CLINTON CASH, OR HOW ONE STORY LEADS TO ANOTHER
COMPILED BY LUCY MANESS WARNER
AUGUST 27, 2016


On August 26, 2016, Donald Trump’s new Campaign CEO Stephen Bannon’s had to change his Florida voter registration to correct the address. It seems he was registered at an old address, and his current dwelling is in a house owned by his former associate at Breitbart, Andrew Badolato. Badolato was mentioned as Bannon’s collaborator on “political films.”

Out of curiosity I searched Badolato’s film career and found the key element here, one called Clinton Cash, a “Documentary,” excoriating the Clintons. The goal of all this, of course, is to try to eviscerate Clinton in the public mind before the November election date. It is a video version of the 2015 hardback, and this year’s “graphic novel” of the same name.

Take a look at the two-hour video documentary, which is tersely narrated for maximum dramatic effect, and available now on the Internet. This film was made in collaboration with Bannon. The hard cover book and the “Graphic Novel,” both of which are available on Barnes and Noble, have been best sellers, as most salacious “tell-alls” are.

The hardcover version is called Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, by Peter Schweizer, 5/5/2015, Harper Collins, 256 pages. The author is also well known for his 2013 work, Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets. That one is focused on the Obama administration. It is just too sleazy that the author put out a version for those who cannot read normal books, but not surprising. The Trump machine knows all too well that there is a good chance of getting those votes, after all. It just saddens me.

That is the material from which Trump’s most recent assaults on Clinton are derived, over what he is calling the “pay to play” activities during her years as Secretary of State.


For information on the credibility of Clinton Cash, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Cash

Clinton Cash
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich is a 2015 New York Times bestselling book by Peter Schweizer, in which he investigates donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign entities, paid speeches made by Bill and Hillary Clinton, and the Clintons' personal enrichment since leaving the White House in 2001.

In May 2016, a film adaptation of the book, funded by co-founder of Government Accountability Institute and Breitbart News executive chairman Stephen Bannon, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.[1][2]

The film's U.S. premiere was scheduled for July 24 in Philadelphia (ahead of the 2016 Democratic National Convention there) and the film had a limited release in four other major U.S. cities in early August.[1][2] On that same day, Breitbart News uploaded the film on YouTube.[3]

A graphic novel adaptation of the book, written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Brett R. Smith, was released by Regnery Publishing on August 8, 2016.[4]



Some reasonably respectable seeming sources have given mention to the book. After all the writer is a NYT “Best Selling” author, but according to Wikipedia and to Blogger Hannah Hannah Groch-Begley, the Koch Brothers finance Schweizers’ Government Accountability Institute is another of those Koch Brothers funded “think tanks.” Groch-Begley’s bio is below, with her Blog blasting Schweizer.



Hannah Groch-Begley
Research Director at NARAL Pro-Choice America
Washington D.C. Metro Area Research

Current
NARAL Pro-Choice America

Previous
Media Matters for America, Vassar College History Department, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS)

Education
Vassar College



http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/04/21/who-funds-peter-schweizers-government-accountab/203355

Who Funds Peter Schweizer's Government Accountability Institute?
Blog ››› April 21, 2015 1:22 PM EDT ››› HANNAH GROCH-BEGLEY

Discredited Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer is the president of the Government Accountability Institute (GAI), a conservative group with close ties to a billionaire family funding Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential run. GAI has also received substantial support from groups backed by Charles and David Koch.

Schweizer's upcoming anti-Clinton book has garnered widespread media attention, despite the author's long history of criticism from reporters for blatant errors, retractions, and reliance on sources that "do not exist."

Schweizer's GAI, which was behind one of the "bogus" reports Schweizer has been excoriated for, bills itself as a nonprofit devoted to investigating "cronyism and government corruption" and protecting "free markets."

But as MSNBC's Rachel Maddow explained on her show, "[W]hen you take a closer look at Mr. Schweizer's organization and who is backing him, it is a who's who of big right-wing funders, including one of the guys behind the right-wing media site Breitbart.com, for which Mr. Schweizer has previously written -- also the billionaire family that is currently bankrolling Ted Cruz's presidential run."

Indeed, as Crooks and Liars also noted, IRS tax forms reveal GAI is funded by some of the top donors on the right, including the billionaire Mercer family.

Robert Mercer was described by Bloomberg News as the "ultimate behind-the-scenes kingmaker" during the 2014 midterm elections. His daughter, Rebekah Mercer, runs the Mercer Family Foundation, which "has also supported a slew of conservative causes."

According to IRS filings, the Mercer Foundation donated $1 million to GAI in 2013 alone. (Rebekah Mercer was listed on the GAI's board of directors in its 2013 tax documents, but is not currently listed among board members on the group's website.)

Rebekah Mercer has close ties to potential Clinton opponent Ted Cruz. The same day Cruz announced his bid for the presidency, Mercer reportedly threw him a cocktail party at her New York City apartment to launch his fundraising tour.

Schweizer's GAI has also benefited from substantial donations from other Koch-linked groups. Donors Trust, described by Mother Jones as the "dark-money ATM of the right," gave $1,500,000 to GAI in 2013. Donors Trust provides individuals and organizations a way to hide their donations to various right-leaning causes and media outlets, and as Mother Jones noted, they are a key funnel for Koch funds.

Donors Trust has also heavily funded the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, which itself has donated substantial sums to GAI, including $2 million in 2012.

As Media Matters has noted, Schweizer gave a February 2014 address to the Charles Koch Institute. He also spoke at an undergraduate Koch Leadership program at Regent University, and according to documents originally obtained by The Nation, he spoke at the Koch's brothers "secret billionaire summit" in June 2014. At the conference, attendees reportedly "discussed strategy on campaign finance, climate change, healthcare, higher education and opportunities for taking control of the Senate." Schweizer previously served as a speechwriter for the Bush White House, as an adviser to Sarah Palin, and as a headliner for multiple Republican Party fundraisers.


Barnes and Noble Excerpts from Clinton Cash

Title: Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, Author: Peter SchweizerQuick View
Clinton Cash: The Untold Story…
by Peter Schweizer
Average rating: 3.8
Paperback $10.49

Overview

In 2000, Bill and Hillary Clinton owed millions of dollars in legal debt. Since then, they’ve earned over $130 million. Where did the money come from? Most people assume that the Clintons amassed their wealth through lucrative book deals and high-six figure fees for speaking gigs. Now, Peter Schweizer shows who is really behind those enormous payments.

In his New York Times bestselling books Extortion and Throw Them All Out, Schweizer detailed patterns of official corruption in Washington that led to congressional resignations and new ethics laws. In Clinton Cash, he follows the Clinton money trail, revealing the connection between their personal fortune, their “close personal friends,” the Clinton Foundation, foreign nations, and some of the highest ranks of government.

Schweizer reveals the Clinton’s troubling dealings in Kazakhstan, Colombia, Haiti, and other places at the “wild west” fringe of the global economy. In this blockbuster exposé, Schweizer merely presents the troubling facts he’s uncovered. Meticulously researched and scrupulously sourced, filled with headline-making revelations, Clinton Cash raises serious questions of judgment, of possible indebtedness to an array of foreign interests, and ultimately, of fitness for high public office.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times
“The most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle”
The Wall Street Journal
“Fascinating.”
Lawrence Lessig
“On any fair reading, the pattern of behavior that Schweizer has charged is corruption.”
Jeffrey D. Sachs
“The new book Clinton Cash: is compelling reading on how Bill and Hillary have mixed personal wealth, power, and influence peddling.”
Eleanor Clift
“[Schweizer] is an equal-opportunity investigator, snaring Republicans as well as Democrats.”
Nomi Prins
“[Clinton Cash] provides a damning portrait of elite and circumspect power and influence.”
Forbes
“Schweizer lays out compelling patterns in which the timing of policy decisions or international deals relative to donations, transcends coincidence - or at least, merits closer inspection. He narrates with crisp prose and illuminating detail.”
The New York Post
“Thank goodness, then, for Peter Schweizer and his blockbuster expose “Clinton Cash”
Peggy Noonan
“…a highly effective takedown.”
American Spectator
“Schweizer reports on the Clintons’ enormous graft and corruption…There never has been a family like this in American history, not the Longs of Louisiana, not the scamps at Tammany Hall. The Clintons are a first, and with the help of journalists and then investigators they could be the last.”
Donald Trump
“They made speeches for a lot of money and then things happened, I mean, if you read that book, that book is amazing. ”



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-campaign-ceo-stephen-bannon-anti-semitic-remarks/

Donald Trump campaign CEO accused of making anti-Semitic remarks
CBS/AP
August 27, 2016, 9:10 AM

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LOS ANGELES -- An ex-wife of Donald Trump’s new campaign CEO, Stephen Bannon, said Bannon made anti-Semitic remarks when the two battled over sending their daughters to private school nearly a decade ago, according to court papers reviewed Friday by The Associated Press.

What is the alt-right movement and what does Trump's campaign CEO have to do with it?

That revelation came a day after reports emerged that domestic violence charges were filed 20 years ago against Bannon following an altercation with his then-wife, Mary Louise Piccard.

In a sworn court declaration following their divorce, Piccard said her ex-husband had objected to sending their twin daughters to an elite Los Angeles academy because he “didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews.”

“He said he doesn’t like Jews and that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiney brats,’” Piccard said in a 2007 court filing.

Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News, took the helm of Trump’s campaign last week in yet another leadership shake-up. The campaign has been plagued by negative stories about staffers, including charges lodged against his former campaign manager following an altercation with a reporter, and questions about his former campaign chairman’s links with Russian interests.

