Six Key Developments Today On Trump, WikiLeaks, And Russia

Hillary for America Senior Policy Advisor Jake Sullivan released the following statement today after news reports by Esquire and Motherboard confirmed for the first time publicly that Russia is behind the hack of John Podesta’s emails. Also, according to Esquire, Guccifer told journalists that he gave the DNC emails to WikiLeaks:

“The new public data confirming the Russians are behind the hack of John Podesta’s email is a big deal. There is no longer any doubt that Putin is trying to help Donald Trump by weaponizing WikiLeaks. Despite all the evidence, including the conclusions of the US intelligence community, Donald Trump went on the debate stage and acted as Putin’s puppet, defending Russia and refusing to admit and condemn the Kremlin’s actions. This behavior has gone from bizarre to disqualifying. In light of his associate’s admitted ‘back-channeling’ with Assange, and Trump’s own undisclosed business ties with Russia, it’s time for Trump to tell the American people what he knew about these hacks and when he knew it.”

According to Esquire:

“In the weeks that followed, Guccifer offered interviews and batches of documents to several journalists, but he wrote that “the main part of the papers, thousands of files and mails, I gave to WikiLeaks.”

“So far U. S. investigators have not said publicly who was responsible for the Podesta hack, but the data harvested by SecureWorks makes it clear that Fancy Bear broke into the Clinton chairman’s account as early as late March. The CIA briefed Trump about the origin of the kompromat, but he continued to cite the material, telling a Pennsylvania crowd, “I love WikiLeaks!”

According to Motherboard:

Months later, on October 9, WikiLeaks began publishing thousands of Podesta’s hacked emails. Almost everyone immediately pointed the finger at Russia, who is suspected of being behind a long and sophisticated hacking campaign that has the apparent goal of influencing the upcoming US elections. But there was no public evidence proving the same group that targeted the Democratic National Committee was behind the hack on Podesta—until now.

The data linking a group of Russian hackers—known as Fancy Bear, APT28, or Sofacy—to the hack on Podesta is also yet another piece in a growing heap of evidence pointing toward the Kremlin. And it also shows a clear thread between apparently separate and independent leaks that have appeared on a website called DC Leaks, such as that of Colin Powell’s emails; and the Podesta leak, which was publicized on WikiLeaks.

Six Key Developments Today On Trump, WikiLeaks, And Russia

1. Esquire published a deep dive on the full extent of Russia’s unprecedented hacking campaign to influence the U.S. election, including new details about the operation.

2. Motherboard confirmed that government-backed Russian hackers were behind the cyberattack on John Podesta’s emails, publicly detailing new, undeniable evidence.

3. Politico documented Trump’s haunting propensity for defending Putin’s crimes. Beyond the cyberattacks, Trump defended Putin in the killing of journalists, the assassination of a former Russian spy, and the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17.

4. Dallas Morning News reported that Trump had been personally briefed by House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul that Russia was behind these cyberattacks before he debate, in which he again denied their culpability.

5. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on MSNBC this morning that she was completely comfortable with the campaign exploiting documents that were stolen by Russian agents.

6. Former director of the NSA and CIA, Michael Hayden, told NBC News: “[Trump] reject[ed] a high confidence judgment from the American intelligence community that the Russians are breaking in to DNC emails. That’s troubling on two counts. First, what will it take for him to criticize Russia? And second, here is a man who would be president, rejecting an intelligence judgment because it is politically inconvenient.”

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Hillary’s Plan: Debt and Entitlements

Clinton Will Fight For Medicare & Social Security, Pay For Her Plans; Trump Will Risk These Programs & Add Trillions To Debt

Tonight, voters will hear from Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on six topics of national importance: debt and entitlements, immigration, economy, the Supreme Court, foreign policy, and the fitness of the candidates to serve as president.

Clinton has stood up for Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid her entire career, and she will not stop now.  She will ensure the wealthy, Wall Street, and big corporations pay their fair share, invest in middle-class families, and defend and expand Medicare and Social Security.  Furthermore, her new plans are paid for, so they will not add to the national debt.

Conversely, Trump’s plans will add $21 trillion to the national debt over 20 years and give reckless tax cuts to the wealthy instead of investing in Medicare and Social Security for generations to come.

Hillary’s vision on fiscal matters is clear. As she has said before, “We know what sound fiscal policy looks like and it sure isn’t running up massive debts to pay for giveaways to the rich. And it is not painful austerity that hurts working families and undercuts our long-term progress. It’s being strong, stable, and making smart investments in our future. So let’s set the right priorities and pay for them, so we can hand our children a healthier economy and a better future.”

