Official Hillary Clinton 2016 thread (9 Viewers)

[squistion]

Who's the new skirt around here?

johnjohn/popsecret/Dr.Odai.

He did a variation of that recently with Dr Odai account, trying to be a sarcastic conservative troll but didn't believably carry that one off either.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Who are the four people?

Larry Johnson

Asher - DC Bureau chief and managing editor, McClatchy

Los Angeles Times reporter who used to work for McClatchy

Another McClatchy reporter.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

CHERYL MILLS RECEIVED IMMUNITY.

Three grants of immunity so far, three instances of people taking the Fifth.

 

[Joe Summer]

Larry Johnson: "the Birth Certificate issue was not pushed hot and heavy by Sid to me."

Johnson also wrote on his blog, "I never argued or wrote that Barack Obama was not legally qualified. Never. Ever. Just the opposite."

Johnson did not mention Obama's birth certificate on his blog until June 12, 2008. This was 5 days after Hillary had dropped out of the race. So even if Johnson was "inspired" by something said by Blumenthal, it can't really be connected to Clinton because Clinton was no longer a candidate.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Here's my issue with the Blumenthal story: if he was really the creator of birtherism, then where is the evidence of any news stories that he planted? He allegedly tried to get McClatchy to report on the rumor, but that attempt failed. Are we supposed to believe that he never tried again?

And if Blumenthal never tried again, how could he really be the father of birtherism?

People need to make a distinction here - he was not the creator of birtherism. That is a classic Trump overreach. The birther thing was around likely dating to at least 2004 and probably helped a little bit at the start by Obama's publicist stupidly putting him down as 'Kenyan' in the earliest promos for his book, way back when.

Right now there are two stakes of evidences confirming that Blumenthal did traffic in the birther story:

1. Larry Johnson, whose website NoQuarterUSA was a leading off posted site featuring the birther and Kenyan connections stories dating to when the Obama/Hillary primary in 2008 was most heated and desperate, has come out with posts stating that Blumenthal was pushing the story to him. Just coincidentally or not Johnson ends up doing intelligence work for Blumenthal in 2009 and after.

2. Jim Asher a respected journalist and DC bureau chief has come out and publicly stated that Blumenthal was pushing the story to him as well. Asher has been backed up by another McClatchy reporter and a reporter for the L.A. Times who used to work for McClatchy.

 

[pantagrapher]

Larry Johnson

Asher - DC Bureau chief and managing editor, McClatchy

Los Angeles Times reporter who used to work for McClatchy

Another McClatchy reporter.

That's two names. One is the guy who made the original claim. The other is a guy with a piss poor track record who, as I see in a subsequent reply, doesn't say what you say he says.

 

[Quint]

CHERYL MILLS RECEIVED IMMUNITY.

Three grants of immunity so far, three instances of people taking the Fifth.

will we be shocked when it's announced that Huma received immunity too?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Larry Johnson: "the Birth Certificate issue was not pushed hot and heavy by Sid to me."

Johnson also wrote on his blog, "I never argued or wrote that Barack Obama was not legally qualified. Never. Ever. Just the opposite."

Johnson did not mention Obama's birth certificate on his blog until June 12, 2008. This was 5 days after Hillary had dropped out of the race. So even if Johnson was "inspired" by something said by Blumenthal, it can't really be connected to Clinton because Clinton was no longer a candidate.

It should be noted that Johnson was pro-Hillary right up until about 2012.

It should be noted that Blumenthal was emailing with Johnson in 2009, at least one of which he forwarded on to Hillary.

Couple more bits from Johnson's piece:

Let me leave you with one anecdote. Sometime in February of 2008 I got an excited call from Sid and then the link to a video. He said it showed Barack Obama smoking marijuana. I checked it out and quickly determined that it was a hoax. I don’t recall at this time where it came from, but it was clear that it was not some old tape of Barack doing Puff the Magic Dragon.

Just to be clear--did Blumenthal ever tell you Obama was born in Kenya?

He said it was something we should look at, but was not viewed as the major focus of our effort. As I noted above Obama's associations with unsavory characters occupied more of my time.

- That sounds a lot like what Asher says about Blumenthal contacts with him.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

That's two names. One is the guy who made the original claim. The other is a guy with a piss poor track record who, as I see in a subsequent reply, doesn't say what you say he says.

