Wow! MSNBC is covering Clinton's Giustra windfall!

[Stephanie]

On now - good reporting! Finally.

Also covering Burle, Gupta, etc.

[Alter Ego]

1. I feel stupid for asking this...

but...who?

[redqueen]

8. Google it. Clinton + Giustra.

[Stephanie]

31. And it's Burkle, not Burle - sorry for the driveby post.

Library donor list (the only ones we know about - accidentally discovered by a reporter on a Library computer) >
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4581109#4581109

Hillary's involvement with the Library >
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/us/politics/20clinton.html?_r=3&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Ron Burkle >
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4442259

Frank Giustra >
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4306591

[book_worm]

2. what is that?

[Justitia]

3. Major (like 100 million+) donors to Clinton Foundation - uh, it's not looking good. -eom

[PBS Poll-435]

7. Not looking good?

So they should be running a deficit?

[Justitia]

19. Guess you didn't catch it. It reflected the sleaziness of the donors, ick. -eom

[Stephanie]

32. Giustra gave $131M

Then Hillary voted YES on a bill that allowed him to do Mountain Top Removal mining in Appalachia. Disgusting story. I think Dems Will Win posted it, will look.

[catgirl]

42. Whoa!

I didn't know about the mountain top removal deal! He's Canadian, right? This
is the kind of stuff that should have come out long ago.

[Stephanie]

40. Is Hillary pro-Mountaintop Removal, Because the Clinton Fund Got $131 Mil and More From Mining??

Found it - Dems Will Win thread >

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=5199634

[jasmine621]

4. So what. The Clinton foundation is like most foundations. nt

[Stephanie]

33. Most foundations proudly thank their donors on plaques and the website

Most foundations are not SECRETIVE about where they are getting their money.

[roguevalley]

37. so, so and so poisons people, if they do it it is okay? God.

[bigbrother05]

5. Saw that

we need to know who donated to the Library, to know if there are any political favors.

[City Lights]

6. If you're able, details would be most appreciated, Stephanie.

I'm not watching at the moment, but am :wow: that M$NBC is reporting this.

[Stephanie]

30. Sorry for the driveby - I had to run out of the house.

It was a quick piece but pretty good, asking what sort of influence these big donors might expect from Hillary. And why they won't release the library donor list. Clintons are now saying that they will release info on everyone who donates WHILE she is in office! How's that for a dodge!?

[City Lights]

36. Thanks!

Saying they'll release the library donors while she's in office is worse than what she tried to pull with her taxes. :thumbsdown:

[VenusRising]

9. Link to story....

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/former-presiden.html

Bill Clinton and Frank Giustra -- Together Again

March 01, 2008 1:17 PM

Former President Bill Clinton tonight heads to Toronto for the Clinton-Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative Project Launch.

You remember Frank Giustra, right?

Per the New York Times , Clinton helped Giustra win a Kazakh uranium deal.

Per the Times, "Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them....

"Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton. Upon landing on the first stop of a three-country philanthropic tour, the two men were whisked off to share a sumptuous midnight banquet with Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, whose 19-year stranglehold on the country has all but quashed political dissent. Mr. Nazarbayev walked away from the table with a propaganda coup, after Mr. Clinton expressed enthusiastic support for the Kazakh leader’s bid to head an international organization that monitors elections and supports democracy. Mr. Clinton’s public declaration undercut both American foreign policy and sharp criticism of Kazakhstan’s poor human rights record by, among others, Mr. Clinton’s wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. Within two days, corporate records show that Mr. Giustra also came up a winner when his company signed preliminary agreements giving it the right to buy into three uranium projects controlled by Kazakhstan’s state-owned uranium agency, Kazatomprom...

"Mr. Clinton’s charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra’s more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton’s inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges."

More at link above.

[LSparkle]

24. GOOD! I was hoping this Kazakhstan story would get coverage

It REALLY stinks ...

[PBS Poll-435]

25. I bet you were!

Wishing and hoping and
thinking and praying,
planning and dreaming
each night of his charms
that won't get you into his arms,
so if you're looking to find love
you can share, all you gotta do,
is hold him and kiss him, and love him
and show him that you care.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

10. Background about Bill Clinton and Frank Giustra:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[PBS Poll-435]

11. Kick for

The Rabid Response Team....

:eyes::eyes:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

14. Are those eyes following Hillary's pie in the sky?

[PBS Poll-435]

18. Why is Hillary's pie in the sky?

[movonne]

27. This guy is from Texas not Oregon...

[SoFlaJet]

16. LOL

Rabid Response Team

[mmonk]

12. Uh oh.

I was wondering when.

