Group: Emails show Clinton, aides mixed State Department, foundation business

Washington (CNN)Ten days after the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attacks, the top foreign policy adviser at the Clinton Foundation had a potentially lucrative proposal on which to seek guidance from Hillary Clinton's aides at the State Department.

The email from Amitabh Desai to Cheryl Mills, chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Clinton, describes a pitch by Stella O'Leary, a Democratic donor active in Irish American causes.

O'Leary, according to Desai's email, said Clinton had "firmly instructed" her to set up a not-for-profit organization -- one that qualifies for 501(c)3 status under U.S. tax laws -- called Friends of the Clinton Centre.

In his email, Desai says: "I also asked if the new org could be flexible so that any funding raised could be used in whatever manner WJC" -- the initials of former President Bill Clinton -- "and HRC wish in Ireland and Northern Ireland, and not restricted to support only the current iteration of the Clinton Centre in Enniskillen."

The email is among dozens that have been turned over by the State Department to the conservative advocacy group Citizens United, which has filed several lawsuits seeking documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The group says the documents could help provide information about how they allege Clinton and her aides mixed State Department business with the Clinton Foundation's fundraising efforts.

It's an issue that has dented the image of Clinton's presidential campaign. Clinton's use of a private email server for government business while she ran the State Department has now grown into a controversy and has spawned an FBI investigation.

Desai's email from September 21, 2012, provided to CNN by Citizens United, includes details of how the new organization would be overseen by board members drawn from other parts of the Clinton orbit, including officials from the Clinton Foundation, such as longtime Clinton friend Doug Band.

Citizens United did not provide CNN with an exhaustive inventory of all emails it has recovered from the State Department. It first provided some to The Washington Post, which published a story on Thursday afternoon.

But officials at Citizens United say the emails show discussion of a proposal to establish a "slush fund" for use by the Clintons. The email chain doesn't provide any indication of how Clinton or her aides followed up on the idea.

O'Leary, in a phone interview with CNN, laughed at the idea her proposal would be interpreted as a slush fund. She doesn't specifically remember the details of the email but said she established the 501(c)3 organization with approval from the Clintons. She said it has raised about $55,000 for an international summer school program to bring kids from the Balkans and other conflict zones to Northern Ireland.

It was, O'Leary says, "a good-will effort on my part to honor him for everything he has done in Northern Ireland."

O'Leary suggested that Clinton opponents are using the Clinton name and the email controversy to raise money. The Clintons are "the easiest people around which to make money," she said.

The timing of the email discussion is also notable because at the time, Clinton was wrestling with the beginnings of the controversy over the Benghazi terrorism attacks.

Mills sent Desai's inquiry on to Huma Abedin, another Clinton aide at the State Department, with a comment saying that the proposal was new to Mills.

Abedin, in turn, copied another Clinton aide, Jake Sullivan, noting that Sullivan was in the meeting at which Clinton and O'Leary had discussed the Friends of the Clinton Centre proposal. Abedin adds that Clinton hadn't made any commitments to the O'Leary proposal.

The Clinton Centre is a conference facility built on the site of the 1987 IRA Remembrance Day bombing in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. President Clinton, who helped broker the Irish peace accords, dedicated the building to peace in Ireland.

New York state corporate records list a group called Friends of the Clinton Centre, registered as a not-for-profit organization in 2013. The address for the organization is that of a New York City personal-injury law firm. O'Leary confirmed that was the organization she founded.

A Clinton campaign spokesman referred questions about the O'Leary proposal to the Clinton Foundation. A person familiar with the matter said the Friends of the Clinton Centre isn't affiliated with the Clinton Foundation.

Another batch of emails from 2012 sent by Abedin detail her efforts to help organize dinners in Ireland during a visit by Hillary Clinton.

The emails sent by Abedin on her State Department email account include discussions about dinners with officials from Teneo, a consulting firm that employed Abedin at the same time she worked for Clinton at the State Department. Abedin had left her official role as a State Department employee but was working as a contractor for both the State Department and Teneo.

The outside consulting work was allowed at the time because Abedin was classified as a special government employee. But the arrangement has drawn controversy and is the subject of investigation by Sen. Chuck Grassley, who says he is concerned it may have violated rules against conflicts of interest.