The third name is Shashank Bengali, reporter for Los Angeles Times.

He backs up Asher.

Blumenthal himself told Hillary that he had emailed with Larry Johnson, albeit on a different subject because Johnson was providing field intelligence for him, which is what he does. Do you concede they emailed with each other in 2009, at least?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

CHERYL MILLS RECEIVED IMMUNITY.

Three grants of immunity so far, three instances of people taking the Fifth.

will we be shocked when it's announced that Huma received immunity too?

The funny thing to me is that all these people - Pagliano, Combetta, Mills - were all involved in the storage and destruction of documents and data. That obviously was a big deal.

As for Abedin, I don't know, because I haven't perceived that she was involved in that process, she seems more like a personal assistant or body girl most of the time, but Mills is one degree from Hillary herself, she is her right arm as a practical matter.

 

[Joe Summer]

OF COURSE it's an overreach by Trump. That's the point.

Trump wants to pin the origins of Birtherism on Clinton (via Blumenthal), and the evidence simply does not point to that.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

OF COURSE it's an overreach by Trump. That's the point.

Trump wants to pin the origins of Birtherism on Clinton (via Blumenthal), and the evidence simply does not point to that.

The origins? Yeah I agree, no I don't think she originated it or Blumenthal. Did they reach for it as the ship was going down? Oh yeah.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Here's Asher's tweets directly "@" Hillary and CNN about Blumenthal.

 

[timschochet]

Saints you're right, I confused Asher with Johnson; that's why I couldn't find the Parkinson's link. 

NC Commish, if you're reading this, my apologies. 

 

[Joe Summer]

The third name is Shashank Bengali, reporter for Los Angeles Times.

He backs up Asher.

Saints, you are being disingenuous with this statement. Bengali DOES NOT back up Asher's claims that Blumenthal pushed birtherism. Proof of X does not mean Proof of Y or Z.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

The other staffers granted immunity were John Bentel, who was director of the State Department's Office of Information Resources Management, and Clinton aide Heather Samuelson.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/mills-immunity-228580?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Politico-TopStories+(POLITICO+-+TOP+Stories)

- That's now FIVE grants of immunity. One additional person at PRN has pleaded the Fifth.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Saints, you are being disingenuous with this statement. Bengali DOES NOT back up Asher's claims that Blumenthal pushed birtherism. Proof of X does not mean Proof of Y or Z.

I would not be disingenuous, my friend, I posted the story earlier with two links and quoted text for anyone to read.

“Sid was definitely speaking to Asher,” Bengali said.

Bengali, who is now a Los Angeles Times correspondent based in Mumbai, said he had been asked to investigate “Obama’s Kenya ties” at Blumenthal’s behest, but couldn’t remember whether anyone had asked him “to check out the birther angle specifically. No one in Kenya took that seriously."

“What I remember is that you told me to look into everything about Obama's family in Kenya. I can't recall if we specifically discussed the birther claim, but I'm sure that was part of what I researched,” Bengali said in an email to Asher that was shared with POLITICO.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/sid-blumenthal-birthers-clinton-obama-228388#ixzz4KniXdaO6

 

[BassNBrew]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/mills-immunity-228580?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Politico-TopStories+(POLITICO+-+TOP+Stories)

- That's now FIVE grants of immunity. One additional person at PRN has pleaded the Fifth.

This will be the most corrupt administration ever by the time the oath is completed.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

This will be the most corrupt administration ever by the time the oath is completed.

Hell of a way to go into office.

 

[Sinn Fein]

I don't understand why anyone seriously doubts that Clinton was pushing the "kenya" angle when she was running against Obama.  All evidence points to it being a "dirty" fight behind the scenes - and Clinton's main argument from very early on was similar to this year - she was the better general election candidate.  How do you push that agenda?  You create stories that make Obama unelectable in a general election - even if most Dems would not buy the story.

As for nothing coming from Clinton herself - that is how these things work.  The candidate has people like Blumenthal who plants the seed, while the candidate publicly denounces the story.  This is neither surprising, nor shocking, nor disqualifying - its simply politics.

 

[Joe Summer]

This is like a really bad SAT test.

