Presumptuous Politics

Monday, October 24, 2016

Clinton ally aided campaign of FBI official's wife

How the McAuliffe probe could spell trouble for the Clintons

The political organization of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, an influential Democrat with longstanding ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, gave nearly $500,000 to the election campaign of the wife of an official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation who later helped oversee the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email use.
Campaign finance records show Mr. McAuliffe’s political-action committee donated $467,500 to the 2015 state Senate campaign of Dr. Jill McCabe, who is married to Andrew McCabe, now the deputy director of the FBI.
The Virginia Democratic Party, over which Mr. McAuliffe exerts considerable control, donated an additional $207,788 worth of support to Dr. McCabe’s campaign in the form of mailers, according to the records. That adds up to slightly more than $675,000 to her candidacy from entities either directly under Mr. McAuliffe’s control or strongly influenced by him. The figure represents more than a third of all the campaign funds Dr. McCabe raised in the effort.
Mr. McAuliffe and other state party leaders recruited Dr. McCabe to run, according to party officials. She lost the election to incumbent Republican Dick Black.

Related stories..

A spokesman for the governor said he “supported Jill McCabe because he believed she would be a good state senator. This is a customary practice for Virginia governors… Any insinuation that his support was tied to anything other than his desire to elect candidates who would help pass his agenda is ridiculous.”
Among political candidates that year, Dr. McCabe was the third-largest recipient of funds from Common Good VA, the governor’s PAC, according to campaign finance records. Dan Gecker received $781,500 from the PAC and $214,456 from the state party for a campaign that raised $2.9 million, according to records; and Jeremy McPike received $803,500 from the PAC and $535,162 from the state party, raising more $3.8 million that year for his candidacy.
The governor could recall only one meeting with Mr. McCabe—when he and other state Democrats met with the couple on March 7, 2015, to urge Dr. McCabe to run, according to the spokesman.
The FBI said in a statement that during his wife’s campaign Mr. McCabe “played no role, attended no events, and did not participate in fundraising or support of any kind. Months after the completion of her campaign, then-Associate Deputy Director McCabe was promoted to Deputy, where, in that position, he assumed for the first time, an oversight role in the investigation into Secretary Clinton’s emails.”

Clinton camp denies looking to Senate races, red states to cap foregone victory

The Clinton campaign on Sunday denied assertions that it thinks the White House race is now a lock and has moved toward trying for a blowout victory over Republican rival Donald Trump while attempting to take control of the Senate.

“We’re not taking anything for granted,” campaign manager Robby Mook told “Fox News Sunday,” repeating a familiar line from Clinton aides and surrogates.
Mook made the comment one day after Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, devoted a big chunk of her speech in Pittsburgh to touting Katie McGinty, the Democrat challenger for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania, and trying to connect the GOP incumbent, Sen. Pat Toomey, to Trump.
“If he doesn’t have the courage to stand up to Donald Trump, are you sure he’ll be able to stand up for you?” Clinton asked the crowd.
When asked about the speech afterward, Clinton told reporters, “As we’re traveling in these last 17 days, we’re going to be emphasizing the importance of electing Democrats down the ballot.”
Mook on Sunday acknowledged the campaign was indeed making late forays into traditionally Republican-leaning states such as Arizona, Indiana and Missouri -- where polls show the presidential race has tightened and Democratic Senate candidates are in position to upset an incumbent GOP senator.
He said the campaign has put resources into Arizona-- or at least shifted them from places like Florida -- because of Trump’s “divisive rhetoric,” including the “shameful things” he’s said about Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, who is seeking a sixth term.
“Every campaign wants to win by the biggest margin possible,” Mook said, dismissing the suggestion that the campaign wants a mandate victory on Nov. 8 to cement Clinton’s position of authority with voters. "So that would be great. But we’re not running away with this. This race is going to be competitive up until the end.”
Earlier on "Fox News Sunday," Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway also said the race is not over and that three new polls show Clinton’s averaged 6-percentage point lead being cut in recent days.
“We’re not giving up,” said Conway, vowing more TV ad spending in the finals 16 days, amid Clinton failing to break the key, 50-percent threshold in the handful of battleground states that will decide the race.
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine gave a response similar to Mook’s when asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about the campaign perhaps now being focused on so-called “down ballot” races and whether he thinks the White House race is over.
“Neither Hillary nor I do,” he said. “And if you look at our schedules, you'll see we don't take anything for granted. It's been a season of surprises. … We’re not taking anything for granted.”
Still, Kaine and Mook acknowledged being encouraged by the early-voting numbers, includes those for mail-in ballots, which Mook called “eye-popping.”
As of Saturday, more than 5.3 million early votes had been cast, far ahead of the pace at this time in 2012.
Balloting is underway in 34 out of 37 early-voting states, both in person and by mail.
The Clinton optimism appears based on the number of registered Democrats vs. registered Republicans who have voted early.
More than 46 million people are expected to vote before Election Day -- or as much as 40 percent of all votes cast.

