State Dept. IG subpoenaed Clinton Foundation in 2015

If the shoe fits, wear it.

The Clinton Foundation was subpoenaed last fall by State Department investigators for records relating to charity projects that might have come before the department when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, a source confirmed Thursday.   
The development was first reported by The Washington Post. A representative for the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation confirmed the details to Fox News.
The Post first reported that the State Department inspector general subpoena sought documents on foundation projects that might have needed approval from the department during Clinton’s tenure in charge.
The subpoena also reportedly sought records on Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
Abedin has come under scrutiny for serving for several months in 2012 in multiple roles – working for the department and the foundation, as well as Clinton herself and a consulting firm
And multiple media reports over the past year – seized upon by Republicans -- have raised questions about whether foundation donors used their contributions to seek influence with the State Department.
The Clinton presidential campaign has rejected such assertions. Meanwhile, questions about Abedin’s role and the foundation largely have been overshadowed by the controversy over Clinton’s use of a personal server and email system while secretary. That matter is under investigation by the FBI.
According to the Post, the scope and status of the IG inquiry that prompted the subpoena is not clear. A foundation official told the newspaper that the foundation is not the focus.

Cruz campaign pulls ad over appearance by adult film actress

Ted Cruz's latest political ad turned out to be too hot for TV. 
The Texas senator's campaign confirmed late Thursday that it had pulled a commercial hitting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio over illegal immigration because one of the actresses had previously appeared in pornographic films.
The actress in question, Amy Lindsay, described herself as a Christian conservative and a Republican in an interview with Buzzfeed News late Thursday. She also tweeted her displeasure that the video was pulled from the airwaves.
Cruz campaign spokesman Rick Tyler said Lindsay had responded to an open casting call for the ad.
"Unfortunately, she was not vetted by the production company," Tyler said. "Had the campaign known of her full filmography, we obviously would not have let her appear in the ad."
An Internet Movie Database page in Lindsay's name lists her as appearing in several movies with titles like "Carnal Wishes" and "Insatiable Desire". She is also listed as having appeared in the TV series "Star Trek: Voyager" and the 1996 film adaptation of Henry James' novel "The Portrait of a Lady."
Lindsay's acting background was first reported by the Daily Caller.
The ad, titled "Conservatives Anonymous" featured a faux self-help session in which voters lamented their past support for Rubio.
"I voted for a guy who was a Tea Party hero on the campaign trail then he went to D.C. and played patty cake with Chuck Schumer and cut a deal on amnesty," one of the participants, a middle-aged man, tells the group.
The group moderator asks him: "Does that make you angry?"
"Angry? No, it makes me feel dumb for trusting him," the middle-aged man says.
Lindsay played a woman who tells another group member, "Maybe you should vote for more than just a pretty face next time."
Responding to the ad before it was pulled, Rubio accused Cruz of changing positions on a pathway to citizenship and other immigration issues, telling Fox News: “He's willing to say or do anything to win an election.”
“He portrays himself as some sort of immigration purist," Rubio added. "The bottom line is when immigration reform was being debated in Washington, Ted Cruz was a passionate spokesperson on behalf of legalizing people that are in this country illegally, so he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now."

AP FACT CHECK: Clinton, Sanders on health care, donors and more

In their latest debate, Hillary Clinton glossed over the big-money donors juicing her White House ambitions while Bernie Sanders offered disputed numbers behind his plan for a government-financed health system.

A look at some of the claims in the Democratic presidential debate and how they compare with the facts:

CLINTON: "We have more than 750,000 donors and the vast majority are giving small contributions. ... We both have a lot of small donors."

THE FACTS: Her presidential run is being supported by wealthy donors in ways that Sanders' is not.

Last year's fundraising reports show that Sanders raised fully 72 percent of his campaign money from people who gave $200 or less, while for Clinton those donors accounted for just 16 percent of her funds.

Clinton stretched when putting herself in Sanders' league when it comes to grassroots financing. She said they are both getting small donors and that "sets us apart" from Republican candidates. But her rate of small-dollar contributions isn't that much different than that of some of the GOP contenders.

She also minimized the impact of the super political action committee supporting her effort, saying the group was founded to help President Barack Obama and she has no say over its operations. But no candidate can control the super PACS that are devoted to helping their candidacies, yet they can be vital in White House efforts because they can raise unlimited money and spend heavily on advertising and other help.

Although Priorities USA may have formed to help Obama, it's now steered by her trusted advisers. In fact, Guy Cecil, a former Clinton staffer, was brought in to lead the group last year as a signal to her supporters that they could trust Priorities USA to serve her well.

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BERNIE SANDERS: "Our Medicare-for-all, single-payer proposal will save the average middle-class family $5,000 a year."

HILLARY CLINTON: "The numbers don't add up."

THE FACTS: More detail and analysis are needed on Sanders' plan for cradle-to-grave government-financed health care for all. But two early assessments suggest that the accounting comes up short.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the tax increases in Sanders' plan would only cover about 75 percent of what Sanders says it will cost, creating a $3 trillion hole in the federal budget over 10 years.

Emory University economist Kenneth Thorpe says the proposal also underestimates the cost of having the government provide doctors' services, hospitalization, long-term care, and vision and dental care -- all without premiums, copays or deductibles.

According to Thorpe, the Sanders plan falls short by about $11 trillion over 10 years. He says the income and payroll tax increases required to pay fully for the proposal would mean 71 percent of those who now have private insurance would pay more.

Thorpe served in the administration of Bill Clinton, handling economic estimates of the former president's failed health care overhaul plan. He says he has no involvement with the Hillary Clinton campaign.
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SANDERS: "A male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable."

THE FACTS: Sanders, like Clinton in an earlier debate, exaggerated the rate of incarceration for black males.

