WTF - McCain Defends Clinton Aide Against Bachmann's Allegations -- Newsmax

[bsteadman]

McCain Defends Clinton Aide Against Bachmann's Allegations

Newsmax
Patrick Hobin
7/18/2012

Excerpt:

"Sen. John McCain defended a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton against allegations made by Rep. Michele Bachmann who suggested the aide should not have received security clearance because of alleged family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the National Journal reported.

The Arizona Republican, appearing on the Senate floor, said he had spent a lot of time with aide Huma Abedin while traveling abroad with Clinton when she was a New York senator and that Abedin had “great patriotism,” according to the National Journal. He added that "all Americans owe a debt of gratitude for her public service.”

Abedin, 37, is the deputy chief of staff to Clinton and wife of former New York congressman Anthony Weiner.

Bachmann, a Republican who ran for president, has called for a probe of potential Muslim Brotherhood infiltration into the Obama administration.

The Minnesota congresswoman asked how Abedin received State Department security clearance claiming that three members of Abedin’s family allegedly had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, an international Islamist group that recently came to power in Egypt. Those claims remain unsubstantiated.

Without mentioning Bachmann by name, McCain assailed the attacks on Abedin, a Muslim, as an example of ignorance and fear that defames the spirit of the nation.

"Huma represents what is best about America: the daughter of immigrants, who has risen to the highest levels of our government on the basis of her substantial personal merit and her abiding commitment to the American ideals that she embodies so fully." McCain said. "I am proud to know Huma, and to call her my friend."

Bachmann, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, made the allegations in a June letter to the State Department as well as in a letter Wednesday to fellow Minnesota lawmaker Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat.

Bachmann said Abedin's late father, mother, and brother are connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations. She cited foreign media reports and an outside study and added that Abedin's position "affords her routine access to the secretary and policy-making."
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http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/mcc...7/18/id/445769

[bsteadman]

Republicans line up to rip Michele Bachmann

Politico
Jake Sherman
7/19/2012

Excerpt:

"They were long afraid to do it, but now conservatives have their knives out for Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Senators in her own party, congressional candidates, a lawmaker in her state’s delegation and leaders of the House Republican Conference are all lambasting the Minnesota Republican for saying the wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said merely floating the idea that Huma Abedin — a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — has family ties to the radical Middle East group is “pretty dangerous.”

“I don’t know Huma, but from everything I do know of her, she has a sterling character,” Boehner told reporters Thursday. “And I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.” Later on CNN, Boehner said he expects to speak to Bachmann soon.

Bachmann’s accusation came in a handful of letters to intelligence and national security agencies raising questions about the Muslim Brotherhood. The letters, also signed by four other Republicans, specifically mentioned Abedin, accusing her late father of having ties to the Brotherhood.

Boehner declined to entertain a reporter’s question about whether he would toss Bachmann off the Intelligence Committee, where she’s privy to highly classified information. Behind the scenes, leadership aides said they were shaken by the comments from someone as prominent as Bachmann.

And Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, was described by several sources as incredibly angry when he heard of the incident.

The Republican backlash against Bachmann started with Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) statement on the Senate floor Wednesday, saying she had made “sinister accusations.”

Rep. Jeff Flake, a conservative Arizona lawmaker running for Senate, tweeted “Kudos to @SenJohnMcCain for his statement on Senate floor yesterday defending Clinton aide. Well said.”

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) added: “Rep. Bachmann’s accusations about Sec. Clinton aide Huma Abedin are out-of-line. This kind of rhetoric has no place in our public discourse.”

Even the Minnesota delegation is dispensing with its characteristic niceness. Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, a Muslim who served in the state Legislature with Bachmann in St. Paul, said it’s not personal, but Bachmann is out of line."
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View the complete article at:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78741.html