Re: NYT: Book Questions Clinton Donations

From:jake.sullivan@gmail.com To: re47@hillaryclinton.com CC: dschwerin@hillaryclinton.com, jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com, kschake@hillaryclinton.com, john.podesta@gmail.com Date: 2015-04-19 23:40 Subject: Re: NYT: Book Questions Clinton Donations

Yes - but if we want to have her express skepticism we can do so through a spox answer to question, using our QA. > On Apr 19, 2015, at 9:19 PM, Robby Mook <re47@hillaryclinton.com> wrote: > > The enviros may latch onto this going forward. Have we discussed when she will come out against Keystone? After POTUS vetoes? > > and more than $1 million in payments to Mr. Clinton by a Canadian bank and major shareholder in the Keystone XL oil pipeline around the time the project was being debated in the State Department. > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Josh Schwerin <jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> > Date: Sun, Apr 19, 2015 at 9:08 PM > Subject: NYT: Book Questions Clinton Donations > To: hrcrapid <HRCrapid@googlegroups.com> > > > Book Questions Clinton Donations > > By AMY CHOZICKAPRIL 19, 2015 > > http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/20/us/politics/book-questions-clinton-donations.html?_r=0 > > The book does not hit shelves until May 5, but already the Republican Rand Paul has called its findings “big news” that will “shock people” and make voters “question” the candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton. > > “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich,” by Peter Schweizer — a 186-page investigation of donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign entities — is proving the most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle still in its infancy. > > The book, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, asserts that foreign entities who made payments to the Clinton Foundation and to Mr. Clinton through high speaking fees received favors from Mrs. Clinton’s State Department in return. > > “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,” Mr. Schweizer writes. > > His examples include a free-trade agreement in Colombia that benefited a major foundation donor’s natural resource investments in the South American nation, development projects in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake in 2010, and more than $1 million in payments to Mr. Clinton by a Canadian bank and major shareholder in the Keystone XL oil pipeline around the time the project was being debated in the State Department. > > In the long lead up to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign announcement, aides proved adept in swatting down critical books as conservative propaganda, including Edward Klein’s “Blood Feud,” about tensions between the Clintons and the Obamas, and Daniel Halper’s “Clinton Inc.: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine.” > > But “Clinton Cash” is potentially more unsettling, both because of its focused reporting and because major news organizations are expected to pursue the story lines found in the book. > > Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have been briefed about the book’s findings, which have already made their way into several of the Republican presidential candidates’ campaigns. > > Conservative “super PACs” plan to seize on “Clinton Cash,” and a pro-Democrat super PAC has already assembled a dossier on Mr. Schweizer, a speechwriting consultant to former President George W. Bush and a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institute, to make the case that he has a bias against Mrs. Clinton. > > And the newly assembled Clinton campaign team is planning a full-court press to diminish the book as yet another conservative hit job. > > Mr. Schweizer and a spokeswoman for HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corporation and is publishing the book, declined to comment. > > The timing is problematic for Mrs. Clinton as she begins a campaign to position herself as a “champion for everyday Americans.” > > From 2001 to 2012, the Clintons’ income was at least $136.5 million, Mr. Schweizer writes, using a figure previously reported in The Washington Post. “During Hillary’s years of public service, the Clintons have conducted or facilitated hundreds of large transactions” with foreign governments, he writes. “Some of these transactions have put millions in their own pockets.” > > Continue reading the main story > The Clinton Foundation has come under scrutiny for accepting foreign donations while Mrs. Clinton served as secretary of state. Last week, the foundation revised its policy to allow donations from countries like Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Britain but prohibit giving by other nations in the Middle East. > > Mr. Schweizer’s book will be released the same day former President Bill Clintonand the Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea, will host the Clinton Global Initiative gathering with donors in Morocco, the culmination of a foundation trip to several African nations. (A chapter in the book is titled “Warlord Economics: The Clintons do Africa.”) > > There is a robust market for books critical of the Clintons. The thinly sourced “Blood Feud,” by Mr. Klein, at one point overtook Mrs. Clinton’s memoir “Hard Choices” on the best-seller list. > > But whether Mr. Schweizer’s book can deliver the same sales is not clear. > > Mr. Schweizer writes mainly in the voice of a neutral journalist and meticulously documents his sources, including tax records and government documents, while leaving little doubt about his view of the Clintons. > > His reporting largely focuses on payments made to Mr. Clinton for speeches, which increased while his wife served as secretary of state, writing that “of the 13 Clinton speeches that fetched $500,000 or more, only two occurred during the years his wife was not secretary of state.” > > In 2011, Mr. Clinton made $13.3 million in speaking fees for 54 speeches, the majority of which were made overseas, the author writes. Among the connections he tries to draw is a $750,000 speaking fee to Mr. Clinton by the Swedish telecom company Ericsson and a State Department list of new sanctions on Iran that did not include telecom. > > Mr. Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute, is the author of the 2013 book “Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets,” and “Throw Them All Out” about elected officials receiving insider stock tips. > > > -- > Josh Schwerin > Spokesperson > Hillary for America > @Josh Schwerin > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRapid" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrapid+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to hrcrapid@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >