Bill Clinton's fundraising
activities at the Clinton Foundation raise serious questions -- questions that
only a special prosecutor can answer. (AP)
Average people have a far less
benign view of what's gone on at the Clinton Foundation. And it looms as a
major problem for Clinton as she pursues the presidency.
In our latest IBD/TIPP Poll, taken
the week of Aug. 26 to Sept. 1, shows that Americans are increasingly wary of
the Clinton Foundation's questionable practices, which IBD has written about
extensively. The poll of 934 adults has a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage
points.
The ups and downs of the
Clinton Foundation, it turns out, are of big interest to average Americans.
Some 72% in the IBD/TIPP Poll said they are following it.
Perhaps more significantly, of
the 72% who are following it, three-fourths — or 77% -- believe that donors to
the Clinton Foundation received special access and favors from the State
Department while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
And there is, surprisingly,
bipartisan agreement on this: Some 55% of Democrats agree that the Clintons
used public office to dispense favors to their foundation's friends.
Yet, those investigating both
the Clinton email
scandal and the related questions about the Clinton Foundation
have been met with hostility by Clinton partisans.
FBI Director James Comey, who
all but indicted Hillary with his words when he announced he would not
prosecute her, this week even had to defend his decision to release more
documents from his investigation.
For the record, his
investigation — and subsequent testimony to Congress — found that Hillary lied
repeatedly about her home-brew email server and about sending and receiving
classified information on it. All of these are crimes.
But even bigger questions are
now being raised about the cozy ties between the Clinton Foundation and
Hillary's State Department. Though she promised an arms-length relationship to
the foundation when she was first named secretary of state, at least 181
Clinton Foundation donors — companies, individuals, even countries — lobbied
the State Department during her years there.
Indeed, more than half
the non-government people who met with Hillary — 85 of
154 — while she was in office gave money to the Clinton Foundation. Those
donors, together, gave as much as $156 million to the Clinton Foundation,
according to an Associated Press analysis.
It strongly suggests a
quid-pro-quo relationship, given that the State Department can act as a favor-giver
and gatekeeper for business deals and other lucrative arrangements around the
world.
It reeks of a corrupt pay-to-play system based on a major conflict of
interest, in which Hillary Clinton was ideally positioned to grant government
favors to those who had already enriched her, her husband Bill and her
daughter, Chelsea, by giving boatloads of money to the eponymous family
foundation.
Charles Ortel, a highly
regarded Wall Street financial expert, took a look at the Clinton Foundation's
books over the last year or so and this week published his partial conclusion:
"To informed analysts, the Clinton
Foundation appears to be a rogue charity that
has neither been organized nor operated lawfully from inception in October 1997
to date ... it is a case study in international charity fraud, of mammoth
proportions."
Based on what appears to be
repeated violations of the law and a shocking disregard for the minimal ethics
requirements of government officials, it's time for a special prosecutor of
Hillary Clinton to look into both the family foundation and the emails.
Our polling shows Americans
would definitely support such a move, either before or after the election.
According to IBD/TIPP, nearly two-thirds (63%) think a special prosecutor
should be appointed. And 88% of Republicans and 68% of Independents want a
special prosecutor to look into the possible misconduct. The sentiment that
something wrong has taken place is overwhelming.
To save the nation from another
failed presidency, it's time to put this issue to rest by naming a special
prosecutor.
