XPost: alt.drugs.methadone, alt.law-enforcement, alt.politics.org.fbi   
   XPost: az.politics   
   From: investigate.pelosi@cnn.com   
      
   While everyone's been gearing up for President Trump's   
   inauguration, the Clinton Foundation made a major announcement   
   this week that went by with almost no notice: For all intents   
   and purposes, it's closing its doors.   
      
   In a tax filing, the Clinton Global Initiative said it's firing   
   22 staffers and closing its offices, a result of the gusher of   
   foreign money that kept the foundation afloat suddenly drying up   
   after Hillary Clinton failed to win the presidency.   
      
   It proves what we've said all along: The Clinton Foundation was   
   little more than an influence-peddling scheme to enrich the   
   Clintons, and had little if anything to do with "charity,"   
   either overseas or in the U.S. That sound you heard starting in   
   November was checkbooks being snapped shut in offices around the   
   world by people who had hoped their donations would buy access   
   to the next president of the United States.   
      
   And why not? There was a strong precedent for it in Hillary   
   Clinton's tenure as secretary of state. While serving as the   
   nation's top diplomat, the Clinton Foundation took money from at   
   least seven foreign governments — a clear breach of Clinton's   
   pledge on taking office that there would be total separation   
   between her duties and the foundation.   
      
   Is there a smoking gun? Well, of the 154 private interests who   
   either officially met or had scheduled phone talks with Hillary   
   Clinton while she was secretary of state, at least 85 were   
   donors to the Clinton Foundation or one of its programs.   
      
   In November, we asked the question: "Is The Clinton Foundation   
   Doomed?" The answer is yes.   
      
   All the way back in May, we outlined how the Clinton Foundation   
   had taken in $100 million from a collection of Gulf sheikhs and   
   billionaires, along with millions from private businesses, who   
   expected — and received — special access to the State   
   Department's top official, Hillary.   
      
   In his 2015 book "Clinton Cash," author Peter Schweizer showed   
   how during Hillary's years in government "the Clintons have   
   conducted or facilitated hundreds of large transactions (either   
   as private citizens or government officials) with foreign   
   governments, corporations and private financiers." He called the   
   sums going to the Clintons "staggering."   
      
   Using the Freedom of Information Act, Judicial Watch in August   
   obtained emails (that had been hidden from investigators)   
   showing that Clinton's top State Department aide, Huma Abedin,   
   had given "special expedited access to the secretary of state"   
   for those who gave $25,000 to $10 million to the Clinton   
   Foundation. Many of those were facilitated by a former executive   
   of the foundation, Doug Band, who headed Teneo, a shell company   
   that managed the Clintons' affairs.   
      
   As part of this elaborate arrangement, Abedin was given special   
   permission to work for the State Department, the Clinton   
   Foundation and Teneo — another very clear conflict of interest.   
      
   As Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said at the time, "These   
   new emails confirm that Hillary Clinton abused her office by   
   selling favors to Clinton Foundation donors."   
      
   The seedy saga doesn't end there. Indeed, there are so many   
   facets to it, some may never be known. But there is still at   
   least one and possibly four active federal investigations into   
   the Clintons' supposed charity.   
      
   Americans aren't willing to forgive and forget. Earlier this   
   month, the IBD/TIPP Poll asked Americans whether they would like   
   President Obama to pardon Hillary for any crimes she may have   
   committed as secretary of state, including the illegal use of an   
   unsecured homebrew email server. Of those queried, 57% said no.   
   So if public sentiment is any guide, the Clintons' problems may   
   just be beginning.   
      
   Writing in the Washington Post in August of 2016, Charles   
   Krauthammer pretty much summed up the whole tawdry tale: "The   
   foundation is a massive family enterprise disguised as a   
   charity, an opaque and elaborate mechanism for sucking money   
   from the rich and the tyrannous to be channeled to Clinton   
   Inc.," he wrote. "Its purpose is to maintain the Clintons'   
   lifestyle (offices, travel accommodations, etc.), secure   
   profitable connections, produce favorable publicity and reliably   
   employ a vast entourage of retainers, ready to serve today and   
   at the coming Clinton Restoration."   
      
   Except, now there is no Clinton Restoration. So there's no   
   reason for any donors to give money to the foundation. It lays   
   bare the fiction of a massive "charitable organization," and   
   shows it for what it was: a scam to sell for cash the waning   
   influence of the Democrats' pre-eminent power couple. As far as   
   the charity landscape goes, the Clinton Global Initiative won't   
   be missed.   
      
   http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/the-clinton-   
   foundation-is-dead-but-the-case-against-hillary-isnt/   
                                        
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)