Hours after the arrest of 17 progressive protesters at a sit-in at New York Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer’s office, President Barack Obama said Democrats will be doing some healthy reflection after the pounding the party took in last week’s national election.

The progressive wing of the Democratic party, which backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential primary challenge to eventual nominee Hillary Clinton, wants to double down on its agenda. It blames Clinton’s supposed centrist stance and close ties to Wall Street for the loss to Republican Donald Trump on Nov. 8.

Some of this will play out in the coming months in the competition to be the next Democratic National Committee chairman.

The President and Protesters

“When your team loses, everybody gets deflated and it’s hard and it’s challenging and so I think it’s a healthy thing for the Democratic Party to go through some reflection,” Obama, who as president is the outgoing titular leader of his party, said in a press conference Monday. “I think it’s important for me not to be big-footing that conversation. I think we want to see new voices and new ideas emerge.”

“When your team loses, everybody gets deflated,” @POTUS says.

Obama said the Democratic Party can’t waiver from its core beliefs.

“I believe that we have better ideas, but I also believe that good ideas don’t matter if people don’t hear them and one of the issues that Democrats have to be clear on is that, given population distribution across the country, we have to compete everywhere,” Obama said.

Protesters outside likely Senate Democratic leader Schumer’s office had a different view than Obama.

The 45 millennial activists, calling themselves “All of Us 2016,” made two demands: that Democrats vow to never negotiate with President-elect Trump and that Schumer step aside from his designated role and endorse Sanders to be the party’s Senate leader.

“The Democrats cannot negotiate with a racist, fascist President Trump, they must filibuster all day and all night to stop his racist, fascist agenda,” All of Us co-founder Waleed Shahid, 25, of Brooklyn, told The Daily Signal. “It was negotiation that led to calling African-Americans three-fifths of a citizen.”

The protesters sang, “We stand for our future and together we stand strong.” They also chanted, “Our future is on the line, Chuck Schumer, grow a spine.”

“Democrats lost because they couldn’t tell the truth. Schumer is entirely funded by Wall Street,” Shahid said, adding it would have turned out different if Sanders had been the Democratic nominee. “Sanders inspired the American people.”

Various protesters were arrested in groups of one and two, and taken away. This is revealing about Schumer, said Anna Bonomo, 26, of Hermitage, Pennsylvania.

“Charles Schumer decided to have almost 20 millennials arrested instead of meeting with us and talking with us,” Bonomo told The Daily Signal. “I think that just goes to prove that Wall Street Democrats like him are not here for the people they claim to represent.”

Schumer’s office did not respond to inquiries from The Daily Signal.

The Democratic National Committee did not respond to The Daily Signal’s questions about the state of the party. The DNC chair’s leadership role will be elevated with Republicans holding the White House and Congress.

Electing the Next Chairman

Interim DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile was shouted down last week by a DNC staffer, who blamed the party’s establishment for Trump’s victory and warned of pending doom from climate change, The Huffington Post reported. The DNC staffer told Brazile:

Why should we trust you as chair to lead us through this? You backed a flawed candidate, and your friend [former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz] plotted through this to support your own gain and yourself. You are part of the problem. You and your friends will die of old age and I’m going to die from climate change. You and your friends let this happen, which is going to cut 40 years off my life expectancy.

DNC members will choose a successor to Brazile in February.

Both Schumer and Sanders have endorsed Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, to be the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee, as has outgoing Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

But securing the nomination won’t be easy for Ellison, the first Muslim in Congress.

Competition for Leadership

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who chaired the DNC from 2005 through 2009 when the party retook Congress and the White House, plans to run for the job again. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who ran unsuccessfully for president, has said he’s interested in the job.

Others possibilities are reportedly Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley.

In addition to Trump’s surprising win over Clinton, the Nov. 8 election also saw the GOP hold the House and Senate and make gains among governorships and state legislatures. Trump even won traditionally blue states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

Sanders scolded the Democratic Party in a tweet Monday morning, though he didn’t address the protest group advocating his elevation to Senate Democratic leader.

“I come from the white working class, and I am deeply humiliated that the Democratic Party cannot talk to the people where I came from,” Sanders tweeted.

He later tweeted: “The Democratic Party can no longer be led by the liberal elite. We have to stand up to Wall Street and the greed of corporate America.”

Politico reported that big Democratic donors met with billionaire financier George Soros at the District of Columbia’s elite Mandarin Oriental hotel for a closed-door conference sponsored by the Democracy Alliance, a progressive activist organization. Soros spent millions trying to get Clinton elected. Ellison attended the meeting spanning Sunday through Monday.

Others attending the conference were House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Soros’ Democracy Alliance has contributed more than $500 million to get Democrats elected and on liberal groups since 2005.

By Fred Lucas / @FredLucasWH /

Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress, not the president, creates the laws. Article I of the Constitution grants enumerated legislative powers to Congress. The Constitution assigns the executive the duty to enforce the law, and Article II, Section 3 requires that the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

However, throughout the last eight years, we have seen the Obama administration continually abuse the power of the executive branch by issuing unconstitutional, unilateral executive actions to push its agenda. The “old days” of Congress creating our laws have become a distant memory.

President Barack Obama even went so far as to announce his unilateralism, saying, “We’re not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we’re providing Americans the kind of help they need. I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone.”

