Memorandum Re Background on Teneo and Clinton Foundation Act

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Memorandum Re Background on Teneo and Clinton Foundation Act

Postby admin » Fri Oct 28, 2016 8:50 pm

Memorandum Re Background on Teneo and Clinton Foundation Activities
by Wikileaks

MEMORANDUM
November 16, 2011
Attorney-Client Privilege

To: Victoria Bjorklund, Simpson Thatcher Jennifer Reynoso, Simpson Thatcher

 Copy: President Bill Clinton, Clinton Foundation Founder Chelsea Clinton, Board Member, Clinton Foundation Terry McAuliffe, Board Member, Clinton Foundation Bruce Lindsey, Board Member, Clinton Foundation John Podesta, Special Advisor to the Clinton Foundation Board

Re: Background on Teneo and Foundation Activities

Cheryl, John and Terry suggested that I provide you with this memorandum to share background on Teneo, a corporate entity established in June 2011, which subsumed DK Consulting, as well as about Clinton Foundation matters (the Foundation).

In June 2009, DK Consulting was founded by Declan Kelley. [1] Mr. Kelly served as COO of FTI Consulting until June 2009, when he stepped down and established DK Consulting. At that time, he also became the United States Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland. Pursuant to the terms of his exit agreement with FTI and consistent with the ethics agreement of his uncompensated special government employee appointment at the State Department, Mr. Kelly retained and continued to provide services to three paying clients (Coke, Dow, and UBS) and one pro bono client (Allstate). In late 2009, Declan retained me as a consultant to DK Consulting to help support the needs of these clients.

In May 2011, Mr. Kelly resigned his Envoy position at the State Department. In June 2011, Mr. Kelly and I founded Teneo Strategies; simultaneously, Mr. Kelly closed DK Consulting and shifted its clients to Teneo. Additionally, his non compete with FTI expired and he was free to begin working with his former clients which he had built over his 15 year career totaling several hundred around the world. By the time he sold his company he had built Financial Dynamics into the largest financial communications company in the world with 1000 employees and offices in 28 countries. Mr. Kelly had by then also represented or advised a large number of Fortune 500 companies in one form or another.

Given concerns that have been expressed about the role of Teneo in the Foundation’s and the President’s activities, as well as regarding support I provide for President’s for-profit business activities, I wanted to take this opportunity to share information and help clarify my activities on behalf of the President –both on behalf of non-profit Foundation activities and the management of the his for-profit business opportunities.

Throughout the past almost 11 years since President Clinton left office, I have sought to leverage my activities, including my partner role at Teneo, to support and to raise funds for the Foundation. This memorandum strives to set forth how I have endeavored to support the Clinton Foundation and President Clinton personally.

Foundation Fundraising

Since its inception, the Foundation has raised funds to cover its infrastructure and operating costs. In 2001, after Terry McAuliffe raised the initial $100 million to build the Library, an additional $100 million needed to be raised to complete the $165 million building and fund the library endowment required by the United State Government. Funds also then needed to be raised to fund the Foundation’s operating costs, which today annually runs near $20 million. That figure doesn’t include some of the initiatives within the foundation or many of the other initiatives President Clinton chooses to incorporate into the foundation activities such as Katrina, the Tsunami and Haiti.

The Foundation has engaged an array of fundraising consultants over the past decade to help raise these funds; however, these engagements have not resulted in significant new dollars for the Foundation. For example, the Foundation paid John O’Donnell and Associates $700,000 in fees but it had limited success in raising new dollars for the Foundation; in other instances, the Foundation has paid consultants a percentage of the funds they have raised. The Foundation also has hired employees with development experience ( e.g., the Foundation hired Dennis Cheng this year) to fundraise for the Foundation. Rightly or wrongly, I believe – given the Foundation’s need to raise funds, the willingness of the partner owners of Teneo to help fundraise, and my historical role in carrying the majority of the fundraising burden – that Teneo should help raise funds for the Foundation, which it has. To the best of my knowledge, other individuals within the foundation who have or have had outside consulting engagements or affiliations with law firms or business, those have not been leveraged into support for the Foundation.

$100M Infrastructure and Endowment Fundraising

In 2001, the Foundation did not have the internal capacity to raise the $100M to complete the library building and endowment costs. Accordingly, Justin Cooper and I developed and implemented a strategy [2] to help raise the bulk of these funds from individuals, corporate entities, and foreign government contributing on behalf of their nations. This effort, which raised well over $150 million, much of it from people who did not know President Clinton when he was in office, took 7 years to complete.

Annual Operating Cost Fundraising

As stated above, the Foundation today has an annual operating budget in excess of $20 million. Historically, the Foundation has not had the resident capacity to raise these funds annually; though we in the past engaged development consultant to help. To raise the more than $120 million the Foundation has used to operate since 2001 – including funding for the now affiliated entities, Justin and I have helped to raise the majority of the funds. Since 2006, approximately $6-11 million of the Foundation’s operating costs have been covered by net proceeds from CGI ($46 million total to date). CGI and our fundraising efforts have generated sufficient funds to establish a quasi endowment, which today stands at $18 or so million. [3] Since 2003, we have developed strategies to raise the approximately $6-10 million a year gap between the net proceeds from CGI and our annual operating budget. This gap is largely funded through direct solicitations by Justin and me, some through speeches the President gives on behalf of the Foundation, through events, finding partners throughout the world to donate if we attend there dinner or event, auctions and so on.

