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Nancy Pelosi says President Trump is the reason shes sticking around.

Shed be gone by now if Hillary Clinton had won in November, the House minority leader told reporters last week.

But with Mr. Trump in the White House and Obamacare under assault in Congress, the California Democrat says shes not going anywhere.

And her troops in the House are lucky for it, said Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia Democrat, who said Mrs. Pelosi was a driving force behind passing the Affordable Care Act in 2009 and 2010, and is primed to defend it now.

On the legacy side for Nancy especially, she was a stalwart, Mr. Connolly said. When it seemed like this thing was slipping away, she was the one who said, Lets go full-bore.

Mr. Connolly, however, warned against viewing the battle over Obamacare solely through the prism of Mrs. Pelosi.

Though clearly it is an important part of her legacy, it is also part of the Democratic legacy, he said. This is part of the Democratic DNA.

That legacy has been checkered.

Analysts say the law helped contribute to Democrats loss of the House in the 2010 elections, which ousted Mrs. Pelosi from her post as speaker of the House. Then the botched rollout of the exchanges in 2013 left both President Obama and congressional Democrats wounded heading into the 2014 elections.

The legacy of the Obama-Pelosi partnership is one of a collapsing health care system and all three branches of government in Republican control, said Kevin Sheridan, a GOP strategist. Hard to make a case that it was a success.

Mrs. Pelosi, while disputing the exact causes of the election setbacks, says it was worth it.

Whatever the outcome of the election was, we expanded health care for many Americans, she said Monday, putting Obamacare alongside Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as pillars of the American social safety net.

I think the election was about more things. I think it was about TARP and Wall Street and the rest of that, she said. But the fact is, if in fact it were the case, it would be well worth it. I dont think that anybodys political survival is more important than the good health of the American people.

Politicos have been predicting Mrs. Pelosis retirement from Congress for years, but shes defied expectations after each election, remaining not only in the House, but serving as her partys floor leader. Along the way shes shepherded the House Democratic Caucus further to the left.

After last years election fiasco, she faced her toughest leadership challenge yet. She still easily overcame Rep. Tim Ryan, Ohio Democrat, in a 134-63 vote.

Speaking to reporters last week, Mrs. Pelosi said she had expected Mrs. Clinton to win the election thereby ensuring the health care law was left in good hands.

If she were there, then I would not worry about that, Mrs. Pelosi said, adding that Mr. Trumps win motivated her to stick around. Again, I would have been gone by now had she won.

Asked whether that meant that Mrs. Pelosi would have retired, or whether she was signaling her intent to step away from leadership, Drew Hammill, a spokesman, said he could not provide any clarification on her comments.

She didnt say, Mr. Hammill said.

The Republican National Committee on Tuesday, meanwhile, circulated an op-ed that mocked the idea that Democrats are better off with Mrs. Pelosis hanging around and that highlighted how the party has lost 60 House seats on her watch.

Mr. Connolly said Mrs. Pelosi is the battle-tested leader Democrats need at this moment, arguing the partys legacy is just as much tied up in Obamacare as her own.

I think the skill set she showed in forging Democratic consensus and pushing through the health care law are the very skill sets frankly Democrats need right now, Mr. Connolly said. We have to be cohesive. We have got to speak with a strong and coherent voice in messaging, and we have to use every legislative tool we have got to respond to this dystopian Trump agenda.

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Pelosi says one Democrat is uniquely qualified to take on Trump: Nancy Pelosi - Washington Times

A top FBI official who came under scrutiny last year over his wifes campaign contributions from a Hillary Clinton ally did not list those 2015 donations or his wifes salary in financial disclosure forms, according to records reviewed by Fox News.

The records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, show FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe left the box blank for wife Dr. Jill McCabe's salary, as a doctor with Commonwealth Emergency Physicians. And there is no documentation of the hundreds of thousands of campaign funds she received in her unsuccessful 2015 Virginia state Senate race.

As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, Clinton confidant and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe urged McCabes wife to run for statewide office shortly after news reports were published that Hillary Clinton used a private email server and address for all her government business while serving as secretary of State.

For the reporting period of October through November 2015, McCabe's campaign filings show she received $467,500 from Common Good VA, a political action committee controlled by McAuliffe, as well as an additional $292,500 from a second Democratic PAC.

Asked why the deputy director did not list his wife's salary or the campaign contributions on the "Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report" (OGE Form 278e) for 2015, an FBI spokesman said the forms were certified as "in compliance with applicable laws and regulations." The spokesman added Office of Government Ethics regulations do not stipulate that a spouse's salary or contributions received by a spouse's political campaign must be declared.

The document was filed by Andrew McCabe on July 8, 2016, after he received a 44-day filing extension.

