The Latest: Reid calls for Trump to take citizenship test
By Associated Press
Aug 22, 2016 12:11 PM CDT
FILE - In this Aug. 15, 2016 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign event in Scranton, Pa. This week Clinton will address Hollywood celebrities, financial titans and high-powered attorneys. Good luck finding out what she says. The Democratic nominee hold all...   (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. presidential campaign. (all times EDT):

1:10 p.m.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has launched an online petition demanding that Donald Trump take the U.S. citizenship test.

The Nevada Democrat is an outspoken Trump antagonist. He argues that Trump would likely fail the citizenship test and that he should be forced to prove otherwise before setting rules for new immigrants to the country. Trump has called for "extreme vetting" of immigrants seeking admission to the United States.

"Donald Trump is nothing more than a spoiled, unpatriotic drain on society who has earned nothing and helped no one," Reid says in an email sent from his fundraising committee. "And before he degrades immigrant families who work hard and give up everything they knew to come to this country, he should put up — or shut up."

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10:55 a.m.

Hillary Clinton says she will visit flood-damaged Louisiana when "the presence of a political campaign will not disrupt the response."

In a statement Monday, the Democratic presidential nominee called the floods a crisis in need of a national response. She noted that she had asked supporters to contribute to the Red Cross to help recovery efforts for the more than 100,000 people affected by the floods.

Clinton added that she wants to make sure there is a focus on Zika prevention, so that the mosquitoes that carry the virus don't spread to Louisiana.

Republican nominee Donald Trump visited Louisiana Friday and President Barack Obama is expected Tuesday. Heavy flooding this month killed at least 13 people and displaced thousands more after water engulfed their homes.

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9:20 a.m.

Donald Trump is resuming his Twitter wars.

The Republican nominee is going after MSNBC's Morning Joe, tweeting that the show is "unwatchable!"

He says its host, Mika Brzezinski, "is off the wall, a neurotic and not very bright mess!"

Trump's tweets come after he spent a rare week reading from teleprompters and sticking to message following a campaign shake-up.

Trump's new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, insisted on Sunday that Trump "doesn't hurl personal insults."

Trump also suggested that he has damaging information on Brzezinski and co-host Joe Scarborough, whom he called "two clowns." Trump has targeted other people in similar style, claiming he has damaging information without ever releasing it.

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9:10 a.m.

Donald Trump says he is not flip-flopping on a plan to deport the 11 million people living in the United States illegally.

The Republican presidential candidate said Monday he wants to come up with a "fair but firm answer" on immigration.

He told "Fox and Friends" that he is working with Hispanic leaders to address illegal immigration. He said: "It has to be very firm, but we want to come up with something fair.'

Trump met over the weekend with Hispanic supporters, representatives of a community that has been wary of the billionaire businessman's proposals to build a border wall and deport people living in the United States illegally. Trump's new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, Sunday that Trump's policy on deploying a "deportation force" was "to be determined."

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9 a.m.

Donald Trump is calling on the Clintons to shut down their charitable foundation "immediately."

Trump says in a statement Monday morning that "the Clinton Foundation is the most corrupt enterprise in political history."

He says, "It must be shut down immediately."

The foundation announced recently that it would not accept donations from foreign contributors if Hillary Clinton were elected president.

The Clinton campaign has defended the foundation's work, insisting it is saving lives around the globe through vaccine work.

Trump donated to the foundation himself in the past.

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7:50 a.m.

Donald Trump's son says his father isn't flip-flopping on immigration policy.

The Republican presidential candidate plans to speak about his immigration plans this week. That has raised questions about whether he will continue to call for forcibly deporting the 11 million people living in the United States illegally. Questioned on whether Trump still intends to deploy a "deportation force" to carry that out, his campaign manager said Sunday: "To be determined."

Eric Trump, one of Trump's sons, was asked on "Fox and Friends" Monday whether this was a flip-flop. He replied: "My father hasn't flip-flopped on anything."

He declined to provide details of his father's plans, but said they will be "humane and ethical and treats everybody well, but we have to solve a problem," referring to illegal immigration.

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6:30 a.m.

Hillary Clinton's campaign is reserving an additional $80 million for fall campaign ads in eight battleground states. That brings the campaign's spending on television spots to $150 million, according to a campaign aide.

Clinton's team is also releasing a new ad that questions the judgment of GOP rival Donald Trump.

"All it takes is one wrong move," says a narrator, over the sound of a flying missile.

The ad is running in Florida, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, North Carolina and Omaha, Neb. Clinton has paused ads in Colorado and Virginia, underscoring her confidence in those states.

Trump only began airing ads in recent days and has reserved just $5 million in battleground state spots over the coming week in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

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6:00 a.m.

Secretary of State Colin Powell is pushing back against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's assertion that he suggested she use her private email account for non-classified information.

People magazine reported in a Twitter message that Powell said that Clinton's "people have been trying to pin" her email scandal on him.

Clinton has said that she and Powell were in agreement on the use of private email by secretaries of state. Clinton, though, had a private email server at her home in Chappaqua, N.Y.

Questions about Clinton's handling of government email have dogged her throughout her presidential campaign. The Justice Department investigated her practices and concluded there was no basis to recommend charges be brought against her, although FBI Director James Comey called her handling of the emails "extremely careless."

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3:20 a.m.

GOP officials insist presidential nominee Donald Trump is finally hitting his stride and will catch up with Democrat Hillary Clinton by around Labor Day.

Clinton campaign officials dismissed the idea of a changed Trump as nonsense.

Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus (ryns PREE'-bus) said Sunday that "Donald Trump has been disciplined and mature. And I think he's going to get this thing back on track."

Polls now mostly show Trump lagging Clinton by 5 percentage points or more nationally, but Priebus predicted they will tighten up and Trump will be "ahead as we move through September."

Trump's new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, echoed Priebus' optimism, contending that the candidate just had the best week of his campaign, "mostly because he's able to be himself, the authentic Donald Trump."

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