Ridgewood NJ, After months of name calling Gottheimer is a no show . Despite claiming he would be available to debate “any day,” Josh Gottheimer conveniently accepted a competing invitation in order to avoid debating Rep. Scott Garrett. Garrett for Congress has now learned that this competing debate was canceled last week, and yet Gottheimer chose to hide from tonight’s debate at Congregation Bnai Yeshurun.
“Josh Gottheimer is a liar,” said Garrett for Congress Campaign Manager Sarah Neibart. “He claimed he would be willing to debate Congressman Garrett, but Gottheimer is obviously only interested in political posturing – not actually explaining to Fifth District voters where he stands on the issues.”
This latest attempt at obfuscation comes on the heels of Gottheimer’s attempted cover-up of allegations he aggressively intimidated and assaulted a woman. He’s repeatedly lied to reporters, saying, “there was no settlement,” when in fact, there was.
Josh Gottheimer is a political insider willing to lie and scheme his way into Congress. The Fifth District deserves better than that.
Ridgewood NJ, Josh Gottheimer is covering up allegations about a court case where he was charged with aggressively intimidating and assaulting a woman. He’s repeatedly lied to reporters, saying, “there was no settlement,” when in fact, there was.Now, Garrett for Congress has uncovered new information that Gottheimer failed to pay his property taxes – not once, not twice – but six times.
Intimidation? Tax evasion? What else is Josh Gottheimer hiding? Like his mentor Hillary Clinton, Josh Gottheimer clearly thinks he is above the law.
“Charged with aggressive intimidation and assault at his condo, Josh Gottheimer dismisses his victim’s ordeal as frivolous. But he settled out of court to hide the truth: Gottheimer bought her silence. And what else is he hiding? He failed to pay his property taxes on this same luxury DC condo six times, yet Gottheimer wants you to pay more in taxes. Josh Gottheimer thinks he’s above the law. Josh Gottheimer’s values aren’t New Jersey values.”
Gottheimer’s Clinton Tactics: Deny and Lie – To The Press
#WhatIsJoshHiding #ReleaseTheSettlement
October 27,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Josh Gottheimer has been inundating some say coordinating with the New Jersey press corps with a daily dose of emails for months calling Congressman Scott Garrett every name in the book. (You stay classy, Josh Gottheimer)
And yet when it comes to allegations about a court case where he was charged with aggressively intimidating and assaulting a woman, he issues awkward denials or just won’t answer questions. He’s repeatedly lied to reporters, saying, “there was no settlement.”
He probably thinks he doesn’t need the New Jersey press corps because his Burson-Marsteller and Clinton worlds have him in pretty tight with the DC press corps.
Why won’t Josh answer simple questions that the press has asked?
Why won’t Josh produce the settlement documents to show what really happened? What is he hiding?
How much money was the plaintiff paid to drop the lawsuit?
What other non-monetary settlement was reached?
Was the plaintiff threatened or harassed to settle?
Was the plaintiff offered political favors to drop the lawsuit?
If nothing happened why didn’t Josh take case to court rather than pay the plaintiff off?
Hillary Clinton has lied to the press and the American people because she thinks that the ends justify the means and she’s willing to do or say anything to get elected. Sound familiar?
Ridgewood NJ, Josh Gottheimer is covering-up information about a 2007 assault, according to accusations from concerned citizens in northern New Jersey. Court documents recently surfaced confirming that Gottheimer was sued for aggressively assaulting, discriminating against, and intimidating a tenant who lived in the same Washington, D.C. condo building.
“Why won’t Josh produce the settlement documents to show what really happened? What is he hiding?” said Assemblywoman Gail Phoebus. “If there’s no real scandal, Josh shouldn’t have an issue providing the voters of the Fifth District with answers.”
When asked about the lawsuit, Gottheimer’s team called it “frivolous,” but stopped short of denying the allegations. Gottheimer also said that the lawsuit was dismissed, but closer examination of the court documents reveal that the case was actually settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
The terms of the settlement are not publicly available, and Gottheimer has refused to release them in the week since the documents surfaced. Calls for Gottheimer to share the details are growing, including questions about why he settled the case instead of having it heard in court.
