[FoxNews] In a combative exchange at a hearing Friday in Washington, D.C., a federal judge unabashedly accused career State Department officials of lying and signing "clearly false" affidavits to derail a series of lawsuits seeking information about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server and her handling of the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth said he was "shocked" and "dumbfounded" when he learned that FBI had granted immunity to former Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills during its investigation into the use of Clinton's server, according to a court transcript of his remarks.
"I had myself found that Cheryl Mills had committed perjury and lied under oath in a published opinion I had issued in a Judicial Watch case where I found her unworthy of belief, and I was quite shocked to find out she had been given immunity in — by the Justice Department in the Hillary Clinton email case," Lamberth said during Friday's hearing.
The Department of Justice's Inspector General (IG), Michael Horowitz, noted in a bombshell report in June that it was "inconsistent with typical investigative strategy" for the FBI to allow Mills to sit in during the agency's interview of Clinton during the email probe, given that classified information traveled through Mills' personal email account. "[T]here are serious potential ramifications when one witness attends another witness' interview," the IG wrote.
On Friday, Lamberth, who was appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan, said he did not know Mills had been granted immunity until he "read the IG report and learned that and that she had accompanied [Clinton] to her interview."
The transparency group Judicial Watch initially sued the State Department in 2014, seeking information about the response to the Benghazi attack after the government didn't respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Other parallel lawsuits by Judicial Watch are probing issues like Clinton's server, whose existence was revealed during the course of the litigation.
The State Department had immediately moved to dismiss Judicial Watch's first lawsuit on a motion for summary judgment, saying in an affidavit that it had conducted a search of all potentially relevant emails in its possession and provided them. The affidavit noted that some more documents and emails could be forthcoming.
But Lamberth denied the request to dismiss the lawsuit at the time -- and on Friday, he said he was happy he did, charging that State Department officials had intentionally misled him because other key documents, including those on Clinton's email server, had not in fact been produced.
"It was clear to me that at the time that I ruled initially, that false statements were made to me by career State Department officials, and it became more clear through discovery that the information that I was provided was clearly false regarding the adequacy of the search and this – what we now know turned out to be the Secretary’s email system," Lamberth said Friday.
#1
....lawsuits seeking information about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server and her handling of the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Would those 'home brew' communiques be the ones containing the Soetoro discussions and instructions? Just asking.
[Bloomberg] Special Counsel Robert Mueller is expected to issue findings on core aspects of his Russia probe soon after the November midterm elections as he faces intensifying pressure to produce more indictments or shut down his investigation, according to two U.S. officials.
Specifically, Mueller is close to rendering judgment on two of the most explosive aspects of his inquiry: whether there were clear incidents of collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, and whether the president took any actions that constitute obstruction of justice, according to one of the officials, who asked not to be identified speaking about the investigation.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Mueller’s findings would be made public if he doesn’t secure unsealed indictments. The regulations governing Mueller’s probe stipulate that he can present his findings only to his boss, who is currently Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The regulations give a special counsel’s supervisor some discretion in deciding what is relayed to Congress and what is publicly released.
The question of timing is critical. Mueller’s work won’t be concluded ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections, when Democrats hope to take control of the House and end Trump’s one-party hold on Washington.
#1
The regulations governing Mueller’s probe stipulate that he can present his findings only to his boss, who is currently Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
#4
My guess is that they'll leak an ominous-sounding headline before the mid-terms, and then submit the details after. The details will include a photo of DJT and Melania walking into the Russian Tea Room in NY ("Coincidence? We think not.")
And since this week has been a complete disaster for the blue team-- good ole 1024 and the Heitkamp screwup-- the first leak will be sooner rather than later. Maybe Saturday, for the Sunday talk shows.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/18/2018 7:56 Comments ||
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#5
#3 I think is exactly right. We're close enough to Nov. 6 for leaks to happen IF they have anything at all. The deafening silence is all I need to conclude that they really have come up empty after 2 years.
Posted by: Tom ||
10/18/2018 9:08 Comments ||
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#6
It'll be kept secret *only* if there isn't anything there. Then they can create all sorts of sound-bites and 'anonymous sources' bullshit.
If there is anything, he'll leak it in one of his daily press leakings just before the mid-term.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/18/2018 11:43 Comments ||
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#9
So, after the midterms, Mueller goes bye-bye?
No, they just suddenly "find" some missing depositions, just like those extra ballot boxes that always seem to turn up "unexpectedly..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/18/2018 11:50 Comments ||
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#10
I predict he'll release the Friday after the midterms. That way if the midterms are bad for the Dems he doesn't drive the final stake into their coffin. If the midterms are good for the Dems he doesn't ruin the parties.
