Helen H. Moore's Blog, page 770
May 24, 2016
8 European right-wing parties celebrating the rise of Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s campaign is truly testing the limits of the old saying “Every cloud has a silver lining.” Unless one operates under the assumption that a hate-filled platform fueled by bigotry, xenophobia and sexism is what the world needs right now. In which case, the Trump cloud appearing on the horizon is seen by some as an invitation to open their arms in exaltation, awaiting the inevitable Trumpian shower to follow.
The attributes of a Trump-thumper are pretty easy to identify. Mostly it’s a hatred of immigrants coated in a fine patina of pseudo-nationalist rhetoric. George Packer writing in the New Yorker recently described it as “white identity politics.” Given Packer’s diagnosis, it’s safe to say America is not alone in this category. And so, from the continent well-versed in such terminology, below is a list of eight far-right political party leaders from Europe eagerly awaiting Hurricane Trump.
1. France
Jean-Marie Le Pen, via wikimedia.
There could be no greater right-wing endorsement than the former leader of France’s National Front Party, Jean-Marie Le Pen. For those unfamiliar with the old hate-spewer, Le Pen staunchly advocated immigration restrictions and the death penalty along with a bunch of other conservative reforms that earned him the nickname “Devil of the Republic.” (In a case of the rotten apple not falling far from the tree, his daughter Marine is currently serving as the president of the National Front.)
With such a stellar track record, it’s understandable that Monsieur Le Pen would come out in favor of Trump. And like all tech-savvy 21st-century racists, he chose to do so on Twitter.
For you non-Francophones out there, that tweet reads: “If I were American, I’d vote Donald Trump … but God bless him!”
2. Italy
In no other country is Trump’s brand of proto-fascism more celebrated than Italy. Trump’s cult of personality has been compared to another historical Italian politician known for his dangerous populism: Benito Mussolini.
In fairness to Mussolini (never thought I’d write those words), Trump is a far crasser elitist demagogue. For that reason, as Cas Mudde argued in the Washington Post, Trump more closely resembles Silvio Berlusconi, the country’s ultra-wealthy and salacious former prime minister.
Given this history, it was inevitable that at least one Italian politician would herald Trump’s arrival with a hearty bravissimo! His name is Matteo Salvini, and his party, the Northern League, represents one of Italy’s most right-wing outfits. In April, Salvini actually met with Trump prior to a rally in Philadelphia. Along with describing the Republican presumptive nominee’s campaign as “heroic,” Salvini took to Twitter to extend his praise—a 21st-century political pat on the back if ever there was one.
3. England
Nigel Farage. Chatham House/Flickr
London recently elected its first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan. In celebration, Trump kindly offered to extend an exemption on his proposed Muslim ban should Khan ever decide to pay the U.S. a visit. In response, as quoted by CNN, Khanreplied, “Donald Trump’s ignorant view of Islam could make both of our countries less safe—it risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of the extremists.”
Even Nigel Farage, head of the United Kingdom’s right-leaning Independence Party, was quoted in the Independent as saying Trump’s Muslim ban has “gone too far.” He did, however, later add a proviso to his criticism, saying, “I think that a man that has run a business, and made a fortune, maybe we are underestimating his ability.”
Tommy Robinson, leader of the UK branch of the anti-Muslim group Pegida, added his own fine character reference. In a interview with Buzzfeed News, Robinson said he welcomed a Trump presidency. “It would make it an acceptable debate to have,” said Robinson, referring presumably to the facisct notion of banning citizens based on religious preference.
4. Netherlands
Geert Wilders. Metropolico.org/Flickr
Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Dutch Freedom Party (who sort of looks a bit like Trump), recently threw in his two guilders on Twitter. Wilders, who has called for more severe immigration policies following the Paris attacks, offered this pearl of a prediction:
Here’s hoping Wilders’ political forecasting is only matched by his racial tolerance.
5. Belgium
If King Leopold’s miserable corpse were still around to tweet, he’d surely have added Belgium’s vote to the pro-Trump camp. But not to worry, instead we’ve got Filip Dewinter, proud heir to the former genocidaire and leading member of Belgian far-right party, Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang).
