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The United States Postal Service has been on the brink of complete bankruptcy for nearly two decades, but that didnt stop it from paying out $90,000 to cover for paid employees who took time off to campaign for Hillary Clinton.

According to an Inspector Generals report, 100 USPS workers took extended leaves of absence to hit the campaign trail on behalf of the postal unionthe National Association of Letter Carriers. The union, which had by then endorsed Hillary Clinton, used these same postal workers to supplement their grassroots political operations in swing states.

Technically, postal workers are allowed to take unpaid holidays in order to help the union, but government employees arent supposed to actively campaign for a candidate. The Inspector General is currently investigating whether the postal workers who took time off violated that precept.

Part of the investigation revealed, however, that campaigning for Clinton cost the cash-strapped agency dearly. Workers who covered for the absent, politicking employees were paid overtime to fill shifts. To make up for the 2,776 days lost, the post office shelled out more than $90,000.

In government terms thats barely a toilet seat at the Pentagon, but its still an expense the agency didnt have to incur. The USPS is struggling to make ends meet, and independent USPS office managers have to approve time offincluding union-driven unpaid leavewith an eye to saving money.

But in this case, the Inspector General said, the union appears to have pressured USPS managers to grant their members time off, spending taxpayer dollars in service of Clintons campaign.

For its part, the Post Office claims that they have a long-standing practice of letting their workers campaign, and that they were just keeping with the tradition of wasting taxpayer funds on the most unnecessary things possible.

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Broke US Postal Service Paid to Cover Employees Campaigning for Hillary Clinton - Heat Street

Hillary Clinton. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Although Clintonlost the election, she is still trying to run the Democratic Party by othermeans. The Hillreportedon July 8 that HillaryClintonis planning to campaign and fundraise for Democratic congressional candidates in 2018. The article states that she will use her Super PAC, Onward Together,as a fundraising apparatus. In aninterview shortly after launching the PAC in May 2017, she criticized theDemocratic National Committee(DNC) and implied it was useless during her presidential campaign. I mean it was bankrupt. It was on the verge of insolvency. Its data was mediocre to poor, nonexistent, wrong, she said. I had to inject money into it. Thus, she essentially told her billionaire donors that the DNC was a liability and they should donate to her Super PAC instead.

She also is looking at the House districts she won in last years presidential contest againstDonald Trumpas part of an autopsy of her failed campaign, according to two sources who have spoken to the former secretary of state, Amie Parnes, a co-author ofShattered: Inside Hillary Clintons Doomed Campaign,wrotefor the Hill. Democratic leadership has continued to useClintons strategies, even thoughDemocratic candidate Jon Ossoff received a smaller share of the vote than HillaryClintondid in the same district in Georgias special congressional election this year. Nationwide, Clintonwonwealthy suburbs in record numbers, including 23 congressional districts that are currently held by Republicans. In an op-ed for Politico, Clintonstaffer Jesse Ferguson wrote, Democratshave to solidify the support of Romney-Clintonvoters if they have any hope of retaking Congress. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)conductedfocus groups on Americans who voted for Mitt Romneyy in 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 to incorporate this strategy moving forward. In July 2016, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer infamously said,For every blue collarDemocratwe lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia, and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin. He was wrong and continuing to rely on this strategy ensures that the Democratic Party will remain in the minority indefinitely.

The Hillstated that Republicans welcome HillaryClintonsinvolvement in the 2018 midterm elections. Her reputation for scandals, corruption and poor leadership provide them with even more political ammunition than House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosis unpopularity.Clintonintervening in congressional races by actively campaigning for candidates will feed into Republicans messaging that theDemocratic Partyis the party of the Clintons.

Targeting wealthy suburbs aligns with the will of theDemocratic Partyswealthiest donorsHillary Clintons closest allies. This strategy moves the party away from necessary reforms and ensures that it will remain shaped by the former first familys image. EstablishmentDemocratswould rathershiftto the center and court elites at lavish fundraisers than enact meaningful policies. All the while,working class, middle class and low income voters are increasingly disenfranchised from the party they view as beholden to corporations and the wealthy.

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Hillary Plots to Revive Clintonism in 2018 Elections - Observer

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

TRENTON, N.J. With a new poll showing voters are disgusted and outraged that Gov. Chris Christie sunned himself on a closed beach during a government shutdown last week, the term-limited governor auditioned for a sports talk radio job on Monday, brashly fighting back against angry callers.