Teneo

Teneo was established in June 2011. It has three partner/owners – Declan Kelly, Paul Keary and Doug Band. We have offices in 3 places, and employ more than 65 individuals. Teneo provides the following services to its 18 clients: merchant and investment banking services, corporate restructuring, public relations and communication services, and strategic advising services. As of 30 October 2011, we have 20 clients, a list of which is enclosed.

Cognizant of the Foundation’s significant fundraising needs as well my role as the primary fundraiser for the Foundation for the past 11 years, as a partner in Teneo, Mr. Kelley and I have asked and encouraged our clients to contribute to the Foundation. [4] Through our efforts, we have brought new donors to the Foundation and garnered increased giving from existing donors. [5] Additionally, the foundation donors require significant maintenance to keep them engaged and supportive of the foundation. We have sought to make that the case when we could particularly as we are thinking more long term at things such as estate gifts and planned giving for the foundation.

Leveraging Teneo for the Foundation

Tenor Clients Who are New Large Donors to the Foundation:

Below are Teneo clients who either are new to the Foundation or who previously had a more limited giving relationship with the Foundation ( e.g., CGI membership). As Teneo partners, we have solicited our clients to contribute or to increase their contributions to the Foundation.

The Coca-Cola Company --- Total Giving: $4,330,000 [6]
2004: $250,000 year total – for the Operating Fund
2006: $30,000 year total – for CGI 2007: $30,000 year total – for CGI membership
 2008: $20,000 year total – for CGI membership
2009: $1,000,000 year total – for Operating Fund
2010: $3,000,000 year total – for Operating Fund

Mr. Kelly has advised the CEO of Coca Cola for years; he also enjoys a close relationship with one of the company’s largest shareholders Don Keogh. Mr. Kelly introduced the CEO of Coca Cola, Muhtar Kent, to President Clinton in January 2009 at a meeting he arranged at President Clinton’s home in DC. Over the course of 2009, Mr. Kelly cultivated Mr. Kent’s interest in the Foundation – first in CGI and the Foundation. Mr. Kelly asked Mr. Kent to give $5 million to the Foundation, which he pledged in early 2010. Mr. Kelly has collected $3 million of that pledge to date and he and I both will secure the remaining $2 million in the near future. [7]

The Dow Chemical Company – Total Giving: $780,000
2007: $15,000 year total – for CGI membership
2008: $20,000 year total – for CGI membership
2009: $40,000 year total – for CGI membership
2010: $190,000 year total – $40,000 to CGI membership; $150,000 to General Operating Fund
2011: $515,000 year total –for CGI;
$40,000 for membership
$225,000 to sponsor CGI America
$250,000 to sponsor CGI Annual Meeting

Mr. Kelly has advised Andrew Liveris for years. In August of 2009, Mr. Kelly invited Mr. Liveris to play golf with President Clinton and me. [8] Mr. Kelly subsequently asked Dow to become a CGI sponsor at the $500,000 level, which they did, as well as making a $150,000 donation to the Foundation for President Clinton to attend a Dow dinner in Davos. To date Mr. Kelly has secured Dow’s support for CGI 2012 for $250,000 as well as an oral commitment to host a CGI America event in Midland Michigan if President Clinton so chooses.

UBS– Total Giving: $540,000 (since 2005)
2005: $25,000 year total – for Katrina
2006: $15,000 year total – for CGI membership
2007: $90,000 year total – for CGI membership
2008: $20,000 year total – for CGI membership
2010: $20,000 year total – for CGI membership
2011: $370,000 year total – $20,000 for CGI membership;
$350,000 for Clinton Economic Opportunity

Bob Mccann is the head of UBS Wealth Management and a long time client and close friend of Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kelly introduced Mr. Mccann to President Clinton at an American Ireland Fund event in 2009. Mr. Kelly subsequently asked Mr. Mccann to support the Foundation, which he did via the Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative. Mr. Kelly also encouraged Mr. Mccann to invite President Clinton to give several paid speeches, which he has done.

The American Ireland Fund (AIF) – Total Giving: $350,000
2010: $250,000 year total – for the Operating Fund
2011: $100,000 year total – for the Operating Fund

Mr. Kelly is a trustee of AIF; he has urged and ensured that the AIF is a significant donor to the Foundation. Mr. Kelly has successfully secured $350,000 to date. Mr. Kelly also will continue giving in the coming years as well through the AIF.

The All-State Corporation – Total Giving: $265,000 ($500,000 pledge).
2008: $15,000 year total – for Center Sponsorships
2011: $250,000 year total – for CGI (Annual Meeting sponsorship)

Mr. Kelly brought Joan Walker, his long time friend, to meet President Clinton at his home in Chappaqua in 2010. Mr. Kelly then asked her to be a Foundation donor; she agreed to sponsor CGI for 2 years at $250,000 a year starting in 2011.