Well, it appears that American voters have their own pens, too, and they’ve put them to their ballots now in a stunning and decisive way. On Tuesday, the American people elected Republican outsider Donald J. Trump to serve as the 45th president of the United States.

Now, with control of the presidency, both chambers of Congress, and soon the Supreme Court, conservatives across the country are looking forward to repairing some of the damage Obama has inflicted on our constitutional system.

As long promised, Trump should use the first 100 days of his administration to repeal every illegal executive action the Obama administration has issued while in office.

Here is a list of the seven areas with the most damaging executive actions signed during the Obama administration that must be repealed:

1. Crony Exemptions to Obamacare. While Trump works with Congress to actually repeal Obamacare, he can start by issuing an order to halt some of Obama’s executive actions that created special exemptions to Obamacare for his favored constituencies.
2. Executive Amnesty. The new president must repeal Obama’s unilateral changes to our nation’s immigration laws, which exempted certain categories of illegal aliens from being deported. (This bar on deportations was halted by a court order, but the underlying exemption still remains on the books.)
3. Environmental Protection Agency Overreaches. Trump must repeal Obama’s multiple illegitimate expansions of EPA rules. These new rules have imposed huge costs on society and are crippling the U.S. energy sector.
4. Appeasement of Iran. Trump must repeal the executive order that single-handedly removed U.S. sanctions on Iran. These sanctions provided key leverage to the U.S. in negotiations with Iran, and their removal has cleared Iran’s path in developing a nuclear weapon.
5. Climate Change Bureaucracy. Trump must repeal the executive order that purports to “prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change.” This action from Obama created manifold new justifications for government spending based on inconclusive science.
6. Life and Religious Liberty. Trump should reverse Obamacare’s unprecedented taxpayer funding of abortion. He should also direct the secretary of Health and Human Services to undertake a rulemaking process that will end the mandate for insurance to cover abortion-inducing drugs and contraception, along with “gender transition” therapies and surgeries.
7. “Gender Identity.” Trump should repeal the Obama administration’s Title IX guidance equating “gender identity” with “biological sex.” The Department of Justice and Department of Education have wielded this guidance to punish educational institutions for “discrimination” under Title IX, simply for having separate showers, locker rooms, and bathrooms for men and women.

By making the repeal of these executive actions a priority, the Trump administration will have an easy opportunity to right some of the wrongs of the past administration.

As Henry Ford once said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” It’s been a while since conservatives have had an opportunity like this one, and it is imperative we take advantage of it.

By Brad Bishop

Nancy Pelosi spoke with President-elect Donald Trump by phone to congratulate him on his victory. Hillary Clinton graciously conceded. President Obama called for a “peaceful transfer of power.”

Harry Reid, not so much.

The pugilistic Senate Democratic leader who is retiring this term issued a 473-word statement Friday railing against Trump’s election, saying it has “emboldened the forces of hate and bigotry” as the country is overcome by “tears” and “fear.”

“White nationalists, Vladimir Putin and ISIS are celebrating Donald Trump’s victory, while innocent, law-abiding Americans are wracked with fear – especially African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Muslim Americans, LGBT Americans and Asian Americans. Watching white nationalists celebrate while innocent Americans cry tears of fear does not feel like America,” the retiring Nevada senator said.

Speaking out as protests have sprung up in cities across the country, Reid cited accounts of African Americans being heckled and Hispanic Americans fearful their families “will be torn apart.”

“We as a nation must find a way to move forward without consigning those who Trump has threatened to the shadows. Their fear is entirely rational, because Donald Trump has talked openly about doing terrible things to them,” he said. “Every news piece that breathlessly obsesses over inauguration preparations compounds their fear by normalizing a man who has threatened to tear families apart, who has bragged about sexually assaulting women and who has directed crowds of thousands to intimidate reporters and assault African Americans.”

Trump indeed has raised deep concerns among Hispanic-Americans over his calls to build a wall along the Southern border and step up deportations, and among Muslims over his widely criticized plan to suspend Muslim immigration – a plan he since backed away from.

But in the hours and days since the election, the candidate who riled up rally crowds and engaged regularly in rhetorical battle with his political foes has struck a more conciliatory tone, as those protesting his election have in some places resorted to violence.

Even his biggest critics – namely President Obama and Hillary Clinton – have urged the country to respect the election results and come together.

Clinton, in her concession speech, said: “We must accept this result, and then look to the future. … Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.”

House Democratic Leader Pelosi, D-Calif., spoke with Trump by phone and echoed Obama and Clinton, saying in a statement that the country needs to “come together.”  

“The peaceful transfer of power is the cornerstone of our democracy,” she said, even noting that Congress could work with Trump on an infrastructure bill.

“I congratulate President-elect Trump and his family, and pray for his success,” she said.

Reid ended his statement on a different note. He called Trump a “sexual predator who lost the popular vote and fueled his campaign with bigotry and hate.”

He said: “Winning the electoral college does not absolve Trump of the grave sins he committed against millions of Americans. Donald Trump may not possess the capacity to assuage those fears, but he owes it to this nation to try. If Trump wants to roll back tide of hate he unleashed, he has a tremendous amount of work to do and he must begin immediately.”

