Free Republic

Corruption: Clinton's cash-machine, cozying up with rich donors who want leverage on the White House.

On the night President Obama and Vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine were scheduled to speak to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the anti-secrecy whistle-blower group released hacked voicemails of top Democratic officials.

The release of a trove of “embarrassing” hacked internal emails and private voicemail recordings reveal not only the unseemly deal-making involved in recruiting high-dollar donations for political campaigns, but the role fundraising officials play in approving and denying access to President Obama and other top officials. At least two former U.S. ambassadors called the DNC to speak about personal meetings with the president, according to audio recordings of the calls included in the leaks. One is heard on a recording from May for then-DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz seeking to confirm plans to attend a “small dinner” with President Obama....

Old and busted: Most transparent administration ever! New hotness: The system is rigged, and not just in the Democratic primaries. The campaign-finance watchdog site Open Secrets reports that DNC e-mails published by Wikileaks show DNC officials apparently coordinating with the Obama administration to reward donors with appointments to boards and commissions: Email exchanges involving top officials at theDemocratic National Committee released along with private documents by WikiLeaks show that DNC officials hoped to reward top donors and insiders with appointments to federal boards and commissions in coordination with the White House. The revelations give an inside look into how the...

PHILADELPHIA — Leaked emails show the Democratic National Committee scrambled this spring to conceal the details of a joint fundraising arrangement with Hillary Clinton that funneled money through state Democratic parties. During the three-month period when the DNC was working to spin the situation, state parties kept less than one half of one percent of the $82 million raised through the arrangement — validating concerns raised by campaign finance watchdogs, state party allies and Bernie Sanders supporters.......

Leaked emails show the Democratic National Committee scrambled this spring to conceal the details of a joint fundraising arrangement with Hillary Clinton that funneled money through state Democratic parties. During the three-month period when the DNC was working to spin the situation, state parties kept less than one half of one percent of the $82 million raised through the arrangement — validating concerns raised by campaign finance watchdogs, state party allies and Bernie Sanders supporters.

Wealthy potential donors to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) were courted with promises of access to the president, a Washington Post analysis of internal DNC emails released by WikiLeaks has found. The party insiders' pitches appear to be in violation of White House policy, the newspaper notes.

Democratic National Committee documents recently released by WikiLeaks include spreadsheets and emails that appear to show party officials planning which donors and prominent fundraisers to provide with appointments to federal boards and commissions. The documents, which were circulated among top DNC officials in April, could raise legal questions for the party, says Ken Boehm, the chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group. “The disclosed DNC emails sure look like the potential Clinton Administration has intertwined the appointments to federal government boards and commissions with the political and fund raising operations of the Democratic Party,” Boehm...

It has always been taken for granted that presidents appoint wealthy donors to commissions, ambassadorships, and other honors. But we have never before seen evidence of the way the transactions are carried out. However, thanks to Wikileaks, we have an actual spreadsheet listing donors and possible purchases of office being circulated among DNC officials. Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller has the story. The spreadsheet — which was accompanied by emails sent between officials with the DNC’s finance team — contains 23 names of little-known corporate executives and professional fundraisers who have donated to the committee and various Democratic political...