Email from Blumenthal to HRC, Concerning Toppling Assad

[amborin]

Everyone is probably well aware that HRC accepted continual emails from Sidney Blumenthal, an employee of the Clinton Foundation with business interests in Libya, all the while she was SOS.

This is from one of the emails he sent her, in which he forwards or mentions a viewpoint concerning the consequences of toppling the Assad regime in Syria. HRC valued this email enough to seemingly forward it to Jake Sullivan:

7. One particular source states that the British and French Intelligence services believe that their Israeli

counterparts are convinced that there is a positive side to the civil war in Syria; if the Assad regime topples, Iran

would lose its only ally in the Middle East and would be isolated. At the same time, the fall of the House of

Assad could well ignite a sectarian war between the Shiites and the majority Sunnis of the region drawing in
Iran, which, in the view of Israeli commaders would not be a bad thing for Israel and its Western allies. In the

opinion of this individual, such a scenario would distract and might obstruct Iran from its nuclear activities for a

good deal of time. In addition, certain senior Israeli intelligence analysts believe that this turn of events may

even prove to be a factor in the eventual fall of the current government of Iran.

https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/12172#efmBbqBf9

Here's something, apparently, from the State Dept. Can anyone figure out who authored this?

UNCLASSIFIED U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2014-20439 Doc No. C05794498 Date: 11/30/2015

RELEASE IN FULL

The best way to help Israel deal with Iran's growing nuclear capability is to help the people of
Syria overthrow the regime of Bashar Assad.

Negotiations to limit Iran's nuclear program will not solve Israel's security dilemma. Nor will
they stop Iran from improving the crucial part of any nuclear weapons program — the capability
to enrich uranium. At best, the talks between the world's major powers and Iran that began in
Istanbul this April and will continue in Baghdad in May will enable Israel to postpone by a few
months a decision whether to launch an attack on Iran that could provoke a major Mideast war.

Iran's nuclear program and Syria's civil war may seem unconnected, but they are. For Israeli
leaders, the real threat from a nuclear-armed Iran is not the prospect of an insane Iranian leader
launching an unprovoked Iranian nuclear attack on Israel that would lead to the annihilation of
both countries. What Israeli military leaders really worry about -- .....

snip

https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/18328#efmADMAFf

[Trust Buster]

1. So ? The Secretary of State cannot seek advice ? Nothing to see here...move along.

[Politicalboi]

2. Obama TOLD her NOT to consult with Blumunthal

So you may think nothing to see here because you supporters are blind to the truth. She should be indicted over this alone. I guess undermining the president is ok if Hillary does it.

[NWCorona]

4. Or if Bill does it as well

[UglyGreed]

6. But Hillary and Obama

are BFFs

[Trust Buster]

12. The President told her NO SUCH THING.

They didn't want Blumenthal at State. The President would not tell her who she could and could not consult with privately. There's nothing to see here.

[grasswire]

30. not true

absolutely not true

why the hell do you think she risked a private server???

she was running rogue foreign policy.

[snooper2]

66. are you busting trust or trusting of the bustering?

[synergie]

37. How was forwarding an email, "undermining the president, and since when do BS supporters

Care about such things? When BS actually does it, you guys are cheering and chanting along? I guess undermining the president is ONLY okay for BS to do, but when you name false claims about Hillary or Boll doing it, it is totally cool. I can see why the total cognitive dissonance induces such nausea.

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. This might come as a suprirse to you

Hillary, barring this blowing up, before the Convention will be the candidate in the GE for the democratic party.

Some of us though care about NATIONAL SECURITY. I understand this is a hard concept to understand. But some of us care about national security, This has not one iota to do with a national election, and all to do with national security.

I don't expect partisans to understand this. Oh and if this blows after Philadelphia, good luck defeating Trump, who is well on his way to securing the R nomination. There will be no brokered conventions, on either side, so stop that fantasy.

[HooptieWagon]

44. She could be the first POTUS denied a security clearance.

If you've already been caught mishandling sensitive and top secret documents, I doubt you're given a second chance.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. If this does not blow before

she will be impeached... and this is what these folks are not understanding

I get it, she did this because of the not completely unjustified paranoia regarding the RW, but in the process she shot herself in both feet, metaphorically speaking

[HooptieWagon]

50. She did it to avoid FOIA actions,...

...to hide Bloom's involvement from the WH, and likely to hide Foundation donation solicitations. A likely scenario is that she's indicted, but charges aren't pursued. But I agree, just an indictment alone will incite impeachment.

[nadinbrzezinski]

54. We hope to get closure by May though

I hope, I hope, becuase we need it.

