Bill Clinton and James Patterson are collaborating on a thriller, The President is Missing, to come out June 2018, the Boston Herald reports.
In a statement, the publishers called the book “a unique amalgam of intrigue, suspense and behind-the-scenes global drama from the highest corridors of power. It will be informed by details that only a president can know.”
Hillary Clinton “is building a new political group to fund organizations working on the resistance to President Trump’s agenda, spending recent weeks in Washington, New York City, and Chappaqua, N.Y., meeting with donors and potential groups to invest in, and recruiting individuals for the group’s board of directors,” Politico reports.
“She is looking to launch the group, expected to be called Onward Together — a nod to her campaign slogan, Stronger Together — as soon as next week.”
Hillary Clinton “soon will launch a PAC as a way of ‘acting as a quiet catalyst’ for organizations she cares about, and eventually will help 2018 congressional candidates — but with no intention of making it a vehicle to run for anything herself,” Mike Allen reports.
“According to a source familiar with the planning, the initial focus will be on lifting up organizations that are the product of the energy and activism she has seen since the election, and existing groups that have been reignited and reinvigorated by that energy. She has met with some of these groups, and it’s something she’s become increasingly passionate about with each meeting.”
Vanity Fair reports on the debate inside Clintonworld about what Hillary’s role should be for the duration of Trump’s presidency.
Said one person close to the Clintons: “She’s trying to navigate what’s appropriate. Does it look like sour grapes? Does it look like she’s positioning for something? She can’t look like a politician or someone who’s trying to position herself. Those days are over….She’s trying to resurrect her image, as well as resurrect her name.”
The central challenge for Clinton is “capitalizing on her political martyrdom without quite appearing to do so.”
Said the Clinton loyalist: “It’s a fine line because it could become easily an ‘I-told-you-so’ tour, which no one has any appetite for… If you move too quickly, you look political. You lose your stature as an elder statesman. You look like a chronic politician. If you move a bit more strategically — target your appearances, target your messages at your appearances, craft your messages appropriately for your appearances — you can keep on an elder stateswoman status. You can have an impact on the dialog where it won’t look self-serving.”
Hillary Clinton “has all but ruled out returning to her family’s foundation,” The Hill reports.
“The former Democratic presidential nominee has indicated to confidants and associates that she more than likely won’t be returning to the Clinton Foundation, which drew headlines in the 2016 election cycle for possible conflicts of interest.”
Chelsea Clinton told Variety there is no truth to rumors that she is mulling a political bid: “I am not running for public office.”
Said Clinton: “I am really constantly surprised by the stories of me running for, fill-in-the-blank: Congress, Senate, City Council, the presidency. I really find this all rather hysterical, because I’ve been asked this question a lot throughout my life, and the answer has never changed.”
“I am ready to come out of the woods and to shine a light on what’s already happening around kitchen tables at dinners like this to help draw strength to enable everyone to keep going.”
— Hillary Clinton, quoted by The Hill.
“When rumors started swirling after the election that Chelsea Clinton was considering her own foray into politics, it was met with eye rolls even from staunch supporters of the family,” The Hill reports.
“But that skepticism is starting to fade… Clinton has only stoked the rumors further, particularly on Twitter, where she has repeatedly gone after President Trump and his associates since Inauguration Day.”
“In a series of private meetings and phone calls at their home in Chappaqua, in New York City and in Washington, Bill and Hillary Clinton are slowly starting to puzzle through their political future, according to over a dozen people who have spoken directly with them, and nearly two dozen other Democrats who have been briefed on their thinking,” Politico reports.
“The recently vanquished candidate has told some associates she’s looking at a spring timeline for mapping out some of her next political steps… Among the potential political priorities she has mentioned to associates are building pipelines for young party leaders to rise and ensuring that a reconstructed Democratic National Committee functions as an effective hub that works seamlessly with other party campaign wings.”
The Clinton Global Initiative is coming to an end, due to plans to lay off its last group of employees in the next few months, the New York Observer reports.
“Clinton partisans defended the organization’s charitable work, and dismissed claims that it served as a means for the Clintons to sell off access, market themselves on the paid speech circuit, and elevate their brand as Hillary Clinton campaigned for the presidency.”
“But as soon as Clinton lost the election, many of the criticisms directed toward the Clinton Foundation were reaffirmed. Foreign governments began pulling out of annual donations, signaling the organization’s clout was predicated on donor access to the Clintons, rather than its philanthropic work.”
Daily Beast: “In 1967, then President Lyndon B. Johnson signed an anti-nepotism bill into law that was widely seen as a reaction to his disapproval of the appointment of Robert Kennedy in John F. Kennedy’s previous administration. The law became an issue once again in 1993 when two federal appeals court judges in Washington, D.C., ruled that the law did not apply to White House staff.”
“At the time, then President Bill Clinton had appointed his wife, Hillary, to lead health care reform efforts in his administration.”
“Now experts say that ruling may bolster the Trump administration’s position that Kushner’s appointment, which according to the transition team will be an unpaid job, is above board.”
“A federal appeals court has revived a pair of lawsuits seeking to force the federal government to sue former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in a quest to try to recover more emails from the private server she used while secretary of state,” Politico reports.
“A newly unsealed search-warrant application confirms the Federal Bureau of Investigation found thousands of emails potentially linked to Hillary Clinton on a laptop used by former congressman Anthony Weiner, who was then married to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The search warrant application doesn’t offer any new revelations or insight—if anything, it repeats and reaffirms past assertions by officials about the case regarding how and why they decided to search the laptop in the final days of a heated presidential campaign.”
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Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told MSNBC that President-elect Donald Trump will not pursue any investigations into Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server and the Clinton Foundation.
Said Conway: “I think when the president-elect, who’s also the head of your party now, Joe, tells you before he’s even inaugurated he doesn’t wish to pursue these charges it sends a very strong message, tone, and content to the members… If Donald Trump can help her heal then, perhaps, that’s a good thing.”