Following one of the biggest upsets in modern political history, The Heritage Foundation convened a panel of experts Thursday to examine what a Donald Trump presidency will mean for the Constitution and conservatism as a whole.

“I frankly think that what just happened in this election may have preserved our constitutional republic,” Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint said in his opening remarks.

DeMint continued:

We know the intent of [Mrs.] Clinton, and she talked a lot about it and what her belief was of the Constitution. And we know Donald Trump has talked about the importance of the Constitution and the list of Supreme Court justices that he released gave us at least some positive indication … to carry out the original intent of the Constitution.

Hillary Clinton, in her first public remarks since her stunning defeat overnight to President-elect Donald Trump, urged her millions of supporters to “accept this result” and give her Republican rival a “chance to lead” as she voiced hope the country could move past the divisions of the grueling 2016 campaign.

“This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I’m sorry we did not win this election … but I feel pride and gratitude for this wonderful campaign that we built together,” Clinton told supporters Wednesday in New York City.

She said “this loss hurts,” but said her campaign “was never about one person or even one election.”

“We must accept this result, and then look to the future,” Clinton said. “Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.”

She confirmed that she called Trump to congratulate him overnight and said she hopes “he will be a successful president for all Americans.”

The remarks confirm there will be no question about the legitimacy of Trump’s victory or expected challenges from her campaign, which briefly hinted the night before it was still waiting for key state results.

Running mate Tim Kaine introduced her Wednesday, saying Clinton “has been and is a great history-maker.”

Declaring victory on one front, Kaine said they “won the popular vote of America.” Clinton leads in the popular vote, though returns are still coming in. Because Trump won more than 270 electoral votes, however, Clinton lost the race.

Complementing Clinton’s message, President Obama said shortly afterward in the Rose Garden he has instructed his team to ensure a “successful transition.” He also has invited Trump to the White House on Thursday.

“The peaceful transfer of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy,” Obama said, reminding Americans “we’re actually all on the same team.”

Obama, who aggressively campaigned against Trump during the 2016 race, said “it is no secret that the president-elect and I have some pretty significant differences.”

But he noted he and then-President George W. Bush also had differences eight years ago when he took over. A “sense of unity” is what the country needs, Obama said.

Clinton spoke Wednesday after staying out of the public eye overnight, as it was becoming clear she was poised to lose the race. As a somber mood set in at what was originally planned as her victory party, her campaign chairman John Podesta took the stage early Wednesday morning to declare several states were “too close to call” and the campaign would have nothing more to say at the time, urging supporters to “head home.”

Yet Clinton around that time was calling Trump to congratulate him and concede the race, effectively ending her second bid to be the first female U.S. president. She referenced the historical implications in her public concession Wednesday, saying: “I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday someone will.”

Trump briefly mentioned their phone call while speaking to cheering supporters early Wednesday morning at his victory party in New York City. Despite their hard-fought campaign, Trump praised Clinton for her service and said “it is time for us to come together as one united people.”

“I will be president for all Americans,” Trump vowed, after a brief introduction by running mate Mike Pence.

Sounding a call to “reclaim our country’s destiny,” Trump declared: “The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. … America will no longer settle for anything less than the best.”

While his victory stunned the political establishment, his campaign manager credited the phenomenon of “undercover Trump voters” and several other key factors Wednesday morning for their win.

Kellyanne Conway, speaking with “Fox & Friends,” said there was a “small but potent” force all along who didn’t reveal they planned to vote for the Republican nominee.

“It’s not that they’re embarrassed,” she said, but that they were “tired of arguing” about their political preference.

In a sweeping victory that has stunned the pundits, New York construction billionaire Donald Trump has won the presidency of the United States of America.

Following an 18 month campaign, and an uphill climb against the rushing current of a hostile press, Trump has proved his detractors wrong–again.

For the first time since 1928 the Republican party will take the reigns of the US government, controlling the Congress and the White House, giving the GOP the opportunity to appoint conservative jurists to the US Supreme Court that will influence the course of the nation’s politics for decades to come.

This election is seen as a stinging rebuke against the failed policies of the left and political elitists. It is an act of revolt against government overreach and unresponsive representation.

Mr. Trump will deliver his victory speech from the Hilton in Midtown, Manhattan. Mrs. Clinton failed to attend her headquarters to concede the election, but instead sent John Podesta to send the awaiting crowd home empty handed.

By James Thompson

Many Americans feel that neither candidate is a good choice, so it really doesn’t matter which one you vote for. They feel that not voting is as valid as voting. All untrue.

A quick look at the major issues facing our nation, and the candidates’ stand on those issues tells us that this election is extremely important, and we should participate to the highest extent.

Supreme Court Appointments

Donald Trump says that Supreme Court appointments should go to jurists who will interpret the Constitution according to the intent of the Founders, and ensure personal liberty and limited government. Hillary Clinton espouses jurists who will reinterpret the Constitution to align with liberal policies. It is the Supreme Court that allows or disallows encroachments by government on personal liberties, protected originally by the Constitution, and whichever candidate takes the presidency will shape the Court for the next 30 years. I vote for Trump.

Islamic Terrorism

Trump wants to stamp out Islamic Terrorism, and scrutinize people from Islamic countries entering the US to ensure Americans’ safety. Hillary wants to be politically correct and treat foreign Islamists like any other foreigner. She also feels that Obama’s lack of action against ISIS is the proper path. She has taken millions of dollars from regimes that support Islamic Terrorism and the suppression of women and others, and become quiet in criticism of those regimes as a result. I vote for Trump.

