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Hillary Clinton Tag

When you've lost Chuck Todd, you've lost them all, Hil. Yesterday, Kemberlee Kaye covered the New York Times' nuclear bomb of a story about the Clinton Foundation's alleged status as a go between for a US-Russia uranium transfer. (Read the whole thing for background.) The piece went viral, candidates and pundits had a field day, and then...the unthinkable happened. NBC News' Chuck Todd officially gave the Clinton establishment the sideeye. Watch. Transcript via Real Clear Politics:
Look, for the life of me, and this is just political judgment, the Obama administration when they offered her the job looked at the [Clinton] Foundation and said, boy, there will be the appearance of influence. We better be careful here.

Wow. First David Brock and now Howard Dean. Is there something in the water at MSNBC? Dean is the former chair of the DNC, a role now filled by our favorite Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz. As a long time party loyalist, Dean appeared on Morning Joe yesterday and attempted to downplay new scandalous revelations regarding the Clintons. Hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough could barely contain their skepticism. David Rutz of the Washington Free Beacon:
Mika Tires of Howard Dean’s ‘Jihad’ for Clintons: ‘The Facts Are The Facts’ The New York Times reported Thursday that the Clinton Global Initiative accepted millions of dollars from a Russian oil company when the State Department, then headed by Hillary Clinton, was approving a deal that would give Russians control of the company Uranium One and bring Vladimir Putin “closer to his goal of controlling much of the global uranium supply chain.” The charges are part of Peter Schweizer’s book Clinton Cash.

They New York Times dropped a bomb. More like a daisy cutter, actually. The NYT's latest exposé into the sordid world of the Clinton family suggests a direct connection between the Clinton Foundation, Russian donations (that were not publicly disclosed), and the Russian acquisition of Uranium One. The events transpired while Mrs. Clinton was serving as Secretary of State. Point for Rand Paul who publicly predicted new, potentially disastrous revelations about the Clinton Foundation just weeks ago. The dots connected in the NYT story, links reportedly included in the upcoming book, "Clinton Cash", might be the most serious allegations in the litany of Clinton-family misdeeds thus far.
Beyond mines in Kazakhstan that are among the most lucrative in the world, the sale gave the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States. Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of United States government agencies. Among the agencies that eventually signed off was the State Department, then headed by Mr. Clinton’s wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.
Coincidence, right?
And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock. ... Whether the donations played any role in the approval of the uranium deal is unknown. But the episode underscores the special ethical challenges presented by the Clinton Foundation, headed by a former president who relied heavily on foreign cash to accumulate $250 million in assets even as his wife helped steer American foreign policy as secretary of state, presiding over decisions with the potential to benefit the foundation’s donors.

According to The Hill, one of Hillary Clinton's longstanding supporters has defected to Governor Martin O'Malley. The Miami Herald explains, "as Miami mayor, Manny Diaz backed Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. But now he's hosting a breakfast for former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a potential Clinton rival in 2016." To say that Diaz is excited about a potential O'Malley run is probably an understatement. Diaz told the Miami Herald, "He's not running yet, but I'll tell you, if he does run, I will endorse him. He's an old friend, and I'm very loyal to old friends."
Diaz praised O'Malley's work as Baltimore mayor and noted he visited him when he first got elected in Miami. Diaz ended up using Baltimore's 311 call system as a model for his own city. "He's very data-driven, results-oriented, 'let's see how we're doing, let's measure ourselves,'" Diaz said. Plus, he has a soft spot in his heart for executives: In 2008, as head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Diaz said he met separately with Clinton and Barack Obama and urged them to run as "mayor of the United States." "When you look at what mayors do, and in this case what governor's do -- and he's been both, so he's actually run something," Diaz said. "He's run two governments."

David Brock of Media Matters appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe program yesterday and attempted to defend Hillary Clinton from claims made in the new book Clinton Cash. Even the reliably liberal Mika Brzezinski wasn't buying Brock's hollow defense. Alyssa Canobbio of the Washington Free Beacon:
Mika Brzezinski Corrects the Record on David Brock’s Laughable Defense of Hillary Clinton Brock defended Clinton’s comments that when a person runs for president that they come under scrutiny and Brock asked people to look at Clinton’s record. Host Mika Brzezinski said no one could look at Clinton’s record because Clinton scrubbed the personal server she used during her time as secretary of state. Brock continued, arguing that the 55,000 pages of email that Clinton has turned over was enough to show her record. Brock said that the actions Clinton took after leaving the State Department all fell under regulations. “No, actually, David, you don’t have to give me a lesson on the regulations of the State Department,” Brzezinski said. “She scrubbed emails because she felt like it and that went against regulations.”
Watch the video:

Perhaps Mrs. Clinton should read the newspapers like the current White House occupant, then she might find her self a bit more informed about the goings on in the country she hopes to rule run. Speaking in Keene, New Hampshire yesterday, Hillary said: "From my perspective, I want to be sure that we get small businesses starting and growing in America again. We have stalled out. I was very surprised to see that when I began to dig into it. Because people were telling me this as I travelled around the country the last two years, but I didn't know what they were saying and it turns out, we're not producing as many small businesses as we used to, and a recent world study said that we are forty-sixth in the world in the difficulty to start a small business. And we'll get into some of those."

