Mediaboss Marketing

WASHINGTON The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who has refused Democratic requests to investigate possible conflicts of interest involving President Donald Trump, is seeking criminal charges against a former State Department employee who helped set up Hillary Clinton's private email server.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday asking him to convene a grand jury or charge Bryan Pagliano, the computer specialist who helped establish Clinton's server while she was secretary of state.

Pagliano did not comply with two subpoenas ordering him to appear before the oversight panel. The GOP-led committee later voted to hold him in contempt of Congress.

Earlier this month, Chaffetz met with Trump at the White House and agreed not to discuss oversight. He has rebuffed calls for his panel to look into Trump's businesses and possible conflicts.

Chaffetz said in a statement that allowing Pagliano's conduct "to go unaddressed would gravely harm Congress' ability to conduct oversight."

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said pursuing charges against Pagliano would be a waste of time and money.

"Apparently, Chairman Chaffetz and President Trump are the only two people in Washington today who think we should still be investigating Secretary Clinton," Cumming said in a statement. He added: "The Oversight Committee can't afford to be distracted by political vendettas against Hillary Clinton while our constituents are begging us to conduct responsible oversight of President Trump."

Pagliano refused to answer questions in 2015 from a House panel investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. He later spoke to the FBI under immunity, telling the bureau there were no successful security breaches of the home-brew server, located at Clinton's home in suburban New York City.

Pagliano said he was aware of many failed login attempts that he described as "brute force attacks."

The email issue shadowed Clinton's candidacy for president, and Republicans were steadfast in focusing on her use of a private server for government business, with several high-profile hearings leading up to the election. Chaffetz and other Republicans cast Clinton as reckless with U.S. national security by insisting on using private communications systems at potentially greater risk of being penetrated by Chinese and Russian hackers.

But Democrats insist the sole purpose of the Benghazi hearings -- and a separate inquiry by Chaffetz -- was to undermine Clinton's presidential bid. She lost to Trump despite winning the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.

FBI Director James Comey announced last July that the FBI was not recommending charges against Clinton in the email case, although he characterized her actions as "extremely careless," a remark that Democrats condemned as unnecessary editorializing.

Then, just 11 days before the Nov. 8 election, Comey advised Congress that new emails potentially connected to the case had been discovered and would need to be reviewed. A follow-up letter nine days later said the email review had done nothing to change the FBI's original conclusion. Many Democrats and Clinton herself have suggested that Comey's actions so close to the election likely affected the outcome.

Original post:
Chaffetz seeks to charge ex-Clinton aide in email inquiry - Fox News

Following her defeat in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton delivered a powerful concession speechin which she addressed all the little girls watching. Now, a group of students at SOL-LA Music Academy in Santa Monica have turned part of the speech into a song.

To All The Little Girls is the product of a music theory assignment in a class comprised of all girls. Teacher Mary Ann Cummins passed out an excerpt from Clintons speech and asked her students to write a song based on the words.

On Jan. 20, 13-year-old Isolde Fair posted a video of the class performing the song she composed on YouTube, where it has reached over 50,000 views.

Even HRC herself saw the video, and on Wednesday, she tweeted it out to her 13 million followers.

Thanks to Isolde Fair & her classmates for this inspiring song. Im with YOU, Clinton wrote.

The video features girls ages 8 to 19 playing instruments and singing the song, with Fair taking the lead.

Isolde Fair

The message is that all girls (and women) should never doubt that they are valuable and powerful and can have their dreams come true, the young composer wrote in the YouTube description.

Thank you to everyone who made this video with me, to all the teachers and parents who helped us, and thank you for watching it, she added.

More here:
13-Year-Old Girl Composes Song Based On Hillary Clinton's Concession Speech - Huffington Post

With one look, Hillary Clinton brought the Palace Theatre to its feet.

At a showing of Broadways Sunset Boulevard Wednesday night, the former Democratic presidential candidate prompted applause and cheers from audience members as she took her seat among them.

Several Twitter users and reporters in the theater took note of the enthusiastic response.

Since her loss in the 2016 election, Clinton has caught a few Broadway shows, including In Transit, The Humans and The Color Purple, where she was alsotreated to warm welcomes.Her appearance atThe Color Purplewith husband Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea marked the revivals last performance, but the former candidate received several ovations of her own.

Her reception stands in sharp contrast to the somber message about diversity the cast of Hamilton delivered to current Vice President Mike Pence when he caught a performance in late November.

At New Yorks Palace Theatre, Clinton gamely waved to supporters and posed for photos.

