US President Barack Obama has called on the African-American community to rally around Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in an effort to defeat Republican candidate Donald Trump in the November election.

Obama, America’s first black president, made the call in an emotional speech at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation gala on Saturday night in Washington. Clinton also attended event. “If I hear anybody saying their vote does not matter, that it doesn’t matter who we elect — read up on your history. It matters. We’ve got to get people to vote,” Obama said.

“We have achieved historic turnout in 2008 and 2012, especially in the African-American community. I will consider it a personal insult and an insult to my legacy if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election,” he said. “You want to give me a good send-off? Go vote.”

According to exit polls, record numbers of black voters casted their ballots in 2012, and 93 percent of them backed Obama over Republican candidate Mitt Romney. A recent survey conducted by the Washington Post showed Clinton having an 80-point lead over Trump among black voters.

“If you care about our legacy, realize everything we stand for is at stake. All the progress we’ve made is at stake in this election,” he said. “My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot. Tolerance is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot. Good schools are on the ballot. Ending mass incarceration, that’s on the ballot right now,” he said.

Last month, Trump asked African-American voters to vote for him since they “have nothing to lose.” Trump talked about disproportionate levels of poverty, unemployment and failing schools for the black community in the United States and claimed he would make a better future for them if he won the White House.

“You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58% of your youth is unemployed — what the hell do you have to lose?” Trump asked the audience.

In his speech on Saturday night, Obama said Trump says “we got nothing left to lose, so we might as well support somebody who has fought against civil rights, and fought against equality, and who has shown no regard for working people for most of his life. Well, we do have challenges, but we’re not stupid.”

Presstv

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton are tied among likely voters in a four-way race for the White House, a new poll shows. The CBS News/New York Times poll, released on Thursday, shows both Trump and Clinton have support of 42 percent among registered voters. Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson has 8 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein has 4 percent. Among registered voters in that scenario, Clinton has a 2 points lead over Trump, 41 to 39 percent, with Johnson earning 22 percent and Stein only 5 percent.

In a two-way race, Clinton also leads Trump among likely voters by 2 points, 46 to 44 percent. She has a 5 points lead over Trump among registered voters, 46 to 41 percent. The poll was conducted from September 9 to 13 among a national sample of 1,433 registered voters. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

Recent polls have shown that the race between Clinton and Trump is tightening at both the state and national levels before the November election. According to the NBC News/Survey Monkey tracking survey released on Tuesday, Clinton was leading Trump by only 4 points, 48 to 44 percent, among registered voters.

Whereas, Clinton was leading Trump by 10 points in the same poll about five weeks ago. Her lead over her main rival slimmed to 2 points in the poll in a four-way match-up. She received 42 percent to his 40 percent. In that scenario, Johnson earned 11 percent, while Stein bagged 4 percent.

Clinton’s growing unpopularity follows renewed focus on her use of a private email server while she served as secretary of state, as well as alleged conflicts of interest over her connections to the Clinton Foundation fundraising. Clinton is also facing criticism over the delayed release of her pneumonia diagnosis over the weekend.

The 68-year-old former First Lady was forced to abruptly leave a 9/11 memorial in New York on Sunday due to a medical episode, stirring speculations about her well-being. The candidate’s physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, released a statement via the campaign and said she had pneumonia.

Presstv

US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton says she is “feeling fine” a day after she was forced to abruptly leave a 9/11 memorial in New York due to an apparent medical episode. “I’m feeling fine and getting better,” Clinton tweeted on Monday, signing her message with the “H” that indicates she personally wrote it.

“Like anyone who’s ever been home sick from work, I’m just anxious to get back out there. See you on the trail soon,” she said. The candidate’s physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack said that she was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.

A video of the incident emerged on Sunday, showing a seemingly fainting Clinton stumbling on the sidewalk while her security detail took her into a van and drove the former secretary of state to her daughter’s house.

Clinton told CNN on Monday that she “felt dizzy” and lost her balance, but added that after getting into the van and drinking some water, she “immediately started feeling better.”

Clinton also said she would return to campaigning “in the next couple of days.” “I just want to get this over and done with and get back on the trail as soon as possible,” she stated.

Presstv

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is closing in on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’ lead in the race for the White House as a number of states are no longer considered likely wins for Clinton, according to a new poll. The Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project released on Saturday shows Trump has caught up to Clinton’s level of support in several states, including Florida and Ohio.

Clinton is still favored to win 17 states, but Trump would likely win 23 states, the poll found. The number of states that Clinton was projected to win in has dropped over the past few weeks. Ohio and Florida were considered likely wins for Clinton in late August, but now the candidates are about even in support in those states. Over the past few weeks, Clinton’s lead in national surveys has vanished, although polls tend to narrow as Election Day nears.

A separate Reuters/Ipsos poll of likely voters showed Clinton’s 8-point lead over Trump in late August has disappeared. Clinton’s growing unpopularity follows renewed focus on her use of a private email server while she served as secretary of state, as well as alleged conflicts of interest over her connections to the Clinton Foundation fundraising.

A CNN/ORC Poll released last week shows Trump has closed the gap with Clinton and leads her nationally in the race for the White House by two points. Like previous surveys in past several months, the CNN poll also shows that both candidates remain mostly unliked, with majorities saying they have an unfavorable view of each candidate. Polls taken in the past several months have shown that Clinton and Trump were ranked among the most unpopular presidential candidates in America’s history.

Presstv

The Donald J. Trump Foundation, established by the US Republican presidential nominee, has reportedly been collecting donations from charities and using them to benefit other charities in his name.

In fact, Trump has not personally contributed to his own supposedly non-profit foundation since 2008, when he “donated” $30,000 to the organization – $5,000 less than what he paid it the previous year,The Washington Post reported Saturday citing its own investigation into the finances of the foundation.

Trump’s foundation is “a charity that allowed a rich man to be philanthropic for free,” concluded the influential liberal newspaper affiliated with the Democratic Party. In 2007,  Trump used the foundation’s money to pay for a 6-foot painting of himself that his wife purchased at an auction, in violation of regulations by US tax authority, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which prohibits a charity’s officers from using the group’s funds to purchase things for their own benefit.

Last week, the Post also reported that Trump paid a $2,500 fine for using the foundation to make a political contribution to a PAC supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in 2013, whose office at the time was considering an investigation into Trump University.

The foundation also misrepresented donations it made in the past and four charities that the foundation claimed it had donated to said they had never received any money. The Trump campaign has declined to comment on the report.

The development came as Trump took in an estimated $3 million at a single fundraising event on a farm outside Cleveland, Ohio, earlier in the week “The fact that people came in from out of town to go to that, I think said something,” The Hill reported, citing a source close to Trump’s presidential campaign.

According to the report, the controversial Republican presidential nominee has been slower to charm the donor class than any Republican nominee in recent memory largely because the billionaire spent the entire primary campaign telling rich conservatives he did not want their cash.

However, sources at the highest levels of Trump’s fundraising operation have described a turning point recently with Trump drawing closer to his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the polls.  The fundraiser was held on the farm of renowned GOP donor Eddie Crawford and attended by wealthy Republicans from the battleground state, the source said.

Presstv