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Fwd: Politico: Book blowback hits Clinton’s NYC donor kick-off

From:kschake@hillaryclinton.com To: john.podesta@gmail.com, jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com, re47@hillaryclinton.com Date: 2015-04-23 14:53 Subject: Fwd: Politico: Book blowback hits Clinton’s NYC donor kick-off

---------- Forwarded message ---------- http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/hillary-clinton-new-york-city-donor-kick-off-117281.html Book blowback hits Clinton’s NYC donor kick-off Annie Karni and Gabriel Debenedetti Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta had hoped to spend Thursday morning rallying fundraisers in Manhattan – but he also found himself fielding concerns about a spate of unsettling investigations into the Clinton family’s personal fundraising. Podesta sought to energize and activate hundreds of longtime Hillary Clinton donors and bundlers for what could be the country’s first $2 billion presidential campaign. But during a question and answer period, the most pointed query from donors to Podesta was, how do we respond to questions raised by a new book linking millions in Bill Clinton speaking fees to wealthy foreign donors angling for influence with the highest-ranking officials of the U.S. government – including his wife, the former secretary of state? During the meeting, Podesta was asked if supporters would be given potential responses to the allegations, including a Thursday report <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html?_r=0> in the New York Times detailing $2.35 million in previously undisclosed contributions to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation by the owner of a Russian uranium mining company hoping to get federal approval for its U.S. operations. Podesta, according to several attendees and Clinton staffers interviewed by POLITICO, attempted to reassure donors the campaign would respond to the allegations – without letting them interrupt what is supposed to be a month of ramping up and fundraising. “If we try to chase every media story, we chase our own tail. We’re not going to do that,” the donor recalled Podesta saying. He told them that spokesman Brian Fallon had issued a very detailed response to the allegations in the book, and that negative stories and attacks were simply par for the course for the Clintons. Fallon distributed an updated memo to the campaign’s surrogates and allies on Thursday, going a few steps further than his Tuesday night memo questioning Schweizer’s credibility. Fallon’s new memo labels the book a “forthcoming smear project,” and name-checks GOP Sen. Rand Paul, Sean Hannity, and George W. Bush in the opening paragraph. He writes that the primary conclusion to draw is that Schweizer’s book “fails to produce a shred of evidence supporting the theory that Hillary Clinton ever took action as Secretary of State for the purposes of supporting the interests of donors to the Clinton Foundation.” Over three pages of the memo – titled “It’s Official: Book Attacking Hillary Clinton Full of Discredited, Disproved Attacks” – Fallon details a series of reports in Time magazine, Yahoo News, The Daily Beast, and POLITICO questioning pieces of Schweizer’s reporting or conclusions. “This isn’t the first baseless smear against Hillary Clinton, and it certainly won’t be the last,” he writes. But that might not be enough to quell the firestorm on a day when a spokesman for Clinton’s foundation told Reuters that the charity would review and refile its non-profit tax forms for several recent years — to correct errors and omissions. And some longtime Clinton backers were feeling a little queasy. “I think it should be a concern, yes. It’s a legitimate concern and I think that Sec Clinton needs to be able to explain this in a straightforward, constructive, thoughtful way,” said Clinton fundraiser Peter Buttenwieser, a philanthropist from Philadelphia. “And I think the sooner that she does that, the better. And I assume that she will rise to the occasion and work through this, it’s part of running and I think it’s critical that she do it and not wave it off.” Yet foundation officials flatly refused to address any of the allegations during a Thursday morning conference call previewing an upcoming trip to Africa by Bill and Chelsea Clinton. The book at the heart of the controversy, “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Help Make Bill and Hillary Rich,” by conservative author Peter Schweizer, is not out until May 5. But it has already emerged as a major flash point in the early days of Hillary Clinton’s quest for the Democratic presidential nomination, with its examination of ties between the Clinton Foundation, the Clintons’ personal wealth, and Hillary Clinton’s years as head of the State Department. Hundreds of attendees from the tri-state area came to Manhattan early Thursday morning to attend the meeting at a midtown office building, where top Clinton aides Podesta, Dennis Cheng, Robby Mook and Amanda Renteria briefed “Hillstarters” – fundraisers who the campaign is asking to raise $2,700 from 10 different people - on campaign strategy and delivered a PowerPoint presentation showing how to get people to make donations through the campaign’s website. -- Jesse Lehrich Rapid Response Hillary For America 781-307-2254 @JesseLehrich -- Kristina Schake Hillary for America