Tag: Hillary Clinton

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Email Shows Colin Powell Did Advise Hillary Clinton On Using Private Email

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Discovered in the recent batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server is an communication from former Secretary of State Colin Powell to Clinton informing her how he used his own private email account during his time at the State Department.

Clinton has said in the past that Powell advised her early on in her time as Secretary of State about email use, although Powell says he didn’t remember any such communications.

Up to now, this has been a question of who’s telling the truth? Did Powell advise Clinton on email use or not?

Well, now we know.

From the New York Daily News:

Emails released by House Democrat Elijah Cummings Wednesday evening showed Powell, Secretary of State under the George W. Bush administration, answering a question from Clinton about smartphone use.

“Be very careful,” Powell told Clinton in a January 2009 exchange, saying that using a BlackBerry for State Department work could make the messages “part of the official record and subject to the law.”

He also admitted to going around State Department servers in diplomatic discussions.

Clinton had asked her predecessor about restrictions on BlackBerry use in the department, though Powell replied that didn’t have the device and used a computer hooked up to private phone line to communicate with friends.

“I even used it to do business with some foreign leader and some of the senior foreign leaders and some of the senior folks in the Department on their personal email accounts,” he wrote.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, who released the exchange as a member of the House Oversight Committee, said that the exchange shows “Secretary Powell advised Secretary Clinton with a detailed blueprint on how to skirt security rules and bypass requirements to preserve federal records.”

From the email dated January 23, 2009 (see above):

“What I did do was have a personal computer that was hooked up to a private phone line (sounds ancient.) So I could communicate with a wide range of friends directly without going through the State Department servers. I even used it to do business with some foreign leaders and some of the senior folks in the Department on their personal email accounts. I did the same thing on the road in hotels.”

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Dallas Morning News Endorses Hillary Clinton For President

What is going on in Texas?

First a huge 75,000 person nation-wide poll came out via the Washington Post which showed Hillary Clinton running one point ahead of Donald Trump in the Lone Star state, and now the Dallas Morning News has endorsed Clinton for president.

She is the first Democrat to receive the paper’s blessing in over 75 years.

Along the way, the paper also calls Trump out for values that are “hostile to conservatism,” and a “dangerous lack of judgment.”

Here’s an excerpt from the Dallas Morning News:

There is only one serious candidate on the presidential ballot in November. We recommend Hillary Clinton. We don’t come to this decision easily. This newspaper has not recommended a Democrat for the nation’s highest office since before World War II — if you’re counting, that’s more than 75 years and nearly 20 elections.

The party’s over-reliance on government and regulation to remedy the country’s ills is at odds with our belief in private-sector ingenuity and innovation. Our values are more about individual liberty, free markets and a strong national defense.

Trump’s values are hostile to conservatism. He plays on fear — exploiting base instincts of xenophobia, racism and misogyny — to bring out the worst in all of us, rather than the best. His serial shifts on fundamental issues reveal an astounding absence of preparedness. And his improvisational insults and midnight tweets exhibit a dangerous lack of judgment and impulse control.

After nearly four decades in the public spotlight, 25 of them on the national stage, Clinton is a known quantity. For all her warts, she is the candidate more likely to keep our nation safe, to protect American ideals and to work across the aisle to uphold the vital domestic institutions that rely on a competent, experienced president.

Hillary Clinton has spent years in the trenches doing the hard work needed to prepare herself to lead our nation. In this race, at this time, she deserves your vote.

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Hillary Clinton Shares How She Coped With Monica Lewinsky Scandal

In advance of the coming presidential debates, Hillary Clinton spoke to CNN about how she coped with her husband Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky 20 years ago.

Donald Trump has hinted that he considers the subject “fair game” and won’t pause to somehow blame Hillary for the sins of her husband.

Having been legally married for almost 13 years now, and with my husband Michael for 22 years, I think it’s tawdry to bring up since Hillary wasn’t the one cheating on her spouse.

That said, I will add that both presidential candidates have faced challenges in their marriages. Hillary with Bill’s indiscretions and Trump with his two divorces.

While I believe political spouses should be off-limits, I think it does give the American voter information about how these two candidates handled personal challenges.

Hillary honored her marriage vows and worked through her issues with Bill. Donald, who did cheat on his first wife with his second, cut and run.

Take that info however you like.

I’m willing to bet that Hillary will not be bringing up Donald’s multiple divorces. #WhosTheClassAct

(h/t Boy Culture)

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Campaign Ad: “Sacrifice”

The latest campaign ad from Hillary Clinton yet again puts Donald Trump’s own words out front for the American voter to consider.

From The Hill:

The video, released Tuesday, shows veterans silently watching footage of the GOP presidential nominee making controversial remarks about the military.

“I know more about [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] than the generals do,” Trump says in one segment. In another, he mocks Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) time as a prisoner of war, sarcastically saying “he’s a war hero because he was captured,” before derisively adding, “I like people that weren’t captured, OK?”

Trump also answers a question about the sacrifices he’s made by bragging about his real estate buildings. A reporter responds: “You think those are sacrifices?”

I’m surprised the campaign didn’t include Trump’s now famous statement about “always wanting a purple heart” from a few months ago when a veteran handed Trump his own purple heart commendation. Trump added at the time, “This was much easier.”

