What the Media Won’t Say About the Gun Used in Dallas Shooting

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In the wake of the tragic Dallas shooting that killed five police officers, President Obama seemed to indicate that “powerful weapons” were part of the problem and “in the days ahead we’re going to have to consider those realities.”

During early reporting of the attack, many news outlets claimed the perpetrator was using a sniper rifle or assault rifle. However, that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

The weapon that was actually used is more than 70 years old. CBS News revealed the gun used was an SKS rifle and drastically different when compared to semi-automatics like the AR-15.

Certain states have specific classifications as to what can be designated an assault rifle: grips, magazine type, and other cosmetic features, to name just a few. The SKS does not meet any of those qualifications; even updating the weapon with modern-day parts would reduce reliability.

After all, it was made during World War II.

What the Obama administration seemed to ignore was that the motive of the killer was plainly stated: to kill “white officers.” Micah Xavier Johnson, the gunman, was angered by the recent situations involving police shootings against African-Americans.

Johnson was also carrying a pistol with him, which he used to take down a cop in a close quarters firefight. Johnson was eventually killed by a robot carrying a bomb — the only way police believed was possible to take out the shooter without risking more lives.

Police Chief David Brown had some sobering and heartfelt words for reporters after the incident. “We don’t feel much support most days,” he said. “Let’s not make today most days. Please, we need your support to be able to protect you from men like these who carried out this tragic, tragic event.” (For more from the author of “What the Media Won’t Say About the Gun Used in Dallas Shooting” please click HERE)

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Lone Gunman Laughed, Sang During Standoff: Sources

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A North Texas Army veteran has been identified as the lone gunman responsible for the sniper attacks that killed five police officers and injured seven others in Dallas, authorities say.

Micah Xavier Johnson, of Mesquite, ambushed officers at a peaceful protest against nationwide police-involved shootings in Dallas on Thursday, police said.

The investigation into Johnson’s attack is still ongoing, and much remains is still unknown. But a picture is beginning to emerge of what went on inside the standoff — a source tells NBC Investigates that the 25-year-old was wounded by gunfire before being killed by a robot outfitted with a bomb — and how he prepared for the deadly assault . . .

Johnson was laughing and singing and not at all anxious during the standoff at the El Centro College building, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the incident told NBC 5 Investigates senior reporter Scott Friedman.

Johnson told police he had specifically been training for this event and working out in preparation for Thursday night. NBC 5 Investigates has also learned Johnson was wearing a military-style bulletproof vest. (Read more from “Lone Gunman Laughed, Sang During Standoff: Sources” HERE)

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#DALLAS: 6 Alinsky Rules That Explain Obama’s Words and Deeds

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In spite of the media’s conspicuous silence on the matter, it is no secret that Saul Alinsky’s manual for “community organizers”—Rules for Radicals—exerted an immeasurable influence over the world’s most well recognized community organizer, President Barack Obama. Thus, to understand why Obama does what he does, we need to be familiar with the vision that Alinsky delineated in his book.

Below are six ideas, six “rules,” that the Godfather of community organizing packs between the covers of Rules, ideas that Obama’s imbibed hook, line, and sinker.

(1). Politics is all about power relations, but to advance one’s power, one must couch one’s positions in the language of morality.

Community organizers are “political realists” who “see the world as it is: an arena of power politics moved primarily by perceived immediate self-interests, where morality is rhetorical rationale for expedient action and self-interest” (12).

(2). There are only three kinds of people in the world: rich and powerful oppressors, the poor and disenfranchised oppressed, and the middle-class whose apathy perpetuates the status quo.

“The world as it is” is a rather simple world. From this perspective, the world consists of but three kinds of people: “the Haves, the Have-Nots, and the Have-a-Little, Want Mores.” The Haves, possessing, as they do, all of “the power, money, food, security, and luxury,” resist the “change” necessary to relieve the Have-Nots of the “poverty, rotten housing, disease, ignorance, political impotence, and despair” from which they suffer (18).

