Is there anything Bill Clinton won't do for money?

[BernieforPres2016]

I am going through a document with some of the email correspondence between the State Department and Bill Clinton's staff regarding potential speeches and appearances by Bill while Hillary was Secretary of State.

The first one I looked into was from an organization called Luca International Group, which offered Bill Clinton $200,000 plus private jet transportation both ways to speak in San Francisco. Luca said it was an oil and gas firm. The State Department couldn't find much information on this organization and turned down the request. So Bill's "brother from another mother", George W. Bush, scooped up the invitation, spoke before the group and collected the $200K. Whoops, Luca turned out to be a Ponzi scheme that wanted the association with a former President to dupe potential investors/victims (who they promised 20-40% annual returns to) into thinking they were legitimate.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-is-cracking-down-on-a-68-million-ponzi-scheme-aimed-at-wealthy-chinese-2015-7

Next came emails about the speaking invitations that Bill wanted to accept from two of the most brutally repressive regimes in the world, North Korea and the Republic of Congo. The Republic of Congo offered $650,000, but Bill would need to pose for pictures with 2 dictators who would both be in attendance. Bill Clinton's own speaking agency even recommended declining that one, citing "the prevalence and intensity of sexual violence against women in eastern Congo is widely described as the worst in the world". But Bill wanted to go ahead and asked if it would be OK if the $650K went to the Clinton Foundation. The State Department said no.

When Bill's people sent a request about an invitation from North Korea, the terse email response from Hillary's aide Cheryl Mills was "Decline it." But Bill's people at the Clinton Foundation pushed back, saying the invite came from Hillary's brother (Tony Rodham) who was involved as a consultant and asking "we would be grateful for any concerns that we could share". Mills responded "If he needs more, let him know his wife knows and I am happy to call him."

Here is an ABC news video from last October on the episodes regarding the Congo and North Korea. It includes this gem of a quote from Hillary: "I thought making speeches for money was much better than getting connected with one group or company."

I am still less than 10% of the way into this document of emails!

We cannot put these grifters back in the White House.

[CorporatistNation]

1. NOPE! NOT A THING!

!

[Gwhittey]

2. How much you think it would cost to get her to drop out of politics for good?

[BernieforPres2016]

4. I don't think there is any amount of money

I think Hillary believes she is owed the Presidency and her life will be a failure if she doesn't achieve it.

[roguevalley]

60. he hangs with pedophiles who keep underaged sex slaves in

his house. There's no low for bill.

[think]

3. Good grief. /nt

[MFM008]

5. News Flash

HE is not running for President.

[TM99]

6. Newsflash,

his wife is. And in the 1990's, they marketing themselves as a two-fer-one special.

If elected, an ex-president will be back in the White House as a first husband. This is unprecedented. He will have access yet again to the reigns of power.

So, along with her baggage comes his baggage.

[grasswire]

13. plus Hillary stated last week that the foundation would remain in business..

...if she is elected. It will be a regular casino.

[TM99]

19. This will make the Lincoln bedroom

fiasco seem like small potatoes.

This will be the most corrupt presidency in my lifetime if it comes to past. It will put Reagan, Nixon, and GW Bush to shame, and reveal to us all once and for all that our republic has failed. This pay to play banana republic will be the end of us all.

[blm]

26. Now THAT's absolute HORSEPOO you just posted. No one with accurate recall of the last 5 decades

could claim that Clintons are more corrupt than Bushes, let alone, Nixon and Reagan.

In my view, only Republicans and disinformation specialists would make a claim like that on a Democratic forum. Dog knows the RW propaganda machine has been pushing that meme hard for over 2 decades, and now trying to make that same hyperbolic claim against Obama, pausing only to renew their efforts on against the Clintons because of her candidacy.

Sanders doesn't need RW propaganda spread around to succeed, he's good enough on his own, thank you.


http://www.salon.com/2002/04/09/klein_10/

[TM99]

33. Truth hurts doesn't it.

The Clintons have had a history of corruption and influence peddling surrounding them for decades. That is fact not fantasy.

Clinton is under FBI investigation for an unauthorized and insecure private email server while at the SD. The connections revealed through actual emails from her time at State show a quid pro quo relationship between their Foundation and world governments seeking favors and contracts.

That is corruption. And if you actually read what I wrote, I said that having that type of corruption in the White House could lead to a future presidency that rivals the corruption of other ones. I have a razor sharp recall of this, and that is why I have never supported a Clinton and want a real, decent, and honest progressive as our president.

I don't give a shit what Joe Klein says. He is white-washing a past to suit a present political agenda.

Call me names, insult me, pretend I am a GOP operative, what the fuck ever, but pay attention that there has been fire where there is smoke. And the GOP will make all of this come back not only in the GE but if she wins, for the next four years.

