CNN: Debate commission: Trump had audio ‘issues’

By Karl de Vries and Eugene Scott

Washington (CNN) – The Commission on Presidential Debates revealed in a one-sentence statement Friday that Donald Trump’s audio was impacted earlier in the week.

“Regarding the first debate, there were issues regarding Donald Trump’s audio that affected the sound level in the debate hall,” the commission said in a statement. No other details were immediately made available.

The statement provided no evidence that the audio issue affected the television audience of more than 80 million people.

Trump complained earlier in the week that his microphone wasn’t functioning properly at Monday’s debate.

“And they also had, gave me a defective mic. Did you notice that? My mic was defective within the room,” he told a group of reporters afterward. “No, but I wonder, was that on purpose? Was that on purpose? But I had a mic that wasn’t worked properly, with, working properly within the room.”

Friday’s statement, however, said nothing about a microphone problem.

Trump’s Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton, mocked Trump the day after the debate for complaining about his mic.

Continue reading, CNN.

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NBC News: After Debate, Women Think Less of Trump and Better of Clinton

By Irin Carmon

Donald Trump has said, “I would be the best for women.” But according to a new NBC News|SurveyMoney poll taken after the first presidential debate, a majority of women aren’t convinced.

Twenty-seven percent of likely women voters said the debate made them think worse of Trump. Meanwhile, nearly a third, or 30 percent, said their opinion of Clinton had improved, compared to 22 percent of men. Women were also far likelier to say Clinton won the debate, by a 10-point margin over men.

“I’m undecided, but I’m leaning more towards Hillary than I ever have before because of the debate,” said Joan Hume, a 71-year-old retiree in Fairfield, Ohio who said she voted for Trump in the Republican primary because she wanted to “see Washington shaken up.”

Hume added, “There’s a side of him that’s scary to me that I’m seeing more of. I thought maybe he would change when he got the nomination, but he’s getting worse.”

Only 11 percent of women voters said their opinion of Trump had improved after the debate. Thirteen percent said their opinion of Clinton had worsened, compared to 21 percent of men who thought less of Clinton after seeing her debate.

Women were also likelier, by a 12-point margin, to doubt Trump’s personality and temperament, while men were likelier to doubt Clinton’s, by a near-identical margin of 13 points.

Trump fared particularly poorly with independent women when they were asked if he has the “temperament and personality to serve.” Eighty percent of independent female voters said he does not. By contrast, independent women voters were more evenly split on Clinton’s personality and temperament, with 51 percent saying she met the test for president.

“I was a little bit taken aback. I understand that Donald Trump is a passionate person, but in situations like that I believe he needed to pull back and not quite be so combative,” said Kathryn Fink, a 63-year-old library technician in Kirtland, Ohio who was undecided before the debate.

Continue reading, NBC News.

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The Lid: Hillary’s ‘Body-Shamed’ Miss Universe Accused Of Threatening To Kill Judge

By Jeff Dunetz

During Monday nights debate Hillary Clinton pointed to Alicia Machado who was the first woman to win the Miss Universe beauty contest after Donald Trump purchased it (1996) as an example of Trump’s misogyny. But the woman Hillary Clinton is defending a isn’t all she’s cracked up to be. She basically broke the Miss Universe contract by making herself too heavy to play the part of a beauty queen (her crown was only saved by the intervention of Trump), she was accused of driving the getaway car in an attempted murder but “got off” because of lack of evidence, and followed up by threatening a judge.

During the debate, Hillary opined:

“He loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them — and he called this woman ‘Miss Piggy,’ then he called her ‘Miss Housekeeping’ because she was Latina. Donald, she has a name. Her name is Alicia Machado. And she has become a US citizen and you can bet she is going to vote this November.”

As one might expect coming from his political opponent, that was only part of the story.

According to CNN on January 29, 1997 after she was crowned Ms. Machado’s weight ballooned from 118 pounds to 178 pounds a 50% increase. Based on the contract she signed and the position she held Machado’s weight gain was no different than an athlete showing up for spring training way of his or her weight.  And Trump’s reaction was no different than any coach or manger faced with an athlete who let themselves go.

At the time of her weight gain, rumors also surfaced that she might be forced to give up her Miss Universe crown.

But Trump, as co-owner of rights to the pageant, said he would never let that happen. “We had a choice of: termination or do this,” he said. “We wanted to do this.”

“A lot of you folks have weight problems. I hate to tell you,” Trump told the rowdy pool of reporters.

The pageant’s meaning of “do this” was for Machado to get her weight down to about 130 pounds. At a recent photo op, Machado — hardly a blimp at 5-foot-7 — pedaled a stationary bicycle and jumped rope in front of a pack of photographers and reporters who could themselves use a little training.

