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Questions over Hillary Clinton's family wealth
Telegraph.Co.UK ^ | Feb. 10, 2008 | Philip Sherwell

Posted on 02/10/2008 10:10:16 AM PST by COUNTrecount

Hillary Clinton is coming under growing pressure to be more open about the sources of her family’s wealth after she revealed that she had been forced to loan her cash-strapped campaign $5 million.

Hillary Clinton's advisers 'in a state of panic' In pictures: Michelle Obama Trail Mix: Chelsea Clinton "pimped out" Critics are claiming that her husband Bill Clinton’s lucrative financial dealings since leaving the White House may expose her campaign to conflicts of interest, and are calling for her to publish the full details of her earnings and assets.

advertisementSen Clinton has made more than $9 million from her 2003 memoirs.

But the biggest earner in the family is the former president, who is finalising an estimated $20 million pay-out from a six-year stint as an investment fund advisor, and has raked in many millions more from consultancy deals, speeches and his writings.

The couple left the White House with $2 million in legal debts in 2001 but are now worth between $10 million and $50 million, according to her latest Senate financial disclosure filings, which allow candidates to list their assets in broad ranges.

Mrs Clinton can put half the funds held jointly with her husband towards her presidential bid under campaign finance laws.

By contrast, her rival Barack Obama emphasised last week that he released his annual tax returns, which break down earnings and assets in detail.

“I think the American people deserve to know where you get your income from,” he said pointedly.

The Clinton campaign said that she would make her tax returns public if she won the nomination and that the Senate disclosures provided sufficient information about her finances.

Over the last six years, Mr Clinton has struck lucrative consultancy and advisory contracts with a playboy billionaire and done business with a Gulf emir.

He also courted figures ranging from a Central Asian autocrat to Arab sheikhs, as he built his charitable foundation and financed his glitzy presidential library in Little Rock, Arkansas.

In the process he has developed one of the world’s leading philanthropic organisations and made himself and his wife Hillary rich - just six years after they were so saddled in debts from investigations into the Whitewater land deal and Monica Lewinsky affair that they had to borrow money from Democratic fund-raising chief Terry McAuliffe to buy a home near New York.

The colourful cast of friends, donors and business partners accrued by Mr Clinton is now raising questions about potential conflicts of interest as the former First Lady aims to become the next Democratic president.

Mr Clinton has already started to disentangle himself from two high-profile deals.

Most notably, he is expected to receive about $20 million when he severs his ties with the Yucaipa investment funds headed by his friend Ron Burkle, a famously eligible bachelor who appears in the gossip columns as often as the business pages.

The Wall Street Journal reported that one of his partners in the global investment fund is an entity connected to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, also believed to be a major donor to the Clinton presidential library.

Mr Clinton’s ties to the sheikh have already put him at odds with political stances adopted by his wife.

Two years ago, she was outspoken in her denunciation of the Bush administration’s plan to sell control of six major US ports to Dubai Ports World, but it later emerged that her husband was advising the Arab emirate how to handle the furore.

Last month, The New York Times reported that Mr Clinton flew to Kazakhstan on the executive jet of Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining financier and multi-million dollar backer of the Clinton Foundation who was also seeking a contract with the Kazakh government.

Mr Clinton was there to see the work of his Foundation on an Aids project, but also praised President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been widely criticised for human rights violations, for “opening up the social and political life of your country”.

Mr Giustra, who organised a lavish charity dinner for Mr Clinton’s 60th birthday, was subsequently awarded a lucrative uranium mining deal in Kazakhstan ahead of more experienced industry competitors.

Mr Clinton’s aides have denied that he influenced the deal or behaved improperly.

Mr Clinton has also resisted pressure to name donors to his presidential library.

But newspaper investigations have uncovered many foreign contributors, led by Saudi Arabia, and an overlap between library benefactors and Hillary Clinton campaign donors, The New York Times reported.

“The vast scale of these secret fund-raising operations presents enormous opportunities for abuse,” said Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat, who has introduced legislation requiring the disclosure of donors to presidential libraries.

Dick Morris, the former Clinton strategist who is now a fierce critic of the couple, recently accused Mrs Clinton of facing “a massive conflict of interest” for her family’s financial ties to Dubai and Saudi Arabia.

“The Clintons should be required to divulge the extent of their involvement with foreign interests and exactly how much money their personal bank accounts and their Library/Foundation have received,” he said.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: clinton; clintonfoundation; democrat; democrats; frankgiustra; hillary; humaabedin
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To: COUNTrecount
...and financed his glitzy presidential library in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Glitzy???? It looks like a double wide moblie home ready to go over a cliff!

61 posted on 02/11/2008 6:50:05 AM PST by CAluvdubya (A good man has come home to San Diego! Thank you Congressman Hunter)
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To: Miss Behave

The enemdia IS asking, but it doesn’t look like anyone is DIGGING!!! This is such a HUGE SCANDAL TRUFFLE that the pig who digs it up will be the next Woodward or Bernstein!!! The tide has turned on the Clinton “magic” and if they want Obama to turn the page they need to bring down the Clintons!! The evidence is there, it just needs researching!!!


62 posted on 02/11/2008 6:53:05 AM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion.....The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Ann Archy
enemedia

LOL!

lolcats and funny pictures
moar funny pictures

63 posted on 02/11/2008 7:07:24 AM PST by Miss Behave (Beloved daughter of Miss Creant, super sister of danged Miss Ology, and proud mother of Miss Hap.)
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To: Miss Behave
Enemedia came from another Freeper, but I adopted it because it's PERFECT!

Obama needs to DEMAND they release their tax forms!

64 posted on 02/11/2008 7:09:30 AM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion.....The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Miss Behave
Enemedia came from another Freeper, but I adopted it because it's PERFECT!

