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The intercepts occurred under CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. The new disclosures are contained in two letters of “Congressional notification” originally written to key members of Congress in March 2014, but kept secret until now. In the letters, then-Intelligence Community Inspector General Charles McCullough tells four key members of Congress that during “routing counterintelligence monitoring of Government computer systems,” the CIA collected emails between Congressional staff and the CIA’s head of whistleblowing and source protection. McCullough states that he’s concerned “about the potential compromise to whistleblower confidentiality and the consequent ‘chilling effect’ that the...

By REBECCA KAPLAN January 16, 2014 Sen. Feinstein: Hillary Clinton Isn’t To Blame For Benghazi Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has come to the defense of Hillary Clinton against Republicans who she says are trying to inflate the former secretary ofstate’s role in the Sept. 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic facility and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya. Feinstein, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and vice chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., led the committee’s review of the attacks that werepublished in a bipartisan report that was declassified Wednesday. Though their the report faults the State Department for failing to sufficiently...

Georgia Republicans are becoming increasingly worried that a divisive primary coupled with a strong Democratic candidate might lead to a loss of the Senate seat of retiring Saxbe Chambliss. The Hill: Recent polling shows the two candidates Republicans are most anxious about - Reps. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) and Paul Broun (R-Ga.) - leading the pack. Whoever emerges from the clown-car primary, with seven candidates and counting, will face a candidate Democrats are high on in a state where shifting demographics benefit their party. "Gingrey has a history of making some gaffes, and Broun it seems like it's a gaffe every...

The so-called “chatter” about a terror plot that led the Obama administration to close 22 U.S. embassies and consulates Sunday across the Muslim world goes beyond anything heard before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee and Fox News sources. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, of Georgia, said Sunday the so-called “chatter” detected by U.S. intelligence agencies that led the Obama administration to order the closures and issue a global travel warning to Americans is "very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11." [snip] A Mideast diplomat says al-Zawahiri “pressuring” Al Qaeda in the Arabian...

The Talk Shows August 4th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Reps. Eric Cantor, R-Va., and Justin Amash, R-Mich.; Michael Hayden, a former head of the CIA and the National Security Agency.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Reps. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas; and Sen. Chuck U. Schumer, D-N.Y.THIS WEEK (ABC): Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Reps. Peter King, R-N.Y., and C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md.STATE OF THE UNION...

The Talk Shows July 28th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Treasury Secretary Jack Lew; Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Lew; Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.; Christine Quinn, candidate for New York mayor.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Rogers; Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo.THIS WEEK (ABC): Lew; Sens. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Lew; Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

The Talk Shows June 16th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Former Vice President Dick Cheney. MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sens. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Lindsey Graham R-S.C.; Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va.; Michael Hayden, a former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency.FACE THE NATION (CBS): White House chief of staff Denis McDonough; Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.; former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Rogers; Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

"Superficial" "A source close to the Senate negotiations [says] that two senators who voted against the background check bill would vote for it after minor, superficial changes." - Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC, May 6, 2013ACTION: Senators who voted pro-gun last month are under intense pressure - by Senate Democrats and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s hit ads - to switch their votes.  We need to keep applying the heat and let them know that gun owners are ready to help in any Senate campaign, no matter which state, to defeat ANY SENATOR who votes for gun control.LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FROM WASHINGTON, DC. It’s...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama took his congressional outreach effort to the green on Monday, playing a round of golf with a bipartisan trio of senators. Democrat Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado and Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Bob Corker of Tennessee joined Obama for a round at Maryland's Andrews Air Force Base, where Obama frequently plays golf on weekends with aides and friends. Under overcast skies, the three chatted casually with Obama, wearing a windbreaker and baseball cap. They putted on the first green before leaving the view of reporters on a pair of golf carts....

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss is joining President Barack Obama for a round of golf today, with Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Mark Udall, D-Colo., rounding out the foursome.

