The Latest: Trump says he raised $51 million in June

WASHINGTON – The Latest on Campaign 2016 ahead of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions (all times EDT):

1:53 p.m.

Donald Trump says he raised $51 million for his campaign and allied Republicans in the month of June.

That’s a dramatic uptick from his May numbers but sharply less than likely presidential opponent Hillary Clinton’s June haul.

Clinton raised almost $70 million in June for her campaign and Democratic allies, her campaign announced last week.

Clinton has spent tens of millions of dollars more than Trump to build up voter contact operations and advertisements ahead of the November election.

Trump previewed his June numbers on Twitter Tuesday night by writing, “Raised a lot of money for the Republican Party. There will be a big gasp when the figures are announced in the morning. Lots of support! Win.”

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1:15 p.m.

A spokesman for Republican Sen. Bob Corker says he has withdrawn his name as a possible running mate for Donald Trump.

Micah Johnson confirmed the comments that the Tennessee senator made in an interview with The Washington Post published Wednesday in which the senator said, “There are people far more suited for being a candidate for vice-president, and I think I’m far more suited for other types of things.”

Corker is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He appeared with Trump at a campaign event in North Carolina on Tuesday.

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1:14 p.m.

Donald Trump is defending his record in Atlantic City following a blistering speech from likely rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump says in a lengthy statement that he “created thousands of jobs and made a lot of money in Atlantic City, which was what, as a businessman, I am supposed to do.”

Trump was once a major force in the New Jersey city, but no longer owns any hotels there.

Clinton went after Trump in her speech on a litany of issues, including three bankruptcies involving Trump’s old casinos.

Trump says the use of “the chapter laws of our country” is a standard practice employed by the “country’s elite business people” and helped to save jobs.

He adds: “Nobody understands the economy like I do and no one, especially not Crooked Hillary Clinton, will do more for the economy than I will.”

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1:05 p.m.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is ready to endorse Donald Trump.

The Republican governor made his intentions known Wednesday on Twitter. Walker says, “Last August, I said I’d support the GOP nominee. It’s now clear who the RNC delegates will vote to nominate.”

He didn’t cite Trump by name, but added, “He is better than she is.”

Walker said last month he was withholding an endorsement until Trump renounced his comments about a Hispanic judge. Trump has not done that.

The Wisconsin governor said Tuesday that he plans to speak at the upcoming Republican National Convention. Walker, who’s been the subject of Trump attacks, says he’ll put aside their differences for the good of the country.

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12:51 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is lashing out at Donald Trump’s business practices, saying that his background in Atlantic City shows what he might do to the American economy.

Clinton says Trump once called his Trump Taj Mahal the “8th wonder of the world” but it filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and the new management cancelled workers’ health insurance and pensions.

She says Trump stiffed many contractors for millions of dollars of work and never paid them. And she says he defaulted on bank loans and bankrupted the companies.

Clinton says of Trump, “what he did here in Atlantic City is exactly what he will do if he wins in November.”

She was introduced in Atlantic City by a retired vice-president of a glass company who says Trump owed his company nearly $500,000 for work that they did on one of his hotels.

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11:41 a.m.

House Democrats frustrated with Bernie Sanders’ slow-moving support for Hillary Clinton shouted “timeline, timeline” at the presidential candidate during a closed-door meeting.

A dozen Democrats wanted to know the Vermont senator’s timeline for endorsing Clinton, the presumptive nominee, with just three weeks to the start of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia.

Sanders never answered, though at one point he said, “our goal is not to win elections,” then paused. During that pause, Sanders was booed, until he completed his thought by saying, “but to transform America” in order to win elections.

The exchange is according to a Democrat who attended the session and spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the meeting.

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10:47 a.m.

Bernie Sanders is applauding Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for a “very bold initiative” to make higher education more affordable and says he hopes to find agreement with her on more issues before the Democratic National Convention.

Sanders has not yet endorsed Clinton’s presidential campaign with only a few weeks before she is expected to become the Democratic nominee. Earlier Wednesday, he met with House Democrats, who are pressuring him to endorse Clinton.

The Vermont senator says he was pleased by her announcement of a proposal that allows families with annual incomes of up to $125,000 to pay no tuition at in-state public colleges and universities. The Clinton plan also calls for a three-month moratorium on loan payments for all federal borrowers. She did not say how she would pay for those proposals or how much they would cost.

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10:41 a.m.

House Speaker Paul Ryan says it looks like Hillary Clinton got preferential treatment from the FBI in its investigation of the former secretary of state’s use of a private email server for government business.

Ryan made the comments to reporters Wednesday. Asked if she got special treatment, Ryan said: “Looks like it to me.”

He said there are a number of outstanding questions about the FBI inquiry. Director James Comey will be testifying Thursday before the House Oversight committee, and the House Judiciary panel has scheduled a hearing next week with Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Ryan has questioned whether Clinton should receive classified briefings as a presidential candidate in light of Comey’s rebuke of her handling of sensitive material.

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10:28 a.m.

House Democrats are “anxious to know” when Sen. Bernie Sanders will formally withdraw from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

That’s according to Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark, one of the Democrats who met with Sanders for nearly an hour Wednesday. She said the lawmakers “are anxious to know when he’s going to endorse our nominee” for president, Hillary Clinton.

Clark said Sanders is focused on the party’s convention platform and “was vague on his timing” about endorsing Clinton.

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10:00 a.m.

Hillary Clinton is announcing new steps aimed at tackling the rising cost of college tuition and the burden of student loan debt, including a three-month moratorium on loan payments for all federal loan borrowers.

Clinton is also calling for a plan that ensures families with annual incomes up to $125,000 pay no tuition at in-state public colleges and universities.

Wednesday’s policy rollout is a direct overture to Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who posed a serious threat to Clinton in the Democratic primary and is yet to endorse her in the general election. A Clinton campaign fact sheet announcing the new proposals was laced with multiple references to Sanders and his calls for addressing college affordability.

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9:45 a.m.

Donald Trump is tweeting back at Hillary Clinton ahead of her press conference about his turbulent business record in Atlantic City.

The Republican presidential candidate writes: “I made a lot of money in Atlantic City and left 7 years ago, great timing (as all know). Pols made big mistakes, now many bankruptcies.”

Clinton his expected to highlight Trump’s bankruptcies near the Trump Taj Mahal, which he used to own and where workers have been striking since Friday.

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9:30 a.m.

Hillary Clinton is campaigning on the famous boards of Atlantic City.

From the seaside city’s boardwalk, the Democratic presidential candidate is set to cast Republican rival Donald Trump’s turbulent business record there as a prime example of why he shouldn’t become president.

Clinton officials say she will highlight Trump’s record of “stiffing contractors” — all while “pocketing cash for himself.” She’s also expected to highlight the multiple bankruptcies under his management of Atlantic City casinos in the 1980s and 1990s.

Clinton will campaign near the Trump Taj Mahal casino, which still bears the Republican’s name but now belongs to his friend Carl Icahn. Casino workers at the hotel have been striking since Friday.

The Taj opened in 1990, but collapsed into bankruptcy a year later. At the time, Trump paid only a fraction to contractors he owned money for work.