Clinton, Trump camps concede nothing in final weeks, as Obamas join campaign trail for closing arguments

Robby Mook on new Wikileaks revelations

The Clinton and Trump campaigns on Sunday agreed -- at least publicly -- on one issue, that their 2016 presidential contest remains close with 16 days before Election Day, as Clinton goes to a deep, star-studded bench for closing arguments.
“We're not giving up. We know we can win this,” Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told “Fox News Sunday,” though she also acknowledged the majority of polls showing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton leading.
"We are behind," Conway said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” at about the same time an ABC News tracking poll showed Clinton leading by 12 percentage points.
The Clinton campaign insisted Sunday that the race remains very close and that it has not shifted focus to competing in traditionally Republican-leaning states to rout Trump and help fellow Democrats win the Senate.
“Secretary Clinton at the beginning of the campaign said she wanted to help all Democrats, up and down the ballot,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told “Fox News Sunday.” “This is not over yet. Battleground states are called battleground states for a reason.”
Still, Clinton stumped hard the previous day in battleground Pennsylvania for the Democratic challenger in the state’s U.S Senate race and amid early indications that registered Democrats are outnumbering registered Republicans in early voting.
And on Sunday, Clinton was in North Carolina, touting fellow Democrat Deborah Ross, who is in a tight race with the incumbent Republican Sen. Richard Burr.
“Unlike her opponent, Deborah has never been afraid to stand up to Donald Trump," Clinton said at a rally in Raleigh.
The former secretary of state will get help on the campaign trail this week from President Obama, who is also trying to help fellow Democrats retake control of the Senate.
They need to win five seats from Republicans in roughly 10 competitive races.
Obama will hold a rally Sunday in tightly contested Nevada before headlining party fundraisers in California.
Obama's recent itinerary has focused on competitive White House states that also have close Senate races. In Nevada, the president is trying to help his party retain the seat of the chamber’s top Democrat, Sen. Harry Reid, who is retiring.
The president is scheduled to speak at a rally in the Las Vegas area for Clinton and Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto, a former state attorney general whose opponent is GOP Rep. Joe Heck.
He’ll then travels to San Diego to speak at an event for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which leads the party’s efforts to elect and reelect Democrats to the House.
Polls indicate that the presidential and Senate races in Nevada are extremely tight. Reid's seat is considered the only one Republicans could reasonably flip to their side this election.
First lady Michelle Obama will join Clinton later this week on the campaign trail -- at a rally Thursday in battleground North Carolina.
Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon, in announcing the first lady and Clinton’s first joint campaign appearance, called Obama an "absolute rock star" on the trail.
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, like Mook, said Sunday that the campaign is “taking nothing for granted,” despite good poll and early-voting numbers.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, will hold a rally late Sunday in Naples, Florida.
As of Saturday, more than 5.3 million early votes had been cast, far ahead of the pace at this time in 2012.
Balloting is underway in 34 out of 37 early-voting states, both in person and by mail.
More than 46 million people are expected to vote before Election Day -- or as much as 40 percent of all votes cast.
Kaine on Sunday also shrugged off the possibility of being embarrassed by leaked emails, amid WikiLeaks saying on Twitter that the group has a "surprise" in store for him.
The group, which has been posting stolen emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta, posted the Kaine taunts on Thursday and again on Sunday.
Kaine has questioned the authenticity of WikiLeaks' releases and said the emails were hacked as part of an effort by the Russian government to influence the presidential campaign.
On Sunday, he also raised concerns about an AT&T-Time Warner merger, like Trump did on Saturday.
“I share those concerns and questions,” Kaine said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
He also said that “pro-competition and less concentration” are “generally helpful,” but that details about the estimated $85 billion deal are still emerging.
Conway also told “Fox News Sunday” that the campaign is “just starting to increase some of our investments on the air,” despite Clinton leading in several battleground states.
Conway argued each are within several points and that Clinton has failed to cross the key 50-percent threshold in any of them while outspending the Trump campaign by millions.
Clinton -- who has been the frontrunner for the entire race against Trump, the unpredictable first-time candidate -- leads in such battlegrounds states as Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Trump leads in Georgia Iowa, Missouri and Ohio.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Clinton Foundation & Open Border Cartoons

The mainstream media freaks out over Trump (and ignores Hillary)

