Regarding Islamic terrorists, Lindsey Graham says he’d “kill every bastard he could find”
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham gave an extremely low-key speech at the Sunshine Summit in Orlando on Friday afternoon, concentrating on foreign policy and his concern that the Republican Party could be blowing the Hispanic vote with candidates’ tough talk on immigration. Graham isn’t going anywhere in the GOP presidential race, and he essentially acknowledged that in his speech, talking more about how the Republican Party can win the presidency, not how he can personally. He spent a considerable amount of his 21 minutes on stage blasting Hillary Clinton‘s tenure as Secretary of State, specifically about her role in the Benghazi controversy. “A commander in chief is supposed to comfort the families … not lie to them,” he said in reference to how Clinton spoke with the families of the four Americans who died in Libya on Sept. 11, 2012 about a disturbing anti-Islamic video. It’s since been reported that she was emailing daughter Chelsea and two foreign governments that it was a terrorist attack. “The world is falling apart,” Graham warned. “I’ve never seen more danger than I do today. The last thing you want to do is continue the foreign policy of Barack Obama. The the worst possible outcome is to promote Hillary Clinton, because when people needed her, she should have had their backs, but she was not there.” He added that while some people think Benghazi doesn’t matter, he disagrees. “It matters a helluva lot. The next president of the United States needs to know what they’re doing or we’re all going to pay a heavy price.” In speaking about radical Islamic terrorists, Graham talked tough. “I would kill every one of those bastards that I could find,” he declared, speaking quietly and receiving tepid applause. He said that if elected he would call the Ayatollah in Iran and cancel the recent nuclear deal, and called Iranian leaders “religious Nazis.” On the domestic front, Graham said he worries about the GOP losing the Hispanic vote in 2016, and said the country needs to increase its legal immigration numbers, because of a declining U.S. population. “I don’t think we’re going to deport 11 million people,” he said in a direct rebuke to Donald Trump. He then went on to tout how religious and anti-abortion Hispanics are, and why they should be welcomed to the Republican Party. “To those who say Republicans need to be socially liberal to win an election, you don’t know what you’re talking about, but we have to reach out to faith-based minorities. I intend to do that.” Whether he does that as a leading U.S. senator whose profile has grown in his far-flung run for the presidency is unknown. Also unknown is how long he’ll remain in the race before Iowa caucus voters go to the polls in February.
Day after debate, Marco Rubio looks beyond primary toward Hillary Clinton
Marco Rubio tried to build on his well-reviewed performance in the GOP debate by lashing out at Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday, turning toward the general election with a focus on the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. Given the chance to follow-up on the clash between still-large field of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, and most notably a memorable exchange with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Rubio said in a series of interviews he’d rather talk about Clinton. Beginning where he left off in Wednesday night’s debate, the Florida senator accused the former secretary of state of not telling the truth about what happened in the Sept. 2012 attacks, which led to the deaths of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Rubio said Clinton was trying then to keep the attack from damaging President Barack Obama‘s re-election campaign. “The narrative of their campaign at the time was that al-Qaida was on the run and had been defeated. And this countered that narrative. They didn’t want that out there,” Rubio said on CBS “This Morning,” one of six interviews he did Thursday. The focus on Clinton was notable, as it came hours after Rubio’s campaign was touting how he deflected an attack from Bush in the debate over his attendance record in the Senate. The campaign said it had raised more than $750,000 online from 14,000 donors by 3 p.m. Thursday. But rather than pile on, Rubio said Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he has “admiration” for Bush and wants only to underscore policy differences between the two. Instead, he spent his time keeping after Clinton in what amounts to a general election argument against the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. “Every successful presidential candidate carries out a message that resonates with voters in the primary and general elections,” said Josh Holmes, a former adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “Rubio has the most identifiable strategy to do that.” “It’s a very productive primary strategy and it preserves your option in the general election when you ultimately prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton,” said Holmes, founder of Washington-based Cavalry LLC and not affiliated with any presidential campaign. During the GOP presidential campaign, Rubio has kept a steady drumbeat of criticism directed Clinton — including in Wednesday night’s debate. Having been mentioned in an answer to a question about another topic, Rubio seized