He admits to body shaming her as a way to push her to lose weight. “To that, I will plead guilty,” he said, expressing no regret for his tactics. But the humiliation, Ms. Machado said, was unbearable. “After that episode, I was sick, anorexia and bulimia for five years,” she said. “Over the past 20 years, I’ve gone to a lot of psychologists to combat this.”

In other words, Donald Trump treated Alicia Machado the same as any other employee, by gaining 60 pounds she was not meeting her obligations an he pushed her to get in line.  It may not be my management style but it wasn’t misogyny it was about meeting her obligations.

As for Ms Machado’s visits to the psychologist there might have been other reasons for the visits. First she was accused of driving the getaway car in an attempted murder.

Continue reading, The Lid

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Fox News: Trump threatens to ‘hit her harder’ at next debate, as surrogates rip moderator

By FoxNews.com

Donald Trump brushed himself off Tuesday following a rough-and-tumble debate with Hillary Clinton, returning to the campaign trail while warning he may have to “hit her harder” in the next round – as he and his surrogates rapped moderator Lester Holt for skating over the controversies associated with the Democratic nominee.

Clinton was widely seen as coming to the debate stage at Hofstra University well-prepared to take on the sometimes-unpredictable Trump, and standing her ground without any major stumbles. But the Republican nominee and his team pushed back Tuesday on any suggestion he might have missed opportunities to land punches, as Clinton’s supporters gloated that she got the better of him.

“I think [Trump] had a great night,” running mate Mike Pence, who will face Democratic counterpart Tim Kaine at a debate next week, said on Fox News’“America’s Newsroom.”

Trump, speaking on “Fox & Friends,” said the debate went well, especially when he was asked “normal questions.”

However, he and his backers noted that Holt never pressed Clinton on several issues, suggesting the moderator tilted the playing field in her favor during their opening bout.

“[Holt] didn’t ask her about the emails at all. He didn’t ask her about her scandals. He didn’t ask her about [Benghazi],” Trump said. “They were leaving all of her little goodies out.”

Continue reading, FoxNews.com

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Obama’s Conflict Tanked the Clinton E-mail Investigation — As Predicted

By: ANDREW C. MCCARTHY

Hillary couldn’t be proven guilty without proving the president guilty as well. ‘How is this not classified?” So exclaimed Hillary Clinton’s close aide and confidante, Huma Abedin. The FBI had just shown her an old e-mail exchange, over Clinton’s private account, between the then-secretary of state and a second person, whose name Abedin did not recognize. The FBI then did what the FBI is never supposed to do: The agents informed their interviewee (Abedin) of the identity of the second person. It was the president of the United States, Barack Obama, using a pseudonym to conduct communications over a non-secure e-mail system — something anyone with a high-level security clearance, such as Huma Abedin, would instantly realize was a major breach.

Abedin was sufficiently stunned that, for just a moment, the bottomless capacity of Clinton insiders to keep cool in a scandal was overcome. “How is this not classified?” She recovered quickly enough, though. The FBI records that the next thing Abedin did, after “express[ing] her amazement at the president’s use of a pseudonym,” was to “ask if she could have a copy of the email.” Abedin knew an insurance policy when she saw one. If Obama himself had been e-mailing over a non-government, non-secure system, then everyone else who had been doing it had a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Read more: National Review

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Hillary Clinton to use larger podium than Donald Trump at first debate to make up for height disadvantage

By: Adam Edelman

 

Hillary Clinton says that we’re “stronger together,” but even she can’t deny Donald Trump is taller.

The Democratic nominee, who is 5-foot-4, has apparently enlisted the help of a raised podium for the first presidential debate against Donald Trump, who is 6-foot-3, Monday night, photos of the two podiums show.

According to WABC’s Rita Cosby, one of the two podiums inside the debate hall at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, N.Y., is larger than the other.

It is believed that the larger one was built at Clinton’s request to make her appear taller than she is.

“Clinton is 5’4″ and Trump 6’2″ and her team wanted the podium modified or a box added so she won’t look short next to Trump,” Cosby said in an email.

“One is clearly larger … than the other,” Cosby said.

 

Continue Reading: NY Daily News

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Breaking: FBI gave top Clinton aide Cheryl Mills immunity in email probe

By: Fox News

Hillary Clinton’s former chief of staff Cheryl Mills and two other staffers were granted immunity as part of the now-closed FBI probe into the former secretary of state’s email practices, according to a top House Republican who questioned whether the numerous deals hindered the bureau’s ability to build a case.