Megyn Kelly interviewed governor Scott Walker on her show last night and covered a wide variety of topics. The first subject was Hillary Clinton, who Walker suggested is out of touch with the American people. Other topics included Walker's strategy for winning independent voters in Wisconsin, the GOP's prospects for 2016 and immigration. Here's the video: Scott Walker's name was in the news yesterday for another reason.

The book is called Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich---and it could be the undoing of a woman much of the country assumed would one day hold the presidency. Peter Schweizer's latest work won't officially hit stores until May 5, but the buzz generated by the release of advance copies already has Team Clinton on defense, and Republican heavy-hitters running offense against the financial history of the Clinton Foundation. The basic premise of the book is that during the time Clinton served as secretary of state, the Department would grant favors to foreign entities in exchange for high-dollar speaking fees paid directly to the Clinton Foundation.
“We will see a pattern of financial transactions involving the Clintons that occurred contemporaneous with favorable U.S. policy decisions benefiting those providing the funds,” Mr. Schweizer writes.

America Rising PAC dropped a new video earlier this week and boy does this one sting. This latest addition to the open Hillary oppo file recounts the scandalicious candidate's most memorable lies in all their video-taped glory. Will the truth make a dent in Hillary's plans? Though she's launched her official burrito-filled presidential campaign, Mrs. Clinton's email scandal woes are far from over. Rep. Gowdy requested two interviews, a private, transcribed interview before the Select Committee on Benghazi as well as a public hearing. While Mrs. Clinton has said she would testify in a public hearing before the committee, to date, neither she nor her counsel have responded to Gowdy's request.

By now, you've probably noticed that most of our completely unbiased media is treating Hillary Clinton with the same hard hitting scrutiny they're applying to Republicans candidates. Don't take my word for it. Here's Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post: According to Cillizza, it's all in our minds:
Look, I get it. Hillary Clinton is a Democrat. Conservatives have been convinced for a very long time that the media is populated almost exclusively by Democrats who, because they are secretly rooting for that party's candidates, are willing to overlook things that they would never overlook if it was a Republican. And, there is no Democrat this side of Barack Obama that drives Republicans crazier than Hillary Clinton.
Doug Powers responds: You've probably seen the media's mad dash for Hillary's "Scooby" van:

Andrew Kaczynski at Buzzfeed reports that Hillary's often-told story about all her grandparents being immigrants is 3/4 false. Only one was.
Speaking in Iowa Wednesday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that all her grandparents had immigrated to the United States, a story that conflicts with public census and other records related to her maternal and paternal grandparents. The story of her grandmother specifically immigrating is one Clinton has told before. Clinton’s sole foreign-born grandparent, Hugh Rodham Sr., immigrated as a child."
Extensive public records support Kaczynski's findings. Here's a Buzzfeed video file of Hillary recently telling the story. [video width="600" height="338" mp4="https://legalinsurrection.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/HillaryinIowacomments-624x350.mp4"][/video] There's also a Youtube video linked by Buzzfeed.

Via Drudge, The Daily Mail reports to the surprise of no one who has followed the Clintons, that Hillary's coffee shop talk in Iowa was staged:
Hillary Clinton's astroturf candidacy is in full swing in Iowa. Her Tuesday morning visit to a coffee shop in LeClaire, Iowa was staged from beginning to end, according to Austin Bird, one of the men pictured sitting at the table with Mrs. Clinton. Bird told Daily Mail Online that campaign staffer Troy Price called and asked him and two other young people to meet him Tuesday morning at a restaurant in Davenport, a nearby city. Price then drove them to the coffee house to meet Clinton after vetting them for about a half-hour. The three got the lion's share of Mrs. Clinton's time and participated in what breathless news reports described as a 'roundtable'– the first of many in her brief Iowa campaign swing.

