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As far-left Democrats yell about bribery and high crimes and misdemeanors, let’s turn to their own side of the aisle, starting with the once penniless President Obama, who left public office a very, very rich man.

He just bought a Martha’s Vineyard mansion for a cool $11.75 million, which is in addition to his Kalorama lookout post, his Chicago home, and possibly a Hawaii spread. At some point, you’ve made enough…but not him.

Ostensibly, it’s mainly the work of his book deals. No bribery there, right?

Well, ahem…

According to Investment Watch (IWB), something doesn’t quite look right.

Obama gave Pearson Publishing $350 million to create Commoncore text and Pearson gave Obama a $65 million dollar book deal in return.

…and…

Pearson Publishing was paid for Commoncore but Penguin Random House Publishing did the Obama book deal. But there is commonality with the two: From Wiki: Penguin Random House was formed on July 1, 2013, upon the completion of a £2.4 billion transaction between Bertelsmann and Pearson to merge their respective trade publishing companies, Random House and Penguin Group. Bertelsmann and Pearson, the parent companies, owning 53% and 47%, respectively. Tired of Drudge? Click Here And Try Our Front Page



In July 2017, Pearson agreed to sell a 22% stake in the business to Bertelsmann, thereby retaining a 25% holding.

That sounds like a classic bribe. You give me this big contract, and I’ll kick back some to you at a later date. Chicago Way. The book cash flowed to Obama in 2017. Pearson, incidentally, seemed to lose money anyway, given the public distaste for Obama’s federal takeover of education via Common Core, which extended to states cutting the program.

President Trump complained about the apparent quid pro quo last summer.

It’s not the first time Obama has done things like this, either. IWB notes that Obama’s net neutrality stance benefited Netflix, and surprise, surprise, he got a lucrative deal with Netflix, too.

One hand washes the other.

Book deals, incidentally, have been some pretty spectacular avenues for bribery based on their apparent deniability. Here’s a famous one from Russia in 1997 that rocked the Russian political landscape:

Ethical questions were raised this week when a Russian reporter revealed that Mr. Chubais and his collaborators had accepted $90,000 each for writing a monograph on the history of privatization. The publisher, Segodnya Press, is owned by Oneksimbank, a powerful financial institution that recently won a series of coveted auctions of state property.

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