On Friday, the Florida secretary of state’s office told CBS News that Bannon recently changed his voter registration reportedly from an address where a vacant home was due to be demolished.

Alexandra Preate, a spokeswoman for Bannon, denied Friday night that he made anti-Semitic remarks about the private school. “He never said that,” Preate said, adding that Bannon was proud to send his daughters to the school.

Trump has previously been criticized for invoking anti-Semitic stereotypes, including tweeting out an anti-Hillary Clinton image that included a Star of David atop a pile of money.

He also raised eyebrows when he spoke in front of the Republican Jewish Coalition and declared, “I’m a negotiator like you folks were negotiators.”

Clinton has tried in recent days to highlight Trump’s popularity with white nationalist and supremacist groups. She delivered a speech Thursday that linked him with the “alt-right” movement, which is often associated with efforts on the far right to preserve “white identity,” oppose multiculturalism and defend “Western values.”

Trump has pushed back, defending himself and his supporters, and labeling Clinton “a bigot” for supporting policies he argues have ravaged minority communities.

Trump has noted that his daughter, Ivanka, would soon be having another Jewish child. Ivanka Trump converted to Orthodox Judaism when she married Jared Kushner, a young real estate developer who has become a driving force in his father-in-law’s campaign.

The court filing was among several documents related to Bannon and Picard’s voluminous divorce case, filed in 1997, which was revisited several times as Piccard sought support for tuition and other expenses. The documents reviewed by the AP were part of a request for Bannon to pay $25,000 in legal fees and to cover the $64,000 in tuition it cost to send both girls to The Archer School for Girls for the 2007-08 school year.

Bannon’s remarks about Jews followed other comments that caught Piccard’s attention when they were visiting private schools in 2000.

At one school, she said, he asked the director why there were so many Hanukkah books in the library. At another school, he asked Piccard if it bothered her that the school used to be in a temple.

“I said, ‘No,’ and asked why he asked,” Piccard said. “He did not respond.”

Piccard said Bannon wanted the girls to attend a Catholic school.

In 2007, when the girls were accepted at Archer, he told Piccard he objected because of the number of Jews in attendance.

Piccard filed for divorce in January 1997, just over a year after she told police Bannon roughed her up on New Year’s Day 1996 following a spat over money, in which she spit on him.

A police report obtained by the AP said he grabbed her wrist and “grabbed at” her neck. When she tried to call 911, she told police that Bannon grabbed the phone and threw it across the room. An officer who responded reported seeing red marks on her wrist and neck.

Bannon was charged in 1996 with misdemeanor witness intimidation, domestic violence with traumatic injury and battery, according to a Santa Monica, California, police report. The charges were dropped after his estranged wife didn’t show up at trial, according to court records.

Piccard said in her declaration that she skipped the trial after Bannon and his lawyer arranged for her to leave town. She said Bannon had told her the lawyer would make her look like the guilty party if she testified and the attorney told her she’d be broke if Bannon went to jail.

The Trump campaign declined to comment on the abuse charges. But Preate said police never interviewed Bannon. She added that Bannon has a great relationship with his ex-wife and kids.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trumps-ceo-changed-his-florida-voter-registration-this-week/

Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon changed his Florida voter registration this week
By REBECCA SHABAD CBS NEWS
August 26, 2016, 6:19 PM


Donald Trump’s campaign CEO Steve Bannon is now registered to vote in Florida’s Sarasota County, according to public records.

Florida’s secretary of state’s office told CBS News that Bannon has been registered in Sarasota as of Thursday at an address in Nokomis, along the Gulf Coast.

Records provided by the secretary of state’s office showed he had previously been registered in Miami-Dade County, as reported by The Guardian Friday morning. Its initial report said that he was still registered there, which was at an address where there is a vacant home that’s due to be demolished. The newspaper later updated its report, noting that Bannon is now registered in Sarasota.

The new address under which Bannon is registered is a property owned by Andrew and Melissa Badolato. Andrew Badolato has written for Breitbart, where Bannon served as the chairman until Trump hired him last week as his CEO. Badolato has also worked with Bannon on the production of political films, according to The Guardian.

A spokeswoman for Bannon and a spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately respond to requests from CBS News asking whether Bannon plans to vote in Florida in November’s election.

The Guardian’s report said Bannon rented the Miami-Dade house for his ex-wife, but didn’t live there himself. Florida law requires its voters to live at a Florida address in the county where they’re registered, and submission of false voter registration information is a violation of Florida state code. The secretary of state’s office could not confirm whether Bannon had ever cast a ballot in Florida at the previous address. He has been registered in Florida since 2014.

News about Bannon’s voter registration status in the key battleground state comes as Trump has warned his supporters about the election being “rigged” and advising them to act as poll-watchers on Election Day.