Teneo was founded by Brand, a longtime Clinton friend who served on the Clinton Foundation board.

"These emails illustrate why there are legitimate concerns about the Department's use of the SGE designation and the blurring of the lines between the official business of the State Department, the private interests of Teneo, and the fundraising interests for various entities under the personal control of Secretary and former President Clinton," Grassley wrote in a letter Wednesday to Abedin.

An attorney for Abedin didn't respond to a request for comment.

Nick Merrill, a Clinton campaign spokesman, rejected the idea that there was anything wrong with Abedin's activities.

"This is someone who has spent nearly two decades in public service, and is widely known for her integrity and tireless work ethic," Merrill said in a statement. "After the birth of her son, she took maternity leave. The IG had questions about the details of her leave, Huma answered. Anything beyond that injected into the public sphere is unfounded and from partisans in Congress with a clear agenda. These emails serve to reinforce that these allegations are baseless. It's not surprising, but it is disappointing."

But David Bossie, president of Citizens United, said, "As a result of federal court orders, Citizens United expects to receive more documents from Hillary Clinton's tenure at the State Department and we look forward to sharing those documents with the American people. It's critical that American's understand how the Clinton machine operated inside the State Department."

Via: CNN

Continue Reading....

Déjà Vu: When Bill Clinton Pardoned His Former CIA Director over Classified Documents on His Home Computer

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton insists she did nothing wrong by running all of her government communications, including classified material, through her unsecured, home-brewed computer server. Perhaps she’s forgotten one of her husband’s final acts in the Oval Office: issuing a presidential pardon to former CIA director John Deutch. Deutch’s offense? Keeping classified material on unsecured home computers.

The pardon came just as Deutch was reportedly going to cop a plea with the Justice Department. Deutch headed the CIA from May 1995 to December 1996. Several days after he left the agency, classified material was discovered on a government-owned computer at his house in Bethesda, Md. Additionally, unsecured classified magnetic media were found in the study. According to the CIA inspector general’s report, the computer had been “designated for unclassified use only.

” Unlike the current administration’s six-month delay in obtaining Clinton’s computer, the feds moved almost immediately in the Deutch case. Within ten days of discovering the errant material, they retrieved the hard drive from Deutch’s computer. A formal security investigation was opened within a month. 

RELATED: The People v. Hillary Rodham Clinton Notice 

that the government didn’t let Deutch’s lawyer pick and choose which e-mail communications to turn over. Rather, a “technical exploitation team, consisting of personnel expert in data recovery, retrieved the data from Deutch’s unclassified magnetic media and computers.”

As the investigation progressed, the IG discovered that Deutch had “continuously processed classified information on government-owned desktop computers configured for unclassified use during his tenure as DCI [director, CIA] [and that] . . .  these unclassified computers were located in [his] Bethesda, Maryland and Belmont, Massachusetts residences, his offices in the Old Executive Office Building, and at CIA Headquarters.” 

Notice that the government didn’t let Deutch’s lawyer pick and choose which e-mail communications to turn over.

 The computers, as configured and used, were “vulnerable to attacks by unauthorized persons.” The report stressed that “all [computers] were connected to or contained modems that allowed external connectivity to computer networks such as the Internet.” The information the security team retrieved from these computers included “Top Secret communications intelligence” as well as information on the “National Reconnaissance Program.” 

The IG criticized senior CIA officials for not taking appropriate action against Deutch when they were apprised of the results of the security investigation. That was one of the reasons the IG “initiated an independent investigation.”

Via: National Review

Continue Reading.....

[VIDEO] Yarmuth: E-mail issue could 'upend' Hillary Clinton campaign

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS 11) -- Kentucky's only Democratic representative in Congress is expressing concern about Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's e-mail controversy, calling it "very confusing," and potentially a disqualifying scandal for her candidacy.

"I just never feel I have a grasp of what the facts are," US Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky. Third District) told WHAS11 on Wednesday. "Clearly, she has handled it poorly from the first day. And, there's the appearance of dishonesty, if it's not dishonest."

Clinton has been dogged by questions about her use of a private e-mail server while she served as U.S. Secretary of State, denying that the unsecure server was ever used to send or receive classified information.

"We have turned over the server," Clinton said to reporters on Tuesday. "They can do whatever they want to, with the server to figure out what's there or what's not there."

