The Hill’s 12:30 Report

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The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Live from Philly — Trump says Russia remarks were ‘sarcastic’ | All-star night for Dems | Philadelphia ready for convention to end | Tim Kaine dad jokes | Celebs spotted | National Hamburger Day

Happy Thursday from Philly! (It’s Thursday, right?) Filing from The Hill’s event hub with a beautiful view of the skyline, I’m  Cate Martel with a quick recap of what you missed this morning, what events are coming up, who’s speaking where and behind-the-scenes tidbits along the way. Send comments, story ideas and upcoming events to cmartel@digital-release.thehill.com, @CateMartel and on Facebook.

{mosads}CLASSIC PLAY OUT OF THE POLITICIAN HANDBOOK RIGHT HERE: Donald Trump says he was being “sarcastic” when he said he hopes Russian hackers obtain deleted emails from Hillary Clinton‘s private server. Trump really is coming around to being a politician: “The real problem is what was said on those emails from the [Democratic National Committee],” Trump told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade. “They talk about religion, they talk about race, they talk about all sorts of things, including women.” http://bit.ly/2a1ZP58 

THIS FACE? YOU’LL BE SEEING A LOT OF ME: Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s running mate, spoke at the convention last night, playing attack dog against Donald Trump. The audience was not entirely friendly, with a few protests from anti-trade supporters. http://bit.ly/2aMwDwc Here’s his reception:

BuzzFeed’s Hayes Brown
Tim Kaine is your dad performing in the PTA talent show and you’re proud of him but also kind of want to die http://bit.ly/2aLERob

Tim Kaine is the best hype man your company’s softball team has ever seen http://bit.ly/2ao6Qx3

Tim Kaine is the star of that corny-ass sitcom that you really hope gets renewed for a second season http://bit.ly/2avUJh9 

Mic’s Sage Brooks
As we all know, you can’t be VP unless you’re corny as hell 
CLINTON: I’m looking for a VP
KAINE: hi looking for a VP, I’m Tim
CLINTON: oh my god http://bit.ly/2aijJYJ 

The Daily Beast’s Olivia Nuzzi
I dunno that mocking someone’s voice is a good strategy. I mean ask Chris Christie and Marco Rubio how good of a strategy it is. It makes Kaine look small. And by all accounts, Kaine is not small. http://bit.ly/2ad5Ehi 

LET’S PUT THIS INTO PERSPECTIVE: One week ago Wednesday, the big speakers at the Republican National Convention were Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and former Speaker Newt Gingrich. Last night at the Democratic convention, the headliners were Vice President Biden, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Obama.

BUT IT’S MY PARTY, SO LET ME CRY IF I WANT TO: Hillary Clinton has a tough act to follow tonight and she has a serious chance of being upstaged. Let’s just say, thousands of balloons dropping from the ceiling definitely can’t hurt. http://bit.ly/2azUVNs

WHAT TO EXPECT: Hillary Clinton will tell Americans that the nation faces a “moment of reckoning” as it decides between her and Donald Trump, campaign manager Robby Mook told reporters on Thursday. Shall we start the “drink every time she says ‘Trump’ game?” http://bit.ly/2aA0bAM

BEHIND-THE-SCENES FUN FACT: President Obama cracked a birth certificate joke on stage at the convention. That joke was NOT in the teleprompter: http://bit.ly/2azgdb1 

IF NEITHER CANDIDATE TICKLES YOUR FANCY: …I know, I know. I hate that expression, too, but it just felt right. Anyway, Time has a fascinating profile of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. http://ti.me/2aiZfMn 

COME ON, GUYS. CAN WE JUST PLAY IT COOL FOR ONCE?: Via The Philadelphia Inquirer’s print edition, residents of Philadelphia are totally ready for the convention to be over. Best (but worst) line: “I understand if you want to protest [and exercise] First Amendment rights, but don’t be disgusting about it,” said Sandra Costanzo. “They were in Marconi Park [at Broad and Oregon] running around naked. There’s children around here. They see that and wonder what kind of America this is.” Welp. http://bit.ly/2aeIOWP

