*Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: .@RepCummings
"selectively leak portions of a closed-door interview"
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/237465-benghazi-panel-summons-clinton-over-emailsc
…
*Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: .@HillaryClinton
@TGowdySC
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/benghazi-panel-wants-private-not-public-clinton-testimony
…
a.m. EDT
*Headlines:*
*New York Times: “Hillary Clinton Urges Veto of Arkansas ‘Religious
Freedom’ Bill”
“Hillary Rodham Clinton made a rare foray back into Arkansas politics on
Wednesday, urging the state’s governor to veto a religious freedom bill
similar to the one causing backlash in Indiana.”
*MSNBC: “Hillary Clinton’s surprise event”
“The former secretary of state will join Chirlane McCray, the wife of New
York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, to launch new citywide ‘Talk to Your Baby’
public awareness campaign to encourage parents to help build their
children’s vocabulary.”
*MSNBC blog: The MaddowBlog: “Benghazi panel wants private, not public,
Clinton testimony”
“Go ahead and call me paranoid, too. It seems to me that the issue of
scrutiny is one of control – in a public hearing, Clinton could (and
probably would) take charge, knocking down dumb questions, calling out dumb
questioners, and making clear that the entire exercise is pointless.”
*Business Insider: “Ted Cruz: Hillary Clinton's mass email deletion could
be ‘criminal conduct’”
“Presidential candidate and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) thinks former Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton probably violated federal law when she deleted a
huge trove of emails.”
*Mediaite: “Bernie Sanders: I Could Beat Hillary Clinton”
“‘Yes, I do think that if I ran, I could win,’ he concluded.”
*CNN: “O'Malley, Webb to address South Carolina Democrats”
“Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb
will speak at the South Carolina Democratic Convention on May 3 in
Columbia, multiple Democratic sources told CNN.”
*Business Insider: “Elizabeth Warren has an interesting way of dealing with
questions about Hillary Clinton”
“Warren seems to have adopted a set talking point for questions about the
contrast between her and Clinton. Recently, Warren has responded to this
idea by attempting to take the focus off her and Clinton and noting she
wants all politicians to advocate aggressively to address income inequality
and problems in the financial industry.”
*Articles:*
*New York Times: “Hillary Clinton Urges Veto of Arkansas ‘Religious
Freedom’ Bill”
By Alan Rappeport
April 1, 2015, 12:00 p.m. EDT
Hillary Rodham Clinton made a rare foray back into Arkansas politics on
Wednesday, urging the state’s governor to veto a religious freedom bill
similar to the one causing backlash in Indiana.
Mrs. Clinton said on Twitter that the Arkansas bill would “permit unfair
discrimination.”
*Sec. Hillary Rodham Clinton* @HillaryClinton: Like IN law, AR bill goes
beyond protecting religion, would permit unfair discrimination against
#LGBT Americans. I urge Governor to veto. [4/1/15, 11:33 a.m. EDT
Mrs. Clinton, who was once the first lady of Arkansas when Bill Clinton was
governor, said last week that it was sad that a law like the one in Indiana
could pass in America today.
“We shouldn’t discriminate against people because of who they love,” she
said.
The issue is likely to resurface as presidential campaign season gets into
full swing, as some likely Republican candidates have defended the Indiana
law signed by Gov. Mike Pence.
Mr. Pence has asked state legislators to clarify the law. Gov. Asa
Hutchinson of Arkansas said on Wednesday that he would like to see changes
to the bill that is being sent to his desk before he will sign it.
*MSNBC: “Hillary Clinton’s surprise event”
By Alex Seitz-Wald
April 1, 2015, 11:23 a.m. EDT
Hillary Clinton is holding a surprise event Wednesday in Brooklyn – but
it’s not that kind of surprise.
Instead of a presidential campaign announcement, the former secretary of
state will join Chirlane McCray, the wife of New York City Mayor Bill de
Blasio, to launch new citywide “Talk to Your Baby” public awareness
campaign to encourage parents to help build their children’s vocabulary.