A. Asher says Blumenthal told him Obama was born in Kenya.

B. Bengali says Asher told him to investigate Obama's family in Kenya.

Based solely on the information provided in A and B, please answer if the following statement is TRUE or FALSE:

"Bengali says Asher told him that Blumenthal told him Obama was born in Kenya."

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

This is like a really bad SAT test.

A. Asher says Blumenthal told him Obama was born in Kenya.

B. Bengali says Asher told him to investigate Obama's family in Kenya.

Based solely on the information provided in A and B, please answer if the following statement is TRUE or FALSE:

"Bengali says Asher told him that Blumenthal told him Obama was born in Kenya."

Let's tie it all together

Asher:

“To the best of my recollection, these are the facts about my interaction with Sidney Blumenthal in late winter of 2008,” Asher said. “Blumenthal visited the Washington Bureau of McClatchy, where he and I met in my office. During that conversation and in subsequent communications, we discussed a number of matters related to Obama. He encouraged McClatchy to do stories related to Obama and his connections to Kenya.”

“On the birther issue, I recall my conversation with Blumenthal clearly,” Asher said, but acknowledged having “nothing in writing memorializing that conversation.”

Johnson:

Just to be clear--did Blumenthal ever tell you Obama was born in Kenya?

He said it was something we should look at, but was not viewed as the major focus of our effort.

Benghali:

“Sid was definitely speaking to Asher,” Bengali said.

Bengali, who is now a Los Angeles Times correspondent based in Mumbai, said he had been asked to investigate “Obama’s Kenya ties” at Blumenthal’s behest, but couldn’t remember whether anyone had asked him “to check out the birther angle specifically. No one in Kenya took that seriously."

“What I remember is that you told me to look into everything about Obama's family in Kenya. I can't recall if we specifically discussed the birther claim, but I'm sure that was part of what I researched,” Bengali said in an email to Asher that was shared with POLITICO.

- These three things seem consistent to me.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Asher says he also asked Bengali, after discussing the matter with Blumenthal, to look into “any connections between Obama and Raila Odinga, who had described himself as Obama’s cousin and would run for president of Kenya; and, second, possible relationships between Odinga and unspecified controversial Muslim groups.”

Asked about the email, Blumenthal would not clarify the nature of his interactions with Asher. But he wrote, “What you sent has nothing to do with birtherism at all. It is untrue I had anything to do with birtherism. Obama's relationship with his father is at the heart of his memoir, ‘Dreams of My Father,’ and has been a commonplace subject of interest for everyone.”

- Politico

Now, let's look at Larry Johnson, January 2008:

Really? Let’s start with this uncomfortable fact. The leader of the Kenyan Orange Democratic Movement opposition leader, Raila Odinga, is Barack Obama’s cousin. Barack may not put much stock in the relationship, but tribal allegiances are still strong in Kenya and Barack is clearly viewed as a Luo by his fellow tribesmen. Robert Ethan reported recently that ...

http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/1441/obamas-african-hubris-2/

 

[Boston]

This will be the most corrupt administration ever by the time the oath is completed.

Doesn't matter to the Alinsky disciples...it is always a means to an end...

 

[dutch]

The immunity to Mills makes sense to me: 

"A source familiar with the immunity offers to Mills and Samuelson said they came after the FBI interviewed the two lawyers when investigators asked to go through their computers to see if they still contained classified information.

The source said the offer was not related to their testimony, noting that FBI Director James Comey said there was no evidence of a deletion aimed at frustrating the investigation."

As we've seen, with the volume of emails involved it is possible that a select few, again as was found, could be considered relevant to the investigation even though a good faith effort was given.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

The immunity to Mills makes sense to me: 

"A source familiar with the immunity offers to Mills and Samuelson said they came after the FBI interviewed the two lawyers when investigators asked to go through their computers to see if they still contained classified information.

The source said the offer was not related to their testimony, noting that FBI Director James Comey said there was no evidence of a deletion aimed at frustrating the investigation."

As we've seen, with the volume of emails involved it is possible that a select few, again as was found, could be considered relevant to the investigation even though a good faith effort was given.

It's really in the context of six different people getting immunity and/or taking the Fifth.

Mills

Samuelson

Bentel

Pagliano

Combetta

Thornton (PRN) - (pleaded Fifth only)

 

[Norman Paperman]

Everyone on here should go on facebook before the election and let your friends and family know you won't speak to them ever again if they vote for dangerous racist sexist Trump over Hillary. I already removed 7 family members from my facebook because they support Trump. I can't believe in 2016 there are still a huge percentage of racists out there supporting Trump. :X

SO, does that mean the rest of the racists are supporting Clinton?