on the chance to take the floor and talk about Clinton’s 11 hours of testimony last week before a congressional committee investigating the Benghazi attacks. “The mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” Rubio said. “It was the week she got exposed as a liar.” Republicans have cited Clinton’s public statement after the 2012 incident that said some people believed the attack came in response to an anti-Muslim video. At the hearing, they produced copies of emails Clinton wrote her family saying it was a terrorist attack by an al-Qaida-like group. Clinton defended her actions, saying there was much conflicting intelligence in the fast-moving aftermath of the attacks. In the days after the Benghazi attack and before the election, Obama on multiple occasions described the events as acts of terror. In recent weeks, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the committee chairman, was forced to defend the panel as some members of his own party suggested Clinton is the panel’s target. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said last month that the committee can take credit for Clinton’s diminished public standing in recent months, a comment he later retracted. Campaigning in New Hampshire on Thursday, Clinton said she didn’t make much of the GOP debate. “You would have bene better off watching the World Series,” Clinton said during a campaign stop in Berlin, New Hampshire. “The debate in my view was a swing and a miss.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Presidential Primary Brief: 379 days until Election Day
125 days until AL Presidential Primary 379 days until Election Day Convention Dates: Republican July 18-21 2016, Democratic July 25-28 2016 Weekly Headlines: Lincoln Chafee ends his presidential campaign Joe Biden says no to 2016 presidential race Jim Webb drops out as a Democrat, but could run as Independent Press Clips: Poll: Republicans view Donald Trump as strongest presidential candidate (PBS News 10/25/15) Republican voters view Donald Trump as their strongest general election candidate, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that highlights the sharp contrast between the party’s voters and its top professionals regarding the billionaire businessman’s ultimate political strength. Seven in 10 Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters say Trump could win in November 2016 if he is nominated, and that’s the most who say so of any candidate. By comparison, 6 in 10 say the same for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who, like Trump, has tapped into the powerful wave of antiestablishment anger defining the early phases of the 2016 contest. Longtime Obama ally David Plouffe endorses Hillary Clinton (MSNBC 10/24/15) Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe endorsed Hillary Clinton Saturday, just ahead of a key Democratic Party event here, where Obama’s campaign first showed major signs of breaking past the thought-to-be inevitable Clinton. “Now, to be honest, during the most intense days of the 2008 primary, I would never have imagined writing this piece. And I doubt Team Clinton felt any differently about me,” Plouffe wrote in a post on Medium. Marco Rubio’s ‘Sanctuary City’ Law And The 2016 Election: Can Republicans Win Without Latino Voters? (IB Times 10/20/15) When Kate Steinle, a young, white woman, was shot on a San Francisco pier by an undocumented immigrant in July, Republican presidential candidates responded with outrage. Undocumented immigrants are often criminals, Republican presidential front- runner Donald Trump had been saying, and Steinle’s death was cited as proof. Among the GOP leaders who subsequently launched a war against sanctuary city policies like the one embraced by San Francisco, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio vowed to end federal funding for local governments that don’t comply with federal immigration laws. The harsh rhetoric marked a sudden shift for Rubio, a leading Republican presidential candidate who was once seen as the new diverse face of the GOP and a link to the nation’s increasingly important Hispanic voters. Jeb Bush hunkers down with family to assess his candidacy (CBS News 10/23/15) Jeb Bush will attend a finance meeting this weekend in Houston convened by former President George H. W. Bush and attended by Bush’s brother, former President George W. Bush, CBS News has learned. The session, designed to assess where Bush’s candidacy stands in the face of large-scale staff cutbacks and underwhelming poll numbers, will also be attended by Bush’s mother, Barbara Bush. The governor’s campaign confirmed the meeting will be held Sunday and Monday. 