky on Tuesday, prolonging his battle with Hillary Clinton despite his slim chance of securing the party’s presidential nomination.

His victory in Oregon showcased his support with progressive voters skeptical of Clinton and eager for a more uncompromisingly liberal approach to government.

As the results were being tallied, Sanders was telling a crowd of thousands in Carson, Calif., that he plans to fight until the Democratic convention in July.

“We are in till the last ballot is cast,” he said.

Clinton campaigned heavily in Kentucky in the final days before the primary to eke out a narrow victory in the state as she tries to keep her focus on a potential general election matchup with Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.

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Bernie Sanders clashed with Democratic Party leaders Tuesday over violence that erupted over the weekend at the Nevada Democratic Convention, which party officials blamed on a disgruntled group of Sanders supporters.

At issue in the escalating fight is a troubling question for Democrats: Will the fire that Sanders has lighted among millions of supporters with his critiques of Wall Street greed and political corruption burn the party this summer?

Democratic leaders have hoped to see the party begin unifying against the presumed Republican nominee, Donald Trump, and numerous polls have indicated that most Sanders backers are prepared to vote for Hillary Clinton if she becomes the party’s candidate.

But as Sanders’ hopes for winning the nomination have all but disappeared, a segment of his supporters has become increasingly embittered.

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