[h=1]21 NEW ‘CLINTON CASH’ REVELATIONS THAT HAVE IMPERILED HILLARY CLINTON’S CAMPAIGN[/h]
by BREITBART NEWS3 Jun 2015534
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[h=2]Prior to the release of the New York Times bestselling investigative exposé Clinton Cash by Government Accountability Institute President and Breitbart Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer, Hillary Clinton and her supporters claimed she was among the most vetted political figures in America—a candidate about whom everything was known.[/h]Yet as media outlets across the ideological spectrum have confirmed and verified the book’s explosive revelations about Clinton’s tenure as Sec. of State and the influx of hundreds of millions of dollars from foreign sources into the Clinton Foundation, the nation has learned much it did not know. Subsequent reporting by national news outlets has expanded on the book’s findings using its investigative methodology.
Indeed, the dizzying flurry of resulting Hillary Clinton Foundation scandals has been difficult to keep up with. As CNN’s John King put it on Sunday, “You can’t go 20 minutes in this town, it seems, without some sort of a story about Clinton Foundation that gives you a little bit of the creeps.”
Early on, as Clinton Cash bombshells began appearing in the New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker, Bloomberg, and elsewhere, Hillary Clinton’s campaign sought to calm nervous campaign donors by announcing the creation of a special “rapid response” War Room aimed at combating a book, an unprecedented move in the annals of modern presidential campaigning. The Clinton campaign team built a website called “The Briefing,” issued memos, and tasked an eight-person team to create videos featuring embattled Clinton spokesperson Brian Fallon as he awkwardly and unsuccessfullyattempted to smear Peter Schweizer. Team Clinton’s message: all of Clinton Cash’srevelations are incorrect or merely “coincidences.”
Yet as the nation’s largest news organizations began to confirm finding after finding, the Clinton campaign did the only thing it could: it gave up in its attempts to refute the swelling avalanche of now well-established facts. Indeed, the Clinton campaign’s last video response on its “The Briefing” YouTube page is dated May 5th—Clinton Cash’s official launch date.
To date, Hillary Clinton has yet to substantively answer a single question from the mountain of Clinton Cash questions that continue to pile up with each passing day.
The result: according to Tuesday’s CNN poll, the “Clinton Cash Effect” has rendered Hillary Clinton historic new lows in her favorability with American voters.
Below we chronicle just 21 of the myriad Clinton Cash-related revelations that have emerged since the book’s publication—all of which have been confirmed and verified as accurate by national media organizations.
Moreover, according to Clinton Cash, during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Sec. of State, Bill Clinton delivered 10 speeches from Nov. 2008 to mid-2011 totaling $1.8 million paid for by TD Bank, which held a $1.6 billion investment in the Keystone XL pipeline.
The Clintons’ speaking fees windfall, which has infuriated environmental groups, have yet to be addressed by Hillary Clinton.
Salon, MotherJones, HuffingtonPost, Slate, and several other liberal publications reported on IBT’s findings.
“A charity affiliated with the Clinton Foundation failed to reveal the identities of its 1,100 donors, creating a broad exception to the foundation’s promise to disclose funding sources as part of an ethics agreement with the Obama administration,” reports the Washington Post. “The number of undisclosed contributors to the charity, the Canada-based Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, signals a larger zone of secrecy around foundation donors than was previously known.”
In a follow-up story, the Post reports that only 21 of Frank Giustra and Bill Clinton’s secret 1,100 foreign donors have subsequently been revealed. If and when the other 1,079 hidden donors names will be revealed is presently unclear—and will be the subject of forthcoming investigative reports by Breitbart News.
Hillary Clinton has yet to release the names and amounts of the payments that flowed through the hidden WJC, LLC, company.
“Why was Bill Clinton taking any money from a bank linked to the Kremlin while his wife was Secretary of State?” asks the New Yorker. To date, Hillary Clinton nor her campaign have answered that question.
“Asked whether he attends CGI meetings to explore personal business opportunities, Rodham responded, ‘No, I go to see old friends. But you never know what can happen.’”
The Times then published a detailed table and infographic cataloging the $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation made by uranium executives involved in the Russian transfer of 20% of all U.S. uranium.
According to an analysis by Bloomberg: “in 2009, the year before Bill Clinton joined Laureate, the nonprofit received 11 grants worth $9 million from the State Department or the affiliated USAID. In 2010, the group received 14 grants worth $15.1 million. In 2011, 13 grants added up to $14.6 million. The following year, those numbers jumped: IYF received 21 grants worth $25.5 million, including a direct grant from the State Department.”
Hillary Clinton has refused to answer questions about the Clintons’ income from the for-profit education company.
Hillary Clinton has yet to answer a single question about Uranium One.
The Post added: “Bill Clinton was paid at least $26 million in speaking fees by companies and organizations that are also major donors to the foundation he created after leaving the White House, according to a Washington Post analysis of public records and foundation date.”
Roundly condemned by numerous journalists, Stephanopoulos apologized and received zero punishment from ABC News. Hillary Clinton’s campaign then used footage from the Stephanopoulos’ attack “interview” with Schweizer in its political campaign videos.
“It was outrageous,” said former ABC News anchor Carole Simpson.
Hillary Clinton has yet to answer whether her campaign coordinated with Clinton Foundation donor George Stephanopoulos.
However, according to his company’s, U.S. Global Investors, own 2011 SEC filing, Holmes’ company did, in fact, still hold Uranium One stock, a point he later conceded.
ABC News similarly confirmed the Clinton Foundation’s acceptance of the unseemly funds.
————
Hillary Clinton has refused to substantively answer a single question related to the above 21 revelations, or the scores of others not reflected above.
In answer to a question about Clinton Cash, Bill Clinton said the book “won’t fly.” The book has remained on the New York Times bestseller list three weeks in a row after debuting at number two.
Now, with Hillary Clinton’s poll ratings at all-time lows, Americans and the nation’s journalists eagerly await the chance to hear Hillary Clinton’s answers to the growing mountain of Clinton Cash-related revelations, investigative findings that have consumed and imperiled her candidacy.
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by BREITBART NEWS3 Jun 2015534
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[h=2]Prior to the release of the New York Times bestselling investigative exposé Clinton Cash by Government Accountability Institute President and Breitbart Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer, Hillary Clinton and her supporters claimed she was among the most vetted political figures in America—a candidate about whom everything was known.[/h]Yet as media outlets across the ideological spectrum have confirmed and verified the book’s explosive revelations about Clinton’s tenure as Sec. of State and the influx of hundreds of millions of dollars from foreign sources into the Clinton Foundation, the nation has learned much it did not know. Subsequent reporting by national news outlets has expanded on the book’s findings using its investigative methodology.
Indeed, the dizzying flurry of resulting Hillary Clinton Foundation scandals has been difficult to keep up with. As CNN’s John King put it on Sunday, “You can’t go 20 minutes in this town, it seems, without some sort of a story about Clinton Foundation that gives you a little bit of the creeps.”
Early on, as Clinton Cash bombshells began appearing in the New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker, Bloomberg, and elsewhere, Hillary Clinton’s campaign sought to calm nervous campaign donors by announcing the creation of a special “rapid response” War Room aimed at combating a book, an unprecedented move in the annals of modern presidential campaigning. The Clinton campaign team built a website called “The Briefing,” issued memos, and tasked an eight-person team to create videos featuring embattled Clinton spokesperson Brian Fallon as he awkwardly and unsuccessfullyattempted to smear Peter Schweizer. Team Clinton’s message: all of Clinton Cash’srevelations are incorrect or merely “coincidences.”
Yet as the nation’s largest news organizations began to confirm finding after finding, the Clinton campaign did the only thing it could: it gave up in its attempts to refute the swelling avalanche of now well-established facts. Indeed, the Clinton campaign’s last video response on its “The Briefing” YouTube page is dated May 5th—Clinton Cash’s official launch date.
To date, Hillary Clinton has yet to substantively answer a single question from the mountain of Clinton Cash questions that continue to pile up with each passing day.
The result: according to Tuesday’s CNN poll, the “Clinton Cash Effect” has rendered Hillary Clinton historic new lows in her favorability with American voters.
Below we chronicle just 21 of the myriad Clinton Cash-related revelations that have emerged since the book’s publication—all of which have been confirmed and verified as accurate by national media organizations.
- Huffington Post: Clintons Bagged at Least $3.4 Million for 18 Speeches Funded by Keystone Pipeline Banks
Moreover, according to Clinton Cash, during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Sec. of State, Bill Clinton delivered 10 speeches from Nov. 2008 to mid-2011 totaling $1.8 million paid for by TD Bank, which held a $1.6 billion investment in the Keystone XL pipeline.
The Clintons’ speaking fees windfall, which has infuriated environmental groups, have yet to be addressed by Hillary Clinton.
- New York Times: Clinton Foundation Shook Down a Tiny Tsunami Relief Nonprofit for a $500,000 Speaking Fee
- New York Magazine: Clinton Foundation “Strong-Armed” Charity Watchdog Group
- International Business Times: Hillary Clinton’s State Dept. Gave Clinton Foundation Donors Weapons Deals
Salon, MotherJones, HuffingtonPost, Slate, and several other liberal publications reported on IBT’s findings.
- Washington Post: Clintons Hid 1,100 Foreign Donor Names in Violation of Ethics Agreement with Obama Admin.
“A charity affiliated with the Clinton Foundation failed to reveal the identities of its 1,100 donors, creating a broad exception to the foundation’s promise to disclose funding sources as part of an ethics agreement with the Obama administration,” reports the Washington Post. “The number of undisclosed contributors to the charity, the Canada-based Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, signals a larger zone of secrecy around foundation donors than was previously known.”