Here he is offering his endorsement by way of YouTube. Though, by opening with “Mr. Trump, we have this in common, we speak the truth,” Dewinter has in essence told anyone watching that whatever follows should be taken with a bucket-load of salt.
6. Greece
Technically, no Greek politicians have come out in favor of Trump. That doesn’t mean he lacks support in the Hellenic Republic. Evan Osnos, writing in the New Yorker, watched the first Republican debate last year beside Matthew Heimbach, a relatively well-known young white supremacist, and a group of Heimbach’s friends. Apart from learning of Heimbach’s outspoken support for Trump, Osnos also came to discover in the course of reporting that Heimbach had met with European fascists, including members of the Golden Dawn, on a trip to Greece.
An increasingly influential political party in Greece, Golden Dawn came third in the country’s last parliamentary elections. Like Trump fans, Golden Dawn supporters are similarly outspoken in their views on immigration spurred by the state of the Greek economy.
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May 23, 2016
Sanders: Democratic convention could be ‘messy’
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., fixes his hair before an interview with The Associated Press, Monday, May 23, 2016, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) (Credit: AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and his push to make the party more inclusive could get “messy” but asserts in an interview with The Associated Press: “Democracy is not always nice and quiet and gentle.”
The Vermont senator, campaigning Monday ahead of California’s primary against Hillary Clinton, said his supporters hope the party will adopt a platform at the summer convention that reflects the needs of working families, the poor and young people, not Wall Street and corporate America.
Sanders said he will “condemn any and all forms of violence” but his campaign was welcoming political newcomers and first-time attendees of party conventions. He said the Democratic Party faces a choice of becoming more inclusive or maintaining the status quo.
“I think if they make the right choice and open the doors to working-class people and young people and create the kind of dynamism that the Democratic Party needs, it’s going to be messy,” Sanders said.
“Democracy is not always nice and quiet and gentle but that is where the Democratic Party should go.”
Asked if the convention could be problematical, Sanders said: “So what? Democracy is messy. Everyday my life is messy. But if you want everything to be quiet and orderly and allow, you know, just things to proceed without vigorous debate, that is not what democracy is about.”
Sanders is vying for support ahead of California’s June 7 primary, a day that also includes contests in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota. Clinton has 271 more pledged delegates than Sanders and is just 90 delegates shy of clinching the nomination when the total includes superdelegates, the party officials and elected leaders who can support the candidate of their choice.
Some Democrats have grown weary about the length of the primaries, worried that it could give Republican businessman Donald Trump a head start on the general election and make it more difficult for Democrats to unite behind a nominee. The issue gained attention when a recent Nevada Democratic convention turned raucous.
Sanders said he was “bothered” by the portrayal of the Las Vegas convention, saying it did not turn violent as some media reports indicated. “There was rowdyism. There was booing, I think inappropriately by the way,” he said.
The senator spoke after the Democratic National Committee announced a 15-member platform drafting committee, which will write the first draft of the party platform. The panel includes allies of both candidates.
Sanders said the platform process would be an “excellent time to educate the American people,” saying it would allow the party to have a vigorous debate over ways to address wealth inequality, the role of Wall Street in the economy, climate change and universal health care.
“A serious debate about serious issues is good for democracy, is good for the Democratic Party. It will increase voter turnout and that always works in our effort to defeat Republicans,” he said.
He declined to entertain the possibility of being considered as Clinton’s running mate, saying he was focused on winning the nomination. “If I don’t, we will see what happens later on.” But he reiterated that he would do “everything that I can” to ensure that Trump is not elected president.
Sanders said he had a “shot” at winning the California primary against Clinton and said, given his delegate deficit, it was “imperative” that he perform well. He estimated his rallies around the state would allow him to speak directly to 200,000 voters before the primary.
“What happens if I win a major victory in California? Will people say, ‘Oh, we’re really enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton despite the fact that Bernie Sanders has now won whatever it may be, 25 states, half the states?'” he said.
If that happens, he added, superdelegates “may rethink that. That is why you want the process to play out.”
