Libertarian VP Candidate: 'I'm Here Vouching for Mrs. Clinton'

Libertarian vice presidential candidate Bill Weld — in a striking split from running mate Gary Johnson — said Tuesday night he was "vouching" for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

While he stopped short of telling people to vote for her, Weld acknowledged that his party might only muster 5 percent of the popular vote — and he fears for what would happen if Republican nominee Donald Trump won on Election Day.

"I know her well personally," Weld, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts, said of Clinton on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show." "I know her to be a person of high moral character, a reliable person and an honest person, however so much Mr. Trump may rant and rave to the contrary. So, I'm happy to say that, and people can make their own choices."

Johnson has attacked both Trump and Clinton, and said last week that he thinks Clinton could ultimately be impeached over the FBI review of her emails.

The fabled portrait of Donald Trump that he reportedly used $20,000 in charity money to buy was finally revealed Tuesday.

And it's very orange.

The Washington Post, which first reported the allegations that Trump may have used Trump Foundation money to buy the picture, obtained a photo which shows the six-foot painting by "speed painter" Michael Israel.

Israel cranked out the portrait in less than six minutes during a 2007 gala at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

It's done in Israel's brash impressionistic style with bold orange colors and Trump's wife Melania bought it afterward with a $10,000 bid that the auctioneer convinced her to double, the paper reported.

Israel, who supplied the photo, got half the proceeds from the auction and the other half was earmarked for the charity that hosted the event, the Children's Place at Home Safe.

"But then Trump paid for this painting with money from the Donald J. Trump Foundation," Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold told MSNBC. "His foundation isn't allowed to just go buy things that are going to decorate the walls of his house, or decorate the walls of his businesses."

What happened to the Trump painting remains something of a mystery.

Fahrenthold, who broke the Trump Foundation story, suspects it may be hanging in a boardroom at the Trump National Golf Club Westchester in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., or at his estate in Seven Springs, N.Y.

The portrait has become a symbol of the questions surrounding the Trump Foundation, which is now being investigated by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for allegedly misusing money meant for charity.

Last month Schneiderman issued a "Notice of Violation" letter ordering the foundation to "immediately cease soliciting contributions."

Trump has denied misusing charitable funds and has accused Schneiderman, a Democrat, of playing politics.

Fahrenthold said the bottom line is that Trump has spent a lifetime "trying to make himself seem he is as generous as he is wealthy."

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's plan to use President Obama's relationship with Hillary Clinton this morning to critique the presidential Nominee backfired on Twitter.

The Republican governor tweeted a photo of Obama and Clinton hugging, writing, "If you like the past 8 years, vote @Hillary Clinton."

Many Twitter users characterized Walker's tweet as an inadvertent endorsement of Clinton and Obama. Walker's tweet was the No.1 trend on Twitter's Today and Election 2016 sections.

Hillary Clinton's campaign is back on the air with TV advertising in Virginia and Colorado, and has begun running ads in New Mexico and Michigan -- all states that have seemed safely out of play for most of the election cycle.

"The Trump campaign claims their path to White House is through states like these but we're going to make sure those doors remain shut," said campaign spokesperson Jesse Ferguson. "Fueled by record breaking fundraising in the last 72 two hours, we are supercharging our GOTV program with these ads to make sure voters know the urgency and the stakes of voting on November 8th."

The ad buys -- at least $100,000 in each state -- come as Donald Trump announces a major advertising campaign of his own in these blue states, buoyed by the reemergence of the FBI probe into Clinton's emails.

Clinton's campaign said these ads are designed to help Clinton and down-ballot candidates finish strong, but it will likely be read as sign of nervousness. Clinton and the main super PAC supporting her campaign were confident about their position in Virginia and Colorado to stop running ads months ago, while Clinton has never run broadcast ads in the other states.

Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who Donald Trump has attacked on Twitter and elsewhere, will introduce Hillary Clinton at an event in Florida today, a campaign official told NBC News.

Clinton brought up Machado during the second presidential debate, saying that Trump once called her "Miss Piggy" when he was involved in the contest.

After the debate, Trump said on Fox News that Machado gained a "massive amount of weight, and it was a real problem." He later claimed on Twitter that Machado had a "sex tape," without providing any evidence.

Despite having a conflicted relationship with the Republican presidential nominee, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that he voted for Donald Trump last week in Wisconsin.

"We need to support our entire Republican ticket," Ryan told Fox News.

Ryan endorsed Trump over the summer, but distanced himself from the GOP nominee in the wake of a 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape that showed Trump making lewd comments about women. After the release of the tape, Ryan said he wouldn't campaign with Trump.

In the final week before Election Day, two Koch-backed groups are adding television advertisements to their efforts to help down-ballot Republicans.

In Wisconsin, Americans for Prosperity — an issue-oriented group that mostly focuses on grassroots organizing — is launching a television advertisement attacking Democratic candidate and former Sen. Russ Feingold on his support of Obamacare.

The $950,000 ad buy, in the only state that AFP is currently running television advertising, was made because the group sees a tightening in the polls that has given supporters of incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson hope that he might win re-election.

And in North Carolina, the political group Freedom Partners Action Fund has released a $500,000 ad buy in the gubernatorial race, attacking Democratic candidate and state Attorney General Roy Cooper. Cooper is leading Republican Gov. Pat McCrory by an average of three points.

Freedom Partners is also running a television ad in Nevada.

The groups announced in September that down-ballot efforts would be focused on ground efforts instead of television advertising, but now see an opportunity for a last-minute infusion of advertising.

Donald Trump's companies may have "systematically" destroyed or concealed thousands of emails and other records during court proceedings, a Newsweek investigation published Monday found.

Speaking on MSNBC's "Hardball," the report's author, Kurt Eichenwald, said that in case after case, Trump's response to court orders demanding such documents was simple.

"They say, 'Oh, we deleted them,'" Eichenwald said. "'They're gone.'"

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said he wouldn't vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, and he made that final Monday when he mailed in an absentee ballot writing in Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, for president, spokesman Chris Schrimpf confirmed.

"You want to vote for someone you can support," Schrimpf told NBC News. "He's been clear he can't support Trump. He's been equally clear he can't support Clinton."

Kasich was the last Republican to leave the presidential race, on May 4, before Trump became the presumptive nominee. While he hesitated for months to say anything negative about any of his opponents, he was very critical of Trump by the end of his run. He finally announced that he wouldn't vote for his party's nominee after the controversial "Access Hollywood" tape with Trump speaking about women emerged.

McCain told NBC News in a statement Monday night: "I appreciate that my old friend and Ohio's outstanding governor John Kasich would pay me the compliment."

A lawyer for top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin said Monday that Abedin did not know that her emails were on a computer that belonged to her estranged husband, disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner.

In a statement, attorney Karen Dunn, who has also been a Clinton adviser, said that Abedin "only learned for the first time on Friday, from press reports, of the possibility that a laptop belonging to Mr. Weiner could contain emails of hers."

Law enforcement officials previously told NBC News that Abedin used the laptop to send thousands of emails to Clinton.

Dunn said that the FBI had not contacted them about the issue, though she added that "Ms. Abedin will continue to be, as she always has been, forthcoming and cooperative."

"From the beginning, Ms. Abedin has complied fully and voluntarily with State Department and law enforcement requests, including sitting for hours-long interviews and providing her work-related and potentially work-related documents," Dunn said.

"Ms. Abedin's willing cooperation has been praised by Members of Congress and law enforcement officials alike," Dunn said.