The Have-a-Little, Want Mores comprise what we call “the middle class.” While Alinsky believes that this group “is the genesis of creativity,” (19) he also claims that it supplies the world with its “Do-Nothings.” The Do-Nothings are those who “profess a commitment to social change for ideals of justice, equality, and opportunity, and then abstain from and discourage all effective action for change [.]” Alinsky remarks that in spite of their reputable appearances, the Do-Nothings are actually “invidious” (20).

This being so, they are as resistant to change as are the Haves.

(3). Change is brought about through relentless agitation and “trouble making” of a kind that radically disrupts society as it is.

Since both the middle and upper classes have none of the organizer’s passion for radical change, he must do his best to “stir up dissatisfaction and discontent [.]” He must “agitate to the point of conflict.” The organizer “dramatizes…injustices” and engages in “‘trouble making’ by stirring up” just those “angers, frustrations, and resentments” (117) that will eventuate in the “disorganization of the old and organization of the new” (116 emphasis original). He is determined to give rise to as much “confusion” and “fear” as possible (127).

(4). There can be no conversation between the organizer and his opponents. The latter must be depicted as being evil.

If his compulsion to “agitate” makes it sound as if the organizer is disinclined to converse with those with whom he disagrees, that is because, well, he is. Alinsky is blunt on this point: “You don’t communicate with anyone purely on the rational facts or ethics of an issue” (89). It is true that “moral rationalization is indispensable,” (43) that the organizer must “clothe” one’s goals and strategies with “moral arguments” (36). But there can be no conversation with one’s opponents, for to converse with them is to humanize them.

The organizer’s objective is to demonize those who stand in the way of his designs for change.

The reason for this is simple: “Men will act when they are convinced that their cause is 100 per cent on the side of the angels and that the opposition [is] 100 per cent on the side of the devil.” The organizer “knows that there can be no action until issues are polarized to this degree” (78).

Elaborating on this theme, Alinsky asserts that in “charging that so-and-so is a racist bastard and then diluting” this “with qualifying remarks such as ‘He is a good churchgoing man, generous to charity, and a good husband,’” one convicts oneself of “political idiocy” (134). The winning strategy is to “pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it” (130 emphases original).

(5). The organizer can never focus on just a single issue. He must move inexhaustibly from one issue to the next.

The organizer “must develop multiple issues,” (76) for “multiple issues mean constant action and life” (78). Alinsky explains: “A single issue is a fatal strait jacket that…drastically limits” the organizer’s “appeal,” but “multiple issues…draw in…many potential members essential to the building of a broad, mass-based organization” (120). The only “way to keep the action going” is by “constantly cutting new issues as the action continues, so that by the time the enthusiasm and the emotions for one issue have started to de-escalate, a new issue” has emerged “with a consequent revival” (161).

(6). Taunt one’s opponents to the point that they label you a “dangerous enemy” of “the establishment.”

Finally, in order “to put the organizer on the side of the people, to identify him with the Have-Nots,” it is imperative that he “maneuver and bait the establishment so that it will publicly attack him as a ‘dangerous enemy’” (100).

Just because Barack Obama has left behind the low-income Chicago communities in which he once agitated doesn’t mean that he left behind the skills as a community agitator that he learned from Saul Alinsky. Rather, he now regards the country as his community to organize as he sees fit.

Obama not infrequently invokes American ideals, even while he conspires to “fundamentally transform” America.

In spite of what he says, Obama does not want national unity. There can be no unity with a people who one wants to fundamentally transform.

The President regularly speaks and acts as if there is perpetual class warfare being waged by “the Haves” on “the Have Nots.” Indeed, this is what he wants for Americans to believe. It is this desire on his part that accounts for why he spares no occasion to demonize both “the richest one percent” who he accuses of refusing to pay “their fair share,” as well as those Republicans who threaten to impede his plans to raise taxes.

Again, Obama does not want unity. He wants division.