[Genevieve]

13. Good - Finally!!!

bye bye hillary.

[liberaldem4ever]

15. Kick and Recommend! n/t

[zulchzulu]

17. Here's some info...

Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them.

Unlike more established competitors, Mr. Giustra was a newcomer to uranium mining in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. But what his fledgling company lacked in experience, it made up for in connections. Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton.

Upon landing on the first stop of a three-country philanthropic tour, the two men were whisked off to share a sumptuous midnight banquet with Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, whose 19-year stranglehold on the country has all but quashed political dissent.

Mr. Nazarbayev walked away from the table with a propaganda coup, after Mr. Clinton expressed enthusiastic support for the Kazakh leader’s bid to head an international organization that monitors elections and supports democracy. Mr. Clinton’s public declaration undercut both American foreign policy and sharp criticism of Kazakhstan’s poor human rights record by, among others, Mr. Clinton’s wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

Within two days, corporate records show that Mr. Giustra also came up a winner when his company signed preliminary agreements giving it the right to buy into three uranium projects controlled by Kazakhstan’s state-owned uranium agency, Kazatomprom.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html?_r=2&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

[Catherina]

20. Bill Clinton and Frank Giustra -- Together Again

- Kazakh uranium deal for nuclear reactors
- Colombian oil fields

Bill Clinton and Frank Giustra -- Together Again
March 01, 2008 1:17 PM

Former President Bill Clinton tonight heads to Toronto for the Clinton-Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative Project Launch.

You remember Frank Giustra, right?

Per the http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1207940414-IGOLC3wWtiVnwrI+Lfvovg">New York Times, Clinton helped Giustra win a Kazakh uranium deal.

Per the Times, "Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them....

"Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton. Upon landing on the first stop of a three-country philanthropic tour, the two men were whisked off to share a sumptuous midnight banquet with Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, whose 19-year stranglehold on the country has all but quashed political dissent. Mr. Nazarbayev walked away from the table with a propaganda coup, after Mr. Clinton expressed enthusiastic support for the Kazakh leader’s bid to head an international organization that monitors elections and supports democracy. Mr. Clinton’s public declaration undercut both American foreign policy and sharp criticism of Kazakhstan’s poor human rights record by, among others, Mr. Clinton’s wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. Within two days, corporate records show that Mr. Giustra also came up a winner when his company signed preliminary agreements giving it the right to buy into three uranium projects controlled by Kazakhstan’s state-owned uranium agency, Kazatomprom...

"Mr. Clinton’s charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra’s more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton’s inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges."

The Wall Street Journal has also reported that Bill Clinton arranged for Giustra to meet Alvaro Uribe, the president of Colombia. And, lo and behold, a company Giustra's investment firm was advising acquired Colombian oil fields.

And per Bloomberg News: “On June 21, 2005, Bill Clinton flew to Mexico City aboard a private jet that belonged to a Canadian investment banker he was meeting for the first time. The introduction paid off for both men. Clinton was borrowing the jetliner to begin a four-day speaking tour of Latin America that would pay him $800,000. Frank Giustra of Vancouver was forming a friendship that would make him part of the former president's inner circle and gain him introductions to presidents of Kazakhstan and Colombia, where he bought mineral rights. Giustra, 50, has since put his plane at Clinton's disposal at least a dozen times to raise money for charity, his wife's presidential campaign or himself, according to U.S. flight records and spokesmen for Clinton and Giustra...

"Last November, the plane traveled from Manchester, New Hampshire, where Clinton was campaigning for his wife, to Dublin and London, where he appeared at fund-raising events for her. Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna said the Hillary Clinton campaign paid for the flight."

Public ethics and good government groups have called this all a class conflict of interest. But it continues and continues. Rather brazenly.

...

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/former-presiden.html

[1776Forever]

21. Just posted a link from Time on their escapades reported in 2001 - this is a pattern:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5457090&mesg_id=5457617

And this from MSNBC reported 2 days ago:

The Clintons' policy differences, part II
Posted: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 2:18 PM by Mark Murray

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/09/872251.aspx?Ajax_CallBack=true

From NBC's Mark Murray -

Following our earlier report of policy disagreements between Bill and Hillary Clinton -- over NAFTA, the Colombian free trade deal, boycotting the Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony, and torture -- there are a couple more disagreements we forgot to mention.

