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State: No evidence of conflict in Clinton Foundation gifts

The State Department said Monday it has no evidence that any actions taken by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton when she was secretary of state were influenced by donations to the Clinton Foundation or former President Bill Clinton's speaking fees.
Spokesman Jeff Rathke said the department received requests to review potential conflicts primarily for proposed speech hosts or consulting deals for Bill Clinton and found no conflicts.
Rathke said, however, that the department welcomes new commitments from the Clinton Foundation to disclose its donors and to support additional efforts that ensure all of those donations are public.
The State Department's comment comes as Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign grapples with criticism that foreign entities traded donations to the family charity for favors at the State Department. Hundreds of paid speeches given by Bill Clinton, which can command as much as $500,000 or more per appearance, have also come under attack from Republican opponents.
Speaking during a nine-day tour of Clinton Foundation projects in Africa with his daughter, Chelsea, Clinton defended his foundation, saying there's nothing "sinister" about getting wealthy people to help poor people in developing countries and that the organization had never done anything "knowingly inappropriate."
"There's been a very deliberate attempt to take the foundation down," Clinton said. "And there's almost no new fact that's known now that wasn't known when she ran for president the first time."
Bill Clinton said 90 percent of donors give $100 or less. But over half of the donors giving $5 million or more are foreign, including foreign governments. Under pressure, the foundation recently announced it will only take money from six Western countries.
"It's an acknowledgment that we're going to come as close as we can during her presidential campaign to following the rules we followed when she became secretary of state," he said.
He added: "I don't think that I did anything that was against the interest of the United States."
Bill Clinton has largely stayed on the sidelines during the early weeks of his wife's presidential bid, opting to focus on his foundation work instead of visiting early primary states with his wife. His decision to re-enter the political fray, with an appearance on NBC's "Today" show, reflects concerns that the intense scrutiny -- and Republican attacks -- on the family charity are having a negative impact on Hillary Clinton's presidential aspirations. An Associated Press-GfK poll released last week found that more than six in 10 independents agreed that "honest" was not the best word to describe the second-time presidential candidate.
"Bill Clinton is saying what Hillary Clinton has said on many occasions: just trust us, just trust us. And unfortunately trust is earned through transparency, and I think they have not been particularly transparent on a whole host of things," said Republican Carly Fiorina, a former technology CEO who announced her presidential candidacy on Monday.
The Republican organization America Rising released a web video that uses footage of Clinton's confirmation hearings for secretary of state to raise questions about her integrity. The video uses 2009 footage of Clinton saying "there is not an inherent conflict of interest in any of my husband's work at all," juxtaposed with a list of foreign countries that have donated to the foundation.

Fidel Castro a drug kingpin? Ex-bodyguard claims Cuban leader directed illegal operations

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro had a perfectly constructed persona shown to the world: a ragtag revolutionary who bowed to no one.
But a former bodyguard to the longtime leader shares in a new book about Castro’s alleged luxurious lifestyle and drug-smuggling schemes to the United States.
In “The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El Lider Maximo,” Juan Reinaldo Sanchez opens up about how he became disillusioned with the ex-Cuban leader after 17 years of service.
In an excerpt posted in the New York Post, Sanchez claims he overheard a Castro meeting with former Cuban Gen. Jose Abrantes, who was later stripped of his ranks, in which the two discussed the drug trafficking business to the United States.
“Their conversation centered on a Cuban lanchero (someone who smuggles drugs by boat) living in the United States, apparently conducting business with the government,” Sanchez writes. “And what business! Very simple, a huge drug-trafficking transaction was being carried out at the highest echelons of the state.”
Sanchez, 88, went on to describe the conversation – he allegedly heard through the closed-circuit security televisions monitoring Castro’s office building – in which Castro seemed to be “directing illegal operations like a real godfather.”
“(Castro’s) reasoning was as follows: If the Yanks were stupid enough to use drugs that came from Colombia, not only was that not his problem … it served his revolutionary objectives in the sense that it corrupted and destabilized American society,” he wrote in the book.
Furthermore, Sanchez accuses Castro of covering up his involvement in the drug trafficking scheme by engineering sham trials in 1986 that led to the death of Abrantes and army Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa.
“The Machiavellian Fidel, while declaring himself ‘appalled’ by what he pretended to have discovered, claimed that ‘the most honest imaginable political and judicial process’ was under way,” wrote Sanchez.
Instead, Castro pulled the strings behind the scenes, censoring the filmed trials and even going as far as dictating when there would be a break, Sanchez claimed.
Sanchez has previously said he lost trust in the Castro regime after his brother escaped from Cuba in 1994.
He said he sought retirement and refused transfers, which led to imprisonment for two years for insubordination. Sanchez escaped the island via boat to Mexico before crossing into the United States across the Texas border in 2008.

