H4A News Clips 5.19.15

From:aphillips@hillaryclinton.com To: aphillips@hillaryclinton.com BCC: hrcrapid@googlegroups.com Date: 2015-05-19 09:48 Subject: H4A News Clips 5.19.15

*H4A Press Clips* *May 19, 2015* SUMMARY OF TODAY’S NEWS Yesterday Hillary Clinton spoke in Iowa at the home of Dean Genth and Gary Swenson about the economy, small businesses and drug abuse and mental health. The New York Times did a piece on Hillary Clinton’s first impression on voters saying that only 1% of voters do now know who Hillary Clinton is. Also saying that during she has used the smaller sessions to share lesser-known vignettes from her past: her mother’s impoverished upbringing; her middle-class childhood in Chicago; her work in the 1970s as an advocate for children; her juggling work and child rearing as a young lawyer in Arkansas. The Clinton Foundation will disclose this week a list of nearly 100 paid speeches given by Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton dating to 2002. On Friday, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign released her personal financial disclosure form for 2014 through the present, which reported that she and her husband had earned $25 million delivering paid speeches. The State Department is proposing a deadline of January 2016 to complete its review and public release of 55,000 pages of emails former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exchanged on a private server and turned over to her former agency last December. LAST NIGHTS EVENING NEWS There was no 2016 coverage on last night’s major outlets except for to highlight President Clinton’s tweet to President Obama about his new twitter handle. Instead they covered the biker gang shooting in Waco, Texas where 9 died and 170 were arrested, coverage of the progress being made by Amtrak to recover the affected tracks. Also featured on ABC World News Tonight was a special segment on Elian Gonzalez and immigration. SUMMARY OF TODAY’S NEWS................................................................. 1 LAST NIGHTS EVENING NEWS................................................................. 1 TODAY’S KEY STORIES............................................................................ 4 *In Iowa for second visit, Clinton keeps to her low-key, tilt-left strategy* // WaPo // Robert Costa - May 18, 2015 4 *Why Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Isn’t the Most Liberal Ever* // TIME // Haley Sweetland Edwards - May 18, 2015 6 *Hillary Clinton May Not Need a Second Chance to Make a First Impression* // NYT // Amy Chozick – May 19, 2015 7 *State Department won't release Hillary Clinton's emails until January 2016* // Politico // Josh Gerstein - May 18, 2015 10 *More Clinton Fees to Be Disclosed* // WSJ // Rebecca Ballhaus and Peter Nicholas - May 18, 2015 12 SOCIAL MEDIA........................................................................................ 13 *Bill Clinton (5/18/15, 12:57 PM)* Welcome to @Twitter, @POTUS! One question: Does that username stay with the office? #askingforafriend 13 *President Obama (5/18/15, 2:07 PM)* Good question, @billclinton. The handle comes with the house. Know anyone interested in @FLOTUS? 13 *Matthew Boyle (5/18/15, 8:21 AM)* @RandPaul to @HillaryClinton : "your husband passed the laws that put a generation of black men in jail" 14 *Katie Zezima (5/18/15, 8:22 AM)* Paul: If I'm the Republican nominee I'll be competitive in Philly: "I'll ask Hillary Clinton: 'what have you done for criminal justice?'".................................................................................................................. 14 *Josh McElveen (5/18/15, 9:04 AM)* BREAKING @KellyAyotte says @RepFrankGuinta should resign his seat in wake of FEC deal. #nhpolitics #wmur................................................................................................................................................ 14 HRC NATIONAL COVERAGE................................................................... 14 *Clinton's super PAC fundraising irks progressives* // CNN // MJ Lee - May 18, 2015........... 14 *Back in Iowa, Hillary Goes Big on Small Business* // Real Clear Politics // Alexis Simendinger - May 18, 2015 16 *Clinton talks economy, campaign finance on return to Iowa* // Des Moines Register // Tony Leys - May 18, 2015 18 *Hillary Clinton Campaign Begins Drafting Policy Solutions To Heroin Epidemic* // Huffington Post // Marina Fang – May 18, 2015 20 *Clinton Returns to Iowa to Help Rally Caucus Volunteers* // ABC News // Julie Pace - May 18, 2015 21 *Hillary Clinton's second wave of Iowa courtship arrives in Mason City* // CNN // Dan Merica - May 18, 2015 22 *10 questions for Hillary Clinton* // CBS News // Rebecca Kaplan – May 19, 2015................. 24 *Hillary Clinton Backs Obama Plan To Reverse Police Militarization* // Huffington Post // Ryan Grim and Ryan J. Reilly - May 18, 2015 28 *Hillary Clinton: "Grateful" For Obama's Work on Economy, But "Deck Is Still Stacked In Favor Of Those At The Top"* // Real Clear Politics // Ian Schwartz - May 18, 2015......................................................................................................... 29 *US Reps. Jim McGovern, Joe Kennedy campaign for Hillary Clinton* // Mass Live // Shira Schoeberg - May 18, 2015 29 *Clinton Sets Citizens United as Supreme Court Litmus Test* // ABC News // Julie Pace, Associated Press - May 18, 2015 30 *Gowdy: Benghazi report may leave questions unresolved* // Greenville Online // Mary Troyan - May 18, 2015 31 *Clinton Friend’s Libya Role Blurs Lines of Politics and Business* // NYT // Nicholas Confessor and Michael S. Schmidt – May 18, 2015 33 *The long and winding road ahead for Hillary Clinton’s e-mails* // Washington Post // Fred Barbash – May 19, 2015 37 *What Sidney Blumenthal’s Memos to Hillary Clinton Said, and How They Were Handled* // NYT // Michael S. Schmidt - May 18, 2015 38 *Hillary Clinton’s army of trolls* // Politico // Annie Karni – May 19, 2015.......................... 40 *Hillary Clinton was paid millions by tech industry for speeches* // WaPo // Matea Gold, Rosalind S. Helderman, and Anu Narayanswamy - May 18, 2015........................................................................................................................................ 43 *Clinton Criticism of Wealth Leaves Us 1% Convinced* // Bloomberg // C. Thompson and Lauren Arnold - ay 18, 2015 47 *CNN commentator: Hillary Clinton’s ‘strong point’ is her last name, husband* // WaPo // Erik Wemple – May 18, 2015 48 *Politics More: 2016 Elections Hillary Clinton Media* // Business Insider // Colin Campbell – May 18, 2015 49 *Hillary Clinton Paid by Jeb Bush’s Education Company* // First Look // Lee Fang – May 18, 2015 50 *Rand Paul: Bill Clinton put ‘generation’ of black men in prison* // The Hill // Alexander Bolton – May 18, 2015 50 *Bill Clinton signals he can be Hillary’s second fiddle* // The Hill // Niaill Stanage – May 19, 2015 51 *Bill Clinton's Hud Secretary: Julian Castro Team Hillary's Top VP Choice* // Breitbart News // May 18, 2015 54 *House liberals play hard-to-get with Hillary Clinton* // Politico // Lauren French – May 19, 2015 54 *5 Things You Might Not Know About Hillary Clinton* // NYT // Amy Chozick – May 19, 2015 57 *What Young Feminists Think of Hillary Clinton* // National Journal // Molly Mirhashem - May 16, 2015 58 OTHER DEMOCRATS NATIONAL COVERAGE....................................... 64 *Why Not Martin O’Malley?* // Harvard Political Review // Quinn Mulholland - May 18, 2015 64 *Bernie Sanders Wants to Be President, but He’s Already Facebook Royalty* // NYT // Nick Corasaniti - May 18, 2015 66 *Sanders: Make Wall St. pay college tuition* // Burlington Free Press // April Burbank – May 18, 2015 68 *Elizabeth Warren Details Obama's Broken Trade Promises* // Huffington Post // Zack Carter - May 18, 2015 69 *Snoop Dogg: I'll be voting for Hillary Clinton* // The Hill // Judy Kurtz - May 18, 2015........ 70 GOP.......................................................................................................... 71 *In Philadelphia, Rand Paul Talks Privatized Amtrak and Criminal Justice* // Bloomberg // David Weigel - May 18, 2015 71 *Rand Paul Vows to Filibuster to Block Patriot Act* // ABC News // Steve Peoples, Associated Press - May 18, 2015 72 *Rand Paul Cites Questionable Benghazi Reporting In Forthcoming Book* // Buzzfeed News // Molly Ward – May 18, 2015 73 *Why We Must Reform the VA* // Medium // Jeb Bush – May 18, 2015................................... 75 *Jeb Bush’s GOP Rivals Keep Him Front and Center* // WSJ // Reid J. Epstein - May 17, 2015 76 *Jeb Bush stands by opposition to same-sex marriage* // CNN // Alexandra Jaffe - May 18, 2015 78 *Jeb Bush Says Christian Business Owners Can Refuse To Serve Gay Weddings* // Huffington Post // Marina Fang - May 17, 2015 79 *Bush insists he's not writing off Iowa* // Politico // Eli Stokols - May 18, 2015..................... 80 *Team Jeb: He's held to 'different standard' than Hillary* // Washington Examiner // Byron York - May 18, 2015 82 *Why Marco Rubio could beat Jeb Bush* // CNN // Julian Zelizer - May 18, 2015................... 83 *Marco Rubio has listed himself as 'white' instead of 'Hispanic.' News flash: He's both.* // Miami Herald // Patricia Mazzei - May 18, 2015 86 *Supreme Court Won’t Block Probe of Scott Walker’s Recall Campaign*’ // Bloomberg // Greg Stohr - May 18 2015 87 *Scott Walker’s Long History of Dirty Tricks* // The Daily Beast // David Freedlander – May 18, 2015 88 *Records indicate Scott Walker was copied on letter promising loan to donor // Journal Sentinel* // Jason Stein and Patrick Marley – May 18, 2015................................................................................................................................................ 93 *Scott Walker touts charters, vouchers in charter-heavy New Orleans Monday* // NOLA // Jessica Williams - May 18, 2015 96 *Chris Christie Now Opposes Creating a Pathway to Citizenship for Undocumented Workers* // Bloomberg // Terrence Dopp – May 18, 2015 97 *Gov. Christie: American exceptionalism isn’t a punchline** —** it’s a set of principles.* // Medium // Chris Christie – May 18, 2015 98 *Christie to Call for Larger Military, More US Intervention* // ABC News // Jim Colvin, Associated Press - May 18, 2015 113 *Chris Christie, Rand Paul Bring Patriot Act Debate to Campaign Trail* // WSJ // Heather Haddon and Janet Hook - May 18, 2015 114 *Chris Christie Now Opposes Creating a Pathway to Citizenship for Undocumented Workers* // Bloomberg // Terrence Dopp - May 18, 2015 116 *Christie cites experience running against female opponent* // Philly // The Associated Press - May 18, 2015 117 *Chris Christie will be in New Hampshire when Obama visits NJ: Chris Christie in the news* // Cleveland // Sabrina Eaton - May 18, 2015 118 *Sen. Lindsey Graham on White House bid: 'I'm running'* // Politico // Katie Glueck - May 18, 2015 118 *Sen. Lindsey Graham Is 'Having A Blast' As He Preps Presidential Run* // NPR // Jessica Taylor and Don Gonyea - May 18, 2015 119 *Bobby Jindal forming exploratory committee for White House run* // Politico // Jonathan Topaz - May 18, 2015 121 *Connecting the Dots Behind the 2016 Candidates* // NYT // Gregor Aisch and Karen Yourish - May 17, 2015 122 TOP NEWS............................................................................................. 123 DOMESTIC.......................................................................................... 123 *Obama to Limit Military-Style Equipment for Police Forces* // NYT // Julie Hirschfeld Davis - May 18, 2015 123 *Obama foundation brings in $5.4 million* // Politico // Josh Gerstein - May 18, 2015....... 125 *Feds Project Lake Mead Below Drought Trigger Point in 2017* // ABC News // Ken Ritter, Associated Press - May 18, 2015 127 INTERNATIONAL............................................................................... 129 *Kerry, in Seoul, slams North Korea* // WaPo // Carol Morello - May 18, 2015...................... 129 *Bombing and clashes resume as Yemen heads for ‘catastrophe’* // WaPo // Ali al-Mujahed and Erin Cunningham - May 18, 2015 130 OPINIONS/EDITORIALS/BLOGS........................................................... 132 *Christine Quinn on Hillary Clinton & Marriage Equality* // Out // Christine Quinn - May 18, 2015 132 *Why is Hillary Clinton Tacking Left?