Presumptuous Politics

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

After DNC attack, hacker Guccifer 2.0 claims Hillary Clinton 'dossier' leak

A hacker who goes by the name ‘Guccifer 2.0’ claims to have published a dossier of Hillary Clinton-related documents accessed during the recent attack on the Democratic National Committee’s computers.
In a blog post Tuesday, Guccifer 2.0 described the haul as “a big folder of docs devoted to Hillary Clinton that I found on the DNC server.”
The files include a “HRC Defense Master Doc” outlining criticism and defense points on issues such as U.S. military intervention in Libya, the deadly 2012 Benghazi attack and the Clinton email server controversy.
“The DNC collected all info about the attacks on Hillary Clinton and prepared the ways of her defense, memos, etc., including the most sensitive issues like email hacks,” explained Guccifer 2.0.
The authenticity of the documents is unclear. The DNC has not yet responded to a request for comment on this story from FoxNews.com.
Last week Guccifer 2.0 claimed responsibility for the DNC hack. In a June 15 blog post Guccifer 2.0 touted documents purportedly accessed in the attack, which included opposition research on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Guccifer 2.0 also posted files purportedly showing Democratic Party donors and claimed to have extracted thousands of documents from the DNC networks.
Experts have been looking for clues about the mysterious self-described hacker, and suspicions still linger that the Russian government played a role in the hack.

More on this...

Cyber firm CrowdStrike, which is working on the DNC’s investigation into the hack, says the attack was conducted by groups affiliated with the Russian government. CrowdStrike identified the ‘Fancy Bear’ and ‘Cozy Bear’ groups as likely perpetrators.
The company stood by its analysis after Guccifer 2.0 claimed responsibility for the hack. In a blog post June 15 CrowdStrike CTO Dmitri Alperovitch identified “two separate Russian intelligence-affiliated adversaries present in the DNC network in May 2016.”
After studying the DNC malware, Fidelis Cybersecurity backed up CrowdStrike’s analysis. “Based on our comparative analysis we agree with CrowdStrike and believe that the COZY BEAR and FANCY BEAR APT groups were involved in successful intrusions at the DNC,” explained Fidelis Cybersecurity senior vice president Michael Buratowski, in a blog post Monday. “The malware samples contain data and programing elements that are similar to malware that we have encountered in past incident response investigations and are linked to similar threat actors.”
The DNC has also pointed its finger at Russia, but says financial and personal information does not appear to have been accessed by the hackers.
Last week Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russian government involvement in the DNC hacking incident.

Media freakout over Trump's poor fundraising: How bad is the problem?

