Obama controls Clinton’s fate in email scandal

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Buzz Cut:
• Obama controls Clinton’s fate in email scandal
• Dems anxious for alternative
• Glass ceiling high, hard
• Q poll: Walker, Bush top tight GOP race
• Is there an emoji for jail?

OBAMA CONTROLS CLINTON’S FATE IN EMAIL SCANDAL
Hillary Clinton said she wants “the public to see [her] email” in a tweet so Clintonian in its tortured language that it would have been perfect for a #throwbackthursday. The presumptive Democratic nominee most certainly does not want the public to see her “email,” which is why she built and maintained a secret server that risked massive security breaches but was designed to allow the eradication of any troublesome messages. That the server may have been overseen by a longtime aide with ties to the Clintons’ pardon scandal only makes the nostalgia more poignant. Pop in a Spin Doctors’ CD and let the 90s vibe flow, America. The former secretary of state is actually referring to emails she has already given the agency. Clinton’s campaign team would obviously have no qualms about releasing what has been already sterilized. But blaming the scandal on a bureaucratic snag beyond her control is an effort to inculpate the Obama administration. Team Obama, however, is fighting back.

“That is why Doritos doesn’t get to decide which ingredients consumers need to know about, or why you don’t get to tell the cops which pocket to search.” – Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show.”

Out on the ledge - AP reports today that the White House counsel’s office did not know Clinton was relying on private email servers and did so against the instructions she had been given. This comes after administration figures on Wednesday stepped gingerly away from the whole controversy, declaring their own electronic hygiene immaculate but leaving unanswered questions about Clinton’s potential misdeeds. It seems unlikely that Republican-led efforts to extract Clinton’s old emails will be fruitful. After all, if she is guilty of what her accusers allege, why would she suddenly get religion and cough up incriminating emails? What would be the point of breaking the rules and having a shady “homebrew” server if only to dump the data at the moment most damaging? But if the Obama administration were to decide to get serious, this could be the beginning of the end for Clinton’s second presidential campaign. Did someone say “special prosecutor?”

“The bigger concern is was she transacting official government business that’s on a server that’s not secure? Because we know these servers are targets for foreign intelligence. We know the Chinese, the Russians, the North Koreans, the Cubans and others are constantly trying to hack into computers and especially that of government officials and if she was transacting sensitive State Department business on an insecure server, that alone is reason to be alarmed.” –Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on “The Kelly File”

Dems anxious for alternative - WaPo: “Democratic activists in early presidential nominating states say that new controversies swirling around Hillary Rodham Clinton have made them more eager than ever for alternatives in 2016. The undercurrent of anxiety about Clinton’s vulnerabilities has grown in recent days with potentially damaging news of foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation and the former secretary of state’s use of private email accounts to conduct official business.”

[A new Quinnipiac Poll, taken before the controversy broke over Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email account as secretary of state, showed the Democratic frontrunner maintaining a 42 point lead over her closest competitor.  Without Clinton in the race, Democratic voters polled give Vice President Joe Biden the lead at 35 percent, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 25 percent and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, 7 percent.]

“There’s always another shoe to drop with Hillary… ‘I’ll tell you this: [Joe Biden] ain’t got no e-mail problems. He ain’t got no foundation problems. What you see with Joe is what you get. There’s nothing hidden there.’” -- Dick Harpootlian, a former Democratic Party chairman in South Carolina in an interview with WaPo.

Heh - “Our Constitution is being shredded. We know about the secret wiretaps, we know about the secret military tribunals, the secret White House email accounts…It is a stunning record of secrecy and corruption, of cronyism run amok. It is everything our founders were afraid of, everything our Constitution was designed to prevent.” – Hillary Clinton in a 2007 jeremiad against the Bush administration.

[Former Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., led a years-long effort against Karl Rove and others in the Bush administration over private emails. He sees things differently this time, though, telling Buzzfeed that while “he believed that she should turn all those records over there was a ‘distinction, though, between the presidency of the United States and other people in government.’”]

Splatter paint - There has been a slew of reporting in the past three days on the electronic hygiene of Republican Sixteeners and the use of private email accounts. Rick Perry got some. Scott Walker too. While Jeb Bush got some sneers for having a private email server, his decision to preemptively dump his emails last month is looking wiser by the day as he seems to have broader latitude than any of his rivals to whack Clinton for her dubious digital conduct.

Glass ceiling high, hard - Weekly Standard: “In late February, Hillary Clinton, a self-proclaimed champion of women’s rights and gender equity, came under fire for a Washington Free Beacon analysis that showed women on Mrs. Clinton’s staff during her tenure in the Senate were paid an average of 72 cents on the dollar compared to male staff. Now, an analysis of the latest IRS filing for the foundation that bears her name, the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, shows a similar compensation disparity between men and women employees. Although compensation figures are available for only a limited number of Foundation personnel, the 2013 Form 990 filed with the IRS shows that out of eleven highly compensated individuals listed, the top eight are all men.”

LET’S PLAY HARDBALL
Kathleen Matthews, chief global communications and public affairs officer for Marriot International and wife of MSNBC's Chris Matthews, is planning to run for the seat of Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Politico reports. Van Hollen announced Wednesday that he will vie for the seat being vacated by Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

THE JUDGE’S RULING: OBAMA GONE ROGUE
Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano examines the constitutionality of separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches. “What’s going on is the exercise of authoritarian impulses by a desperate president terrified of powerlessness and irrelevance, the Constitution be damned. I say ‘damned’ because when the president writes laws, whether under the guise of administrative regulations or executive orders, he is effectively damning the Constitution by usurping the powers of Congress.”

WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE...
Just a reminder that you live on a truly remarkable planet. The Telegraph: “Huge dust clouds swirling across the Atlantic from northern Africato South America are pictured in stunning new images released by the US space agency [NASA] that illustrate how Earth’s largest tropical rainforest relies on its biggest, hottest desert to flourish. Scientists have now for the first time calculated how much dust makes this transatlantic journey from the Sahara to the Amazon basin where it fertilises depleted soils with life-sustaining nutrients. Some 27.7 million tons of Saharan dust reaches the Amazon basin each year, according to analysis of three-dimensional imagery supplied by a [NASA] satellite of the massive tan brown plumes that can be seen from space.”

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POLL CHECK
Real Clear Politics Averages
Obama Job Approval: Approve – 44 percent//Disapprove – 51.5 percent
Direction of Country: Right Direction – 32.3 percent//Wrong Track – 59.7 percent

[Watch Fox: The latest Fox News polls on potential 2016 contenders will be released on “Special Report with Bret Baier” tonight at 6 p.m. ET.]

Q POLL: WALKER, BUSH TOP TIGHT GOP RACE
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, locked in a tight battle for 2016 GOP frontrunner status, hold the high ground among Republican voters according to a national poll released today by Quinnipiac University.  Walker, at 18 percent, has a two point advantage over Bush, an edge that falls well within the poll’s margin of error. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee trailed at 8 percent, with Ben Carson at 7 percent, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 6 percent and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida at 5 percent.

Walker opposed to Homeland funding retreat - Pointing to Gov. Walker’s inclusion in a lawsuit by 26 states that has put the brakes on President Obama’s temporary amnesty for illegal immigrants, spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski told Breitbart News: “He hopes to prevail through the courts but he believes that the Congress needs to preserve the power of the purse to fight this overreach by the President. Democrats have questioned the president’s overreach in the past but didn’t hold him accountable when given the opportunity.”

Rubio dips out on Iowa ethanol event - Des Moines Register: “U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is canceling plans to attend this weekend's Iowa Ag Summit, he told the Des Moines Register on Wednesday. Rubio, a Florida Republican and likely candidate for president in 2016, had RSVP’d for the event, but is backing out now to attend a family wedding. ‘I feel terrible about it, we really wanted to be a part of it,’ Rubio said in an interview Wednesday morning. ‘We really thought logistically we were going to be able to get back but we just can’t do it. I can't miss the wedding.’ Rubio said he may send a video that can be played during the summit.”

Cruz hires Iowa social conservative operative - Des Moines Register: “Sen. Ted Cruz has added a staffer with ties to Iowa conservative groups and campaigns to his national political action committee. Bryan English will join Cruz’s Jobs Growth and Freedom PAC as a senior adviser, a source familiar with the hire confirmed…English is the former director of communications and public relations for the Iowa Family Policy Center. During his tenure, the group led the 2010 campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices after the legalization of gay marriage.”

[Book tour - AP: “Sen. Ted Cruz's book, ‘A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Miracle of America,’ is coming out this summer. HarperCollins Publishers told The Associated Press on Thursday that it has set a June 30 release date for the book, for which Cruz reached a reported seven-figure deal last year.”]

Rand looks to make peace with Adelson - NYT: “Rand Paul said Wednesday that he met with the Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson this week while Mr. Adelson was in Washington for a congressional address by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Mr. Paul and Mr. Adelson are not especially close, personally or in their world views. Mr. Adelson, a staunch supporter of Israel, favors a robust, activist military policy. Mr. Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky and a likely candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has advocated a more restrained approach overseas. In an interview on the radio program ‘Jewish Moments in the Morning,’ Mr. Paul said that Mr. Adelson had assured him he would not fund an effort by Republicans to defeat him.”

Sea Island Spectacular - The 2015 American Enterprise Institute World Forum kicks off today in Sea Island, Georgia. The three day event, with donors and bundlers in attendance, features speakers including Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

Carson apologizes for comments on prison sex - Ben Carson posted an apology to Facebook for comments about gay sex in prisons. Carson restated his support for individual states to sanction or not sanction same-sex marriage. Carson also emphasizes that he is not a politician, and will err again, but unlike others will take full responsibility.

IS THERE AN EMOJI FOR JAIL?
Cincinnati Enquirer: “Andrew Dale Marcum, 21, of Lemon Township, achieved local internet celebrity Monday when he publicly defended himself against allegations from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office in a Monday Facebook post. However, tipsters learned of Marcum because of that defense, and they helped lead police to him less than 24 hours later. … The [Sherriff’s] post contained information and pictures of Marcum, who is associated with alleged burglary and safe cracking, abduction, assault, domestic violence, criminal endangering and some bench warrants….A Facebook account bearing the name ‘Andrew Marcum’ and featuring a profile picture consistent with Butler County mugshots was first to comment on the post: ‘I ain’t tripping half of them don’t even know me.’ The exchange took another turn hours later when the operators of the Butler County Sheriff's Office Facebook account responded: ‘Andrew Marcum - if you could stop by the Sheriff's Office, that’d be great.’”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“This is the same old Clinton that we know, and I think the reason that it hurts her is because we've seen the movie before throughout the 90s. The Clintons aren't just entitled, they also have a sense that they are to be protected in a way no one else is. Then they end up, when they're accused of either violating the law or the practice, making distinctions that are...I mean, the adjective Clintonian was invented for these fine distinctions, between legal and illegal, proper and improper. This is a version of ‘it depends what the word ‘it’ is.’” —Charles Krauthammer on “Special Report with Bret Baier” Watch here.

Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News.  Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here