I just read an article from Investors.com that was on the top articles on Yahoo news. After I read it all I could say was 'wow". The entire article is below.
While everyone's been gearing up for President Trump's inauguration, the Clinton Foundation made a major announcement this week that went by with almost no notice: For all intents and purposes, it's closing its doors. In a tax filing, the Clinton Global Initiative said it's firing 22
staffers and closing its offices, a result of the gusher of foreign
money that kept the foundation afloat suddenly drying up after Hillary
Clinton failed to win the presidency. It proves what we've said all along: The Clinton Foundation was
little more than an influence-peddling scheme to enrich the Clintons,
and had little if anything to do with "charity," either overseas or in
the U.S. That sound you heard starting in November was checkbooks being
snapped shut in offices around the world by people who had hoped their
donations would buy access to the next president of the United States. And why not? There was a strong precedent for it in Hillary Clinton's
tenure as secretary of state. While serving as the nation's top
diplomat, the Clinton Foundation took money from at least seven foreign
governments — a clear breach of Clinton's pledge on taking office that
there would be total separation between her duties and the foundation.
Is there a smoking gun? Well, of the 154 private interests who either
officially met or had scheduled phone talks with Hillary Clinton while
she was secretary of state, at least 85 were donors to the Clinton
Foundation or one of its programs. In November, we asked the question: "Is The Clinton Foundation Doomed?" The answer is yes. All the way back in May, we outlined how the Clinton Foundation had
taken in $100 million from a collection of Gulf sheikhs and
billionaires, along with millions from private businesses, who
expected — and received — special access to the State Department's top
official, Hillary.
In his 2015 book "Clinton Cash,"
author Peter Schweizer showed how during Hillary's years in government
"the Clintons have conducted or facilitated hundreds of large
transactions (either as private citizens or government officials) with
foreign governments, corporations and private financiers." He called the
sums going to the Clintons "staggering." Using the Freedom of Information Act, Judicial Watch in August obtained emails
(that had been hidden from investigators) showing that Clinton's top
State Department aide, Huma Abedin, had given "special expedited access
to the secretary of state" for those who gave $25,000 to $10 million to
the Clinton Foundation. Many of those were facilitated by a former
executive of the foundation, Doug Band, who headed Teneo, a shell
company that managed the Clintons' affairs.
As part of this elaborate arrangement, Abedin was given special
permission to work for the State Department, the Clinton Foundation and
Teneo — another very clear conflict of interest.
As Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said at the time, "These new
emails confirm that Hillary Clinton abused her office by selling favors
to Clinton Foundation donors."
The seedy saga doesn't end there. Indeed, there are so many facets to
it, some may never be known. But there is still at least one and
possibly four active federal investigations into the Clintons' supposed
charity.
Americans aren't willing to forgive and forget. Earlier this month,
the IBD/TIPP Poll asked Americans whether they would like President
Obama to pardon Hillary for any crimes she may have committed as
secretary of state, including the illegal use of an unsecured homebrew
email server. Of those queried, 57% said no. So if public sentiment is
any guide, the Clintons' problems may just be beginning.
Writing in the Washington Post in August of 2016, Charles Krauthammer pretty much summed up the whole tawdry tale:
"The foundation is a massive family enterprise disguised as a charity,
an opaque and elaborate mechanism for sucking money from the rich and
the tyrannous to be channeled to Clinton Inc.," he wrote. "Its purpose
is to maintain the Clintons' lifestyle (offices, travel accommodations,
etc.), secure profitable connections, produce favorable publicity and
reliably employ a vast entourage of retainers, ready to serve today and
at the coming Clinton Restoration."
Except, now there is no Clinton Restoration. So there's no reason for
any donors to give money to the foundation. It lays bare the fiction of
a massive "charitable organization," and shows it for what it was: a
scam to sell for cash the waning influence of the Democrats' pre-eminent
power couple. As far as the charity landscape goes, the Clinton Global
Initiative won't be missed.
No comments:
Post a Comment