We’ve repeatedly called on Gottheimer to answer for his actions, and asked: was the plaintiff was threatened or harassed to settle; what other non-monetary settlement was reached; and was the plaintiff offered political favors to drop the lawsuit?
Gottheimer says the lawsuit was simply dismissed but he conveniently leaves out the fact that it was settled out of court. He also refuses to say how much money the victim was paid and what else was offered to her in return for ending the lawsuit.
Gottheimer, a longtime Clinton ally and political strategist, has raised large amounts of money from around the country through his connections to the Clinton network and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s super PAC. He’s trying to use his D.C. connections and Clinton rolodex to buy a seat in Congress.
Gottheimer, who has run an almost entirely negative, mud-slinging campaign against Congressman Garrett, is also being called a hypocrite for claiming to stand with women while refusing to release details of the assault.
As is so often the case with Clinton cronies like Gottheimer, it’s clear that his actions don’t match his words.
Ridgewood NJ, Josh Gottheimer is covering up allegations about a court case where he was charged with aggressively intimidating and assaulting a woman. He’s repeatedly lied to reporters, saying, “there was no settlement.”
Oops.
Hate to burst your bubble, Josh, but we found the court records, and it shows you settled the case with your victim. We guess the Fifth District won’t like you very much when you get angry.
Josh Gottheimer has consistently lied throughout this campaign, and now, just like his mentor Hillary, he’s trying to use the press as a de facto extension of his campaign. We’re pretty sure the New Jersey press corps is too smart for that. Below is definitive proof of the existence of a settlement between Josh and his assault victim on March 14, 2008. Attached is the entire court record.
Josh Gottheimer has dismissed his assault of this woman as “frivolous.” If that’s the case, why won’t he just release the settlement?
Oh, that’s right, because it shows he attacked and intimidated a woman and then settled with her out of court to avoid having to admit his actions in open court.
Josh Gottheimer claims to stand for women, but as is so often the case with Clinton cronies, it’s clear that his actions don’t match his words.
Ridgewood NJ, Josh Gottheimer is covering up allegations about a court case where he was charged with aggressively intimidating and assaulting a woman. His campaign spin machine is intentionally misleading the press using carefully parsed phrases to obscure the truth.
How much does Josh Gottheimer believe the safety and security of women is worth?
How much did he pay this woman to forget his assault on her?
Josh Gottheimer has dismissed his assault of this woman as “frivolous.” If that’s the case, why won’t he just release the settlement? Instead, his campaign is simply using political spin to obfuscate reality.
Josh Gottheimer claims to stand for women, but as is so often the case with Clinton cronies, it’s clear that his actions don’t match his words.
Media Pile-On Tries to Discredit, Unseat NJ Republican by Smearing Oath Keepers as The Democrats and their media amplifiers get their cover from a New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness “analysis,” claiming: The militia movement is decentralized, but it has two large followings—the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters. Both have members who justify the use of violence to counter perceived threats or violations to the US Constitution.
Media Pile-On Tries to Discredit, Unseat NJ Republican by Smearing Oath Keepers as Terrorists
“The truth?” a political attack ad for Democrat New Jersey Congressional challenger and former Bill Clinton speechwriter Josh Gottheimer against incumbent Republican Scott Garrett asks. “Newspapers just caught Garrett at a fund-raiser with the leader of a home-grown terrorist militia group.”
A Clinton-backer promising truth should be all the red flags we need.
The “terrorist militia group”? That would be Oath Keepers, assuming you can believe those newspapers, which appear to be doing everything they can to sway the electorate into accepting a political narrative that folds under minimal scrutiny. Witness recent headlines:
“Republican Chairman of Wall Street Committee Held Fundraiser with Official from ‘Domestic Terrorist’ Group,” Joshua Green of Bloomberg Business Week “reports.” (Yes, that Bloomberg.)
“Garrett event promoter tied to extremists,” NorthJersey.com weighs in. “Forget Wall Street banksters. Scott Garrett has new friends, on a terror list,” NJ.com echoes and embellishes.
