CSMP and CFP

In my last post, I talked about the Clinton Scandal Management Playbook (CSMP)—an unwritten set of basic tactics that have worked remarkably well to shield Hillary Clinton from criminal prosecution for her many unethical, dishonest, and self-enriching activities while she was a government official. To repeat:

... lie openly and often; obfuscate and misdirect; slow walk investigations; disregard court ordered information discovery; blame underlings for executive decisions; invoke the fifth amendment when necessary; cover-up and then cover-up some more. With the help and protection for a complicit media, the playbook has worked well—Fast and Furious, the VA scandal, the IRS scandal, Benghazi, and others have faded into oblivion. And remember, Obama didn't write the playbook, he simply followed it.

The latest FBI investigation exemplifies these tactics, but the focus on top-secret documents is, in its own way, a feint. The real criminal wrong-doing isn't Hillary's gross negligence in handling government documents (delineated well by the FBI), but rather her pay-for-play dealings while secretary of state. Let's call these dirty tactics the Clinton Foundation Playbook (CFP):

1. Contact a government or large multi-national corporation (the "entity") that would benefit from a positive government decision on a matter that is important to it.
2. Meet or communicate with with that entity in your capacity of Secretary of State.
3. Suggest that a positive government decision could be achieved.
4. Through cut-outs or other functionaries, let it be known that a large donation to The Clinton Foundation would be greatly appreciated.
5. In addition, let it be known that Bill Clinton has much that the entity's audience wants to hear and that a speech or series of speeches (for an grossly exorbitant fee) would be a good idea.
6. Once items 4 and 5 have been completed (i.e., money has been transferred to the Clintons or their foundation, a State Department decision that benefits the entity is made.
7. A complicit media looks the other way and is oddly distinterested in the state department decision or the coincidences that place Bill, Hillary and the entity in a web of money transfers.

It is odd that not a single word about The Clinton Foundation or the CFP appeared in FBI Director James Comey's discussion of the Clinton email scandal.

In an outstanding investigative article on The Clinton Foundation, Peter Sweitzer dissects important gaps in Hillary's email stream with particular emphasis on the CFP I just described:

... then there is an instance where the State Department cable traffic rises and there are few if any Clinton corresponding emails. It’s the case of Rosatom, the Russian State Nuclear Agency: Clinton and senior officials at the State Department received dozens of cables on the subject of Rosatom’s activities around the world, including a hair-raising cable about Russian efforts to dominate the uranium market. As secretary of state, Clinton was a central player in a variety of diplomatic initiatives involving Rosatom officials. But strangely, there is only one email that mentions Rosatom in Clinton’s entire collection, an innocuous email about Rosatom’s activities in Ecuador. To put that into perspective, there are more mentions of LeBron James, yoga and NBC’s Saturday Night Live than the Russian Nuclear Agency in Clinton’s emails deemed “official.”

What could explain this lack of emails on the Russian Nuclear Agency? Were Clinton’s aides negligent in passing along unimportant information while ignoring the far more troubling matters concerning Rosatom? Possibly. Or, were emails on this subject deleted as falling into the “personal” category? It is certainly odd that there’s virtually no email traffic on this subject in particular. Remember that a major deal involving Rosatom that was of vital concern to Clinton Foundation donors went down in 2009 and 2010. Rosatom bought a small Canadian uranium company owned by nine investors who were or became major Clinton Foundation donors, sending $145 million in contributions. The Rosatom deal required approval from several departments, including the State Department.

Equally bizarre is the absence at certain times of basic logistical emails pertaining to Hillary Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton. In general, Bill gets plenty of mention in the official emails released by the State Department, emails covering everything from travel logistics to press releases about Clinton Foundation work. But there’s an email silence in June 2010, when Hillary Clinton was in South America for a series of high-level meetings. According to her memoir, “by coincidence” Bill was in Bogota, Colombia, apparently for Clinton Foundation work, at the same time she was in the country. Also there with Bill was Frank Giustra, one of the Clinton Foundation’s largest contributors. Bill, Hillary and Giustra reportedly had dinner together, and the next morning, Bill met with Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe, followed immediately by Hillary’s meeting with Uribe. In the weeks that follow, Giustra’s companies scored concessions from the Colombian government on matters ranging from oil to timber.

Sweitzer's work (read the entire article) raises serious questions about the destruction of evidence, criminal wrong-doing, and the competency of a year-long FBI investigation that resulted in no executive summary mention of the CFP.

It is supremely ironic that Clinton suggests the Donald Trump is unqualified to be president because of his lack of experience, his shallow knowledge of the issues, and his temperament. Possibly, she's right.

But the CSMP and the CFP both are clear indications that Hillary Clinton is absolutely unqualified to be president. Her activities—destruction of evidence, malfeasance in office, blatant dishonesty in the face of public inquiries, and selling government favors to enrich herself and her husband are not the attributes either the Left or the Right wants in a President.

Donald Trump may be wrong on some things, but he's absolutely right on at least one: #CrookedHillary.