Presumptuous Politics

Monday, October 31, 2016

Hillary Clinton pal Neera Tanden's greatest hits from WikiLeaks emails

Latest Clinton criticism coming from supporter Neera Tanden?

Neera Tanden is the president of a left-wing think tank called the Center for American Progress, and a longtime ally of Hillary Clinton. She is also the most colorful figure to emerge from the stash of hacked emails published by WikiLeaks.
Tanden has a potty mouth, and talks a lot of trash, but she’s also mostly right whenever she complains about something, such as the absurd secrecy of Hillary’s inner circle of friends, who withheld information about her email habits at the State Department because “they wanted to get away with it.”
Here are some of Tanden’s greatest hits:
“F---ing insane”
That’s how Tanden described the scandal involving Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state. “Do we actually know who told Hillary she could use a private email?” she wrote in an email to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in 2015. “And has that person been drawn and quartered?”
“F--- these assholes”
Those were Tanden’s choice words for liberals criticizing Hillary Clinton for using the phrase “all lives matter.”
“He’s a f---er”
Tanden expressed her displeasure when she learned that Democratic operative Faiz Shakir, who currently works for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, had started advising Hillary Clinton’s primary challenger Bernie Sanders.
“I find him a bit insufferable”
This was Tanden’s response to New York City mayor Bill de Blasio’s reluctance to endorse Hillary Clinton.

Laptop in FBI's Weiner sexting case had 'state.gov,' Clinton-related emails, source says

FBI Director James Comey’s decision to revisit the Hillary Clinton email-private server case was triggered by the discovery of Clinton-related emails in a separate sexting investigation involving ex-New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, a government source told Fox News on Sunday.
The source said an analysis of the metadata on Weiner’s computer has turned up “positive hits for state.gov and HRC emails,” which led Comey to revisit the FBI investigation into Clinton using a private email server system while secretary of state. A second law enforcement source confirmed the account.
Weiner is the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. He resigned from Congress in 2011, after a sexting scandal.
That Clinton-related emails were on Weiner’s computer, which he purportedly shared with Abedin, was reported first by The Wall Street Journal.
The Clinton campaign since the announcement Friday of the new emails has argued that Comey has not said whose names are on the documents or emails, reportedly in the thousands to hundreds-of-thousands.
Investigators did not need to physically read the emails because the metadata identified the state.gov and Clinton accounts on the laptop device.
Comey restarted the case after being briefed by agents. He subsequently told Congress, and Capitol Hill Republicans promptly boasted that the FBI had reopened its investigation into Clinton using a private Internet server system while secretary of state.
Multiple sources now suggest that Comey knew about the existence of the Weiner laptop and the emails prior to last week.
In July, Comey wrapped up the one-year FBI investigation into Clinton using the private server, saying she was “extremely careless” and that some of the emails off the server included classified information.
However, he said investigators had not found enough evidence that Clinton had mishandled classified information to recommend criminal charges.
Fox News was also told Sunday that a subpoena for Weiner’s computer was issued in late September and that the device was made available about a week later. On Sunday, the FBI obtained a warrant to begin reviewing new emails potentially tied to the Clinton case.
Weiner purportedly is cooperating in the case that allegedly involves an underage female and has given investigators the laptop device.
The FBI NY team working on the Weiner case has a sophisticated system to detect emails because it was their focus was child pornography and issues related to the sexting case, one of the sources told Fox News.
However, the team was not authorized at the time of discovery to expand the search. Fox was also told the FBI obtained a warrant to collect evidence, as part of standard procedure.
A law enforcement source told Fox News earlier Sunday that the New York team told agents involved in the investigation into Clinton using a private server system while secretary of state: “We think we've come across some documents pertinent to your investigation."
Weiner is still married to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, and a laptop connected to the sexting case was purportedly shared by the couple.
Comey was further compelled to review the documents based on two factors: the volume of documents and his commitment under oath to Congress to review “any new and substantial information,” the source also said.
The new probe comes 9 days before Election Day in a closely contested White House race between Clinton, the Democratic nominee, and Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Clinton has been the frontrunner for the entire campaign. But the FBI investigation and others, including several in the GOP-controlled Congress, have contributed to Americans’ eroding trust in her.
Several sources told Fox News this weekend that “thousands” to “tens-of-thousands” of new documents emerged in the sexting case.
However, it remains unclear whether any of them belong to either Clinton or Abedin, as the Clinton campaign has argued over the past few days.
“Everyone wants to have answers,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told “Fox News Sunday.” “Comey should put out answers. … This letter is innuendo.”
Anonymous sources report that there is no evidence that the newly discovered emails on the computer involve Clinton.
However, if the sexting case involves a laptop used by Abedin and the new-found documents include Abedin emails related to her time at the State Department with Clinton, she faces serious consequences.
In June, Abedin said under oath in a Judicial Watch deposition that she searched through all her devices for government emails so they could be turned over to the State Department.
Abedin could be charged with perjury if she lied under oath and as a result would face up to five years in prison.
She also signed a State Department document stating that she no longer maintained classified information, as part of her official exit from the agency.