Sensing political opportunity and more headlines, Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg has called on Gov. Chris Christie to “denounce Garrett for his ties to the domestic terror organization” and on New Jersey’s attorney general to investigate if “Garrett violated New Jersey law, adding “In the wake of homegrown terror attacks – like the ones in Elizabeth, New York, and Seaside Park – the citizens of New Jersey deserve to know the full extent of Congressman Garrett’s connections to this terrorist organization.”
Yes, that’s Loretta Weinberg of “Confiscate, confiscate, confiscate” notoriety.
As an aside, it’s curious that Weinberg was referring to Islamist “domestic terror” acts with the principle suspect being one of those “refugees” Democrats are bound and determined to seed and embed throughout the Republic. Any connection to Oath Keepers was left (purposely) unstated, because there is none, and because the agenda here is to destroy them.
Which makes it fair to ask what the Democrat politicians and their “news media” publicists are talking about, and what else they’ve gotten wrong in their ceaseless, agenda-driven mission to conflate, smear, misinform and confuse. The answer is pretty much everything.
Ridgewood NJ, Josh Gottheimer is covering up allegations about a court case where he was charged with aggressively intimidating and assaulting a woman. His campaign spin machine is intentionally misleading the press using carefully parsed phrases to obscure the truth.
But the legal documents tell the truth: Gottheimer says the lawsuit was simply dismissed but he conveniently leaves out the fact that it was settled out of court and he refuses to say how much money the victim was paid and what else was offered to her in return for ending the lawsuit.
Josh’s campaign is calling his victim a liar by dismissing her experience as frivolous. How can Gottheimer call charges of assault and discrimination “frivolous”?
Josh can’t hide the truth forever, and we’ve got a few follow-up questions for Josh to answer. If there’s no real scandal, Josh shouldn’t have an issue providing the voters of the Fifth District with answers to the following questions:
Why won’t Josh produce the settlement documents to show what really happened? What is he hiding?
How much money was the plaintiff paid to drop the lawsuit?
What other non-monetary settlement was reached?
Was the plaintiff threatened or harassed to settle?
Was the plaintiff offered political favors to drop the lawsuit?
If nothing happened why didn’t Josh take case to court rather than pay the plaintiff off?
Josh Gottheimer claims to stand for women, but as is so often the case with Clinton cronies, it’s clear that his actions don’t match his words.
Ridgewood NJ, Garrett for Congress released a new ad today featuring explosive truths about Josh Gottheimer.
“She worked hard to purchase her very own condo and never imagined what would happen next. It was here that condo board member Josh Gottheimer aggressively intimidated and assaulted her and left her fearful in her own home. She even sought a court order to bar Josh Gottheimer from contact. Scared and violated, the victim had to move to escape Gottheimer’s harassing environment. That’s the real Josh Gottheimer. And his values aren’t New Jersey values.”
Josh Gottheimer , like his mentor Bill Clinton claims to stand for women, but as is so often the case with Clinton cronies, it’s clear that his actions don’t match his words.
Perhaps the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree , 8 years of the Clinton White House which brought forward a rash of predatory accusations against the former president and in many of these cases, Hillary is believed to have been involved in the political operation that attempted to smear and destroy the reputations of Bill Clinton’s accusers. More than just a tryst with intern Monica Lewinsky and long term relationship with Gennifer Flowers, the list of Clinton accusers runs deep;
Paula Jones: A former Arkansas state employee, Jones sued Bill Clinton in 1994 for sexual harassment. Jones claims that in 1991 then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton propositioned and exposed himself to her in a Little Rock hotel. Clinton eventually settled with Jones out of court for $850,000, but never admitted to any wrongdoing.
Juanita Broaddrick: Broaddrick, a former nursing home administrator, alleges that Bill Clinton, who was running for Arkansas governor at the time, raped her in an Arkansas hotel room in the spring of 1978.
Kathleen Willey: Willey was a White House volunteer aide who, in March of 1998, alleged on the TV news program 60 Minutes that Bill Clinton had sexually assaulted her during his first term as President.
Eileen Wellstone: Wellstone, an English woman, alleges that Clinton sexually assaulted her after she met him at a pub near Oxford University where Clinton was a student in 1969.
Carolyn Moffet: Moffet was a legal secretary in Little Rock in 1979, said she met Governor Clinton at a political fundraiser and was invited to his hotel room. Moffet alleges that she fled the hotel room after Clinton demanded she perform sex acts on him.
