Many donors to Clinton Foundation met with her at State
Many donors to Clinton Foundation met with her at State
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money — either personally or through companies or groups — to the Clinton Foundation. It’s an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president.
At least 85 of 154 people from private interests who met or had phone conversations scheduled with Clinton while she led the State Department donated to her family charity or pledged commitments to its international programs, according to a review of State Department calendars released so far to The Associated Press. Combined, the 85 donors contributed as much as $156 million. At least 40 donated more than $100,000 each, and 20 gave more than $1 million.
Donors who were granted time with Clinton included an internationally known economist who asked for her help as the Bangladesh government pressured him to resign from a nonprofit bank he ran; a Wall Street executive who sought Clinton’s help with a visa problem and Estee Lauder executives who were listed as meeting with Clinton while her department worked with the firm’s corporate charity to counter gender-based violence in South Africa.
The meetings between the Democratic presidential nominee and foundation donors do not appear to violate legal agreements Clinton and former president Bill Clinton signed before she joined the State Department in 2009. But the frequency of the overlaps shows the intermingling of access and donations, and fuels perceptions that giving the foundation money was a price of admission for face time with Clinton. Her calendars and emails released as recently as this week describe scores of contacts she and her top aides had with foundation donors.
The AP’s findings represent the first systematic effort to calculate the scope of the intersecting interests of Clinton foundation donors and people who met personally with Clinton or spoke to her by phone about their needs.
Trump aides covertly fought freeing of Ukraine prisoner
WASHINGTON (AP) — For more than three years, lobbyist Jim Slattery worked in Washington to secure the release in Ukraine of the imprisoned political rival of the country’s then-president. He said the work was sometimes harder than expected.
“I had a sense that there were people working on the other side,” he said, “but they were doing it pretty secretively.”
Slattery’s hunch was right. His unknown opponent: The consulting firm run by Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his deputy Rick Gates, now the campaign’s liaison to the Republican National Committee.
Manafort resigned last week, shortly after disclosures by The Associated Press about his firm’s covert lobbying on behalf of Ukraine’s pro-Russian government at the time.
The U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act requires people working on behalf of foreign political leaders to disclose their efforts to the Justice Department, but neither Manafort and Gates nor U.S. lobbyists they directed did. Working on the other side, Slattery filled out the required paperwork describing contacts with Congress and State Department officials including specific phone calls and emails and the topics of their discussions.
Turkey, Syrian Kurds on track for conflict in northern Syria
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey signaled Tuesday it would step up its engagement in the Syrian war, as Turkish-backed Syrian rebels massed along the border to assault one of the last Syrian frontier towns held by Islamic State militants.
Foreign Minister Mevlet Cavusolgu pledged “every kind” of support for operations against IS along a 100-kilometer (62-mile) stretch of Syrian frontier, putting the NATO member on track for a confrontation with U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria, who have been the most effective force against IS and who are eyeing the same territory.
Cavusolgu said Turkey would support twin operations stretching from the Syrian town of Afrin in the northwest, which is already controlled by Kurdish forces, to Jarablus, in the central north, which is held by the Islamic State group.
“It is important that the terror organizations are cleansed from the region,” Cavusolgu said in a joint news conference with his Hungarian counterpart.
Turkish artillery shelled Jarablus for the second consecutive day as reports circulated that Turkish-backed Syrian rebels were preparing to storm the town, a vital supply line and the last border point that directly connects the Islamic State group with Turkey and the outside world.
Obama vows support for Louisiana after the ‘cameras leave’
ZACHARY, La. (AP) — Standing amid piles of waterlogged debris, President Barack Obama on Tuesday promised a sustained national effort to rebuild flood-ravaged southern Louisiana “even after the TV cameras leave” on a visit aimed in part at stemming campaign-season criticism that he’s been slow to respond to the disaster.
As he toured a battered neighborhood and spoke to local officials, Obama tried to buck up beleaguered residents of the water-soaked region.
“This is not a one-off, this is not a photo-op issue. I need all Americans to stay focused on this,” he said. “I know how resilient the people of Louisiana are and I know that you will rebuild again.”
Eleven years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, Obama’s visit was a reminder of the political dangers and opportunities natural disasters pose for politicians. The president has been criticized for waiting until after he returned from his New England vacation to tour the Gulf Coast flooding. The timing, amid a heated presidential campaign, drew barbs from some local officials and Republicans political opponents, including GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Trump visited Baton Rouge on Friday, enjoying a warm reception and allowing him to cast the president as golfing while Louisianans suffered. It was a sentiment echoed by many in the area, many of whom have said they feel their plight has been ignored by the media.
Israel uncovers illegal Palestinian weapons-making network
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has uncovered an illegal Palestinian weapons manufacturing network in the West Bank in one of its largest raids during a months-long crackdown on illicit arms, the military said Tuesday.
Since the start of the year, Israel has seized dozens of weapons, shuttered arms-making factories and arrested weapons dealers in a clampdown in the West Bank meant to quell a spate of Palestinian violence.
The military said that the latest raid overnight found seven weapons factories, 22 weapons-making machines and dozens of arms, which it said was a significant haul since it began targeting illegal weapons manufacturers. Among the seized arms were crude guns based on the Swedish “Carl Gustav” submachine gun, which the military says has been a preferred weapon for Palestinian attackers.
The military says that since January, it uncovered 29 weapons factories and seized 49 weapons-making machines and more than 300 firearms. More than 140 arms dealers and manufacturers have been arrested during that time.