The Relationship Between the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton State Department is Now a Legitimate ScandalIn August, the Associated Press pointed out that when government officials were excluded, over half of the people Clinton met with as Secretary of State were foundation donors. Moreover, Clinton had given special assistance to a foundation donor and personal friend applying for a passport.
Before that, in June, ABC News published a story about how Rajiv K. Fernando, who lacked any experience or expertise in the field, wound up on a top secret nuclear security board with a number of experts. Turns out, his promotion came at the request of Clinton’s chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, a Clinton Foundation donor. What’s more, Fernando stepped down following ABC’s inquiry.
An International Business Times investigation from May found that throughout the course of her tenure as Secretary of State, countries that had donated to the foundation saw increases in weapons sales from the State Department at higher rates than non-donor nations. At the same time, defense contractor donors, or those who had paid Bill Clinton for speeches, were more likely to receive contracts authorized by the department.
The Wall Street Journal reported in July of 2015, that shortly after becoming Secretary of State in 2009, Hillary Clinton helped the Swiss bank UBS out of hot water with the Internal Revenue Service after it donated to, and partnered with, the Clinton Foundation. UBS then paid Bill Clinton the largest speaking fee he’d ever received at the time the article was published.
Then, in 2010, an incident bearing a striking resemblance to the UBS affair became public: As the Washington Post later reported, Secretary Clinton helped Boeing secure a $3.7 billion deal to sell aircraft to the Russian government. Two months later, Boeing turned around and donated nearly $1 million to her public charity.
Yet another interesting story, with all the same trappings, was reported by The New York Times in April, 2015: Between 2009 and 2013, as Russia slowly gained control of Uranium One, the world’s largest uranium production company, UO’s chairman donated millions to the Clinton Foundation, and a Kremlin-linked investment bank paid Bill Clinton $500,000 for a speech. The donations continued right up to the approval of a final deal which involved a number of agencies—including Clinton’s State Department—but were not disclosed to the Obama administration.
More than a charity, the Clinton Foundation is obviously a vehicle for personal and political advancement. It represents unchartered waters for American electoral politics. The conflicts of interest it has raised are historic. Many foundation donors are also campaign donors helping to put the former Secretary in the White House. And yesterday, news broke that former top Bill Clinton aide, Douglas Band, solicited speaking fees and gifts for the former president from donors to the foundation.
House Republicans are already gearing up to investigate Clinton if she wins the election. That news should worry Democrats looking ahead to the midterms in 2018, and the Census year presidential election in 2020—especially given the likelihood that they will subpoena the former Secretary to testify under oath. Hearing this news, it’s hard not to remember the presidential impeachment that dominated the news in 1998.
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