"But we turned over everything that was work-related. Every single thing," Clinton said.

Yarmuth said the controversy is happening early enough in the campaign, that as long as Clinton is being truthful and did not use her personal e-mail server for classified materials, the issue can "boil over."

"But, I still think there is a chance this could upend her campaign," Yarmuth cautioned.

In her Tuesday news conference, Clinton said the only people talking about the e-mail controversy are the media -- which is not letting up.

"I think if she intentionally misled or lied to the American people and did something that was clearly against rules, and knowingly did it against rules, if that is the ultimate conclusion, then I think she has disqualified herself," Yarmuth said.

The five-term Democratic congressman from Louisville said he expects Clinton to be the Democratic nominee, but has not yet endorsed her.

Via: WHAS11ABC

Continue Reading....

Fidel Castro to US: you owe us millions

Havana (AFP) - Fidel Castro marked his 89th birthday Thursday by insisting the United States owes Cuba "many millions of dollars" because of the half-century-old American trade embargo.

                                                              Related Stories

1. Kerry's date with history in old HavanaAFP
2. Cuba marks Castro uprising anniversary with call for US embargo end AFP
3. Dissidents fear being left in cold by US-Cuba thaw AFP
4. NPC Urges Kerry to Focus on Press Freedom in Cuba PR Newswire
5. Bolivia ready for new go at relations with US: president AFP

Castro spoke out in an essay published in local media a day before US Secretary of State John Kerry makes a historic visit to Cuba to reopen the US embassy as part of the countries' restoration of diplomatic relations.

The trade embargo that the United States slapped on communist Cuba in 1962, three years after Castro seized power by ousting a US-backed regime, remains in effect despite the thawing.

President Barack Obama wants Congress to lift it, although US officials say this will take time and is not an automatic part of the restoration of ties as it requires congressional action.

Many Republicans, who control both chambers of the legislature, oppose the idea, insisting Cuba has to improve its human rights record and make other democratic reforms.

Castro wrote: "Cuba is owed compensation equivalent to damages, which total many millions of dollars, as our country has stated with irrefutable arguments and data in all of its speeches at the United Nations."

He did not go into detail on precisely how much money he reckons Washington owes Havana. The Americans are also claiming compensation for US-owned property, such as real estate, that was confiscated when Castro took power.

Castro made no mention either of Kerry's visit to reopen the embassy, a step that comes eight months after Obama and Castro's successor and brother Raul announced plans to restore relations. It officially took effect July 20.

Fidel Castro ceded power to his brother in 2006, stepping down because of poor health.

Over the years, Fidel Castro has been a frequent contributor of essays to the communist party newspaper Granma and other media. Thursday's was his first piece since May 8.

"Writing is a way to be useful, if you keep in mind that we poor humans must be more and better educated in the face of the incredible ignorance that surrounds us all, except for researchers who use science to seek a satisfactory answer," Castro wrote.

Castro's 89th birthday is being celebrated with a wide array of events.

In town to take part is Bolivia's populist President Evo Morales, who often refers to Castro as his "wise grandfather."

Via: Yahoo News

Continue 

Is Hillary above the Law?

Hillary Clinton is in trouble. Or more accurately put, she should be in trouble — very big trouble, in fact. The latest from the Department of Justice is that, yes, they have seized Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server and an accompanying thumb drive. The FBI has reportedly confiscated copies of the same e-mails from Hillary’s lawyer because it deemed the information contained in them too sensitive for him to keep.

While attempting to defend the indefensible, a Clinton spokesman said that this merely shows that the former secretary of state is cooperating with a “security inquiry.” That pathetic spin was meant to prevent the American people from recognizing there is not just smoke but fire to the Hillary e-mail scandal. Too late. Already, the flames are visible. The most damning revelation about Hillary’s e-mails from the last 24 hours is not the details of the investigation into her homebrew server. What’s making headlines across the political spectrum is that some of the material she sent via her personal server was so sensitive that it was designated “Top Secret.” This is a jaw-slaps-the-table moment. 

