Tag Archives: election 2016

Featured, Politics, Technology

FBI Formally Confirms Its ‘Ongoing’ Investigation Into Hillary Clinton’s Email Server

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation has confirmed that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is under an “ongoing” investigation for her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.

The investigation was confirmed in a letter from FBI general counsel James Baker, released Monday to the State Department. He noted that he is writing to update a response he gave the department on Sept. 21, 2015, when asked if Clinton was formally under investigation.

“At the time, I informed you that that the FBI could neither confirm nor deny the existence of any ongoing investigation,” Baker wrote. “Since that time, in public statements and testimony, the Bureau has acknowledged generally that it is working on matters related to former Secretary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server.”

Baker also said that while he cannot give any details on the “ongoing investigation,” the FBI’s response regarding the case has “changed to some degree” because it is now admitting that the investigation exists.

“The FBI has not, however, publicly acknowledged the specific focus, scope, or potential targets of any such proceedings,” Baker wrote. “Thus while the FBI’s response to you has changed to some degree due to these intervening events, we remain unable [to] provide the requested information without adversely affecting on-going law enforcement efforts.”

As previously reported, the FBI insisted that it could “neither confirm nor deny the existence of any ongoing investigation” when Judge Emmet G. Sullivan sent a court-ordered inquiry to the State Department in September 2015, instructing it to reach out to the FBI to find out if any information could be recovered from Clinton’s server.

[RELATED: Former House Majority Leader Claims FBI is ‘Ready to Indict’ Hillary Clinton]

On Jan. 25, former U.S. House Majority leader Tom DeLay said that according to his sources within the FBI, the Bureau is “ready to recommend an indictment and they also say that if the attorney general does not indict, they’re going public.”

Read more about Hillary Clinton’s Email Scandal Here

Election, Featured

Sanders Is Crushing Clinton In The Polls Ahead Of New Hampshire Primary Read

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By Juliegrace Brufke – A new survey shows Sen. Bernie Sanders crushing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by a whopping 16 percent in the Granite State just one day before the New Hampshire primaries.

The University of Massachusetts Lowell/7News poll, released Monday, has Clinton coming at 40 percent, Sanders at 56 percent and 4 percent undecided among likely voters.

Sanders still holds a commanding lead over Clinton, but he saw a slip from where he was in the Feb. 2 survey when he held a 63 to 30 percent advantage.

When voters were asked if it’s possible they could have a last-minute change of heart, 21 percent of Clinton supporters and 18 percent of Sanders supporters said yes.

Women in the state seem to be unfazed by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s recent call for females to back Clinton, having told “Meet the Press” anchor Chuck Todd “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.” Sanders holds a 5-point lead over the former first lady among women in the state.

When put against Republican front-runner Donald Trump, Clinton held a 5-percent lead over the billionaire at 45 percent and 40 percent respectively. Sanders held a much larger margin over Trump – beating the outspoken businessman 55 percent to 34 percent.

Clinton – once considered a shoo-in for the nomination – managed to edge out Sanders in Iowa by less than 1 percent.

The poll was conducted from Feb. 5-7 using phone interviews of 1,411 registered voters and leaves a margin of error of +/- 2.99 percent.

Follow Juliegrace Brufke on Twitter

 

 

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Election, Featured, Politics

GOP Candidates Voice Support for Waterboarding, Increasing Guantanamo Detainees

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Seven of the remaining GOP candidates participated in a debate hosted by ABC News in Manchester, New Hampshire on Saturday, and when asked about waterboarding and other methods of torture used by the CIA, several candidates voiced their support.

The topic came up when moderator David Muir noted a comment Texas Sen. Ted Cruz made in Dec. 2014, when discussing the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the forms of torture used by the CIA on suspected terrorists after 9/11.

Muir noted that at the time Cruz said, “Torture is wrong, unambiguously, period. Civilized nations do not engage in torture,” and then Muir asked if Cruz would classify waterboarding as torture.

Cruz said that “under the definition of torture,” waterboarding would be classified as “enhanced interrogation,” due to the fact that it is not “excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and system.”

[pull_quote_center]Well, under the definition of torture, no, it’s not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture.[/pull_quote_center]

When asked if he would bring back waterboarding as president, Cruz said he would not bring it back “in any sort of widespread use,” but that if it were necessary to “prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack,” he would “use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe.”

[pull_quote_center]I would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe.[/pull_quote_center]

Muir then turned to business mogul Donald Trump, who voiced his support for bringing back waterboarding in Nov. 2015 when he said, “I think waterboarding is peanuts compared to what they do to us.”

Trump shared a similar sentiment at the debate and said he would “bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,” because in the Middle East, “we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people.”

[pull_quote_center]We have things that we have never seen before— as a group, we have never seen before, what’s happening right now. The medieval times— I mean, we studied medieval times— not since medieval times have people seen what’s going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.[/pull_quote_center]

While former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said he wouldn’t bring waterboarding back, he also said he believes the United States needs to expand its “intelligence capabilities,” and he said he believes closing the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay would be a “complete disaster.”

[pull_quote_center]Congress has changed the laws, and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we’re going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster.[/pull_quote_center]

When asked if he believes waterboarding is torture, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he that when people “talk about interrogating terrorists” they acts as if “this is some sort of law enforcement function,” when instead it is “anti-terrorism.”

[pull_quote_center]When people talk about interrogating terrorists, they’re acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply.[/pull_quote_center]

Rubio also said he believes they should not be discussing “in a widespread way the exact tactics that we’re going to use,” because that could allow “terrorist(s) to know to practice how to evade us,” and he went on to criticize the release of detainees from Guantanamo Bay.