[HooptieWagon]

55. We may get a decision, but it won't be closure.

If there's no charges, Republicans are going to go nuts. And the FBI investigators are quoted off the record that's theres enough to file charges on, and they threatened to go public with evidence if there isn't charges. IOW, FBI is going to give everything the GOP needs to hold hearings on Obsma, Lynch, and Comey....and it's not going to be pretty if charges weren't filed for political cover.

[nadinbrzezinski]

56. Yup, it won't be pretty

[synergie]

63. Well, those of us who care about national security understand that this is a right wing

fishing expedition, and it's not a hard concept to figure out that even the RWers gave up on the stuff you guys are spouting, because no one was buying such silly things.

There is nothing to do with national security here, that was determined last summer. Bolding words doesn't dismiss reality.

I actually do expect partisans to understand this, even the partisan hacks who brought up this nonsense and spent 11 hours grilling her on this, and getting egg on their faces understand this. I just didn't expect this hysteria to be pushed by people on a Democratic board, by people who claim to be progressives.

There is nothing to blow up, that's what you seem to just not get. Trump won't win, even if the BS supporters indulging in poutrage right now don't vote, as they keep whining about, the ACTUAL dems and even some sane Republicans are not going to let Trump happen.

So you can stop this fantasy that debunked RW lies that even RWers dropped months ago, are somehow going to cater to your fantasy that the guy who can't win votes, is somehow going to either win due to some fantasy indictment, or the country will somehow pay for exercising their good judgment in not voting for you guy, by getting Trump.

Please stop with the right wing nonsense that even right wingers are too smart to be tossing around, wailing about national security which was never threatened here, really doesn't look well for you BS supporters, who can't seem to win or lose with any sort of grace whatsoever.

[nadinbrzezinski]

64. Alas this is not a fishing expedition

It started as one. But like Watergate, a third rate burglary, it moved beyond that a while ago. It's a very complex story. I get that. But it is about national security.

If this blows after the convention your party just gave the WH to one Donald J Trump. Congratulations.

Oh and if you are stuck in last summer it explains your attitude. Try last week

Or are you accusing the DOJ of carrying out a fishing expedition (+100 agents assigned). Or are you accusing the inspector generals of same? The only one you have sort of a point, as minor as this is, is the civil lawsuit that a Clinton appointed judge granted discovery on. You should look for his words. He was far from impressed with her lawyer's legal arguments.

[revbones]

53. I think you miss the point.

Sanders supporters seem to see that you can disagree with or call out Democrats when they do wrong - because, yes they sometimes do wrong. Hillary supporters seem to think the D is a magic aura preventing the wearer from doing anything wrong.

When Sanders calls out someone, there's a good chance there's a legitimate reason. So we'll agree based on the reason - not because Bernie did it, but because of the reason.

It's truly unfortunate if you cannot see the difference.

[synergie]

58. The point being that BSers are trying to pick up where the GOP left off after trying very hard

to create a scandal and failing miserably. This seems to be the meme of the night, trying to pretend that it's the Clintons and not Bernie who are pretty much disrespecting Obama all over the place.

See, it's not about the "magic aura" unless it's the one that BSers and their GOP cheerleaders who insist that simply being a Clinton means that there must automatically be wrongdoing and the fact that you can't ever substantiate your accusations must mean that they are just THAT good at imaginary wrongdoing!

Sorry, but Sander's magical, and recently acquired D doesn't confer any magic aura on him either, and he too is fallible and his tweets and his campaigns misstepts and his own habit of sticking his foot firmly in his mouth and his voting record show that he's not as infallible as you would have him be.

The reasons are BS, and it's unfortunate that you lack the self awareness to appreciate the irony of your own comment, and your own dependence on the "magical aura" of the magical Bernie.

[nadinbrzezinski]

65. So the DOJ is part of the Sanders campaign

This is so ahem...Nixonian

[Betty Karlson]

59. Oh my... her foreign policy experience is one giant mess of entitled blundering.

So this whole mess in Syria is just to keep Iran isolated at the behest of Israel? I smell a Debbie!

[NWCorona]

3. She was given a direct order from Obama not to utilize Sid

[Trust Buster]

13. Wrong. He was not to be hired at State. Get your facts straight.

[NWCorona]

14. So she hired him outside of the state to the tune of $10k per month

I have my facts straight.

[Trust Buster]

15. No, you don't have your facts straight.

Bill Clinton hired Blumenthal to work for his charity. Blumenthal was a valued member of the Clinton Administration. Blumenthal was not wanted at State because of his sharp elbows during the 2008 campaign. The President did not and would not tell Hillary what private citizen she could consult with. This is a big nothing burger.