* // National Journal // Ron Fournier - May 18, 2015 133 *You won’t believe Hillary Clinton’s spin on avoiding the press* // WaPo // Chris Cillizza – May 18, 2015 135 TODAY’S KEY STORIES In Iowa for second visit, Clinton keeps to her low-key, tilt-left strategy <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-iowa-for-second-visit-clinton-keeps-to-her-low-key-tilt-left-strategy/2015/05/18/7b27aa00-fd6a-11e4-833c-a2de05b6b2a4_story.html> // WaPo // Robert Costa - May 18, 2015 MASON CITY, Iowa — Hillary Rodham Clinton’s appearance here Monday at the home of Dean Genth and Gary Swenson — one of the first gay couples to marry in Iowa — spoke volumes about the political pitch and style of her nascent presidential campaign. Even as a global celebrity and the overwhelming Democratic front-runner, Clinton is doggedly focused at this early stage on highlighting her progressive values and on what she called “people-to-people connections” — aggressive organizing in the state where she placed a disappointing third in the 2008 caucuses. The event — the first of Clinton’s two-day visit — was tailored to fit that low-key, tilt-left strategy, which her campaign hopes will signal that she is taking little for granted in the primary race. She arrived quietly in a minivan trailed by Secret Service agents and ducked inside to greet a crowd of volunteers, who were given “commit to caucus” cards to share with friends. The tightly controlled setting also allowed her to continue to steer clear of the press pack following her. Holding court in the living room, Clinton embraced her ties to President Obama and cast herself as his tested and natural heir. It was an acknowledgment that Obama’s leftover network remains a coveted coalition in Iowa and an assertion that her time on the world stage is an asset, rather than a liability, as Republicans have challenged. “I’m going into this race with my eyes wide open about how hard it is to be president of the United States,” Clinton told approximately 50 Democrats gathered. “I do have that experience to know what is possible and how best to proceed.” On economics, her message was populist. Facing vocal competition from bank-bashing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other likely rivals for the Democratic nomination, Clinton said she is as frustrated as anyone with the gap between the rich and the poor. “The deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top,” Clinton said. She attacked “hedge-fund managers” and other financiers for exploiting loopholes in the U.S. tax code. “Warren Buffett has said it, but so have a lot of other people. There’s something wrong when the average American CEO makes 300 times more than the typical American worker,” she said. But Clinton continued her stretch of declining to take questions from reporters — ignoring the media contingent outside the house and bypassing controversial topics, such as the debate over U.S. trade policy that has roiled Congress for weeks. Reporters were ushered out of the home after she delivered her remarks, unable to record her exchanges with attendees. Clinton’s talk also came days after reports that she and husband, former president Bill Clinton, have earned more than $25 million since early last year in speaking fees — a development she did not mention during her comments about the unsettling power of wealthy Americans. Republicans seized on her event’s closed nature and her refusal to take questions from reporters. On Twitter, the Republican National Committee promoted its “#AskHillary” hashtag campaign in an attempt to pressure Clinton to engage with the media. As Clinton left the house Monday, reporters shouted questions that went unanswered, including this from Fox News’s Ed Henry: “Why won’t you answer any questions?” Clinton is scheduled to appear Tuesday in nearby Cedar Falls for a roundtable with small-business leaders. The stop, like Monday’s, will be open only to invited guests. Many people in the house were excited about getting a chance to hear her up close, but some onlookers were less than enthused. Doug Bell, 59, a farmer from Thornton, Iowa, waited outside for an hour to catch a glimpse of Clinton but left without getting a chance to speak with her. “I caucused for her in 2008, but the world has changed, and I’d like to get her update about what’s been happening with us, the backbone of America,” he said. Clinton said she understood the concerns of everyday Iowans and would guard the landmark policies of the Obama years, particularly the president’s health-care law, to “reignite” the national economy and give a lift to those struggling. “We aren’t running yet, but we are on our feet,” Clinton said. Turning to the issue of drug abuse and mental health, Clinton sounded compassionate and solemn. “It is below the surface people are talking about it,” she said. “It is something hard to deal with.” “I did not believe I would be standing in your living room talking about the drug abuse problem, the suicide problem and the mental health problem,” she said. “Now I am convinced I have to talk about it.” The visit was also a nod to solidarity with the gay rights movement, including her own shift toward supporting same-sex marriage as a constitutional right. Genth, one of her hosts, is a board member of One Iowa, the largest gay rights organization in the state, and was a prominent backer of Obama in 2008. He and Swenson were married in 2009, soon after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex unions. Across Iowa, Clinton’s campaign already has 21 organizers and six regional directors building her ground game — far more than other Democratic contenders and part of her plan to cultivate skeptical liberals who may be tempted to back a lesser-known candidate. For Clinton, that means going small, rather than big. Cookies, grapes and bottles of water were offered at the home, and no signs were displayed on the lawn. If it wasn’t for the row of satellite trucks outside, there would have been little evidence in the neighborhood that a presidential candidate was mixing and mingling just up the block. “It is the best way to make those connections,” Clinton said of her approach. Why Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Isn’t the Most Liberal Ever <http://time.com/3882496/hillary-clinton-liberal-issues-mainstream-polling/> // TIME // Haley Sweetland Edwards - May 18, 2015 A number of Beltway pundits have recently decided that Hillary Clinton is not just running a liberal campaign, but perhaps the most liberal campaign in decades. But that’s not entirely accurate. Just as you can’t step into the same river twice, no presidential campaign ever faces the same electorate. And on a range of issues, America has become more liberal since the last time Clinton ran. Without exception, the positions that have been cited as “boldly liberal” are entirely in line with mainstream public opinion. Take gay marriage, which Clinton endorsed in 2013. As of last year, 6 in 10 Americans—and a whopping 74% of Democrats—were in favor of it too, according to a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Or immigration. Last week, Clinton was congratulated by many liberals for backing a broad path to citizenship for roughly 11 million undocumented people. But in an NBC/WSJ poll last fall, 60% of Americans were in favor of a “path to citizenship” and nearly 75% were even more in favor of it if the plan involved asking immigrants to jump through certain hoops, such as paying back taxes. Or criminal justice reform. Last week, Clinton called for reforming sentencing laws and reducing how much military-grade equipment is funneled off to police departments. But as of last year, that’s pretty much exactly where most Americans were, too: 63% were against mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent crimes, according to Pew Research, and nearly 60% thought militarization of police had gone too far. The same is true on other socially liberal issues that Clinton has backed lately, much to the delight of the liberal base, including better gun control measures, a minimum wage increase, and paid family leave. As of 2013, 91% of Americans supported mandating criminal background checks before someone is allowed to purchase a weapon, and 60% supported reinstating a ban on assault weapons, according to Gallup. Roughly two-thirds of Americans are now in favor of raising the minimum wage and 60% believe that employers ought to give paid time-off to employees when they’re sick, according to a February AP-GfK poll. In early May, liberal activist groups claimed victory after Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, hinted that the Democratic front-runner would soon announce a comprehensive plan to make college more affordable. But again, she’s right in line with most Americans. According to the Harvard Institute of Politics, 79% of Americans described student debt as “a problem” that needs to be addressed. At the same time, Clinton has kept mum on some liberal ideas that are more divisive. She’s avoided taking a stance on President Obama’s big new free trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which many liberals have criticized. While she’s made some populist remarks about reining in Wall Street, she’s stopped short of getting specific on liberal ideas like capping CEO pay or breaking up the big banks. And she’s not taken a definitive stance on the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which has become a signature issue for environmentalists hoping to address climate change. It’s possible, then, to imagine a more liberal campaign than the one Clinton is running. And if seems like she has the most liberal campaign in history, that’s partly because she’s facing an America that is more liberal on those issues. Hillary Clinton May Not Need a Second Chance to Make a First Impression <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/us/politics/hillary-clinton-may-not-need-a-second-chance-to-make-a-first-impression.html?_r=0> // NYT // Amy Chozick – May 19, 2015 Jeb Bush has his famous last name as a calling card, for better or worse. But Scott Walker’s name does not ring many bells outside Wisconsin. Ted Cruz is not even well known in Texas. Republican presidential hopefuls will spend millions of dollars trying to get voters to remember their names and something that sets them apart. But the one White House contender who needs no introduction faces a different sort of problem: Everybody knows Hillary Rodham Clinton. She did not just co-star in a national soap opera during her husband’s eight-year presidency: She reinvented herself as a senator from the nation’s biggest media market, New York; reintroduced herself again, this time to the nation, as a presidential candidate in 2008 and then remade herself into the country’s chief diplomat. She never left the stage. Not since Richard M. Nixon mounted a comeback in 1968, historians and pollsters say, has a candidate entered a presidential contest with so low a bar for name recognition or so high a bar for changing voters’ opinions. The campaign playbooks of Nixon and Mrs. Clinton seem to share some pages. Nixon strove to show a more casual side by bypassing journalists and staging town-hall-style events — orchestrated by his media consultant, Roger Ailes — at theaters across the country packed with friendly audiences. Taking softball questions, he kept to his talking points and struck television viewers as more relaxed than the sweaty man they remembered from his debates against John F. Kennedy in 1960. “A lot of people who thought they’d made up their minds about him saw a different version,” said Kenneth L. Khachigian, a speechwriter for Nixon and later for Ronald Reagan. “That’s a prime example of someone who had a lot of perceived political baggage and who remade himself.” Mrs. Clinton, too, has been ducking reporters and instead holding round-table discussions with carefully chosen voters in early voting states. (Aides say the questions those voters ask are not screened.) She has used the sessions to share lesser-known vignettes from her past: her mother’s impoverished upbringing; her middle-class childhood in Chicago; her work in the 1970s as an advocate for children; her juggling work and child rearing as a young lawyer in Arkansas. On Tuesday, she will talk to small-business owners in Cedar Falls, Iowa, part of her second swing through the state. At one event in Las Vegas, she sat with high school students whose parents are undocumented immigrants. It was a canny move: Young people and Latinos are two demographic groups whose opinions Mrs. Clinton may still be able to shape, Democratic pollsters say. There are not many others. Only 1 percent of voters have never heard of Mrs. Clinton, a CNN poll found in March (suggesting the network’s pollsters managed to reach a few people living in caves). A larger number, but still just 11 percent of all voters, said they did not know enough about her to form an opinion, according to a New York Times-CBS poll published this month. By contrast, 43 percent said they did not know enough about Mr. Bush, the best-known Republican contender. On the bright side for Mrs. Clinton, she enters the race with a devoted base of supporters, mostly women, who appear solidly in her corner. Women in big states like Ohio and Pennsylvania heavily favored Mrs. Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries, driving her defeat of Barack Obama in those states. Mrs. Clinton remains highly popular with African-Americans, college-educated women and single women, said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster. Scott Keeter, director of survey research at the Pew Research Center, said Mrs. Clinton’s profile in the polls was like that of an incumbent facing re-election. “We know from political science that a significant majority of the electorate, upward of 90 percent, know how they’ll vote,” he said. “You’re talking about 10 to 15 percent of the electorate who are in play, and then you have to factor in enthusiasm and turnout.” The slivers of swing voters Mrs. Clinton’s campaign hopes she can sway include married women in the suburbs. “They love her experience,” Ms. Lake said, “and they like the idea of having a woman president.” The unknown“wild card” is whether Mrs. Clinton’s chance to make history as the first female president will motivate voters who may be less inclined to support her, Mr. Keeter said. Similarly, voters under 30 years old were far more likely to be undecided or to say they did not have an opinion of Mrs. Clinton, according to the Times-CBS poll. “Even though she’s so well known, there’s an aspect of a slate that can be written upon,” said Jennifer Granholm, the former governor of Michigan who is co-chairwoman of Priorities USA Action, a pro-Clinton “super PAC.” “Young people may need to be reminded about her.” This year’s cozy round-table discussions are not the first time Mrs. Clinton has tried to show voters a softer side. In her 2008 campaign, though, she waited until her favorability ratings had fallen during her heated primary battle with Mr. Obama. The effort then included warm video testimonials about “the Hillary I know” from her oldest friends and people she had met as a senator. “I thought she was a bit remote,” Shannon Mallozzi, a Long Island mother said in one video. “She sat with me, and she was just phenomenal. That day, it was two moms sitting in a car.” But the effort seemed to some to be a calculated attempt by a candidate who was behind. Trying too hard to change voters’ minds about a candidate’s character or life story can be a trap, as Mitt Romney discovered in 2012. Stung by attacks portraying him as a ruthless corporate titan, his aides tried to change public opinion about Mr. Romney’s years at Bain Capital. Kevin Madden, who was a senior adviser to Mr. Romney, said it was a mistake not to keep focused on communicating the candidate’s forward-looking ideas. “Instead of reintroducing his businessman profile, it should have been, ‘How are we going to tackle the big economic challenges?’” he said. The 2016 campaign is still in its early days, making this the prime time for the candidates to try to shape what the voters think of them. The later it gets, the harder that can be. In 2004, the Democratic nominee, John Kerry, who battled an image of being effete, took a well-publicized hunting trip dressed in camouflage, hoping to show he could relate to voters who drive pickup trucks with gun racks. “That was authentic, but perceived as inauthentic,” said Mark Mellman, a pollster who advised Mr. Kerry. “The truth is, he did actually bag a lot of birds on that trip.” “Changing people’s deeply held views,” he added, “is the hardest thing to do in politics and in life.” State Department won't release Hillary Clinton's emails until January 2016 <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/state-department-wont-release-hillary-clintons-emails-until-january-2016-118078.html> // Politico // Josh Gerstein - May 18, 2015 The State Department is proposing a deadline of January 2016 to complete its review and public release of 55,000 pages of emails former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exchanged on a private server and turned over to her former agency last December. The proposal came Monday night in a document related to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit Vice News filed in January seeking all of Clinton’s emails. “The Department’s plan … would result in its review being completed by the end of the year. To factor in the holidays, however, the Department would ask the Court to adopt a proposed completion date of January 15, 2016,” State’s acting director of Information Programs and Services John Hackett said in a declaration filed in U.S. District Court in Washington. “The Department understands the considerable public’s [sic] interest in these records and is endeavoring to complete the review and production of them as expeditiously as possible. The collection is, however, voluminous and, due to the breadth of topics, the nature of the communications, and the interests of several agencies, presents several challenges,” Hackett added. The controversy over Clinton’s private email account led to a turbulent start for her presidential campaign, which she announced last month. She has said she wants the emails public and is eager for State to release them as quickly as possible. The State Department’s proposal, however, could mean a delay of almost 13 months between the time Clinton turned over her records and the bulk of them being made public. Soon after the New York Times revealed in March that Clinton had exclusively used a private email account as secretary of state, State Department spokespeople repeatedly said that they expected the review of the Clinton records to take “several months.” They did not immediately respond to messages Monday night seeking an explanation of why that estimate was so off base. Hackett said 12 State staffers have been assigned full-time to reviewing the Clinton emails and that it took until sometime this month to scan in the records, which were provided on paper by Clinton in 12 “banker’s boxes” in December. He said the scanning process took five weeks and was “complicated” by some of the printouts of Clinton emails being double-sided. State Department officials did say they planned an earlier disclosure of a batch of the emails provided to a House committee investigating the Benghazi attacks. However, the department’s spokespeople have said only that the initial release will come “soon,” declining to be more specific about the timing of that first release. Asked by POLITICO Friday when that Libya-related batch of records should emerge, State spokesman Jeff Rathke was vague. “I don’t have an update to share. But yes, we’re aware that there’s interest out there, certainly,” he said at a daily briefing for reporters. State Department lawyers have complained in court of a “crushing burden” of FOIA requests as well as at least 79 FOIA lawsuits pending against the department. They have also cited the need to prioritize the Clinton email project as a reason for delays in other FOIA cases. The Iowa caucuses are due to be held Feb. 1, 2016 — just two weeks after the proposed release of Clinton’s emails. More Clinton Fees to Be Disclosed <http://www.wsj.com/articles/more-clinton-fees-to-be-disclosed-1431993044> // WSJ // Rebecca Ballhaus and Peter Nicholas - May 18, 2015 WASHINGTON—The Clinton Foundation will disclose this week a list of nearly 100 paid speeches given by Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton dating to 2002 for which the foundation accepted the fees, officials at the charity said Monday, providing a window into another source of revenue for a family philanthropy whose fundraising practices have cast a shadow over Mrs. Clinton’s young presidential campaign. On Friday, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign released her personal financial disclosure form for 2014 through the present, which reported that she and her husband had earned $25 million delivering paid speeches. Not included on that disclosure were payments for at least five speeches that Mrs. Clinton directed to her family’s foundation. The Clinton campaign and a spokesman for Bill Clinton said that by law, the speeches didn’t need to be disclosed because the speaking fees were donated to charity. Separately, a foundation official said the decision to post the list was made in prior weeks, before Mrs. Clinton’s personal financial disclosure form was filed, a requirement that federal law makes of presidential candidates. The foundation will report the fees associated with each speech in ranges, officials said. Some of these fees are already known. Federal law leaves room for interpretation on whether candidates are required to include speeches on that form if the funds go to charity. Guidelines posted on the website of the Office of Government Ethics, which oversees personal financial disclosures, say payments of any kind—including those given to a charity—must be reported “as usual.” But Vince Salamone, a spokesman for the office that oversees the ethics program for the executive branch said there are scenarios in which a candidate wouldn’t be required to disclose speaking fees. If a person was in the role as an “agent” for the charity and the money was paid directly to the charity, disclosure wouldn’t be required, the office said. Mr. Salamone said in a statement that “disclosure of speaking fees is not required when a public filer or the filer’s spouse is acting as an agent of an organization and payment is made directly to that organization.” He added: “The rule is different when the speaking is done in a personal capacity and the fees are directed or donated to charity, in which case disclosure would be required.” The spokesman for the Clintons said they had complied with all disclosure requirements. “Speaking engagements for which fees are designated for the foundation do not fall within those personal income reporting requirements,” the spokesman said. “The payment generated from that service is listed as revenue to the foundation on its tax documents.” Since Mrs. Clinton launched her campaign last month, the foundation has been taking steps to become more transparent. Starting in July, it will begin releasing donor names quarterly. Previously, the names were released annually. Still, critics seized on the omission of those speeches from the campaign filing to paint the former secretary of state as secretive. Her disclosure came on the heels of recent revelations that some names of donors to organizations affiliated with the Clinton Foundation remained undisclosed. “This is just another example of Hillary Clinton trying to play by a different set of rules,” said Allison Moore, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee. The new list will include speeches Mrs. Clinton made at colleges and universities, which could revive criticism of the Clintons for accepting payments—even on their foundation’s behalf—from schools that have been hard-pressed to keep tuition costs down. Last June, Mrs. Clinton faced a backlash when the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the University of Nevada at Las Vegas was paying her $225,000 to deliver the keynote speech at a university fundraising event. Students called for her to reject the fee. A spokesman declined to confirm the amount of the payment at the time but said such fees are paid through private donations and that no university funds are involved. A review of Mrs. Clinton’s financial disclosures while she was secretary of state shows she has long followed the practice of omitting speeches where she or her husband directed the payment to the Clinton Foundation. In May 2012, Mr. Clinton was paid $250,000 for speaking at the Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership at the University of California, Los Angeles. The fee was donated to the Clinton Foundation, a spokesman for the university said, and didn’t appear in Mrs. Clinton’s disclosure forms. In the 11 years during which Mrs. Clinton filed financial disclosures as a U.S. senator and as secretary of state, she reported that her husband made $105 million in speaking fees. All told, since leaving the White House, the Clintons have earned at least $130 million in speaking fees. Mrs. Clinton also delivered several speeches at