The Clinton's Operate Like The Mafia Only Better...
Nov 5, 2015 21:33:33 #
Don G. Dinsdale
Loc: El Cajon, CA (San Diego County)
The ATLANTIC
From Whitewater to B******i: A Clinton Scandal Primer
Hillary Clinton prepares to testify before the House committee on the 2012 Libyan attacks. For a change, she has the upper handcan she keep it?
Thursday will be the biggest day so far for the House select committee investigating the B******i attacks. Hillary Clinton will testify before the committee for the first time, in a public hearing that will last for hours.
Its a high-stakes encounter for both the committees Republican leaders and Clinton. After months on the defensive over her use of a private server for email at the State Department, Clinton is off her back foot, accusing the GOP of mounting the committee in a nakedly political ploy. Shes been helped in that respect by several prominent Republicans agreeing publicly, as well as accusations by a fired committee staffer. Over the weekend, chair Trey Gowdy lashed out at these Republicans and said the recent stretch has been among the worst weeks of my life.
Gowdy will be under pressure to deliver something substantive from the hearingssome evidence of a real scandal or controversy. Clinton, meanwhile, will be trying to stay on her front foot and avoid errors. That wont be easy. Despite Clinton turning in a strong performance while testifying about B******i before a Senate panel in December 2013, the House select committee will have many questions about security at the State Department.
The Associated Press provided some new fodder on Monday, reporting that Clinton inherited a State Department with some of the worst cybersecurity in the federal governmentand that the problem only got worse while she was secretary. The department was hacked by Russians after John Kerry took over from Clinton in 2013.
Theres so far no evidence that Clintons email itself was breached, but theres been lots of speculation. The damning report about the State Departments security suggests that wh**ever security risks Clinton took by using a private email server, it might not have been any safer to rely on States own moth-eaten system.
RELATED STORY
Among the Hillary H**ers
(We H**e Her, Because She's a Liar, Socialist/C****e, Anti-American, Above The Law, Did I Mention She's a Liar??? Don D.)
B******i has become a classic Clinton scandal. Her use of a private email account became known during the course of the B******i investigation. Thus far, the investigations have found no wrongdoing on her part with respect to the 2012 attacks themselves, but Clintons private-email use and concerns about whether she sent classified information have become huge stories unto themselves.
This is a pattern with the Clinton family, which has been in the public spotlight since Bill Clintons first run for office, in 1974: Something that appears potentially scandalous on its face turns out to be innocuous, but an investigation into it reveals different questionable behavior. The canonical case is Whitewater, a failed real-estate investment Bill and Hillary Clinton made in 1978. While no inquiry ever produced evidence of wrongdoing, investigations ultimately led to President Clintons impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice.
With Hillary Clinton leading the field for the Democratic nomination for president, every Clinton scandalfrom Whitewater to the State Department emailswill be under the microscope. (No other American politicianseven ones as corrupt as Richard Nixon, or as h**ed by partisans as George W. Bushhave fostered the creation of a permanent multimillion-dollar cottage industry dev**ed to attacking them.) Keeping track of each controversy, where it came from, and how serious it is, is no small task, so heres a primer. Well update it as new information emerges.
Clintons State Department Emails
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton checks her phone on board a plane from Malta to Tripoli, Libya.
What? Setting aside the question of the Clintons private email server, whats actually in the emails that Clinton did turn over to State? While some of the emails related to B******i have been released, there are plenty of others covered by public-records laws that havent.
When? 2009-2013
How serious is it? Serious. Initially, it seemed that the interest in the emails would stem from damaging things that Clinton or other aides had said: cover-ups, misrepresentations, who knows? But so far, other than some cringe-worthy moments of sucking up and some eye-rolly emails from contacts like Sidney Blumenthal, the emails have been remarkably boring. The main focus now is on classification. We know that some of the material in the emails is now classified. The question is whether any of it, and how much of it, was classified at the time it was sent. Clinton has said she didnt knowingly send or receive classified material on the account. In addition, some emails that Clinton didnt turn over have since surfaced.
B******i
A man celebrates as the U.S. Consulate in B******i burns on September 11, 2012.
What? On September 11, 2012, attackers overran a U.S. consulate in B******i, Libya, k*****g Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Since then, Republicans have charged that Hillary Clinton failed to adequately protect U.S. installations or that she attempted to spin the attacks as spontaneous when she knew they were planned terrorist operations. She testifies for the first time on October 22.