[pull_quote_center]Here’s the bigger problem with all this, we’re not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo’s being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn’t be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States.[/pull_quote_center]

For more election coverage, click here.

Election, Featured, Politics

Voicemails Sent Before Iowa Caucus Claimed Carson was ‘Suspending Campaigning’

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Following Ted Cruz’s win in the Iowa Caucus and accusations that he stole votes from rival candidate Ben Carson, voicemails have been released which reportedly reveal that individuals, identifying themselves as members of Cruz’s campaign, were telling local precinct captains that Carson was “suspending campaigning” and “taking a leave of absence.”

After an email was sent out from the Cruz campaign asking supporters to inform voters that Carson “is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week,” Cruz pointed to CNN’s reporting and suggested that the media was encouraging conflict between himself and Carson.

Cruz claimed he apologized to Carson for “not passing on their subsequent clarification,” but he also stood by his campaign’s decision to send the email.

“The news story that our team passed on was true and accurate,” Cruz said according to RealClearPolitics. “In fact, Ben did go to Florida instead of New Hampshire or South Carolina.”

“Passing on a true an accurate news story, it is in fact something the voters found relevant,” Cruz continued. “There is a reason why the media is chattering about this. Because the media wants to stir up a fight between Ben Carson and me.”

[RELATED: Cruz Campaign Accused of Spreading Carson Drop-Out Rumors Before Iowa Vote]

While CNN Reporter Chris Moody tweeted that Carson “won’t go to NH/SC, but will instead head home to Florida for some R&R,” he immediately followed it up with another tweet that said Carson’s campaign told him that “he plans to stay in the race beyond Iowa no matter what the results are tonight.” Both tweets were posted at 4:43 p.m. CST Monday.

However, after Carson’s campaign had already confirmed that it was staying in the race, members of Cruz’s campaign reportedly called local precinct captains in Iowa and told them to encourage voters that they should “not waste a vote on Ben Carson,” because Carson was planning on “suspending campaigning.”

[RELATED: Iowa Sec. of State Chides Ted Cruz for Sending ‘Voting Violation’ Mailers to Voters]

Audio was released by Breitbart Thursday from two voicemails left on the phone of Nancy Bliesman, a precinct caption for Cruz in Crawford County, Iowa.

The first voicemail, which was reportedly left at 7:07 p.m. CST, was from a woman claiming she was “calling to get to a precinct captain.”

[pull_quote_center]It has just been announced that Ben Carson is taking a leave of absence from the campaign trail, so it is very important that you tell any Ben Carson voters that for tonight, uh, that they not waste a vote on Ben Carson, and vote for Ted Cruz. He is taking a leave of absence from his campaign.[/pull_quote_center]

The second voicemail, left at 7:29 p.m. CST, was from a man who claimed that he was “the Cruz campaign,” and that he was calling with breaking news about Carson “suspending campaigning” following the Iowa Caucus. 

[pull_quote_center]Hello, this is the Cruz campaign with breaking news: Dr. Ben Carson will be [garbled] suspending campaigning following tonight’s caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus goers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted instead. Thank you. Good night.[/pull_quote_center]

Investigative journalist Ben Swann discussed additional accusations against the Cruz campaign during a Reality Check segment Thursday. He questioned why the Cruz campaign failed to pass along the information that Carson was still in the race even after it was widely reported, and he noted that this is only one instance of the Cruz campaign being accused of “dirty tricks” in Iowa:

Reality Check: Did Ted Cruz Use Lies and Dirty Tricks To Win …

Accusations that Ted Cruz's campaign used dirty tricks to win Iowa Caucus. Ben Swann explains what happened in Reality Check.

Posted by Ben Swann on Thursday, February 4, 2016

 

For more election coverage, click here.
Election, Featured, Politics

Iowa Democratic Party Asserts Private Right Not to Disclose Vote Counts

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By Shawn M. Griffiths – The Des Moines Register is calling for an audit of the Democratic caucus results after several reports of precincts being decided by coin flips and missing caucus-goers. The newspaper wants the Iowa Democratic Party to swiftly act to ensure that the results are accurate.

“What happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. Democracy, particularly at the local party level, can be slow, messy and obscure. But the refusal to undergo scrutiny or allow for an appeal reeks of autocracy,” the Register’s editorial board writes.

[pull_quote_center]“Too many accounts have arisen of inconsistent counts, untrained and overwhelmed volunteers, confused voters, cramped precinct locations, a lack of voter registration forms and other problems. Too many of us, including members of the Register editorial board who were observing caucuses, saw opportunities for error amid Monday night’s chaos.”[/pull_quote_center]

However, such an audit is unlikely to come. The Sanders campaign has done its own investigation, rechecking the results precinct by precinct. According to the campaign, it has found some irregularities, but the Iowa Democratic Party won’t allow the campaign to compare the math sheets and other paper work filed by precinct chairs.

“The answer is that we had all three camps in the tabulation room last night to address any grievances brought forward, and we went over any discrepancies. These are the final results,” Dr. Andy McGuire, chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party, said in an interview for the Register.

The party has never released head counts, and it won’t this time as Democratic leaders claim a private right to keep that information from the public. McGuire said that the winner of the Iowa caucus is determined by state-delegate equivalent, rather than the final head count for each candidate.

In other words, garnering the most votes in the Iowa caucus may not guarantee a candidate a win. There are no paper ballots and precinct results can apparently come down to coin tosses, in accordance with party rules, to determine the allocation of local delegates.