Barclays Capital --- Total Giving: $1,100,000 (since 2008)
2008: $40,000 year total – for CGI membership
2009: $40,000 year total – for CGI membership
2010: $520,000 year total – for CGI membership and sponsorship
2011: $500,000 year total – for CGI sponsorship

Teneo does limited work with Barclays. In 2010, Teneo partners encouraged Barclays give $500,000 a year to CGI, which they have done for two years to date.

Indo Gold – Total Giving: $100,000 with a $150,000 commitment
2010: $50,000 year total – for CGI (Annual Meeting sponsorship)
2011: $50,000 year total – for CGI (Annual Meeting sponsorship)

Indo gold is a small Teneo client that we asked to become a CGI sponsor.

BHP Billiton Limited – Total Giving: $20,000 for CGI 2011.

BHP, one of the world’s largest companies, had never sent anyone to attend CGI nor has any relationship with the Foundation. A client of Teneo’s since early 2011, Teneo partners encouraged them to send a senior person to CGI in 2011 to begin building a stronger relationship between BHP and the Foundation/President Clinton.

Teneo [9] Total Giving – $100,000
2011 – $100,000

Teneo donated $100,000 to the Foundation in 2011 and made two CGI commitments.

Tenor Clients Who are Pre-existing Donors to the Foundation:

The following are current Teneo clients whose relationship with President Clinton and the Clinton Foundation pre-dated their client relationship with Teneo.

GEMS Education – Total Giving: $780,000 (since 2008)
2008: $5,000 year total – for CGI
2010: $500,000 year total – for CGI Sponsorship
2011: $275,000 year total – $250,000 for CGI

Gems approached President Clinton in 2009 to seek his personal services as an advisor to the company. Justin and I convinced them to initiate a relationship to Foundation, which they did; that relationship has grown into a business relationship for President Clinton and a donor relationship for CGI.

The Rockefeller Foundation – Total Giving: $4,276,841 (since 2006)
2006: $350,000 year total – for CGI (Annual Meeting sponsorship)
2007: $350,000 year total – for CGI (Annual Meeting sponsorship)
2008: $2,050,000 year total – $350,000 for CGI (Meeting sponsorship), $1,700,000 for CCI
2009: $1,176,016 year total – $350,000 for CGI (Meeting sponsorship),
$300,000 for CCI, $526,016 for HIV/AIDS (Rwanda)
2010: $350,825 year total – $350,000 for CGI (Annual Meeting sponsorship), $850 for Haiti

Mr. Kelly was introduced to Judy Rodin, the head of the Rockefeller foundation, by Andrew Liveris. Judy and Andrew are close friends and Judy asked Andrew who could help and advise her and the Rockefeller foundation. Andrew suggested she meet with Mr. Kelly which she did and quickly hired him to advise her and the foundation. Mr. Kelly has become a close advisor to Judy Rodin and the Rockefeller foundation which has been supportive of the Foundation for years. Mr. Kelly is counseling Ms. Rodin on where to direct Rockefeller funds for 2012; Mr. Kelly is seeking to obtain more support for the Foundation.

Laureate International Universities – Total Giving: $1,401,332
2009: $1,150,000 – for CGI ($400,000 for CGI Asia sponsorship, $750,000 for CGI Annual Meeting sponsorship)
2010: $201,332 year total – $200,000 for CGI (Annual Meeting sponsorship), $1,332 of which for CBHF
2011: $50,000 year total – for CGI University

Laureate is a Foundation relationship that evolved into a personal advisory services business relationship for President Clinton. I have managed this relations and, since 2011, Teneo partners have helped manage this relationship, which is very time-consuming. Laureate pays President Clinton $3.5 million annually to provide advice and serve as their Honorary Chairman.

Teneo Client’s who have no relationship to the Foundation

The remainder of the clients have no relationship with the Foundation and were either clients of Declans in his previous position or were clients of employees of Teneo that they have brought with them to the firm.

ATT
Black Diamond
Bank of America [10]
Firebird Liberty Mutual
Stone Harbor
Frank Stronach
TiVo
UBS AG
Mylan

For-Profit Activity of President Clinton (i.e., Bill Clinton, Inc.)

Independent of our fundraising and decision-making activities on behalf of the Foundation, we have dedicated ourselves to helping the President secure and engage in for-profit activities – including speeches, books, and advisory service engagements. In that context, we have in effect served as agents, lawyers, managers and implementers to secure speaking, business and advisory service deals. In support of the President’s for-profit activity, we also have solicited and obtained, as appropriate, in-kind services for the President and his family – for personal travel, hospitality, vacation and the like. Neither Justin nor I are separately compensated for these activities ( e.g., we do not receive a fee for, or percentage [11] of, the more than $50 million in for-profit activity we have personally helped to secure for President Clinton to date or the $66 million in future contracts, should he choose to continue with those engagements).

With respect to business deals for his advisory services, Justin and I found, developed and brought to President Clinton multiple arrangements for him to accept or reject. Of his current 4 arrangements, we secured all of them; and, we have helped manage and maintain all of his for-profit business relationships. Since 2001, President Clinton’s business arrangements have yielded more than $30 million for him personally, with $66 million to be paid out over the next nine years should he choose to continue with the current engagements.

President Clinton Paid Speeches: In support of the President’s paid speech activity, Teneo partners have created and secured the following paid speeches for President Clinton.

