Senior GOP Officials Exploring Options if Trump Drops Out  —  Republican officials are exploring how to handle a scenario that would be unthinkable in a normal election year: What would happen if the party's presidential nominee dropped out?  —  ABC News has learned that senior party officials …

GOP reaches ‘new level of panic’ over Trump's candidacy  —  The Republican Party was in turmoil again Wednesday as party leaders, strategists and donors voiced increasing alarm about the flailing state of Donald Trump's candidacy and fears that the presidential nominee was damaging the party …

Ally of Trump staffer Paul Manafort: The staff is ‘suicidal,’ he's mailing it in  —  Donald Trump's behavior in recent days, from criticizing the parents of a fallen American soldier to declining to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan, has strained the nerves of his campaign staff as he falls behind in the polls.

Gingrich blasts Trump's ‘very self-destructive’ behavior  —  Donald Trump's behavior over the past week has been “very self-destructive” to his campaign, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday, comparing the Republican nominee to a Hall of Fame quarterback who is in the midst of an interception-throwing slump.

Sources: Trump-world frustrated by their candidate  —  (CNN)Donald Trump aides and people close to his campaign are increasingly frustrated by his insistence on waging various fights that steer him off message.  —  Sources close to the campaign are describing a series of missteps that are trailing …

Former top Gingrich ally calls Trump nom ‘mistake of historic proportions’  —  Vin Weber, a key early lieutenant in the Newt Gingrich revolution that transformed the U.S. House of Representatives and the GOP, rejected the candidacy of Donald Trump on Wednesday as “a mistake of historic proportions” for his party.

GOP Reels After Unprecedented 24 Hours From Trump  —  First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.  —  GOP, Trump go from ‘unraveling’ to ‘break glass’ mode

Donald Trump transcript: The Republican nominee in his own words  —  Republican nominee Donald Trump sat down with The Post's Philip Rucker for an interview at Trump National Golf Club on Aug. 2 following a rally at a nearby high school.  This is a lightly edited transcript of the 50-minute interview.

President Obama Commutes the Sentences of 214 Additional People  —  Today began like any other for 214 federal inmates across the country, but ultimately became a day I am confident they will never forget.  This morning, these individuals received a message from the President: your application for clemency has been granted.