During the 2016 presidential campaign, Republican nominee Donald Trump blamed the news media for his decline in the polls, accusing outlets of protecting Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and misrepresenting his words and rallies. He claimed he would be leading Clinton by 20 percentage points if coverage were honest. Trump particularly attacked *The New York Times* over an article describing his campaign as struggling and quoting anonymous colleagues who portrayed him as exhausted and frustrated. He called the reporting fiction and suggested he might revoke the newspaper’s credentials. An opinion passage agreed that much of the media wanted Trump to lose, while noting that previous Republican nominees had faced similar hostility.

Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, also criticized the press for focusing on controversial remarks instead of Trump’s economic plan. Those remarks included Trump’s suggestion that Second Amendment supporters could “do something” if Clinton appointed liberal judges and his false assertion that President Barack Obama founded the Islamic State group. Running mate Mike Pence defended Trump, saying he meant that Obama’s policies were responsible for the group’s rise.

Trump planned to outline a foreign policy in Ohio that would end nation building and focus on defeating the Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations. His aides said he would seek cooperation with countries sharing that goal, even where other disagreements existed. He was also expected to propose withholding visas when adequate screening could not be conducted and introducing an ideological test for admission, including questions about religious freedom.

Clinton, meanwhile, planned to campaign in Scranton, Pennsylvania, with Vice President Joe Biden. Biden was expected to portray Trump as unprepared for the presidency and a danger to national security, while praising Clinton’s proposals for jobs and education. Clinton’s campaign also launched a voter registration effort aimed at mobilizing Latino voters through young undocumented immigrants known as DREAMERs. The campaign said Trump would end an Obama-era program that temporarily shielded some immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Separately, a *New York Times* investigation examined Manafort’s past consulting work for Ukraine’s pro-Russia political party and his connections to a network that Ukrainian investigators said was used to loot assets and influence elections. Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who had clashed with Manafort before being fired, drew attention by sharing the article on Twitter.