In a follow-up story, the Post reports that only 21 of Frank Giustra and Bill Clinton’s secret 1,100 foreign donors have subsequently been revealed. If and when the other 1,079 hidden donors names will be revealed is presently unclear—and will be the subject of forthcoming investigative reports by Breitbart News.
- Vox: At Least 181 Clinton Foundation Donors Lobbied Hillary’s State Dept.
- BuzzFeed: Two of Hillary Clinton’s Top Donors Were Major Felons
- Daily Beast: Clintons’ Charity Scored Millions from Qatar and Donations from Corrupt FIFA Soccer Organization
- Associated Press: The Clintons’ Have a Secret “Pass-Through” Company—WJC, LLC
Hillary Clinton has yet to release the names and amounts of the payments that flowed through the hidden WJC, LLC, company.
- New York Times: Hillary Funneled $10K Monthly Payments to Sidney Blumenthal Through Clinton Foundation
- New Yorker: Bill Clinton Scored a $500,000 Speech in Moscow Paid for by a Kremlin-backed Bank
“Why was Bill Clinton taking any money from a bank linked to the Kremlin while his wife was Secretary of State?” asks the New Yorker. To date, Hillary Clinton nor her campaign have answered that question.
- Washington Post: Hillary Clinton’s Brother Sits on the Board of a Mining Co. that Received a Coveted Haitian “Gold Exploitation Permit” that Has Only Twice Been Awarded in 50 Years. Rodham Met the Mining Executive in Charge of the Company at a Clinton Foundation Event.
“Asked whether he attends CGI meetings to explore personal business opportunities, Rodham responded, ‘No, I go to see old friends. But you never know what can happen.’”
- New York Times: Court Proceedings Reveal Hillary’s Brother Claimed Admits Clinton Foundation and the Clintons Are Key to His Haiti Connections
- Wall Street Journal: Clinton Foundation Violated Memorandum of Understanding with the Obama Admin. By Keeping Secret a Foreign Donation of Two Million Shares of Stock from a Foreign Executive with Business Before Hillary’s State Dept.
- New York Times: Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Claims She Had No Idea Her State Dept. Was Considering Approving the Transfer of 20% of U.S. Uranium to the Russian Govt.—Even as the Clinton Foundation Bagged $145 Million in Donations from Investors in the Deal
The Times then published a detailed table and infographic cataloging the $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation made by uranium executives involved in the Russian transfer of 20% of all U.S. uranium.
- Bloomberg: A For-Profit University Put Bill Clinton on Its Payroll and Scored a Jump in Funding from Hillary Clinton’s State Dept. WhenClinton Cash Revealed the Scheme, Bill Clinton Quickly Resigned.
According to an analysis by Bloomberg: “in 2009, the year before Bill Clinton joined Laureate, the nonprofit received 11 grants worth $9 million from the State Department or the affiliated USAID. In 2010, the group received 14 grants worth $15.1 million. In 2011, 13 grants added up to $14.6 million. The following year, those numbers jumped: IYF received 21 grants worth $25.5 million, including a direct grant from the State Department.”
Hillary Clinton has refused to answer questions about the Clintons’ income from the for-profit education company.
- New York Times: The Head of the Russian Govt’s Uranium Company Ian Telfer Made Secret Donations Totaling $2.35 Million to the Clinton Foundation—as Hillary Clinton’s State Dept. Approved the Transfer of 20% of All U.S. Uranium to the Russians
Hillary Clinton has yet to answer a single question about Uranium One.
- Washington Post: Bill and Hillary Clinton Have Made at Least $26 Million in Speaking Fees from Entities Who Are Top Clinton Foundation Donors
The Post added: “Bill Clinton was paid at least $26 million in speaking fees by companies and organizations that are also major donors to the foundation he created after leaving the White House, according to a Washington Post analysis of public records and foundation date.”
- Washington Free Beacon: Former Clinton Campaign Operative-Turned-ABC News Host George Stephanopoulos Failed to Disclose His $75,000 Donation and Deep Involvement in the Clinton Foundation Before Launching an Attack Interview Against Clinton Cash Author
Roundly condemned by numerous journalists, Stephanopoulos apologized and received zero punishment from ABC News. Hillary Clinton’s campaign then used footage from the Stephanopoulos’ attack “interview” with Schweizer in its political campaign videos.
“It was outrageous,” said former ABC News anchor Carole Simpson.
Hillary Clinton has yet to answer whether her campaign coordinated with Clinton Foundation donor George Stephanopoulos.
- CNBC: Clinton Foundation Mega Donor Frank Holmes Claimed He Sold Uranium One Before Hillary Clinton’s State Dept. Approved the Russian Transfer—Despite His Company’s Own SEC Filings Proving Otherwise
However, according to his company’s, U.S. Global Investors, own 2011 SEC filing, Holmes’ company did, in fact, still hold Uranium One stock, a point he later conceded.
- Politico: Hillary’s Foundation Accepted $1 Million from Human Rights Violator Morocco for a Lavish Event
ABC News similarly confirmed the Clinton Foundation’s acceptance of the unseemly funds.
————
Hillary Clinton has refused to substantively answer a single question related to the above 21 revelations, or the scores of others not reflected above.
In answer to a question about Clinton Cash, Bill Clinton said the book “won’t fly.” The book has remained on the New York Times bestseller list three weeks in a row after debuting at number two.
Now, with Hillary Clinton’s poll ratings at all-time lows, Americans and the nation’s journalists eagerly await the chance to hear Hillary Clinton’s answers to the growing mountain of Clinton Cash-related revelations, investigative findings that have consumed and imperiled her candidacy.
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You would vote for Bin Laden if he had an R behind his name.
You our are so delusion that you believe all these bullshit articles. You think they mean something.
Did you see the article about Bill Clinton former employee bad mouthed ted Cruz? Lmao...quality for connecting there.
Has hillary ever even been questioned by authorities on these matters? Besides the republics congress?? Not that they are a real authority on anything.
http://nypost.com/2015/06/02/tone-d...ses-headaches-for-roosevelt-island-residents/
Hillary Clinton’s campaign didn’t pick the best time to stage a major campaign rally at Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island later this month.
According to the park’s website, a specially planned event for tots called Imagination Playground — which features unique blue building blocks — has been canceled to accommodate the Democratic front-runner for president.
Also at risk of major inconvenience: an annual celebration called Roosevelt Island Day, which features a blood drive, hot dog stands and free rides for kids.
“It’s going to be horrendous logistically,” said Sherie Helstien, vice president of the island’s community association, who noted that her community has just one main road.
“I think the campaign should have reached out to the community representatives of 14,000 people — absolutely,” fumed Matthew Katz, former president of the association, and husband of Helstien.
He says residents received no notice from the Clinton camp.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign didn’t pick the best time to stage a major campaign rally at Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island later this month.
According to the park’s website, a specially planned event for tots called Imagination Playground — which features unique blue building blocks — has been canceled to accommodate the Democratic front-runner for president.
Also at risk of major inconvenience: an annual celebration called Roosevelt Island Day, which features a blood drive, hot dog stands and free rides for kids.
“It’s going to be horrendous logistically,” said Sherie Helstien, vice president of the island’s community association, who noted that her community has just one main road.
“I think the campaign should have reached out to the community representatives of 14,000 people — absolutely,” fumed Matthew Katz, former president of the association, and husband of Helstien.
He says residents received no notice from the Clinton camp.
http://nypost.com/2015/06/02/tone-d...ses-headaches-for-roosevelt-island-residents/
Hillary Clinton’s campaign didn’t pick the best time to stage a major campaign rally at Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island later this month.
According to the park’s website, a specially planned event for tots called Imagination Playground — which features unique blue building blocks — has been canceled to accommodate the Democratic front-runner for president.
Also at risk of major inconvenience: an annual celebration called Roosevelt Island Day, which features a blood drive, hot dog stands and free rides for kids.
“It’s going to be horrendous logistically,” said Sherie Helstien, vice president of the island’s community association, who noted that her community has just one main road.
“I think the campaign should have reached out to the community representatives of 14,000 people — absolutely,” fumed Matthew Katz, former president of the association, and husband of Helstien.
He says residents received no notice from the Clinton camp.
It's all about Hillary, nothing else matters. Anyone who can defend that is out there.
[h=1]Could Hillary get serious opposition as another no-hoper – Lincoln Chafee – enters 2016 race: Michael Bloomberg holds meeting on running for White House and says it’s 'no problem' becoming a Democrat[/h]
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Hillary Clinton could face a serious challenge in the Democratic primary from a party-switching politician with his sights on the Oval Office.
No, not Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who became a Democrat in order to compete for the nomination of the party he best aligns with.
Nor is it Lincoln Chafee, the former Republican senator from Rhode Island who served as governor of the state for one term as an independent and later became a Democrat.
Chafee's announcing his candidacy for the Democratic Party's nomination this evening during a foreign policy address at George Mason University. But it's former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who politicos are talking about today.
.
+3
Hillary Clinton could face a serious challenge in the Democratic primary from a party-switching politician with his sights on the Oval Office, and it's not Lincoln Chafee, the former Republican senator from Rhode Island who served as governor of the state for one term as an independent and later became a Democrat
+3
Democrats are said to be wooing former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run against Clinton. Bloomberg is pictured here with his longtime partner Diana Taylor last week in New York City
.
Bloomberg is said to be mulling a bid for the White House, according to New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin.
Goodwin says he talked to several New York Democrats who believe that Bloomberg, a Republican-turned- independent who has vigorously fought for stricter gun control standards, is thinking about changing his political affiliation to run for president as a Democrat.
One told Goodwin that Bloomberg said that would be 'no problem' if he decided to launch a campaign.