Military

Trump supports a strong military, investment in a depleted military resources, and stronger support for military personnel and veterans. Clinton is, and always has been hostile toward our military. I vote for Trump.

Healthcare

Trump feels that Obamacare is a farce, with most people losing their preferred doctors and plans, and costs for premiums skyrocketing, and must be repealed and replaced with a competition-based healthcare system. Hillary merely wants to tweak Obamacare, and move steadily toward a socialized single payer system. I vote for Trump.

Border Enforcement

Trump wants to establish a southern border and control who and what comes into America. Clinton wants open borders, and to flood America with impoverished, poorly educated people from Mexico and Central and South America who will extend the lefts’ permanent underclass, which will always be dependent on Democratic Party handout programs (extending the Democrat power base). I vote for Trump.

Education

Trump wants to revamp our educational system, to eliminate leftist influences (UEA, Common Core) from the classroom and elevate standards through competition (giving school choice to all students), bringing real education to all American children. Clinton wants the status quo. I vote for Trump.

Family

Trump is pro-family, with a father, mother and children, living and learning without government interference. Clinton prefers gay marriage, LGBT, and state intrusions into family relations (It Takes a Village to raise a child). I vote for Trump.

Abortion

Trump is pro-life, and Clinton is pro-abortion, to the point of killing the baby right up to the moment of its natural birth. I vote for Trump.

Individual Liberties

Trump is an avid advocate for individual liberty, including limiting the scope of government and regulations, and preserving the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights, including free speech, free assembly, the right to keep and bear arms, etc. Clinton advocates bigger government, more regulation, higher taxation, and curtailing rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights, including free speech, free assembly, the right to keep and bear arms, etc. I vote for Trump.

Corruption

Trump has said some regrettable things about some women. Hillary Clinton has taken bribes from foreign governments to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, and is the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation for selling political favors while acting as Secretary of State. Hillary also endangered citizens and American operatives by utilizing a secret, private, unsecured email server as Secretary of State for the purpose of avoiding government scrutiny of her bribery activities. I vote for Trump.

By James Thompson

Mr. Thompson’s recent article, Mormons Determined to Give White House to Clinton, and Supreme Court to Left, recently published herein on October 24, 2016, was read by over 200,000 Federalist Press readers, and has been credited with informing Utah voters of the dangers of voting for third party candidates.

Former President Bill Clinton’s top aide wrote in 2012 that Chelsea Clinton used Clinton Foundation resources “for her wedding and life for a decade” and a top Foundation donor was responsible for “killing” unfavorable press coverage – all as an internal Foundation audit uncovered numerous conflicts of interest and “quid pro quo benefits,” according to emails released Sunday by WikiLeaks.

Doug Band, founder of global strategies company Teneo and Bill Clinton’s personal assistant since the 1990s, wrote the Jan. 4, 2012, email to future Hillary Clinton presidential campaign chair John Podesta and two other Clinton aides after receiving word that Chelsea had told “one of the [President] bush 43 kids” and others about “an internal investigation of money within the foundation.” Band wrote such chatter was “not smart.”

“The investigation into her getting paid for campaigning, using foundation resources for her wedding and life for a decade, taxes on money from her parents….,” Band wrote. “I hope that you will speak to her and end this[.] Once we go down this road….”

The FBI reportedly is looking into The Clinton Foundation, although the extent and focus of the investigation is unclear. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, had previously said some of the “personal” emails she deleted from her secret, homebrew server – the subject of another FBI probe – were related to Chelsea’s wedding.

Band’s email, which was revealed after Podesta’s Gmail account was hacked and subsequently uploaded to WikiLeaks, came at a time of turmoil and upheaval within The Clinton Foundation. Aside from the internal audit, previous emails show a prolonged effort to untangle Teneo from the Foundation. When Band launched the company in summer 2011, he was still employed by the Foundation and Bill Clinton was listed as a Teneo adviser.

But after much haggling, Clinton’s and Band’s roles were clearly delineated: Band continued on as a personal aide to Clinton and Clinton became a Teneo client. During the back-and-forth that produced the final document spelling out each of the men’s roles, Band on Nov. 12, 2011 wrote an 11-page memo outlining how Teneo was created and how it had helped to enrich Clinton and the Foundation. In that draft of the memo, Band wrote he had “sought to leverage my activities, including my partner role at Teneo, to support and to raise funds for the Foundation.”

“I am sure I have done so imperfectly,” he added.

In another section of the memo, which was later deleted, Band wrote about billionaire hedge fund manager Marc Lasry as a “good example of the complex relationships a friend/supporter can have within the foundation.” Chelsea Clinton worked for Lasry, Lasry held Foundation fundraisers and Band was a paid adviser for Lasry’s firm, Avenue Capital, an investment company whose holding American Media Inc. publishes The National Enquirer.

But fundraisers and jobs weren’t Lasry’s lone contribution to Team Clinton.

“He has been helpful on a number of fronts, including … responding favorably to our requests to use his plane for Foundation and the Clintons’ personal purposes, killing potential unfavorable stories in the Enquirer [of which he owns a controlling share of the debt]…” Band wrote.

Less than a month after Band’s Teneo memo went out, lawyers from Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP, the firm contracted to run the internal Foundation audit, emailed a draft of a governance memorandum and recommendations to Podesta, who was serving as a special adviser to the Foundation, and Bruce Lindsey, then the Foundation’s CEO.

The audit draft noted substantial issues, including a Conflict-of-Interest Policy that had not been implemented, conflicts that were not disclosed in a timely fashion and board members not following the policy when they became aware of conflicts.

“In addition, some interviewees reported conflicts of those raising funds or donors, some of whom may have an expectation of quid pro quo benefits in return for gifts,” according to the Dec. 5, 2011, draft. Another section of the document noted that “interviewees also mentioned instances in which gifts and payments received by staff had not been properly disclosed.”

There were other problems, including 1,298 “complimentary” $20,000 memberships for the Clinton Global Initiative as opposed to just 500 paid memberships. Of the “complimentary” group, “276 were coded ‘discretionary,’” the audit noted.

“Interviewees informed us that there is no transparency into how the comp list is developed,” the document stated.

The lawyers conducting the audit also noticed problems in the Foundation’s IRS Form 990, the tax return document of an organization that is exempt from income tax. While charitable groups are allowed to pay board members and staff a reasonable salary, none of the reasonable compensation calculations identified by the lawyers were ever done, the 990 form showed. The lawyers also wrote the 990 indicated the Foundation had a written conflict-of-interest policy that was enforced.

“However, we did not find evidence of that enforcement,” the memo stated.

Other problems included a “very small” Foundation Board “comprised solely of ‘insiders’”; unsigned Board minutes that “appear to have been cloned from one year to the next; “material weaknesses” in the “segregation of accounting duties, review of journal entries, audit adjustments and financial statement preparation, and lack of Board meetings.”

As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton routinely asked her maid to print out sensitive government e-mails and documents — including ones containing classified information — from her house in Washington, DC, e-mails and FBI memos show. But the housekeeper lacked the security clearance to handle such material.

In fact, Marina Santos was called on so frequently to receive e-mails that she may hold the secrets to E-mailgate — if only the FBI and Congress would subpoena her and the equipment she used.

Clinton entrusted far more than the care of her DC residence, known as Whitehaven, to Santos. She expected the Filipino immigrant to handle state secrets, further opening the Democratic presidential nominee to criticism that she played fast and loose with national security.

Clinton would first receive highly sensitive e-mails from top aides at the State Department and then request that they, in turn, forward the messages and any attached documents to Santos to print out for her at the home.

Among other things, Clinton requested Santos print out drafts of her speeches, confidential memos and “call sheets” — background information and talking points prepared for the secretary of state in advance of a phone call with a foreign head of state.

“Pls ask Marina to print for me in am,” Clinton e-mailed top aide Huma Abedin regarding a redacted 2011 message marked sensitive but unclassified.

In a classified 2012 e-mail dealing with the new president of Malawi, another Clinton aide, Monica Hanley, advised Clinton, “We can ask Marina to print this.”

“Revisions to the Iran points” was the subject line of a classified April 2012 e-mail to Clinton from Hanley. In it, the text reads, “Marina is trying to print for you.”

Both classified e-mails were marked “confidential,” the tier below “secret” or “top secret.”

Santos also had access to a highly secure room called an SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility) that diplomatic security agents set up at Whitehaven, according to FBI notes from an interview with Abedin.

From within the SCIF, Santos — who had no clearance — “collected documents from the secure facsimile machine for Clinton,” the FBI notes revealed.

Just how sensitive were the papers Santos presumably handled? The FBI noted Clinton periodically received the Presidential Daily Brief — a top-secret document prepared by the CIA and other US intelligence agencies — via the secure fax.

A 2012 “sensitive” but unclassified e-mail from Hanley to Clinton refers to a fax the staff wanted Clinton “to see before your Netanyahu mtg. Marina will grab for you.”

Yet it appears Clinton was never asked by the FBI in its yearlong investigation to turn over the iMac Santos used to receive the e-mails, or the printer she used to print out the documents, or the printouts themselves.

It also appears the FBI did not formally interview Santos as a key witness in its investigation.

This is a major oversight: Santos may know the whereabouts of a missing Apple MacBook laptop and USB flash drive that contain all of Clinton’s e-mails archived over her four years in office.

In 2013, Hanley downloaded Clinton’s e-mails from her private server to the MacBook and flash drive.

“The two copies of the Clinton e-mail archive (one on the archive laptop and one on the thumb drive) were intended to be stored in Clinton’s Chappaqua and Whitehaven residences,” the FBI said in its case summary.

But Hanley says the devices were “lost,” and the FBI says it “does not have either item in its possession.”

In addition to Abedin, Santos worked closely with Hanley at Whitehaven and could shed light on the mystery — if only she were asked about it.

When a Post reporter confronted Santos at her DC apartment Friday, she would say only, “I don’t speak to reporters.”

According to a 2010 profile in The Philippine Star, close Clinton friend Vernon Jordan recommended Santos to the Clintons after she worked part-time for him.

Bill Clinton gave a speech in Manila as part of his foundation and took time to visit with the family of the “mayordoma [housekeeper] of his Washington, DC, home — Marina Santos.”