Even for those of us who hold a very low opinion of Mrs. Clinton’s character, integrity, and judgment, this is a graver offense than many had contemplated. Merely the storage of “Top Secret” e-mails – never mind their dissemination over open channels to some individuals likely not cleared to read them — is a federal felony. On top of that, it is unthinkable that Hillary could have sent such sensitive information and not known at the time that it was sensitive. RELATED: Hillary’s E-mails Contained Classified Information — Hold Her Accountable  She knew what she was doing, and she knew what was at stake. When you are dealing with classified material, information security — “InfoSec” — is not a game. There are good reasons for the laws that protect the data. “Top Secret” is a term we are all familiar with from the pop-culture spy world, but it has very specific implications. 

A “TS” designation means that “exceptionally grave injury” could be expected to befall the United States should that information be disclosed to unauthorized personnel. 

Hillary had a sacred duty to exercise proper caution and protect classified material in her possession by keeping it within proper channels. Keep in mind that Hillary Clinton’s obligation as a U.S. government official with classified access went far beyond the need to avoid intentional disclosure to foreign powers (which is espionage). We are talking about a Cabinet-level appointee — one with almost total access to sensitive national-security information and who is responsible for the safety and security of thousands of State Department employees all over the world. She must set an example for other government employees. I’ve seen CIA interns with more security sense than Madame Secretary had.

 Hillary had a sacred duty to exercise proper caution and protect classified material in her possession by keeping it within proper channels. Lives were quite literally at stake. Instead, she created her own little digital-information clearinghouse — for herself and even for some employees – and, at a minimum, exposed critical national-security information to foreign penetration. 

Via: National Review

Continue Reading....

Hillary's private server emails contained info from 5 intelligence agencies

Hillary Clinton’s presidential prospects are evaporating as more details emerge on her abuse of classified information and her lies about it.  A McClatchy story published yesterday must have Democratic Party elders and the Obama White House, especially Valerie Jarrett, plotting the most effective way to dump her before she takes down the party in the 2016 election.

Using already-published texts of one email and leaks apparently from a congressional staffer, McClatchy Washington Bureau reporters Marisa Taylor, Greg Gordon And Anita Kumar write:

The classified emails stored on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server contained information from five U.S. intelligence agencies and included material related to the fatal 2012 Benghazi attacks, McClatchy has learned. 

Of the five classified emails, the one known to be connected to Benghazi was among 296 emails made public in May by the State Department. Intelligence community officials have determined it was improperly released. (snip) 


 McClatchy also has determined some details of the five emails that the intelligence community’s inspector general has described as classified and improperly handled.

Intelligence officials who reviewed the five classified emails determined that they included information from five separate intelligence agencies, said a congressional official with knowledge of the matter.

“Even if Secretary Clinton or her aides didn’t run afoul of any criminal provisions, the fact that classified information was identified within the emails is exactly why use of private emails . . . is not supposed to be allowed,” said Bradley Moss, a Washington attorney who specializes in national security matters. “Both she and her team made a serious management mistake that no one should ever repeat.”


The 30,000 emails that she has turned over to the State Department also exist, completely outside of any security protection, on a thumb drive she turned over to her lawyer, David Kendall. This means that any mugger, burglar, or intelligence agency conceivably could get ahold of this US government confidential information:

On June 25, McCullough notified members of Congress that he understood that Clinton’s attorney, David Kendall, possessed the more than 30,000 Clinton emails on a computer thumb drive. 

In a July 24 letter to FBI Director James Comey, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa expressed concern about “a compromise of national security information” because of Kendall’s possession of the thumb drive. He called on Comey to explain what steps the FBI had taken to secure the information 

“This raises very serious questions and concerns if a private citizen is somehow retaining classified information,” wrote Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Kendall did not respond to phone and email messages. The FBI and the Justice Department declined to say whether security officials had recovered the device or had arranged for its secure storage.

Via: American Thinker

Continue Reading.... 

In Heated Senate Hearing Kerry Portrayed as ‘Naïve,’ ‘Fleeced’ by the Iranians

(CNSNews.com) – U.S. senators opposed to the Iran nuclear agreement told Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday he had been “fleeced” and “bamboozled” by the Iranians.

Several said that while Iran was once isolated as an international “pariah” now the administration asserts that should Congress reject the deal, then it is the U.S. that will be the pariah.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), author of the legislation that provides for congressional review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), set the tone in his opening remarks.