[blm]

62. Then you must not know much about the Bushes, do you?

Last edited Mon Apr 4, 2016, 08:27 PM - Edit history (1)

Your razor sharp recall is probably razor sharp......to you.

Try reading the BCCI Report and the contents of the National Security Archives, then try climbing on your much shorter soap box.

[TM99]

66. I am well aware of both.

I know exactly how corrupt the Bushes are as I also know how corrupt the Clintons are.

Only those without standing imagine a soapbox when it is simply facts being stated.

[blm]

67. You couldn't have read the BCCI Report and still cling to the idea that Clintons are

anywhere near that level of corruption.

[TM99]

68. Why?

Do you think that they are somehow mutually exclusive?

Corruptions comes in a myriad of shapes and forms. And once all of the information on the Panama leak, the Clinton Foundation pay to play, and SD investigation is completed, yes, it will just be another fucking corrupt political family here in the US.

You act like there could never be a corrupt one from the left side of the aisle. Now who is the naive and uneducated one?

[Avalon Sparks]

48. I danced in the street when Clinton won

Didn't bat an eye at the Monica witch hunt.

I've been with DU since Bush stole the whitehouse.

I discounted everything from the right wing smear machine.

Email server? Who cares.

Two for one Clintons in 2016..... What could be better?

What's in the speeches? Ho-hum

How many speeches? How much??? Who sponsored??? WTF?

And just like that, I'm done with them. It's corruption, it's accepting influence money plain and simple.

The amount of cash accepted, the frequency, the specific industries - financial, health insurance, Pharms, Defense industries, Oil and Gas.... It's systemic.

not only do they not have my back, they've accepted large cash payments to the tune of millions to push for and pass leslation that's likely to hurt my bottom line, and/ or well being.

[dreamnightwind]

65. Excellent - eom

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

14. An ex Pres. back in the White House...

is in itself a Constitutional crisis of epic proportions.

[TM99]

20. I absolutely agree.

What can rationally be done though if, heaven forbid, it occurs?

[tritsofme]

29. How do you figure on that there, sports fan?

What exactly is the "constitutional crisis"?

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

31. A former president...

...becoming a current co-president.

It would not be such a problem, if they were not both scandal plagued crooks.

[tritsofme]

32. Gotcha sorry, I thought you were using the term "consitutional crisis" seriously,not just for effect

or ridiculous hyperbole. Makes much more sense now.

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

34. Imagine if the former resident of your house/apartment

...still had the key.

And you rented your house/apartment to someone for the weekend.

And they knew each other.

And they were both professional thieves.

A HILLARY PRESIDENCY will make BILL CLINTON the second most POWERFUL PERSON ON EARTH.

That is not hyperbole.

[tritsofme]

35. You are not describing a constitutional crisis, no matter how many words you type in caps.

This is a term that has an actual meaning.

Should you ever find the time to read it, you might be surprised to learn that the Constitution does not make provisions for with whom the president can share a home.

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

36. I know exactly what the term means...

A constitutional crisis is a situation that a legal system's constitution or other basic principles of operation appear unable to resolve; it often results in a breakdown in the orderly operation of government. Often, generally speaking, a constitutional crisis is a situation in which separate factions within a government disagree about the extent to which each of these factions hold sovereignty.

It will become a co-presidency. He will become a de-facto vice president, member of the cabinet, chief advisor and lobbyist all rolled into one.

[tritsofme]

37. We must be reading different constitutions. Are presidents forbidden from having advisors?

Having a successful former president as a close and trusted advisor seems like a good perk to me.

I still don't see how the definition you posted even remotely covers having an opinionated spouse who lacks decision making power...

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

38. Are presidents forbidden from having advisors?

No, I suppose not. But wouldn't it be nice if those advisors had not been the subject of an impeachment trial?

[tritsofme]

39. It would've been even better if your buddy Newt didn't waste all the taxpayer money on that sham.

Got any more right-wing talking points to share with us?

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

41. Newt? My buddy?

I don't remember voting for Newt (or approving his Contract on America.)

Historical fact has no party affiliation.


George Washington had bad teeth. Does that make me a late 1700's era dentist?

Ulysses Grant was a failure at everything other than marriage and war. Does that make me a Confederate?

New Jersey sucks ass (and smells like it too). Does that make me a New Yorker?

Oh wait...

I am a New Yorker

New Jersey does smell like ass.

Never mind.

[dchill]

55. CAN NOT forget the Two-fer!

Never forget.

[Armstead]

7. He and his wife have always claimed they are a team

[2cannan]

53. Maybe Bill can have the security clearance

if Hillary loses hers?