 

 

This article was republished with permission from IVN.

Election, Featured, Politics

Rand Paul Declines to Endorse Any Candidate in GOP Primary Race

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After dropping out of the 2016 presidential race Wednesday, Rand Paul’s campaign declared that he will endorse the chosen GOP nominee, but he will not endorse any of his former rivals while they are still in the running.

During a conference call with reporters following Paul’s announcement, his top campaign strategist Doug Stafford said that the Senator from Kentucky made the decision to drop out in part because he was likely to be excluded from the next GOP debate Saturday night.

In the Iowa Caucus on Monday, Paul came in fifth place with one delegate, behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with eight delegates, Donald Trump with seven, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio also with seven, and Ben Carson with three.

Stafford said Paul has no plans to endorse any of his former competitors before one is chosen to be the GOP nominee. While former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee made a similar decision when he ended his presidential campaign following Monday’s caucus, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum announced that he was endorsing Rubio when he ended his campaign Wednesday evening.

Paul announced Wednesday morning that he intends to focus on running for re-election as a Senator in Kentucky. “Although, today I will suspend my campaign for President, the fight is far from over,” he said. “I will continue to carry the torch for Liberty in the United States Senate and I look forward to earning the privilege to represent the people of Kentucky for another term.”

While Paul had initially counted on receiving the support of those who backed his father Ron Paul in the 2008 and 2012 elections, Stafford said that the “Ron Paul movement” still exists, but that “voters shift from time and what’s most important to them is hard to capture.” 

Stafford also noted that having Trump in the race changed the dynamic because it “took all the oxygen out of the room,” and made it “very difficult to have what you believe is a stronger message and a stronger candidate but you can’t break through because celebrity became the largest thing.”

For more election coverage, click here.

Election, Featured, Polls

Poll: Do You Support Rand Paul’s Decision to Suspend His Presidential Campaign?

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Editor’s Pick, Election, Politics

BREAKING: Rand Paul Ends 2016 Presidential Campaign

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Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul announced Wednesday morning that he is suspending his 2016 presidential campaign.

Paul released a statement saying that he intends to end his campaign where he began, “ready and willing to fight for the cause of Liberty.”

[pull_quote_center]It’s been an incredible honor to run a principled campaign for the White House. Today, I will end where I began, ready and willing to fight for the cause of Liberty. Across the country thousands upon thousands of young people flocked to our message of limited government, privacy, criminal justice reform and a reasonable foreign policy. Brushfires of Liberty were ignited, and those will carry on, as will I.[/pull_quote_center]

Paul’s announcement follows the Iowa caucus on Monday, where he came in fifth place behind GOP contenders Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ben Carson.

In his statement, Paul said although he is suspending his campaign, “the fight is far from over,” and he will focus his efforts on his work as a senator.

[pull_quote_center]Although, today I will suspend my campaign for President, the fight is far from over. I will continue to carry the torch for Liberty in the United States Senate and I look forward to earning the privilege to represent the people of Kentucky for another term.[/pull_quote_center]

For more election coverage, click here.

Election, Politics

In Tight Race with Sanders, Clinton Reportedly Wins 6 Precincts By Coin Toss

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The Democratic primary race appeared to be incredibly close during the Iowa caucus Monday night, where candidate Hillary Clinton reportedly won at least six precincts by way of a coin toss.

While the caucus numbers led former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to drop out of the race, it left Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in a virtual tie in several precincts.

Some precincts solved the tie by flipping a coin and various reports show that in at least six different cases, Clinton was declared the winner of the precinct based off of the coin toss.

One of these coin tosses occurred at a precinct in Ames. David Schweingruber, an associate professor of sociology at Iowa State University and a Sanders supporter, told the Des Moines Register that after 484 eligible caucus attendees were recorded, only 424 participants were counted when they were split up by candidate, “leaving 60 apparently missing.”

“When those numbers were plugged into the formula that determines delegate allocations, Clinton received four delegates and Sanders received three — leaving one delegate unassigned,” Schweingruber said.

Because of the missing numbers, Schweingruber said the Sanders campaign challenged the results, and the Democratic Party officials they reached out to on a hotline recommended they settle the dispute with a coin toss.

Fernando Peinado, a political reporter at Univision, reported on Twitter that a precinct in Des Moines was also given to Clinton after being determined by a coin toss.

A similar result came from another precinct in Des Moines, according to Twitter user Sage Rosenfels:

In a Newton precinct, New York Times reporter Trip Gabriel said he was told that Clinton was given an extra delegate via coin toss after she and Sanders were in a tie, 34-34.

Twitter user Julia LaBua claimed that the “same situation, same result” occurred at a precinct in West Branch.

Clinton also received an extra delegate in a precinct in Davenport, as shown by a video posted by Twitter user Andrew Tadlock.

https://twitter.com/andytadlock/status/694340486908088320

While Monday night’s results showed Clinton with 699.57 delegates and Sanders with 695.49, Sanders said he looked at the difference as a technicality. “We started our campaign 40, 50 points behind,” he said. “Whether we lose by a fraction of a point or we win or whatever, we’re very proud of the campaign that we won.”

For more election coverage, click here.

Election, Featured, US

Libertarian Chair on Top-Two Primary: ‘We Are Better With It Than Without It’

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By Gabriel Saint Cyr – Washington Libertarian Party (LPWA) Chairman C. Michael Pickens believes that the nonpartisan, top-two primary is the best system in the country to get Libertarians elected to office. Pickens cites recent successes party candidates have had in Washington state to make his point.