“From my perspective, Mr. Secretary, I’m sorry, not unlike a hotel guest who leaves only with a hotel bathrobe on his back, I believe you’ve been fleeced,” he told Kerry. “In the process of being fleeced, what you’ve really done here is you have turned Iran from being a pariah to now Congress being a pariah.”

Corker was referring to a recent spate of administration warnings that if Congress votes to reject the JCPOA, that will leave the U.S. internationally isolated, and could lead to war.

Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said the administration’s “mantra” has changed from “no deal is better than a bad deal” to “you have to accept this or else it’s war.”

“We have gone from the position where we started, when we had Iran isolated, and they were viewed on the world stage as pariah,” he said. “If we don’t go along with this, we’re told, the other negotiators are going to go along with this, and the United States will be isolated on this issue, and we will be the pariah on the international stage.”

“All I can say is after reviewing this, even in a cursory fashion, anyone who believes this is a good deal really joins the ranks of the most naïve people on the face of the Earth,” Risch told Kerry.

Kerry pushed back, quoting from media articles quoting former Israeli Shin Bet intelligence agent chief Ami Ayalon as calling the JCPOA a useful measure to curb the Iranian threat.

“I don’t think he’s naïve,” declared Kerry, who appeared together with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.

(The Times of Israel reported that Ayalon’s evaluation “runs counter to near unanimous criticism of the deal among mainstream Israeli officials, who fear it will fail to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.” It noted that Ayalon later become a lawmaker in the opposition Labor Party, whose current leader opposes the Iran deal.)

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) defended Kerry. If the U.S. had been “fleeced,” she said, then so too had other countries – “almost everybody in the world.”

She listed other countries involved in the negotiations – or members of the U.N. Security Council which on Monday passed a resolution endorsing the JCPOA – asking Kerry each time whether those countries supported the deal. They had, he replied.

“If you were bamboozled,” Boxer told Kerry, “the world has been bamboozled – that’s ridiculous. And it’s unfair and it’s wrong.”

“You can disagree, for sure, with aspects of this agreement,” she chided her colleagues. “but I think we need to stay away from that kind of rhetoric.”

Via: CNS News

Continue Reading...

Appeasing Iran Ignores the Lessons of History

 Expect a Nobel Peace Prize for Secretary of State John Kerry now, followed by Chamberlain-like infamy later.

The now-concluded Iran nuclear negotiations predictably reflect ancient truths of

 While members of the Obama administration are high-fiving each other over a deal with the Iranian theocracy, they should remember unchanging laws that will surely haunt the United States later on. 

First, appeasement always brings short-term jubilation at the expense of long-term security. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was a beloved peacemaker after the Munich Agreement of 1938 with Adolf Hitler but derided as a conceited fool and naif by May 1940. 

A few years from now – after Iran has used its negotiated breathing space to rearm, ratchet up its terrorist operations, and eventually gain a bomb to blackmail its neighbors – the current deal will be deeply regretted. Expect a Nobel Peace Prize for Secretary of State John Kerry now, followed by Chamberlain-like infamy later. 

Second, the appeasement of autocrats always pulls the rug out from under domestic reformers and idealists. After the Western capitulation at Munich, no dissenter in Germany dared to question the ascendant dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. 

RELATED: Is the Iran Deal the Worst Political Blunder of All Time? Until last week, Iranian dissidents and reformers had blamed the theocracy for earning Iran pariah status abroad and economic ruin at home. Not now. The haughty ayatollahs are bragging that they faced down the West and will restore the economy – as they wink to applauding crowds that Iran will soon be nuclear and dictate its terms to the Middle East. 

Third, appeasers always wrongly insist that the only alternative to their foolish concessions is war. Just the opposite is true.

Via: National Review

Continue Reading....

[VIDEO] McFarland on Kerry’s Iran Inspections Claim: ‘It’s A Lie’

KT McFarland offered a blunt appraisal Monday of Secretary of State John Kerry’s claim that the United States had never sought “anytime, anywhere” inspections of Iran’s suspected nuclear sites.

“It’s a lie,” McFarland, a former State Department official for Ronald Reagan, said. “The reason anytime, anyplace inspections are crucial is because Iran in the past has cheated, so you really need ironclad inspections.”

“You think he was lying?” Fox News host Bill Hemmer asked.