UBS – $900,000 - $450,000 in 2011; $450,000 to be paid in 2012 Mr. Kelly asked UBS to offer President Clinton paid speeches based upon a concept he developed with Bob Mccann for the firm’s clients. In addition to the $540,000 UBS contributed to the Foundation, Teneo partners have secured a commitment from UBS for President Clinton to deliver three additional paid speeches for them in 2012, should he choose to do so.

Ericson – $750,000 plus $400,000 for a private plane After meeting one of Director of Ericsson on a business trip, I learned that they were sponsoring an inaugural event in China. I pursued them to invite President Clinton to China to speak at this event. I negotiated a fee for President Clinton of $1 million dollars to speak for two one-hour sessions in Hong Kong, which he did this past weekend. In addition to the $1 million speaking fee, I negotiated additional coverage of the cost of a private plane.

BHP – $175,000 in 2012 BHP is hosting a board of directors meeting in June of 2012. We encouraged them to do it in NY and pay Presdent Clinton through Walker. The offer is currently at the state department being vetted.

Lightining -- President Clinton recently turned down a 2 year, $8 million offer to become Honorary Chairman of Mati Kochavi’s new media business venture. Mati is a former client of Teneo who we were referred to through Marty Edelman. I went back to Mati and proposed a new structure without any business connectivity other than 4 speeches for $1 million and $250k to the foundation should President Clinton choose to accept it. That would also include any broadcasting of foundation events or anything President Clinton would like exposure for on his website. This offer will be presented to President Clinton in Walker speech invitations which he can choose to decline or accept with no role or relationship with the company.

Barclays -- Teneo cultivated its client relationship to help secure two paid speeches in 2010 and 2011 totaling more than $700,000.

Other Matters:

Justin Cooper and I have, for the past ten years, served as the primary contact and point of management for President Clinton’s activities – which span from political activity ( e.g., campaigning on behalf of candidates for elected office), to business activity ( e.g., providing advisory services to business entities with which he has a consulting arrangement), to Foundation activity ( e.g., supporting his engagement on behalf of the initiatives and affiliated entities of the Foundation), to his speech activity (e.g., soliciting speeches and staffing and supporting him on speech travel) to his book activity ( e.g., editing his books and arranging and supporting him on book tours) to supporting family/personal needs ( e.g., securing in-kind private airplane travel, in-kind vacation stays, and supporting family business and personal needs). In the unique roles in which we have had the opportunity to serve, we have been able to help balance the multiplicity of activities that demand his time and engagement to best fulfill his personal, political, business, official former President, and Foundation/non-profit goals.

We appreciate the unorthodox nature of our roles, and the goal of seeking ways to ensure we are implementing best practices to protect the 501(c)3status of the Foundation. [12] As we go forward, we welcome the opportunity to identify better strategies for serving the President, the Foundation and its affiliated entities.  
_______________

Notes:

1. Mr. Kelly was one of Secretary Clinton’s top fundraisers in 2008, raising in excess of $2 million for her Presidential campaign; he also raised funds for her 2000 and 2006 Senate campaigns as well as for President Obama in 2008.

2. This strategy included engaging the President’s time to undertake specific speeches, events, targeted donor meetings, and other activities, after which Justin and I would follow-up to seek support for the Foundation.

3. Each year we raised sufficient funds to both operate the Foundation and generate excess capacity, which has been set-aside in the quasi endowment. We have also been faced with events that have transpired that required unplanned funding ( e.g. , the Tsunami, the Gujarat earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake). We have been fortunate to raise funds to cover these unanticipated costs and to help defray additional Foundation costs by securing in-kind gifts of private airplanes for Foundation trips, office space for CGI (saving $5 million over 5 years), $2 million through an arrangement that I made with Sonia Gardner to relieve the Foundation ‘s obligation to the AHA initiative, $raising 21 million for the 65 th birthday, $2 million when the President recovered from his heart surgery and many other arrangements of this kind to fundraise. We have achieved these outcomes primarily through developing, cultivating and maintaining a global network of donors. The Foundation has had to draw down on the quasi-endowment, which originally stood at over $35 million as of 2007, to fund the $28M in unauthorized overruns in CHAI operating costs several times, and to fund the creation and operation of CCI for $7.6 million. Today, the quasi endowment stands at well over $20 million.

4. To date, Teneo partners have raised in excess of $8 million for the Foundation, more than $5.25 million of which is in the bank. Teneo partners also have generated over $3 million in paid speeches for President Clinton, $1.25 million of which has been paid to him thus far.

5. Teneo partners raise funds for the Foundation and contribute time, staff, resources and relationships of the firm to help generate these donations to[7] the Foundation.

6. Coca Cola has an additional $2 million commitment outstanding.

7. Mr. Kelly also was instrumental in my appointment by Mr. Kent to serve on the Coca Cola International Public Policy Advisory Board. Through this relationship, I have been able to get Coca Cola to sponsor many other Foundation initiatives and events such as the Hope Classic next year, supplying water to Haiti, investing in the Haiti hope juice as well as help individuals around the world, and support candidates running for office that President Clinton was supporting.

8. Mr. Liveris provided the Dow plane to fly President Clinton and his staff to and from California for our trip to, and from, North Korea. As a private trip, the Foundation had to pay the costs of airfare; Mr. Liveris’ in kind contribution saved the Foundation in excess of $100,000.