He was quoted as describing Santos as the “wonderful woman who runs our home in Washington, without whom Hillary will not be able to serve as secretary of state.” The article ended remarking, without a hint of irony: “Marina now runs his house so that he and his wife can better serve interests higher than their own.”

Santos could turn out to be the Betty Currie of the Clinton e-mail scandal. Currie was the secretary for President Clinton. She also came recommended by Jordan, and became famous as a central witness in the Monica Lewinsky scandal for her handling of gifts given to Clinton’s mistress.

Investigators had sought the gifts, allegedly hidden under Currie’s bed on orders from Clinton, as evidence.

The State Department and Clinton campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

New York Post; Paul Sperry, a former DC bureau chief for Investor’s Business Daily and a Hoover Institution media fellow, is the author of “Infiltration.”

The FBI’s investigation into the Clinton Foundation that has been going on for more than a year has now taken a “very high priority,” separate sources with intimate knowledge of the probe tell Fox News.

FBI agents have interviewed and re-interviewed multiple people on the foundation case, which is looking into possible pay for play interaction between then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. The FBI’s White Collar Crime Division is handling the investigation.

Even before the WikiLeaks dumps of alleged emails linked to the Clinton campaign, FBI agents had collected a great deal of evidence, law enforcement sources tell Fox News.

“There is an avalanche of new information coming in every day,” one source told Fox News, who added some of the new information is coming from the WikiLeaks documents and new emails.

FBI agents are “actively and aggressively pursuing this case,” and will be going back and interviewing the same people again, some for the third time, sources said.

Agents are also going through what Clinton and top aides have said in previous interviews and the FBI 302, documents agents use to report interviews they conduct, to make sure notes line up, according to sources.

Officials from the FBI did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment by Fox News.

After a months-long, deep investigation into suspected foreign meddling in the U.S. election, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has determined that Donald Trump has no ties to the Russian government.

Federal officials conducted a wide investigation throughout the summer looking for financial connections between Trump and his operatives and the Russian government in connection with the hacking of Democrat party computers but found nothing, according to The New York Times.

Upon the conclusion of the investigation, the FBI decided that, contrary to claims by Democrats, the hacking may have been aimed at disrupting the election but was not intended to ensure the election of Donald Trump.

The allegations of Trump’s computer ties to the Russian bank were made in an article posted to the liberal Slate.com website.

But news that the FBI is now discounting any such ties coming on the heels of FBI Director Comey’s decision to open another investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email scandal represents a double blow to the Democrats.

As part of the revelations, it was reported that earlier this year the FBI began investigating a possible connection between Trump and Alfa Bank, the largest private commercial bank in Russia. The Bureau was alerted to a series of electronic connections between a server owned by the Trump organization and two servers registered to Alfa Bank. The links were at first thought “questionable,” but after its long investigation the FBI determined, “there could be an innocuous explanation, like a marketing email or spam, for the computer contacts,” the Times reported.

The Trump campaign reiterated that the investigation had proven what they already knew.

Trump campaign press secretary Hope Hicks noted, “First of all, it’s not a secret server. The email server, set up for marketing purposes and operated by a third-party, has not been used since 2010.” Hicks added that the traffic on that server is not used for the sort of email communications that could be employed for any sort of collusion.

Alfa Bank also released a statement denying any ties to Trump.

“Neither Alfa Bank nor its principals, including Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, have or have had any contact with Mr. Trump or his organizations,” the statement read. “Fridman and Aven have never met Mr. Trump nor have they or Alfa Bank had any business dealings with him. Neither Alfa nor its officers have sent Mr. Trump or his organizations any emails, information or money. Alfa Bank does not have and has never had any special or exclusive internet connection with Mr. Trump or his entities.”

Now it appears that the FBI has confirmed these statements.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.

Another leaked email has emerged showing Democratic National Committee boss and former CNN contributor Donna Brazile sharing a debate question in advance with the Hillary Clinton campaign — despite Brazile’s persistent claims to the contrary.

According to documents released Monday by WikiLeaks, Brazile sent Clinton Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri an email titled, “One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash,” the night before the March 6 CNN primary debate in Flint, Mich.

“Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint,” Brazile wrote.

The following night, Lee-Anne Walters, a mom whose twin boys stopped growing and whose daughter lost her hair during the Flint water contamination crisis, posed a question to both Clinton, the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, and her primary opponent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“After my family, the city of Flint and the children in D.C. were poisoned by lead, will you make a personal promise to me right now that, as president, in your first 100 days in office, you will make it a requirement that all public water systems must remove all lead service lines throughout the entire United States, and notification made to the — the citizens that have said service lines?” Walters asked.

Clinton responded with a lengthy answer that moderator Anderson Cooper had to twice interrupt in an attempt to keep to the agreed-upon time limit. Clinton’s remarks drew applause from the crowd, though she wound up ultimately losing the state’s primary to Sanders two days later.

The apparent email tip-off was included in the latest trove of messages hacked from Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta’s Gmail account and posted by WikiLeaks.

Brazile had been under fire over an earlier email chain appearing to show her tipping off the campaign before a town hall event later that same month. That exchange began with Brazile sending Palmieri the text of a question about the death penalty in an email with the subject line: “From time to time I get the questions in advance.”