“I think he wants this deal so badly he’s willing to stretch the truth around this,” McFarland responded.

Several of Kerry’s close confidants during the Iran negotiations, including Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, are on record earlier in the year assuring reporters that the United States would insist on “anytime, anywhere” inspections as part of any deal.

McFarland said the inspections process that the United States ultimately agreed to gives Iran the ability to stall inspectors for almost a month before they can visit a suspicious site.

“When the president said that we have 24-hour access to key nuclear installations, no you don’t—you have a 24-day period to request to look inside, and Iran has 24 days to say yes you can or no you can’t,” McFarland said.

Observers have expressed grave concern about the complicated bureaucratic mechanism that the United States will have to fight through at the United Nations to gain approval for an IAEA inspection.

By the time inspectors reach a suspected site, they may find only “elaborate cleanup efforts” like those that have been found at Iran’s Parchin military complex during past inspections.

This entry was posted in National Security and tagged Fox News, Iran Nuclear Deal, Nuclear Iran. Bookmark the permalink.

Via: WFB

Continue Reading.....

Hillary Clinton: Why her worst enemy is not a Republican

Photo by: Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx 6/13/15 Hillary Clinton campaigns at Roosevelt Island. (NYC)

When Bill Clinton was asked about foreign contributions to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, the former president told the Today Show: “All I’m saying is the idea that there’s one set of rules for us and another set for everybody else is true.”

One set of rules for the Clintons and one set for everyone else.

Is the former president saying a double standard is being used to hurt the Clintons?

Just one problem – it always seems like the Clintons are the ones who are insisting on this double standard to rationalize their own indiscretions. Other foundations take money from foreign donors but they are not intimately tied to the current secretary of state. Big difference!

It always seems like the Clintons are the ones who are insisting on this double standard to rationalize their own indiscretions. Other foundations take money from foreign donors but they are not intimately tied to the current secretary of state. Big difference!

Last week, more of Hillary Clinton’s emails from her time as Secretary of State were released.

While I don’t see any “Smoking Gun” that many Republicans dream to find – and certainly nothing about Benghazi, which started this fishing expedition - I do see a mountain of evidence that Secretary Clinton is an entitled soul who plays by her own rules.

Earlier this year when The Wall Street Journal reported on the questionable donations to the Clinton Foundation during Mrs. Clinton’s tenure at the State Department the whole enterprise looked like old-fashioned influence peddling.

Via: Fox News

Continue Reading....

State Department Hid Clinton Aide’s Special Job Status, Grassley Charges

State Department officials “failed to disclose” a special employment status granted to Cheryl Mills who was former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff, according to Sen. Charles Grassley.

Mills was designated a “Special Government Employee,” and may have “abused her access” for the benefit of former President Clinton and the Clinton family’s foundation, Grassley, the Iowa Republican, charged Tuesday in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry.

Grassley is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Special government employee status allowed Mills to be paid simultaneously for several months in 2009 as Clinton’s chief of staff at the State Department and as a member of the board of directors for the Clinton Foundation

The SGE designation also exempted Mills from certain criminal and civil conflict-of-interest ethics laws that usually cover federal employees, as well as from other regulations governing outside income and affiliations while on the government payroll.

As chief of staff, Mills was one of a small circle of State Department officials who reviewed the former chief executive’s proposed speeches and business arrangements to prevent conflicts of interest with Mrs. Clinton’s duties as secretary of state.

Clinton was paid millions of dollars for the speeches by foreign governments, individuals, foundations and corporations.

The Grassley charges widen the group of State Department employees who received the special designation during Clinton’s tenure as the country’s chief diplomat.

Via: Daily Caller

Continue Reading.....

Judicial Watch Statement in Response to Federal Court Reopening Lawsuit Seeking Information on Top Clinton Aide Huma Abedin

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton made the following statement regarding today’s decision by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to reopen a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that sought records about Huma Abedin, the former Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:13-cv-01363)).

Hillary Clinton’s massive email cover-up is unraveling. We welcome Judge Sullivan’s decision to reopen this lawsuit. Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration concealed records and lied to obstruct federal courts and Judicial Watch from finding out about the secret emails.