Obama constantly moves from one divisive issue to the next, from Obamacare to gun-control, from amnesty for illegal immigrants to support for “same-sex marriage.” We see now why this is so.

Obama does not want unity. He wants to keep the country as polarized and disoriented as possible.

To know why Obama speaks and acts as he does, we need to know about Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. (For more from the author of “#DALLAS: 6 Alinsky Rules That Explain Obama’s Words and Deeds” please click HERE)

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Ex Cop: Quit Targeting My Brothers in Blue

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Everything seems to be upside down right now. After decades of far-Left division politics, culture wars, and disingenuous attempts to portray honest political disagreements as moral failings on the part of conservatives, it appears as if the ideological civil war the radical far-Left has always wanted has hit our streets with a fury. As a former police officer and a federal agent, I cannot recall a time where the good guys, our cops, have become the subject of such hatred by radical activists. And yesterday’s horrific murders of the heroic Dallas police officers is just another manifestation of the far-Left’s unending war on America, and her values.

Unlike the broad-based swipes the radical far-Left often takes at conservatives, I will not blame the Democrats for this. I’m sure there are many people of genuinely good faith within the Democrat party who love our country and simply feel that the path to a better tomorrow is best walked down using a different legislative agenda. But, it’s undeniable that a large swath of the modern progressive movement is driven by an anti-American ideology hell-bent on destroying our culture, our values, our standing in the world, and any institution reflecting the principles of American power and law and order.

The harsh rhetoric directed at our police officers is a reflection of this war on law and order, and our institutions, and the tragic body count is adding up. Whether it was the two NYPD police officers brutally murdered in broad daylight by a killer self-described as being motivated by the Black Lives Matter movement, or the Dallas murderer who claimed that he wanted to “kill white people” and cops, it’s clear that the violent, toxic, far-Left rhetoric is bringing the war to our streets.

How much more blood needs to flow, and how many more kids need to salute the coffins of their dead police officer parents before these far-Left propagandists self-reflect on the damaged they’ve caused? It’s time for ALL Americans, regardless of their personal politics, to stand united in ostracizing the dividers among us. The greatest country on Earth will collapse from within if we insist on maintaining the current ideological Tower of Babel being shoved down our throats by radicals who have committed themselves to a political ends regardless of the means. (For more from the author of “Ex Cop: Quit Targeting My Brothers in Blue” please click HERE)

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Before Shooting, Dallas Police Department Known for Community Outreach

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The police department that became the victim of the deadliest attack on American law enforcement officers since 9/11 is known for its innovative, community-focused approach to the job of protecting the public, and enforcing the law.

The killing Thursday night of five police officers in Dallas, and the police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier this week, has renewed focus on the tensions between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

While the events of the past week have marred the progress made by police departments nationwide with issues related to relationship-building, transparency about officer use of force incidents, and training in de-escalation techniques, law enforcement experts say it would be wrong to withdraw from those efforts after tragedy strikes.

“I would say that being a nice person, being a nice police department, and a community engagement-focused police department is no guarantee against the possibility that a crazed lunatic will take advantage of a known large-scale event and take out a larger number of cops,” Jim Bueermann, president of the Police Foundation in Washington, D.C., said.

“I would caution people in connecting those dots between community policing and this man’s actions. His actions are the manifestation of evil and have nothing to do with the good work the people of the Dallas Police Department are engaged in,” Bueermann told The Daily Signal in an interview.

According to news reports, a man identified as Micah Johnson, 25, shot and killed five police officers, and injured seven others, in downtown Dallas on Thursday night.

Johnson, a military veteran who is black, said his goal was to kill white police officers. He was killed by police.

The officers who were shot were working patrols at a peaceful protest against the fatal shootings by police officers of black men earlier this week in Minnesota and Louisiana.

Both of those prior shootings were captured on video and broadcast on social media, prompting protests across the U.S.

Leading Reformer

The issue of police violence has roiled the nation since the fatal officer shooting two years ago of a black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., and led to a movement for law enforcement to adopt reforms to foster relationships with their communities.

