Presumptuous Politics : Aug 6, 2016

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Iran video may show US cash payment

Was Trump right? Iran video may show US cash payment

Iran might have a video of America's $400 million cash payment to the regime after all -- even though Donald Trump backed off such claims early Friday amid intense criticism.
An apparent Iranian TV documentary in February about the prisoner swap in fact shows pallets of cash, which the narrator indicates is the $400 million payment in question. The video was posted to YouTube this week, after new controversy erupted over the payout.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the payment, made in cash, coincided with the release of four Americans, fueling charges that the U.S. paid Tehran a "ransom."
The narrator in the video, speaking in Farsi, describes the money as part of a "swap."
"In this exchange, the Iranians demand the entire four-hundred million in addition to $1.3 billion in deferred interest," the narrator says. “The morning of 17 January 2016, Mehrabad Airport. Four-hundred million dollars in cash is transported to Iran by airplane."
The video originates from the site “Ansarclip.ir” and is believed to be an Iranian documentary aired after the U.S. prisoner release. FoxNews.com cannot verify the authenticity of the footage or the claims made in it.
The administration has insisted the money was separate from the prisoner release, part of a $1.7 billion payment stemming from an unfulfilled arms deal -- a payment the administration announced in January.
But critics have called it ransom, and Trump told crowds Wednesday and Thursday there was video of the money being handed over -- and that the tapes were handed over by Iran to embarrass the U.S.
“The tape was made right, you saw that? With the airplane coming in -- nice plane -- and the airplane coming in and the money coming off I guess, right?” Trump told a crowd in Portland, Maine, on Thursday. “That was given to us, has to be, by the Iranians and you know why the tape was given to us? Because they want to embarrass our country, they want to embarrass our country.”
After criticism from Democrats and media outlets who branded the claim “false,” Trump backed away from the claims, saying he had seen a video of the prisoners being released, but not the money being handed to Iran.
“The plane I saw on television was the hostage plane in Geneva, Switzerland, not the plane carrying $400 million in cash going to Iran!” he tweeted Friday.

Krauthammer on Hillary Clinton: 'She needs lying lessons from her husband'

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said Friday on “Special Report with Bret Baier” that Hillary Clinton has been trapped by her lies about her email investigation.
“The original sin, apart from the act itself, was the press conference she held at the U.N. when the story broke, which was fundamentally untrue at about 12 levels, Krauthammer said. “And she has never been able to admit that.”
Krauthammer said Clinton simply has no charisma – and thus, can’t move past the scandal.
“What she needs are lying lessons from her husband, who was one of the great liars of all time, could do it with a smile and charm, and kind of, in a way that was sort of wizardly,” Krauthammer said. “She may still win the presidency, but will never be able to escape the original set of lies.”

