Sunday, September 6, 2015

FLASH UPDATE: THE “IS HILLARY CLINTON GETTING ALL THAT SHE PAID FOR ?” EDITION


MEDIA REPORTS INDICATE THAT HRC MADE “PERSONAL PAYMENTS” TO HER STATE DEPARTMENT I-T AIDE, BRYAN PAGLIANO, FOR HIM TO MAINTAIN HER “PERSONAL SERVER” FOR HER “PERSONAL E-MAILS” —   ALL WHILE SHE WAS SECRETARY OF STATE  —   SOON THIS WHOLE THING MIGHT BE GETTING REALLY “PERSONAL” FOR HILLARY CLINTON   



CONTROVERSIAL DUAL-EMPLOYMENT SITUATION IS QUICKLY ACKNOWLEDGED BY HILLARY CLINTON AND HER CAMPAIGN  —  HILLARY SAYS SHE THINKS IT'S "IN THE PUBLIC RECORD"



DUAL PAYMENT SCHEME INVESTIGATED JUST LIKE ANOTHER HILLARY CLINTON AIDE, HUMA ABEDIN




According to a report in the Washington Post, “Hillary Rodham Clinton and her family personally paid a State Department staffer to maintain the private e-mail server she used while heading the agency, according to an official from Clinton’s presidential campaign....  The unusual arrangement helped Clinton retain personal control over the system that she used for her public and private duties and that has emerged as an issue for her campaign. But, according to the campaign official, it also ensured that taxpayer dollars were not spent on a private server that was shared by Clinton, her husband and their daughter as well as aides to the former president....” ( See “Clintons personally paid State Department staffer to maintain server ”  by Rosalind S. Helderman and Carol D. Leonnig, 9/5/15, The Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clintons-personally-paid-state-department-staffer-to-maintain-server/2015/09/04/b13ab23e-530c-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html]).

The WaPo article went on to note that  —   “The private employment of Pagliano provides a new example of the ways that Clinton — who occupied a unique role as a Cabinet secretary who was also a former and potentially future presidential candidate — hired staff to work simultaneously for her in public and private capacities....”  And that  —   “....  Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s chief of staff, and Huma Abedin, a close confidant who served as deputy chief of staff, both spent time working for the State Department, the Clinton Foundation or the Clintons personally....”


THE DUAL EMPLOYMENT ARRANGEMENT FOR PAGLIANO

The Washington Post says, “....   The Clintons paid Pagliano $5,000 for “computer services” prior to his joining the State Department, according to a financial disclosure form he filed in April 2009....   But even after arriving at State in May 2009, Pagliano continued to be paid by the Clintons to maintain the server, which was in their Chappaqua, N.Y., home, according to the campaign official and another person familiar with the arrangement. That person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation....”


THE DUAL EMPLOYMENT ARRANGEMENT APPARENTLY PRESENTS A NEW DISCLOSURE PROBLEM FOR BOTH PAGLIANO AND HILLARY CLINTON

The private pay arrangement between the Clinton’s and Bryan Pagliano had not previously been reported according to the report in the Washington Post.

Here’s what the Washington Post said about the disclosure of any dual employment arrangements between Paliano and the Clinton’s:   “.... The State Department has declined to answer questions about whether the private system was widely known within the agency or officially approved....  Asked in early August about whether Pagliano had been paid privately to maintain the server, a State Department official said that the agency had ‘found no evidence that he ever informed the department that he had outside income.’...   This week, a different State Department official said he could not clarify Pagliano’s pay situation, citing “ongoing reviews and investigations” of Clinton’s e-mail setup....  Pagliano did not list the outside income in the required personal financial disclosures he filed each year. The State Department has said Pagliano concluded his full-time service in February 2013, which coincides with Clinton’s departure as secretary. He remains a State Department contractor doing work on “mobile and remote computing functions,” according to a State Department spokesman....”

The WaPo also quoted a campaign official as saying the arrangement with Pagliano ensured that taxpayer dollars were not spent on a private server that was also used by Clinton's family and aides to former President Bill Clinton.


DUAL EMPLOYMENT SITUATION FOR BRYAN PAGLIANO IS LIKELY TO BE AS CONTROVERSIAL AS THAT OF HUMA ABEDIN  —   PAGLIANO’S EMPLOYMENT  SITUATION  IS ALSO BEING INVESTIGATED BY THE SAME COMMITTEE AS THE ONE LOOKING AT HUMA’S EMPLOYMENT

The disclosure of simultaneous “personal” payments to Bryan Pagliano wile he was employed by the U.S. government is likely to cause additional problems for Pagliano and Hillary Clinton. Similar employment circumstances involving another Hillary Clinton aide, Huma Abedin, have been quite controversial —  even prompting a Senate inquiry by Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley.