The pundits are going nuts over Donald Trump’s anemic fundraising.
They are stunned, shocked and horrified that his campaign raised just $3.1 million last month, and he had to lend the enterprise $2 million to cover costs.
“Trump Starts Summer Push with Staggering Money Deficit,” says the New York Times.
“Trump Getting Crushed by Clinton Money Machine,” says Politico.
“The real estate mogul's meager cash flow spotlighted the urgent need for him to dramatically ramp up the fundraising he is doing in conjunction with the Republican National Committee,” says the Washington Post.
So: The numbers are bad. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. The split in the party means Republican donors are sitting on the sidelines.
Now the media usually overestimate the importance of money in politics. If big bucks were the determining factor, Jeb Bush, with his $100-billion campaign, would be the nominee.
Much of the money that general election candidates raise goes to TV ads. But the primaries showed that commercials mattered less this cycle than in decades, and with such well-defined nominees, that could again be the case.
And given Trump’s uncanny ability to dominate news coverage, I believe he could beat Hillary Clinton while raising half as much money.
But not while raising one-tenth as much money. His tiny campaign outfit was victorious with a media-driven primary campaign, but you’ve got to have a basic infrastructure to compete in a 50-state election—even on such basics as turning out your voters.
Trump began June with just $1.3 million cash on hand, according to federal reports.
By that measure, Clinton is $41 million ahead. And she raised more than $28 million in May. Her 700-person staff is 10 times the size of Trump’s. Of course, the real estate mogul has boasted to me and others that this means his operation is more efficient.
Trump told the “Today” show that he spent $55 million of his own money in the primaries and “may do that again in the general election,” though it would be “nice to have some help from the party.”
But Trump at one point was talking about having to raise a billion for the general election. He can’t foot that bill himself, even if he has mused about having “to sell a couple of buildings” to come up with some cash. And if he suddenly wrote the campaign a mega-check, wouldn’t that discourage donors from opening their wallets?
Here’s the difference between Trump’s ultra-lean staff, with campaign manager Corey Lewandowski now out, and Clinton’s sizable machine.
The Hillary camp barrages reporters with emails every day, often including negative excerpts about Trump from Republicans and from media reports. Trump, who doesn’t have a communications director, sends occasional emails that sometimes contain statements from the candidate but are mostly about scheduling.
When Clinton decided to give a speech yesterday ripping Trump on the economy, here’s what she did in advance.
Her campaign notified the press of a new website (“Art of the Steal”) with an elaborate attack on Trump’s business record, and posted an online video, which got some cable airtime, attacking that record.
Then the Hillary camp leaked details of the speech, and made Jake Sullivan, her top policy adviser, available to such outlets as the Times, the Post and Politico. Campaign manager Robby Mook previewed the speech on Sirius XM.
That’s what a big campaign apparatus does for you. Trump often seems a one-man band by comparison.
But this time, for the first time I can recall, Trump had a rapid-response operation ready. He fired up a tweetstorm and responded with an Instagram video. And his campaign sent out a barrage of releases.
More important, these statements weren't just insults from Trump, but contained policy arguments on his behalf and against his Democratic opponent. They had titles such as “THE CATASTROPHIC ECONOMIC RECORD UNDER CLINTON-OBAMA POLICIES” and “TRUMP ECONOMIC PLAN WILL CREATE MILLIONS OF JOBS & TRILLIONS IN NEW WEALTH.”
Maybe the campaign is turning a corner. Although the contrast was stark when Trump wanted to promote an address planned for today, doing so with a single tweet: “I will be making a big speech tomorrow to discuss the failed policies and bad judgment of Crooked Hillary Clinton.”
In the end, money isn't all that matters in winning elections. But Trump’s challenge now is to make sure a lack of money doesn’t cripple his campaign.
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.

Republican senator seeks bipartisan support for gun deal

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine

A moderate Republican senator sought broad bipartisan support Tuesday for a compromise to block gun purchases by some suspected terrorists, a day after the chamber split along party lines to derail far more sweeping proposals.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would allow a vote on the proposal by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, but stopped short of endorsing the measure itself. The package seemed to face an uphill climb for the 60 votes it would need, thanks to the hurdles of election-year politics and opposition from the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America.
Flanked by eight senators — three Republicans, four Democrats and a Democratic-leaning independent — Collins told reporters that mass shootings in Orlando, Fla., and San Bernardino, Calif., were "a call for compromise, a plea for bipartisan action."
"If we can't pass this, it truly is a broken system up here," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
On Monday, the Senate rejected rival Democratic and Republican proposals for keeping guns from known and suspected terrorists. President Barack Obama criticized the stalemate Tuesday, tweeting: "Gun violence requires more than moments of silence. It requires action. In failing that test, the Senate failed the American people."
The government's overall terrorist watch list has 1 million people on it. Collins' measure would let federal authorities bar gun sales to two narrower groups: the no-fly list with 81,000 people and the selectee list with 28,000 people. Selectees can fly after unusually intensive screening.
All but a combined total of around 2,800 people on those lists are foreigners, who are mostly unable to purchase firearms in the U.S.
Under Collins' proposal, Americans denied guns could appeal their rejections to federal courts. The FBI would be notified if someone who's been on the broader terrorist watch list in the past five years buys a gun, but could not stop the purchase.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., praised lawmakers involved with Collins for having "serious bipartisan talks," but didn't endorse her plan. Other top Democrats seemed to revel in the divisions Collins' proposal were causing between the NRA and the GOP, whose members usually cast strong gun-rights votes.
"What potentially is happening here is Republicans are finally breaking" from the NRA, said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., his chamber's No. 3 Democratic leader. "I'm glad it's happened, whether it's politically advantageous or not."
Prospects for the GOP-run House considering a similar proposal seemed dim. One Republican leadership aide said it would be premature to comment because no bill had been introduced there or passed the Senate. The aide was not authorized to publicly discuss the issue.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it was too early to say if the administration would back the measure, but said support seemed likely if it would "at least prevent some suspected terrorists from being able to buy a gun."
Chief NRA lobbyist Chris W. Cox criticized Collins' plan, saying, "Keeping guns from terrorists while protecting the due process rights of law-abiding citizens are not mutually exclusive." That seemed aimed at Collins' provision allowing people to appeal to federal courts after they've been denied a gun, not before it happens.
Michael Hammond, legislative director for Gun Owners of America, said Collins' plan "allows a highly politicized official to take away constitutional rights by fiat."