9. An issue that was raised to my attention was Teneo’s use of space on the 5 th floor of the Sheraton during CGI, a common occurrence, as I understand it for people to do at CGI. Teneo hosted 15 meetings in that room during the 4 days of CGI, primarily with the clients identified in this memo. I assumed CGI sent a bill for that room; when I recently learned we had not been billed, I directed that Teneo resources be used to pay any and all costs associated with the room they used during CGI. I believed, rightly or wrongly, that Teneo’s further development of its clients to be bigger donors to the Foundation and CGI was an important priority.

10. The Clinton’s have used Bank of America since 1992 in Little Rock for campaigns and various banking services including managing the foundation’s accounts. That local branch of the bank has supported the foundation largely because they have profited quite heavily given the 20-year relationship and the heavy amount of interest the Foundation was paying on the tens of millions of dollars it had to borrow in order to complete the library by November of 2004. That support came mostly in 2001 and 2003. Teneo represents Bank of America through the Ceo from the national organization and is a completely separate relationship established through a relationship of a Teneo employee.

11. For example, the Harry Walker agency, the President’s speaking agent, receives a10% fee on every paid speech without regard to whether they originated the speech. The agency conservatively estimates that in the last decade, $20 million in speeches for the President have derived sole from Justin and my efforts.

12. For example, I understand our policy on uncompensated (comped) passes to attend CGI is being reviewed. Historically, CGI has accommodated as many paying members as we can identify; the majority of members that attend are comped. In the absence of an established policy, there are a variety of methods used to determine who receives comped passes. We have comped individuals that fall primarily into the following categories: spouse of CGI employees, government employees, potential donors being cultivated – including target Teneo clients, President Clinton’s family and friends, family and friends of Foundation employees, guest requests of foreign dignitaries, and celebrities. As the Foundation identified a formal policy for comped passes, we encourage the creation of a policy that will be commonly applied – as opposed to applied by exception. We are happy to help identify the range of instances where comped passes benefit the goals of the Foundation so the final policy operates in service of the Foundation’s goals.
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Re: Memorandum Re Background on Teneo and Clinton Foundation

Postby admin » Fri Oct 28, 2016 8:56 pm

(Morning Joe) Destroys Corrupt Clinton Foundation (Laughable) "Total Corruption"
by Real News
10/27/16





Transcript:

[Mika Brzezinski] Alright, a lot of big stories to get to.

[Joe Scarborough ] Whoa! This Clinton, Inc. thing has just exploded!

[Mika Brzezinski] Wikileaks. Okay. Let’s go through this.

[Joe Scarborough] Hold on!

[Mika Brzezinski] This is huge!

[Joe Scarborough] Look at this! New York Times: “Donations to the Foundation Vexed Top Clinton Aides.”

[Mika Brzezinski] Wall Street Journal.

[Joe Scarborough] And you know, the interesting thing about this is it verifies what I think you said yesterday, that Philippe and everybody were just absolutely horrified what they had gotten themselves in to. That they walked into this campaign with this. And I guess Philippe at one point said, “There’s no fixing this. There’s no quick fix. There is no good answer." Bill Clinton, Inc.! The Washington Post article is absolutely fascinating.

[Mika Brzezinski] Alright, let’s go through it.

[Joe Scarborough] $66 Million dollars to them personally. They’re like bragging.

[Nicolle Wallace] Do you think they’re hiring? $66 Million Dollars!

[Joe Scarborough] They’re bragging in the memo that they can shake down the same corporations that they’re taking Foundation money for, that they can shake them down for $66 Million dollars for “Bill Clinton, Inc.,” for Bill and Hillary Clinton personally. Does that confirm what you and a lot of Clinton skeptics that supported Bernie Sanders were worried about all along?

[Eddie Glaude, Jr.] Well it certainly – yes! Right? I mean, one of the things that the New York Times said was there’s no clear evidence of quid pro quo, right? But one of the things we do know is that it certainly confirms a deep suspicion that there’s an ethical deficit that defines how they operate in the political domain, and how they operate generally. That there’s an ethical and moral deficit.

[Joe Scarborough] And they’re actually bragging about being able to shake down Foundation clients for Bill Clinton money! Doug Band is bragging about it. And it’s not like Doug Band dreamed this up on his own. He was doing his bosses’ bidding.

[William Russell "Willie" Geist] You know, what’s really interesting, this was initiated by Chelsea. Chelsea Clinton went to the family’s attorneys, and said she was worried that Doug Band was hustling business and funneling it to her father.

[Nicolle Wallace] That happened when her name went on the Foundation, I think when she had a bigger role.

[Joe Scarborough] Is there anybody who believes that Doug Band, Mika, would be doing anything that Bill and Hillary Clinton didn’t want Doug Band to do?

[Mika Brzezinski] No. I know. This all starts with Bill Clinton. And I also think it’s one of those situations, when you really look at this, and we’ll go through it point by point, you have to be careful about throwing stones. Because I love the way everyone calls the Trumps, you know, “sleazy, trashy,” whatever, because of a picture, and you know money that they take from one company and give to another as a donation as opposed to their own money. All legal, but still they consider it “trashy” and “sleazy”. And you [Eddie] call this “ethically challenged.” It’s so funny that nobody talks like that about the Democrats.

