HHS & HealthCare.gov Official Marilyn Tavenner: “Please Delete this Email” … More from the Most Transparent WH Administration EVER!

YUP, NOT A SMIDGEN OF CORRUPTION … And now for something completely different, the Obama administration deleting emails.

From Sharyl Attkisson comes the latest example of not a smidgen of corruption from the Obama administration.  Attkinsson reports that an email obtained by Congress shows the top official for Healthcare.gov at CMS  under the Department of HHS, Marilyn Tavenner, instructed the agency’s top spokesman to “Please delete this email.” It would appear other than golf, the Obama administrations greatest past time is deleting emails and keeping the truth from the American people. Transparency, eh?

Marilyn Tavenner – It all depend on how you interpret “delete this email”

An email obtained by Congress shows the top official for Healthcare.gov at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Department of Health and Human Services, Marilyn Tavenner, instructed the agency’s top spokesman to “Please delete this email.”

The instruction appears significant for several reasons: First, the email to be deleted included an exchange between key White House officials and CMS  officials. Second, the email was dated October 5, 2013, five days into the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov. Third, federal law requires federal officials to retain copies of –not delete– email exchanges. And fourth, the document to be deleted is covered under Congressional subpoena as well as longstanding Freedom of Information requests made by members of the media (including me).

In a letter today, House Energy and Commerce leaders asked Tavenner to explain why she asked her colleague to delete the email, and the letter questions whether there are other instances in which she instructed HHS staff to delete emails. The letter also asks for more details regarding Congressional subpoenaed documents, including Tavenner emails, that CMS recently said might be permanently lost; and it requests an explanation as to why redactions are made in some documents provided to Congress so far.

Tavernier Email Trail

Daily Commentary – Wednesday, August 6, 2014 – Google Helping Catch the Bad Guys?

• By using a unique digital tool, they were able to catch users of child porn, leading to an arrest

Daily Commentary – Wednesday, August 6, 2014 Download

CIA Director John Brennan Admits and Apologized For CIA Improperly Accessed/Hacked Senate Computers … Calls For Brennan to Resign

WELCOME TO CIA-GATE

According to a declassified CIA inspector general’s report as reported by ABC News, CIA officers improperly accessed Senate computers, read the emails of Senate staff, and exhibited a “lack of candor” when interviewed by agency investigators. CIA Director John Brennan apologized to Senate Intelligence Committee leaders for the CIA’s conduct, which was quite a a turnabout for the CIA directors previous comments that the CIA did anything wrong. Yup, no separation of powers scandal here.

The document, released Thursday by the CIA, is a summary of an internal CIA investigation that prompted CIA Director John Brennan to abandon his defiant posture in the matter and apologize to Senate Intelligence Committee leaders.

The inspector general concluded “that some CIA employees acted in a manner inconsistent with the common understanding reached between” the Senate Intelligence Committee and the CIA in 2009 regarding access to a shared classified computer network, Boyd said. The shared network had been used by Senate aides to access classified files on CIA interrogations. The CIA penetration occurred after the aides got a hold of documents that the CIA claimed were internal, but which showed that some CIA officials shared misgivings about the treatment of al Qaida detainees.

VIDEO – CNN

WSJ:

Central Intelligence Agency officers snooped on computers used by a Senate committee investigating the CIA’s interrogation program, an internal agency report has concluded—a critical finding in a bitter standoff between two government branches.

CIA Director John Brennan apologized to key senators, who were briefed this week on the CIA inspector general’s report, the agency said on Thursday.

The finding bolsters allegations by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.), the Senate intelligence committee chairwoman, who has denounced what she described as a CIA search of Senate computers that may have violated the Constitution’s separation of powers and Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

Sen. Mark Udall (D., Colo.), a member of the intelligence panel, on Thursday called for Mr. Brennan’s resignation after a briefing on the report. “CIA unconstitutionally spied on Congress,” he said. “These offenses, along with other errors in judgment by some at the CIA, demonstrate a tremendous failure of leadership, and there must be consequences.”

The CIA declined to comment on Mr. Udall’s call for Mr. Brennan’s resignation.

Five CIA employees, two attorneys and three information-technology staff members “improperly accessed or caused access” to the special network, according to a declassified summary reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Those efforts included falsifying identities to get on the Senate network, reading emails and taking screenshots, said an official who read the inspector general’s report.

Senate intelligence committee chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) accuses CIA of spying on Congress

REMEMBER WHEN BRENNAN SAID THE FOLLOWING REGARDING HACKING INTO SENATE COMPUTERS?

CIA chief denies agency spied on Senate computers … “nothing could be further than the truth, we wouldn’t do that. That’s beyond the scope of reason.”

UPDATE I: Two Democrat Senators, Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein and Mark Udall call for Brennan to Resign.

Two Democratic senators demanded that Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan resign on Thursday after revelations that the CIA snooped on Senate computers.

Administration officials briefed the Senate Intelligence Committee’s membership on Thursday afternoon about an inspector general report that revealed CIA officials improperly accessed computers used by Senate staffers to research a 6,700-page report on the agency’s Bush-era interrogation and detention practices.

“At this point it would probably be better for the agency, frankly, if he did step aside. I think that the level of trust between the committee and the director has hit a new low,” Heinrich told reporters. He said he had not spoken to Brennan recently.

“I have full confidence in John Brennan,” Obama said in response to a reporter’s question at the end of an afternoon press conference.

UPDATE II: Obama remains confident in CIA head John Brennan despite Senate spying.