When? September 11, 2012-present
How serious is it? B******i has gradually turned into a classic its not the crime, its the coverup scenario. Only the fringes argue, at this point, that Clinton deliberately withheld aid. A House committee continues to investigate the k*****gs and aftermath. But it was through the B******i investigations that Hillary Clintons use of a private email server became publica controversy that remains potent.
Conflicts of Interest in Foggy Bottom
What? Before becoming Clintons chief of staff, Cheryl Mills worked for Clinton on an unpaid basis for four month while also working for New York University, in which capacity she negotiated on the schools behalf with the government of Abu Dhabi, where it was building a campus. In June 2012, Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedins status at State changed to special government employee,allowing her to also work for Teneo, a consulting firm run by Bill Clintons former right-hand man. She also earned money from the Clinton Foundation and was paid directly by Hillary Clinton.
Who? Both Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin are among Clintons longest-serving and closest aides. Abedin remains involved in her campaign (and shes also married to Anthony Weiner).
When? January 2009-February 2013
How serious is it? This is arcane stuff, to be sure. There are questions about conflict of interestsuch as whether Teneo clients might have benefited from special treatment by the State Department while Abedin worked for both. To a great extent, this is just an extension of the tangle of conflicts presented by the Clinton Foundation and the many overlapping roles of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
The Clintons Private Email Server
What? During the course of the B******i investigation, New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt learned Clinton had used a personal email account while secretary of state. It turned out she had also been using a private server, located at a house in New York. The result was that Clinton and her staff decided which emails to turn over to the State Department as public records and which to withhold; they say they then destroyed the ones they had designated as personal.
When? 2009-2013, during Clintons term as secretary.
Who? Hillary Clinton; Bill Clinton; top aides including Huma Abedin
How serious is it? It looks more serious all the time. The rules governing use of personal emails are murky, and Clinton aides insist she followed the rules. Theres no dispositive evidence otherwise so far. The greater political problem for Clinton is it raises questions about how she selected the emails she turned over and what was in the ones she deleted. The FBI has reportedly managed to recover some of the deleted correspondence. Could the server have been hacked? Some of the emails she received on her personal account are marked sensitive.
Plus theres a entirely different set of questions about Clintons State Department emails. The FBI is investigating the security of the server as well as the safety of a thumb drive belonging to her lawyer that contains copies of her emails. And the AP reports that the setup may have made the server vulnerable to hacking. Given the shabby state of State Department cybersecurity, she might not have been any better off using the official system.
Sidney Blumenthal
Blumenthal takes a lunch break while being deposed in private session of the House Select Committee on B******i.
What? A former journalist, Blumenthal was a top aide in the second term of the Bill Clinton administration and helped on messaging during the bad old days. He served as an adviser to Hillary Clintons 2008 p**********l campaign, and when she took over the State Department, she sought to hire Blumenthal. Obama aides, apparently still smarting over his role in attacks on candidate Obama, refused the request, so Clinton just sought out his counsel informally. At the same time, Blumenthal was drawing a check from the Clinton Foundation.
When? 2009-2013
How serious is it? Some of the damage is already done. Blumenthal was apparently the source of the idea that the B******i attacks were spontaneous, a notion that proved incorrect and provided a political bludgeon against Clinton and Obama. He also advised the secretary on a wide range of other issues, from Northern Ireland to China, and passed along analysis from his son Max, a staunch critic of the Israeli government (and conservative bête noire).
But emails released so far show even Clintons top foreign-policy guru, Jake Sullivan, rejecting Blumenthals analysis, raising questions about her judgment in trusting him.
The Speeches
Keith Bedford / Reuters / Zak Bickel / The Atlantic
What? Since Bill Clinton left the White House in 2001, both Clintons have made millions of dollars for giving speeches.
When? 2001-present
Who? Hillary Clinton; Bill Clinton; Chelsea Clinton
How serious is it? At one time, this seemed like the most dangerous of the bunch, but it has since gone dormantwhich isnt to say that its dead. For the couple, who left the White House up to their ears in legal debt, lucrative speechesmostly by the former presidentproved to be an effective way of rebuilding wealth. They have also been an effective magnet for prying questions.
Where did Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton speak? How did they decide how much to charge? What did they say? How did they decide which speeches would be given on behalf of the Clinton Foundation, with fees going to the charity, and which would be treated as personal income? Are there cases of conflicts of interest or quid pro quosfor example, speaking gigs for Bill Clinton on behalf of clients who had business before the State Department?
