'Disregarded ethics guidelines': Clinton document raised issues with 2010 Shanghai Expo
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “disregarded ethics guidelines” to raise more than $72 million for the U.S. Pavilion at the World’s Fair in Shanghai in 2010, taking money from big-name contributors who later “received favorable treatment” from her State Department and also contributed to her namesake foundation, according to a 2015 internal Clinton research document revealed Sunday by WikiLeaks.
The 10-page portion of a vetting document prepared by Clinton’s campaign to examine her vulnerabilities before seeking the Democratic nomination for president was attached to an email examining a candidate for campaign treasurer Jose Villarreal. The March 11, 2015, email was made public after Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s Gmail account was hacked and the trove posted to WikiLeaks.
Villarreal, a deputy campaign manager in 1992 for Bill Clinton’s presidential run and a bundler and adviser during Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2008 White House bid, was appointed by Secretary of State Clinton as Commissioner General of the U.S. World’s Fair exhibition. That Shanghai Expo, however, was awash in controversy.
“When soliciting contributions, Clinton had little consideration for ethics, as the corporations who were featured in Shanghai also contributed to her foundation and received accolades from the State Department,” the document stated.
CLINTON AIDE SAYS FOUNDATION PAID FOR CHELSEA'S WEDDING
The FBI is reportedly investigating The Clinton Foundation, although the depth and focus of that probe is unclear. Among the other charges the vetting document highlighted:
“Boeing contributed $2.25 million to the Shanghai Expo, while Clinton helped the company land a multi-billion [dollar] Russian deal”
“Procter & Gamble gave $3 million to the Shanghai & Expo [sic] & Millions to The Clinton Foundation; Was repaid with Corporate Excellence Award”
“Clinton solicited PepsiCo as one of the largest Shanghai Expo sponsors; PepsiCo committed same amount to Clinton Foundation projects”
“Alcoa, a Shanghai Expo contributor, pleaded guilty to foreign bribery charges facilitated by a major Clinton Foundation donor”
“Secretary Clinton was ‘Advocate-In-Chief’ for General Electric, which was one of the largest donors to the Shanghai Expo”
Each of those potential hits against Clinton appeared as a subsection in the document and was supported by numerous news clippings and quotes.
An April 1, 2015, memo from future campaign research director Tony Carrk to campaign-manager-in-waiting Robby Mook and soon-to-be communications director Jennifer Palmieri emphasized other issues with Villarreal, including a “cozy relationship with Wall Street” and problematic board memberships.
In a section on the Shanghai Expo, the document noted that Clinton “could not directly solicit funds.” However, Villarreal said Clinton’s involvement in the project was instrumental to securing funds.
“We knew how to get to the leadership of companies, and, of course, being able to suggest that this was a project that was very, very important to Secretary Clinton really, really helped in opening doors,” Villarreal told the authors of the book, “HRC.”
In a Jan. 12 email looking into a possible position for Villarreal, Mook told Podesta he wanted to wait to “formally consider” Villarreal because he worried “this vet is death by a few too many cuts…lobbyist, Walmart, Fanny Mae, PMI, and then the Expo work (which is a candidate vulnerability that’s already been written).”
Mook raised similar concerns to Podesta in the March 11 email.
“I was re-reading the self research documents and it looks like he’s snared up in the conflict of interest stuff at State…not the WORST thing in the world, but there’s a real argument here that he was at the nexus of foundation/state issues,” Mook wrote.
Villarreal was officially announced as campaign treasurer on April 12. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/06/disregarded-ethics-guidelines-clinton-document-raised-issues-with-2010-shanghai-expo.html
The 10-page portion of a vetting document prepared by Clinton’s campaign to examine her vulnerabilities before seeking the Democratic nomination for president was attached to an email examining a candidate for campaign treasurer Jose Villarreal. The March 11, 2015, email was made public after Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s Gmail account was hacked and the trove posted to WikiLeaks.
Villarreal, a deputy campaign manager in 1992 for Bill Clinton’s presidential run and a bundler and adviser during Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2008 White House bid, was appointed by Secretary of State Clinton as Commissioner General of the U.S. World’s Fair exhibition. That Shanghai Expo, however, was awash in controversy.