FBI shadow: Now it's Clinton vs. Comey, with hypocrisy on both sides

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the FBI again investigating Hillary Clinton is the rather predictable partisan back-flips.
No sooner did we learn that James Comey had come up with new email evidence than Donald Trump—and some conservative commentators—came to a much more positive view of the FBI director. Before, he was running a “rigged” investigation and failing to do what any competent prosecutor would do, which was pursue criminal charges against Clinton.
Now he was a man of integrity standing up for truth, justice and the American way.
Meanwhile, the Clinton camp—and some liberal commentators—who had sung Comey’s praises when he declined to prosecute were now dismissing him as a partisan Bush administration hack throwing a monkey wrench into the campaign’s final stretch.
NYT columnist Paul Krugman: “If we don't hear more from Comey, we just have to conclude that he was trying to swing election. And *that* should be the story.”
For many of these folks, justice is served only when a law-enforcement official delivers the outcome you want.
The fact that the trail soon led to Anthony Weiner’s sexting of a teenage girl, as the New York Times was the first to report, just added to the surreal and quasi-comical nature of the whole extravaganza. Call it the Carlos Danger phase of the campaign.
As one pundit tweeted, the whole campaign seems to have come down to “Access Hollywood” and Weiner sexting.
Maybe Trump was on to something when he used to rail about how Weiner is a “pervert” and who knew whether his wife Huma Abedin, Hillary’s longtime confidant, was sharing classified information with him.
The media treated this like a bombshell, and rightly so, when it exploded on Friday afternoon. Even if it turns out to be a nothing-burger, it has utterly changed the media and political environment in a campaign in which Clinton seemed to be coasting.
But Comey was not “reopening” the original investigation, as NBC, the Washington Post, Politico and other outlets initially reported and then retracted. And as the story unfolded over the weekend, new details emerged that cast the Comey move in a less favorable light.
Comey apparently violated FBI policy against bringing a case or otherwise taking action against a politician in the 60 days before the election. I would give him a pass on that, since this case is so unique, but it does provide some pause.
The FBI chief said initially that the new evidence may not be “significant.” But Yahoo’s Mike Isikoff reported that the bureau, at the time, had not even reviewed the emails in question, lacking the requisite search warrant. So the emails could be a bunch of duplicates, and reports say they aren’t to or from Clinton.
Why, without knowing these critical facts, would Comey go public? The Post reported that he feared being blamed for a coverup if, after the election, the evidence turned out to be significant.
I can see why he had that concern, and he was in a no-win position. But that leaves him open to criticism that he bowed to pressure from within the bureau, or was more concerned with protecting his personal reputation than with interfering in a national election.
Clinton has decided to make Comey an issue, calling his move “unprecedented” and “disturbing.” Now she is is under the shadow of another FBI inquiry. Trump will be pounding away on this day after day. When I asked his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway on “Media Buzz” whether the new emails could turn out to be nothing, she acknowledged that but added that the probe reminds people of Clinton corruption.
My initial thought was that Comey has a responsibility to provide more information before Election Day. Now it’s clear he doesn’t yet have the information. And every day Clinton runs against him is a day she’s not solely focusing on Donald Trump.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.