Hillary has put forward credible plans to pay for her proposals without adding to the national debt.  As president, Hillary will:

• Continue to put forth plans that add up, are paid for, and will not add to the national debt. As the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said recently, “We are encouraged that Clinton continues to largely pay for her new spending…”
• Restore fairness to the tax code and make sure the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share. The independent, non-partisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center found that around 2/3rds of the revenue from Hillary’s tax plan came from the top 0.1%, earning more than $3.7 million per year.
• NYT: “Mrs. Clinton would substantially raise taxes on high-income taxpayers, mostly on the top 1 percent; … reduce taxes on average for middle- and low-income households; and overhaul corporate taxes. Her plan would increase federal revenue $1.4 trillion over the first decade….Mrs. Clinton would use the money to pay for education and other initiatives.”
• Hillary has a responsible, progressive fiscal vision. Progressive policies such as investing in growth and the middle class, and asking the wealthy to pay their fair share – not trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy, have been successful. For example, President Bill Clinton took a $300 billion deficit in the year before he took office and turned it into a $200 billion surplus.

Hillary believes seniors have paid into Social Security for a lifetime, and they’ve earned these benefits when they retire. Social Security isn’t just a program—it’s a promise.  As president, Hillary will:

• Defend Social Security against Republican attacks and attempts to privatize the program – and refuse to embrace proposals to raise the retirement age or reduce cost-of-living adjustments
• Expand Social Security for those who need it most and who are treated unfairly by the current system—including women who are widows and those who took significant time out of the paid workforce to take care of their children, aging parents, or ailing family members.
• Preserve Social Security for decades to come by asking the wealthiest to contribute more.

Hillary believes Medicare and Medicaid are the bedrock of health care coverage for more than 50 million Americans, from seniors to people with disabilities.  As president, Hillary will:

• Fight to preserve Medicare benefits for Americans – and stand strongly against Republican attempts to “phase out” or privatize Medicare.
• Require drug manufacturers to provide rebates for low-income Medicare enrollees that are equivalent to rebates in the Medicaid program through her prescription drug plan.
• Reduce the cost of prescription drugs for seniors by allowing Medicare to use its leverage with more than 40 million enrollees to negotiate drug and biologic prices.
• Tackle rising medical costs by expanding value-based delivery system reform in Medicare.
• Help protect consumers from unjustified price hikes for long-available drugs.
• Ensure we expand Medicaid in the states where Republican governors and legislatures have refused to do so.

Donald Trump may have abused the tax system to avoid paying taxes into Social Security and Medicare – Hillary Clinton would help end this practice. Based on what we do know about Donald Trump’s tax returns, independent experts at the Tax Policy Center believe that Trump may have avoided paying his fair share in taxes into Social Security and Medicare by abusively taking advantage of the so-called “Gingrich-Edwards” loophole. This loophole allows some high-income business people to funnel their wages through a business.  While the law still requires these business owners to pay payroll taxes on a reasonable portion of compensation, Trump may have flouted this legal requirement and avoided paying his fair share in payroll taxes that support programs like Social Security and Medicare. Earlier this year, Hillary Clinton embraced a proposal from President Obama’s budget that would end such abuses and crack down on tax gaming by high-income individuals through shifting business income, including addressing the so-called “Gingrich-Edwards” loophole.

Donald Trump’s tax plan would increase the debt by $21 trillion over 20 years to give tax cuts to the rich, and he has recklessly considered defaulting on the national debt.

• Trump infamously called himself the “king of debt” and has proposed a tax plan that would increase our national debt by 21 trillion over 20 years – with more than half of the benefits going to the top 1%.
• Trump displayed his willingness to play Russian roulette with the full faith and credit of the U.S., suggesting recently that “you could make the case” for defaulting on the debt, or maybe we could just “make a deal.” Defaulting on our debt would undermine more than 200 years of confidence in the American economy, and could cause a global financial crisis.

Paying for Donald Trump’s tax cuts for the rich could require cutting Medicare and Social Security by trillions:

• As an analysis by CAP Action explains, “Trump says his agenda ‘will be completely paid-for,’ but paying for his tax plan would require cutting federal spending by an average of approximately 13.5 percent. In the next 10 years, an across-the-board cut of 13.5 percent would mean cutting Social Security by $1.7 trillion and cutting Medicare by $1.1 trillion.”

Trump is willing to jeopardize Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which he once called a Ponzi scheme.

