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BOOM: 12 Versions of Hillary Clinton’s Whitewater Indictments Emerge

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New details continue to emerge from Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act fight with the National Archives over the release of draft indictments of Hillary Clinton in the Whitewater case. According to the Archives, release of the indictments—drafted by an independent counsel examining the Clintons’ relationship to a corrupt Arkansas S&L and an alleged cover-up—would violate grand jury secrecy and Mrs. Clinton’s personal privacy. FOIA request denied.

Judicial Watch declined to take “no” for an answer, and so off to court we went. The case is now in the hands of a federal judge.

In the course of litigation, new facts have come to light. Under FOIA, the Archives must produce a “Vaughn Index”—a tantalizing and at times maddening document. A Vaughn Index is the government saying: we are not giving you the documents, but here is an “index” of what we are not giving you, and why we are not giving it to you. Your tax dollars at work.

In the National Archives Vaughn Index for the case, we learn that the government is sitting on at least twelve versions of the the draft indictment of Mrs. Clinton, including one “listing overt acts.” From the public record, we know that the Whitewater case centered around whether Mrs. Clinton, while First Lady, lied to federal investigators about her role in the corrupt Arkansas S&L, concealed documents (including material under federal subpoena), and took other steps to cover-up her involvment. Prosecutors ultimately decided not to indict Mrs. Clinton, concluding that they could not win the complicated, largely circumstantial case against such a high-profile figure.

The draft indictments range from three to forty pages—the former likely excerpts or “scraps” from longer documents, the Vaughn Index indicates. Some of the drafts doubtless are copies but many clearly are not. A total of 451 pages of draft indictments are being withheld by the Archives.

In its final brief in the case, Judicial Watch took a wrecking ball to the Archives’ grand jury secrecy and personal privacy claims. Judicial Watch noted “the truly enormous quantities of grand jury material already made public” in the independent counsel’s final report. Judicial Watch provided the court with a detailed list of grand jury and non-grand jury material that had already been made public. If there ever was a valid claim to grand jury secrecy in this closely scrutinized case, it is long gone.

The Judicial Watch brief noted that the Archives “fails to identify a single, specific privacy interest Mrs. Clinton still has in the draft indictments” following publication of the independent counsel’s report and “hundreds of pages of grand jury materials, non-grand jury materials, and independent counsel legal theories and analysis that are already in the public domain.”

A typical FOIA privacy claim centers on unwarranted invasions of personal privacy. But in Mrs. Clinton’s case, the brief noted, the Archives “makes no claims that disclosure of the draft indictments will reveal any particular personal, medical or financial information about Mrs. Clinton, much less anything intimate or potentially embarrassing.”

Mrs. Clinton of course is one of the most famous women in the world, a former First Lady, senator and secretary of state, and the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president of the United States. The findings of an investigation into whether Mrs. Clinton told the truth to federal investigators and withheld evidence under subpoena while she was First Lady is clearly matter of public interest as voters weigh her suitability for the highest office in the land. (For more from the author of “BOOM: 12 Versions of Hillary Clinton’s Whitewater Indictments Emerge” please click HERE)

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GRASSROOTS: Clinton Super PAC Attacking Hillary Online Critics

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Evan Halper at The Los Angeles Times describes the ongoing trainwreck that is the Hillary Clinton campaign. Vast right wing conspiracy, indeed.

Hillary Clinton’s well-heeled backers have opened a new frontier in digital campaigning, one that seems to have been inspired by some of the Internet’s worst instincts. Correct the Record, a super PAC coordinating with Clinton’s campaign, is spending some $1 million to find and confront social media users who post unflattering messages about the Democratic front-runner.

In effect, the effort aims to spend a large sum of money to increase the amount of trolling that already exists online.

The plan comes as Clinton operatives grapple with the reality that her supporters just aren’t as engaged and aggressive online as are her detractors inside and outside the Democratic Party.