Pagliano’s circumstances might prove to be even more problematic, inasmuch as there has been no indication to date that either Bryan Pagliano or Secretary of State Clinton disclosed his dual employment, or a mixed government employee-private contractor status  —  or that any such “special employment” status was ever applied for.

According to Rosalind S. Helderman’s and Carol D. Leonnig’s WaPo report, “....  A spokeswoman for the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was inquiring about Pagliano’s outside employment, said that Pagliano’s lawyer informed the committee that his client would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights....  Lawmakers interested in hearing Pagliano’s account of the server’s setup and security protocols are considering whether to offer him immunity in exchange for his testimony. If they take the step, Pagliano would be compelled to appear....”


LATER REPORT CONFIRMS PRIVATE PAYMENTS TO PAGLIANO FOR WORK ON HILLARY CLINTON’S PRIVATE SERVER  —  HRC AND CAMPAIGN SPOKEMAN ARE BOTH QUOTED ADMITTING TO THE PRIVATE PAYMENTS TO HER STATE DEPARTMENT I-T AIDE

According to Newsmax, “Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Saturday she and her family paid a State Department staffer with personal funds to maintain a private email server that she used for both personal and government matters while secretary of state....  After a campaign appearance in New Hampshire, Clinton told reporters the payments went to information technology specialist Bryan Pagliano, who this week declined to produce documents and testify before a U.S. House of Representatives committee about the server, invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination....  ‘With respect to personal services that he provided to me and my family, we obviously paid for those services and did so because, during a period of time, we continued to need his technical assistance. And I think that's in the public record,’ Clinton said....”  ( See “Clinton Says She Paid Staffer to Maintain Private Email Server”  8/5/15, Newsmax/ from Reuters [http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/clinton-paid-staffer-email/2015/09/05/id/673781/]).

Newsmax added this, perhaps for some clarification: “.... [Hillary Clinton] Campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said on Twitter: "Bryan was hired by the Clinton family as a consultant in order to help out periodically with the management of the system in Chappaqua that hosted the family's emails."



7 comments:

  1. Anonymous said...
    Hillary Clinton always gets her monies-worth. She is one of the cheapest people on earth; and that is one of the reasons she has all her problems. She's so avaricious, she's like the people who keep working two jobs only to "MAKE MORE MONEY". And no matter how much they make it's never enough.

    While she was Secretary of State, it was like Hillary Clinton had a night job working for Clinton Incorporated. That meant at best she was never thinking only about being Secretary of State. And at worse, she was always thinking about what she need to do for Clinton Incorporated.

    HILLARY CLINTON'S PROBLEMS COME FROM THE FACT THAT SHE IS ONE CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP BITCH.

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  2. Real Clear Politics has daily polls in Iowa showing Clinton loses 2 points a day to Sanders. And then comes Joe.

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  3. IMPORTANT BACKFILL: THE “ ‘NEW NAME’ IN THE HILLARY CLINTON E-MAIL SCANDAL IS [WAIT FOR IT....] ‘HEATHER SAMUELSON’ ” EDITION

    >>> HOW DID I MISS THIS TWO DAYS AGO ? ? ? — THIS IS BIG NEWS <<<

    I REPORTED THAT CHERYL MILLS HAD TESTIFIED TO THE BENGHAZI COMMITTEE THAT OTHER LAWYERS SCOURED HILLARY CLINTON’S E-MAILS UNDER THE DIRECTION OF MS. MILLS AND HRC’S LAWYER DAVID KENDALL — AND THAT THOSE LAWYER MADE THE DECISIONS AS TO WHAT WERE HILLARY’S “PRIVATE E-MAILS” AND WHAT WOULD BE TURNED OVER TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT AS PART OF HRC’S PUBLIC RECORDS

    I NOW HAVE THE NAME OF ONE ATTORNEY THAT ALLEGEDLY PERFORMED THOSE FUNCTIONS — IT IS HEATHER SAMUELSON — AND GUESS WHAT — SURPRISE ! ! ! — SHE IS ANOTHER LONG-TIME HILLARY CLINTON INSIDER

