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Washington (CNN)Sen. John McCain accused Donald Trump of defaming Khizr Khan and argued the Republican presidential candidate does not represent the GOP. "While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us," McCain said in a statement Monday. Did Trump go too far? Trump's criticism of Khan after he spoke from the stage of the Democratic convention last week resurrected the billionaire developer's past comments accusing McCain of not being a war hero because he was captured in Vietnam.

Longtime Jeb Bush senior adviser Sally Bradshaw, a veteran Republican strategist and Bush family loyalist, told CNN that she had left the Republican Party to become an independent due to Donald Trump's presence at the top of the ticket — and that if the race were close in her home state of Florida this fall, she would be voting for Hillary Clinton. "As much as I don't want another four years of (President Barack) Obama's policies, I can't look my children in the eye and tell them I voted for Donald Trump," she said, the network reported Monday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is signaling that his long political career may stretch well into the next decade. The Kentucky Republican said there's a "great likelihood" he'll seek a seventh Senate term in 2020. McConnell, appearing on WKYT-TV's "Kentucky Newsmakers" program that aired Sunday, said he's "at the top of my game" and has been effective in representing Kentucky.

Via Red State, Romney already said he’d take a look at Johnson in an interview with CNN last month (excerpted in the clip below) but that was hypothetical and qualified by concerns over libertarian support for legal weed. Johnson and Weld are telling you now that things are in motion. Does Romney have anything to lose at this point by going the whole nine yards and endorsing a third-party candidate? He’s already gone eight yards in refusing to back Trump, and he saw what sort of reception Ted Cruz got for the lesser offense of politely avoiding an endorsement. Any...

I talked to a friend yesterday...he told me of one dinner party at which two of the most prominent NeverTrumpers confessed why they want Hillary to win. They know they’ll have no access to the Trump White House if he wins. Nor would they have any access to a Hillary White House. The difference, however, is that their donor base would desert them in the event of a Trump victory, whereas they can raise money from donors in the event of a Hillary win. We had figured this out. We’re just surprised to hear them admit it.

A "divider" like GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump will have a hard time winning Ohio, an important battleground that could help decide the election in November, said Buckeye State Gov. John Kasich, a former Republican presidential candidate. "Ohio's a snapshot of the country. People in Ohio want to see a positive agenda, a positive way to move forward," Kasich said Friday in an interview at the Union League of Philadelphia. He attended a fund-raiser for Brian Fitzpatrick, a Bucks County Republican running for an open congressional seat. Kasich's remarks came a day after Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination at...

You’re a mean one, Hil-la-ry. You left Chris Stevens to die. When Muslims took Bengazhi You went off to catch shut -eye, Hiillary! You’re a top advisor Who’s really a spy. You’re a monster, Hil-la-ry. You defied our policy Using unncrtypted emails Compromised security Hil-larry! I wouldn’t trust you With a sixty-four bit encryption key. You’re a foul one, Hil-la-ry. ‘Nabling sex predator Bill Stain a blue dress in the office Have a cigar for a thrill Hil-la-ry. Given the choice between the two of you I’d take Humma for a chill. You’re a vile one, Hil-la-ry. You’r a nasty...

There are many prominent Republicans who have stayed away from the Republican National Convention this week. Prominent among them is former GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain, who says he's not even watching the convention and is focused instead on winning re-election.

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson hinted Wednesday that former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush might be considering an endorsement. "I can't say that we haven't had conversations," Johnson said in a Wednesday afternoon conversation on CNN from Cleveland. "But no push on the conversations." Johnson said he has also had conversations with 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney. When asked who initiated the conversations, Johnson replied, "Not me." When asked if the former Florida governor has called him, Johnson added quickly, "I don't want to — I want to protect the innocent.