[Avalon Sparks]

44. Spouses and close family members are usually prohibited from accepting anything of value...

In corrupt business dealings in many countries the bribes are often funneled to close family members.

Such is the way of corruption.

[karynnj]

8. Well, at least you can say that the Obama requirement that the State Department have a say in some

of these things prevented Bill, Hillary and Obama from being embarrassed in these three cases. (I assume that BC would himself have submitted just the ones he was interested in to the SD for approval. Too bad that they didn't completely follow the agreement that Obama and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee insisted on.

[BernieforPres2016]

10. The Clintons got embarrassed anyway

When Bill Clinton wanting to give big money speeches to the Republic of Congo and North Korea became public information. And Obama should be embarrassed that Hillary Clinton was part of his administration with this stuff going on.

And it goes back to the Clinton Foundation - who are its donors and what kind of favors did they or will they get in return? Did Bill Clinton give speeches to these kinds of tyrants when Hillary wasn't Secretary of State?

I read a long story recently, from perhaps 10 years ago, that said some people who had been close to Bill Clinton were shocked and disappointed at the kind of sleazy people he was closely associating with.

[Avalon Sparks]

49. Such is the way of corruption...

They got a 150 million dollars worth of favors to pay back. I hear the ROI is in the billions.

Some folks been waiting a long time on their payout.

WTF is the USA thinking, now that this information is public.

[snagglepuss]

9. It's a deranged level of greed and shamelessness.

How could anyone but the dregs of society countenance any affiliation with such human filth.Utterly sickening.

[azmom]

16. It is sickening. ugh. n/t

[Senator Tankerbell]

11. For the right price

He'll officiate your wedding or dress up like a clown for your kid's birthday party.

[azmom]

17. LOL

[BernieforPres2016]

18. Nobody in their right mind would want Bill near a wedding

It would no longer be the bride's day. A Vanity Fair profile described Bill as "the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral he attends."

[hobbit709]

12. Well, he IS a lawyer by training.

[PonyUp]

15. It depends on the definition of the word DO

[Politicalboi]

21. Just like his wife

They'll do ANYTHING except tell the truth for money. Political whores they are.

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

25. Don't insult whores...

....I was a cop for a while. I knew some of the local ladies.

Most of them were supporting families.

Some were married to loving husbands.

[Uncle Joe]

22. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, BernieforPres2016.

[silvershadow]

23. Nothing. nt

[ohheckyeah]

24. Better a grifter

Than a rape fantasizer.

[choie]

28. That Tony Rodham sure gets around...

He was involved in a mining scheme in Haiti and now he turns up as a consultant. It's good to be the brother and brother in law of the Clintons!

[BernieforPres2016]

30. I had heard about hazelnuts in the Republic of Georgia but not mining in Haiti

Here's a story on the shenanigans of the Rodham brothers over the years.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/hillary-clinton-hugh-tony-rodham

<A few years later, another embarrassing foreign adventure landed the Rodham brothers in the news. In 1999, Hugh and Tony entered into a $118 million joint venture to grow and export hazelnuts with Aslan Abashidze, a strongman in a semiautonomous region of the Republic of Georgia (who had allegedly murdered one of his top deputies in the early 1990s). Abashidze and the Rodhams weren't just partners—Tony Rodham agreed to become the godfather to Abashidze's grandsons. Abashidze interpreted his deal with the brothers as a de facto endorsement by the president himself, and he told reporters that the American branch of the hazelnut-importing business would be located "next to the White House." This was news to the Clinton White House, which was allied with Abashidze's rival, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze. Ultimately, the Rodhams called off the deal because of the controversy. Abashidze would later flee to Russia shortly before a Georgian court sentenced him to 15 years in prison for embezzlement.

The Rodhams continued to trade on their family connection. In 2000, Tony Rodham successfully lobbied President Clinton to pardon a Tennessee couple convicted of bank fraud, over the objections of the Justice Department. Tony insisted that he took up the couple's cause pro bono. But congressional investigators later found the couple had paid him a $244,769 salary as a consultant. And Hugh Rodham was paid $434,000 to lobby—successfully—for pardons for a cocaine trafficker and a fraudster who peddled an anti-baldness treatment. (He later gave the money back.)>


Somebody needs to do a mini-series on the Clintons and Rodhams one day. The Coen Brothers would be the perfect people to do it. It couldn't possibly fit into a movie.

[MineralMan]

40. Bill Clinton?

Is he running? People keep posting about him in this forum. Last I heard, he's ineligible to run, having already served two terms as President.

Can you please clear that up for me? Maybe autocorrect changed Hillary to Bill.

