A demonstrator protesting Donald Trump's meeting with the Mexican president holds up a book jacket with the title; "Stop Trump!" during a morning protest at the Angel of Independence Monument that drew... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. presidential campaign (all times EDT): 
 
 4:55 p.m. 
 
 Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto says the Mexican people have been hurt by Donald Trump's past comments that painted them in a negative light. 
 
 Peña Nieto told reporters following a closed-door meeting that "misinterpretation or assertions" had negatively impacted perceptions of Trump's candidacy. 
 
 He added that, the "Mexican people have been hurt by the comments that had been made." But he said he's sure that Trump is genuinely interested in building a relationship that will benefit both countries. 
 
 Peña Nieto spoke in Spanish throughout. 
 
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 4:40 p.m. 
 
 After meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Republican nominee Donald Trump says that both countries must respect the others' right to build a border wall on their soil to stop the movement of people, illegal drugs and weapons. 
 
 Trump says he and PeñaNieto discussed his call for a border wall during their meeting, but did not talk about Trump's insistence that Mexico pay for it. He says, "that'll be for a later date." 
 
 Trump says that having a secure border is a sovereign right and mutually beneficial. Mexicans have been outraged by the proposal. 
 
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 4:35 p.m. 
 
 Republican Donald Trump is calling his surprise visit to Mexico City Wednesday a 'great honor.' And he says the nations share a common interest in keeping the hemisphere safe and prosperous. 
 
 The Republican presidential nominee said after meeting with President Enrique Peña Nieto that the pair had a substantive, direct and constructive exchange of ideas at the president's official residence in Mexico City. 
 
 This is Trump's first foreign visit as his party's nominee. 
 
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 4:30 p.m. 
 
 Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is challenging Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's characterization of the situation on the U.S.-Mexican border. 
 
 Peña Nieto notes that the number of immigrants crossing the border illegally is down significantly "even to the point of being negative to a net effect." He spoke at a joint appearance Wednesday at the president's official residence. 
 
 While Peña Nieto says the countries have shared challenges, he says that there exists "an incomplete vision of the border issues," with weapons and cash flowing south from the U.S. and fueling violence. 
 
 He's also stressing U.S. exports to Mexico and the number of jobs reliant on the countries' trade relationship. 
 
 He says the Mexican people are people of "good will" who "deserve everybody's respect." 
 
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 4:20 p.m. 
 
 Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto says that he and Donald Trump may not agree on everything, but that their meeting underscores their countries' shared interests. 
 
 Peña Nieto tells reporters that their meeting with the Republican nominee at the president's official residence in Mexico City was "open and constructive." 
 
 He says in Spanish that the next president "will find in Mexico and its government" a neighbor who "wants to work constructively to strengthen even more" the relationship between their nations. 
 
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 2:55 p.m. 
 
 An official at the Mexico City international airport says a private plane carrying Republican candidate Donald Trump has touched down at the airport. 
 
 The official was not authorized to be quoted by name, nor did he provide the plane's registry number, or say how Trump would reach the official residence of President Enrique Pena Nieto, where the meeting with the Mexican leader is to take place. 
 
 Pena Nieto's office has confirmed there will be a meeting and subsequent press statement at the residence, which is across town from the airport. 
 
 Trump appeared likely to fly to the residence by helicopter, rather than cross town in any kind of motorcade. 
 
 —By E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City 
 
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 1:45 p.m. 
 
 Hillary Clinton says if elected president she will make clear that the U.S. "will treat cyberattacks just like any other attack." 
 
 Clinton says in a speech Wednesday to the American Legion convention in Cincinnati that the U.S. needs to "step up our game" and be able to defend itself against those who "go after us." 
 
 She blamed Russia for hacking into the Democratic National Committee and perhaps "even some state election systems." 
 
 Clinton says the United States will be ready with "serious political, economic and military responses" to any cyberattacks. 
 
 WikiLeaks released damaging emails during the Democratic National Convention that implied the DNC had favored Clinton over primary rival Bernie Sanders. 
 
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 1:10 p.m. 
 
 Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine says Donald Trump has "put his feet in concrete" on his immigration positions, regardless of what the Republican nominee says in an immigration-focused speech Wednesday night. 
 
 Kaine is visiting a Hispanic community center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, hours before Trump is set to speak and about his immigration plans. Trump's speech is being closely watched to see if he softens proposals to deport millions of people living in the United States illegally. 
 
 Kaine says Trump's words and actions have been "frightening" to Hispanics and he doesn't expect to hear a change in tone. And he says its "hard to say" what to expect out of Trump's meeting Wednesday with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. 
 
