We are beginning to assemble the trail of what has factually taken place within the backstory of the Iranian nuclear negotiations. The dots are all over the place, but essentially the construct looks very familiar.

♦ The White House Team constructed the political “talking points” approximately 2 days ago 3/31/15 (photo above).  [Note subsequent to this meeting not a single media interview by the State Department team]

♦ Those White House points are based on domestic political needs and influenced by increasing domestic backlash.  Goal = Historic, Magnificent, Amazing, etc.

♦ The State Dept. Team in Switzerland (Kerry et al) told to keep quiet as the White House talking points are constructed/finalized. (link) 4/1 and 4/2 absolute silence.

♦ A deal is reached by the Secretary of State team with the Iranian team which does not align with the White House construct (talking points). [The actual deal doesn’t really need to line up with the talking points because that’s not the most important aspect – Think “Tax” VS. “Mandate” in ObamaCare].

♦ The White House talking points are used by President Obama in the Rose Garden.  (link) [Note not a “joint” statement – a pure construct of the White House]

♦ The Iranian team then points out those talking points don’t align in fact with the deal reached by the negotiation teams.  Subsequently calls them “LIES” (link)

Politically the White House now has options: (more…)

As you read the following media report it is important to remember: ♦ Hillary Clinton has previously stated, unequivocally, that no classified communication traveled through her self-created personal communication network. 

So what exactly is there to review?  Either the U.S. government believes the statements by the Secretary of State to be true, or they do not.

Second, ♦ the government knowingly allowed the secret communication network to exist and allowed all the construction issues therein to take place.  Therefore the burden of any administrative compliance issue should reside upon them to reconcile expeditiously.

(The Washington Times) The Obama administration told a federal court Monday that it needs “several months” more to go through former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s government emails, saying it’s proving time-consuming to sort out exactly what information they can release to the public,

Justice Department lawyers also bristled at accusations that the government perpetrated a fraud by hiding the existence of the emails, as Mr. Obama’s team begins to fully grapple with the legal complications Mrs. Clinton has left them. (more…)

As we have outlined (with considerable criticism) over the past year, the only substantive inquiry into the Benghazi scandal will have to be held in non-public settings. When you dig into the substance, and avoid the political aspects, everything that matters regarding the Benghazi fiasco is covered under U.S. national security protections.

There is little of value available to discuss in public hearings. If you understand the Benghazi Brief you understand why.

The CIA and the State Department were conducting a joint covert operation labeled “Zero Footprint” in Libya. That operation was expanded into Syria after Panetta left the CIA. The congressional intelligence oversight known as the Gang of Eight were fully briefed.

Hence, if House Select Committee Chair Trey Gowdy wants to discuss email use, or communication methods therein, during the tenure of Clinton and Panetta, around Operation Zero Footprint, Gowdy has to make those inquiries in private.

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House select committee investigating the Benghazi attacks asked Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday to appear for a private interview about her exclusive use of a personal email account when she was secretary of state.

“The committee believes a transcribed interview would best protect Secretary Clinton’s privacy, the security of the information queried, and the public’s interest in ensuring this committee has all information needed to accomplish the task set before it,” the chairman, Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina, said in a letter sent Tuesday morning. (more…)

Hillary Clinton said the construct of her secret communication network was specifically because she only wanted to carry one device – obviously she lied right out of the gate.

The Associated Press has gained a total of FOUR emails from a FOIA request regarding correspondence between Hillary Clinton and her personal aide Huma Abedin search term “drone strikes”.

The emails show the Clinton led U.S. State Department focused an inordinate amount of time and energy discussing articles written by the media. It would appear at least a substantive portion of time in/around the State Dept was spent reviewing what reporters were writing about U.S. foreign policy outcomes.

One of the emails (Sept 18th 2011 – last in the pdf below) shows Hillary answering a question about floral arrangements amid a chain email discussing Pakistan’s efforts to battle the Taliban. Ms. Abedin responds curiously. (more…)

If you have followed politics in the past 8 to 10 years you know the Decepticon GOP strategy to anoint their chosen candidate is essentially a simple one.

If you really drill it down to the lowest common denominator it entails: • Raise more money, • attack the opposition to deplete their resources, and • coast to the finish line of the primary race.

The GOP “raise more money” aspect is not from the electorate, they have Wall Street and the CoC. The CoC strategists, in coordination with the GOP Decepticons, organize the financial methodology – it is a complex spending program, but essentially based on advancement of a specific goal.

On the ground the primary strategy is simple. Do the minimum required to get out of Iowa unscathed; place a top 3 finish in New Hampshire; make a decent showing in South Carolina then light the spending fuse in Florida (expensive advertising markets).

That four state strategy costs around $100,000,000.00 (around a hundred million). A first or second place showing in Florida is all that’s needed to destroy any opposition to the professional (GOP) political class. (more…)

Hillary Clinton lawyers now claiming after they decided what was “business” and what was “personal” email, they destroyed everything. Gee, who didn’t see that coming….

WASHINGTON DC – Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton failed to provide any new documents to the congressional panel investigating the Benghazi terrorist attacks, instead notifying the committee that she has “wipe[d] her server clean,” the lead investigator announced.

“After seeking and receiving a two week extension from the Committee, Secretary Clinton failed to provide a single new document to the subpoena issued by the Committee and refused to provide her private server to the Inspector General for the State Department or any other independent arbiter for analysis,” Representative Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.), the chairman of the select committee investigating the attacks, announced Friday evening. (more…)

The majority of the advisors around former Florida Jeb Bush continue to carry the same outlook.  An almost identical campaign perspective as former Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney.

Their perspective can be encapsulated thusly: The various contingencies of the conservative electorate will vote for us regardless of what we do or don’t do – they have no option. Ergo we don’t need to win their support, they are -for all intents and purposes- irrelevant, their votes are guaranteed.

Team Romney in 2011/2012 took this approach and -in my opinion- suffered a backlash from large numbers of voters feeling taken for granted and staying home on election day. The advisors around Bush and Romney are disconnected from the decade of change within the electorate. As a consequence Jeb Bush appears to be following an almost identical path as Mitt Romney.

(Via Business Insider) Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) says he’ll do just fine when it comes to evangelical Christian voters in the presidential race. (more…)

Earlier today Democrat Senator Harry Reid (NV) announced his intentions not to seek re-election in 2016. Moments later Harry Reid announced his preferred selection for his replacement within Senate leadership, Chuck Schumer (NY).

WASHINGTON DC – Harry Reid endorsed Chuck Schumer to succeed him as Senate minority leader after he retires in 2016.

“I think Schumer should be able to succeed me,” the Nevada Democrat said about the New York Democrat in an interview Friday with the Washington Post.

Reid, 75, whose Senate career has spanned three decades, has led Senate Democrats since 1995. He announced Friday he would not seek re-election in 2016. (more…)

RELATED CONSEQUENCE

She Will NOT Be Denied !

New York Times political reporter Amy Chozick has shared (via twitter) the content of an email she received from Team Hillary Clinton.

Apparently the group is planning to attack reporters with accusations of sexism if the media use words like “polarizing, calculating, disingenuous, insincere, ambitious, inevitable, entitled, over confident” to describe Hillary Clinton.

Yes, all of the aforementioned words have been used in the first 24 hours to describe Ted Cruz, but in typical fem-Nazi fashion that doesn’t matter.

https://twitter.com/amychozick/status/580822762647875584

https://twitter.com/amychozick/status/580822978331561985

(more…)