The Clinton Foundation
A brooch for sale at the Clinton Museum Store in Little Rock, Arkansas
(Lucy Nicholson / Reuters / Zak Bickel / The Atlantic)
What? Bill Clintons foundation was actually established in 1997, but after leaving the White House it became his primary vehicle for well, everything.
With projects ranging from public health to elephant-poaching protection and small-business assistance to child development, the foundation is a huge global player with several prominent offshoots. In 2013, following Hillary Clintons departure as secretary of State, it was renamed the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
When? 1997-present
Who? Bill Clinton; Hillary Clinton; Chelsea Clinton, etc.
How serious is it? If the Clinton Foundations strength is President Clintons endless intellectual omnivorousness, its weakness is the distractibility and lack of interest in detail that sometimes come with it. On a philanthropic level, the foundation gets decent ratings from outside review groups, though critics charge that its too diffuse to do much good, that the money has not always achieved what it was intended to, and that in some cases the money doesnt seem to have achieved its intended purpose.
The foundation made errors in its tax returns it has to correct. Overall, however, the essential questions about the Clinton Foundation come down to two, related issues. The first is the seemingly unavoidable conflicts of interest: How did the Clintons charitable work intersect with their for-profit speeches? How did their speeches intersect with Hillary Clintons work at the State Department?
Were there quid-pro-quos involving U.S. policy? The second, connected question is about disclosure. When Clinton became secretary, she agreed that the foundation would make certain disclosures, which its now clear it didnt always do. And the looming questions about Clintons State Department emails make it harder to answer those questions.
The Bad Old Days
Supporter Dick Furinash holds up cardboard cut-outs of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
What is it? Since the Clintons have a long history of controversies, there are any number of past scandals that continue to float around, especially in conservative media: Whitewater. Troopergate. Paula Jones. Monica Lewinsky. Vince Foster.
When? 1975-2001
Who? Bill Clinton; Hillary Clinton; a brigade of supporting characters
How serious is it? Not terribly. Some are wholly spurious (Foster). Others (Lewinsky, Whitewater) have been so exhaustively investigated its hard to imagine them doing much further damage to Hillary Clintons standing. In fact, the Lewinsky scandal famously boosted her public approval ratings. But that doesnt mean you wont hear plenty about them.
From Whitewater to B******i: A Clinton Scandal Primer
Hillary Clinton prepares to testify before the House committee on the 2012 Libyan attacks. For a change, she has the upper handcan she keep it?
Thursday will be the biggest day so far for the House select committee investigating the B******i attacks. Hillary Clinton will testify before the committee for the first time, in a public hearing that will last for hours.
Its a high-stakes encounter for both the committees Republican leaders and Clinton. After months on the defensive over her use of a private server for email at the State Department, Clinton is off her back foot, accusing the GOP of mounting the committee in a nakedly political ploy. Shes been helped in that respect by several prominent Republicans agreeing publicly, as well as accusations by a fired committee staffer. Over the weekend, chair Trey Gowdy lashed out at these Republicans and said the recent stretch has been among the worst weeks of my life.
Gowdy will be under pressure to deliver something substantive from the hearingssome evidence of a real scandal or controversy. Clinton, meanwhile, will be trying to stay on her front foot and avoid errors. That wont be easy. Despite Clinton turning in a strong performance while testifying about B******i before a Senate panel in December 2013, the House select committee will have many questions about security at the State Department.
The Associated Press provided some new fodder on Monday, reporting that Clinton inherited a State Department with some of the worst cybersecurity in the federal governmentand that the problem only got worse while she was secretary. The department was hacked by Russians after John Kerry took over from Clinton in 2013.
Theres so far no evidence that Clintons email itself was breached, but theres been lots of speculation. The damning report about the State Departments security suggests that wh**ever security risks Clinton took by using a private email server, it might not have been any safer to rely on States own moth-eaten system.
RELATED STORY
Among the Hillary H**ers
(We H**e Her, Because She's a Liar, Socialist/C****e, Anti-American, Above The Law, Did I Mention She's a Liar??? Don D.)
B******i has become a classic Clinton scandal. Her use of a private email account became known during the course of the B******i investigation. Thus far, the investigations have found no wrongdoing on her part with respect to the 2012 attacks themselves, but Clintons private-email use and concerns about whether she sent classified information have become huge stories unto themselves.
