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Hillary Clinton’s email server did not hurt national security, Obama says

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Welcome to Trail Guide, your daily host through the wilds of the 2016 presidential campaign. It's Sunday, Oct. 11, and this is what we're watching:

  • Ann Coulter says Donald Trump 's "spicy stuff on Mexican rapists" came from her book
  • 1 in 5 Republican voters say they won't support Trump even if he wins the nomination
  • A Benghazi committee ex-staffer says he was pressured to focus on Hillary Rodham Clinton , but committee members deny that
  • Bernie Sanders pushes for tougher gun laws
  • Ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic debate,  compare Clinton with Sanders and others

Clinton email controversy was 'ginned up,' Obama says

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 38th Annual Awards Gala in Washington on Oct. 8.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 38th Annual Awards Gala in Washington on Oct. 8.

(Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)

Hillary Rodham Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of State "is not a situation in which America's national security was endangered," President Obama said in an interview that aired Sunday.

Although Clinton "made a mistake," he said in the interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," he believes the controversy over the matter has "been ginned up ... in part because of politics."

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Obama has campaign 'advice' for Kanye West

Hip-hop star Kanye West said in August that he'd run for president in 2020.

President Obama, speaking Saturday at a Democratic fundraiser, said he had some advice "in case Kanye's serious about this whole POTUS thing."

Here are the tips, which are mildly helpful at best:

"First of all, you've got to spend a lot of time dealing with some strange characters who behave like they're on a reality TV show." (West has been doing that for years, as has every serious politician.)

"Second, saying that you have a beautiful dark twisted fantasy," he said, referring to the title of West's 2010 Grammy-winning album, "that's what's known as off-message in politics. You can't say something like that."

For his final thought, Obama cheekily pointed out similarities between himself and West. "Do you really think that this country's going to elect a black guy from the south side of Chicago with a funny name to be president of the United States? That is crazy."

Ann Coulter: Trump got 'spicy stuff on Mexican rapists' from me

Ann Coulter speaks at the Politicon convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Oct. 10.

Ann Coulter speaks at the Politicon convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Oct. 10.

(Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images)

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter is seldom shy. She's built a career out of inserting herself into controversies.

Her latest claim, with characteristic moxie, is that Donald Trump took some of his most inflammatory ideas about immigrants from her latest book, "Adios, America."

"Donald Trump read it," Coulter said Saturday. "That's where he got that spicy stuff on Mexican rapists."

Coulter made the comments to Michael Loftus, a conservative comedian. The exchange was captured on a video recorded by TruthDig staffer Kasia Anderson.

Trump kicked off his presidential campaign in June with a speech that branded most Mexicans who cross the border illegally as rapists and drug traffickers. He has since advocated deporting 11 million people, building a wall along the nation's southern border and doing away with the provision in the Constitution that grants citizenship to everyone born in the country.

It is unclear whether "Adios, America" influenced Trump's views, but the book does contain three chapters and case studies about media coverage of immigrants -- largely those from Central and South America -- and crimes such as rape.

The book was published June 1, less than three weeks before Trump's campaign kickoff speech, but Coulter has told the Washington Post that he received an advance copy, and he tweeted his approval in late May.

Trump's campaign office did not reply Sunday to a phone call and email seeking comment.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont speaks during a rally Oct. 9 in Tucson.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont speaks during a rally Oct. 9 in Tucson.

(Rick Scuteri / Associated Press)
Do I think the Republican speaker of the House will agree with me? No, I don't think so. But I think he'll have to look out the window and see a million young people demonstrating and marching.
Sen. Bernie Sanders on "Meet the Press," discussing why Congress would support his agenda

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks at the National Press Club in Washington on Oct. 9.

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks at the National Press Club in Washington on Oct. 9.

(Paul J. Richards / AFP/Getty Images)
If I were in charge ... we would tie the raising of that debt limit to some very significant actions. ... We always get right up to the deadline. Now it's do or die, and you're forced to do it. And that's a stupid way to run a government.
Ben Carson on "Face the Nation"

Stakeout at Joe Biden's house

Vice President Joe Biden still might run for president -- or he might not.

As reporters wait outside his home, hoping for an announcement, Biden's time to make a decision is running short. Michael A. Memoli has explained why .

