government land management cartoon

For Real!

Official: Top Clinton aides also handled ‘top secret’ intel on server

The End is Near?

EXCLUSIVE: At least a dozen email accounts handled the “top secret” intelligence that was found on Hillary Clinton’s server and recently deemed too damaging for national security to release, a U.S. government official close to the review told Fox News.  
The official said the accounts include not only Clinton’s but those of top aides – including Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, Jake Sullivan and Philippe Reines – as well as State Department Under Secretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy and others.  There is no public evidence they were authorized to receive the intelligence some of which was beyond Top Secret.
A second source not authorized to speak on the record said the number of accounts involved could be as high as 30 and reflects how the intelligence was broadly shared, replied to, and copied to individuals using the unsecured server.
“My contacts with former colleagues and current active duty personnel involved in sensitive programs reveal a universal feeling that the HRC issue is more serious than the general public realizes,”  Dan Maguire,  a former strategic  planner with Africom, and with 46 years combined service, told Fox.  “Most opine they would already be behind bars if they had apparently compromised sensitive information as reported.”
Without access to the actual e-mails, Maguire said it was hard to ascertain what damage might have been done by the disclosure of human spying intelligence and secret material.
“Either way, the intelligence community is undoubtedly conducting damage assessments and evaluating the viability of any ongoing operation that may have been exposed to unauthorized personnel. The vulnerability of HRC’s server to foreign government hacking cannot be overlooked - even the DCI, John Brennan, has been the target of hackers,” he said.
Former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey told Fox, “It is counterintuitive to suggest that they (Clinton’s aides) all had authorization and access through a non-secure server to information of that sensitivity.”
The State Department recently confirmed that the messages in question include the most sensitive kind of intelligence. On Jan. 29, Fox News first reported that some emails on Clinton’s server were too damaging to release in any form. The State Department subsequently announced that 22 “top secret” emails were being withheld in full; these were the messages being handled by more than a dozen accounts.
Pressed on whether a damage assessment was being done, State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said, “To your broader question – what is being done to -- as you said spillage – I can’t speak to those efforts today. We’re aware obviously of those concerns.  We are taking steps, but I don’t have any more details to provide.”
Aside from this week’s letter confirming the FBI investigation is focused on Clinton’s server, the Bureau has not publicly acknowledged whom it has contracted or interviewed.
Kennedy recently told the House Benghazi Select Committee that he knew about Clinton's personal email from the beginning, but did not understand the "scope" of its use for Clinton’s government business.  
Kennedy's testimony now appears to conflict with emails released through the Freedom of Information Act that show he routinely sent and received government business from the Clintonemail.com account.
Toner said Kennedy learned about Clinton’s arrangement later. “He did not have knowledge of the computer server that she had set up [for] personal email or computer server she'd set up at her residence,” he said.
However, on the official State Department website, Patrick F. Kennedy’s biography says that he has worked for the department since 1993 and, in his current position as Under Secretary for Management,  he is responsible for the “people, resources, budget, facilities, technology, financial operations, consular affairs, logistics, contracting, and security for Department of State operations.”

Moderate Kasich rejects call to go 'real conservative' in SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. –  Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich vowed Wednesday to stick to his moderate message, as he arrived in South Carolina drawing sizeable crowds following a strong second-place finish in New Hampshire.
“People told me that when I get to South Carolina, I gotta go real conservative,” Kasich told an overflow crowd at a town hall event in downtown Charleston. But he said, “I gotta go with what I think.”
Nearly 100 people, include many with a military background, filled the small second-floor office, challenging Kasich with such questions as how he would improve health care for veterans and help returning vets find jobs.
Kasich argued that the agency must get rid of the bureaucracy that has created so many problems, but he stopped short of calling for privatization or closure.
“Government has to move into the 21^st century,” Kasich said.
The event was the second of three on Wednesday in the Charleston area for Kasich.
In the morning, he attended another town hall-type event at a pizza restaurant in Mount Pleasant. Kasich adviser Scott Milburn said requests to attend the event went from 60 to 300 after the New Hampshire GOP primary where Kasich placed second.
Front-runner Donald Trump won the primary, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz placed third. Kasich invested much of his time and resources in New Hampshire, and whether his good showing there will translate into enough fundraising to keep his campaign going – and whether his appeal extends beyond New Hampshire -- remains to be seen.
“You get close to winning and everybody shows up,” he said Wednesday, before heading to a final event for the day in nearby Huger. “I don’t expect to get out. I’m looking forward to the Deep South. I expect we’re going to be here for a long, long time.”

