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Hillary Clinton Tag

Will Hillary Clinton's latest ad, which attempts to scare people about Donald Trump when it comes to national security, actually wind up winning him votes? Today's Morning Joe opened by playing the ad, which features clips of Trump making various bellicose statements, e.g., "I would bomb the s--- out of them." Mika Brzezinski found the ad "very strong: it tweaks on every level." Better than twerking on every level, we suppose. "It's scary," said Mika as, in a bit of unintentional humor, she imitated the "whoosh" sound of the fighter jet at the end of the ad. But query: could the ad wind up winning more votes than it loses him? After eight years of "leading from behind," of foreign policy disasters from Russia to Syria to Libya to Iran, could America be ready for a blunt-talking president? Remind me: who was the president who, speaking of the Cold War, said "we win, they lose?"

A week before the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in September, the Clinton Global Initiative is holding an event which will be attended by many of Hillary's favorite one percenters. Democrats are concerned because the optics of this will play right into Trump's narrative about Hillary being an entrenched DC insider and influence peddler. Politico reports:
Democrats fret over timing of Clintons’ charity fete Hundreds of corporate executives, foreign dignitaries and celebrities will pile into a Manhattan ballroom to hobnob with Bill and Chelsea Clinton next month at their charity’s keynote annual event — just days before Hillary Clinton defends herself against pay-to-play accusations from Donald Trump in their first debate.

The rise of Donald Trump has divided the GOP more than ever, leading many to worry if the party could maintain their majority in Congress whether he wins or loses the presidency. The Democrats have noticed and now Politico reports that Hillary Clinton plans to raise $1 billion to defeat the vulnerable GOP members of Congress:
The new concern inside the highest levels of Republican politics is that Hillary Clinton will raise $1 billion for Democrats and the party will train some of their efforts -- and that money -- on defeating House and Senate Republicans. Party leaders privately concede that the Senate could be lost either way. But senior House Republicans say they’re in good shape across the country, and see no evidence that the control of the chamber is in play.

Judicial Watch has tried for years to get records of Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin's employment outside of the State Department, which has led to questions about Clinton's private email server. The watchdog group has continuously received her emails from her time as Secretary of State, but overall the group does not believe Hillary has ever provided a justified answer as to why she used this server. Now, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Federal District Court in Washington put Judicial Watch a step closer by telling Hillary she must provide written testimony under oath, also known as interrogatories, about her private email server in connection to Judicial Watch's lawsuit.

Earlier this week, we highlighted the case of a sailor in the U.S. Navy who was being prosecuted for using his phone to take pictures in a nuclear submarine. His lawyer cited Hillary Clinton as a defense. At the time, I said:
Cases like these highlight the growing feeling among many Americans that there are two sets of rules in this country and that some people are above the law if they have the right connections.
Unfortunately for the sailor, the Clinton defense didn't work. U.S. News and World Report has the story:

Former President Bill Clinton told staffers at the Clinton Foundation if Hillary wins the presidency they will stop accepting foreign and corporate donations. From Fox News:
While Hillary Clinton stepped down from its board after launching her 2016 campaign, her husband and daughter have remained in leadership roles, leading to questions about the ability of the organization to continue its work should Clinton win the White House.

I didn't watch Donald Trump's speech last night, but I saw Twitter blow up but not in the usual way. The speech was being received by all but the most diehard #NeverTrump-ers as the long-awaited "pivot," a reasonable policy and campaign speech read from a teleprompter. The prepared text of the speech is here. It's quite good. But .... It's not exactly the "Let Trump be Trump" pivot we all were expecting with the naming of Breitbart News Chairman Steve Bannon to lead the Trump campaign. With Paul Manafort resigning from the campaign this morning, one would have expected Trump's pivot to be more aggressive. The speech, however, appeared to be the opposite of letting Trump be Trump, at least if Trump being Trump was what we have seen the past year on the campaign trail. Here's an excerpt from the opening [quotes from speech below from prepared text]:
I’d like to take a moment to talk about the heartbreak and devastation in Louisiana, a state that is very special to me. We are one nation. When one state hurts, we all hurt – and we must all work together to lift each other up. Working, building, restoring together. Our prayers are with the families who have lost loved ones, and we send them our deepest condolences. Though words cannot express the sadness one feels at times like this, I hope everyone in Louisiana knows that our country is praying for them and standing with them to help them in these difficult hours.