Closing the “word gap” between low- and high-income children has been a
focus of Clinton’s work for more than a year at her family’s charitable
foundation. In speeches, Clinton often extols the benefits of talking and
singing to babies on cognitive development, and recalls the time a baby
Chelsea Clinton asked her mother to stop singing off key.
Clinton will likely have to suspend her work with the Clinton Foundation
once she officially declares her presidential campaign, soWednesday’s event
offers a final opportunity for her promote this issue outside of the
political fray.
Clinton is expected base her upcoming presidential campaign in downtown
Brooklyn, but on Wednesday she’ll be at the SCO FirstSteps Child
Development Center in Brownsville, a low-income neighborhood that has been
called the “murder capital of New York City.”
The former secretary of state held what was expected to be her last event
before a campaign launch last week, but the mayor’s office announced
Clinton’s appearance unexpectedly on Tuesday.
Clinton aides, who have already started working full time for the
campaign-in-waiting, even though they are not getting paid and there is no
campaign, say she is still eying a launch date sometime in April. The exact
date remains a closely held secret, and Clinton has considered several
possible options, which are said to be concentrated around the beginning or
middle of the month.
April is a prime window to launch a campaign, thanks to a peculiarity of
campaign finance laws.
*MSNBC blog: The MaddowBlog: “Benghazi panel wants private, not public,
Clinton testimony”
By Steve Benen
April 1, 2015, 9:26 a.m. EDT
It’s been clear for months that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
would do for the new congressional Benghazi committee exactly what she’s
done for the other congressional Benghazi committees: answer questions and
provide pertinent information. The issue was never whether Clinton would
testify, but rather, when.
Alex Seitz-Wald reported yesterday that Clinton, the unannounced Democratic
presidential hopeful, continues to volunteer her time to the House panel,
but she’s facing some unexpected resistance about the nature of the forum.
“Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Republican who leads the House Select Committee on
Benghazi, summoned Clinton Tuesday morning to sit for a private interview
with the committee before May 1. Clinton has previous said she is ready and
willing to testify, and a spokesperson reiterated that position Tuesday
afternoon.
“‘Secretary Clinton already told the committee months ago that she was
ready to appear at a public hearing. It is by their choice that hasn’t
happened. To be clear, she remains ready to appear at a hearing open to the
American public,’ spokesperson Nick Merrill said.”
This may seem counter-intuitive given the circumstances. The House Select
Committee on Benghazi – the eighth congressional panel to seek answers to
questions that have already been answered – seems to exist solely to
undermine Clinton and her likely White House ambitions.
Given this, it’s tempting to assume that Gowdy, the far-right GOP chairman
of the panel, would want as big a public spectacle as possible, featuring
cameras, crowds, and drama, as Republican pound the table and demand
answers. Similarly, it’s also tempting to assume Clinton would want a
private, closed-door discussion, shielded from public scrutiny, so as to
deny attention to discredited conspiracy theories and prevent voters from
seeing her on the defensive in response to GOP grilling.
Except, those assumptions are backwards – Clinton wants a public hearing
for all the world to see, while Republicans have invited the former
secretary to a “private interview.”
Why is that?
From Clinton’s perspective, she seems quite confident that she can get the
better of the House Republicans on the panel – there’s nothing they can
throw at her that she hasn’t seen before – and she’s already demonstrated
that when it comes to the deadly 2012 attack in Libya, Clinton has nothing
to hide.
But then there’s Gowdy and his GOP cohorts. The official line – Gowdy wants
a private hearing because he’s not convinced he has all the relevant emails
– seems very hard to believe. Indeed, it’s hard to see how private emails
would be relevant at all to whether or not Clinton’s testimony is behind
closed doors or open to everyone.
Kevin Drum offers an alternative explanation.
“Go ahead and call me paranoid, but this sure seems like the perfect setup
to allow Gowdy – or someone on his staff – to leak just a few bits and
pieces of Clinton’s testimony that put her in the worst possible light.
Darrell Issa did this so commonly that it was practically part of the rules
of the game when he was investigating Benghazi and other Republican
obsessions.