Obama needs to DEMAND they release their tax forms!

65 posted on 02/11/2008 7:09:48 AM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion.....The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: CAluvdubya
LOL! Glitzy!!

Anyone see the Chappequa house interior last night on Couric interview?? YIKES was it a MESS!! And TONS of STUFF and they had NEVER liver in Private houses, only Public Housing! They sure ACQUIRED a LOT of ITEMS of Stuff!!

66 posted on 02/11/2008 8:43:40 AM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion.....The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: CAluvdubya
LOL! Glitzy!!

Anyone see the Chappequa house interior last night on Couric interview?? YIKES was it a MESS!! And TONS of STUFF and they had NEVER liver in Private houses, only Public Housing! They sure ACQUIRED a LOT of ITEMS of Stuff!!

67 posted on 02/11/2008 8:44:04 AM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion.....The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: freema

Thanks for the ping!


68 posted on 02/11/2008 9:18:06 AM PST by Fedora
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To: FARS; AdmSmith; Berosus; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fred Nerks; george76; ...
Thanks FARS.
By contrast, her rival Barack Obama emphasised last week that he released his annual tax returns, which break down earnings and assets in detail. "I think the American people deserve to know where you get your income from," he said pointedly. The Clinton campaign said that she would make her tax returns public if she won the nomination and that the Senate disclosures provided sufficient information about her finances. Over the last six years, Mr Clinton has struck lucrative consultancy and advisory contracts with a playboy billionaire and done business with a Gulf emir. He also courted figures ranging from a Central Asian autocrat to Arab sheikhs, as he built his charitable foundation and financed his glitzy presidential library in Little Rock, Arkansas... he has developed one of the world's leading philanthropic organisations and made himself and his wife Hillary rich - just six years after they were so saddled in debts from investigations into the Whitewater land deal and Monica Lewinsky affair that they had to borrow money from Democratic fund-raising chief Terry McAuliffe to buy a home near New York... The Wall Street Journal reported that one of his partners in the global investment fund is an entity connected to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, also believed to be a major donor to the Clinton presidential library... The New York Times reported that Mr Clinton flew to Kazakhstan on the executive jet of Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining financier and multi-million dollar backer of the Clinton Foundation who was also seeking a contract with the Kazakh government... "The vast scale of these secret fund-raising operations presents enormous opportunities for abuse," said Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat, who has introduced legislation requiring the disclosure of donors to presidential libraries.
Quick! Somebody make a specious equation between this and the Keating scandal!!! /sarc
69 posted on 02/11/2008 10:12:39 AM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________Profile updated Sunday, February 10, 2008)
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To: FARS; M Kehoe; HardStarboard
"...I enjoy your ascerbic sense of humor. It’s great. Tempts me to stop being serious and agree with you. We might be going down anyway so why not go laughing?..."

Thanks, FARS. You're still young, pal - you've still gotta be serious.

I was serious for most of my life (deadly serious at times), but I'm gettin' older now, and gettin' that 'My-Autumn's-Done-Come' feeling, and I just hope it's interesting. What-the-hell, maybe I'll get a few rounds off!

With the situation as it is now, it's kinda like watching Detroit Tech play East L.A Tech in a game of 'Avoid-The-Hoodlum'. Ya don't really care who wins - yer just hoping for injuries!

Stay well, pally ............ FRegards

70 posted on 02/11/2008 9:22:16 PM PST by gonzo (Hold yer nose and vote - Hold yer nose and vote - Geez, I'm sick-of-this-sh!t ...)
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To: SunkenCiv

I will credit Obama with this: He ain’t Hillary and he ain’t Bill. That’s enough for me to give him a kind word. At least he isn’t the Clintons.


71 posted on 02/12/2008 4:04:51 AM PST by Convert from ECUSA (I want both the leftist Democrats and RINO McCainiacs to lose. A pox on both their houses!)
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To: Convert from ECUSA

:’) Quite so. Talk about damning with faint praise though...


72 posted on 02/12/2008 9:30:06 AM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________Profile updated Sunday, February 10, 2008)
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To: COUNTrecount

It takes a village to understand the impact of whitewater financial dealings on the CLinton family cattle future fortunes....


73 posted on 02/12/2008 9:36:09 AM PST by x_plus_one (The entire Islamic moral universe devolves solely from the life and teachings of Muhammad.)
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To: gonzo
What-the-hell, maybe I'll get a few rounds off!

I was hoping to avoid that. Then again, maybe it's unavoidable. Thomas Jefferson thought so.

What a conundrum, either vote for a RINO or a Marxist. We might end up voting from the roof tops no matter how old we are.

Sheesh, and I thought retirement was gonna be easy...

Stay well, stay safe, and stay well armed my FRiend.

5.56mm

74 posted on 02/12/2008 7:12:58 PM PST by M Kehoe
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To: M Kehoe

***We might end up voting from the roof tops no matter how old we are.

Sheesh, and I thought retirement was gonna be easy...

Stay well, stay safe, and stay well armed my FRiend.

5.56mm***

-—Ah c’mon, Mike - at least we’ll have live targets!?!

I’m still partial to 7.62mm - get ‘em at a distance, y’know. At least it’ll make retirement interesting.

Adequately armed and as well set as can be. Stay well yerself, pally ............. FRegards


75 posted on 02/12/2008 7:26:05 PM PST by gonzo (Hold yer nose and vote - Hold yer nose and vote - Geez, I'm sick-of-this-sh!t ...)
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To: COUNTrecount

I’m taking pleasure from the observation that Bill Clinton increasingly looks like an anorexic W.C. Fields. And his body shrivels more each day as his face and bulbous nose grow more purple.


76 posted on 02/12/2008 7:54:20 PM PST by Octar
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