Hillary Clinton claims she has no intention of repealing the Second Amendment and her allies in media regularly dispel such notions as the stuff of conspiracy theories. If you ask her young supporters however, you hear a very different story. Campus Reform reports:
VIDEO: Hillary supporters want to repeal the 2nd Amendment Throughout the 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton has been adamant in her support of gun control—an issue that has dominated the national conversation in the wake of terrorist attacks in Orlando, Paris, Nice, and San Bernardino.

The FBI has sent over some of the classified documents and notes from their untaped interview for their Hillary Clinton investigation to the House Oversight Committee in order to understand why Director James Comey did not recommend charges against her. However, Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz said the FBI heavily redacted the majority of the documents:
“As the chairman of the chief investigative body in the House, it is significant I can’t even read these documents in their entirety,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah told Fox News. “This shows how dangerous it was to have this intelligence, highly classified to this day, on the former secretary’s unsecured personal server where it was vulnerable.”

Electoral success is looking bleak for Republican nominee Donald Trump and his supporters. Among the conventional poll-reading wisdom is that trends, not individual polls, provide for a more accurate overview. Despite his headline popularity and ability to pull around 30% in primary elections, Trump has never polled consistently well against Democratic contender Hillary Clinton.

A sailor in the U.S. Navy is facing prison for using his phone to take pictures inside a nuclear submarine. He claims that he just wanted to share the photos with his family and that he deserves leniency. His lawyer is citing Hillary Clinton as a defense. Politico reports:
Citing Clinton, sailor seeks leniency in submarine photos case A Navy sailor facing the possibility of years in prison for taking a handful of classified photos inside a nuclear submarine is making a bid for leniency by citing the decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton over classified information authorities say was found in her private email account.

Buzzfeed has a lengthy article and interview with Juanita Broaddrick, who has accused Bill Clinton of rape, Juanita Broaddrick Wants To Be Believed. It's well worth the read. There is one part of the Buzzfeed article which is news in itself. Hillary (in)famously stated on Twitter, and a campaign video quoted on her website, that women who allege sexual assault "have the right to be believed." In light of the accusations by Broaddrick and others such as Paula Jones, Hillary's comment was the focus of much mockery, including our tweet of a previous A.F. Branco cartoon:

It turns out the Clintons have been very charitable in their giving. The ironic part is that their own foundation was the greatest beneficiary of their philanthropy. CNBC reports:
Clintons made $10.6 million in 2015, paid federal rate of 34% Hillary and Bill Clinton released their 2015 tax returns on Friday, showing they paid $3.6 million in taxes on adjusted gross income of $10.6 million.

According to The Daily Caller and CNN, the FBI and several U.S. Attorney offices have opened an investigation into the Clinton Foundation even though the Department of Justice objected to one. The officials met several months ago about the possibility of a case:
At the time, three field offices were in agreement an investigation should be launched after the FBI received notification from a bank of suspicious activity from a foreigner who had donated to the Clinton Foundation, according to the official.

Senator Rand Paul has said lock her up, but not as a campaign rally chant. He really means it. Paul shares the feeling of many Americans that Hillary Clinton got a free pass for something that would have sent other people to jail. The New American reports:
Rand Paul Launches Effort to "Hold Hillary Accountable" Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is marching on in his quest to hold Hillary Clinton accountable for her misuse of classified material while serving as secretary of state in the Obama administration.

A massive hack of the Democratic National Committee's email system cost former Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz her job. A few weeks after Wikileaks published more than 19,000 hacked emails from top Democratic Party officials, investigators have indicated the personal email accounts of more than 100 Hillary campaign officials and other organizations may have been targeting in the attack. The New York Times reported:
The main targets appear to have been the personal email accounts of Hillary Clinton’s campaign officials and party operatives, along with a number of party organizations.

Hillary Clinton was rushed by an animal rights protester during a campaign event in Iowa this week. The protester, who was a young woman, was taken down by Secret Service and carried out of the venue by police. CBS News New York reports:
VIDEO: Animal Rights Protester Tackled By Security Trying To Rush Stage At Hillary Clinton Rally A woman was tackled by security as she was trying to rush the stage at a Hillary Clinton rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday.