The Clinton Foundation - If You Want To Dance To The Music Pay ThatPiper

Hillary Clinton's email server. It's the constant drip, drip, drip from the Clinton faucet of deception, corruption, and cronyism.

If you hadn't heard, Hillary Clinton set up and used a private email server which she used during her tenure as Secretary of State. As I've indicated in prior Blog posts, the use of a private server was dreamt up as a way to keep Hillary's communications from the prying eyes of the public. With total control of the communications, there would be no way for anyone to obtain Hillary's emails through pesky things like Freedom of Information requests.

Coincidentally with Hillary's role as Secretary of State, Bill Clinton dreamt up a great way to raise bazillions of dollars to use under the cover of a charity - The Clinton Foundation.

The Foundation began to receive donations from individuals and foreign governments. Millions and millions of dollars flowed in from every corner of the unsavory world and all of it was controlled by Bill and daughter Chelsea. 

In 2013 alone, the Clintons took in $140 Million in donations and pledges. In its 2013 tax return, this is how some of the money was spent:

• $30 million on payroll and employee benefits
• $8.7 million on rent and office expenses,
• $9.2 million on boondoggles - conferences, conventions and meetings
• $8 million on fundraising, and
• almost $8.5 million on travel. 

All in all, there was a reported $84.6 million in “functional expenses” with more than $64 million left over, but the "left over" was actually the amount of pledges that had not been collected. 

That's a lotta moola. In just one year, mind you. And a whole lot of that moola was spent on stuff that doesn't seem to be particularly charitable. Unless of course you're the guy raking in a mid-six figure salary working for the Foundation. But there I go again getting off on a tangent.

Here's where I really want to go. Stop and ask yourself why some of the hundreds and hundreds of donors who ponied up anywhere from $1 Million to over $25 Million would cough up that much bread? Benevolence? Altruism? The goodness of their hearts?

Or maybe it was for access. Favors. Greasing of wheels.

But before continuing down the Clinton Foundation path, let's stop for a second and add Hillary's email server to the mix. Then we'll tie it all together with a neat bow.

As Secretary of State, Hillary and her crew sent or received 62,320 emails. At least, that is the number Hillary claims were sent and received through the bathroom server. She claimed the approximately half were work related and the other half were personal - stuff like Chelsea's upcoming wedding, Hillary's yoga routines...you know, mundane stuff that no one needed to see.

Cheryl Mills

Hillary and Cheryl Mills (Hillary's Chief of Staff) had the most email exchanges amounting to thousands. Next was Huma Abedin, Hillary's BFF and Deputy Chief of Staff. Jacob Sullivan, also a Deputy Chief of Staff, was also very prolific.

When Hillary's use of the private server was uncovered and all hell broke loose, Hillary's lawyers produced 12 file boxes with some 30,000 emails. The other 32,000 or so "personal" emails were permanently deleted from the server after it was wiped clean.

Huma Abedin

Ah, but just because you think you may have eliminated all traces of electronic communications doesn't always eliminate all traces of electronic communications. When an emails is sent to someone, it is also received by someone. And if the recipient or the sender was not using the private server, the emails were accessible through that person's account. 

And that doesn't take into account the server being hacked and someone having downloaded all of the 62,320 emails before over 30,000 were deleted.

Some of the emails that Hillary has claimed to have been personal have been discovered and they are far from personal emails. Many of them contain discussions that establish a link between donors to the Clinton Foundation and...access. Favors. Greasing of wheels.

Doug Band, a top dog at the Clinton Foundation until 2015 

Remember earlier I told you that I would be tying up the email server and the Clinton Foundation with a neat bow? There you go.

But how could Bill or Chelsea grease any wheels? You're looking at the wrong Clinton. The third Clinton in the Clinton Foundation triumvirate was the Secretary of State for four years. She and her minions had the connections, the inside track, the grease for the wheels if you will.

Emails recently made public show that if you wanted an appointment on a Board that would expand your business interests, if you needed access to a high-ranking State Department official, or if you were just looking for help from State Department staffers to find a job for a family friend or associate, all you had to do was join the Clinton Foundation list of donors with a big check.

Rajiv K. Fernando Wants To Be Appointed To A Board

One of the emails about Rajiv Fernando's mysterious appointment to
the International Security and Advisory Board. "S" is an acronym
 used by staffers to refer to Secretary of State Clinton.

