Hillary Can't Stay Away From Bad News
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Gary [email protected]
That’s right, the presumed heir-apparent of the Democratic nomination for president in 2016 actually held an impromptu press conference.
Her answers were evasive, terse and virtually meaningless and the whole event lasted about five minutes.
Who can blame her? Even the most casual political observer knows she’s had a rough couple of weeks.
The New York Times unleashed a bombshell report that said Hillary, as secretary of state, used her private email to share private intelligence reports Sidney Blumenthal was sending her.
Blumenthal was a speechwriter and “press corps whisperer” in the Bill Clinton White House, the Times reports.
Republicans of the era accused Blumenthal of spreading gossip to discredit their investigation of Clinton’s shenanigans in the White House. Blumenthal was forced to testify during President Clinton’s impeachment trial.
Basically, Blumenthal was a political operative for the Clinton adminstration.
He was barred from a State Department job by aides to President Obama, yet he was sending emails to Hillary while he was “also employed by her family’s philanthropy, the Clinton Foundation. ... During the same period, he also worked on and off as a paid consultant to Media Matters and American Bridge, organizations that helped lay the groundwork for Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 campaign,” according to the Times.
Also, the Times reports, the emails included reports on Libya at a time when Blumenthal was attempting to do business in that country.
From the Times:
Much of the Libya intelligence that Mr. Blumenthal passed on to Mrs. Clinton appears to have come from a group of business associates he was advising as they sought to win contracts from the Libyan transitional government. The venture, which was ultimately unsuccessful, involved other Clinton friends, a private military contractor and one former CIA spy seeking to get in on the ground floor of the new Libyan economy.
Beyond that, some of the emails even contained bogus information – stuff that just plain wasn’t true.
Even so, the Times reported, Hillary “took Mr. Blumenthal’s advice seriously” and “continued to pass around his emails even after other senior diplomats concluded that Mr. Blumenthal’s assessments were often unreliable.”
So what?
While it’s not unheard of for secretaries of state to look outside the government for information and advice, this was beyond the pale.
From the Times:
The emails suggest that Mr. Blumenthal’s direct line to Mrs. Clinton circumvented the elaborate procedures established by the federal government to ensure that high-level officials are provided with vetted assessments of available intelligence.
The Times quotes Paul R. Pillar, a former CIA official who is now a researcher at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University.
“The sourcing is pretty sloppy in a way that would never pass muster if it were the work of a reports officer at a U.S. intelligence agency.”
Hillary was asked about the Times report Tuesday.
Here’s her response, as transcribed by NPR:
[Laughing] "I have many, many old friends, and I always think it's important, when you get into politics to have friends you had before you were in politics. And to understand what's on their mind. And he's been a friend of mine for a long time. He sent me unsolicited emails which I passed on in some instances. And I see that's just part of the give and take. When you're in the public eye, when you're in an official position, I think you do have to work to make sure you're not caught in a bubble and you only hear from a certain small group of people and I'm going to keep talking to my old friends whoever they are."
There, guess we cleared that up.
Remember the whole email server thing?
Well, back then, a statement by Hillary’s office said she only used one email address during her time at the State Department, [email protected]
Well – apparently – that’s not true.
Multiple emails published by the New York Times show Hillary used the account [email protected] in 2011 and 2012 while serving as secretary of state, along with emails during the same time period from the “hrod22” address.
No worries. Hillary’s attorney, David Kendall’s got this:
“Secretary Clinton used one email account when corresponding with anyone, from Department officials to friends to family. A month after she left the Department, Gawker published her email address and so she changed the address on her account. At the time the emails were provided to the State Department last year this new address appeared on the copies as the ‘sender,’ and not the address she used as Secretary. This address on the account did not exist until March 2013, after her tenure as Secretary.”
Yeah, except that’s just senseless. Anyone with a basic understanding of email knows that the “from” address form doesn’t change retroactively no matter what you do to your email account. Changing your email address only affects sent messages going forward. Your old emails all will be stored in an account with your original email address.
Plus, the Times published emails from both addresses. All those emails were printed and provided by Hillary. How could the process of printing and delivering them possibly have changed some addresses to “hrod17” and left other “hrod22” addresses intact.
Simple answer. It couldn’t.
Oh, and remember that whole Benghazi thing?
The Obama administration said the attack came from a “spontaneous” protest over a YouTube video. Hillary talked about the video in the weeks after the attack telling folks the administration would bring to justice those responsible for the video.
When questioned about those claims during the Benghazi hearings, Hillary said they were just going on the best intelligence they had at the time.
OK, well, none of that is true either.
Seems a report was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency just one day after the attacks. It and other Benghazi documents were released to Judicial Watch after a Freedom of Information Act request and a court order.
According to the reporting of Stephen Hayes at the Weekly Standard, the intelligence report concluded that the attack “was planned ten or more days” in advance and was meant to “kill as many Americans as possible.” The report also identifies al Qaeda-linked terrorists believed to have been involved in the assault.
Make no mistake. Hillary knew all of that one day after Benghazi. She went out and hawked the video anyway. Truth be damned, she didn’t want anything to tarnish the administration’s narrative – “Osama bin Laden is dead and al-Qaida is on the run.”
