Yet another high-profile TV newsman may find himself embroiled in controversy over his connections to the Clinton Foundation.
Until late Tuesday afternoon, the Clinton Foundation website listed CNN anchor Jake Tapper as a "speaker" at a Clinton Global Initiative event scheduled for June 8-10 in Denver. After USA TODAY asked CNN about the event, Tapper's name was swiftly removed from the Clinton Foundation website.
One reason for CNN's quick reaction is easy to understand. Last week, ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, once a political operative for former president Bill Clinton, was widely attacked after he failed to disclose $75,000 in donations to the Clinton Foundation even as he covered the Clintons.
Tapper has no comparable connections to the Clintons. But by participating in the event next month, while Hillary Clinton is running for president and the foundation is in the news, he too could face criticism for an overly cozy relationship with the Democrats' most likely 2016 presidential nominee.
Jake Tapper's bio on the Clinton Foundation website, before he was scrubbed from the website. (Photo: Screenshot from May 19, 2015 at web site.)
Tapper wouldn't comment on the record. A CNN spokesperson, who asked not to be named, said Tapper was improperly listed as a speaker on the foundation website; he is scheduled to interview former president Clinton at the event and later moderate a panel discussion. The spokesperson said the network-approved interview will be televised. There will be no restrictions on the questions, and Tapper will not be paid by the foundation. Other details are still being negotiated.
That stands in Tapper's favor, but it does not solve the problem for Tapper or CNN, which is scheduled to host three Republican presidential primary debates. After Stephanopoulos' donations were reported by the conservative Washington Free Beacon, the ABC anchor withdrew from participation in a Republican debate, a blow to the network that reportedly signed a $105 million contract with the former Clinton White House employee.
Tapper has a far better reputation among Republicans than his controversial former ABC News colleague. But like Stephanopoulos, Tapper has a history on the liberal side of the political fence. According to a glowing profile of Tapper in Politico (written by a former Obama administration spokesperson), from 2000 to 2003 Tapper was a political reporter for the left-leaning news site Salon, where his work showed great skill and a liberal edge. Years before that he was spokesman for a Democratic congresswoman who became Chelsea Clinton's mother-in-law in 2010.
Since then Tapper, like Stephanopoulos, has successfully walked away from partisan politics to embrace a non-partisan persona and network stardom. In 2013, he wrote a well-received book on the war in Afghanistan, and he has contributed to conservative magazines such as The American Spectator and The Weekly Standard.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/05/20/clinton-foundation-tapper-journalists-website-scrub-column/27599203/
This is just one of the many ways the Clintons cajoled these global entities to part with public revenue
to finance the Clinton Foundation and its several offshoots.
Each Clinton Foundation offshoot has its own money-raising machine.
=============================================
(Drum roll please) The Clinton global government
https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/meetings/annual-meetings/2016/speakers
This is just one of the many ways the Clintons cajoled these global entities to part with public revenue
to finance the Clinton Foundation and its several offshoots.
Each Clinton Foundation offshoot has its own money-raising machine.
=============================================
(Drum roll please) The Clinton global government
https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/meetings/annual-meetings/2016/speakers