Trump Hails Judicial Watch Efforts to Uncover Hillary Clinton's Emails Affair as 'Treasure Trove'

Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server for classified correspondence, in violation of government regulations, has been under scrutiny for years, but the last FBI probe ended without a criminal case being opened, although the bureau did characterize the former Secretary of State's actions as "extremely careless".

US President Donald Trump tweeted praise for efforts by the privately-backed conservative activist Judicial Watch group to depose former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, on the use of a private email server and on "talking points" regarding a 2012 attack on the US embassy in Benghazi, Libya. Trump described the topic as a "treasure trove" and expressed regret that so few people were exploring allegations of misconduct by Clinton.

Trump tweeted a recent update from the Judicial Watch team, revealing that lawyers for the former Secretary of State and her staffer have been appealing a recent US District court decision that ordered the deposition of the two on the email server and the Benghazi attack records.

"This desperate act is yet another attempt by the Clinton machine to delay truth and accountability for her email conduct and how it impacted the people’s ‘right to know’ under FOIA [Freedom of Information Act]" Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton stated on 14 March.

The issue of Clinton's use of a private email server, instead of one protected by the government, resurfaced amid the 2016 presidential election campaign as the FBI probed the former Secretary of State for misconduct. Despite that the use of a private server prevents her emails, including those that could be related to the 2012 Benghazi attack, from being available via FOIA, the FBI advised against opening a criminal case against Clinton, merely describing her actions as "extremely careless".

The results of the investigation reportedly left Trump dissatisfied, as he complained that alleged attempts by Clinton to hide emails from the public must be investigated and, if necessary, prosecuted. The former Secretary of State claimed to have complied with federal law in how she handled her work correspondence, noting that her predecessors and several members of the Trump administration have also used private email servers for official communications.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202003151078574095-trump-hails-judicial-watch-efforts-to-uncover-hillary-clintons-emails-affair-as-treasure-trove/

The World Is Hit With A $12 Trillion Dollar Margin Call

Earlier today Trump declared that Sunday would be a national day of prayer.

With Americans having far bigger concerns on their minds, we doubt many will have time for prayer today, although there is one person who could do with some divine assistance: Fed chair Jerome Powell.

And there is a specific reason for that… or rather 12 trillion reasons.

But first, let's back up to a post we write back in October 2009 explaining how the Fed's emergency response during the financial crisis - which included credit facilities backed by corporate bonds and even stocks, all the way to unlimited FX swap lines with foreign central banks - was first and foremost in response to a massive dollar margin call that resulted in the aftermath of the Lehman and AIG collapse as conventional cross-border funding pathways froze up, forcing the Fed to step in and flood the world with dollars to avoid a catastrophic surge in the dollar as the entire world scrambled to obtain the world's reserve currency.

Back then the BIS published a paper titled "The US dollar shortage in global banking and the international policy response" which explained how then-Fed Chair Ben Bernanke in essence bailed out the entire developed world, which was facing an unprecedented dollar shortage crisis due to the sudden deflationary shockwave unleashed by the financial crisis, which also ground the global economy, and conventional dollar funding pathways to a halt while heightened counterparty risk after Lehman's collapse and liquidity concerns compromised short-term interbank funding, resulting in a lock of shadow banking conduits and money market funds "breaking the buck." In short: an unprecedented crisis as a result of a global dollar margin call.

This is how the BIS quantified the peak dollar shortage at the heights of the financial crisis:

… European banks’ US dollar investments in nonbanks were subject to considerable funding risk at the onset of the crisis. The net US dollar book, aggregated across the major European banking systems, is portrayed in Figure 5 (bottom left panel), with the non-bank component tracked by the green line. By this measure, the major European banks’ US dollar funding gap had reached $1.0–1.2 trillion by mid-2007. Until the onset of the crisis, European banks had met this need by tapping the interbank market ($432 billion) and by borrowing from central banks ($386 billion), and used FX swaps ($315 billion) to convert (primarily) domestic currency funding into dollars. If we assume that these banks’ liabilities to money market funds (roughly $1 trillion, Baba et al (2009)) are also short-term liabilities, then the estimate of their US dollar funding gap in mid-2007 would be $2.0–2.2 trillion. Were all liabilities to non-banks treated as short-term funding, the upper-bound estimate would be $6.5 trillion (Figure 5, bottom right panel).

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/pray-powell-world-hit-12-trillion-dollar-margin-call

New Iraqi Group Claims Responsibility For Camp Taji Attack

A new Iraqi military group has claimed responsibility for the March 11 Camp Taji attack, which claimed the lives of three U.S.-led coalition service members.

In an official statement released on March 15, the group, dubbed Ausbat al-Thaayirin (AT), confirmed its responsibility for the recent rocket attacks on Iraqi bases hosting U.S. troops.