The idea of a Bloomberg candidacy for the Democratic nomination has been gaining steam as other Clinton challengers have failed to come anywhere close to her in national polls and party bigwigs worry that she has too much baggage to win the White House.
Nearly six in 10 voters believe she's untrustworthy, a CNN poll released this week shows, and several Republicans are within striking distance of beating her in the general election next November, if the sentiment sticks.
Bloomberg is, realistically, the only politician who could carry the Democratic torch if Clinton implodes, USA Today columnist Michael Wolff posited last week.
'Michael Bloomberg may be the only guy with enough money to save the Democrats from themselves,' he wrote.
.
Wolff argued, 'A Michael Bloomberg-size fortune in effect neutralizes the issue of outside money in politics.
'Why donate money which, against the Bloomberg resources, only has ever-diminishing value? Other billionaires would sensibly retreat.'
Bloomberg's real-time net worth at the time this article was $36.9 billion, making him the 14th wealthiest person in the world. He's No. 10 in America.
At present he's the CEO of Bloomberg L.P. his colossal, financial software and media company. He rejoined the global giant last year after finishing his third consecutive term as New York City mayor.
He's divorced with two children and is currently unmarried, though he does have a longtime partner, Diana Taylor, the former banking superintendent for the state of New York.
A Democrat before he ran for mayor, he became a Republican and won election to his first term at the end of 2001. He was reelected as a Republican in 2005 but became an independent midway through his term.
He planned to run for the president in 2008 as an independent and vowed to spend $1 billion of his own money before backing away from idea after determining that he couldn't win.
One Democrat who spoke to the New York Post suggested that he might be enticed to give it another go because 'Mike can’t stand Hillary,' a former senator from his state.
The Clintons still live in New York, having maintained dual residencies there and in Washington during her tenure as Secretary of State.
.
+3
The idea of a Bloomberg candidacy for the Democratic nomination has been gaining steam as other Clinton challengers have failed to come close to her in national polls. And Bloomberg is, realistically, the only politician who could carry the Democratic torch if Clinton implodes, a columnist recently argued
Like Clinton, Bloomberg is pro-choice and pro-gay marriage, and he supported the Iraq War.
He wants to raise taxes in order to balance the budget and is in favor of creating a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. And while he lacks the foreign policy background that Clinton has, he's well-traveled and has substantial business experience.
There's virtually no scenario in which Bloomberg could win a Republican primary if he wanted to backtrack in that direction.
Conservatives branded him 'nanny' Bloomberg in his third term after his bans on trans fats, smoking in private businesses and his attempt to block the sale of sodas and other sweetened drinks larger than 16 ounces in restaurants and move theaters.
At 73, Bloomberg would not be the oldest candidate in the race, but only by a few months.
Sanders, another independent politician who switched his party affiliation to Democrat in order to challenge Clinton, is also 73. He turns 74 in September.
Chafee is 62. Clinton is 67. The only candidate competing for or known to be seriously thinking about running for the Democratic nomination who is below retirement age is Martin O'Malley, who is 52.
Like Chafee he's failed to gain traction with Democratic voters, however. They're tied for last place with an average of 1.4 percent support, data on poll-tracking site Real Clear Politics shows.
.
- It's not Bernie Sanders or former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, who is expected to announce his candidacy tonight
- Democrats are said to be wooing former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run against Clinton
- He was Democrat but became a Republican before running for office; he's now independent but would have 'no problem' switching again, it's said
- At a net worth of $36.9 billion, he could fund his own campaign
.
Hillary Clinton could face a serious challenge in the Democratic primary from a party-switching politician with his sights on the Oval Office.
No, not Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who became a Democrat in order to compete for the nomination of the party he best aligns with.
Nor is it Lincoln Chafee, the former Republican senator from Rhode Island who served as governor of the state for one term as an independent and later became a Democrat.
Chafee's announcing his candidacy for the Democratic Party's nomination this evening during a foreign policy address at George Mason University. But it's former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who politicos are talking about today.
.
+3
Hillary Clinton could face a serious challenge in the Democratic primary from a party-switching politician with his sights on the Oval Office, and it's not Lincoln Chafee, the former Republican senator from Rhode Island who served as governor of the state for one term as an independent and later became a Democrat
+3
Democrats are said to be wooing former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run against Clinton. Bloomberg is pictured here with his longtime partner Diana Taylor last week in New York City
.
Bloomberg is said to be mulling a bid for the White House, according to New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin.
Goodwin says he talked to several New York Democrats who believe that Bloomberg, a Republican-turned- independent who has vigorously fought for stricter gun control standards, is thinking about changing his political affiliation to run for president as a Democrat.
One told Goodwin that Bloomberg said that would be 'no problem' if he decided to launch a campaign.
The idea of a Bloomberg candidacy for the Democratic nomination has been gaining steam as other Clinton challengers have failed to come anywhere close to her in national polls and party bigwigs worry that she has too much baggage to win the White House.
Nearly six in 10 voters believe she's untrustworthy, a CNN poll released this week shows, and several Republicans are within striking distance of beating her in the general election next November, if the sentiment sticks.
Bloomberg is, realistically, the only politician who could carry the Democratic torch if Clinton implodes, USA Today columnist Michael Wolff posited last week.
'Michael Bloomberg may be the only guy with enough money to save the Democrats from themselves,' he wrote.
.
Wolff argued, 'A Michael Bloomberg-size fortune in effect neutralizes the issue of outside money in politics.
'Why donate money which, against the Bloomberg resources, only has ever-diminishing value? Other billionaires would sensibly retreat.'
Bloomberg's real-time net worth at the time this article was $36.9 billion, making him the 14th wealthiest person in the world. He's No. 10 in America.
At present he's the CEO of Bloomberg L.P. his colossal, financial software and media company. He rejoined the global giant last year after finishing his third consecutive term as New York City mayor.
He's divorced with two children and is currently unmarried, though he does have a longtime partner, Diana Taylor, the former banking superintendent for the state of New York.
A Democrat before he ran for mayor, he became a Republican and won election to his first term at the end of 2001. He was reelected as a Republican in 2005 but became an independent midway through his term.
He planned to run for the president in 2008 as an independent and vowed to spend $1 billion of his own money before backing away from idea after determining that he couldn't win.
One Democrat who spoke to the New York Post suggested that he might be enticed to give it another go because 'Mike can’t stand Hillary,' a former senator from his state.
The Clintons still live in New York, having maintained dual residencies there and in Washington during her tenure as Secretary of State.
.
+3
The idea of a Bloomberg candidacy for the Democratic nomination has been gaining steam as other Clinton challengers have failed to come close to her in national polls. And Bloomberg is, realistically, the only politician who could carry the Democratic torch if Clinton implodes, a columnist recently argued
Like Clinton, Bloomberg is pro-choice and pro-gay marriage, and he supported the Iraq War.
He wants to raise taxes in order to balance the budget and is in favor of creating a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. And while he lacks the foreign policy background that Clinton has, he's well-traveled and has substantial business experience.
There's virtually no scenario in which Bloomberg could win a Republican primary if he wanted to backtrack in that direction.
Conservatives branded him 'nanny' Bloomberg in his third term after his bans on trans fats, smoking in private businesses and his attempt to block the sale of sodas and other sweetened drinks larger than 16 ounces in restaurants and move theaters.
At 73, Bloomberg would not be the oldest candidate in the race, but only by a few months.
Sanders, another independent politician who switched his party affiliation to Democrat in order to challenge Clinton, is also 73. He turns 74 in September.
Chafee is 62. Clinton is 67. The only candidate competing for or known to be seriously thinking about running for the Democratic nomination who is below retirement age is Martin O'Malley, who is 52.
Like Chafee he's failed to gain traction with Democratic voters, however. They're tied for last place with an average of 1.4 percent support, data on poll-tracking site Real Clear Politics shows.
.
[h=1]Hillary takes 'everyday Americans' campaign to trial lawyers' $11.4 MILLION Dallas home for $2,700-per-plate fundraiser whose hostess donated to Democrats after infamous Clinton 'White House coffees'[/h]
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Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has said she ants her second presidential campaign to position her as a champion for 'everyday Americans.' But her two-day fundraising swing through Texas included a Wednesday dinner event at a $11.4 million home in the most exclusive corner of Dallas.
The home of prolific Democratic donors Frank and Debbie Branson boasts nearly 10,000 square feet of living space, about 13 times the size of a typical one-bedroom apartment in New York City, where Clinton's campaign organization is based.
When all that space isn't enough, they jet to their second home – a 4,000 square foot waterfront house on Key West that's worth $3.8 million.
Debbie Branson's Clinton ties run deep. She donated heavily to the Democratic National Committee after attending three of the Bill Clinton-era 'White House coffees' that became a symbol of crass political money-grubbing in 1995 and 1996.
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EVERYDAY MANSION: This $11.4 million home in suburban Dallas hosted a Hillary Clinton fundraiser on Wednesday night
HOST WITH THE MOST: Uber-wealthy personal-injury lawyers Frank and Debbie Branson have opened their manse to Hillary's fundraising operation before, and recently donated to the Clinton Foundation
+7
SHE'S JUST LIKE US: Clinton launched hr campaign with a promise to fight for 'everyday Americans' but needs the super-rich to keep her presidential ambitions alive
The Bransons lead a thriving legal practice that has become the Dallas-Fort Worth area's go-to authority on personal injury lawsuits, something that puts them squarely in line with the Democratic Party's long aversion to reform of the lawsuit system that has proven lucrative for risk-taking lawyers.
Frank Branson is a former trustee of the Democratic National Committee. Debbie is a past president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and a former managing trustee of the DNC. She is also a native Arkansan whose father was a state Supreme Court justice while Bill Clinton was governor.
