Clinton Email Cartoons

Wikileaks' Assange: Governments 'hate transparency. They loathe it'

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told Fox News' Sean Hannity in an exclusive interview that his organization published hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman "to give the American people true information about the players that they were going to have to deal with."
"We’re in the business of publishing information about power," Assange said. "Why are we in the business of publishing information about power? Because people can do things with power, they can do very bad things with power. If they’re incompetent, they can do dangerous things. If they’re evil, they can do wicked things."
In Part III of the interview, which aired Thursday on the Fox News Channel, Assange also said that governments "hate transparency. They loathe it. Because they have to work harder."
Assange sat down with Hannity for the exclusive at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where Assange has been holed up for the past five years as he battles extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges.
Governments are "full of incompetent people," Assange told Hannity. "And the more secretive the area is, the more incompetent it becomes because there’s no proper oversight."
However, the Australian conceded that secrecy was necessary in some areas. Assange noted that Wikileaks keeps its sources confidential, but added that secrecy "should be as small as possible [in terms of] how much it encompasses and for how long it’s encompassed."
"If you don’t know what’s happening in the world with powerful individuals, corporations and governments ... immoral actors within the state or within those big corporations prosper," Assange said at the conclusion of the interview.
"[But] if you have true information coming out about how people actually behave, what’s the result? The rest of the society goes 'You know what? I don’t want to deal with you.'"

House overwhelmingly votes to condemn UN resolution on Israel settlements

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted Thursday to rebuke the United Nations for passing a resolution criticizing Israeli settlements.
Lawmakers voted 342-80 in favor of the bipartisan non-binding resolution, which declares unwavering support for Israel and insists that the United States reject any future U.N. actions that are similarly "one-sided and anti-Israel."
A visibly angry House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. opened debate on the resolution by saying that the Obama administration "abandoned our ally Israel when she needed us the most."
"Do not be fooled," Ryan said. "This U.N. Security Council resolution ... was about one thing and one thing only. Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish, democratic state.
"These types of one-sided efforts are designed to isolate and delegitimize Israel. They do not advance peace, they make it more elusive."

The House measure divided Democrats, 109 of whom joined 233 Republicans in approving the measure. However, nearly 80 more opposed the measure because they said it contained inaccuracies and distorted the complexities of the Middle East peace process. They also accused Republicans of attacking Obama unfairly in the waning days of his presidency.
"The point of the measure seems to be to bash Obama on the way out," said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who along with many other Democrats still voiced strong support for Israel. They said Obama deserved credit for engineering last year's new, long-term security agreement that gives Israel $38 billion in U.S. military aid, including $5 billion for missile defenses.

A similar bipartisan measure to reprimand the U.N. has been introduced in the Senate. "Israel is always the bad guy in the eyes of the United Nations," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of the measure's co-sponsors.
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said the resolution "proved once again that the US-Israel alliance is based not only on shared interests, but also on shared values ... This special relationship has endured the test of time and I have no doubt that it will continue to be strengthened in the future."
Israel and its supporters lashed out at Obama for his decision to abstain and allow the U.N. Security Council to approve in December a resolution calling Israel's settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem "a flagrant violation under international law."
Although the U.S. is opposed to the settlements, it has traditionally used its veto power as a permanent member of the Security Council to scuttle resolutions that condemn Israel. Disputes between Israel and the Palestinians must be resolved through direct negotiations, according to longstanding practice and policy.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, accused Obama of a "shameful ambush" and said he was looking forward to working with Trump, whom he described as his friend.

But Secretary of State John Kerry said in a late December speech that the U.S. was standing up for a two-state solution when it abstained on the resolution. He criticized Israel for settlement building and blamed Netanyahu for dragging Israel away from democracy.

Kerry said expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem are leading to an "irreversible one-state reality."

The Palestinians seek the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war, for an independent state. They say that Israeli settlements in these areas, now home to about 600,000 Israelis, are threatening their plans for independence by taking in lands where they hope to establish their state.

The U.N. resolution, along with Kerry's speech, essentially endorsed the Palestinian position by calling for the pre-1967 lines to serve as the reference point for a final border.

Netanyahu, who opposes a return to the 1967 lines, has condemned the moves as "skewed" and "shameful."

Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., the Republican chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the panel's top Democrat, sponsored the House measure. The U.N. resolution "undermines the prospect for Israelis and Palestinians resuming productive, direct negotiations," according to their legislation, and should be "repealed or fundamentally altered."
Attention from the move by the U.N. last month could provide fuel for pro-Israel initiatives favored by conservatives on Capitol Hill. For example, a small group of Republican senators is proposing to withhold 50 percent of the State Department's 2017 budget until the U.S. Embassy in Israel is moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. During the campaign, President-elect Donald Trump promised to shift the embassy.
But a spokesman for Jordan's government told The Associated Press on Thursday that the embassy move would be a "red line" for Jordan and "inflame the Islamic and Arab streets." Jordan serves as custodian of a major Islamic shrine in east Jerusalem and the Palestinians seek a capital there.