 

SPOTTED AROUND TOWN:

While celebs rehearsed on the convention stage for their song, “Glee” star Darren Criss asked another singer to take a photo as he ran to the middle of the stage and jumped in the air. Behind-the-scenes video of their rehearsal: http://bit.ly/2aiZzef 

Actor Bradley Cooper eating dinner downtown with his supermodel girlfriend Irina Shayk at Vernick in Rittenhouse Square (via Philly.com’s Howard Gensler): http://bit.ly/2ax9EYg 

Bernie Sanders in the back row of the arena signing autographs (!) while Hillary Clinton made her surprise appearance. This couldn’t epitomize the Democratic convention anymore. (h/t to The Hill’s Sarah Ferris): http://bit.ly/2ag4Ja3 

“[Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee] Bill Weld working the DNC concourse” (h/t to The Texas Tribune’s Patrick Svitek): http://bit.ly/2avUZfZ 

The Roots played at a Bully Pulpit Interactive concert last night. Attendees included: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.); former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter; Ronan Farrow; MSNBC’s Ari Melber; Chris Hughes, Facebook co-founder and former New Republic owner; Pandora’s Sean Duggan, Shannon Lee and Drew Thurlow; Sidewire’s Tucker Bounds and Meredith Carden; Slack’s Adam Conner, Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor; NextGen Climate Action’s Josh Fryday, Priorities USA’s Tara McGowan, Lauren Miller; Strategy Group’s Pete Giangreco; Analytics Media Group’s Gaurav Shirole; Lyft’s Lauren Belive; Yelp’s Laurent Crenshaw;  Twitter’s Jenna Golden; Snapchat’s Rob Saliterman; Facebook’s Kaiya Waddell; Pew’s Elise Shutzer; and NGP VAN’s Michelle Stephenson.

Spotted at the Latino Leaders Luncheon in Philadelphia: Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson; Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro; former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros; former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar; House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer; California Secretary of State Alex Padilla; Puerto Rico Senate President Eduardo Bhatia; Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Carlos Sada; Spanish Ambassador to the U.S. Ramon Gil Casares; Voto Latino President and CEO Maria Teresa Kumar; and California Democratic Reps. Xavier Becerra, Tony Cardenas and Linda Sánchez.

 

NOTABLE TWEETS:

C-SPAN’s Howard Mortman (Oh how times have changed)
Barney Frank at Dem Conventions: On the left, right now … On the right, 1984 http://bit.ly/2afEq76 

Politico’s Burgess Everett (Yipes.)
Not down with Bloomberg http://bit.ly/2axhcfk 

The Hill’s Megan Wilson
I would watch a reality show centered around this super uninterested security guard at the Kesha concert. http://bit.ly/2ad2FFC 

The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos
“I started without a million $ loan from my father” Boom! Hot billionaire on billionaire action. http://bit.ly/2aiUG4A 

 

EVENTS ON TAP:

Noon: Sen. Chris Coons (Del.), Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Jake Sullivan, senior policy adviser for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, speak about Democrats and foreign policy at a Politico event. Live stream: http://politi.co/2aAyIvV 

3:30 p.m. EDT: The Washington Post is hosting Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.) for an event.

4 p.m. EDT: Donald Trump campaigns in Davenport, Iowa.

8 p.m. EDT: Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Tonight: Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton gives her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

2 p.m. EDT tomorrow: Donald Trump holds a town hall event in Colorado Springs, Colo. 

 

WHAT TO WATCH:

11 p.m. EDT tonight: HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” is airing a special installment from the Democratic National Convention. http://bit.ly/29DJlyO 

 

NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF…:

Today is National Milk Chocolate Day and National Hamburger Day!

JUST ADD A BOWTIE AND MY DAY WILL BE MADE: Via CBS New York, for the first time in 120 years, a baby “fairy” penguin was born at the Bronx Zoo. http://cbsloc.al/2akbYhR

And to leave you on a good note, here’s a video (that made me cry from laughing) of a bird enjoying an airport moving walkway, as one does: http://bit.ly/2arIUY6 

 

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