Clinton tries to 'clarify' email comments – and adds to confusion

Hillary Clinton tried Friday to “clarify” her widely disputed claim that the FBI director had declared her statements on her email scandal “truthful” – but may have ended up adding to the confusion, delivering a lengthy and at-times conflicting explanation that the Donald Trump campaign later called “pretzel-like.”
The Democratic presidential candidate addressed the controversy when she fielded questions from reporters with the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
She was asked early on about her statement, on “Fox News Sunday,” that FBI Director James Comey had affirmed her answers on her email controversy “were truthful and what I've said is consistent with what I have told the American people.”
Fact-checkers have roundly slammed that claim, noting that’s not exactly what Comey said.
Clinton, however, seemed to stand by her comments on Friday, saying she was referring to her answers in her FBI interview -- while also acknowledging she may have “short-circuited” her explanation.
In her clarification, though, Clinton gave a difficult-to-follow response.
“I have said … that what I told the FBI, which he said was truthful, is consistent with what I have said publicly,” Clinton said.
She added: “Having him say that my answers to the FBI were truthful – and that I should quickly add what I said was consistent with what I had said publicly, and that’s really in my view trying to tie both ends together.”
This new explanation drew jeers from Republicans.
“Clinton knows the actions she has taken are disqualifying for someone wishing to become Commander-in-Chief, and that is why today’s painful, pretzel-like response to a simple question about her illegal server was obvious to everyone watching,” Jason Miller, Trump senior communications adviser, said in a statement.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said, “Judging from the way Hillary Clinton kept lying at today’s event, it’s not hard to see why she hasn’t held a press conference in 244 days.”
Priebus accused Clinton of “yet again falsely claiming that what Director Comey said at his press conference is consistent with what she told the American people.”
Comey did say last month the bureau had “no basis to conclude she lied to the FBI.”
However, the FBI director did not say the same about her statements to the American public.
And during testimony before a House committee, Comey said it was “not true” that nothing Clinton sent or received was marked classified. To the contrary, he said, “there was classified material emailed.”
After Clinton’s initial statement to “Fox News Sunday” – which she repeated later in the week – fact-checkers piled on. The Washington Post awarded her “four Pinnochios.” PolitiFact gave her a “Pants on Fire” rating. FactCheck.org declared her claims “false.”
On Friday, however, Clinton challenged the claims on the classified markings. As her campaign has argued before, she noted Comey has acknowledged the markings themselves were not properly marked. The State Department also has suggested those markings shouldn’t have been there, which Clinton mentioned Friday.
She repeated: “I never sent or received anything that was marked classified.”
Comey, though, also challenged other statements by Clinton during his testimony last month. On her claim that she used one device, Comey said, “She used multiple devices.”
Clinton offered conflicting statements on that point Friday.
At the top of her answer, she said that using two emails accounts was a “mistake.”
But at the end, she said: “I will go back to where I started. I regret using one account.”

Trump endorses Ryan, McCain and Ayotte after initial reluctance

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump endorsed three top GOP officeholders — House Speaker Paul Ryan, Arizona Sen. John McCain and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte — for re-election Friday night after declining to do so earlier this week.
Trump announced his endorsements at an event in Ryan's home state of Wisconsin four days before the Speaker faces challenger Paul Nehlen in a primary election.
Appearing to read from a prepared statement, Trump called Ryan "a good man" and "a good guy."
"We will have disagreements," Trump said. "But we will disagree as friends and never stop working together toward victory and real change."
"I need a Republican Senate and a House to accomplish all the changes we have to make," added Trump, who also said "my 80 percent friend is not my 20 percent enemy," a phrase often attributed to Ronald Reagan.
Nehlen issued a statement calling Trump's endorsement of Ryan "appropriate" and "a display of true leadership" as the Republican nominee. However, Nehlen also said that Trump's initial refusal to back Ryan "sent a clear signal to Wisconsin voters that Ryan is not his preferred candidate in this race" and claimed the Speaker had "undermined our nominee at every turn."
Trump initially refused to back Ryan in an interview with The Washington Post earlier this week.
“I like Paul. I like Paul. But these are horrible times for our country. We need very strong leadership. We need very, very strong leadership. And I’m just not quite there. I’m not quite there yet,” Trump said at the time.
Trump’s phrasing echoed statements Ryan had made in May, when the Speaker said of endorsing Trump, "I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now."
While giving Trump his support, Ryan has frequently been critical of some of the billionaire’s most controversial statements. On Thursday, he said that it was “distressing” that Trump hadn’t spent more time focusing on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“He’s had a pretty strange run since the convention,” Ryan said on WTAQ radio in Green Bay. “You would think that we want to be focusing on Hillary Clinton, on all of her deficiencies. She is such a weak candidate that one would think that we would be on offense against Hillary Clinton, and it is distressing that that’s not what we’re talking about these days.”
Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, had endorsed Ryan Thursday, and said he had been encouraged to do so by Trump.
Trump also said earlier this week that he had "never been a big fan of John McCain." The 79-year-old McCain, who Trump has disparaged in the past, faces two primary opponents later this month.
On Friday, however, Trump said he held McCain "in the highest esteem" and "I fully support and endorse his re-election."
Trump also endorsed Ayotte, calling the New Hampshire senator "a rising star." On Tuesday, Trump told the Post that Ayotte had given him "no support — zero support," later adding "We need loyal people in this country. We need fighters in this country. We don't need weak people."
A poll taken this week shows Ayotte trailing her Democratic opponent, New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, by 10 points in the race for Ayotte's Senate seat.

Saturday, August 6, 2016