Posted on October 28, 2016
Leaked Documents Detail How Wall Street Bought the Clintons
❝ Documents released by Wikileaks
Wednesday (October 26, 2016) give the fullest picture so far of the way
that Bill and Hillary Clinton built up their private fortune during the
years after they left the White House in 2001. Hundreds of memos and
emails detail how corporations and banks were recruited to funnel
millions into the for-profit activities of the enterprise that a top
aide, Douglas Band, called “Bill Clinton Inc.”
As detailed in a
devastating 12-page memo written in November 2011, Band established a
consulting firm called Teneo to recruit corporate CEOs and bankers to
give large donations to the Clinton Foundation. At the same time, he
would urge them to provide lucrative speaking fees for an address by the
former president, usually in the six-figure range.
❝ What Band
outlines in the memo is the real substance of capitalist politics. Bill
Clinton, as a former president, was being richly rewarded for his
services to the American capitalist class. At the same time, the
business connections facilitated the political career of Hillary
Clinton, who was a U.S. Senator from New York from 2001 until 2009, an
unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2008, and Secretary of State from
2009 to 2013.
❝ Perhaps the most explosive aspect of the latest
Wikileaks documents is the suggestion, for the first time, of concrete
evidence of a link between fundraising for the Clinton Foundation and
payments to Bill Clinton personally, and Hillary Clinton’s actions as
Secretary of State.
One of Teneo’s main customers, Dow Chemical,
carried out a major investment in Northern Ireland during Hillary
Clinton’s tenure at the State Department. Clinton named Declan Kelly,
the partner of Douglas Band in fundraising for “Bill Clinton Inc.” as a
State Department representative for encouraging US investments in the
British-controlled territory. Dow paid Teneo $2.8 million in 2011,
soaring to $19.4 million in 2012, according to internal Dow documents
reported by the Washington Post. An investigator hired by the company
later wrote, “It appears Dow is paying Teneo for connections with
Clinton.” ❞
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