Sunset Boulevard, starring Glenn Close in the same role that earned her a Tony two decades ago, opened Monday to rave reviews and has already been extended through June, per Deadline. The musical features scores by Andrew Lloyd Weber as it tells the story of Norma Desmond, an aging star who dreams of renewed fame.

After the show, Clinton took a trip backstage to meet the cast.

Bruce Glikas via Getty Images

... Including its star, Close, who spoofed Clinton at the 2016 Tony Awards in June. (A long, long time ago.)

Bruce Glikas via Getty Images

The former candidate has kept a relatively low profile since her November loss. In a taped video that opened the 2017 MAKERS conference in California earlier this month, however, she reiterated her belief in the values that shaped her campaign.

Despite all the challenges we face, I remain convinced that, yes, the future is female, she said.

See the rest here:
See Hillary Clinton Get A Standing Ovation Before 'Sunset Boulevard' On Broadway - Huffington Post

The Park Ridge Heritage Committee isn't quite ready to move forward with a suggestion that Hillary Clinton's name and accomplishments be added to the last granite block of city milestones displayed at Hodges Park.

Meeting at City Hall on Feb. 14, a majority of the seven members in attendance appeared to support a motion that the committee "consider" devoting a plaque to Clinton, but agreed not make a formal decision at this time.

A draft proposal shared by committee member Otto Kohler recommended the block be engraved with "Hillary Rodham Clinton," followed by her positions as first lady, U.S. senator, U.S. secretary of state and candidate for president.

"I personally would like to see Hillary's name on that plaque . [but] I do think the political climate is such that this is not the time to pursue that," said Heritage Committee member Nancy Pytel.

Another member, Patricia Adlaf, agreed that the committee can keep the idea "at the back of our minds," but also said the timing is not right, as the group needs to concentrate on selling Heritage Committee Chairman Milton Nelson's book, "Park Ridge: Milestones of History."

The book, which was published last year, dedicates three full pages to Clinton, touching on her childhood and high school years in Park Ridge, her time as first lady of the United States, and her run for president as the Democratic Party's 2016 nominee. Clinton's photo also appears on the cover of the book.

Nelson said consideration of adding Clinton's name to the series of granite blocks circling the Campfire Girls fountain at Hodges Park dates back to 2008.

"We talked about this nine years ago, when Hillary was running for president the first time," Nelson said. "We said, 'Maybe someday we'll devote this plaque to her.' "

There was also discussion among members about whether individuals must be deceased in order for their names to appear among the milestones, which include more than 30 prominent area events and residents dating back to the area's first settlers in the 1830s.

Kohler, a retired Maine South High School teacher who knew Clinton as a student, said she was the "only person we've talked about for that blank spot."

"If nothing else, the fact that she was a strong, [female] candidate for president says something," Kohler said. "She was the first in American history, and I think she deserves this."

Kohler pointed out that in Park Ridge, Clinton received more votes than Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. But he also acknowledged that there will likely be "objections" within the community if Clinton's name were to engraved.

Joan Mattingly, another committee member, indicated that leaving the last milestone blank is not necessarily a bad idea.

"I don't have a problem with an empty plaque," she said. "There are generations of Park Ridgeans yet to come, and one of them might be something equally awesome, if not more awesome. I think it's nice to have hope for the future."

Only committee member Warren Wade said he was not in favor of Kohler's motion to consider Clinton for the final milestone.

"She's become controversial," said Wade, mentioning that he is a Republican. "It's not the right time, and it may never come to be the right time, in my mind."

Clinton received recognition from Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 shortly after the November 2016 election when it was announced that the learning resource center at Field School, which Clinton attended in the 1950s and 1960s, would be renamed for her.

Clinton also appears on alumni walls of honor at Maine East and Maine South High Schools.

The granite milestones around the Campfire Girls fountain were completed in 2007. According to Park Ridge Park District spokeswoman Margaret Holler, the Heritage Committee raised money for the project, though the park district is in charge of the blocks' maintenance.

There is not a written agreement between the two entities, she said.

According to the city of Park Ridge website, the Heritage Committee is a volunteer group of members appointed by the mayor who are "dedicated to preserving the history of Park Ridge," in addition to education and spurring appreciation of the city's past.

jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @Jen_Tribune

Continue reading here:
Park Ridge Heritage Committee not ready to include Hillary Clinton among park's 'milestones' - Chicago Tribune

Carter Page,briefly a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trumps presidential campaign, sent a peculiar, rambling letter this week to the Department of Justice, asking it to review the severe election fraud in the form of disinformation, suppression of dissent, hate crimes and other extensive abuses led by members of Mrs. Hillary Clintons campaign and their political allies last year.

