TRACKING FOOTAGE: Ted Strickand Changes Tune On Keystone Pipeline

September 21, 2015 by

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June 22, 2015 by

Over the weekend, the Washington Examiner highlighted a State Department Inspector General report that found then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Chief of Staff, Cheryl Mills, “played a role in covering up allegations that an ambassador had solicited prostitutes on the job.” Initially the executive summary of the report, which was made public in October 2014, downplayed Mills’ role in the investigation into Belgian Ambassador Howard Gutman’s actions. The full report however, obtained by America Rising through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, found Mills played a much bigger role. The Washington Examiner reports:


The public version of the inspector general report suggests it was Patrick Kennedy, the undersecretary for management, who swept the allegations against Belgian Ambassador Howard Gutman under the rug in 2011. But an internal version of the same report obtained by America Rising through the Freedom of Information Act and shared with the Washington Examiner reveals chief of staff Cheryl Mills’ hand in protecting Gutman from an emerging internal probe. While the public report only briefly mentions the fact that Mills attended a June 3, 2011 meeting with Gutman and Kennedy in Washington regarding the prostitution case, the internal version suggests Mills conducted the questioning of the ambassador. …


The incident raises questions about Mills’ activities under Clinton given evidence that Mills also interfered to shield the nominee for ambassador to Iraq from an unrelated investigation during Clinton’s tenure. Mills has been a close confidante of the former secretary of state since Bill Clinton’s days in the White House. Her personal involvement in high-level State Department cover-ups raises additional questions about whether Clinton was aware of what her chief of staff was doing at the agency she oversaw. For example, Clinton’s public schedule for the day of the Gutman meeting shows the secretary of state would have been in the building while Mills and Kennedy were speaking with the embattled ambassador.

This story comes on the heels of The Wall Street Journal’s report last month that Mills, as a political appointee, also had a hand in determining which documents were released to the public via FOIA requests, which raised questions yet again about the lack of transparency in Clinton’s State Department.

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June 22, 2015 by

Last week, The New York Times wrote about the biggest issue facing the Clinton campaign this summer: where should Hillary Clinton and family go on their summer vacation?

So what’s the issue? The Clintons are used to vacationing in some expensive homes and with famous people, which could harm Clinton’s populist campaign message:

But the Clintons’ go-to vacation spot for the last several summers now seems problematic, as Mrs. Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, delivers a populist economic message that the deck is stacked in favor of the wealthiest Americans and that she plans to “reshuffle the cards.”

Thus, it may not be ideal for Mr. and Mrs. Clinton to be photographed mingling at summer cocktail parties with the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Alec Baldwin, Steven Spielberg and other wealthy Hamptons regulars.

The Clintons looked into renting another home in the Hamptons, but they have hesitated to sign a lease, said several real estate agents in the Hamptons, who could discuss the Clintons only on condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing their client list.

To help the Clinton campaign out, America Rising checked the listing of homes that fit their $100,000 to $200,000 a month preferred bill for the homes they have used in the past:

In 2011 and 2012, there was the eight-bedroom, 12,000-square-foot East Hampton rental with a heated pool that the couple took for part of August, the kind of house that typically goes for $200,000 per month, according to local real estate listings.

…

Last year, when speculation about Mrs. Clinton’s presidential run reached a fever pitch, the former first couple chose the comparatively lower-key town of Amagansett, just up Montauk Highway from the lobster shacks and fishermen at the end of Long Island. The seven-bedroom bluffside estate with sweeping views of Gardiners Bay, the kind of house in that area that rents for $100,000 for the month of August, was next door to the home of the Clinton friend and donor Harvey Weinstein.

If The Clintons Want To Stick With The Usual

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If The Clintons Decide To Splurge Before A Long Campaign

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If The Clintons Want To Be A Bit Populist clintons-vacation-5

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June 22, 2015 by

There’s an old saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. For the last few months, America Rising has been using the digital annotating tool “Genius” to fact check and set the record straight in real time on Hillary Clinton’s op-eds. Real Clear Politics highlighted our efforts in a story this morning:

That’s where the campaigns and outside political groups come into the picture. America Rising, a Republican opposition super PAC that conducts research on Democratic candidates, began using Genius in May as a way to annotate and fact-check Hillary Clinton’s op-eds by highlighting certain words and linking to a primary source – a news report or a video, for example – that either refutes or adds context to a particular claim.
…
Before even delving into the actual text of the op-ed, America Rising used Genius to add an annotation to the headline that linked to a Washington Post story explaining that the “everyday Iowans” were actually people hand-picked by her campaign. (They were supporters who had previously attended two different “staged roundtables.”) This was intended to call into question the line where Clinton says, “And everywhere I went, I met Iowans with great ideas for how we can get there.”

Recently, Hillary Clinton’s campaign decided to use it as well. Unfortunately, while we’ve been having success using it, Clinton’s campaign has been struggling.

Clinton’s campaign encouraged supporters to annotate her kickoff speech – their favorite lines, their thoughts, etc. But only 43 different accounts – the majority of which came from Democratic activists and former Clinton staffers – actually annotated the speech (America Rising’s was one of them – though we didn’t necessarily note our favorite parts).

