Trump brands Hillary Clinton a 'liar' over ISIS recruitment video claim

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump rounded on Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton Monday, calling her a "liar" over her claim that the ISIS terror group used videos of his comments about Muslims to recruit militants.
"She's a liar!" Trump told more than 6,000 people at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He also said Clinton was "crooked" and "not a president."
Trump also resorted to crude language to discuss Clinton's 2008 loss in the Iowa caucuses to Barack Obama, who went on to win the Democratic nomination and the White House. 
"She was favored to win and she got schlonged, she lost," said Trump, who also mocked Clinton for returning late to Saturday's Democratic debate following a commercial break. "I thought she quit, I thought she gave up," Trump joked.
During Saturday's debate, Clinton said Trump had become ISIS' "best recruiter" adding, "They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists."
There was no evidence to back the claim, and a spokeswoman later said, "She didn't have a particular video in mind."
Still, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon, asked Monday by MSNBC if Clinton would apologize to Trump, insisted, "Hell no."
Trump argued at Grand Rapids' DeltaPlex Arena that he is the last person Clinton wants to run against in a general election.
"Ask Jeb Bush if he enjoys running against me," he said of the former Florida governor who has been struggling to gain traction despite a massive early fundraising advantage.
"Ask Lindsey Graham, did he enjoy running against Trump?" he said of the South Carolina senator who on Monday announced his departure from the race.
Trump also defended the kind words he's been exchanging with Russian President Vladimir Putin, brushing off criticism that he has been too kind to the Russian president.
"That's, like, a good thing, not a bad thing," he insisted. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could get along, like, with people?"
And he made clear that he is opposed to the killing of journalists, after appearing to brush off concerns about Putin's record on a Sunday morning news show.
"I don't like that, I'm totally against that," said Trump. "By the way, I hate some of these people ... and some of them are such lying, disgusting people, it's true. But I would never kill. And anybody that does I think would be despicable."

Iranian hackers gained access to suburban NYC dam in 2013, report says

Iranian computer hackers accessed the control system of a small dam outside of New York City two years ago, raising red flags throughout the U.S. government, according to a published report. 
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Homeland Security believes the hackers infiltrated the Bowman Avenue Dam in Rye Brook, N.Y. through a cellular modem. According to the Journal, investigators believe that hackers never actually took control of the dam itself, but merely probed the system.
Neither the White House nor DHS would comment specifically on the alleged incident when contacted by Fox News.
But DHS spokesman S.Y. Lee said in a statement: “The Department of Homeland Security continues to coordinate national efforts to strengthen the security and resilience of critical infrastructure, working with our federal and industry partners across the country to raise awareness about evolving threats and promote measures to reduce risks to systems we all rely on.”
The reported dam incident comes amid attacks by hackers linked to Iran’s government against the websites of U.S. banks and illustrates a prime concern of American officials: how to protect vulnerable American infrastructure from cyberattacks. 
According to the Journal, the Department of Homeland Security was notified of 295 industrial-control-system hacking incidents over the 12 months ending Sept. 30. Over the previous 12 months, the number was 245. 
Initially, intelligence analysts feared the hackers were targeting another dam: The Arthur R. Bowman Dam in Oregon, a 245-foot-tall earthen structure that irrigates local agriculture and prevents flooding near the town of Prineville, approximately 150 miles southeast of Portland. That belief prompted investigators to notify the White House that Iran had escalted its cyberwar with the United States.
The 22-foot-high Bowman Avenue Dam, built in 1941 for flood control, is described as "very, very small" by the manager of the nearby town of Rye, but its infiltration represents a fear among U.S. officials that government-backed hackers were more capable than first thought, and could inflict real-world damage.