Marine General Joseph Dunford chosen as Joint Chiefs chairman

U.S. officials said Monday that President Obama will nominate Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr. as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
A combat-hardened commander, Dunford led the Afghanistan war coalition during a key transition in 2013-2014 and has served as an infantry officer at all levels.
The move cuts short Dunford's service as the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, a job he began last October. But the rapid promotion is one of several that have marked Dunford's fast-tracked military career, which saw him leap from a one-star brigadier general to four stars in about three years.
Obama is tapping Air Force Gen. Paul J. Selva, a pilot and current head of U.S. Transportation Command, to be vice chairman.
A defense official told Fox News that a formal announcement is expected at the White House Tuesday.
Dunford has been a leading contender for the chairman's job for months, and his time in the commandant's post was critical. Generally, to be considered for the chairman's job an officer must serve as the head of one of the Pentagon's combatant commands or as chief of one of the military services.
Dunford's most visible role came in 2013 when he was chosen to take over the job as top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan. During his 18 months there, Dunford oversaw the ongoing drawdown of U.S. troops, the transition to Afghan military lead in combat operations, and the tumultuous Afghan elections that dragged on and stalled efforts to reach an agreement on the U.S. military's future presence in the country.
He left Afghanistan last August, preparing to take on his new role as commandant.
Dunford's rise through the ranks has been rapid, particularly compared to many of his peers, who would normally spend several years at each rank before getting promoted.
In December 2007, he was nominated for a second star, and the rank of major general. But just two months later, before he actually got the formal promotion, he got the nod for a third star and was appointed the deputy Marine Corps commandant, effectively skipping the two-star grade entirely. He held the rank of lieutenant general (three stars) for about two years, until President Barack Obama appointed him as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps in October 2010, earning him a fourth star.
Dunford, 59, is a Boston native and is a graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger School, Marine Amphibious Warfare School, and the U.S. Army War college. He also holds Master's degrees in government from Georgetown University and international relations from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

'It's time to roll': Suspected Texas shooter had been monitored by FBI since 2006

