Posted on 10/23/2015 7:45:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In her appearance before the House Benghazi Committee today, committee chairman Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.) accused former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of being more accessible to long-time confidante Sidney Blumenthal than to the late Ambassador Chris Stevens, after it emerged that Stevens did not have Clinton’s e-mail address.
Gowdy reminded Clinton that President Obama’s team had barred Blumenthal from working for the administration when he took office, and had subsequently found employment at the Clinton Foundation. From there, he sent Clinton a series of self-interested “intelligence memos” on Libya, despite having no expertise on the country — memos which Clinton had aides forward to Stevens, “Our ambassador [Stevens] was asked to read and respond to Sidney Blumenthal’s drivel,” Gowdy said during a congressional hearing. “It was sent to him to read and react to, in some instances on the very same day he was asking for security. So I think it is eminently fair to ask why Sidney Blumenthal had unfettered access to you, madam secretary, with whatever he wanted to talk about, and there is not a single, solitary e-mail to or from you, to or from Ambassador Stevens.”
Clinton told lawmakers that Stevens, unlike Blumenthal, did not have her personal e-mail address. “If Ambassador Stevens had grave concerns that he wanted raised with me, he certainly knew how to do that,” she said, adding later that “he did not” ask for her personal e-mail address.
She also argued that Blumenthal’s Libya memos had intelligence value, although she insisted that he did not advise her. “Both Chris Stevens and Gene Cretz [a career diplomat serving in Libya] found some of the information interesting, far more than I could, because they knew some of the characters who were being mentioned and they were the ones — the kind of person with the expertise that I asked to evaluate to see whether there was any useful information,” Clinton said.
— Joel Gehrke is a political reporter for National Review.
“If you need additional security at your post in Libya you will have to work through proper channels for that. If you need advice on how to make money for me, here’s my email address. And if anyone questions this arrangement, they are simply on a partisan witch hunt.”
FACTOID: How many emails did Hillary
chose not to give the State Department?
31,830
FACTOID: How many emails from the Ambassador pleading
for security did Hillary ignore, claiming she
never received?
More than 600.
BS. Her official email address is known to every executive in the State Dept.
Are these the emails she admitted to asking staff to remove the name of the sender?
by George you’ve got it... that about sums it all up. and it’s perfect...
In Clintonworld the buck stops here has a different meaning and relates only to their endless efforts to collect money on behalf of the Clinton Foundation.Never to taking responsibilty.The core of Mrs Clinton’s testimony before the committee is she emptily says she takes reponsibility while at the same time blaming everyone else for her abject failure.According to her the buck stopped somewhere between the State Department janitorial staff and “other professionals”.
She may have opened up a new can of worms bringing the Sid into the mix. Leftists throw their own under the bus. Her testimony was more of a confession as she digs her hole deeper and deeper and deeper.
He did not approach Her Royal Heinousness in the correct manner.
This was the “gay” fellow, right? Wonder if in spite of all her Democrat-loyal protestations, she was a homophobe after all... irony of irony of ironies. Or maybe this is how she treated everyone.
Best to keep in mind the money-driven nature of Blumenthal and Hillary's govt relationship:
Hillary wanted the Clintons' dirty tricks consigliere, Sidney Blumenthal, for a top position in the State Department, but vengeful Obama nixed the guy who played him dirty in the election.
In 2009, the Clintons duped the public, and its wealthy donors, and announced Blumenthal, had been hired......(wait for it)...... "to work on a Foundation project to promote Bill Clinton’s presidential legacy. "
(waiting for hysterical laughter to die down
HILLARY'S SECRET ADVISOR---AND TRIPLE DIPPER:
Blumenthal was officially at the Clinton Foundation but the greedy Sid was cashing in bigtime b/c, through Hillary, he had unlimited access to valuable US intel which brought big bucks in the global marketplace.
Sid's secret emails show that, in 2009, while on the Clinton Foundation payroll, ostensibly promoting Bill's legacy, Blumenthal spoon-fed Hillary reports on Libya that Hillary sent to senior officials without attribution......to manipulate US policy by which Sid could profit.
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The NYT reports extensively on Blumenthal's secret emails to Hillary (emails she did not want revealed):
<><> in 2009 the Clintons announced Blumenthal was hired by the Clinton Foundation to "promote Bill's presidential legacy",
<><> at the same time Blumenthal was tight w/ American Bridge and Media Matters — two Democratic groups aiding 2016 Clinton's effort,
<><> Blumenthal was also a paid advisor to businesses seeking Libyan contracts (compromising US ntl interests, by marketing his influence at the State Dept);
<><> Blumenthal was secretly advising Secy of State Clinton about Libya @ $320,000 per year;
<><> Sid also pocketed $200,000 a year from Clinton political fixer, David Brock's, media operations.
