Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Judge tells State Dept. to find more staffers to process Hillary Clinton emails
A federal judge urged the State Department to get more people on the case reviewing and releasing the emails of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her top aides, saying Tuesday that all sides should be eager to get the matter behind them. Published September 22, 2015
Mexican, Central American immigrants slower to assimilate in U.S.
Immigrants overall do rather well at assimilating into the U.S., but there are major differences — particularly for poor Mexican and Central American immigrants, whose families lag behind the kind of integration the U.S. has prided itself on for decades, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said in a report Monday. Published September 21, 2015
Hillary Clinton emails: FBI refuses to cooperate in server probe
The FBI refused to cooperate Monday with a court-ordered inquiry into former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's email server, telling the State Department that they won't even confirm they are investigating the matter themselves, much less willing to tell the rest of the government what's going on. Published September 21, 2015
Hillary Clinton aides relinquish more than 100,000 pages of emails
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's top aides have belatedly turned over more than 100,000 pages of emails they had kept on personal email accounts, or accounts tied to Mrs. Clinton's server, the government told a federal judge late Friday. Published September 19, 2015
Illegal immigrant detention centers rife with abuses, U.S. Civil Rights Commission report finds
The way the government detains illegal immigrants often breaks fundamental constitutional guarantees, and holding whole families in detention is a particularly harsh abuse of human rights, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission said in a controversial new report Thursday, wading deeply into the immigration debate. Published September 17, 2015
Investigation finds sex, fraud and retaliation at Census office
Forty employees in the Census Bureau's hiring office bilked the government out of $1.1 million in pay they never earned, broke government rules by hiring friends, and tried to intimidate whistleblowers who ratted them out, according to a new inspector general's report Thursday that said supervisors even "led" the misconduct. Published September 17, 2015
Donald Trump defends place at head of Republican field
The Republican field sparred for the title of anti-establishment champion Wednesday in the second debate of the presidential campaign, with front-runner Donald Trump defending his temperament amid attacks from fellow candidates, but struggling to lay out plans on how to deal with Syria or Russia. Published September 16, 2015
Second Republican debate kicks off with candidates sparring over Donald Trump
Sen. Lindsey Graham implied fellow GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum was being anti-Hispanic by saying immigrants are taking jobs from Americans, as the second Republican presidential debate delved into the issue. Published September 16, 2015
Only ‘four or five’ U.S.-trained fighters in Syria
Only "four or five" U.S.-trained rebels are currently fighting in Syria, or thousands less than the Pentagon expected, the chief of the military campaign against the Islamic State told Congress on Wednesday as President Obama's war plans came under withering criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. Published September 16, 2015
Jack Burkman, D.C. lobbyist, calls Trump ‘a joke,’ demands GOP field stiffen spines on gay marriage
A top D.C. lobbyist has taken out a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Daily News Wednesday calling GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump "a joke" and challenging all Republican candidates to take a stiffer stand in the second presidential debate opposing same-sex marriage and other indications he sees of moral decline. Published September 16, 2015
Mitch McConnell to force tough votes on Iran, 4 U.S. prisoners
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he'll force tough votes this week on whether senators back Iran over Israel and over four American prisoners still being held by the regime in Tehran as all sides scrambled for ways to stiffen the nuclear deal President Obama reached with the Islamic republic. Published September 15, 2015
Democrats shift radically on illegal immigration as Republicans remain adamantly opposed
Democrats have become far more open to legalizing illegal immigrants over the last decade, while Republicans remain adamantly opposed, according to extensive new polling by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs that helps explain the rise of businessman Donald Trump within the GOP presidential field and the dim hopes for getting anything done in Congress. Published September 15, 2015
John Cornyn calls for special counsel to investigate Clinton emails
A top Republican called Tuesday for Attorney General Loretta Lynch to name a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails, saying Americans need greater assurance that any wrongdoing will be investigated without fear of political influence from President Obama and his team. Published September 15, 2015
Senators seek ways to get Pagliano to talk about Clinton emails
Two top senators asked the Justice Department on Monday to reveal whether it has opened an investigation involving Bryan Pagliano, the tech worker who assisted former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in setting up her email server, as Congress continues to try to find ways of learning what he knows. Published September 14, 2015
State Dept. concedes ‘gaps’ in Clinton email record; contradiction could result in perjury charge
The emails former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton turned back over to the government last year contained "gaps," according to internal department messages evaluating her production. Published September 14, 2015
Syria refugee crisis a no-win for Obama
Human rights groups say President Obama's opening bid of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees next year is far too timid in the face of the humanitarian catastrophe playing out in the Middle East, and even his own party colleagues in Congress are preparing to raise him tenfold, calling for the U.S. to take in 100,000 Syrians. Published September 13, 2015
John Boehner’s Iran nuclear deal lawsuit unlikely to succeed, experts say
House Speaker John A. Boehner has hinted at a lawsuit to stop President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, but legal analysts doubted such a move would work, saying it's exactly the kind of case judges will steer clear of. Published September 13, 2015
Chris Christie, New Jersey governor: I handled my crisis better than Hillary Clinton’s handling hers
Chris Christie on Sunday contrasted his response to the "Bridgegate" scandal in his state with former Secretary of State's Hillary Rodham Clinton's scramble to tamp down the fallout from her exclusive use of a private email server. Published September 13, 2015
Huma Abedin, top Clinton aide, delivers 6,714 emails, 2,533 pages of documents
Huma Abedin, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's close personal aide, has turned over 6,714 emails, and 2,533 pages of documents in printed and electronic form, the Obama administration said in a court filing late Friday. Published September 11, 2015
Rick Perry to suspend 2016 GOP presidential campaign
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is suspending his campaign to win the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, announcing the decision in a speech to the Eagle Forum in St. Louis on Friday afternoon. Published September 11, 2015