WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump is pushing hard his outreach to African-American voters in a speech to a predominantly white crowd in Iowa.
Speaking Saturday in Des Moines following Sen. Joni Ernst's annual Roast and Ride event, Trump began by noting "there are millions of American-Americans in this country who have succeeded" but stressed that government has failed black communities, with almost 40 percent of African-American children living in poverty.
Trump also spoke of the shooting in Chicago of NBA star Dwyane Wade's cousin Friday. He says the death of the woman while going to register her children for school "breaks our hearts. This shouldn't happen in America."
Trump says that as a builder and a father, he hates seeing "the deplorable conditions in many of our inner cities."
He adds, "We cannot, as a society, tolerate this level of violence and suffering in our own cities."
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4:30 p.m.
Donald Trump is criticizing rival Hillary Clinton for referring to black youth as "super predators" decades ago and calls the remark an insult.
Trump told a crowd Saturday at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, that African-Americans "have given so much to this country."
The Republican nominee released an online video that includes footage of the former first lady referring to some young criminals as "super predators" in the 1990s. The video also shows Clinton's former Democratic rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, denouncing the phrase as "a racist term." Clinton has since apologized.
Trump's comments come as he works to boost his image with minority voters amid a slip in the polls. He vowed to work with communities, with police and federal law enforcement officials to boost safety and security in all communities.
Addressing a predominantly white audience at Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst's annual Roast and Ride event, Trump vows to "end the discrimination that traps parents and kids in failing government schools."
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4:20 p.m.
Donald Trump is telling Iowans that one of his campaign goals is to "make America grow again."
Speaking at a rally Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, Trump touted his plans to boost economic growth and help American farmers, including his proposal to lower the tax rate on family farms to 15 percent.
Trump tells the crowd, which includes many farmers, that "we are going to end this war on the American farmer."
Trump adds that he aims to protect the renewable fuel standard, eliminate "job-killing regulations" and "provide desperately needed tax relief."
He claims that his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton "wants to shut down family farms just like she wants to shut down the mines and the steelworkers."
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4:15 p.m.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine says Donald Trump's recent outreach to the African-American community is insincere.
Speaker to reporters Saturday after touring a small event production company in Miami Lakes, Florida, Kaine said he doesn't see the GOP presidential candidate's effort as "that serious."
Kaine says Trump's promotion of the discredited theory that President Barack Obama wasn't born in the U.S. highlights his insensitivity toward African-Americans. And Kaine says that Trump hasn't done enough to distance himself from supporters with ties to the Ku Klux Klan.
Kaine says he finds it troubling that Trump sometimes seems to want to take advantage of that support.
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3:45 p.m.
Donald Trump is receiving criticism for his latest tweets, after NBA star Dwyane Wade's cousin was fatally gunned down near a Chicago school where she intended to register her children.
"Dwyane Wade's cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago," Trump wrote Saturday. "Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP!"
One person responded: "@realDonaldTrump Glad you're not making this about you. Whew!"
Some criticized his record with African American voters, accusing him of trying to appeal to them too late. Originally he had spelled Dwyane wrong, but deleted the incorrect version, replacing it with a new tweet using the same wording. Trump has ramped up efforts to appeal to black and Hispanic voters in recent weeks as the polls show him slipping behind rival Hillary Clinton.
Trump later followed up with a second tweet sending the family his condolences.
"My condolences to Dwyane Wade and his family, on the loss of Nykea Aldridge. They are in my thoughts and prayers," he wrote.
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1:45 p.m.
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad says Donald Trump can beat Hillary Clinton in Iowa by focusing on agriculture, pointing to his support for a renewable fuel standard important to the state's corn growers.
Branstad told The Associated Press on Saturday that he's going to personally deliver that message to Trump when they share a ride to a campaign stop at the state fairgrounds.
The Republican governor spoke to the AP Saturday before he was to appear with Trump and other officials at a fundraiser hosted by Sen. Joni Ernst.
Branstad's son Eric Branstad is running Trump's Iowa campaign.
Branstad said he wants Trump to call for restoring a "robust" renewable fuel standard requiring corn-based ethanol in fuel. The current standard is set to expire in 2022.
Branstad says Trump should also emphasize his opposition to a clean water rule enacted by the Obama administration.
Polls show a tight race in Iowa. Branstad says he thinks Trump and Clinton are running "about even."
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12:05 p.m.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine is asking elected officials in Florida to help drive Democratic turnout, stressing the importance of the state on Election Day in November.
Kaine was at a campaign event in South Florida on Saturday. He said other traditional swing states such as Virginia and Colorado are becoming safer bets for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, meaning her campaign is going to spend even more time focusing on Florida.
Polls in the Sunshine State continue to show a close race between Clinton and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Kaine told a crowd of supporters, "Now we can really spend a lot of time here."
Kaine urged the local officials to focus on getting their supporters registered and to get as many possible to vote early.
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10:15 a.m.
Words, but no wheels for Donald Trump in Iowa.
He's skipping a 42-mile motorcycle ride that's part of a fundraiser hosted by one of the state's Republican senators, Joni Ernst.
Trump is the headline speaker at her "Roast and Ride" fundraiser at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. But for the ride, Ernst will be joined by veterans and soldiers — not the Republican presidential nominee.
Iowa remains a bright spot for Trump on the 2016 election map amid a sea of challenging battleground states.
Trump lost the lead-off Iowa caucuses to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. But much of the state's Republican establishment has since rallied around Trump.
Recent polls suggest a tight race against Hillary Clinton.
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8:50 a.m.
Hillary Clinton has arrived at an FBI facility in White Plains, New York, for her first national security briefing as the Democratic presidential nominee.
The former secretary of state routinely received such briefings when she was in President Barack Obama's Cabinet.
But the briefing Saturday in suburban New York is her first since she became her party's nominee. Republican Donald Trump had his first briefing earlier this month.
The briefings have been customary for presidential nominees so the next commander in chief has an understanding of the country's national security apparatus.
