seafan
seafan's Journal“Did you read it?” the woman screamed.
That is correct. When asked whether she read the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, she would only state that she 'was briefed' on it. (Old archived thread here.)
From the NYT, May 29, 2007:
But it’s not clear that she was equally diligent when it came to the justifications for the war itself. So far, she has not discussed publicly whether she ever read the complete classified version of the National Intelligence Estimate, the most comprehensive judgment of the intelligence community about Iraq’s W.M.D., which was made available to all 100 senators. The 90-page report was delivered to Congress on Oct. 1, 2002, just 10 days before the Senate vote. An abridged summary was made public by the Bush administration, but it painted a less subtle picture of Iraq’s weapons program than the full classified report. To get a complete picture would require reading the entire document, which, according to a version of the report made public in 2004, contained numerous caveats and dissents on Iraq’s weapons and capacities.
According to Senate aides, because Clinton was not yet on the Armed Services Committee, she did not have anyone working for her with the security clearances needed to read the entire N.I.E. and the other highly classified reports that pertained to Iraq.
She could have done the reading herself. Senators were able to access the N.I.E. at two secure locations in the Capitol complex. Nonetheless, only six senators personally read the report, according to a 2005 television interview with Senator Jay Rockefeller, Democrat of West Virginia and then the vice chairman of the intelligence panel. Earlier this year, on the presidential campaign trail in New Hampshire, Clinton was confronted by a woman who had traveled from New York to ask her if she had read the intelligence report. According to Eloise Harper of ABC News, Clinton responded that she had been briefed on it.
“Did you read it?” the woman screamed.
Clinton replied that she had been briefed, though she did not say by whom.
The question of whether Clinton took the time to read the N.I.E. report is critically important. Indeed, one of Clinton’s Democratic colleagues, Bob Graham, the Florida senator who was then the chairman of the intelligence committee, said he voted against the resolution on the war, in part, because he had read the complete N.I.E. report. Graham said he found that it did not persuade him that Iraq possessed W.M.D. As a result, he listened to Bush’s claims more skeptically. “I was able to apply caveat emptor,” Graham, who has since left the Senate, observed in 2005. He added regretfully, “Most of my colleagues could not.”
On Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002, Senate Democrats, including Clinton, held a caucus over lunch on the second floor of the Capitol. There, Graham says he “forcefully” urged his colleagues to read the complete 90-page N.I.E. before casting such a monumental vote.
In critical issue after critical issue, her judgment is not adequate to serve at the level of the presidency.
Obama: I have Wasserman Schultz's back
The Hill, June 3, 2016
(via The Hill)
"I don't know how she does it because she’s everywhere all the time, non-stop, and she’s a mom and a wife, and has been just an incredible supporter of my agenda. She’s taken tough votes when they’re the right thing to do, and she is somebody who I have counted on consistently," Obama said at a DNC fundraiser in Florida Friday, according to a White House release. "She’s had my back. I want to make sure we have her back — Debbie Wasserman Schultz."
Some Democratic lawmakers have openly discussed dropping Wasserman Schultz, saying that she has become too divisive within the party.
.....
The president gave his remarks at a fundraiser where tickets went for between $10,000 and $30,000. It was hosted by Robert Rubenstein.
The punching of progressives and all those who care about free and fair elections seems never to go out of style.
US intelligence officials concerned about briefing Trump, Clinton
Source: The Hill
Some U.S. intelligence officials are worried about providing a routine intelligence briefing to Donald Trump once he becomes the official Republican presidential nominee, according to a report.
Eight senior security officials told Reuters they were concerned that Trump's "shoot from the hip" style could pose national security risks, as they prepare to give him a routine pre-election briefing for presidential nominees.
They also cited his lack of foreign policy experience, and his little known team of foreign policy advisers.
.....
Current and formal officials also expressed concern over briefing Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, according to Reuters.
They cited the scandal over her use of emails when she was secretary of State and her handling of sensitive information. She is currently facing an FBI probe over whether she compromised security and broke laws over her use of a private email server for government work at State.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/defense/282012-us-intelligence-officials-concerned-about-briefing-trump-clinton
Just thrilled with confidence, here.
Where did all of that Foundation money go? Apparently, not to Haiti.
The Clintons’ Haiti Screw-Up, As Told By Hillary’s Emails, Politico, September 2, 2015Dahoud Andre: "Today is the 12th of January 2016, six years after the earthquake. And for us, it was important to be in front of the Clinton Foundation, because Bill Clinton, as head of the IHRC, Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, was responsible for the $6 billion that came into his hands. He had unlimited control of this money. Six years after the earthquake, not much has changed, and as a matter of fact, Haiti is in worse condition than it was in 2010. Only Bill Clinton can tell the world what happened with this money."
Perhaps the FBI will have some information for us soon. We have been very patient, but the window of opportunity for a better direction for this country is closing rapidly.
The Foundation is, indeed, the smoking gun.
As damaging to our national security that her decisions to circumvent secured State Department servers for the entire four years of her tenure have been, it will probably not loosen her hands from the wheels of power as effectively as the hard look at the Foundation's worldwide operation and subsequent public exposure of it.
The Clinton Foundation investigation is where the rubber meets the road.
This also explains why Terry McAuliff is breaking his neck to deny that the new FBI investigation into his campaign donations from Chinese ultra-wealthy donor Wang Wenliang has ANYTHING to do with the Clinton Foundation.
But, it has everything to do with it.
McAuliff has gone from "I'm not sure I've ever met this person" to "I didn't bring the donor in" to I didn't bring him into the Clinton Foundation" to the evidence that McAuliff invited Wenliang to Hillary Clinton's home in 2013 for a fundraiser. Not surprisingly, a donation to the Clinton Foundation followed, weeks later.
“I think we probably met one or two occasions. I think, I’m not sure if he came to the inaugural. He may have come to the inaugural,” McAuliffe told reporters Wednesday.
He said Wenliang did come by once with his secretary of agriculture to talk about a deal to buy billions of dollars in Virginia soybeans. McAuliffe said that agreement was made before he took office and denied having done any business with Wenliang himself.
Getty Images, via The Hill
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
Judge orders Obama administration to release new Clinton emails
Source: The Hill
A federal judge has ordered the Obama administration to release new emails connected to Hillary Clinton before Democratic convention in July.
In an order late on Wednesday, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson told the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to hand over to the Republican National Committee (RNC) whatever records it could as part of an RNC’s open records lawsuit on July 11.
.....
The RNC sued the aid agency in March, seeking two sets of communications: those between USAID officials and key former aides at the State Department, as well as those between USAID and private domain names associated with Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton and others including the Clinton Foundation. The effort appeared to be investigating allegations that the former secretary of State’s family foundation had undue influence on USAID.
.....
Before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, USAID has claimed that it has discovered approximately 3,300 pages of records that it might be able to hand over to the Republican Party organization. But roughly 2,600 of those reportedly need to be cleared with the State Department before they can be released.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/281973-new-clinton-emails-due-out-in-days-before-convention
This is not good for her prospects.
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