universities in 2013, when she wasn’t required to disclose her income—including one at the University of Buffalo for $275,000, which she donated to her foundation. SOCIAL MEDIA Bill Clinton (5/18/15, 12:57 PM) <https://twitter.com/billclinton/status/600389785769881600> Welcome to @Twitter, @POTUS! One question: Does that username stay with the office? #askingforafriend President Obama (5/18/15, 2:07 PM) <https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/600407380279566336> Good question, @billclinton. The handle comes with the house. Know anyone interested in @FLOTUS? Matthew Boyle (5/18/15, 8:21 AM) <https://twitter.com/mboyle1/status/600320277000630272> @RandPaul to @HillaryClinton : "your husband passed the laws that put a generation of black men in jail" Katie Zezima (5/18/15, 8:22 AM) <https://twitter.com/katiezez/status/600320599735537665> Paul: If I'm the Republican nominee I'll be competitive in Philly: "I'll ask Hillary Clinton: 'what have you done for criminal justice?'" Josh McElveen (5/18/15, 9:04 AM) <https://twitter.com/JoshMcElveen/status/600331081456443392> BREAKING @KellyAyotte says @RepFrankGuinta should resign his seat in wake of FEC deal. #nhpolitics #wmur HRC NATIONAL COVERAGE Clinton's super PAC fundraising irks progressives <http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/18/politics/hillary-clinton-super-pac-election-2016/> // CNN // MJ Lee - May 18, 2015 (CNN)Hillary Clinton's decision to personally raise money for a super PAC supporting her campaign is agitating her progressive critics, who see the move as further proof that the Democratic presidential frontrunner doesn't share some of their values. There was never any expectation that Clinton would renounce super PAC money this election cycle. But liberal activists determined to use the Democratic primary to pressure Clinton to embrace a progressive agenda say the idea of the former secretary of state personally wooing the wealthiest class of donors runs counter to the populist rhetoric she's employed this year. Within days of announcing her White House bid, Clinton had called out wealthy investors for paying too little in taxes and pledged to get big money out of politics. At the time, it was a welcome message for liberal Democrats who are uncomfortable with Clinton's close ties to Wall Street and find the prominent role of super PACs in elections utterly distasteful. But the recent revelation that Clinton will personally fundraise for a super PAC supporting her campaign -- a decision to play by the rules of a system she has condemned as "dysfunctional" -- has invited fresh eye-rolling. It has also exposed a core tension for Democrats, who have increasingly embraced super PACs at the same time that they decry the explosion of soft money in national politics. Clinton's campaign is explaining the decision as a matter of political necessity. "With some Republican candidates reportedly setting up and outsourcing their entire campaign to super PACs and the Koch Brothers pledging $1 billion alone for the 2016 campaign, Democrats have to have the resources to fight back," a Clinton campaign official said in an email, who spoke anonymously to discuss the sensitive topic of fundraising. "There is too much at stake for our future for Democrats to unilaterally disarm." Clinton's expected involvement with Priorities USA has highlighted the contrast between her and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who is Clinton's only declared rival to date for the Democratic presidential nomination, as well as other potential challengers. An independent from Vermont seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders has aggressively opposed super PAC donations. A long-shot candidate without a national fundraising operation, Sanders has no chance of matching Clinton's fundraising haul and has little to lose by going after millionaire and billionaire donors. On Capitol Hill last week, Sanders told CNN that Clinton's decision to personally court super PAC donors was "unfortunate." "We're living in a world since Citizens United where multi-millionaires and billionaires are playing a horrendous role in the political system," Sanders said, referring to the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling that paved the way for super PACs to direct virtually uncapped amounts of money to aid political candidates. "That's why I believe that we need to overturn Citizens United and move to public funding of elections." Phil Noble, a South Carolina Democratic activist and supporter of former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a potential Democratic candidate for president, said the development underscores what progressives view as a "fundamental disconnect" between Clinton and middle class voters. "It's not that she raises a bunch of money for a PAC that causes her problems with middle class voters. That is a symptom as opposed to the ailment," Noble said. "The larger illness is she is out of touch with middle class voters -- she does have a lifestyle and a history that is about as alien to middle class voters as corporate jets are to a Subaru." And activists who are pushing Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to challenge Clinton see campaign finance reform as a major issue. "Being a true champion for working families like Elizabeth Warren is about clearly and unequivocally supporting such critical priorities as a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United," said Erica Sagrans, campaign manager for Ready for Warren, a movement dedicated to drafting Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 race. Clinton's personal involvement with Priorities USA marks the latest chapter in the Democratic Party's evolving relationship with super PACs. Democrats initially fiercely opposed Citizens United. But for all of their rhetoric against super PACs, and as much as the party continues to use the Supreme Court decision as a political rallying cry, over the years political interest has largely won out over progressive idealism. In 2012, President Barack Obama reversed course, declaring after years of keeping his distance from super PACs that his campaign would participate in raising money for Priorities USA. Now that tension is being brought to new heights as the party's next likely presidential nominee personally plans to drum up support for a super PAC backing her candidacy. Clinton allies also see that her fundraising prowess and the depth of her connections with the kinds of donors who can cut multi-million dollar checks will likely make her a formidable competitor against any Republican candidate she may face in the general election. Officials are careful to emphasize, however, that Clinton and everyone else involved with her campaign will strictly follow the law as they solicit funds for Priorities USA. The 2016 money race is well underway on the other side of the political aisle. Declared GOP candidates including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, as well as expected candidates like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, are on a fundraising tear. And they've shown no signs of distancing themselves from super PAC money. Cruz launched his campaign in March, and the senator's allies declared that an affiliated network of pro-Cruz super PACs had raised upwards of $30 million in just a matter of days. The stiff competition against Republican money is a reality that some progressive leaders say they cannot ignore. Former Vermont governor and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said it would be unwise for Clinton to reject super PAC money. "Unfortunately, if you don't play by the same rules everybody else does, you end up losing elections," said Dean, founder of Democracy for America, one of the groups behind the draft Warren movement. "The key is to change the rules, and I think we have a much better chance of doing that with her as president than we do with one of the Republicans." Back in Iowa, Hillary Goes Big on Small Business <http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/05/18/back_in_iowa_hillary_goes_big_on_small_business.html> // Real Clear Politics // Alexis Simendinger - May 18, 2015 The last time Hillary Clinton was publicly photographed riding a bicycle may have been when she was secretary of state, accompanying her husband along a beach. The bike motif, without the sand, will serve as a campaign backdrop this week in Iowa, when Clinton focuses on small business owners and their employees, who say in national surveys they need customers, access to capital, and less government red tape. Clinton, who kicked off her campaign a month ago and then spent three days in Iowa, is returning to hail her team’s grassroots organization in the early caucus state, and to describe her vision for a U.S. economy that relies on small entrepreneurs to create jobs. On Monday, she’ll meet grassroots organizers at the home of a supporter in Mason City, Iowa, and on Tuesday she’ll participate in a roundtable discussion with community lenders and business representatives in Cedar Falls. That discussion is to take place at Bike Tech, a bicycle and sports shop that outgrew its location on Main Street this year and moved to larger quarters in a vintage former post office a few streets away. “I want to be the president for small business,” Clinton declared May 5 while speaking during a similar roundtable at a library in Nevada. After launching her second bid for the White House in April and committing to victory in Iowa next year, Clinton vowed to return to the state as often as possible. Caucus-goers proved challenging for her in 2008, and for her husband in 1992. Iowans insist on taking the measure of presidential aspirants up-close, and Clinton is determined to deliver the personal attention that requires shoe leather, hand-shaking, careful listening, and selfies posed with strangers. Younger voters -- who embraced Barack Obama in 2008 -- are among Clinton’s targets in 2016. The popular bike shop in Cedar Falls where the candidate will appear Tuesday is a setting meant to enlarge her narrative in a number of ways. She wants the attention of young voters, progressive voters, small shops and family-run enterprises (which are America’s economic engine, and by the way, are led by many swing voters). She wants her message to come across as “Main Street v. Wall Street” (to blunt critics who say she’s too cozy with big financial institutions and New York’s business elites). And Clinton wants support from female voters (a quarter of Iowa’s businesses are women-owned). In 2008, Clinton lost Iowa in part because voters there said they had trouble warming up to her. “I know what people have been saying,`Well, you know, we’ve got to know more about her, we want to know more about her personally,’” she said before Obama’s victory. “And I totally get that. It’s a little hard for me. It’s not easy for me to talk about myself.” This time around, Clinton is campaigning as close as she can get to “outside-the-bubble” just-folksiness, reminding her audiences that before she was an attorney, first lady of Arkansas, wife of a president, senator from New York, and secretary of state, she grew up with Midwestern values as the daughter of a small businessman who ran a drapery business. She may be a wealthy international icon at age 67, but Clinton’s message is that she’s never relinquished her middle-class, middle-America sensibilities. President Obama visited Cedar Falls in January, turning to the community as a favored setting for a pre-State of the Union message, describing the economic imperatives of universal broadband connectivity (Cedar Falls is an “eCity” leader, according to Google). During the first week of May to mark Small Business Week, the president described his national agenda for small entrepreneurs, hitting everything from regulations to lending. Clinton is expected to echo those themes as she begins to describe how she would enlarge “the economy of the future,” as she’s pledged to do if elected president. Obama a few weeks ago said, “I have signed into law 18 different tax cuts for small businesses, which are helping them thrive in the 21st-century economy.” “By investing in our infrastructure, expanding access to credit, and assisting entrepreneurs as they start out and scale up, we are continuing to bolster America's small business community,” he added. The president talks about expanding export markets for U.S. small businesses, a topic that in Iowa could encourage Clinton to touch on international trade. As Congress debates legislation to grant the president