Shift Wire
Clinton, Democrat senator coordinated Benghazi hearing questions
The Washington Examiner reports that Hillary Clinton and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) coordinated before a Benghazi hearing. Clinton staffers provided Mendendez with particular angles they wanted the senator’s questions to take:
Emails show Hillary Clinton’s inner circle knew what the Democratic chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was planning to ask Clinton at the first congressional hearing about Benghazi, raising questions about whether the former secretary of state manipulated the hearing to her advantage.
In an email sent by Phillippe Reines, a former spokesman for Clinton at the State Department, to Chelsea Clinton in 2013, Reines suggested he had played a part in planting a question with Sen. Robert Menendez, who then chaired the committee.
“We wired it that Menendez would provide an opportunity to address two topics we needed to debunk (her actions/whereabouts on 9/11 and these emails from Chris Stevens about moving locations),” Reines wrote on the email, which was obtained by Citizens United.
The New Jersey Democrat’s first question to Clinton during the hearing on Benghazi touched on both those subjects.
To read the full article, click here.
Surprise – more Hillary emails found
The Washington Post reports that a new trove of thousands of Hillary Clinton documents, which Clinton’s legal team had not previously turned over, has been located:
The FBI’s year-long investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server uncovered tens of thousands more documents from her time as secretary of state that were not previously disclosed by her attorneys. The State Department is expected to discuss when and how it will release the emails Monday morning in federal court.
The total — confirmed by the Justice Department — was disclosed by a conservative legal group after the State Department said last week that it would hand over the emails. The number to be released is nearly 50 percent more than the 30,000-plus that Clinton’s lawyers deemed work-related and returned to the department in December 2014.
Lawyers for the State Department and Judicial Watch, the legal group, said in an Aug. 12 court filing that they intended to negotiate a plan for the release, part of a civil public records lawsuit before U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of Washington.
Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton tweeted Monday morning that the “FBI found almost 15,000 new Clinton documents. When will State release them?” In an interview, he said: “It looks like the State Department is trying to slow roll the release of the records. They’ve had them for at least a month, and we still don’t know when we’re going to get them.”
To read the full article, click here.
Democrat Congressman’s dad heading to prison for funneling contributions
A California Congressman’s father was sentenced to one year and a day in prison today for illegally funneling $260,000 to campaigns for his son, U.S. Rep. Ami Bera. The L.A. Times reports:
Babulal Bera, a retired chemical engineer who emigrated from India and watched his oldest son win election to the U.S. House of Representatives, was sentenced Thursday to one year and one day in federal prison for organizing a money-laundering scheme that helped fund two of his son’s campaigns.
It was a sentence that defense attorneys for Bera, 83, argued was too severe, but one U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley said was appropriate.
“This is more than just a naive person who doesn’t know how elections work,” Nunley said during the sentencing hearing in Sacramento. “The defendant’s efforts were calculated.”
Rep. Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove) was not in the courtroom to see his father convicted of two counts of federal campaign finance violations. The two-term Democrat has denied knowing about the secret donations and has expressed disappointment in his father’s actions.
Babulal Bera did not speak to reporters as he left the courtroom in downtown Sacramento. His sentence, which was lighter than federal guidelines that call for up to three years in prison, included a fine of $100,200. He must surrender to federal authorities within 90 days.
Prosecutors said Bera conducted an elaborate operation of soliciting donations from friends and family for his son’s first two congressional campaigns in 2010 and 2012. Each of those individual donations was within the legal maximum of primary and general election donations, a total of $5,000 in 2012. But the elder Bera either quietly gave those donors the money to make their donations or ultimately repaid them after the contributions were made.
To read more, click here.
Corrupt Pennsylvania A.G. resigns, finally
Reuters reports today that after a pathetic, chaotic and scandal-tarred tenure, the Democratic Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Kathleen Kane, finally resigned today. Kane is a great example of someone who should never have been entrusted with an important public office.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced her resignation on Tuesday, one day after a jury convicted her of perjury and other crimes for leaking sealed grand jury material to a reporter.
“I have been honored to serve the people of Pennsylvania and I wish them health and safety in all their days,” Kane, whose resignation is effective Wednesday, said in a statement. Her deputy, Bruce Castor, is scheduled to address the media later on Tuesday.
Kane faces up to seven years in prison on the most serious charge when she is sentenced on Oct. 24.
Governor Tom Wolf, who had called for Kane’s immediate resignation following her conviction, praised her decision to step down.
“Her decision to resign is the right one, and will allow the people of Pennsylvania to finally move on from this situation,” Wolf said in a statement.
The resignation capped a dramatic fall for Kane, who was once seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party and became the first woman elected Pennsylvania attorney general in 2012.
To read more, click here.
On The Other Blogs
- Citizens Guide to Initiative 1433: to increase the state minimum wage and to require paid sick leaveSource: Washington Policy CenterPublished on 2016-09-28
- Little Lincoln County seen as big threat to union secrecySource: Smarter Gov WAPublished on 2016-09-27
- Initiative 1501: Protecting Seniors or Special Interests?Source: Freedom FoundationPublished on 2016-09-27
- Weekend buzzkill: gas tax and licensing fee increases take effect this FridaySource: Washington State WirePublished on 2016-06-29