Elizabeth Ward Gracen: A Miss Arkansas who would go on to win the Miss America contest in 1982, Gracen alleges that she was forced by Clinton to have sex with him shortly after she won the Miss Arkansas competition.
Becky Brown: Becky Brown was Chelsea Clinton’s nanny. L.D. Brown, an Arkansas State Trooper and Becky’s husband, claims that Clinton attempted to seduce her in while the two were in governor’s mansion.
Helen Dowdy: Dowdy, the wife of one of Hillary’s cousins, alleges that in 1986 Bill Clinton groped her on the dance floor of a wedding.
Cristy Zercher: Zercher was a flight attendant aboard Clinton’s campaign jet from 1991-1992. Zercher told the Star magazine that Clinton groped her for over 40 minutes.
Ridgewood NJ, Josh Gottheimer has picked up the support of another special interest looking to scam the US taxpayer out of more money. Gottheimer and his “Bailout Nation” are getting help from the National Association of Realtors Congressional Fund which is looking to spend $1.3 million supporting Gottheimer, including $146,000 for online ads, $529,000 for mailings and $590,000 for TV ads .
Congressmen Scott Garrett in an effort to end bank bailouts crossed the Realtors group by pushing a bill in 2013 that would have scaled back the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-backed agencies that buy mortgages from lenders.
The bill, known as the PATH Act, (Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners), would have ended the government guarantee that stands behind mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie and Freddie and relieve taxpayers of the burden of among other things of bailing out subprime mortgages issued by banks.
In 2013 Garret called the PATH Act a bill that would create a sustainable housing finance system, saying, “Approximately five years ago our nation was hit with an unprecedented financial crisis. Today, I am pleased to be introducing legislation that continues the process of addressing the core cause of it—the government’s misguided efforts at allocating mortgage credit through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“The federal government’s domination of the housing finance market has left taxpayers on the hook for $5.1 trillion in mortgage guarantees. The PATH Act finally takes control away from Washington bureaucrats and allows the American people the freedom to have more choices in determining which mortgage best suits their needs.
“The PATH Act will finally end the largest bailout in history and will put our country back on a path to a sustainable housing finance market that benefits both taxpayers and homebuyers. I urge its swift passage by Congress and look forward to it being signed by the President.”
Ridgewood NJ, Garrett for Congress released a new ad today exposing Josh Gottheimer’s support for outrageous spending and taxes.
“It’s Josh Gottheimer’s tax – outrageous Washington spending. Gottheimer supports spending millions of your tax dollars on studies to determine if a bumblebee is hairier than a squirrel, to monitor shrimp on a treadmill, and like wine tasting parties in India. All at your expense. Even worse, reports show the Gottheimer tax raises your taxes by thousands. Josh Gottheimer. Bad on spending and bad on taxes. Wrong for New Jersey.”
Josh Gottheimer has repeatedly touted his support for outrageous spending, like that contained in HR 2029, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016. In addition to this wasteful spending, which means higher taxes for Fifth District residents, Gottheimer’s “family member” Hillary Clinton’s tax rates are devastating for New Jersey families. Congressman Scott Garrett has consistently fought against wasteful spending, and has always advocated for lower taxes.
Here are just a few ridiculous spending items on which Josh Gottheimer wants to spend Fifth District tax dollars:
Daily Caller: Back To The Gym — Feds Pay For Shrimp To Hit The Treadmills Again! “Shrimp will once again run on a treadmill at taxpayers’ expense. A National Science Foundation funded-experiment that tested how sickness impaired shrimp mobility by putting the crustaceans on a treadmill made an uproar in the media and in Congress nearly five years ago. Yet the NSF has once again given tax dollars to the same researchers to put the would-be seafood on a cardiovascular workout regime.”
Sen. Jeff Flake: Government Studies That Will Leave You Scratching Your Head. Despite their size differences, a grey squirrel and a bumble bee both have about three million hairs. The researchers looked at microscope images to count the number and sizes of hairs of hundreds of animals.
