News
- State dumps more Clinton emails
- Emails: Gefilte fish / Boehner “alcoholic, lazy”
- Obama’s Alaska push
- GOP’s Denali denial
- SCOTUS to Ky clerk: Issue gay marriage licenses
- Judge allows moral contraception exemptions
- Carson & Trump tied for lead in Iowa poll
- Walker’s US-Canada wall idea – knocked down
Notes
- US deadly shootings
- Deadly protests after Ukraine vote
- Deflategate decision nears
• The State Dept released 4,368 Hillary Clinton documents totaling 7,121 pages online at 9 pm Monday night (under wire) as part of a monthly disclosure ordered by a court after the revelation that she had used a private server while she was SecState, deeming 125 more of Clinton’s emails to be classified (adding up…)
• However, State spox Mark Toner stressed that the info wasn’t marked classified at the time it was sent several years ago. “That certainly does not speak to whether it was classified at the time it was sent, or forwarded, or received,” Toner said during the daily State briefing on Monday (“does not speak” – careful language)
• All the new classifications were at the “CONFIDENTIAL” level, the lowest tier in the U.S. classification system. So far only one message has been officially classified at a higher level, “SECRET,” although intel agency officials say some of the messages from Clinton’s account contain even more highly classified info
• Clinton, who insisted in March that there was no classified info in her email, now says nothing was marked as classified at the time. Last week she said: “My use of personal email was allowed by the State Dept. It clearly wasn’t the best choice. … I take responsibility for that decision.” (later in the week, she changed again, saying “it’s complicated” – no, it’s not, really)
• In one email with the classic subject line “Gefilte fish,” Hillary Clinton writes simply: “Where are we on this?” (Turns out to refer to a dispute over customs duties for carp being sent to Israel in time for the Jewish holidays)
• Unofficial aide Sid Blumenthal writes to Clinton that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) “is louche, alcoholic, lazy and without any commitment to any principle. … He is careworn and threadbare, banal and hollow, holding nobody’s enduring loyalty. … He’s a would-be DeLay without the whip. He’s the one at the end of a lash.” (he likes you, Sid, despite your logorrhea)
• In another email, Blumenthal forwards a memo from David Brock, a pro-Clinton political activist, with the subject line “Memo on Impeaching Clarence Thomas,” the Supreme Court justice, suggesting new evidence conflicting with Thomas’s testimony during his confirmation hearings (tilting at windmills – Blumenthal’s a real liability)
• In Feb 2010, Clinton writes to aide Human Abedin for talking points for a call she’s about to have with the newly appointed FM of Ecuador. “You are congratulating him on becoming FM, and purpose is to establish a personal relationship with him,” Abedin replies. “Trying to get u call sheet, its classified….” (lot of awareness in the emails about “classified”)
Emails: Robbing Banks
• When Mills sent her a news story about someone robbing a Virginia bank wearing a Hillary Clinton mask, the real Hillary Clinton responded: “Should I be flattered? Even a little bit?” She went on: “And, as for my alibi, well, let’s just say it depends on the snow and the secret service.”
• In an email from Jan 2010, Clinton aide Cheryl Mills responds angrily to a NYT story based on a leaked classified cable sent by Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. “The leaking of classified material is a breach not only of trust, it is also a breach of the law,” Mills wrote
• Senior adviser Alec Ross, in a Feb 2010 email intended for Clinton, cited frustration with “the boundaries of unclassified email” in a message about an unspecified country, which Ross referred to as “the country we discussed.” Appears to focus on civil unrest in Iran during the period preceding the Green Movement
• Clinton seem puzzled by basic technology. In a July 2010 exchange, she quizzed former staffer Philippe Reines on how to charge the Apple tablet and update an app. Reiner asks Clinton if she has a wireless internet connection, and she replies: “I don’t know if I have wifi. How do I find out?”