Christie, a Republican, began co-hosting the afternoon show on New Yorks WFAN shortly after the first poll released since Beachgate showed his approval rating holding steady at a dismal 15 percent, an all-time low. Eighty percent of respondents disapproved, the Monmouth University poll showed.

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Christie brushed aside any potential concern about flagging public opinion.

The later you get in your term the less you care, he said on the air. Youre not running for re-election.

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The New Jersey governor, a big New York Mets fan, revealed that he had donned a Mets T-shirt, shorts and hat the day an NJ.com photographer in an airplane snapped pictures of him lounging in a beach chair at Island Beach State Park, which was off-limits to the public.

New Jersey doesnt have its own Major League Baseball team, and fans in the state split their loyalties mostly among the Mets, the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Christie, whos also a Dallas Cowboys fan, is filling in for host Mike Francesa on WFAN on Monday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon. The station said the appearances are an audition as it seeks a replacement for Francesa, whos departing.

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Christie frequently serves as a fill-in host on the station, tangling with callers over sports and politics. About an hour into Mondays four-hour show, two men from a largely liberal New Jersey town that voted against Christie twice called in between conversations about his fantasy baseball team and the New York Knicks.

One told Christie he had done a horrible job and asked what he thought of the job being done by President Donald Trump, a longtime friend whom Christie endorsed after ending his own presidential campaign.

Im enormously relieved we dont have a criminal in the White House like Hillary Clinton, Christie said.

Another caller referred to Christie, whos portly, as a fat ass and said he should have driven to another beach.

Im not the one who came on the air and swore on the air, Christie said. Youre a bum.

Christies co-host for the day defended the callers right to use the vulgar phrase on the air.

In the Monmouth poll, released Monday, 800 people were asked for the first word that came to mind to describe how they felt about Christie in the beach photos. Most said disgusted and angry, outraged. Tied for the next biggest share was jerk, profanity used.

Eighty-six percent of the respondents in the Monmouth poll said they saw the July 2 photos of Christie with his family on the closed beach.

Christie later told reporters at a news conference that he hadnt gotten any sun that day. Christies spokesman, when told of the photos, told NJ.com that the governor was telling the truth because he was wearing a baseball hat.

While the budget impasse that led to the government shutdown was caused by a dispute between Christie and the Democrat-led Legislature, it was the beach photos that made the most news, leading to headlines around the world and memes across the internet.

Christie refused to apologize for it and said he doesnt care about political optics.

This weeks news wont be much better for Christie.

Christie ally David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty to masterminding lane closures at the George Washington Bridge to create traffic jams as punishment for a Democratic mayor who wouldnt endorse Christie, is set to be sentenced Wednesday. And the Senate is holding a hearing the same day on Trumps FBI pick, Christopher Wray, who represented Christie during the bridge investigation.

Christie denied any prior knowledge of the bridge scheme and was never charged. His former deputy chief of staff and one of his appointees to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were convicted.

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Callers heckled Chris Christie as he hosted a sports radio show today - The Boston Globe

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, on Monday tied former FBI Director James B. Comeys testimony to Hillary Clintons server.

This is exactly the problem Hillary Clinton had with her illegal server. The handling of classified and confidential information that Jim Comey was meant to investigate, if not prosecute. The irony here is, hes trying to look into that for Hillary Clinton, Mrs. Conway said on Fox News.

Mrs. Conway was responding to reports over the weekend that Mr. Comeys leaked memos, which he acknowledged during his congressional testimony were intentionally leaked, contained classified information.

Mr. Trump tweeted about Mr. Comey on Monday morning.

If you look back and listen to him under oath, hes admitting why he did this, what his intent was, and you couple that with the fact that this was coincidental information, classified info in fact, I think this is the story that should get legs, she said.

Mrs. Conway also got into a heated exchange with CNNs Chris Cuomo on the topic of Russia, in which he asked her if she cared about the allegations of Russian collusion in the campaign.

I care about the fact that you seem to forget about the Russia connections that we do know about. We know Bill Clinton, not Don Jr., gave a speech in Russia for half a million dollars. We know that Hillary Clinton had one of the nine votes that allowed 20 percent of U.S. uranium rights to go there, she said on CNN. We know that in the summer of 2016, the people who knew about possibly Russian interference in the election werent at the Trump campaign. They were in the Obama White House.