According to the OGE website, despite the box on the form for spouse income, it is not mandatory to fill in the blank, and it is not required to include contributions to a political campaign because there is a lower level of disclosure for the spouse.

The chief of policy for Issue One, which describes itself as a "bipartisan organization dedicated to reducing the influence of money in politics," said this is another example of how thedisclosuresystem is flawed.

"The OGE itself and operates as a compliance agency -- taking the information given to it by the covered government official and working with that. I have not heard of the office doing any further investigation to assess whether the information provided by the official is actually correct, unless that information is uncovered by outside forces like the media,"Meredith McGehee told Fox News, adding that her group is discussing possible changes with Capitol Hill offices.

"There is a need to strengthen OGE's authority -- from clarifying its power to conduct investigations to giving it authority to conduct random audits to having it play a larger role for matters involving high-ranking executive branch officials, she said.

"If it's not required, then why is there a spot on the form for spouse's income?" retired FBI agent Jeff Daniq said.Daniq filed the FOIA requests with the FBI, and shared the financial disclosure forms with Fox News.

"Isn't it particularly convenient that loopholes in the ethics law are used to eliminate reporting hundreds of thousands of donated dollars benefiting the spouse of one of the most powerful FBI executives,while at the same time those laws demand that every dime in earnings on a minor stock account be disclosed? he said. That hardly seems transparent."

Andrew McCabe was at the center of the FBI's investigation into the use of Clinton's use of a private, unsecured email server as secretary of state despite his wife having run for office supported financially by a close Clinton ally.

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, in a November 2016 letter to the Justice Department inspector general, noted that in July 2015, around the time the Clinton investigation began, Andrew McCabe was promoted to associate deputy director at FBI headquarters -- the No. 3 position.

Yet, Grassley wrote, "the FBI asserts that Mr. McCabe did not have an oversight role in the Clinton investigation until he became the number two in command in 2016. However, the FBI's statement does not foreclose the possibility that Mr. McCabe had a non oversight role while associate deputy director. Thus, even during the time period in which his wife's political campaign received approximately half a million dollars from Gov. McAuliffe's political action committee, and over $200,000 from the Virginia Democrat Party, he may have had a role in the investigation and did not recuse himself."

Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz is now conducting a sweeping investigation of events leading up to the November election, including potential conflicts at the FBI, Director James Comey's public recommendation against prosecution, and related matters -- which are expected to include then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch's tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton at Sky Harbor airport in Arizona one week before Hillary Clinton's FBI interview.

In his letter, Grassley noted the Journal reported 98% of the Gov. McAuliffe related donations to his wife came after the FBI launched the investigation. Given this, he wrote, the FBI must provide a more detailed explanation as to why it determined that it was appropriate for Mr. McCabe to participate in that investigation in any way."

McGehee said states like Virginia have a long tradition of very little regulation and minimal disclosure, meaning inadequate disclosure of real and potential conflicts of interest for those individuals who are subject to financial disclosure requirements and thus by definition are taking on powerful positions in the federal government."

Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Herridge joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent.

Pamela K. Browne is Senior Executive Producer at the FOX News Channel (FNC) and is Director of Long-Form Series and Specials. Her journalism has been recognized with several awards. Browne first joined FOX in 1997 to launch the news magazine Fox Files and later, War Stories.

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FBI No. 2 did not disclose wife's ties to Clinton ally, records show - Fox News

WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange said on Tuesday, without offering any proof, that Hillary Clinton and intelligence officials "close to" Vice President Mike Pence are working to undermine Donald Trump's presidency in an effort to replace him with his vice president.

In the first of a pair of tweets from an account WikiLeaks said was activated by its founder, Assange claimed that Trump's 2016 presidential election opponent Hillary Clinton stated privately this month that she is "pushing for a Pence takeover." He claimed Clinton views Pence as "predictable hence defeatable."

The second tweet alleges two unnamed intelligence community officials "close to Pence" stated privately this month that they are planning on a "Pence takeover." Assange did not say whether that means they are behind the plans or if they are simply expecting a takeover. He also said the two intelligence officials didn't state whether Pence agrees with the takeover.

The Washington Examiner has reached out to both Pence's and Clinton's offices for comment.

In a radio interview with Laura Ingraham, Pence said Assange's tweets are "absurd" and "frankly offensive."

"I would find all of that dialogue to be absurd and frankly offensive," Pence said. "It is the greatest honor of my life to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with the 45th president of the United States. To see his leadership every day, to see the compassion that he has for the American people every day. I would dismiss that out of hand and tell you that I'm just, I'm so excited about the progress that we've been made strengthening this country, protecting this country, reviving this country's economy and all credit goes to President Donald Trump."