This is a pattern with the Clinton family, which has been in the public spotlight since Bill Clintons first run for office, in 1974: Something that appears potentially scandalous on its face turns out to be innocuous, but an investigation into it reveals different questionable behavior. The canonical case is Whitewater, a failed real-estate investment Bill and Hillary Clinton made in 1978. While no inquiry ever produced evidence of wrongdoing, investigations ultimately led to President Clintons impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice.
With Hillary Clinton leading the field for the Democratic nomination for president, every Clinton scandalfrom Whitewater to the State Department emailswill be under the microscope. (No other American politicianseven ones as corrupt as Richard Nixon, or as h**ed by partisans as George W. Bushhave fostered the creation of a permanent multimillion-dollar cottage industry dev**ed to attacking them.) Keeping track of each controversy, where it came from, and how serious it is, is no small task, so heres a primer. Well update it as new information emerges.
Clintons State Department Emails
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton checks her phone on board a plane from Malta to Tripoli, Libya.
What? Setting aside the question of the Clintons private email server, whats actually in the emails that Clinton did turn over to State? While some of the emails related to B******i have been released, there are plenty of others covered by public-records laws that havent.
When? 2009-2013
How serious is it? Serious. Initially, it seemed that the interest in the emails would stem from damaging things that Clinton or other aides had said: cover-ups, misrepresentations, who knows? But so far, other than some cringe-worthy moments of sucking up and some eye-rolly emails from contacts like Sidney Blumenthal, the emails have been remarkably boring. The main focus now is on classification. We know that some of the material in the emails is now classified. The question is whether any of it, and how much of it, was classified at the time it was sent. Clinton has said she didnt knowingly send or receive classified material on the account. In addition, some emails that Clinton didnt turn over have since surfaced.
B******i
A man celebrates as the U.S. Consulate in B******i burns on September 11, 2012.
What? On September 11, 2012, attackers overran a U.S. consulate in B******i, Libya, k*****g Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Since then, Republicans have charged that Hillary Clinton failed to adequately protect U.S. installations or that she attempted to spin the attacks as spontaneous when she knew they were planned terrorist operations. She testifies for the first time on October 22.
When? September 11, 2012-present
How serious is it? B******i has gradually turned into a classic its not the crime, its the coverup scenario. Only the fringes argue, at this point, that Clinton deliberately withheld aid. A House committee continues to investigate the k*****gs and aftermath. But it was through the B******i investigations that Hillary Clintons use of a private email server became publica controversy that remains potent.
Conflicts of Interest in Foggy Bottom
What? Before becoming Clintons chief of staff, Cheryl Mills worked for Clinton on an unpaid basis for four month while also working for New York University, in which capacity she negotiated on the schools behalf with the government of Abu Dhabi, where it was building a campus. In June 2012, Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedins status at State changed to special government employee,allowing her to also work for Teneo, a consulting firm run by Bill Clintons former right-hand man. She also earned money from the Clinton Foundation and was paid directly by Hillary Clinton.
Who? Both Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin are among Clintons longest-serving and closest aides. Abedin remains involved in her campaign (and shes also married to Anthony Weiner).
When? January 2009-February 2013
How serious is it? This is arcane stuff, to be sure. There are questions about conflict of interestsuch as whether Teneo clients might have benefited from special treatment by the State Department while Abedin worked for both. To a great extent, this is just an extension of the tangle of conflicts presented by the Clinton Foundation and the many overlapping roles of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
The Clintons Private Email Server
What? During the course of the B******i investigation, New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt learned Clinton had used a personal email account while secretary of state. It turned out she had also been using a private server, located at a house in New York. The result was that Clinton and her staff decided which emails to turn over to the State Department as public records and which to withhold; they say they then destroyed the ones they had designated as personal.
When? 2009-2013, during Clintons term as secretary.
Who? Hillary Clinton; Bill Clinton; top aides including Huma Abedin
How serious is it? It looks more serious all the time. The rules governing use of personal emails are murky, and Clinton aides insist she followed the rules. Theres no dispositive evidence otherwise so far. The greater political problem for Clinton is it raises questions about how she selected the emails she turned over and what was in the ones she deleted. The FBI has reportedly managed to recover some of the deleted correspondence. Could the server have been hacked? Some of the emails she received on her personal account are marked sensitive.
Plus theres a entirely different set of questions about Clintons State Department emails. The FBI is investigating the security of the server as well as the safety of a thumb drive belonging to her lawyer that contains copies of her emails. And the AP reports that the setup may have made the server vulnerable to hacking. Given the shabby state of State Department cybersecurity, she might not have been any better off using the official system.