Clinton’s campaign said Monday she would not participate in a proposed California debate, choosing instead to campaign in the state. Sanders said at an evening rally in Santa Monica he was “disturbed but not surprised” that Clinton had “backed out” of the debate, which was part of an agreement the campaigns reached with the DNC earlier this year.
Sanders also looked ahead to the future of his political movement, saying his goal was “the transformation of the Democratic Party. To be a party which is a grassroots party where the main energy comes from working families, from trade unionists, from environmentalists, from people today who want real political and social and economic and environmental changes in our society.”
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Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KThomasDC
Freddie Gray: Prosecutor criticized after officer acquittal
BALTIMORE (AP) — After two trials and no convictions, Baltimore’s top prosecutor is facing criticism that she moved too quickly to file charges against six officers in the death of Freddie Gray without first ensuring there was enough evidence to bring them to bear.
Even the judge overseeing the cases — in his verdict Monday acquitting the latest officer to stand trial in the death of the African-American man — said the state failed to prove its case on any of the charges.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams acquitted Officer Edward Nero of the assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment charges in connection with Gray’s arrest last year outside a West Baltimore housing complex.
Gray died on April 19, 2015, a week after his neck was broken while handcuffed, shackled, but left unrestrained by a seat belt in the back of a police van. The circumstances of his arrest and his subsequent death triggered protests demanding justice for Gray. On the day of his funeral, rioting and looting broke out. The National Guard responded, and a curfew was imposed.
Williams delivered his verdict in the racially charged case before a packed courtroom Monday. Nero’s parents and his brother sat in the front row; a few rows away, Gray’s stepfather. Noticeably absent, however, was State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who was present when Williams declared a mistrial in the trial for Officer William Porter in December.
After announcing charges against the officers last May — one day after receiving the police department’s investigation while a tense city was still under curfew — Mosby did not shy from the spotlight. She posed for magazine photos, sat for TV interviews and even appeared onstage at a Prince concert in Gray’s honor.
After the acquittal, Nero’s lawyers sought to send a strong message to her.
“Officer Edward Nero, his wife and family are elated that this nightmare is finally over,” wrote Marc Zayon and Allison Levine in a statement. “The state’s attorney for Baltimore city rushed to charge him, as well as the other five officers, completely disregarding the facts of the case and the applicable law. His hope is that the state’s attorney will reevaluate the remaining five officers’ cases and dismiss their charges.”
Mosby spokeswoman Rochelle Ritchie, citing a gag order in the case, declined comment Monday.
David Weinstein, a Florida attorney and former federal civil rights prosecutor, said the verdict will probably serve as a “wake-up call” for prosecutors.
“This speaks to the notion a lot of people had when this first happened, which is that it was a rush to judgment,” Weinstein said. “The state’s attorney was trying to balance what she had with the public outcry and call to action given the climate in Baltimore and across the U.S. concerning policing, and I think she was overreaching.”
Harvard University professor Alan Dershowitz said he believed the judge’s verdict was an example of the legal system looking at the facts of the case without being influenced by race or community pressure. He said he “absolutely” believed Mosby overreached in bringing charges against the six officers.
“There’s no question she acted irresponsibly,” Dershowitz said in a telephone interview. “She acted politically. She acted too quickly, and the public ought to make her pay a price for seeking to distort justice.”
Although the judge’s ruling referred specifically to Nero’s case — the other officers will be tried separately for their alleged roles — he rejected nearly every claim the state made at trial, repeatedly telling prosecutors they’d failed to prove any of the counts beyond a reasonable doubt.
Prosecutors had argued that Nero and colleague Garrett Miller illegally detained and arrested Gray without probable cause, and that Nero was reckless when he failed to buckle Gray into a seat belt during the van’s second stop blocks from the arrest. Zayon argued Nero wasn’t involved in Gray’s arrest, having only arrived after the 25-year-old man black man was in handcuffs. As for the seat belt, Zayon said not only was Nero unaware of a newly revised policy requiring officers to buckle in prisoners — the previous policy gave officers discretion based on circumstances — but that it was the van driver’s responsibility to make sure Gray was safe.