Also from the Washington Examiner

Democrats are blaming the recent decline in Obamacare enrollments to "sabotage" by the Trump administration.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Trump's executive actions since taking office, including scaling back advertising for the law, have caused the drop in enrollments in 2017. Pelosi, D-Calif., called the moves part of "a cynical ad willful campaign" to depress enrollment.

Obamacare enrollments have dropped by about half a million people in 2017 compared to 2016, the Trump administration reported Wednesday.

"As of December 24, 11.5 million Americans had signed up for coverage in the marketplaces about 300,000 more than at the same time in the previous year," Pelosi said.

03/15/17 3:44 PM

After the interview, Assange noted that the plan that his sources talked about was impeachment, and not any other kind of action.

The intelligence community published a report in January concluding that Russia worked to tip the 2016 election in Trump's favor through a series of hacks of Democratic officials' emails. The report said that Russian operatives chose websites like WikiLeaks to publish the material a claim that WikiLeaks denies.

WikiLeaks published last week the first in a series of what it claims are documents stolen from the CIA's secret hacking program, calling it the "Vault 7" leak, which shows the agency's capability to break into a number of devices.

Several right-wing news outlets, like Breitbart News and the Federalist, have run stories in recent days alleging that former President Barack Obama is developing a "shadow government" to take down Trump's administration. These articles follow a number of leaks from unnamed officials that have raised questions about the Trump team's ties to Russia and Trump's assertion, without proof, that Obama ordered a wiretap of Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.

Also from the Washington Examiner

Comey to brief senators but Graham not invited.

03/15/17 3:39 PM

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Assange claims Hillary Clinton 'pushing' for a Pence takeover - Washington Examiner

Mr Putin, he said, was pleased that Mr Trump defeated Mrs Clinton,but he insisted that Russia did not intervene.

The candidate Hillary Clinton was quite negative declaring Russia the main evil, the main threat, he said.

Whom would you like better the one that says Russia is evil? Or the one that says yes, we disagree, but lets find points of agreement?

He said his initial contact with Mr Trump was quite promising, but Russia was increasingly disappointed with the response from the Trump administration.

We dont have a proper understanding of the future, he said. We certainly would expect our contacts to be more frequent, more in depth, because we had quite a significant pause.

We were losing potential by blaming everything on Earth on each other.

We do worry. Public opinion if you load with a huge burden of fake news, fake blaming on Russia, repeat every day numerous times that Russia is interfering, guilty of trying to hack, that everything that goes wrong in the country is the fault of Russia.

We want to see this hysteria coming to its logic end. Better sooner than later.

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Hillary Clinton's team met with Russian ambassador, says Kremlin spokesman, as he warns against 'hysteria' - Telegraph.co.uk

West Scranton residents Mary Clare Kingsley and her younger sister, Jane Duffy Shrive, grew up in a large Irish Catholic family that instilled values of resilience, determination and love for family first.

Kingsley, the eldest of nine children of Clarence Duffy and the late Mary C. Duffy, and Shrive, the middle child, said they developed a bond closer than most siblings because their clan always was in it together to get by.

So it made sense that the longtime members of the Society of Irish Women stepped up to be co-presidents together this year. Theyll celebrate this milestone theyre the first pair of sisters to helm the group of about 100 in a year during the societys 19th annual St. Patricks Day dinner celebration Friday.

Kingsley and Shrive also revel in how the group lined up Hillary Clinton as keynote speaker. The sisters hoped to bring in the former Secretary of State and presidential candidate for the event, which they always attended with their mother before she died in 2011. They believe the former first lady embodies many of the qualities they learned at their parents knees, not least of all because Clintons father, the late Hugh Rodham, also grew up in Scranton.

I just think it was wonderful growing up in a big family. We didnt have a lot, but we valued everything we had. We shared a lot, but it never mattered to us, because we were happy, Shrive said. Thats why we wanted a woman who would portray giving, being a good person and being all about her family. Every time I think about it, I think about my mom smiling down on us and how proud shed be.

Were hoping (Clinton is) going to inspire ... and unite us. After all, our group is an organization that tries to bring women to the forefront, Kingsley agreed. She made me believe that a woman can do anything. I think she can bring a lot back to our area to make women feel important, do what they need to do and be proud of it.

Evie Rafalko McNulty, mistress of ceremonies for Fridays event, is a founding member of the society and sent a letter to Clinton every year inviting her to the dinner. The Lackawanna County recorder of deeds said she feels psyched to finally have Clinton there, an accomplishment McNulty attributed to Shrive and Kingsleys dedicated work.

They secured the appearance in large part through the efforts of Scranton resident Virginia McGregor, an ardent Clinton supporter who hosted fundraisers in her Green Ridge home during Clintons presidential campaign. McGregor will offer a few remarks and introduce Clinton at the dinner.