The Dallas Police Department is known to be at the forefront of those efforts.

Mayor Mike Rawlings told reporters on Friday morning that Dallas this year has the fewest police officer-related shootings of “any large city in America.”

Dallas Police Chief David Brown has credited a focus on de-escalation and community policing for leading to a drop in excessive force complaints against officers.

Officers who work for Brown have to participate in deadly force training every two months. Last year, meanwhile, officers were issued body cameras to record interactions with civilians.

In a move to be transparent, the Dallas Police Department publishes on its website the number of officer-involved shooting incidents every year since 2003. The department also identifies the locations of such incidents, the outcome, and the names of the officers.

At the same time as these reforms, according to The Washington Post, crime in Dallas has also fallen, with murders in the city hitting a 50-year low in 2014.

Many of the reforms implemented in Dallas were embraced by a White House task force created by President Barack Obama two years ago that convened police officers, community leaders, and activists to identify best practices for law enforcement.

‘Keep a Steady Course’

Ron Hosko, a former assistant director of the FBI who has been critical of Obama’s handling of police-involved shootings, says Dallas and other reform-minded departments should double down on those efforts in the face of adversity.

“Once they get past the pain of losing brothers, friends, colleagues, and partners, the department itself has to realize that this was a one-off event that doesn’t tend to happen around our country,” Hosko told The Daily Signal. “I think they will look at it rationally and realize they have been making steps in the right direction. It’s not the time to say we need to hunker down and be more offensive than defensive, and increase the risk to every one of these officers.”

“All of the indicators are good,” Hosko added. “It will be important for them to just keep a steady course.”

Hosko said that a department that communicates with citizens, and has their trust, can better work together to combat bad actors from carrying out violence.

“The best way to prevent these incidents is through community engagement and partners, with people in the crowd saying this guy on the fringe is on the edge and losing his mind, and get someone to pick up his phone and say something,” Hosko said. “You do that by building relationships.”

Ronal Serpas, who was superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department from 2010 to 2014, says that even though the ties between community and police didn’t stop the Dallas killer, it would be unfair to connect the city’s policies to what happened.

“The information we have is that the sniper specifically said he had a hatred of white police officers and his efforts to kill those people is based on his individual hatred,” said Serpas, who is now a professor at Loyola University New Orleans and the co-chair of the national group Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration.

“That’s a bit different than the community and police department working together, solving crimes together, working through strategies on quality of life issues, and then having someone from that community do this,” Serpas told The Daily Signal. “This incident does not necessarily represent anything other than what it is.”

Still, Serpas and the other law enforcement experts acknowledge that it will be difficult for officers to carry on with their duty during demonstrations that will inevitably happen in the future.

Bueermann suggests Dallas’ officers submit to what they know best.

“Chief Brown is a very smart police leader, and I’m sure when the moment is right he will deliver a message to his officers of the reality that the overwhelming number of people they interact with in Dallas support them and won’t do them harm,” Bueermann said. “There may be tension there, but even in that tension, you will find people desirous of good, respectful police and an appreciation for the good work good cops are doing to keeps those communities safe.” (For more from the author of “Before Shooting, Dallas Police Department Known for Community Outreach” please click HERE)

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State Department Reopens Clinton Emails Probe

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The State Department is reopening an internal investigation of possible mishandling of classified information by Hillary Clinton and top aides, officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Although the former secretary of state’s closest confidants have left the agency, they could still face punishment. The most serious is the loss of security clearances, which could complicate her aides’ hopes of securing top positions on her national security team if she becomes president.

The State Department started its review in January after declaring 22 emails from Clinton’s private server to be “top secret.” It was suspended in April so as not to interfere with the FBI’s inquiry. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the probe is restarting after the Justice Department’s announcement Wednesday that it won’t bring any criminal charges. (Read more from “State Department Reopens Clinton Emails Probe” HERE)

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At Least Five Police Officers Killed by Snipers During Dallas Protest

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By Fox News. President Barack Obama called the shootings in Dallas that left five police officers dead and several others wounded during a protest against police on Friday a “vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement” . . .

