Iran Missile Cartoon

US reportedly delayed imposing new Iran sanctions to secure prisoner release

The Obama administration reportedly delayed imposing new sanctions on Iran after the country's foreign minister warned that such a move would derail negotiations for a prisoner exchange that was announced over the weekend. 
According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. officials notified Iran's top diplomat on Dec. 30 that Washington would impose new sanctions on Iranian officials and companies due to to Tehran's recent ballistic missile tests. In response, foreign minister Javad Zarif warned his counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry, that sanctions would scupper secret negotiations for the prisoner exchange.
The Journal reported that Kerry pressed the White House to hold back on imposing the sanctions, which it did.
Some congressional officials briefed on the arrangement believe the negotiations demonstrate the ability of the Iranian regime to put pressure on the Obama administration.
"It was clear there was real pressure from outside," one official told the paper.
On Sunday, the U.S. announced it had imposed sanctions against 11 individuals and entities involved in Iran's ballistic missile program. In a statement, acting Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam J. Szubin called the program "a significant threat to regional and global security [that] will continue to be subject to international sanctions."
The day before, the four U.S. citizens involved in the exchange were released from Iranian custody. Three of the four were flown to Geneva, Switzerland and transported to Germany, where they will remain for an indefiniate period. The fourth opted not to board the Switzerland-bound flight. A fifth citizen, released in a separate negotiation, arrived back in the U.S. Sunday evening.
In exchange for the release of the four American prisoners, the U.S. pardoned or dropped charges against seven Iranians — six of whom are dual U.S.-Iranian citizens — accused or convicted of violating U.S. sanctions. The U.S. also agreed to drop Interpol "red notices" — essentially arrest warrants — on 14 Iranian fugitives.
The Journal reported that among the seven Iranians granted clemency is a man who pleaded guilty to a cyberattack on a Vermont-based defense contractor. In addition, the U.S. dropped extradition proceedings against the chief executive of Iran's state-owned airline, who is accused of helping smuggle weapons to Syrian government forces during that country's civil war.
Kerry also said Sunday that the U.S. and Iran had settled a dispute over $400 million in Iranian money dating back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and end of diplomatic ties. The Iranians also get $1.3 billion in interest. At issue was money used by Iran to buy military equipment from the U.S. before the break in ties between the countries.

Clinton says FBI has not contacted her about emails

WASHINGTON –  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says the FBI has not contacted her regarding its probe of whether she held classified information on her private email server.
Asked on CNN's "State of the Union" whether she had been interviewed by the FBI yet, the former secretary of state replied, "No."
She did not elaborate.
Federal investigators are looking into the security of Clinton's email setup amid concerns from the intelligence community's inspector general that classified information may have passed through the system. Clinton provided the server to the FBI in August.
Clinton has said she didn't send or receive information that was classified at the time via her personal email account.

AP Fact Check: Democratic debaters and the facts

WASHINGTON –  Bernie Sanders airbrushed the complexities of trying to overhaul health care all over again and Hillary Clinton offered a selective reading of her rival's record on gun control in the latest Democratic presidential debate.

A look at some of their claims and how they compare with the facts:

CLINTON on Sanders' proposal for a taxpayer-paid health care system: "I don't want to see us start over again with a contentious debate."

SANDERS: "We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act," but build on it.

THE FACTS: As Clinton suggests, Sanders' plan would indeed mean a radical change in direction -- one that makes the government the payer of health care for everyone, not just for the elderly or the poorest Americans or members of the military.

Whether that means building on President Barack Obama's health care law or ripping it up may be a semantic argument. But at the core, Sanders would switch the country away from a private health insurance system. Employees, employers and others would pay higher taxes in return for health care with no premiums or deductibles, a striking departure from the subsidies and conditions that Obama's law has overlaid on the existing system.

Clinton did not exaggerate in describing the huge political battle that it took just to achieve "Obamacare" and the inability to sell Congress on a taxpayer-paid system even when Democrats were in control. (She ran into her own buzz saw on the issue when she proposed an overhaul of health care as first lady under her husband's administration.)

Clinton's team and her supporters have persisted in a dubious, if not bogus, argument that Sanders would wreck Medicare and other health-care entitlements with his proposed overhaul. It would do so only in the course of establishing a health care system in which traditional Medicare, Medicaid and more would no longer be needed -- because the government would be insuring everyone.

She made that argument herself in an earlier debate but did not repeat it Sunday night.

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CLINTON on effects of Obama's health care law: "We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years."