[bettyellen]

57. Ahh, the House of Cards CT. Few like to admit they get their inside info from TV plots.

[Autumn]

58. With a Clinton in the White House you get two for the price of one.

He is her surrogate, she was SOS, her emails are part of the campaign, so yeah this discussion belongs in this forum because she decided to mix government and personal e mails on their home server.

[MisterP]

43. and then there's scuzz king Lanny Davis, all the way to Nguema and Gbagbo

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/world/31davis.html

[BernieforPres2016]

46. Wow, Lanny Davis is even sleazier than I thought

And probably still has a lot of overlap with Bill Clinton, who provided the scandals to make Lanny famous. I'm sure they know and have taken money from a lot of the same third world dictators. And they share an interest in for profit universities, or at least they did until Hillary started attacking them when she started running last year and Bill had to drop his $3 million per year gig fronting for Laureate University.

Seth Davis, who used to be with Sports Illustrated (may still be) and is on college basketball telecasts for CBS and others, is Lanny's son. I've never been able to look at Seth in the same light since I heard that.

[BernieforPres2016]

50. I just found the most pathetic email in the history of emails, from Lanny Davis to Hillary

https://foia.state.gov/searchapp/DOCUMENTS/HRCEmail_August_Web/IPS-0098/DOC_0C05771340/C05771340.pdf

[MisterP]

52. that's how people talk to Clinton 24/7: no wonder she goes into crab mode

whenever something goes slightly wrong

it's like a puppy begging to have its stomach rubbed--lower, and lower, and lower

[BernieforPres2016]

56. Yes, and Hillary is the type to surround herself with people like that

She's an authoritarian who tolerates no dissent. Very tight inner circle, it's us against the world. Very much like Nixon in my opinion.

[MisterP]

59. "Hard Choices" has all the old Cold-War cliches: all the problems come from two sources--

the narcos or those omnipotent fiends in Caracas

pure Bircher crap

[Chan790]

45. That.

obligatory Meatloaf video:

Bill Clinton would do anything for money (or love), but he won't do that.

[AzDar]

47. K & R

[HassleCat]

51. Thank God he was married to the Sec of State

Otherwise he would have nobody to advise him against his worst instincts, meaning pretty much all his instincts.

[BernieforPres2016]

54. I'm wondering if Bill has all his faculties

There was a very long and unflattering profile of him in Vanity Fair from July, 2008 that talked about the impact of his quadruple bypass and a followup surgery to deal with scar tissue. A senior aide said there was always anger in Clinton just below the surface, much more than when he was President.

He certainly looks and sounds unhealthy to me.

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/07/clinton200807?currentPage=all&printable=true

<A longtime Clinton-watcher, who has had ties to the former president since his first campaign for governor of Arkansas, said of Clinton’s sometimes questionable associations, “I don’t know what to make of any of that, if it’s a voyeuristic experience, or if he’s participating in it.”

Yet another long-serving Clinton aide said simply, “If you figure it out, would you let me know?”>

<This winter, as Clinton moved with seeming abandon to stain his wife’s presidential campaign in the name of saving it, as disclosures about his dubious associates piled up, as his refusal to disclose the names of donors to his presidential library and foundation and his and his wife’s reluctance to release their income-tax returns created crippling and completely avoidable distractions for Hillary Clinton’s own long-suffering ambition, I found myself asking again and again, What’s the matter with him?

As I sought to answer that question for myself, in conversations with dozens of current and onetime Clinton aides, many of whom I have known all these years (Clinton himself declined to be interviewed), I realized just how much about the former president is not known, and not knowable, at the moment, mostly because of his unapologetic stonewalling. Virtually no one, except Ron Burkle, knows just what Clinton put into Burkle’s investment business, or just what he has done since to earn millions of dollars, with the prospect of reaping millions more. Most of the names of the donors who have contributed some $500 million to Clinton’s library and foundation over the past decade are not known, either. Virtually no one, except his doctors and family, knows the precise state of Clinton’s health. Virtually no one really knows what strategic role he has played in his wife’s campaign.>

[frustrated_lefty]

61. Keep it in his pants.

[Skwmom]

63. Notice the reason for saying it shouldn't be accepted was how women were treated. I guess the

treatment of men and boys doesn't matter.

[BernieforPres2016]

64. In fairness, they were shocked they had to give any explanation on the Republic of Congo

Even Bill's speaking agency said in its email that he would probably want to turn this one down. They said "yes, that Congo". They said they had already gone back to the Congo and asked did the 2 dictators have to be there and did they have to get pictures with Bill and were told yes, those were both deal breakers. Bill Clinton, expert on everything going on in the world, didn't need to be educated on how evil the people issuing the invitation were. But still he pushed back, how about if all the money goes to the Clinton Foundation?