“In response to the request of our Mujahedeen brothers … we declare that the blessed operations [the shelling of occupation bases] are our operations, and we fear no one by announcing this,” the statement reads.

A few days ago, Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) released a statement calling on the perpetrators of the recent attacks to reveal themselves, promising to support them. KH was held responsible for these attacks by the U.S.

AT appears to be a pro-Iranian Shiite group. The group vowed to respond to the assassination of Popular Mobilization Unties (PMU) Deputy-Commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Maj. Gen. Qassam Soleimani, Commander of Iran’s Quds Force.

“The assassination of our martyr leaders is heat in our chests, a motive for our conscious that will not trail off until the withdrawal of the occupying forces in a humiliating and degrading manner,” the group said.

The U.S. carried out a series of strikes on Iraq on March 13 in response to Camp Taji attack. The strikes hit positions of the PMU, the Iraqi military and police.

AT’s statement is yet to be verified. More information about the mysterious group will likely appear in the coming months.

https://southfront.org/new-iraqi-group-claims-responsibility-for-camp-taji-attack/

Cabal rebranding time

Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham Chief Propagandist Offers Bounty For Killing Russian Journalists

On March 15, Tahir al-Omar, a propagandist of al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), offered a bounty for killing Russian journalists escorting the Russian-Turkish joint patrol on the M4 highway in northwest Syria.

In a post on his Telegram channel, al-Omar said that he would pay up to $25,000 to any militant who would kill Evgeny Poddubnyy or Oleg Blokhin.

Poddubnyy is the head of the state-run Russia-24’s bureau in the Middle East and North Africa, while Blokhin is a reporter of the Abkhazian Network News Agency (ANNA). Both journalists have been covering the conflict in Syria for years.

“The heroes of the anti-tank [squads], the snipers and the Mujahedeen in general anyone who would kill any of them [the Russian journalists] will be granted a prize of 25 thousand Dollars from a one side,” al-Omar’s post, which included photos of Poddubnyy and Blokhin, reads.

https://southfront.org/hayat-tahrir-al-sham-chief-propagandist-offers-bounty-for-killing-russian-journalists/

These terrorists are awfully well equipped

>>8427921

Low IQ

Mandates above all? Macron declares himself ‘guarantor of HEALTH & democracy’ as Paris pushes citizens to vote amid coronavirus

The pandemic has put France on lockdown, with public venues and shops shut down. Polling stations, however, were not only spared, but Paris eagerly pushed the people to vote in local polls, despite health concerns and criticism.

The unstoppable spread of the new coronavirus, known as Covid-19 has prompted the French government to shut down all "non-essential" public venues, be they shops, bars, restaurants, or even schools. Still, the polling stations appear to be just essential enough for Paris to be willing to risk the lives of the French electorate.

Despite the growing threat of the disease outbreak, which the World Health Organization recently officially declared a pandemic, the French authorities have stubbornly pushed for the municipal elections, the first round of which is held Sunday.

President Emmanuel Macron led the citizenry by example, braving the virus and showing up at a polling station to cast his vote. In fact, voting during epidemics is particularly important, he argued.

"I am the guarantor of security and health of our fellow citizens but also of the democratic life of our country," Macron said. "It is important to continue to be worthy, free citizens."

He urged the people to be "responsible," giving his insights on how to get through the epidemic.

“This crisis, we will overcome it, we will navigate through it by being responsible together and individually. Every one for himself, and for the others,” Macron stated.

Being “responsible,” apparently, does not concern the government itself, as it strongly opposed calls to postpone the vote due to the virus outbreak. Still, it was just thoughtful enough to provide the ordinary folk with some guidelines on how to mitigate the risks to their health as they line up to cast ballots amid a pandemic. The list includes suggestions to avoid queues and choose less popular times to visit the polling stations, as well as using one’s own pen, or preferably voting by mail.

The authorities also vowed to do their best to clean door handles, tables, voting booths and pretty much everything at the polling stations. However, such a strong stand in defense of democracy has found little understanding, even among the French politicians and municipal candidates themselves, who said the whole thing is just not worth it.

https://www.rt.com/news/483177-french-vote-coronavrius-macron/

Israel’s Netanyahu tests negative for coronavirus… but his rival is entrusted with forming govt

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Sunday flaunted a negative result for his Covid-19 test, branded "manipulation" by his rival Benny Gantz. The stunt seemingly didn’t help, as Gantz was then tapped to form the government.

The prime minister and those working close to him, had been tested for the deadly virus as a "precaution," while none of them displayed any symptoms of the disease.