Sidney Blumenthal
Blumenthal takes a lunch break while being deposed in private session of the House Select Committee on B******i.
What? A former journalist, Blumenthal was a top aide in the second term of the Bill Clinton administration and helped on messaging during the bad old days. He served as an adviser to Hillary Clintons 2008 p**********l campaign, and when she took over the State Department, she sought to hire Blumenthal. Obama aides, apparently still smarting over his role in attacks on candidate Obama, refused the request, so Clinton just sought out his counsel informally. At the same time, Blumenthal was drawing a check from the Clinton Foundation.
When? 2009-2013
How serious is it? Some of the damage is already done. Blumenthal was apparently the source of the idea that the B******i attacks were spontaneous, a notion that proved incorrect and provided a political bludgeon against Clinton and Obama. He also advised the secretary on a wide range of other issues, from Northern Ireland to China, and passed along analysis from his son Max, a staunch critic of the Israeli government (and conservative bête noire).
But emails released so far show even Clintons top foreign-policy guru, Jake Sullivan, rejecting Blumenthals analysis, raising questions about her judgment in trusting him.
The Speeches
Keith Bedford / Reuters / Zak Bickel / The Atlantic
What? Since Bill Clinton left the White House in 2001, both Clintons have made millions of dollars for giving speeches.
When? 2001-present
Who? Hillary Clinton; Bill Clinton; Chelsea Clinton
How serious is it? At one time, this seemed like the most dangerous of the bunch, but it has since gone dormantwhich isnt to say that its dead. For the couple, who left the White House up to their ears in legal debt, lucrative speechesmostly by the former presidentproved to be an effective way of rebuilding wealth. They have also been an effective magnet for prying questions.
Where did Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton speak? How did they decide how much to charge? What did they say? How did they decide which speeches would be given on behalf of the Clinton Foundation, with fees going to the charity, and which would be treated as personal income? Are there cases of conflicts of interest or quid pro quosfor example, speaking gigs for Bill Clinton on behalf of clients who had business before the State Department?
The Clinton Foundation
A brooch for sale at the Clinton Museum Store in Little Rock, Arkansas
(Lucy Nicholson / Reuters / Zak Bickel / The Atlantic)
What? Bill Clintons foundation was actually established in 1997, but after leaving the White House it became his primary vehicle for well, everything.
With projects ranging from public health to elephant-poaching protection and small-business assistance to child development, the foundation is a huge global player with several prominent offshoots. In 2013, following Hillary Clintons departure as secretary of State, it was renamed the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
When? 1997-present
Who? Bill Clinton; Hillary Clinton; Chelsea Clinton, etc.
How serious is it? If the Clinton Foundations strength is President Clintons endless intellectual omnivorousness, its weakness is the distractibility and lack of interest in detail that sometimes come with it. On a philanthropic level, the foundation gets decent ratings from outside review groups, though critics charge that its too diffuse to do much good, that the money has not always achieved what it was intended to, and that in some cases the money doesnt seem to have achieved its intended purpose.
The foundation made errors in its tax returns it has to correct. Overall, however, the essential questions about the Clinton Foundation come down to two, related issues. The first is the seemingly unavoidable conflicts of interest: How did the Clintons charitable work intersect with their for-profit speeches? How did their speeches intersect with Hillary Clintons work at the State Department?
Were there quid-pro-quos involving U.S. policy? The second, connected question is about disclosure. When Clinton became secretary, she agreed that the foundation would make certain disclosures, which its now clear it didnt always do. And the looming questions about Clintons State Department emails make it harder to answer those questions.
The Bad Old Days
Supporter Dick Furinash holds up cardboard cut-outs of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
What is it? Since the Clintons have a long history of controversies, there are any number of past scandals that continue to float around, especially in conservative media: Whitewater. Troopergate. Paula Jones. Monica Lewinsky. Vince Foster.
When? 1975-2001
Who? Bill Clinton; Hillary Clinton; a brigade of supporting characters
How serious is it? Not terribly. Some are wholly spurious (Foster). Others (Lewinsky, Whitewater) have been so exhaustively investigated its hard to imagine them doing much further damage to Hillary Clintons standing. In fact, the Lewinsky scandal famously boosted her public approval ratings. But that doesnt mean you wont hear plenty about them.
Nov 6, 2015 10:54:53 #
I am not much for a lot of blather, however right you are my remarks tend to be "short sweet and snappy"
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