Liar. Lucifer. Lock her up. GOP denounces Hillary Clinton
Liar. Lucifer. Lock her up. Republicans may have mixed feelings about nominating Donald Trump for president, but one thing they can all rally around is a deep dislike for Democrat Hillary Clinton. Convention speakers have “prosecuted” Clinton at a mock trial, accused her of being a serial liar and even linked her to the Devil himself. Throughout the campaign, Trump has reveled in referring to his opponent as “Crooked Hillary.” The attacks are an echo of the 1990s when conservatives denounced President Bill Clinton as the chief executive dealt with scandal and impeachment. The most blistering assault at the GOP convention came Tuesday night when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took on the role of prosecutor and put Clinton on trial “for her performance and her character.” The audience responded with chants of “Lock her up! Lock her up!” But others have piled on. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the crowd scandal follows Clinton and former President Bill Clinton “like flies.” “She lied about her emails. She lied about her server. She lied about Benghazi. She even lied about sniper fire. Why, even she lied about why her parents named her Hillary,” McConnell said. And Wednesday, Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort said the airport meeting between former President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch last month probably helped Clinton’s wife escape criminal charges over her use of a private email server. He told ABC that Lynch “probably” gave Bill Clinton special information that helped his wife. Manafort even tried to blame Clinton for the controversy over Melania Trump lifting passages of her convention remarks from a speech that Michelle Obama delivered in 2008. “For people to try and disparage that speech and say that it was something that it wasn’t is once again politics,” he told Fox News. “It’s Hillary Clinton once again feeling threatened by a woman and trying to destroy the woman and demean her as a way of positioning her own fate.” Perhaps the wildest attack on Tuesday came from former GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson, who told the crowd that one of Clinton’s “role models” — community activist Saul Alinsky — “acknowledges Lucifer” in a 1971 book. “So are we willing to elect someone as president who has as their role model somebody who acknowledges Lucifer?” Carson said. “Think about that.” Clinton wrote a college thesis about Alinsky and has said she agreed with some of his opinions on social change, but disagreed with his view that the system could only be changed from the outside. Some Republicans are wary of going too far. Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, one of the more prominent Trump skeptics, Tweeted late Tuesday: “@HillaryClinton now belongs in prison? C’mon. We can make the case that she shouldn’t be elected without jumping the shark.” But attacking Clinton may be the most effective tactic with polls showing high unfavorable ratings for both candidates. An Associated Press-GfK poll this month found that three-quarters of voters say their pick for president is motivated by a desire to cast their ballot against Clinton or Trump. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Robert Bentley won’t attend GOP Convention amid investigation
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley won’t be going to next week’s Republican Convention in Cleveland. Instead he will stay in Montgomery, where he be kept busy amid several pressing issues. News broke earlier this week that, in May, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange ordered Montgomery County Circuit Judge Gene Reese to order a special grand jury to investigate the firing of former Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Secretary Spencer Collier by Governor Robert Bentley. Collier was fired by Bentley in March for allegedly misusing funds in his role as ALEA secretary. The special grand jury was impaneled on Monday. The Alabama Political Reporter reported Bentley testified before before the grand jury Wednesday: “At 8:39 am, Wednesday, Gov. Robert Bentley walked into the Special Grand Jury being held in Montgomery County as Alabama Political Reporter reported yesterday. Bentley’s entourage included legal counsel David Byrne and one of his personal attorneys, Bill Espy.” Friday, a special legislative committee will meet to discuss and approve hiring special counsel to lead the investigation into the possible impeachment of Bentley. In April, twenty-three House members signed impeachment articles accusing Bentley of willful neglect of duty and corruption in office. The special committee will ultimately make a recommendation to the full House on whether Bentley should be impeached.
Donald Trump in Wisconsin: ‘I automatically win’ if John Kasich quits
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is pushing rival John Kasich to get out of the White House race, arguing that the Ohio governor shouldn’t be allowed to collect future delegates because the nomination is already beyond his grasp. Trying hard to right himself after a difficult week, Trump said it was unfair for Kasich, the winner of only his home state’s primary, to continue campaigning. He suggested that Kasich, who has pledged to make it to the summer convention, follow the lead of former candidates Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush – and quit. “If I didn’t have Kasich, I automatically win,” Trump said Sunday evening in West Allis, Wisconsin. Trump said Kasich could ask to be considered at the GOP convention in Cleveland in July even without competing in the remaining nominating contests. He said earlier Sunday that he had shared his concerns with Republican National Committee officials at a meeting in Washington this past week. Kasich’s campaign countered that neither Trump nor Texas Sen. Ted Cruz would have enough delegates to win the nomination outright in Cleveland. “Since he thinks it’s such a good idea, we look forward to Trump dropping out before the convention,” said Kasich spokesman Chris Schrimpf. Meanwhile, former GOP candidate and Trump supporter Ben Carson warned Monday that “it would be a disaster” if the Republican party tries to put forward any alternative candidates to Trump or Cruz at the July convention. Speaking to ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Carson said that if that scenario plays out, “we have major problems brewing.” Across the political aisle, Democrat Hillary Clinton told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the FBI had yet to request an interview regarding the private email server she used as secretary of state. Clinton and her Democratic opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, announced they’d agreed to debate in New York before the important April 19 primary, though their campaigns continued debating over when to schedule the face-off. Sanders, meanwhile, fired up a crowd in Wausau, Wisconsin, hoping to continue a string of recent campaign victories even as Clinton maintains a sizable delegate lead. Trump’s call for Kasich to bow out came as Republican concerns grew about the prospect of convention chaos if Trump fails to lock up his party’s nomination – or even if he does. Behind Cruz in the polls in Wisconsin, Trump faces the prospect that a loss on Tuesday there will raise further doubts that he can net the needed delegates, making it far easier for his party to oust him in a floor fight at the convention in Cleveland in July. Cruz, Trump’s closest challenger, has only a small chance to overtake the real estate mogul in the delegate hunt before the convention. Cruz spent Sunday rallying supporters, including conservative Wisconsin talk radio hosts who oppose Trump’s candidacy. Kasich acknowledges that he cannot catch up in the delegate race, leaving a contested convention his only path to victory. He has faced calls in the past to step aside, but those nudges became less frequent following his decisive victory last month in his home state. Still, Kasich suggested that a contested convention would not involve the chaos that party leaders fear. “Kids will spend less time focusing on Bieber and Kardashian and more time focusing on how we elect presidents,” Kasich told ABC. “It will be so cool.” Republicans fear a bruising internal fight would damage the party in November’s general election. Trump also isn’t ruling out the possibility of running as an independent if he isn’t the nominee, making it that much harder for the GOP to retake the White House. Such talk has “consequences,” said GOP Chairman Reince Priebus, though he tried to quell the prospect of a convention fight. He told ABC that the process will be clear and open, with cameras there “at every step of the way.” Frustration with the GOP field has stoked calls in some Republican corners for the party to use a contested convention to pick someone not even on the ballot. Priebus acknowledged that was a remote possibility, but said he believed his party’s nominee would be “someone who’s running.” Trump has been on the defensive as he struggled to explain away a week of controversies over abortion, nuclear weapons and his campaign manager. “Was this my best week? I guess not,” Trump told “Fox News Sunday.” ___ Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