Dallas Police Chief David Brown said earlier Friday that it was ”our assumption” that four suspects were working together with rifles, triangulating at different positions.” He had no information on a possible motive or the identities of any of the suspects. He also noted that police were not completely certain that every suspect was in custody.

Brown also said authorities had earlier taken a woman into custody near the garage. Two men were also being questioned after police pursued their vehicle away from downtown onto Interstate 35.

A fourth man was in an hours-long standoff with police. He was firing at officers and around 2:15 a.m. local time and told police “the end is coming.” He later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to KDFW-TV. Police were sweeping the area for possible explosives.

Late Thursday, Brown confirmed the four fatalities — three Dallas PD officers and one transit officer — and said seven other officers and one civilian were wounded in the shooting. Three of the injured officers reportedly were in critical condition and two others were in surgery. The Dallas Police Association confirmed a fifth officer had died in a Tweet early Friday. (Read more from “At Least Five Police Officers Killed by Snipers During Dallas Protest” HERE)

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Woman Streams Aftermath of Fatal Officer-Involved Shooting

By Eliott C. McLaughlin. As Philando Castile’s head slumps backward while he lies dying next to her, Diamond Reynolds looks into the camera and explains a Minnesota police officer just shot her fiancé four times.

The nation is, by now, accustomed to grainy cell phone videos of officer-involved shootings, but this footage from Falcon Heights, outside Minneapolis, is something different, more visceral: a woman live-streaming a shooting’s aftermath with the police officer a few feet away, his gun still trained on her bloody fiancé.

“He let the officer know that he had a firearm and he was reaching for his wallet and the officer just shot him in his arm,” Reynolds said as she broadcast the details of Wednesday’s evening shooting on Facebook. (Read more from “Woman Streams Aftermath of Fatal Officer-Involved Shooting” HERE)

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Some Key Facts About Three of This Week’s Police Shootings

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This week, three police shootings of black citizens in Baton Rouge, Brooklyn and Minnesota have sparked protest both locally and nationally. Here are some key facts about each.

Brooklyn

On Monday, according to surveillance cited by “sources,” Delrawn Small attacked off-duty police officer Wayne Isaacs in Brooklyn over what has been described as “road rage.” Small allegedly walked up to Isaacs’ car and began punching him in the face as the officer sat. Isaacs, who is also black, took two punches before shooting Small.

According to news reports, Small was in a vehicle with his girlfriend, their infant child, and her two teenage daughters. He ignored his girlfriend’s admonitions not to confront Isaacs. One report indicates the altercation occurred because Small thought Isaacs cut him off, and at a red light got out of his vehicle. His girlfriend allegedly told police Small had three drinks at a BBQ, and had a temper.

Isaacs was treated for minor injuries and released from a hospital.

Members of Small’s family say they want justice. His brother asked, “When is it going to stop?” and his niece said she would “hunt” Isaacs down. The state is investigating the shooting, while police say they are confident Isaacs acted appropriately.

A nearby store owner said his video surveillance shows Small went after Isaacs, “punching the s&%t” out of him with “haymaker” punches.

One man, however, says Isaacs was at fault. He described both Isaacs and Small both out of their vehicles and yelling at each other after the vehicles nearly struck each other. “He just shot [Small] right there on the street,” said Lloyd Banks.

Small’s record included 19 arrests and three jail terms, and he finished parole for assault in 2013.

Isaacs was one of several officers accused of false arrest in 2014, during which time the suspect was struck on multiple occasions. The case was settled. The plaintiff in that case said one officer called him a derogatory racial term. The Stream was not able to immediately determine whether Isaacs was one of the officers who struck the plaintiff, or made the derogatory comment.

Baton Rouge

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police got an anonymous call to go to Abdullah Muflahi’s Triple S Food Mart because a man in a red shirt allegedly threatened the caller with a gun.