Is it any wonder Hillary doesn’t like to talk to the press?
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That’s right, the presumed heir-apparent of the Democratic nomination for president in 2016 actually held an impromptu press conference.
Her answers were evasive, terse and virtually meaningless and the whole event lasted about five minutes.
Who can blame her? Even the most casual political observer knows she’s had a rough couple of weeks.
The New York Times unleashed a bombshell report that said Hillary, as secretary of state, used her private email to share private intelligence reports Sidney Blumenthal was sending her.
Blumenthal was a speechwriter and “press corps whisperer” in the Bill Clinton White House, the Times reports.
Republicans of the era accused Blumenthal of spreading gossip to discredit their investigation of Clinton’s shenanigans in the White House. Blumenthal was forced to testify during President Clinton’s impeachment trial.
Basically, Blumenthal was a political operative for the Clinton adminstration.
He was barred from a State Department job by aides to President Obama, yet he was sending emails to Hillary while he was “also employed by her family’s philanthropy, the Clinton Foundation. ... During the same period, he also worked on and off as a paid consultant to Media Matters and American Bridge, organizations that helped lay the groundwork for Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 campaign,” according to the Times.
Also, the Times reports, the emails included reports on Libya at a time when Blumenthal was attempting to do business in that country.
From the Times:
Much of the Libya intelligence that Mr. Blumenthal passed on to Mrs. Clinton appears to have come from a group of business associates he was advising as they sought to win contracts from the Libyan transitional government. The venture, which was ultimately unsuccessful, involved other Clinton friends, a private military contractor and one former CIA spy seeking to get in on the ground floor of the new Libyan economy.
Beyond that, some of the emails even contained bogus information – stuff that just plain wasn’t true.
Even so, the Times reported, Hillary “took Mr. Blumenthal’s advice seriously” and “continued to pass around his emails even after other senior diplomats concluded that Mr. Blumenthal’s assessments were often unreliable.”
So what?
While it’s not unheard of for secretaries of state to look outside the government for information and advice, this was beyond the pale.
From the Times:
The emails suggest that Mr. Blumenthal’s direct line to Mrs. Clinton circumvented the elaborate procedures established by the federal government to ensure that high-level officials are provided with vetted assessments of available intelligence.
The Times quotes Paul R. Pillar, a former CIA official who is now a researcher at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University.
“The sourcing is pretty sloppy in a way that would never pass muster if it were the work of a reports officer at a U.S. intelligence agency.”
Hillary was asked about the Times report Tuesday.
Here’s her response, as transcribed by NPR:
[Laughing] "I have many, many old friends, and I always think it's important, when you get into politics to have friends you had before you were in politics. And to understand what's on their mind. And he's been a friend of mine for a long time. He sent me unsolicited emails which I passed on in some instances. And I see that's just part of the give and take. When you're in the public eye, when you're in an official position, I think you do have to work to make sure you're not caught in a bubble and you only hear from a certain small group of people and I'm going to keep talking to my old friends whoever they are."
There, guess we cleared that up.
Remember the whole email server thing?
Well, back then, a statement by Hillary’s office said she only used one email address during her time at the State Department, [email protected]
Well – apparently – that’s not true.
Multiple emails published by the New York Times show Hillary used the account [email protected] in 2011 and 2012 while serving as secretary of state, along with emails during the same time period from the “hrod22” address.
No worries. Hillary’s attorney, David Kendall’s got this:
“Secretary Clinton used one email account when corresponding with anyone, from Department officials to friends to family. A month after she left the Department, Gawker published her email address and so she changed the address on her account. At the time the emails were provided to the State Department last year this new address appeared on the copies as the ‘sender,’ and not the address she used as Secretary. This address on the account did not exist until March 2013, after her tenure as Secretary.”
Yeah, except that’s just senseless. Anyone with a basic understanding of email knows that the “from” address form doesn’t change retroactively no matter what you do to your email account. Changing your email address only affects sent messages going forward. Your old emails all will be stored in an account with your original email address.
Plus, the Times published emails from both addresses. All those emails were printed and provided by Hillary. How could the process of printing and delivering them possibly have changed some addresses to “hrod17” and left other “hrod22” addresses intact.
Simple answer. It couldn’t.
Oh, and remember that whole Benghazi thing?
The Obama administration said the attack came from a “spontaneous” protest over a YouTube video. Hillary talked about the video in the weeks after the attack telling folks the administration would bring to justice those responsible for the video.
When questioned about those claims during the Benghazi hearings, Hillary said they were just going on the best intelligence they had at the time.
OK, well, none of that is true either.
Seems a report was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency just one day after the attacks. It and other Benghazi documents were released to Judicial Watch after a Freedom of Information Act request and a court order.
According to the reporting of Stephen Hayes at the Weekly Standard, the intelligence report concluded that the attack “was planned ten or more days” in advance and was meant to “kill as many Americans as possible.” The report also identifies al Qaeda-linked terrorists believed to have been involved in the assault.
Make no mistake. Hillary knew all of that one day after Benghazi. She went out and hawked the video anyway. Truth be damned, she didn’t want anything to tarnish the administration’s narrative – “Osama bin Laden is dead and al-Qaida is on the run.”
Is it any wonder Hillary doesn’t like to talk to the press?
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