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CNN/ORC Poll: Donald Trump Leads Hillary By 2 Points

The latest CNN.ORC poll shows Donald Trump with a two point lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton as the race for the White House enters the final nine weeks of campaigning.

Trump tops Clinton 45% to 43% among likely voters, with Libertarian Gary Johnson at 7% and the Green Party’s Jill Stein at just 2%.

Read the full results of the poll here, and watch CNN’s David Chalian break down the numbers below:

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Paul Krugman: America Can’t Afford Another Election Tipped By Innuendo

Credit: Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

Excellent essay in the New York Times by Paul Krugman wherein he references the 2000 George W. Bush/Al Gore election, and asks journalists to hit pause occasionally and “ask whether they are reporting facts or simply engaging in innuendo.” He also urges voters to try and read with a critical eye when taking in political news.

Just an excerpt:

True, there aren’t many efforts to pretend that Donald Trump is a paragon of honesty. But it’s hard to escape the impression that he’s being graded on a curve. If he manages to read from a TelePrompter without going off script, he’s being presidential. If he seems to suggest that he wouldn’t round up all 11 million undocumented immigrants right away, he’s moving into the mainstream. And many of his multiple scandals, like what appear to be clear payoffs to state attorneys general to back off investigating Trump University, get remarkably little attention.

Meanwhile, we have the presumption that anything Hillary Clinton does must be corrupt, most spectacularly illustrated by the increasingly bizarre coverage of the Clinton Foundation.

Step back for a moment, and think about what that foundation is about. When Bill Clinton left office, he was a popular, globally respected figure. What should he have done with that reputation? Raising large sums for a charity that saves the lives of poor children sounds like a pretty reasonable, virtuous course of action. And the Clinton Foundation is, by all accounts, a big force for good in the world. For example, Charity Watch, an independent watchdog, gives it an “A” rating — better than the American Red Cross.

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Hillary Clinton Campaign Unveils New Campaign Plane

Or is it the “Stronger Together Express?”

The Hillary Clinton campaign celebrated the inaugural flight of “Hill Force One,” the nickname for Hillary’s new campaign plane.

Via Mashable:

The Clinton campaign unveiled a new Boeing 737 plane on Labor Day with Clinton’s slogan “Stronger Together” plastered across the side and her “H” logo painted on the tail.

The former U.S. secretary of state was scheduled to fly on Monday with her press corps to campaign events in Ohio and Illinois, the Associated Press reported.

Until now, Clinton mainly traveled by private jet, breaking with the common presidential campaign practice of flying in the same aircraft as her traveling press corps.

Republican nominee Donald Trump has similarly kept reporters, photographers and videographers from joining him aboard Trump Force One.

The Trump campaign has not hinted that there will be any change in his travel policies.

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Hillary Clinton Raises Staggering $143 Million In August

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton

“Yuuuuuge” haul for the Clinton campaign in August!

From CNN:

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign raised $143 million in August for her campaign, the DNC and state parties, according to a campaign press release, a haul that makes the month the best of her campaign.

National polls have tightened since the Democratic National Convention in July, but Clinton maintains leads in almost all battleground states.

With their massive August haul, the Clinton campaign starts September with more than $68 million in the bank, while her joint fundraising accounts have a combined $84 million in the bank.

“Thanks to the 2.3 million people who have contributed to our campaign, we are heading into the final two months of the race with the resources we need to organize and mobilize millions of voters across the country,” Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement. “These resources will help us to register and turnout millions of voters to elect progressive candidates across the country.”

For comparison, then-Sen. Barack Obama raised Obama’s campaign raised $66 million in August 2008 and $150 million in September 2008.

The average donation last month was $50.

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New Suffolk University/USA Today Poll Shows Clinton Leading Trump By 7 Points

The latest national Suffolk University/USA Today poll out Thursday shows Democrat Hillary Clinton leading Republican Donald Trump by 7 points.

Clinton received the support of 48% of 1,000 likely voters, while Trump earned 41%.

This matches similar results from the recent Fox News poll released Wednesday evening, and the 7 point margin shown in the latest Monmouth University poll.

In a four-way race, the survey showed Clinton still held a 7 point lead garnering 42% support, Trump receiving 35%, Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson scored 9% and Green Party nominee Jill Stein received just 3%. The remaining 10 percent were undecided.

Trump barely led Clinton among male voters (44%/43%), while Clinton trounced Trump by 16 points among women (54%/38%).

Trump leads by 8 points (49%/41%) with white voters, but Clinton leads by 41 points with Hispanic voters (65%/24%) and by 87 points among black voters (91%/4%).

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Trump Campaign Manager: It’s A Shame Hillary Clinton Never Wants To Share Thoughts On Policy

This is the kind of “spin” that slips by folks who aren’t huge political junkies day in, day out.

Kellyanne Conway, campaign manager for Donald Trump, makes this odd comment during a segment on MSNBC regarding the upcoming presidential debates:

“I think people who actually want to know what Hillary Clinton thinks about the issues literally have to tune into those debates to watch it. And I think that’s a shame that people have to wait until September 26, here in New York, to listen to what Hillary Clinton believes, unless you want to go to the website and click, what she believes on different policies.”

As everyone knows, Clinton is the ultimate policy wonk. It would make her happy to talk about nothing else.

Conway, trying to pretend that Clinton never addresses policy, is one of the most absurd things I’ve seen in a long time.

It’s like saying what a shame it is that I never drink wine…

(h/t JoeMyGod)