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 1:05 p.m. 
 
 Hillary Clinton is blasting Donald Trump for referring to the American military as "a disaster." 
 
 Clinton says in a sharply worded speech Wednesday to the American Legion convention that it's "an insult to the men and women serving today and all who have served before." 
 
 The Democratic presidential nominee is reiterating that she would send American troops into harm's way only as a "last resort," calling it a bedrock principal. 
 
 She also says the last thing the nation needs is a president "who brings more name-calling and temper tantrums to Washington," a reference to her Republican opponent. 
 
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 1 p.m. 
 
 Hillary Clinton is tweaking rival Donald Trump's decision to travel to Mexico, saying it takes more to make up for a "year of insults and insinuations" than a quick trip to America's southern neighbor. 
 
 Clinton says at the American Legion's annual convention in Ohio that voters need to know that they can count on you. She says "it certainly takes more than trying to make up for a year of insults and insinuations by dropping in on our neighbors for a few hours and then flying home again." 
 
 The Democratic presidential nominee adds, "That is not how it works." 
 
 Trump was meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto later Wednesday. Trump's surprise visit was coming hours before a major address on immigration in Arizona. 
 
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 12:55 p.m. 
 
 Hillary Clinton says the United States in "an exceptional nation" and is accusing rival Donald Trump of thinking that approach is "insulting to the rest of the world." 
 
 Clinton is speaking to the American Legion's annual convention in Cincinnati. She says the U.S. is an indispensable nation and has a "unique and unparalleled ability to be a force for peace and progress." 
 
 Referencing Trump's threats to "walk away from our alliances," she notes that when America fails to lead, the country leaves a vacuum for the rest of the world to fill. 
 
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 11:25 a.m. 
 
 Just days after Hillary Clinton criticized the Trump campaign for promoting groups and individuals associated with preserving "white identity," Donald Trump Jr. has retweeted an adherent of the "alt-right" movement that Clinton singled out for criticism. 
 
 Donald Trump's oldest son this week retweeted a post from Kevin MacDonald, a former professor at California State University Long Beach. MacDonald said last week that white people in America are becoming a victimized minority. He has been accused of anti-Semitism by critics, including the Southern Poverty Law Center. 
 
 MacDonald's tweet had to do with Clinton's State Department and perceived favoritism for UBS, a global financial services company that donated to the Clinton Foundation. 
 
 Trump Jr.'s retweet prompted Richard Spencer, a leader of the alt-right movement, to tweet "Wow. Just wow." 
 
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 9:50 a.m. 
 
 Mike Pence says that Donald Trump's trip to Mexico demonstrates what a "decisive leader" he would be if elected president. 
 
 Trump's running mate told Fox News Wednesday that Trump immediately responded to an invitation by Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto to meet. He noted that Hillary Clinton received the same invitation but hasn't responded yet. 
 
 Pence said that Trump and Pena Nieto are expected to discuss the logistics of Trump's proposed border wall — something Trump insists Mexico will pay for, despite Pena Nieto's condemnation of the plan. 
 
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 9:35 a.m. 
 
 At least two demonstrations are planned in Mexico City as Mexicans express anger about the visit of Donald Trump. 
 
 Former first lady Margarita Zavala wrote in a tweet aimed at Trump: "Even though you may have been invited, we want you to know you're not welcome. We Mexicans have dignity, and we reject your hate speech." She's considered a potential presidential candidate for 2018. 
 
 Pena Nieto's office hasn't said where or when the meeting would be held, possibly in a bid to avoid protests outside the meeting site. 
 
 Leading historian Enrique Krauze also addressed Trump in a tweek, saying "We Mexicans expect nothing less than an apology for calling us "criminals and rapists". 
 
 Krauze told the Televisa TV network that, "Tyrants are to be confronted, not pacified." 
 
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 8:30 a.m. 
 
 Mexico has awakened to the news that President Enrique Pena Nieto is going to meet with Republican candidate Donald Trump Wednesday, and many Mexicans don't like it. 
 
 Some analysts said the Republican nominee had left Pena Nieto flat-footed by accepting an invitation the Mexican president had made simply for appearances' sake. Trump is widely loathed in Mexico for calling migrants from the country "rapists" among other insults. 
 
 Mexico City-based security analyst Alejandro Hope suggested that Pena Nieto "wanted to invite Hillary (Clinton), but that meant inviting both of them, and nobody thought Trump would accept first." 
 
 He added: "What's in it for Mexico? " 
 
 The newspaper El Universal wrote in an editorial that Trump "caught Mexican diplomats off guard" by accepting the invitation. 
 