Sanders aims to boost appeal among minority voters after NH win

Sen. Bernie Sanders, within hours of scoring a decisive New Hampshire victory over Hillary Clinton, was moving quickly to confront perhaps his campaign’s biggest challenge: proving his appeal can extend beyond rural, white voters.
The Hillary Clinton campaign, looking to downplay its loss Tuesday night, was quick to point out that far more diverse states are up next on the primary calendar. Campaign manager Robby Mook boasted in a memo that Clinton enjoys “high levels of support” among black and Hispanic voters.
It was no coincidence that on the day after his win, Sanders held a one-on-one breakfast meeting with the Rev. Al Sharpton at a Harlem landmark, where they discussed issues that affect the African-American community around the country.
“I think it is very important that he sent the signal that on the morning after a historic victory...he would come to Harlem and have breakfast with me,” Sharpton said.
Sharpton said the two men talked at Sylvia's Restaurant about affirmative action, police brutality and the water disaster in Flint, Mich. He added that he and various heads of national civil rights organizations plan to meet with Clinton next week – and won’t endorse a candidate until later.
Sanders also made sure, in his Tuesday victory speech, to include African-Americans and Latinos as part of his campaign message.
“When we talk about transforming America, it means ending the disgrace of this country having more people in jail than any other country in the world, disproportionately African-American, and Latino,” he said. “Not only are we going to fight to end institutional racism, and a broken criminal justice system, we are going to provide jobs and education for our young people, not jails and incarceration.”
While Sanders’ message about addressing income inequality and fixing a “corrupt” campaign finance system has found broad appeal, polls suggest Clinton continues to enjoy substantial support from minority communities in South Carolina, which holds the next primary, and beyond. Those voters are part of what is considered Clinton’s so-called “firewall,” which Sanders wants to break through.
“The question has always been can he expand out to blacks, Latinos,” Democratic strategist Joe Trippi said. “That’s the test.”
The Clinton campaign minces no words in suggesting that once states with a bigger minority population vote, Clinton will recover.
“The nomination will very likely be won in March, not February, and we believe that Hillary Clinton is well positioned to build a strong – potentially insurmountable – delegate lead next month,” Mook said in a memo Tuesday night, noting the electorates in the first two contests are largely rural/suburban and white.
But Clinton, who won New Hampshire in 2008, still lost across virtually every voting group Tuesday including women, exit polls show.
The exit polling showed Sanders won among women, 55-44 percent; among moderates, 58-39 percent; and among voters under 50 by a huge margin.
Sanders won across voters of every education level and every income level – except for those making over $200,000, among whom Clinton had the edge.
The major demo won by Clinton Tuesday night was the over-65 bloc, which backed her 55-44 percent.
Overall, Sanders won the state, 60-38 percent.
Clinton still leads heavily in the polls in critical states like South Carolina and Florida, and it’s unclear whether Sanders will be able to transfer his momentum from the Northeast – his home turf – to the South.
While non-Hispanic white residents make up more than 91 percent of the New Hampshire population, Census figures show they make up just 62 percent of the overall U.S. population – meaning minority voters will be a bigger factor going forward.
In New Hampshire, though, exit polls show Clinton only won the state’s small non-white demographic by a single percentage point.

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy arrested by FBI in Oregon

Is the United States Government getting to big for their Britches?

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, the father of the jailed militia leader whose followers have occupied a federal wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon for the past 40 days, was arrested by FBI agents in Portland, Ore. late Wednesday as he stepped off a flight from Las Vegas.
Bundy's arrest was confirmed on the website of the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, which said he had been booked in to the Multnomah County Detention Center shortly before 11 p.m. local time.
The FBI also confirmed Cliven Bundy's arrest but declined to provide a reason or other details, saying further information would be released by the U.S. Attorney's office in Las Vegas Thursday.
The Oregonian newspaper reported that Bundy faces charges related to the 2014 standoff between federal agents and militia members on his Nevada ranch. The charges include conspiracy to interfere with a federal officer, the same charge lodged against two of Bundy's sons, Ammon and Ryan, for their role in the ongoing standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
The four remaining holdouts occupying the refuge said earlier Wednesday that they would turn themselves in Thursday morning.
Ammon Bundy's lawyer, Mike Arnold, told The Oregonian that Cliven Bundy was considering joining a news conference held by Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore to discuss the ongoing occupation. Fiore spent most of Wednesday night talking to the remaining militia members as federal agents surrounded the refuge.
"It's terribly unfortunate the timing of his arrest, given all the progress Assemblywoman Fiore made this evening," Arnold said. "He was arrested without incident and without violence. That should give [the militia members] comfort in their decision tomorrow
The Bureau of Land Management said at the time of the 2014 standoff that Bundy owed over $1 million in fees and penalties for trespassing cattle on federal property without a permit over 20 years. Bundy refuses to acknowledge federal authority over public lands.
The standoff began after the BLM impounded Bundy's cattle that were found on federal property. However, federal agents later backed down and allowed Bundy's supporters to turn the cattle loose.