Citizens Against Government Waste: India Wine Tasting. “[T]he report proposes eliminating the Market Access Program (MAP), which aims to help agricultural producers promote U.S. products overseas. However, MAP is really a corporate welfare program that funnels millions of dollars to large, profitable corporations and trade associations that can well afford to pay for their own ads. Eliminating MAP would save taxpayers $1 billion over five years.”
Gottheimer’s Price Tag on his Principles: $462,520.00
September 20,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Congressman Scott Garrett was an early and vocal opponent of President Obama’s nuclear arms deal, repeatedly announcing his concerns about the President’s framework in April 2015, voting against the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 in May, and denouncing the deal itself as soon as it was announced in July.
Meanwhile, Josh Gottheimer was waiting to see which way the political winds would blow before he took a stance. He was silent on President Obama’s framework for the deal in April and again in May, on the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 – legislation that paved the way for the deal. He waited a full month before announcing his opposition to the deal itself – and even then, made sure to praise President Obama’s approach. Is it possible that the reason for Gottheimer’s delay in taking a stance on this crucial issue was the series of major Washington, DC fundraisers with Democratic insiders he had scheduled?
From April 2, 2015 when President Obama announced the framework for a deal on Iran’s nuclear program to August 17, 2015, Josh Gottheimer was silent on President Obama’s nuclear deal. Instead, he spent time leveraging his political insider connections to raise $462,520.00, thanks to his Washington, DC lobbyist friends.
Since announcing his “opposition” to the deal, he’s gone on to campaign and fundraise with Members of Congress who embrace the deal and are frequent critics of the State of Israel. He’s also refused to condemn the “ransom” payment to Iran.
Looks like Josh Gottheimer will say anything he needs to in order to get elected, but his loyalties are firmly with those trying to send him to Congress: Washington, DC Democratic lobbyists.
citation: Josh Gottheimer for Congress two year summary of itemized individual contributions attached, as downloaded from FEC.gov on Mon Sep 19 15:55:03 GMT 2016.
“Nobody is even putting up a pretense here that the Democratic lobbying establishment isn’t trying to buy an election”
(Hackensack, New Jersey) – BuzzFeed News just posted an explosive story about how the Democratic lobbying establishment is looking to help buy Josh Gottheimer New Jersey’s Fifth District congressional seat:
“Josh Gottheimer has the entire D.C. Democratic political establishment working to help buy him this election. He doesn’t care about the views and values of Fifth District residents — he’s working to win the approval of the D.C. elite like lobbyist Steve Elmendorf and Goldman Sachs. This is merely a preview of what Josh Gottheimer would be like as a member of Congress. If Josh Gottheimer is so interested in representing Goldman Sachs’ values, maybe he should be their lobbyist, rather than a congressional candidate. Scott Garrett’s values are not for sale. He represents the people of the Fifth District — not the check-writing lobbyists in Washington, D.C.,” Neibart said in a statement to BuzzFeed News.
Gottheimer is a former aide in the Clinton White House, and has not only the support of the Clinton machine but also Washington’s Democratic establishment. He also has outraised Garrett this cycle by a wide margin, taking in $2.9 million compared to Garrett’s $1.3 million, according to Open Secrets.
Democrats have made toppling him a priority. Last week, a political action committee connected to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi began running ads against him. And as election-day approaches, Garrett can expect that more is on the way, Democratic operatives warn.
But most damning for Garrett has been the campaign by Elmendorf and a group of other financial and technology lobbyists to end Garrett’s tenure in Congress by drying up his pool of potential corporate contributions.
Elmendorf and his allies began meeting with lobbyists for major corporations, focusing particularly on investment firms and banks, Garrett’s campaign finance life-blood.
[A] Republican campaign strategist insisted that regardless of where the business community stands on LGBT issues, the involvement of powerful lobbyists is little more than the sort of backroom dealings most Americans believe happen every day in Washington. “Normally, we like to pretend that lobbyists don’t have the kind of influence the rest of America thinks they do. But nobody is even putting up a pretense here that the Democratic lobbying establishment isn’t trying to buy an election,” the strategist said.
Ridgewood NJ, the press is finally starting to recognize that Josh Gottheimer is a political insider trying to use his Clinton connections to buy a congressional seat. New media reports blast him as a “Clinton lackey” whose resume is merely a “revolving door with the Clintons.”It seems for all his bravado Josh Gottheimer is nothing more than a cog in the Clinton machine and only in Bergen to execute on Clinton business.