[NWCorona]

16. Lol

"Blumenthal, a longtime Clinton confidant, joined the foundation's payroll in 2009 and was switched to a similar contract without benefits in 2013. That contracted ended in March of that year."

What was the time frame of Clinton’s tenure at the State Dept again?

[Trust Buster]

20. Doesn't matter. He wasn't on the government payroll. In the private sector,

Bill Clinton has the right to hire whomever he chooses. He doesn't need permission from the government. Your argument fails miserably.

[NWCorona]

21. Ok

If that makes you feel better

[Trust Buster]

22. Knowing the facts always makes me feel better. Thanks for the sentiment. Good day.

[NWCorona]

23. And a good day to you as well

[pantsonfire]

49. Well the facts of those dates...

....not the least bit suspiciously coincidental?

SoS Clinton 2009-2013 and Sid's Clinton Employment 2009-2013

[synergie]

38. If you have your facts straight, why are you making such patently false claims? Just for fun then?

Even you admit that he was not hired by State, thus accusing her of violating Obama's order is 100% incorrect. If you had your facts straight, and were not so determined to somehow smear the candidate your keeps losing to on every front, you might see the fault in your logic and the lack of a factual basis for your dishonest statement, based on others tha you have made. Something seems to be a bit jumbled in your head.

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. Ergo, I know this is hard to undersgand, he was a civilian with NO SECURITY CLEARANCE

of any type

Capiche.

I know a few people who have held clearances. They would be in Club Fed if they sent me a classified email.

[NWCorona]

42. So why then did Hillary ask to have identifiers removed

From Sid's emails that were forwarded up the chain? She didn't want Obama to know that she was working with him.

[amborin]

46. it was more than that; he was banned from the WH and from State Dept business

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511468802

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Direct orders from PUTUS to the SoS mean nothing to you

or giving access to SAP material produced by NSA to a civilian with no clearances mean nothing to you?

[Betty Karlson]

60. They should mean Clinton is unqualified to be president.

But let's just keep pretending that she is "the most experienced candidate" on foreign policiy. Absolutely disgusting.

I've said it before and ler me say it again: she is a follower, not a leader, and we can't trust the people she chooses to follow.

[Land of Enchantment]

7. The 'Positive Side' to civil war in Syria? Are you effing kidding me? Dangerous people in positions

of influence and power have created a MONSTER and the HRC supporters can't see this? Good God.

[H2O Man]

52. Sad, isn't it?

Is there any point where they would disagree with her?

[Betty Karlson]

61. Completely sad.

If she were a man, she'd long ago have been taken out of consideration for the presidency. But no... she has ovaries, so all criticism is just a vast right-wing conspiracy and also sexist and racist. It's called cognitive dissonance, and as of his month, it means that war is peace. Clinton is not just stuck in the 20th century, she is stuck in 1984.

[LonePirate]

8. Break out the indictments! Blumenthal sent an email.

There is nothing in that snippet you posted which would evoke more than a yawn from anyone investigating the emails. If anything, she is guilty of not being tech savvy enough to block his emails.

[amborin]

9. she told him to keep them coming; she did not want to block them

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. If it was just one you would have a point

but he was told to keep 'em coming, and there are many, many, many of them, some containing SAP NSA produced material. You keep laughing m'kay

Next time I hear from D partisans about how the Rs only care for the party and not for the country, I will thrown back at your type this.

[LonePirate]

17. If the rest of the emails are like this one, then the pro-indictment crowd is going be very unhappy.

I didn't know being for country entailed thirsting after an indictment regardless of the lack of evidence for one.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. You go speak to NSA ok

And please go inform the FBI that there is nothing there and they are wasting their time. And do not forget the civil lawsuit judge either that has allowed discovery to go forwards m'kay

As I said, next time any of you say the Rs are just concerned about the party and not the country, I will remind you of this.

[LonePirate]

25. I guess that makes me a bad Democrat by waiting for evidence before convicting someone!

Perhaps other DUers should let the investigation run its course to see what happens instead of convicting her without any evidence simply to satisfy their own political motivations. If she was running unopposed, the vast majority of Sanders supporters would not give a damn about the emails, regardless of their current protestations.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. I have not convincted anybody

I am just pointing out that partisans on both sides put their party before the country, every fucking time. If I were writing a news story... and there are many reasons we are not, I would be using the world alleged, m'kay.

But I am telling you to go talk to the proper people wasting their time and tax payer money in an investigation you already concluded is not worthy of doing. In fact, at least there are four... so quick, go inform them.

I had the exact same conversation, just replace WMDs with emails., with Republicans on the AOL board in 2003.