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 3:10 a.m. 
 
 Donald Trump will be taking his first foreign trip as the Republican presidential nominee on Wednesday, making a quick visit to Mexico, a nation he derided as the home of rapists and criminals as he launched his campaign. 
 
 The meeting with President Enrique Pena Nieto, who earlier this year compared the billionaire candidate to Hitler, comes hours before Trump is set to deliver a highly-anticipated immigration speech. It's a defining issue for Trump, but one on which he has appeared to waiver. 
 
 After saying during his primary campaign he would expel all of the estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally with a "deportation force," Trump has suggested recently he might be open to "softening" his stance as he tries to win over more moderate general election voters. ||||| GOP nominee Donald Trump waxed diplomatic during a joint news conference with Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico City on Wednesday afternoon. 
 
 "We had a very substantive, direct, and constructive exchange of ideas over quite a period of time," Trump said. The U.S. and Mexico "are united by our support of democracy, a great love for our people and the contributions of millions of Mexican-Americans to the United States. And I happen to have a tremendous feeling for Mexican-Americans." 
 
 Whether genuine or not, Trump on Wednesday diverged heavily from his hard-line primary rhetoric — about deporting 11 million illegal immigrants — and laid out a five-point plan for a hemispheric approach to U.S. relations with Mexico. 
 
 Trump called illegal immigration — from Central and South America to the U.S. — a "humanitarian disaster" for "the extreme physical dangers" that the "trek" poses. 
 
 "Having a secure border is a sovereign right and mutually beneficial," he argued before alluding to his proposed wall along the southern border of the United States: "We recognize and respect the right of either country to build a physical barrier or wall on any of its borders to stop the illegal movement of people, drugs and weapons." 
 
 As for his previous promises to supporters that the Mexican government would for whatever reason pay for said wall, Trump said, "We didn't discuss that." ||||| Trump gets what he wanted in Mexico The Republican nominee gets his presidential moment south of the border. 
 
 Donald Trump could barely have scripted it better. After a year of tormenting Mexico as a hostile foe, he stepped to a podium on Mexican soil — alongside the country’s leader Enrique Peña Nieto — and got a president’s welcome. 
 
 Trump emerged from an hourlong huddle with Peña Nieto and the pair delivered side-by-side statements, embedding subtle criticisms of each other inside enthusiastic declarations of mutual respect. But it was the precise visual Trump had hoped for: a bilateral news conference that amounted to a preview of what similar international trips might look like in a Trump presidency. 
 
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 In written remarks — delivered in stilted bursts — Trump clung tightly to his arguments that the North America Free Trade Agreement had benefited Mexico disproportionately to the United States’ detriment. He described a mutual agreement with Peña Nieto about each country’s right to build a border wall. Peña Nieto even contended that Trump’s hot-blooded rhetoric about Mexicans has been, in some cases, “misinterpretations.” 
 
 Yet the most striking development may have been Trump’s decision to simply ignore the central policy proposal of his campaign: forcing Mexico to pay for the 2,000-mile wall. Trump, responding to a reporter’s question, said financing for the wall simply didn’t come up in the conversation with Peña Nieto, that the talks were “preliminary” and could be continued later. (Peña Nieto later disputed that on Twitter, writing, "At the start of the conversation with Donald Trump I made it clear Mexico will not pay for the wall.") 
 
 But it was a striking departure from his campaign-trail posture; so synonymous with the Trump candidacy is the wall proposal that adoring fans chant “Mexico!” at rallies when he asks who will fund his plan. 
 
 In a speech he plans to deliver later Wednesday in Phoenix, Trump is expected to detail his immigration policy, which has suddenly become a moving target despite forming the core of his candidacy for the past year. Along with a Mexico-financed wall, he’s long pledged mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. 
 
 A campaign spokesman reiterated as recently as Tuesday that Trump still intends to force Mexico to pay for the wall. Sean Spicer, a Republican National Committee spokesman, added that he doesn’t expect Trump's speech to include much of a departure from his previously stated policies. 
 
 “I don't want to get ahead of the speech, but he's made it very clear that everyone who is not in the country legally must leave the country so I don't expect to see any kind of departure from that,” he said on CNN Wednesday afternoon. 
 
 Peña Nieto, squeezed by political leaders in his own country, strained to deliver subtle rejections of Trump’s language while maintaining his pledge to be impartial in the American election. He delivered a methodical dismantling of Trump’s anti-NAFTA arguments, noting that trade with Mexico supports as many as 6 million American jobs. He also reminded Trump that for all the undocumented immigrants and drugs flowing north, illegal cash and weapons are flowing south. 
 