Republicans blast Kerry for suggesting Iran could skirt new visa rules

Republicans on Monday blasted Secretary of State John Kerry for suggesting in a letter to his Iranian counterpart that the administration could help the country get around new visa restrictions passed by Congress.
“Instead of bending over backwards to try to placate the Iranian regime, the White House needs to be holding it accountable for its recent missile tests, its continued support for terrorism, and its wrongful imprisonment of Americans,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said in a statement to FoxNews.com.
At issue are tightened security requirements for America’s visa waiver program, which allows citizens of 38 countries to travel to the U.S. without visas. Under changes in the newly signed spending bill, people from those countries who have traveled to Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan in the past five years must now obtain visas to enter the U.S.
Top Tehran officials, however, complained the changes violate the terms of the nuclear deal, which says the U.S. and other world powers will refrain from any policy intended to adversely affect normalization of trade and economic relations with Iran.
Kerry responded to these concerns in a Dec. 19 letter to his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif -- and suggested the administration could simply bypass the rules for Iran. 
“I am also confident that the recent changes in visa requirements passed in Congress, which the Administration has the authority to waive, will not in any way prevent us from meeting our [nuclear deal] commitments, and that we will implement them so as not to interfere with legitimate business interests of Iran,” he said.  
Kerry’s letter to Zarif assured that the U.S. would “adhere to the full measure of our commitments.” As for changes to the visa program, Kerry floated several alternative options for easing any impact on Iran – including waiving the new requirements.
“To this end, we have a number of potential tools available to us, including multiple entry ten-year business visas, programs for expediting business visas, and the waiver authority provided under the new legislation,” he wrote.
The legislation indeed includes a provision allowing the Homeland Security secretary to waive the requirements if the secretary determines this “is in the law enforcement or national security interests of the United States.”
But House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., voiced concern on Monday that Kerry was proposing a “blanket” waiver to accommodate Iran’s complaints. He said that is not Congress’ intent.
“Contrary to what the Secretary of State seems to be saying to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, it was not and has never been Congress’s intent to allow the Administration to grant a blanket waiver to travellers from Iran in order to facilitate the implementation of the Iran deal,” he said in a statement.
McCarthy said the point of the legislation was to strengthen security and “keep the American people safe from terrorism and from foreign travelers who potentially pose a threat to our homeland.”
Kerry’s assurances also raised concerns that the U.S. may be backing down to Iran’s complaints while at the same time reluctant to punish Tehran for its own potential violations.
“Instead of undermining Congressional intent regarding the visa waiver program, the White House should instead focus on Iran’s repeated violations of the U.N. Security Council's bans on missile tests,” McCarthy said. “Iran’s unwillingness to follow these international agreements should be a red flag that the Iran nuclear deal isn’t worth the paper it is written on.”
Omri Ceren, with the Washington, D.C.-based Israel Project, also told The Washington Free Beacon, “According to the Obama administration’s latest interpretation, the nuclear deal allows Iran to test ballistic missiles in violation of international law, but does not allow Congress to prevent terrorists from coming into the United States.”
The same article noted that the State Department official in charge of implementing the nuclear agreement warned Congress last week that the new visa rules “could have a very negative impact on the deal.”
Indeed, Kerry’s letter came as top-ranking Iranian officials accused the U.S. of flouting the nuclear agreement.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that the change “contradicts” the nuclear deal.
"Definitely, this law adversely affects economic, cultural, scientific and tourism relations,” Araghchi was quoted by state TV as saying.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani made similar comments.
Asked about Kerry’s assurances at Monday’s daily briefing, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the secretary made clear they would “implement this new legislation so as not to interfere with legitimate business interests of Iran.”
Kirby said the law would be followed, but there are a “number of potential tools” to ensure this does not violate the nuclear deal. As for the DHS waiver authority, he said it’s too soon to say “if and when” that might be used.
The Kerry letter initially was obtained and published by the National Iranian American Council.
The State Department confirmed the document’s authenticity on Monday.

Carly Cartoon

Fiorina slams Clinton, calls Trump a 'Christmas present' for Dems

Republican presidential candidate Carly Florina slammed rival Hillary Clinton on Sunday, saying the Democratic front-runner has “gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong.”
Fiorina, who appeared on "Fox News Sunday," also took a shot at GOP candidate Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump is a big Christmas gift wrapped up under the tree” for the Clinton campaign.
“She desperately hopes she runs against Donald Trump,” Fiorina said. “I, however, am the lump of coal in Mrs. Clinton’s stocking and she desperately hopes she does not run against me.”
“She can beat Donald Trump,” Fiorina said. “Donald Trump cannot beat Hillary Clinton. I think it’s very clear.”
Fiorina, once a breakout star of the GOP who fought her way from the low-polling undercard debates to the primetime stage, has been having trouble in the past few weeks maintaining her momentum.
During last week's fifth Republican debate, Fiorina came under fire after she said she would bring back the “warrior class” to fight the Islamic State and claimed several high-ranking generals had left the military because they didn’t agree with President Obama’s political policies. 
Gen. Jack Keane, a Fox News contributor and one of the generals she said quit, actually retired before Obama took office. Fiorina also said Gens. David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal resigned because they disagreed with the administration; but, in fact, Petreaus’ retirement came following revelations he shared classified information with his alleged mistress and biographer while McChrystal called it quits after he was quoted criticizing Obama in a “Rolling Stone” article.
Fiorina was also pressed by host Chris Wallace about a digital ad paid for by a super PAC supporting Fiorina that links her to Margaret “Iron Lady” Thatcher, the first female prime minister of Britain.
“Mrs. Fiorina, respectfully, isn’t that a little over the top?” the anchor asked.
“Many people have commented on the comparison and I’m flattered by it, frankly,” she said. “Margaret Thatcher was a great leader for her nation at a pivotal and perilous time.”
When asked by Wallace about her stagnant poll numbers, Fiorina said she was “happy” with her position and that she is where she wants to be. 
She quipped, “People make up their minds late, and if the polls at this stage and in earlier states were true we would have had President Howard Dean, President Rudy Giuliani, and by the way, we would have already had President Hillary Clinton.”