fast-track authority to conclude a trade pact with 11 other nations, Clinton has been conspicuously mute. Trade Promotion Authority, which would permit the legislative branch to approve or disapprove a trade deal but not to amend it, divides Democratic lawmakers and is vigorously opposed by organized labor. But she promoted the merits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership as secretary of state. As the U.S. economy has continued to recover, small business owners say they’re more optimistic about the future. But that outlook dimmed a tad in the first quarter compared with late 2014, even as it remained at the highest level measured since January 2008, according to a quarterly survey reported by the Gallup Organization. Small entrepreneurs are focused on their prospects for revenues, and on the challenges of accessing capital and credit. Recently, Clinton said the expansion experienced by many small businesses had “stalled out,” an assertion Obama disputed as a blip tied to slower growth in Europe rather than a U.S. trend. In the Hawkeye State this week, advised by many of the same economic experts who served Presidents Clinton and Obama, Hillary is expected to have her say. Clinton talks economy, campaign finance on return to Iowa <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/05/18/hillary-clinton-second-trip-iowa/27551369/> // Des Moines Register // Tony Leys - May 18, 2015 Mason City, Ia. – Hillary Clinton vowed Monday to fight for more fairness for American workers as the economy continues to recover. "We need to get back into the habit of actually rewarding workers with increases in their paychecks for the increases in productivity and profitability that they have helped" achieve, Clinton said to applause from about 60 Democratic activists gathered at a house in Mason City. The former senator, first lady and secretary of state, who is the heavy favorite for the Democratic nomination for president, was beginning her second trip to Iowa since announcing her candidacy last month. She has been focusing on small events, such as the one held here Monday. "Not only do I learn a lot, but I also feel like it's the best way to make those connections," she told the activists. "… It will also give me the kind of information I need to be a better president." Among the things she said she's heard about on her travels is the drug-abuse crisis, including methamphetamine in Iowa and heroin in New Hampshire. She noted reports that more Americans are now dying from drug overdoses than from car crashes. "This is tearing families apart, but it's below the surface. People aren't talking about it," she said. Clinton said she's committed to reforming the political process, including by appointing Supreme Court justices who would rule against the kind of untraceable money that has flowed into the system since the Citizens United decision gave corporations more freedom to make donations. She said that if it takes a Constitutional amendment to change the situation, "I will work for that." But Clinton, who is being supported by a so-called superPAC, said "we also have to stand our ground, and we have to try to figure out how to get people to work with us for the betterment of our country, the betterment of people who need a good, positive support system." Organizers said the crowd was made up of Democrats invited by the campaign, the local party or the homeowners, Dean Genth and his husband, Gary Swenson. Genth, who is vice chairman the Cerro Gordo County Democratic Party, said in an interview that he supported Barack Obama over Clinton in the 2008 caucuses. Genth said he also liked Clinton then, but he went with the challenger from Illinois. Genth, 65, said he believes Clinton has grown since then, including from her service as Obama's secretary of state. "There is not a living, breathing human being on the face of the Earth with her resumé and experience and background." Clinton has come under fire from Republicans for taking few questions from reporters during the early weeks of her candidacy. She took no questions from reporters at Monday's event, and the press was ushered out of the house as she began to greet voters after giving her 25-minute remarks. State Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kauffman renewed the criticism Monday with a statement emailed to reporters covering Clinton. "Hillary Clinton still refuses to answer simple questions about her unseemly financial dealings, secret email server, or disastrous foreign policy. Polls show Iowans already find Clinton untrustworthy and her actions have confirmed their suspicions." Clinton spokeswoman Lily Adams issued a statement in response to the criticism: "The focus of our ramp up period is to hear from voters about the issues they care about. She's enjoyed engaging in hours of public question and answer sessions and, as the campaign progresses, looks forward to more engagement with voters and the press as well." Clinton is scheduled to make a stop Tuesday morning at a bike shop in Cedar Falls. Hillary Clinton Campaign Begins Drafting Policy Solutions To Heroin Epidemic <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/18/hillary-clinton-heroin_n_7309930.html> // Huffington Post // Marina Fang – May 18, 2015 WASHINGTON -- After hearing story after story from voters on the campaign trail about heroin's toll, Hillary Clinton instructed her policy team to draw up solutions to the burgeoning opiate epidemic. A Clinton aide told The Huffington Post that the Democratic presidential candidate decided to make mental health and drug addiction a major campaign issue after stops in Iowa and New Hampshire, where she kept hearing from people that the problem needs more attention. It's the type of issue that may not get much attention inside the Beltway and on Sunday talk shows, but opiate addiction has become a devastating problem. Clinton brought it up on Monday during a stop in Iowa, telling supporters that she wants to "end the stigma against talking about it." “When I started running, when I started thinking about this campaign, I did not believe I would be standing in your living room talking about the drug abuse problem, the mental health problem, and the suicide problem," she said at the home of one of the first gay couples in the state to wed. “But I’m now convinced I have to talk about it. I have to do everything I can in this campaign to raise it, to end the stigma against talking about it." A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of 28 states found that heroin deaths doubled from 2010 to 2012. U.S. heroin-related overdose deaths increased 39 percent in 2013 from the year before, hitting 8,257. Vermont’s governor devoted his entire 2014 state of the state speech to heroin. In New York City, there are more heroin deaths than homicides. “This is tearing families apart, but it is below the surface," Clinton said. "We aren’t talking about it because it is something that is hard to deal with." The heroin or opioid epidemic has exposed the U.S. drug treatment system as inadequate, both in its capacity to treat those addicted and to do so using evidence-based care. Although medically assisted treatments, such as medications methadone and buprenorphine, are viewed by the medical community as essential components of an opioid addict’s recovery, they are inaccessible to the vast majority in need. Some treatment centers and drug courts continue to insist that addicts refuse these medically assisted treatments. Following a HuffPost investigation into "abstinence-based" opiate treatment, the federal government barred state drug programs from getting federal money if they force addicts to wean off of medications. Clinton has been holding a series of events to discuss substance abuse and mental health. She laid the groundwork for these events at a roundtable in New Hampshire last month, one of her first campaign events as an announced presidential candidate. When a voter mentioned that substance abuse was a major problem in the community, Clinton called it a "quiet epidemic" and said it's "not just something we can brush under the rug." She commended the Affordable Care Act for placing more emphasis on requiring health insurers to cover treatments for mental health and substance abuse, but said there needs to be more policy reform, from local to national. "There is a hidden epidemic. We know the drug use problem, whether it’s pills or meth or heroin, is not as visible as 30 years ago when there were all kinds of gangs and violence," Clinton said. "This is a quiet epidemic and it is striking in small towns and rural areas as much as any big city. I think a lot of people are thinking, well, that’s somebody else’s problem, that’s not my problem. And indeed, it is all of our problem and we don’t have enough resources, so that if somebody decides that they wanted to get help, where do you send them to? What kind of opportunities do they have for treatment? And I am convinced that the mental health issues -- because I consider substance abuse part of mental health issues -- is going to be a big part of my campaign, because increasingly it’s a big issue that people raise with me." Clinton also mentioned substance abuse and mental health in a major speech on criminal justice reform that she made last month in the wake of the riots in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray at the hands of police. She emphasized the links between problems in the criminal justice system and problems in treating mental health and drug abuse. “The promise of deinstitutionalizing those in mental health facilities was supposed to be followed by the creation of community-based treatment centers,” she said. “Our prisons and our jails are now our mental health institutions.” Clinton Returns to Iowa to Help Rally Caucus Volunteers <http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/clinton-returns-iowa-rally-caucus-volunteers-31123588> // ABC News // Julie Pace - May 18, 2015 Hillary Rodham Clinton returns to Iowa on Monday to help ramp up her campaign's volunteer network in a state where she struggled to build an effective ground game during her first run White House run in 2008. Clinton will meet with volunteers and campaign organizers in the northern Iowa town of Mason City. The event is being hosted by Dean Genth and Gary Swenson, who were active supporters of President Barack Obama when he defeated Clinton in the 2008 Iowa caucuses. While Clinton's path to victory in Iowa so far seems easier this time around, her campaign is eager to show she's not taking the state for granted. The campaign has hired 21 caucus organizers and six regional field directors who are seeking commitments from voters to caucus for Clinton early next year. The early organizing could also yield longer-term benefits for Clinton's campaign, should she win her party's nomination. Iowa will be among the competitive battleground states in the general election and her campaign can draw on the voter contacts it makes now next year. Clinton's two-day swing through Iowa marks her second trip to the state since she formally launched her campaign last month. On Tuesday, she'll head to Cedar Falls, where she'll begin outlining proposals for boosting small businesses. Clinton arrives in Iowa under pressure from Republicans who want her to clarify her position on a massive Asia-Pacific trade deal being debated on Capitol Hill. While Clinton was supportive of the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact while serving as Obama's secretary of state, she has been largely silent on the matter since announcing her campaign. Obama's push for the trade deal has angered some liberal Democrats who fear the agreement with Japan and several other nations would hurt U.S. companies and workers. Hillary Clinton's second wave of Iowa courtship arrives in Mason City <http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/18/politics/hillary-clinton-2016-elections-iowa-trip/> // CNN // Dan Merica - May 18, 2015 Mason City, Iowa (CNN)More than 70% of Iowa's Democratic caucus-goers chose an alternative to Hillary Clinton in 2008, a fact her aides in the state are actively looking to address early in her 2016 run. Clinton will make her second visit to the state Monday when she headlines a small "house party" in Mason City that campaign aides hope will showcase their focus on moving Democrats who supported other candidates -- particularly then-Sens. Barack Obama and John Edwards - to Clinton's 2016 campaign. Clinton's Iowa operation has a total of 27 field organizers on the ground in Iowa, six regional