New Book, "Clinton Cash" Questions Foreign Donations To Clinton Foundation

According to the New York Tines, a new book about Hillary Clinton's term as Secretary of State and foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation. The book does not hit shelves until May 5th, but already the Republican Rand Paul has called its findings "big news" that will "shock people" and make voters question the candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, by Peter Schweizer - a 186-page investigation of donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign entities - is proving the most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle still in its infancy.

Mr. Schweizer writes. "The book, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, asserts that foreign entities who made payments to the Clinton Foundation and to Mr. Clinton through high speaking fees received favors from Mrs. Clinton’s State Department in return."

"We will see a pattern of financial transactions involving the Clintons that occurred contemporaneous with favorable U.S. policy decisions benefiting those providing the funds."

His examples include a free-trade agreement in Colombia that benefited a major foundation donor’s natural resource investments in the South American nation, development projects in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake in 2010 and more than $1 million in payments to Mr. Clinton by a Canadian bank and major shareholder in the Keystone XL oil pipeline around the time the project was being debated in the State Department.

In the long lead up to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign announcement, aides proved adept in swatting down critical books as conservative propaganda, including Edward Klein’s "Blood Feud", about tensions between the Clintons and the Obamas, and Daniel Halper’s "Clinton Inc.: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine.”

But Clinton Cash is potentially more unsettling, both because of its focused reporting and because major news organizations including The Times, The Washington Post and Fox News have exclusive agreements with the author to pursue the story lines found in the book.

Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which includes Mr. Paul and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, have been briefed on the book’s findings and its contents have already made their way into several of the Republican presidential candidates’ campaigns.

Conservative "super PACs" plan to seize on Clinton Cash and a pro-Democrat super PAC has already assembled a dossier on Mr. Schweizer, a speechwriting consultant to former President George W. Bush and a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution who has contributed to the conservative website Breitbart.com, to make the case that he has a bias against Mrs. Clinton.

And the newly assembled Clinton campaign team is planning a full-court press to diminish the book as yet another conservative hit job. A campaign spokesman, Brian Fallon, called the book part of the Republicans’ coordinated attack strategy on Mrs. Clinton "twisting previously known facts into absurd conspiracy theories" and he said "it will not be the first work of partisan-fueled fiction about the Clintons’ record, and we know it will not be the last."

Mr. Schweizer and a spokeswoman for HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corporation and is publishing the book, declined to comment.

The timing is problematic for Mrs. Clinton as she begins a campaign to position herself as a "champion for everyday Americans." From 2001 to 2012, the Clintons’ income was at least $136.5 million, Mr. Schweizer writes, using a figure previously reported in The Post. He writes, "During Hillary’s years of public service, the Clintons have conducted or facilitated hundreds of large transactions with foreign governments and individuals. Some of these transactions have put millions in their own pockets.”

The Clinton Foundation has come under scrutiny for accepting foreign donations while Mrs. Clinton served as secretary of state.

Last week, the foundation revised its policy to allow donations from countries like Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Britain but prohibit giving by other nations in the Middle East.

Mr. Schweizer’s book will be released the same day former President Bill Clinton and the Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea, will host the Clinton Global Initiative gathering with donors in Morocco, the culmination of a foundation trip to several African nations. (A chapter in the book is titled "Warlord Economics: The Clintons Do Africa.")

There is a robust market for books critical of the Clintons. The thinly sourced Blood Feud by Mr. Klein, at one point overtook Mrs. Clinton’s memoir Hard Choices on the best-seller list.

But whether Mr. Schweizer’s book can deliver the same sales is not clear. He writes mainly in the voice of a neutral journalist and meticulously documents his sources, including tax records and government documents, while leaving little doubt about his view of the Clintons.

His reporting largely focuses on payments made to Mr. Clinton for speeches, which increased while his wife served as secretary of state, writing that "of the 13 Clinton speeches that fetched $500,000 or more, only two occurred during the years his wife was not secretary of state."

In 2011, Mr. Clinton made $13.3 million in speaking fees for 54 speeches the majority of which were made overseas, the author writes.

The News As I See It: Comcast Cable acquiring Time Warner Cable is a lot like your proctologist acquiring a bigger finger.

Hillary Clinton is campaigning in Iowa, virtually going door to door to every home in Iowa. Jehovah's Witnesses finally got fed up and said, "Get lost. Get out of here!"

Hillary is in Iowa to listen to what the people are saying, because if you want her to speak, that will cost you $200,000. So she's there listening.

The Hillary team is driving around in a van. Sometimes people get those gag bumper stickers put on their van. Hillary has one on her van and it says, "If this van's rockin', I'm deleting emails."