11-Hour Benghazi Hearing Brings Out the Many Faces of Hillary Clinton (NBC News 10/23/15) In eleven hours of testimony, former secretary of state and current Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton answered questions in a long-awaited appearance before a House committee investigating the Benghazi attacks on Thursday. It’s the eighth Congressional investigation and the third time Clinton has testified on the death of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, at the U.S. compound in the Libyan city in 2012. Behind Ben Carson’s rebellious public image, a DC insider is hard at work (Reuters 10/25/15) Oct 25 U.S. presidential candidate Ben Carson may be the farthest Republican voters can get from the party’s establishment: A retired neurosurgeon with a penchant for inflammatory comments who has never held, much less run, for elected office. While many of his rivals are concentrating on hiring staff and renting offices in key states like New Hampshire and Iowa, Carson is pursuing a more unorthodox campaign, sometimes less visible to the naked eye, that has fueled his rise to the top of the polls. He is just behind Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican 2016 presidential nomination. Donald Trump: No apology for questioning Ben Carson’s Seventh-day Adventist faith (Washington Post 10/25/15) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Sunday that he saw no reason to apologize for raising the issue of rival Ben Carson’s Seventh-day Adventist faith during a recent campaign rally. “I would certainly give an apology if I said something bad about it. But I didn’t. All I said was I don’t know about it,” Trump said during an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” one of three Sunday talk shows on which the billionaire businessman talked about recent polls that showed Carson pulling ahead of him in Iowa. Bernie Sanders Wants To Bring Back Your 40-Hour Workweek (Huffington Post 10/24/15) Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) thinks Americans may have forgotten about the 40-hour week. “A hundred years ago workers took to the streets” to fight for 40 hours, Sanders told The Huffington Post. “And a hundred years have come and gone, we’ve seen an explosion in technology, we’ve seen an explosion in productivity, we have a great global economy, and what do you have? The vast majority of people are working longer hours for lower wages.” American workers with full-time jobs work an average of 42.7 hours per week, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Including part-timers in the calculation puts the average American workweek at 39 hours. CNBC Sets Lineups for Republican Debates Next Week (NY Times 10/21/15) CNBC has set the stages for the Republican presidential debate next Wednesday. The 6 p.m. undercard will feature Rick Santorum, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, George Pataki and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. They will be relegated to the early slot because their average national poll numbers in the last five weeks are below 2.5 percent. The main event, to begin shortly after 8 p.m., will have 10 candidates: Donald J. Trump, Ben Carson, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Huckabee, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, Gov. John Kasich
Martha Roby: A revealing email; an evasive explanation
As you know, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday appeared the Select Committee on Benghazi to answer questions about what happened before, during and after the September 11, 2012 attack on a diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya. It was a long hearing with hours of back-and-forth testimony, and I wanted to share a few quick takeaways from one of my own exchanges with Mrs. Clinton. In my first question, I asked Clinton about an email between State Department employees regarding Clinton’s awareness of the American presence and security situation in Benghazi, Libya months before attack. In an email dated February 9, 2012, Alyce N. Abdalla said the following to State Department colleague Evyenia Sidereas: Also, the Secretary asked last week if we still have a presence in Benghazi – I think she would be upset to hear that yes we do but because we don’t have enough security they are on lockdown. I asked Clinton how this email squared with her claims to have been closely involved in the Libya strategy. “How could this be,” I asked, “that two of your staffers are emailing about whether or not you even knew that we had a presence in Benghazi in 2012 with all your interest in Libya in 2011?” Clinton said she “couldn’t comment on what has been reported,” about the emails and insisted “of course I knew we had a presence in Benghazi.” I then asked Clinton why dedicated State Department employees would fabricate a substantive conversation with the Secretary of State about a country she had made such a priority. In the long explanation that followed, Clinton again insisted she was aware of the situation in Benghazi and implied that the Ms. Abdalla was a low-level employee disconnected from her inner circle. Actually, Abdalla was the Libya Desk Officer, making her directly responsible for awareness of the situation in Libya. When Clinton told me she had “no recollection” of the conversation, I twice asked her to look at the email in the binder in front of her to refresh her memory. Twice, Secretary Clinton refused to look at the binder. This was only my first of multiple exchanges with Secretary Clinton, but it is emblematic of the evasive nature of some of her answers. As Secretary of State at the time of the attacks on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Clinton should have been more straightforward in answering questions, particularly when they relate to her awareness of the political and security situation leading up to the attack. Mrs. Clinton is an important witness in our investigation about the Benghazi attacks, but certainly not the only one. More witnesses remain, and our Committee will press forward in gathering the facts needed to form a conclusive report. Martha Roby represents Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. She is currently serving her third term.