WASHINGTON, April 28 (UPI) -- A trio of U.S. senators said the Obama administration must do more to identify and assist friendly elements of the anti-Assad rebel forces fighting in Syria. Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the United States should do what it can to prevent Syria from becoming a fractured, failed state that is home to potential terrorists. "There's nothing you can do in Syria without risk, but the greatest risk is a failed state with chemical weapons falling in the hands of radical Islamists and they're pouring into Syria," Graham said....

The Talk Shows April 28th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): en. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Reps. Peter King, R-N.Y., Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and Joaquin Castro, D-Texas. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.THIS WEEK (ABC): Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md. STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): en. Dan Coats, R-Ind.; Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Bennie...

The FBI briefed the Senate yesterday and today on the progress in the Boston Marathon bombing case, but more questions than answers may have arisen from it. The Boston Globe quotes multiple sources from within the briefing that the FBI didn’t just get one warning from Russia about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, they got warned repeatedly — including after the FBI’s initial investigation of the now-deceased bomber: Russian authorities contacted the US government with concerns about Tamerlan Tsarnaev not once but “multiple’’ times, including an alert it sent after he was first investigated by FBI agents in Boston, raising new questions about...

Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) said on Tuesday that law enforcement may have known in advance about the Boston Marathon suspects’ bombing plans. Speaking to local Atlanta Channel 2 Action News, Chambliss said, “There now appears that may have been some evidence that was obtained by one of the law enforcement agencies that did not get shared in a way that it could have been. If that turns out to be the case, then we have to determine whether or not that would have made a difference.”

When Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss announced Friday that he wouldn’t seek a third term in 2014, a race that already was likely to feature a contested Republican primary exploded into a free-for-all. Several Republicans, including several congressmen, are eyeing the seat. The more crowded the field, the more likely the GOP race will pit mainstream conservatives against the hardliners who had grown disenchanted with Chambliss for working with Democrats to find common ground on budget and tax issues. Democrats, meanwhile, hope for exactly that kind of Republican fracas. They view the 69-year-old Chambliss’ decision as an opportunity to reverse the...

A new Georgia poll found that former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, whose embrace of the Tea Party briefly propelled him to the top of the 2012 GOP presidential primary field during primary, leads incumbent Republican Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss by 14 points in a hypothetical primary showdown.

Herman Cain would crush Sen. Saxby Chambliss in a Republican primary if the pizza mogul were to run in 2014, according to a poll released Tuesday. Cain led Chambliss (R-Ga.) 50 percent to 36 percent in a survey from Public Policy Polling.

Saxby Chambliss is waffling around like a dog off its leash for the first time. He says he does not care about a “twenty year old pledge” he signed. He’s talking about the Americans for Tax Reform pledge that says he pledges not to raise taxes. He has clarified his remarks to mean he wants tax reform that increases revenue through job growth. Everyone knows that Saxby meant he was happy to raise taxes. Now, under pressure back home, he is waffling. He covets his seat in Washington and is fearful of being primaries. Georgia has primary run-offs, whichs means...

Conservative lobbyist Grover Norquist blasted back at a Republican senator on Friday for backing off his promise to oppose tax increases. Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss said he has dumped his pledge to Norquist about the tax increases, telling a Macon television station he “more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge,” referring to the Taxpayer Protection Pledge he signed when he first ran for the Senate. Norquist, who heads the conservative group Americans for Tax Reform, created the pledge, which nearly every Republican member of congress has signed. … Norquist responded, saying, “I miss his point in...

Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss (Ga.) on Wednesday said that addressing the nation’s looming “fiscal cliff” took precedence over honoring the anti-tax pledge he signed for conservative activist Grover Norquist. “I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge,” said Chambliss to local Georgia television station 13WMAZ. “If we do it his way then we’ll continue in debt, and I just have a disagreement with him about that.” Chambliss said he expected that Norquist and some conservatives might hold his decision against him when he is up for reelection in 2014, but said he was confident he...