Hillary Couldn’t Remember, Strangling Truth
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Vol. 5, No. 245
You’ve Got Mail: Revealing that Hillary Clinton discussed classified drone strikes over email and ordered the destruction of large numbers of emails, the FBI yesterday released documents that are certain to keep the Hillary Clinton email issue cooking.
The Feds released a 12-page summary of its interview with Clinton and a 47-page memorandum detailing its inquiry into her use of personal email while she was Secretary of State. According to the documents, Clinton told investigators her decision to use a personal email server was “made out of convenience” because she could not receive personal email on a State Department device. She also said she “did not recall receiving any emails she thought should not be on an unclassified system.”
The report says it was not a requirement at the time to use a government email, but was mandatory to preserve all government emails.
The FBI found no evidence that any of Clinton’s mobile devices were hacked, but their report still leaves holes any Republican can drive a truck through. The FBI never got its hands on all of the 13 mobile phones and five iPads Clinton used with her private email server.
They also found that Mrs. Clinton didn’t fully understand the classification system for secrets, thought discussions about secret drone strikes were “routine,” and that a computer specialist deleted a trove of email after the revelation that she had used a private server.
Maybe the worst for her, she told investigators that after her 2012 concussion she couldn’t remember the details of every briefing she was given.
Debatable: NBC’s Lester Holt, who rose to the anchor throne after the fall of Brian Williams, has been named to host the first presidential debate on Sept. 26.
This year has the most diverse group of moderators; a black man, a woman, an openly gay man, and a representative of Fox News. Martha Raddatz of ABC and CNN’s Anderson Cooper will moderate the town hall on Oct. 9. Chris Wallace of Fox News will do the last debate Oct. 19.
One hitch, though. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is complaining that they are not represented in the group, particularly in a year in which immigration is such a big issue.
Moderating debates has become a dangerous position, with the hosts sometimes under as much scrutiny as the candidates. Donald Trump has made a sport of skewering reporters.
Global: President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinpin, the leaders of the world’s most polluting countries, today joined a global agreement to cut greenhouse gases. With the US and China on board, virtually every country on earth as joined the agreement.
Death of a Dictator: President Islam Karimov, who ruled Uzbekistan since 1989, has died after a stroke at age 78. Karimov did not leave a successor in waiting.
Karimov took over two years before his country separated from the Soviet Union. Somehow, even in spite of a two-term electoral limit, he kept getting returned to office.
Uzbekistan is rich with gas, oil, and gold. It has the biggest population and largest army in central Asia. Karimov kept a secular government and his death raises the risk of Islamic extremists moving in, as well as conflict between ethnic groups.
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Karimov because, you know, it takes a dictator to like a dictator.
The Obit Page: Fred Hellerman, the last survivor of the 1950s folk group the Weavers that inspired the folk music revival, has died at age 89. The group included Pete Seeger, who died in 2014.
With songs like “If I had a Hammer,” and “Kisses Sweeter than Wine,” the Weavers were followed in the 1960s by the likes of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan and the political folk music of the 1960s.
Truth Squad. In introducing a new fact-checking feature for The New Yorker called, “Trump and the Truth,” Editor David Remnick writes, “Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for President, does not so much struggle with the truth as strangle it altogether. He lies to avoid. He lies to inflame. He lies to promote and to preen. Sometimes he seems to lie just for the hell of it. He traffics in conspiracy theories that he cannot possibly believe and in grotesque promises that he cannot possibly fulfill. When found out, he changes the subject—or lies larger.”
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