Video shows two white police officers grabbing Alton Sterling, throwing him to the ground, and pinning him. They ordered him to not move, and then once yelled, “He’s got a gun.” Sterling appeared to continue struggling, and one of the officers pulled his weapon and ordered Sterling to hold still. A few moments later, an officer fired several shots, killing Sterling.

Sterling had a weapon in his pocket, taken out by police after he was killed.

The convenience store owner has given surveillance footage to police, claiming the two officers “murdered” Sterling. He said Sterling had been outside of his store for years, selling CDs, and doing nothing wrong. The owner also said Sterling had the weapon because he had been robbed.

Officers say their body cameras fell off during the altercation. Original video, which has now gone public, was provided by two bystanders as or after officers took Sterling down. The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights department is investigating the shooting.

Sterling’s record does not appear to have been known to the officers who responded to the anonymous call. According to Heavy.com, the record includes, but is not limited to, impregnating a 14-year old girl when he was 20, resulting in being placed on the sex offender list.

Sterling, who was 37 at the time of his death, had also grappled an officer in 2009, been accused of domestic violence and was accused of breaking into at least two women’s apartments. He was convicted at least twice on domestic violence charges, as well as simple assault. He was also on record as having possessed illegal drugs, and of changing his address without notification, a violation of state law for sex offenders.

Baton Rouge police were accused of racist and unnecessarily violent behavior by out-of-state officers who came to the city to help after Hurricane Katrina. ABC News reports that there was already significant racial tension in the city, between black residents and police.

Some have pointed to the record of one of the officers who was involved in Sterling’s death, Howie Lake. Lake and five other officers were placed on administrative leave after chasing a domestic violence suspect who eventually crashed a vehicle and exchanged gunfire with police. Lake and the other officer on-scene with Sterling had each received a departmental award in 2015.

Minnesota

Also on Wednesday, a Falcon Heights, Minnesota, police officer shot and killed Philando Castile after pulling him over for a broken tail light. According to The Washington Post, Castile was with his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds and her daughter. They were pulled over in the St. Paul suburb and the officer told Castile to get his license and registration.

According to Reynolds, Castile told the as-yet-unidentified officer that he had a firearm as he reached for his pocket to get his wallet. The officer yelled “Don’t move” and opened fire. At that point, Reynolds began recording Castile bleeding from wounds from which he would later die.

Governor Mark Dayton has asked the White House to have the Department of Justice investigate, which FBI Director James Comey confirmed on Thursday would happen. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is already investigating the shooting, which Dayton theorized on Thursday was partly based upon “racism.”

Castile’s mother and Reynolds said he had a license for his weapon. In her video, Reynolds says, “He let the officer know that he had a firearm and he was reaching for his wallet and the officer just shot him in his arm.”

As she was telling the story, the officer, identified by Reynolds as “Chinese,” yelled at her to “keep your hands where they are.”

“I told him not to reach for it! I told him to get his hands up,” yelled the officer, to which Reynolds said, “You told him to get his ID, sir, his driver’s license.”

“But how can you not move when you’re reaching for license and registration?” Reynolds asked. “It’s either you want my hands in the air or you want my identification.” As Castile slumped over, she said, “Oh, my God. Please don’t tell me he’s dead. Please don’t tell me my boyfriend just went like that.”

The interim police chief for the department, Sergeant Jon Mangseth, told reporters that “We haven’t had an officer-involved shooting in 30 years or more. I’d have to go back in the history books, to tell you the truth.”

“It’s shocking,” said Mangseth, according to The Washington Post. “It’s not something that occurs in this area often.” He went on to say more information would be released “as we learn it.”

Commenting on Castile’s death, National Review Online Editor Charles Cooke pointed to Minnesota law, which says that concealed carry permit holders, which Castile was, are only obligated to inform of their being armed if specifically asked. “Moreover, in no state is the mere act of carrying a firearm sufficient justification for a police officer to open fire,” wrote Cooke, who was careful to note that “the Devil will remain in the details” of what happened, and whether the officer will be found justified in killing Castile.