And once he and Hillary were in the White House, Debbie Branson was a guest at three separate 'coffee' fundraisers held in the presidential mansion.
The series of events in 1995 and 1996 brought 958 guests to the White House, including hundreds of top-dollar Democratic National Committee donors.
The DNC raised more than $28 million that way, stoking anger among Republicans who said the presidential residence should be off-limits for the dirty work of collecting campaign cash.
Mrs. Branson had never contributed to the Democratic Party before her first Clinton White House coffee. But just three days after one of the events, in 1996, she wrote a $1,400 check.
Federal Election Commission records show that in the six weeks that followed, she donated another $30,000.
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ROUGHING IT: The Bransons' second home on Key West (top right) is worth $3.8 million
+7
COFFEE KLATCH: Bill and Hillary Clinton hosted more than 100 'coffee' events in the White House during the 1990s where Democratic Party donors had their egos stroked and were encouraged to give money. Debbie Branson was a guest at three of the infamous events
A who's who of Clintonworld attended the coffees where Mrs. Branson was a guest. Tina Flournoy, then a Phillip Morris executive and today Bill Clinton's personal chief of staff, hobnobbed with Branson at one.
Vice President Al Gore, Clinton adviser Harold Ickes, future Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler and future DNC chairman – and current Virginia governor – Terry McAuliffe turned up at another.
The White House coffees became a national scandal when businessman Johnny Chung admitted handing Hillary Clinton's then-chief of staff Maggie Williams a $50,000 political contribution, even though federal law specifically prohibits receiving such donations on government property.
Mrs. Clinton was photographed that day with Chung, who later told a federal judge that nearly 10 per cent of his $366,000 in contributions to the Democratic Party were passed through from an operative in Chinese military intelligence.
Once the first lady became a candidate herself in 2000, the Bransons opened their wallets again – and their palatial home.
They held a Senate fundraiser there for Hillary in 1999, and another in 2008 while she struggled to keep up with a surging presidential primary challenge from an unknown senator named Barack Obama.
Records from the FEC and elsewhere show that they have contributed at least $65,100 to Bill and Hillary Clinton's campaigns, and to the Clinton Foundation.
That's just a small sliver of the $1.2 million they have given to Democratic Party candidates and campaign committees since the beginning of the Bill Clinton presidency.
The Clinton Foundation reports that Frank and Debbie Branson have each donated between $10,001 and $25,000 to the controversial philanthropy. Mrs. Branson's contribution came just last year.
.
+7
PALATIAL: Wednesday night's fundraiser commenced at the dinner hour in the Bransons' 10,000-square-foot home
.
Debbie served on the finance committee of 'Ready For Hillary,' the former secretary of state's campaign-in-waiting before she launched her White House bid in April. She also gave the organization $5,000.
Frank, Debbie and their dauighter Jennifer combined for $16,100 in contributions to Mrs. Clinton's failed 2008 presidential campaign, and another $16,000 to her U.S. Senate campaigns.
Another $8,000 from the Bransons came in the form of $1,000 checks to Bill Clinton's re-election efforts, including $2,000 each from Debbie, Frank, Jennifer and Buck Sexton – the legal power couple's son.
For their efforts, the Bransons received what news reports called 'VIP treatment' after Bill Clinton was re-elected in 1996.
They were invited to inaurugal balls, prayer breakfasts and private events with then-Sen. Ted Kennedy.
And President Clinton nominated Debbie to two federal government posts.
One of those appointments, to the newly created Federal Aviation Management Advisory Council, came during Clinton's last year in office.
The Senate confirmation process for that job included a detailed questionnaire that asked: 'Do you know why you were chosen for this nomination by the President?'
Her one-word answer: 'No.'
The Bransons' law firm did not respond to requests for comment.
.
- Clinton is on a four-city fundraising swing through deep-red Texas
- Hosts Frank and Debbie Branson have given Democratic candidates and committees nearly $1.2 million since Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential run
- Hillary and Bill Clinton's campaigns, and the Clinton Foundation, have reaped at least $65,100 from the Dallas power couple and their children
- Debbie Branson attended three of the infamous 1995-96 'White House coffees' where Bill and Hillary stroked party donors in the Map Room
- Real estate records show their mansion in a tony suburban enclave is worth $11.4 million and features nearly 10,000 square feet of living space
- The pair are among the highest-paid personal injury lawyers in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex
.
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has said she ants her second presidential campaign to position her as a champion for 'everyday Americans.' But her two-day fundraising swing through Texas included a Wednesday dinner event at a $11.4 million home in the most exclusive corner of Dallas.
The home of prolific Democratic donors Frank and Debbie Branson boasts nearly 10,000 square feet of living space, about 13 times the size of a typical one-bedroom apartment in New York City, where Clinton's campaign organization is based.
When all that space isn't enough, they jet to their second home – a 4,000 square foot waterfront house on Key West that's worth $3.8 million.
Debbie Branson's Clinton ties run deep. She donated heavily to the Democratic National Committee after attending three of the Bill Clinton-era 'White House coffees' that became a symbol of crass political money-grubbing in 1995 and 1996.
.
+7
EVERYDAY MANSION: This $11.4 million home in suburban Dallas hosted a Hillary Clinton fundraiser on Wednesday night
HOST WITH THE MOST: Uber-wealthy personal-injury lawyers Frank and Debbie Branson have opened their manse to Hillary's fundraising operation before, and recently donated to the Clinton Foundation
+7
SHE'S JUST LIKE US: Clinton launched hr campaign with a promise to fight for 'everyday Americans' but needs the super-rich to keep her presidential ambitions alive
The Bransons lead a thriving legal practice that has become the Dallas-Fort Worth area's go-to authority on personal injury lawsuits, something that puts them squarely in line with the Democratic Party's long aversion to reform of the lawsuit system that has proven lucrative for risk-taking lawyers.
Frank Branson is a former trustee of the Democratic National Committee. Debbie is a past president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and a former managing trustee of the DNC. She is also a native Arkansan whose father was a state Supreme Court justice while Bill Clinton was governor.
And once he and Hillary were in the White House, Debbie Branson was a guest at three separate 'coffee' fundraisers held in the presidential mansion.
The series of events in 1995 and 1996 brought 958 guests to the White House, including hundreds of top-dollar Democratic National Committee donors.
The DNC raised more than $28 million that way, stoking anger among Republicans who said the presidential residence should be off-limits for the dirty work of collecting campaign cash.
Mrs. Branson had never contributed to the Democratic Party before her first Clinton White House coffee. But just three days after one of the events, in 1996, she wrote a $1,400 check.
Federal Election Commission records show that in the six weeks that followed, she donated another $30,000.
.
+7
ROUGHING IT: The Bransons' second home on Key West (top right) is worth $3.8 million
+7
COFFEE KLATCH: Bill and Hillary Clinton hosted more than 100 'coffee' events in the White House during the 1990s where Democratic Party donors had their egos stroked and were encouraged to give money. Debbie Branson was a guest at three of the infamous events
A who's who of Clintonworld attended the coffees where Mrs. Branson was a guest. Tina Flournoy, then a Phillip Morris executive and today Bill Clinton's personal chief of staff, hobnobbed with Branson at one.
Vice President Al Gore, Clinton adviser Harold Ickes, future Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler and future DNC chairman – and current Virginia governor – Terry McAuliffe turned up at another.
The White House coffees became a national scandal when businessman Johnny Chung admitted handing Hillary Clinton's then-chief of staff Maggie Williams a $50,000 political contribution, even though federal law specifically prohibits receiving such donations on government property.
Mrs. Clinton was photographed that day with Chung, who later told a federal judge that nearly 10 per cent of his $366,000 in contributions to the Democratic Party were passed through from an operative in Chinese military intelligence.
Once the first lady became a candidate herself in 2000, the Bransons opened their wallets again – and their palatial home.
They held a Senate fundraiser there for Hillary in 1999, and another in 2008 while she struggled to keep up with a surging presidential primary challenge from an unknown senator named Barack Obama.
Records from the FEC and elsewhere show that they have contributed at least $65,100 to Bill and Hillary Clinton's campaigns, and to the Clinton Foundation.
That's just a small sliver of the $1.2 million they have given to Democratic Party candidates and campaign committees since the beginning of the Bill Clinton presidency.
The Clinton Foundation reports that Frank and Debbie Branson have each donated between $10,001 and $25,000 to the controversial philanthropy. Mrs. Branson's contribution came just last year.
.
+7
PALATIAL: Wednesday night's fundraiser commenced at the dinner hour in the Bransons' 10,000-square-foot home
.
Debbie served on the finance committee of 'Ready For Hillary,' the former secretary of state's campaign-in-waiting before she launched her White House bid in April. She also gave the organization $5,000.
Frank, Debbie and their dauighter Jennifer combined for $16,100 in contributions to Mrs. Clinton's failed 2008 presidential campaign, and another $16,000 to her U.S. Senate campaigns.
Another $8,000 from the Bransons came in the form of $1,000 checks to Bill Clinton's re-election efforts, including $2,000 each from Debbie, Frank, Jennifer and Buck Sexton – the legal power couple's son.
For their efforts, the Bransons received what news reports called 'VIP treatment' after Bill Clinton was re-elected in 1996.
They were invited to inaurugal balls, prayer breakfasts and private events with then-Sen. Ted Kennedy.
And President Clinton nominated Debbie to two federal government posts.
One of those appointments, to the newly created Federal Aviation Management Advisory Council, came during Clinton's last year in office.
The Senate confirmation process for that job included a detailed questionnaire that asked: 'Do you know why you were chosen for this nomination by the President?'
Her one-word answer: 'No.'
The Bransons' law firm did not respond to requests for comment.
.