The lack of engagement is one of Clinton’s bigger tactical vulnerabilities, particularly when compared with rivals like Donald Trump, whose viral social media attacks are legion, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is backed by a passionate army of media-savvy millennials…

…using a super PAC to create a counterweight to movements that have sprung up organically is another reflection of the campaign’s awkwardness with engaging online, digital pros said.

“It is meant to appear to be coming organically from people and their social media networks in a groundswell of activism, when in fact it is highly paid and highly tactical,” said Brian Donahue, chief executive of the consulting firm Craft Media/Digital.

“That is what the Clinton campaign has always been about,” he said. “It runs the risk of being exactly what their opponents accuse them of being: a campaign that appears to be populist but is a smokescreen that is paid and brought to you by lifetime political operatives and high-level consultants.”

With Granny Catlady’s favorability rating trending to that of the Zika virus, one would assume that times are getting desperate in the Clinton campaign. (For more from the author of “GRASSROOTS: Clinton Super PAC Attacking Hillary Online Critics” please click HERE)

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FBI Chief: Email Investigation More Serious Than Clinton Says

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FBI Director James Comey challenged Hillary Clinton’s characterization of the federal investigation into her use of a private email server Wednesday when speaking with reporters.

The Hill reports:

Clinton and her allies have repeatedly called the probe a routine “security inquiry.” But Director James Comey told reporters that wasn’t an accurate description.

“It’s in our name. I’m not familiar with the term ‘security inquiry,’ ” Comey said at a roundtable with reporters, according to Politico.

“We’re conducting an investigation … That’s what we do,” he said, according to Fox News. Comey reportedly declined to say whether or not the investigation is “criminal” in nature.

While Comey acknowledges the FBI is not “tethered to any external deadline,” the federal probe is likely heading into its final stages. Hillary Clinton herself is expected to face in-person questioning within weeks.

As badly as Clinton wants to dismiss the gravity of the situation, the outcome of the investigation could potentially have seriously damaging effects for her presidential bid. (For more from the author of “FBI Chief: Email Investigation More Serious Than Clinton Says” please click HERE)

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12 Funniest (and Most Diabolical) Hillary Clinton Quotes

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#12 “We just can’t trust the American people to make those types of choices … Government has to make those choices for people.” [to Dennis Hastert regarding Americans selecting their own health insurance policies when she was pushing for HillaryCare]

#11 “This is the great story here, for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it, is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president.”

#10 “We are going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.”

#9 “I’m not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president.”

#8 “Who is going to find out? These women are trash. Nobody’s going to believe them.” [on a series of women accusing Bill Clinton of sexual assault]

#7 “I have to confess that it’s crossed my mind that you could not be a Republican and a Christian.”

#6 “He ran a gas station down in St. Louis… No, Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader of the 20th century.”

#5 “Come on Bill, put your d*** up! You can’t f*** her here!” [to Gov. Clinton when she saw him talking with an attractive female]

#4 “God bless the America we are trying to create.”

#3 “F*** off! It’s enough I have to see you s***-kickers every day, I’m not going to talk to you too!! Just do your G***amn job and keep your mouth shut.” [to her State Trooper bodyguards after one of them greeted her with “Good Morning”]

#2 “With all due respect, the fact is, we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or because of guys out for a walk one night who decide to kill some Americans, what difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator.”

#1 “And don’t let anybody, don’t let anybody tell you that, umm, you know, that it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs.”

(For more from the author of “12 Funniest (and Most Diabolical) Hillary Clinton Quotes” please click HERE)

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Emails From Clinton’s Former IT Director at State Department Appear to Be Missing

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The State Department can find no emails to or from a former Hillary Clinton aide who worked for the agency and also managed Clinton’s private computer server while she served as secretary of state, the government told a Republican party group in a court filing made public Monday. The agency insisted later that some messages to and from the ex-aide were recovered and turned over in other inquiries.