Harry Reid says FBI Director James Comey 'may have broken' federal law

He's Baaaaaaack!

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid set off a firestorm of criticism Sunday after he said that FBI Director James Comey "may have broken" a federal law when he disclosed on Friday that his office was pursuing potential new evidence related to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server less than two weeks before the presidential election.
The Senate minority leader from Nevada wrote in a letter that Comey may have violated the Hatch Act, which bars government officials from using their position to influence an election.
"I am writing to inform you that my office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act, which bars FBI officials from using their official authority to influence an election," Reid wrote. "Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law."
Reid, who is retiring from the Senate at the end of his term, added that Comey's "highly selective approach to publicizing information, along with your timing, was intended for the success or failure of a partisan candidate or political group."
The FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment about Reid's letter.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Rep. Jason Caffetz, R-Utah, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, disputed Reid's claims about Comey.
“Director Comey is updating his previous testimony, and he should do that,” Chaffetz told the newspaper. “Hillary Clinton can only blame herself for this mess. She created this problem, not Director Comey.”
Other Republicans also reacted to Reid's letter.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called Reid a "disgrace to American politics."
"Harry Reid is a disgrace to American politics, among worst men ever in Senate. He can't go soon enough, & many Democrats privately agree," Cotton posted on Twitter.

Harry Reid is a disgrace to American politics, among worst men ever in Senate. He can't go soon enough, & many Democrats privately agree. https://t.co/4lCKx5pKi4
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) October 30, 2016

In an interview Sunday night on "Special Report with Bret Baier," Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. called Reid "a hack."
"Thank god he's leaving is my initial reaction," he said, adding that "anyone capable of sending that press release has to be under the influence of something."
Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, said that the American people "have to have confidence in the FBI and Department of Justice."
In a seperate action, former Attorney General Eric Holder and dozens of other former federal prosecutors signed a letter Sunday night critical of Comey's recent actions in the Clinton email case.
The letter says that Comey deviated from Justice Department policy when he alerted Congress to the new discovery of emails potentially related to the Clinton email investigation.
Justice Department officials are instructed not to discuss ongoing investigations and to "exercise heightened restraint near the time of a primary or general election," to avoid the appearance of prosecutorial influence in the electoral process, according to the letter.
"We cannot recall a prior instance where a senior Justice Department official — Republican or Democrat — has, on the eve of a major election, issued a public statement where the mere disclosure of information may impact the election's outcome yet the official acknowledges the information to be examined may not be significant or new," the letter states.
Comey acknowledged in a memo to FBI colleagues on Friday that he knew the letter was at risk of being misunderstood so close to the election, but that he felt obliged to update Congress on the emails after having earlier told lawmakers that the email inquiry had been closed.
But the ex-prosecutors say Comey's letter was so devoid of detail as to "invite considerable, uninformed public speculation" about the emails' significance. They note that Comey did not reveal who had sent or received the emails, whether the emails include duplicates of messages that have already been reviewed or whether the emails contain any classified information.
The letter is signed by dozens of attorneys, including former Justice Department officials in Washington — among them, former deputy attorneys general James Cole, Jamie Gorelick, Larry Thompson and David Ogden — and a group of United States attorneys and assistant U.S. attorneys.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Abedin & Clinton Cartoons

Load of manure dumped at Democratic headquarters in Ohio county

Workers at Democratic Party headquarters in Warren County, Ohio had to deal with a stinky situation Saturday after a load of manure was dumped outside the building.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that the Warren County Sheriff's Office informed party officials of the dump at around 7:45 a.m. Deputies met with party officials later in the day to review security video.
"What reasonable person thinks this is OK???" party chair Bethe Goldenfield posted on a local politics Facebook group. "I won't be responding to anyone who thinks this is acceptable behavior. It is ILLEGAL!"
Goldenfield said the same thing happened four years ago. Warren County Republican Party chair Jeff Monroe told the paper his organization had nothing to do with the dung drop and offered to help with the clean-up.
Warren County, in suburban Cincinnati, is a deep-red part of the state. Mitt Romney won 69 percent of the vote in the 2012 presidential election and no Democrat has been elected to county-wide office in 40 years, according to the Enquirer.