“Who knows? Maybe Gowdy is a more honest guy. But since Clinton herself has
offered to testify publicly, why would anyone not take her up on it? It’s
not as if any of this risks exposing classified information or anything.”
Go ahead and call me paranoid, too. It seems to me that the issue of
scrutiny is one of control – in a public hearing, Clinton could (and
probably would) take charge, knocking down dumb questions, calling out dumb
questioners, and making clear that the entire exercise is pointless.
But in a “private interview,” Gowdy is in control, leaking what he and
Republicans want to leak, asking what they want to ask without regard for
Clinton making them appear foolish.
*Business Insider: “Ted Cruz: Hillary Clinton's mass email deletion could
be ‘criminal conduct’”
By Colin Campbell
April 1, 2015 11:21 a.m. EST
Presidential candidate and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) thinks former Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton probably violated federal law when she deleted a
huge trove of emails.
In a Tuesday radio interview on "The Dana Show," Cruz argued the Democratic
presidential front-runner's actions may have even been "criminal."
"It is long past time for a fair and impartial investigation into what
occurred here. Based on what she has admitted publicly, it appears that
Secretary Clinton's conduct was in violation of federal law and may have
even constituted criminal conduct," Cruz said.
Cruz, a former Justice Department lawyer, was reacting to a question from
conservative radio host Dana Loesch who said Clinton deleted her emails
"after they had been subpoenaed."
Clinton's expected presidential campaign has been under fire since last
month, when it was revealed she exclusively used a personal email address
as secretary of state, reportedly violating federal guidelines, among other
potential problems.
After a week of being battered in the press, Clinton suddenly held a
chaotic press conference to defend her conduct. She admitted she should
have used a government email but insisted she broke no guidelines. She also
revealed she deleted about 30,000 of what she described as her "personal"
emails and turned over all of the work-related ones to the State Department.
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-South Carolina) said his committee investigating the
2012 attack on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, has subpoenaed
Clinton for her emails related to the incident. In a statement released at
the end of last week, Gowdy said Clinton had wiped her email server "clean"
after October 28 of last year, when the State Department "asked the
Secretary to return her public record to the Department."
At the time, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill reacted to Gowdy's statement by
touting all of her efforts to settle the email issue in the most
transparent way possible.
"Representatives of Secretary Clinton’s office have been in touch with the
committee and the State Department to make clear that she would like her
emails made public as soon as possible and that she’s ready and willing to
come and appear herself for a hearing open to the American public," Merrill
said.
Reached for comment on Cruz's allegations that the deletion of the server
may have been criminal, Merrill told Business Insider he would simply stick
to his past statements on the matter. Clinton's lawyer did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
For his part, Cruz said Tuesday that he isn't optimistic that the
Department of Justice will pursue criminal charges against Clinton because
Attorney General Eric Holder is so "politicized."
"Unfortunately, with the Holder Justice Department, we have the most
politicized Department of Justice we've ever seen. And there's no
meaningful prospect of a fair and impartial investigation," he said. "So it
is my hope that [the] House Oversight [committee] will begin to shine a
light on this. But what really needs to occur is a careful, sober
assessment about whether the conduct that she has admitted to is directly
contrary to federal law."
Listen to Cruz's full "Dana Show" interview below:
[Audio]
*Mediaite: “Bernie Sanders: I Could Beat Hillary Clinton”
By Matt Wilstein
April 1, 2015, 11:19 a.m. EDT
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has not yet announced his candidacy for the
Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, but when he appeared on
Fusion’s America with Jorge Ramos this week, the host asked him point blank
if he thinks he has any chance of beating the inevitable Hillary Clinton in
a primary.
“I think there is a lot of frustration and anger among working families
who, in many cases, are working longer hours for low wages,” Sanders said.
“Yet what they’re seeing is while their standard of living goes down,
almost all new income goes to the top 1 percent. And we have this obscene
level of income and wealth inequality. So the anger and frustration is out
there.”
“Yes, I do think that if I ran, I could win,” he concluded.
In a recent poll of likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire,
Clinton leads Sanders 47% to 8%.
