Hillary Clinton Answers Questions on Iraq, Emails, the Foundation and Wealth

[Purveyor]

Source: New York Times

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed reporters Tuesday, fielding questions on topics ranging from her personal wealth and her family’s foundation to the deteriorating situation in Iraq, saying at one point that she “made a mistake” as a United States senator in voting to authorize the war in Iraq.

Mrs. Clinton, who has been criticized for weeks by Republicans and members of the national news media for her unwillingness to engage with the political press corps, approached journalists and answered five questions after a round-table discussion in Cedar Falls focusing on small business creation.

“I am so proud of the foundation,” Mrs. Clinton said in response to a question about the controversy surrounding foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation. “I’ll let the American people make their own judgments.”

Mrs. Clinton also defended her relationship with Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime friend and confidant who was paid by the Clinton Foundation and offered her advice about the situation in Libya while she served as secretary of state.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/05/19/hillary-clinton-answers-questions-on-iraq-emails-the-foundation-and-wealth/

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[Autumn]

1. Did anyone ask her any deeper questions on Blumenthal?

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/05/hillary-clinton-sidney-blumenthal-emails

Did she know of Blumenthal’s business arrangements?

That does not mean, however, that some of Clinton’s e-mails are not already starting to cause her political trouble. Intelligence reports regarding Libya that the then secretary of state received from longtime Clinton ally Sidney Blumenthal landed in the Times today, suggesting that Clinton maintained a relationship with Blumenthal long after President Barack Obama’s aides had forbid Blumenthal be granted a position at the State Department.

Blumenthal would send Clinton intelligence reports that drew on his business contacts and others within Libya, and Clinton would often forward them on to her deputy, Jake Sullivan, sometimes directing him to distribute the information to other officials within the department. Others at State sometimes met the information with skepticism, and Clinton herself wrote that one of Blumenthal’s e-mails “strains credulity.” (Gawker and ProPublica first reported the existence of Blumenthal’s e-mails to Clinton; the Times revealed that Clinton had indeed read and forwarded some of the messages.)

Blumenthal was working with several Western businessmen seeking contracts from Libya’s transitional government after the killing of Muammar el-Qaddafi. It’s not clear whether Clinton knew of Blumenthal’s business arrangements, none of which seem to have come to fruition.

In what has become a common thread among the scandals dotting the early months of Clinton’s campaign for the presidency, the Clinton Foundation also plays a part in the mystery. Blumenthal was employed by the foundation, and consulted for American Bridge and Media Matters, two organizations that work to counter Republican attacks on the Clintons.

[thesquanderer]

2. It was only 5 minutes, 5 questions. (n/t)

[Hoppy]

3. Was the mistake in her Iraq vote, that she miscalculated the effect on her run for president?

[Android3.14]

4. Snap!

I wonder of her other "mistakes" have that same characteristic.

[Cheese Sandwich]

5. Lots of people died from the Iraq war mistake.

Not saying it was all her fault, obviously.

She was just helped one Senator that helped enable the Iraq war.