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Bernie Sanders Cartoons

State Democratic parties aim to dismantle superdelegate system

The Democratic Party’s superdelegate system – which helped power Hillary Clinton and became a target of Bernie Sanders’ call for political “revolution” – might not be long for the political world.
As the presidential primary season wraps, at least a couple state Democratic parties are looking to overhaul the system and weaken the superdelegates' role.
Clinton had the inside track with these free-agent delegates -- party insiders free to support any candidate they want at the convention -- from the outset of the 2016 race. But, echoing Sanders' concerns with the system, the California Democratic Party approved a resolution Sunday calling for major changes including the elimination of caucuses and most superdelegates, The Los Angeles Times reported.
The resolution from the largest Democratic state party in the country called for Democratic governors and members of Congress to have their status as superdelegates removed, instead attending the convention as guests without the right to vote. Members of the Democratic National Committee would retain their status, but would be bound to vote for whichever candidate won their constituency.
The California resolution is a symbolic measure and not binding, but increases pressure on the national Democratic Party to consider changes.
The proposed rules aim for changes ahead of the 2020 election. The Times reported that while the changes were pushed by Sanders backers, they were endorsed by many supporters of presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton.
On a similar track, the Nebraska Democratic Party on Sunday also passed a resolution urging their five superdelegates to base their votes on the results of the state’s presidential caucuses.
According to the Lincoln Journal-Star, the non-binding measure also bars the party from sending superdelegates to future conventions “without substantial change” to the primary process.
Just one of Nebraska's five superdelegates has committed to support Sanders, despite his victory in the state caucuses.
Sanders has also received unlikely support in his criticism of the process from presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has criticized the “rigged system of superdelegates” within the Democratic Party.
Democratic Party officials, meanwhile, point out that superdelegates have never been the deciding factor in any nomination since being created before the 1984 presidential election.

