Bill Clinton says nothing 'sinister' in foreign donations to foundation

Reuters ^ | 5/4 | Steve Holland

[TangledUpInBlue]

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton defended his charitable foundation's acceptance of large foreign donations on Monday, thrusting himself into a controversy that is weighing on the presidential candidacy of his wife, Hillary Clinton.

"I don't think there's anything sinister in trying to get wealthy people in countries that are seriously involved in development to spend their money wisely in a way that helps poor people and lifts them up," Clinton told NBC News from Kenya, in an interview taped over the weekend.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Ma Clinton did say they were dead broke...

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Not sinister. Just money-grubbing greed on a truly unique scale, Bill.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

First, Bill is incredibly good at spinning and nuancing. It's one of his major political talents. That said, his comments underscore the ‘ends justifies the means’ mentality that gets used to rationalize bad and often criminal behavior by politicians all too often.

[Liz]

Doing good and not averse to making a buck on it.

Bill Clinton and Canadian mining tycoon Frank Giustra
in Tierra Muscady, in Haiti June 2014 touring
a peanut plantation processing facility.

That day, the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership
announced the launch of the Acceso Peanut Enterprise
Corporation to aid small peanut farmers. (Hector
Retamal/AFP/Getty Images)

CONNECTING THE DOTS Then-Secy Hillary supposedly gave Haiti $3.1 billion tax dollars for Earthquake Relief.

But Haitian-American protesters claim that American aid to Haiti was a cover-for foreign governments to funnel kickbacks of hundreds of millions of dollars to The Clinton Foundation.

POINTS TO PONDER:

<><> As Secretary of State, Hillary devoted much of her time in 2010 to the Haiti recovery.

<><> The Clinon Family Foundation accepted Algeria’s $500,000 donation for Haitian earthquake relief in 2010, during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Secy of State (at the same time Algeria rec'd millions in US foreign aid).

<><> Bill Clinton got his hands on hundreds of million of dollars while Hillary controlled the State Dept checkbook..... monies earmarked for Haiti.

<><> the newlywed Clintons spent their honeymoon in Haiti.

<><> listed as a Clinton Foundation donor: Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund---organized at the behest of Obama: GHWB-WJC principles (recently disbanded).

After the earthquake in Haiti, the Clinton Foundation raised around $36 million for disaster relief, while the Obama Administration kicked in $3.6 billion.

=================================================

Haitian protesters gathered outside the Clinton Foundation to complain about "missing money" from the US State Dept's recovery effort for the 2010 Haitian earthquake:

They protested the Clinton Foundation b/c it helped lead the reconstruction fund. They claimed that the US State Dept's $10 billion meant to help rebuild Haiti did little to help the country and that much of the US money went to non-Haitian companies.

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While Haitians were reeling from disaster, Hillary’s brother got a rare gold mining permit; the last permit Haiti issued was over fifty years before.

NOTE: Clinton do-good buddy, Frank Giustra is frequently quoted on gold issues in the media.

[Liz]

WIKI In September 2005, Giustra flew Clinton to Kazakhstan as part of a three-country philanthropic tour. Clinton praised the Kazakh autocrat for "this statement you have made about opening up the social and political life [of Kazakhstan]".

Within two days of the former President's meeting with Kazakhstan’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev, Giustra's fledgling uranium company signed preliminary agreements giving it the right to buy into three uranium projects controlled by the state-owned uranium agency, Kazatomprom. "The monster deal stunned the mining industry, turning an unknown shell company into one of the world’s largest uranium producers."

In 2006, in the months after Mr. Clinton's visit helped secure Giustra's company the right to mine uranium in Kazakhstan, Mr. Giustra donated $31.3 million to the Clinton Foundation. This figure is at variance with the one released by the William J. Clinton Foundation (on the 18 December 2008), as part of an arrangement with President-elect Barack Obama. It reports Frank Giustra as giving between US$10–25 million.

In February 2007, a company called Uranium One agreed to pay US$3.1 billion to acquire UrAsia. Giustra, a director and major shareholder in UrAsia, would be paid $7.05 per share for a company that just two years earlier was trading at 10 cents per share.

In June 2007, Giustra joined with Clinton to launch the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership to address global poverty. Giustra committed $USD 100 million plus half of what he makes in the resource industry for the rest of his life. Carlos Slim Helú, the Mexican businessman and richest person in the world, made a matching contribution and Giustra is expected to enlist others in the Canadian resource industry.

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Oops....Giustra didn't mention he finalized a massively profitable transaction to buy uranium mines in Kazakhstan days AFTER he and Clinton dined with that nation’s president.

================================================

"Philanthropists" Clinton and Giustra also forgot to mention......

<><> (1) the head of the Kazakhstan agency that oversees the country’s mining, said that Secy of State Hillary Clinton pressured Kazakh officials to sell uranium assets to Giustra’s firm, and,

<><> (2) that Bill Clinton adviser Tim Phillips said Hillary would not meet with him until Kazakh officials agreed to Giustra’s nuclear deal.

Bill Clinton calculatedly went to Kazahstan during election time. He praised the candidate, a dictator who won w/ 90% of the vote---an obviously rigged election.

===================================================

(Snicker) So I guess Hillary never informed Obama that she was jerking around foreign policy WRT the sale of US uranium mines to a country dealing with Iran.

[ThunderSleeps]

I don't think there's anything sinister in trying to get wealthy people in countries that are seriously involved in development to spend their money wisely in a way that helps poor people and lifts them up...

I'm sorry, what!? Billy boy, remind me again what the overhead rate is on the Clinton foundation money laundering scheme here? Just what percentage actually goes to charitable works? Don't even try to make it sound like this is for the benefit of "the poor." It is all about the benefit to the Clintons.

[conservativeimage]

Yellow cake for foreign campaign contributions interfering with U.S. elections.

[JLS]

Well sinister’s meanings include:

adjective

1. threatening or portending evil, harm, or trouble; ominous

2. bad, evil, base, or wicked; fell

3. unfortunate; disastrous; unfavorable

4. of or on the left side; left.

5. Heraldry. noting the side of an escutcheon or achievement of arms that is to the left of the bearer

William Clinton probably has #5 in mind here and I would guess he is right these donation have nothing to do with heraldry. He could also have #3 in mind and certainly from his point of view they are not unfortunate, disastrous or unfavorable donation. So again he would be correct. Similarly, these donations are pay for play and thus not of the left as in definition #4.

[Joe Boucher]

This from a guy impeached for lying to the American people repeatedly?
Next he’ll say he is in love with Hillary or some other such pile of lies.

[Old Yeller]

I did not have financial relations with those foreign countries.

[GOPJ]

He didn’t have sex with THAT women either... right?

[Happy1947]

We would believe him for what reason? He and his partners in crime would rather lie for $ .50 than tell the truth for $1.00. Go away evil spirit!!

[NormsRevenge]

1 dollar for you 10 for me.. 1 dollar for you,, 20 for me..

OK, yur turn Hill,, count the next stack.

1 dollar for you 100 for me.. 10 for Huma.