Hillary Clinton returned to the presidential campaign trail this afternoon, making a confident first public appearance since pneumonia forced her to take a four-day rest.  Taking to the stage to the sound of I Feel Good by James Brown, the Democratic nominee insisted she was fully recovered and filled with a new sense of urgency at a critical juncture in American politics  “Being on the trail does not encourage reflection,” she told a young crowd at the University of North Carolina. “It’s important to sit with your thoughts every now and again and this helped me to reflect on what this campaign is all about.”  Speaking calmly, without the cough that has interrupted recent appearances, the former secretary of state appeared rested. As she climbed the steps to the podium, she gripped a guard rail carefully.  “For millions of moms and dads, if they get sick there is no backup, they are on their own,” she said, turning her experience into a renewed call for better provision of healthcare and family leave. “That’s the story for too many people in America.”  Earlier Donald Trump, who has pulled level in some recent opinion polls, made his most explicit reference yet to his opponent’s health, releasing medical recordsthat boasted of his ability to “endure – uninterrupted – the rigors of a punishing and unprecedented presidential campaign”.  The physical examination also revealed the 70-year-old Republican to be overweight, at 236lbs, but he claimed he had bolstered his physical condition by giving speeches on the campaign trail.  Mark Fields, the CEO of Ford Motor Company and latest target of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s ire, has responded to Trump’s allegations that the company will “fire all of its employees in the United States” as it moved small-car production to Mexico, calling Trump’s comments “unfortunate” and inaccurate.  “It’s really unfortunate when politics get in the way of the facts and the facts are Ford’s investment in the US and commitment to American jobs has never been strong,” Fields told CNN’s Poppy Harlow this afternoon.  “We have created more than 28,000 jobs in the US in the last five years; we’ve invested more than $12b,” Fields continued. “We produce more vehicles in the US than any other automaker by far, and we employ more hourly workers here in our plants, more than any automaker by far. So we are very committed here and those are the facts.”  This morning, Trump told the hosts of Fox and Friends that he will implement a 35% tariff on Ford cars manufactured in Mexico if he is elected president, something that Fields dismissed.  Asked if it was true that Ford would be “firing all of its employees” in the United States, Fields was adamant that Trump was wrong.  “Absolutely not - zero,” Ford said. “What we announced is that we’ll be moving our focus out of Michigan so that we can compete more financially in that particular segment but at the same time, and that’s an agreement we have with the UAW and what we’ll be doing is we’ll be replacing those products with two very exciting new products so not one job will be lost... most of our investment is here in the US and that’s the way it’s gonna continue to be.”  Whoever wins the election, Ford concluded, “we [plan to] work for them productively.”  Speaking to reporters in Greensboro, North Carolina, in one of her first press conferences since announcing her presidential bid more than a year ago, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton told reporters that although she wished her campaign staff had informed the public about her pneumonia more quickly, she did not think “it was a big deal” at the time.  Asked whether she was doing any “soul searching” as polls nationwide tighten between her and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Clinton asserted that she has know that “this was going to be a tight race - I’ve said it from the very beginning,” but that “we are in a strong position going into these last weeks.” What matters on Election Day, Clinton said, is “who registers to vote and who is motivated and mobilized to turn out to vote.”  Clinton responded to a question about whether the fact that running mate Tim kaine appeared not to know that she had fallen ill until the rest of the world knew, Clinton said that it did not preface a lack of communication in their potential relationship as president and vice president.  “My senior staff knew and information was provided to a number of people,” Clinton said. “This was an ailment that many people just power through and that’s what I thought I would do as well. I didn’t want to stop, I didn’t want to quit campaigning, I certainly didn’t want to miss the 9/11 memorial,” she continued. “It didn’t work out. So I got the antibiotics up and going, got the rest that I needed, and we’re going on from there.”  During an appearance on The Dr Oz Show, Donald Trump admitted he could lose some weight but said he felt “as good today as I did when I was 30”.  On the show, Dr Mehmet Oz concluded that Trump, who weighs 236 pounds, was a little overweight for his height. Trump’s campaign also released the results of his physical that said he had normal cholesterol and blood pressure.  The Trump campaign has responded to criticism of Donald Trump Jr.’s assertions that reporters would “be warming up the gas chamber” if his father, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, acted like rival Hillary Clinton.  “The liberal, dishonest media is so quick to attack one of the Trumps that they never let the truth get in the way of a good smear,” said communications advisor Jason Miller in a statement. “Don Jr. was clearly referring to capital punishment to make the case that the media continues to take words out of context in order to serve as the propaganda arm of the Hillary Clinton campaign - something that’s only gotten worse as Trump’s poll numbers have improved.”  Speaking in Greensboro, North Carolina, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton returned to the campaign trail after a bout of pneumonia sidelined her campaign - appropriately entering and exiting the stage to the song I Feel Good, by James Brown.  Among the readings shared by Trump in his medical statement was his testosterone level of 441.6.  For a candidate who has called his opponents “low energy” or characterized them as “little”, while praising his own “stamina”, low testosterone could have been damaging. Even if it were just to his ego.  Happily, Trump’s testosterone is fine.  “A normal range is 300 - 800,” said Dr Peter Snyder, medical director of the Penn Pituitary Center at the University of Pennsylvania. He said Trump’s 441.6 level “would be considered normal for any adult male”.  Dr Abraham Morgentaler, author of the book Testosterone for Life, said “450 or so is an average testosterone level in adult men”. Morgentaler agreed that Trump’s testosterone level was within normal range.  “He doesn’t have unusually high testosterone nor does he have unusually low testosterone.”  Ivanka Trump has responded to Cosmopolitan after the magazine ran a Q&A session with the Republican presidential nominee’s daughter in which she objected to the “negativity” of questions about Donald Trump’s past statements on pregnancy in the workplace.  1/3: Politics aside, I'm working to raise awareness on issues that are of critical importance to American women and families.  2/3:Regardless of who you support, policies benefiting women+families are becoming topics of mainstream conversation & that's a good thing.  3/3:@Cosmopolitan, your readers do & should care about issues impacting women & children. Keep the focus where it belongs—advocating change.  In the interview, the younger Trump also laughed when pressed about why her proposal for paid parental leave for new parents didn’t apply to same-sex male couples, or fathers in general.  Another day, another person requesting in vain that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump release a copy of his tax returns, as major-party candidates have done for nearly half a century.  House speaker Paul Ryan said during his weekly press briefing that Trump should release his tax returns, but would leaving the timing of such a release to the candidate himself.  “Having a business guy as President is not the worst idea in the world.”  The Hillary Clinton campaign has responded to Donald Trump Jr’s use of gas chamber imagery to attack Democrats (read about that here).  Clinton’s statement says, in part:  Donald Trump Jr’s recent comments invoking the use of gas chambers to make a political attack show just how insensitive, divisive, and reckless the Trump campaign is. The bottom line is this – offensive references to the Holocaust are never acceptable, especially from a presidential campaign.  And....Hillary Clinton campaign weighs in on gas chamber comments pic.twitter.com/GbeY1cCPOt  It emerges that Donald Trump Jr’s explanation to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that his father can’t release his tax returns “because that would detract from [his father’s] main message” was not a slip of the tongue. It was a talking point.  In a separate interview, with Pittsburgh’s Action News 4, Trump says that the tax returns can’t be released because “we don’t need a story with everyone questioning everything.”  Trump Jr is asked why the candidate won’t release his tax returns. Here’s his reply:  We’ve been told by tax counsel. You’ve got to remember. There’s nothing there. But if there is, they’re going to try to create a story. And the media that we’ve seen has been Hillary’s number one surrogate. They’ve been attacking us. The media’s been her biggest proponent. Because they’re afraid of a Trump system that will actually shake up DC...  We don’t need a story where everyone questioning everything. Because you know what happens with that. Everyone will take a chance. ‘What about this? What about this?’ And it’s just going to change the dialogue. Our dialogue is about jobs.  The interviewer also asks how Trump will make good on his promise to bring steel manufacturing back to the region. Trump Jr gives an answer about fracking.  An aide cuts the interview off when the reporter asks about the use of Trump foundation money for the purchase of a six-foot tall portrait of Trump, a purchase uncovered by the Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold.  Two Trump campaign aids (and actual last-name-bearing Trumps) have abruptly ended interviews after facing basic questions.  What’s in the second half of this new Trump minority outreach video? We don’t know. We couldn’t get past a minute.  Anyone out there able to watch this for more than a minute? Post your best time in the comments! And let us know what happens.  🗣ALL ABOARD the #TrumpTrain!DEPLORABLES ALWAYS WELCOME!https://t.co/bpMlh1wIZb
Follow along for the latest updates from the trail, as Hillary Clinton returns from a three-day layoff and Trump prepares for a rally in New Hampshire