[Joe Scarborough] This is sleazy, and everyone knows it’s sleazy. You’re trading in public service while someone is Secretary of State –-

[Mika Brzezinski] Larger amounts of money, and the world is used, as opposed to –-

[Joe Scarborough] Yeah, you’re shaking down the world for $66 million dollars, instead of a Rolex watch, or a life-size portrait. I mean, somebody is going to win a Pulitzer Prize for finding a life-size portrait of Donald Trump that he paid money for with the Foundation. We’re talking about $66 million dollars here, maybe 100 million –-

[Mika Brzezinski] I call that more than “ethically challenged.”

[Eddie Glaude, Jr.] I said, “ethical and moral deficit.”

[Joe Scarborough] That’s what he said!

[Mika Brzezinski] Ohhh!

[Nicolle Wallace] And I feel like we shouldn’t -– you’re just elegant. I feel like you’re elegant.

[Mika Brzezinski] For Trump?

[Joe Scarborough] He’s elegant.

[NEW YORK TIMES: CONCERNS OVER DONATIONS VEXED CLINTON’S TOP AIDES]

[Mika Brzezinski] The Clintons, and the Foundation bearing their name, are facing fresh scrutiny over extremely thin lines between the Organization and the Family’s multimillion dollar fortune. The revelation stems from the latest release of emails by Wikileaks, allegedly hacked from the personal account of Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta. In a purported 2011 memo from longtime aide to former President Bill Clinton, Doug Band lays out extensive fundraising efforts by him and his company Teneo on behalf of the Clinton Foundation, and the Clintons personally.

[THE WASHINGTON POST: TOP AIDE’S LEAKED MEMO DETAILS ‘BILL CLINTON INC.’]

The Washington Post reports that Band “detailed the circle of enrichment in which he raised money for the Clinton Foundation from top tier corporations such as Dow Chemical and Coca-Cola that were clients of his firm, while pressing many of those same donors to provide personal income to the former President. The memo, which came during Hillary Clinton’s time as Secretary of State, goes on to discuss how that work for the Foundation could be used to extract large speaking fees and other paid work for the former President, even referring to the operation as “Bill Clinton, Incorporated.” The Post adds that the contracts for the Clintons would pay out $66 million dollars over nine years if the deals remained in place.”

Eddie’s shaking his head, so I’m wondering whether there are new words coming from him like, “damn!” A part of the memo allegedly reads: “Independent of our fundraising and decision-making activities on behalf of the Foundation, we have dedicated ourselves to helping the President secure and engage in for-profit activities -– including speeches, books, and advisory service engagements.” “In support of the President’s for-profit activity, we also have solicited and obtained, as appropriate, in-kind services for the President and his family -– for personal travel, hospitality, vacation and the like.”

[Joe Scarborough] Nicolle, what you do think? How bad is this?

[Nicolle Wallace] Well, it’s not good.

[Joe Scarborough] Is that what they would say if the Bushes did this?

[Nicolle Wallace] Um, listen, the Bushes would never do this.

[Joe Scarborough] I know they wouldn’t.

[Nicolle Wallace] I think it’s so interesting what Willie said, that this came about because Chelsea Clinton started asking questions. And one of the other revelations I think that came out before this story did, is that she’s been called a “spoiled brat.” She doesn’t sound very bratty to me. She sounds pretty insightful.

[Mika Brzezinski] Uh hmm.

[Joe Scarborough] So Willie, this says basically everything that Ron Fournier has been saying for a year now. “Follow the money.” A source inside the Clinton camp -– oh, there it is: “Follow the money, my Clinton source said in 2015. Follow the money.” I mean, it’s trading in public service for hundreds of millions of dollars personally.

[William Russell “Willie” Geist] And again, just like the emails -–

[Joe Scarborough] And by the way, forget the State Department. Maybe they’re using the State Department. But using relief work in Haiti: “Hey, can you help the suffering in Haiti? It’s really important. Thanks. Listen, could you also give Bill Clinton $500,000 to give a speech in your corporate luxury box?"

[Mika Brzezinski] Yuck!

[William Russell “Willie” Geist] The emails also show that just like you talked about yesterday, that the people around her are well aware of the problem. I mean, Huma Abedin talked about how the King of Morocco gave $12 million dollars, right, to the Clinton Foundation, so Hillary goes to Morocco. And Huma writes in one of these emails about Hillary: “She created this mess and she knows it.” Everybody, the people closest to Hillary Clinton know, and Hillary Clinton must know on some level, that all of these things will not look good when you go into a presidential campaign. At best they are unethical. And now, again, the question has always been “Has it led to policy change?” “Was something done differently by Secretary Clinton as Secretary of State as a result of donations made to her and the Foundation and Bill Clinton?” That line hasn’t been drawn directly, yet again, I think if you find that line in the next 10 days, you’ve got a massive story in the election. This is big on its own, but if you find –-

[Mika Brzezinski] In a kind of morally-deficit kind of way, sleazy way, it’s gross! It’s gross! My father would find, like he just does not get how this has constantly happened in the Clinton empire, and even from connections to Wall Street, the Foundation, these thin lines, that it’s just perplexing to him that this seems to be acceptable.