The government’s revelation in U.S. District Court in Washington came in answer to a lawsuit by the Republican National Committee. The committee had sued over its public records request for all work-related emails sent to or received by Clinton’s former aide, Bryan Pagliano, between 2009 and 2013, the years of Clinton’s tenure. The lawsuit also pressed for other State Department records from the Clinton era.

The RNC’s filing said lawyers for the agency had informed them in discussions that “the State Department has represented that no responsive records exist” for any Pagliano emails. Pagliano was hired at the agency after reportedly setting up Clinton’s server in 2009, but the lack of any official State Department emails raises the question whether he limited his email traffic using a private account, much like Clinton did during her four years as secretary, or whether his government emails were deleted. (Read more from “Emails From Clinton’s Former IT Director at State Department Appear to Be Missing” HERE)

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A Federal Judge Just Made a Jaw-Dropping Announcement About Hillary’s Future Regarding Her Email Scandal

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A federal judge said Wednesday he may order Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton to testify under oath about whether she used a private email server as secretary of state to evade public records disclosures.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan signed an order granting a request from the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch to question six current and former State Department staffers about the creation and purpose of the private email system. Those on the list were some of Clinton’s closest aides during her tenure as the nation’s top diplomat, including former chief of staff Cheryl D. Mills, deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin and undersecretary Patrick F. Kennedy.

Also set to testify is Bryan Pagliano, the agency employee who was tasked with setting up the clintonemail.com server located in the basement of the New York home Clinton shares with her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Pagliano has previously refused to testify before Congress, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Based on what might be gleaned in those interviews, which are to be conducted over the next eight weeks, Sullivan says in his order a sworn deposition from Hillary Clinton “may be necessary.”

That raises the possibility that Clinton could be ordered to testify in the midst of the presidential race. A campaign spokesman did not respond Wednesday to messages about whether Clinton would oppose any order to testify. (Read more from “A Federal Judge Just Made a Jaw-Dropping Announcement About Hillary’s Future Regarding Her Email Scandal” HERE)

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FORMER CIA ANALYST: Hillary Clinton’s Unencrypted Personal Email Server May Have Led to Benghazi Attack

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There’s an important article over at Consortium News by longtime CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who prepared Presidential Daily Briefings for presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, and which highlights an interesting point I hadn’t come across before.

Namely, that Hillary’s use of an insecure personal email server — that was almost certainly hacked by America’s enemies — could very well have exposed Ambassador Steven’s lack of security in his Benghazi compound, thereby leading directly to the terror attack that killed four Americans.

One very important, though as yet unmentioned, question is whether security lapses involving Clinton and her emails contributed to what Clinton has deemed her worst moment as Secretary of State, the killing of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other U.S. personnel at the lightly guarded U.S. “mission” (a very small, idiosyncratic, consulate-type complex not performing any consular affairs) in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012.

Somehow the terrorists who mounted the assault were aware of the absence of meaningful security at the facility, though obviously there were other means for them to have made that determination, including the State Department’s reliance on unreliable local militias who might well have shared that inside information with the attackers.

However, if there is any indication that Clinton’s belatedly classified emails contained information about internal State Department discussions regarding the consulate’s security shortcomings, questions may be raised about whether that information was somehow compromised by a foreign intelligence agency and shared with the attackers.

We know that State Department bureaucrats under Secretary Clinton overruled repeated requests for additional security in Benghazi. We also know that Clinton disregarded NSA’s repeated warnings against the use of unencrypted communications…

One can only pray that the FBI exposes this crime family once and for all and terminates their political aspirations with extreme prejudice. (For more from the author of “FORMER CIA ANALYST: Hillary Clinton’s Unencrypted Personal Email Server May Have Led to Benghazi Attack” please click HERE)

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OH, MY: More Hillary Emails That Were Hidden From State Department Probe Uncovered

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Judicial Watch today released new State Department emails (one batch of 103 pages, the second of 138 pages) that again appear to contradict statements by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that, “as far as she knew,” all of her government emails were turned over to the State Department and that she did not use her clintonemail.com system until March 18, 2009.

