After weeks of criticism and pushback over his rhetoric, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump began to hit his stride again this week, hosting fundraisers, delivering policy addresses and campaigning in key states.
After weeks of criticism and pushback over his rhetoric, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump began to hit his stride again this week, hosting fundraisers, delivering policy addresses and campaigning in key states.
His expected Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, saw a much different week as she drew criticism for her handling of 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, use of a private email serve as secretary of state and her husband's private meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Bernie Sanders, a Democrat also seeking the White House, further did not lend a helping hand to the former first lady, as he continued to hold out on endorsing her and pledged to take his push to make the party's platform more progressive to the convention floor.
Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson and running mate Bill Weld, meanwhile, released an online ad promoting their campaign as an alternative to the Republican and Democratic candidates.
Here's what happened in presidential politics this week:
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren took jabs at Trump while campaigning with Clinton in Ohio.
The Massachusetts Democrat continued her months-long critique of the billionaire businessman Monday, contending that he will only "make America great" for the rich and will crush Americans into the dirt to get whatever he wants.
Joining Clinton for the first time in the 2016 campaign, Warren, who is rumored to be on the former first lady's vice presidential short list, argued that while Trump claims to want to "make America great," the only people who will benefit under his presidency are people like himself -- not students struggling to pay for an education or seniors trying to survive on Social Security.
"When Donald Trump says he'll make America great, he means make it even greater for rich guys just like Donald Trump...that's who Donald Trump is, the guy who wants it all for himself. And watch out, because he will crush you into the dirt to get whatever he wants," she said. "That's who he is."
Trump fired back at the senator for campaigning alongside Clinton, saying she "has become a turncoat for the causes she supposedly supports."
Trump, Clinton condemned the terrorist attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.
The presumptive presidential nominees were quick to offer their condolences and stress their commitments to rooting out terrorism, following a Thursday attack that killed more than 40 people at an Istanbul airport.
Stressing that his prayers "are with the families of those killed and injured in Istanbul," Trump's campaign urged that America must take steps to protect itself from terrorists.
"The terrorist threat has never been greater. Our enemies are brutal and ruthless and will do anything to murder those who do not bend to their will," it said in a statement. "We must take steps now to protect America from terrorists and do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe."
Clinton, meanwhile, stressed that "Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence."
"Today's attack in Istanbul only strengthens our resolve to defeat the forces of terrorism and radical jihadism around the world. And it reminds us that the United States cannot retreat," she said in a statement. "We must deepen our cooperation with our allies and partners in the Middle East and Europe to take on this threat."
Clinton brushed off findings included in the U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi's report.
The Republican-led panel released a report Tuesday that interviewed new witnesses and uncovered new documents in an effort to provide the most detailed account of the 2012 attack.
Clinton's campaign contended that GOP efforts "to exploit the Benghazi tragedy to score political points against Hillary Clinton has been both disturbing and fruitless."
Calling the panel a "taxpayer-funded partisan witch hunt," the Democrat's campaign argued that the report "offers no new evidence of wrongdoing by" the former secretary of state.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, however, argued that "the new information in the majority's report on the Benghazi terrorist attack makes clear that Hillary Clinton and the Obama Administration engaged in a politically-motivated cover up weeks before the 2012 presidential election."
Priebus further contended that the report sheds light on what he called "the systemic security failures of the Clinton State Department."
"Together the report's findings make clear we cannot afford to let Hillary Clinton be our next commander-in-chief," he said in a statement.
A RNC memo surfaced, outlining the party's plans to attack Clinton's potential vice presidential picks.
The Huffington Post obtained a leaked RNC memo highlighting the party's plan, known as "Project Pander," which aims to: cast Clinton's VP choice as being about "checking boxes and appeasing constituencies;" drive wedges between Democratic Party factions; and frame her VP pick "as an insult to the large, deep base of Sanders supporters" struggling to back her as the party's nominee.
The memo further included an array of top narratives the party could push if the former secretary of state selects one of a number of expected vice presidential running mates, including Warren.
If Clinton chooses the Massachusetts senator to join her on the ticket, the RNC could contend that such a pairing would take America "down the path of the radical left that would be even worse than the status quo and further divide the county," according to the memo.
Trump attended a $2,700 per seat campaign fundraiser in Boston.
Trump joined more than 100 supporters at Boston's Langham Hotel for a Wednesday afternoon campaign fundraiser.
Attendees reportedly included: Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets; former Sen. Scott Brown; radio host and columnist Howie Carr; Massachusetts GOP chair Kirsten Hughes, state Rep. Keiko Orrall, of Lakeville; car magnate Ernie Boch Jr.; and Robert Maginn, former chair of the state GOP.
Janet Fogarty, a Scituate resident and member of the Massachusetts GOP state committee, told reporters that Brown introduced Trump, who spoke for about a half hour, touching on trade policy and criticizing the press, which he called "biased" against him
The fundraiser drew several hundred protesters, who stood and walked around behind metal barriers across from the Langham Hotel.