Clinton Foundation. Josh Gottheimer has filed no public registrations about the clients he represented during the four years he served as Executive Vice President for Burson-Marsteller. (Josh Gottheimer, LinkedIn, Accessed 8/29/16)
Clinton Connections. “[T]he collection of Clinton associates aiding Mr. Gottheimer is striking in its breadth.” (Alexander Burns, “Protégé of Clintons Takes On Congressman in New Jersey,” The New York Times, 12/26/15)
Clinton Cash. “A review of his filings found that about one dollar in six came directly from fellow alumni of the Clinton White House and campaigns — many of whom are scattered across powerful companies like Time Warner Inc., Bloomberg L.P. and Goldman Sachs — or from major donors and employees of consulting firms tied closely to the Clintons.” (Alexander Burns, “Protégé of Clintons Takes On Congressman in New Jersey,” The New York Times, 12/26/15)
Ford job, courtesy of the Clintons. From Bill Clinton’s White House and Hillary’s Clinton’s campaign, Gottheimer then went to Ford Motor Company, a client of Clinton confidant Mark Penn. (Josh Gottheimer, LinkedIn, Accessed 8/29/16)
Gottheimer’s Ford Failure Resulted in the Loss of At Least 34,000 Jobs And the Closing of 14 Manufacturing Facilities. “‘It’s not a time when everything is rosy,’ says Josh Gottheimer, director of strategic communications.” (Theresa Howard, “Bill Ford Takes Chamois To Namesake Automaker’s Image,” USA Today, 4/17/06)
Burson-Marsteller job, courtesy of the Clintons. After failing spectacularly at Ford, Gottheimer jumped ship to Burson-Marstellar, thanks to Penn’s new role as CEO.(David Shepardson, “Top Ford Political And PR Strategist Departs,” The Detroit News, 11/6/06)
Black Hole: Josh Gottheimer has filed no public registrations about the clients he represented during the four years he served as Executive Vice President for Burson-Marsteller.
FCC job, courtesy of the Clintons. Gottheimer coincidentally joined the FCC right as Penn/Burson client LightSquared petitioned the agency for a waiver. Both the media and Members of Congress noted Gottheimer’s lack of credentials for this job, and the US Senate ultimately investigated Gottheimer for impropriety.
POLITICO: “The FCC will announce today that Josh Gottheimer, executive VP at PR firm Burson-Marstellar, will become senior counselor to Julius Genachowski. Gottheimer…doesn’t have a Capitol Hill background.” (Kim Hart And Tony Romm, “A Big New FCC Hire: Gottheimer To Become Senior Counselor To Genachowski,” Politico, 6/23/10)
Sen. Chuck Grassley: “On June 23, 2010, you announced that Mr. Joshua Gottheimer would be appointed as your Senior Counselor with a special responsibility towards implementing President Obama’s National Broadband Plan. Given the complicated technical issues at play, I was surprised that Mr. Gottheimer’s published qualifications did not include any telecommunications or broadband experience.”(Senator Chuck Grassley, “Letter To FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski,” United States Senate, 1/30/11)
Microsoft job, courtesy of the Clintons. After ascandal-plagued tenure at the FCC, Gottheimer once again followed Clinton confidant Mark Penn, this time to Microsoft. (Nick Wingfield And Claire Cain Miller, “A Political Brawler, Now Battling for Microsoft,” The New York Times, 12/15/12)
photo Scott Garrett rail car safety in Bergen County
August 25,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Hackensack NJ, Garrett for Congress released the following statement regarding candidate debates for the 2016 congressional election:
“Rep. Scott Garrett is pleased to accept invitations from WRNJ Radio and Rabbi Steven Pruzansky to debate Democratic challenger Josh Gottheimer. This will be a great opportunity for voters in the Fifth District to hear directly from the candidates about each of their ideas, that is if Josh Gottheimer has any ideas of his own. So far, Josh Gottheimer has only demonstrated his abilities as a liar about ScottGarrett and an apologist for Hillary Clinton.”