From Welch's report:

Since taking office in 2009, Bennett has been paid tens of thousands of dollars by Richard Stephenson, a wealthy businessman and a key player for the political group, FreedomWorks.

Bennett, who had worked for his family owned oil business in the past, draws a monthly $2,000 salary for his work as a board member for the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, a for-profit company Stephenson started in the 1980s.

Though there is nothing illegal about the payments, it's "because Arizona has weak, in fact, no conflict of interest laws," according to Sam Wercinski, the director of the Arizona Advocacy Network.

Continue Reading...

The late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi may have been a middleman for an arms deal in the 1970s, according to diplomatic cables searched by The Hindu newspaper. Gandhi was employed by Swedish group Saab-Scania to help sell its Viggen fighter jet reportedly because of access to his mother Indira Ghandi  -- prime minister at the time. In his press conference Monday, Julian Assange said this revelation is shaking Indian politics, as the Ghandi family still dominates India's ruling party.

Meanwhile, one cable dated October 18, 1973 sent to Washington by the US embassy to the Vatican reveals that the Vatican once dismissed reports of massacres by Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as "Communist propaganda."

Updated, 9:56 a.m.: Assange compares the Kissinger Cables to "essentially like what Aaron Swartz was doing" -- namely collating documents which are hard to access, or available only through a specific intermediary.

Continue Reading...

Among her achievements in this area, Clinton launched the Equal Futures Partnership to increase women’s leadership in politics, and made the case that rights for women and girls are key ingredients for democracy, peace and economic growth in every country. Critically, she led the United States National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security as well as the United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally, an initiative of USAID and the State Department. If that wasn’t enough, she also shaped the Secretarial Policy Directive on Gender, which has been instrumental in working to end child marriage.

Continue Reading...

The move was announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at an international conference on Syria in Rome, and several European nations are expected in the coming days to take similar steps in working with the military wing of the opposition in order to ramp up pressure on Assad to step down and pave the way for a democratic transition.

"We do this because we need to stand on the side of those in this fight who want to see Syria rise again and see democracy and human rights," Kerry said. "The stakes are really high, and we can't risk letting this country in the heart of the Middle East being destroyed by vicious autocrats or hijacked by the extremists."

"No nation, no people should live in fear of their so-called leaders," he said, adding that President Barack Obama's "decision to take further steps now is the result of the brutality of superior armed force propped up by foreign fighters from Iran and Hezbollah."

Continue Reading...

In prepared remarks for a speech at the University of Virginia, Kerry cites the adage that "we can't be strong in the world unless we are strong at home." He calls the budget impasse a threat.

The State Department has said automatic spending cuts would jeopardize $2.6 billion in aid, security assistance and other international programs.

Kerry says legislators need to avoid "senseless cuts."

Otherwise, he says his credibility as a diplomat might be damaged.

Kerry says, "Think about it: It is hard to tell the leadership of any number of countries that they must resolve their economic issues if we don't resolve our own."

Continue Reading...

The vote was 94-3. Once sworn-in, Kerry will replace Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is stepping down after four years.

The vote came just hours after the Foreign Relations Committee approved his nomination by voice vote. Kerry has led the committee for the past four years.

The 69-year-old Kerry is a decorated Vietnam veteran and the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate.

Continue Reading...

By voice vote, the panel approved the nomination of the five-term Massachusetts Democrat, who has been a member of the committee for 28 years and led it for the past four. The full Senate likely will vote on Tuesday afternoon.

Kerry did not attend the session in the ornate diplomatic room in the Capitol. In his absence, Democrats and Republicans praised Kerry and remarked on his extensive grasp of the issues during his confirmation hearing last Thursday.

"Long-winded," joked Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a Kerry friend who had introduced the senator at that hearing.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who succeeds Kerry as committee chairman, said the senator would be a "formidable secretary of state."

Obama chose Kerry, 69, the son of a diplomat, decorated Vietnam veteran and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, to succeed Clinton, who is stepping down after four years. The senator had pined for the top diplomatic job that went to Clinton after Obama's 2008 election.

Continue Reading...

If approved, the nomination would move to the full Senate, which is expected to act swiftly on the choice.

Obama chose the five-term Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is stepping down after four years.

Kerry has served on the Foreign Relations panel for 28 years and led the committee for the last four. He is the son of a diplomat and a decorated Vietnam veteran.

Obama is overhauling his national security team. The president has nominated Chuck Hagel for defense secretary and John Brennan to serve as CIA director.

Continue Reading...

Continue Reading...

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman will sit at the witness table Thursday when he appears before the panel, a month after President Barack Obama said he wanted him to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton is stepping down.

The five-term Massachusetts senator is widely expected to win overwhelming bipartisan support from his colleagues, and that notion was reinforced by the list of people who will introduce him: Clinton, Massachusetts freshman Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Republican Sen. John McCain.