[Joe Scarborough] Um, Mark Halperin, I actually find myself this morning stunned by how crude, how crude, and how crudely drawn out this was about the blurring of lines, of using a Foundation that you say you’re setting up to help the world, and at the same time you’re bragging about how you’re going to blur the lines between the money raised for the Foundation on the one hand, and on the other raise $66 million dollars for Bill Clinton, Inc. They’re bragging about it.

[Mark Halperin] There’s no question that if you’ve ever been to CGI, you see business going on. And that Bill Clinton, Doug Band, and others, enrich themselves by leveraging those relationships, and by offering access to people in the context of CGI. As Willie said, the big missing piece here, which doesn’t diminish scrutiny on the other things you’ve been talking about, is, “Did any of those people get stuff from the government when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State?” We already know they got the ability to rub elbows with people in the Clinton orbit. And I guarantee you, while some of those companies were motivated by doing good, some of them were motivated by at least also doing well.

[Joe Scarborough] Okay, so we have two different quid pro quos, two different blurring of the lines. We’ve got this one, the State Department, the world is talking about. We’ll see. One of these days we’ll find out if there was ever a quid pro quo. But what we certainly have here though is, on the Foundation side, the use of a Foundation to make hundreds of millions of dollars for the Clintons. Now, I wonder, is the attorney general of New York going to shut the Clinton Foundation down like he shut the Trump foundation down? I mean, from what I’ve seen, I think the Trump Foundation probably needed to be shut down. But those are just nickels and dimes compared to the money here. They’re using this Foundation, and they’re bragging about using this Foundation, to make the Clintons hundreds of millions of dollars. Shouldn’t the attorney general of the State of New York launch an investigation, and at least shut down the Foundation, like they did with the Trump Foundation until they learn -– because there’s so much more money involved here?

[Mark Halperin] Well, the Clinton Foundation does do a lot of stuff that’s good around the world. You can’t ignore that piece of it. I think the thing that’s going to get more scrutiny again is “Why were these people giving money?" The Clintons would say, “The heads of these corporations were our friends! And we were in business with them. And that’s why they learned about the fact—"

[Joe Scarborough] But Doug Band himself says, “We’re going to exploit the Foundation to make Bill Clinton Inc. $66 million dollars. We don’t have to look into anybody’s -– Nicolle, I don’t have to wonder why the CEO of Dow Chemical wanted to give Bill Clinton $500,000 anymore. Doug Band tells me he was shook down by Bill Clinton.

[Nicolle Wallace] I think the other half of the sentence was that in-coming. So he talks about the $66 million in hand, and there were another, I think in excess of $100 million, owed to them. So, I mean, it’s sort of the more you read, the more –-

[Mika Brzezinski] Value is increased by the fact that she’s Secretary of State.

[Nicolle Wallace] And I remember when Vice President Joe Biden was toying with getting into the race. Maureen Dowd wrote a piece, and there were other pieces about maybe one of his motivations, and one of the sort of hungers in the Democratic party, was someone who had a better set of moral and ethical codes. I mean, there has been angst about the Clintons since their time in the White House.

[Joe Scarborough] And you know, Eddie, you can look at Bill Clinton’s speeches. I’ve certainly read multiple press reports. He made $250,000 for speeches. And then Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State, and suddenly he became twice as effective a speaker, because he started getting paid $550,000 per speech.

[Eddie Glaude, Jr.] I mean, it doesn’t smell good! It doesn’t smell good at all. And part of what I think the Democratic primary revealed, was a deep-seated suspicion about her character. Not only her policies, but her character, her intimate relationship with Wall Street, with Big Money. And I think what this report around the Foundation reveals is it gives us evidence that this wasn’t just made up. Right? I mean, you think about that one, the $10 million from Victor the Ukrainian steel magnate, Victor Pinchuk, and how he demanded access to President Clinton, and if he didn’t get it, the relationship would –- well, what we see here isn’t the direct line of quid pro quo, but you see all of these connections, and these relationships, that complicate how we think her judgment will be exercised.

[Mark Halperin] And Joe, there’s another factor here, which is we know when Bill Clinton gives a speech, like a lot of ex-presidents, he makes big money for giving a speech. That may be overpriced, but that’s what the market is. It’s these other payments, these consulting payments. What did he actually do to be paid money as a consultant?

[Joe Scarborough] But what about this Laureate University?

[Mark Halperin] That is a very big one, because it goes to the nonprofit college industry.

[Joe Scarborough] How much did he get paid for that? $14 million? 15 million? It was some staggering number, over $15 per year.

[Mark Halperin] Yep. But what did they get for their money? What is he actually doing for them?

[Joe Scarborough] I think he gave a couple of speeches.

[Mark Halperin] He did. He did. And he attended some meetings. And he leant his prestige to their business.

[Joe Scarborough] But Willie and I have been trying that for several, because we were runners-up in the Nobel Prize like every year.

[William Russell “Willie” Geist] We carry that prestige around with us no matter what.

[Joe Scarborough] I would, if somebody paid me $14 million dollars to let me be their provost, I would. And I would not go around saying that I’m helping little kids in Haiti on one hand, and say –-

[Mika Brzezinski] They do great things at CGI.