Email Headache Returns: New Clinton messages show passwords, schedules flowed freely

The election’s over – but Hillary Clinton’s emails are still coming to light. And they help illustrate why the FBI declared she was “extremely careless” with the information flowing across her secret server.
A new batch of messages released by the State Department on Tuesday shows the former secretary of state and her team routinely shared her upcoming schedules, talking points and sensitive items – such as her iPad password – via the homebrewed system.
Other newly revealed emails, which were posted as the result of litigation, show Clinton’s top advisers griping about her during her time as secretary of State; an Asian ruler who later implemented Sharia law saying he considered former President Bill Clinton part of his “family”; and Clinton talking about Justin Cooper, one of the key figures who administered to her private server.
ASSANGE: RUSSIAN GOV'T NOT SOURCE OF WIKILEAKS EMAILS
Many of the 371 emails posted on the State Department website had been partially released previously, and are separate from the hacked emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta posted by WikiLeaks before the election. Almost all the messages were partly or heavily redacted.
Among the items redacted -- yet still sent over email -- was Clinton's iPad password.
In an Aug. 20, 2012 conversation, Clinton’s closest aide, Huma Abedin, told her boss she had the iPad password reset. The device had previously given Clinton problems, though Abedin wrote that it’s “all good now.”
At the top of the message, Abedin typed out the entirety of the new password, which was redacted on the State Department release. Clinton responded later with even more information, noting that “I finally realized I had to add the [redacted] to the password!!!!”
During the July speech in which FBI Director James Comey termed Clinton’s server practices “extremely careless” but not criminal, he also said “hostile actors” could have hacked her communications. In at least one instance, Clinton aide Cooper logged hacking attempts on the server.
Still, Clinton and her advisers continued sending information that could be dangerous in the wrong hands, including detailed, advanced copies of her schedules and talking points for upcoming calls and meetings with foreign leaders and top U.S. officials.
On Sept. 30, 2011 – the day American-born terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki was killed – Abedin emailed Clinton to say then-CIA Director David Petraeus wanted to talk on a secure connection. She added: “Assume its about awlaki.”
Other emails released Tuesday shed light on Clinton’s relationships.
In advance of a September 2012 meeting with the Sultan of Brunei – who would later impose Sharia law on his country – Abedin emailed Clinton that Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah hoped to have dinner with Clinton and her family.
“They say sultan sees wjc as part of his family and thus is treating you in this ‘informal’ way,” she wrote, using Bill Clinton’s initials.
On Dec. 24, 2011, Clinton emailed Chelsea Clinton, who was using a pseudonym revealed previously by WikiLeaks, asking “Who will provide tech support after Justin leaves,” ostensibly citing Cooper, who originally helped set up Clinton’s server and was typically called for any tech issues Clinton was experiencing.
“Let’s talk about this later – he’s actually supported by someone else too as a fyi,” Chelsea replied cryptically. “I think there are a couple options.”
In an email chain from April 4, 2012 that Clinton was eventually excluded from, Abedin complained about Clinton’s obsession with an archiving project.
“This records thing is the bain of my existence with her….” she wrote.
Philippe Reines, another top Clinton aide, responded with the frustration he experienced explaining to Clinton that she had received the incorrect copy of a document.
“I emailed her that. I told her in the elevator up from videos. I told her that in the pre-brief. I told her that in the elevator up to 8. I made clear it wasn’t that Jake [Sullivan]’s timeline was ‘inadequate’ – just that the wrong version made its way to her,” Reines wrote. “But [I] think it played into whatever anxiety she has that you’re experiencing about the topic of archiving.”

Eric Holder Cartoons

Holder hired to help California fight Trump administration

California lawmakers already are preparing for a legal brawl with the Donald Trump administration – and they’ve got President Obama’s former top attorney in their corner.
Top state Democratic lawmakers announced Wednesday that former Attorney General Eric Holder has been tapped as outside counsel to advise the Legislature on potential challenges with the Trump government. He will lead a team from the Covington & Burling law firm, where he’s been working since leaving the Obama administration in 2015.
“With the upcoming change in administrations, we expect that there will be extraordinary challenges for California in the uncertain times ahead,” California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said in a statement. “This is a critical moment in the history of our nation. We have an obligation to defend the people who elected us and the policies and diversity that make California an example of what truly makes our nation great.”
They said Holder and his team will advise “in our efforts to resist any attempts to roll back the progress California has made.”
The statement did not specify which policies they anticipate will cause friction, though California’s numerous sanctuary cities are likely to face challenges from an administration that has threatened to pull their federal funding.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, De León suggested Holder’s team will work on issues like immigration, climate change, the environment and voting rights.
The unorthodox arrangement assigns to Holder’s team some duties that normally would be handled by the state’s top law enforcement official, the California attorney general. Gov. Jerry Brown has nominated Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra for that job.
The Los Angeles Times reported that De León and Rendon have been considering hiring outside counsel ever since Trump’s election, in a preemptive bid to protect state policies that could clash with the new administration’s.
Holder was one of Obama’s longest-serving and most controversial Cabinet members.
He had a contentious relationship with congressional Republicans, who in 2012 voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for not turning over documents on the Fast and Furious “gun-walking” scandal.
He left in 2015 to rejoin Covington & Burling.
Holder said in a statement Wednesday he is “honored” to work with California’s Legislature “as it considers how to respond to potential changes in federal law that could impact California’s residents and policy priorities.”