Watch video below, via Fusion:
[VIDEO]
*CNN: “O'Malley, Webb to address South Carolina Democrats”
By Peter Hamby
April 1, 2015, 9:33 a.m. EDT
A pair of likely Democratic presidential candidates will share a stage next
month in South Carolina, an attention-grabbing audition before party
insiders in a closely-watched early primary state.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb will
speak at the South Carolina Democratic Convention onMay 3 in Columbia,
multiple Democratic sources told CNN. The convention brings together
hundreds of elected officials, grassroots activists and delegates — the
kind of power brokers whose opinions on the race matter greatly in the
early stages of a campaign — to the state capital every spring.
The two Democrats are joining a previously-announced speaker, Virginia Gov.
Terry McAuliffe, a close ally of Hillary Clinton, who is expected to
formalize her presidential campaign later this month.
Neither O'Malley nor Webb has officially declared a candidacy, but both
have already visited the state, as well as Iowa and New Hampshire, to begin
introducing themselves to state legislators and activists.
O'Malley has been notably aggressive in South Carolina for two years,
speaking at various Democratic Party events, steering resources to midterm
candidates and keeping in touch with power-brokers in the state.
Vice President Joe Biden, who is keeping his name in the presidential
conversation despite doing next-to-nothing to build a campaign, addressed
the convention in 2013.
South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison said details about
the convention "have yet to be confirmed."
"We would be excited to have them and all other possible Democratic
candidates visit us in South Carolina," he told CNN.
The Friday evening before the convention, South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn
is hosting his annual Fish Fry, a casual beer-soaked buffet of fried
whiting that's likely to draw both Democratic candidates eager to mingle
with local Democrats.
*Business Insider: “Elizabeth Warren has an interesting way of dealing with
questions about Hillary Clinton”
By Leslie Larson and Hunter Walker
April 1, 2015
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) doesn't seem all that ready for
Hillary.
Warren has been in New York this week for media interviews about her new
book, "A Fighting Chance." In some of these appearances she has faced
questions about Hillary Clinton, who is widely seen as the frontrunner for
the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.
Progressive groups are pushing for Warren to challenge Clinton in the
presidential race. Though Warren has repeatedly insisted she won't run,
it's clear why liberals are eager to see her enter the fray. Clinton has
been accused of being too cozy with megadonors and financiers while Warren
has earned a reputation as a populist opponent of corporate America.
Warren seems to have adopted a set talking point for questions about the
contrast between her and Clinton. Recently, Warren has responded to this
idea by attempting to take the focus off her and Clinton and noting she
wants all politicians to advocate aggressively to address income inequality
and problems in the financial industry. This strategy shows Warren isn't
currently interested in launching direct attacks on Clinton. However, as of
now, she's clearly not giving Clinton a ringing endorsement either.
In an interview on "Morning Joe" Wednesday Warren was pressed for her
thoughts on the idea Clinton hasn't focused on advocating for the middle
class against major financial interests. Warren said people "need to see"
what Clinton plans to do. She also stressed she's not just pushing Clinton
on issues like regulating banks and decreasing interest rates on student
loans and wants "everybody" in politics to take up these causes.
"She hasn't declared yet, she hasn't laid out what she's going to run on
and I think that's what we need to see," Warren said of Clinton, adding,
"But I want to be clear, I think this is what everybody should be talking
about. Democrat or Republican."
When asked if she would urge Clinton to distance herself from Wall Street
and champion Warren's pet cause to lessen the student loan burden, Warren
replied, "You bet." However, she quickly returned to stressing this is
something she is pushing everyone in politics to focus on and not just
Clinton.
"I'm going to push everybody," Warren said. "Do I not look like I’m gonna
push?"
A day earlier, in an interview on the "Today" show, Warren used a similar
strategy when asked if Clinton was the right messenger to represent the
middle class.
She began by saying Clinton needs time and space to outline her platform.
"I think we need to give her a chance to decide if she's going to run and
to declare and to lay out what she wants to run on, I think that's her
opportunity to do that," Warren said.
Warren concluded by stressing she wants her message to be taken up by
"everyone" in politics and not only Clinton.
