Hillary Clinton has been involved in scandals before. Here are some notable ones you may have forgotten.
Chinagate -
The Clinton-Gore campaign in 1996 allegedly took bribes from Chinese
banks and their government to help their dwindling poll numbers. The
Chinese embassy in D.C.
helped siphon funds into the DNC. Secretary of Commerce
Rob Brown (who was killed in a plane crash),
at Hillary’s instruction
reportedly sold seats on department trade missions to China. Joint
congressional hearings were canceled after Democrats threatened to bring
up Republican campaign issues and then Monica Lewinsky actually saved
this scandal from media attention.
Travelgate Scandal -
Catherine Cornelius, a 25-year-old cousin of Bill's was allegedly
promised the position of director of the travel office. Hillary Clinton
then (
indirectly)
fired seven employees from the United States travel office and replaced
them with associates from Arkansas. Records were either nowhere to be
found or incorrectly filed. And, there's a reported attempt to give a
White House
airline contract to friend. Hillary had the FBI investigate
Billy Dole,
the head of the travel office, ruining his career who was found to do
nothing wrong, but was then audited by the IRS for three years after.
"Billy Dale and his family went through hell thanks to the
Clintons, Attorney General Janet Reno, the FBI and the IRS," Irvine
wrote. "Hillary's greatest crime was not perjury, it was trying to send
an innocent man to prison to justify having fired him and his staff
without cause."
“A memorandum by a former Presidential aide depicts
Hillary Rodham Clinton as the central figure in the 1993 travel office
dismissals, a politically damaging episode that the aide said had
resulted from a climate of fear in which officials did not dare question Mrs. Clinton's wishes," wrote the
NYT in 1996.
Whitewater Scandal -
Hillary and her husband were partners in a shady real estate
development firm called Whitewater Development Corp in Arkansas.
Accusations of impropriety against the Clintons and others soon
surfaced, regarding improper campaign contributions, political and
financial favors, and
tax benefits.
Clinton’s friends and majority owners, James and Susan McDougal were
jailed for fraud, Clinton's successor, Governor Jim Tucker, was jailed
for fraud along with municipal judges David Hale and Eugene Fitzhugh who
worked with James McDougal. The Clintons walked away unscathed, having
apparently done nothing wrong.
Vince Foster Jr. Mystery - Questions cloud the suicide of Vince Foster,
former colleague, friend, and White House aid of Hillary’s who
had connections to Travelgate, and the Whitewater scandals. Read the
link above entitled "The Man Who Knew too Much. . ." Filegate Scandal
- Craig Livingstone, director of the White House's Office of Personnel
Security "improperly" accessed FBI files on several hundred individuals.
Many of these files were on people from previous Republican
administrations. Hillary Clinton hired Livingston and is alleged to
have looked at the files and requested this move. She was accused by
Republicans of violating privacy rights of individuals she viewed as
political
adversaries.
Cattle-Futures Miracle - Hillary’s
first commodity trade
was in cattle futures where she ordered 10 futures contracts which
normally cost $12,000 dollars with only $1,000 dollars in her account.
This turned into $6,300 dollars by the next morning and after 10 months
totaled $100,000, with trading help from James B. Blair.
“Blair,
who at the time was outside counsel to Tyson Foods Inc., Arkansas'
largest employer, says he was advising Clinton out of friendship, not to
seek political gain. . ." reports The WashingtonPost.
Robert
L. "Red" Bone ran the Springdale, AK financial services company REFCO
allowed the trades and later, after investigation, had to pay the
largest fine at the time in the exchanges history and was suspended for
three years. Hillary Clinton said she was able to make the successful
trading because she read the Wall Street Journal for research.
Lootergate - Bill and especially Hillary
started to ship White House furniture
to their personal home in Chappaqua, N.Y.. The Clintons claimed they
were donated, but at only some were proven to be donated and meant to
stay in the White House after contacting the manufacturers. The Clintons
returned some of the furniture after pressure was put on them to do so.
“GOP
lawmakers and others criticized Hillary Rodham Clinton in particular
for accepting many presents just before she joined the Senate and became
covered by strict ethics rules that prohibit accepting gifts worth more
than $50.”
Drug Dealer Donor Scandal -
Convicted drug trafficker Jorge Cabrera apparently
made such a big donation to the Clinton’s campaign that he was invited to the White house without Secret Service present. Ponzi Scheme and Political Favor Scandal - Norman Yung Yuen Hsu was a convicted pyramid investment promoter, and major Democratic donor. He
contributed an undisclosed amount to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign.
“He
was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison in 2009 by a judge who
accused him of funding his fraud by manipulating the political process
in a way that 'strikes at the very core of our democracy.”
Here is an article posted in the New York Times in 1996 entitled “Blizzard of Lies” about Hillary Clinton.
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