Rajiv K. Fernando (circled in red) and the
International Security and Advisory Board

Rajiv K. Fernando, a Chicago securities trader who gave more than $1 million to the Clinton Foundation scored a gig on the International Security Advisory Board despite having absolutely zero background, education, or experience in the field.

The Board provides advice to the State Department on arms control and is comprised of national security experts with scientific, military, diplomatic and political backgrounds.

Fernando bought the seat to not only have advance knowledge of all US foreign policy, but to directly shape it. He was then in a position to parlay the inside knowledge into profits through stock trades. Emails establish that Fernando got the gig after Mills intervened on his behalf to secure the appointment to the Board. Even ABC News couldn't ignore the stench from this blatant pay for play scheme and exposed it. Fernando resigned from the Board within 24 hours of the ABC report.

Gilbert Chagoury Wants Influence In Lebanon

Gilbert Chagoury (L) with Bill Clinton

In April 2009, Doug Band (head of the Clinton Foundation) urgently asked for a meeting between a top US official and Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire who  donated between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation and pledged $1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative in 2009.

The construction magnate, a close pal of Bill Clinton’s, has financial interests around the world. He was convicted in Switzerland in 2000 of money laundering and paid $66 million in fines as part of a plea deal.

“We need to speak to the substance person re Lebanon. As you know, he’s [Chagoury] key guy there and to us and is loved in lebanon,” wrote Band in an email to Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin.

“Its jeff feltman,” Abedin wrote back, referring to America’s former Ambassador to Lebanon who went on to become Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. “I’m sure he knows him. Ill talk to jeff,” said Abedin. Within twenty minutes, Band replied, “Better if you call him. Now preferable. This is very important. He’s awake I’m sure.”

A John Doe Wants A Job

In April 2009, Band forwarded an email from an unidentified person to Abedin, Mills and a third aide about a job. The person had sent an email to Band that had the subject line: “A favor.” 

The person cannot be identified as the email is redacted and the individual's identity has been concealed. “Important to take care of [redacted],” Band wrote when he passed it along.

“We all have had him on our radar. Personnel has been sending him options,” Abedin replied.

Another Doe Wants A Job

Clinton fundraiser Lana Moresky

Clinton fundraiser and former head of Ohio's National Organization for Women (NOW) Lana Moresky emailed Hillary Clinton when Moresky was trying to secure a job for a colleague in the State Department. The individual's name is redacted from the email so the identity is concealed.

"[Redacted] is looking for an opportunity to meet with a knowledgeable [Department of State] person to learn more about the structure and positions available," wrote Moresky in the April 29, 2009 email.

Clinton forwarded the message to Abedin with the note "Can you pls followup and help [redacted]?"

Blackstone and Honeywell Need Favors

Clinton Foundation records show that The Blackstone Group and Honeywell were major donors to the foundation in 2009 with Blackstone kicking in $250 Million to $500 Million and Honeywell contributing $50,000. While at first blush, Honeywell's contribution to the Clinton Foundation appears to pale in comparison to others, Honeywell  contributed heavily to a political pet project near and dear to Hillary - the U.S. pavilion at the 2010 world's fair in Shanghai.

That same year, an email was sent by Hillary Clinton her staffers seeking help in obtaining a “Visa” for Steve Schwarzian, one of Blackstone's executives. In the same email, Clinton made note of the fact that David Cote, the CEO of Honeywell, had personally requested assistance on a matter that was redacted. "He also complained about export control regs that interfere w sales," Clinton wrote of Cote. "He said the State Dept is the holdup." The clear implication is that Hillary wanted her staff to eliminate those regulations so that Honeywell sales wouldn't suffer.

As more and more emails surface from those that were supposedly deleted and wiped clean from Clinton's private server more and more damning proof has come to light establishing the Foundation's influence peddling while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Wikileaks' Julian Assange has made veiled references to more emails that will come to light in due course, specifically relating to the Clinton Foundation. If so and if the deleted emails contain even more damning evidence of what we've already seen, it could end up being the straw that broke Hillary's back.

How ironic it would be for Assange to be the person who ultimately takes Hillary down to the extent he was the darling of the left when Wikileaks first began to dump documents on the world.

The Clinton Foundation has raised a reported $2 Billion since its creation. One can only imagine how much the Foundation would raise if Hillary Clinton were elected President. What is even scarier is the cronyism, corruption, and peddling of favors that would take place with Clinton as President. Heaven help us.