A 12-page memo written by a Bill Clinton loyalist who explained how he generated private income for the former president represents a “smoking gun” for critics of the Clinton Foundation, according to the top Republican party official.
“This memo is the smoking gun for how the Clintons used their foundation to create a massive for-profit paid speaking and consulting business to enrich themselves,” Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said Thursday of the memo, which was leaked by WikiLeaks.
In the memo, longtime Clinton aide Doug Band defended himself in the face of Chelsea Clinton’s suspicion that he was making money off of his proximity to the Clintons by detailing the $116 million of personal income he generated for the former president.
“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,” Band wrote in the 2011 memo.
“Neither Justin nor I are separately compensated for these activities (e.g., we do not receive a fee for, or percentage 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).”
The RNC cited other WikiLeaks documents on Thursday that feature Band encouraging clients to donate to the Clinton Foundation and asking then-White House counsel John Podesta to meet with the CEO of a commodities company.
“All of their talk about charitable work masks the fact they were eager to get their own cut of the action,” Priebus said. “That the Clintons raked in millions of dollars while these same donors had business before Hillary Clinton’s State Department points to a rampant pay-to-play culture that would be on full display should Hillary Clinton be elected president.”
