Hillary Clinton Denounces Bachmann's Calls for an Investigation

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has finally responded to the request by five House Republicans for an investigation into the Islamist links to Clinton’s long-time aide Huma Abedin. Clinton tried to take the moral high ground, saying there is “no place in our politics” for such “assaults” and continuing:

“Leaders have to be active in stepping in and sending messages about protecting the diversity within their countries. We did see some of that in our own country. We saw Republicans stepping up and standing up against the kind of assaults that really have no place in our politics.”

State Department spokesman Philippe Reines has hysterically denounced the calls for an investigation as “nothing but vicious and disgusting lies  … anyone who traffics in them should be ashamed of themselves.”

But the House members who called for an investigation, Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) have not capitulated to their critics, and instead have pointed out that their calls for an investigation into Abedin are part of a larger investigation into any Islamist infiltration in the federal government. They justifiably claim that the media has focused on Abedin, and missed the larger point.

Clinton’s claim of Republicans stepping up was a clear reference to John McCain, who called the accusations against Abedin “specious and degrading attacks,” as well as House Speaker John Boehner, who also criticized the five House members. 

But there is ample evidence that Abedin is not to be trusted.  As far as Clinton’s assertion that there is no place for an investigation of Islamist influence in the government, that is utter hogwash, and her characterization of the calls for an investigation as “assaults” is simply demagoguing the issue.

Investigations are not assaults, and for the very woman who dismissed the allegations against Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky affair as a “vast right-wing conspiracy” and then revived the phrase in the 2008 campaign to protest a legitimate investigation is laughable.

But Islamist moles in the government are no laughing matter.