 

[dutch]

It's really in the context of six different people getting immunity and/or taking the Fifth.

What is the maximum number of individuals allowed to be granted immunity in a specific case?  At what point in the legal process is an individual required to waive their rights?  Imo, each grant of immunity needs to be looked at individually and as far as the congressional hearings, I have no idea at this point why anyone would speak to those clowns running the show.  It's all political theatre and should be treated as such.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

What is the maximum number of individuals allowed to be granted immunity in a specific case?  At what point in the legal process is an individual required to waive their rights?  Imo, each grant of immunity needs to be looked at individually and as far as the congressional hearings, I have no idea at this point why anyone would speak to those clowns running the show.  It's all political theatre and should be treated as such.

Ok what's the reason for Bentel's immunity?

 

[culdeus]

Everyone on here should go on facebook before the election and let your friends and family know you won't speak to them ever again if they vote for dangerous racist sexist Trump over Hillary. I already removed 7 family members from my facebook because they support Trump. I can't believe in 2016 there are still a huge percentage of racists out there supporting Trump. :X

Who is this alias, and can it be banned?

 

[cstu]

Who is this alias, and can it be banned?

Seriously.

 

[Quint]

The immunity to Mills makes sense to me: 

"A source familiar with the immunity offers to Mills and Samuelson said they came after the FBI interviewed the two lawyers when investigators asked to go through their computers to see if they still contained classified information.

The source said the offer was not related to their testimony, noting that FBI Director James Comey said there was no evidence of a deletion aimed at frustrating the investigation."

As we've seen, with the volume of emails involved it is possible that a select few, again as was found, could be considered relevant to the investigation even though a good faith effort was given.

just a guess: they had to offer immunity, limited or otherwise, to get Mills or Samuleson to cooperate otherwise they both would have continued to exercise their 5th Amendment rights or refuse to comment citing attorney/client privilege.

 

[cstu]

“What I remember is that you told me to look into everything about Obama's family in Kenya

Why would a journalist not look into Obama's family in Kenya, even if just to corroborate the stories in his books?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Why would a journalist not look into Obama's family in Kenya, even if just to corroborate the stories in his books?

Ok, why not indeed.

The whole bit though:

“What I remember is that you told me to look into everything about Obama's family in Kenya. I can't recall if we specifically discussed the birther claim, but I'm sure that was part of what I researched,”

Is there not some way that it could be understood that it is perfectly believable that Blumenthal and other Hillary surrogates like David Brock asked journalists and bloggers to look at these issues, and that the 'born in Kenya' claim - which dated to 2004 - would be part of that? Is that so really unbelievable?

Why is it so believable to say hey yeah given the situation in 2008 it was a legitimate issue but not for the Hillary campaign to raise.

I don't think the 'hey look into Obama's roots and maybe whether he was born there' back in 2008 was all that horrible. Johnson by the way has a more serious and IMO horrible allegation than this.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Now this is a really horrible claim that Johnson has made that the press has not picked up on.

The big Kahuna of the anti-Obama dump was the allegation that Republicans had a tape of Michelle Obama in which she used the disparaging term “Whitey.” I published that after being told about the “tape” by Sid Blumenthal. (I learned a few weeks later that the story of the tape actually originated with Media Matter’s David Brock and he confirmed its existence to me in person).

 

[dutch]

Ok what's the reason for Bentel's immunity?

What information did he have that the FBI wanted?  And could they get that information somewhere else?  Again it goes back to the scope of the investigation which was whether Hilary and her staff mishandled classified information by using a private server. 

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

just a guess: they had to offer immunity, limited or otherwise, to get Mills or Samuleson to cooperate otherwise they both would have continued to exercise their 5th Amendment rights or refuse to comment citing attorney/client privilege.

I think the claim of privilege in that situation was really dubious as well. And seizing the computers seemed like it was a very clear option. There was zero reason for the FBI to ask permission or grant immunity to do that.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

What information did he have that the FBI wanted?  And could they get that information somewhere else?  Again it goes back to the scope of the investigation which whether Hilary and her staff mishandled classified information by using a private server. 