Judicial Watch recently released Clinton State Department emails dating from February 2009 that also call into question her statements about her emails.

The documents were obtained by Judicial Watch in response a court order in a May 5,2015, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the State Department, after it failed to respond to a March 18 FOIA request (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00684)). The lawsuit seeks:

Emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013 using a non-“state.gov” email address.

Many of the documents predate March 18, 2009, go back as far as January, and were not turned over by Clinton to the State Department from her non-government server. The emails cover topics such as: her schedule and travel plans; criticisms of Clinton by Richard Gere; Afghanistan; U.S. financial aid and security concerns for several Pacific Islands; the recommendation for a health care system overhaul; and food security.

Other previously unreleased emails are dated March 18, 2009, despite suggestions by Clinton that she had turned over emails with that date. These emails refer to, among other things, her “friends at Planned Parenthood” and a call to Bill Clinton’s former National Security Adviser, the late Sandy Berger, who was convicted of illegally removing classified documents from the National Archives.

On October 16, 2011, Clinton sent a “confidential” backgrounder from former Ambassador to Malta Doug Kmiec (sent from his apparently unsecure server) to aides Abedin and Cheryl Mills. The email has since been redacted due to its classified nature. Specifically, Kmiec discusses sensitive persons and organizations working in the US Embassy in Malta – the U.S. Maritime training program with the “AFM” (Armed Forces of Malta).

The Abedin emails included an exchange with Clinton’s former Deputy Chief of Staff Jacob Sullivan, in which Abedin suggests Clinton would often complain of being “exhausted”:

From: Abedin, Huma

To: Sullivan, Jacob J.

Sent: Thursday, April 16 18:54:22 2009

Subject:

I have to go to the dinner with her [state dinner in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic]

I just got the I’m exhausted thing from her and Eugene [likely Eugene Bae, Clinton’s advance official] isn’t going to be able to tell Oscar de la Renta to shut up.

A March 31, 2011, email from State Department official Michael Hammer to Abedin and others shows yet another non-State.gov email address of HumaMAbedin[Redacted], which differs from the known [email protected] and [email protected].

“These emails further undermine Hillary Clinton’s statement, under penalty of perjury, suggesting she turned over all of her government emails to the State Department,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “How many more Hillary Clinton emails is the Obama State Department hiding?”

Hillary Clinton has repeatedly stated that the 55,000 pages of documents she turned over to the State Department in December 2014 included all of her work-related emails. In response to a court order in other Judicial Watch litigation, she declared under penalty of perjury that she had “directed that all my emails on clintonemail.com in my custody that were or are potentially federal records be provided to the Department of State, and on information and belief, this has been done.” This new email find is also at odds with her official campaign statement:

On December 5, 2014, 30,490 copies of work or potentially work-related emails sent and received by Clinton from March 18, 2009, to February 1, 2013, were provided to the State Department. This totaled roughly 55,000 pages. More than 90% of her work or potentially work-related emails provided to the Department were already in the State Department’s record-keeping system because those e-mails were sent to or received by “state.gov” accounts.

Early in her term, Clinton continued using an att.blackberry.net account that she had used during her Senate service. Given her practice from the beginning of emailing State Department officials on their state.gov accounts, her work-related emails during these initial weeks would have been captured and preserved in the State Department’s record-keeping system. She, however, no longer had access to these emails once she transitioned from this account.

The Associated Press previously reported that the State Department received from the Department of Defense emails between Clinton and General David Petraeus that also predate March 2009. Those emails have not been released to the public.