In his verdict, Williams said he believed Miller, who took the stand as the state’s principal witness and testified that he alone detained and handcuffed Gray. The judge told prosecutors they failed to prove Nero did anything wrong. In terms of the arrest that the state alleged was an assault, Williams ruled Nero wasn’t involved. As for his failure the buckle Gray in, Williams said there was no proof Nero knew he had a duty to belt the prisoner in, or that he failed to do so on purpose.
“The state’s theory from the beginning has been one of negligence, recklessness, and disregard for duty and orders by this defendant,” Williams said. “There has been no information presented at this trial that the defendant intended for any crime to happen.”
Nero, who is white, was the second of six officers charged to stand trial. The manslaughter case against Porter ended in a mistrial in December when the jury deadlocked. Prosecutors plan to retry him in September.
Warren Brown, a Baltimore attorney who observed much of Nero’s trial, said the verdict proved how thin the state’s cases are against the officers.
“It was clearly a case where the state decided that come hell or high water they were going to prosecute Nero and Miller, and I think that the ridiculous prosecution was borne out,” Brown said. “This thing may extend on and on, quite frankly. It’s the prosecution that keeps on giving.”
Trial No. 3 — that of van driver Caesar Goodson, who prosecutors believe is most culpable in Gray’s death — is set to begin in two weeks. He is charged with second-degree murder.
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Associated Press writers Brian Witte in Baltimore and David Dishneau in Hagerstown, Maryland, contributed to this report.
South Korea: Overseas North Korean restaurant workers flee
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An unspecified number of North Koreans working at a Pyongyang-run restaurant overseas have escaped their workplace and will come to South Korea, South Korean officials said Tuesday.
The announcement by Seoul’s Unification Ministry came after South Korean media reported that two or three female employees at a North Korean-run restaurant in China fled and went to an unidentified Southeast Asian country earlier this month.
It’s the second known group escape by North Korean restaurant workers dispatched abroad in recent weeks. In April, a group of 13 North Koreans who had worked at a North Korean-run restaurant in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo defected to South Korea.
The latest escapes will likely enrage Pyongyang, which typically accuses Seoul of trying to abduct or entice North Korean citizens to defect. South Korea has denied the accusation.
After the 13 workers — a male manager and 12 waitresses — arrived in Seoul in April, Pyongyang claimed they were kidnapped by South Korean spies and repeatedly demanded their return. South Korea said the workers chose to resettle in the South on their own. It was the largest group defection by North Koreans to the South since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took power in 2011.
A brief Unification Ministry statement Tuesday confirmed that some other North Korean restaurant workers abroad fled, but didn’t elaborate. Officials at the unification and foreign ministries refused to provide further details about the North Koreans and their escapes, citing worries about their safety and potential diplomatic problems with concerned countries. It was unclear when they would arrive in Seoul.
New Focus, a Seoul-based online news outlet run by a North Korean defector, was among the first to break the news Monday. It said the group comprised three women in their 20s who had worked at a North Korean-run restaurant near Shanghai.
The defector head of New Focus, who uses the pseudonym Jang Jin-sung in interviews because of worries about the safety of relatives left behind in the North, said Tuesday that the information came from people who guided the North Koreans after they escaped from their restaurant. He refused to identify the guides.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday that the North Koreans had worked at a restaurant in the central Chinese city of Xian and that they may have traveled to Thailand.
South Korea’s spy service said earlier this year that North Korea was running about 130 restaurants overseas, mostly in China. Overall, North Korea has about 50,000-60,000 workers abroad, mostly in Russia and China, with a mission to bring in foreign currency, according to the National Intelligence Service.
South Korean officials believe overseas North Korean restaurants have been suffering economically since stronger international sanctions were applied against North Korea over its nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year. The restaurant workers who defected to the South in April have said that their restaurant was struggling to meet demands from North Korean authorities at home for foreign currency, according to Seoul’s Unification Ministry.
More than 29,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government data. Many defectors have testified that they wanted to avoid the North’s harsh political system and poverty.
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Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report.