[LonePirate]

31. When did I say the investigation was pointless and it should cease?

Mocking a completely innocuous email as these are rolled out like tiny fixes for the pro-indictment addicts does not make me in favor of ignoring the rule of law. Do I think there was anything criminal or worthy of an indictment here? Nothing I have seen so far suggests one is coming. Lots of people are wishing and hoping for one, just like people who play the Powerball expecting their lucky day to be just around the corner.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. The email you are mocking is part of the evidence

so you are mocking the investigations.

And I mean the INVESTIGATIONS part. I just hope this concludes BEFORE the nomination, because if they decide to indict after the convention, good luck democrats, I mean it.

[LonePirate]

41. That email in the OP deserves to be mocked. There is nothing criminal in it.

It is nothing more than a vial of elixir sold by a snake oil salesman. Get back to me when you have some actual proof instead of some innuendo.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. Except when it was sent it was marked confidential

which is the lowest level of classification.

There is more, here is where the intended recipients were...

From: Hillary Clinton
To: Jake Sullivan
Date: 2012-07-23 06:53
Subject: H: NEW INTEL SYRIA, TURYKEY, ISRAEL, IRAN. SID



Hey, look on the bright side. At least it was not marked NO FOR.

For a quick primer for classification please consult the Wiki page linked here

Not that I expect you to have an actual interest in how this shit works, Suffice it to day, people are in Club Fed for shit like this.

[amborin]

47. out of curiosity,

did you accidentally choose the wrong icon?

[LonePirate]

51. No. I voted for Bernie. I simply see through people using this as a Hail Mary to advance their cause

I'm not drinking the kool aid about this email "scandal" and investigation. I'm simply one of those who have grown tired of the Sanders crowd here on DU who desperately hope she's indicted for no other reason than to help Sanders' election chances. If the investigation ends and the FBI pursues criminal charges against Clinton, then so be it. Until that time, I'm not convicting anyone simply on innuendo or my political leanings. Granted, I may be one of the few Bernie supporters on DU who refuses to convict her right now, evidence be damned; but people like me do exist. Evidently the rule of law is meaningless around here.

[dana_b]

67. this is where you are incorrect about some of us, LonePirate

"the Sanders crowd here on DU who desperately hope she's indicted for no other reason than to help Sanders' election chances"

Not all of us are blood thirsty for Hillary to be prosecuted just because we want Sanders to win.

What this whole e-mail thing demonstrates is one of the many, MANY reasons that we cannot support her in the first place - even if Bernie was not running!!

We don't like her policies, she has repeatedly demonstrated bad judgment and she has been caught time and time again lying or at least back tracking on what she has said/done previously.

This whole e-mail thing is just one big demonstration of her lack of sound judgment. I seriously doubt that she will be indicted much less thrown in jail. But it does show me and many others that she should not be trusted.

[grasswire]

35. yes

The NSA saw that someone had copied their transmission(s) word for word and sent it to Hillary via her "unofficial" Blumenthal intel.

[synergie]

33. Exactly. Perhaps if the breathless hysteria was about something that was, ya, know,

An actual wrongdoing or something, it might not completely insane?

Another thread was a bunch of finger wagging and pearl clutching about some private school that some Democratic fundraiser sent their kids to supposedly, and how evil Bill and Hillary were because the campus was nice and they had nice facilities and educational programs or some other sort of argle-Barlgle.

It was boring enough from the right, it's even more boring when they make it appear to come from the left, but don't bother to change their tactics.

[amborin]

48. you completely missed the point of that other OP

[Wilms]

11. Her buds are icky. n/t

[Octafish]

18. So. There's a positive side to civil war in Syria?

Wonder what that would be?

[farleftlib]

24. Big Fat Lucrative Military Contracts for Campaign Donors?

[Octafish]

26. That's the pattern.

Honduras.

Haiti.

Libya.

Ukraine.

Following in some hand-shaped footsteps, paralleled by two little troughs made by dragging knuckles: "Money trumps peace." -- George W Bush

[grasswire]

36. her informants were ginning up deals for themselves in Libya.

Drumheller, Blumenthal, and others.

[Betty Karlson]

62. But but... the big picture! You are missing the big picture.

Because she gave some nice speeches, so her actions are really just one-offs. Also 9/11 and a gender. Are a you a complacent, sex-obsessed hell-bound racist sexist socialist pony-humper trump-troll millennial Kasich-voter? All criticism is a vast right-wing conspiracy! Repent! The power of Debbie commands you! And praise Nancy!

[synergie]

28. Okay, and? She got an e-nail and sent in on, the impropriety is where now?

[840high]

32. See #5

[leveymg]

57. State Dept was funding the Syrian opposition at least 4 yrs before Arab Spring

And people wonder why Asad was wary of splitting away from Iran and Russia when Kerry tried dinner table diplomacy in 09-11?