• Trump said “it’s possible” to replace Medicare.
• Trump wrote in his book that he would privatize Social Security and raise the retirement age, calling the program a Ponzi scheme.
• Trump’s campaign adviser suggested Trump would be open to looking at program changes to Social Security and Medicare.
• Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, wanted to privatize Social Security faster and further than George W. Bush, and supported privatization in Medicare long before the Ryan Budget tried to voucherize it (which Pence also supported).

Trump’s plan to block grant Medicaid could cause millions of low-income adults and people with disabilities to lose or see lower benefits.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

Tim Kaine Campaigns in Pennsylvania and Nevada

Tim Kaine continued his campaign visit to Pennsylvania today with a morning event in Pittsburgh. Speaking on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, Kaine spoke about Hillary Clinton’s broad platform proposals including her plans to reduce student debt, make college more affordable, increase the minimum wage, create new jobs, and reinvest in manufacturing. Pittsburgh is especially reliant on its manufacturing sector and has struggled recently. Kaine went after Republican Donald Trump for talking about bringing manufacturing back to the United States when Trump himself imports in products from China and Mexico. Kaine said, “Don’t you think if Trump believed in making America great he’d buy steel right from here and not China?” Watch a video of Kaine’s speech below.

Kaine then traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada where he spoke at a rally at a local United Brotherhood of Carpenters union. Kaine spoke about the plan that he and Clinton have outlined including the support of labor unions and creation of new jobs. He remained on the offensive going after Trump and his running mate Mike Pence. Referring to Pence’s refusal to answer for Trump’s comments, Kaine said, “I am going to defend my running mate. That’s what you do when you’re vice president.” A video from the event is posted below.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: Penn Live, CBS Pittsburgh, WTAE, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Kaine Strong in Vice Presidential Debate

On Tuesday night, the running mates of Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump faced off in the only vice presidential debate. Senator Tim Kaine and former Indiana Governor Mike Pence faced off in a debate moderated by CBSN’s Elaine Quijano. The two vice-presidential candidates argued about a number of topics including foreign policy, health care, social services, and jobs. At the end of the debate, many agreed that Pence was the more polished debater, but Kaine was better at defending his running mate and talking about Clinton’s proposed policies. Pence spent the majority of the debate deflecting attacks on Trump, and not answering the many criticisms thrown his direction.

Everyone will argue about who won or who lost the debate. But they won’t have long since the next presidential debate between Clinton and Trump is this Sunday, October 9. Watch a full replay of the vice-presidential debate below.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: CNN, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, NBC News

Kaine Pens Univision Article

People sing the national anthem during a naturalization ceremony at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall August 25, 2016 in Washington, DC Brendan Smialowski AFP/Getty Images

On Wednesday, Univision published an article written by Senator Tim Kaine about immigration and the importance of immigrants in America. Kaine said that the diversity of America should be celebrated because it is part of what makes the country great. He promised that as Vice President, he will work with Hillary Clinton and Congress to pass comprehensive immigrant reform and ensure that families already living here are not broken up by deportation. Kaine criticized Donald Trump’s approach to immigration and his divisive language when describing immigrants. Kaine says he sees things differently. Immigrants are proud to become citizens. “I see that first-hand whenever I visit a naturalization service. I’ve heard many immigrants share their moving stories about what inspired them to become Americans, and I’ve watched as each one raised their right hand and was sworn in as a naturalized citizen,” he said. Read the full article below or by clicking HERE.

Earlier this summer, I had a chance to meet with the Orellanas, a family from Bolivia who made a home in Virginia. Wilson Orellana works for a company providing transportation for Americans with disabilities, and his wife, Roxana is an active community member who teaches Spanish to children and helps lead the local middle school’s PTA. Their two daughters, Rebeca and Marisol, worked hard in school, and Rebeca is now an engineering honors student in college.

They’re rightly proud of the life they have built for themselves. But as we spoke, they told me how terrified they were that their family would be torn apart because of their mixed status.

The Orellanas are one of so many families in America that were eligible for President Obama’s executive actions on immigration – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA). Rebeca, who arrived in America as a child, is protected from deportation and able to pursue her dreams thanks to DACA. But for Wilson and Roxana, who wanted to stop living in fear, and more fully participate in our society, the future remains uncertain.

When we met, they were anxiously awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision on DAPA. Hillary and I believe that President Obama was well within his legal authority when he issued these actions. But now, unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s deadlocked ruling has thrown millions of families like the Orellanas back into uncertainty.

We should be doing everything we can to keep families like theirs together – not threatening them with deportation or breaking them apart. After all, they’re our friends, neighbors and classmates. They enrich our communities and contribute to our economy.