Mitt Romney said he had no plans to run for president despite calls from his family to do so, criticized both Clinton and Trump.
The former Republican presidential nominee said Wednesday that he decided against entering the 2016 contest as an independent candidate despite his family's insistence that he run.
"I got an email from one of my sons yesterday saying, 'You've got to get in, dad. You've got to get in,'" he said, adding that his family's push so late in the process stemmed from concerns about the direction of the GOP nominating process.
The former Massachusetts governor, however, said he has remained firm in his decision not to enter the 2016 race due to the toll another presidential run would have on his family, as well as Trump's hold on the party's nomination.
Romney further said while prepared speeches and use of teleprompters could help him electorally, he believes Trump "has demonstrated who he is by virtue of what he said in the process to this point."
"On the basis of temperament and character... I simply can't vote for him," he said of the expected GOP nominee.
The former governor further said he "can't possibly vote for" Clinton either, contending that she's "not an ideal person to be president."
Bill Clinton met with AG Lynch amidst email server investigation.
The former president drew pushback Thursday following reports that he met with the AG earlier this week while his wife is under federal investigation.
Although Lynch said the Monday meeting on a private plane was largely social, it fueled concerns of a possible conflict of interest in the Department of Justice's ability to investigate Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state.
The two reportedly met on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after Bill Clinton, who was on his way out of the airport, discovered she had just arrived for a community policing event and asked to visit with her.
Lynch told reporters she and Clinton did not discuss the ongoing email server investigation.
Sanders pushed the Democratic Party to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Trump blasted the trade deal.
Sanders called on supporters this week to join him in urging the Democratic Party to come out against an Obama administration-backed trade deal with countries in the Asia-Pacific
The Vermont senator asked backers to help him push for an amendment to the party's platform committee stating that "the Trans-Pacific Partnership must not get a vote in this Congress or in future sessions of Congress."
Contending that the effort "is not about embarrassing anyone," Sanders said his goal in urging the party to adopt the policy is to prevent jobs from being outsourced, protect the environment, respect human rights and stop pharmaceutical companies from increasing drug prices.
With the platform committee set to meet July 8 in Orlando, Sanders urged supporters to "add your name to tell the DNC Platform Committee to make sure the party's platform includes our amendment to prevent the disastrous TPP trade deal from ever coming up for a vote."
If the platform committee doesn't adopt the amendment, Sanders said he will take his fight to the convention floor.
The senator was not the only presidential candidate to take aim at the TPP, as Trump reportedly called the trade deal "another disaster, done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country," during a Wednesday rally in Ohio.
Johnson and Weld released an online video touting their records, offering an alternative to "ClinTrump."
The two-minute-long ad, posted on the campaign's Facebook page Thursday, touts Johnson's record of cutting taxes and vetoing wasteful spending as New Mexico's governor, as well as Weld's efforts to cut taxes and lower unemployment as governor of Massachusetts.
The ad further contends that the Libertarian candidates "think like America thinks," pointing to Johnson and Weld's support for marriage equality, access to abortions, term limits and internet freedom, among other things.
Arguing that they have "been there and done that," Johnson and Weld said unlike Trump and Clinton, they have both balanced budgets and successfully battled corruption.
Trump suggested that Hillary Clinton was behind Bill Clinton's meeting with Lynch.
The billionaire businessman questioned reports that Bill Clinton held an impromptu and largely social meeting with Lynch on a private plane in Phoenix amidst a federal investigation into his wife's use of a private email server as secretary of state.
"The system is totally rigged," he tweeted early Friday. "Does anybody really believe that meeting was just a coincidence?"
Trump further contended that the meeting was a secret that no one was to know about, "but he was caught by a local reporter."
The expected GOP presidential nominee, noting Sanders' previous criticism of Hillary Clinton, argued that the former first lady "has bad judgment" and was likely behind the meeting.
"Bill's meeting was probably initiated and demanded by Hillary!" he tweeted.
Sanders said he's 'not there at this moment' when it comes to endorsing Clinton.
The Vermont senator told MSNBC late Thursday that he is working with Clinton's campaign to push the former secretary of state to embrace policies he championed in the primary.
Asked if he would hit the campaign trail for the former first lady, Sanders said his focus will largely be on shaping the Democratic Party's platform.
"We are working, as we speak, we are working with the Clinton campaign, trying to be able to come forward and say to my supporters out there, you know what, here's the progress that we have made ... so I hope that we can reach that goal," he said. "We are not there at this moment."
Sanders added that he will do everything he can to block Trump from the White House.
The FBI interviewed Clinton on her use of a private email server.
Clinton sat down with FBI officials Saturday morning for a voluntary interview on her email practice as secretary of state, her campaign confirmed.
"She is pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Department of Justice in bringing this review to a conclusion," spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement. "Out of respect for the investigative process, she will not comment further on her interview."
The interview was expected and it does not suggest that Clinton or anyone else is likely to face prosecution, the Associated Press reported. It may indicate that the probe is drawing to a close.