"Everyone needs to be talking about, in every race, in every part of this
country about how it is we build a future," she said. "Because right now,
Washington is working great for those who have money and power. It's
working great for those who can hire army of lobbyists and lawyers. It's
just not working so great for the American people for real families."
Correct The Record Wednesday April 1, 2015 Afternoon Roundup:
Tweets:
Sec. Hillary Rodham Clinton @HillaryClinton: Like IN law, AR bill goes beyond protecting religion, would permit unfair discrimination against #LGBT Americans. I urge Governor to veto. [4/1/15, 11:33 a.m. EDT]
Correct The Record @CorrectRecord: .@RepCummings: Committee should act publicly, not "selectively leak portions of a closed-door interview" http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/237465-benghazi-panel-summons-clinton-over-emailsc …[4/1/15, 11:31 a.m. EDT]
Correct The Record @CorrectRecord: .@HillaryClinton wants a transparent, public hearing. @TGowdySC wants a secret meeting:http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/benghazi-panel-wants-private-not-public-clinton-testimony … via @MSNBC [4/1/15,10:58 a.m. EDT]
Headlines:
New York Times: “Hillary Clinton Urges Veto of Arkansas ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill”
“Hillary Rodham Clinton made a rare foray back into Arkansas politics on Wednesday, urging the state’s governor to veto a religious freedom bill similar to the one causing backlash in Indiana.”
MSNBC: “Hillary Clinton’s surprise event”
“The former secretary of state will join Chirlane McCray, the wife of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, to launch new citywide ‘Talk to Your Baby’ public awareness campaign to encourage parents to help build their children’s vocabulary.”
MSNBC blog: The MaddowBlog: “Benghazi panel wants private, not public, Clinton testimony”
“Go ahead and call me paranoid, too. It seems to me that the issue of scrutiny is one of control – in a public hearing, Clinton could (and probably would) take charge, knocking down dumb questions, calling out dumb questioners, and making clear that the entire exercise is pointless.”
Business Insider: “Ted Cruz: Hillary Clinton's mass email deletion could be ‘criminal conduct’”
“Presidential candidate and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) thinks former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton probably violated federal law when she deleted a huge trove of emails.”
Mediaite: “Bernie Sanders: I Could Beat Hillary Clinton”
“‘Yes, I do think that if I ran, I could win,’ he concluded.”
CNN: “O'Malley, Webb to address South Carolina Democrats”
“Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb will speak at the South Carolina Democratic Convention on May 3 in Columbia, multiple Democratic sources told CNN.”
“Warren seems to have adopted a set talking point for questions about the contrast between her and Clinton. Recently, Warren has responded to this idea by attempting to take the focus off her and Clinton and noting she wants all politicians to advocate aggressively to address income inequality and problems in the financial industry.”
Articles:
New York Times: “Hillary Clinton Urges Veto of Arkansas ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill”
By Alan Rappeport
April 1, 2015, 12:00 p.m. EDT
Hillary Rodham Clinton made a rare foray back into Arkansas politics on Wednesday, urging the state’s governor to veto a religious freedom bill similar to the one causing backlash in Indiana.
Mrs. Clinton said on Twitter that the Arkansas bill would “permit unfair discrimination.”
Sec. Hillary Rodham Clinton @HillaryClinton: Like IN law, AR bill goes beyond protecting religion, would permit unfair discrimination against #LGBT Americans. I urge Governor to veto. [4/1/15, 11:33 a.m. EDT]
Mrs. Clinton, who was once the first lady of Arkansas when Bill Clinton was governor, said last week that it was sad that a law like the one in Indiana could pass in America today.
“We shouldn’t discriminate against people because of who they love,” she said.
The issue is likely to resurface as presidential campaign season gets into full swing, as some likely Republican candidates have defended the Indiana law signed by Gov. Mike Pence.
Mr. Pence has asked state legislators to clarify the law. Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas said on Wednesday that he would like to see changes to the bill that is being sent to his desk before he will sign it.
MSNBC: “Hillary Clinton’s surprise event”
By Alex Seitz-Wald
April 1, 2015, 11:23 a.m. EDT
Hillary Clinton is holding a surprise event Wednesday in Brooklyn – but it’s not that kind of surprise.