[h=1]Protesters greet Clinton outside fundraiser at Dallas mansion as pickup-truck Texans yell 'F*** Hillary!' and $10/hour valets park luxury cars while they say 'we're sunk if she gets elected'[/h]
.
They came in Bentleys, BMWs, Maseratis and Porsches. A handful drove Mercedes-Benzes and Lexuses. At least two luxury Tesla eco-cars made the trip.
Valet attendants parked the cars of the deep-pocketed Democrats for $10 per hour and raced around the neighborhood two hours later as a line of millionaires formed.
The guest of honor, Hillary Clinton, arrived in a black Cadillac for her $2,700-per-plate presidential fundraiser.
As the former secretary of state's Secret Service escort pulled into the driveway of a $11.4 million home near Dallas on Wednesday night, a group of Republican activists were waiting.
When a nondescript Texan, a 20-something man in a silver pickup truck, drove by and yelled 'F*** Hillary!,' a small cheer went up.
.
+8
Protesters gathered outside a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton near Dallas, Texas on June 3, 2015
+8
NOT SCOOBY: Clinton arrived in this Cadillac, leaving her legendary custom 'Scooby' van in New York
+8
$10 per hour: Valets lined up outside the Clinton fundraiser to park some of the world's most expensive automobiles
+8
EVERYDAY MANSION: This $11.4 million home in suburban Dallas hosted a Hillary Clinton fundraiser on Wednesday night
.
'Hillary Clinton just wants to come here and raise money but not campaign around ordinary people,' Republican Party of Texas communications director Aaron Whitehead told Daily Mail Online.
'She's here doing a closed-door fundraiser with the people she trashes on the campaign trail,' he said across the street from the home of Frank and Debbie Branson, wealthy personal-injury lawyers who hosted the Clinton event.
Clinton's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The Democratic presidential front-runner is nearly halfway through a two-day cash grab in the Lone Star state, which includes four private gatherings for donors, a single public speech on Thursday, and no meet-and-greet events with voters.
The speech, at Texas Southern University in Houston, became the subject of online ridicule Wednesday after reporters received email guidance from the university saying Clinton would not be addressing the media before or afterward.
'There will NO opportunities to interview Hillary Clinton; her speech will be her interview,' university spokesman Rodney Bush instructed.
.
+8
PEANUT GALLERY: The Republican Party of Texas brought protesters – and a gift-wrapped computer server
+8
'EVEYDAY AMERICANS': Clinton said at her campaign's launch that she wants to represent ordinary people, but the guests at her fundraiser arrived in extraordinary cars like these two $160,000 Bentleys
A frustrated Whitehead said he wasn't surprised.
'The fact that she's here in Texas and she won't meet with ordinary Texans says a lot about her,' he said.
He also brought the peanut gallery of snarky volunteers.
One held a sign reading 'I did not have textual relations with that server.' Another had written 'What difference does it make? 4 dead Americans' on a placard. A third held a bright pink piece of poster-board reading 'Hispanics don't trust Hillary' – in Spanish.
Standing in the middle of it all was a six-foot-tall, rack-mounted computer server wrapped with a broad red ribbon.
The GOP spokesman told Daily Mail Online that the server represented Clinton's decision to delete more than 32,000 of her own emails from a private server she used exclusively while she was America's top diplomat.
Republicans have demanded that she turn over the computer hardware to a neutral expert, to determine if any messages survived the digital wiping, and if any of them can shed light on the State Department's response to the 2012 terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
Clinton has met their ultimatums with a series of shrugs.
'What it boils down to is that she thinks she's above the law,' said Whitehead.
A crew chief with Gold Crown Valet Parking, which had 16 parking attendants on the scene to handle the guests' high-end cars, told Daily Mail Online that the staff Wednesday night earned $10 per hour, unless they have seniority.
Another supervisor, who only identified himself as 'Russ.' said he had mixed feelings about servicing an event that could help Hillary Clinton grease her path to the White House.
'We're sunk if she gets elected,' he said. 'She's going to take us down the wrong path.'
.
- Signs jab former secretary of state over email and Benghazi scandals as $2,700-per-plate fundraiser begins
- One man driving by the $11.4 million mansion yelled 'F*** Hillary!' as he leaned out of his pickup truck window
- Swarm of 16 valet attendants park dozens of luxury cars but earn $10 per hour for their work
- 'We're sunk if she gets elected,' one of the calets said; 'she's going to take us down the wrong path'
- Texas Republican Party brings giant rack-mounted computer server to mock Hillary about her email controversy
- Clinton arrives in a black Cadillac sedan – not the 'Scooby' van
.
They came in Bentleys, BMWs, Maseratis and Porsches. A handful drove Mercedes-Benzes and Lexuses. At least two luxury Tesla eco-cars made the trip.
Valet attendants parked the cars of the deep-pocketed Democrats for $10 per hour and raced around the neighborhood two hours later as a line of millionaires formed.
The guest of honor, Hillary Clinton, arrived in a black Cadillac for her $2,700-per-plate presidential fundraiser.
As the former secretary of state's Secret Service escort pulled into the driveway of a $11.4 million home near Dallas on Wednesday night, a group of Republican activists were waiting.
When a nondescript Texan, a 20-something man in a silver pickup truck, drove by and yelled 'F*** Hillary!,' a small cheer went up.
.
+8
Protesters gathered outside a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton near Dallas, Texas on June 3, 2015
+8
NOT SCOOBY: Clinton arrived in this Cadillac, leaving her legendary custom 'Scooby' van in New York
+8
$10 per hour: Valets lined up outside the Clinton fundraiser to park some of the world's most expensive automobiles
+8
EVERYDAY MANSION: This $11.4 million home in suburban Dallas hosted a Hillary Clinton fundraiser on Wednesday night
.
'Hillary Clinton just wants to come here and raise money but not campaign around ordinary people,' Republican Party of Texas communications director Aaron Whitehead told Daily Mail Online.
'She's here doing a closed-door fundraiser with the people she trashes on the campaign trail,' he said across the street from the home of Frank and Debbie Branson, wealthy personal-injury lawyers who hosted the Clinton event.
Clinton's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The Democratic presidential front-runner is nearly halfway through a two-day cash grab in the Lone Star state, which includes four private gatherings for donors, a single public speech on Thursday, and no meet-and-greet events with voters.
The speech, at Texas Southern University in Houston, became the subject of online ridicule Wednesday after reporters received email guidance from the university saying Clinton would not be addressing the media before or afterward.
'There will NO opportunities to interview Hillary Clinton; her speech will be her interview,' university spokesman Rodney Bush instructed.
.
+8
PEANUT GALLERY: The Republican Party of Texas brought protesters – and a gift-wrapped computer server
+8
'EVEYDAY AMERICANS': Clinton said at her campaign's launch that she wants to represent ordinary people, but the guests at her fundraiser arrived in extraordinary cars like these two $160,000 Bentleys
A frustrated Whitehead said he wasn't surprised.
'The fact that she's here in Texas and she won't meet with ordinary Texans says a lot about her,' he said.
He also brought the peanut gallery of snarky volunteers.
One held a sign reading 'I did not have textual relations with that server.' Another had written 'What difference does it make? 4 dead Americans' on a placard. A third held a bright pink piece of poster-board reading 'Hispanics don't trust Hillary' – in Spanish.
Standing in the middle of it all was a six-foot-tall, rack-mounted computer server wrapped with a broad red ribbon.
The GOP spokesman told Daily Mail Online that the server represented Clinton's decision to delete more than 32,000 of her own emails from a private server she used exclusively while she was America's top diplomat.
Republicans have demanded that she turn over the computer hardware to a neutral expert, to determine if any messages survived the digital wiping, and if any of them can shed light on the State Department's response to the 2012 terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
Clinton has met their ultimatums with a series of shrugs.
'What it boils down to is that she thinks she's above the law,' said Whitehead.
A crew chief with Gold Crown Valet Parking, which had 16 parking attendants on the scene to handle the guests' high-end cars, told Daily Mail Online that the staff Wednesday night earned $10 per hour, unless they have seniority.
Another supervisor, who only identified himself as 'Russ.' said he had mixed feelings about servicing an event that could help Hillary Clinton grease her path to the White House.
'We're sunk if she gets elected,' he said. 'She's going to take us down the wrong path.'
.
DECLASSIFIED[h=1]Why Hillary Can't Run on Her State Department Record[/h]
582 JUN 3, 2015 12:19 PM EDTBy Josh Rogin
Hillary Clinton's record as secretary of state became a hot-button issue this week after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Bloomberg Television that the Barack Obama administration's failed "reset" policy with Moscow was her "invention."
Here's why it matters: Her campaign chairman, John Podesta, gave an interview to Bloomberg View's Al Hunt in April in which he said holding up the “major accomplishments” from her State Department tenure would be a centerpiece of her campaign. Podesta may want to reconsider that plan. Running on Clinton's signature diplomatic initiatives is fraught with risks because, on closer inspection, most that he mentioned don’t hold up to scrutiny.
“She put together that sanctions package that’s led to at least the possibility of having a deal on the Iran nuclear program,” Podesta told Hunt in the interview, which was aired on PBS's "Charlie Rose" show. “That took very careful and longtime careful diplomacy."
In fact, the State Department under Clinton vigorously opposed almost all of the Iran sanctions passed by Congress while she was in office. Top officials, including Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, openly advocated against many bills, including the sanctions on Iran’s central bank, which dealt the true crippling blow to the Tehran regime. The Senate passed that bill 100-0 and Obama reluctantly signed them into law. The State Department did implement them, but was criticized by lawmakers and advocacy groups for using waivers in the law to exempt several countries, including China and our allies Japan and South Korea.