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Conway ties Comey's testimony to Clinton's server - Washington Times

Many journalists reacted breathlessly to a New York Times report on Sunday revealingthat President Trumps oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., met with a Russian lawyer who indicated she had damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

Donald Jr. admitted to the June 2016 meeting to which he brought campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump adviser Jared Kushner butdownplayed its significance. Obviously Im the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent, he wrote on Twitter Monday morning, adding that the meeting went nowhere but that he had to listen.

Many Trump critics claimedthat the NYT reportsupported the theory that members of the Trump campaignwere somehow involved in theRussian governments hacking of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta and the Democratic National Committee.

But Trump Jr., Kushner and Manaforts lone meeting with the Russian lawyer pales when compared to the coordination between Clinton allies andUkrainian government officials who hoped to see Clinton winthe 2016 election.

Donald Trump and Paul Manafort (Getty Images)

Politico revealed in January someof the Ukrainian governments anti-Trump activities during the election.

A veteran DNC operative who previously worked in the Clinton White House, Alexandra Chalupa, workedwith Ukrainian government officials and journalists from bothUkraine and America to dig up Russia-related opposition research on Trump and Manafort. She also shared her anti-Trump research with both the DNC and the Clinton campaign, according to the Politico report.

Chalupa met with Ukrainian ambassador Valeriy Chaly and one of his aides, Oksara Shulyar, at the Ukrainian Embassy in March 2016 to talk about unearthing Paul Manaforts Russian connections, Chalupa admitted to Politico. Four days later, Trump officially hired Manafort.

The day after Manaforts hiring was revealed, she briefed the DNCs communications staff on Manafort, Trump and their ties to Russia, according to an operative familiar with the situation, Politico reported.

The Politico report also notes that the DNC encouraged Chalupa to try to arrange an interview with Ukrainian President PetroPoroshenko to talk about Manaforts ties to the former pro-Russia president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, whom Manafort previously advised.

The embassy declined to arrange the meeting but was nevertheless helpful, Chalupa told Politico. If I asked a question, they would provide guidance, or if there was someone I needed to follow up with, she said, but added that There were no documents given, nothing like that.

Chalupa also told Politicothat the Ukrainian embassy worked directly with reporters in uncovering dirt on Manafort and Trump.

Like other DNC staffers, some of Chalupas emails were obtained by hackers and published by WikiLeaks. U.S. intelligence services have identified Russia as the culprit behind the hacking of the DNC. In one email released by WikiLeaks, Chalupa told Luis Miranda, then the DNCs communications director, that she was working with Yahoo News reporter Michael Isikoff and connected him to the Ukrainians.

A lot more coming down the pipe. I spoke to a delegation of 68 investigative journalists from Ukraine last Wednesday at the Library of Congress the Open World Societys forum they put me on the program to speak specifically about Paul Manafort and I invited [Yahoo News reporter] Michael Isikoff whom Ive been working with for the past few weeks and connected him to the Ukrainians, Chalupa told Miranda. More offline tomorrow since there is a big Trump component you and Lauren need to be aware of that will hit in next few weeks and something Im working on you should be aware of.

TheOpen World Leadership Center, which funded Chalupas briefing of journalists about Manafort, is a taxpayer-fundedcongressional agency. A spokeswoman for the center, Maura Shelden, emphasized to Politico that the center is non-partisan and that our delegations hear from both sides of the aisle, receiving bipartisan information.

After Trumps shocking electoral victory, the Ukrainian government told Politico, We have never worked to research and disseminate damaging information about Donald Trump and Paul Manafort. But Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian embassy officer, told Politico that he was assigned to work with Chalupa.

Oksana said that if I had any information, or knew other people who did, then I should contact Chalupa, said Telizhenko They were coordinating an investigation with the Hillary team on Paul Manafort with Alexandra Chalupa.

Oksana was keeping it all quiet, Telizhenko said, but added that the embassy worked very closely with Chalupa, the DNC operative.

Like the Ukrainian embassy, the DNC distanced itself fromChalupas actions when asked by Politico, insisting that she was acting on her own.

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Everybody Is Forgetting That Clinton Allies Did The Same Thing As Don Jr. - The Daily Caller