Scandals At State: How Clinton, Kerry Used Office To Enrich Their Families

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/scandals-at-state-how-
clinton-kerry-used-office-to-enrich-their-families/

Corruption: What is it about Democrats and the State Department? Despite
their repeated claims of transparency, it turns out that both Hillary
Clinton and current Secretary of State John Kerry used their positions to
enrich members of their own families -- at taxpayer expense.

As the murky ties between the Clinton Foundation and Hillary's State
Department become clearer, a new report from the Daily Caller notes that
current Secretary of State Kerry's daughter received money for her
nonprofit group from State.

Indeed, the Daily Caller investigation shows that more than $9 million of
State Department money made its way through the Peace Corps to the
nonprofit started by Dr. Vanessa Kerry, John Kerry's daughter. And the
money was handed out without competition.

Kerry's nonprofit, Seed Global Health, got its first contract in 2012.
Yes, that was when Hillary was still in office. But John Kerry then was a
senator who headed the Committee on Foreign Relations, which is charged
with overseeing both the State Department and the Peace Corps.

There is a clear conflict of interest there.

That's bad enough. But last year, in September, the Seed group got a four-
year extension on its deal while John Kerry was secretary of state.

Another conflict of interest. Crony capitalism, anyone? Whether you think
that what Seed does in Africa -- it helps train doctors and nurses -- is
valuable or not, this no-competition grant to a nonprofit founded by a top
official's daughter reeks of rank favoritism at best, corruption at worst.

"Kerry and government officials colluded to launch the program and ensure
that Seed would get the contract," the Daily Caller concluded, after
reviewing the relevant memos and papers related to the deal.

But it doesn't end there. Because, even as the Kerry deal was being
revealed, further strands of the heretofore hidden ties between then-
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation and a
mysterious Russian billionaire with close ties to Vladimir Putin are
coming to light.

The Washington Examiner got its hands on emails showing that the Clinton
Foundation sought ties with Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg at a
time when he was in charge of an important element of then-Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton's "Russian reset."

Hillary helped create "a major technology transfer initiative" that "may
have substantially undermined U.S. national security," according to Peter
Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute and the
author of " Clinton Cash."

Part of the "reset" was the creation of "Skolkovo," an industrial enclave
near Moscow that was to become a kind of Russian Silicon Valley. The idea
was to encourage U.S. firms to help out with both technology and
investment, in exchange for market access.

Despite warnings from both the FBI and her own State Department about the
possibility of Russia getting access to militarily sensitive technologies,
Hillary went ahead with the program. Why?

At the time, Vekselberg -- head of the Skolkovo Foundation and a pal of
Vladimir Putin -- was also a contributor to the Clinton Foundation. These
ties later proved quite lucrative, with 17 of the 28 American companies
that participated in the Skolkovo project also being donors to the Clinton
Foundation.

All the way back in 2010, as Skolkovo was getting underway, former
President Bill Clinton traveled to Russia to deliver a speech for which he
was paid $500,000 by a mysterious Russian investment bank named
"Renaissance Capital." While there he met with a variety of movers and
shakers, including Vekselberg.

With the Clintons, one hand always washes the other.

Now that it has been revealed that thousands of emails on Hillary's
unsecured home-brew server have been intentionally destroyed, it is
certainly fitting to wonder whether damning or incriminating evidence
about the Clinton Foundation and its ties to Hillary's office at the State
Department was destroyed.

The U.S. State Department used to be known for its high-toned and
principled stands in defense of U.S. foreign-policy goals and interests.
But today, after two Democratic leaders, it appears to be more of a
revolving door for crony capitalists.

We would hope Congress would continue to investigate the email scandal and
what appears to be rampant abuse of office that has taken place at the
State Department over the past eight years. Such clear conflicts of
interest used to raise political hackles.

Congress should, at minimum, make sure that future secretaries of state no
longer abuse their office to personally enrich their families and friends.
Anything less is to condone criminality.


--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.

Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for ending the disaster of the
Obama presidency.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.

ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.

Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.

Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.