Official: Roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan kills 5
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says at least five civilians were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in southern Kandahar province.
Samim Khpolwak, the governor’s spokesman, says the explosion, which took place in Shah Wali Kot district early on Tuesday, also wounded four people.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Kandahar is regarded by the Taliban as their heartland. It had been largely peaceful for some years until a recent resurgence in insurgent violence.
In neighboring Helmand province, police chief Noor Agha Kemtoz says the Taliban shadow governor, Abdul Manan, was killed by Afghan security forces in Marjah district late on Monday.
However, Taliban spokesman Qari Yusouf Ahmadi denied reports of Manan’s death. The Taliban have set up many provincial “shadow” administrations mirroring the government.
VOICES: Japanese-American vet: Atomic bomb saved my life
HONOLULU (AP) — Arthur Ishimoto believes dropping the atomic bombs on Japan saved a million American lives — including his own — as well as at least 5 million Japanese lives.
The 93-year-old served in the Military Intelligence Service, a U.S. Army unit made up of mostly Japanese-Americans who interrogated prisoners, translated intercepted messages and went behind enemy lines to gather intelligence.
He was a technical sergeant scheduled to join the invasion of Japan in November 1945, and believes he would have died in the assault.
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Editors: Part of a series of perspectives on the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, released this week as President Barack Obama prepares to visit Hiroshima.
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President Barack Obama doesn’t need to apologize for the atom bombs, Ishimoto said, but it’s good for him to go to Hiroshima and “bury the hatchet.” Obama is scheduled to visit Friday, and become the first sitting president to do so since the end of World War II.
“War is hell. Nobody wins,” Ishimoto said. “There’s no victor, really.”
He was born in Honolulu to parents who hailed from western Japan. He read Japan’s plans for fiercely defending its home islands when he served in Tokyo during America’s postwar occupation of the defeated nation.
He recalls the plans calling for using kamikaze aircraft, submarines and piloted torpedoes followed by beach mines and suicide units. He met civilians who showed him weapons they had planned to use against the invaders, including a 15-foot-long bamboo spear.
“A lot of these people telling us we shouldn’t have dropped the bomb — hey, what they talking about?” said Ishimoto, who after the war became an Air Force major general and commander of the Hawaii National Guard. “They weren’t there. They don’t know what we faced or what we would have faced. It would have been terrible.”
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Excerpts of video interviews with Ishimoto and other U.S. veterans and Japanese atomic bomb survivors are available at http://apne.ws/243ZLSD
Sanders wants David to keep his job on ‘Saturday Night Live’
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, Monday, May 23, 2016, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) (Credit: AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says comedian Larry David shouldn’t worry about his role on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”
The Vermont senator joked in an interview with The Associated Press that he wants David to continue his job impersonating him on the late night show, which had its season finale last weekend.
Speaking to the camera, Sanders says to David: “Larry, I am deeply concerned about unemployment in America. I want you to keep your job on ‘Saturday Night Live.'”
Sanders says he will “fight to win this nomination” and David “can have a job, guaranteed, good pay, four years. Stay with me, Larry.”
Sanders made a cameo appearance on the show in February before the New Hampshire primary. The senator trails rival Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries.
House panel hearing lawmaker who wants IRS chief impeached
WASHINGTON (AP) — A sympathetic House Judiciary Committee is giving a high-profile forum to a top Republican who wants to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, a cause that excites conservatives but seems unlikely to go far in Congress this election year.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz planned to testify to the GOP-run Judiciary panel on Tuesday. The Utah Republican has been pushing for Koskinen’s removal since last summer, accusing the commissioner of hindering congressional investigations of his agency.
“You can’t thumb your nose at Congress and expect there to be no consequences,” Chaffetz said in an interview last week.
In a written statement Monday, Koskinen said Chaffetz’ allegations against him are without merit. He said he wouldn’t appear Tuesday, saying he’s been busy traveling and preparing for other hearings, but said he would be willing to testify in the future.