John Fund: If Hillary wins, we’ll have a potential blackmail target in the White House

“This is just a distraction,” Democratic pollster Mark Mellman says of the news the FBI is reexamining the Clinton email case.
During a press conference — which lasted all of three minutes — Hillary Clinton herself said, “I think people a long time ago made up their minds about the emails. I think that’s factored into that people think and now they’re choosing a president.”
But for people in the intelligence community -- including disgruntled FBI agents and even former officials in the Pentagon, it’s not that easy.

WEINER, CLINTON AND THE FBI'S CHANCE AT REDEMPTION =AN ELECTION NIGHTMARE

The revival of the Clinton email scandal reminds them of just how exposed Clinton left highly classified information.
Last September, an FBI report noted the bureau couldn’t find proof her private email server was hacked into by adversaries. But it noted that the private server had to be shut down repeatedly because of hacker attacks and a successful attack wasn’t likely to have left fingerprints. Also, some "hostile foreign actors" were able to break into the personal email accounts of Clinton’s close aides, obtaining a treasure trove of emails exchanged with her personal account.
Note that so far none of the WikiLeaks revelations have come from Hillary’s personal account. That could mean it wasn’t hacked, or it could mean that “hostile” actors are waiting to make use of them.
Given the growing suspicions that the Clinton Foundation may have exchanged favors with the Clinton State Department, her private server could be of great interest in establishing such links.
In short, we have to acknowledge the danger that Hillary Clinton could be the target of international blackmail in the White House.
Consider what happened the first time the Clinton couple was there. Bill Clinton’s involvement with the intern Monica Lewinsky had national security implications and also subjected him to possible blackmail.
Secret Service agent Gary Bryne reported in his book ‘Crisis of Character” that U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded that Russia, the U.K. and Israel had intercepted phone calls between Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.
In 2000, Insight magazine, after a one-year investigation by a team of reporters, claimed that the Israeli government had “penetrated four White House telephone lines and was able to relay real-time conversations on those lines from a remote site outside the White House directly to Israel for listening and recording.”
Boris Yeltsin, the former Russian president, wrote in his memoirs that Russian intelligence had picked up on Clinton’s “predilection for beautiful young women.”
From agreeing to talk with the insecure Lewinsky on short notice to making sure she had a job to her liking at the Pentagon (with a security clearance!) President Clinton did a great deal to keep Lewinsky quiet. Nonetheless, she ended up discussing her affair with 11 people. One of those was Linda Tripp, a Pentagon official who recorded their talks. But what if Tripp or someone else had taken those tapes to Chinese or Iranian diplomats instead of Kenneth Starr, the special prosecutor?
Indeed, in his book “Clinton, Inc.,” journalist Daniel Halper reports that there was a blackmail attempt against Bill Clinton.
In October 1998 in a bid to gain the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, an Israeli team led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to blackmail President Clinton with tapes of Clinton and Lewinsky.
When Clinton brought Israel’s request for Pollard’s release to CIA Director George Tenet, Tenet threatened to resign on the spot should Clinton cave and release Pollard. Clinton ultimately declined the Israeli request, though he would consider it once again before the end of his term.
In fact, Clinton was all too aware of the security risk the Lewinsky relationship represented. The Starr Report, released in September 1998, reveals that Clinton told Lewinsky that "he suspected that a foreign embassy was tapping his telephones, and he proposed cover stories" if they were ever questioned about their relationship.
The president and Lewinsky had "phone sex" 10 to 15 times, so Clinton told Lewinsky that, if asked, she should say "they knew their calls were being monitored all along, and the phone sex was just a put-on." This laughable "explanation" wouldn't have helped much if a foreign power had intercepted the explicit calls.
"I'm just horrified to think the commander-in-chief is conducting himself with such reckless disregard for his responsibilities, making himself part and parcel of every blackmail threat that one can imagine," retired Marine Lt. Gen. Charles Cooper told the Washington Times in 1998.
The Code of Federal Regulations (Title 32, Chapter 1, Part 147) makes clear that a person may lose a security clearance for "concealment of information that may increase an individual's vulnerability to coercion, exploitation, or duress, such as engaging in activities which, if known, may affect the person's personal, professional, or community standing or render the person susceptible to blackmail.”
Presidents have enforced such laws by issuing edicts such as Executive Order No. 12968 in August 1995. It states that individuals eligible for access to classified material must have a record of "strength of character, trustworthiness, honesty, reliability, discretion, and sound judgment, as well as freedom from conflicting allegiances and potential for coercion." It was signed by President Clinton. Three months later he began a relationship with an intern named Monica Lewinsky
The American people will have to decide if, after 20 years, the Clintons have really changed the way they operate and can be trusted to retake control of the Oval Office.