Martha Roby questions Hillary Clinton on “troubling” Benghazi security exchange
During Thursday’s contentious meeting of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, Alabama U.S. Rep. Martha Roby questioned former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on an email between two state department staffers which Roby said were “troubling.” An email exchange between Libya Desk Officer Alyce N. Abdalla and Deputy Director of the Office of Maghreb Affairs Evyenia Sidereas, Abdalla told Sideras: “[T]he Secretary asked last week if we still have a presence in Benghazi – I think she would be upset to hear that yes we do but because we don’t have enough security they are on lockdown.” Roby said on Thursday that was a sign that, contrary to Clinton’s testimony she was “actively involved” in security at the Libyan outpost, then-Secretary Clinton had taken a someone laissez-faire approach to the department’s presence in Benghazi. “How could this be that two of your staffers are emailing about whether or not you even knew that we had a presence in Benghazi in 2012 with all your interest in Libya in 2011?” Roby asked Clinton. Clinton responded she “couldn’t comment on what has been reported,” about the emails, though she insisted “of course I knew we had a presence in Benghazi.” Clinton then spoke at length about the State Department’s presence there, saying “I was doing a lot” as it pertained to Benghazi, but that didn’t satisfy Roby. “Sure, but this was your staff and it has to make me wonder if they had this conversation with you, why they would make it up,” said Roby. Roby tried twice to refer Clinton to the email exchange, which she said she was not aware of, but Clinton declined both times. Roby, a Republican first elected in 2010, represents Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District based in the Wiregrass region of southeastern portion of the state. See the full exchange between Roby and Clinton below.
Benghazi takes center-stage with Hillary Clinton testimony
To congressional Republicans, “Benghazi” is shorthand for incompetence and cover-up. Democrats hear it as the hollow sound of pointless investigations targeting presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton. It is, in fact, a Mediterranean port city in Libya that was the site of two attacks within hours of each other on a U.S. compound on the 11th anniversary of 9/11 and into the next day. The attacks killed Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans. That’s nearly all that U.S. politicians can agree on about Benghazi. It’s been a political rallying cry since just weeks before President Barack Obama‘s re-election in November 2012. With the House investigation likely to continue into next year, Benghazi will remain a buzz word for the 2016 presidential race. Clinton’s testimony at a widely anticipated public hearing on Thursday could make or break the credibility of the inquiry led by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. A guide to the controversy: — SETTING THE SCENE The 2011 revolt that deposed and killed Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, with the help of NATO warships and planes, began in Benghazi. A year later, the city of 1 million remained chaotic, in the grip of heavily armed militias and Islamist militants, some with links to al-Qaida. The temporary U.S. diplomatic mission, created to build ties and encourage stability and democracy, was struck by homemade bombs twice in the spring of 2012. British diplomats, the Red Cross and other Westerners were targeted that spring and summer. Stevens, based in the capital city of Tripoli, chose to visit Benghazi on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, when U.S. embassies around the world were on alert for terrorism. In Egypt that day, a different sort of trouble struck. Protesters angry about an anti-Muslim video made in America stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, clambering over the walls and setting flags on fire. Hours later, the assault in Benghazi began. — A FIERY ASSAULT AND FOUR DEATHS The Benghazi attacks came in three waves, spread over eight hours at two locations. According to accounts from congressional investigators and the State Department’s Accountability Review Board: Around 9:40 p.m. local time, a few attackers scaled the wall of the diplomatic post and opened the front gate, allowing dozens of armed men in. Local Libyan security guards fled. A U.S. security officer shepherded Stevens and Sean Smith, a State Department communications specialist, into a fortified “safe room” in the main building. Attackers set the building and its furniture on fire. Stevens and Smith were overcome by blinding, choking smoke that prevented security officers from reaching them. Libyan civilians found Stevens in the wreckage hours later and took him to a hospital, where he, like Smith, died of smoke inhalation. Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in the line of duty in more than 30 years. A security team from the CIA annex about a mile away arrived to help about 25 minutes into the attack, armed only with rifles and handguns. The U.S. personnel fled with Smith’s body back to the annex in armored vehicles. Hours after the first attack ended, the annex was twice targeted by early morning mortar fire. The second round killed Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, two CIA security contractors who were defending the annex from the rooftop. A team of six security officials summoned from Tripoli and a Libyan military unit helped evacuate the remaining U.S. personnel on the site to the airport and out of Benghazi. — THE FALLOUT BACK HOME Word hit Washington in the final weeks of the presidential race. Over the next several days, the Benghazi news blended with images of angry anti-American demonstrations and flag-burnings spreading across the Middle East over the offensive video. Political reaction to the Benghazi attack quickly formed along partisan lines that hold fast to this day. GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and other Republicans said Obama had emboldened Islamic extremists by being weak against terrorism. But the public still credited Obama with the successful strike against al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden a few months earlier in Pakistan. The accusation that took hold was a Republican charge that the White House intentionally misled voters by portraying the Benghazi assault as one of the many protests over the video, instead of a calculated terrorist attack under his watch. Obama accused the Republicans of politicizing a national tragedy. He insists that the narrative about the video protests was the best information available at the time. After at least seven investigations, more than a dozen public hearings and the release of more than 50,000 pages of documents over the past three years, the arguments remain the same. — WHY WAS DIPLOMATIC POST SO VULNERABLE? Republican and Democratic lawmakers agreed: The State Department under Clinton kept open the Benghazi mission, which employed a few State employees and more than two dozen CIA workers, with little protection in the midst of well-known dangers. The attack probably could have been prevented if officials had heeded intelligence warnings about the deteriorating situation in eastern Libya, a bipartisan report by the Senate Intelligence Committee said. Britain closed its Benghazi mission in June 2012, after an attack on the British ambassador’s convoy. Stevens’ requests for more security, made clear in cables to State Department headquarters during July and August, went unheeded, according to the Senate report, as did those made by his predecessor earlier that year. But Stevens also twice declined the U.S. military’s offer of a special operations team to bolster security and otherwise help his staff. The month after the fatal assault, Clinton declared she had been responsible for the safety of those serving in Benghazi, without acknowledging any specific mistakes on her part. Obama said the blame ultimately rested on his shoulders as president. The administration continued to distance both of them, however, saying neither Clinton nor Obama was aware of the requests for better protection because security decisions were handled at lower levels. Four senior
U.S. House of Representatives: Oct. 19 – Oct. 23
It’s another chaotic week in the U.S. House of Representatives as there are three major developments to follow: After months of anticipation, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton will testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi that is investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya on Thursday. The Republican caucus continues to struggle to fill the vacancy being left by Rep. John Boehner for the next Speaker of the House. Many Republicans hope Rep. Paul Ryan — the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman and the GOP’s 2012 vice presidential nominee — will step up and seek the gavel, but thus far he has not expressed interest in the position. The contentious debt ceiling debate continues as only 10 working days remain for lawmakers to come up with a plan to raise the limit by November 3 or risk America’s first-ever default, which could have catastrophic, global consequences. The House returns to session Tuesday and will consider several bills under suspension of the rules. A full list of bills can be found here. The remainder of the week the House will consider: H.R. 692, the Default Prevention Act. The bill allows protects the full faith and credit of the United States by guaranteeing that the Treasury department will continue paying off debt in the event the debt ceiling is reached. Alabama co-sponsors: Rep. Martha Roby (AL-02), Rep. Mo Brooks (AL-05), Rep. Gary Palmer (AL-06) H.R. 10, the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Reauthorization Act. The bill is a legacy piece of legislation for outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). It reauthorizes the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship (voucher) Program for an additional five years, through FY 2021, under which federal funding is provided to eligible students in Washington, D.C., to allow them to attend private schools. It also updates the program to provide for greater student participation and to mandate greater accountability by the private schools that participate in the program. H.R. 1937, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act. The bill classifies domestic mining operations for strategic and critical minerals on federal lands as “infrastructure projects” in order to take advantage of a 2012 presidential order to federal agencies that eases the permitting process for infrastructure projects. H.R. 3762, Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act. The bill is a consolidated bill from provisions reported by three different House committees that repeals several elements of Obamacare including the individual mandate, the employer mandates, the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), the medical device tax, and the “Cadillac” tax. The bill also blocks federal funding for Planned Parenthood for one year. Because the legislation was developed under reconciliation instructions included in the FY 2016 budget resolution, it will be protected from filibuster in the Senate and can be passed there by a simple majority.