Canning Corey: Why Trump firing Lewandowski could shift his campaign

The Trump campaign jet, after hitting substantial turbulence, has just jettisoned one of its key pilots.
In his highest-profile firing since “The Apprentice,” Trump dumped Corey Lewandowski, the fiercely loyal, rough-and-tumble campaign manager who arguably did more than anyone else to win his boss the nomination.
Trump’s move yesterday came after much internal dissent about whether he should start talking about national issues in a more disciplined way or continue a freewheeling style in which he picked fights with targets big and small. Lewandowski was firmly in the let-Trump-be-Trump camp, while Paul Manafort, the Beltway veteran brought in as campaign chairman, had promised Republicans that the candidate would start showing more restraint.
In fact, Fox News quoted a campaign source as saying Manafort made clear he would not continue if Lewandowski stayed on--and faced with a me-or-him situation, Trump chose his campaign chairman, whose national experience dates to the 1976 election.
Such a shakeup is hardly unusual in the hothouse environment of presidential politics; Al Gore went through three campaign managers. But it is a course correction at a time when many Republican leaders are openly criticizing the billionaire and some GOP governors are skipping his rallies. And it came as the candidate’s top aides were gathering for a Trump Tower strategy meeting and his children, especially Ivanka, are said to have pushed hard for a change at the top.
Lewandowski took the high road, telling MSNBC “how honored I am to be part of this team,” and he denied that Trump’s kids helped ease him out. He said Trump “completely changed politics for the better” and that it is “time to build a big, more efficient campaign.”
Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash why he was fired, Lewandowski said: “I don’t know.” When Bash asked whether he is a hothead, Corey replied: “I’m a very intense person and I expect perfection.”
Despite what Fox is reporting, Lewandowski pushed back on reports of friction with Manafort, telling Bash: “Paul and I have gotten along amazingly well…The media doesn’t want to report it.” He stayed relentlessly on message.
Trump returned the favor, telling Bill O'Reilly that Lewandowski is "a good man" but "it's time now for a different kind of campaign."
One hint might have surfaced after Lewandowski was announced as a guest for “Fox News Sunday.” By the time the program aired, Sen. Jeff Sessions had taken his place in defending Trump to Chris Wallace.
A presidential campaign—and Lewandowski has never managed a major national venture—relies on message and mechanics.
When it comes to message, Trump drives the train. He told me Friday that he had made no mistakes in recent weeks, a period in which he tweeted after the Orlando attack about receiving congratulations for predicting more Islamic terrorism and attacked the judge in the Trump U. case on ethnic grounds. He did allow that some things in his “young campaign” were not “100 percent”-- which turned out to be an understatement.
The campaign has struggled with mechanics as well, though in fairness to Lewandowski, it is still a relative mom-and-pop shop compared to Hillary Clinton’s juggernaut. Trump boasted to me that his outfit, just 70 staffers during the primaries, is far more efficient and frugal.
Faced with what Trump told me was media “hostility”—with conservative commentators as critical as those on the left—the Trump camp has struggled to respond. Manafort had started appearing on Sunday shows. Spokesmen such as Katrina Pierson and Barry Bennett do cable warfare. But the campaign has few GOP surrogates, and some of those who had been defending Trump, such as Newt Gingrich and Bob Corker, have turned more critical recently. Chris Christie, the first big name to endorse Trump, has vanished as a high-profile presence.
Some allies and advisers pushed unsuccessfully for a more traditional campaign approach. There was even a memo urging Trump to adopt an issue-a-week style: failing schools, overwhelmed VA hospitals, heroin addiction, highlighted by traveling to photo-op-worthy locations. But no action was taken.
Lewandowski’s hard-charging style clearly alienated some folks in Trump world. Michael Caputo, a Trump aide, tweeted: “Ding dong the witch is dead.” Lewandowski said he was merely a volunteer. Caputo resigned hours later.
Trump famously defended Lewandowski after reporter Michelle Fields said he had assaulted her by grabbing her arm, with Corey denying any contact (though a videotape showed there was some) and refusing to apologize. Florida police filed charges at one point but later dropped them. Fields taunted him on Twitter yesterday.
Lewandowski’s departure changes the chemistry of the tight-knit operation. He was the body man, always at Trump’s side, often acting as a gatekeeper, one of the few who dealt regularly with reporters.
The official line, which Lewandowski firmly espoused yesterday, is that the campaign’s direction is fine and these are minor corrections. But you don’t drop your campaign manager a month before the convention if everything is just swell.
Lewandowski will still chair the New Hampshire delegation at next month's convention. Trump is fortunate in that he remained a loyal soldier in interviews rather than settling scores or second-guessing on the way out.
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.