A Daily Caller analysis of the other annotators reveals a lot about Clinton operatives on the site. What do you think?

The Clinton campaign’s “Hillary For America” account posted nine annotations, shilling Clinton campaign merchandise including Hillary pantsuit T-shirts.What do you think?

Clinton’s 2008 campaign press aide Audrey Gelman, now a vice president at the Democratic consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker, posted four annotations — giving background info on Clinton’s Senate career and writing, “The last president to balance the budget was….Bill Clinton.”What do you think?

Progressive consultant Tom Watson, a Clinton Global Initiative speaker and co-founder of the #HillaryMen movement supporting Clinton’s campaign, weighed in by sharing an op-ed about his manly pro-Hillary efforts.What do you think?

Raymond Penko posted three annotations, at one point urging fellow annotators to “Repeat the campaign theme: ‘Moving forward.’” It turns out Penko was a caucus precinct campaigner on Hillary’s 2008 campaign, a phone-banker for Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, and did data assessment for the “HRC Super Volunteers,” a group aiding the Clinton campaign. (RELATED: Here Are The Words Hillary Volunteers Won’t Let You Say).What do you think?

Adam Smith, communications director for the Washington-based left-wing campaign reform group Public Campaign, weighed in with two annotations. Smith responded to a Clinton talking point about a “basic bargain” by saying, “I just really like this line.” When Clinton said government reform would be one of her four fights, Smith replied, “I love that this is one of the four fights.”What do you think?

Dan Berger, who weighed in with a pair of annotations, runs a high-tech hospitality company that counts the U.S. State Department as a customer. Berger also used to work for a certain congressman.What do you think?

“After graduating from New York City’s Hunter College in 2004, he became a Special Assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives where he was described as ‘bright, energetic and hard-working’ by the Congressman he served,” according to Berger’s bio.What do you think?

That congressman, he failed to mention, was named Anthony Weiner — serial sexter and husband of Hillary Clinton’s right-hand aide Huma Abedin.What do you think?

Then there were some journalists.

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June 21, 2015 by

In an interview aired on WMUR today, Hillary Clinton continuously ignored the facts and her own record. First she discussed the Clinton Foundation, claiming that all of its donors had been disclosed.

In reality, two of the Clinton Foundation’s major affiliate organizations have not disclosed all of their donors.

Clinton also talked about the significant risk the US faces from cyber warfare and the need to build a cyber security infrastructure.

However, Clinton ignored the fact that while she was Secretary, the State Department’s cable system lacked “basic security.” The State Department is still facing issues from lack of cyber security, with hackers gaining access to the White House computer system. Clinton also didn’t mention her private email server, which experts said was vulnerable:

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June 19, 2015 by

Ravi Patel, a Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 1st Congressional district, is promising to bring “progressive ideas” to Washington, DC… but he doesn’t even have positions on some of the most important issues facing Iowa or the United States. [Read more…]

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June 19, 2015 by

Kay Hagan’s (D-NC) disastrous 2014 Senate campaign still hasn’t seemed to have left her mind. With a 39 percent approval rating Hagan is actively looking at running for Senate again, but she still can’t seem to shake her paranoid behavior around trackers. Watch as she awkwardly shhhh’s a man in mid-sentence after spotting a tracker.

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June 19, 2015 by

Yesterday, Governor Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) took a “strong stand against business tax cuts,” according to the headline from the Associated Press.  The result of her threat to veto the state’s budget will be a government shutdown of her own making. [Read more…]

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June 19, 2015 by

Last night on Ralston Reports, Hillary Clinton continued to dodge questions about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, refusing to say whether she supports the agreement. And according to Jon Ralston, Clinton “danced around” her past support for TPP, a trade deal she pushed for at least 45 times as Secretary of State.

Clinton did go on to say that if she were in the Senate, she would vote against Trade Promotion Authority, the so-called “fast-track” bill, because it was not tied to Trade Adjustment Assistance. But Clinton didn’t have that position just days ago:

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June 18, 2015 by

On the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s “On Politics” show, watchdog journalist Daniel Bice explained why Russ Feingold’s misuse of PAC funds really hurts his image: [Read more…]

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June 18, 2015 by

“A top pro-Republican super PAC is criticizing Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan over her threat to veto a budget shaped by GOP state lawmakers who control both chambers of the legislature.

In a rapid response research email obtained by NH1 News, America Rising said it’s holding Hassan accountable for her veto threat, which could eventually lead to a state government shutdown, by pointing out previous comments she made that were critical of the 2013 federal government shutdown that was blamed on Republicans in Congress.

“Governor Hassan’s unwillingness to compromise with the Legislature has pushed New Hampshire to the brink of a government shutdown, a measure she has previously called ‘unconscionable,’ ‘reckless,’ and ‘unnecessary.’ It’s time for her to put aside her own political posturing and instead focus on leading the state she was elected to govern with sound fiscal principles that will make New Hampshire a place to do business again,” said America Rising Executive Director Colin Reed, in a statement Thursday.”

Click here to read more from the NH1 story.

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