President Obama remains confident in CIA Director John Brennan’s leadership despite an independent investigation that concluded that the agency had overreached its authority by spying on Senate staffers.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the findings had not diminished Brennan’s standing in the administration.

When asked whether it damaged his authority or credibility in any way, Earnest said: “Absolutely not.”

Brennan first appointed an outside watchdog to conduct an investigation into the allegations, has “been candid” about the “inconsistencies” that the inspector found, apologized and took the step of appointing a panel to review the need for disciplinary action, he said.

Unhinged Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Chases Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) Across House Chamber After He Called Her Out … “They didn’t have the strength to go after it back then.”

Nance Pelosi takes crossing the aisle to the extreme …

Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) certainly did hit a nerve to say the least when he addressed the House regarding the debate on the border funding bill Friday night. Marino called out former Speaker of the House Nanncy Pelosi why when Democrats had control of the House, Senate and White House they did nothing about the border issue, but now with to make it a political issue. Needless to say, San Fran Nan then did something she never does, she came across the aisle. However, it was to confront Marino.  After Pelosi said something to Marino, he responded, “It’s true, madam leader, I did the research on it,” Marino said. “You might want to try it. You might want to try it, madam leader. Do the research on it. Do the research. I did it. That’s one thing that you don’t do.” File this one under, The truth hurts, don’t it.

“You know something that I find quite interesting about the other side? Under the leadership of the former Speaker [Pelosi], and under the leadership of their former leader [Rep. Steny Hoyer], when in 2009 and 2010, they had the House, the Senate and the White House, and they knew this problem existed. They didn’t have the strength to go after it back then. But now are trying to make a political issue out of it now.”

The House then voted to approve the $694 million border supplemental, 223-189.

ABC NEWS:

In an unusual breach of decorum, even for the divided Congress, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi chased Rep. Tom Marino across the House floor, taking offense at comments by the Pennsylvania Republican during debate on the border funding bill Friday night.

“We don’t have law and order,” Marino began as he wrapped up his comments on the border supplemental. “My colleagues on the other side don’t want to do anything about it.”

“You know something that I find quite interesting about the other side? Under the leadership of the former Speaker [Pelosi], and under the leadership of their former leader [Rep. Steny Hoyer], when in 2009 and 2010, they had the House, the Senate and the White House, and they knew this problem existed,” he continued. “They didn’t have the strength to go after it back then. But now are trying to make a political issue out of it now.”

Off-mic, Pelosi then approached Marino, crossing the aisle in view of cameras, and apparently challenged Marino’s assertion that Democrats did not do anything about the issue when they had majority control.

“Yes it is true,” Marino replied directly to Pelosi, who was House speaker in those years. “I did the research on it. You might want to try it. You might want to try it, Madam Leader. Do the research on it. Do the research. I did it. That’s one thing that you don’t do.”

Marino then urged lawmakers to support the border supplemental “because apparently I hit the right nerve.”

Powerline opines, “Before this morning, I regret to say, I was unfamiliar with Tom Marino. Today Marino is my hero.” I have to second that as well!

UPDATE I: Pelosi spokeswoman Evangeline George attempts to explain Pelosi’s bizarre behavior.

According to Pelosi spokeswoman Evangeline George, “Leader Pelosi just wanted to remind the Congressman that House Democrats had the courage to pass the DREAM Act – and have the courage to stand up for what the American people want: bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform.”

George added that “Pelosi accepted the Congressman’s apology.”

UPDATE II: Marino’s chief of staff, Bill Tighe, stressed that Marino did not apologize to Pelosi, and will not apologize.

It would appear that Rep. Marino did not apologize to Pelosi and San Fran Nan had more to say than just the “Dream Act”. Marino took to twitter and tweeted that Nancy Pelosi called me an “insignificant person”.

“[Rep. Marino] did not apologize to Leader Pelosi and does not intend to do so as he has nothing to apologize for. She was entirely out of line in approaching him while he was recognized and delivering remarks on the Floor,” Tighe wrote in an email. “Her staff’s comment in your story about her accepting his apology in simply not true.”

Later, Marino took to Twitter to explain his side of the story.

Rep. Tom Marino – @RepTomMarino

Because the IRS is a Non-Partisan Govt Agency … Emails Reveal Former IRS Official Lois Lerner’s Disdain for Conservative Calling Them “Crazies” & “A**holes”

But of course the IRS and Lois Lerner was not operating in concert with the Obama administration in an effort to support the president and attack his political enemies. Latest Lois Lerner emails reveal that she had complete and total contempt for conservatives calling them “crazies” and a$$holes”.

Read the letter from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp to the Justice Department.

The Washington Times:

Lois G. Lerner, the former Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the tea party targeting scandal, expressed contempt for conservatives and called them “a—holes” in newly discovered emails, fueling a drive by House Republicans for a special counsel to investigate the tax agency.

The email was among a batch of evidence that House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, Michigan Republican, turned over Wednesday to the Justice Department in support of an investigation into criminal wrongdoing at the IRS.

In the Nov. 9, 2012, email exchange from Ms. Lerner’s official IRS email account, she demonstrates “deep animus towards conservatives, which she refers to as “–holes,” Mr. Camp said.

In other emails, Ms. Lerner appeared to refer to conservatives as “crazies.”

In one email highlighted by the committee, she wrote, apparently referring to conservative critics of the administration: “So we don’t need to worry about alien teRrorists (sic). It’s our own crazies that will take us down.”

In another passage, she replies to a friend bemoaning the negative critiques of President Obama and administration policy on talk radio shows. Ms. Lerner responds: “Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many a—holes.”