The Star-Tribune reports that Castille had been found guilty of 31 misdemeanors, all related to driving. He had worked for the St. Paul Public School District for 14 years. (For more from the author of “Some Key Facts About Three of This Week’s Police Shootings” please click HERE)

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State Department Reveals Its Response to FBI’s Clinton Investigation

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Days after the FBI announced its recommendation following an investigation into presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, what was on its face good news for the former secretary of state has since offered her critics more reason to oppose her.

FBI Director James Comey this week revealed the bureau would not recommend an indictment against Clinton for her use of a private email server while conducting official State Department business. The announcement, however, was preceded by a thorough denouncement of her careless and potentially dangerous behavior.

While her surrogates focus on the story’s silver lining, Clinton’s detractors remind voters of the dark cloud of corruption and incompetence they say plague her public record. According to recent reports, the executive department she once led apparently has some questions of its own in the wake of the FBI’s investigation.

State Department spokesman John Kirby released a statement on Thursday announcing an internal investigation into Clinton’s email use has been relaunched.

“Given the Department of Justice has now made its announcement,” he advised, “the State Department intends to conduct its internal review. Our goal will be to be as transparent as possible about our results, while complying with our various legal obligations.”

The departmental investigation’s scope, reports indicate, will include whether Clinton and/or her closest aides mishandled classified data. No end date has been set for the review, which Kirby explained could result in “administrative sanctions” against State Department officials involved in any wrongdoing.

Top Clinton aides Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills and Jake Sullivan are among those being named as likely to be of particular interest to department investigators. (For more from the author of “State Department Reveals Its Response to FBI’s Clinton Investigation” please click HERE)

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Cruz Makes Announcement After Meeting With Trump

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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced on Thursday that he has accepted presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump’s invitation to speak at the Republican National Convention later this month.

“We had a positive and productive meeting this morning with Donald Trump. Donald asked me to speak at the Republican convention and I told him I’d be happy to do so,” Cruz told reporters.

The Texas senator added that there was no discussion of an endorsement during that meeting.

Asked by a reporter what he would speak about at the convention, Cruz responded, “I’m going to urge Americans to get back to the Constitution to change the path we’re on: eight failed years of the Obama/Clinton economy; eight failed years of a presidency disregarding the Constitution and Bill of Rights; eight failed years of a commander-in-chief not protecting American and keeping us safe from radical Islamic terrorism. It’s time for that to end.”

Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said of the meeting, “There was no discussion of any endorsement. Mr. Trump asked Sen. Cruz to speak at the Republican convention, and Sen. Cruz said he would be happy to do so. Mr. Trump also asked Sen. Cruz for his counsel on future judicial nominations, and Cruz responded he would continue to do everything he can to help ensure principled constitutionalists on the courts.”

RNC chairman Reince Priebus, who was in attendance when the two met, told Fox News, “I’ll just say they had a good conversation, and it was very polite and cordial and normal. I know they’re working on details.”

As the two became the last viable Republican presidential candidates standing in the spring, the rivalry between them became particularly personal, with Trump referring to Cruz as “Lying Ted” and Cruz describing his foe as a “sniveling coward.”

In March, following Trump re-tweeting an unflattering picture of Cruz’s wife, Heidi, and threatening to “spill the beans” about her, the Texas senator indicated that he was not likely to endorse Trump. “I don’t make a habit of supporting people who attack my wife and my family,” he said.

CNN contributor and former Cruz communications staffer Amanda Carpenter tweeted regarding the Thursday meeting:

Trump also met with some 200 Republican members of Congress on Thursday. House Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted a statement following the meeting, which reads, in part, “It’s clear that our party is committed to defeating Hillary Clinton and Democrats this fall. We had a great meeting, and I appreciate Donald Trump taking the time to speak with House Republicans…”

(For more from the author of “Cruz Makes Announcement After Meeting With Trump” please click HERE)

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