[Joe Scarborough] Yeah, they help themselves! And also, this thing James Carville said, “Somebody is going to hell for talking about this,” you know, you can just help little kids in Haiti –-

[Nicolle Wallace] Without the $14 million?

[Joe Scarborough] You can just set up hospitals. There are a lot of people who do that. You know, Bill Gates actually gives his money away. It’s not a profit-generating, it’s not, using context, “Okay, here, pay Peter to pay Paul. Now pay Peter. Now pay Paul." Again, that’s not me talking really, that’s Doug Band in a memo talking about how they’re shaking down -– and by the way, when I say that’s Doug Band –-

[Mika Brzezinski] It’s the Clintons all over again!

[Joe Scarborough] It’s Bill and Hillary Clinton. It’s not Doug Band. Doug Band is one of the most loyal people I’ve ever met. He’s extraordinarily loyal to Bill Clinton. So loyal it was maddening at times. So loyal he didn’t care what anybody thought about him. He didn’t care who hated him. His job was to protect Bill Clinton. And I will say, he did it better than anybody I’ve ever met in my life, protecting a political person. He was inseparable from Bill Clinton. So when we say Doug Band, we’re really saying, Willie, I’m saying at least, Bill and Hillary Clinton.

[William Russell “Willie” Geist] It’s unlikely that Doug Band is freelancing on any of this stuff. I think a larger point to think about too is it was only August when the Clinton Foundation finally said, “Okay, fine. We’ll stop taking foreign donations." The same thing with the email server. As you read through these, Hillary Clinton had to be convinced that they weren’t good ideas, that there could be a problem with these. It wasn’t her instinct to say, “You know what, as Secretary of State, maybe we should stop taking foreign donations –"

[Mika Brzezinski] "You shut this down!"

[William Russell “Willie” Geist] "–- and maybe I shouldn’t have a private server." It took a lot of people in her orbit to finally tell her it was a bad idea, and pressure from outside the campaign as well.

[Mika Brzezinski] But it’s insane! It’s insane!

[Mark Halperin] If she hadn’t been Secretary of State, if she had just been a private citizen along with her husband, this stuff would have been muckraking, it would have been leveraging the Foundation away that a lot of people would have found unseemly, but it wouldn’t be nearly the concern of someone who is trying to get elected as President. When she took the Secretary of State job, the Obama administration said, “There’s a lot of concerns here about this relationship. Let’s put some rules in place.” And I think that a lot of the stuff we already know about would not have been approved of or looked kindly upon by the White House or the State Department, in theory with the general counsel there, because it did not live up to the spirit, at a minimum, of trying to keep Hillary Clinton's Foundation activities from creating a potential conflict with her formal governmental role.

[Mika Brzezinski] It’s so frustrating, because then, doesn’t it of course call into question again the private server all over again?

[Joe Scarborough] Well, of course it does.

[Mika Brzezinski] How could it not?

[Joe Scarborough] Well, of course it does. Which again, is Ron Fournier, who is coming out of retirement and going to be on here at 7 o’clock today. We’re going to talk to Ron. And that’s gonna be our ray of sunshine in the morning from Michigan. Good morning Michigan!

[Mika Brzezinski] Still ahead on Morning Joe! Oh, God!

[Joe Scarborough] No, I’m not done yet!

[Mika Brzezinski] Please be finished!

[Joe Scarborough] So Nicolle, you know who for me are the good guys in this whole episode?

[Mika Brzezinski] Chelsea!

[Joe Scarborough] And it’s one of these things where you never know –-

[Mika Brzezinski] Chelsea!

[Joe Scarborough] Chelsea -– you never know how politics is gonna shake out. You never know. Right? So John Podesta has his emails hacked into, and it’s horrifying. Oh, God, please, don’t, it would be the worst nightmare ever if that happened to me. At the end of the process, I’m sure there’s stuff in there that Podesta didn’t want out there. I see Podesta as a straight shooter. As a good man. A no-drama political guy. The same thing with Robby Mook. And you can go down the list of them.

[Nicolle Wallace] We were talking about Philippe yesterday, a press person who understood exactly what the headline might be when this got out. I’m sure when you get through everything, he was the one saying, “This will not look good.” So, to restate Willie’s point, there were a lot of people very, very close to her and him, who knew exactly what this would look like when it came out. And I’m sure this was exactly the worst-case scenario that they described to their bosses Bill and Hillary Clinton.

[Joe Scarborough] And there are a lot of political figures, Mark Halperin, who are surrounded by people who put the blinders on, and never take them off. I’ve got to say, what these emails have revealed are those people who are around her inner political campaign have their eyes wide open, and they more often than not are pushing for transparency, and they understand the costs of not being transparent. And if Hillary Clinton is elected President of the United States, and if these people are surrounding her going into the White House, instead of those that get the Clintons in trouble, that might be seen as a hopeful sign.

[Mark Halperin] There are two kinds of people I know who work for Presidents and ex-Presidents: (1) those who trade on that access and influence in relationship to get rich, and (2) those who find another way to make a living.

[Mika Brzezinski] Wow. Okay. Still ahead on Morning Joe. Timing is everything, with just a dozen days to decide, the latest polls offer very different …
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