Don't Stay Up Waiting for Those Hillary E-mails, Trey
You're familiar with the traditional Clinton strategy to drag out an investigation for as long as possible and then insist the investigators are obsessed with old news, right? Here we go again: The State Department does not intend to make approximately 55,000 pages of former secretary of State Hillary Clinton's e-mails public until Jan. 15, 2016, according to court documents obtained by Vice News. Clinton's e-mails during her tenure as secretary of State have become the focus of controversy since it was revealed that she exclusively used private e-mails to conduct State business, a practice that has been discouraged by the Obama administration. The Democratic presidential candidate had been scheduled to testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi this week, but the committee chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said the panel will not call Clinton to testify until it receives all the documents it has requested. Although the State Department has turned over 296 Benghazi-related e-mails from Clinton, Gowdy and other committee Republicans want assurances that they have all of her messages related to the 2012 terror attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility. Remember, she's already been caught lying about which private e-mail accounts she used: A second secret e-mail address used by Hillary Rodham Clinton while she was secretary of state was revealed Monday. The e-mail address, published by The New York Times, was used in exchanges between Clinton and longtime adviser Sydney Blumenthal, and is from the same private e-mail server that was uncovered earlier this year. "Fyi. The idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered," Clinton wrote Blumenthal from the e-mail address HRod17@clintonemail.com. The two were discussing strategies to help the opposition rebels oust Moammar Khadafy in Libya as that country descended into chaos in 2011. Clinton's office insisted just two months ago that the only private e-mail address used by the former secretary of state during her tenure was hdr22@clintonemail.com. In a 2015 letter to Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Clinton's lawyer acknowledged that the HRod17 e-mail address existed, but stated explicitly that it was "not an address that existed during Secretary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State." The time stamps and content of the messages make clear that this statement was inaccurate, according to the Times report. In fact, three of our items in today's Jolt tie together. Let's look across the Atlantic . . . EU Nations Finally Find a Target for Their Militaries: Migrant Smugglers Okay, I don't want to hear any more talk that Americans are xenophobic, hostile to immigrants, or otherwise anything less than remarkably big-hearted, kind people in the long history of man's inhumanity to man. Because the European Union that keeps looking down its nose at us as knuckle-dragging Neanderthals just approved using military force against smuggling ships: The European Union on Monday approved the use of military force to take on migrant smugglers in the Mediterranean, significantly escalating Europe's response to a crisis that has left at least 1,800 people dead this year. The decision allows European governments to move ahead with plans for a naval operation that has been taking shape for weeks and that officials say is crucial to any attempt to confront the burgeoning tide of smuggler vessels ferrying migrants from North Africa to Europe. The ultimate aim of the mission is to destroy smuggler vessels before they take on their human cargo. But that will require authorization from the U.N. Security Council, which has begun to consider the matter after E.U. officials made their case in New York last week. Hey, fellas, try not to kill anyone when you set out to destroy the boats used by smugglers and desperate refugees! Just how sure they can be that those boats are empty when they're targeted for sinking? When you read a sentence like this one, you wonder how much they care: The mission's rules of engagement have still to be thrashed out and one diplomat described the deployment of such forces as "the next step in terms of operational details". The level of collateral damage considered acceptable would also be discussed after the mission was up and running, he said. Gee, nothing ominous there, huh? If Hillary Ever Answered a Question, It Would Be Good to Ask About Libya Say, why are so many people fleeing Libya? Libya itself is divided, anarchic and at war, with rival governments in the eastern and western parts of the country. Much of the smuggler traffic originates in the west, where Islamist militias have shown deep hostility toward proposals for European operations in the areas they control. The Tunisian government estimates that 2 million Libyans have fled into their country, and another half a million to a million may try to cross the sea. There were an estimated 5.6 million Libyans in the country in the 2006 census. So perhaps half the country has fled, or is seeking a way to flee. It's a humanitarian and national-security disaster. Let's flash back to 2011: With longtime U.S. nemesis Moammar Gaddafi dead and Libya's onetime rebels now in charge, the coalition air campaign has emerged as a foreign policy success for the Obama administration and its most famous Cabinet member, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton . . . U.S. officials and key allies are offering a detailed new defense of the approach and Clinton's pivotal role — both within a divided Cabinet and a fragile, assembled-on-the-fly international alliance. "We set into motion a policy that was on the right side of history, on the right side of our values, on the right side of our strategic interests in the region," she said. Who was Hillary Clinton listening to while she was putting together U.S. policy on Libya? Mr. Gowdy's chief interest, according to people briefed on the inquiry, is a series of memos that [Sidney] Blumenthal — who was not an employee of the State Department — wrote to Mrs. Clinton about events unfolding in Libya before and after the death of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. According to emails obtained by The New York Times, Mrs. Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, took Mr. Blumenthal's advice seriously, forwarding his memos to senior diplomatic officials in Libya and Washington and at times asking them to respond. Mrs. Clinton continued to pass around his memos even after other senior diplomats concluded that Mr. Blumenthal's assessments were often unreliable. But an examination by The New York Times suggests that Mr. Blumenthal's involvement was more wide-ranging and more complicated than previously known, embodying the blurry lines between business, politics and philanthropy that have enriched and vexed the Clintons and their inner circle for years. While advising Mrs. Clinton on Libya, Mr. Blumenthal, who had been barred from a State Department job by aides to President Obama, was also employed by her family's philanthropy, the Clinton Foundation, to help with research, "message guidance" and planning of commemorative events, according to foundation officials. Why would a lifetime Beltway operator like Blumenthal be interested in Libya? Much of the Libya intelligence that Mr. Blumenthal passed on to Mrs. Clinton appears to have come from a group of business associates he was advising as they sought to win contracts from the Libyan transitional government. The venture, which was ultimately unsuccessful, involved other Clinton friends, a private military contractor and one former C.I.A. spy seeking to get in on the ground floor of the new Libyan economy. Oh. Money. Kentucky Republicans Gather in Circular Firing-Squad Formation Kentucky Republicans go to the polls today to pick their gubernatorial nominee; options on the ballot include Matt Bevin, James Comer, Hal Heiner and Will T. Scott. The primary has been nasty: The battle for the Republican nomination turned nasty long before the links between Heiner's camp and Lexington blogger Michael Adams were made public and well before Marilyn Thomas wrote a letter to the Courier-Journal accusing Comer of hitting her, belittling her and accompanying her to an abortion clinic in the early 1990s. (He has denied the allegations.) In this muddy war, there are grudges dating back to 2007's Northup vs. Fletcher gubernatorial primary and even Hopkins vs. Forgy in 1991. There is more than disagreement. There is genuine disdain: between Comer and Heiner supporters; between McConnell Republicans and Bevin supporters; between Will T. Scott and fashionistas who think seersucker is played out. Both Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul remained neutral in the primary. Polling's been sparse in the Bluegrass State; back in March, Heiner was ahead. ADDENDA: National Review is co-hosting a film series with the Heritage Foundation for Military Appreciation Month. The films will be shown every Thursday for the next three weeks, beginning this Thursday, May 21. The first firm is Honoring a Commitment: The Story of PFC Gordon, with the screening scheduled for 4 p.m. On the 28th is Veteran Nation and June 4th is The Last Patrol. Our Amy Mitchell tells me these films are "all great documentaries that remind us that every month should be military appreciation month." | 
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