Instead of a presidential campaign announcement, the former secretary of state will join Chirlane McCray, the wife of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, to launch new citywide “Talk to Your Baby” public awareness campaign to encourage parents to help build their children’s vocabulary.
Closing the “word gap” between low- and high-income children has been a focus of Clinton’s work for more than a year at her family’s charitable foundation. In speeches, Clinton often extols the benefits of talking and singing to babies on cognitive development, and recalls the time a baby Chelsea Clinton asked her mother to stop singing off key.
Clinton will likely have to suspend her work with the Clinton Foundation once she officially declares her presidential campaign, soWednesday’s event offers a final opportunity for her promote this issue outside of the political fray.
Clinton is expected base her upcoming presidential campaign in downtown Brooklyn, but on Wednesday she’ll be at the SCO FirstSteps Child Development Center in Brownsville, a low-income neighborhood that has been called the “murder capital of New York City.”
The former secretary of state held what was expected to be her last event before a campaign launch last week, but the mayor’s office announced Clinton’s appearance unexpectedly on Tuesday.
Clinton aides, who have already started working full time for the campaign-in-waiting, even though they are not getting paid and there is no campaign, say she is still eying a launch date sometime in April. The exact date remains a closely held secret, and Clinton has considered several possible options, which are said to be concentrated around the beginning or middle of the month.
April is a prime window to launch a campaign, thanks to a peculiarity of campaign finance laws.
MSNBC blog: The MaddowBlog: “Benghazi panel wants private, not public, Clinton testimony”
By Steve Benen
April 1, 2015, 9:26 a.m. EDT
It’s been clear for months that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would do for the new congressional Benghazi committee exactly what she’s done for the other congressional Benghazi committees: answer questions and provide pertinent information. The issue was never whether Clinton would testify, but rather, when.
Alex Seitz-Wald reported yesterday that Clinton, the unannounced Democratic presidential hopeful, continues to volunteer her time to the House panel, but she’s facing some unexpected resistance about the nature of the forum.
“Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Republican who leads the House Select Committee on Benghazi, summoned Clinton Tuesday morning to sit for a private interview with the committee before May 1. Clinton has previous said she is ready and willing to testify, and a spokesperson reiterated that position Tuesday afternoon.
“‘Secretary Clinton already told the committee months ago that she was ready to appear at a public hearing. It is by their choice that hasn’t happened. To be clear, she remains ready to appear at a hearing open to the American public,’ spokesperson Nick Merrill said.”
This may seem counter-intuitive given the circumstances. The House Select Committee on Benghazi – the eighth congressional panel to seek answers to questions that have already been answered – seems to exist solely to undermine Clinton and her likely White House ambitions.
Given this, it’s tempting to assume that Gowdy, the far-right GOP chairman of the panel, would want as big a public spectacle as possible, featuring cameras, crowds, and drama, as Republican pound the table and demand answers. Similarly, it’s also tempting to assume Clinton would want a private, closed-door discussion, shielded from public scrutiny, so as to deny attention to discredited conspiracy theories and prevent voters from seeing her on the defensive in response to GOP grilling.
Except, those assumptions are backwards – Clinton wants a public hearing for all the world to see, while Republicans have invited the former secretary to a “private interview.”
Why is that?
From Clinton’s perspective, she seems quite confident that she can get the better of the House Republicans on the panel – there’s nothing they can throw at her that she hasn’t seen before – and she’s already demonstrated that when it comes to the deadly 2012 attack in Libya, Clinton has nothing to hide.
But then there’s Gowdy and his GOP cohorts. The official line – Gowdy wants a private hearing because he’s not convinced he has all the relevant emails – seems very hard to believe. Indeed, it’s hard to see how private emails would be relevant at all to whether or not Clinton’s testimony is behind closed doors or open to everyone.
Kevin Drum offers an alternative explanation.