Lynch, Justice opposed Comey's Clinton email letter; Democrats in Senate demand answers

Four Democrats in the Senate on Saturday sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey requesting a range of disclosures in the wake of Comey's Friday announcement about newly discovered emails possibly pertaining to Hillary Clinton's use of a private server.
The letter asks for "more detailed information about the investigative steps being taken, the number of emails involved, and what is being done to determine how many of the emails are duplicative of those already reviewed."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Sen. Benjamin Cardin and Sen. Thomas Carper signed the letter and gave Comey and Lynch a deadline of Monday to respond.
Calling Comey's letter from Friday "troubling," and noting that they are aware of the warning given by the Justice Department to the FBI regarding Comey's actions on Friday, the senators also write that his letter to Congressional Republicans breaks with the longstanding tradition of the FBI and Department of Justice proceeding cautiously in the days leading up to an election.
"Director Comey's letter has been misunderstood. It is already being used for political purposes, creating a misleading impression regarding the FBI's intent and actions," the senators wrote, calling on federal officials to dispel any misleading impressions and clarify what significance any of the new emails have to the previous investigation of Sec. Clinton.
The Justice Department advised Comey against telling Congress about newly discovered emails possibly "pertinent” to the agency’s investigation into Clinton’s server, with GOP rival Donald Trump on Saturday suggesting a cover-up.
“That’s because the Justice Department is trying so hard to protect Hillary,” Trump said at a rally in battleground Colorado. “This is what we mean when we call it a rigged system. … She is so guilty.”
Comey said in a letter that was made public Friday that the FBI discovered the emails while pursuing a case related to the husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin -- disgraced former New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, who was allegedly sexting a 15-year-old girl on a laptop he shared with his wife.
A government source confirmed Saturday to Fox News that the Justice Department concluded the letter to Congress would be inconsistent with agency policy against investigations that could impact an election or help a particular candidate.
Comey purportedly made the decision to send the letter to Capitol Hill committee leaders independently of the Justice Department.
The FBI this summer concluded its rough 2-year-long investigation into Clinton’s use of a private server while secretary of state.
Comey said at the time that some of the emails contained classified information and that Clinton was “extremely careless” in her actions. However, the agency didn’t find enough evidence to recommend criminal charges to the Justice Department.
Clinton, who in most major polls leads Trump by about 5 percentage points, on Saturday repeated her call for Comey to provide more details, saying “explain everything right away, put it all out on the table.”
“If you're like me, you probably have a few questions about it,” Clinton said at a rally in Daytona Beach, Florida. “It is pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information right before an election. In fact, it's not just strange, it's unprecedented and deeply troubling because voters deserve to get full and complete facts.”
She also accused Trump of “making up lies” about the issue and “doing his best to confuse, mislead and discourage the American people.”
Late Friday in Iowa, Clinton called on Comey to release the "full and complete facts" about the FBI review. In a speech Friday in Daytona Beach, Floriday, Clinton called Comey's release of the letter "unprecedented" and repeated her demand for more specifics.
On a conference call Saturday with reporters, Clinton campaign officials said the FBI has given no indication that the cache of recently discovered emails are even about the candidate
Campaign chairman John Podesta said Comey's information is "long on innuendo" and "short on facts." He also said there's "no evidence of wrongdoing. No charge of wrongdoing. No indication this is even about Hillary."
Podesta made the argument despite Comey saying the newly discovered emails are possibly "pertinent" to the larger Clinton email investigation.
Trump made a total of three campaign stop Saturday, with Election Day just 10 days away.
In Colorado, where Trump trails Clinton by single digits, he suggested the effort to protect Clinton went all the way to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the Obama administration’s top law enforcement officer.
In late-June, Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, got off his plane in Phoenix to talk with Lynch, whose plane was on the same tarmac.
Lynch has said they talked about golf, travel and grandchildren. But the private meeting occurred days before the FBI interviewed Clinton, then closed the case.
“I’ve had a plane for a long time, and I’ve never had anybody walk off the runway and into my plane,” Trump said in Colorado.
The Clinton campaign late Saturday argued Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates also objected to Comey sending the letter.
Trump on Saturday also campaigned in North Carolina and Arizona, where he is in tight races with Clinton to win the White House.
Clinton on Saturday also campaigned i