While booting Koskinen has become a favorite cause among conservatives — Chaffetz has 73 co-sponsors on his impeachment resolution — support by other Republicans has been tepid and Democrats are flatly opposed.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has yet to embrace the idea, with spokesman Brendan Buck saying Ryan has deferred to committee leaders. Many Republicans would rather not launch a campaign-season impeachment effort with virtually no chance of success, even as they try persuading voters that they are running Congress constructively.
To impeach a federal official, a majority of the House must vote for conviction. It then takes a two-thirds majority vote of the Senate to actually remove the official from office.
The Senate’s minority Democrats could easily block the effort, leaving many to believe that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., won’t even try. McConnell spokesman Donald Stewart declined to comment on the subject last week.
Congressional Republicans have long detested the IRS. Those feelings were only heightened when the agency apologized in 2013 for subjecting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status to unusually tough scrutiny, prompting GOP lawmakers to launch congressional investigations, cut the agency’s budget and trim its staffing.
Chaffetz has accused Koskinen of failing to provide congressional investigators with subpoenaed evidence, not testifying truthfully about the destruction of emails and taking three months to reveal to Congress that emails considered important to the probe were missing.
In 2014, the IRS disclosed that it had lost emails to and from Lois Lerner, who headed the agency division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. Chaffetz says while Koskinen was in charge, 422 IRS backup computer tapes containing up to 24,000 of Lerner’s emails were destroyed.
In his statement Monday, Koskinen said he delayed telling Congress about missing emails until his agency could assess how much data had been lost. He also said he assured Congress that all emails had been preserved — which turned out to be untrue — only because he wasn’t aware at the time that data containing the emails had been destroyed.
Last July, a report by IRS Inspector General Russell George concluded that the data were destroyed by mistake, not in any agency effort to withhold information from Congress.
The Justice Department ended a two-year investigation of the controversy last year, saying no IRS official would face criminal charges and that it had uncovered no evidence that agency officials acted out of political bias against conservative groups.
Koskinen’s term as commissioner expires in November 2017, 10 months into the next president’s term.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, the House has impeached only 19 people in history — Presidents Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson, one senator, one Cabinet member and 15 federal judges. Only eight people were convicted by the Senate, all of them judges.
Koskinen said in his written statement that none of his actions “come close” to the thresholds the Constitution sets for impeachment: treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors. He said impeaching him would set “an unfortunate precedent” and discourage talented people from seeking government positions.
Asked last week about the apparent futility of actually removing Koskinen from office, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, another leader in the effort, said: “Our job is to do the right thing. This guy breached every duty he has.”
Clinton email probe in late stage, FBI may question her
WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI agents probing whether Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server imperiled government secrets appear close to completing their work, a process experts say will probably culminate in a sit-down with the former secretary of state.
The FBI has already spoken with Huma Abedin, a Clinton confidant who was among the Democratic presidential front runner’s closest aides at the State Department. Former chief of staff Cheryl D. Mills is also cooperating with the investigation, according to her lawyer.
This signals that agents will probably seek to interview Clinton soon, if they haven’t already, former Justice Department officials told The Associated Press. The FBI’s standard practice is to save questioning the person at the center of an investigation for last, once it has gathered available facts from others.
“With a person like Secretary Clinton, the FBI probably assumes they are going to get one chance to interview her, not only because she is a prominent person but because she is very busy right now with the presidential campaign,” said David Deitch, a former Justice Department prosecutor. “It makes sense they would defer interviewing her until late in their investigation.”
On CBS’s “Face the Nation” on May 8, Clinton said the FBI had not yet reached out to her, but she was “more than ready to talk to anybody, anytime.”
“I hope that this is close to being wrapped up,” she said.
Clinton has good reasons to want the FBI to close its investigation soon. She has been dogged by questions about her email practices for more than a year, since AP revealed that the clintonemail.com server was in the basement of Clinton’s New York home while she served as the nation’s top diplomat from 2009 to 2013.
Clinton has acknowledged in the campaign that her homebrew email setup was a mistake, but said she never sent or received anything marked classified at the time.
FBI Director James Comey said this month he is keeping close tabs on the investigation to ensure that it’s conducted properly and completed promptly. However, he added there is no timeline for completing the probe tied to events on the political calendar, such as the 2016 Democratic National Convention in late July.