• Among the redacted emails were a message from top adviser Jake Sullivan about Sergei Lavrov, the Russian FM, and all of her response except the words, “Can you run the traps.” Another email she sent Sullivan had the subject “Gaza” but was deleted except for a ref to a memo of understanding: “Pls see the memcon for details.” (pretty classified, then)
• Thailand’s PM has said a second foreign man has been arrested at a checkpoint on the Cambodian border on suspicion of involvement in last month’s deadly shrine bombing in downtown Bangkok (AJE)
Obama’s Alaska Push (AP, NYT, me)
• In Alaska, President Obama today will propose speeding the acquisition and building of new Coast Guard icebreakers that can operate year-round in the nation’s polar regions, part of an effort to close the gap between the U.S. and other nations, especially Russia, in a global competition to gain a foothold in the rapidly changing Arctic
• In addition, Obama will announce an initiative by NOAA and the Coast Guard to map and chart the newly open Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. The agency will also install new equipment in the Arctic in the “near future” to monitor climate change effects and enhance marine safety, the WH said
• President Obama’s speech Monday to an Arctic summit in Anchorage set the tone for a three-day tour of Alaska that will put the state’s liquefying glaciers and sinking villages on graphic display. “On this issue – of all issues – there is such a this as being too late,” Obama said. “And that moment is almost upon us.”
• Obama has two audiences in mind: Alaskans, who are hungry for more energy development to boost the state’s sagging oil revenues, and the broader public, whose focus Obama hopes to concentrate on the need for drastic action to combat global warming, including a climate treaty that he hopes will solidify his environmental legacy
• Obama’s Alaska tour continues today with a boat tour of Kenai Fjords National Park and a hike to Exit Glacier, a sprawling expanse of ice that’s retreating amid warming temperatures
• Obama, on a 3-day visit to Alaska, is set to tape an episode of “Running Wild” with TV wilderness extreme survival expert Bear Grylls, today, “to observe the effects of climate change in the area.” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on Monday blasted Obama’s planned appearance, calling the show “demeaning, sexist, speciesist,” and “disgusting.” (Hill, Hill, TRNS, me)
GOP’s Denali Denial (Roll Call, Politico, AP, TRNS, me)
• Some Ohioans such as Speaker John Boehner (R) were livid Sunday and Monday. The WH had said Sunday that President Obama would be announcing the renaming of the mountain long known as Mount McKinley in honor of President William McKinley, who was assassinated in 1901, to Denali, a name significant to Alaskans
• “There is a reason President McKinley’s name as served atop the highest peak in North America for more than 100 years, and that is because it is a testament to his great legacy. … I’m deeply disappointed in this decision,” Boehner fumed in a statement
• “For centuries, Alaskans have known this majestic mountain as the ‘Great One.’ Today we are honored to be able to officially recognize the mountain as Denali,” Sen Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in a video message, thanking the president. The dispute over the highest peak had gone on between Alaska and Ohio for decades
• Sen Rob Portman (R-Ohio) piled on Sunday evening. “This decision by the admin is yet another example of the president going around Congress. I now urge the admin to work with me to find alternative ways to preserve McKinley’s legacy elsewhere in the national park that once bore his name.”
• Former Rep Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), who served in the House for 26 years, raged that Obama “thinks he is a dictator and he can change the law” and “this is just show business.” Gov Jon Kasich (R-Ohio), a 2016er, said: “You just don’t go and do something like that.” (apparently, you do)
• Video obtained by San Antonio TV station KSAT appears (strongly) to show Gilbert Flores, 41, with his hands up, fatally shot by Bexar County deputies, an encounter that authorities say happened after the armed man resisted arrest and nonlethal weapons failed to bring him under control (looks under control in the video) (NYT, me)
Supreme Court to Kentucky Clerk: Issue Gay Marriage Licenses (WaPo, Reuters, me)
• The entire U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned down a Kentucky county clerk’s request for an emergency order allowing her to continue to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples while she appeals a federal judge’s order requiring her to do so
• It was unclear whether Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis would begin issuing marriage licenses when the office reopens today. Attorneys representing Davis couldn’t be reached immediately for comment. At a recent rally, Davis adopted a defiant tone, asking for prayers to “stand firm.” She could be fined and/or go to jail
• Davis has refused to issue any marriage licenses since the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that same-sex couples had the right to marry under the U.S. Constitution, arguing that it violated her religious beliefs
• Eight people filed a federal lawsuit against Davis in July challenging her office’s policy of not issuing marriage licenses to any couples – gay or straight. Gay couples requesting licenses have been turned away
• Davis contends that to approve marriage licenses for same-sex applicants would violate her deeply held religious beliefs that matrimony is between one man and one woman. Rowan County is a rare holdout in the U.S., where almost every district allows same-sex couples to marry or will soon do so once they adjust their bureaucratic paperwork
• The U.S. is considering sanctions against both Russian and Chinese individuals and companies for cyber attacks against U.S. commercial targets, several U.S. officials said on Monday – no final decision. Imposing sanctions could strain relations with Russia further and, if they came soon, cast a pall over a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping (Reuters)
Judge Allows Moral Contraception Exemptions (NYT, me)
• Employers don’t need to provide insurance coverage for contraception even if their objections are moral rather than religious, a federal judge in DC ruled Monday in a case concerning a group called March for Life formed after Roe v. Wade in 1973. The group, the decision said, “is a nonprofit, nonreligious pro-life organization.”
