Will the Clinton Foundation Be Hillary’s Downfall?
Hillary’s email troubles are only a symptom of the actual disease.
Let it be said that Hillary Clinton’s undoing began with an email server. But her email troubles are only a symptom of the actual disease. Richard Nixon was undone by his tape recordings, but it was deeper corruption that brought him down. Likewise, Hillary Clinton’s downfall begins now — if she doesn’t find a way to wriggle free.
On Monday, The New York Times released a preview of a book that claims to have followed the money, proving foreign politicians and governments paid off the Clinton Foundation to sway then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It’s not too much of a stretch to see those 30,000 emails Clinton deleted having something to do with it.
“We will see a pattern of financial transactions involving the Clintons that occurred contemporaneous with favorable U.S. policy decisions benefiting those providing the funds,” journalist Peter Schweizer writes, as quoted by the Times. “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich” comes out May 5.
If this is a way to drum up excitement for a book release, this is a heck of a way to do it.
The Washington Post and Fox News were also given copies beforehand. Based on what Schweizer alleges, they will produce investigations into Hillary and Co’s shadowed finances. Fox News announced plans to air a special this Friday, with Bret Baier anchoring.
Senators Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, the young guns of the Republican presidential primary, were also already briefed on Schweizer’s investigation. “I think there are things that went on at the Clinton Foundation that are going to shock people,” Paul said. “I think they’re going to make people question whether she ought to run for president.”
Already, we know the top individual donor to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation is a Ukrainian oligarch by the name of Victor Pinchuk. Newsweek broke the story over the weekend that, while Pinchuck made million-dollar deals with Iran in breach of sanctions, he escaped punishment from the U.S. State Department. We’re sure that had nothing to do with his Clinton Foundation donor level.
That’s just one example. The New York Times mentions international deals that possibly only came about because someone sunk millions into the Clinton Foundation: development projects after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and donations by a Keystone XL pipeline shareholder, to name two.
Naturally, the Left has launched into damage control. ABC News and CBS News said they will ignore the story, leaving the legacy of “60 Minutes” as an investigative force just that: a legacy. Clinton-aligned political action committees are already doing research to discredit Schweizer.
And the Clinton campaign has done its share. “It appears that this book is being used to aid this coordinated attack strategy, twisting previously known facts into absurd conspiracy theories,” Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon said. “It will not be the first work of partisan-fueled fiction about the Clintons’ record, and we know it will not be the last.”
The aspiring Wicked Witch of the West Wing even chimed in, “We’re back into the political season and therefore we will be subjected to all kinds of distractions and attacks and I’m ready for that.”
Oh sure, Clinton-heads are saying this is an ad hominem attack courtesy of the vast right-wing conspiracy. But we’re talking about the ethics of a woman who wants to be the next commander in chief, the person ultimately with her finger hovering above the nuclear button, the person we give the bully pulpit for four or more years. Will we trust someone with Clinton’s scruples?
What does it take to unseat a Machiavellian politician like Clinton?
It took eight months for The Washington Post to crack wide the web of impropriety Richard Nixon wrought. Now, journalists often debate what would happen if Nixon operated with today’s media standing watch. Perhaps today’s media circus is too chaotic, the audience’s attention too preoccupied with Kim Kardashian and Buzzfeed’s latest cat gifs. Maybe too many Americans don’t understand or care why the Clinton Foundation matters.
Four dead Americans in the Benghazi consulate of Libya, an email server with questionable security, a nonprofit that seems to court the richest of the rich, telling them to lay their gifts before Queen Hillary in return for untold favors — that’s just scratching the surface of Hillary’s record.
For Clinton to lose her heir apparent position in the Democrat Party, it will take months of scrutiny into a family seasoned in damage control. “Clinton Clash” is just fuel for the journey.