“When soliciting contributions, Clinton had little consideration for ethics, as the corporations who were featured in Shanghai also contributed to her foundation and received accolades from the State Department,” the document stated.
CLINTON AIDE SAYS FOUNDATION PAID FOR CHELSEA'S WEDDING
The FBI is reportedly investigating The Clinton Foundation, although the depth and focus of that probe is unclear. Among the other charges the vetting document highlighted:
“Boeing contributed $2.25 million to the Shanghai Expo, while Clinton helped the company land a multi-billion [dollar] Russian deal”
“Procter & Gamble gave $3 million to the Shanghai & Expo [sic] & Millions to The Clinton Foundation; Was repaid with Corporate Excellence Award”
“Clinton solicited PepsiCo as one of the largest Shanghai Expo sponsors; PepsiCo committed same amount to Clinton Foundation projects”
“Alcoa, a Shanghai Expo contributor, pleaded guilty to foreign bribery charges facilitated by a major Clinton Foundation donor”
“Secretary Clinton was ‘Advocate-In-Chief’ for General Electric, which was one of the largest donors to the Shanghai Expo”
Each of those potential hits against Clinton appeared as a subsection in the document and was supported by numerous news clippings and quotes.
An April 1, 2015, memo from future campaign research director Tony Carrk to campaign-manager-in-waiting Robby Mook and soon-to-be communications director Jennifer Palmieri emphasized other issues with Villarreal, including a “cozy relationship with Wall Street” and problematic board memberships.
In a section on the Shanghai Expo, the document noted that Clinton “could not directly solicit funds.” However, Villarreal said Clinton’s involvement in the project was instrumental to securing funds.
“We knew how to get to the leadership of companies, and, of course, being able to suggest that this was a project that was very, very important to Secretary Clinton really, really helped in opening doors,” Villarreal told the authors of the book, “HRC.”
In a Jan. 12 email looking into a possible position for Villarreal, Mook told Podesta he wanted to wait to “formally consider” Villarreal because he worried “this vet is death by a few too many cuts…lobbyist, Walmart, Fanny Mae, PMI, and then the Expo work (which is a candidate vulnerability that’s already been written).”
Mook raised similar concerns to Podesta in the March 11 email.
“I was re-reading the self research documents and it looks like he’s snared up in the conflict of interest stuff at State…not the WORST thing in the world, but there’s a real argument here that he was at the nexus of foundation/state issues,” Mook wrote.
Villarreal was officially announced as campaign treasurer on April 12. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/06/disregarded-ethics-guidelines-clinton-document-raised-issues-with-2010-shanghai-expo.html
Clinton Foundation the best wedding gift for Chelsea?
Former President Bill Clinton’s top aide wrote in 2012 that Chelsea Clinton used Clinton Foundation resources “for her wedding and life for a decade” and a top Foundation donor was responsible for “killing” unfavorable press coverage – all as an internal Foundation audit uncovered numerous conflicts of interest and “quid pro quo benefits,” according to emails released Sunday by WikiLeaks.
Doug Band, founder of global strategies company Teneo and Bill Clinton’s personal assistant since the 1990s, wrote the Jan. 4, 2012, email to future Hillary Clinton presidential campaign chair John Podesta and two other Clinton aides after receiving word that Chelsea had told “one of the [President] bush 43 kids” and others about “an internal investigation of money within the foundation.” Band wrote such chatter was “not smart.”
“The investigation into her getting paid for campaigning, using foundation resources for her wedding and life for a decade, taxes on money from her parents….,” Band wrote. “I hope that you will speak to her and end this[.] Once we go down this road….”
EMAIL DETAILS HOW TOP AIDES MADE EX-PRESIDENT CLINTON RICH
The FBI reportedly is looking into The Clinton Foundation, although the extent and focus of the investigation is unclear. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, had previously said some of the “personal” emails she deleted from her secret, homebrew server – the subject of another FBI probe – were related to Chelsea’s wedding.