After Palmieri responded, Brazile wrote back: “I’ll send a few more.”

Roland Martin asked the death penalty question verbatim the next night during a CNN town hall.

Brazile, in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly on Oct. 19, denied aiding Clinton during the primaries.

“Well, Kelly, since I play straight up and I play straight up with you, I did not receive any questions from CNN,” she said.

When Kelly pressed, Brazile said she was being persecuted and questioned the credibility of the hacked files.

“As a Christian woman, I understand persecution, but I will not sit here and be persecuted,” Brazile said. “Your information is totally false.”

The DNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FoxNews.com

The FBI announced Friday it had uncovered news emails related to its investigation of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton‘s handling of classified information while conducting a separate investigation into the pervy sexting habits of former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner. Weiner of course is the estranged husband of Hillary’s closest aide, Huma Abedin who herself figures prominently in Clinton’s email scandals.

The FBI announced Friday it had uncovered news emails related to its investigation of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton‘s handling of classified information while conducting a separate investigation into the pervy sexting habits of former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner. Weiner of course is the estranged husband of Hillary’s closest aide, Huma Abedin who herself figures prominently in Clinton’s email scandals.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump saw this coming from a mile away, fingering Weiner as a potential national security threat all the way back in August of 2015. “It came out that Huma Abedin knows all about Hillary’s private illegal emails,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Huma’s PR husband, Anthony Weiner, will tell the world.”

Abedin recently announced the couple’s separation after Weiner became embroiled in a new series of embarrassing online sexting scandals, including one allegedly involving an underage girl that prompted the FBI to investigate.

One month earlier, Trump said he didn’t like the thought of “Huma going home at night and telling Anthony Weiner all of these secrets.”

Trump was sounding the alarm about Weiner as early September 2013, when he wrote that Huma should “dump the sicko Weiner” because he was “a calamity who is bringing her down with him.”

The FBI has discovered new emails from Hillary Clinton’s private email server and has reopened its investigation, according to Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.

Director James Comey sent this letter to the House Judiciary Committee regarding re-opening the investigation of Hillary Clinton‘s private e-mail server.

PUBLIUS

Donald Trump and fellow Republicans are reviving long-simmering allegations of murky deals and ‘pay-to-play’ surrounding the Clintons, in the wake of new revelations from WikiLeaks-published emails about how the family, their foundation and the Hillary Clinton State Department operated alongside each other.

“The more emails WikiLeaks releases, the more the lines between the Clinton Foundation, the Secretary of State’s office, and the Clintons’ personal finances are blurred,” the GOP presidential nominee said in a statement Thursday.

Emails unearthed from Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta’s hacked account reveal numerous conflict-of-interest concerns raised by Clinton Foundation staffers and subsequent efforts to separate the entangled companies and roles that made Bill and Hillary Clinton wealthy. The messages also dredge up the several companies that donated to the Foundation – and at the same time had business before the State Department during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.

“If the Clintons were willing to play this fast and loose with their enterprise when they weren’t in the White House, just imagine what they will do if they are given the chance to control the Oval Office,” Trump said.

‘BILL CLINTON INC.’: EMAIL DETAILS HOW AIDES HELPED MAKE EX-PRESIDENT RICH 

During a rally in Springfield, Ohio, on Thursday, Trump alluded to a 12-page memo written by Bill Clinton confidant Doug Band and revealed on Wednesday by WikiLeaks. The document spelled out in detail how Band and Clinton aide Justin Cooper had used their connections at global strategies company Teneo to enrich Clinton, while also raising funds for the Clinton Foundation. The memo claimed that Band and Cooper were responsible for earning Clinton at least $50 million in fees for speeches and other business ventures.

“Mr. Band called the arrangement ‘unorthodox.’ The rest of us call it outright corruption,” Trump said at the Springfield rally.

Teneo, which was co-founded by Band, issued a statement to FoxNews.com on Wednesday saying the company never received “any financial benefit or benefit of any kind” from Band’s work on behalf of the Clintons.

“As the memo demonstrates, Teneo worked to encourage clients, where appropriate, to support the Clinton Foundation because of the good work that it does around the world,” the statement said.

Teneo was founded in June 2011, while Band and Cooper were still employed by the Foundation. Bill Clinton soon also signed on as an adviser for Teneo.

But after Chelsea Clinton was brought on as a board member in November and Podesta as a special adviser at the same time, staffers began complaining about potential conflicts of interest and other misdeeds within the company, emails show. Band had his own list of allegations, implicating Bill Clinton in unnamed conflicts of interest, too. The Foundation also was undergoing an internal audit.

The Hillary Clinton campaign was seemingly well-aware of the ethical concerns surrounding the organization as it prepared to launch in early 2015. One unearthed email from now-Campaign Manager Robby Mook to key Clinton advisers cited “Foundation vulnerability points.”

This included “Money from foreign governments;” “Overseas events with foreign leaders or government officials;” and “Especially lavish/high-end hotels for events.”

Eventually, Band and Cooper left the Foundation but remained advisers to Clinton. Clinton resigned from his role at Teneo but became a client.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller on Thursday called for the Clintons to release “all the internal documents” related to the Clinton Foundation’s “in-depth investigation into whether they were violating IRS charity rules because of the money-making efforts of the Clintons.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus also ripped the Clinton’s over the “Bill Clinton Inc.” memo that detailed how aides helped secure lucrative speaking gigs and posts for the former president.