Clinton can also expect to be pressed during the campaign over her involvement in the secret negotiations that led to the controversial Iran nuclear negotiations now nearing completion. Her deputy, William Burns, and her top foreign policy advisor, Jake Sullivan, heldmonths of clandestine meetings with Iranian officials to set up the talks. In the run-up to her campaign announcement, Clinton wascautiously supportive of the nuclear talks; leaving herself some wiggle room by saying she won’t render a final judgment until the deal is done.
Podesta then went on to say that Clinton "restored America’s place in the world, which had been very badly battered through the previous administration.”
While it’s true that global opinion of the U.S. soared when Barack Obama was first elected president, during Clinton's State Department tenure of 2009 to 2013 there was no measurable upswing in foreigners’ views of America, according to the Pew Research Center’s polling on global attitudes. In most major countries, approval of the U.S. actually went down by the time Clinton left office, including by 11 percentage points in each of France, Germany and the U.K.
A poll conducted in 33 countries by the BBC World Service just after Clinton stepped down as secretary found that overall world opinion of the U.S. by 2013 was the lowest since the presidency of George W. Bush. If Clinton wants to run on having polished America’s image abroad, she’ll be hard pressed to come up with data to back it up.
“She engineered the so-called 'pivot to Asia,’ ” Podesta continued. “Her first trip was to China.”
Clinton did lead parts of what the White House now calls the “rebalance” to Asia, but as Governor Scott Walker, a top Republican contender, pointed out last week, that policy has fallen well short of expectations. With China building fake islands around the South China Sea and threatening to enforce an air-exclusion zone in the area, the pivot policy now looks inadequate.
Along with Treasury Department officials, Clinton initiated a newstrategic dialogue with China, but after several high-level summits, the effort has produced few if any tangible results. The State Department did succeed in creating an opening with Myanmar, an effort led by her top Asia official, Kurt Campbell. Unfortunately, the military junta has not eased up its brutal persecution of Muslim minorities, leading to a vast refugee crisis in Southeast Asia, and political reform has now slowed to a crawl.
“She put some new issues on the table for American diplomacy," Podesta went on, "including internet freedom, the importance of women’s rights as human rights, of LGBT rights as human rights, as part of our diplomatic package, which I think restored values to the way America projects its power around the world.”
This is hard to square with the fact that, in her first visit to China, Clinton insisted that human rights advocacy “can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis." Clinton's State Department repeatedly waived lawsthat would have cut aid to countries guilty of gross human rights violations, such as Egypt. This record won't be helped by Clinton’s family foundation having taken millions of dollars from foreign governments that systematically abuse their citizens and deny basic liberties to women.
Clinton did have several significant public initiatives meant to respond to the pressing social and economic issues of the new century. Her project on Internet freedom had some early success. Yet it was ultimately undermined by revelations from Edward Snowden and others, making her admonishment in 2011 of governments that “pry into the peaceful activities of their citizens” seem hypocritical.
Podesta also stressed Clinton's record on the struggle against violent religious extremism. “She was tough on terrorism, and participated in the decision that led up to the decisions that led up to the killing of Osama bin Laden,” he told Hunt.
While Clinton did support Obama's decision to launch the raid that killed bin Laden, it's misleading to claim that the State Department was a significant player in fighting terrorism. That effort was and is still led by the Pentagon and intelligence agencies. And, of course, the worst terrorism blow to U.S. interests since the Sept. 11 attacks happened at a diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, on her watch.
In addition, while the administration claimed in 2013 that terrorism was on the decline, the spread of the Islamic State, Boko Haram (which Clinton refused to put on the State Department’s terrorism list in 2011, despite requests from the Justice Department and the CIA) and other groups since then makes the victory laps of the first term look far too self-congratulatory.
Podesta avoided mentioning several other diplomatic initiatives Clinton led that turned out poorly. She was a major proponent of the U.S.-led intervention in Libya in 2011, which has led to bloody chaos and a new bridgehead for the Islamic State. Her State Department led a failed diplomatic effort between Israel and the Palestinians. Her officials held years of talks with the Taliban that never bore fruit. She tried to build a moderate Syrian opposition. None of these are going to help her case that she deserves the Oval Office.
Some Republicans are already looking to turn Clinton's tenure as the nation's top diplomat into a liability. "I think her time in the position of secretary of state is demonstrably one that lacks accomplishment, but that also has some real blemishes on it," said Carly Fiorina in April, just before announcing her own candidacy.
Fiorina, of course, has no international experience at all, and neither do most of the other Republican primary candidates. Still, if Clinton is going to run on her foreign policy credentials, she will have to come up with a better narrative than the one the campaign has been peddling.
582 JUN 3, 2015 12:19 PM EDTBy Josh Rogin
Hillary Clinton's record as secretary of state became a hot-button issue this week after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Bloomberg Television that the Barack Obama administration's failed "reset" policy with Moscow was her "invention."
Here's why it matters: Her campaign chairman, John Podesta, gave an interview to Bloomberg View's Al Hunt in April in which he said holding up the “major accomplishments” from her State Department tenure would be a centerpiece of her campaign. Podesta may want to reconsider that plan. Running on Clinton's signature diplomatic initiatives is fraught with risks because, on closer inspection, most that he mentioned don’t hold up to scrutiny.
“She put together that sanctions package that’s led to at least the possibility of having a deal on the Iran nuclear program,” Podesta told Hunt in the interview, which was aired on PBS's "Charlie Rose" show. “That took very careful and longtime careful diplomacy."
In fact, the State Department under Clinton vigorously opposed almost all of the Iran sanctions passed by Congress while she was in office. Top officials, including Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, openly advocated against many bills, including the sanctions on Iran’s central bank, which dealt the true crippling blow to the Tehran regime. The Senate passed that bill 100-0 and Obama reluctantly signed them into law. The State Department did implement them, but was criticized by lawmakers and advocacy groups for using waivers in the law to exempt several countries, including China and our allies Japan and South Korea.
Clinton can also expect to be pressed during the campaign over her involvement in the secret negotiations that led to the controversial Iran nuclear negotiations now nearing completion. Her deputy, William Burns, and her top foreign policy advisor, Jake Sullivan, heldmonths of clandestine meetings with Iranian officials to set up the talks. In the run-up to her campaign announcement, Clinton wascautiously supportive of the nuclear talks; leaving herself some wiggle room by saying she won’t render a final judgment until the deal is done.
Podesta then went on to say that Clinton "restored America’s place in the world, which had been very badly battered through the previous administration.”
While it’s true that global opinion of the U.S. soared when Barack Obama was first elected president, during Clinton's State Department tenure of 2009 to 2013 there was no measurable upswing in foreigners’ views of America, according to the Pew Research Center’s polling on global attitudes. In most major countries, approval of the U.S. actually went down by the time Clinton left office, including by 11 percentage points in each of France, Germany and the U.K.
A poll conducted in 33 countries by the BBC World Service just after Clinton stepped down as secretary found that overall world opinion of the U.S. by 2013 was the lowest since the presidency of George W. Bush. If Clinton wants to run on having polished America’s image abroad, she’ll be hard pressed to come up with data to back it up.
“She engineered the so-called 'pivot to Asia,’ ” Podesta continued. “Her first trip was to China.”
Clinton did lead parts of what the White House now calls the “rebalance” to Asia, but as Governor Scott Walker, a top Republican contender, pointed out last week, that policy has fallen well short of expectations. With China building fake islands around the South China Sea and threatening to enforce an air-exclusion zone in the area, the pivot policy now looks inadequate.
Along with Treasury Department officials, Clinton initiated a newstrategic dialogue with China, but after several high-level summits, the effort has produced few if any tangible results. The State Department did succeed in creating an opening with Myanmar, an effort led by her top Asia official, Kurt Campbell. Unfortunately, the military junta has not eased up its brutal persecution of Muslim minorities, leading to a vast refugee crisis in Southeast Asia, and political reform has now slowed to a crawl.
“She put some new issues on the table for American diplomacy," Podesta went on, "including internet freedom, the importance of women’s rights as human rights, of LGBT rights as human rights, as part of our diplomatic package, which I think restored values to the way America projects its power around the world.”
This is hard to square with the fact that, in her first visit to China, Clinton insisted that human rights advocacy “can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis." Clinton's State Department repeatedly waived lawsthat would have cut aid to countries guilty of gross human rights violations, such as Egypt. This record won't be helped by Clinton’s family foundation having taken millions of dollars from foreign governments that systematically abuse their citizens and deny basic liberties to women.
Clinton did have several significant public initiatives meant to respond to the pressing social and economic issues of the new century. Her project on Internet freedom had some early success. Yet it was ultimately undermined by revelations from Edward Snowden and others, making her admonishment in 2011 of governments that “pry into the peaceful activities of their citizens” seem hypocritical.
Podesta also stressed Clinton's record on the struggle against violent religious extremism. “She was tough on terrorism, and participated in the decision that led up to the decisions that led up to the killing of Osama bin Laden,” he told Hunt.
While Clinton did support Obama's decision to launch the raid that killed bin Laden, it's misleading to claim that the State Department was a significant player in fighting terrorism. That effort was and is still led by the Pentagon and intelligence agencies. And, of course, the worst terrorism blow to U.S. interests since the Sept. 11 attacks happened at a diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, on her watch.
In addition, while the administration claimed in 2013 that terrorism was on the decline, the spread of the Islamic State, Boko Haram (which Clinton refused to put on the State Department’s terrorism list in 2011, despite requests from the Justice Department and the CIA) and other groups since then makes the victory laps of the first term look far too self-congratulatory.
Podesta avoided mentioning several other diplomatic initiatives Clinton led that turned out poorly. She was a major proponent of the U.S.-led intervention in Libya in 2011, which has led to bloody chaos and a new bridgehead for the Islamic State. Her State Department led a failed diplomatic effort between Israel and the Palestinians. Her officials held years of talks with the Taliban that never bore fruit. She tried to build a moderate Syrian opposition. None of these are going to help her case that she deserves the Oval Office.
