WikiLeaks series on deals involving Hillary Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta. Mr Podesta is a long-term associate of the Clintons and was President Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff from 1998 until 2001. Mr Podesta also owns the Podesta Group with his brother Tony, a major lobbying firm and is the Chair of the Center for American Progress (CAP), a Washington DC-based think tank.









An email by a Business Council* representative to John Podesta was expressing the desire of the group to 'approach' Hillary Clinton.





The email was sent nearly two years before the 2016 presidential election at the time where Jeff Bezos was the newly elected president of the group. Also, according to the email, the group consisted of more than 120 "of the biggest CEO's in the US.", meaning, the elite of the American plutocracy.





According to the email, the group was interested for a speech by Hillary Clinton in their meeting, but also, for some informal contacts of her with some CEOs.





It is almost hilarious the fact that the representative had to clarify that the Business Council would not be able to pay Clinton's "normal speaking fees". This is another proof that a standardized amount of money for speeches had become a routine situation for Hillary Clinton.





Key parts:





As you might know, one of my clients is the Business Council — 120+ of the biggest CEO’s in the US. The new Chairman is Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon… the past two Chairs have been Andrew Liveris of Dow and Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan. Their next meeting is going to be in Silicon Valley on Feb. 27-28. We usually get a good group of approximately 100 CEO’s at each meeting. The meetings are for CEO’s and their spouses only and off the record.





I would love to see if Ms. Clinton could join the meeting and speak in one of those spots. I think it would be a great group for her to talk with and because it is private, think she could engage in real conversations with them. I would also be delighted to help set up some one off meetings for her with some CEO’s if that would be helpful.





I am pretty sure the Business Council will not be able pay her normal speaking fees - but could pay her hotel room/expenses etc if she can stay in the area for a couple days to be able to participate in the meeting.





Full email:





















* The Business Council is an organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C. It holds meetings several times a year for high-level policy discussions. The Business Council is the only venue for the world's top CEOs to gather and engage in professional, intellectual, and leadership development. The organization is guided by the belief that the business community's contributions to public discourse and governance are in the interest of the common good of the American people.