Republicans want to keep the issue alive through the November presidential election, alleging that she put national security at risk.
“Clinton’s irresponsible behavior as secretary of state and her deliberate attempts to mislead the American people show she lacks the judgment and character to be president,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said this month.
In addition to the FBI investigation, inspectors general at the State Department and the U.S. intelligence community are reviewing whether security procedures or laws were broken. At least three dozen civil lawsuits have been filed, including one by the AP, over public records requests related to Clinton’s time as secretary.
A federal judge recently approved a request from the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch to question Clinton’s aides under oath in a series of depositions scheduled through the end of June. U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan also said he may require Clinton herself to testify, depending on what information comes to light.
The State Department has so far released more than 52,000 pages of Clinton’s work-related emails, including some that were censored because they contained information considered sensitive to national security. Thousands of additional emails were withheld by Clinton, whose lawyers said they contained personal messages unrelated to her government service.
Critics have questioned whether Clinton’s server might have made a tempting target for hackers, especially those working with or for foreign intelligence services.
A Romanian computer hacker now in U.S. custody, Marcel Lazar, has boasted that he breached Clinton’s home server three years ago. However, Lazar, who went online by the name Guccifer, has provided no evidence to back up his claim. Also, Lazar’s expertise was hacking into the email accounts of politicians and celebrities who used free commercial services, not breaking into a stand-alone email server.
Legal experts have said it appears unlikely Clinton would be charged with committing a crime. The relatively few U.S. laws that govern the handling of classified materials were generally written to cover spies and leakers. Lawyers who specialize in national security say it would be a stretch to apply these statutes to a former cabinet secretary whose communication of sensitive materials was with aides — not a national enemy.
The Justice Department also does not appear to have convened a grand jury to examine Clinton’s email use, a likely step if prosecutors were weighing felony criminal charges.
Lansing Woo, a retired FBI official who supervised counterintelligence investigations in the Los Angeles field office, said the recent interviews of Clinton’s aides appear to follow standard procedure.
“You start at the periphery of the circle,” Woo said. By the time investigators move from far-removed witnesses to the person they most want to speak with, “they’re already going to know what’s what, who’s who, who did what, and they’re going to then ask the questions around that,” he said.
But Deitch, now in private practice, stressed that just because investigators may seek to interview Clinton does not necessarily mean she is in legal jeopardy.
“As a defense attorney, I have had many cases where targets of an investigation were interviewed and no indictment was ever forthcoming,” Deitch said. “It’s just part of the process.”
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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed from Washington.
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Follow Michael Biesecker on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mbieseck
Happy birthday, Bartbino! ‘Big Sexy’ Colon hits the big 4-3
NEW YORK (AP) — Watching someone wait has rarely been so amusing.
Bartolo Colon will casually flip a baseball back and forth from bare hand to black glove, spinning it by the seams high off his fingertips as the next young hitter — perhaps 20 years his junior — struts toward home plate with serious intentions.
This happens on a major league mound, mind you, in the center of a stadium packed with 40,000 people.
And yet Colon, the roly-poly YouTube sensation wearing a New York Mets uniform, resembles the fill-in starter on any summer Sunday for some rec team in a men’s league playing at the public park.
Not a care in the world, it seems.
No fear of Bryce Harper and the Washington Nationals.
“I really love pitching to those good batters,” Colon said through a translator last week. “Even if they give me a good whack, I still enjoy just dueling it out with them.”
Baseball’s ageless ambassador of fun, Colon turned 43 on Tuesday a few hours after pitching the Mets to a 7-1 win at Washington.
He tossed seven crisp innings despite a stiff back that persuaded him to take precautions at the plate. So of course, Colon went right ahead and promised Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos he wasn’t going to swing all night.
And he didn’t.
Only you, Bartolo. Only you.
Not a boring bone in that body.
So his latest birthday seems a fitting time to toast the many unique achievements of a modern-day throwback, a pitcher whose 19-year trek around the majors fills seven pages in the Mets’ media guide.