Band’s email, which was revealed after Podesta’s Gmail account was hacked and subsequently uploaded to WikiLeaks, came at a time of turmoil and upheaval within The Clinton Foundation. Aside from the internal audit, previous emails show a prolonged effort to untangle Teneo from the Foundation. When Band launched the company in summer 2011, he was still employed by the Foundation and Bill Clinton was listed as a Teneo adviser.
But after much haggling, Clinton’s and Band’s roles were clearly delineated: Band continued on as a personal aide to Clinton and Clinton became a Teneo client. During the back-and-forth that produced the final document spelling out each of the men’s roles, Band on Nov. 12, 2011 wrote an 11-page memo outlining how Teneo was created and how it had helped to enrich Clinton and the Foundation. In that draft of the memo, Band wrote he had “sought to leverage my activities, including my partner role at Teneo, to support and to raise funds for the Foundation.”
Related Image
President Bill Clinton, left, walks with aide Doug Band. (Georgetown.edu)
“I am sure I have done so imperfectly,” he added.
In another section of the memo, which was later deleted, Band wrote about billionaire hedge fund manager Marc Lasry as a “good example of the complex relationships a friend/supporter can have within the foundation.” Chelsea Clinton worked for Lasry, Lasry held Foundation fundraisers and Band was a paid adviser for Lasry’s firm, Avenue Capital, an investment company whose holding American Media Inc. publishes The National Enquirer.
But fundraisers and jobs weren’t Lasry’s lone contribution to Team Clinton.
“He has been helpful on a number of fronts, including … responding favorably to our requests to use his plane for Foundation and the Clintons’ personal purposes, killing potential unfavorable stories in the Enquirer [of which he owns a controlling share of the debt]…” Band wrote.
Less than a month after Band’s Teneo memo went out, lawyers from Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP, the firm contracted to run the internal Foundation audit, emailed a draft of a governance memorandum and recommendations to Podesta, who was serving as a special adviser to the Foundation, and Bruce Lindsey, then the Foundation’s CEO.
The audit draft noted substantial issues, including a Conflict-of-Interest Policy that had not been implemented, conflicts that were not disclosed in a timely fashion and board members not following the policy when they became aware of conflicts.
“In addition, some interviewees reported conflicts of those raising funds or donors, some of whom may have an expectation of quid pro quo benefits in return for gifts,” according to the Dec. 5, 2011, draft. Another section of the document noted that “interviewees also mentioned instances in which gifts and payments received by staff had not been properly disclosed.”
There were other problems, including 1,298 “complimentary” $20,000 memberships for the Clinton Global Initiative as opposed to just 500 paid memberships. Of the “complimentary” group, “276 were coded ‘discretionary,’” the audit noted.
“Interviewees informed us that there is no transparency into how the comp list is developed,” the document stated.
The lawyers conducting the audit also noticed problems in the Foundation’s IRS Form 990, the tax return document of an organization that is exempt from income tax. While charitable groups are allowed to pay board members and staff a reasonable salary, none of the reasonable compensation calculations identified by the lawyers were ever done, the 990 form showed. The lawyers also wrote the 990 indicated the Foundation had a written conflict-of-interest policy that was enforced.
“However, we did not find evidence of that enforcement,” the memo stated.
Other problems included a “very small” Foundation Board “comprised solely of ‘insiders’”; unsigned Board minutes that “appear to have been cloned from one year to the next; “material weaknesses” in the “segregation of accounting duties, review of journal entries, audit adjustments and financial statement preparation, and lack of Board meetings.” http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/06/clinton-aide-targets-chelsea-in-email-as-foundation-audit-shows-issues.html
The Clinton foundation was like a piggy bank for the Clinton crime family to be looted at their every whim.
Sad thing is that democrats don't give a crap about her corrupt dealings. She is a Clinton, no matter what she does, she is above the law.
Her fans wear her corruption as a matter of pride reflecting their deeply held values.
This is a test post.....(trying to see whether I'll get notifications).
How did that test work out for you? Enquiring minds want to know. Never Hillary, the most morally challenged, corrupt, and bitter person ever to run for President.
Amazing how corruption and incompetence are always fighting for precedence in Clintonworld.
It's an internal competition to see who can be the most innovative and successful in the art of personal corruption.