In most states, the primary process is dominated by political parties. Primary voters participate in taxpayer-funded primary elections where candidates are chosen to represent private political parties in the general election.

However, Washington state uses a nonpartisan, top-two primary similar to California. All candidates and voters participate on a single primary ballot and the top two vote-getters, regardless of party preference, move on to the general election.

In an interview for IVN, Pickens discussed the impact the nonpartisan system has had on the LPWA since it was first implemented in 2008, along with his optimism for the future.

According to Pickens, Libertarian leaders in Washington initially interpreted the top-two system as an effort to stifle the influence of third parties. However, he sees top two differently.

He explained that under more traditional partisan systems, Republican candidates typically attack Libertarian candidates, because if there is a Republican, a Democrat, and a Libertarian on the general election ballot, Republicans will accuse the Libertarian of siphoning votes from the GOP.

“They’re all going to the general election so the votes are being split,” Pickens said.

He argues that general election voters are essentially forced to choose between voting for their preferred candidate and voting for someone else strategically to avoid a worst-case scenario.

“In Washington state (under top two), one of the strategies we use is we tell people they can vote their conscience in the primary,” Pickens said. “It is actually a benefit for us because people can vote the way they want in the primary.”

He further explained that as an added bonus, a third-party candidate no longer has to clear the staggering hurdle of placing first in a general election against a Democrat, a Republican, and perhaps others. Now, a second place finish in the primary is good enough to move on to a contest against just one opponent.

These benefits are not just theoretical, either. Pickens said that after the LPWA shifted its focus in how it recruited candidates and running solid campaigns, the party ran 12 candidates in 2014, 8 of whom made it to the general election. The elections resulted in the highest vote totals in LPWA history.

In 2015, the party fielded 17 candidates, 5 of whom won in local races. The LPWA more than doubled its elected representation from 4 to 9.

“Now we have 23 candidates lined up to run right now that are confirmed and I think 9 potential candidates,” Pickens added.

While minor party challenges to top two have diminished in Washington state, they still exist in California, where some party leaders have encouraged their members not to vote in the general election in some races out of protest against the nonpartisan system.

Opponents of top two argue that it diminishes voter choice, restricting options available to voters in the general election when the most people historically participate. With limited voter support, third parties have a tough hurdle to clear to get to the November election under top two.

In response, Pickens says that party leaders should spend less time squabbling over procedure and more time where it counts – campaigning and getting people to the polls.

“The bottom line is third parties have to go to work,” he said. “If we can’t get second place in a primary, we’re never going to be able to get first place in the general.”

For Pickens, this means going door-to-door, putting up door hangers, and other traditional forms of advertising and campaigning that he says is working for the party now that they have built up a solid infrastructure in the state.

Pickens says there are alternative voting methods and election systems that he would prefer, such as ranked-choice voting and the use of multi-member districts with proportional representation. However, he says top-two is an improvement from what Washington state used to have and was even one of his motivations to move to the state.

“I think we have the best system in the country to get Libertarians elected,” Pickens concluded. “If we can get a Libertarian elected to state office, we can actually do a whole lot more around the country, because that will give other people permission, and motivation, and inspiration that maybe they can do that in their state.”

 

This article was republished with permission from IVN.

Election, Featured, Polls

Poll: Who Do You Think Won The Fox News GOP Debate?

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Election

Where to Watch Donald Trump’s ‘Counter-Debate’ Thursday Night

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Amid a feud with Fox News, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump announced that he will skip Thursday night’s GOP Debate, hosted by the network, and instead he will host a fundraiser for veterans in Des Moines, Iowa.

Trump’s “Special Event for Veterans” is scheduled for 9 p.m. EDT Thursday, the same time as the main debate, and Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks told CNNMoney “All networks will be present and have the opportunity to carry live.”

[RELATED: Donald Trump To Skip Fox News Debate Amid Megyn Kelly Feud]

CBS announced that it will be streaming Trump’s event live online Thursday, and C-Span announced on Twitter that it will have full coverage of the event.

 

While a CNN spokesperson said the network would only carry the fundraiser as a live news event if it has “news value,” the cable news channel One America News will cover the event in its entirety.

OAN channel president Charles Herring told CNN Money that the channel has “positioned a satellite transmission truck at the event for multiple camera, broadcast quality live coverage,” and they are “getting flooded with inquiries” from viewers, indicating that, “Clearly, there is high demand for tonight’s event.”

GOP presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee have announced that they will also be attending Trump’s event after participating in Fox’s “undercard debate” earlier in the evening.

[POLL: Do You Support Donald Trump’s Decision To Boycott The Upcoming GOP Debate?]

Election, Featured, Government Accountability, Politics

Former House Majority Leader Claims FBI is ‘Ready to Indict’ Hillary Clinton

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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has been under investigation by the FBI for several months, and former U.S. House Majority leader Tom DeLay said Monday that the FBI is “ready to indict” her for using a private email server to conduct government business.

During an interview on “The Steve Malzberg Show,” DeLay, a Republican from Texas, said he has friends in the FBI who tell him “they’re ready to indict” the former Secretary of State.

“They’re ready to recommend an indictment and they also say that if the attorney general does not indict, they’re going public,” DeLay said.

[RELATED: FBI Refuses to Release Information in Hillary Clinton Email Investigation]

Clinton’s use of personal email on a private server during her tenure as Secretary of State was revealed in March 2015, and while she has maintained that she never sent or received any classified information on the server, her claims have been contradicted by the Intelligence Community.

Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough III sent a letter to Congress on Jan. 14, revealing that not only did “several dozen” of Clinton’s emails contain classified information, but some of the information was classified as SAP or “special access programs,” which is beyond top secret.

“To date, I have received two sworn declarations from one [intelligence community] element,” McCullough wrote. “These declarations cover several dozen emails containing classified information determined by the IC element to be at the confidential, secret, and top secret/sap levels. According to the declarant, these documents contain information derived from classified IC element sources.” 

[RELATED: Report: Dozens of Hillary Clinton Emails were Classified from The Beginning]

DeLay said he believes Clinton is “going to have to face these charges” eventually, whether it’s through an FBI indictment or through the “public eye.”

“One way or another either she’s going to be indicted and that process begins, or we try her in the public eye with her campaign,” DeLay said. “One way or another she’s going to have to face these charges.”

Editor’s Pick, Election, Featured, Politics

Hillary Clinton Responds to Critics Questioning High-Paying ‘Big Bank’ Speeches

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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton defended the millions of dollars she has received in speaking fees and campaign contributions from Wall Street banks on Sunday, and asserted that they have not led to a conflict of interest.

During NBC’s “Meet the Press,” moderator Chuck Todd noted that the money Clinton has received has been used by her opponent Bernie Sanders to criticize her ties to Wall Street, and he asked, “Why do you think one of these big banks paid you over $200,000 for a speech?”

Clinton insisted that she “gave speeches to a wide array of groups,” including healthcare groups and auto dealers. She said Americans wanted to hear about her expertise on the world, and that there was “a lot of interest in the bin Laden raid.”

[pull_quote_center]Coming off of four years as secretary of State, in a complicated world, people were interested in what I saw, what I thought, they asked questions about the matters that were on their mind, a lot of interest in the bin Laden raid, how such a tough decision was made and what I advised the president. You know, I think Americans who are doing business in every aspect of the economy want to know more about the world. I actually think it’s a good conversation to be having.[/pull_quote_center]

Todd asked Clinton if she thinks the banks “expect anything in return?”

“Absolutely not,” Clinton replied. “You know, first of all, I was a senator from New York. I took them on when I was senator. I took on the carried-interest loophole. I took on what was happening in the mortgage markets. I was talking about that in 2006. They know exactly where I stand.”

On the campaign trail in Iowa, Sanders criticized Clinton for taking in over $675,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs, saying “You got to be really, really, really good to get $250,000 for a speech.”

According to The Intercept, Clinton earned over $2.9 million off of twelve speeches to various banks between 2013 and 2015. The Intercept noted that “Clinton’s most lucrative year was 2013, right after stepping down as secretary of state. That year, she made $2.3 million for three speeches to Goldman Sachs and individual speeches to Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Investments, Apollo Management Holdings, UBS, Bank of America, and Golden Tree Asset Managers.”

When Sanders said that the banks “expect to get something, everybody knows that” during a Democratic presidential debate in November 2015, Clinton responded that she has “hundreds of thousands of donors— most of them small,” and she went on to talk about her involvement in New York on 9/11. 

[pull_quote_center]I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy, and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country.[/pull_quote_center]

For more election coverage, click here.

Election, Featured, Politics

National Review Publishes ‘Against Trump’ Issue, Loses Debate Sponsorship

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The editors of the conservative magazine National Review released an issue Thursday night, titled “Against Trump,” which led to the publication losing its sponsorship of the GOP debates and ending its partnership with the Republican National Committee.

The issue called real estate mogul and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump “a menace to American conservatism” whose politics are those of “an averagely well-informed businessman,” and who is “by all outward indications, the most poll-obsessed politician in all of American history.”

[pull_quote_center]Some conservatives have made it their business to make excuses for Trump and duly get pats on the head from him. Count us out. Donald Trump is a menace to American conservatism who would take the work of generations and trample it underfoot in behalf of a populism as heedless and crude as the Donald himself.[/pull_quote_center]

The editors concluded that Trump is “not deserving of conservative support in the caucuses and primaries,” calling him a “philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP in favor of a free-floating populism with strong-man overtones.”

The issue criticized Trump’s tendency to change positions on policies, noting that while immigration is one of the issues he has been the most vocal about, he previously criticized Mitt Romney for having a “crazy policy of self-deportation,” which he referred to as “maniacal,” and the reason why Romney lost the vote of “everybody who is inspired to come into this country.”

In response, Trump took to Twitter, calling the National Review a “failing publication that has lost its way,” and claiming that “very few people read the National Review because it only knows how to criticize, but not how to lead.”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/690382564494839809

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/690382619213742082

Less than two hours after the issue went live online, NR publisher Jack Fowler released a blog post titled “Houston, we have a problem” in which he wrote that the publication would no longer be sponsoring the upcoming GOP debate on Feb. 25 in Houston, Texas.

Fowler said the editors “expected this was coming,” and he called it a “Small price to pay for speaking the truth about The Donald.”

RNC spokesman Sean Spicer confirmed that National Review has been “disinvited” from the upcoming GOP debate, and said it was on account of the fact that “a debate moderator can’t have a predisposition.” 

For more election coverage, click here.

Election, Featured, Politics

VIDEO: Republican Strategist Calls ‘Alt Right’ Trump Supporters ‘Single Men Who Masturbate to Anime’

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Rick Wilson, a Republican strategist and media consultant who is also a contributor to media outlets including Politico, IJreview, and the Daily Beast, offered a contentious statement directed at a faction of Republican voters supporting presidential candidate Donald Trump. Wilson referred to the subset as “crazy people on the alt right” when he appeared on MSNBC’s All In on Tuesday.