The FBI had spent nearly a decade investigating one of the men who attempted to attack an event featuring cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, it was revealed Monday as investigators attempted to determine whether the attack was directed by any overseas terror groups.
That suspect, identified by authorities as Elton Simpson, was killed by police officers in the Dallas suburb of Garland, Texas Sunday evening after shooting a school district security guard in the leg outside a center where a cartoon contest was being held. Simpson's fellow attacker and roommate, identified as Nadir Soofi, was also killed.
Authorities said Simpson and Soofi carried rifles and were wearing body armor. Garland police spokesman Joe Harn said Monday that a single Garland police officer subdued the two gunmen but that after his initial shots, SWAT officers nearby also fired at the two men. Harn said police don't know who fired the lethal shots.
A convert to Islam, Simpson first attracted the FBI's attention in 2006 because of his ties to Hassan Abu Jihaad, a former U.S. Navy sailor who had been arrested in Phoenix and was ultimately convicted of terrorism-related charges, according to court records. Jihaad was accused of leaking details about his ship's movements to operators of a website in London that openly espoused violent jihad against the U.S.
In the fall of that year, the FBI asked one of its informants, Dabla Deng, a Sudanese immigrant, to befriend Simpson and ask for advice about Islam. Deng had been working as an FBI informant since 2005 and was instructed to tell Simpson he was a recent convert to the religion.
Over the next few years, Deng would tape his conversations with Simpson with a hidden recording device accumulating more than 1,500 hours of conversations, according to court records.
Simpson was arrested in 2010, one day before authorities say he planned to leave for what he said were religious studies at a madrassa in South Africa. But despite the hours of recordings, the government prosecuted him on only one minor charge -- lying to a federal agent. Years spent investigating Simpson for terrorism ties resulted in three years of probation and $600 in fines and court fees.
"I have to say that I felt like these charges were completely trumped up, that they were just trying to cover up what had been a very long and expensive investigation and they just couldn't leave without some sort of charges," Simpson's attorney, Kristina Sitton, told the Associated Press.
Sitton described Simpson as so devout that he would not even shake her hand and would sometimes interrupt their legal meetings so he could pray. She said she had no indication that he was capable of violence and assumed he just "snapped."
In recent years, Simpson, described as quiet and devout, had been on the radar of law enforcement because of his social media presence, but authorities did not have an indication that he was plotting an attack, one federal official familiar with the investigation told the Associated Press.
In a statement released late Monday by Phoenix law firm Osborn Maledon, Simpson's family said it is "struggling to understand" how the incident happened.
"We are sure many people in this country are curious to know if we had any idea of Elton's plans," the statement says. "To that we say, without question, we did not."
The statement, which does not identify the relatives, also says the family is "heartbroken and in a state of deep shock" and sends prayers to everyone affected by this "act of senseless violence," especially the security guard who was injured.
The recordings played at Simpson's trial featured him talking about fighting against non-Muslims, to whom he referred as "kuffar."
"Allah loves someone who is out there fighting [non-Muslims] and making difficult sacrifices such as living in caves, sleeping on rocks rather than sleeping in comfortable beds and with his wife, children and nice cars," Simpson told the informant in a recording played at his trial. "If you get shot, or you get killed, it’s [heaven] straight away…That’s what we here for…so why not take that route?"
The Dallas Morning News reported that one recording featured Simpson saying his planned studies in South Africa were "just a front" and said he was ready to "bounce" if he had to.
In an apparent reference to the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Simpson said at one point. "They trying to bring democracy over there man, they’re trying to make them live by man-made laws, not by Allah’s laws. That’s why they get fought. You try to make us become slaves to man? No we slave to Allah, we going to fight you to the death."
"I'm telling you, man, we can make it to the battlefield," Simpson is recorded saying on May 29, 2009. "It's time to roll."
Simpson, a longtime resident of the Phoenix area, had worshipped at the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix for about a decade, but he quit showing up over the past two or three months, the president of the mosque told The Associated Press.
Simpson was quiet, never angry and a regular on the basketball court playing with young members of the mosque, said Usama Shami. He asked questions about prayer and marriage, Shami said. And he was rattled by the FBI investigation into him years earlier. Shami said most people at the mosque knew Deng was an informant because he showed such little interest in learning about Islam.
"I've never seen him angry," Shami said of Simpson. "That's the honest truth. He was always having a grin."
Less was known about Soofi, who appeared to have never been prosecuted in federal court, according to a search of court records.
Sharon Soofi, his mother, who now lives in a small town southwest of Houston, told The Dallas Morning News that she had no idea that he would turn to violence.
She said her son was "raised in a normal American fashion" and "was very politically involved with the Middle East. Just aware of what's going on."
"I don't know if something snapped," she said.
She said the last time she had communicated with her son was last month, sending a text to wish her grandson a happy birthday.
"He put his son above everything, I thought," she told the newspaper. "The hard thing is to comprehend is why he would do this and leave an eight-year-old son behind."

Stand Down Cartoon

IRS scandal: Thousands of lost Lois Lerner emails reappear. Will Congress keep the pressure on?

Drip. Drip. Drip.
That’s what continues to happen as the scandal unfolds at the Obama administration’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
First, we were told that critical emails of former top IRS official Lois Lerner – at the center of an illegal targeting scheme – were gone – unrecoverable – nowhere to be found.

What’s extremely troubling is that the IRS continues to get away with its failure to disclose pertinent emails to investigators. Imagine if a taxpayer deliberately failed to disclose important information to the IRS. You don’t have to guess on how that would turn out.