organizing directors and 21 organizers who live in cities and towns across the state. So far, according to campaign aides, their focus has been on reconnecting with Clinton supporters from 2008, winning over those who rejected her first presidential bid and connecting with those young people and students who are new to the state. Monday's event in Mason City, which will be hosted by Dean Genth and Gary Swenson, is an example of Clinton's campaign looking to target former Obama supporters. Genth and Swenson were the first gay couple to receive a marriage license at the Cerro Gordo County Courthouse when same-sex marriage was legalized in the state in April 2009. During the 2008 caucus, both were outspoken and early Obama supporters. They housed Obama campaign staff and volunteers in their Mason City home and told Obama's campaign office in Chicago that they would be willing to do whatever they could to get the senator elected. "We were supportive of Clinton but we actually caucused for Obama," Genth said Monday. "As the caucus campaigning went on we got really involved with the Obama campaign. It was more a function that we were so early on with Obama, we had already pitched out tent at that point." A former business executive, Genth moved from Ohio to Iowa in 2003 after meeting Swenson, a radiologist and breast cancer specialist, in 2002. Genth said it was love at first sight. The two have long been activists for same-sex marriage and Genth is a member of One Iowa, the state's leading LGBT rights organization, that spearheaded efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. Genth said that while Obama's position on same-sex marriage was "not a determining factor" for their support in 2008, it did play a role. "We definitely got signals from Obama where he stood on some of the basic principles and basic rights," he said. As a candidate in 2008, Clinton opposed same-sex marriage, supporting the idea of civil unions instead. She did not proclaim her personal support for same-sex marriage until 2013, after she left her diplomatic position as secretary of state. Shortly after her announcing her presidential bid, her campaign said that Clinton now believes same-sex marriage is a "constitutional right," a departure from her past statements. The steady change in her position hasn't bothered Genth. "Some people seem to never evolve," he said. "So somebody that does evolve is a great thing." Genth is the vice chairman of the Cerro Gordo County Democratic Party and has said he has "reached out to every Clinton campaign person that walks into the area or has a phone number" about getting the candidate to North Iowa as much as possible. Clinton's campaign aides have regularly said the candidate will focus on Iowa and come back regularly, but no future trips have been announced. Clinton will overnight in Iowa on Monday and headline an event on small business at a bike shop in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Tuesday. The state of play in Iowa is also vastly different than it was in 2007 and 2008. Clinton leads every poll on the Democratic side and many activists in the state, despite hungering for a competitive primary, acknowledge that there isn't a Barack Obama-like candidate that could come from behind to topple Clinton. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, is the only other declared candidate for the Democratic nomination, although former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is expected to announce his run later this month. In an effort to showcase their grassroots organizing efforts, Sarah Marino, the campaign's Mason City grassroots organizer, will introduce Clinton at the event on Monday. 10 questions for Hillary Clinton <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/10-questions-for-hillary-clinton/> // CBS News // Rebecca Kaplan – May 19, 2015 In the 36 days since Hillary Clinton announced she was running for president, she has answered just 13 questions from reporters. The last time she took a question was a month ago, Apr. 21, 2015, about the book, "Clinton Cash," which took a critical look at her family's finances. (Clinton's response was, "Those issues are in my view distractions from what this campaign should be about, what I'm going to make this campaign about.") In the intervening month, there have been news developments that have elicited reactions from other presidential candidates and potential candidates. Clinton, however, has said little. As she returns to the campaign trail in Iowa and New Hampshire this week, here are 10 questions CBS News might ask: 1. Do you support the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)? The Democratic Party is divided on trade. Mr. Obama, Republicans and some Democrats want legislation that would put the Asia-Pacific free trade agreement on an expedited path through Congress. Other Democrats think the agreement would hurt American workers and the environment. Which Democrats would Clinton side with now? She argued for TPP as secretary of state and in her 2014 memoir, "Hard Choices" but has been noncommittal since. She has said on this issue only that "any trade deal has to produce jobs and raise wages and increase prosperity and protect our security, and we have to do our part in making sure we have the capabilities and the skills to be competitive." And as CBS News Correspondent Julianna Goldman reported Monday, Clinton earned more than $2.5 million giving speeches to organizations that have lobbied in favor of the trade deal. 2. Should Congress have a say in whether the U.S. signs a nuclear agreement with Iran? Both the House and Senate have now passed bills that would allow Congress to review the framework deal that rolls back Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. The legislation would allow lawmakers to block the president from exiting at least some sanctions if enough members don't like the deal. White House caves on Iran nuclear bill after veto threat The White House had resisted congressional efforts to weigh in, arguing this negotiation is the purview of the president, but given the substantial Democratic support, the president is expected to sign the deal. 3. Does the president need a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)? In mid February, the White House sent Congress legislation that would formally authorize war against ISIS - six months after the air campaign against the Islamic group actually began. The administration believes that the 2001 authorization that gave the president the authority to deploy U.S. troops to fight the instigators of the 9/11 attacks also enables him to fight ISIS, so a new AUMF hasn't topped his agenda. Still, the fight against ISIS will almost certainly bleed into 2016 and the campaign. 4. Why are Republican candidates struggling to give a straight answer on whether they would have authorized the 2003 Iraq invasion? Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush Bush was the first to stumble, saying he would have authorized the war in Iraq. He then claimed he misinterpreted the question posed by Fox News' Megyn Kelly, who initially asked whether he would have authorized the invasion, "knowing what we know now." Eventually, he said, "Knowing what we now know, I would not have engaged." How the Iraq War question could shape 2016 campaign And Florida Sen. Marco Rubio struggled to articulate his position after "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace played two video clips in which he appeared to take different stances on the 2003 invasion. This is an area where Clinton has been unequivocal. "I thought I had acted in good faith and made the best decision I could with the information I had. And I wasn't alone in getting it wrong. But I still got it wrong. Plain and simple," she wrote in "Hard Choices." What do independent voters think about foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation? ‎5. What can you say to ensure voters that contributions to the Clinton Foundation will not affect your decisions as president? Clinton has been asked about foreign government donations to the Clinton Foundation, related to her tenure as secretary of state, and especially on whether foreign entities received special treatment in exchange for contributions to the foundation. She said, "We're back into the political season and therefore we will be subjected to all kinds of distraction and attacks. And I'm ready for that. I know that that comes, unfortunately, with the territory." After she last interacted with the press, the Clinton Foundation admitted it had erred in its public disclosure of donors. 6. What steps would you take to help same-sex couples get married if the Supreme Court does rule it is a constitutional right? Since former President Bill Clinton, signed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, Clinton has held just about every view on the spectrum of same-sex marriage. In 2000, she said she believed marriage was for a man and a woman. For awhile, she said it fell under the authority of states. In 2015, the video she released to announce her presidential bidfeatured a gay couple. Now, her campaign staff says she supports same-sex marriage and wants the Supreme Court to rule that it is a constitutional right. Supreme Court divided in historic gay marriage case But what if they don't? After hearing arguments on the issue in late April, the justices appeared sharply divided over whether gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to marry. If the court rules in June that states have a right to declare only men and women can enter into marriage, will Clinton take action? 7. How would you go "even further" than President Obama on immigration and stay within the limits of the law? Clinton gave an immigration speech in Nevada earlier this month, and pledged to go "even further" than President Obama did by allowing a larger pool of people, such as the parents of children brought to the U.S. illegally, to apply for a reprieve from deportation. Clinton takes on Nevada as controversial book debuts President Obama spent months publicly saying he didn't have the authority to expand relief for undocumented immigrants before he used his executive authority to protect millions from deportation. And he had his legal team spend months making sure the case for that action was airtight and would hold up against a potential court battle. Congress, meanwhile, is far from acting on immigration and is even looking for ways to roll back programs the president has put into place. 8. You left the White House "dead broke," in your words. You now command upwards of $200,000 a speech. How much money do you think you and your husband need to be comfortable? Clinton later apologized for the "dead broke" comment, saying she could have been more "artful." She and husband Bill Clinton earned just over $25 million from a total of about 100 paid speeches since January 2014 and $5 million from the proceeds of "Hard Choices." 