The State Department’s latest email dump outlines a dark, serious and subversive story. Bill Clinton's operatives and Hillary Clinton's aides at State conducted a back-scratching arrangement from which the Clintons substantially benefited.
The
Clintons were in middling financial condition upon taking office in 1993.
Thanks to book advances, they were flush upon leaving it in 2001. The
Clintons were forced to return some government property taken when they left
the White House. They did get to keep the "For Sale" sign they'd hung
on the door of the Lincoln Bedroom.
Now,
they are truly wealthy. The wealth comes primarily through the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), whose benefits are indirect as far as is
presently known. and speaking
fees, which often coincide with CGI business. You don't get rich on a
government salary.
On
Bill Clinton's last day in office, he issued a pardon to Marc Rich, a fugitive who had amassed great wealth by trading illegally with
America's enemies: Ayatollah Khomeini of the Islamic Iranian Republic, Muammar
Gaddafi of Libya, Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia, and Kim-Jong Il of North Korea.
Rich, who died in 2013, and his wife had donated almost $1.5 million to the
Clinton campaign and Presidential Library. Democrats
and Republicans alike were scandalized by the pardon.
Many
suspected that cash from Rich and his friends continued to flow into the
Clinton coffers long after the pardon. His colleague Gilbert
Chagoury, convicted in Nigeria of money-laundering, surfaced in the emails
made public yesterday. In 2009, Doug Band, the former President's body
man and a Clinton
Global Initiative aide, sought assurances from the
State Department that Chagoury would get special
treatment, being introduced to a person of substance at State. The
Clinton Global Initiative, now in its second decade of operations,
collected at
least $1 million from Chagoury over the years. It gets worse. There
are other deals involving uranium
assets and oil.
The
FBI requested DOJ investigation of Clinton,
CGI and Dr. Muhammad Yunus over a year ago. The truth as to the
allegations against Yunus and his Grameen Bank are disputed. What is
incontestable is that the State Department facilitated a package of financial
benefits for Dr. Yunus through an array of U.S. government agencies and that
Dr. Yunus made a contribution of between $100,000 and $300,000 to the Clinton
Global Initiative.
So
far, there is no smoking gun or quid pro quo in these email
revelations. Hillary Clinton has skittered along the edge of the law for nearly
25 years. It's no longer possible to dismiss all accusations of
corruption as the work of a right-wing conspiracy.
© The Revolted Colonies
2016