If you believe the pundits, Donald Trump is going to wage a one-man revolution if he loses the 2016 presidential election.
That was the media’s big takeaway from the third and final presidential debate in Las Vegas between Trump and Hillary Clinton.
At issue was a question posed by moderator Chris Wallace regarding whether Trump would accept the election results.
"I will tell you at the time," Trump replied. "I'll keep you in suspense. OK?"
Click here to join Todd’s American Dispatch: a must-read for Conservatives!
The mainstream media went apoplectic.
They want you to believe that Trump is going to gallop down 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on a white stallion leading a battalion of Minute Men armed with muskets and waving the Gadsden flag.
The MSM is advancing this outrageous narrative to avoid covering legitimate scandals – like the James O’Keefe videos exposing DNC thuggery and the WikiLeaks emails that reveal media collusion with the Clinton campaign.
Hillary Clinton and her minions have attacked Catholics, Evangelicals, Republicans, Rednecks and Southern beauty queens as a bunch of irredeemable deplorable bigots.
Her outright contempt for everyday Americans and our values should disqualify her from being the next leader of the free world.
I have no doubt a Clinton presidency would soil the U.S. Constitution much like that DNC tour bus did on the streets of Lawrenceville, Georgia.
So here are my top 10 takeaways:
1. Mr. Trump needs to stay focused on the issues. The American people don’t care about the alleged sex scandal and I doubt they care about his remarks on whether he will concede the election if he loses.
Voters do care about jobs, securing the border, protecting the Second Amendment and preventing radical leftists from commandeering the Supreme Court. The American people do not care about phony crises and scandals manufactured by Hillary Clinton’s fanboys in the Mainstream Media.
2. Unborn lives matter. Christians who are still undecided about voting should reflect on Clinton’s and Trump’s comments regarding late-term, partial birth abortions. “If you go with what Hillary is saying, in the ninth month, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of a baby,” Trump said.
Clinton did not deny the charge. Instead, she called it “scare rhetoric.”
3. Hillary's basket of dirty tricks. Thanks to the fine undercover work of James O’Keefe we know that the Democrats were allegedly involved in a dirty tricks campaign. They disrupted Trump campaign events – leaving innocent Americans bloodied and battered. WikiLeaks revealed that her campaign’s goal was to portray Republicans as bigots and extremists. Mrs. Clinton and the Democrats must be held accountable.
4. Add gun-toting toddlers to Hillary’s "basket of deplorables." Mrs. Clinton offered a bizarre theory for why she wants to crack down on the Second Amendment. “Dozens of toddlers injure themselves, even kill people with guns, because, not everyone who has loaded guns in their homes takes appropriate precautions,” she said.
5. Liberals accused me of being sexist. A motley crew of leftists slammed me on social media last night for calling the Democratic nominee “Miss Hillary.” Upon deep personal reflection, I’d like to offer a public apology to Mrs. Bill Clinton.
6. Chris Wallace was the winner of last night’s debate. My colleague at Fox News delivered a fair and balanced debate to the nation. He kept the candidates and the crowd on point. It was a tremendous job.
How refreshing to have a moderator instead of someone auditioning to be Hillary Clinton’s press secretary.
Well done, Mr. Wallace!
7. The Case of the hanging chad. The mainstream media are once again is predicting Trump’s demise – they are furious over his refusal to say whether he will concede the election if he loses.
CNN called it a death blow. One well-known pundit said it was political suicide. Mrs. Clinton said she was horrified.
I wonder if she was horrified when Al Gore challenged the 2000 presidential election. The MSM seems to have come down with a sudden case of amnesia.
8. It depends on what "open borders" means. Clinton was asked to explain a quote from a speech divulged by WikiLeaks on her dream for “open borders.”
She dodged the question. But I’ll be glad to answer for her.
She wants to sacrifice American sovereignty. Under President Hillary Clinton – our nation will be overrun by illegals as well as Islamic radicals disguised as refugees.
9. Mrs. Clinton should consider purchasing a lovely American flag pin. It’s a must-have, patriotic fashion accessory – especially for presidential candidates. And it goes well with anything – including pantsuits.
10. Let’s keep things in perspective. No matter what happens on Election Day, remember that God is still in control – so let not your heart be troubled, America.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is "God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values." Follow Todd on Twitter @ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.

Clinton campaigns for downballot Democrats in campaign's final days

PITTSBURGH – Hillary Clinton is expanding her focus in the final days of the presidential race, seeking to help down-ballot congressional candidates.
In Pittsburgh on Saturday, Clinton assailed incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, saying he had failed to "stand up" to Donald Trump in the face of his comments about Mexican immigrants and a Muslim-American military family. She also noted that Trump had "said terrible things about women" and "spread the lie that our first black president wasn't born in America."
"If he doesn't have the courage to stand up to Donald Trump after all of this, then can you be sure that he will stand up for you when it counts?" Clinton said of Toomey.
Toomey is locked in a tight race with Democratic challenger Katie McGinty. Clinton called McGinty "exactly the kind of senator that Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania needs."
The attacks on Toomey were a new effort from the presidential nominee, who has largely focused her fire on Trump. Clinton did note that some Republicans have had the "grits and the guts" to push back against Trump.
Toomey spokesman Ted Kwong said the Clinton comments show how McGinty would not be an independent voice in the Senate.
"Today is just further proof that hyper-partisan, ethically challenged Katie McGinty will be a rubber stamp for everything Hillary Clinton wants to do in Washington," he said. "Pat Toomey has been, and will continue to be, an independent leader in the Senate on issues ranging from gun safety to ending Wall Street bailouts."
Clinton told reporters on her plane in Pittsburgh that she does plan to focus more on helping other Democrats. The move shows her growing confidence in her own race and her hope that Democrats recapture the Senate.

