Trump's Daughter-in-Law to Lead Outreach to Female Voters: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is hoping his daughter-in-law can help shore up his standing with female voters.

Lara Trump -- wife of the president’s son, Eric Trump -- will launch the “Women for Trump Coalition“ aimed at aiding the president’s re-election campaign. It will debut next Tuesday at a casino in suburban Philadelphia, where she will be joined by Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, former White House communications aide Mercedes Schlapp, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the ex-Fox News personality who is dating Trump’s eldest son.

“The Women for Trump coalition will be a national effort to mobilize and empower women who support President Trump to help get the message of ‘Promises Made. Promises Kept’ into their communities across America,“ Hannah Castillo, director of coalitions for the Trump campaign, said in a statement.

Trump, who has frequently come under fire for his past treatment of women, has consistently struggled to win the approval of female voters, with 52% of women surveyed earlier this month by Gallup saying they believed the president should be impeached. Trump won 41% of the female vote in 2016.

‘Antichrist’ Sanders Lists Hit Parade of Haters (2:51 p.m.)

Bernie Sanders published a list of “anti-endorsements” on his presidential campaign website with quotes from JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and other luminaries of Wall Street and beyond.

“Bernie Sanders, in my opinion, doesn’t have a clue,” Leon Cooperman, a former partner at Goldman Sachs, is quoted as saying.

“It has the potential to be a dangerous moment,” Blankfein said of Sanders’s campaign.

“In 2016 I saw Bernie Sanders and the kids around him. I thought: ‘This is the antichrist!”’ said Home Depot Co-Founder Kenneth Langone.

Sanders, a Vermont senator and avowed democratic socialist, is running a campaign focused on taking on the billionaires and Wall Street elite. The web page approvingly quotes Franklin Roosevelt -- “I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made” -- and Frederick Douglass.

In a statement Sanders said of the business leaders quoted: “we welcome their hatred.”

Other quotes listed include:

“The senator’s uninformed views are, in a word, contemptible” -- Lowell McAdam, former Verizon CEO.

“If Bernie Sanders became president, I think stock prices should be 30% to 40% lower than they are now” -- Stanley Druckenmiller, hedge fund manager. -- Emma Kinery

Steyer Kicks Off Spending on National TV Ads (2:22 p.m.)

Billionaire Tom Steyer is on a roll. Two days after announcing his presidential candidacy, he has already spent $1.4 million on TV ads in the key first nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

The ads also will run nationally on CNN and MSNBC for two weeks.

Steyer, 62, hinted at a run a 2020 run early this year, but showed up in Des Moines, Iowa, in January only to announce he had decided against it. The hedge fund manager, who has been focused on impeaching President Donald Trump, announced his candidacy in a video message on Monday.

Few candidates have done a single TV ad yet, and none has spent as much money as Steyer has. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York launched ads Tuesday targeting Trump in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, where she will be traveling this week. Representatives Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and Seth Moulton of Massachusetts ran TV ads in June. Former Maryland Representative John Delaney, the first to join the race, bought a TV ad during the 2018 Super Bowl. -- Emma Kinery

Senate Leaders Clash Over Election Security (1:23 p.m.)

Senate leaders clashed on the chamber floor about how Congress could prevent foreign interference in the 2020 elections, as the Trump administration was scheduled Wednesday to give lawmakers a long-awaited briefing about its efforts to prevent a repeat of Russian meddling in 2016.

House and Senate lawmakers will be briefed by a group of top administration officials including FBI Director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan. They will appear after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed for months for the meetings, with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell only recently getting on board.

Still, the two top Senate leaders continue to spar over whether any further legislation addressing election security will be needed this year. McConnell made no promises.

Instead, the Republican took to the Senate floor to blame former President Barack Obama for being too soft on Russia, which he said paved the way for the 2016 election meddling. He insisted that under the Trump administration there has been “greater success” including the indictment of 28 Russian nationals and entities by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and passage of $380 million in funding to help states combat potential hacking.

Schumer insisted Republicans “fought tooth and nail” against that funding and that top GOP leaders continue to show little interest in measures that would help protect state voting systems and combat foreign influence through social media. -- Laura Litvan

De Blasio Seizes Upon Women’s Soccer Parade (11:13 a.m.)

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who’s been traveling across the U.S. trying to ignite interest in a long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, seized upon the Women’s World Cup parade in his city to tout his progressive credentials.

He kicked off the parade on Wednesday vowing that as president he would “pursue executive action” if necessary to “guarantee equity in resources and pay for women’s and men’s national sports teams.” Team members have sued the U.S. Soccer Federation over the issue.

The mayor addressed the crowd, saying, “The equality of women must be guaranteed in this nation,” as thousands chanted, “Equal Pay USA.”

The event featured the women’s team waving to tens of thousands of people as they made their way on the back of a truck up the “Canyon of Heroes,” a half-mile stretch that fans packed on both sides of lower Broadway. Shredded recycled paper floated down from office towers above.

The event was bound to take on political significance after Megan Rapinoe, one of the team’s stars and leaders, rejected any possibility that the team would visit Trump’s White House. Trump posted messages on Twitter attacking Rapinoe. -- Henry Goldman

Warren Asks Companies to Disclose Climate Risk (10:30 a.m.)

Senator Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday reintroduced legislation requiring publicly owned companies to disclose their exposure to climate-related risks.

