Democratic Obstruction on Trump Cabinet Reaches Historic Levels

from the Washington Free Beacon

Democratic Obstruction on Trump Cabinet Reaches Historic Levels

Confirmation process moving slowest since George Washington admin

Not since President George Washington's initial formation of a cabinet in 1789 has an American president's cabinet picks been approved as slowly as the Senate is approving President Donald Trump's nominees. 

Trump has now been president for a full three weeks, and the number of approved members in his cabinet stands at seven—a number that was boosted by three contested confirmations last week that were opposed by almost the entire Democratic caucus. 

Senate Democrats, vowing to use "everything" they can to stop Trump's nominees, have used procedural tricks like boycotting committee meetings to slow the confirmation process to a historically slow pace. 

Recent administrations have had many more nominees approved at the three-week mark. Barack Obama had 12 out of 15 nominees approved, George W. Bush had his entire cabinet approved, and Bill Clinton had all but one approved in less than a day. 

For most of history, approving cabinet nominees has been a non-issue. Presidents John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter had their entire cabinet approved in the first days of their presidency—a brisk pace that has been the norm for most of U.S. history. 

As noted by historian Robert David Johnson, the only confirmation process at all comparable to the current situation was that of President George H.W. Bush, and even he had 10 of his 14 nominees confirmed by the three-week mark. 

One difference between Trump and Bush, however, is that Bush was facing a Democratic-controlled Senate that actually had the power to stop his nominations.
With Republican control of 52 seats in the Senate and current rules mandating just a simple majority for approval, it seems likely that Trump's prediction that his cabinet picks will be confirmed will eventually be correct. 

Senate Democrats, however, continue to delay the inevitable. 

Ben Carson (Department of Housing and Urban Development), Rick Perry (Department of Energy), Ryan Zinke (Department of the Interior), David Shulkin (Department of Veterans Affairs), Steve Mnuchin (Department of Treasury), and Wilbur Ross (Department of Commerce) have all been approved by the necessary committees and are awaiting votes in the full Senate. 

So far, only Mnuchin and Shulkin have a vote scheduled, both for Monday.
The continuing obstruction of even uncontroversial cabinet choices is being driven by demands from the liberal base of the Democratic Party, which is demanding that Democratic lawmakers not cooperate with Trump on anything.

"Democrats, pushed by their base, are under pressure to not cooperate with the new president—on anything," wrote the Wall Street Journal following reports that Democrats boycotted committee hearings for multiple nominees. 

"Gone are the concerns about appearing overly obstructionist," Politico reported. "Officeholders are now chasing a base that will not tolerate any sign of accommodation."

Continue reading the article at Washington Free Beacon 

Hillary Clinton Will Turn Over Email Server to Justice Department

Hillary Clinton isn't capable of transparency or truth-telling. Then again, Obama's Justice Department isn't capable of neutrality or seeking real justice. From TheHIll.com:

Hillary Clinton will turn over her private email server and a backup thumb drive to the Justice Department, her spokesman confirmed Tuesday. 

The news comes just hours after the Intelligence Community Inspector General told Congress that her email server contained emails that have now been classified “top secret.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released two pages of the memo sent to a handful of members of Congress that confirmed the finding. 

“This information revealed by the inspector general makes it even more important that the FBI and the State Department secure these documents,” he said.  

“To date, the two agencies most critical to securing this information have failed to assure the American people that they are taking the necessary steps to protect America’s national security interests.” 

The State Department is also looking into Clinton’s top aides to learn whether any other unclassified information is unaccounted for, McClatchy reported. 

“We will follow the facts wherever they lead, to include former aides and associates, as appropriate,” said Douglas Welty, a spokesman for the State Department’s inspector general.

A little bit more about the emails as excerpted from McClatchyDC:

‘Top Secret’ emails found as Clinton probe expands to key aides 

As pressure builds on Hillary Clinton to explain her official use of personal email while serving as secretary of state, she faced new complications Tuesday. It was disclosed her top aides are being drawn into a burgeoning federal inquiry and that two emails on her private account have been classified as “Top Secret.” 

The inspector general for the Intelligence Community notified senior members of Congress that two of four classified emails discovered on the server Clinton maintained at her New York home contained material deemed to be in one of the highest security classifications - more sensitive than previously known. 