WikiLeaks: Clinton aides scramble to address alleged mistress nicknamed 'Energizer Bunny'

Hillary and Bill Clinton’s top aides scrambled in 2014 to respond to a new book detailing Bill Clinton’s relationship with a New York suburban socialite nicknamed “The Energizer Bunny”.
According to leaked emails released Saturday by Wikileaks, the Clintons’ inner circle was roiled by the forthcoming release of the book “The First Family In Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal The Hidden Lives Of Presidents” by Clinton antagonist Edward Klein. The book alleged that Bill Clinton had a “blonde, buxom mistress” named Julie McMahon, whom the Secret Service reportedly nicknamed “The Energizer Bunny.”
McMahon was a neighbor of the Clintons in their adopted town of Chappaqua in New York’s exclusive Westchester County.
Hillary’s close confidant Cheryl Mills sent a Daily Mail article about the book to Hillary campaign chair and former Bill chief of staff John Podesta.
“Well, they sure managed to get every name into one story. I guess you got to give them credit for that,” Podesta joked back, carbon-copying top Bill aide Tina Fluornoy.

Clinton, Trump rooted in battlegrounds Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia with time expiring

The campaigns for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Saturday hunkered down in the handful of states that will likely decide their presidential race -- with Trump again improvising in Pennsylvania ahead of Clinton’s swing through the state’s two big Democratic strongholds.
The Trump campaign billed the speech in historic Gettysburg as Trump’s vision for his first 100 days in office, if elected.
Trump called for term limits in Congress and even vowed to stop the AT&T-Time Warner merger because, he argued, the deal and other similar ones result in "too much concentration of power.” But first he vowed to sue the women who have accused him in the media of inappropriate behavior -- a situation he says has “rigged” the election against him.
“Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign -- total fabrication,” Trump told the crowd. “The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”
Trump made two stops in Pennsylvania before heading to Virginia and Ohio, while Clinton and running mate Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine held late Saturday rallies in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
“There are no more devoted, selfless people than our Christian brothers in the United States,” Trump said at Regent University, a private Christian college in Virginia Beach, in an effort to keep Republicans’ dependable Evangelical vote.
The Hillary for America Campaign said about Trump’s comments in Gettysburg: “In what was billed as a major closing argument speech, Trump’s major new policy was to promise political and legal retribution against the women who have accused him of groping them.”
The race for the White House has, like in most modern-day presidential cycles, come down to which candidate will win the battleground states -- or those in which voters could swing either way.
With early voting already underway in several states, and with Election Day just 17 days away, Clinton leads Trump by 6 percentage points, according to the RealClearPolitics averaging of national polls.
As of Saturday, more than 5.3 million early votes have been cast, far ahead of the pace at this time in 2012.
Balloting is underway in 34 out of 37 early-voting states, both in person and by mail.
More than 46 million people are expected to vote before Election Day -- or as much as 40 percent of all votes cast.
Clinton has been the Democratic frontrunner for the entire race against Trump, the Republican Party’s unpredictable nominee.
She has leads in battleground states including Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia, while Trump leads in Georgia, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio.
"I have a special place in my heart for Pittsburg," Clinton said Saturday in Pennsylvania. "I know we have work to do in Washington, but I think I can do it."
In Ohio, Trump running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence attended a pumpkin show in Circleville where he climbed atop a flatbed trailer to examine prize-winning 1,500-pound pumpkins.
Circleville is reliable Republican territory. Mitt Romney won 58 percent in surrounding Pickaway County four years ago. Trump is trying to maximize his advantage outside Ohio's largest cities in hopes of flipping a state President Obama won twice.
Pence started his day on the campaign trail in his home state, at the Future Farmers of America convention, in Indianapolis, where he praised agriculture as an economic and cultural pillar of the United States. He later joined Trump at a rally in Cleveland.
While many Americans see Clinton as better prepared to be commander in chief than Trump, she's consistently viewed unfavorably by more than half of potential voters. Most also consider her dishonest.
In Gettysburg, where Republican President Abraham Lincoln gave his famous address in November 1863 in an attempt to unite Americans amid the Civil War, Trump also called for new congressional term limits. And he said that he’d deport without delay immigrants who were imprisoned for violent crimes.