[Townhall] The Hillary Clinton email scandal came to light in early 2016. We know that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used her own personal email server instead of the State Department's email server when she conducted official government business.
Now, it has come to light that "a significant number" of the 340,000 emails between Hillary Clinton and her staffer, Huma Abedin, were found on former Congressman Anthony Weiner's computer. Abedin and Weiner are married.
The discovery was made after Weiner was found having sexually explicit communications with a teenage girl. The Southern District of New York (SDNY) was awarded a search warrant to search Weiner's computer for child pornography. The person searching the laptop found the communications between Abedin and Clinton.
The following letter was sent to the FBI, letting them know about the emails between Abedin and Clinton showing up on Weiner's laptop:
#4
Something unclear to me from the reports I've seen is who exactly busted her? I doubt it was local law enforcement, but was it Treasury, DOJ, FBI, city parking enforcement...?
[FOX] The top Treasury Department employee who was charged Wednesday with leaking confidential financial documents pertaining to former Trump officials was apprehended the previous evening with a flash drive containing the allegedly pilfered information in her hand, prosecutors said in court papers.
The dramatic arrest late Tuesday came on the heels of other high-profile, leak-related prosecutions under the Trump administration, which has pledged to go on the offensive against leakers that the president has called "traitors and cowards."
Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, 40, a senior official at the department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), is accused of illegally giving a reporter bank reports documenting several suspicious financial transactions, known as Suspicious Activity Reports ("SARs"), from October 2017 to the present.
The financial transactions involved Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort, campaign official Richard Gates, accused Russian agent Maria Butina and the Russian Embassy, federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
[RedState] Welcome to the Way Back Machine. Today's destination is taking us all the way back to the Year of Our Lord two-thousand-and-thirteen.
It was the year after longtime U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa for the Texas district encompassing El Paso was ousted by an up-and-comer from the El Paso City Council named Beto O'Rourke. Of course, his real name is Robert ‐ which he went by until after college ‐ but we'll get to that.
After the election and Beto's ascendancy to the U.S. House was complete, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus realized they were suddenly a member short.
How could this be?? The 77.6 Hispanic population of Texas' 16th congressional district voted for "Beto." They wouldn't possibly replace a member of the caucus representing their demographic with a guy who wouldn't be allowed in.
Except, they did. Because for all of the Spanish-speaking Robert Francis O'Rourke's cultural appropriation by using the nickname "Beto," he's still just a 4th generation Irish American and according to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus' charter, he wasn't allowed.
But some people at the time still floated the idea that maybe an exception should be made.
"I would like to see him in there because there is strength in numbers," said David M. Austin, the El Paso-based border representative for the U.S./Mexico Border Counties Coalition, which lobbies Congress on issues that affect the border regions. "I think it's less important as to whom the person is compared to whom they represent. Given the makeup of his district, his membership in the caucus would be important."
However, the CHC stuck to its charter and maintained the policy necessitating members have Hispanic heritage, which Beto does not. For his part, O'Rourke only commented that he respected the Caucus's bylaws.
The willingness of those on the left to shoe-horn in a privileged white guy under the banner of a minority representative is honestly laughable. But don't you dare put on a sombrero on Halloween or celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
I suppose the one thing we can extrapolate from this is maybe if Elizabeth Warren had admitted to not being Native American but went around calling herself "Little White Dove" and learned a few words from the movie Windtalkers during her first bid for the Senate, she'd still be a Democratic darling rather than a laughingstock.
#4
His name isnt Beto. Its Bobby. As in Boarding School Bobby, Robert O'Rourke, elitist Columbia Universty Grad, son of a local politician/judge, got elected by using eminent domain to kill small businesses in San Antonio in order to give their land to fat-cat father in law - pushing an urban renewal plan involving his wealthy father-in-law, a multi-national real estate investor once described as “the richest man in El Paso."
Bobby who got his dad to whitewash a DUI wreck and his attempted evasion. Bobby the Burglar who got popped for unlawful entry but his daddy bailed him out. Bobby who never held a private sector job and has been a legislator for almost all his adult life.
Bobby who partnered with his mother.in several business ventures, who ran a family furniture store that was targeted by the IRS in a $630,000 tax fraud case in 2010. Bobby who illegally profited from tech IPOs while in Congress, including Twitter's IPO, violations of the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. His money comes mainly from out of state.
Yea, that guy. Call him what he is: Boarding School Bobby from here on out please.