 “This is a point of view of border issues that’s clearly incomplete because it doesn’t consider the illegal flux of weapons and cash that come into the South,” he said. “Every year millions of weapons and millions of dollars cross illegally into Mexico from the North that strengthen cartels and other criminal organizations that generate violence in Mexico and receives earnings from drug sales in the United States. This flow has to be stopped.” 
 
 Illegal immigration to the United States had slowed since its peak a decade ago, he added. And he referred obliquely to Trump’s disparagement of undocumented immigrants from Mexico as rapists or criminals. 
 
 “People of Mexican heritage in the U.S. contribute every day with their work, talent, and creativity, to the prosperity and development of the U.S. and Mexico. Mexicans living in the U.S. are honest and hardworking people — they are people of goodwill, who respect family, who respect living in community, and who respect the law,” he said. “This is why Mexicans deserve everyone's respect.” 
 
 Later, Peña Nieto lamented that there’s been “misinterpretations and statements that have unfortunately hurt and affected Mexicans in the way he's presented his candidacy,” but he added that “I was sure that his genuine interest was to build a relationship.” 
 
 Trump, who delivered his statement second, embraced Peña Nieto’s language, referring to the “deep and sincere” bond between America and Mexico and referred frequently to “we,” “us” and even “our hemisphere” when describing his posture toward Mexico, a far cry from the “America First” language that typically threads his speeches at home. 
 
 Republicans largely greeted Trump’s visit as a success, primarily because he’d set a low bar and managed to exceed it. 
 
 “[Hillary] Clinton's framework is that Trump would embarrass the country abroad. He didn't,” said Josh Holmes, a Republican operative and former adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “This Mexico trip worked for Trump in the short term.” 
 
 Peña Nieto’s predecessors were less diplomatic about their president’s decision to host Trump. Vicente Fox said the visit simply legitimized Trump’s earlier harsh rhetoric. After the speech, Felipe Calderon called Trump a “hypocrite” for changing his tone. 
 
 “I don't believe him. He is lying. He doesn't mean what he says,” Calderon said on CNN. “He says we're rapists and tomorrow he says we're wonderful, smart, hardworking people. He is lying. And for that reason, I think, I was very, very sorry, I'm very sorry he came to Mexico. I think it was a very important mistake." 
 
 Democrats and even Trump’s detractors among Republicans argue that it’s too late for him to persuade large numbers of Hispanic voters to support his candidacy. Rather, they viewed his trip as a chance to frame his immigration speech and also to convince undecided white voters with concerns about his temperament that he can be trusted with international affairs. 
 
 Whether the speech turns out to be a watershed in the campaign or a too-little-too-late desperation play is unclear. 
 
 But with a firm handshake, and a declaration that Peña Nieto is a “friend,” Trump strode out of the presidential palace in Mexico City assured that, for a moment, he exceeded international expectations. And then he boarded his plane to Phoenix. 
 
 Bianca Padro Ocasio and Tyler Pager contributed to this report. ||||| "My job is to protect Mexicans wherever they are, and I will continue to do that," Peña Nieto told Trump, the two men standing at lecterns on a stage with one flag, Mexico's. "Mexicans who live in the U.S. contribute to prosperity there.... They are people who are honest and hardworking. They respect the law ... and deserve the respect of everyone." ||||| Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump shake hands after a joint statement at Los Pinos, the presidential official residence, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug.... (Associated Press) 
 
 MEXICO CITY (AP) — Standing alongside the president of Mexico, a measured Donald Trump on Wednesday firmly defended the right of the United States to build a massive border wall along its southern flank but declined to repeat his frequent promise to force Mexico to pay for it. 
 
 Trump, the U.S. presidential candidate who is widely despised across Mexico, also sidestepped his repeated criticism of Mexican immigrants following a closed-door meeting at the official residence of the country's president, Enrique Pena Nieto. Trump and Pena Nieto, who has compared the New York billionaire to Adolf Hitler, addressed reporters from adjacent podiums flanked by a Mexican flag. 
 
 "We did discuss the wall. We didn't discuss payment of the wall," Trump said. 
 
 In his announcement of his presidential candidacy last year, Trump derided Mexico as a source of rapists and criminals coming to the U.S., and his presence on Wednesday sparked anger and protests across the capital city. A former Mexican president bluntly told the celebrity businessman that, despite Pena Nieto's hospitality, he was not welcome. 
 