Bentel's involvement IIRC is that he instructed State IT staff not to speak of Hillary's server system. Now why grant Bentel immunity for that?

 

[dutch]

I think the claim of privilege in that situation was really dubious as well. And seizing the computers seemed like it was a very clear option. There was zero reason for the FBI to ask permission or grant immunity to do that.

Then why did the FBI grant the immunity, in your opinion?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

According to the State OIG report, State employees alleged that John Bentel, then-Director of discouraged employees from raising concerns about Clinton' 5 use of personal e-mail.

In an e-mail to Mills on August 30, 2011, State Executive Secretary, Stephen Mull,
cited a request from Clinton to replace her temporarily malfunctioning personal BlackBerry with
a State-issued device. 193 Mull informed Mills that a State-issued replacement device for


Clinton' personal BlackBerry would be subject to FOIA requests. 194 On that same day, Bentel sent a separate e-mail to Hanley, which was later forwarded to Abedin, stating that e-mails sent to a State e-mail address for Clinton would be ?subject to FOIA searches.?195 A State-issued device was not ultimately issued to Clinton; in her FBI interview, Abedin stated she felt it did not make sense to temporarily issue Clinton a State BlackBerry because it would have required significant effort to transfer all of her e-mails and contacts to a device that she would have only used for a few days. 196 The Mull and Bentel e-mails to Mills and Hanley did not indicate that transferring e-mail and/or contacts from Clinton' 5 clintonemailcom account would be necessary to issue her a State BlackBerry.

- FBI Notes.

Now why would Bentel need immunity for that?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Then why did the FBI grant the immunity, in your opinion?

If you see the above from the FBI notes the only thing Bentel did was keep the fact of Hillary's server a secret. Now somehow between Bentel and his attorneys and the FBI and DOJ they must have thought that there was potentially a crime involved in doing that. Otherwise asking for and granting immunity from criminal prosecution makes no sense.

 

[dutch]

Bentel's involvement IIRC is that he instructed State IT staff not to speak of Hillary's server system. Now why grant Bentel immunity for that?

Bentel's statement could be problematic for him if he also denied ever knowing about the system after the fact.  Which he did.

 

[dutch]

- FBI Notes.

Now why would Bentel need immunity for that?

SID, why do you think the FBI offered immunity to Bentel?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Bentel's statement could be problematic for him if he also denied ever knowing about the system after the fact.  Which he did.

So basically a get out of jail free card for lying to the FBI. Ok.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

SID, why do you think the FBI offered immunity to Bentel?

See my comment above, the only way it makes sense is if Hillary's server setup was itself a crime. I know that seems extreme, but that right now is the only reasonable answer. I'm happy to listen to other options, throw one up maybe I will agree. You mention maybe he was afraid of being caught lying about covering up the server in the first place, so they granted him immunity for that. That's possible too.

 

[dutch]

So basically a get out of jail free card for lying to the FBI. Ok.

Did he lie to the FBI?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Did he lie to the FBI?

According to the State OIG report, State employees alleged that John Bentel, then-Director of discouraged employees from raising concerns about Clinton' 5 use of personal e-mail. 2,173

When interviewed by the FBI, Bentel denied that State employees raised concerns about Clinton' e-mail to him, that he discouraged employees from discussing it, or that he was aware during Clinton' tenure that she was using a personal e-mail account or server to conduct official State business.

- FBI Notes.

I'm going to say yes, that the State IG had proof to back up its claims, and the FBI has emails showing Bentel knowing these things, so yeah IMO Bentel lied. So did Combatta btw, three times.

 

[squistion]

Greg Sargent ‏@ThePlumLineGS 3h3 hours ago

Cincinnati Enquirer endorses Clinton after "supporting Rs for president for almost a century"

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/09/23/enquirer-endorses-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/90728344/

 

[dutch]

- FBI Notes.

I'm going to say yes, that the State IG had proof to back up its claims, and the FBI has emails showing Bentel knowing these things, so yeah IMO Bentel lied. So did Combatta btw, three times.

The OIG presented allegations by others while the FBI were given responses by Bentel himself.  The immunity deal was granted prior to his meeting with the FBI.

 

[jon_mx]

Samantha is Squistion.  Confirmed by IP tracking and reverse osmosis analysis.  Notebook updated.