It's interesting that Hillary Clinton started off her 2016 presidential campaign with a video that showed what appeared to be middle class Americans at a transitional point in their lives. Hillary talked about being a "champion" for them and punctuated her kick-off by going on a road trip to Iowa, stopping at gas stations and eating at Chipotle, like "every day" Americans. While people have been enjoying themselves at Hillary's expense with her road trip and her burrito bowl adventures, the Republican Party is looking to do what Democrats did to Mitt Romney in 2012 and what the GOP did to John Kerry in 2004: Portray Hillary Clinton as an out of touch plutocrat who says all the right things about "the middle class" but cannot possibly relate to their situation. From Politico:
While Hillary Clinton’s residences in New York and Washington may not have car elevators, there’s still a lengthy trail of paid speeches, tone-deaf statements about the family finances and questions about Clinton family foundation fundraising practices that will serve as cornerstones of the anti-Clinton messaging effort. “She’s admitted she hasn’t driven a car for decades; she probably doesn’t ever go into a coffee shop and talk to regular people unless it’s for a staged photo-op,” said American Crossroads CEO Steven Law, alluding to Clinton’s portrayal in her campaign’s launch video on Sunday. “She really has lived the life of a 1-percenter these last several years, and it shows.

Uh oh, it looks like a certain someone didn't get the message the first time. Bill de Blasio's effectiveness as the mayor of New York City is open for debate, but his dedication to progressive politics is beyond dispute. The American left adores him, so his reticence to endorse Mrs. Clinton comes as no surprise. Like many people in the Warren Wing of the Democratic Party, he's not quite ready for Hillary. Daniel Halper of the Weekly Standard:
De Blasio Shuns Hillary: 'This Is a Different Country We’re Living in Right Now' New York City mayor Bill de Blasio once again refused to endorse his former boss, Hillary Clinton, in remarks today. "This is a different country we’re living in right now, and I think we need to hear a vision that relates to this tim," de Blasio said. The mayor also suggested that Clinton indeed is a candidate of yesterday. She's "a candidate who has not been in the public eye in this sense for almost eight years, and we're still beginning to hear what she stands for," he said. "It's normal to want to hear more."
Here's the video:

The Hillary Chipotle story is either one of the most amazing unintended earned-media campaign stories ever, or a contrived set up. Regardless, put points in Team Hillary column. Maggie Haberman at The NY Times broke the story about Hillary's supposedly secret trip to Chipotle on her Scooby trip to Iowa. The story goes like this:
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign is all about “everyday Americans,” she made clear in announcing it on Sunday. On Monday, she showed how unassuming she herself could be. Driving to Iowa for her first campaign swing, Mrs. Clinton’s van — with two aides and Secret Service agents aboard — pulled into a Chipotle restaurant for lunch in Maumee, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo. And no one recognized her. Maybe it was the dark sunglasses. Or maybe she had a certain je ne sais — qui? But nobody took notice of the celebrity in front of the counter. Fellow patrons paid her no more attention than a driver would get from a toll taker. Nor did the restaurant’s staff notice Mrs. Clinton, until this reporter, tipped off that she had dined there, telephoned. The Chipotle manager, Charles Wright, insisted at first that the tip must have been false. But he offered to review his security-camera recordings, and quickly reversed himself. There was Mrs. Clinton, in a bright pink shirt, ordering a chicken burrito bowl — and carrying her own tray. “The thing is, she has these dark sunglasses on,” Mr. Wright said. “She just was another lady.”
Haberman explained in a different column:

Much in the same way President Obama's campaigns featured a reimagined 'O', Hillary Clinton's bid for the White House includes a reconfigured letter 'H'. The internet though? Less than impressed with the embattled former Secretary's branding effort. Interestingly, it's not just the intrepid photo shoppers who are having a jolly good time at the awkward H's expense. Even The New Yorker was... confused:

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has reacted to Hillary Clinton's unsurprising announcement of her intention to run for president in 2016 by calling her part of the problem. Millaine Wells of We Are Green Bay News:
Gov. Walker reacts to Clinton announcement The field of Presidential hopefuls is growing. Hillary Clinton joined the race over the weekend and an announcement is expected today from Senator Marco Rubio. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is also expected in the field of GOP candidates. But, he has yet to make it official. That is not keeping his name out of the political spotlight. Governor Walker took to Twitter to criticize Hillary Clinton... Governor Scott Walker responded to the Clinton announcement with a flurry of tweets. One says "@HillaryClinton has the same Washington-knows-best mentality people around the country are looking to move beyond". According to Kelley "We hear politicians, new people getting into politics, they want to change it. Especially DC, which is really hard to change even though you have great ideas and great projects it is really hard to change the system".
Watch the video report:

I'm firmly on Team Hillary Parody 2016. Meaning, I'm definitely a fan of the insultingly hilarious "Candidate Hillary" skits that Saturday Night Live is churning out. This weekend, SNL's Kate McKinnon donned the pantsuit once more to riff on Hillary's Big Presidential Announcement©, and it was pretty great. Watch: Any day I get a bonus reprise of Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton is a great day, and I'm not ashamed to admit that. But let's not see these skits for anything other than what they are---skits. Why? Because they're not really a sincere attack on Clinton.