9. Is it hypocritical for you to accept super PAC support -- and to push the boundaries of the law by coordinating with a super PAC -- while calling for new rules to limit third-party campaign spending? Like President Obama before her, Clinton is accepting campaign support from super PACs -- independent groups that can accept unlimited campaign donations from individuals or corporations -- while at the same time condemning their influence on the political process. "We need to fix our dysfunctional political system and get unaccountable money out of it once and for all, even if that takes a constitutional amendment," Clinton said last month in Iowa, calling campaign finance reform one of the four key pillars of her campaign. Even so, her campaign insists that as long as others in the race for the White House are exploiting super PACs, her campaign will as well. The Clinton campaign, however, is actually empowering super PACs even more by coordinating with one specific group. Super PACs are barred from coordinating with candidates, but this group says it has found a loophole allowing it to work with the Clinton team. 10. Are you willing to tell Saudi Arabia that they must encourage equal rights for women? Women's rights was one of Clinton's chief causes as secretary of state - and it's likely to become a point of contention during the 2016 campaign as well given the lingering questions about the Clinton Foundation's acceptance of donations from foreign governments. On the day she announced her presidential bid, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky - himself a contender for the White House - honed in on Clinton's relationship with the Saudis. Rand Paul: Hard for Hillary Clinton to say she's for women's rights "In Saudi Arabia, a woman was raped by seven men. The woman was then publically whipped. And then she was arrested for being in a car with an unmarried man. I think we should be boycotting that activity, not encouraging it. And it looks really bad for the case of defending women's rights, if you're accepting money," Paul said in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation" in April. After Clinton announced, the foundation announced a new donor policy. Now, the foundation will accept large donations from six foreign governments - Australia, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. Hillary Clinton Backs Obama Plan To Reverse Police Militarization <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/18/hillary-clinton-police-militarization_n_7309296.html?1431988769> // Huffington Post // Ryan Grim and Ryan J. Reilly - May 18, 2015 WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's executive order banning the federal government from transferring certain types of military-style equipment to police forces would remain in place if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency in 2016. Clinton is "supportive of the recommendations and of the need for reform," a spokesperson for the Democratic candidate said Monday after Obama announced in Camden, New Jersey, that the transfer of certain military gear to police would be sharply curtailed. Clinton last month slammed police militarization in a major speech on criminal justice issues. "We can start by making sure that federal funds for state and local law enforcement are used to bolster best practices, rather than to buy weapons of war that have no place on our streets," she said in the speech, which followed the death of Baltimore's Freddie Gray at the hands of police. "President Obama's task force on policing gives us a good place to start. Its recommendations offer a roadmap for reform, from training to technology, guided by more and better data." Obama's announcement flowed from the task force recommendations that Clinton cited. Under the president's plan, bayonets, camouflaged uniforms, grenade launchers, certain types of armored vehicles, firearms of .50-caliber or larger and weaponized vehicles would no longer be transferred to law enforcement agencies. Other military equipment would be on a controlled list that would require law enforcement organizations to demonstrate need. Clinton, in her speech, called for every police department to have body cameras for officers, and highlighted the need for community policing. "We should listen to law enforcement leaders who are calling for a renewed focus on working with communities to prevent crime, rather than measuring success just by the number of arrests or convictions," she said. "As your senator from New York, I supported a greater emphasis on community policing, along with putting more officers on the street to get to know those communities." Obama on Monday said militarized gear “can sometimes give people the feeling like there's an occupying force as opposed to a force that's part of the community." The Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services is preparing after-action report looking at mistakes by the St. Louis County Police Department in handling protests in Ferguson, Missouri, related to the police killing of teenager Michael Brown in August. Photos of the police department's heavily armed officers and military-style gear made world news. Hillary Clinton: "Grateful" For Obama's Work on Economy, But "Deck Is Still Stacked In Favor Of Those At The Top" <http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/05/18/hillary_clinton_grateful_for_obamas_work_on_economy_but_deck_is_still_stacked_in_favor_of_those_at_the_top.html> // Real Clear Politics // Ian Schwartz - May 18, 2015 On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke to a small group of Iowans at a "house party" event in Mason City. In this part of her speech Clinton talked about domestic issues such as the economy and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The video is from a livestream captured by Bloomberg's Jennifer Epstein on Periscope. Clinton praised Obama for the "hard work" he's done on the economy, but lamented the "deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top." "We're not running yet but we are on our feet," Clinton said about the economy. "The deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top, we know that, and so we have to be especially focused on how we're going to bring about the changes that will ignite opportunity for everybody willing to work hard for it," Clinton also said. HILLARY CLINTON: I'm so relieved that as I travel around the country and talk with people, there is a sense that we are on our feet. We're not running yet but we are on our feet. We can see the changes that are happening in people's life and can put them in a context as to where we go from here now as a country. I am very grateful to President Obama for the hard work [he's done on the economy]... I know that although we have begun to move forward again, it is still hard to imagine exactly how we're going to get to the point where people are not just getting by but getting ahead again and staying ahead. Because, look, the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top, we know that, and so we have to be especially focused on how we're going to bring about the changes that will ignite opportunity for everybody willing to work hard for it. US Reps. Jim McGovern, Joe Kennedy campaign for Hillary Clinton <http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/05/us_reps_jim_mcgovern_joe_kenne.html> // Mass Live // Shira Schoeberg - May 18, 2015 U.S. Reps. Joe Kennedy and Jim McGovern, both Massachusetts Democrats, spent parts of their weekends campaigning for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. McGovern attended a Worcester event on Saturday and Kennedy attended an event Sunday in Newton. Both events were grassroots organizing meetings. Early organizing meetings are a way for a campaign to energize the so-called "grasstops," committed activists who are likely to volunteer for campaigns, recruit other volunteers and donate money. The public support for Clinton by liberal congressmen in Massachusetts comes as liberal organizations nationally have organized a movement to draft U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, to run for president. Warren has gained clout as a charismatic liberal leader in the Senate focused on economic policy, but she has said repeatedly that she will not run for president. The Clinton campaign is likely hoping that having Kennedy and McGovern throw their support behind Clinton now could galvanize other Massachusetts liberals to do the same and not to hold out hope for a Warren candidacy. In addition to Clinton, who is a former secretary of state, U.S. Senator and first lady, Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is running for the Democratic nomination for president and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley is seriously considering it. More than a dozen Republicans are running or seriously considering it. Clinton Sets Citizens United as Supreme Court Litmus Test <http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/clinton-returns-iowa-rally-caucus-volunteers-31123588> // ABC News // Julie Pace, Associated Press - May 18, 2015 Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that if elected president, she would make opposition to a Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way for unlimited political donations a litmus test for nominees to the high court. "I will do everything I can do to appoint Supreme Court justices who will protect the right to vote and not the right of billionaires to buy elections," Clinton told about 50 supporters at a house party in Iowa. While Clinton has previously said she would support a constitutional amendment overturning the 2010 decision known as Citizens United, she has not previously said publicly that she would use the ruling as a benchmark for nominating justices. She added Monday she is consulting with legal experts about other ways the court's ruling in the case could be trumped. Despite her staunch opposition to Citizens United, which helped usher into politics groups known as super PACs that can raise unlimited amounts of campaign cash, Clinton is directly courting donors for a super PAC backing her candidacy. Democrats were initially reluctant in the elections after the court ruled in Citizens United to fully embrace such outside groups, while Republicans did so with fewer reservations and are aggressively raising money for them in the early days of the 2016 campaign. Clinton's stop in the northern Iowa town of Mason City marked her second trip to the state since she formally launched her campaign last month. She spent more than an hour talking with local officials, campaign organizers and volunteers — the type of small-scale campaigning some Iowa Democrats say she didn't do enough of during her first bid for the Democratic nomination in 2008. Clinton placed third in the Iowa caucus that year, behind President Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. The hosts of Monday's event, Dean Genth and Gary Swenson, campaigned actively for Obama in 2008. Genth said he didn't choose Obama over Clinton for any ideological reasons, but more because he "captured everyone's imaginations with his charismatic campaign and his ability to connect to the grassroots." While Clinton so far doesn't face as tough of a primary challenge as she did in 2008, her campaign is eager to show she's learned lessons from her past missteps. The campaign has hired 21 caucus organizers and six regional field directors who are seeking commitments from voters to caucus for Clinton early next year. The early organizing could also yield longer-term benefits for Clinton's campaign, should she win her party's nomination. Iowa will be among the competitive battleground states in the general election and her campaign can draw on the voter contacts it makes now next year. Clinton arrived in Iowa under pressure from Republicans who want her to clarify her position on a massive Asia-Pacific trade deal being debated on Capitol Hill. While Clinton was supportive of the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact while serving as Obama's secretary of state, she has been largely silent on the matter since announcing her campaign. Obama's push for the trade deal has angered some liberal Democrats who fear the agreement with Japan and several other nations would hurt U.S. companies and workers. As she opened her remarks Monday, Clinton subtly defended her decision to avoid wading into the trade debate or taking questions from reporters on a range of other issues. Though she never mentioned the Republican criticism directly, she said small events that put her in direct contact with voters are providing her with the foundation for her campaign, as well as "the kind of information I need to be an even better president." Gowdy: Benghazi report may leave questions unresolved <http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/politics/2015/05/18/benghazi-report-congress-trey-gowdy/27490061/> // Greenville Online // Mary Troyan - May 18, 2015 WASHINGTON — The final congressional report on the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attacks may present conflicting information on issues without concluding which version is true, according to Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the special House committee investigating the attacks. Democrats on Gowdy’s committee, who have already declared the investigation a waste of taxpayer money, were further irritated by the possibility that the much-touted House investigation will leave some facts open to interpretation. Gowdy, R-S.C., said in a recent interview the investigation is a fact-finding mission, but every factual dispute may not be settled. “If you do a good enough job laying out the facts, the conclusions will either speak for themselves or you’ll have competing factual narratives and you can draw your own conclusions,” Gowdy said. The House Select Committee on Benghazi was created a year ago to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the events surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. facilities in Libya that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Seven Republicans and five Democrats serve on the panel. At the time the committee was created, Republican