Republicans name first targets in drive to repeal Obama regs

McCarthy clarifies 'misinformation' on ethics committee vote

House Republican leaders on Wednesday identified their primary targets in the long-standing effort to roll back President Obama’s “job-killing” regulations, vowing swift action to nix two environmental rules.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Republicans would roll back one rule reducing methane emissions and another meant to ease the environmental impact of coal mining on streams. McCarthy argued the regulations limit the nation's energy production, and said the GOP-controlled Congress will seek to invalidate the rules starting at month's end.
Republicans for years have clamored in vain about Obama’s attempts to move the country from fossil fuels to renewable energy using a mix of financial incentives and federal regulations. But with a Republican president coming into office, they will have the power to roll back some of those rules.
In his first floor speech of the 115^th Congress, McCarthy said GOP House leaders will take a “two-step approach” to federal regulations – first, passing legislation to give Congress more power to repeal, and then repealing rules that are “harmful to the American people, costing us time, money, and, most importantly, jobs.”
Industry groups already have filed suit to block Obama's regulations designed to reduce methane emissions, and other major regulations are currently tied up in court.
But GOP leaders hope to bring about a more certain verdict through the so-called Congressional Review Act, a rarely used process that requires a simple majority of both chambers to approve a joint resolution of disapproval and the president's signature to make a regulation invalid.
Lawmakers have successfully used the act only one other time to quash a new regulation. Generally, they cannot get the two-thirds majority necessary to overcome a presidential veto, but under GOP President-elect Donald Trump, they'll have a limited window to test his campaign promises to repeal various Obama administration regulations.
McCarthy said the process won't be completed quickly, but likens the effort to "draining the bureaucratic swamp that undermines the will of the people."
Obama has pushed for rules to protect air and water as part of his focus on curbing global warming. He argues that the regulations enacted have benefited the economy more than they have cost. He has also said his administration's use of regulatory authority is also a reflection of the GOP's unwillingness to work with him on legislative solutions.
Republicans will also seek to repeal regulations implementing an education reform bill that some state officials have complained erodes local decision-making, McCarthy's office said.
Business groups are lining up to support the effort with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce saying the work done in the House over the next several weeks "is a step in the right direction toward bringing greater accountability, transparency, and integrity to federal rulemakings."

Trump Organization cancels business talks in three countries

President-elect Trump still doesn't think people get him

NEW YORK –  The Trump Organization has canceled talks over possible projects in Brazil, Argentina and India as the president-elect pulls back from deal-making less than three weeks before taking office.
Trump lawyer Alan Garten said Wednesday that the company has canceled a "memorandum of understanding" to continue discussions with local partners over possible office towers in Rio de Janeiro. He also said the company won't continue "exploratory" talks over projects in Pune, India, and in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The moves follow cancellations late last year of licensing deals for hotels in Brazil, Azerbaijan and the neighboring country of Georgia as Donald Trump has come under pressure to separate from his business before assuming office. Federal ethics rules do not require presidents to sell off their business or investments, but critics argue that Trump should do so because his global holdings present unprecedented conflicts of interest.
Trump has given no indication that he plans to sell his interest in his business. Instead he has pledged to do "no new deals" while president and to leave management of his company to his two adult sons, along with executives.
Trump has stakes in 500 companies in about 20 countries, though some of those appear set up for tax or legal reasons and do not have any underlying business operations. Trump shut down four such "shell" companies in Delaware last year that appeared tied to Saudi Arabia but had no operations.
The Argentina talks came under scrutiny last year after several media outlets reported that Trump tried to speed along the Buenos Aires project by mentioning it in congratulatory call from Argentine President Mauricio Macri. A Macri spokesman denied to The Associated Press that the subject even came up in the call.
Garten said that the project didn't even get past the exploratory phase and that, unlike the case in Brazil, there wasn't even a signed agreement to continue to talking about a possible deal.
The project in Brazil has garnered some publicity, too. The plan was to build five office towers in Rio de Janeiro, but the development got tied up in a corruption investigation unrelated to Trump himself. Called Trump Towers Rio, it was announced in 2012, but construction of the office towers has not even begun.
Trump also had a licensing deal for a hotel in Brazil, but canceled that last month.
Discussions over the possible project in Pune were separate from two residential towers already built there that bear the Trump name. Trump also has his name on a residential tower in Mumbai.