On August 10, 2015, Judicial Watch announced that the State Department submitted to the court a sworn declaration from Clinton regarding federal records on her controversial email system. The declaration states:

I, Hillary Rodham Clinton, declare under penalty of perjury that the following is true and correct:

1. While I do not know what information may be “responsive” for purposes of this law suit, I have directed that all my e-mails on clintonemail.com in my custody that were or potentially were federal records to be provided to the Department of State, and on information and belief, this has been done.

2. As a result of my directive, approximately 55,000 pages of these emails were produced to the Department on December 5, 2014.

3. Cheryl Mills did not have an account on clintonemail.com. Huma Abedin did have such an account which was used at times for government business.

The document is signed by “Hillary Rodham Clinton.” The State Department was ordered by US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan on July 31 to request that Clinton and her top aides confirm, under penalty of perjury, that they have produced all government records in their possession and to return any other government records immediately. (For more from the author of “OH, MY: More Hillary Emails That Were Hidden From State Department Probe Uncovered” please click HERE)

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Logan Officials Message to Clinton Campaign

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After the Clinton campaign staff attempted to use the City of Logan Fire Department facilities for the Clinton upcoming visitations to the area, fire department officials contacted the Mayor of Logan about the situation. Logan officials then took matters into their own hands and sent an e-mail sent to Mike Browning, a representative for Senator Joe Manchin.

The e-mail states the following:

Mike,

While we appreciate all that you and Senator Manchin’s office have done for the City Of Logan over the years we must make the following statement:

Bill and Hillary Clinton are simply not welcome in our town. Mrs. Clinton’s anti-coal messages are the last thing our suffering town needs at this point. The policies that have been championed by people like Mrs. Clinton have all but devastated our fair town, and honestly, enough is enough. We wish them the best in their campaign, however we again state they are not welcome on our city properties. We hope that you will respectfully consider NOT visiting our community. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, 304-xxx-xxxx. I am writing this on behalf of the City Of Logan.

(Read more from “Logan Officials Message to Clinton Campaign” HERE)

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BUMMER: Hillary to Face FBI Interrogators Within Weeks

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As we reported yesterday, just when Hillary thought the email scandal was behind her, and she could shift her focus to the newly minted GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, an order by Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court decided to lay out ground rules for interviewing multiple State Department officials, and ordered at least six current and former State Department employees to answer questions, all in an effort to finish the depositions in the weeks before the party nominating conventions.

On the heels of interviewing Hillary Clinton’s top personal aide Huma Abedin, as we detailed previously, it appears The FBI is finally ready to go after the Emailer-in-chief herself…

Source confirms to @CBSNews Hillary Clinton to be interviewed by the FBI within the coming weeks in the e-mail server investigation.

— Charlie Kaye (@CharlieKayeCBS) May 6, 2016

As CBS reports, a source has confirmed that Hillary Clinton will be interviewed by the FBI within the coming weeks, in connection with the investigation into her private email server. As reported last night, Hillary’s top aide, Huma Abedin was interviewed by the FBI at its Washington field office in April.

The FBI and Justice Department have been investigating whether sensitive information that flowed through Clinton’s email server was mishandled. Abedin was interviewed at the FBI’s Washington field office last month. The FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s email server was first reported in August.

The Clinton campaign has said it’s confident that the FBI’s review “will conclude that nothing inappropriate took place.” There’s no timetable for completing the investigation, and there have been no statements about how much longer the investigation will take.

As we reported on Wednesday, a federal judge in Washington said he may order Clinton to testify under oath about whether she used a private email server to evade public records disclosures.

The order from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan granted a request from the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch to question six current and former State Department staffers, including Abedin, about the creation and purpose of the email system.

Clinton has dismissed the idea that she could face legal trouble over the use of the server, responding to a debate question in March about the prospect of a federal indictment by saying, “It’s not going to happen.”

Perhaps she intends on pleading da’fif’ before the FBI? (For more from the author of “BUMMER: Hillary to Face FBI Interrogators Within Weeks” please click HERE)

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