That, of course, proved to be false, as investigators continued to discover damaging emails from Lerner revealing a coordinated effort to unlawfully target conservative groups because of their political beliefs.
Earlier this month, Judicial Watch managed to unearth Lerner emails indicating that lower-level employees might need some training to learn how to keep certain information out of the public eye. Lerner proposed training to help IRS employees “understand the pitfalls” of discussing “specific Congress people, practitioners and political parties” in emails that could be “seen by Congress” or the public.
“We are all a bit concerned about the mention of specific Congress people, practitioners and political parties. Our filed folks are not as sensitive as we are to the fact that anything we write can be public – or at least be seen by Congress,” Lerner wrote in an email to Holly Paz, former director of the IRS Office of Rulings and Agreements, in February 2012.
And now, another batch of Lerner emails has surfaced. Thousands of new emails have been located, as reported by The Hill:
“Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration (TIGTA) said it found roughly 6,400 emails either to or from Lerner from between 2004 and 2013 that it didn’t think the IRS had turned over to lawmakers, the congressional committees said. The committees have yet to examine the emails, aides on Capitol Hill said. The IRS said last year that Lerner’s computer crashed in 2011, leaving it unable to reproduce an untold number of her emails over the prior two years.
Of the emails the inspector general found, around 650 were from 2010 and 2011, while most were from 2012. The inspector general found about 35,000 emails in all as it sought to recover emails from recycled back-up tapes.”
Amazingly, these thousands of emails previously thought to be missing somehow magically reappeared. This has been the modus operandi of the IRS: Delay and deny. What’s extremely troubling is that the IRS continues to get away with its failure to disclose pertinent emails to investigators. Imagine if a taxpayer deliberately failed to disclose important information to the IRS. You don’t have to guess on how that would turn out.
This latest revelation only adds to the “drip, drip, drip” of the deliberate slow-tracking of releasing information.
With nearly 6,500 emails discovered in this latest effort, though, this “drip” could have the potential of producing a tidal wave of information – significant evidence that has yet to be examined by Congressional committees looking into this scandal.
The IRS, which has been stonewalling for years, tried to put a positive spin on this latest development. The agency claimed it’s glad to hear that the inspector general has found these new Lerner emails, calling it “an encouraging development that will help resolve remaining questions and dispel uncertainty surrounding the emails.”
The only “encouraging development” is the fact that Congress hasn’t been deterred. Congress continues its ongoing investigations to get to the bottom of this scheme and no doubt will be working aggressively to review these newfound emails.
We look forward to finding out what’s contained in them. We’re hopeful these new findings produce even more evidence of the unconstitutional targeting scheme – evidence we can add to our existing legal challenge of the IRS as we represent dozens of groups across the country.
We remain committed to get the truth and hold accountable those responsible through our continuing work in Congress and in the courts.
The IRS would like this scandal to disappear. That must not happen. It will not happen. The American people deserve answers.

Carson, Fiorina, Huckabee to join 2016 GOP presidential field, adding more depth, diversity

The deep Republican presidential field will get even more competitive this week when hopefuls Dr. Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee enter the race as expected.
Carson and Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, are set to announce Monday, making them the only black and female candidate, respectively, so far in the 2016 GOP field.
Carson told a local TV station Sunday that he is seeking the 2016 GOP Republican  presidential nomination but will formally announce his bid in hometown Detroit Monday.
“There’s no question this country is in very dire straits.” Carson, a first-time candidate who has gained political attention in large part by being critical of President Obama, told Fox News on Sunday. “The whole leadership issue is lacking."
Carson also embraced the large GOP field, saying it will give voters “an opportunity to hear a variety of solutions” to such problems as terrorism and the economic inequality that contributed in part to the recent rioting in Baltimore.
Fiorina, who has positioned herself as an alternative to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, will make her announcement on social media, then follow with an online town hall event.
Huckabee, who won eight states in his unsuccessful 2008 presidential bid, will make his announcement Tuesday in his hometown of Hope, Ark.
The three will join freshmen Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Ted Cruz of Texas in officially announcing 2016 bids. They are also are expected to go to first-in-the-nation presidential caucus state Iowa after making their announcements.
The two Republican hopefuls who have sat atop most early polls -- former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker -- have yet to announce. Rubio and Cruz are Cuban Americans.
“The diversity is great,” GOP strategist Matt Mackowiak told Roll Call. “It shows we’re a much broader party than the caricature some try to put on us.”
Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, is popular within his party’s social conservative wing but this time will face tough competition for that vote from Carson, Cruz and others.
As Arkansas governor from 1993 to 1996, after President Bill Clinton, he also is trying to position himself as the GOP candidate best equipped to defeat what he calls the “Clinton political machine.”
"I know the Clintons all too well,” he told the audience at last month’s Republican Leadership Summit, in New Hampshire. “They play to win. I faced them time and time again. I lived to win. I lived to even tell about it."
The most recent poll by nonpartisan RealClearPolitics.com shows Bush leading with 15 percent of the early vote, followed by Walker, Rubio, Paul, Cruz, Huckabee, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Carson with Fiorina in the 14^th and final spot with 1 percent of the vote.
Without having held an elected office, Fiorina has argued her corporate experience makes her well positioned to improve the U.S. economy and that exchanges with such world leaders as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be an advantage in foreign policy.
The 60-year-old Fiorina recently told Fox News that Clinton, a former first lady and New York senator, lacks accomplishment, is “not candid,” and “made a deliberate effort to shield her communications” while secretary of state by using a private server and email accounts.
She also defended her tenure as Hewlett Packard’s top executive, which ended with her being forced out as company stock plummeted and tens of thousands of employees lost their jobs during the dotcom bubble.
Fiorina said she navigated the company through the worst tech recession in 25 years and that the criticism is just part of “Democratic talking points.” She has also dismissed talk about her really angling for a GOP vice presidential nomination.
“If I run for president, it’s because I can win the job and do the job,” she said.