Statement by Donald P. Gregg, National Security Advisor to Vice President George H.W. Bush. The endorsement comes after 115 former Ambassadors – including 80 appointed by Republican Presidents – backed Hillary Clinton earlier this week and more than 50 national security officials urged Trump to disclose his financial conflicts of interests.
“I was in the Reagan administration for 8 years. I was Vice President George H.W. Bush’s National Security Advisor for over six years. I traveled with him to over 65 countries.
In my view the two great diplomatic overtures since World War II were carried out by Republicans — Nixon to China and President George H. W. Bush’s outreach to Gorbachev and the Soviet Union after the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
But we now have a person at the top of Republican ticket who I believe is dangerous, doesn’t understand the complex world we live in, doesn’t care to, and is without any moral or international philosophy.
I’ve met Hillary Clinton a number of times and followed her career in public service. I’m impressed with her knowledge and experience. She would make an extremely good President.”
This week, the conservative group Judicial Watch released a new set of emails showing correspondence between Clinton Foundation executive Doug Band and Hillary Clinton’s top State Department aide Huma Abedin. In one exchange that is referenced by the group, Abedin and Band are discussing his request for diplomatic passport to visit North Korea. Officials have confirmed that his request was related to the release of American hostages negotiated by former President Bill Clinton. The same official stated that Band was not granted the passport.
Hillary for America responded to defensively saying that the release was tied to a sensitive diplomatic mission. HFA spokesman Josh Schwerin responded, “Judicial Watch is now attacking State Department officials and the 42nd President of the United States for rescuing two American journalists from North Korea. This is a new low even for this right-wing organization that has been going after the Clintons since the 1990s.” The release contains over 500 pages of email correspondence that was requested through the Freedom of Information Act. A copy of the emails is embedded below, and a PDF version of the emails can be downloaded HERE.
The House Select Committee on Benghazi concluded its multi-year investigation into the terrorist attack on the United States Diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. The attack resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith. After reviewing evidence and conducting countless interviews, the committee released its findings at the end of June.
There has been controversy surrounding the committee since its creation in 2014. Democrats have accused Republicans as using the attacks in Benghazi as a way to harm Hillary Clinton’s presidential aspirations. Its critics point to the endless investigations, many of which concluded before the committee was created in 2014. Because of this, the Republican majority and the Democratic minority of the committee have agreed on little. In fact, they even have separate websites covering the investigation. These divisions were made more apparent when Clinton testified for over 10 hours before the committee in October 2015.
On June 27, the minority members of the committee released their findings in a report led by Representative Elijah Cummings. In the report, the minority members focus on the way the committee has acted and the cost to tax payers for an investigation that ultimately yielded no new findings. They also complained that they were largely left out the process of writing the primary report that was released the next day. The report, which consists of 340 pages, is primarily a criticism of the handling of the investigation by the Republicans on the committee and their limited focus on Clinton.
The Republicans released their final report on June 28, a day after the Democrats. In 869 pages, the committee’s Republicans, led by Representative Trey Gowdy, harshly criticized the State Department, Defense Department, and CIA for failing to fully understand the situation that led to the attack in Benghazi. The report criticizes the delayed action by the Obama administration following the attacks. Overall, the committee failed to find any new evidence that changed the narrative of the attack nor could they prove that Clinton was in any way negligent. Instead, the report largely blames systemic issues for the poor response to the attack.
While the committee is responsible for discovering that Clinton used a private email server as Secretary of State, the findings of the committee largely echo that of an investigations conducted by the State Department in 2012 and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2013. During the Senate hearings in January 2013, Clinton accepted full responsibility for the State Department’s failures leading up to and following the attack. She also spoke about security funding that was cut by Congress arguing that those cuts have made United States diplomatic posts less secure around the world and she urged Congress to increase funding to ensure the safety of diplomats.
Since the release of the report early this week, Clinton has been asked for her thoughts. While she has not had much to say, she did offer a comment late this week saying, “I’ll leave it to others to characterize this report, but I think it’s pretty clear it’s time to move on.”
While many agree that it is time to move on, we want to ensure that the report, and every other report released on the Benghazi investigation are fully available to readers in the interest of full transparency. Therefore, we have gathered all the internal investigations and reports into the Benghazi attack into one place. Below, you will find a collection of websites for each the investigative committees as well as a collection of hearings and reports released by Congress and the State Department.