Im thrilled and so honored that Mary Clare and Jane included me on this important, historic night, McGregor said. Im very much looking forward to it. It is important to note that no one else with NEPA roots has achieved what (Clinton) has (being) first lady, a U.S. senator, Secretary of State and nominee of a major party for president. During all that, she advocated for peace in Ireland and women and children throughout the world. All of those accomplishments are worth celebrating. She has made us all very proud.

A formal invitation went to Clinton in December, and she accepted in late January, though it remained secret among just a handful of society members until Feb. 22 while they worked out the logistics to handle what they correctly foresaw as the greatest call for tickets the group ever had.

We wanted to have (Clinton) share her courage and resilience and dedication to women and this country, Kingsley said. Women have had to fight for everything theyve gotten: for positions, for salaries, everything.

Past dinners have drawn presidential candidates, sitting vice presidents and other national speakers, McNulty noted, and things happen for a reason. We could use a boost of (Clinton). Like the co-presidents, she expects to Clintons remarks to dazzle dinner guests.

(Clinton) is what most women and young women aspire to be: a strong, determined woman, McNulty said. Shes just the epitome of grace. She has taken a blow that is being felt worldwide and still risen above and shined above (it) and taught us to move on.

Nov. 8 (Election Day) wasnt the end of the world. Shes got a couple thousand friends here to have dinner with. I just want her to feel at home. Shell give an inspiring speech, there is no doubt of that. Im hoping in the middle of it all, we can have a couple laughs, and in the next journey of her life, Scranton will be on her mind.

And while Clinton certainly marks a highlight of the night, society members and guests look forward to the celebration year after year for the networking opportunities and memories it provides. Music by Greater Scranton Black Diamonds Pipe Band and soloists and chorale singers from Valley View High School set the scene for Irish revelry.

The energy is ecstatic, Kingsley said. You dont have to be Irish to be there, but youll feel like you are by the end of the night.

Her sister called it such a special night.

You leave your worries at home, theres wonderful Irish music, and everybodys happy to see each other, Shrive said. Its so uplifting.

This group is not just about meeting once a year at dinner, though, she added. We are all about giving. We do lots of fundraisers, donate and help prepare hot meals at St. Stanislaus kitchen and St. Francis (of Assisi) Kitchen. We sing at the nursing homes at Christmas and bring cookies, give socks, hats and gloves to schools, and gave out valentines for every patient at five different nursing homes.

Its a spirit of generosity and kindness Shrive and Kingsley said they owe to their dad, who always worked at least two jobs and walked both ways to each, and their mom, who stayed at home to raise their three sons and six daughters.

I was brought up in an Irish home and always celebrated St. Patricks Day, Kingsley said. Im proud to be doing this with my sister. We always went to this (dinner) with our mom, so we cherish this.

Contact the writer: pwilding@timesshamrock.com, @pwildingTT on Twitter

If you go

What: 19th annual Society of Irish Women St. Patricks Day dinner celebration featuring keynote speaker Hillary Clinton

When: Friday; cocktails start at 5:30 p.m., and dinner follows at 7

Where: Hilton Scranton and Conference Center, 100 Adams Ave.

Meet the co-presidents

Mary Clare Kingsley

At home: She is the oldest of nine children of Clarence Duffy and the late Mary C. Duffy and has been married to Gerald for 41 years. She has three children, Brian and wife, Marilyn; Kelly and husband, Luqman; and Kim, plus four grandchildren, Elias, Logan, Aidan and Sahmira.

At work: Retired after 25 years as a confidential payroll secretary in Scranton School District

Jane Duffy Shrive

At home: She is the middle of nine children of Clarence Duffy and the late Mary C. Duffy and has been married to Dennis for 34 years. She has three children, attorney Jason and wife, Jennifer; Jeff and wife, Stacey; and Eric and wife, Karlie, plus four grandchildren, Duffy, Connor, Tanner and Sophia.

At work: Special-education paraprofessional for 19 years in Scranton School District

2017 honoree

During Fridays dinner, Jefferson Twp. resident Mary Ellen Coleman also will give brief remarks after the Society of Irish Women honors her for her charitable efforts with numerous groups, including St. Josephs Center, Scranton Tomorrow, United Way of Lackawanna County and Scranton Area Foundation. In particular, Coleman focuses her energies on serving children and adults with special needs, single moms, the lonely and the less fortunate.

We honor (individuals) for their contributions to the people of this area, and she volunteers and supports so many nonprofits, society co-president Mary Clare Kingsley said. Shes a wonderful woman.

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Society of Irish Women ready to celebrate with Hillary Clinton as speaker - Scranton Times-Tribune