• The group opposes methods of contraception that it says can amount to abortion, including hormonal products, intrauterine devices and emergency contraceptives. Many scientists disagree that those methods of contraception are equivalent to abortions
• President Obama’s health care law and related regs require most employers to provide free contraception coverage to their female workers. But there are exceptions and accommodations for religious groups and their affiliates
&&&
• March for Life sued the Dept of Health and Human Services, arguing that the govt had violated equal protection principles by treating it differently from “similarly situated employers.” The govt responded that it had a rational basis for the different treatment, as the group “is not religious and is not a church.”
• District Court Judge Richard Leon wrote, “The characteristic that warrants protection – an employment relationship based in part on a shared objection to abortifacients – is altogether separate from theism. Stated differently, what HHS claims to be protecting is religious beliefs, when it actually is protecting a moral philosophy about the sanctity of life”
• Giving religious groups special treatment, Leon wrote, amounts to “regulatory favoritism.” Moral philosophy, he said, should be accorded the same treatment as religious belief. Asked whether the govt would appeal, Peter Orr, a DoJ spox, said only that “we’ll review the opinion.” (when we’ve figured out what it means…)
• Gov Chris Christie (R-NJ) said Monday on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, regarding the next GOP debate: “We may be changing tactics. You know, if I get to like 15 questions in a row – count ’em at home – if I get to 15 in a row (where he’s not called on), you’re going to go ‘Uh oh, he’s going to go nuclear now.'” (AP) (oh goody)
Carson Ties Trump for Lead in Iowa Poll (Hill, NYT, me)
• Donald Trump and Ben Carson are tied for the lead at 23% each in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa, according to a Monmouth University poll out Monday. It’s the first Iowa survey this month not to show Trump all alone in the lead. Carson has the best favorability: 81%, against only 6% unfavorables (I’m not doing every poll until Nov 2016 – but this is big)
• While Trump leads among tea party conservatives and men, Carson leads among Evangelicals and women. The Monmouth survey is the third consecutive Iowa poll to find Trump and Carson atop the field. The two men are also in first and second place nationally, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls
• Businesswoman Carly Fiorina is in third place with 10%, followed by Sen Ted Cruz (Texas) at 9%. Some 66% of Iowa Republicans polled said the country needs a president from outside of the govt to bring a fresh perspective to DC. No other candidates reached double digit support in the poll
• Gov Scott Walker (Wis) continued his long slide, falling into fifth place with only 7% support. Walker led the polls in Iowa for months before Trump’s rise. The Hawkeye State is critical to Walker’s path to the nomination, but he has shed 15 points there since the same poll from July (huge probs). Former Gov Jeb Bush came in at 5% support – with only 32% favorables
Walker’s US-Canada Wall Idea – Knocked Down (TPM, TPM, AP, me)
• Sen Rand Paul (R-Ky) on Monday said Gov Scott Walker’s (R-Wis) Sunday comment that a wall along the U.S.-Canada border is a “legitimate issue” to consider was a “pretty dumb idea.” “There have been a lot of dumb ideas put out. … But putting a wall up between us and Canada is sort of a ridiculous notion.”