This morning, Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a highly anticipated speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. After being introduced by Brookings president Strobe Talbott, she voiced her support for the agreement between the United States and Iran, and took a strong stance on enforcement of the oversight introduced by the agreement and ensuring that Iran does not break the agreement. The key to ensuring safety in the region is limiting Iran’s nuclear capabilities and ensuring oversight by the IAEA. Clinton’s primary focus was a continuing diplomatic approach to Iran, but she did not rule out a stronger response if Iran broke the agreement.
Clinton did not shy away from her skepticism of Iran and understands why many world leaders and politicians are skeptical as well. But a lot of work has gone in to getting Iran to the negotiating table and, while the agreement may not be perfect, it is a start. She addressed her success as Secretary of State of putting together a global sanctions package against Iran. As a result, many countries cut back its use of Iranian oil and cut off financial ties. This was successful because it was global, and the sanctions persuaded Iran to come to the negotiating table that ultimately led to this agreement.
Clinton admitted several times that the agreement isn’t perfect, and that continued work and strong enforcement are necessary to make it better over time. But it is better to have the oversight the agreement provides. It is up to the United States to ensure the deal is enforced by the global community. As president, she said that her strategy with Iran would be “distrust and verify,” and that if they cheated the deal, the United States and the world would respond swiftly and with strength.
She voiced her support for Israel and her understanding for the skepticism that has been voiced by Israeli leaders. As president, she would strongly support Israel, and ensuring the security of Israel is one of the primary pillars of Clinton’s foreign policy plan. She’s confident that Israel will be safer with this deal, and the oversight of Iran’s nuclear program, then without it.
Following her address, Clinton had a brief conversation with Martin Indyk, executive vice president of Brookings, in which she went in to more detail about the agreement and how to go about implementing it. The floor was then opened to the audience to ask questions. The full video from the event is above.
6/13 UPDATE: A full transcript of the speech is available from Time by CLICKING HERE.
In her first official campaign rally held at Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island in New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined what she called the “four fights” of her campaign. Throughout the 45 minute speech, Clinton made references to her experience as a lawyer, Senator, Secretary of State, and as a mother and grandmother. The theme of the speech was the prosperity of Americans, and she shared stories from people she has met and her mother to make her points. In her speech, Clinton also criticized Republicans for not looking forward and believing too much in “yesterday.” She vowed to fight for everyday Americans and prepare the United States for the future.
The key to her speech was the “four fights.” She outlined what those will be, but said that said will outline specific policy changes in the coming weeks. Nevertheless, her vision is clearly outlined by the four fights:
Economy: Clinton outlined a number of changes that would serve to strengthen the economy including strengthening the middle class, increasing the minimum wage, providing equal pay for women, making it illegal to discriminate against LBGT workers, rewriting the tax code, and focusing on lifelong learning that will allow works to adapt to a changing workplace. She also called for more affordable college for everyone and improving the infrastructure by creating an infrastructure bank that would sell bonds to help fund improvements roads, bridges, power grids, and broadband Internet. She called for protecting the environment by investing in clean energy and ending the denial of climate change. All these changes, which she will continue to outline in the coming weeks, will create jobs and improve the lives of American workers.
Family: Families have struggled since the recession and Clinton believes that more attention needs to be paid to helping families by guaranteeing paid sick days, paid family leave, pre-school and child care. She also wants to focus on the uneven incarceration polices and provide help to those suffering with mental health issues and addiction.
America’s Leadership: America has long been the leader in the world, but for America to maintain its leadership and influence, Clinton argues that we have not only show strength in our military, but we have to create economic and diplomatic partnerships across the globe. At the same time, we have to stand up to our adversaries and stand by our allies. We need to be better prepared against cyber attacks and provide better services to our veterans after they have served our country.
Governmental Reform: Clinton argued that now is the time to take government out of corporate hands and back into the hands of Americans. She called for stopping the flow of unaccountable campaign funds, undoing Citizens United, and improving government technology so it is more open to the pubic. She also called for improvements to voting including universal registration, longer early voting periods, and ensuring that voting rights are protected despite the Supreme Court’s recent decision.
Clinton’s speech is only the beginning of the next phase of her campaign. Over the coming weeks, Clinton will travel across the country to spread her message and continue to flesh out her campaign platform. We will follow along and continue to cover her campaign events as she continues to build a strong platform for America’s future.
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Hillary Clinton Speeches 