This Date In History: 1769; Ottawa Indian chief Pontiac murdered. 1841; The first detective story, Edgar Allen Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue was published. 1902; Marie and Pierre Curie isolated radium. 1912; Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, died.

1912; The Boston Red Sox played their first game at Fenway Park. They beat the N.Y. Highlanders (who in 1913 would become known as the Yankees) 7-6. 1971; The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the practice of busing for racial desegregation.

1999; Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. 14 students (including the shooters) and 1 teacher were killed; 23 others were wounded.

2008; Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300, becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar race. 2010; An explosion on a BP oil drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana kills 11 people and injures 17. Experts estimate that 13,000 gallons of crude oil per hour are pouring into the Gulf of Mexico.

Picture Of The Day: Team Obama II

Printable Things I Never Told You: 1) They should make a reality show called, "So You've Been Drinking and You Think You Can Dance?" 2) One thing I learned while I was out drinking this weekend was here is no such thing as a goalie in darts. 3) The phrase, "You clean up nicely", is just a polite way of saying, "You usually look like shit." 4) The Lego Movie should have been about parents walking in the dark and screaming obscenities after stepping on Legos. 5) Whenever I hear about a man jumping off a bridge, I can't help but wonder how long he was dating my ex.....and that's five !

Today's Horoscope: Taurus - April 20th: Just as small peppers are supposed to be the hottest, there may be a small person who's ready to heat up your life. Watch out for the seeds though, they cause problems.

Birthdays: Daniel Chester, French sculptor 1850, Joan Miró, artist 1893, Lionel Hampton, vibraphonist and bandleader 1908, Tito Puente, musician, jazz percussionist 1923, Jessica Lange actress 1949.

The AREA 51 Retirement Home Bar And Grill: A mother of five decides to get plastic surgery on her privates so her husband can enjoy the snugness she had in her youth. So, she heads off to the doctor for the procedure. Once the procedure is done, she wakes up to find three roses on her bed, and asks the nurse who sent them.

The nurse says, "The doctor wanted you to know he appreciates the business, so he left you a rose." The nurse continued, "Then your husband came in with a rose, stating that he can't wait to feel the results of the surgery, so he left a rose, too."

The woman asked, "What about the third rose?" The nurse replied, "Oh, that's from Ed in the burn unit. He wanted to say thanks for the new ears."

Two vampire bats are going for their midnight feed. After an hour or so, one bat gets tired of looking and goes home with no blood. The other bat comes home with blood dripping from its mouth.

The first bat says enviously, "Where did you get all that blood from?" The second bat replies, "Follow me. I'll show you."

After awhile the second bat leads them to a cave. He says, "You see that wall over there?" The hungry bat excitedly says, "Yes!" Other bat says, "I didn't."

The Hits Just Keep On Coming: A husband and wife are sitting quietly in bed reading when the wife looks over at him and asks, "What would you do if I died? Would you get married again?" He replied, "Definitely not!" His wife asked, "Why not? Don't you like being married?" He answered, "Of course I do."

The wife said, "Then why wouldn't you remarry?" The husband said, "Okay, okay, I'd get married again." With a hurt look, she said, "You would?" His wife inquired, "Would you live in our house?" He answered, "Sure, it's a great house." She asked, "Would you sleep with her in our bed?" The husband replied, "Where else would we sleep?"

She continued, "Would you let her drive my car?" He said, "Probably, it is almost new." The wife asked, "Would you replace my pictures with hers?" He said, "That would seem like the proper thing to do." She asked, "Would you give her my jewelry?" He answered, "No, I'm sure she'd want her own." His wife asked, "Would she use my golf clubs?" Her husband replied, "No, she's left-handed."

An old woman won a radio at a senior citizens retirement home and decide to write them a letter of thanks:

Dear Ladies and gentlemen:

God bless you for the beautiful radio I won at your recent senior citizens luncheon. I am 84 years old and live at the AREA 51 Retirement Home Bar and Grill.

All of my family has passed away. I am all alone now and it's nice to know that someone is thinking of me. God bless you for your kindness to an old forgotten lady.

My roommate is 95 and has always had her own radio, but before I received one, she would never let me listen to hers, even when she was napping.

The other day her radio fell off the night stand and broke into a lot of pieces. It was awful and she was in tears. Her distress over the broken radio touched me and I knew this was God's way of answering my prayers.

She asked if she could listen to mine and I told her to kiss my ass. Thank you for that opportunity.

Sincerely, 
Agnes

That's it for today, my little apple blossoms. Remember, being dyslexic has its drawbacks. I once went to a toga party dressed as a goat.

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More on Wednesday.

Stay Tuned !