Bill Clinton: Accusation that foundation paid for daughter's wedding a 'personal insult'

[DonViejo]

Source: CNN



By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN

Updated 4:09 AM ET, Sun January 14, 2018

(CNN)Former President Bill Clinton on Saturday denied accusations that his charity used donations for Haiti to pay for his daughter Chelsea's wedding to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky in 2010.

Link to tweet

The former President included a link to a report in The Washington Post that fact-checked the allegation, labeling it "a claim lacking any evidence."

The allegation first surfaced in November of 2016, after WikiLeaks published an email exchange between a former Bill Clinton aide and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, dating to January 2012.

In the exchange, the former aide, Doug Band, refers to Chelsea Clinton as "using foundation resources for her wedding and life for a decade," but Band doesn't get into specifics.



Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/13/politics/bill-clinton-denies-accusations-foundation-funds-wedding/index.html

[melm00se]

1. I am curious

as to the timing on this.

The wedding was 7 years ago.
The original story was over a year ago.
The refutation to the accusation referenced in the tweet is a year old

I don't recall seeing a current story on this subject yet here is former President Clinton tweeting this and drawing national attention.

Politicians rarely take steps like this because they have nothing better to do today which begs the question: "why now?".

[delisen]

2. New investigation into Clinton Foundation

by justice reported in January -Arkansas.

[Still Blue in PDX]

5. This story is making the rounds on Facebook. Again. Deflect, deflect, deflect. nt

[karynnj]

9. The Republicans have been calling for a criminal investigation of the Clinton Foundation

This is one of several claims that are being spread on right wing internet sites and then on twitter.

This gets to the insidiousness of the right wing smear machine. The lies start in the right wing sewer, then are spread by social media by like minded people. By the time they reach even Fox News, there might be about 10 to 30 percent of the population that have already heard (and believed) the lie. This makes it really hard to kill a lie once it surfaces in the mainstream - even at Fox.

In 2004, the right wing echo chamber was very strong using just the right wing internet sites, talk radio and Fox - all spreading the same lies at the same time. The latter creates the impression to people that "everybody" is reporting this or that they had multiple sources, not knowing all came from the same Heritage Foundation (or other rw) source. Kerry spoke of this echo chamber in early 2005 when he received the Distinguished American Award from the Kennedy Library and did an discussion/interview with Tom Oliphant. He spoke then of needing a better way to fight this - and the Obama campaign worked to do that with a web site called something like 'Truth strikes back'. However, the echo chamber actually became stronger over the Obama years. Adding social media makes this even more toxic as people (and bots) get these stories out to vulnerable people directly often through people they trust.

Bill Clinton is doing this to fight for his reputation. I suspect the difference on this story versus the completely fictional "pizzagate" which does not have even a scintilla of fact behind it, is this is a very distorted interpretation of something written by a former Clinton Foundation officer, who I think might have had some problems with Chelsea to Podesta. What he wrote could refer to making calls from work, making copies etc NOT paying the high price of a dream wedding that Bill and Hillary paid for their only daughter.

It is easy to say that history will be written based on important things done and not internet chatter, but I would imagine that for ANY of the people attacked it would take enormous discipline to NOT do exactly what Clinton did .. and by connecting the WP article he has an independent source countering the attack. It will be interesting to see if pulling the story into the light - with the facts to dispute it - will stop the story or promote it into a bigger story.

[SWBTATTReg]

16. Sure, lets investigate the Clinton Foundation BUT also include

investigating the tRUMP foundation...which have already been found w/ problems by NY folks and once again, nothing will be found on Clinton Foundation other than the good that it does...

Remember the large oil painting of tRUMP that tRUMP supposedly took write off ($20000) on and then painting was found in one of tRUMP's golf courses?

[Hekate]

20. What you said, karynnj

[GaryCnf]

3. Sue those MFs at Judicial Watch

And bankrupt them out of existence like Morris Dees did to that neo nazi outfit in Idaho.

[Perseus]

4. Exactly my thought

The Clinton need to start putting the pressure on the people who constantly attack them, if they know these people are lying, which should be easy to prove, then sue them and have them pay for their vitriol, that should make them think twice next time they want to do something like that.

I feel that part of the problem with the lies coming constantly to anyone in power has to do with the lack of action from those accused. There has to be accountability for this to stop.

[Baitball Blogger]

7. That can't be understated.

The Clinton's need to set the record straight because this meme that they raided the Haitian fund is burning its way through Facebook and was even repeated by a Haitian woman on MSNBC yesterday. The MSNBC host did not correct her, so I assumed there must have been some validity to it.

This post is the first I've heard that it was a lie.

[Evergreen Emerald]

13. Please, it does not matter what Clintons say

They can--and have--"set the record straight" for decades. The Republicans use the Clintons continuously to stir up the ignorant people who buy the bullshit. They have dehumanized the Clintons and people are too stupid to see through it.

The truth does not matter.

[Baitball Blogger]

14. They have to make the first move and step out to say what is true and they did.

With that tweet, the Clintons set the record straight and I am happy to report that MSNBC has been running with that truth. Especially saw it on Joy Reid when she stopped right-wing Stephanie from spreading that bullshit meme about the Foundation on her show.

[happy feet]

15. +1

Exactly.

[Sanity Claws]

6. Libelous too

Trump talks about the libel laws and claims that people have no recourse when libeled. Clinton should pursue this and sue those who libel him like that. At this point, it is clear that there is no support for the statement and anyone who repeats it, should be sued.

[Bradical79]

10. Wouldn't the email protect most from libel?

Repeating something someone else wrote happened doesn't strike me as libelous. The ex-aide who wrote that email could maybe be sued if the Clintons can prove the money didn't come from the foundation.

[Sanity Claws]

11. No

The email was fact-checked and the fact check is known to anyone who did a minimal search. This fact check showed that there was nothing to it. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/01/04/did-the-clinton-foundation-pay-for-chelseas-wedding/?utm_term=.5bd2894e3a7e
Repeating a known lie is indeed defamatory.

[GaryCnf]

17. In addition to the fact check

I went back and looked at the WP story which had a longer section of the string. I am not sure how they can be read to say that the Clinton Foundation paid for the wedding. What it appears to say is that Band had information that Chelsea told one of the Bush daughters that she (Chelsea) would be doing the internal investigation of that accusation along with a number of other RW accusations and that Band thought that this was not smart.

From a conflict of interest standpoint, it is not a good idea to be the person investigating accusations involving yourself but saying this, which appears to be what Band said, does not express any opinion whether the accusations were true or false.

[djacq]

8. Wrong Rabbit Hole.

[Merlot]

12. Bill and Hillary could each make one speech and pay for the wedding.

The Clintons are not hurting for money.

[llmart]

18. That was going to be my thought also.

Puleeze! Like the Clintons couldn't afford to pay for the wedding. Anyone with an ounce of common sense or logical thought process would know that they aren't exactly hurting for money.

Geez - some Americans are about as ignorant as you can get, and by that I mean right wingers.

[onetexan]

19. Hillary was right; this is yet another attempt by the vast RW conspiracy to defect from the Russia

collusion investigation, and attempt to undermine the Clintons' legacy.

[Cha]

21. KICK!