FLASHBACK: Harvey Weinstein To Bill Clinton In 2012: “I Always Learn Amazing Things From You”

Serial sexual predator Harvey Weinstein told former President Bill Clinton “I always learn amazing things from you,” in a 2012 CNN interview, according to a GotNews review of CNN’s published transcripts.

On May 31st, 2012, Weinstein, a film mogul and major Democratic Party donor, guest-hosted Season Two, Episode 109 of Piers Morgan Tonight, a nightly CNN show that has since been cancelled. In a wide-ranging interview, Weinstein and Clinton revealed the intimate nature of their friendship.

According to Dominic Patten of Deadline Hollywood, who live-blogged the conversation, “there was plenty of gooey-gushing by Weinstein.” After Weinstein introduced Clinton, the former President said “The things I do for you, Harvey.”

Their conversation covered an array of political and non-political topics alike, including the Syrian Civil War, movies, Dodd-Frank, veganism, Mitt Romney, and New York City’s sugary drink ban. At one point, Weinstein recounted a story to demonstrate his closeness with the Clinton family. “Years ago we were all in Martha’s Vineyard on a vacation, and you gave me the four-and-a-half minute longest minutes of my life,” Weinstein told Clinton.

“You asked Chelsea to come with myself and Dirk Ziff to the Martha’s Vineyard Hot Tin Roof to see a band that you wanted to see,” Weinstein continued. “You said, it’s OK, she can come, and you guys go with her. She watched the group. She was fabulous, great company. And all of a sudden a young boy out of nowhere, who had no idea who she was, asked her to dance. She went to the dance floor, and I promise you, time stopped for four-and-a-half minutes. He was so incredibly polite when the dance ended. She was so incredibly polite back.”

Throughout the softball interview, Weinstein consistently heaped praise on the Clinton family: he eagerly asked if Hillary or even Chelsea would run for President in 2016, and claimed Hillary “will go down in history probably as our greatest Secretary of State.”

The disgraced film studio executive even plugged the Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Foundation, asking “Mr. President, the Clinton Global Initiative, how do the viewers, you know, who are watching tonight, how do they get involved?” and later declaring “As somebody who has participated over the years [in the Clinton Foundation], I have to tell you, I learned so much.”

Weinstein concluded the interview with more warm words: “Mr. President, thank you for being my guest tonight,” he told Bill. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this. And as I said, I always learn amazing things from you.”

Clinton’s own career has also been replete with rape, sexual harassment, and abuse of power allegations, one of which he settled out of court for $850,000.

Weinstein Company Board Member —— Marc Lasry —— resigned today in the wake of Thursday’s devastating New York Times report that outlines a pattern of Weinstein’s behavior stretching back at least two decades. Lasry is a billionaire hedge fund manager, CEO of Avenue Capital Group and a co-owner of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.

Wikileaks lists 550 conflicts of interest of the Clinton Foundation. Prominent name is billionaire Marc Lasry

<><>Chelsea Clinton’s first job was w/ Lasry’s hedge fund.

<><> Lasry got Chelsea’s hubby’s hedge fund off the ground.

<><> Lasry’s son, Alexander, worked for Obama’s Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett.

<><> Lasry’s daughter, Samantha, was a staffer for Congressman Rahm Emanuel.

(NOTE: Emanuel later became a top Clinton aide AND a Goldman Sachs lobbyist at the same time. Emanuel became Obama’s COS AND ran the Dept of Treasury at the same time......now he’s Chicago mayor.)

NY TIMES 2015 report——”For the Clintons a hedge fund in the family.”

EXCERPT When Chelsea’s hubby, and his partners began raising money in 2011 for a new hedge fund firm, Eaglevale Partners, a number of investors in the firm were longtime supporters of the Clintons, according to interviews and financial documents reviewed by The New York Times. Tens of millions of dollars raised by Eaglevale can be attributed to investors with some relationship or link to the Clintons.

The investors include hedge fund managers like Marc Lasry and James Leitner; an overseas money management firm connected to the Rothschild family; and people from Goldman Sachs, including the chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein. Some of the investors in Eaglevale have contributed campaign money to the former president and Mrs. Clinton. Some have also contributed to the family’s foundation.

Identifying who put money into Eaglevale, a roughly $400 million fund that has had underwhelming returns for much of its brief history, is difficult because hedge funds do not publicly disclose their investors.

Still, the overlap between at least some of Eaglevale’s investors and backers of the Clintons illustrates how politics and finance can intersect and shows the fine line the Clinton family must navigate as their charitable and business endeavors come under scrutiny in an election cycle.

SNIP

Mr. Lasry, a co-founder of the big hedge fund Avenue Capital and a longtime friend and financial backer of both the former president and Mrs. Clinton, said he invested $1 million in Eaglevale.

In an interview in his Park Avenue office, adorned with many photos of him with the former president, he said that he recommended that his relative by marriage, Craig Effron, another hedge fund manager, also invest in the fund.

“I gave them money because I thought they would make me money,” said Mr. Lasry, whose $13 billion firm was one of the first places Chelsea worked after graduating from Stanford.

A number of other investors reached by The Times declined to be interviewed.

Rest here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/business/dealbook/for-clintons-a-hedge-fund-in-the-family.html?_r=0

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.