“Go ahead and call me paranoid, but this sure seems like the perfect setup to allow Gowdy – or someone on his staff – to leak just a few bits and pieces of Clinton’s testimony that put her in the worst possible light. Darrell Issa did this so commonly that it was practically part of the rules of the game when he was investigating Benghazi and other Republican obsessions.
“Who knows? Maybe Gowdy is a more honest guy. But since Clinton herself has offered to testify publicly, why would anyone not take her up on it? It’s not as if any of this risks exposing classified information or anything.”
Go ahead and call me paranoid, too. It seems to me that the issue of scrutiny is one of control – in a public hearing, Clinton could (and probably would) take charge, knocking down dumb questions, calling out dumb questioners, and making clear that the entire exercise is pointless.
But in a “private interview,” Gowdy is in control, leaking what he and Republicans want to leak, asking what they want to ask without regard for Clinton making them appear foolish.
Business Insider: “Ted Cruz: Hillary Clinton's mass email deletion could be ‘criminal conduct’”
By Colin Campbell
April 1, 2015 11:21 a.m. EST
Presidential candidate and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) thinks former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton probably violated federal law when she deleted a huge trove of emails.
In a Tuesday radio interview on "The Dana Show," Cruz argued the Democratic presidential front-runner's actions may have even been "criminal."
"It is long past time for a fair and impartial investigation into what occurred here. Based on what she has admitted publicly, it appears that Secretary Clinton's conduct was in violation of federal law and may have even constituted criminal conduct," Cruz said.
Cruz, a former Justice Department lawyer, was reacting to a question from conservative radio host Dana Loesch who said Clinton deleted her emails "after they had been subpoenaed."
Clinton's expected presidential campaign has been under fire since last month, when it was revealed she exclusively used a personal email address as secretary of state, reportedly violating federal guidelines, among other potential problems.
After a week of being battered in the press, Clinton suddenly held a chaotic press conference to defend her conduct. She admitted she should have used a government email but insisted she broke no guidelines. She also revealed she deleted about 30,000 of what she described as her "personal" emails and turned over all of the work-related ones to the State Department.
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-South Carolina) said his committee investigating the 2012 attack on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, has subpoenaed Clinton for her emails related to the incident. In a statement released at the end of last week, Gowdy said Clinton had wiped her email server "clean" after October 28 of last year, when the State Department "asked the Secretary to return her public record to the Department."
At the time, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill reacted to Gowdy's statement by touting all of her efforts to settle the email issue in the most transparent way possible.
"Representatives of Secretary Clinton’s office have been in touch with the committee and the State Department to make clear that she would like her emails made public as soon as possible and that she’s ready and willing to come and appear herself for a hearing open to the American public," Merrill said.
Reached for comment on Cruz's allegations that the deletion of the server may have been criminal, Merrill told Business Insider he would simply stick to his past statements on the matter. Clinton's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For his part, Cruz said Tuesday that he isn't optimistic that the Department of Justice will pursue criminal charges against Clinton because Attorney General Eric Holder is so "politicized."
"Unfortunately, with the Holder Justice Department, we have the most politicized Department of Justice we've ever seen. And there's no meaningful prospect of a fair and impartial investigation," he said. "So it is my hope that [the] House Oversight [committee] will begin to shine a light on this. But what really needs to occur is a careful, sober assessment about whether the conduct that she has admitted to is directly contrary to federal law."
Listen to Cruz's full "Dana Show" interview below:
[Audio]
Mediaite: “Bernie Sanders: I Could Beat Hillary Clinton”
By Matt Wilstein
April 1, 2015, 11:19 a.m. EDT
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has not yet announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, but when he appeared on Fusion’s America with Jorge Ramos this week, the host asked him point blank if he thinks he has any chance of beating the inevitable Hillary Clinton in a primary.
“I think there is a lot of frustration and anger among working families who, in many cases, are working longer hours for low wages,” Sanders said. “Yet what they’re seeing is while their standard of living goes down, almost all new income goes to the top 1 percent. And we have this obscene level of income and wealth inequality. So the anger and frustration is out there.”
“Yes, I do think that if I ran, I could win,” he concluded.
In a recent poll of likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire, Clinton leads Sanders 47% to 8%.