Martha Roby sets the record straight on mission of Benghazi committee
Rep. Martha Roby is setting the record straight — “The Select Committee on Benghazi has one mission: to find the truth about what happened before, during, and after the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack that left four Americans dead including our ambassador.” Thursday, the Congresswoman released a video clarifying the purpose of the House Select Committee on Benghazi after Congressional Democrats this week attempted to disband the committee in the wake of comments made by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy subjected the Benghazi committee to scrutiny last week after suggesting the taxpayer-funded investigation was politically motivated and credited the committee’s work for Hillary Clinton‘s drop in poll numbers. McCarthy has since apologized for his comments, but that’s not stopped House Democrats from continuing to push for the committee to be shut down. Despite these distractions, Roby, a Member of the Select Committee, said she and her colleagues remain focused on a fact-based investigation that answers questions never adequately addressed by the Obama Administration. “The Obama Administration has never been straightforward with the American people about it, and that’s not right. The people deserve the truth, and that’s what we’re working to deliver,” Roby said. “If anyone is being political about this, it’s the Democrats. For Democrats to try to dissolve the Committee is really just another attempt to keep the truth from coming out.” Watch the full video here:
Hillary Clinton slams Benghazi committee in TV interview, ad
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday lashed out at the special House committee investigating the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, calling it a partisan political exercise designed to “exploit” the deaths of four Americans. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy‘s recent comments that the Benghazi panel can take credit for her diminished public standing prove Republicans are going after her for political reasons, Clinton said in a televised interview. The Democratic presidential front-runner told NBC’s “Today” show that if she were president, she would have “done everything” in her power to shut down such a partisan investigation. “Look at the situation they chose to exploit, to go after me for political reasons: the death of four Americans in Benghazi,” Clinton said in an interview before a town hall appearance in New Hampshire. “This committee was set up, as they have admitted, for the purpose of making a partisan, political issue out of the deaths of four Americans.” Clinton was secretary of state during the 2012 attacks. She stopped short of calling for the Benghazi panel to be disbanded, as some Democrats have urged. “That’s up to the Congress,” she said, adding that she was looking forward to testifying before the Benghazi panel on Oct. 22 “to explain everything we’ve done, everything that I asked to happen.” Laying the groundwork for the testimony, Clinton’s campaign released a new 30-second ad that says the Republicans “finally admit it” and points to McCarthy’s remarks. “The Republicans have spent millions attacking Hillary because she’s fighting for everything they oppose,” the ad says. Emily Schillinger, a spokeswoman for House Speaker John Boehner, called the ad “a classic Clinton attempt to distract from her record of putting classified information at risk and jeopardizing our national security.” Clinton’s comments came as Democrats on the Benghazi panel released a partial transcript of a closed-door interview with Clinton’s former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, in response to what they called selective and inaccurate Republican leaks. Release of the transcript is “the only way to adequately correct the public record,” the Democrats said in a letter to the panel’s chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. They said they would release the full transcript in five days, in order to give Gowdy time to identify any specific information in the transcript he believes should be withheld from the American people. A spokesman for Gowdy said the committee has not released transcripts from witness interviews in order to “gather all facts” and avoid tainting the recollections of future witnesses. “By selectively leaking” parts of the transcript from Mills’ daylong interview last month, “Democrats have shown their nakedly political motivation, willingness to violate the letter and spirit of House rules and their desire to defend Secretary Clinton without regard for the integrity of the investigation,” Gowdy’s spokesman, Jamal Ware, said. House Democrats said Mills refuted several GOP allegations about the Benghazi attacks, which killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Democrats released comments by Mills in which she rejected a claim that Clinton issued a “stand-down” order blocking U.S. troops from rescuing those trapped at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. The supposed stand-down order has been widely debunked. Clinton “said we need to be taking whatever steps we can, to do whatever we can to secure our people,” Mills said, according to a partial transcript released by Democrats. Clinton was “very concerned” on the night of the attacks and “worried about our team on the ground in Benghazi” and State Department personnel throughout Libya, Mills said. McCarthy, R-Calif., who is considered likely to become House speaker following Boehner’s surprise resignation, said last week: “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping.” McCarthy called Clinton “untrustable” and said, “No one would have known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen.” McCarthy later retracted the comment and said he regrets it. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the senior Democrat on the Benghazi panel, called it “shameful” that Republicans have “used the tragedy … for political gain.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Presidential Primary Brief: 407 days until Election Day
153 days until AL Presidential Primary 407 days until Election Day Convention Dates: Republican July 18-21 2016, Democratic July 25-28 2016 Weekly Headlines: 2016 debate calendar set Scott Walker drops out of 2016 presidential race Poll: Carson ties Trump; Biden draws from Clinton Press Clips: John Boehner’s resignation spells trouble for Jeb Bush (CNN 9/25/15) As if Jeb Bush needed another problem. House Speaker John Boehner’s abrupt resignation Friday — after an insurrection by grassroots activists infuriated at the failure of Washington Republicans to thwart President Barack Obama — was another bad omen for a campaign wilting amid anti-‐establishment fury. In the 2016 presidential race, outsiders are in, insiders are out and the messy power struggle that is splintering the GOP is going to make winning the nomination — and then capturing the White House — very tough for a party standard bearer like Bush. Billionaire Steyer calls for more Democratic debates (Politico 9/25/15) Billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer on Friday afternoon called on the party to add another debate focused on climate change and clean energy, adding his voice to a pitched disagreement over the number of Democratic debates. Steyer, an environmentalist who is one of the party’s major financiers and who already hosted a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, said he wants the debate to occur before the Iowa caucuses in February. Donald Trump promises top of the line national security team (CBS News 9/22/15) Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said on Monday that he’ll soon roll out a national security team that will be “top of the line.” “We’re going to be announcing something very soon,” Trump said Monday to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “So many great national security people, including generals, have come to us and called us — and at the top level — and they want to be involved. And I think they like what I say about other things, also. But they want to be involved, and we have a great team in place, or shortly will be in place.” Third GOP debate sets off wave of anxiety (Politico 9/27/15) The uncertain terms of the next Republican debate are setting off a wave of anxiety among middle and bottom tier campaigns, with several lashing out at the Republican National Committee for failing to provide clarity on how many candidates will appear on stage. The campaigns fear the entry criteria for the Oct. 28 debate is being designed to reduce the number of candidates on stage for the third primetime debate — a life-or-death matter for White House hopefuls on the bubble. Biden backers seeking staffers for White House bid (US News 9/25/15) Advisers to Joe Biden are attempting to enlist staffers for a potential 2016 presidential campaign – the latest sign the vice president is inching closer to entering the race. A Democratic operative tells U.S. News he was approached this week about working for Biden if he pulled the trigger on a run. The operative also says Biden has already secured a fundraising consulting firm in order to quickly ramp up financing following a possible announcement. State Dept. to send Benghazi committee nearly 1,000 Clinton emails (Politico 9/25/15) The State Department announced Friday that it is sending the House Benghazi committee nearly 1,000 emails from Hillary Clinton’s private account — a batch three times larger than the set of Clinton messages her former agency sent to Capitol Hill back in May. A senior State Department official said the decision to provide the new set of about 925 emails is linked to Clinton’s expected testimony to the panel next month and to a clearer understanding by State officials that Congressional investigators want all Libya-‐related records, not just those involving security issues related to the deadly 2012 attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi. Presidential super PACs push campaign limits (USA Today 9/22/15) When Donald Trump slammed Carly Fiorina’s looks recently, the response was swift: an online video that extols her face and that of other Republican women. The rebuke, however, didn’t come from Fiorina’s campaign, Carly for President. Instead, the video was the work of CARLY for America, a super PAC that has raised more than double Fiorina’s campaign haul but is barred from coordinating its spending with Fiorina.