Page is reportedly one of several targets of a counterintelligence investigation by the FBI into possible links between Trump associates and Russian officials.

Page provided the lengthy letter to The Intercept when asked whether he would support President Trump using his power as president to declassify any government material to disclose any intercepted conversations between Page and Russian officials. He did not say. Instead he forwarded theletter, which is well-formatted, heavily footnoted, grammatically correct and has no spelling mistakes. However, its content is bizarre.

To begin with, it is addressed to the voting section of the Justice Departments civil rights division, which is charged exclusively with enforcing federal laws that protect the right to vote.

It then makesthe grandiose claim that the actions by the Clinton regime and their associates may be among the most extreme examples of human rights violations observed during any election in U.S. history since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was similarly targeted for his anti-war views in the 1960s.

Page repeatedly describes as outrageous the news coverage claiming that he has significant connections to Russian officials and what he says was the Clinton campaigns hidden hand behind it.

The Clinton campaign, says Page, engaged in human rights violations, illegal activities, unlawful deceptions, Obstruction of Justice the charge upon which President Nixon was impeached, spreading False Evidence, and an obviously illegal attempt to silence me on an important issue of national and international consequence in violation of my Constitutional rights.

Page also states that he was targeted by the Clinton campaign because he is Catholic, a military veteran, and a man.

In addition to the letter, Page included three appendices: A July 2016 speech he delivered at the New Economic School in Moscow; a response to the director of national intelligences report claiming that Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian government to intervene in the 2016 election to help Trump; and a September 15 letter to FBI Director James Comey asking him to close any inquiry into Page.

In hisresponse to the DNI report, Page addresses the reports statement that Putins chiefpropagandist DmitriyKiselev used his flagshipweekly newsmagazineprogram this fall to castPresident-elect Trump asan outsider victimized bya corrupt politicalestablishment.

Page writes thatBoth as a world-class journalist and as a human being, [Kiselev] is an exceptionally competent, kind and fair individual with the highest level of personal integrity, whose broadcast views closely align with the perspectives held by tens of millions of hard-working, patriotic Americans.

In addition being a television host, Kiselev is head of the Russian government news agency Rossia Segodnya. He is notorious for saying on air in 2012: I think banning gays from distributing propaganda to children is not enough. I think they should be banned from donating blood or sperm, and if they die in a car crash, their hearts should be burnt or buried in the ground as unsuitable for the continuation of life.

Page was essentially unknown in political and foreign policy circlesuntil Trump listed him as one of five people slated for his foreign policy team in aninterviewwith the Washington Post in March 2016.

In August, then-Senate minority leader Harry Reid wrote a letter to FBI Director James Comeycalling for an investigation of evidence he said suggested that Russia might try to manipulate voting results and referred to the speech deliveredby Page the previous month in Moscow, in which he criticized American sanctions policy toward Russia.

Yahoo News in Septemberreportedthat intelligence officials were specifically looking into whether Page hadprivate communications with senior Russian officials about the possible lifting of economic sanctions if Trump became president. Precisely that kind of conversation between former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador to the U.S. led to Flynns resignation.

In aninterviewwith the Washington Post, Page responded to the Yahoo story, saying, All of these accusations are just complete garbage. But he announced he was taking a leave of absence from his work with the Trump campaign due to the controversy.

Trumps press secretarysaidin September that Page had no formal rolein the campaign, and during a January 2017 news conference before Trump took office, Trump spokespersonSean Spicer stated that Carter Pageis an individual who the president-elect does not know and was put on notice months ago by the campaign.

Page himself said Wednesday night on the PBS NewsHour: I was a junior member of the campaigns foreign policy advisory group compared to other people that had much more direct interaction with Mr. Trump, who I never actually briefed or was in any small meetings with. I went to many rallies with him, but never any direct meetings.

Page worked in Merrill Lynchs Moscow office between 2004 and 2007, where he was involved in trades involving Russian state-run energy companies, and rose to the level of vice president.

In 2008, Page founded an investment firm called Global Energy Capital, together with Sergei Yatsenko, a former manager at the Russian state-run oil firm, Gazprom. He is now a managing partner there. The company,according to its website, invests growth capital in private energy services companies.

After The Intercept asked Page by email how anything the Clinton campaign had done could be considered a hate crime, Page responded, It all seems to be pretty textbook definition to me (and my lawyers). He added: Ive been harassed non-stop for the last year, based on these and other lies originated by the Clinton campaign.

The letter and appendices Page provided to The Intercept can be read below.

Link:
Carter Page, at Center of Trump Russian Investigation, Writes Bizarre Letter to DOJ Blaming Hillary Clinton - The Intercept