The press has whitewashed the hell out of him. I'd jail every one of the reporters doing this as a crime against the people by misinforming them deliberately in order to influence the election - or else force them to declare their support overtly and loudly so people realize its not news, its propaganda.
Posted by: Boss Spoper5850 ||
10/18/2018 11:33 Comments ||
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#5
Like Bath House Barry, it is catchy...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/18/2018 13:43 Comments ||
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#6
Maybe Beto and Fauxcohontas are related. They have similar ways of presenting themselves politically.
#12
O'Rourke: "No, señor, no soy naco!"
And is he more gordo... or flaco?
He holds out a hand
To his alien land:
"Please, a fork for this cute tofu taco?"
[TheGuardian] Women who were named in an open letter by the North Dakota senator said her ‘political agenda interfered’ with their lives.
Several women who were erroneously named as sexual assault survivors in an open letter by the North Dakota Democratic senator Heidi Heitkamp are considering taking legal action over the blunder, according to social media.
“Heidi Heitkamp’s political agenda has interfered with, or downright ruined, our lives,” said one of the affected women in a Facebook post announcing the possibility of a lawsuit.
She continued: “Survivors of assault who had taken care to avoid the subject were suddenly bombarded by questions asking them to explain to their loved ones why their name appeared on this list.”
The letter, published in local North Dakota newspapers Monday, was intended to call out Heitkamp’s 2018 Senate opponent Kevin Cramer for critical remarks he had made about the #MeToo movement, calling it a “movement toward victimization”.
In an interview with the New York Times last week, Cramer said the women in his life agreed, and that they embodied a sort of toughness that made #MeToo – a movement to speak up about sexual assault – irrelevant. “They are pioneers of the prairie. These are tough people,” he said.
In the letter, Heitkamp’s campaign shot back: “As North Dakotans who have experienced this absolute terror firsthand and survived these crimes – we are all prairie tough.”
The letter, placed as an ad, listed more than 100 undersigned North Dakota women without obtaining their consent to either the contents of the letter or to be named. Some of the women named said they weren’t victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or rape, as the letter claimed.
“A lot of these people listed, including me, did not give anyone permission for our names to be posted,” said another one of the women named in a Facebook post. “I don’t even support Heidi Heitkamp and I am not a domestic abuse survivor.”
The Heitkamp campaign issued a formal apology Tuesday, explaining that it had populated the list by reaching out to“victims advocates”, and was in the process of issuing a retraction and making personal apologies to all the women.
“This was incompetent. It was wrong. It should have never happened,” Heitkamp told Rob Port, a conservative North Dakota blogger, on his radio talk show Tuesday. “It was a very flagrant error of the campaign and I own it.”
Lexi Zhorela told the Associated Press that she learned of her inclusion in the ad Monday night.
“I’m furious,” the 24-year-old hairdresser and single mother from Bismarck said. “I know I’m not the only woman hurt by this.”
Zhorela said she was listed in the ad because she had been tagged by a friend in a Facebook post who knew she had been the victim of sexual assault.
“I have only shared my story with a couple of people in confidence,” she said. “I didn’t want it blasted for the world to see.”
Cramer already had the winds at his back before Heitkamp’s campaign error. He has been up by as much as 12 points in recent polling. He also figures to benefit from a new statewide voter identification law which some analysis has suggested could purge upwards of 5,000 mostly Native American voters from the rolls. Heitkamp won her race in 2012 by a razor-thin 2,900 votes, largely on the strength of support from the state’s sizable Native American population. Control of the Senate, which Republicans control by two seats, may hinge on the outcome of this race.
Zhorela said she had intended to vote for Heitkamp in November but will “definitely not now”.
Posted by: 3dc ||
10/18/2018 01:57 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,
#1
Because democrats really care about your rights
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[FoxNews] In a combative exchange at a hearing Friday in Washington, D.C., a federal judge unabashedly accused career State Department officials of lying and signing "clearly false" affidavits to derail a series of lawsuits seeking information about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server and her handling of the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
[Townhall] The Hillary Clinton email scandal came to light in early 2016. We know that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used her own personal email server instead of the State Department's email server when she conducted official government business.
[FOX] The top Treasury Department employee who was charged Wednesday with leaking confidential financial documents pertaining to former Trump officials was apprehended the previous evening with a flash drive containing the allegedly pilfered information in her hand, prosecutors said in court papers.
[RedState] Welcome to the Way Back Machine. Today's destination is taking us all the way back to the Year of Our Lord two-thousand-and-thirteen.
