The Trail 2016: Unity at last

Welcome to THE TRAIL 2016, your daily rundown from The Hill on all the latest news in the White House, Senate and House races. 

It finally happened. 

On Tuesday, at a rally in Portsmouth, N.H., Bernie Sanders conceded, “Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nominating process.”

His face was red and he was grimacing slightly, but Sanders gave the full-throated endorsement Clinton had been yearning for. 

“She will be the Democratic nominee for president and I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States,” Sanders said. 

The Hill’s top Clinton watcher, Amie Parnes, has a piece on the weeks of private conversations that led up to the Sanders endorsement, which included (of course!) a meal at a Chinese restaurant with Chuck Schumer. 

Meantime, the Republican platform meetings continue in Cleveland and Jonathan Easley has a piece on how Trump’s wall along the southern border with Mexico became party policy on Tuesday. But Easley points out that there was no mention of who will pay for the wall. 

Stay on TheHill.com tonight and tomorrow for the latest campaign news including Mike Lillis on Trump’s law and order theme and Jonathan Swan on what to look for when candidates’ fundraising reports are disclosed in the coming days.

RACE TO 1600 PENN 

IS IT NEWT?  The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports:Fox News on Tuesday announced it is ending its contributor agreement with former Speaker Newt Gingrich, citing intensifying speculation over Gingrich’s selection chances as Donald Trump’s running mate. 

SPEAKING SLOT: The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters that he plans to speak at the GOP convention in Cleveland next week. 

MILITARY VEEP: The Hill’s Nikita Vladimirov reports: Hillary Clinton is vetting James G. Stavridis, a retired four-star Navy admiral, as a possible running mate, according to The New York Times. 

CURB POLICE VIOLENCE: The Hill’s Ben Kamisar reports:  Hillary Clinton announced support for bias training and nationwide use-of-force guidelines for police officers in order to curb the “tragedy of black men and women and black children being killed in police incidents.” 

ENERGIZING TRUMP: The Hill’s Timothy Cama reports: The American Energy Alliance is giving presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump its first-ever endorsement of a political candidate. On the other side of the climate/energy debate, the Sierra Club released a study saying Trump, if elected, would be the only world leader to doubt the science behind climate change. 

EMAIL SAGA WOES: The Hill’s Julian Hattem reports: Lawyers for Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration filed separate motions Tuesday trying to block the former secretary of State from being deposed in an ongoing open records case about her emails. Meantime, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, testifying on Capitol Hill, irritated House Republicans by refusing to discuss her decision not to pursue charges against Clinton.

ODDS AND ENDS: 

SWAYING SANDERS SUPPORTERS: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson dismissed Bernie Sanders’ endorsement of Hillary Clinton while calling on Sanders supporters to support him. 

THOU SHALT NOT SPEAK ILL OF GOP: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Donald Trump says he will “try” to honor Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment and not “speak ill” of fellow Republicans. 

THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION LIVES ON: The Hill’s Nikita Vladimirov reports: As he bowed out of the presidential race Tuesday, Bernie Sanders said he is ready to continue his “political revolution” by creating “successor organizations” dedicated to advancing progressive values.

POLL POSITION 

SHRINKING LEAD: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Hillary Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump has fallen to 3 points nationwide, leading him 47 to 44 percent, in a new poll released Tuesday.

HAWKEYE STATE SHOWDOWN: The Hill’s Tim Devaney reports: Donald Trump holds a 2-point lead over Hillary Clinton in Iowa, following the FBI’s recommendation not to prosecute the presumptive Democratic nominee over her email scandal, well within a new poll’s margin of error.

THE DAILY TRUMP 

GINSBURG VS. TRUMP: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is doubling down on her criticism of Donald Trump, this time by calling him “a faker” who must release his tax returns. Trump fired back, dismissing Ginsburg’s criticism of his campaign and calling her remarks “a disgrace to the court.” 

SANDERS VS. TRUMP: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders got in a Twitter fight over Sanders’ endorsement of Clinton. 

RETURN OF THE TAX RETURNS: The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda reports: Activists on Tuesday will deliver a petition signed by more than 400,000 people urging presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump to release his tax returns. 

NO THANKS: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal says he’s not interested in being Donald Trump’s running mate or taking any other role in his potential administration.

QUOTE OF THE DAY 

“I’m relieved it’s over.” 

— An unnamed Bernie Sanders aide, following the Vermont senator’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton on Tuesday.

CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS 

DEFYING THE ODDS: The Hill’s Lisa Hagen reports: Patty Judge’s quest to unseat longtime Sen. Chuck Grassley will likely be the toughest fight of her political career. But this isn’t the first time she’s sought to defy formidable odds. In 1998, Judge became the first female to be elected as Iowa’s secretary of agriculture after facing major skepticism that a woman could win that role. 

STALLING THE HOUSE: The Hill’s Cristina Marcos reports: Rep. Alan Grayson, who’s running in the Democratic primary for the key Florida Senate seat, temporarily stalled House proceedings Tuesday afternoon after he forced delaying tactics to protest the lack of gun control legislation on the one-month anniversary of the mass shooting in Orlando.

MONEY WATCH

THAT NUMBER AGAIN? The Hill’s Jonathan Swan reports: A new donate option has appeared on Hillary Clinton’s campaign website to commemorate Bernie Sanders’s endorsement of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee on Tuesday: $27.

DO AS I SAY: The Center for Public Integrity: A deep-dive investigation shows how Clinton’s massive campaign machine is built of the very stuff — super PACs, secret cash, unlimited contributions — that she says she’ll attack upon winning the White House.

WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW:

(All times Eastern) 

Donald Trump holds a rally in Westfield, Ind., at 7:30 p.m. today. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who’s on Trump’s vice presidential short list, will make an appearance. 

Hillary Clinton will deliver a speech at the Old State House in Springfield, Ill. at 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday.

Bernie Sanders’s  campaign manager Jeff Weaver makes appearances on MSNBC’s “All in with Chris Hayes,” which airs from 8-9 tonight, and on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” that airs from 9-10 tonight. Sanders surrogate Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator, will be on “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” which airs from 7-8 tonight on MSNBC. 

Darryl Glenn, the Colorado Republican challenging incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet, will be a guest on “The Kelly File,” which airs at 9 tonight on Fox News.

TWEET OF THE DAY 

let’s go one election cycle without talking about putting lipstick on animals

— Philip Bump (@pbump) July 12, 2016

Comment by a Washington Post reporter after Hillary Clinton used the same phrase on Tuesday that then-Sen. Barack Obama used in 2008.

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: Jonathan Easley, Ben Kamisar, Jonathan Swan, Lisa Hagen. 

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