THE FACTS: Not so. Health care spending is far higher than a half century ago. What she must have meant is that the rate of growth of health care spending year to year is lower than it's been in 50 years -- closer to the truth, but still not right.

The government reported in December that health care spending in 2014 grew at the fastest pace since Obama took office, driven by expanded coverage under his law and rising drug prices. Not only that, but health care spending grew faster than the economy as a whole, reaching 17.5 percent of GDP. That means health care was claiming a growing share of national resources.

This was after five years of historically low growth in health spending -- the decline Clinton was trying to address. But the lull in health care inflation was attributed in large measure to the recession that Obama inherited and its aftermath, not his law. And part of the reason health spending increased after that was because of the economic recovery.

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SANDERS: "I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA." "I have supported from Day 1 an instant background check," as well as a ban on assault-type weapons.

CLINTON: "He voted against the Brady bill five times," as well as for allowing guns in national parks and for shielding the gun industry from lawsuits.

THE FACTS: Both are singling out aspects of Sanders' record that suit them, but that record is nuanced. Sanders indeed supported an instant background check, and at certain points a three-day waiting period. But he opposed longer waiting periods -- of five or seven days -- which gun control advocates see as a more effective way to flag people who should not be getting a gun.

Clinton is right that he opposed various versions of the Brady bill with longer waiting periods. But his poor marks from the NRA reflect a record that does lean toward stronger gun controls. Sanders now says he would support exposing gun makers to lawsuits.

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CLINTON: "One out of three African-American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic."

THE FACTS: That's a stale statistic, and Clinton isn't the only person to use it. Sanders has said nearly the same thing. Both drew on 13-year-old data that stated this as a projection, not a fact.

A 2003 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics said, "About 1 in 3 black males, 1 in 6 Hispanic males, and 1 in 17 white males are expected to go to prison during their lifetime, if current incarceration rates remain unchanged." But it went on to say that at the time, 16.6 percent of adult black males had actually ever gone to prison, or 1 in 6. The incarceration rate for black men has gone down since then, according to the Sentencing Project.

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SANDERS: "You have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out. ... I think it's time to put the government back on (the banks') backs."

CLINTON: "We have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose a risk to the financial sector."

THE FACTS: It's true, as Clinton said, that the 2010 financial overhaul law, known as Dodd-Frank, already gives the president the authority to force large banks to break up. Sanders has pledged to use that power if elected, while Clinton has not.

Yet such a move would require the support from numerous regulators, potentially including the chair of the Federal Reserve and head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Sanders would appoint some of those regulators, if elected, but the Senate would have to approve them, and it's unlikely that anyone supporting breaking up the banks would win Senate approval.

Dodd-Frank has also given the government more tools to regulate banks and potentially wind them down if they fail, rather than bail them out. Yet despite Clinton's faith in the law's ability to curb Wall Street's excesses, many of those provisions have not yet been tested and analysts disagree on how effective they will be.

Dodd-Frank also requires large banks to hold more capital as a cushion against loans that might go sour and subjects banks to "stress tests" to ensure they can survive economic downturns.
Those greater capital requirements have caused many banks, including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Citi, to shed assets in order to avoid growing larger and triggering further oversight.

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SANDERS: "This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation."

THE FACTS: The department already investigates some such deaths, but focuses only on those in which a federal civil rights violation appears possible, such as if there's an indication that an officer knowingly used unreasonable force.

A blanket trigger such as what Sanders proposes would strain resources, because hundreds of Americans are killed annually in confrontations with police, and it might be at odds with the department's emphasis on enforcing federal rather than local laws.

Though police shootings invariably draw the attention of federal investigators who monitor events on the ground, only a small number prompt federal probes and even fewer result in criminal charges.

Federal investigations are time-consuming and to build a case, prosecutors must satisfy a challenging legal burden -- establishing a willful and knowing civil rights violation. In perhaps the most notable case of the last two years, the Justice Department opened an investigation after the fatal August 2014 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, but ultimately closed the probe without bringing any charges.