 "We don't like him. We don't want him. We reject his visit," former President Vicente Fox told CNN, calling the trip a "political stunt." 
 
 Pena Nieto was less combative as he addressed reporters alongside Trump. He acknowledged the two men had differences, but he described their conversation as "open and constructive." They shook hands as the session ended. 
 
 The trip, a politically risky move for Trump 10 weeks before America's presidential Election Day, came just hours before the Republican nominee was to deliver a highly anticipated speech in Arizona about illegal immigration. That has been a defining issue of Trump's presidential campaign, but also one on which he's appeared to waver in recent days. 
 
 After saying during his Republican primary campaign he would use a "deportation force" to expel all of the estimated 11 million people living in the United States illegally, Trump suggested last week he could soften that stance. But he still says he plans to build a huge wall — paid for by Mexico — along the two nations' border. He is under pressure to clarify just where he stands in a speech that's been rescheduled several times as he and his staff has sent varied and conflicting messages on the issue. 
 
 "The American people are going to see more clearly that there's one candidate in this race who's prepared to take the steps necessary to end the flood of illegal immigration," Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said Wednesday on CNN. 
 
 Trump will also make clear, Pence later told CBS, "that there will be no path to legalization, no path to citizenship. People will need to leave the country to be able to obtain legal status or obtain citizenship." 
 
 The buildup to the speech was abruptly interrupted Tuesday night by the news that Trump would visit Mexico, accepting on short notice an invitation offered last week by Pena Nieto. The newspaper El Universal wrote in an editorial that Trump "caught Mexican diplomats off guard." 
 
 Campaigning in Ohio earlier in the day, Democrat Hillary Clinton jabbed at Trump's Mexican appearance as she promoted her own experience working with foreign leaders as the nation's chief diplomat. 
 
 "People have to get to know that they can count on you, that you won't say one thing one day and something totally different the next," she told the American Legion in Cincinnati. "And it certainly takes more than trying to make up for a year of insults and insinuations by dropping in on our neighbors for a few hours and then flying home again." 
 
 He has promised, if elected, to deport millions of immigrants who are in the United States illegally, force Mexico to build a wall to secure the nearly 2,000-mile border and renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement to make it more favorable to the United States. 
 
 Pena Nieto made his invitation to both Trump and Clinton, who met with him in Mexico in 2014. The inclusion of Trump puzzled many in Mexico, who said it wasn't clear why their own unpopular president would agree to meet with someone so widely disliked in his country. 
 
 Mexico City-based security analyst Alejandro Hope suggested that Pena Nieto "wanted to invite Hillary, but that meant inviting both of them, and nobody thought Trump would accept first." 
 
 Pena Nieto has been sharply critical of Trump's immigration policies, particularly the Republican's plans to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. In a March interview, he said that "there is no scenario" under which Mexico would do so and compared Trump's language to that of dictators Hitler and Benito Mussolini. 
 
 Trump responded to Vicente Fox's criticism on Twitter earlier in the day, saying the former president had, like Pena Nieto, invited him to come. Fox shot back with a tweet of his own, saying he had invited Trump to "come and apologize to all Mexicans. Stop lying! Mexico is not yours to play with, show some respect." 
 
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 Peoples reported from Washington. AP writer Jill Colvin in Phoenix contributed to this report.
– In a situation that was unthinkable just 24 hours ago, Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto gave a joint press conference Wednesday in Mexico City following an hour-long meeting between the two, reports the Los Angeles Times, which calls Trump's jaunt to Mexico both "hastily arranged" and "stunning." "We did discuss the wall," the AP quotes Trump as saying, answering the question on everyone's mind. But: "We didn't discuss payment of the wall." But ABC News reports Peña Nieto later took to Twitter, claiming he did in fact tell Trump Mexico wouldn't pay for the wall, essentially calling the candidate a liar. During the news conference, Trump maintained it was America's right to build a wall, Peña Nieto says any talk of border security needs to include stopping the flow of money and guns into Mexico, according to Politico. In addition to not addressing his long-made claim that Mexico would pay for the wall, Trump also softened his rhetoric on Mexican immigrants. "I happen to have a tremendous feeling for Mexican-Americans," Salon quotes Trump as saying. And Peña Nieto insisted that all Mexican nationals living in the US "deserve the respect of everyone." Trump ended his speech by calling Peña Nieto, a man who once compared him to Hitler, a "friend." Peña Nieto characterized his discussion with Trump as "open and constructive." He says he believes Trump really does want to help Mexico via his policies, the AP reports. Both men are "extremely unpopular" in Mexico, as the Times puts it.