Abedin reportedly pleads ignorance of how emails at center of latest Clinton probe got on computer

Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin reportedly has said she does not know how tens of thousands of emails related to the FBI investigation of her boss' personal server were found on a laptop she shared with her now-estranged husband, former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner.
The Washington Post reported that Abedin was not a regular user of the laptop in question. The paper also reported that Abedin's lawyers did not bother to search the device for work-related emails after she agreed to turn over such messages to the State Department.
On Saturday, a senior law enforcement official told Fox News that the laptop contained "five digits," or at least 10,000, emails of interest to investigators.
The source also told Fox News that law enforcement officials think it's highly unlikely that all of the newfound emails are duplicates, as the Clinton campaign has suggested. The Post reported, citing former FBI officials, that investigators would likely use a computer program to weed out duplicate emails before examining the remaining messages for possible criminality.
Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that several Clinton allies have suggested the Democratic nominee distance herself from Abedin, who has had a professional relationship with Clinton for two decades. In that capacity, Clinton's team defended an unusual employment arrangement in which Abedin was paid by the Clinton Foundation, a consulting firm called Teneo and the State Department all at once.
Clinton also stood by Abedin when Weiner's first online sex scandal cost him his seat in Congress, and when his second imploded his bid for New York mayor. When Abedin announced her separation from Weiner earlier this year, it was Clinton's campaign that sent her statement to reporters.
Others suggested to the Times that the latest twist in the email investigation would make it impossible for Clinton to make Abedin part of her White House team if she is elected president next month. The paper also reported that Abedin did not travel with Clinton on a swing through Florida Saturday, instead working out of the campaign's Brooklyn headquarters.
"We of course stand behind her," Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta told reporters, adding Abedin has "completely and voluntarily complied with and cooperated with the investigation."
The Post reported that Abedin gave a sworn deposition this past June, saying that she had "looked for all the devices that may have any of my State Department work on it and ... gave them to my attorneys for them to review for all relevant documents."
Two months earlier, Abedin told the FBI that her attorneys had asked the State Department about how to conduct a review of work messages from her personal laptop and Blackberry, but received no response.
The FBI announced Friday that it had restarted an investigation into emails Clinton sent on a private server system while secretary of state, as a result of a probe into Weiner's, “sexting,” or sending sexually-suggestive electronic messages, to a teenage girl.
The FBI conducted a roughly two-year investigation into Clinton’s use of a private server system, finding several emails marked as classified and concluding that she had been “extremely careless.” However, the agency did not find evidence that Clinton had been criminally negligent and did not recommend criminal charges to the Justice Department.