Clintons Sell Multimillion Dollar Trust
Bansh...@gmail.com
Clintons sell multimillion-dollar trust to avoid conflicts
POSTED: 6:11 p.m. EDT, June 15, 2007
Story Highlights
· Bill and Hillary Clinton liquidated blind trust worth between $5 and
$25 million
· Trust included stock in oil and drug companies, military contractors
and Wal-Mart
· Stock sold could have created conflicts of interest or proven
embarrassing
· Clinton's worth at least $10 million and may be worth as much as $50
million
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bill and Hillary Clinton liquidated the contents of
their blind trust upon learning it contained investments of $5 million
to $25 million that could pose conflicts of interest or prove to be
embarrassing to her presidential campaign.
The blind trust and a bank account valued in the same range place the
Clintons' total wealth at between $10 million and $50 million.
The Clintons looked at the contents of the blind trust in April under
instructions from the Office of Government Ethics and sold the assets
in May, according to a disclosure form filed Friday. The Clintons had
the blind trust since former President Clinton was governor of
Arkansas in 1983 and had no control over its transactions.
Once they peered inside it, they discovered it included investments in
oil and drug companies, military contractors and Wal-Mart, campaign
spokesman Phil Singer said.
The report, filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission and the
Office of Government Ethics, provides the most detailed look at the
Clintons' holdings as their wealth has expanded since the former
president left the White House in 2001.
The new report also shows that the former president made $16 million
in speaking fees between January 2006 and Wednesday. So far this year,
Bill Clinton has given 34 paid speeches for a total of $5.9 million.
(Full story)
Trust included oil, drug companies
The blind trust held stock in pharmaceutical companies, including
$250,000-$500,000 in Biogen Idec and Johnson & Johnson and $100,000-
$250,000 in Amgen, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline. It also invested in
General Electric and Raytheon, two leading defense contractors. The
trust had a varied portfolio, with investments in numerous other
companies, including Exxon Mobil, BP Amoco, Walt Disney and eBay.
The report said all the proceeds of the sales are being placed in a
cash account. The massive unloading of stock means the Clintons face
large capital gains taxes.
Though all the blind trust transactions were handled over the years by
a trustee without the Clintons' knowledge, some of the holdings could
have been awkward for Hillary Clinton as she pursues the Democratic
presidential nomination.
The blind trust held stock worth $100,000-$250,000 in NewsCorp, the
parent company of Fox News, which many Democrats have denounced as
biased against them. The trust also held stock in Wal-Mart and Wal-
Mart de Mexico.
The senator served on the Wal-Mart board from 1986 to 1992, and was
close with the Walton family that created the nation's largest
retailer. But she has recently called on the company to provide better
worker benefits and last year her Senate campaign returned $5,000 to
Wal-Mart's political action committee. At the time, Clinton campaign
spokeswoman Ann Lewis said the money was returned "because of serious
differences with current company practices."
Friday's report comes on the heels of Hillary Clinton's Senate
disclosure report, made public Thursday, which only covered activity
in 2006 and did not reflect this year's liquidation of the blind
trust.
Clinton and other presidential candidates were required to file
financial disclosure documents with the Office of Government Ethics by
May 15. But Clinton and Republican candidates Mitt Romney and John
McCain asked for 45-day extensions because they all had blind trusts
that the ethics office demanded be opened.
Campaign: Reporting goes 'above and beyond' requirements
"As a presidential candidate, Sen. Clinton was required to make her
assets public," campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said. "As a result,
she had to dissolve her blind trust. Upon its dissolution, she and the
president chose to go above and beyond what was required of them and
liquidate their assets in order to avoid even the hint of a conflict
of interest."
When it comes to family affluence, the reports show that the New York
senator is the wealthiest of all members of Congress seeking the
presidency. Among all presidential candidates, however, Republican
Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, stands alone with
assets of between $190 million and $250 million. Republican Rudy
Giuliani and Democrat John Edwards have each reported assets of about
$30 million.
Last year and this year, Bill Clinton earned fees from $100,000 to
$450,000 speaking to such corporations as IBM, General Motors, and
Cisco Systems, finance giants such as Goldman Sachs and Lehman
Brothers, and trade groups such as the National Association of
Realtors and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He also has been paid
to speak to nonprofit or charity groups, including the TJ Martell
Foundation, which finances leukemia research, Nelson Mandela's
Children's Fund and, last March, to the Boys and Girls Club of Los
Angeles.
Kris Baker
<Bansh...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1181954209.0...@m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
>CNN.com
>Clintons sell multimillion-dollar trust to avoid conflicts
I don't know what this has to do with celebrity gossip, but:
good for them!
Kris
Wull
Quelle surprise!
I think they are the most notorious couple since Bonnie and Clyde or maybe
Adam and Eve.
So, tell us Kris, what is your definition of a celebrity?
Wull
"Kris Baker" <kris....@prodigyyy.net> wrote in message
news:bIGci.29803$JZ3....@newssvr13.news.prodigy.net...
cuh...@webtv.net
cuhulin
Bansh...@gmail.com
> Does this post mean that you think the Clintons are not celebrities?
>
> Quelle surprise!
>
> I think they are the most notorious couple since Bonnie and Clyde or maybe
> Adam and Eve.
>
> So, tell us Kris, what is your definition of a celebrity?
>
> Wull
>
>
> news:bIGci.29803$JZ3....@newssvr13.news.prodigy.net...
>
>
>
>
>
> > <Banshu.I...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:1181954209.0...@m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> >>CNN.com
> >>Clintons sell multimillion-dollar trust to avoid conflicts
>
> > I don't know what this has to do with celebrity gossip, but:
> > good for them!
>
>
> - Show quoted text -
Krissy thinks her definition of celebz are old prune faces Madonna and
Cher, although I think they're worse really. They're really walking
skeletons if you ask me, and ol' Krissy find them attractive.
Bansh...@gmail.com
>
> Quelle surprise!
>
> I think they are the most notorious couple since Bonnie and Clyde or maybe
> Adam and Eve.
>
> So, tell us Kris, what is your definition of a celebrity?
>
> Wull
>
>
> news:bIGci.29803$JZ3....@newssvr13.news.prodigy.net...
>
>
>
>
>
> > <Banshu.I...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:1181954209.0...@m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> >>CNN.com
> >>Clintons sell multimillion-dollar trust to avoid conflicts
>
> > I don't know what this has to do with celebrity gossip, but:
> > good for them!
>
Bansh...@gmail.com
> klintoons,,,, www.softwar.net
> cuhulin
Never really like 'em.