WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. presidential race (all times EDT):
9:55 a.m.
Donald Trump says he's "going to make a big announcement" about whether he still believes President Barack Obama was born outside the U.S. in a statement Friday.
Trump has convened the press at his new Washington hotel.
He said on Fox Business Network earlier Friday that he's "going to be making a major statement on this whole thing" and what he claims his rival Hillary Clinton "did" to fuel it.
Trump is repeating the unsubstantiated claim that Clinton questioned Obama's birthplace during the 2008 Democratic primary.
He said: "She is the one that started it, and she was unable or incapable of finishing it. That's the way it worked out."
Trump is also taking credit for successfully getting Obama to release his birth certificate in 2011.
___
9:30 a.m.
Bernie Sanders is urging his supporters not to vote for a third-party candidate in November because doing so might deny Hillary Clinton the support she needs to defeat Donald Trump.
Sanders is the longest-serving independent in the history of Congress and was Clinton's opponent in the Democratic primary. But he says trying to buck the two-party system in this particular presidential election is too risky.
In an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Sanders said anyone casting a protest vote should imagine four years of Trump as president.
He added: "Let us elect Hillary Clinton as president, and the day after, let us mobilize millions of people around the progressive agenda" adopted as part of the Democratic platform.
___
8:55 a.m.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine says he thinks some supporters of Donald Trump "are motivated by dark emotions."
Kaine was trying to explain on National Public Radio the remark by Hillary Clinton that half of Trump's backers belong in a "basket of deplorables."
Kaine said Thursday that Clinton has a duty to draw attention to the messages of some Trump supporters.
Kaine said some "are motivated by dark emotions that are not in accord with American values." He says "silence in the face of divisive, bigoted comments allows it to grow."
Kaine also touched on Clinton's bout with pneumonia, saying she wasn't trying to hide the illness but that she just decided to try to power through it.
___
8:30 a.m.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid is bristling at Donald Trump's attempt to make fun of him.
Trump told The Washington Post that Reid "should go back and start working out again with his rubber work-out pieces." Reid fell and broke several ribs and facial bones last year when an exercise band snapped during a workout.
Reid said in a statement Thursday that Trump can make fun of the injury that crushed the side of his face and cost him the sight in his right eye. Reid said, "I've dealt with tougher opponents than him."
Reid said that with his good eye, he sees that Trump inherited his money but pretends he earned it.
The Republican nominee lashed after being told Reid had said that Trump is "not slim and trim."
___
7:50 a.m.
Donald Trump Jr. says his father recognizes that President Barack Obama was born in the United States, but he doesn't know if his father will say so himself.
Speaking Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Trump's son said a statement by the campaign Thursday night acknowledging Obama's U.S. birth "should be the definitive end" of questions about Trump's views.
The Republican presidential nominee has been most prominent proponent of the "birther" movement casting doubt on Obama's birthplace. On Thursday, Trump declined to address the matter when asked about it by The Washington Post. The campaign later issued its statement.
Trump Jr. said the statement reflected his father's views. He said, "This is coming from him."
Asked if his father would say it, Trump Jr. said, "I don't know."
___
3:30 a.m.
Hillary Clinton returned to campaigning without offering apologies for keeping her pneumonia a secret, focusing on criticizing opponent Donald Trump instead of the three-day rest ordered by her doctor.
To the strains of James Brown's "I Feel Good," Clinton reappeared on the campaign trail Thursday at a North Carolina rally. It was the Democratic presidential nominee's first public outing since she stumbled and needed support from aides while leaving a 9/11 memorial in New York last Sunday. The episode, caught on video, was attributed to dizziness and dehydration, and led to an acknowledgement that she'd been diagnosed with pneumonia two days earlier.
In New York, Trump announced plans to lower taxes by $4.4 trillion over a decade and cut regulations. A revised tax code is a centerpiece of Trump's plan.
Shares