The notice came as the State Department inspector general’s office acknowledged that it is reviewing the use of “personal communications hardware and software” by Clinton’s former top aides after requests from Congress. 

“We will follow the facts wherever they lead, to include former aides and associates, as appropriate,” said Douglas Welty, a spokesman for the State Department’s inspector general.

Continued:

But it’s not clear that’s being done. 

Welty initially said the Intelligence Community inspector general, which had already been looking into the issue of whether classified information has been improperly shared with or by Clinton, has taken responsibility for deciding which emails to review, from whom and determining their classification. 

However, Andrea Williams, a spokeswoman for the Intelligence Community Inspector General, said that office “never had access to any emails other than those provided to the State Department by former Secretary Clinton.”

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article30714762.html#storylink=cp

Flashback:
Data in Hillary Clinton’s ‘Secret’ Emails Came from 5 Intelligence Agencies

The timeline of obstruction:


Denials, delays and disinformation are just standard operating procedure for Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. A great effort was made  to obscure or obfuscate the truth of Benghazi. The obstruction of justice was an end result.

Hillary Clinton's explanations of events and her emails were never believable.
Hillary Clinton's Email Server Answers Avoid Key Questions

A few blogs to consker reading on Benghazi and the Coverup:

Hillary Clinton Denies Being Subpoenaed: Investigators Release Subpoena
Hillary Clinton Email Scandal - Obfuscation & Obstruction
@AP 's FOIA Request Shows Extent of Hillary Clinton's Email Coverup 
A blog on the Benghazi - Syria connection
Obama Arms the Syrian Rebels & 'Overlooks' Their Use of Chemical Weapons 
A blog on the first days of media 'coverage'
Obama Media Machine in Full Deflection Mode after Embassy Attacks 

The Mitch McConnell MEME - A.K.A. The Obstructionist Republicans

The Mitch McConnell MEME

@BreitbartNews

Mitch McConnell by Brittany Zagoria

by Ben Shapiro 24 Sep 2012

Back in December 2010, two full years into Barack Obama’s presidency, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) remarked, “Our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term.” He was speaking after two years of Obama ramming through exponential spending increases, Obamacare, and a feckless foreign policy that had crippled United States policy in the Middle East. He also stated that he didn’t want Obama to fail, but to change.

Yet now the left uses McConnell’s words to show that Republicans were the true obstacle to Obama’s success. The truth is that Obama’s legislative success is the single greatest obstacle to his presidential success – his policies have been disastrous. But the media and the Democrats want to blame “partisanship” rather than the President.
So they lie about McConnell’s statement. Instead of placing it in the context of two years of Obama experience in steamrolling Republicans, they pretend that McConnell said it at the outset of the Obama presidency.
Yesterday, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) told Candy Crowley of CNN, “I think the President didn’t anticipate when the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell said my highest priority, highest priority is not to deal with the recession. Not to deal with the cost of health care. Not to deal with what’s happening on Wall Street.” This is sheer sophistry. That was McConnell’s top priority for the first two years of Obama’s presidency, until Obama proved himself a radical ideologue who wasn’t interested in solving those problems – and proved himself to be the biggest obstacle to solving those problems.
Former Pennsylvanian Gov. Ed Rendell has also lied about the McConnell comments. “I can't ever recall a newly elected president being faced with the leader of the other party's caucus saying ‘Our No. 1 priority is to make this president a one-term president,’” Rendell said. That McConnell would say that in the first nine months of Barack Obama's tenure is absolutely stunning, disgraceful, disgusting--you name the term.’” It might have been – if McConnell had said it. But Rendell lied.
Obama himself has tried to push this meme. “When I first came into office,” he said on 60 Minutes, “the head of the Senate Republicans said, ‘My number one priority is making sure President Obama's a one-term president.’” That’s a plain lie. But Obama repeated it in front of David Letterman, who was too busy licking the president’s boots to ask him about it.
McConnell never said what Democrats attribute to him, and he never said it when they said he said it. They need to misdirect from Obama’s failed record, and so they’ll twist and turn McConnell’s words to achieve their own ends.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/09/24/Dems-Lie-McConnell-One-Term-President

The one term president MEME

Now we examine the conduct and hypocrisy of the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid- Reigns on the Parade

AKA The Filibuster MEME


Harry Reid - Party Before Country

#filibuster #mitchmcconnell #obstructionist #republicans #fillingtheamendmenttree #harryreid #cloture