US Judge: Clinton may be ordered to testify in records case

[seafan]

76. “Based on information learned during discovery, the deposition of Mrs. Clinton may be necessary,”

The Hill: Federal judge opens the door to Clinton deposition in email case, May 4, 2016

A federal judge on Wednesday opened the door to interviewing Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton as part of a review into her use of a private email server while secretary of State.

Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia laid out the ground rules for interviewing multiple State Department officials about the emails, with an eye toward finishing the depositions in the weeks before the party nominating conventions.

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“Based on information learned during discovery, the deposition of Mrs. Clinton may be necessary,” Sullivan said in an order on Wednesday.

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Any deposition would surely roil the presidential race and force her campaign to confront the issue, which has dogged her for a year.

“Her legal team is really going to fight that really hard,” predicted Matthew Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney who has raised questions about Clinton’s email setup.

“You have to take her deposition in this case to fully understand how it was designed and the whys and the what-fors.”

While leaving the door open to Clinton’s eventual deposition, Sullivan on Wednesday ordered at least six current and former State Department employees to answer questions from Judicial Watch, which has filed multiple lawsuits over the Clinton email case.

That list includes longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin, former chief of staff Cheryl Mills, under secretary for management Patrick Kennedy, former executive secretary Stephen Mull and Bryan Pagliano, the IT official believed to be responsible for setting up and maintaining the server.

The judge also ordered the State Department to prepare a formal answer about Clinton’s emails. Donald Reid, a senior security official, may also be asked to answer questions, if Judicial Watch so decides.

That process is scheduled to be wrapped up within eight weeks, putting the deadline in the final week of June.

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The final week of June is going to be an interesting one.

Added to this mix is the US release of the documentary film Clinton Cash, on July 24 in Philadelphia, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention. This film examines the intersection of her tenure as Secretary of State with the massive accumulation of private funds taken in by the Clinton Foundation, much of it from foreign sources, as she allegedly directed favors toward those entities. This separate track of investigation of Secretary Clinton's activities while at State is now ongoing by the FBI, in addition to the homebrew server under current scrutiny.

And today, more indication of how much trouble with independent support she has. What is her plan to surmount this?

Independents Are Souring on Hillary Clinton, May 4, 2016

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An April Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that Mrs. Clinton’s favorability rating among independents had dropped 15 percentage points in the previous four months. That poll found that 20% of independents viewed Mrs. Clinton positively, compared with 62% who viewed her negatively. In January, that same poll found her with a positive rating of 35% and a negative rating of 54%.
In January 2015, four months before she launched her presidential campaign, that gap stood at just 4 percentage points—35% positive to 39% negative.

The poll also suggested the heated Democratic primary race took a toll on her standing among Democrats. Her positive rating among Democrats dropped to 63% last month from 71% in January, while her negative rating rose six points to 20%. Last April, when she first announced she was running for president, 76% of Democrats viewed her positively while just 8% viewed her negatively.

While declining favorability ratings are common for presidential candidates as voters learn more about them, the striking decline in independents’ view of Mrs. Clinton is indicative of the popularity of Mr. Sanders, who served in the Senate as an independent before running for president as a Democrat.

The Vermont senator is far more popular among independents and has ramped up his criticism of Mrs. Clinton in recent months, even as his path to winning the nomination looks increasingly narrow.

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From this graph, it is painfully obvious why she much prefers "closed" primaries that shut out Independents from voting. The problem lies in the "wins" she boasts among such a tiny slice of the general electorate, 30% who call themselves Democrats. How will the other 70% vote in November? She is locked in this box of her own making, and will never make it through November, not when the majority of the electorate is rebelling against Establishment candidates.





And, today, John Kasich is out of the presidential race, leaving Donald Trump plenty of time and opportunity now to go after Clinton's weaknesses. From what we've seen, he will have no obstacle.

For Hillary Clinton, the next few months are going to be brutal.


It must be getting acutely uncomfortable for the superdelegates right now, many of whom "declared loyalty" to Clinton even prior to Bernie Sanders entering the race.

These are devastating reasons for a candidate to try to whitewash as the public looks on in horror.


It is time for her to curb her singular ambition and to step aside for a popular and authentic candidate to take the helm against Donald Trump. Fifty-seven percent of Democrats are now saying it is important that Bernie Sanders stays in the race all the way to the convention.

It is the one thing from her that we as a country will be grateful.