Watch video below, via Fusion:
[VIDEO]
CNN: “O'Malley, Webb to address South Carolina Democrats”
By Peter Hamby
April 1, 2015, 9:33 a.m. EDT
A pair of likely Democratic presidential candidates will share a stage next month in South Carolina, an attention-grabbing audition before party insiders in a closely-watched early primary state.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb will speak at the South Carolina Democratic Convention onMay 3 in Columbia, multiple Democratic sources told CNN. The convention brings together hundreds of elected officials, grassroots activists and delegates — the kind of power brokers whose opinions on the race matter greatly in the early stages of a campaign — to the state capital every spring.
The two Democrats are joining a previously-announced speaker, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close ally of Hillary Clinton, who is expected to formalize her presidential campaign later this month.
Neither O'Malley nor Webb has officially declared a candidacy, but both have already visited the state, as well as Iowa and New Hampshire, to begin introducing themselves to state legislators and activists.
O'Malley has been notably aggressive in South Carolina for two years, speaking at various Democratic Party events, steering resources to midterm candidates and keeping in touch with power-brokers in the state.
Vice President Joe Biden, who is keeping his name in the presidential conversation despite doing next-to-nothing to build a campaign, addressed the convention in 2013.
South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison said details about the convention "have yet to be confirmed."
"We would be excited to have them and all other possible Democratic candidates visit us in South Carolina," he told CNN.
The Friday evening before the convention, South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn is hosting his annual Fish Fry, a casual beer-soaked buffet of fried whiting that's likely to draw both Democratic candidates eager to mingle with local Democrats.
By Leslie Larson and Hunter Walker
April 1, 2015
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) doesn't seem all that ready for Hillary.
Warren has been in New York this week for media interviews about her new book, "A Fighting Chance." In some of these appearances she has faced questions about Hillary Clinton, who is widely seen as the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.
Progressive groups are pushing for Warren to challenge Clinton in the presidential race. Though Warren has repeatedly insisted she won't run, it's clear why liberals are eager to see her enter the fray. Clinton has been accused of being too cozy with megadonors and financiers while Warren has earned a reputation as a populist opponent of corporate America.
Warren seems to have adopted a set talking point for questions about the contrast between her and Clinton. Recently, Warren has responded to this idea by attempting to take the focus off her and Clinton and noting she wants all politicians to advocate aggressively to address income inequality and problems in the financial industry. This strategy shows Warren isn't currently interested in launching direct attacks on Clinton. However, as of now, she's clearly not giving Clinton a ringing endorsement either.
In an interview on "Morning Joe" Wednesday Warren was pressed for her thoughts on the idea Clinton hasn't focused on advocating for the middle class against major financial interests. Warren said people "need to see" what Clinton plans to do. She also stressed she's not just pushing Clinton on issues like regulating banks and decreasing interest rates on student loans and wants "everybody" in politics to take up these causes.
"She hasn't declared yet, she hasn't laid out what she's going to run on and I think that's what we need to see," Warren said of Clinton, adding, "But I want to be clear, I think this is what everybody should be talking about. Democrat or Republican."
When asked if she would urge Clinton to distance herself from Wall Street and champion Warren's pet cause to lessen the student loan burden, Warren replied, "You bet." However, she quickly returned to stressing this is something she is pushing everyone in politics to focus on and not just Clinton.
"I'm going to push everybody," Warren said. "Do I not look like I’m gonna push?"
A day earlier, in an interview on the "Today" show, Warren used a similar strategy when asked if Clinton was the right messenger to represent the middle class.
She began by saying Clinton needs time and space to outline her platform.
"I think we need to give her a chance to decide if she's going to run and to declare and to lay out what she wants to run on, I think that's her opportunity to do that," Warren said.
Warren concluded by stressing she wants her message to be taken up by "everyone" in politics and not only Clinton.
"Everyone needs to be talking about, in every race, in every part of this country about how it is we build a future," she said. "Because right now, Washington is working great for those who have money and power. It's working great for those who can hire army of lobbyists and lawyers. It's just not working so great for the American people for real families."
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