During discussion of Republican candidates, varying values within the party and the future of the GOP, guests on All In turned their attention to Trump. “I think there is definitely still a very significant portion of the party that is a limited government conservatism based faction of the overall coalition,” said Wilson.

Wilson went on to criticize people who he called “alt right” supporters of Trump. “Now, the screamers and the crazy people on the alt right as they call it, you know, who love Donald Trump, who have plenty of Hitler iconography in their Twitter icons.”

“But the fact of the matter is,” Wilson continued, “most of them are childless single men who masturbate to anime. They’re not real and political players. These are not people who matter in the overall course of humanity.”

A longer transcript of the discussion can be seen below.

CHRIS HAYES: Joining me now, MSNBC national correspondent Joy Reid, Charlie Peirce, writer at large for “Esquire” Magazine, and Republican media consultant Rick Wilson.

Well, well, well, Joy, let me start with you. OK, what did we see today? What was that?

JOY REID, MSNBC NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I have to tell you, I think we’re going to look back at today as sort of the quintessentially perfect day in the Republican primary — in the sense that we found out what I’ve always called this legged stool of conservatism, where you got the elites, you got the evangelicals, and you got the sort of meat and potato blue collar wing of the party, we discovered there’s actually four wings of this party. You essentially have the intellectual movement conservative wing, which is what Sen. Ted Cruz represents.

I’ve been in a worm hole of been reading “Red State” and reading a lot of conservative sort of publications that are about movement conservatism and intellectual conservatism. That’s who Ted Cruz is, right?

HAYES: They love Cruz.

REID: They love Ted Cruz. He’s hanging with “Duck Dynasty”, but that’s not who he is. He`s the Harvard guy. He’s the Ivy League.

HAYES: He’s both, that’s why he’s great.

REID: Right. Then you’ve got the sort of real meat and potatoes base which isn’t necessarily ideologically conservative. They want more stuff. They want Medicare. They want their ethanol subsidies. They want their life to be made comfortable by the government if that’s what happens.

They just want that feeling of power that America used to have when their parents were young, right? So, he represents that fourth wing of the party, i.e., people think of these two as the same way. I actually don’t think they are.

We also saw briefly there’s a celebrity conservatism element, too. It’s perfect you have John Wayne, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, reality show conservatism. That is what was seen today.

HAYES: Well, Rick, I mean, obviously, the subtext of what Joy said I think is exactly at the heart of the issue, because what`s setting up, what’s happening is Trump and Cruz go after each other, is Cruz is pointing to all the apostasies of Donald Trump, right? And the fact he used to support single-payer and he gave money to the Clintons.

You know, X, Y, Z. This question about what is conservatism? Really, what does it come down to? Sarah Palin comes into vouch and say, all these elitists are telling you what this is. We know what it is. It`s making America great again.

RICK WILSON, REPUBLICAN MEDIA CONSULTANT: Look, there’s a thing I’ve described as the troll party which Trump is sort of energized and activated over the last six months. And what`s happened with the troll party element of this, is they are very driven by the celebrity of Trump and Sarah Palin is a reality TV star, celebrity, as well. She transformed from a political figure to a reality TV show figure.

This is sort of the singularity of the entertainment wing of the Republican Party where there`s not a firm ideological underpinning about it anymore. Sarah Palin was always a populist who was seated in limited government conservatism but, you know, she`s managed to flip that on its head in one day and essentially walk away from all the limited government part of her background and just embrace the Trump populism and the yell louder, yell longer, be madder, be more furious division of the party.

Look, I think Joy’s right. This was one of those like crystal moments of the whole campaign where you had all these elements coming together at one time. I mean, every TV camera in country was on that event and there`s a reason for that. It`s great show. It`s a great entertaining spectacle.

And there’s nothing else like it going on in the field. I think Ted Cruz’s attacks on Trump would have had more credibility and a little more heft and a little more weight if he hadn`t spent the last six months serving as the pilot fish to Donald Trump’s shark and following him around and wagging his tail every time Trump said something absurd, Ted Cruz was sitting in the background with his thumbs up.

So, it would have had more credibility and more oomph this recitation of Trump’s complete lack of conservative credentials of which he has none, it would have been a much more effective argument if he hadn’t been Trump’s fan boy until yesterday.

HAYES: Well, it’s very funny to watch both of them go after each other. They spend six months saying nothing but nice things about each other. Now, they’ve discovered how secretly liberal the other one is.

I want — Charlie, I think we’re getting down to here it, all politics, I want to be clear on this, because I don’t want to say this is just about conservatism. I mean, I think it is. All politics are emotional. All politics are about who you identify with.

We use this term identity politics which is always used to talk about people usually people of color. But all politics are identity politics which is what we’re seeing in this campaign. And to me the moment that sums up this campaign so far was this moment of Trump chanting “USA, USA” into a microphone. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING)

TRUMP: USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYES: Trump — Charlie, that is the Trump campaign. That’s it. That`s the Trump campaign in ten seconds. That’s what this campaign has been.

CHARLIE PIERCE, WRITER AT LARGE, ESQUIRE MAGAZINE: I’m glad he did that because if he farmed out to Governor Palin, I’m not sure she would have been able to spell it.

Look, I refuse to look upon then whole event today as anything besides spectacle. If it is a pivotal moment in American politics, then this country is screwed from hell to breakfast. OK, you’ve got — I’m sorry.