• Sunday on NBC, Walker said in answer to a question about a northern wall, “Some people have asked us about that in New Hampshire. They raised some very legitimate concerns, including some law enforcement folks that brought up to me at one of our town hall meetings about a week and a half ago. So that is a legitimate issue for us to look at.”
• Sen Pat Peahy (D-Vt) on Monday blasted Walker’s comments. “As someone who was born and raised not too far from the Canadian border, I could not believe Gov Walker’s statement. Terrible idea. Election season always brings out crazy ideas, but this is one of the craziest,” Leahy said in a statement
• Walker’s campaign scrambled on Monday. His spox AshLee Strong said, “Despite the attempts of some to put words in his mouth, Gov Walker wasn’t advocating for a wall along our northern border.” She said he meant that border security was a legitimate issue (he should have said so, then, and didn’t – because he did mean it lol)
Houston Officer Shooting: Mental Illness (AP)
• The man accused of shooting and killing a suburban Houston officer has a history of mental illness and once lived in a homeless shelter, authorities said Monday. Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Darren Goforth was ambushed and shot 15 times, Harris County DA Devon Anderson said in a court hearing for Shannon Miles, charged with capital murder
• Miles, 30, is being held without bond. His criminal history dates back to 2005. In 2012, he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he got into a fight at a homeless shelter over a remote control. He was found to be mentally incompetent and he was sent to North Texas State Hospital in Oct 2012. Declared competent in March 2013
White Supremacist Killing: Sentencing (AP)
• Jurors who convicted white supremacist Frazier Glenn Miller of killing three people at Jewish sites in suburban Kansas City will begin hearing more evidence today before deciding whether to recommend a death sentence. None of the three victims was Jewish (so incompetent as well as a horrible human being)
• Miller, 74, is acting as his own attorney.When the verdict was read Monday, Miller said “The fat lady just sang” and he raised his arm in the Nazi salute. Although Miller admitted the killings, he urged jurors to find him not guilty, saying he was motivated by “the genocide against my people by the Jews.” The judge has repeatedly warned Miller about his behavior in court
Slain Cameraman Remembered (BBC)
• Family and friends of cameraman Adam Ward, 27, killed last week while broadcasting in Virginia, gathered Monday to remember him at a memorial at his former high school. Ward worked for WDBJ-TV in Roanoke along with Alison Parker, who was also killed on TV by a disgruntled former employee of their station
• Visitors wore the colors of Ward’s favorite sports team. Ward helped his high school football team to two state championships. He was engaged to fellow WDBJ-TV employee Melissa Ott and they were due to marry in July 2016. Ward’s funeral is scheduled for today
Deadly Protests After Ukraine Vote (BBC, me)
• One national guard member has been killed and over 100 injured injured in violent protests outside Ukraine’s parliament, the interior ministry said. Clashes between nationalists and riot police erupted after MPs gave initial backing to reforms for more autonomy in the rebel-held east
• Some in the crowd on Monday lobbed what police said were were live grenades at officers protecting parliament. The reforms are part of a peace plan to end fighting in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, said the violence was a “stab in the back.”
• Ukrainian Interior Minister, Arsen Avakov, said some 30 people have been detained. He criticized Svoboda party leader Oleh Tyahnybok, writing on Faebook that several explosive devices had been thrown by people wearing Svoboda T-shirts. Almost 7,000 people have died since the conflict in eastern Ukraine broke out in March 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Crimea
Deflategate Decision Nears (Reuters, Boston Globe)
• U.S. District Judge Richard Berman said Monday he will issue his ruling on New England quarterback Tom Brady’s lawsuit against the NFL today or Wednesday, after failing at one last attempt to encourage a settlement between the league and the NFL Players Assn
• Brady was suspended for four games over his alleged role in a scheme to deflate footballs used in the Patriots’ 45-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in a January playoff game. The win sent New England to the Super Bowl, where it defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24
• Brady’s suspension came after Ted Wells, a lawyer hired by the NFL to investigate the incident, concluded Brady was “generally aware” that two Patriots employees had conspired to deflate the balls. An underinflated football can be easier to grip, particularly in cold weather. Should the suspension remain in place, Brady would return 18 Oct against the Colts
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Victoria Jones – Editor
TRNS’ Nicholas Salazar, James Cullum and Washington Desk contributed to this report |