Some Republicans are already looking to turn Clinton's tenure as the nation's top diplomat into a liability. "I think her time in the position of secretary of state is demonstrably one that lacks accomplishment, but that also has some real blemishes on it," said Carly Fiorina in April, just before announcing her own candidacy.
Fiorina, of course, has no international experience at all, and neither do most of the other Republican primary candidates. Still, if Clinton is going to run on her foreign policy credentials, she will have to come up with a better narrative than the one the campaign has been peddling.
As FIFA allegations swirled, Clintons gave Qatar a stage — and legitimacy
Clinton Global Initiative hosts Qatar officials in 2013(5:08)
The Clinton Global Initiative welcomed Hassan Abdulla Al Thawadi of the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee and Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiya of the Qatar National Food Security Program to discuss the 2022 World Cup at their 2013 annual meeting. (YouTube/Clinton Global Initiative)
By Rosalind S. Helderman June 3 at 5:58 PM
During the closing session of the Clinton Global Initiative’s 2013 annual meeting, Bill Clinton called to the stage a former rival named Hassan Abdullah Al-Thawadi.
Three years earlier, Al-Thawadi, a young Qatari businessman, had led his country’s successful effort to host the 2022 soccer World Cup, beating out, among others, a U.S. bid led by Clinton. Al-Thawadi and his countrymen had rejoiced after they were awarded the tournament in an auditorium in Zurich, while elsewhere in the room Clinton and his team stewed.
Allegations that Qatar had bribed its way to the victory soon emerged, prompting an internal investigation by soccer’s governing body that had been going on for more than a year by the time of the CGI event.
At the gathering, Clinton stood on stage as Al-Thawadi talked with pride about plans to use technology developed for Qatari soccer stadiums to cool greenhouses and feed the hungry.
“We bid on the belief that the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar will act as a catalyst for positive change in Qatar, in the Middle East as well as beyond,” Al-Thawadi said in New York that September day, before posing for a picture with Clinton and another Qatari official, according to a video of the event posted online.
Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and then-FIFA President Sepp Blatter, second from left, attend the 2010 World Cup for a soccer match between the United States and Algeria in Pretoria, South Africa. (Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters)
For the Qataris, the moment offered a touch of Clinton-blessed legitimacy amid a brewing controversy. For the Clinton Foundation, it came with a major donation.
A foundation official said the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee headed by Al-Thawadi “sponsored” the 2013 CGI event, a status that generally requires a donation of at least $250,000.
But many sponsors pay more, particularly those who wish to share the stage with the former president, according to several people familiar with the foundation’s practices. A foundation spokesman said sponsors are featured on stage based on the merit of their charitable commitments and not the size of their donations.
The Qatar donation has drawn attention amid a burgeoning international soccer scandal. Last week, federal prosecutors in the United States charged 14 people with bribery, fraud and other charges, alleging that the sport has been rife with corruption for two decades. Swiss authorities announced they are also specifically investigating Qatar’s bid.
The donation from the Qatari committee serves as the latest example of the willingness of the Clinton Foundation to accept big-dollar contributions from controversial and, sometimes, politically problematic sources. Donors have included foreign governments, Wall Street banks and some of the world’s richest business tycoons.
As the foundation’s practices have come under increased scrutiny, Bill Clinton has defended accepting money from imperfect actors. The way the foundation thinks about it, Clinton has said, is not whether a potential donor has done something questionable in one area, but whether there’s an intent to do something positive with the foundation.
“What you find is that you’ve got to decide when you do this work, whether it’ll do more good than harm if someone helps you from another country,” Bill Clinton said at a foundation event in March. “My theory about all of this is disclose everything and then let people make their judgments.”
Former president Bill Clinton kicks a soccer ball during a news conference in New York in May 2010. Clinton was the honorary chairman during the U.S. bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. (Seth Wenig/AP)
The charity also explored a relationship with FIFA, the international soccer governing organization at the center of the scandal. Foundation officials confirmed there were unsuccessful negotiations in 2006 about forging a major partnership between FIFA and the foundation to promote HIV/AIDs awareness around the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, with Bill Clinton as a spokesman.
Ultimately, FIFA gave a relatively modest donation of between $50,000 and $100,000 — fees to attend CGI in 2009 and 2010, foundation officials have said. Clinton was working on the U.S. bid in 2010.
The foundation’s financial practices are now emerging as a political complication as Hillary Clinton begins her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll indicated that half of all Americans disapprove of the way Hillary Clinton has handled questions about the charity.
The inside story of how the Clintons built a $2 billion global empire
While a number of controversial donations came during the years that Bill Clinton headed the organization alone, the Qatari committee’s involvement in CGI came in the months after Hillary Clinton stepped down as secretary of state and joined the foundation’s board.
According to the foundation’s Web site, which lists donors based on the amounts of their total contributions organized by ranges, the Qatari committee gave between $250,000 and $500,000. The Persian Gulf nation, known for seeking to build alliances in Washington by giving money to think tanks and other influential organizations, has given the Clinton Foundation between $1 million and $5 million over the years, according to the charity’s Web site.
The potential problems of associating with the Qatar World Cup effort were clear well before the foundation’s 2013 event. In May 2011, five months after Qatar won the right to host the cup, members of the British parliament alleged that some on FIFA’s executive committee had been paid millions to award the bid to Qatar, and British media had aggressively investigated the issue.
And in July 2012, FIFA appointed former U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia to probe the bid process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, an investigation that was underway at the time of Qatar’s sponsorship of the Clinton Global Initiative.
Garcia submitted his report in September 2014. But FIFA has refused to publish the findings in their entirety, instead releasing only a summary saying that Qatar and Russia did nothing wrong. Garcia has said the summary was “incomplete” and “erroneous.”
This week, FIFA’s longtime president Sepp Blatter resigned, and people familiar with the investigation have indicated he is a subject of the U.S. probe.
Allegations of bribery weren’t the only problems facing the Qataris at the time of the CGI event. That same week, the Guardian newspaper published an expose of labor conditions at World Cup construction sites in Qatar, concluding that dozens of migrant Nepalese workers had died that summer alone — and estimating that thousands would die before the projects were finished.
Clinton Foundation officials said that donors should not be barred from philanthropy because they face criticism.
“Many major institutions — financial, media, industrial or otherwise — have been subject to allegations at some point, and that alone shouldn’t preclude these organizations, which are capable of significant and positive impact, from contributing to improving lives,” the officials said via e-mail.
The Qataris have said they are committed to safe working conditions for laborers and have said that no workers have died during World Cup construction. They have also rejected allegations of bribery, with Al-Thawadi saying in a February interview on Al Jazeera that the criticism of his country showed a “clear bias.”
A representative of the Qatar World Cup committee said a spokesman was not available to comment for this article.
Stephen Russell, the coordinator of Playfair Qatar, a U.K.-based labor group urging the Gulf state to improve working conditions, said the country has used charitable giving such as donations to the Clinton Foundation to try to earn international legitimacy.
“We compare it to medieval kings, building churches before they die to try to get into heaven,” he said.
Russell called on the Clintons and the foundation to speak out about workers’ rights in Qatar. “It’s all very well and good to have taken their money — but don’t let it buy your silence,” he said.
In response, Brian Fallon, a campaign spokesman for Hillary Clinton, said her record demonstrated a willingness to challenge Middle East regimes.
Fallon pointed to a 2012 report about Qatar by the Clinton-led State Department, which found that the country’s laws did not provide adequate collective bargaining and other rights for workers.
Fallon also pointed to a 2011 trip to Qatar in which then-Secretary Clinton said Arab leaders risked “sinking into the sand” unless they restructured their political and economic systems.
A foundation spokesman highlighted remarks Bill Clinton made supporting migrant worker rights at the Abu Dhabi campus of New York University in a graduation speech there in 2014.
Neither Bill nor Hillary Clinton’s spokesmen specifically addressed the question of labor conditions as Qatar readies for the 2022 World Cup.
Though his position was officially ceremonial, Bill Clinton threw himself into the American effort to win the World Cup. The former president hosted a 2010 meeting at the office of the Clinton Foundation in Harlem for the star-studded bid committee, which included soccer star Mia Hamm, actor Morgan Freeman and director Spike Lee.
When world leaders gathered in Zurich to make their final pitches, it was Clinton — along with then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. — who met with key FIFA members, one by one, in a hotel suite the night before the vote. And Clinton made the closing argument as part of the U.S. team’s elaborate, formal 40-minute presentation, where he was introduced by U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati as “an American citizen but, in my view, a global treasure,” according to a video of the presentation posted online.
Clinton spent about half of his remarks describing the work of his foundation across the world and how soccer could be used to advance similar goals.
“Everywhere, I have seen the power of football, to lift people up and bring them together across the lines that would otherwise divide them,” he said, praising FIFA as a “great organization” that had embarked on a “social responsibility mission.”
[Successful Qatar bid for World Cup aroused suspicion among U.S. officials]
When Qatar was selected, some involved with the U.S. effort were immediately suspicious, according to people familiar with the discussions. Planning a major summertime soccer tournament in a country where daytime temperatures in those months reach or exceed 120 degrees seemed to make little sense.
Three years later, standing next to Clinton on the stage at CGI, Al-Thawadi announced that the Qatar host committee would partner with the Qatar National Food Security Programme to improve food production in arid regions of the world.
It was just the kind of grand gesture — private groups publicly committing to charitable causes — that Clinton envisioned when he founded CGI. Though such projects are carried out by companies and individuals, the Clinton Foundation tracks the commitments for years and reports on whether their lofty goals have been fulfilled.