The measure is cosponsored by three fellow Democratic presidential contenders, Senators Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, along with New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Climate change is a top issue for Democratic voters in polls. Warren’s bill is the second legislation on the topic offered by a 2020 candidate this week. Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the top-tier competitors for the 2020 nomination, unveiled a resolution calling for “massive” federal action to reverse the effects of global warming that is also cosponsored by Ocasio-Cortez.

Warren’s Climate Risk Disclosure Act requires companies to disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission “critical information” about exposure to climate risks like greenhouse gas emissions and a company’s total amount of fossil-fuel related assets. The bill aims to encourage companies to more quickly switch to more efficient energy sources. Warren originally introduced the bill last year. -- Emma Kinery

Harris, Warren, Sanders Boost Staff Diversity (5 a.m.)

Top 2020 Democratic presidential candidates this year bolstered the share of staffers in their Senate offices who are women and minorities, according to a report obtained by Bloomberg News.

Warren, Harris and Sanders all hired more diverse staffers in their congressional offices. Women and minorities are key constituencies for the Democratic nomination and the general election against President Donald Trump next year.

Harris hired the most racially diverse workforce of the presidential candidates, with 70% of her office identifying as nonwhite this year, compared with 66% in the same period of 2018 and 61% in 2017. Almost two-thirds of her staff was female, according to the report.

The share of Sanders’ team that identified as a racial minority rose to 28% this year from 18% in 2018. Since 2017, more than 60% of his staff has been women. On Warren’s staff, 48% identified as nonwhite, compared with 36% last year and 34% in 2017. Women represented 59% of her staff this year, compared with 51% last year.

By contrast, Gillibrand saw a slight decline in the share of staffers who are racial minorities. In her office, 46% identified as nonwhite this year, compared with 53% in 2018 and 48% in 2017. She tied with Sanders in hiring women workers, with 63% of the workforce identifying as female.

The majority of New Jersey Senator Cory Booker’s staff -- 61% -- are people of color, though that represents a slight decline from last year. Booker increased the share of women in his office from last year. Klobuchar increased both the share of racial minorities and women on her team, but she still has less than 50% in both categories.

The annual survey by Senate Democrats offers a snapshot of the diversity of lawmakers’ offices as of June 30. -- Naomi Nix

Harris Joins Forces With Ocasio-Cortez on Housing

Harris and Ocasio-Cortez of New York are teaming up to introduce legislation to remove barriers that prevent people with criminal records and their families from obtaining federal housing.

Harris, who’s vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has been criticized for her past work as a prosecutor and for not being as progressive as contenders like Warren or Sanders. Working with the young star of the progressive left to address criminal justice reform could help remedy that perception. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez already have teamed up on two measures.

The Fair Chance at Housing Act would remove the “one-strike” policy, which calls for tenants to be evicted for a single instance of criminal activity, and the “no-fault” policy, where entire families can be evicted because of the actions of a single member.

The bill raises the standard of evidence public housing authorities need when determining whether to screen or evict a tenant. It also bars the use of “suspicion-less drug and alcohol testing” by landlords and public housing authorities. Harris over the weekend announced another housing proposal of a $100 billion program to help African-Americans buy homes. -- Emma Kinery

Third Democratic Debate Will Be in Houston

The Democratic presidential candidates will meet in Houston on Sept. 12 and 13 for the third debate of the 2020 campaign season. Their hosts will be ABC News and Univision, ABC said in a statement on Tuesday night, which added that the format, venue and moderators had yet to be announced.

The first debate, in Miami last month, was in a swing state, as will be the next one, in Detroit on July 30 and 31. Texas, however, remains a solidly red state despite Democratic aspirations to at least turn it purple. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez, in a statement announcing the Houston debate, hailed Democratic “victories all across the state.”

But a popular Texas Democrat, Beto O’Rourke, failed to unseat Republican Senator Ted Cruz last November. O’Rourke, of course, is now running for president. -- John Harney

Coming Up Wednesday:

Most of the Democratic presidential candidates are off the trail. Self-help author Marianne Williamson will be in Charlotte, North Carolina; Entrepreneur Andrew Yang will be in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Here’s What Happened Tuesday:

• Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge fund manager turned liberal activist, announced Tuesday that he is entering the crowded race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Steyer, 62, has two trademark issues: impeaching Trump and climate change. He hinted at a run a 2020 run early this year, but showed up in Des Moines, Iowa, in January only to announce he had decided against it. In his first day as a presidential candidate, Steyer already spent $1.05 million on TV ads placed in key states, like Nevada, South Carolina, and Iowa, as well as Boston.
• Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, earned more than $15 million during their first two years out of the White House, according to a financial disclosure. The bulk of the income came from payments for the memoirs they’ve each written. The couple’s total income in 2017 was $11 million and nearly $4.6 million in 2018. Their net worth is between $2.2 million and $8 million, according to a separate financial disclosure filed Tuesday that doesn’t include their real estate holdings. By contrast, Biden’s disclosure with the federal Office of Government Ethics for 2016, his last year at the White House, showed the couple’s assets were worth between $303,000 and $1 million and they had liabilities between $560,000 and $1.2 million.

--With assistance from Naomi Nix, John Harney, Emma Kinery, Henry Goldman and Laura Litvan.

To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Sink in WASHINGTON at jsink1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo, Max Berley

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