“This is beyond explanation,” House oversight committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said in a statement Friday. “The FBI was handing out immunity agreements like candy. I’ve lost confidence in this investigation and I question the genuine effort in which it was carried out.”

The arrangements detailed by Chaffetz bring the total number of publicly known immunity deals in the Clinton case to five.

Chaffetz first revealed the additional deals in an interview with The Associated Press, saying “no wonder they couldn’t prosecute a case.” He said Mills gave federal investigators access to her laptop on the condition that findings couldn’t be used against her.

“Immunity deals should not be a requirement for cooperating with the FBI,” Chaffetz said in his statement.

 

Continue reading: Fox News

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Washington Times: DHS admits refugee fraud ‘easy to commit’

By Stephen Dinan

Refugee fraud is “easy to commit” and much tougher to detect, Homeland Security officials acknowledged in an internal memo made public by members of Congress Thursday that challenges the department’s own assurances as it seeks to increase the number of refugees from dangerous countries.

The U.S. has relaxed requirements for refugees to prove they are who they say they are, and at times may rely solely on testimony. That makes it easier for bogus applicants to conspire to get approved, according to the department memo, which was obtained by the House Judiciary and Oversight committees.

“Refugee fraud is easy to commit, yet not easy to investigate,” the undated memo says.

The memo said there are clear instances where “bad actors … have exploited this program,” gaining a foothold in the U.S. through bogus refugee claims.

The revelation comes just a week after the administration said it was boosting the number of refugees it wants to accept next year to 110,000, up from 85,000 this year. Officials also said they’ll take more Syrians than the 12,000 they’ve accepted so far this year — and they are on pace to resettle as many as 30,000 in 2017.

Continue reading, Washington Times.

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The Hill: Oversight Committee votes to hold Clinton IT aide in contempt of Congress

By Katie Bo Williams

The House Oversight Committee recommended Thursday morning on party lines that the House hold former State Department IT technician Bryan Pagliano in contempt of Congress.

Pagliano was responsible for setting up Clinton’s private email server during her tenure as secretary of State.

The former State Department employee declined to appear at an Oversight hearing on Clinton’s server last week, in spite of a subpoena demanding his presence. The committee held a follow-up hearing on the same subject on Thursday morning, which Pagliano also declined to attend.

When Pagliano didn’t show, Republicans immediately adjourned the hearing and held a business meeting to vote on the contempt of Congress resolution.

“Subpoenas are not optional,” Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said Thursday. “Mr. Pagliano is a crucial fact witness in this committee’s investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server to conduct government business.”

The resolution still needs to go to the House floor to be adopted.

Outraged Democrats argued repeatedly that the move was an abuse of power that violates rules against harassing witnesses.

“Never, no how, no way, no,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said when asked to vote on the resolution.

The committee asked Pagliano be served by U.S. marshals, according to both Chaffetz and ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). Chaffetz argued that the move was intended to prevent ambiguity, while Cummings characterized the move as harassment.

“The committee could have sent a staffer in a coat and tie, but they sent federal marshals with guns,” Cummings said. “This served no purpose but to harass and intimidate Mr. Pagliano.”

“These actions are the definition of abuse. They are harassment. And I believe they are unethical.”

Republicans say the subpoena was issued correctly and transparently, and that Pagliano has no reason not to testify.

Oversight members on Thursday morning reviewed an immunity agreement struck between Pagliano and the Department of Justice during the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s server, according to a Democratic committee aide.

“Under those circumstances, Mr. Pagliano has no fear of criminal liability preventing him from testifying before the committee,” Chaffetz said Thursday.

Democrats say that the agreement is “limited” and therefore does not protect Pagliano before the Oversight Committee. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) pointed to an outstanding criminal referral from Chaffetz that asked the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia to investigate deletions from the server.

Continue reading, The Hill.

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Gateway Pundit: Reddit Users Break HUGE Clinton Email Story – Proving Hillary ORDERED Emails to Be Stripped

By Jim Hoft

This tweet was posted earlier…
“Paul Combetta ASKED TO STRIP OR REPLACE VIP’s EMAIL ADDRESS”

 gateway-reddit

This exchange took place on Reddit and involves Paul Combetta, an employee with Platte River Networks, the company in charge of Hillary Clinton’s home server.

Combetta was granted immunity from Obama’s Department of Justice in their investigation of Clinton.

Combetta was the employee who deleted all of Hillary Clinton’s emails.

According users on Reddit, Combetta asked for assistance in July 2014 from Reddit users on how to purge emails and how to strip VIP’s email address from “a bunch of archived emails.”

 Continue reading: Gateway Pundit
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