The court battle to get to the truth about Huma Abedin’s “special government employee” (SGE) privileges at State is underway. The reopening of this case brings Judicial Watch one step closer to forcing the State Department to ensure that the government records in Hillary Clinton’s “secret” email system are properly preserved, protected and recovered as federal law requires.  Ms. Abedin is part of the Clinton cash raising operation and was even involved in the Benghazi scandal, so this lawsuit could not be more timely.

This is the second Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit that has been reopened because of Hillary Clinton’s hidden email records.  Judicial Watch is aware of no prior instances of Freedom of Information lawsuits being reopened by federal courts.

Judge Sullivan ruled that the “changed circumstances” of the discovery that Hillary Clinton and members of her State Department staff used secret email accounts to conduct government business warranted “reopening” the lawsuit.

In asking Judge Sullivan to reopen the lawsuit, Judicial Watch cited a federal court rule (Rule 60(b)(3)) that allows a party to reopen a case due to “fraud (whether previously called intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or misconduct by an opposing party:”

The State Department had an obligation under the Federal Records Act to properly preserve, maintain, and make available for retrieval records of its official functions. In fact, it is the obligation of the head of every federal agency to do so.  Secretary Clinton plainly violated her own legal obligations. Doing so was misconduct.

The State Department originally agreed with Judicial Watch’s request but later changed its mind and asked the Court to reopen the lawsuit because of “newly discovered evidence.”  In today’s ruling, Judge Sullivan simply reopened the case, rather than “spilling ink” on whether Hillary Clinton and the State Department committed fraud, misrepresentation or misconduct.

Huma Abedin left the State Department in February 2013, and in May 2013, Politico reported that, since June 2012, she had been double-dipping, working as a consultant to outside clients while continuing as a top adviser at State. Abedin’s outside clients included Teneo, a strategic consulting firm co-founded by former Bill Clinton counselor Doug Band. According to Fox News, Abedin earned $355,000 as a consultant to Teneo, in addition to her $135,000 SGE compensation.

Teneo describes its activities as providing “the leaders of the world’s most respected companies, nonprofit institutions and governments with a full suite of advisory solutions.” [Emphasis added]  Outside of the U.S., it maintains offices in Dubai, London, Dublin, Hong Kong, Brussels, Washington, and Beijing.  Teneo was also the subject of various investigative reports, including by the New York Times, which raise questions about its relationship with the Clinton Foundation.

In February 2014, the State Department assured Judicial Watch that it had searched the Office of the Executive Secretary, which would have included the offices of the Secretary of State and top staff. Relying upon the State Department’s misrepresentation that the agency conducted a reasonable search, Judicial Watch agreed to dismiss its lawsuit on March 14, 2014.

Via: Judicial Watch

Continue Reading....

Clinton Foundation paid Blumenthal $10K per month while he advised on Libya

Some officials at the charity grumbled that his hiring was a favor from the Clintons.

Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime confidant of Bill and Hillary Clinton, earned about $10,000 a month as a full-time employee of the Clinton Foundation while he was providing unsolicited intelligence on Libya to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to multiple sources familiar with the arrangement.

Blumenthal was added to the payroll of the Clintons’ global philanthropy in 2009 — not long after advising Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign — at the behest of former president Bill Clinton, for whom he had worked in the White House, say the sources.

While Blumenthal’s foundation job focused on highlighting the legacy of Clinton’s presidency, some officials at the charity questioned his value and grumbled that his hiring was a favor from the Clintons, according to people familiar with the foundation. They say that, during a 2013 reform push, Blumenthal was moved to a consulting contract that came with a similar pay rate but without benefits — an arrangement that endured until March.

A Clinton loyalist who first earned the family’s trust as an aggressive combatant in the political battles of the 1990s, Blumenthal continues to work as a paid consultant to two groups supporting Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign — American Bridge and Media Matters — both of which are run by David Brock, a close ally of both Clinton and Blumenthal.

Yet Blumenthal’s financial and personal connections to the Clintons and their allies have emerged as subjects of intense scrutiny as Clinton seeks to gain momentum for her presidential campaign.

Via: Politico

Continue Reading...

ALSO ON POLITICO

Hillary Clinton struggles to escape South Carolina scars

GLENN THRUSH

Yet Blumenthal’s financial and personal connections to the Clintons and their allies have emerged as subjects of intense scrutiny as Clinton seeks to gain momentum for her presidential campaign.