Top Democrat says Obama too slow in fight against ISIS

A top Democrat on Sunday criticized the pace of the Obama administration’s war against the Islamic State, saying the U.S. needs to “change the dynamic on the ground.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a top Democrat who has been critical of the administration’s policy, said he supports creating a no-fly or buffer zone -- “something that can end the refugee flows, something that can give space and time to train up forces to take on ISIS.”
President Obama has rejected implementing a no-fly zone near Syria, arguing that it would draw the U.S. into the regional conflict even more.
“I do think the administration ought to re-examine the idea of establishing safe zones,” Schiff reiterated on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think they ought to put that front and center in the U.N. negotiation, because I do think it has the potential of really changing the battlefield conditions and they have been stalemated for too long.”
Schiff also defended Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s comments Saturday night that the U.S. is “where we need to be” in the fight against ISIS.
“Well, this was in the context of do we go after [Syrian President Bashar] Assad or do we go after ISIS; can we do both? And her answer was basically we need to do both, and now for the first time we have a political process at the United Nations that ought to bring an end to both,” he said.
During the interview, Schiff said he supported a policy that would use social media as part of a visa screening process.
“If someone is brought in for an interview, for example, and is asked about their views on things, but as posted things that are completely contrary to the interview, frankly, I have much more faith in what they posted than what they say in the course of an interview,” he said.

Paul slams Congress over trillion-dollar spending bill he claims no one read

A fired-up Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday he voted against the massive $1.1 trillion spending bill because not only was it rushed through Congress -- but no one had a chance to read it.
“It was over a trillion dollars, it was all lumped together, 2,242 pages, nobody read it, so frankly my biggest complaint is that I have no idea what kind of things they stuck in that bill in the middle of the night,” Paul, R-Ky., said on “The Cats Roundtable,” a New York-based radio talk show.
“I voted against it because I won’t vote for these enormous bills that no one has a chance to read,” the GOP White House hopeful said.
On Friday, President Obama signed the legislation into law. The final version pairs two gigantic bills: a $1.14 trillion government spending measure that will fund every Cabinet agency through September 2016, as well as a $680 billion tax package which extends dozens of breaks and making some permanent.
Republicans and Democrats joined to approve the spending bill on a resounding 316-113 vote in the House, a day after passing the tax bill. The unexpectedly large margin was a victory for new House Speaker Paul Ryan, who saw a majority of his GOP lawmakers back the legislation.
Not long after, the Senate voted 65-33 to send the entire package to Obama's desk.
Paul said Sunday passing such large spending measures without thorough examination is “part of the reason why government is broke.”
He said the blame fell on every lawmaker’s shoulder.
“Once again this came not at the behest of just the Democrats,” he said on AM-970. “It came at the behest of right-wing Republicans who want military spending and left-wing Democrats who want welfare spending, and that’s the first little secret.”
Paul also called out specific spending habits of both parties.
“You have people on the right who want unlimited military spending and then you’ve got people on the left who want unlimited welfare spending and the dirty little secret in Washington is that they come together… there’s an unholy alliance and in that unholy alliance everybody gets money and the taxpayer gets stuck with the bill,” he said.
If he were president, Paul said he would keep “government so small you can barely see it.”
Ryan on Sunday dismissed criticism of the $1.1 trillion spending bill that passed Friday, saying that Republican leaders fought hard for compromise.
“Let me first say, this is a divided government and in divided government you don’t get everything you want,” Ryan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We advanced our priorities and principles. Not every one of them, but many of them. And then we’re going to pick up next year where we left off and keep going for more.”
Ryan, who acknowledged that both Democrats and Republicans employ divisive political tactics, said the cycle could be broken by “offering a vision, by offering solutions and focusing on what they do to make people’s lives better. And to appeal to what unified us as a country, as a people.”
Ryan also criticized GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s controversial proposal for a short-term ban on Muslim immigration and said he trusted Republican voters “to pick a nominee that can take us all the way to win the White House so we can fix this country.”

Rubio calls out Trump on Putin, takes on Cruz, immigration

White House hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio pushed back Sunday on Donald Trump saying the GOP frontrunner shouldn’t be flaunting praise he gets from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“He’s jailed and murdered journalists, political opponents,” Rubio said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Rubio said that while the U.S. has to “deal with (Putin)” from a “geopolitical, realistic level,” the Russian president “is not someone who is going to go down in history as a great leader.”
Last week, many Republican candidates spoke out against Trump after he embraced Putin as a world leader he would get along with and respected.  Putin praised Trump during his annual address calling him “bright and talented.”
“He’s running his country and at least he’s a leader, unlike what we have in this country,” Trump said during a telephone interview Friday on MSNBC.
Rubio also spoke out Sunday against Republican rival Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.  
Rubio and Cruz have been locked in a heated debate over their immigration records in Congress. Cruz accused Rubio of supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants while Rubio said Cruz hasn’t been truthful about his past support for legalization.
Rubio also called out other inconsistences with Cruz’s past including his position on a free-trade agreement.
"We have some differences on some issues. And we should discuss those, like national security, for example. But when you run by telling everybody you're the only purist in the field, you're the only one that's always consistent conservative, well, I think then your record is going to have a light shown on it,” Rubio said.