Unlike most of the thousands of commitments listed on the foundation’s Web site, the page displaying the Qatar partners’ project does not include an exact amount of money to be spent or any progress reports.
A foundation spokesman said the commitment is “well underway” and said the Qataris have launched the Global Dryland Alliance with other nations to work on the problem of food insecurity in arid regions.
Tom Hamburger, Alice Crites and Scott Clement contributed to this report
[/COLOR]
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Clinton Global Initiative hosts Qatar officials in 2013(5:08)
The Clinton Global Initiative welcomed Hassan Abdulla Al Thawadi of the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee and Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiya of the Qatar National Food Security Program to discuss the 2022 World Cup at their 2013 annual meeting. (YouTube/Clinton Global Initiative)
By Rosalind S. Helderman June 3 at 5:58 PM
During the closing session of the Clinton Global Initiative’s 2013 annual meeting, Bill Clinton called to the stage a former rival named Hassan Abdullah Al-Thawadi.
Three years earlier, Al-Thawadi, a young Qatari businessman, had led his country’s successful effort to host the 2022 soccer World Cup, beating out, among others, a U.S. bid led by Clinton. Al-Thawadi and his countrymen had rejoiced after they were awarded the tournament in an auditorium in Zurich, while elsewhere in the room Clinton and his team stewed.
Allegations that Qatar had bribed its way to the victory soon emerged, prompting an internal investigation by soccer’s governing body that had been going on for more than a year by the time of the CGI event.
At the gathering, Clinton stood on stage as Al-Thawadi talked with pride about plans to use technology developed for Qatari soccer stadiums to cool greenhouses and feed the hungry.
“We bid on the belief that the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar will act as a catalyst for positive change in Qatar, in the Middle East as well as beyond,” Al-Thawadi said in New York that September day, before posing for a picture with Clinton and another Qatari official, according to a video of the event posted online.
For the Qataris, the moment offered a touch of Clinton-blessed legitimacy amid a brewing controversy. For the Clinton Foundation, it came with a major donation.
A foundation official said the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee headed by Al-Thawadi “sponsored” the 2013 CGI event, a status that generally requires a donation of at least $250,000.
But many sponsors pay more, particularly those who wish to share the stage with the former president, according to several people familiar with the foundation’s practices. A foundation spokesman said sponsors are featured on stage based on the merit of their charitable commitments and not the size of their donations.
The Qatar donation has drawn attention amid a burgeoning international soccer scandal. Last week, federal prosecutors in the United States charged 14 people with bribery, fraud and other charges, alleging that the sport has been rife with corruption for two decades. Swiss authorities announced they are also specifically investigating Qatar’s bid.
SPONSOR-GENERATED CONTENTThe Internet of Things in four charts[COLOR=#747474 !important]By Infiniti
The donation from the Qatari committee serves as the latest example of the willingness of the Clinton Foundation to accept big-dollar contributions from controversial and, sometimes, politically problematic sources. Donors have included foreign governments, Wall Street banks and some of the world’s richest business tycoons.
As the foundation’s practices have come under increased scrutiny, Bill Clinton has defended accepting money from imperfect actors. The way the foundation thinks about it, Clinton has said, is not whether a potential donor has done something questionable in one area, but whether there’s an intent to do something positive with the foundation.
“What you find is that you’ve got to decide when you do this work, whether it’ll do more good than harm if someone helps you from another country,” Bill Clinton said at a foundation event in March. “My theory about all of this is disclose everything and then let people make their judgments.”
The charity also explored a relationship with FIFA, the international soccer governing organization at the center of the scandal. Foundation officials confirmed there were unsuccessful negotiations in 2006 about forging a major partnership between FIFA and the foundation to promote HIV/AIDs awareness around the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, with Bill Clinton as a spokesman.
Ultimately, FIFA gave a relatively modest donation of between $50,000 and $100,000 — fees to attend CGI in 2009 and 2010, foundation officials have said. Clinton was working on the U.S. bid in 2010.
The foundation’s financial practices are now emerging as a political complication as Hillary Clinton begins her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll indicated that half of all Americans disapprove of the way Hillary Clinton has handled questions about the charity.
The inside story of how the Clintons built a $2 billion global empire
While a number of controversial donations came during the years that Bill Clinton headed the organization alone, the Qatari committee’s involvement in CGI came in the months after Hillary Clinton stepped down as secretary of state and joined the foundation’s board.
According to the foundation’s Web site, which lists donors based on the amounts of their total contributions organized by ranges, the Qatari committee gave between $250,000 and $500,000. The Persian Gulf nation, known for seeking to build alliances in Washington by giving money to think tanks and other influential organizations, has given the Clinton Foundation between $1 million and $5 million over the years, according to the charity’s Web site.
The potential problems of associating with the Qatar World Cup effort were clear well before the foundation’s 2013 event. In May 2011, five months after Qatar won the right to host the cup, members of the British parliament alleged that some on FIFA’s executive committee had been paid millions to award the bid to Qatar, and British media had aggressively investigated the issue.
And in July 2012, FIFA appointed former U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia to probe the bid process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, an investigation that was underway at the time of Qatar’s sponsorship of the Clinton Global Initiative.
Garcia submitted his report in September 2014. But FIFA has refused to publish the findings in their entirety, instead releasing only a summary saying that Qatar and Russia did nothing wrong. Garcia has said the summary was “incomplete” and “erroneous.”
This week, FIFA’s longtime president Sepp Blatter resigned, and people familiar with the investigation have indicated he is a subject of the U.S. probe.
Allegations of bribery weren’t the only problems facing the Qataris at the time of the CGI event. That same week, the Guardian newspaper published an expose of labor conditions at World Cup construction sites in Qatar, concluding that dozens of migrant Nepalese workers had died that summer alone — and estimating that thousands would die before the projects were finished.
Clinton Foundation officials said that donors should not be barred from philanthropy because they face criticism.
“Many major institutions — financial, media, industrial or otherwise — have been subject to allegations at some point, and that alone shouldn’t preclude these organizations, which are capable of significant and positive impact, from contributing to improving lives,” the officials said via e-mail.
The Qataris have said they are committed to safe working conditions for laborers and have said that no workers have died during World Cup construction. They have also rejected allegations of bribery, with Al-Thawadi saying in a February interview on Al Jazeera that the criticism of his country showed a “clear bias.”
A representative of the Qatar World Cup committee said a spokesman was not available to comment for this article.
Stephen Russell, the coordinator of Playfair Qatar, a U.K.-based labor group urging the Gulf state to improve working conditions, said the country has used charitable giving such as donations to the Clinton Foundation to try to earn international legitimacy.
“We compare it to medieval kings, building churches before they die to try to get into heaven,” he said.
Russell called on the Clintons and the foundation to speak out about workers’ rights in Qatar. “It’s all very well and good to have taken their money — but don’t let it buy your silence,” he said.
In response, Brian Fallon, a campaign spokesman for Hillary Clinton, said her record demonstrated a willingness to challenge Middle East regimes.
Fallon pointed to a 2012 report about Qatar by the Clinton-led State Department, which found that the country’s laws did not provide adequate collective bargaining and other rights for workers.
Fallon also pointed to a 2011 trip to Qatar in which then-Secretary Clinton said Arab leaders risked “sinking into the sand” unless they restructured their political and economic systems.
A foundation spokesman highlighted remarks Bill Clinton made supporting migrant worker rights at the Abu Dhabi campus of New York University in a graduation speech there in 2014.
Neither Bill nor Hillary Clinton’s spokesmen specifically addressed the question of labor conditions as Qatar readies for the 2022 World Cup.
Though his position was officially ceremonial, Bill Clinton threw himself into the American effort to win the World Cup. The former president hosted a 2010 meeting at the office of the Clinton Foundation in Harlem for the star-studded bid committee, which included soccer star Mia Hamm, actor Morgan Freeman and director Spike Lee.
When world leaders gathered in Zurich to make their final pitches, it was Clinton — along with then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. — who met with key FIFA members, one by one, in a hotel suite the night before the vote. And Clinton made the closing argument as part of the U.S. team’s elaborate, formal 40-minute presentation, where he was introduced by U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati as “an American citizen but, in my view, a global treasure,” according to a video of the presentation posted online.
Clinton spent about half of his remarks describing the work of his foundation across the world and how soccer could be used to advance similar goals.
“Everywhere, I have seen the power of football, to lift people up and bring them together across the lines that would otherwise divide them,” he said, praising FIFA as a “great organization” that had embarked on a “social responsibility mission.”
[Successful Qatar bid for World Cup aroused suspicion among U.S. officials]
When Qatar was selected, some involved with the U.S. effort were immediately suspicious, according to people familiar with the discussions. Planning a major summertime soccer tournament in a country where daytime temperatures in those months reach or exceed 120 degrees seemed to make little sense.
Three years later, standing next to Clinton on the stage at CGI, Al-Thawadi announced that the Qatar host committee would partner with the Qatar National Food Security Programme to improve food production in arid regions of the world.
It was just the kind of grand gesture — private groups publicly committing to charitable causes — that Clinton envisioned when he founded CGI. Though such projects are carried out by companies and individuals, the Clinton Foundation tracks the commitments for years and reports on whether their lofty goals have been fulfilled.
Unlike most of the thousands of commitments listed on the foundation’s Web site, the page displaying the Qatar partners’ project does not include an exact amount of money to be spent or any progress reports.
A foundation spokesman said the commitment is “well underway” and said the Qataris have launched the Global Dryland Alliance with other nations to work on the problem of food insecurity in arid regions.
Tom Hamburger, Alice Crites and Scott Clement contributed to this report
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