A CBS poll released today shows, as other surveys have, that Biden would significantly cut into Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead if he were to enter the race. Without Biden in the race, Clinton leads Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, 56% to 32%, the poll found. With Biden included, Clinton's support drops 10 percentage points to 46% while Sanders drops 5 percentage points, to 27%. Biden comes in third with 16%.

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Trump leads GOP, but 1 in 5 would not vote for him

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump campaigns aboard the battleship Iowa in Los Angeles Harbor.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump campaigns aboard the battleship Iowa in Los Angeles Harbor.

(Mike Nelson/EPA)

A new poll from CBS News neatly illustrates the dilemma that Donald Trump poses for the Republican party.

Trump continues to lead the race for the party's nomination, with 27% of those polled backing him. But asked what they would do if Trump won the nomination, 19% of Republican primary voters said they would not support him. More than 4 in 10 said they would "support him with reservations," while 29% said they would back him "enthusiastically."

That "love him or hate him" polarization makes Trump a huge problem for the GOP. If he won the nomination, he would start with a big disadvantage, but if the party nominates someone else, his disillusioned supporters might not show up on election day.

Among the other candidates, Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon, came in second with 21%, with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas at 9%, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida at 8% and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard, tied at 6%.

The poll was conducted Sunday through Thursday, Oct. 4-8. For the sample of Republican primary voters, the margin of error is +/- 5 percentage points.

Benghazi committee members deny targeting Hillary Clinton

House Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) speaks on Capitol Hill on Sept. 10.

House Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) speaks on Capitol Hill on Sept. 10.

(Cliff Owen / Associated Press)

The congressional committee examining the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, is not focused on Hillary Rodham Clinton's email scandal, and the former investigator who alleges otherwise was fired for unrelated reasons, the Republican-led panel's chairman said Sunday.

Until he spoke to the media Friday, Army Maj. Bradley Podliska "never mentioned Secretary Clinton as a cause of his termination, and he did not cite Clinton's name in a legally mandated mediation," Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said in an emailed statement.

In interviews with CNN and the New York Times, Podliska charged that he had been unlawfully fired because his supervisors did not want him to conduct a thorough investigation of the Benghazi incident and, instead, wanted only to focus on Clinton.

But Gowdy said that Podliska had claimed in a mediation filing that he was dismissed from the staff of the House Select Committee on Benghazi because of his Army Reserve status.

In fact, Gowdy said, Podliska mishandled classified information and had conduct issues, and "he himself was focused on Clinton improperly and was instructed to stop."

"This committee has always been about getting to the truth," Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a member of the panel, said on "Fox News Sunday."

Of the 33 interviews the panel has conducted since Clinton's email scandal broke, Jordan said, "32 of those have been about Benghazi. The only one about the email scandal was [former Clinton staffer Bryan Pagliano,] the guy who took the 5th Amendment and wouldn't answer any questions."

I am the most military-based and the most militaristic person on your show. I want to have a much stronger military. I want it to be so strong that nobody's going to mess with us.
Donald Trump on "Face the Nation"

Benghazi panel accused of targeting Hillary Clinton

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks Oct. 7 during a campaign stop at the Westfair Amphitheater in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks Oct. 7 during a campaign stop at the Westfair Amphitheater in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

(Nati Harnik / Associated Press )

A former investigator with the Republican-led congressional committee examining the attacks in Benghazi in 2012 says he was fired after resisting pressure to narrowly focus his investigative work on Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Maj. Bradley Podliska, who describes himself as a conservative Republican, told CNN that in March the panel abandoned its broader investigation of the events that led up to the deaths in Benghazi, Libya, of four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, to focus instead on Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of State.

He said that by the time he was dismissed, the work of the House Select Committee on Benghazi had become "a partisan investigation."

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Bernie Sanders calls for tougher gun laws

Speaking at a Tucson rally, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders called for stiffer gun controls and improved mental health services to address the country's spate of gun violence.

Speaking at a Tucson rally, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders called for stiffer gun controls and improved mental health services to address the country’s spate of gun violence.

(Rick Scuteri / AP)

Responding to two college campus shootings in a single day, presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders called for tougher gun controls, including more rigorous background checks, and vastly improving the country's mental healthcare system.

Sanders opened his hourlong remarks at a Friday night rally by mentioning the shootings at Northern Arizona University and Texas Southern University. "We are tired of condolences, and we are tired of just prayers," he said.

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