    ALSO — ACCORDING TO POLITICO, IT WAS ATTORNEYS KENDALL AND MILLS FINALLY DECIDED WHICH E-MAILS TO PRESERVE — AND HILLARY CLINTON DECIDED TO DELETE THE REST

    [I consider the material contained in this “BACKFILL” comment to be sufficiently important to place it on the comments threads of two (2) posts: my Thursday, September 3, 2015 post,
    “FLASH UPDATE: THE ‘CHERYL MILLS DAY OF TESTIMONY’ EDITION”; and my, at this time most recent post of Saturday, September 5, 2015, “FLASH UPDATE: “THE ‘IS HILLARY CLINTON GETTING ALL THAT SHE PAID FOR ?’ EDITION”]

    I don’t know how I missed this for almost two days now — according to a report in Politico — “Hillary Clinton chose a former campaign staffer who followed her to the State Department to make the initial determination about which of her emails should be preserved as federal records, according to closed-door testimony by Clinton’s former chief of staff Cheryl Mills, a GOP source told POLITICO.... Heather Samuelson, a lawyer and 2008 Clinton campaign staffer, worked under Mills and Clinton’s attorney David Kendall to sift through her ex-boss’ messages. She helped separate those that were purely personal, which were not turned over to the State Department, from those that were work-related....” ( See “Meet the Clinton insider who screened Hillary's emails” by Rachael Bade, 9/4/15, Politico/ “HILLARY CLINTON EMAILS” [http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/hillary-clinton-insider-emails-heather-samuelson-screened-2016-213350]).

    In an earlier post, I quoted another Politico article that had stated, “... attornies under Kendall and Mills sifted through the messages to pull anything they thought could constitute a federal record....” ( See my earlier Thursday, September 3, 2015 post, “FLASH UPDATE: THE ‘CHERYL MILLS DAY OF TESTIMONY’ EDITION” below on this blog [I note at this time that the earlier Politco article did mention the word, “attornies” [plural]; see also “What Cheryl Mills told Benghazi investigators” by Rachael Bade, 9/3/15, Politico [http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/cheryl-mills-benghazi-testimony-213320][cited in my 9/3/15 post]).

    ACCORDING TO POLITICO, THE HRC CAMPAIGN SAID IT WAS ATTORNEYS KENDALL AND MILLS THAT FINALLY DECIDED WHICH E-MAILS TO PRESERVE — AND HILLARY CLINTON DECIDED TO DELETE THE REST
    However, today's Politco article by Rachel Bade specifically noted this: “.... But Clinton-related sources said that Kendall and Mills, not Samuelson, ultimately made the determinations about which emails should be preserved before [Hillary] Clinton decided to delete the rest....”

    The possible issue of whether Heather Samuelson was acting alone or with other attorneys on the initial gathering and separating of HRC's official and private E-Mails will have to be resolved in the future.

    [THIS COMMENT IS CONTINUED IMMEDIATELY BELOW ON THIS COMMENTS THREAD]

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  4. [CONTINUED COMMENT]
    IMPORTANT BACKFILL: THE “ ‘NEW NAME’ IN THE HILLARY CLINTON E-MAIL SCANDAL IS [WAIT FOR IT....] ‘HEATHER SAMUELSON’ ” EDITION

    HERE’S THE GIST OF WHAT POLITICO HAD TO SAY ABOUT >>> HEATHER SAMUELSON <<< NEW NAMED INSIDE OPERATOR IN THE HILLARY CLINTON E-MAILS SCANDAL
    Among other matters in a rather detailed article, Rachel Bade said this about Heather Samuelson and her connection to the HRC E-Mails : “.... On Thursday, Mills testified that employees for Denver-based IT firm Platte River Networks — which housed Clinton's server until the FBI took hold of it — initially pulled emails off the server and sent them to Clinton's legal team.... Samuelson did the initial sift through of the documents, pulling ones she thought were federal records. In that regard, she initially determined which should be preserved — though Kendall and Mills ultimately signed off on what Clinton sent State.... Clinton deleted the rest of her emails from her computer, wiping it clean.... It is unclear if Samuelson had a security clearance and if Kendall and Mills simply approved her recommendations, made adjustments or looked through the emails she did not pull to ensure she didn’t miss any important documents....”

    The Politico coverage also mentioned that Samuelson’s Linked-In profile showed that she received her law degree from American University and began working for Hillary Clinton in the fall of 2002 as the assistant treasurer for her political action committee, Hill PAC, and as deputy director of compliance for Friends of Hillary. Samuelson stayed with the PAC four years before joining “Hillary Clinton for President” in January 2007. Samuelson then worked on compliance issues for nine months; before switching to “Director of Vetting” in the campaign’s counsel’s office.