You have a not particularly bright person auditioning as court jester to a clown basically. That’s the sum total of what happened today. I mean, with all due respect to Rick, the Republican Party is forcing — has been forcing its presidential candidates to look ridiculous for two cycles now.

I mean, Sen. Marco Rubio is talking about having bought a gun for Christmas because he wanted to defend his family against ISIS as the pickup trucks come up Biscayne Boulevard. Chris Christie is out there today talking about how he’s going to undo Michelle Obama’s healthy food and let kids in middle school eat whatever they want for lunch. Jeb Bush is just ridiculous on the face of it.

This is just the quiescence (ph) of it. I don’t think you have to be born a cynic, although I was, to wonder exactly how much this endorsement cost.

HAYES: Huh.

REID: But at the end of the day, though, Chris, you know, it’s interesting because for decades, you’ve had Rush Limbaugh and the sort of conservative entertainment complex holding together these various wings of the party as if there was a core belief in a set of specific conservative values among the base. When it turns out what the base wants is a feeling that can be delivered by Rush but some policies that are apostasy to movement conservatives.

HAYES: So, Rick, this is, Mike (INAUDIBLE) wrote this piece today in “The Week” where he looked at this Samuel Francis, who was a white nationalist, white supremacist, who sort of started out main street conservative who was an advisor to Patrick Buchanan, basically said your best path is get rid of all the conservatism stuff, all the limited government deficits, markets, all that stuff, and just go whole hog at essentially ethno-nationalism and Michael writing about the Trump campaign says what so frightens the conservative movement about Trump’s success is he reveals just how thin their support for their ideas really is. His campaign is a rebuke to their institution.

It says the Republican Party doesn’t need all these think tanks or supposed policy expertise. It says look at these people calling themselves libertarians and conservatives, the one in tassel loafers and bow ties. Have they made you more free? Have their endless policy papers and studies and books conserved anything for you? These people are worthless. They are defunct. You don’t need them and you`re better off without them.

What do you think of that, Rick?

WILSON: Well, look, first off, I think that’s absurd. I think there is definitely still a very significant portion of the party that is a limited government conservatism based faction of the overall coalition.

Now, the screamers and the crazy people on the alt right as they call it, you know, who love Donald Trump, who have plenty of Hitler iconography in their Twitter icons.

HAYES: They sure do. I can back that up.

WILSON: Who think Donald Trump is the greatest thing, oh, it’s something. But the fact of the matter is, most of them are childless single men who masturbate to anime. They’re not real and political players. These are not people who matter in the overall course of humanity.

What’s really driving the Republican Party, though, is still a limited government conservatism that is still a structure built around a government that’s less invasive, less intrusive, less taxes, less government, more freedom.

We don’t always get there by a straight line path. We don’t always get there in a direct way. But that is still what drives this party. And there’s also a major part of the party that is still trying to sort itself out on what the balancing test is between the limited government side, the national defense side, the social conservatism side. And I don’t think this other stuff Trump is toying with is really a part of the mainstream conservative movement by any stretch of the imagination.

HAYES: I know, you know, Rick, I think the question to me is this is all going to be tested, right? I think — which is to say I agree with you. There are large parts of people who are avowed Republicans and conservatives who really genuinely care about limited government. But what we’re seeing this sort of electoral test. And that’s what makes today so fascinating, this fight so fascinating, what happens — we are dealing with this sort of seismic question about what exactly we’re looking at as a 21st century Republican Party.

Joy Reid, Charlie Pierce, and Rick Wilson, thank you all.

REID: Thank you.

WILSON: Thanks, Chris.

h/t: Breitbart

Election, Foreign Policy

Sanders Condemns Overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Supports Overthrow of Assad

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During the fourth Democratic Debate Sunday night, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, while pledging his support for the proposed overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Sanders, a self-declared socialist, has been adamant in the past about the fact that he opposes—and did not vote for—the war in Iraq. During the latest debate, he said he believes the “disastrous war in Iraq” was responsible for creating a political vacuum that led to the rise of “groups like ISIS.”

[pull_quote_center]I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it’s easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn’t the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like ISIS.[/pull_quote_center]

Sanders went on to say that he supported President Obama’s plan to “bring American troops home,” and that he believes the United States’ job is to “train and provide military support for Muslim countries in the area who are prepared to take on ISIS.”

[RELATED: Obama Administration Ends $500 Million Syrian Rebel Training Program]

Democratic rival and former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton said she believes that if there is anyone to blame for the rise of ISIS, “it starts with the prime minister of Iraq,” and is only intensified by Syrian President Assad.

“It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing,” Clinton said. “Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including ISIS.” 

[RELATED: Reality Check: Proof U.S. Government Wanted ISIS To Emerge In Syria]

In response, Sanders said he agrees with “most of what she said,” and went on to add that he believes there is an “incredible quagmire of Syria, where it’s hard to know who’s fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in ISIS’ hand the next day.”

Sanders said Clinton is “absolutely right” when saying, “Assad is a butcher of his own people.” However, he said that while “getting rid of Assad” is a priority, it comes second to “the destruction of ISIS.”

[pull_quote_center]I think in terms of our priorities in the region, our first priority must be the destruction of ISIS. Our second priority must be getting rid of Assad, through some political settlement, working with Iran, working with Russia. [/pull_quote_center]

Sanders has made similar comments about his support for overthrowing Assad in the past. In Oct. 2015, he said he supports President Obama’s effort to “combat the Islamic State in Syria while at the same time supporting those in Syria trying to overthrow the brutal dictatorship of Bashar Assad.”