McCain and Kerry are friends who have worked closely on national security issues. They're also decorated Vietnam War veterans and former presidential candidates who know the sharp sting of defeat.

At the conclusion of a Capitol Hill news conference Tuesday, McCain joked about Kerry's hearing and the tough tactics that won't be employed.

"We will look forward to interrogating him at his hearing — mercilessly," McCain said to laughter. "We will bring back, for the only time, waterboarding to get the truth."

Continue Reading...

Clinton is the sole witness Wednesday at back-to-back hearings before the Senate and House foreign policy panels on the September raid, an independent panel's review that harshly criticized the State Department and the steps the Obama administration is taking to beef up security at U.S. facilities worldwide.

Clinton had been scheduled to testify before Congress last month, but an illness, a concussion and a blood clot near her brain forced her to postpone her appearance.

Her marathon day on Capitol Hill will probably be her last in Congress before she steps down as secretary of state. President Barack Obama has nominated Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to succeed her, and his swift Senate confirmation is widely expected. Kerry's confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Continue Reading...

A crowd of State Department officials greeted Clinton with a standing ovation as she walked in to the first senior staff meeting she has convened since early December, according to those present. Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides, noting that life in Washington is often a "contact sport, sometimes even in your own home" then presented Clinton with a gift — a regulation white Riddell football helmet emblazoned with the State Department seal, several officials said.

She was also given a blue football jersey with "Clinton" and the number 112 — the record-breaking number of countries she has visited since becoming secretary of state — printed on the back. Aides said Clinton was delighted with the gifts but did not try either of them on and the meeting turned to matters of national security and diplomacy.

Continue Reading...

On "Morning Joe," Frank said: “A month ago, or a few weeks ago, in fact I said I wasn’t interested. It was kind of like you’re about to graduate, and they said: ‘You gotta go to summer school.’ But [the fiscal cliff deal] now means that February, March and April are going to be among the most important months in American financial history."

He added that he has "told the governor that I would now like, frankly, to do that," but that he is only interested in serving for the three-month period before a special election this summer. "I wouldn't want to run again," Frank said.

Watch:

Continue Reading...

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says Clinton is resting at home but is speaking with senior staff and is, quote, "sounding terrific, upbeat and raring to go."

She says Clinton looks forward to returning to her Washington office next week, although a date hasn't been set. Doctors have advised her to avoid international travel for now.

Clinton was discharged Wednesday from a New York hospital, three days after doctors diagnosed a blood clot during a follow-up exam stemming from a concussion she suffered in December. Doctors are treating the clot with blood thinners and say they expect she will fully recover.

Continue Reading...

Continue Reading...

The 65-year-old Clinton, who's expected to leave her job soon after serving as America's top diplomat during President Barack Obama's first term, is recovering at home and being monitored by doctors, according to a statement by aide Philippe Reines.

No further details were immediately available.

The statement said Clinton was dehydrated because of the virus and that she fainted and sustained a concussion. She will continue to work from home in the week ahead and looks forward to being back in the office "soon," the statement said.

Continue Reading...

"If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly -- to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities," Rice wrote in a letter to President Obama, NBC News first reported. "That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country ... Therefore, I respectfully request that you no longer consider my candidacy at this time."

"The position of Secretary of State should never be politicized," Rice continued. "As someone who grew up in an era of comparative bipartisanship and as a sitting U.S. national security official who has served in two U.S. Administrations, I am saddened that we have reached this point, even before you have decided whom to nominate. We cannot afford such an irresponsible distraction from the most pressing issues facing the American people."

Continue Reading...

No, that's not today! That was eight years ago when George W. Bush appointed his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to be the nation’s top diplomat a week after winning reelection.

Continue Reading...

Duncan shrugged the fan-boy nomination, saying,"Last week, the Onion said I was going to become a male stripper." He added,  "The Onion is probably more accurate than Tom Friedman."

In other words: Thanks, but no thanks.

h/t ABC News

Continue Reading...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Susan Rice has done a "great" job as U.N. ambassador without explicitly endorsing Rice to be her successor.

Updated 4:36 p.m.:

In a subsequent interview with MSNBC, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R.-N.H., agrees with Senator Collins that the 1998 embassy bombing "raised some very important questions" about Susan Rice's fitness for Secretary of State. What are those questions? Ayotte's not sure:

As I understand it, you know, Senator Collins raised the questions about what her role was there. she has asked for answers about what her role was with respect to embassy security and embassy security requests that were made prior to those two -- the attacks on our embassies there and so I don't know that those questions have been answered but I think they're important questions that were raised by Senator Collins and I certainly respect her experience in this area.

Neither senator addressed why the embassy bombings are of greater concern now than there were in 2009 during her honeymoon nomination process to be U.N. ambassador. According to a Nexis search, Collins had zero to say at the time about Rice being in a sensitive, high profile foreign policy position.

Continue Reading...