A quick refresher:
— Colon has a Cy Young Award, three All-Star selections and 222 victories, most among active pitchers.
— He went 14 years between playoff wins, then became the oldest pitcher to lose a World Series game.
— He once threw 38 consecutive strikes in a game. Another time, it took him 20 pitches to strike out Ricky Gutierrez.
— He had a career-low 2.65 ERA at age 40, and set a career high with 31 straight scoreless innings at 42.
— He’s pitched for the Red Sox and White Sox, both New York teams, in the Cleveland cold and California sun (Angels and Athletics).
— And he’s the last Montreal Expo still playing in the majors.
Quite a career for this fan favorite, now the oldest player in the majors.
And whether it be his stunning home run in San Diego, that behind-the-back toss to first base or when he grabbed his ample belly on the bench with both hands, “Big Sexy” has become the ballplayer most likely to go viral these days.
“He’s a big kid, just like the rest of us,” said 23-year-old outfielder Michael Conforto, Colon’s youngest teammate on the Mets. “It’s always fun to see the joy he plays with and he’s always got a smile on his face. He’s a good energy to have around.”
For a No. 5 starter, Colon has made more than his share of headlines this month — and some of them were no laughing matter. Last week, the New York Post reported he was being sued by a woman who alleged the pitcher hadn’t paid child support for two children he fathered with her outside his marriage.
Colon declined to comment about “personal stuff” and insisted the story wasn’t a distraction.
On the field, of course, he became the oldest player in major league history to hit his first career home run when he connected May 7 against James Shields.
It was a shocking moment of improbable success that charmed nearly everyone but the Padres, especially considering Colon’s previous penchant for comically embarrassing swings that sent a Mets helmet flying off his huge head .
The long ball generated such buzz it practically spawned its own cottage industry, from special baseball cards to “Bartbino” shirts to one-of-a-kind bobbleheads (with a belly that bobbles, too).
Online you can easily find mash-up spoofs of “The Natural” and a “30 for 30″ documentary trailer.
“He’s kind of a man of the people, I guess,” said Conforto, who grew up hearing stories about a young Colon from travel-team coach Jose Cepeda, the nephew of Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda.
So what is it that makes Colon, once suspended 50 games for a positive drug test, such a big hit with fans?
“I think it’s the total package. I think it’s a combination of his age, his size, his unflappability, the fact that his teammates love him,” Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen said. “He’s somebody who every fan can relate to.
“He’s different. He’s a one-off and that’s what makes him special. There’s never been anybody like him,” Cohen added, noting “the incredible air of nonchalance” the pitcher occasionally displays even during big league games.
But he’s much more than a novel attraction.
Colon has won 33 games in two-plus seasons with the Mets, and his ability to soak up innings has been invaluable to their young staff. He works hard in the gym and provides a positive influence in the clubhouse, manager Terry Collins says, especially for young Latino pitchers like Jeurys Familia and Hansel Robles.
“When he sits down to eat a meal, there’s a lot of people at that table,” Collins said.
Listed at 5-foot-11 and 283 pounds, the quiet Colon remains quick off the mound and keeps batters off balance with smarts and skill.
He throws his fastball, which averages 88 mph, about 86 percent of the time — by far the most frequently of any starter in the majors. Quite a contrast to all the young fireballers who make up the rest of the Mets’ rotation.
Once upon a time, Colon was one of those lightning-armed aces, boasting a 98 mph heater when he first came to the majors in 1997.
“I think the most amazing thing is how he’s evolved,” Conforto said.
Now, the heavy-set right-hander is an expert at creating late movement. He sinks the ball, runs it, cuts it and paints corners. And he rarely walks anyone.
“There’s an athlete inside that body,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. “That’s still the best pitch in baseball, is a well-located fastball — and he’s the epitome of it.”
Collins, recalling when Colon joined the Mets in 2014, acknowledges he never imagined they’d squeeze this much out of him.
More to come at age 43, too.
“The first time I saw him pitch, I said, ‘I don’t know how he’s going to continue this’ — and he has,” Collins said. “It’s been a marvel to watch.”
For all of us.
