Evangelical leaders organize meeting with Donald Trump

Many polls have suggested presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has done well with evangelical voters. But when you dig down, you find more frequent church attenders are much more skeptical. WORLD’s monthly survey of about 100 evangelical insiders has shown a great deal of resistance to Trump. And according to recent reports, he’s hoping to do something about that.

Trump is reportedly planning to meet with hundreds of prominent evangelical leaders next month. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council is one of those organizing the gathering. He said it worries him that some Christian leaders are encouraging people of faith to just stay home in November.

Trump will not be delivering a speech. He’s simply going to answer questions as evangelical leaders get a chance to voice their concerns. He certainly will be pressed on his plans for U.S. Supreme Court nominees and whom he might tap as a running mate. That meeting is set for June 21 in New York.

Meanwhile, Trump has started attacking Bill Clinton, keying in on past allegations against him. The move appears designed to head off Hillary Clinton’s use of gender warfare. Many have criticized her over the years, saying she enabled her husband’s behavior and covered for him for political reasons. And Trump is not afraid to go there. The Trump campaign, posting a new ad highlighting the former president’s past indiscretions, wrote on Instagram, “Is Hillary really protecting women?”

Clinton faced a new setback today as an internal audit by the State Department revealed her staff brushed aside concerns about her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Information management staff at the State Department raised concerns about her email practices twice in 2010, but a director told them everything had been reviewed and approved by legal staff and not to bring it up again. But the audit found that wasn’t true. Auditors found no record of Clinton seeking approval to use private email or demonstrating the server and Blackberry device she used met security requirements.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.