The coronavirus test was harshly criticized by Netanyahu's political rival, the head of centrist Blue and White party Benny Gantz, who blamed the PM for staging a public stunt and "manipulating" the people. While the incumbent PM has been pushing for an "emergency unity government" with Gantz, claiming it is needed to fight the outbreak, Gantz has been reluctant to accept Netanyahu's advances.

Late on Sunday, Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin’s office said that Gantz will be entrusted with forming the government, in a new attempt to end the country’s nearly year-long political deadlock.

"Tomorrow, around midday, the president will assign the task of forming the government to head of [Blue and White party] Benny Gantz," the statement said as quoted by Reuters.

https://www.rt.com/news/483190-netanyahu-tests-negative-coronavirus-gantz/

Dark Money Juggernaut Gets Behind Steve Bullock, Who’s Long Derided Influence of Hidden Money

Montana governor Steve Bullock has spent his entire political career saying he wants to remove dark money from politics. Now running for the U.S. Senate, Bullock is receiving help from one of the largest liberal dark money networks in America.

Protect Our Care, a shadowy group that attacks Republicans on health care issues, announced Thursday it is spending $250,000 to support Bullock. The money will buy television ads hitting Bullock's opponent, Sen. Steve Daines (R.), on his health care record amid coronavirus fears. Protect Our Care is part of a dark money juggernaut used by some of the wealthiest donors in the Democratic Party. Bullock has expressed aggressive opposition to the influence of such entities in the past.

Bullock, who announced his candidacy for the Senate on March 9, has long been a campaign-finance reform and transparency advocate. He centered his short-lived presidential campaign around campaign-finance reform and opposing secret money in politics. The "One Big Idea" on his campaign's website included an executive order to crack down on dark money spending. As Montana's governor, he signed a law requiring dark money groups to report how they spend their cash on state elections.

It appears Bullock has now reversed course. Protect Our Care falls under the umbrella of Arabella Advisors, a dark money network responsible for concealing the source of $600 million funneled to liberal causes in 2018 alone. It is used by some of the Democratic Party's biggest donors, including millionaire and billionaire members of the Democracy Alliance, a donor club cofounded by George Soros.

Protect Our Care is a project of Arabella's Sixteen Thirty Fund, a fiscal sponsor that offers its legal and tax-exempt status to groups the IRS does not recognize as nonprofits. Sixteen Thirty contains dozens of groups and initiatives that work to advance liberal causes. It pushed $141 million to such efforts in 2018, the most recent year for which its tax forms are available.

Protect Our Care has backed numerous political campaigns across the United States. Two days before the group placed its six-figure ad buy in Montana, it released a video of former president Barack Obama defending the Affordable Care Act as the Supreme Court took up a new case that could wipe out the legislation.

Protect Our Care is now hitting Sen. Daines over his opposition to the Affordable Care Act. "In the Senate, Steve Daines claimed he would ‘work tirelessly' to repeal the Affordable Care Act and demonstrated that by voting five times to repeal the law," the group wrote in its announcement of the ad buy.

Bullock's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

The ad is one of the first supporting Bullock since he announced his candidacy for the Senate. Bullock had long insisted he was not interested in the Senate seat. He met with Obama and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) last month.

The "top tier" race between Daines and Bullock is viewed as pivotal in helping decide which party will control the Senate after November's elections.

https://freebeacon.com/issues/dark-money-juggernaut-gets-behind-steve-bullock-whos-long-derided-influence-of-hidden-money/

Mayor's Illegal Executive Order Bans Sale of Firearms, Ammunition and Alcohol in corona virus response

Champaign Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen has issued an executive order declaring an emergency in the city.

City officials said the emergency is related to the COVID-19, which is anticipated to cause an impact on the health of community members. Champaign Municipal Code allows the mayor to declare an emergency for a limited time.

Included in the executive order are ordinances that would give the city extraordinary powers to the Mayor.

Violating parts of the Open Meetings Act

Ban sale of firearms and ammunition

Ban sale of any alcohol

Closing of all bars, taverns, liquor stores, etc

Ban sale or giving away of gasoline or other liquid flammable or combustible products in any container other than a gasoline tank permanently fixed to a motor vehicle

Direct the shutoff of power, water, gas, etc

Take possession of private property and obtain full title to same

Prohibit or restrict ingress and egress to and from the City

"The executive order allows the city to be flexible to properly respond to the emergency needs of our community. None of the options will necessarily will be implemented but are available in order to protect the welfare and safety of our community if needed," Jeff Hamilton the City of Champaign's Communications Manger told WAND-TV.

Champaign leaders released a statement Friday evening in response to several false claims circulating online. They reiterated there is currently no firearm ban and no intent to seize property and close businesses.

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/76505/mayors-illegal-executive-order-bans-sale-of-firearms-ammunition-and-alcohol-in-corona-virus.html