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 that was only a projection. The report 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.

Since then, the incarceration rate for black men has actually gone down instead of up, according to the Sentencing Project.
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CLINTON: "He wrote a foreword for a book that basically argued voters should have buyer's remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree -- disagree more with those kinds of comments."

THE FACTS: Sanders didn't write a foreword to that book, "Buyer's Remorse: How Obama Let Progressives Down," by Bill Press.

Instead, he contributed a blurb that's on the back cover and says nothing about Obama: "Bill Press makes the case why, long after taking the oath of office, the next president of the United States must keep rallying the people who elected him or her on behalf of progressive causes. That is the only way real change will happen."

An out-of-context excerpt of that blurb is selectively placed at the top of the front cover: "Bill Press makes the case ... read this book," which suggests that Sanders is cheerleading the case by liberals that Obama has not been liberal enough. But that was not reflected in what Sanders wrote.

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SANDERS: "There's not one Republican candidate for president who agrees that climate change is real."

THE FACTS: Not so. Some of the GOP front-runners are clearly skeptics on climate science, but not all the party's candidates can be lumped together on this topic. Jeb Bush, in an email interview with Bloomberg BNA in July, wrote that "the climate is changing," adding, "I don't think anybody can argue it's not. Human activity has contributed to it."

And at a 2012 fundraising event, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said, "This isn't popular to always say, but I believe there is a problem with climates -- climate change in the atmosphere."

Two of the top GOP leaders in national polls -- Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz -- have been blunt and dismissive of man-made global warming.

Differences Undefined? Clinton, Sanders unite in police criticism amid testy debate

The Commie and the Demo.

While Hillary Clinton launched her harshest debate attacks yet on Bernie Sanders Thursday in a clear attempt to distinguish their differences to voters, the Democratic candidates spent almost as much time uniting in their criticism of America’s criminal justice system, the financial sector and more.
The debate fell at a time when Sanders is trying to build his momentum after his big New Hampshire win, while Clinton is trying to regain hers.
As Sanders pointedly reminded her, “You’re not in the White House yet.”
But the candidates at times offered a similar message. This was evident as they vociferously called for an overhaul of local police departments that they suggested are unfair to black people.
“We need fundamental police reform,” Sanders said, adding he’s “sick and tired” of seeing unarmed black people shot by police. He likened heavily equipped police departments to “occupying armies.”
Clinton, meanwhile, echoed those themes, joining Sanders in calling for sentencing reform while saying the country’s “systemic racism” goes deeper and must be addressed – in education, housing and the job market.
“We are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we need to root out,” she said.
The comments were part of each candidate’s revived appeal to minority voters, a key voting bloc as the Democratic presidential primary heads to South Carolina.
But even as they stressed those issues, differences were laid bare at the PBS-hosted debate in Milwaukee. And Sanders came prepared to counter Clinton’s attacks, showing a feistier side than he did at their last showdown.
When Clinton used her closing remarks to suggest Sanders was taking shots at President Obama, Sanders called it a “low blow” and countered: “One of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate.”
He even underscored his critique of Clinton’s foreign policy by pointing to a book where Clinton said she was mentored by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
“I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend,” Sanders said, calling him “one of the most destructive” American diplomats.
Clinton fired back that “we have yet to know” who Sanders listens to on foreign policy.
“Well, it ain’t Henry Kissinger,” Sanders said.
The two also clashed sharply over Sanders’ high-cost, big-government plans.
“We are not England. We are not France,” Clinton said.
Clinton accused Sanders of pushing programs that would grow the federal government by 40 percent. She suggested his health care promises “cannot be kept “and will be far more costly than he admits.
“We should level with the American people,” she said.
She also said Sanders’ plans would upend ObamaCare – though Sanders said he would not “dismantle” it.
“That is absolutely inaccurate,” he said, when she claimed his plans would leave many people worse off.
“In my view, health care is a right of all people … and I will fight for that,” Sanders said, adding it would take “courage.”
Clinton also criticized Sanders for voting against a 2007 immigration reform bill backed by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.
Sanders explained that the bill had a guest-worker program that progressive groups opposed.
“I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea of what needed to be done,” Clinton said.
Yet the candidates agreed in their joint criticism of the Obama administration’s recent deportation raids.
Sanders, meanwhile, once again hammered Clinton for her Wall Street ties, suggesting the financial sector’s big donations are meant to buy influence.
“Let’s not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren’t dumb,” Sanders said. “Why in God’s name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it.”
They sparred on the issue as Sanders touted the fact he’s “the only candidate up here” who has no super PAC supporting him. A super PAC backing Clinton, he said, recently raised $15 million from Wall Street.
Clinton countered by noting that Obama took Wall Street donations too, but “when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street.”
“Let’s not in any way imply here that either President Obama or myself would in any way not take on any vested interest,” she said, calling for more regulation of the financial sector.
The showdown comes as Clinton tries to reset the race, which heads next to Nevada and South Carolina. Her narrow victory in Iowa and resounding defeat in New Hampshire have raised fresh questions about her candidacy, which at one point was seen as a sure thing for the Democratic nomination.
Publicly, the Clinton campaign is voicing confidence. The campaign has been refocusing on the battle to lock down minority voter support, asserting that with their help, the former secretary of state can easily make gains against Sanders. But Sanders is at the same time making a bid to expand his own support beyond rural, white voters -- who largely decide Iowa and New Hampshire.
While the Clinton campaign is banking on minority voters as it heads into South Carolina and other delegate-rich states down the primary calendar, Tuesday’s contest exposed serious problems for her. She lost in New Hampshire across almost every demographic, including women.

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.

Kasich Cartoon