A front page exclusive in Thursday’s Washington Post details the extent to which former President Bill Clinton’s personal wealth is deeply “intertwine[d]” with the growth of the Clinton Foundation yet the “Big Three” (ABC, CBS, and NBC) networks have so far yawned at the story and given it zero coverage.
Reporter Rosalind Helderman highlighted how “Bill Clinton was paid at least $26 million in speaking fees by companies and organizations that are also major donors to the foundation he created after leaving the White House..The amount, about one-quarter of Clinton’s overall speaking income between 2001 and 2013, demonstrates how closely intertwined Bill and Hillary Clinton’s charitable work has become with their growing personal wealth.”
From the Post report:
The Clintons’ relationships with major funders present an unusual political challenge for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Now that she has formally entered the presidential race, the family may face political pressure and some legal requirements to provide further details of their personal finances and those of the foundation, giving voters a clearer view of the global network of patrons that have supported the Clintons and their work over the past 15 years.
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The Post analysis shows that, among the approximately 420 organizations that paid Bill Clinton to speak during those years, 67 were also foundation donors that each gave the charity at least $10,000.
Many of those funders were major financial institutions that are viewed suspiciously by liberals whom Clinton has been courting as she seeks to secure the Democratic nomination — and avoid a vigorous primary challenge from the populist left.
Four major financial firms — Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup — collectively have given between $2.75 million and $11.5 million to the charity, which is now called the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. Between 2001 and 2013, their combined speech payments to Bill Clinton came to more than $3 million.
Furthermore, Helderman explains how the lines between Bill Clinton’s personal wealth and his role at the foundation have become increasingly blurred:
What sets the Clintons apart is the vast reach of their donor network and the extent to which they have tapped it for the broad range of their personal, political and charitable work.
The Post’s analysis, based on foundation disclosures, State Department documents, financial filings and other records, shows that the lines between Clinton’s paid speeches and his work for the foundation often blurred as he traveled the world promoting the charity and reaping millions in payments.
In addition to the networks ignoring the complicated web between the Clintons’ personal wealth and the growth of the Clinton Foundation, the Big Three have shown their eagerness to delete Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal from their airwaves. A recent Media Research Center study found that since the scandal first broke in March, network coverage has fallen by more than 93 percent.
Will the Big Three continue their practice of downplaying, or in the case of the Clintons' growing wealth, ignore this story altogether, or will they actually provide full coverage of their controversies surrounding their personal fortune and the rise of the Clinton Foundation? Stay tuned.