    Politico also said, “.... When Clinton moved to State, so did [ Heather Samuelson], working for four years as senior advisor and White House liaison at the State Department from January 2009 to March 2013.... [Samuelson] then served as assistant counsel at the White House from then until April of 2014....”


    “OF ALL THE GIN JOINTS....” — IS HEATHER SAMUELSON ALIVE AND WELL, AND LIVING IN BROOKLYN ? ? ?
    I’ll finish with this last bit from Politico: “.... It is unlcear where she is now, but a Maryland State Bar Association listing shows her address is now in Brooklyn, N.Y., which is also where Hillary for America is headquartered....”

    [As stated in the first part of this continued "BACKFILL" comment, I consider the material contained in this “BACKFILL” comment to be sufficiently important to place it on the comments threads of two (2) posts: my Thursday, September 3, 2015 post,
    “FLASH UPDATE: THE ‘CHERYL MILLS DAY OF TESTIMONY’ EDITION”; and my, at this time most recent post of Saturday, September 5, 2015, “FLASH UPDATE: “THE ‘IS HILLARY CLINTON GETTING ALL THAT SHE PAID FOR ?’ EDITION”]

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  5. What do Heather Samuelson & Jeb Stuart McGruder have in common?

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  6. G Gordon Liddy, a/k/a Huma is more on point.

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  7. UPDATE: THE “TWO INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES RESPONSIBLE FOR GENERATING THE DATA AND MAINTAINING ITS SECRECY SAY HILLARY CLINTON HAD “TOP SECRET” EMAILS” EDITION


    THE CIA AND THE NGIA BOTH AGREE THAT INFORMATION THAT WAS CONTAINED ON TWO OF HILLARY CLINTON’S E-MAILS WAS “TOP SECRET” AT THE TIME IT WAS SENT AND SHE RECEIVED IT


    CLINTON CAMPAIGN COUNTERS WITH ITS PRIOR TALKING POINTS — “[HILLARY CLINTON] NEVER SENT OR RECEIVED ANYTHING THAT WAS CLASSIFIED AT THE TIME....”


    According to a report in the New York Times on Labor Day, “.... A special intelligence review of two emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton received as secretary of state on her personal account — including one about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program — has endorsed a finding by the inspector general for the intelligence agencies that the emails contained highly classified information when Mrs. Clinton received them, senior intelligence officials said.... Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign and the State Department disputed the inspector general’s finding last month and questioned whether the emails had been overclassified by an arbitrary process. But the special review — by the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency — concluded that the emails were “Top Secret,” the highest classification of government intelligence, when they were sent to Mrs. Clinton in 2009 and 2011....” ( See “Second Review Says Classified Information Was in Hillary Clinton’s Email” by Michael S. Schmidt, 9/7/15 , NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/us/politics/second-review-says-classified-information-was-in-hillary-clintons-email.html?src=twr] [A version of this article appears in print on September 8, 2015, on page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: “Findings on Emails to Clinton Reaffirmed.”]).

    The Schmidt-Times article goes further — “The intelligence review is the latest development in continuing reverberations over Mrs. Clinton’s use of only a private email account for her public business when she was secretary of state, which gave her some control over what was made public. She faced criticism when the account became known this year, and after deleting what she said were more than 31,000 personal messages turned over more than 30,000 work-related emails for the State Department to make public....”

    “.... Mrs. Clinton has said that her emails contained no information that was marked classified... and that she is fully cooperating with an F.B.I. investigation to determine who at the State Department may have passed highly classified information from secure networks to her personal account....” However, connected to that denial by Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Schmidt’s article made particular note of the following: “.... [H]aving classified information outside a secure government account is illegal....”


    OBAMA’S 2009 EXECUTIVE ORDER ON CLASSIFIED INFORMATION
    According to the Times, “.... President Obama signed an executive order in December 2009 that defined ‘Top Secret’ as information that if disclosed could ‘reasonably’ be expected to cause ‘exceptionally grave damage to national security.’... In the months after the disclosure [of Hillary Clinton’s private E-mails and server], Mrs. Clinton and her campaign were unequivocal in their stance that there was no classified information on it. But after it was revealed in August [2015] that the F.B.I. was investigating how classified materials were handled in connection with the [Clinton E-mail] account, Mrs. Clinton’s aides began saying that she never sent or received anything that was classified at the time....”

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