Late last week, the intelligence community released their report following an investigation into the alleged influence of the 2016 election by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Intelligence agencies. The report is a declassified version of a much more detailed report which concluded that Putin “ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election.” It went on to say that Putin’s motives were to “denigrate” Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and that he had “a clear preference for President-elect Trump.” The report details the reasons Putin does not like Clinton and outlines the ways the Russian government influenced the election including the hacking of John Podesta and the DNC, leaks to WikiLeaks, and hacking the RNC. Read the full report below or download a PDF copy HERE.
Yesterday, the State Department released a new batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server. These emails are part of a group of emails that were recovered by the FBI and turned over to the State Department for review. The release includes 1,280 pages and more are expected to be released on Friday. None of the newly released emails contained classified information and there are several duplicate emails from those already released by the State Department. The emails were released following an agreement between a federal court and the State Department stating that the emails would be reviewed and released prior to the election. To access the emails, follow the steps below:
On Friday, the FBI released a new document containing notes from their investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as Secretary of State. The new report is 189 pages long and features notes from interviews with Clinton staffers including Cheryl Mills and Bryan Pagliano, the person who set up and maintained Clinton’s server. The document reveals that State Department officials were concerned whether the use of private email complied with public record keeping policies. Mills and Pagliano cited other Secretaries of State that had used private email. Hillary for America spokesman Brian Fallon responded to the document release saying, “These materials further demonstrate why the Justice Department believed there was no basis to move forward with this case.” In July, the FBI announced that it did not have case against Clinton for mishandling classified information. Read a copy of the the FBI’s notes below or download a copy HERE.
Before leaving for North Carolina today, Hillary Clinton held a press conference with members of her press pool. In an opening statement, Clinton criticized Donald Trump for, again, praising Russian President Vladimir Putin during last night’s Commander-in-Chief Forum. She also questioned his judgement after he hinted at some thing he learned during his first classified briefing saying, “I think what he said was totally inappropriate and undisciplined.” Clinton then answered questions on a number of topics including recent poll numbers, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson not knowing that Aleppo is a city in Syria, and a question about criticisms that she needs to smile more. A video of the press conference is below.
During NBC’s Commander-in-Chief forum on Wednesday night, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced off for the first time. While they were interviewed separately, that did not stop them from attacking each others proposals during their conversation with moderator Matt Lauer. Clinton was interviewed first by Lauer, and she spoke about her qualifications saying that she believes that a strong commander-in-chief is “an absolute rock steadiness and mixed with strength to be able to make the hard decisions. I’ve had the unique experience of watching and working with several presidents, and these are not easy decisions.”
Clinton was asked about a wide variety of topics including her support of the Iraq war, the decision to intervene in Libya, the Iran nuclear agreement, her proposal to end the Veterans Affairs backlog, and her plan to defeat ISIS. She demonstrated her strength as a policy wonk by being able to clearly outline her policy proposals. However, Clinton was defensive as she fielded questions from the audience about her judgement and faced questions from Lauer about her emails and her handling of classified materials. Audience members asked some tough questions and some of Clinton’s answers were indirect.
Overall, the forum was a preview of what is come later this month and Clinton and Trump face off in their first debate on September 26. While the forum has received mixed reviews, Clinton clearly demonstrated her knowledge of the issues, but she needs to work on convincing the American public that she is trustworthy. During Trump’s portion of the forum, he made a number of claims that prompted several responses from Clinton’s campaign. Each of Hillary for America’s releases can be read HERE, and a replay of the forum is below.
Update (9/9/2016): Hillary for America has released the following video featuring some of Trump’s comments from the forum.
On Friday, the FBI released a collection of documents related to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as Secretary of State. The 58 page document includes a number of pages about the investigation process, but it also includes the notes from Clinton’s FBI interview on July 2. The interview reveals several facts about the server and devices Clinton used as Secretary of State, such as the fact that Clinton used thirteen different devices (cell phones, iPads, etc.) throughout her tenure as Secretary of State. The release of the document came as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request. The full document is embedded below and can also be downloaded HERE.
Hillary Clinton sat down for an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace on this morning’s episode of Fox News Sunday. Wallace pressed Clinton a number of issues including the FBI investigation into her handling of classified emails, the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, and the general election against Republican Donald Trump. Clinton was asked about her popularity and beginning of the general election cycle. Clinton acknowledged she had a lot of work to do, but she spoke about how her popularity numbers are up when she is doing a job, but they seem to drop when she is seeking office. She said, “Every time I run for an office, though, oh my goodness, all of these caricatures come out of nowhere. And people begin to undermine me because when I left office as secretary of state, 66 percent of Americans approved of what I do.” Videos from the interview are below.
On Thursday, FBI Director James Comey appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to answer questions about the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email practices as Secretary of State. House Republicans grilled Comey on the details and the scope of the investigation. Comey explained that there was not a case against Clinton because the material that should have not been shared via email was not marked properly. He also denied claims that the Justice Department worked with Clinton and her allies to ensure no charges were leveled against her.
Hillary for America National Press Secretary Brian Fallon released the following statement regarding the Comey’s testimony:
“Despite the partisan motivations of this hearing, we are glad it took place and that Director Comey had the opportunity to expand upon his remarks from earlier this week. Director Comey’s testimony clearly knocked down a number of false Republican talking points and reconciled apparent contradictions between his previous remarks and Hillary Clinton’s public statements. The Director’s explanations shut the door on any remaining conspiracy theories once and for all. While Republicans may try to keep this issue alive, this hearing proved those efforts will only backfire.”
On Tuesday, FBI Director James Comey spoke about his department’s investigation into the handling of classified material by Hillary Clinton and her staff during her tenure as Secretary of State. The bureau ultimately decided not to bring any criminal charges against Clinton or any of her staff members, but Director Comey did have some harsh words. He said that both Clinton and her staff were “extremely careless” in handling sensitive material. He went on to say that security in the State Department in general is “lacking.” A video from Director Comey’s press conference is below:
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton listens to a question at town hall meeting at White Mountain Community College, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, in Berlin, N.H. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Today, the State Department released the final batch of emails from Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State. While the State Department had planned to release all of the emails by January 29, they were granted an extension. The final batch of emails released today contained 3,800 pages, bringing the total up to over 52,000 pages. Of the emails turned over by Clinton, 2,100 were withheld for containing information that is now deemed classified. During the announcement today, the State Department also said that none of the emails Clinton sent or received on her private server were marked as classified at the time they were sent. This is something that has repeatedly asserted.
On several occasion, Clinton has said that she wants the emails available to the public in the interest of transparency. News organizations will release quotes from a few of her emails, but anyone can access all of Clinton’s emails. Since the release of the emails is part of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), all the emails are being posted to the State Department’s FOIA website. To access the emails, follow the steps below:
Hillary Clinton Speeches 