Since 2011

Gabe Fleisher, Editor-in-Chief

wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com wakeuptopolitics.com @WakeUp2Politics
THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL

Darrell Issa, the self-desricbed chief watchdog, wont
be pushed to the corner on Benghazi.




Capitol Hill News

Darrell Issa Isnt Going Away Just
days after Speaker John Boehner all
but dismissed Issas investigation of
the Benghazi attack by appointing a
new select committee, the self-
described chief watchdog signaled
it couldnt push him away.
House Government and Oversight
Reform Committee chair Darrell Issa
(R-CA) issued another subpoena
Thursday to Secretary of State John
Kerry to testify on the 2012 attacks
on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi,
Libya, a move that could be repeated
by the new select committee, led by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC). The
conventional wisdom was that as the Gowdy committee took center stage,
Issa would step away and his panels probe of the scandal would quietly
close. Not for the first time in politics, the conventional wisdom was wrong.
The same day that the Speaker announced the select committee, Rep. Issa
issued his first subpoena to Secretary Kerry, compelling him to appear




before the Oversight Committee on May 21. Kerry is to be in Mexico that
day, so Issa, not ready to give up, has changed the date to May 29, he
announced Thursday.
The State Department had discussed May 29 as a possible alternative date
and that's when Secretary Kerry will be obligated to appearfurther
accommodation will not be possible, the congressman said in a statement.
Absent an assertion of executive privilege, the State Department has a legal
obligation to fully and completely comply.
I lifted the subpoena requiring Secretary Kerry to testify on May 21
because the State Department made reasonable arguments for an
accommodation. [b]ut soon after I lifted the subpoena, the State
Department backtracked stating publicly that we should accept a more
appropriate witness and refusing to commit to making Secretary Kerry
available, Issa continued.
The State Department called the timing of the subpoena inappropriate, as
Kerry, who was not confirmed until well after the Benghazi attacks, is
currently in London.
This time the subpoena was accompanied by a headline-grabbing, highly
political tweet attacking the integrity of the State Department itself. This is
not the way legitimate and responsible oversight is conducted, and its a
departure from the days when Rep. Issa himself once lamented that a
Secretary of State should not be distracted from the work of national security
to testify at the barrel of a subpoena, said State Department spokesperson
Marie Harf.
The top Democrat on the Oversight panel, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD),
also attacked the subpoena, in light of the select committee.
Just one week after Speaker Boehner said he wanted a single select
committee conducting this investigation, Chairman Issa issued a new
subpoena today for Secretary Kerry to testify before the Oversight
Committee. I don't know if this is Chairman Issa's attempt to reinsert himself
into this investigation after the Speaker removed him, but this looks more
and more like the 'sideshow' and 'circus' Speaker Boehner said he would not
tolerate, said Cummings in a statement.

White House Watch

Obamas Honor Brown 60
th
Anniversary Both Obamas will mark the
Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision today, which
integrated schools across America, and turns 60 on Saturday.
First Lady Michelle Obama will be in Topeka, Kansas, home of the Brown
family where the landmark case all began to pay respects at the Brown v.
Board of Education national Historic Site, a former all-black school, and
address graduating Topeka seniors.
Also tonight, at the White House, President Obama will meet with families
of the plaintiffs and two key lawyers from the Brown lawsuit.
For more reading, there was a very interesting piece in todays New York
Times on the Brown decision and its effect on the First Lady, and President
Obama also issued a proclamation marking the 60
th
anniversary of the
decision.

Question of the Day

Wednesdays Question: Woman vs. Women On Wednesday, one of my
trivia questions was...What was the last Senate race where both major-party
candidates were female? There were three possible answers, all from the
2012 cycle.
And they were... the California race between Democrat Diane Feinstein and
Republican Elizabeth Emken, Mazie Hirono (D) vs. Linda Lingle (R) in
Hawaii; and Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand against Republican Wendy Long
in New York.
GREAT JOB...Joe Bookman (NY and CA races) and Sally Starr (HI race)!
Also, a Correction Yesterday I misidentified the person who answered
Isabel Pern for the foreign president who has also served as First Lady and
Senator in that country, following Hillary Clintons potential trajectory to
the White House; it was Rick Isserman.
Pern was not the answer I was looking for, as she did not serve in her
nations Senate, but Rick emailed me informing me that she was indeed
President of the Argentine Senate. However, she served in that capacity only
because it was a duty of her real office at the time, Vice President of
Argentina, who can only cast a Senate vote in the case of a tie. This is
exactly the same as the U.S. Vice President, and since we would not count
Joe Biden as a Senator, I would have to say Pern still never served in all
three offices.
Great thinking, though; and thanks for writing and answering everybody!