Hillary Clinton says that when she and her husband moved out of the White House 15 years ago, they were “dead broke.” Today, they’re worth more than $150 million.
In the new documentary “Clinton Cash,” it becomes all too clear how the former first couple went from rags to filthy rich — with the emphasis on filthy.
As the movie shows, the Clintons are political Teflon dons compared with another Beltway power couple, former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen.
The McDonnells were convicted of accepting more than $150,000 in gifts from a businessman while the governor was in office. Meanwhile, the Clintons raked in 700 times that amount — $105 million — under the pretext of speaking fees while Hillary was in public office.
Yet while the McDonnells face time in the Big House, the Clintons are once again aiming for the White House.
The documentary is based on a book by former Hoover Institution fellow Peter Schweizer and was just screened during the Cannes Film Festival. It is set to be shown in major US cities, including Philadelphia during the Democratic National Convention there in July.
Schweizer’s research has withstood a year of intense scrutiny from critics because it is fact, not fiction. And the facts are compelling.
The film whisks you around the globe, retracing how the Clintons personally pocketed six-figure speaking fees and collected billions of dollars for their family foundation.
How? By trading on Hillary’s position as secretary of state and possible future president.
She and her ex-president husband sold out to titans, dictators and shady characters in Nigeria, Congo, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates, not to mention at Goldman Sachs and TD Bank.
Along the way, the Clintons betrayed the values they profess on the campaign trail: human rights, environmentalism and democracy.
That’s why Schweizer is bringing the documentary to the Democratic convention — to show the party faithful how the Clintons used and abused their liberal principles to amass a fortune.
The Clintons earned the bulk of their money from speaking fees. It was simple: Bill’s fees skyrocketed when Hillary became secretary of state in 2009, suggesting that countries and companies hiring him counted on getting more than just Bill — they also expected to land what his wife had to offer.
For example, a Nigerian newspaper publisher tied to the ruling People’s Democratic Party — which is anything but democratic — paid Bill a whopping $1.4 million to deliver two speeches in 2011 and 2012. The Clintons closed their eyes to the human-rights abuses by Nigeria’s brutal president, Goodluck Jonathan, as they collected their checks.
Secretary Clinton even made an official visit to Nigeria in 2012, congratulating Jonathan on his non-existent “reform efforts.” It was American legitimacy bestowed at a bargain price. And just the opposite of what Human Rights Watch had implored her to do.
Here’s another example of the pair’s lucrative shenanigans. TD Bank never engaged Bill Clinton to speak during his first eight years out of the White House. But in 2009, four days after Hillary was nominated as secretary of state, Bill made the first of a string of speeches for which TD paid almost $2 million. An astounding amount.
And guess what? TD Bank was the single largest shareholder in the Keystone XL pipeline, which required State Department approval. Lo and behold, Hillary Clinton decided to support the pipeline — a heresy to environmentalists — and delayed the Obama administration’s rejection of it.
Coincidence? There’s no smoking gun proving the Clintons’ speaking fees came with promises in return. But Schweizer says the evidence points to a pattern of conduct that other politicians would never get away with. They’ve been sent to jail for less.
Just look at the McDonnells. Their lawyers argue that they are innocent because they merely opened doors. They never expressly said, “Pay me, and I’ll do what you want.”
The McDonnells appealed to the US Supreme Court, where their conviction may be overturned. Chief Justice John Roberts has suggested that politicians shouldn’t be convicted of corruption unless there’s proof of a quid pro quo.
That might be a good rule for courts.
But voters can smell the corruption in pay-to-play politics. That’s why on Election Day, they should vote against the Queen of Crooked, Hillary Clinton.
Betsy McCaughey is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research.