Trump ready to run 'different kind of campaign,' may have cabinet picks by GOP convention

Donald Trump said Monday night he's ready to run "a different kind of campaign" while explaining his decision to fire campaign manager Corey Lewandowski earlier in the day.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly in an interview on "The O'Reilly Factor" that Lewandowski was "a good man" who helped him run a "small, beautiful, well-unified campaign" during the primary season.
"We're going to go a different route," Trump said.
He added that he plans to ramp up campaign operations heading into the general election phase of the campaign, and that he may even have some cabinet picks in place before the Republican National Convention in July.
"We have tremendous people, we have tremendous talent," he said.
Trump told O'Reilly that he would not announce his vice presidential pick before the convention in Cleveland, but was looking for someone with "great judgement" and "in the world of politics" to balance out his experience in the business world.
When asked by O'Reilly if he would support restricting guns based on size and the amount of rounds they fire in the wake of the Orlando terror attack, Trump said the "big guns" are the kind used by "the enemy."
"I wouldn't because it's a question of protection," Trump said. "Once you start, where do you end?"
His appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor" came after a day when his campaign manager was fired amid an internal campaign power struggle with Paul Manafort, the veteran operative who since March has been amassing influence inside Trump HQ, a campaign source told Fox News.
Manafort recently telegraphed through third parties he would be gone in 48 hours if Trump didn’t oust Lewandowski, who'd run his campaign from the outset. Manafort was fed up with battling Lewandowski and let the campaign know the two of them "just couldn't get along."
From there, it became a family affair. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner didn’t want to lose Manafort, believing him to be the more experienced hand to guide the campaign into the general election. They convinced Trump to keep him – and the only way to do that, given Manafort’s terms, was to dump Lewandowski, the source said.
Despite the shock of Trump parting ways with Lewandowski, one of his closest and most loyal advisers, just weeks before the convention, in some corners the decision was not so surprising.
The former conservative activist played a central role in daily operations, fundraising, and Trump's search for a running mate, but Lewandowski's aggressive approach also fueled near-constant campaign infighting that complicated Trump's shift toward the general election.
Another Trump campaign official, Michael Caputo, resigned Monday afternoon over a tweet he sent out earlier in the day about Lewandowski's firing, a campaign source told Fox News.
Caputo tweeted "Ding, dong, the witch is dead" shortly after news about Lewandowski broke. Accompanying the tweet was a photo from the "Wizard of Oz," showing the feet of the Wicked Witch of the East protruding from under a house.
Campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks confirmed Caputo is no longer with the campaign.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren in an "On The Record" interview Monday night he thought the firing of Lewandowski was a "new direction" for the Trump campaign.
"I see a pivot and seriousness to the general election," he said.

Man tried to grab cop's gun to kill Trump at Las Vegas rally, authorities say

A man arrested at a Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas over the weekend told authorities he tried to grab an officer's gun so he could kill the candidate, according to court documents released Monday.
A complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Nevada charges Michael Steven Sandford, 19, with an act of violence on restricted grounds. A judge denied him bail at a court hearing Monday.
Authorities said Sandford went to a Trump rally on Saturday at the Treasure Island Casino and approached a Las Vegas police officer to say he wanted an autograph from Trump.
The court document says that Sandford was arrested after grabbing the handle of an officer's gun in an attempt to remove it.
When Sanford was asked by a Special Agent why he attempted to grab the officer's gun, he replied "to shoot and kill Trump."
If he failed, Sanford stated he booked tickets for a Trump rally in Phoenix and would try to kill Trump there. He added that he had been planning to attempt to kill Trump for about a year, but decided he would act on this occasion because he finally felt confident about trying it.
The 19-year-old said in the court documents released Monday that if he were on the street tomorrow, he would try this[killing Trump] again.
Sandford had a United Kingdom driver's license with him at the time, according to the criminal complaint signed by Secret Service Special Agent Joseph Hall.
Secret Service agents said that Sandford told them he had been in the U.S. for about a year and a half, lived in Hoboken, N.J., and drove to the San Bernardino, Calif., area before coming to Las Vegas on June 16.
Sanford also authorities that he went to the Battlefield Vegas shooting range the day before the rally and fired 20 rounds from a 9mm Glock pistol to learn how to use it. Police detectives who visited the range spoke with an employee who confirmed that he provided Sandford shooting lessons, according to the complaint.
About 1,500 people attended the Las Vegas rally, which was held in the Mystere Theater inside the casino. Attendees had to pass through metal detectors manned by Secret Service, police and casino security officials.