Hillary Clinton campaign seeks to calm supporters about emails
Hillary Rodham Clinton‘s campaign is assuring supporters that the Democratic presidential candidate did not send any classified materials over her personal email server. Clinton campaign communications director Jen Palmieri says Clinton is not facing a criminal investigation and remains “committed to cooperating” with federal inquiries into her private account. In a message sent to campaign backers on Wednesday, Palmieri says many of the Republican presidential candidates also used private email address for work and several former secretaries of state used personal accounts. The response comes a day after Clinton turned her personal server over to the FBI for investigation. Federal investigators have begun looking into the security of Clinton’s email setup after the inspector general of the U.S. intelligence agencies said that classified information may have passed through the system. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign casts her decision to turn over her personal email server to the Justice Department as cooperating with investigators. Her Republican critics suggest that the move and new revelations about classified information points to her malfeasance as secretary of state. Two emails that traversed Clinton’s personal system contained information that had been designated “top secret” and “Sensitive Compartmented Information,” one of the government’s highest classification ratings, U.S. officials said. Federal investigators have begun looking into the security of Clinton’s email setup after the inspector general of the U.S. intelligence agencies said that classified information may have passed through the system. There is no evidence she used encryption to prevent prying eyes from accessing the emails or her personal server. “It’s about time,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement after the front-runner for the Democratic nomination announced that she was directing that the server be relinquished. “Secretary Clinton’s previous statements that she possessed no classified information were patently untrue. Her mishandling of classified information must be fully investigated.” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said: “All this means is that Hillary Clinton, in the face of FBI scrutiny, has decided she has run out of options. She knows she did something wrong and has run out of ways to cover it up.” For months Clinton refused calls to give up the home-brew email server she used in her suburban New York City home to send and store email through a private account. She has defended her use of the server, saying she used it as a matter of convenience to limit the number of electronic devices she had to carry. She has said the server account never held classified information. Officials are investigating whether classified information was improperly sent, though it’s not clear if the device will yield any information. Her attorney said in March that no emails from the main personal address she used while secretary of state are on the server or back-up systems associated with it. Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said Tuesday that she has “pledged to cooperate with the government’s security inquiry, and if there are more questions, we will continue to address them.” In March, Clinton said she exchanged about 60,000 emails in her four years in the Obama administration, about half of which were personal and were discarded. She turned over the other half to the State Department last December. The department is reviewing those emails and has begun the process of releasing them to the public. On Tuesday, Clinton attorney David Kendall gave to the Justice Department three thumb drives containing copies of work-related emails sent to and from her personal email addresses via her private server. Kendall gave the thumb drives, containing copies of roughly 30,000 emails, to the FBI after the agency determined he could not remain in possession of the classified information contained in some of the emails, according to a U.S. official briefed on the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly. The State Department previously had said it was comfortable with Kendall keeping the emails at his Washington law office. Also Tuesday, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said two emails that traversed Clinton’s personal system were deemed “Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information” – a rating that is among the government’s highest classifications. Grassley said the inspector general of the nation’s intelligence community had reported the new details about the higher classification to Congress on Tuesday. Those two emails were among four that had previously been determined by the inspector general of the intelligence community to have been classified at the time they were sent. The State Department disputes that the emails were classified at that time. “Department employees circulated these emails on unclassified systems in 2009 and 2011 and ultimately some were forwarded to Secretary Clinton,” said State Department spokesman John Kirby. “They were not marked as classified.” The inspector general for the intelligence community had told Congress that potentially hundreds of emails containing classified information are among the cache that Clinton provided to the State Department. Earlier this week, Clinton said in a sworn statement submitted to a federal judge that she has turned over to the State Department all emails from the server “that were or potentially were federal records.” The statement, which carries her signature and was signed under penalty of perjury, echoed months of Clinton’s past public statements about the matter. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Hillary Clinton to testify before House Benghazi panel on Oct. 22
The House committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, says Hillary Rodham Clinton has agreed to appear before the panel on Oct. 22. Committee spokesman Jamal Ware says Clinton will be questioned about the attacks as well as the unusual email arrangement she used when she was secretary of state. Clinton’s campaign and House Republicans have sparred for months over her possible testimony and her refusal to turn over the private email server she used. House Speaker John Boehner said earlier this week that Clinton should “come clean” and turn the server over to the State Department‘s inspector general. The committee is investigating the deaths of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the diplomatic facility in Benghazi. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