One, Bill Clinton, as the New York Times reported earlier this year, supported Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev's bid to head Europe's Organization for Security and Cooperation -- while the US government and Hillary Clinton opposed it.

Two, Bill Clinton advised leaders in the United Arab Emirates on how to quell US opposition (including from his wife) to the port takeover by Dubai Ports World. At the time, a Clinton spokesman said that Bill's advice had involved just one phone call, and that he agreed with his wife that state-owned companies shouldn't own US ports.

Considering those two additional examples, the Clinton campaign might confront this question from critics: How do you explain some of Bill's financial ties to these disagreements?

As the Times reported, the Canadian mining capitalist Frank Giustra gave (or pledged to give) the Clinton Foundation a combined $131 million, which came after Bill accompanied Giustra to Kazakhstan, where Clinton issued his support for Nazarbayev and where Giustra afterwards won a lucrative mining contract.

Bill didn't earn any money when he advised the UAE regarding the Dubai Ports World controversy. But he has raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars by giving speeches in Dubai, and Dubai contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his presidential library.

And as already mentioned today, the New York Post reported that Bill earned $800,000 in speaking fees from a group supporting the Colombian trade agreement.

But Clinton campaign spokesman Jay Carson -- who previously handled press for Bill Clinton -- says it's unfair to link this money with these Bill-Hillary disagreements. Regarding the Colombian speech, Carson notes that Clinton supported the trade agreement well before he ever gave the speech. Clinton's support "had nothing to do with his speech," he said, adding it shouldn't be surprising that a Colombian group would support free trade with the US.

Indeed, Clinton always has been a free-trade advocate; his wife has been much more skeptical. (Given his position on trade, it might be even worth asking whether Bill Clinton -- in 2008 -- could win his party's presidential nomination.)

Carson also says that Giustra contributed money to the Clinton Foundation because he supports its initiatives combating AIDS and global warming. And regarding Dubai, "This is nothing," Carson said -- Clinton answered one phone call and his recommendation was consistent with his wife's position.

"There is no there-there to any of these things."

....................

Move along there is nothing to see here - Really??????????????????????

[arikara]

26. "There is no there-there to any of these things."

I guess that depends on what the meaning of is - is.

[Stephanie]

35. Ex-President for Sale! And his wife's influence is tacitly part of the bargain.

Why this hasn't been covered, why we've been inundated with the Rev. Wright and no coverage of these VERY shady deals, is beyond me. Especially when her campaign is broke and Bill's income from Dubai or wherever goes straight into her campaign fund when she makes a loan. That shd be illegal.

[JackORoses]

22. The Floodgates are opening.

Bring on the Big Wave!

[City Lights]

23. Giustra's name surfaced in the recent Columbia/Penn/Clinton triangle too.

From HuffPost:

<snip>

Moreover, Clinton has helped Frank Giustra, one of the biggest donors to the Clinton Global Initiative, score meetings with high-ranking Colombian officials. Giustra has several business interests in the country, and both he and Clinton have collaborated on an effort to fight poverty in developing world by partnering up with mining companies in Colombia and elsewhere.

<snip>

This was not the only time Clinton and Uribe met. According to the Wall Street Journal, the former president hosted a "philanthropic event" with the Colombian leaders in September 2005. The purpose, the paper reported, was to introduce Uribe to Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining tycoon who was interested both in mineral rights and Colombian oil, a position that lent itself to a more open-trade environment.

Months earlier, Bloomberg News reported, Giustra had lent Clinton his private jet for Clinton's four day peaking tour in Latin America - the same tour in which Clinton received $800,000 from Gold Service International. And at some point in time, Giustra - who, the New York Times reported, won a Kazakh uranium deal with Clinton's help (again putting the former president at odds with his wife's positions) - donated more than $31 million to Clinton's charitable fund.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Uribe and Giustra "sat in the hallway speaking for about ten minutes. A Clinton aide later told Giustra the meeting had gone well." And indeed, last year a Canadian company that Giustra's investment firm advised successfully acquired oil fields in Colombia.

[Scurrilous]

28. K & R

:thumbsup:

[williesgirl]

29. Bill Clinton is acting like the Repukes - doesn't matter who, just more $s for me. Disgusting.

rec'd

[Coexist]

34. I wonder if Potsandpans will backfire

maybe NBC and MSNBC didn't like that shit.

[TheDonkey]

38. SEXIST!!! MISOGYNISTAS!!!

[Stephanie]

41. Why does MSNBC HATE WOMEN?

[quantass]

39. k&r

[catgirl]

43. Kicking for the truth to come out

All of it.