Donations to the Clinton Foundation and Special Access to the Clinton-Led State Dept

[amborin]

Christian Science Monitor October 6, 2015 Tuesday

Clinton e-mails: Did donors get special State Department access?;

A batch of e-mail exchanges between Hillary Clinton and donors to the Clinton Foundation raises questions about conflicts of interest during her tenure as secretary of State.

BYLINE: Husna Haq Correspondent

The latest batch of released Hillary Clinton e-mails appears to show, again, that Clinton Foundation donors got special access to the Clinton-led State Department, raising questions, again, about conflicts of interest that could serve to further jeopardize her campaign.

E-mail exchanges with Clinton Foundation donors such as George Soros and Bill Gates show these donors "got prompt attention" and "gained high-level access to press their policy concerns inside the Clinton-led State Department...in some cases, donors were granted face-to-face contact with top officials," the Washington Post reported Monday, in a piece that outlined how closely intertwined Mrs. Clinton's work as secretary of State appeared to be with the Clinton Foundation.

"The word was out to these groups that one of the best ways to gain access and influence with the Clintons was to give to this foundation," Meredith McGehee, policy director at the Campaign Legal Center, an advocacy group that seeks to tighten campaign finance disclosure rules, told the International Business Times earlier this year. "This shows why having public officials, or even spouses of public officials, connected with these nonprofits is problematic."

Enacted in 1962, federal conflict-of-interest laws restrict certain federal government officers and employees from participating in matters in which they have a personal financial interest.

snip

the e-mail exchanges reviewed by the Post include references to fashion industry executive Susie Tompkins Buell, Ukrainian steel magnate Viktor Pinchuk, and entertainment mogul and pro-Israel advocate Haim Saban, who gave more than $2 million to Clinton campaigns and more than $10 million to the Clinton Foundation, and who said he would pay "whatever it takes" to get Clinton into the White House in 2016.

snip

. Steel magnate Pinchuk pledged more than $10 million to the Clinton Foundation. He also met with a top Clinton aide to try to soothe tensions with Washington over Ukraine's human rights record and its coziness with Russian President Vladi¬mir Putin at the time....

A separate International Business Times analysis in May 2015 found that under Clinton's leadership, the State Department approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments had given money to the Clinton Foundation, "nearly double the value of arms sales made to the those countries during the same period of President George W. Bush's second term."

snip

[99th_Monkey]

1. I believe THIS ^ is the REAL "email scandal", not classified documents.

If you don't believe me, that the GOP will crucify Hillary in the GE over this stuff,
ask Don Siegelman.

Do most politicians do this stuff? Absolutely. But most are apparently more discrete
about it and/or don't leave a messy trail of emails, etc. that point to a pay-to-play
habit of pushing policies favoring big donors to their private 'foundation'.

[MelissaB]

2. I agree!

[Skwmom]

7. They both are but this and the speech income paid before or after favorable actions is bigger. n/t

[Nanjeanne]

3. I really wish Bernie would talk about these things. It's not negative to tell the

truth about Hillary. It's not Bernie's fault that so many truthful things about the Clintons are negative!

[AzDar]

4. The Clinton's hubris and blatant disregard for rules and regulations (only for the little people!)

will be their undoing...

[Mufaddal]

5. Thousands of dead Yemenis extend their thanks to HRC

under Clinton's leadership, the State Department approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments had given money to the Clinton Foundation

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: the dovish gun control candidate.

Saudi Airstrikes to Blame for Two-Thirds of Civilian Deaths in Yemen - UN
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160304/1035793876/saudi-airstrikes-casualties-yemen.html

[Cheese Sandwich]

6. The Clinton Foundation is a money laundering slush fund disguised as a charity.