Hillary Clinton and I will continue to defend DACA and DAPA, and we’ll do everything possible under the law create a straightforward system for folks with sympathetic cases to make their case and be eligible for deferred action too.

These policies are critical, but we know that to truly fix our broken immigration system we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The majority of Americans support comprehensive reform not just because it’s the right thing to do – but because they know it will also strengthen our families, our economy, and our country.

We’ve waited long enough. In our first 100 days in office, Hillary and I will put comprehensive reform legislation before Congress that will include a pathway to citizenship, better border security, and addressing family visa backlog. It will enable our country to be what it’s always been – a place where people from around the world can come to start new businesses, pursue their dreams, apply their talents to American growth and innovation.

This is a very different approach than what Donald Trump has proposed. Not only does he not support comprehensive reform, but he’s threatened to send out a deportation force to round up 16 million people and kick them out of our country. Donald looks at immigrants and calls them “rapists” and “murderers.” And he even supports ending birthright citizenship – one of the basic American principles that if you’re born here, you belong here.

When I was in law school, I took a year off to volunteer in El Progreso, Honduras as a Jesuit missionary. The local community embraced me, and the values I learned from my Honduran community are the same values I see in our Latino community here in America: faith, family and hard work.

These are the very same values that built this nation. In America, we don’t build walls – we build bridges. Our shared values bring us together, and make us stronger. So we must not allow Donald Trump to create a false image of immigrants, and tear down everything this country stands for.

I see that first-hand whenever I visit a naturalization service. I’ve heard many immigrants share their moving stories about what inspired them to become Americans, and I’ve watched as each one raised their right hand and was sworn in as a naturalized citizen. Let me tell you – it’s one of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen. Hearing them always brings a smile to my face and a tear to every eye in the room. Anybody who loves America that much deserves to be here.

There’s a saying I learned in Honduras: Adelante, no atrás.

We need to go forward, not backward.

We have our work cut out for us, but if Hillary and I have the honor of serving as your President and Vice President, we’ll keep pressing forward – not backward – and keep fighting to make the American Dream a reality for everyone.

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: Univision

Clinton Statement on Social Security Act Anniversary

Today marks the 81st anniversary of the Social Security Act, the program that guarantees an income source for retired Americans. Hillary Clinton released a statement celebrating the act and vowing to defend it as president. Clinton attacks Republican proposals to privatize Social Security saying that it defies the original intent of the act. A copy of Clinton’s full statement is below.

“For eighty-one years, Social Security has been America at its best. It reflects our shared belief that every American should be able to retire with dignity after decades of hard work. That no American should face poverty because he or she is disabled. That we are stronger together.  

Social Security benefits 59 million Americans today—but Republicans are relentlessly trying to attack and undermine this bedrock American guarantee. They want to cut benefits and gamble seniors’ retirement security on the stock market through privatization.

And Donald Trump is no different—just look who he chose as his running mate. Mike Pence spent his time in Congress championing efforts to dismantle Social Security—and to privatize it even faster than President George W. Bush and Paul Ryan proposed.

We cannot and we will not stand for that. When I served in the Senate, I helped lead the fight against the Bush privatization scheme. Instead of cutting or privatizing Social Security, we will defend and expand it.

When President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, he said it ‘represents a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but is by no means completed.’ Social Security works, but we can make it better. Millions of women—and men—who are widowed or who take time out of the paid workforce to raise a child or care for a sick family member are being left behind. As President, I’ll expand benefits to cover these hardworking Americans, because no one should have to live in poverty because their spouse died or they did the vital work of taking care of a loved one.  

Social Security isn’t just a program—it’s a promise. And I won’t stop fighting until every American shares fully in that promise.”

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: The Huffington Post

Clinton Pens Op-Ed About US-Israel Relations

Yesterday, Hillary Rodham Clinton penned an op-ed that was published by Forward in which she outlines her plans for the relationship between the United States and Israel. Clinton pledged to support Israel and and vowed that she would continue to defend Israel as president. In the piece she says, “I am deeply committed to Israel’s future as a secure and democratic Jewish state, and just as convinced that the only way to guarantee that outcome is through diplomacy. And while no solution can be imposed from outside, I believe the United States has a responsibility to help bring Israelis and Palestinians to the table and to encourage the difficult but necessary decisions that will lead to peace. As president I will never stop working to advance the goal of two states for two peoples living in peace, security and dignity.”

Read the full op-ed by CLICKING HERE.

News Source: Forward