leaders said previous congressional investigations, which were limited to specific jurisdictions such as the military or intelligence agencies, had left questions unanswered, and a special committee with wider latitude was needed address new revelations. “I intend for this select committee to have robust authority, and I will expect it to work quickly to get answers for the American people and the families of the victims,” House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio said last year when he asked the House to create the panel. Gowdy said the final report could be finished by the end of the year if the Obama administration cooperates more quickly in producing documents. But he also warned that issues may be left unresolved, especially if witnesses or documents contradict each other. “It’s not my job to tell people what to conclude,” Gowdy said. “If you have two witnesses, (and) one says the light was red and one green, I don’t view myself as being the arbiter of who is more credible.” The committee is investigating security lapses related to the attack, the military’s response to the incident, and whether the Obama administration, for political reasons, intentionally downplayed the event as something other than a coordinated terrorist attack. Committee Democrats have grown increasingly critical of how Republicans are proceeding. Asked to comment on the possibility the committee won’t draw conclusions about disputed facts, the panel’s top Democrat said the investigation is an attempt to discredit Hillary Rodham Clinton, a presidential candidate who was secretary of state at the time of the attacks in Benghazi. “For the Committee’s report to be credible... we should draw bipartisan conclusions based on the facts, state publicly when conspiracy theories are debunked, and set forth concrete recommendations to implement reforms that protect our diplomatic corps around the world,” Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said in a statement. During the committee’s most recent public hearing in January, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the report needs bipartisan support to be considered credible. “Let’s make it bipartisan so that the country and the families will have the confidence of knowing that this was an objective work product,” Schiff said. Gowdy said the panel has uncovered new evidence and has talked to witnesses never before interviewed. But most of those interviews have been conducted in private. Publicly, committee members have focused mostly on improving security at diplomatic outposts and on disputes with the State Department and Clinton over access to emails, documents and witnesses. Gowdy said he knows not everyone will be satisfied with the panel’s final report, especially extreme partisans on either side. “If you do a good enough job getting every bit of information the fact-finder needs, they’ll be able to draw their own conclusions,” Gowdy said. “People are going to draw different conclusions. That’s fine.” GOP committee member Martha Roby of Alabama said she’s tried to manage her constituents’ expectations about the results of the investigation. “This is a fact-finding, truth-finding mission, and whatever that reveals is what it reveals,” Roby said. “Truth is a stubborn thing.” Clinton Friend’s Libya Role Blurs Lines of Politics and Business <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/us/politics/clinton-friends-libya-role-blurs-lines-of-politics-and-business.html> // NYT // Nicholas Confessor and Michael S. Schmidt – May 18, 2015 When the Clintons last occupied the White House, Sidney Blumenthal cast himself in varied roles: speechwriter, in-house intellectual and press corps whisperer. Republicans added another, accusing Mr. Blumenthal of spreading gossip to discredit Republican investigators and forced him to testify during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial. Now, as Hillary Rodham Clinton embarks on her second presidential bid, Mr. Blumenthal’s service to the Clintons is once again under the spotlight. Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a Republican who is leading the congressional committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, plans to subpoena Mr. Blumenthal, 66, for a private transcribed interview. Mr. Gowdy’s chief interest, according to people briefed on the inquiry, is a series of memos that Mr. Blumenthal — who was not an employee of the State Department — wrote to Mrs. Clinton about events unfolding in Libya before and after the death of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. According to emails obtained by The New York Times, Mrs. Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, took Mr. Blumenthal’s advice seriously, forwarding his memos to senior diplomatic officials in Libya and Washington and at times asking them to respond. Mrs. Clinton continued to pass around his memos even after other senior diplomats concluded that Mr. Blumenthal’s assessments were often unreliable. But an examination by The New York Times suggests that Mr. Blumenthal’s involvement was more wide-ranging and more complicated than previously known, embodying the blurry lines between business, politics and philanthropy that have enriched and vexed the Clintons and their inner circle for years. While advising Mrs. Clinton on Libya, Mr. Blumenthal, who had been barred from a State Department job by aides to President Obama, was also employed by her family’s philanthropy, the Clinton Foundation, to help with research, “message guidance” and planning of commemorative events, according to foundation officials. During the same period, he also worked on and off as a paid consultant to Media Matters and American Bridge, organizations that helped lay the groundwork for Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Much of the Libya intelligence that Mr. Blumenthal passed on to Mrs. Clinton appears to have come from a group of business associates he was advising as they sought to win contracts from the Libyan transitional government. The venture, which was ultimately unsuccessful, involved other Clinton friends, a private military contractor and one former C.I.A. spy seeking to get in on the ground floor of the new Libyan economy. The projects — creating floating hospitals to treat Libya’s war wounded and temporary housing for displaced people, and building schools — would have required State Department permits, but floundered before the business partners could seek official approval. It is not clear whether Mrs. Clinton or the State Department knew of Mr. Blumenthal’s interest in pursuing business in Libya; a State Department spokesman declined to say. Many aspects of Mr. Blumenthal’s involvement in the planned Libyan venture remain unclear. He declined repeated requests to discuss it. But interviews with his associates and a review of previously unreported correspondence suggest that — once again — it may be difficult to determine where one of Mr. Blumenthal’s jobs ended and another began. Mr. Gowdy’s committee on the attacks in Benghazi hopes to ask Mr. Blumenthal who, if anyone, was paying him to prepare the memos for Mrs. Clinton and whether they were among his responsibilities at the Clinton Foundation. The committee’s investigators are also interested in whether the planned business venture in Libya posed any potential conflicts for Mr. Blumenthal or Mrs. Clinton, whose aides the business partners sought meetings with in early 2012. The Libya venture came together in 2011, when David L. Grange, a retired Army major general, joined with a newly formed New York firm, Constellations Group, to pursue business leads in Libya. Constellations Group, led by a professional fund-raiser and philanthropist named Bill White, was to provide the leads. Mr. Grange’s company, Osprey Global Solutions, based in North Carolina, would put “boots on the ground to see if there was an opportunity to do business,” Mr. Grange said in an interview. The men had little experience in Libya. Exactly how Mr. White was to procure leads in Libya is unclear. He spent much of his career as an executive at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, and had raised money for politicians, businesses and charities. His biography also describes Mr. White as a consultant for Aquahydrate, a bottled-water company whose backers include Ron Burkle, the billionaire investor who had been a close friend of the Clintons. “We were thinking, ‘O.K., Qaddafi is dead, or about to be, and there’s opportunities,’ ” Mr. White said in a brief telephone interview, adding, “We thought, ‘Let’s try to see who we know there.’ ” Mr. White declined to answer follow-up questions about what role Mr. Blumenthal was playing in the business venture. But Mr. Grange described Mr. Blumenthal as an adviser to Mr. White’s company, along with two other associates: Tyler Drumheller, a colorful former Central Intelligence Agency official, and Cody Shearer, a longtime Clinton friend whose sister once worked for Mrs. Clinton. “I just know that he was working with the team to work on business development,” Mr. Grange said of Mr. Blumenthal. In the spring of 2011, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Drumheller and Mr. Shearer were helping plan what was to be Mr. Grange’s first trip to Libya, according to emails stolen by a Romanian hacker and published by Gawker and ProPublica in March. Mr. Blumenthal said he had been advised not to comment on the correspondence because the theft remained under investigation by the F.B.I. In August, Mr. Grange signed a memorandum of understanding with two senior officials in the Libyan transitional government to provide “humanitarian assistance, medical services and disaster mitigation,” along with helping to train a new national police force. The agreement fell apart, Mr. Grange said, but the partners continued to seek other projects in Libya, including a proposal to create the floating hospitals to treat the country’s war wounded. But doing business there proved difficult: Some Libyan leaders were wary about working with Western companies, while the contractors could not figure out whom to make deals with. “It was just so factionalized over there,” Mr. Grange said. “You never knew who to believe or trust, or know who was in charge of what.” Even as their plans sputtered, Mr. Blumenthal continued to draw on the business associates for information about Libya as he shaped his memos to Mrs. Clinton. Sometimes the two realms became blurred. In January 2012, for example, Mr. Blumenthal sent Mrs. Clinton a memo describing efforts by the new Libyan prime minister to stabilize his fragile government by bringing in advisers with experience dealing with Western companies and governments. Among “the most influential of this group,” Mr. Blumenthal wrote, was a man named Najib Obeida, who worked at the fledgling Libyan stock exchange. Mrs. Clinton had the memo forwarded to her senior State Department staff. What Mr. Blumenthal did not mention was that Mr. Obeida was one of the Libyan officials Mr. Grange and his partners hoped would finance the humanitarian projects. The day before Mr. Blumenthal emailed Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Grange wrote to a senior Clinton aide at the State Department to introduce the venture with Mr. Obeida in Libya and seek an audience with the United States’ ambassador there. Mr. Grange said he did not receive a reply. Mr. Blumenthal sent Mrs. Clinton at least 25 memos about Libya in 2011 and 2012, many describing elaborate intrigues among various foreign governments and rebel factions. Mrs. Clinton circulated them, frequently forwarding them to Jake Sullivan, her well-regarded deputy chief of staff, and requesting that he distribute them to other State Department officials. Mr. Sullivan often sent the memos to senior officials in Libya, including the ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, who was killed in the 2012 attacks in Benghazi. In many cases, Mr. Sullivan would paste the text from the memos into an email and tell the other State Department officials that they had come from an anonymous “contact” of Mrs. Clinton. Some of Mr. Blumenthal’s memos urged Mrs. Clinton to consider rumors that other American diplomats knew at the time to be false. Not infrequently, Mrs. Clinton’s subordinates replied to the memos with polite skepticism. In April 2012, Mr. Stevens took issue with a Blumenthal memo raising the prospect that the Libyan branch of the Muslim Brotherhood was poised to make gains in the coming parliamentary elections. The Brotherhood fared poorly in the voting.