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Election, US

GOP Debate: Without Rand Paul Present, Chris Christie’s Assad Comments Go Unchallenged

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During the sixth GOP presidential debate of the 2016 election on Thursday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was asked about the importance of toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“Governor Christie, how important is it to remove Assad from power and how would you do it?” Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo asked, noting that former GOP candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham has said that the U.S. will find “Arab support” for its coalition against ISIS if Assad is removed.

“You’re not going to have peace in Syria with Assad in charge. You’re simply not,” Christie replied. “And so Senator Graham is right about this.”

Christie criticized President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s approach, saying that Obama initially said, “If Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we’re going to attack.”

“He used chemical weapons, he’s killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing,” Christie said. “In fact, he’s done worse than nothing.”

[RELATED: Reality Check: GOP Candidates Completely Wrong on Origin of ISIS in Latest Debate]

Christie went on to claim that Obama has used Russian President Vladimir Putin to “negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad,” and as a result he said that the Russians and the Iranians are working together, “not to fight ISIS, but to prop up Assad.”

“The fact of the matter is that we are not going to have peace – we are not going to have peace in Syria,” Christie said. “We’re not going to be able to rebuild it unless we put a no-fly zone there, make it safe for those folks so we don’t have to be talking about Syrian refugees anymore.”

While Christie’s comments about Assad in Syria are nothing new, there was a noticeable difference in the fact that not one of the candidates on stage challenged his rhetoric.

[RELATED: GOP Debate: Rand Paul Warns of Consequences of Regime Change in Syria]

During the fifth GOP debate on Dec. 15, Christie claimed that “ISIS is created and formed because of the abuse that Assad and his Iranian sponsors have rained down on the Sunnis in Syria.” 

He was challenged by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who argued that “had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, ISIS would be in charge of all of Syria now.”

“There are still people—the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad,” Paul said. “And then there will be chaos, and I think ISIS will then be in charge of Syria.”

Paul also responded to Christie’s calls for a “no-fly zone” over Syria during the Dec. debate, saying, “Well, I think if you’re in favor of World War III, you have your candidate.”

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Election, Featured, Politics

Report: Ted Cruz Did Not Disclose Goldman Sachs Loan During Senate Bid

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GOP presidential candidate and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz dismissed a report claiming that he failed to disclose loans from Goldman Sachs during his 2012 Senate campaign on Wednesday, and insisted that it was nothing more than a “technical and inadvertent filing error.”

According to a report released by the New York Times, Cruz poured $1.2 million in “personal funds” into his Senate campaign shortly after he received about $750,000, which grew to $1 million, in loans from Goldman Sachs and Citibank.

The report claims that neither loan was filed with the Federal Election Commission, where candidates are required to disclose the sources of finances they use for their campaigns.

While campaigning in South Carolina Wednesday, Cruz told reporters, “The facts of the underlying matter have been disclosed for many, many years.” 

“Those loans had been disclosed over and over and over again on multiple filings,” Cruz said. “If it was the case that they were not filed exactly as the [Federal Election Commission] requires, then we’ll amend the filings, but all of the information has been public and transparent for many years, and that’s the end of that.”

The Times also noted that while Cruz has “railed against Wall Street and big banks, and has said Goldman and other firms get special treatment from the government,” his wife, Heidi Cruz, is a managing director at Goldman Sachs, on leave during the senator’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for the Cruz campaign, admitted that the loan should have been disclosed, and said the campaign is reaching out to the FEC and “asking them their recommendation on anything we need to do to update or amend that report.”

“Cruz wrote a personal check to his campaign for $1.4 million,” Frazier said. “Those funds came from a combination of his personal savings, selling some stock and taking a loan out against his assets. Because he took a loan out against his assets, that detail should’ve been in the FEC form.”

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Election, Featured, Politics

Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina Cut From Fox’s Main GOP Debate

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Fox News released its lineup for Thursday’s GOP debate on Monday night, announcing that the stage will hold seven candidates, cutting Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina from the lineup.

In preparation for the primetime debate, which will air at 9 p.m. ET, Fox Business Network reportedly selected its lineup based off of the top six candidates in the five most recent national polls, as well as any candidates polling in the top five in either Iowa or New Hampshire.

The main stage will feature the smallest GOP lineup thus far, and will include real estate mogul Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

As a consolation, Paul and Fiorina have been invited to participate in the “undercard” debate, which airs at 6 p.m. ET Thursday. The other GOP candidates participating in the debate are former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

Paul told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that because he has been excluded from the main stage, he plans to boycott the debate altogether. “I won’t participate in anything that’s not first tier because we have a first tier campaign,” he explained.

Paul then told the Washington Post that he has resulted to “take the debate to Iowa and New Hampshire” instead.

“I think they’ve made a mistake,” Paul said. “I’m not willing to accept a designation as a minor campaign. We’ve raised $25 million. We’ve gotten on the ballot on every state. It’s kind of ridiculous to arbitrarily rate the campaigns based on national polling.”

Fiorina faced off on the undercard stage during the first GOP debate, and was then moved to the main stage after CNN amended its rules for the lineup.

Responding to the news on Monday night, Fiorina told CBS Radio Boston’s Dan Rea Show that according to the poll used by Fox News, she should be qualified, but that she will still debate “anyone, anytime, anywhere.”

“Well, you know, these polls are all over the map,” Fiorina said. “In the Fox News poll, I’m in sixth place, which would qualify me, but hey, I’ll debate anyone, anytime, anywhere. I’ll be in South Carolina and what I know is that polls don’t win elections, voters do.”

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