Where did the committee obtain those 600 email requests if not from her personal email?
REALITY CHECK Blumenthal was engaged in a massive conflict of interest since he was simultaneously being paid by (a) The Clinton Foundation, (b) Hillary's 2016 organizers, and, (3) businessmen w/ interests in Libya.
If Clinton knew, her actions in circulating memos precipitated by Blumenthal was egregious. If she did not know, her recklessness is subject to US laws.
Keep in mind that---to its donors and to the world beyond---all they knew was that the Clinton Foundation hired Sid Blumenthal to..... (wait for it)..... "promote Bill's presidential legacy." That's what Sid was supposed to be doing for his $325,000 foundation salary.
Now if the Clinton Foundation Board of Trustees signed off on the Blumenthal hire without being appraised of the full scope of his duties....that would violate state laws and place the trustees in legal jeopardy.
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REFERENCES The implications of this Blumenthal revelation are huge, as the Washington Free Beacon points out:
<><> Among the newly revealed (Benghazi) e-mails were a pair of messages from July 2011 in which Blumenthal described efforts to secure Libyan government contracts for Osprey Global Solutions, a company in which Blumenthal has admitted to having a financial interest.
<><>Blumenthal warned Clinton that French companies were looking to scoop up security contracts from the Transitional National Council, the revolutionary government of the Libyan resistance, and plugged Osprey’s ability to be an American counterweight.
<><> “It puts Americans in a central role without being direct battle combatants,” Blumenthal wrote of Osprey’s TNC contract. He described his efforts in “putting this arrangement together through a series of connections, linking the Libyans to Osprey and keeping it moving.”
<><> Clinton forwarded that message to Jake Sullivan, her deputy chief of staff, and asked to discuss it later.
Time to bring out the water board and get to the bottom of this mess.
it sure looks like she’s digging deeper, yet the media reaction seems to be that she survived the hearings and did a good job.
If they did, I wonder if what happened to the Wicked Witch of the West would happen to her. She’d simply dissolve.
EDITED EXCERPT---The Clintons had extensive ties with figures in the energy industry; companies that dug into Libya’s energy sector, Royal Dutch Shell and BP, were Clinton Foundation donors. But Hillary Clinton hid emails discussing the exploitation of Libya’s oil fields. The Clintons had made an art out of merging their political and financial agendas
Some of the deleted emails discussed this with Clinton Foundation employee Sidney Blumenthal (Clinton pumped Sid's sham hiring as "working on promoting Bill's presidential legacy"); Blumenthal was also providing Hillary with what was facetiously labeled "intel" that actually came from business interests.
Blumenthal was looking to profit while promising that the Libyan War would be an easy matter. Blumenthal encouraged “shock and awe” bombing in Libya.
According to Congressman Gowdy, “Blumenthal pushed hard for a no-fly zone in Libya before the idea was being discussed internally by senior U.S. government officials.”
Blumenthal blasted Obama for being “unenthusiastic about regime change in Libya.” Blumenthal called for providing the Jihadists with “armor piercing weapons” and called Secretary of Defense Gates a “mean, vicious little prick” who is “losing” the debate.
Blumenthal also offered a very specific “national interest” argument that Obama would later echo, suggesting that Obama was unknowingly parroting the talking points of Blumenthal.....a man he loathed....talking points which had been handed to Obama by Hillary Clinton.
Loyal Democrat Blumenthal also told Hillary Clinton that the war had to be ramped up....or Obama would lose the election.
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NOTE WELL At no time did the safety and security of Americans factor into the Hillary/Blumenthal communiques.
Largely overlooked is Hillary’s ability to be C&C. Look how she treated embassy staff and ambassadors. Think the military isn’t going to notice that she’ll throw them under the bus in no time flat.
It came ouot of Fox and Friends this AM that Amb. Stevens and his team made 600 (SIX HUNDRED) requests for added security. All fell on deaf ears. Obviously Hillary’s “system” for handling such mundane matters as added security did not work.
If she’d been in the military she would have been court martialed by now for such inattention and sent down (or jailed) in disgrace.
Just my humble opinion, but I am sure that Stevens DID have Hillary!s e-mail and used it all the time. I suspect those are among the e-mails that have not been recovered. That is the only way she can lie about not getting any of the urgent requests for more security. Mr Gowdy, find those e-mails and nail her to the wall!
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