Cleveland (CNN)Former President George W. Bush fretted to a group of former aides and advisers in April that he was worried he could be the "last Republican president." The 43rd president's remark, at a gathering in Dallas of his administration's staffers, reflected a dim view of the party's prospects at a time when the primary contest was realistically down to Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Following a new primary election poll showing that House Speaker Paul Ryan has plummeted to well below 50 percent in his home district, Ryan is out with new mailers assuring Wisconsin voters of his desire to secure the border, and urging them to support him in his contentious August 9th primary election. The new mailers touting Ryan’s support for border security is interesting given that just last year, Ryan championed a spending bill that fully funded President Obama’s open borders agenda– including funding sanctuary cities, executive amnesty, and the release of criminal aliens. The mailers also come amid new reports...

With the news that the vice presidential slot may be filled and not by Republican Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor explained what his reaction will be if Donald Trump rolls out Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. 'I mean, obviously, I'm a competitive person,' Christie told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, a Republican analyst for the network. 'So I'm not going to say it won't bother me, if I'm not selected. Of course it bothers you a little bit. 'Cause if you're a competitive person, like I am, and you're used to winning, like I am – again, you don't like coming in...

Sen. John McCain warned Google and Apple executives Thursday that the Senate Armed Services Committee “has subpoena power” that could compel them to testify on why their encryption systems on newer smartphones are not accessible to law enforcement operating under court orders.The Arizona Republican, who chairs the panel, said, “There’s an urgency” to finding a solution to the matter of protecting privacy while also not closing out police, prosecutors and intelligence agencies from lawfully pursuing criminals and terrorists.At the start of the hearing, McCain noted that Tim Cook, president of Apple, declined to attend the session. “This is unacceptable,” he...

Cleveland (CNN)John Kasich may be the most intensely courted man in the Buckeye State. With just seven days until the GOP convention, the quest to convince Kasich to back Donald Trump -- or even participate in the convention he campaigned to bring to Cleveland -- has been quiet but feverish. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has pressed Kasich allies, even promising that donors will spring to aid Kasich's future endeavors if he cooperates now. Trump's top aide, Paul Manafort, has touted their increasingly professional campaign operation in the hopes of winning over the Ohio governor. Even vice presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich...

It’s a tough position to be in if you’re the former Florida Governor staring down the barrel of a gun in the 2016 general election. After all, you’re the only member of your family to seek the Presidency with disastrous results and the “chaos candidate” who beat you handedly has basically been your sworn enemy for the last year. So when Jeb Bush was pressed by former GOP strategist Nicolle Wallace about who he would be voting, he doubled down on assertions he has previously alluded to: neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump would earn his vote.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — who along with a few other 2016 GOP presidential candidates still refuses to support Donald Trump — said he still can’t vote for either Mr. Trump or likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. “I can’t vote for Hillary Clinton and I can’t vote for Donald Trump, and it breaks my heart,” Mr. Bush said in an interview that aired on MSNBC Monday evening. “This is my the first time in my adult life I’m confronted with this dilemma.” “A lot of the governors, I would have been very comfortable with,” Mr. Bush said. “John...

Former GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush shared some rather dismal predictions for a Donald Trump presidency, but, so far, didn't discount that it could happen. Bush sat down for his first conversation since Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee chatting with his brother's former White House communications director Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC. The former Florida governor, who dropped his bid for the White House in February on the night of the South Carolina primary, said voters will 'feel betrayed' by Trump because some of his campaign promises – from building a Mexican border wall to banning non-American Muslims from the...

People supporting Donald Trump's presidential bid will "feel betrayed" should the presumptive Republican nominee's campaign promises go unsatisfied, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush predicted Monday. Speaking to MSNBC contributor Nicolle Wallace, who served as his press secretary in Tallahassee, Bush called Trump "to his credit ... very smart at exploiting these kind of opportunities." "He's a master at understanding how the media works — more than anybody I've ever seen in politics. Kudos to him, for kind of creating the environment and then manipulating the environment to his effect," Bush said in the interview airing in full Monday night. There...

Gov. Chris Christie may be on the short list for Donald Trump's pick for vice president, but to readers of the Drudge Report would soon have the billionaire mogul pick someone else. In a flash poll posted on the news website on Tuesday, the governor received just under 6 percent of more than 200,000 votes, while former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich received almost 40 percent. Also a popular choice among readers of the conservative news aggregator is freshman U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa (31 percent), who traveled to New Jersey to meet with the tycoon at...