“This memo is the smoking gun for how the Clintons used their foundation to create a massive for-profit paid speaking and consulting business to enrich themselves,” Priebus said in a statement. “All of their talk about charitable work masks the fact they were eager to get their own cut of the action. That the Clintons raked in millions of dollars while these same donors had business before Hillary Clinton’s State Department points to a rampant pay-to-play culture that would be on full display should Hillary Clinton be elected president.”

The Clinton campaign has rejected any ‘pay-to-play’ claims and has blasted WikiLeaks’ daily postings as the work of the Russian government.

“We are still not confirming the authenticity of individual emails hacked by the Russian government to influence the election by weaponizing WikiLeaks,” campaign spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement.

Fox News also reported Thursday that while Podesta was serving with Clinton’s State Department, his sister-in-law Heather Podesta was hired by defense contractor Raytheon as a lobbyist in 2012. In that role, she lobbied the State Department, records show, while Raytheon was the prime contractor in numerous foreign military sales worth billions that year.

“Today’s report that a large government contractor hired the sister-in-law of Clinton campaign Chair John Podesta while he was at the State Department in order to win a massive arms contract shows the depths of the corrupt Clinton machine while she was at State,” Trump spokesman Miller said in a statement.

Josh Schwerin, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, told Fox News that the nominee “never took action as secretary of state because of any donations and any suggestion to the contrary is false.”

In a statement, Raytheon said its lobbying practices and policies are fully disclosed and comply with all federal, state and local laws. Heather Podesta sent Fox News a one-sentence email saying: “I never lobbied the Secretary or John Podesta on this matter.”

FoxNews.com’s Cody Derespina and Fox News’ James Rosen and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

PORTLAND, Ore. –  The leaders of an armed group who seized a national wildlife refuge in rural Oregon were acquitted Thursday in the 41-day standoff that brought new attention to a long-running dispute over control of federal lands in the U.S. West.

A jury found brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy not guilty a firearm in a federal facility and conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 300 miles southeast of Portland where the trial took place. Five co-defendants also were tried one or both of the charges.

Despite the acquittal, the Bundys were expected to stand trial in Nevada early next year on charges stemming from another high-profile standoff with federal agents. Authorities rounding up cattle at their father Cliven Bundy’s ranch in 2014 because of unpaid grazing fees released the animals as they faced armed protesters.

The brothers are part of a Nevada ranching family embroiled in a lengthy fight over the use of public range, and their occupation drew an international spotlight to a uniquely American West dispute: federal restrictions on ranching, mining and logging to protect the environment. The U.S. government, which controls much of the land in the West, says it tries to balance industry, recreation and wildlife concerns to benefit all.

The armed occupiers were allowed to come and go for several weeks as authorities tried to avoid bloodshed seen in past standoffs.

The confrontations reignited clashes dating to the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion of the late 1970s, when Western states such as Nevada tried to win more control of vast federal land holdings.

The group began occupying the bird sanctuary in remote southeastern Oregon on Jan. 2. They objected to prison sentences handed down to Dwight and Steven Hammond, two local ranchers convicted of setting fires. They demanded the government free the father and son and relinquish control of public lands to local officials.

Ammon Bundy gave frequent news conferences and the group used social media in a mostly unsuccessful effort to get others to join them.

Inmates (clockwise from top left) Ryan Bundy, Ammon Bundy, Brian Cavalier, Peter Santilli, Shawna Cox, Ryan Payne and Joseph O’Shaughnessy, limited-government activists who led an armed 41-day takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, are seen in a combination of police jail booking photos released by the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office in Portland, Oregon January 27, 2016. Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office/Handout via Reuters

The Bundys and other key figures were arrested in a Jan. 26 traffic stop outside the refuge that ended with police fatally shooting Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, an occupation spokesman. Most occupiers left after his death, but four holdouts remained until Feb. 11, when they surrendered after a lengthy negotiation.

At trial, the case was seemingly open-and-shut. There was no dispute the group seized the refuge, established armed patrols and vetted those who visited.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this case is not a whodunit,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight said in his closing argument, arguing that the group decided to take over a federal workplace that didn’t belong to them.

On technical grounds, the defendants said they never discussed stopping individual workers from accessing their offices but merely wanted the land and the buildings. On emotional grounds, Ammon Bundy and other defendants argued that the takeover was an act of civil disobedience against an out-of-control federal government that has crippled the rural West.

Federal prosecutors took two weeks to present their case, finishing with a display of more than 30 guns seized after the standoff. An FBI agent testified that 16,636 live rounds and nearly 1,700 spent casings were found.

Bundy testified in his defense, spending three days amplifying his belief that government overreach is destroying Western communities that rely on the land.

He said the plan was to take ownership of the refuge by occupying it for a period of time and then turn it over to local officials to use as they saw fit.

Bundy also testified that the occupiers carried guns because they would have been arrested immediately otherwise and to protect themselves against possible government attack.

Ryan Bundy, who acted his own attorney, did not testify.

Authorities had charged 26 occupiers with conspiracy. Eleven pleaded guilty, and another had the charge dropped. Seven defendants chose not to be tried at this time. Their trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 14.