Clinton sharpens tone at last debate before Iowa, Sanders claims ‘momentum’

Hillary Clinton sharpened her attacks on insurgent rival Bernie Sanders Sunday night at the final Democratic presidential debate before the Iowa caucuses, accusing him of trying to “tear up” ObamaCare and siding with the gun lobby – as Sanders denied the claims and said he’s the candidate with the “momentum” in the race.
Reflecting the tougher tone on the campaign trail in recent days, the debate in Charleston, S.C., saw Clinton aggressively challenging the Vermont senator’s record in a bid to arrest his rise in the polls. In a throwback to the 2008 race, the former first lady, New York senator and secretary of state also stressed her experience and readiness for the job, while Sanders repeatedly called for “political revolution.”
Highlighting that divide, Clinton slammed Sanders for his universal health plan to offer “Medicare for all,” the details of which were released just hours before the debate. Clinton said she wants to improve on ObamaCare, but accused Sanders of moving to unravel the Obama administration’s signature domestic policy.
“I do not want to see the Republicans repeal it, and I don’t want to see us start over again with a contentious debate,” Clinton said. “To tear it up and start over again … I think is the wrong direction.”
Sanders fired back, calling some of Clinton’s criticism “nonsense.”
He said he wants to move to “Medicare for all” in order to provide health care “as a right” and extend insurance to the millions who still don’t have it. His plan calls for an array of tax hikes to pay for it.
As for the existing law, he said, “We’re not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act -- I helped write it.”
The two top-polling rivals, as well as former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, took the stage for just their fourth debate of the season. The debate was hosted by NBC News.
Clinton is stepping up her attacks as she tries to ensure she starts off the 2016 election cycle better than she did in 2008, when she lost Iowa to then-Sen. Barack Obama. But Sanders jabbed at Clinton early on by reminding her Sunday that he’s tightened the race in the first two contests.
“In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close,” he said, adding, “We have the momentum.”
Clinton and Sanders also clashed over gun control, with Clinton accusing Sanders of siding with the gun lobby and only recently reversing his stance on a key piece of gun legislation.
“He has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times,” Clinton said.
Sanders over the weekend changed his position and backed legislation to reverse a law he once supported that would give gun manufacturers legal immunity. Clinton said she was pleased Sanders had “reversed his position on immunity,” but said the industry has been given a “total pass” so far.
Sanders, though, accused Clinton of being “very disingenuous” on guns. The Vermont senator said he “stood up to the gun lobby” on several fronts.
Clinton, meanwhile, stressed her experience throughout the debate, reminding voters of her time advising Obama in the Situation Room and leading key foreign policy decisions – even defending controversial policies like the “reset” with Russia.
“We need a president who can do all aspects of the job,” Clinton said. “I’m prepared and ready to take it on.”
Sanders, though, called for a “political revolution” that would “transform this country,” urging an overhaul of the campaign finance system he claims has undermined American democracy. 
Another pre-debate twist was a spat over Sanders’ medical fitness to be president.
After a recent report claimed a Clinton ally was preparing to seek the 74-year-old Vermont senator’s medical records, the Sanders campaign called the move a “personal” and unfounded attack. The Clinton camp quickly distanced itself from the reported plan – though Sanders on Sunday declared he would release his medical records anyway. The issue did not come up onstage.
Sanders had one seemingly awkward moment at Sunday’s debate, when he didn’t properly hear a YouTube question on police shootings and asked a moderator to repeat it. He then drew applause from the audience by calling for a Justice Department investigation whenever someone is killed in police custody.
The candidates clashed again over Wall Street ties, with O’Malley accusing Clinton of having a “cozy relationship” with Wall Street, while Sanders criticized her for getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs.
Clinton responded that O’Malley raised money from Wall Street as head of the Democratic Governors Association. O’Malley countered by saying that he was not using that money for his current campaign.
O’Malley only is polling at about 2 percent nationally and once again was sidelined throughout much of Sunday night’s debate. He frequently protested and tried to interject.
Sanders, though, has emerged as an insurgent candidate with grassroots support, challenging Clinton’s once-presumed lock on the nomination – a situation all too familiar for the candidate who ran in 2008 under similar conditions.
Sanders arguably faces more questions about his electability in a general election than did Obama in 2008 -- and tried to ease those concerns by claiming Sunday that various branches of the Democratic Party would eventually support him. While Clinton maintains her lead both nationally and in vital early-voting southern states, Sanders has been closing the gap in Iowa and currently leads in most polls in New Hampshire – which votes Feb. 9.
The Iowa caucuses are Feb. 1.
Foreign policy also took center stage Sunday, one day after the Obama administration secured the release of four Americans held in Iran in exchange for seven Iranians. A fifth American also was freed, though officials said that was unrelated to the swap – which coincided with the implementation of key terms of the Iran nuclear deal.
Sanders said Sunday that the U.S. should eventually move to “normalize relations with Iran”, while Clinton seemed to urge more caution.
“We’ve had one good day over 36 years. And I think we need more good days” before moving to normalize relations, she said.