SUBPOENAED: Sources say Sidney Blumenthal to face Gowdy in House hearing
Deeper and deeper
Hillary’s “Blumenthal problem” just got a lot bigger.
A source close to the House Select Committee on Benghazi told the AP today that the Committee has issued a subpoena to former Hillary Clinton confidant and adviser Sidney Blumenthal. The panel wants answers from Blumenthal about his communications with Clinton during her time as Secretary of State; specifically, if he had any business arrangements with her that led him to communicate with her about Libya.
Tensions regarding Clinton’s involvement (or, lack thereof, if you believe she ignored the danger) in the disaster at the embassy in Benghazi are compounded by the “delays” Congressional investigators have encountered in their effort to acquire e-mail documentation of Clinton’s time as Secretary of State. The two issues are hopelessly commingled, giving democrats an opportunity to accuse Gowdy and other Republicans of purposefully dragging out the investigation.
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, ranking Democrat on the panel, issued a statement Wednesday assailing the committee’s GOP leadership for its handling of the subpoena.
…“These latest moves by the Benghazi Committee — issuing a subpoena without first contacting the witness, leaking news of the subpoena before it was served, and not holding any committee debate or vote — are straight out the partisan playbook of discredited Republican investigations,” the congressman added. “The fact is that we have had these exact emails for three months, and the latest abuses by the committee are just one more example of a partisan, taxpayer-funded attack against Secretary Clinton and her bid for president.”
Gowdy complained to Kerry last week that the State Department had delayed providing emails and other documents involving Clinton and her top associates. “Simply put, the committee must have the records of communication requested more than six months ago before the secretary’s appearance can be scheduled,” Gowdy wrote.
The State Department said the department has provided 300 emails from Clinton, 19 witnesses and more than 40,000 pages of documents from the initial departmental investigation.
Democrats have complained that Gowdy and other Republicans are drawing out the Benghazi hearings in order to disrupt Clinton’s presidential campaign, but Gowdy said that the State Department is to blame for any delays.
Cummings also complained to the press about the way the subpoena was delivered to Blumenthal; two U.S. Marshals were tasked with delivering the paperwork.
Paperwork issues aside, an investigation into Blumenthal’s ties to Clinton and Libya aren’t beyond the pale. Why? Check out this mess:
The New York Times reported Monday on email records showing that Mr. Blumenthal was on the payroll of the Clinton Foundation at the same time he was being paid by groups helping Mrs. Clinton’s presidential run, at the same time he was advising a U.S. business seeking Libyan contracts, at the same time he was secretly advising Secretary of State Clinton about Libya. Every top American diplomat apparently needs a good man Friday who no one else knows about.
I believe in coincidence, but come on.
Last week, Benghazi committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) fired off a letter to the State Department addressing both the Department’s lack of responsiveness to the committee’s requests for documents, and Clinton’s lack of cooperation with the investigation into what really happened in Benghazi:
“Secretary Clinton is insistent she will appear once and only once before the Select Committee,” said Gowdy, R-S.C. “The Committee must be equally insistent that her appearance is thorough and fully productive. This requires the record to be complete so the Members can effectively base their questions on documents and the Secretary can base her answers on those same documents.
“Since last fall, the Committee has consistently said it would talk to Secretary Clinton about Libya and Benghazi within 30 days of the public record being complete. To date, the State Department has not produced one single piece of paper responsive to the Committee’s request for records from the former Secretary’s leadership team.”
Gowdy noted the Benghazi Committee originally requested all Libya- and Benghazi-related documents from the leadership team of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton back in November 2014. He also noted the Committee subpoenaed the same records in March 2015, but as of mid-May, State has failed to produce a single email.
This thing keeps getting deeper and deeper. Even assuming for the sake of argument that Gowdy’s tactics here are part of a larger strategy aimed at evoking a reaction from voters and the press, Clinton’s intransigence, coupled with her closeness with Blumenthal and his dealings in Libya, aren’t issues that should be ignored.
We’ll keep you posted on the response to the subpoena.
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Do you know where a the people who vote for Elijah Cummings live?
Do you know where Elijah Cummings was born and raised and where he still lives today?
Baltimore, MD.
No more needs to be said.
WASHINGTON – For three hours Thursday, prosecutors for independent counsel Kenneth Starr grilled senior White House aide Sidney Blumenthal about an alleged White House plot to obstruct his Whitewater investigation, insinuating it was ordered by President Clinton, refined by Hillary Rodham Clinton and implemented by a cadre of Clinton lawyers, their private investigators and Blumenthal’s favorite reporters.
“They asked me if the president had ordered this,” Blumenthal told Salon. “They asked me if Hillary Clinton had asked me to disseminate negative information about prosecutors. They asked me if I knew all these private eyes and if I had met with them and talked with them and whether the president’s attorneys had given me information from the private eyes.” In each instance, Blumenthal said, he replied, “Absolutely not.”
Sidney Blumenthal emerged from the grand jury and…denounced the inquisitorial tactics of Judge Starr. But the transcripts of that grand jury session show that Blumenthal wasn’t asked any such questions, let alone forced to answer. On a later visit before the grand jury, Blumenthal was admonished for his untruths.
Put him under oath.
Blumenthal is one of the most despicable American political figures. His son is even worse.
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The reason Gowdy needs two sessions with Hillary – one with staff, private but on the record and under oath, then a later public hearing – is to check on her testimony. Otherwise, she can say almost anything and get away with it, no time to check and prove she is lying.
State is delaying to try to push her questioning into next year, so she can cry “Politics!” Notice she is claiming she wants things released right away? State is her cover.
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Poor old Elijah Cummings. He is so old and stupid he can barely read what they hand him and tell him to read. He should be in a home somewhere.
All Vicious Sid needs to avoid any appearance is leave the country. I’m sure he can find a nice, sandy beach where he could just lie in the sun all day and thumb his nose at the US Government. No one expects the FBI to go chasing after him.
I think it would be interesting to explore when Elijah Cummings became a punk-assed bitch for teh Collective.
Rags, would “The Day He Got Elected.” work for you?
I think it was upstream of that.
Meh…… sure seems to just be Republican theater…. bit like bread and circus… keep the Rs placated. No real results.
I’d like to see a) actual arrests b) seizing of these criminal’s funds, computers, property, etc …
call me Hillary, TheWon, Val and all their commie pals are wearing orange jumpsuits.
Gowdy’s ongoing schtick is boring me.
Sorry…. it just is.
You’re confusing the roles of the branches of government in the U.S.
Congress can inquire, but it can’t prosecute.
That job belongs to the executive, and this one is just a mob of outlaws.
So. We’re screwed…at least for the time being.
There hasn’t been a single outrage, crime, or deliberate lie from the dems that hasn’t been blamed on the republicans. Some just can’t seem to understand the workings of our government. Somehow it makes the know nothings feel better to blame the republicans. Not as if the republicans can waterboard the truth out of the lying cheating dems.
Perhaps we can’t…but it certainly is a comforting notion to drink coffee over, huh?
This explains a lot …
…. looks like ‘Mrs. Clinton’ believed Blumenthal over the CIA